Save Tiny's: Eat Hot Dogs

Almost a full year has passed since we moved to charming Northfield. I was telling my neighbor the other day that I used to consider this town an extension of the 'burbs...really, we aren't that far away, are we? Well, over the course of the year it has become apparent that we are, in fact, living outside of the Twin Cities area. I deducted this from many experiences throughout the year, but here are a few: our farmer's market isn't listed in the Star Tribune (I know, right?), Enterprise Rent-a-Car told us we weren't part of the metro (again, baffled when we found this out), and the closest shopping mall is 30 minutes away (Amazon is one of my closest friends). Okay, I digress....

My primary objective was to point out that although we have lived here for almost a year, there are a lot of things we have yet to experience in our new town (that exists sans many suburban "amenities"). We spent all of last summer finishing projects and prepping for the arrival of Henry (formerly known as Baby T) and all winter figuring out how to coexist with an infant. So here we are... settled in and ready to tread in unknown waters. First stop: Tiny's....

This has been the place that we have said, "We really need to go there" ever since we discovered its existence. I mean really... hot dogs?! If you know me, you know I love 'em. Apparently Tiny's used to be the general store back in the good ol' days. You can still purchase "fancy" tobacco products here. Ask Eric about his corn cob pipe.

Rumor has it that Tiny's may be closing. Say it ain't so!

Eric enjoying a frosty root beer. We forgot to take pictures of the dogs, but trust me. They did not disappoint.

Sign outside the shop... They weren't kidding. The floor shook during one of the blasts.

Post hot dog we went down by the river.

Eric giving Henry a life-lesson: "Be careful around the water!" I believe Henry was looking at me b/c he knows who really gives the life-lessons in the household. Oh wait...I mean...he was looking at me because I had the camera. ;)

And here's one of me to just document that I was out for the day as well.

Not sure the Thorkelsons can handle another pilot in the family

Official Members...

...of Northfield's First United Church of Christ. :) Yay!

Sitting!

Update

I'm a bit behind in posting this, but Henry's 6 mo appointment went really well. Due to his allergic reaction to some basic foods, we have taken a step back with introducing new items for a month. Right now his diet solely consists of milk, avocados, prunes, and pears. I've taken my hand at making the food as well, which has been pretty fun. Henry isn't sitting up by himself yet, but our pediatrician is not concerned at all. According to him, this could take as long as 8 mos for babies to conquer. I guess I just hang out with over-achiever babies. I'm pretty sure most of them were sitting up by (or right around) 6 mos.

His stats were as follows: 28" long (90th percentile), 15 lbs (10th percentile) and head circ. was 45 cm (75th percentile). Needless to say, we'll be investing in some belts for our skinny minny.

In other news, Henry is rolling around and getting excited about CRAWLING. He can't get up on his knees yet but is a complete wiggle worm on the floor. I'm really excited for him to crawl, but I know I'll be eating those words once he does.

Also, we'll be joining Northfield's First United Church of Christ on Sunday. We shopped around quite a bit and are excited to call this church our "home".

We've been working on little projects around the house... testing paint colors for the kitchen, cleaning the basement, hanging ceiling fans, etc. Our big project for the summer is getting a fence for our backyard to define our property a bit more; with that, we'll hopefully do some much-needed landscaping.

First Bike Ride of the Season

Bikes. Check. Helmets. Check. Trailer. Check. Sense of direction.... umm.... Well, we may have gotten a bit lost on our first bike ride but we had a great time!

Snapshot Update

"Hi, my name is Henry. I like milk." T-shirt compliments of Auntie Lacey.

He loves to stand! That expression of his is priceless in that photo. Such ah-tee-tood!
Ya Ya and Bubba at the zoo with us. It was Henry's first time there and he seemed to enjoy it!
Dad and Henry at the zoo.
We started solids! Yay!!!
Mom so proud of her pumpkin and how well he ate up that rice cereal. Other foods we have tried so far are sweet potatoes (he loved them but broke out in hives!) and avocado (loves these more than sweet potatoes...no allergic reaction to these...yet).
Captain and son. So sweet. Notice our lilac "trees" behind them. This is where we spot cardinals, robins, and squirrels all day long.
Easter Sunday in front of our house. We set up the tripod and everything for the family photo.
The boys [on Easter].

This made me feel normal

Baby Sign Language

This morning I attended a baby sign language course and let me tell you... an hour and a half is not nearly enough time for all of that info! There were just four of us in the class, and two of the other ladies were from my ECFE classes so it was nice to see a couple familiar faces. I feel fairly confident with some of the basics but I have a lot to learn. Thankfully, she gave us loads of resources and names of books to look into. Consider this a warning: you may see me using more gestures than normal in the near future as I learn and teach Henry (and Eric). Per the instructor's advice, we'll be focusing on "milk", "eat" and "more" to start us off.

In other baby news, Henry is so close to rolling over from his back to tummy (he's perfected the tummy to back already). I think he is actually getting frustrated sitting still and wants to be mobile. That's a good thing! He loves being on his tummy and raking in all of his toys.

Of course, everything is instantly brought to his mouth for identification. I was at the flower shop today and he even tried taking a plant and putting it into his mouth. Thankfully the shop attendant was paying attention and stopped him (I was apparently off in la-la land).

We're planning on starting solids next weekend. Yippee! Henry is likely to have/develop allergies since they (a) run in the family and (b) he has eczema so we've been waiting til Henry gets closer to the 6 mo mark to start. I'm excited to see what he does the first time we feed him.

We're off to Bubba's 65th birthday bash this afternoon where Ya Ya will be making Indian food. Yum!

Oh, Northfield...

Eric and I often refer to Northfield as Pleasantville: amazing neighbors, great community support, parks galore, etc. However, there have been some *interesting* stories budding out of this little historic town.

Here's the most recent: http://www.northfieldnews.com/news.php?viewStory=52054