19 months!

The coy one... you're not really going to take my picture, are you?


Just kidding you! Just make sure that you give me creative control after the photo shoot.

Chocolate cake

I think that it was chocolate cake that Melissa's sous-chef was helping with.


Quality control.


Still tastes good!


Here, have some!

18 months!

And Walter is just too cool for words... or a smile.

Mr. Fixit

Walter loves tools and helping out. I adjusted the mattress height in his crib today and he helped me. I showed him how to hold the allen wrench and how to tighten the bolt. After that, he spent a solid five minutes putting the wrench in the bolt hole and tightening it. soon, he'll be wrenching with me on the jeep.

Walk a mile in my shoes...

Walter has a fascination with our shoes. He goes to the door, grabs a pair of them and then tries fitting his feet in them and walking around.

If I had a hammer...

Walter knows that something needs fixing and he's got just the tool for it. He's a little boy on a mission.

The sheepdog

Looking real sheepish, the boy likes to sit in his wagon. His hair finally got a trimming that it needed.

17 months!

17 months! Well, one day early.





And turnabout is fair play. Walter was so interested in the camera that he didn't want to give it up. At first I thought that he was a junior model, because he loves getting his photo taken, but now I know that he really has just wanted to get on the other side of the lens.

More trouble with ice cream...

Walter had his first ice cream in a cone today.


He wasn't sure that the cone was indeed edible, so ole dad had to help try to convince him by eating it to expose new ice cream in the bottom.


He remained unconvinced and tried to knock the ice cream out of the cone by holding it upside down.


Then the smart little monkey got a tool to get the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone.


Hmmm... maybe this thing is food after all!


Hooray! I scream for more ice cream!

16 months!

Yes, my feet have grown dramatically...


What more do you want? Ok, that's the end of this photo shoot.

Madeline comes to visit!

Aunt Madeline made her first foray to Maine to visit with us. Last Sunday we took a walk around Fort Williams Park and saw the Portland Head Light.



This graffiti has always fascinated me. Standing right there being able to view a place that has probably literally changed very little in 121 years.

The Champeen!

Looking like a prize fighter in his hooded towel from his Aunt Kathy, Walter emerges from the bathtub held aloft by his manager and number one fan!

1st Baseball Game, almost...

We were about to sit and enjoy an afternoon of baseball. It was going to be both Walter's and my first real baseball game.



Walter enjoyed the popcorn and Crackerjacks





The field was covered just before we were asked to leave the stands.



After the majority of the rain passed, everyone filtered back to the stands. The rain delay was over and the called for rain part of the game was about to commence. We've had pretty good storms move through the rest of the afternoon.

1st Haircut

Walter also had his first haircut today. After 15 months without sight of a pair of scissors, it was time, as much as I was loath to admit it. But no son of mine was going to be mistaken by little old ladies in grocery stores as a girl any longer. Yes, though, there was plenty of drama in it for the Boy, he survived and looks a proper little boy now. Melissa says he's all grown up now. First tattoo, first haircut. Yep, I guess that he'll be driving before you know it.


A contemplative moment beforehand...


Before the surgery...


The trauma is evident...


Clippers are not our friends...


It was horrible...


The aftermath...



Driving before you know it... at least I made him promise to be back before dark.

Fifteen Months!

Walter's happy, as if it doesn't show. This photo was staged, though. It took an episode of Curious George running on the tube to get him this happy. Still, he's a little kid with BIG plans!

A Day at the Lighthouse

Last Sunday, "Gruncle" Jim and Aunt Kathy came to visit us. We decided to see Fort Williams Park out at Cape Elizabeth and the Portland Headlight Lighthouse. A beautiful day for a little walk, we walked around the cliffs and back to the rocky beach at the end of the park. Walter took a closer look at the shore and decided that it wasn't swimming weather.