Edmund's First Haircut and "Lice"

Edmund's New "Do"

I've missed posting the last few weeks. Unfortunately, things around here have been pretty routine. I wasn't sure you all would want to hear about how Edmund woke up, went to school, clung to mommy (there has been a lot of clinging lately), went home, took a nap, ate dinner, and went to bed. Actually Edmund has done quite a bit in the last few weeks, but because I have spent the last few weeks of his clinging stage feeling like a bad mother and a bad teacher, I wasn't quite up to posting cute anecdotes. Having a co-teacher this year who understands this whole feeling like a bad mother thing has been quite helpful. My co-teacher Jennifer has a daughter named Emma who is 2 1/2 months older than Edmund. Emma has a fiery, but hilarious personality. The two of them went through this phase 2 months ago, so at least I know there's an end in sight. It also helped that my book club read a book called Bad Mother this past month and discussed it on my lowest point of feeling like that "bad mother." It was nice to know that other women felt the same way, and we were each there to lift up one another. Enough of my wallowing--on to the cute stuff.

Edmund got his first professional haircut last Saturday. Edmund had a daddy cut a few months ago. Daddy did a great job with the hair around the ears, but then got overenthusiastic. He decided to cut straight across the front of Edmund's forehead. Of course what did Mommy ask he not do?-- cut the hair straight across the forehead. So I have waited patiently for Edmund's hair to grow out enough for him to get a "big boy" haircut. We took him to Peek-A-Do, a salon for kids. The salon has little airplanes and boats the kids can sit in while getting their hair cut. While they row their boats and fly their planes the children can watch episodes of "Dora the Explorer." Not knowing how Edmund would respond to having his hair cut, I figured the fact the salon had TV might be good. I reasoned Edmund would be so intrigued by the shiny black box he has rarely seen, that he would forget a person he didn't know was coming at him with a sharp object.

The hair stylist led Edmund to an airplane. As soon as we put him in it he started to reach for me. He could care less that Dora was asking Backpack for assistance on her quest. I asked if I could hold Edmund, and the stylist said that would be just fine. From then on Edmund was the perfect gentleman. Of course he occasionally decided to turn his head at the exact moment the stylist tried to make a snip, but all in all he sat still. Edmund's hair didn't look much different when we were done--much cleaner in the back and shorter in the front, but for now he still has a baby "do." Maybe next time we'll decide to go all out, but this trip to the salon was more about getting Edmund comfortable with the whole process. As always, he charmed all the stylists with his gappy grin and cooperative nature. They can't wait to see him back

And now for the lice...

Yesterday after school I put Edmund on the floor in our bedroom while I busied about the room putting things away. When I finally caught my breath, I noticed Edmund was scratching his head like a mad man. I looked at him and in an exasperated tone said, "I sure hope you don't have lice." Immediately Edmund stopped scratching, gazed up in the direction of our ceiling light, and pointed. I started cracking up. I had no idea Edmund knew what the word "light meant". It took "lice" to make me aware that Edmund understands so much more than I give him credit for. You can breathe a sigh of relief. I checked Edmund over, and he most certainly does not have lice.

East Coast Traveller

Sunset on the Beach

Greetings friends and family,

I (Edmund) have just returned from a month of east coast travels. What an adventuresome month it was. My first trip took me to Holden Beach, one of the finer beaches in North Carolina if I do say so myself. I loved spending time in our beach house. There were so many Pattishall relatives to entertain. I do believe they found me to be quite the hit. I fell in love with my 8 year old cousin, Emma. I am told I met her last summer, but you'll have to excuse my 4 week old memory. Whatever Emma did, I wanted to do. I got my first taste of Congo Bar (a cookie/brownie dessert) because when I saw Emma eating one, I did a u-turn to follow her. I didn't know what she had. It could have been dirt, but I knew if she was eating it, it had to be good.

We spent the early mornings and late afternoons by the ocean. I spent a lot of my time in a kiddie pool right next to the water. This let me play in the water without getting crashed upon by rough waves. Several relatives took turns playing with me so mommy and daddy could catch some of those rough waves. Guess what! On one occasion mommy swam into the ocean past the breaking waves, when all of a sudden she saw a fin appear above the water about 5 feet away. She didn't know what it was. Her first thought was "shark." But then daddy and my cousin Ian confirmed it was a dolphin. Can you believe it? I'm not sure I do, as I wasn't able to witness the event with my own eyes. I was too busy sitting in my little beach chair figuring out how to replace the lid on a Parmesan cheese container (very important work).

When the sun was fiercest, mommy and daddy brought me in for lunch and a nap. I'm told a tradition at the beach is to eat lunch while watching "The Price is Right." Even though I'm not supposed to watch tv, I did manage to catch a few minutes of the program while eating my lunch. I've become quite the Plinko fan. Often, during lunch however, I didn't let mommy or daddy watch "The Price is Right", for I discovered a large yellow broom in the pantry. I became quite enamored with the broom. As it was quite cumbersome, I required some assistance during my sweeping times (during my parents' lunchtime of course). I'm thinking a janitorial career may be in my future.

The week at the beach was filled with excitement but had to come to an end. I let mommy and daddy know I was none too thrilled with ending my vacation during the car ride back to Chapel Hill. I refused to take a nap and made myself heard from the back seat. They look back now and laugh, but wait until they make me leave next year.

After a week back in the routine at school, mommy and daddy again put me in the car and drove me to some unknown locale. I'm told it was an airport. I loved seeing the big planes up close. Sometimes I see and hear them overhead at school, but this was much more fun. But wait, it gets better. Mommy and daddy took me on several of these big planes. I slept for the majority of the plane rides, but when I was awake I was in awe of my view.

After arriving at the airport in Albany, NY, we rented a car and headed to Pleasant Hill (my great-uncles' place in NY). Mommy and daddy told me that Uncle Bill and Uncle Jared gave me my birthday balloons. That was all I needed to hear. We became fast friends. They had blueberries, ice cream, and a dog named Dale waiting and ready for me. "What more could a boy ask for?" you say. They also had stairs to climb, walked me around, and helped me climb a tree. I even found a broom lurking in a corner, but for some reason mommy and daddy steered me away from it. I guess they didn’t want me to help clean my uncles’ house. Oh well. It’s quite a feat that mommy and daddy got me to leave this wonderful place. They said we had to hit the road.

We took a three hour drive to Grandma and Grandpa's cabin in Upper Saranac Lake (one of the lakes in Adirondack Park). When we arrived mommy put me straight to bed. The next day I got up bright and early. We took a walk down to the dock to look for boats. That afternoon they put me on a boat. I had to wear a life jacket. They told me it was to keep me safe, but I could barely turn my neck. Still, it was exhilarating to feel the wind in my hair as we sped through the water.

Grandma brought lots of fun toys for me to play with at the cabin, since it often rains. She made a slit in the lid of an icing container and put several large toy coins inside. After showing me how to fit the coins through the slit, I found I couldn't get enough "banking practice. I spent a lot of my days saving up pennies.

Throughout the week I took many more trips down to the dock to look for boats. I got very good at spotting them. I also took several more boat rides. Eventually Grandpa found a life jacket that gave me more freedom of motion, so I was much more comfortable in the boat. The big event of the week was our canoe ride to Winter Island for a picnic lunch. i was quite the baby explorer walking around the woods on the tiny island. During one of my expeditions I found Grandpa's canoe paddle. It seemed a little like a broom to me, so I decided to push it. After a while I discovered a fun fame -- push the paddle off the ledge. Each time I pushed the paddle off the ledge I said "uh oh" (the new word I learned in the Adirondacks). Mommy and daddy were suckers and retrieved the paddle for me. Eventually I started saying "uh oh" in anticipation of dropping the paddle. Mommy says it's not an "uh oh" if I do it on purpose, but I beg to disagree. The picnic lunch was delicious, but the wind on the island was getting very strong, so we packed up and headed back to the cabin in the canoe. Quite the commotion ensued when Grandpa dropped his camera in the lake. He was unable to retrieve the camera immediately, so we had no choice but to continue on our course to the cabin. I'm told that while I was napping that afternoon, Grandpa, Daddy, and Aunt Alison went back to the approximate spot where Grandpa dropped the camera. They had excellent luck, as the water was clear enough to spot the camera, despite the 20 foot depth of the lake. Grandpa dived into the water and came back to the surface with a very wet camera. Unbelievably he was able to salvage the pictures, but the jury is still out on the camera.

The last few days in the Adirondacks were rather rainy. I spent most of my time "banking and reading my new favorite book, Doggies. Mommy also did quite a bit of reading, as she had no access to phone, tv, or internet. For the first time since I was born mommy was able to finish, not one, not two, but three books of fiction. Granted the books weren't academic reading, but she was happy to get lost in a book again.

All good things must come to an end, and so too did our trip to the Adirondacks and our summer vacations. Fortunately on the this return trip, I was quite the little gentlemen. At the airport, I spied one of the baby friends I made on our flight from Raleigh. It was fun to have familiar travel companions making the return trip with us. Late that night we pulled up to our house in Chapel Hill. Mommy and daddy tucked me into bed with my pal Puppers. That night I dreamed of all the adventures I have had and those yet to come.

Your Pal,
Edmund

P.S. I decided to give mommy a break from writing this entry, since she has been busy with her return to work. She'll be writing again in the future, but I may sneak an entry in here and there.