Two years old and fidoo free

Yes, we did it. We accomplished our goal and with time to spare. The fidoo is just a memory now. Thank you for your many helpful tips- it proved to be much easier than I had anticipated.
So Etienne is two now. That means I have been blogging for two years, since I started this blog just after he was born. Time sure flies. And James will be four soon, and then school will start and then college and marriage and.....
no I will not worry about being a grandma yet.

So anyways, Steve likes to follow the kids around with the camera sometimes and take lengthy photo shoots. Usually they won't cooperate and most of the pictures end up being the back of their head. Yesterday however, Etienne seemed bent on posing for the camera. I thought these pics captured some of his quirky character, and let us see what had been hiding behind that pacifier. So I give you the many faces of my big two year old.

This picture disturbed me a little. He looks a little too comfortable strutting his stuff down the cat walk.


Wide eyed innocence is a better look for him.


I love how Steve caught the younger brother admiring his older brother's ability to play with mud.


Everything is a wonder at this age- even the zoom lens.


I call this look 'Blue Steel'


Dad- what is that thing crawling up your arm?!!!


Again, a little too comfortable with the posing.


Alright Dad, enough already.

Six Months

So here is my little Seb at six months. I remember taking shots of Etienne at this age in the same little suit and it seems like two months ago, maybe three. And now Etienne is two this week. Yikes. Well, onward we go.

"I walked the dog!" (or the dog walked me)

It has been awhile since I have done a Strider post, but Moriah's post of yesterday reminded me that we actually have a dog who is sometimes worth writing about. James, my big boy who is finally taller than the dog, decided he was man enough to try and walk him today.
Now normally not even I feel man enough to walk the dog. He is huge, hairy, and incredibly strong. I have attempted it several times with the stroller only to have him knock me and the stroller down whenever a stray squirrel happens across the road. Therefore he gets neglected.
However, it was a very lovely day today, and I felt sorry for the poor beast. Every time we take a walk without Strider, he yelps and cries so loudly that I can hear him all the way to the park four blocks away, let alone the little field just across the street where he can see us the whole time. So I yielded to James's request.

He did really well, only getting pulled through the grass face first a few times. He quickly figured out that the only way to stop him was to sit down with his boots dug into the ground. It was just so funny to see skinny little James trying to get that monster to obey him. But I was proud of him. He never let go of the leash, much to the relief of several people walking close by. I don't know why, but people tend to get nervous around our gentle, man-eating dog.

Operation get rid of fidoo

It is time to dispense with "fidoo". Etienne calls his pacifier "fidoo", derived from the second half of the word and pronounced as he pronounces all words ending in er such as- "wadoo" for water, "stridoo" for Strider the dog, etc. He is my only pacifier dependent baby, and I do mean dependent.









He has always been quiet, but the paci increases this tendency. Now I am noticing, as he starts to talk more, that his fidoo is affecting his speech patterns, seeing as he is always trying to talk around a rubber stopper in his mouth. He is also getting bigger and stronger and chewing holes in the rubber so that they are always full of nasty spit, and I just throw them away. That leaves us with just a few, and I am constantly on the hunt for them which is annoying seeing as they are usually behind the crib or hiding in low, baby height places. Besides, I think he looks much cuter without it.


So my goal is to have him clean and sober by his second birthday, which is in just a couple of weeks. Any tips?

P.S. In looking through all these old photos, I noticed that it is also time to start thinking about James and his thumb sucking. And then there are the security blankets. Yikes. Well, one thing at a time.

A day at the zoo

So the weather here in Chattanooga has jumped from frigid to toasty in about three days. Last week we were huddled up in the house with sweaters and scarves,. Today the doors and windows are wide open and the thermometer inside reads 78 degrees, with no help from the heater. So we took advantage of the nice day yesterday and did something we have been meaning to do for a while- go to the local zoo. Chattanooga is not known for its great zoo- they seem to have put all their time and energy into the aquarium. The zoo however, is actually affordable, and it doesn't take that much to impress a three and almost two year old.
It really wasn't a bad little zoo, if you could ignore the fact that it was stuck in the middle of a busy city, surrounded by loud trains and the sounds of sirens and trucks from the nearby highway. The boys actually seemed most interested in the choo choos.
We adults were particularly impressed by the birds- talking parrots, preening peacocks, turkeys, hawks, owls and some crazy African cranes with pom poms on their heads. They also had a lovely display of local crows! Who goes to the zoo to see crows? They may be my least favorite birds.
They had some cool cats too- a snow leopard, a jaguar, a cougar and other big felines. Unfortunately, they were all napping, so not much action. They had the usual chimps and a reptile house etc.- oh, and camels. Those are weird looking creatures I must say. As are the ugly hyenas they had. Yuck. Anyways- I took some videos, but was unable to upload them. I will leave it to your imagination to hear the parrot talking, the peacock showing off his feathers for a lady turkey, and Etienne chasing the goats in the petting zoo and calling them dogs. I did take a few photos though.