Fenn celebrated Cinco de Mayo by enjoying a dinner of black beans and a cheese quesadilla. As you can see, he really enjoyed his black beans! At one point, he even had a big clump of black beans stuck in his hair.
Fenn had another big weekend with lots of "firsts". On Saturday, we went to his second swim lesson. This time, I got in the pool with Fenn and Dan. Because of this, I don't have any photos. But during this lesson, Fenn went under water for the very first time. In fact, he went under water several times. He did great! We need to work on getting him to do a better job of closing his mouth. But he'll get there. First, we just dunked him quickly. Then we would take him under and have him "swim" about one or two feet. The next activity was sitting them on the side of the pool and then taking them under water. And the last activity involved walking across a little ramp that extends from the side of the pool out into the pool (made up of little foam float mats) and then "jumping" into the water and going under. Not one time did Fenn ever cry during his lesson and all the times that he went under water.
On the way home from the lesson, we decided to go to Bruster's Ice Cream and use the coupon we got in a prize egg from Easter. Dan and I both got ice cream, but we didn't get Fenn any for himself because we haven't been able to get him to eat ice cream before now. We tried a couple of times with an ice cream cone from Chick-fil-A, but we think he didn't like how cold it was. So any time you tried to give him any, he would shake his head and refuse it. But this time, we could tell he was interested in our ice cream. Dan offered him a bite of his, and he took it immediately. After that, we couldn't get him to stop eating our ice cream! At least now, we know he's our child!
Later that afternoon, I was on the phone with my mom wishing her a Happy Birthday when I heard the freezer door open. (We have one of those french door refrigerators with the freezer on the bottom.) I looked in the kitchen to find Fenn standing at the freezer reaching in to get an ice cube. So now one of his favorite things to do is open the freezer, get a piece of ice, and take it to Petey. I'm not really sure of why he thinks Petey wants the ice. But he'll leave a trail of melting ice cubes through the house if you don't keep an eye on him. Oh, and he'll leave the freezer door standing wide open. We're working on teaching him that he at least has to close the door when he's done. Otherwise, we're trying not to make too much of a big deal out of this because we're hoping he'll lose interest in this new activity. We figure if we insist that he not go into the freezer, he'll just want to do it even more.
And the last "first" for the weekend is not one we're real excited about. He has figured out how to open doors. He opened the door to our bathroom and to our bedroom. He's been trying for a while now, but he just couldn't get a good enough grip on the door knob. I think he's gotten a little taller, though, and can finally get it to turn enough to open. Guess that means it's time to do some more child proofing! My baby is not so much of a baby any more, is he?
Fenn had another big weekend with lots of "firsts". On Saturday, we went to his second swim lesson. This time, I got in the pool with Fenn and Dan. Because of this, I don't have any photos. But during this lesson, Fenn went under water for the very first time. In fact, he went under water several times. He did great! We need to work on getting him to do a better job of closing his mouth. But he'll get there. First, we just dunked him quickly. Then we would take him under and have him "swim" about one or two feet. The next activity was sitting them on the side of the pool and then taking them under water. And the last activity involved walking across a little ramp that extends from the side of the pool out into the pool (made up of little foam float mats) and then "jumping" into the water and going under. Not one time did Fenn ever cry during his lesson and all the times that he went under water.
On the way home from the lesson, we decided to go to Bruster's Ice Cream and use the coupon we got in a prize egg from Easter. Dan and I both got ice cream, but we didn't get Fenn any for himself because we haven't been able to get him to eat ice cream before now. We tried a couple of times with an ice cream cone from Chick-fil-A, but we think he didn't like how cold it was. So any time you tried to give him any, he would shake his head and refuse it. But this time, we could tell he was interested in our ice cream. Dan offered him a bite of his, and he took it immediately. After that, we couldn't get him to stop eating our ice cream! At least now, we know he's our child!
Later that afternoon, I was on the phone with my mom wishing her a Happy Birthday when I heard the freezer door open. (We have one of those french door refrigerators with the freezer on the bottom.) I looked in the kitchen to find Fenn standing at the freezer reaching in to get an ice cube. So now one of his favorite things to do is open the freezer, get a piece of ice, and take it to Petey. I'm not really sure of why he thinks Petey wants the ice. But he'll leave a trail of melting ice cubes through the house if you don't keep an eye on him. Oh, and he'll leave the freezer door standing wide open. We're working on teaching him that he at least has to close the door when he's done. Otherwise, we're trying not to make too much of a big deal out of this because we're hoping he'll lose interest in this new activity. We figure if we insist that he not go into the freezer, he'll just want to do it even more.
And the last "first" for the weekend is not one we're real excited about. He has figured out how to open doors. He opened the door to our bathroom and to our bedroom. He's been trying for a while now, but he just couldn't get a good enough grip on the door knob. I think he's gotten a little taller, though, and can finally get it to turn enough to open. Guess that means it's time to do some more child proofing! My baby is not so much of a baby any more, is he?
On Saturday, Fenn had his very first swim lesson. We're going to Mr. Ed's 
The session starts out with getting the child used to having water poured over their face. First, you let the water drain out of the holes in the bottom of the bucket, and then you just dump the whole thing over their face. Fenn did great with this part because we've always dumped the water over his face when bathing him. He did get a little irritated, though, because Dan had to keep doing it over and over. I think he was just ready for a break!
Next, they are put on a float mat where I guess they're supposed to get comfortable being on their belly and having their feet straight out behind them. And then you hope to get them to start kicking their feet.
Next, they are put on a barbell-looking contraption. It really does the same thing as the mat, but Mr. Ed said some kids prefer this over the mat. That was the case with Fenn. He seemed much more comfortable on the barbell thing.
For the next exercise, you put them on their backs to start getting them comfortable with floating. At the end of the class, they sang some songs and played some games as a group.
Most of the class is made up of other toddlers about the same age as Fenn, with a few older kids in there, too. Overall, I think the first class was a success. Fenn didn't seem to be traumatized by anything. Of course, the goal is to eventually take him under water. But we, along with the parents of the other kids Fenn's age, opted not to do this during the first class. At least I don't think any of the other parents took their kids under so soon.
We did come to the conclusion that it is much easier if both parents are in the pool. It just makes it easier to get the child in the correct position for the various exercises. Plus, one parent can hold the child and the other can get in front of them and talk to them. So.... it looks like I'm going to have to pull out the maternity swimsuit and get in the pool for the next couple of classes. After that, I guess Dan will have to do it by himself. It's a 5-week class, so he'll have two more scheduled classes after Piperbean #2 is born on the 15th. I'll miss the 4th class. But at least I can still plan to go to the last class on the 23rd of May. I'll just have the little one in tow and won't be able to get in the pool with Fenn and Dan. I love this last photo. He had just gotten out of the pool and had such a happy little look on his face.
After the hunt, we went to lunch at 
Anyway, I did another little mini photo session with Fenn. Once again, it was a little difficult since I didn't have anyone to help me with him. So I didn't get some of the shots I would have liked to have gotten because he kept moving around and I didn't want him to fall and hit his head on the concrete structures in the park. He had a great time climbing on the steps, running back and forth from one end to the other.
On Sunday afternoon after daddy got home from work, we went out in the front yard to hide some more Easter eggs and take some more photos of Fenn is his cute little "Monkey" outfit his Uncle Todd and Aunt Angie gave to him. The outfit had matching sunglasses, so I couldn't resist a photo session. Fenn had a great time running around the front yard, picking up Easter eggs, playing in his car, and watching his daddy be goofy. (You'll see what I mean by 'goofy' when you scroll down a little!)
I posted these photos on my Facebook page, too. For the photo below, an old high school friend added the funniest comment to it: "Jeez, someone scratched the finish on my ride!" I thought that was hilarious and a great match to the expression on Fenn's face.
In the last photos, I'm not really sure of what made Dan decide to do a handstand-into-a-backbend. But I'm glad I caught it on my camera because I don't think anyone would have believed me otherwise. Be sure to give him a hard time about this next time you see or talk to him!
On Friday, I got a voicemail from my brother, Greg, saying he and Tucker (his oldest child) were going to be in Knoxville for the weekend. Tucker's basketball travel team would be playing in a tournament. They didn't even find out about the tournament until the first part of the week. So it was a nice surprise to know we'd get a chance to hang out a little. They live in Birmingham and we don't see them nearly as often as we would like. Tucker's first game of the day was at Thompson-Boling Arena at 8:30 a.m. So Dan helped me get ready and then Fenn and I headed downtown to meet up with Greg. (Of course, by the time we got there, the first game was over.) When we got there, Uncle G met us in the parking lot and opened the back door to greet Fenn. Fenn immediately took to Greg, even though he hasn't seen him since December. He quickly learned who his Uncle G is. If you asked him, "Where is Uncle G?", he would tap his finger on Greg's chest. And he would even try to say Uncle G, mostly coming out as 'uh geeee'. The nice thing for me was that Greg took Fenn and entertained him while we were there... giving me a wonderful (and much appreciated) break! It has been really hard keeping up with Fenn since I'm almost 35 weeks pregnant now. Greg went up and down and up and down the arena steps with Fenn. I'll be glad when he's big enough to do steps on his own. When do you start feeling like they can handle it without falling and hurting themselves???
At first, Tucker was across the arena with his team. But then he did get to come over for a while and visit with us. He gave me a big hug, which I thought was pretty cool that a 16 year old was comfortable doing that in front of his teammates. But Tucker has always been a great kid! So smart and so talented (in many ways)... and handsome, too! He looks SO much like his dad when his hair is cut short.
...and then he decided to share with his Uncle G. We were actually sitting at a table right there at courtside.
We had to head home shortly after the 2nd game started so Fenn could take a nap. But we joined up with Greg later in the afternoon for a late lunch at Tomato Head on Market Square. Then we headed back to the house to hang out. Greg had to go back to another game at 8:30 that night. He had planned to go to church with us the following morning for Easter service, but then Tucker's team won again and he found out they had an early morning game. They made it to the semi-finals before getting knocked out of the tournament. Thanks, Greg, for giving us a call. We're glad you were able to stay with us on Saturday night.
Since I actually did a post for Easter Sunday, I'll just add a few more pictures here. Fenn was getting sleepy by this time. We had already been to church and then to brunch, so it was time for his morning nap.
Also, Fenn went to the pediatrician on March 25th for his 15-month checkup and to receive two nasty shots in his thighs. As always, he was a little trooper and only cried briefly. He was fine once I picked him up. His pediatrician, Dr. Herron, is always impressed at how sweet and still he is when she's examining him. I think it's because he thinks she's pretty. He uses his blue eyes to charm her by staring up into her eyes and watching what she's doing to him. Check out his most recent stats... and notice the big change in where his length is percentile-wise. That's a big slow down, or maybe the last time he had just experienced a big growth spurt.
Fenn is right on target with all his major milestones for his age. His vocabulary continues to grow, even though not everyone is likely to understand what he is saying. Two of his newest words are 'outside' and 'garage'. He gets really excited when you mention going outside. In fact, if you don't intend to actually go outside, you'd better not say the word! Last weekend, I bought him a little plastic toddler slide that can be used inside or outside. By this weekend, he had pretty much mastered how to climb up the three steps, sit down on top with his feet in front of him, and slide down on his own. Of course, I'm not completely comfortable yet, so I make sure I'm standing behind him when he is climbing up on top.
Another recent development is that Fenn no longer drinks from a bottle. First, we had gotten rid of the daytime bottles, while still giving him one at bedtime. But we recently stopped doing that one and offer him some milk from his sippy cup instead. And the only time Fenn uses a pacifier is at night when he's sleeping. We knew that would be the last thing to go. And we're hoping to get rid of it by the time Piperbean #2 comes along. Otherwise, we're afraid Fenn will grow even more attached due to the trauma of accepting another little bean in the house.
