Mess with his schedule at your own risk

The good news is, Heidi is recovering nicely - so nicely, in fact, that she snuck upstairs earlier tonight. I had to carry her back down. Hopefully that scared her enough to keep her from ever doing it again.
We left her for several hours and went to Baltimore today. We ended up spending most of the day in Fells Point - a great area, lots of fun with restaurants to spill beer on oneself in and clothing boutiques in which to buy a new outfit afterward. Good place.
Christopher wasn't so sure, though. He was very very excited about seeing his friend Addy - "Addy! Addy!" was his rallying cry during the preparations for the trip - but he wasn't so happy once we got there and he went through the afternoon without his usual nap. It led to a complete meltdown by the time we got home. But at least I got a new outfit!

Our Poor Heidi

We found out last week that Heidi had a mast cell tumor on her chest. It's a common tumor in dogs, malignant but not always catastrophic. The vet - our new one here in Maryland - suggested "as soon as possible whenever you can as long as it's really really really soon" surgery. At the same appointment, I also asked the vet the fact that Heidi couldn't go 10 feet without deciding to christen some grass. She gave us a prescription for antibiotics for a probably urinary infection, and a surgery date for yesterday to remove the tumor.
By the time yesterday morning rolled around, Heidi's christening habit had added an interested a new feature: she was now peeing blood. We had also noticed a tooth was about to fall out. And her leg, which was operated on four years ago, was bothering her again. The poor dog, age 5, was falling apart.
When I went to pick her up today, she had undergone: x-rays on three parts of her body (bladder, knees, teeth) one tooth removal, dental cleaning, a tumor removal and had about a cup of stones removed from her bladder. And, as the encore, she's going to need more knee surgery.
The worry was amazing, the bill astounding (how do you feel about trade school, Christopher?) but it didn't matter when she bounded out of the vet's office and tried to climb on my lap, despite the stitches that go from her chest to her pelvic bone.
The pictures show the stones (kindly returned to us by the vet), her medications (all four, plus her new special food!) and, of course, Heidi. The extent of the bodywork isn't visible - I'll try to get a picture of that the next time I put the warm, wet washcloth on her wound. (I feel guilty - it's a nice 15-minute break while I sit with her to keep her still.)

Mr. Christopher goes to Washington

It's been a long time since I posted here, and a lot has happened. We moved (twice) had to leave a dog behind (Rory, the badly behaved border collie, is now a country dog in North Carolina) and Christopher and I are staying home together in our townhouse in Maryland.
We went to Washington today to search out the lesser known sites. We've been to The Mall several times and gone in the Natural History Museum, Air and Space, all the usual sites. Today we were going to tackle Capitol Hill. The bookstores, the coffeeshops. Not the tourist sites! The real city!
We never quite made it to The Real City. Instead, we went through National Building Museum - excellent, especially for kids - and then Union Station. Christopher fell asleep, and I started the triumphant march to Capitol Hill and the Bookstore on C between 6th and 7th.
But apparently there are four versions of C street. We never found the right one. After circling the Capitol four times, under the increasingly suspicious glares of Capitol Police, I gave up.
We ended up at the Mall. Botanic Gardens. Christopher loved the Children's Garden, and so did I, but it will still a defeat. But one day, I will find it. The real city.

My little assistant

I got up today and felt better, but still kinda weak and sick. The obvious answer was to enlist an assistant while cooking eggs.
Christopher perched on the counter and gripped each egg tightly, grinning maniacally and obviously excited that he was being allowed - encouraged even - to break something. He "helped" me break three eggs, then stopped after and looked at his hands in grossed-out fascination. Breaking eggs is not a mess-free endeavor when you're 18 months old.
He screamed through the hand-washing process, but then cheered up when he got to eat the eggs he had helped prepare. He ate a lot before demanding to get down and wandering off in search of his little bike.
I'd post pictures if I had any, but trust me, it was cute.

Christopher has said the dreaded word...

Mine.
We are in the territory of "mine" now. Pacifiers are mine, food is mine, a toy that another child dropped is mine. It's starting....
Otherwise, Christopher is doing great. He identifies animals by their sounds "What's this?" "Moo."
That's about all I could do this morning before I gave up, grabbed a wad of tissues and took him to daycare. Now I'm home, hacking and blowing my nose. Christopher had a cold several weeks ago, then Brian had a cold...now I have a cold. Apparently "mine" doesn't apply to illness.

Goodnight, Gorilla

Christopher and I went to the zoo today...it was really nice to get away and relax. Especially on a Monday! We did miss Daddy, though.
We spent about five hours at the zoo. Christopher was a little grouchy - he didn't sleep well last night - but he did pretty well. He did have a few temper tantrums in the chimpanzee exhibit. He didn't want to stop climbing in the exhibit, and he didn't want to leave it. I didn't know he liked chimps so much, but considering how much he likes climbing, it makes sense.
It was funny going to the zoo today and seeing the changes in Christopher. The first time we took him, he liked riding around in the stroller, but was kind of oblivious to most of the animals. Today he did not want to ride in the stroller - he wanted to walk, walk, walk - but he really liked seeing the birds, the bison and especially the sea lions. We got there at feeding time, and he yelled "Yay! Wow!" as they followed the trainers' commands to come out on the step and bark, roll, and do other things. And when they brought out a ball for the sea lions, he yelled "Ball!" and everyone laughed.
I'm telling you, we're lucky they didn't keep him. He seemed to fit in.

Helmet head

Christopher got on a bike and took a ride to the playground on Sunday - but first he had to put on the dreaded (dum dum DUM) helmet.
He didn't like it.
He cried and cried and cried. Until he got onto daddy's bike...once he started moving, all the tears went away. And then he had a great time at the playground. When he was ready to go home, putting the helmet on again went a lot more smoothly.