Attack of the mosquito....

As I sit here and count my numerous mosquito bites, I am reminded of our lovely anniversary celebration this past weekend. Did we go camping along the Guadalupe River or hike Sugarloaf Mountain? No. In fact we were quite dressed up when I was attacked by a swarm of mosquito's.

Saturday the family hit the pool. This time Isaac really enjoyed himself and was very brave as I dunked him under the water. There was no crying (except at the end, when it was time to go home and he was ready for a nap) and fun times were had by everyone. Tobe took Isaac to his parents house after naptime while I finished getting ready for our anniversary date. Then just the two of us were off to our favorite fondue place for a relaxing evening of cooking everything imaginable in hot oil. We eat at this establishment every year for our anniversary and only then. We actually started this tradition on our first anniversary because the school where I taught had given all teachers one of those massive Super Saver coupon books and it had a coupon for this fondue restaurant. We love a good coupon and then became hooked on this place. It was yummy food, as usual, and neither of us suffered any major burns from the hot oil. However, the air conditioning broke while we were there. Imagine sitting in a building during the Texas summer where everyone is cooking over a pot of hot oil at their table without air conditioning. It was pretty hot for a bit, but the air soon kicked back in while we were enjoying our dessert course of Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondue and assorted dipping goodies.

Now you are likely wondering if the swarm of mosquitoes came flying into the restaurant, attacking unsuspecting customers as they breaded and fried their meats. No. After eating, Tobe and I decided to stop off at the local Botanical Gardens and enjoy them in the final light of day. As we stood in the gardens reminiscing about our wedding day five years ago, mosquitoes ate me alive. Did I mention that we were standing on a bridge over a dried-up creekbed? Probably not a wise thing. To count, I have a least 35 bites. I have contemplated looking up "West Nile Virus" on WebMD to make sure I am familiar with the symptoms should I be stricken with this illness. If I do look it up, I will likely just convince myself I have West Nile (when I actually do not) and end up causing a local panic. So I have resisted that urge.

For our anniversary, we buy presents according to the traditional list of suggested gifts. This has proven to be very fun and requires us to be creative, especially when a year has been designated a very odd gift (ex. Iron). This year was wood and Tobe gave me a lovely (and huge) picture frame. We are going to have a new family portrait taken of the three of us to place in this beautiful frame. The present I bought for Tobe was placed on back-order, then my order was cancelled, and then I was allowed to re-order it. After quite the run-around, I was able to purchase his gift but it still has not arrived. I sent Tobe on a scavenger hunt around the house looking for his present, where he finally ended up at the computer opening a desktop file with a picture of his present. Pretty sorry, but it was the best I could do without going to the post office and harassing its workers until they allowed me to dig through packages. Tobe was a great sport and acted excited about his picture of his present.

In Isaac news, he seems to have had a big "learning spurt" over the past few days. We have been doing sign language with him for months now. He recognizes the signs we use, but has yet to use any of them. On Sunday, he finally did the sign for "more." Yeah!! Last night we let him have some homemade cinnamon apples that we were eating with our dinner. He loved them and would sign "more" to get each new bite. You would have thought the child had recited the Preamble to the Constitution by our reactions. He also makes this specific noise to communicate now. Hard to explain in the written form so just use your imagination. He will use it to show happiness, annoyance, sadness, etc. He really is starting to figure out the whole communication thing beyond the basics of crying, laughing, and saying "Mamamamama" over and over when he is upset in his crib. I know one day we might ask ourselves, "Why did we ever teach this child to talk?" but for right now it is so exciting! Isaac also waves (especially at his reflection in the oven door) and says what appears to be "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii." I believe this comes from his Arkansan mother who makes the word "Hi" have at least two syllables. I am working on not dragging out this word when I say it to Isaac so that he won't have my accent.

Isaac has also stopped eating baby food. Last Thursday he began shoving the spoon away. At first I thought he was just being grumpy because his two bottom teeth were coming in (they are almost all the way in now--Thank Goodness! He was not a happy camper during this process). He eats mostly table food and we are lucky to get 1/2 a serving of baby food down him. However, he will eat any table food (he had stir-fry last night) as long as he can feed himself. This independent child will want to drive himself to Kindergarten I fear. He suddenly has a craving for his bottle, which would have been great six months ago when we struggled to get him to eat. However, I am about to start weaning him off the bottle at the first of July before he becomes incredibly attached and is swigging on one while he drives himself to Kindergarten. Any suggestions/tips/ideas on bottle-weaning that worked for you?

Finally, Isaac wants to give a shout out to his friend, LP--the third generation. Happy Birthday LP3! We are sorry we missed your party and hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Our anniversary last year (with Isaac in tow)

Our anniversary this year (minus Isaac)