Park, Park, Park & Park

I came home today to the thick smell of creamed fish. C has started on proteins, and Bells has obliged with chicken and now a fish puree. Bells has fed him a pretty wide variety of fruit and veg. So far, corgette, cheese and leak mash is a big hit. And, separately, mango mash. It's a bit early for the "Two bites before a no thank you" rule, but we'll see how the fish mash goes down soon.

In this shot, Bell's resourcefulness is fully on display. C showed a great deal of interest in a cardboard tube with a wooden toy clamped to the end. It's ideas like this that will allow us to save the funds to send C to Eton... At £23,000 pounds per year.

Here's a shot of C's newest interest. It's got alot of things to pull, makes a few noises and is stuffed with fluff. Kind of like his Dad.

Following still on from past proportion installments, here is an update of the growth. My hand, C's hand:

In the spirit of equality and balance between the American and British, C received a blessing today at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The Canon-in-residence Lucy Winkett gave Bella and I a wedding blessing back in 2004, and we thought it would do well to have C blessed by the Anglican church. As you can see, Michael and Helen (Grandpa and Granny) joined us for the special ceremony. Of course, C was well behaved.

The good news: Bella and C arrived back in London Friday. It was great to nip out of work early and spend some time together laughing and playing. The bad news: C didn't seem to adjust to the jetlag well last night. He went on a couple of nighttime crying jags, which cuddling, soothing or drugs would not stop. Like a massive forest fire, we just had to let him burn himself out. He's in perfect, well-rested form this morning though.

Before I left Chicago, Bells suggested that take full advantage of the garden when I got back. Just sit under the lilac flowers and read, she said. Well, I did. And now I'm updating the blog from underneath the lilacs. It's been a beautiful day here in London, so I'm having a pint and missing my family. Wish you were here.

As Dad and I (and some special others) have done for 30 years (only missing a few), we went to a small town south of Chicago, to a little bar, drank mint juleps and watched the Kentucky Derby horse race. This year, we brought C for his first of many more to come.

On my way back to London (at OHare Airport as I write): We celebrated Mothers Day in the States today since we wouldn't all be together on the traditional day next week-end. It was truly fantastic to have the whole family together just before I left.

I've uploaded some fresh pictures into Flickr. Just click on the tile of pictures on the right hand side of the page, and then you'll get a slide show.

Bella and C attended their first Baseball game on Tuesday. The Chicago Cubs played the Pittsburg Pirates on a beauitful, sunny day. We all sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch- a solid American tradition.

C took to the water perfectly. The Christening went without a hitch, no crying, no fussing. He now has official Godparents who are Lutheran, Anglican and Dutch Reformist (and was baptized in an Episcopal church). C acted as the parcel in a game of "pass the parcel" at the party afterwards, and handled that diplomatically after his nap.