Nick's Life: December 2012

We opened the month with Nick knocking his teeth out at school. He was upset for a few minutes, then stayed in school the rest of the day.  When I went to pick him up and asked what happened, he'd forgotten. He hit the floor face first in the gym off of a scooter.  The school just stuffed his bloody shirt in his bag, and gave him a new one. The after-care director was quick to tell me how Nick was harrassing another kid that day, which I mentioned, "Did you noticed he mangled his teeth earlier today? They're half missing?"  "Oh, no, I didn't."  School is frustrating.

We had Brandi's parents here for a week at the holidays. They spent time outside sledding with Nick after I shoveled about 8 inches over three falls in 12 hours.  We played scrabble with Nick, where he makes his own rules with wrapping words around corners, and even taught me a few legit words I would never have thought of. And we made Christmas cookies (200 calories apiece.) Our house was decorated to the max this year, and ready for entertaining.

For Christmas, Brandi's parents were in first, then the girls came in behind them for a two-day house full of holiday.  What I'll remember: Jessica's nose turns red when she's excited, there was more than one Kind Herod, and a bipod can works as well as a tripod for taking pictures in a pinch. Brandi was an amazing chef for a full week (homemade potato soup!), and I gained all the weight we were hoping Nick would put on. As smooth a holiday as we've had, the best picture is all of us watching Nick drag Mason off the couch and into the picture. Some of the best moments just can't be planned.

L to R: Kiersten (Miranda's), Mason (Robin's), Nick, and Noah (Miranda's).

In our new car, he loves listening to the video games through the stereo system, so he plays Bad Piggies, and blares the game's music.

Lots of drawing this month, drafting sharks and ocean life, cutting them out to create impressive artistry. One evening, he put on a play in the kitchen with a large background of ocean taped to the bar, and sharks cut out on laundry pins. He got a ton of markers, boards, and art supplies for Christmas along with Legos and R/C planes. And now we're practicing with the Flight Simulator from Uncle Jason.

Nick's best lines of the month:

"I have a stomach shark," when his tummy hurts.

"Holy dunkelosteous!" when he's amazed. (That's a prehistoric fish.)

After receiving so many flying toys for Christmas, "Mama, all night I was working on my flying skittles!"

Every other statement from him is, "Do you know what?" To which we reply, "chicken butt!"  Still doesn't stop him, no lesson learned.

"No cotton swabs, Mama! They damage my ears!  I need the Wax Ax! (Some contraption he saw on TV for cleaning ears, but I'm sure that's not what they call it. Or they need a better marketing department.)

Constantly correcting our 'bad words', he tells mama, "You don't need to say bad words. Just say "Oh, snap!" Here watch... [he drops a Lego on the floor] Oh, snap! That's how you do it!"

Naming the sharks he got for Christmas: Jaws John Lamper is the Air Swimmer, Jaws Finneker is the plastic shark with a hinged mouth, and Jaws Torey Great White is another rubber shark.

Pictures from December and Christmas.

- Jason

Nick's Life: November 2012

Nick's picked up a 'verbal crutch' where he's starting most statements with, "Actually..."  And he's getting cockier, with statements like, "I put that there for a reason!" or  "Not now, I have important work to do, Dad." Probably need some polish on those communication skills before he marries Zoey or Lilly and drives them nuts (theoretically he's marrying them both.  I'm not sure that's a good idea.) His classmates love his mother more than him, as she brings muffins at school every Friday, always a different flavor. Brandi's been a big help in the classroom, and it's given us a good picture of what goes on in school. (I don't understand modern education.)

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home.  Had the usual "turkey chase" where Nick flees from the angry bird before it meets the oven (one of many angry birds in our lives). Brandi and Nick built a gingerbread house from a kit, which was not as tasty as it was interesting (and unstable.) And we erected the Christmas tree, which you'll see Nick's arrangement of the lights in the photos. We're the only house on the block with the Christmas lights up, the Halloween pumpkins still on the porch, and the fourth-of-July flag in the window. May as well leave it all up until Easter now.

He lost his first tooth, near the end of October, beginning of November (forgot which day.)  He's already swelling as the molars start coming in, too. He got the usual Tooth Fairy visit, who was quite generous with a reply note and a dollar coin.  However, she also stole several things from the house which came up missing that same night, like Brandi's pillow.  Honestly, we're not sure where several items went, so the Fairy is getting the blame.  In the picture you'll see both my kids (the 5-year-old, and the 70-year-old) are now missing the same tooth.

Nick's obsessed with the new iPhone game 'Bad Piggies', which is really an impressive exercise in engineering. And Star Wars Angry Birds, which he really doesn't know what Star Wars is yet.  But the best App of the month is the new voice on the MotionX GPS that Nick selected for Mama... 'The Cougar' ("Re-routing. I don't mean to be rude, but you're going the wrong way, Darlin'. Is this going to go on all night?")

- Jason

Nick's Acting Debut

I mentioned Nick's acting gig for my project at work, and thought I'd share a couple photos from the shoot. The first one is of Nick showing them how he chugs a bottle of water (not part of the script, he volunteered that during a break), and the second is Nick doing his homework at the kitchen bar. Fortunately my office is a full-service facility, and we were able to simulate every room in a typical house from inside our building. As the casting director, I'm biased when I say we had great actors! He took to his Hollywood family like they'd always been there, eager to entertain.  We've finally published a generic version of the video for marketing and sales, accessible here.  Enjoy!

Nick's Life: October 2012

Nick's Uncle Jason came to visit this month, and Nick ended up with an xBox 360 gaming console. Turns out I play it more than he does (not all that much yet) but it does have some awesome car racing games (where we can actually race cars we own, and wreck them without guilt), and Nick is getting into airplane simulation. We also got outside to the pumpkin patch at Long's Farm, with apples and cider.

We visited the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum early in the month, where Nick got to play with educational games, and make candles.

He's started telling good jokes this month: "What do you call a cow with three legs?  Lean beef."  "What do you call a cow with no legs?  Ground beef."   And the whistling isn't as annoying now as others can recognize the tunes.

His grandpa grew him pumpkins in the back yard again this year, which he named Mr. Brown Stem, Judy, and Henry. We went 'trick-or-treat' in our neighborhood again, with Jack and his mom, and other kids. They had us over for hot dogs as a starter, before the candy consumption began.  Nick ate alot, but he never got sick. He dressed as a Shark this year, consistent with every book and TV show we've been watching the past month. The books we're reading now on sea life are way past kids' level (like, I can't pronounce half the words) but he can't get enough of them.

We shot a video at work for use with our eCommunity practice, and Nick was a star. We needed a young kid, so I volunteered him to help out.  The director asked if he was a hired actor. He was very cooperative, staged himself perfectly, and took immediately to his 'Hollywood family', two of my coworkers who are better looking than Nick's real parents. It happed to be the Halloween celebration at work, and he wore his shark costume for part of the day.  His best show is when he lays down on the ground, face down, to simulate a real swimming shark. He's become a mascot of sorts at work, where I've seen his picture spreading all over the office.

One day he looks at his chest and says, "What are all these cracks?" referring to his purple veins. (The Red Cross is going to be all over him, too.) We were wrestling in the house, and barked at me, "Stop or I'll strike!" which is from a snake story we've read. 

Pictures this month, as we get ready to close out year five!

- Jason

Nick's Life: September 2012

I looked forward to that father-son bonding moment where I steadied him on his bike absent training wheels, running behind him down the driveway cheering on his accomplishment, giant grin of paternal satisfaction. No such Kodak moment with Nick.  He basically hopped on the neighbor's bike, and rode off. They spent an entire summer practicing with their son, and then Nick comes along and acts like he didn't even notice the training wheels were gone. We had a mini-ritual of removing the training wheels from his bike, and then he rode off. The braking lesson took a little longer, but he had that down in about an hour.

Early in the month we flew kites at Kensington Metropark. He and mama both had their own kites, and we flew them for two hours on a perfect afternoon. He picked up quickly how to manage the string and keep a kite in the air.  We also participated in the Milford Duck Race where we bought a little rubber duck and watched it run down the small river (while avoiding being stepped on by the local idiots.)

When Nick is tired, he's done.  One picture this month is of him falling asleep while balanced between the couch and table.  But he always finds the energy for Gymnastics class.  He runs poor Coach Megan pretty ragged, then runs over to her at the end of class, and tells her, "You did good, Coach Megan," blows her a kiss, and she blushes. He's starting to wield charm as a weapon. There's a little girl named Zoey in his gymnastics, and kindergarten class at school. One of those kids at five years old where you think, he could marry this one if he wants. He'll be courting her with petal showers soon, I'm sure (where he pulls pedals from roses and tosses them over your head.)  Unlike the little boy who crowded him in line, which Nick plastered him over the head with his cafeteria tray. The kids are required to draw a picture of their misbehavior, and Nick drew two stick figures with trays over their heads, in battle (his drawing continues to impress me). He explains the lesson learned as, "First you tell the teacher. If that doesn't work, then WHAM!"  I'm working with him, trying to delay or eliminate the second phase of his approach.

Other firsts: tie-up laces on tennis shoes, but when he ties them wrong and his mama corrects him, he tells her, "No, honey, it's like this." He had his first sleep over, at William's house. He also learned to whistle this month (and won't stop, even with his mother threatening to pummel him... whistles during dinner, during TV, in the tub, in bed.)  He has his first loose tooth, a little early. 
He's almost the same height that I was at 6 years old, about four months early, and he's in pants that fall off his waist becase his legs are so long, pants that fit him have a waist for an eight-year-old. At the doctor for his latest vaccinations, he tells the nurse, "I like shots just a little bit, I'm tough."  Then switches his story when the needle appears to, "I do NOT like shots."

- Jason

Nick's Life: August 2012

Nick started calling us Dad and Mom this month, on our mini-vacation, so Daddy and Mama are no longer.  The word of the month is 'sure'. I rarely get a "yes" anymore, usually getting a, "sure thing," or, "sure, sure," or "sure do!"  And the word, "what."  If we ask him a question and he doesn't know the answer, he replies with 'what?'  (Reminds us of Dave Chappelle and the Lil John impressions, but most of you will shake your head at those if you don't know Lil John.)

He started kindergarten as we posted this entry, which was an adventure of adults messing up the simple things: lunches not ready, putting him on the bus when he was not supposed to be, wrong paper forms, directing us to people whose name the administrators didn't know ("go see the girl at such-and-such a building, I can't remember her name.")  He seems to be adjusting better than the clueless adults running the operation.

We took a short trip to St.Louis with stops along the way.  The end desination was Carrie and Brian's home, where we went to the Science Museum for a day, and saw an awesome IMAX movie about the Canadian Pacific steam trains of years ago.  Nick got to play with Brian's remote control planes and cars, and we spent a lot of time in the basement playing ping pong and fooseball.  Along the way we say the world's largest windchime, stopped in Toledo, IL, picked up wine from random wineries in small towns, and saw the Mid America Corvette Museum.  We were bummed the steam train museum we went to see was closed.

We saw quite a few car shows this month, including the Midwest Mustang show at Ford World Headquarters, and cruised at the Woodward Dream Cruise. We drove the Shelby down to the latter, for a couple of hours in the morning and evening -- it was my first time, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I estimated fuel economy of about 4 MPG on the trip up and down the strip, and it was worth every drop.

This month, we built a single-passenger fighter jet from a cardboard box (pictured here), and more planes and trains from cardboard tubes and such.

Plenty of pictures here.

- Jason

Nick's Life: July 2012

We made a summer trip to Pennsylvania to visit Brandi's family.  Along the Ohio Turnpike, having passed three rest areas that looked very similar, from the backseat comes, "Wait a minute!  We're driving in circles!"  We stopped along the way at the Cuyahoga Train Station and rode a real Diesel Train (which Nick "liked a little" but it wasn't a Steam Train.) Not the scenic route they claim it is, given most of the view is dense wilderness and the Akron sewage tile.  The days in Huntingdon were filled with time at Paesano's and relaxing by the pool... and lots of eating.  Uncle Andy took us for an evening ride on his pontoon, and Nick caught his first fish (bass); he also swam in Lake Raystown.

With the extreme heat, we've been in the pool nearly every weekend, and even sneaking down during the week.  The days of floating devices are behind Nick, as he swims without them, going underwater, somersaults and even diving from the poolside into the deep end.  One evening his grandpa jumped in with him and taught him how to dive - one of those moments I bet he will remember. The independence revolution continues, from showering on his own, to saving money for the things he wants by doing his chores: making his bed, clearing the dinner table, and emptying the trash.

This month's obsession, and artistic focus, has been under the ocean, paricularly with sharks, or anything that's a 'predator' (wolves, praying mantis).  Perfect timing for the Discovery network to play Shark Week.  There's a picture of Nick in the car with a whale and shark heads on poles, which he notes, "This shark is a paper predator."  It's those HD sharks that swim out of the TV that make him nervous.  Also happy he's expanding his TV interests to shows we can all enjoy.  Surprisingly, a version of the Jungle Book from 1942 had him glued to the tube.

Brandi found some huge rolls of drawing paper at the Ikea and we're going through it quickly.   'Experiments' have been big this month, messing with baking soda or taping pieces of whatever together to see what he can create.  We're saving everything from cardboard rolls to tissue boxes and egg boxes now for him to assemble into something new.

Lots of pictures this month from our adventures.

- Jason

Nick's Life: June 2012

We finished soccer this month, and would like to enroll him again since he enjoyed it so much.  Although, he was in goal during one of the last games, and it didn't go so smooth.  He was tangled in the net, upside down, with his shoes coming off as the ball went past him. Then on the second time down the field for the opposition, he was doing summersaults in net as the ball rolled past.  It appears he has my athleticism.

Nick connected this month with one of the movies we found, "Dolphin Tale".  He was so enthralled with the movie, laughing and crying at various scenes, it's the first time he's connected emotion on such a deep level with a show or movie like that.  He even slept a few nights with a statue of a dolphin.

We got to Waterford Oaks Water Park again this summer, most of the time spent in the wave pool, knocking him over.  In the evening, we watched fireworks and played on the trampalene at Bo and Robin's home.

He bowled his first real game (not counting one time when we was like two, and too young to really strategize.) His three games: 69, 83, 102, continuous improvement.

His independence continues to expand.  One morning he awoke and assembled a Lego truck from the directions, with no help. We did a plane together the night before, and he figured it out.  He also makes his own sandwiches now when he's hungry.  We came downstairs a couple weeks ago to find that he had raided the candy jar sometime during the night... a chair had been pushed up to the counter, and there was a trail of wrappers throughout the kitchen. He figured he was busted when I asked him about what I had found...I simply asked that he pick up after himself.  I have to figure out where to draw the line, though. He's been pronouncing our last name differently lately, which ultimately is up to him, but we need a little consistency during his childhood to avoid awkwardness.

He advised me recently that he's now a vegetarian, only eating lemons and Oreos. And he's been taking Fish Biscuits to school (they're actually cookies.)

Pictures here from this month.

- Jason

Nick's Life: May 2012

We played alot of Uno, since it's somewhat educational and I couldn't handle any more Zingo or Candyland without going insane. Like his mother, though, he'll sneak in his own rules on ocassion, like hiding cards behind his back in a "garbage pile." 
More time outside practicing his tee-ball swing, and soccer techniques. He likes soccer, but it's a sport about which I understand very little. He stays with the pack of kids and gets his kicks in, but likes being in the goal. He's too patient waiting for the ball, then when patience runs out and he gets angry, then he gets aggressive and gets his kicks in. All part of learning sports. He's easy to find in the videos, since he's got the darkest green shirt (they ran out of shirts when they got to Nick last.) With tee-ball, we practice a ton, but he wants no part of the tee, and wants to hit from the live pitch. At one point, he hit five in a row... switching from the right to the left side of the plate each time. 

On the new-foods front, he acutally ate a carrot and liked it, along with voluntarily consuming some evil lettuce, and fresh kiwi fruit. We discovered the Ice Cream Truck, with a keen ear out for the music coming down the street. I don't know how those guys make money anymore with kids all cooped inside playing video games. We walked past an ice cream store at the mall that was giving free cones that day if your name was Nick, which was a big hit (picture of him by the sign.) 


He's drawing constantly, from planes, to sea monsters and whales, to outdoor scenery (no blank sheet of paper is safe). I think it's funny that his tongue is always hanging out when he's focused. He says that, "improves his quality." And tons of pictures from what would appear that we live outside on sand or in water...pools, beaches. Also here are pictures of him outside with homemade bubble wands made from wire hangers, building a train out of our couch, outside playing hockey with Jack, passing time messing with his mother's makeup, and running the hydraulic lift on a towtruck. 


This month was mini-graduation from his Pre-K class, and I went to the picnic with him to meet some of his friends. Good group of kids, all hugging and saying good-bye like they were moving away when it was over. Kindergarten is up next in the Fall. 


Pictures from May, click here.


- Jason

2010 Ford Shelby GT500

These pictures are here for me so I can access pictures of the car when I come onto the site.  Summer is over, and she's back under a cover in storage.  Finally got some pictures on a good morning when the light was just right.

I moved this entry to May 1, 2012, the day I bought the car.  The photos were taken June 29, 2014.  But I can find them.

Nick's Life: April 2012

Our first visit to the Detroit Zoo was a struggle.  On a cool day with practically no one there, the part-time security was prepared for crowds like Elvis was performing at the Houndog exhibit.  Every turn we took was going 'the wrong way', setting off an alarm, or critically risking the lives of precious animals (or so we were told... that was in the butterfly house, which once we were in, was littered with dead butterflies already.  Not a nice exhibit.)  There's a picture here of Nick and Brandi in the Prarie Dog exhibit.  It was a lot of walking for Nick, and wore him out early.

Nick attended his first ballet when Seta, his friend next door, was performing in Cinderella with her dance crew.  He really watched it closely most of the time, and asked good questions (good questions because I ask the same things... I'm not all that culturally well-traveled.)  At one point, he threatened to storm the stage to take out the wicked stepsisters, but we restrained him.

Nick's interest in building things took off this month, so out came boxes of 30 year-old Lego blocks from the attic.  Every car I constructed decades ago has been dis-assembled and rebuilt into a jet plane somewhere.  The old city is back up in the new play room, or toy room as Nick calls it; we converted a bedroom into a dedicated toy area, so we no longer trip over train tracks out in the open walkways of the house.  He's now sleeping in his own bedroom as well, insistent on having his own space.

New foods this month: gnochi, dunklings (which are dumplings) and kiwi.

New Nickabulary: Cometeor (co-MEET-ee-or), which is a silver Corvette.

Many of the pictures this month are from the beginning of what appears to be every modern kid's agenda: continuously running to activities.  He's enrolled in soccer, tee ball, and a general intro-to-sports class.  Tee ball has been a real winner, with them already playing a game on the second day, where he covered every hit ball from left field, so they moved him to first base.  (Coach Jo scares me.  Tough woman.)  His buddy Jack is in the same tee ball class.  This class also gives him a chance to hit on the little blonde girls while they wait turns to bat (in my opinion, he really should chase the brunette, who has an awesome swing and a heckuva arm for a five-year old.)  We got some practice in tonite; he is throwing and hitting really well, but catching, not so much just yet.  I owed him male bonding time as the last week had me laid up with a kidney stone, followed by a kidney infection, topped off with a bad reaction to the antibiotic... six tough days, man.

Pictures here from this month, and a few left over from last month (like the sunflower cake, and Nick's re-creation of Plants v Zombies out of Play-Doh.)


- Jason

Nick's Life: March 2012

Nick has been zipping around outside on an old plastic bigwheel that was mine in another lifetime, which we brought down from the attic because he's decided to ride his toys down the sledding hill now that it's Spring, and the bigwheel is closer to the ground when he wipes out onto his face. So he rides over to see Mr. Steve, the neighbor, who is an engineer for Chrysler. And I overhear him say, "Mr. Steve, you have two Jeeps now, what the f#$k!" Of course his mother is mortified that this can't help our standing in the neighborhood. He says he learned it on the computer. I am at least proud it was a nice application of the word, in a reasonably correct context.

Flying his remote control plane outside has become a favorite activity. He was out in the yard flying it one afternoon, and crashed it into his mother's head... tangled in her hair. She tells him to get into the house, and he replies, "How about I just wait for you in the garage?" He's clamoring more to get outside with the onset of Spring, wanting to 'play baseball' and toss the frisbee (but not necessarily catch it). We're even running into his friends now at the playground, like Devin this past weekend.

Most inpressive has been Nick's drawing abilities. In about two weeks he went from unrecognizable scribbles of a toddler to a better artist than I am (the bar is very low). He's been posting drawings all over the house of the Titanic (his latest obsession after seeing a documentary), planes and trains, with intricate details. And lots of drawing on the driveway; one of the photos is a peashooter from Plants v Zombies. But the true obsession is still trains, which we visited the Detroit Model RR Club earlier in the month.

We had another month of battling birds; the starlings from last summer have returned, insistent on nesting in our exhaust vents... particularly those vents that are 25 feet above the ground. After a couple days of me teetering on a tall ladder with long poles and duct tape contraptions, taping vents shut, and them busting through, a printed photo of a hawk did the trick. Now I have horny hawks circling the house every morning flirting with the photo.

Pictures this month, click here. And finally a couple new videos at right.

- Jason

Nick's Life: February 2012

Nick took an increased liking to planes this month (finally a break from trains!). We flew his electric airplane, an Air Hog, at the playground one afternoon, and around the yard on the warmer days (and there's been alot of warmer days.) He's getting the hang of the controllers, and knows the names of the components more than I do. We setup an airport on the kitchen bar to pass a day's time, a place to land the small planes indoors.

New foods this month (and they're getting tougher now as he gets picky based on appearance): lemon yogurt, Superman Ice Cream, but there's nothing better than the gummy butterflies and gummy fried eggs at the bulk market.

The Jedi mind tricks continue. He exits the school one afternoon, and says, "You need a car wash." Then it's, "You need gas, too." All in a lead up to, "Let's go to Taco Bell!" which happens to be next door to the car wash and the gas station. But more than the persuasion is his sharpening sense of tone and context. I try to be funny with him (and I know I'm not always the easiest to read), like saying one morning, "Your big head doesn't fit thru the little hole in this shirt," as he's growing out of clothes quickly. He deadpans, "Was that a joke?" Sometimes it's like looking in the mirror as he picks up my demeanor. For the most part, though, he's still a very outwardly happy kid.

His dinnertime prayers have become more creative, and are starting to take bizarre turns. The Montessori school had some sort of agnostic pre-meal ritual about being thankful, and I think it confused him. The latest prayer is, "I love you godmother, and smoke coming out of your house, taking a trip, yow-wow, Amen." I haven't told his godmother to be mindful of open flames around her house yet.

There's some Polish genetic hand-waving thing coming out of his personality now. When he makes a point, he smacks one hand into the other palm like a karate chop, telling you, "That was my final answer." (Brandi says it's sign language, that they're teaching him that!) He was really wound up the day he emerged from school and I had a flat tire. "Oh, we got a cute little tire instead!" When he woke up the next morning, after I had the full-size tire replaced, he couldn't even eat breakfast before seeing it, quenching his excitement.

And we saw the movie The Lorax, which was Nick's first 3D movie. Didn't realize it until we got in, but he wore the glasses, and enjoyed the show. It was cool reading the book, then seeing the show. Another first for him this month was in his mama's dental chair getting his teeth cleaned. Unlike regular patients, he got to play with all the cool instruments that shoot out water and air, etc.

- Jason

Nick's Life: January 2012

Nick celebrated his 5th birthday at Castaway Play in Howell. It's a big indoor playground we've been to may times before, but always thought it would a good place for a party. He had like 14 kids show up (I lost count), every invitee. The kids were all well behaved (except for one small riff over the size of Nick's cake relative to another kid's recent party) and most of them ran for hours until they were exhausted. Nick being who he is, there was a little blonde girl on one of the inflatable slides intentionally blocking the slide part way down and making all the kids wait. So Nick thinks it through, climbs over her, grabs her feet, and drags her to the bottom, to a round of applause. He will not be denied. He was showered with gifts from birthday and Christmas, our friends and family were extremely generous. We had to designate a toy room after the holiday to contain it all.

I pick him up from school one evening, and ask him about his day. From the back seat, he says, "Give me a minute, I'm thinking." I'm getting more of these responses lately. He's busy, he can't be interrupted, he's deep in thought... what's so heavy on the mind of a five-year old?

With his new school comes the opportunity to ride the bus, which comes to pick him up curbside. Kindly the driver and her helper have been very patient with Nick. In the first week, he complained about taking a dirt road, a bumpy road, and coming home using directions with which he was not familiar, or as Nick calls it, "the wrong way!" They've changed the entire route just for him. I apologized to the driver - some of that is clearly from him hanging out with me. And the route number is easy to remember... Nick rides Route 66.

We've reached the age of food experimentation. He creates bizarre concoctions like Doritos inside bread, or crackers in a tortilla, or dipping his sandwich into his Kool-Aid. What he doesn't know is his mama has been creating puree from vegetables and slipping them into his usual food, so he's getting carrots, beets and cauliflower in small doses when he least expects it. We've uncovered a few new allergies, too, but had some success.

Pictures here from Month 61!

- Jason