Raspberries

As Grant's first teeth have been breaking through over the past week, he has discovered how to blow raspberries with his tongue. At first, Erin and I thought this was very cute, and each time he did it, we laughed with glee at our son's magical abilities. Now, a mere week later, I find myself in a much different frame of mind.

You see, Grant's favorite time to begin exhibiting his new talent (which my uncle accurately assessed as sounding like the Tasmanian devil from Bugs Bunny cartoons) is while we're trying to feed him. Right about the time he gets a mouthful of anything phosphorus green or orange (sweet potatoes, green beans, you name it) he goes berserk blowing raspberries. After tonight's feeding, I looked like I'd run through a carrot-spewing sprinkler. So we're using the opportunity to start exercising a bit of parenting. For Erin, this means giving Grant a stern "NO" when he starts going nutty. For me, this means I start saying something and end up laughing hysterically...until Erin goes nutty and I actually have to pretend to be an adult AND a parent. She expects too much. We'll keep you posted on how this shakes out.

In other news, the following letter to the editor was posted in the Bedford Times-Mail newspaper this week. Kudos to my uncle for sending me these delightful updates on my family homeland.

Raising questions about Bedford

To the editor:

I’ve got some questions about Bedford. I was born and raised here in Bedford. Well, I left here to live with other family members in 2004, when my mother passed away, and coming back here is like leaving heaven and going to hell.
Now, you ask, what am I talking about? OK Where did our sidewalks go, or where are they going? Because if you’re walking down the sidewalk, 95 percent of the time you’ll stump you toe. You have to walk through grass, or mud if it’s been raining, or you’ll be going down the sidewalk and walk into a branch hanging down in your face.

Why should someone have to tell or even make you do something about this?
Now, one more thing: Why is all of the employment leaving Bedford? Just like you look in the classified ads in the Bedford paper, and all you see is “Employment for Bloomington.” Now, that just don’t make sense to me. So come on Bedford. You’re better than this, and I know.

William Blackwell
Bedford

God bless you Mr. Blackwell. Hopefully you won't stump you toe in the bread line.