Gutter Child of Calcutta

Conversation in car post-Beau meltdown that lasted about twenty minutes:

Me (sweating profusely): "Don't you just love how we plan and plan and plan every little thing so the trip goes smoothly, then...WHAM...Beau decides today is the day to be ill and there go all those fabulous plans and we end up looking like complete idiot parents flying by the seat of our pants?"

Evan (after a few thoughtful moments): "So...does that make him God?"

Me (dumbfounded): "Whaaa?"

Evan: "You know humans make all the plans but really we're all supposed to be following God's plan."

Me (peering at sleeping Beau): "Hmmm. Nah..."

Welcome to THE SUMMER OF BEAU- 2010!
This is the summer in which we intended to get him out of daycare and completely well within a week and then travel, travel, travel. Bahahahahaha! But seriously folks, God has a plan for Beau's ear infections and colds and in time he will reveal it.

Apparently it was not for Beau to get well within a week and travel, travel, travel because here we are well into June and Beau's ear infections are still hanging out. Add to that the fact that he began teething and you having the makings for a child-star of a horror film (read: The Omen or Exorcist). We sat Beau down and told him that the ear infections are not his friends and that if those were the friends he chose to hang out with then we were going to start choosing his friends. He laughed at us.

So you may be wondering, "What were Beau's plans?" As far as we can tell eating was pretty high up on his agenda. He's eating solid-ish stage 1 foods and he loves 'em! So far he has loved everything at first taste except peaches (funny- considering that he was born in Georgia).

Beau apparently looked at the milestone calendar this month and decided to knock out three in as many days before his 6 month birthday. Evan and I realized at that very moment that our son was a procrastinator just like us...we hung our heads in shame. In a way we were proud at least he got in there and got the job done on time. He rolled over from tummy to back, sat up on his own, and sprouted a tooth.

Interesting story on how he sat up on his own the first time. Remember the horror of Easter pictures? Well, I decided you can't keep a good Manderson down and signed us up again...at Olan Mills...at one slung up in KMart...because I had a coupon. Here was the deal $9.99 for a huge package of one pose. So I decided that it would be neat to have pics of Evan and Beau taken for Father's Day. They dressed in their Florida State best and off we went. This time I was smart enough to get the first appointment on a holiday. Beau had eaten and napped so we were good. He took such awesome pictures...even when the photographer laid him on his tummy! Then she asked, "Can he sit up?" We replied, "Not yet." but she sat him up anyway and just as I was racing to catch him he just grinned at the camera like he'd been doing it his whole life...for like 10 seconds then toppled over. Evan and I just stared at him and each other like, "Did he just do that?".



Beau has been experiencing plenty of growing pains this summer and to ease his pain (and our own) we do whatever makes the child feel better. That has included things that I swore I would never let MY CHILD do (I was so uppity). For instance, he's so hot natured and it is so hot that I started buying him sleeveless tops, when that didn't cut it, I just let him run around in his diaper like a gutter child in Calcutta (this I swore I would never do). I have also tossed the socks, but I do still try to keep sandals on him (when he's dressed).



Add to his pains a diaper rash from antibiotics and you have the makings for some real entertainment because that's when mommy and daddy say to heck with the diaper, throw down old towels, and make Beau's day...it's NEKKED TIME! The child loves nothing more than his thirty minutes twice a day of rolling around on the floor in his birthday suit. He just laughs and giggles and talks up a storm. He only gets upset if he sees you go near a diaper. You see, Evan and I know what we've set ourselves up for...embarrassment, that's what. Evenings, or days, of Beau running into the middle of company naked as the day he was born laughing and giggling the whole time or undressing in public- whichever is more humiliating at the time. That's OK though we'll get him back with bubbles...they scare the bejeezus out of him! So much for all of the fun times Baby Center promised us.

For the time being we'll just let our child run around (roll around) in his altogether having the best time of his life...so far.