Chewed by dogs?

As some of you know, I recently got tired of paying $20 for "professionals" to cut Josh's hair because in my opinion they never did that great of a job. So I've coerced Chris into getting out our clippers and working on Josh's hair ourselves. He reluctantly agreed to our second home hair cut last night, and when we finished Chris said Josh looked like his hair had been "chewed on by dogs." Now I think the correct metaphor is "chewed on by rats," but either way I think it looks OK! We've certainly got a way to go before we become adept at haircutting, and Chris thinks we need to abandon the "bowl" style," but it's certainly better (in my opinion) than the bushy look he was sporting before. And Josh was more than happy with his new style afterI gave him the cupcake I promised him if he sat still during the butchering.

Baby girls are great because . . .

their outfits come with matching hats!

Hi Big Guy

Josh's latest bit of charming behavior is referring to everyone, regardless of age, size or gender, as "big guy." It was kind of cute at first, but after a week of "big guy" mishaps, he's now spending some time in time out to impress upon him that "big guy" is not the best way to refer to people.

Here are some of Josh's big guy incidents this week (other than constantly calling me "big guy" in public):

He said, "Bye, big guy" to Alex, the male college students who is one of his speech therapy clinicians. I heard the other other three clinicians, who are women, giggling as we walked out the door.

He yelled, "Bye, big guys" to two men in suits who were exiting St. Gabriel Catholic Church (which hosts speech therapy camp) at the same time we were. I know they heard him, but they thankfully ignored us.

He said, "Hi, big guy" to one of the moms dropping off her kid at speech therapy camp. I just grabbed Josh's hand and walked faster. It gets awkward to launch into an explanation of how he didn't really mean that the person (especially if it's a woman) he was talking to is a big guy and that he knows the difference between big, little, men and women.

Sometimes he remembers that he's not supposed to say "big guy," so he just says "big." This doesn't help, as he just says, "Hi, Big" to random people instead. The great part is that Josh has good articulation and a loud voice, so there's really no mistaking what he said or who he's talking to.

The person who started this knows who he is! And if Josh calls any of you Big Guy, please don't take it personally!

Fourth of July

Here are some pictures we just got off the camera from the 4th of July, which we spent at Chris' parents' house in Barrington.

Molly and her cousin Ethan in the baby pen.

Molly watched the 4th of July parade from her stylishly decorated stroller.

Josh rode in the fire truck with Grandpa for the parade. The best part was he got to throw candy to the crowds--a switch from last year's parade where he picked up candy and threw it back at the parade.

Molly at Six Months

It's hard to believe, but Molly was 6 months old on Friday! She had her checkup with Dr. Glass yesterday, and she weighs about 15 1/2 pounds and is 27 inches long. When she was born, she weighed 7 1/2 pounds and was 20 inches long. Dr. Glass was very pleased with her progress, although we think she needs a little work in the hair growing department! We get more and more comments from people about her baldness, but we've resigned ourselves to the bald baby club for the foreseeable future.

Molly continues to be a delightful baby. Just last week she started saying "Da Da Da Da Da," and she's making progress on her crawling attempts every day. She's a very determined baby, and she tries over and over to hoist herself into a crawling position. Thankfully she still doesn't have enough balance to actually crawl (we're in no hurry to have a mobile baby), but it's fun to watch her try. She's still a very happy baby and loves to smile at everyone. A woman who has a child at speech therapy camp says, "Hi, Social Baby" every time we pass her in the hallway there.

Josh's Weekend

Here's Josh with his new goggles, which Chris bought for him after he got out of the pool every time with bloodshot eyes.

We had a busy weekend, starting early Saturday morning with a cul-de-sac yard sale. Our first early bird actually tried to shop in our garage, nosing around for tools he could buy. We sent him away with a banjo, a grinder, a weed eater and a band saw, and he left us with enough money to buy a new George Foreman grill. We had a good time getting to know our neighbors a little better, and it was a great feeling to unload so much stuff!

Josh got bit by a bee halfway through the morning, but thankfully he didn't have an allergic reaction to it and we averted a trip to the emergency room. This morning also was noteworthy because Josh copped his first attitude with me, responding with "Mommy, you don't tell me what to do," when I told him to get out of the garage, which currently looks like a war zone. Speech therapy camp has been a good thing in most cases, but we're certainly seeing a side of Josh that he previously couldn't express!

Here Comes Trouble

Molly's efforts at crawling are getting more results daily. Last night she successfully got her knees under her and balanced for a few seconds before falling over. It's fun to watch, but I'm mourning the final days of having an immobile baby!

A Helping Hand

Josh wanted to help out with Molly's dinner tonight--he did a surprisingly good job! It will be even better when Molly can hold her own bottle and spoon her own food into her mouth.

New Molly Pics

Pictures are courtesy of Steph, who took them when we all had lunch at the Finks' yesterday. Molly's wearing her "clownsuit," as Chris calls it. As you can see, Molly is trying very hard to crawl and now does a very entertaining version of "the worm" that is pretty effective right now.

Josh: A Hair Retrospective

One of our favorite past times is styling Josh's hair (for at-home humor only!) when it starts getting long. The Minchin/Metzl genetic mix, as expected, has produced big hair in the making! Here's Chris' latest attempt at the spiky flat look, plus two of our all-time best hair-dos.

The picture of Josh in the red outfit is already earmarked for inclusion in the album we'll show to his future girlfriends.

Raise Your Hand if You Love Electrical Cords

It appears that both of my children now have a healthy obsession with electrical cords. Molly enjoys sitting in her Bumbo seat on the kitchen counter because she has easy access to the cord to the mixer. Today she started facing forward, then turned herself and the seat around to get at the cord.

Molly in the Teepee

I mistakenly thought that our summer days would be filled with playing outside, and now I'm reminded that the stifling heat keeps us inside for most of the day. So as the temperatures are reaching into the 90s daily, we're back to entertaining ourselves in the house until the weather cools off in the early evening. We drug out the "teepee" this morning, and Molly now wants to be included on all the fun. Josh was happy to oblige. Molly shrieked and laughed the whole time she was in the teepee.

I had no idea that a baby this young would be so desperate to play, but if she could get up and run she'd be right on Josh's heels. He has no idea what's in store for him in the next year!

Smells Like Good

Josh started four weeks of speech therapy camp this week, and so far so good. There are nine kids in his class and four teachers--a great ratio after the 2:16 odds in his preschool class last year. I had to detach him from my leg the first day so I could leave, but he now seems very happy to be there. Today he had dumped a huge cup of water all over himself instead of pouring it into the drinking fountain as directed. Obviously, he was quite thrilled with himself!

Josh is talking more and more, but he's come up with some unusual word order lately.
Here are some examples:

"Mommy, it smells like good!"
"Mommy, what letter does 'delicious' start what letter?"

We have high hopes for speech therapy camp! And I have high hopes that eventually everything he says won't be prefaced with "Mommy."

Travels to the land of John Deere

We took a break mid-week on our trip to Chicago to visit our good friends the Cullums in Iowa. We had a lovely drive through acres of healthy corn crops--the green fields and rolling hills of Iowa made the four-hour trip a pleasure. Josh and Molly enjoyed swimming at Camp Wyoming's pool, and Josh found a playmate who could match his energy level! We were sorry we could only stay for the day, but it was a great chance to catch up with Shelley and Kevin and introduce them to Molly. We were amazed by the extra-large produce that grew in Shelley's garden while she was away for two weeks. Maggie, Alex and Josh posed for a picture with the super-sized zucchini and squash.