Today we took Theo to the scariest looking restaurant in Seattle, OK Corral BBQ. I have been fascinated by the complete dilapidation of this place since we moved here--it looks like a shack with a bunch of trashed furniture outside -- and somehow is actually a business. Because we parked right in front of it to go to the Greenwood Art Walk, and because we were hungry when we got back to our car, we decided to go in. Whoa. Inside, it looked like someone's dirty rec room, and the big owner dude saw us, hung up the phone and said "Sh*t," as in "I wasn't expecting any actual customers to come in here." Well, it turns out his name is Otis and he is a real character. While waiting for the catfish to fry (there isn't really a menu, he told me to have the catfish, so I did), we learned that he raised his three sons himself, he used to be a boxer and worked in the music (blues) industry, fought cancer and beat it although it took all his money and his teeth. We also got to sample the "hood juice" a rotating flavored mixture of "pop and
tampico." And we witnessed a meal called the Hook Up, a platter of meats and sauces and fried things, unlike anything I've seen before. Anyway, the catfish was just OK (fitting, I suppose), and was missing the greens and rice. John said his chicken was pretty good. And he also liked the "concoction, whatever it is" referring to a beany-meaty-smokey side dish. But the best part was that Theo was giggly and totally charmed Otis, who more than once sat down and said to us "Aren't they the best?" referring to kids. And he pointed out that Theo has more teeth than he does.
Here is Theo in Uncle Whitney's 30 year old Greenie Loosies, a variation of Whitey Tighties. Wearing them just because they are funny. Part of his vintage-wear collection. Another item is this Penn t-shirt, circa 1971, a hand me down from Uncle Pete:
John's in charge of bathtime--he's way more thorough than I am. I am the sous-chef, getting everything set up for the boys and then cleaning up. I am also chief butt-rinser, when the bath is over, and Theo still has suds on his buns, I give him one last spray.
Here are some pictures from last weekend--noteworthy in that you can see how Theo is starting to push up, on his way to learning to crawl. And, it was warm enough for the first time for shorts and a short sleeve shirt! It's fun to see his cute little arms and legs, since they don't get out much.
What's wrong with this picture?
That's better!
What's more fun than pulling on someone else's face? I can't imagine. All I know is that Theo cries if I try to remove a dried booger from his face, and yet he feels free to yank on my nostrils, scratch my gums, and grab at my eyes.
As promised, here is Theo's first sketch. Apparently it was hard to keep the pen out of his mouth, but Kathleen managed to get him to hold the pen and create this. I see a smiley face on the left, some would say the right side is a chicken. Whatever it is, I like it.
Here is Theo's very first Cheerio. See that little gummy brown lump on his chest? As you can see, once he finally got one in his mouth, he didn't seem too happy about it. And then it ended up coming back out a minute later and landing on his pajamas.
