Nature

Today, Papa took Eddie to Knee-High Naturalists, a nature club at High Park. They learned about animal tracks and food clues, then went outside to look for animal signs. They saw lots of dog tracks, and also squirrel tracks and nests, chipmunk holes, and other animal signs. Eddie had a lot of fun, especially because it was unseasonably warm and there were huge swaths of deep squelchy mud.

Eddie really enjoyed this nature club, which is good, because he is sort of a city boy. When Papa tried to take him hiking in High Park a week or two ago, he was enthusiastic about the idea, but as soon as he got in the woods he wanted to go home. "This is taking a long time," he commented. "When will we be back in the city?"

Grooming

Last night Eddie and Vincent were hiding together under the table. Turns out Eddie was trimming Vincent's hair with kiddie scissors.

Doctors

Eddie's fingernail has been infected for over a month now. We ended up giving him a course of antibiotics.  Unfortunately, his fingernail finally detached and fell off on Thursday. The doctor prescribed another course of antibiotics, and we'll keep it covered with a bandaid until it grows back, which will probably take 4 months.

Eddie also visited the eye doctor (Owl Optometry) last week for his first vision checkup. He did very well, and the optometrist says his vision seems great. Eddie was impressed with the selection of toys in the waiting room, and with the Valentines chocolates he got afterward (which said "Owl be your valentine".)

Yesterday, Eddie went to the dentist's for his first checkup and cleaning. He did very well there, too! The dentist gave him candy-flavored flossers and candy-flavored mouthwash (what the heck, dentist?) which he is pretty excited about.

Just baby things

Places Vincent likes to practice standing unassisted:

• The stairs
• The sofa
• On top of Eddie's junior chair
• Windowsills

Vincent now does quite a bit of his practical locomotion by walking like a zombie, with his arms stretched out. He still resorts to crawling when he is in a hurry.

Walkin

On parents

In the evening, Eddie commented "I wish I was in a house with no grown-ups."

Family portrait

From left to right, we have Vincent, Papa, Mamma, and Eddie.

The lives of superheroes

Eddie: "Did you know that Batman has two beds?"

Papa: "Really?"

Eddie: "Yeah, so that sometimes he can have sleepovers with his friend Superman!"

First steps

Yesterday, Vincent took his first little steps! In the morning, he pulled up on the dress-up bin and got out a wizard hat. Then he used both hands to put it on, leaving him standing unsupported. After he finally got the hat on, he realized that he was standing, and apparently thought "Hey! I can do this!"

After that, he's been standing unsupported lots of times. If you kneel in front of him and hold out your arms, he will smile really big, think about it, then totter a few steps to your arms. He is really proud of himself.

Eddie is excited too and wants Vincent to walk to him (but Vincent doesn't seem to think he is quite as reliable a landing pad).