There was some nice weather and Oscar and I did a bit of gardening. He only tried to eat a few rocks, and only pulled up two crocuses. Mostly he helped me put sticks and rocks and weeds on the stick pile.
He also had a brief naked party before his bath.
The next day when I went to get him in the morning, he had gotten his arms out of his shirt sleeves, so his shirt was just hanging out around his butt. The diaper prevented it from wriggling all the way off. Just to show it wasn't a one-time trick, he took his arm out of his shirt at breakfast also.
He has figured out how to feed himself with a spoon. He can also say "More" and make the sign, and sometimes he says "Da" and means "all done." That one's still quite subjective, but "More" is really clear. He also says "No," but he doesn't mean it yet.
Eric has also figured out how to completely hypnotize him. It involves traditional Irish music and belly rubs.
Then this weekend we went on an epic adventure. Eric's brother's girlfriend Karina had a piano she didn't want anymore. It was a gift to her, and so she was willing to give it away, and we were happy to take it! So first, on Saturday, we drove to Castle Rock and dropped Oscar off with his grandparents, who took him on secret adventures he hasn't told us about yet (although word on the street is that they went to Osh Kosh and had a great time). Then we continued on to Pueblo, so about 4 hours total from Fort Collins. We met Jeremy and Karina at her house, and Eric and Jeremy headed out to acquire a UHaul and accessories. This took them about 2 hours. Meanwhile, Karina was getting ready to go to her nephew's birthday party with her mom, and was waiting around to help us load the piano before she left. Finally I said she should just leave, because there was no way four people could participate in the moving. They took off.
Eric and Jeremy returned - the close UHaul place didn't have any trucks that could go one-way to Fort Collins. So they had to go to the distant UHaul place, which was like 50 miles away. This place did not have dollies or ramps or any accessories, so after the UHaul was acquired they went off to the hardware store to get materials for a ramp, and furniture dollies. They got a giant piece of MDF board and some 2x4s, and then they headed back.
Karina had no nails. There was a hammer that her roommate was using to smash beer bottles for an art project, but no nails. The men went to the basement and scrounged some nails out of the walls - 4 nails. They nailed the 2x4s to the MDF just at the top, to make it nice and secure. Then we hoisted the piano onto the furniture dollies and strapped it down with Eric's dad's ratcheting straps. And then, we drove it out the front door and down the outside flight of stairs.
Amazingly, nothing bad happened. No one got hurt, the piano didn't run amok, and it was landed gently on the ground. Then we drove it over the dirt to the curb and hoisted it down into the street. (I'm being very generous saying "we" here. I couldn't lift it at all, so I "held it steady" while Eric and Jeremy did the real work. But I definitely kept the piano from tipping over on them!) The piano had to go up the ramp next, and it was significantly more tippy in the street than it had been on the stairs. But again, nothing bad happened and it made it all the way into the truck.
It had to be strapped down somehow. This took about 45 minutes of intense negotiation, knot-tying, re-negotiation, tying the same knots again and deciding again that they wouldn't work - until finally it went against the back wall with one strap around the middle, just under the keyboard, and one strap over the top.
By this point it had started snowing. We got on the road - Eric was driving the UHaul and I had the car, and Eric had no cell phone so it was really old-school. Immediately Eric pulled off the road. WHY? Jeremy had Eric's keys, for no good reason. So Eric went back and got his keys, and then we got on the road. The piano hadn't budged at least.
Once on the road, we got on the highway. And here was a big problem - the UHaul could not go 75. Everyone in Colorado drives at least 80 on the highway, and Eric was stuck on the hills going 65 max. And I was following him. And the roads were only getting worse. There were many bridges, and they were all icy, and Eric was driving an essentially empty giant truck, so he slowed down even further. This was actually quite wise, as we had to navigate through 3 large highway accidents caused by people driving too fast over the bridges.
Bridges freeze before roadways.
But we made it! At last! And we feasted and said hello to Oscar and were all spoiled as usual by Eric's parents.
Today we got to our house and put Oscar in baby jail and set about moving the piano all by ourselves.
Eric is very strong! Our ramp (properly nailed together now) worked fine for getting the piano out of the UHaul but was too big to help getting it up our two front steps. So Eric basically hoisted it up there, with me supporting it briefly now and then.
And now it's happily installed in its corner! The cats have all taken a turn over the keys, and Oscar is only too pleased to help me play. He can reach the keys while standing on the floor. He particularly likes the very low and the very high keys. Eric tuned the guitar to the piano and we've already had some Beatles singalongs. Soon we will get the piano itself tuned and then we'll really be in business! I'm so pleased! I can make as much noise as Eric now!
Ta-da!
So that was my spring break.
Finally, to close, here is a link to an article about "adventure playgrounds" that I have been ruminating over. It makes me think that Eric and I already have the right idea about how to parent, which is a nice feeling. Whew! See you next week!
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