Thanksgiving

To celebrate Christmas, here are some photos of me from Thanksgiving. Notice how suave I am in the first photo. so suave.

I have an equally cute outfit to wear for Christmas; I was going to try it on today but I caught Trinity's cold so I am grouchy. My sister used to get sick every Christmas (and cough so much that she would barf) and today she was complaining that she didn't believe in Santa. She was/is too serious and cynical for Santa.

I am mostly ready for Santa. I still need to color a picture for Santa. I have some cookies from Whole Foods to put out on Christmas Eve and some almond milk for him to drink. I need to wash Santa's cup because I used it for my smoothie this morning. Today, I realized I am able to use a regular cup independently.

winter?

Winter arrived today and brought us an 84 degree day. I put on my shorts and t-shirt and we visited Bee Cave Park. In our journey today, the only hint we had that it is almost Christmas was the gingerbread man drawn with sidewalk chalk at the playground.

We came home from the park to find a floor covered in bloody dog vomit. You should see my impression of Remus getting sick! Sad Remus had to go to the emergency clinic tonight but he is home and we will see what happens tomorrow. Wish him well! Remus is my best friend.

Tomorrow is a busy day. My sister is coming over to play with me while my mom tries to clean the house (good luck to her!) and wrap Christmas presents. Speaking of Christmas presents, I helped my dad wrap his today and then I tattled to my mom what was in some of them.

December 16: doctor and Santa

Yesterday, I had my 18 month visit with my doctor.

I like to sit in the waiting room because the doctor has a fun Sesame Street toy with a Cookie Monster that pops up. When my mom says it is time to go to the doctor, I say "cookie." This time in the waiting room, there was a woman who I thought was my great-grandmother so I called her "grandma." They have the same hair and were about the same age.

I am the only patient who cries when my doctor leaves the room; all the other children cry when he enters. My doctor recited some of the words of Goodnight Moon to me and he let me hold his flashlight. I am a healthy healthy boy. I weigh 24 pounds exactly. I might have lost some ounces since my last doctor's appointment but that is because I never stop running or climbing or wiggling or jumping. My doctor says I am all boy (who also happens to have a thing for purses and all things pink and pretty).

After the doctor, we went to Jack Allen's for lunch. I ordered a quesadilla but I have realized that I really only like it when my mom makes them. I ate lots of her spinach gorgonzola ravioli with sundried tomato cream sauce. yum.

And then it was time to see Santa. The drive to Santa was quite exciting because they have the highway all carved up with dozens of tractors working on it. It can be quite alarming how loudly I holler "tractor" when we are driving.

As you can see in the photos above, the visit with Santa didn't go very well. At first, I was brave and rather intrigued when Santa was spending time with the other kids and I almost joined a new family. I hope that family doesn't mind a cute mystery child in the corner of their photos! When my turn came, I cried and cried and cried. It was misery! Santa was very kind and invited me to come back and see him before Christmas so we can bond.

Our Santa has the best reputation in town because he will spend hours with each child and you can bring your own camera.

the library

After the torturous visit with Santa, we went back to the comfort and safety of the library where I sat and worked on puzzles until it was time to go home for dinner. I brought a big pile of books home with me. I love to read.

potty

Since I am smart enough to tell people when I am about to go pee or poop, we went to the store yesterday and bought a potty chair. This is what it looks like. I would say it is the Cadillac of potty chairs but Cadillacs have among the worst of safety ratings, they are poorly made, and they do not maintain their value. My chair is great. When I close the lid, it doubles as a stool (no pun intended).

We found just the right spot to keep my potty chair. While I was sleeping last night, my dad moved it. This morning when I woke up, I went to great effort to drag it back to exactly where it belongs. Then I looked up at my dad and told him "better." I have become rather opinionated and I am not really sure where that trait comes from.

Tonight, I put a big puddle of pee near my potty chair.

There is no hurry for me to get trained on the potty. The chair is just there for whenever I am ready. Potty training is a big commitment. I also have two new pairs of underwear.

happy birthday to my great aunt Shirley

This is a picture of my great aunt Shirley with her son. Today is Shirley's birthday. But she died today. We are all very sad and we sure did not expect this. not now. She was the best aunt who ever lived - and I am not just saying that.

I never did get to meet Shirley but we always talked about planning a visit. She and I would have loved each other. She was a lawyer (a real-life Atticus Finch in her role as a public defender) and people expect me to be one though I probably lean more toward engineering (mechanical, not train) if my career as a ballerina doesn't work out. Since Shirley was the smartest person in the world, she would have been impressed with my advanced intelligence. And I would have been impressed by how funny, nice, generous, and just generally perfect Shirley was.

This photo was taken the last time my parents saw Shirley. That's not true; they saw Shirley at this birthday party (where even the fruit salad had meat in it) and then spent time with her several days later at the casino.

word of the day

My new word today is "actually." I had to correct my dad because he thought he had a water cup but I told him it was "actually" the cup my mom puts her smoothie in. I sure like smoothies but they were all sold out of organic cherries at Whole Foods today; we will have to try a different combination of fruits tomorrow when we make our smoothie and I am pretty fussy.

wish I was there

While I played in the park in 82 degree heat this afternoon, this is what they had to contend with in Victoria. This photo came from the Times-Colonist website. so pretty.

I have about had it with this hot weather. It is so muggy. It would be one thing if we would get extra cold days in the so-called spring but summer is about to begin once Christmas passes. We might get two cool spells but that is about it. not fair.

Somebody please mail me some snow.

my new shirt

This is my new shirt. I bought it today so I could impress my sister when she comes for Thanksgiving dinner. I have new shoes and new trousers too. I hope no one minds if I wear my tractor socks even though they won't match.

The sad thing about today was that I called out everywhere for my sister when I got to the mall. We usually only go shopping with her but she had school today. She got more than 90% on her Spanish test! YAY! Well, she got 90% but will get a higher mark because the professor has to mark on a curve. My sister is almost as smart as I am.

Since I have such a cute outfit to wear on Thanksgiving, I will take lots of photos. We have a yummy meal planned for Thanksgiving. I helped my mom plan the menu. I like to read recipes and look at the photos in cookbooks and cooking magazines.

chicken pox and tractors

I started my day by constructing this Lego tractor for my kitty. (Don't worry, it is Duplo, not regular Lego since that would be a choking hazard for a boy of my age.) After we played with my creation for a while, we ate a hearty breakfast of oatmeal (my new breakfast favorite), cantaloupe, and smoothies. yum.

And then I went to the doctor. I love my doctor and all of the nurses even though they confirmed for me today that I have my second bout of chicken pox. Yes, I was vaccinated (against our better judgement and don't even get me started about how dangerous vaccines are now) but the doctor said all kinds of crazy things are happening with chicken pox since the vaccine was introduced. What happened to me is rarer than rare but, then again, I am a left-handed ginger baby so what can you expect? Also, when I was born, they said I have a rare blood type and I will be able to save lives with blood donations. I am just special in every possible way.

When I got home from the doctor today, there were two trucks parked in front of Jack's house. One had a trailer. There was a tractor in the backyard. I stood with my forehead pressed against the back window for a long time and watched it work. You should have heard how loudly I yelled "WOW" beep beep beep. My mom also took me out to see the tractor when it was on a break.

Another good thing about today: I helped my mom make lasagna for dinner.

I had so many play dates lined up for the coming days - including one today. We have to cancel them all. I miss my friends.

crayons

Today we decided to try coloring again. We wanted to make a picture for my great-grandmother because she goes home from the hospital tomorrow. If you look closely at my photos, you will notice a blue circle around my mouth and then you will know how our coloring project ended.

I have three crayons: green, reddish purple, and blue. The blue is the yummiest because it is the same shade as the frosting on my puppy dog birthday cake.

I got lots of bites from my crayon because I kept suckering my mom in by telling her "try" so she thought I was sincere about wanting to color but really I just wanted another taste.

football

Even my dad has stopped betting on the Eagles. Yesterday, he missed his one and only chance to ever win a bet against my mom. The Eagles beat the Colts, just barely though. In a normal season, that would certainly be something to brag about. Not this year though; even the Texans have beaten the Colts. What a crazy football year it is.

Today, we decided that my dad should not be allowed to pretend to follow football anymore. He doesn't even know who Wade Phillips is/was. My dad must be living under a rock since all people care about lately is Cowboys Cowboys Cowboys and when will Coach Wade Phillips ever get fired. Well, he got fired. And now people will realize that the Cowboys are just a crappy team this year and no coach can save them.

If only people cared half as much about the election . . . and put this much effort wishing that Rick Perry got fired.

breadtruck (aka tractor) found

We found my breadtruck! It was underneath my mom's dresser. I will hold onto it every minute of every day for the rest of my life so it never gets lost again.

Off to bed now. This daylight savings time nonsense is like a prison sentence. I woke up at 3:20am and losing the daylight at the end of the day when I normally love to frolic in the front yard ruined my fun.

the real Halloween

This is how cute I was on the real Halloween. It cooled off to 77 degrees in the evening so I braved my fuzzy puppy suit so I could show off to all of the people I planned on visiting. I really was not impressed when my mom squeezed me into this costume. It was hot and itchy and tight. Before too long, my cheeks turned bright red from being overheated. But I sure was cute. I even had a tail! (If you look at the photo of me with the tail, DO NOT look at how messy the kitchen is. My mom made lasagna YUM and we were in a hurry to get out to Halloween activities so we didn't clean up until after we got home.)

I suppose it was all worth it since I got the bread truck from Terese. It is still missing, by the way. Tomorrow we will tear the house apart to find it. I really have too many toys but I enjoy them all.

The first photo is me and Terese clowning around how we do. We are both funny. You can't even tell that I once held the deepest of grudges against her for trying to torture me by feeding me a bottle. I don't even know why we ever thought that was a good idea.

Halloween (part 1)

Just before Halloween when we realized that the weather was never going to settle down enough for me to wear my full-body fuzzy puppy suit, my mom went to the store and bought me another costume. It was still hot but a bit more tolerable. Now I feel sorry for dogs.

The evening before Halloween, we went to the Parsnip Path. It is an annual fundraiser for the Waldorf School. It was on a ranch this year, close to my house. The highlight was a big red tractor and a trailer. If I would have still been there at 9:00pm instead of at home in bed, I could have gone on a hayride! Next year.

preparing for Halloween

The Sunday before Halloween, we visited the pumpkin patch. I bought a lot of pumpkins and, sadly, it was too hot for them to really survive until Halloween. My dad came home from work early one day during the week so we could carve them; by Halloween, they were caved-in moldy messes.

It was way too hot (90s) the day we visited the pumpkin patch. This weather takes all of the fun out of fall.

bread truck

For Halloween, we had planned to visit Terese, Beverley, and Buddy and Betty. We did not get past Terese's house. She gave me this toy in lieu of yucky candy. I call it a tractor (what isn't a tractor???) but my dad calls it a bread truck. So I put it on my piece of bread at dinner.

You might wonder why I have my tractor (truck) on the tray with my food (look at all of my organic veggies!). That is because I am obsessed with it. I have fallen asleep clutching this new toy of mine and it travels in the car with me too. It is too precious to part with even for a minute. But I maybe misplaced it today when I put it somewhere for safekeeping. We will search everywhere for it tomorrow.

This evening, my mom finally figured out how to get photos from her digital camera onto the computer. So, if you want to see photos of me dressed as a puppy on Halloween, come back tomorrow! I can't believe how cute I am.

peas

This morning, I was supposed to have a playdate with my good pal Jensen. We had planned to go to Zilker Park and I had already packed a picnic to share. When Jensen and I get together, I eat his lunch and he eats mine.

Then we got a message from his mom (also named Stephanie) that they had been in the ER until the wee hours. Playdate cancelled.

Apparently Jensen decided that it would be a good idea to stuff peas up his nose; it wasn't. The peas got sucked up into his sinus cavity and had to be . . . ugh I cannot even talk about what poor Jensen had done to him but it took two parents and three nurses to hold him down. It was terribly painful and he bled a lot.

My mom has sized my nostrils and it looks like a pea would not fit. For precautionary measures, though, we are not even talking about peas and noses in the same sentence.

it sure is red in here

Election day, again.

As we listen to the election results coming in, we are getting some bad bad news. Stuck with Rick Perry for another eternity as he blows through another 21 billion dollars that the state doesn't have.

It is republican straight across the state, across the country.

Most sad is that we will lose our beloved friend Patrick. If not for him, we wouldn't have water. He and his family endured death threats and all kinds of nastiness to first get water trucked in to our neighborhood and then to have the pipeline built. We will also lose our dear friend Karen; she is losing the election to the #%**&+ who designed our hunk-of-junk water system decades ago.

We hope that this is all some bad mistake. I am going to fall asleep clutching my truck that Terese gave me for Halloween (my new obsession) and I will wake up and everything will be fine. Right?

Christmas came early

Christmas came two months early!

We slept in late today and then went outside to play in the yard. I like to spend at least three hours in the yard each day. It was cool enough for pants this morning so we got fooled into thinking that fall might finally be here. No such luck. We checked the weather forecast and it will be up to the mid 90s again by Tuesday. Tomorrow it will only be 82.

I am getting a bit worried about my Halloween costume since it is really fuzzy and I would bake if I even tried it on. I don't think I will like Halloween anyhow. Several days ago, I saw someone with a costume and scary make-up on and I cried and cried and screamed. way too scary for a boy like me.

After breakfast today, we noticed that my neighbor was riding around on his tractor. He has had that tractor parked in front of his house all week and it has been the center of my universe. Countless times each day, I ride in my wagon over to look at it. "Tractor" is the first thing I say in the morning and the last thing I say before falling asleep. And I talk about tractors all day long.

As if seeing the tractor in action wasn't great enough for one day, my mom had arranged to buy some toys from a Waldorf family. The little boy was selling his entire fleet of trucks and cars. I also got his Duplo collection and science viewers.

After we bought the trucks, we had to go to the mall to return some pants; since it is so hot, I would outgrow them before I ever got to wear them. As soon as we got home, Buddy and Betty came over to bring me some more toys that their grandchildren have outgrown.

I have a busy day planned tomorrow. I am going to play trucks all day. It might rain so it is good that I have all of these new toys to occupy me.

imposter!

Either someone stole me and put me in a PETA ad or I have a long-lost twin.

This dog looks pretty friendly. I also like to drop food off my highchair for Remus. We like most of the same fruits and veggies. Remus cannot have grapes though because they are toxic to dogs. Sad for him. Happy for me though because I am addicted to organic red grapes. I don't like the green grapes.

While my mom was perusing the PETA website today, she noticed that they are hosting a contest right now for cutest vegetarian baby. The contest closes on Friday so I need to prepare my application tomorrow. Cross your fingers that I will become the poster child for PETA. What an honor that would be! I wonder if my chances are ruined because they already have the kid who looks exactly like me.

pumpkins

On the weekend, my sister won a pumpkin carving contest. This is a photo of her creation. Her pumpkin is the owl. (There is an owl on my pajama shirt tonight whooooo whooooo.) Hector made the cat pumpkin; he used a stencil but my sister did hers freehand. She could be a famous artist if she set her mind to it. She won a gift certificate to a fancy fancy restaurant. UCHI.

The first photo is me, dressed like a pumpkin, having a nap with Trinity's black cat. The photo was taken in August but it is never too early to start celebrating Halloween. (By the way, the remote control is in the photo but we did NOT watch tv.)

My mom will make me some pumpkin muffins for Halloween and I have tickets to attend the Parsnip Path.

boo.

August 13: waffles for my great-grandfather

On August 13, my parents went to the Cornerhouse with the two grandmas to celebrate what would have been my great-grandfather's 86th birthday. My mom had the famous (infamous?) strawberry waffles. I didn't go to breakfast because I am too wiggly to go to restaurants and it isn't very much fun for my mom to stroll around outside trying to occupy me while everyone else enjoys a leisurely breakfast. Well, we love strolling together but just not while a plate of food is sitting inside getting cold. My sister didn't go to breakfast either because she doesn't really like greasy food and she was eager to spend some time with me. My great-grandfather would have enjoyed the breakfast. It was Cornerhouse at its finest. I think, though I cannot be sure, that they tried to pull off some whipping cream art and this is maybe a heart. or a flower. Either way, it is cute.

After breakfast, they all went to the fancy bookstore downtown and my great-grandmother bought me this shopping cart even though she already had enough toys to open her own shop! My great-grandmother spoils me, but I am NOT complaining. I pushed the shopping cart around and around her living room and in the kitchen (wow it moves fast on the linoleum) and then we took it outside while everyone else worked on slicing strawberries and making the prettiest flower bouquets in the world.

Thanksgiving 2009

Here is a photo of me with my sister and my great-grandmother last Thanksgiving. I guess people are right that I really have slimmed down! Look at how cute I am and look at how interesting my great-grandmother's watch is. Every time I see her, I am mesmerized by her watch.

For Thanksgiving this year, my great-grandmother is scheduled to visit me for a week. So it is very important for her to feel better. I have some fun activities planned for her . . . like playing with her watch. fun! And I can take her somewhere for gelato. yum! This week, I learned how to say "grandma" and I can also say my own name. I call myself either "Addy" or something like "Aktis."

two of my favorite things

Trucks and wagons.

This family in Alaska converted their truck into a wagon. This is my dream come true.

I like to sit and watch the trucks pass my house. I call out "truck" each time one passes. I have been known to wake up in the night and holler TRUCK; I can hear them coming from miles and miles away.

I like to ride in my wagon. Sunday morning is usually when I get my best wagon ride of the week. My dad takes me all around and then we stop in to see my neighbor Jack (who, incidentally, has a truck) and we visit with him a while until breakfast is ready.

bark

This is why I am going to be a dog for Halloween. I haven't had much luck with my crib but I will gladly crawl into the dog crate when no one is looking. My mom says this is gross but I think it is fun.

Once I got caught on my hands and knees about to lap some water up from the dog bowl.

So this all proves that I am a dog.

sweet sixteen

Today, I celebrated my 16-month birthday. We had a quiet day since I am still afflicted with chicken pox and I am not really supposed to be out and about spreading my virus. However, I am a hot commodity right now and some people want to use me to expose their children to chicken pox. We are not so sure that is a good idea.

I got up just before 8:00am today, played inside and then outside, ate a hearty breakfast of organic grapes, pineapple, organic peas, Swiss cheese, multi-grain bread, and water, and then played some more until it was nap time and I really did not want to have a nap. And then I did not want to wake up from my nap. These chicken pox make me sleepy during the day.

One photo above is me playing before breakfast. Maybe if you look closely, you can see the chicken pox on my leg. The other photo is me at the end of breakfast. Now that I am older, I have some chores. At the end of my meals, I wipe down my highchair tray with a clean warm soapy rag. My other chore is to put face cloths back in the box after they come out of the laundry. I can do most chores that require me to put things "back."

For my birthday, I got a new purple ball to play with in the yard.

get well

This evening, we got the sad news that my great-grandmother is sick and she had to go to the hospital. She has always been very healthy and active and she helps a lot of her "elderly" friends and neighbors (some of whom are younger than her!!!). I think she might be stricken with sympathy pains because of my chicken pox. I hope she knows that I am almost on the mend so she can get better too. I have to recover from my grouchiness that set in when the virus started coursing through my veins like poison.

I was going to save this photo of me and her for when I ever catch up on my vacation stories. It is from the day I left Port Angeles. We had just gone to the beach (and we had a fun time) and then we dropped her off at the fair so she could have more fun. I hate goodbyes. So I cried.

My great-grandmother is coming to visit me for Thanksgiving. lucky me.

victim of modern medicine

Last night after my bath, my mom noticed that I had a strange rash that was spreading like wildfire across my chest and back. She made plans to take me to the doctor in the morning. Later, you will see why it is better to get medical advice from your mom than your dad.

I slept through the night last night for the first time in more than a year. In fact, my mom could probably count on half of a hand the times I have slept through the night in my entire life. So we woke up refreshed but my rash was still there.

We got a 10am appointment and the doctor diagnosed me with chicken pox. But this was puzzling to the doctor because I was just vaccinated on September 15. So the doctor got a second opinion (actually, a third opinion because my mom diagnosed me with chicken pox immediately last night while my dad said bug bites or a heat rash, nevermind that the weather has been a cool and comfortable 85 each day) and YES it is chicken pox and I likely caught it from my vaccination.

We don't really think vaccinations are the best idea considering the side effects but we do some of them (like polio) that are strongly recommended. This chicken pox shot was a spur-of-the-moment decision and it was clearly a mistake. We would never ever do a flu shot.

After my appointment, I went to Whole Foods for lunch. Yes, I know . . . I shouldn't be out in public but this was my last outing until I am no longer contagious.

When my sister was little, she got to go to Pag's after her appointments. I have Whole Foods. I hope my chicken pox doesn't get as bad as hers was. She still has scars on her tummy. I have some spots inside of my diaper area.

so that is that. Next time your doctor offers you a shot, say no. Thanks, but no thanks. I am just lucky I didn't catch polio.

kipper

Today, I am a proud graduate of the kipper swim class. I am so great that I am the talk of the pool. All of the lifeguards know me and love me. I am starting to see the same swimmers week after week when I stay after class to practice.

My dad has a nasty NASTY case of poison ivy right now and he couldn't swim today otherwise all of the people would have gone running from the pool thinking he is a leper or something. So my mom gets all of the credit for me graduating with honors. It was a harder class than usual today too; the temperature was a cool 75 degrees this morning so we pretty much froze. They are going to start heating the pool. I am going to register for the next session. I don't know what the next animal is though. I have passed eel (last December) and now kipper. Maybe I will be a dolphin.

yay me. I say "yay" about everything to keep myself motivated.

another day, another flood

My mom woke up early this morning to yet another flood. This one was caused by a broken freezer. We have a side-by-side fridge with an ice maker and water dispenser. I suppose it seemed like a good idea at the time to get that feature but it cannot be used because 1) you would die if you drank our water and 2) the water does nothing but destroy everything it comes into contact with - including our fridge. So, there, at 5:00am today were gallons upon gallons of messy stink water on the kitchen floor. For whatever reason, my mom thought that a broken freezer meant nothing more than a broken freezer and failed to make the leap that the fridge would also malfunction. The fridge was repaired late this afternoon. And then my mom spent the evening clearing out all of the food that was ruined. Since she had nothing better to do, she took an inventory of everything that had to be trashed so we know how much money we lost. Sadly, it was just grocery day (twice over) so our fridge was stuffed full of all kinds of yumminess - including a lasagna that my mom made on Sunday. We also lost the ingredients for the feta tart we were going to make for my sister. We were going to serve Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey for dessert when my sister came over for dinner. Now, there is nothing to feed her or anyone else.

Did I mention that our dishwasher stopped working late last week? It is also a victim of our nasty water. The pump seized. gummed up with arsenic.

How many floods and broken appliances does it take before one realizes that there is no end in sight?

fall

We might finally be rid of our one hundred degree days. It didn't even get past 80 today.

When we woke up this morning, we went outside to play and look around the yard, as usual. It was so chilly that we had to come back inside to put pants and a sweater on. Since I stayed up most of the night again last night (like until just before 5:00am), I was on a bizarre schedule today. Nap time started at 9:30am and ended far too soon. I was much happier after my nap though. We played in the house for a while, had some lunch, and then decided to set out for the park.

This is me after we went to the Bee Cave Park today. I had a grand time. I met two nice boys who shared their soccer ball with me. But I met one monster of a boy, Jamie. He was about five and could barely talk. His teeth were all rotten out. He was rather aggressive and he dumped a handful of mulch on my head; he was mad because the other boys were playing with me. He also wanted to push me off the plastic mountain I climbed up. Note to Jamie's parents: turn off the tv, put away the candy and the Mountain Dew, and hand your child a toothbrush. He will have a miserable life thanks to his upbringing.

23lb, 11oz

Today I had my 15-month check up with the doctor. I am super healthy, of course. blah blah blah. Good that I am still nursing, he says. I am smart. blah blah blah. I cried when Dr Cox left the room. I cry when most people leave now . . . even the people who sat behind me at lunch today even though I have never seen them before in my life.

The doctor was the boring part of the day. He does have some pretty interesting toys and books in his waiting room though. (Wash your hands well afterward since sick kids play there!)

My teeth have been bugging me again so I bit myself on the arm this morning and left some teeth marks. I cried. a lot. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

After the doctor, we went to Whole Foods. I had naan and steamed organic carrots for lunch. I was grouchy but then cheered up for the rest of our shopping trip. There were lots of babies to gawk at and I always make the older ladies swoon. I love attention!

I should have had a nap when I got home but I was HYPER. I played and played and played. My new thing, aside from practicing my walking, is putting my head on the ground from standing. I am probably working on somersaults but my mom is using this maneuver to teach me downward dog and some other yoga moves.

Cross your fingers that I sleep tonight. I have been on a sleep strike (again) since last Thursday. It's my dumb teeth.

our hero: Terese

This photo is really dark but, if you look closely, you will notice that I am giggling uncontrollably. This evening, Terese called my mom with some news and this started me on a giggling fit that lasted for hours. Even though everyone in the neighborhood may be cross with Terese, she is our hero of the day.

August 12: hello ocean

On August 12, we woke up in Seattle to a beautiful cool day. The fog rolled in from the ocean overnight. When we picked my sister up from the airport, she told us that we could see our breath it was so cool out. This was a welcome change from the 108 degree days we left behind in Austin.

We stopped for a snack and then got on our way to my grandmother's. It is a two-hour drive so we timed this trip around my naptime too so I could sleep the whole way. I adapt remarkably well to different time zones. At first, I was showing off for my sister (mostly asking about her cat and Hector and the cat and Hector and then about the cat again) and it seemed like I would never fall asleep. But I did. And I woke up with plenty of energy to frolic at the beach.

When we got to my great-grandmother's, she had filled her house with toys. fun. We played for a while and then it was time to pick up my other grandmother from the ferry so we went to the beach. I know I said this last year after visiting the northwest, but you almost forget that people can go outside to play for hours on end in other parts of the world.

me and my crocodile

This is me and my crocodile several weeks ago. We bought it so I could get all around the house. It is great fun - especially for chasing my dog. It is also obnoxiously loud on the tile floor.

I probably won't be needing my crocodile for much longer. Today, I took my first independent steps. I stepped from the chair to my stroller that was in the middle of the room. And then back again a while later. You have to be brave to let go.

There's no stopping me now!

Last week when I had a picnic with Jensen in the park, he kept running away and he is fast. I wonder if I will be like that too.

Hermine

Here is a photo of me this evening watching in horror as the outer bands of Hermine blow through Austin, taking the side of my house with it. Well, maybe the whole side of my house isn't gone YET, but we do have water flooding in through the walls.

What a storm we had today. rain and lightning and wind that made the trees dance around in circles. I had fun watching the storm . . . until it came inside.

Tomorrow morning, we will try to find someone to fix our house. again.

p.s. No, I didn't lose the side of my head too. I just don't like to sit still for photos. My mom has a million photos of the corner of my head or emptiness of where I was standing two seconds ago.

August 11

On August 11, I celebrated my 14 month birthday by flying to Seattle. I started the day by catapulting myself out of bed and landing right on my head. backwards and upside down. ouch. I cried but I wasn't hurt. The sad part was my mom had to wait until I moved on my own to be sure I didn't have a spine or neck injury. I have since done this again.

The day was busy and my sister came over to play with me while my mom packed up and tried to get organized for our trip. Our flight left at 5:55pm so we adjusted my nap schedule to ensure that I would sleep for at least part of my flight. We learned our lesson about pre-boarding. The airlines allow families with babies to pre-board thinking that this is some kind of huge favor. It's not. What it really means is you will sit on the airplane for an extra hour before it even moves. bad deal for a wiggly toddler. We learned on the way back to get on the plane no sooner than the final boarding call!

I was an angel on the plane, though. I slept. I played. The saving grace was a pack of stickers my sister gave me. I put them on the back of the seat. took them off. moved them to the back of the next seat. repeated this over and over and over for an hour or more.

The added bonus was that the person sitting next to us was a nanny so I sat in her lap for the last part of the flight. You know when you are flying into Seattle and you pass by Mount St. Helen's and Rainier and the trees and all of the beautiful scenery? That is about when I climbed into the nanny's lap and enjoyed her window seat.

tomorrow is lasagna day (finally)

Last week, to celebrate the temperature cooling off to less than 100 degrees, my mom made a lasagna. It is good wintertime fare. Though most people think I got a late start on solid foods, I am a good adventurous eater now. a very healthy eater. I enjoy the salad bar at Whole Foods, samosas, spanokopita, most veggies, all fruit, smoothies, but I especially love lasagna. (Yes, I am still nursing too.) I can even help my mom make smoothies by putting the fruit into the food processor.

We have had a busy Labour Day weekend. The YMCA near us was remodeled and it now has an outdoor pool. We went swimming yesterday and today. I also tried a music/dance class for tots. My mom will probably sign me up for that class. She was a bit irritated because the teacher handed me a scarf to dance with and then took it away and said "That is a girl color. Use this one instead." Who cares what color my scarf is? I just like to dance!

The new pool is so fancy with a shallow end perfect for someone little like me and it has a slide and a fountain. What a great swimmer I am. I will go swimming again tomorrow. We didn't take any photos because the YMCA forbids cameras in the pool area but we noticed that lots of parents broke the rules.

My mom promised to make me another lasagna tomorrow. I am so excited that I can barely contain myself tonight. Did I mention that I also added "lasagna" to my vocabulary??!!!!?? I ask about lasagna at every meal.

busy week

It was this time last week that I was returning from my trip to the northwest. We came home to a 104 degree day and it only got hotter throughout the week.

We have been busy this week but I am starting to get my photos organized from my trip so I will begin my stories about that soon. I know, I know, you don't need to remind me that you are still waiting for last year's tales from my trip.

This week, I have slept a lot. I also grew a new tooth and I have another on the way. (This maybe explains why I did not sleep for more than three fitful hours a night on my vacation.)

And our big activity this week was hosting a breakfast meeting with our beloved county commissioner, Karen Ford. She knows everything about water. My mom says she is heroic because the Commissioners' Court cancelled a contract with the evil KBR. As you can see from the photo, she gets my vote.

fish

By some strange coincidence, my great-grandfather's last name was Fish and he was a master fisherman. This is a photo of him trying to teach my dad how to fish off the pier in Florida.

My mom has been trying to find photos to make a display for my grandfather's memorial. Her photos are terribly disorganized. Before the house flooded, she used to have them grouped by date, event, location etc. When they quickly pulled everything out of the closet to keep it all from getting ruined, everything got all mixed up. Since I was born shortly after the flood, nothing ever got reorganized. So we cannot find a lot of photos and my parents had done some fun things with my great-grandfather in recent years. the wedding. my sister's graduation. Kennedy Space Center. Islands of Adventure on Christmas Day. Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Victoria. My great-grandfather was also here the first week Remus was here on a trial visit.

Speaking of Remus, my new phrase today is "bad dog." Let's not even talk about why I know how to say that.

Back to fishing. This was, I think, my great-grandfather's last fishing trip ever. My mom, dad, and him went out on the pier. (This was in 2007 . . . before I was born, of course.) My mom just went along to visit and take photos since our PETA friends would not approve of us killing or harming animals. Anyhow, it wasn't more than five minutes into the fishing trip that my great-grandfather pulled a big yellow fish out of the ocean.

We were happy to find this roll of film.

Russian

Yesterday was my last day with Jolanda (for now). She is going to Europe to study for several months and then she will have a practicum in Toronto and another in Portland before she finally comes back to me. I will not see her for a lot of months and I am heartbroken.

To try to convince her to stay, I was extra cute yesterday. I dressed in my orange sunsuit (which is her favorite outfit of mine and she calls it my "pumpkin dress").

I learned something new about Jolanda yesterday. When she was studying Russian (who even knew that she also knew Russian???), she would write her grocery lists in that language to help her learn. wow is she ever smart. We have decided that, if anyone else is to ever work with me, she is the standard by which all others will be judged. Not that we would EVER ever EVER in a hundred million years hire someone from Craigslist, we checked out what kind of "nannies" are available . . . or I should say Advailllable. They all want to be paid "in Advancced." Of course, those nannies all promise to be affordable, but you get what you pay for. Childcare is not where you want to try to save money! In the end, though, it feels like we way underpaid Jolanda; she did such a good job with me that you might think she was making the same salary as the CEO of BP.

Did anyone ever remember that my sister had Jolanda for a teacher in the high school at Waldorf?

sigh. I guess my efforts to convince her to stay failed. Now I am counting the days until her return. We have no real plans about what to do between now and then. My sister will play with me sometimes next week.

I have a photo of me and Jolanda playing on Thursday. I will post it as soon as my dad gets some photos off the camera.

scrape

In this photo, you might notice that my chin looks a bit red. (You should see it tonight.) That is because I suffered my first scrape ever this morning.

Though my career as a farmer is over (for now), I have settled into the routine of waking up way too early and going to bed early. I have also decided that I am too big for two naps so I only sleep in the morning.

When I wake up early, we go outside before it gets too hot. This morning, I was cruising around the front porch and I stepped right off the side and tumbled onto the grass. I don't know what I hit my chin on since I fell flat on my back. My dog was outside too so he rushed over to save my life by licking the top of my head. thanks, Remus.

I had a few more tumbles throughout the day. And don't try to call my mom because I bit her cell phone and it is pretty much broken.

We had a storm today so it was cool enough (85 degrees) to go walking this evening. It was nice to get out and see all of the dogs. I like the dogs at the beginning of the loop. They have red hair just like I do. They are the barkiest dogs too.

In sad news, I will only see Jolanda two more times before she leaves for Europe. I have been spending a lot of time with her lately trying to make the most of our days together. She is the greatest. I loved her from the beginning. When we first met, I was in a stage where pretty much only my mom could hold me or I would cry but I went and cuddled with Jolanda right away - no fussing. We have no plans for life after Jolanda.

expanded list

I thought of more words.

When I flip through the book Ellen gave me for my birthday, I look for the bear. When I find it, I point and say "bear."

I can also say "stuck" and "yuck." I find myself in many situations where those words apply.

Did I put light on my list? I like to point at the light even though they are almost always turned off during the summer all through my waking hours. We do not like to waste electricity.

Also, in the morning when it is time to listen to music and my mom asks me what I want to hear, I say "na na na na" meaning the Putumayo Sesame Street CD. I can sing along to Elmo's Song. I love my Sesame Street CD. It has songs from around the world . . . in French, Hebrew, Arabic, Dutch, and several other languages. There is one song that includes all 11 of South Africa's languages.

I think you get the idea. I am way smarter than an average baby.

holophrasis

At my age, I should only be able to speak between 10 and 15 words. My vocabulary is much more advanced than that. In addition to meowing like a cat, barking like several kinds of dogs, growling like a bear, and roaring like a scary dinosaur, here are the words I can say and understand the meaning of:

bath

bear

belly

bird

book

bug

bye

cat

clock

cute

D (I recognize the D from my shape-sorting barn)

deer

dog

down

duck

hippo (this is my word for water because there is a hippo on my cup)

light

mom (or mam, as I call her)

night night

no

oh no

puff

rainbow

that

uh oh

up

wow

yum

Some words, like taco, have dropped out of my vocabulary. But I had no reason to say taco anyhow. Since I spend so much time on my words, I cannot count yet but it looks to me like I might have more than 10 or 15 words in my vocabulary.

I am also starting to learn about some other languages. First off, my dad started speaking to me in Spanish and now Hector and Trinity do too. Jolanda sings to me in German and Swiss; she has taught me lots of neat songs and games from Switzerland. sigh, she leaves in less than a week.

my life as a farmer

Today was day three in my life as a farmer. It seems to be going well. The one thing that I have noticed is you sure go to bed early (7:30pm) when you are a farmer in the morning. Tomorrow, we are going to harvest a tomato.

This is a photo of me this afternoon. Don't I look attractive in green? Disregard my messy bedroom in the background, though. I tear through the house like a hurricane every minute of every day. We clean up my toys at the end of the day.

Some of the fun I have been up to this week:

Yesterday as my mom was zesting a lemon to make greek wraps for dinner, I pulled a stack of 50 (!!!!) of my dad's CDs out of the cabinet and scattered them all about the floor. I quickly discovered that putting one CD under each limb and sliding across the tile floor is as fun as ice skating. Now, before you think this sounds like I was being a trouble maker, let me tell you that I HAD to do this. You see, I have a prism that sits in the living room window and makes rainbows (bow, as I call it) on the floor and walls starting at about 5:30pm and this might just be the best part of my day. It was defective yesterday so I had to make my own rainbows. This is how my dad's CDs did not get ruined . . . because I put the writing side down so the shiny side faced up and made rainbows. Smart me!

My dog and I are both confused about who is the dog and who is the boy. For the past few days, I have been crawling into my dog's crate. I chased after him yesterday and growled like a bear (not a good way to catch a dog, I learned). When I crawl on the floor now, my dog frolics beside me and puts a paw on my back. He thinks I am a puppy in his pack!

I have also learned to climb down off furniture now so good luck catching me.

Good night. early bird catches the worm. We haven't seen any worms or scary bugs on our farm. They don't have scorpions in that area of town. lucky them.

do I look like a farmer?

This week, my mom and I are taking care of a garden. Today was our first day so we woke up very early (before the sun did) so we could get our job out of the way before the sun caught everything on fire.

The owner of the garden is a chef. He has been hired to go cook for someone who owns a private island in Maine. (hmmmm maybe I should have tagged along on that job.) So we are entrusted to keep alive fig and pomegranate trees, eggplant, grapes, a million herbs, and I cannot even remember what else. It is all stuff you know could die at the drop of a hat . . . or when it reaches 100 degrees or more like it will every day this week. I am hoping against hope for rain.

This is a photo of me after my garden job. I should have come home from "work" and slept all day but my dog has not stopped barking. A truck drove by several times this morning and ruined his life.

happy birthday +1

As promised, my mom got a snapshot of me in honor of my 13 month birthday. As you will see, she had to cage me up with a scary furry animal . . . I think it is a sasquatch. I am really not one for sitting still. ever. Happy birthday to me.

Next stop: 14.

another birthday (13)

Happy birthday to me. I am now 13 months old. wow. Today was just a typical Sunday. Got up early, went to the supermarket etc. It was unbearably hot again . . . well, everyone thought so but, really, I don't care about the heat. Since I am a ginger baby, I do have to be very careful about the sun though.

In the afternoon, we went to visit my sister at her new apartment. It is so fancy and I played with her cat. meow. My sister will probably invite me to go swimming later this week.

No photos from my birthday today. Maybe I can sit still enough to pose tomorrow. doubt it, but my mom can try.

trouble with a capital t

Since I have been a bit unwell all week, I have been saving up my energy.

This is how my day unfolded.

I woke up at 7:20am and everything seemed fine. We did our usual morning stuff. When we came upstairs to play, I put my fuzzy animal book on my yellow table to read, as I do every day. Today, my red Fisher Price clock happened to be right there so I thought I should see what might happen if I stood on it. I flipped forward onto my table. When my mom picked me up, I was drooling out blood. We still don't know where my cut is but maybe my mom can peek in my mouth when I go to bed tonight.

Then we went back downstairs. The rest is my dog's fault. He is deathly afraid of the rain so I had to follow him around everywhere to make sure he was ok. My mom put him outside FIVE times this morning to go pee. He decided to pee in the corner of the kitchen instead. And I crawled right through it. Into the bath I went. While my mom was cleaning up the pee, I tore the spine of a cookbook. Do not tell my great-grandmother but I chose to deface the cookbook that belonged to her mother. sorry. It looked so pretty though. I only just discovered the cookbooks today. I guess my parents need to relocate the cookbook collection. soon. Everything needs to be relocated.

By 10:00am today, my mom was already on her third change of clothes thanks to my various spills and troubles.

we should have moved

News alert: we have just spotted the first tarantula of the season. yikes. My dad called my mom outside to see it. It had camped out underneath my swing and was visible from the front porch where my mom stayed to holler at us. Boy, did my dad get in trouble for being outside with the tarantula. My mom needs to build some kind of barricade to keep the spider out of the house tonight. This was not my tarantula in the photo. Mine was much bigger and scarier. It was as big as me (if not bigger) and I am 23 pounds and 6 ounces now. big!

23lb, 6 oz

I had to visit the doctor today because my mom misdiagnosed me with a staph infection even though there really is no way I could catch one. So off to the doctor we went. I weigh 23 pounds, 6 ounces. I have definitely slowed down with my weight gain. Some of my friends have lost a bit of weight in recent months. Not me! I am healthy and thriving. And cute. This is a photo of me this afternoon looking suave.

Don't even bother to ask what my staph infection turned out to be. I will never tell anyone. top secret, private matter.

outdoorsy

We (my mom) had decided a while back that we were going to move soon. After meeting with several real estate agents, it seemed more logical to rent out our house than sell it. Everyone is clamoring to live in this school district because their football team has won three state championships in a row (big deal). Little known fact: the daughter of the Green Bay Packer's coach goes to high school in this district (another big deal).

And then we were going to rent something downtown so we could walk more and my mom would be closer to the yummy snacks.

The day before our house ad would have been activated, my mom realized that there is some value in me being able to play in the front yard for hours in the morning. I watch the deer frolic while I sit in my chair in the dining room and I also know all of the birds. I see the same dogs pass by every day (and I know each of their barks . . . Sybil has the deepest bark). So we are staying put for now. This may change when my mom comes face to face with a tarantula again this summer; that will be enough nature for her!

Fête du Canada (July 1, 2010)

Yesterday was Canada's birthday. This reminds me that I recently celebrated my first birthday. Canada is much older than me. Here is a photo of me on my birthday. My mom tried to take several photos of me in my Canada shirt yesterday but I don't like to sit still much anymore so she ended up with nothing but a red blur in her pictures. Maybe next year!

I am way behind on my photos and my stories. After my birthday, I had guests for several more days. Then we got busy with work and getting the house ready to rent. See following story about that.

My birthday was fun - but quite busy. I woke up pretty early (as usual) and then had a bath. You'd think it couldn't get much better from there but then I went to storytime at my library (weekly theme: frogs). Miss Laurie and Bee were SO pleased that I made the library part of my birthday! I got a special sticker for my shirt and the kids sang happy birthday to me. Next, we walked over to the bakery where my mom had a cherry smoothie and a treat. My dad had coffee and broccoli cheddar soup. I tried a bite of bread. We also bought cookies to take to the nurses at the hospital where I was born.

It was exciting to go back to my hospital. Several of the nurses who were on shift when I was born and during the first hours of my life were there when we stopped in - even the nurse who did my first blood test but I have mostly forgiven her. If you have to deliver a baby in a hospital in Austin, I recommend that one. It is tiny, more like a birthing center. They have six delivery suites (which are mostly always empty) and LOTS of nurses on staff so you get lots of attention.

After taking cookies to the hospital, we went downtown to fetch my grandmothers from their hotel. We went to Whole Foods for lunch so I could play on the rooftop playground. It was hot but I never care about the temperature. I would sit outside all day if someone would let me.

My sister and Hector came to see me back at my grandmothers' hotel. My sister had a santa-sack full of gifts for me. fun! My best gift from her was the owl lunch bag. I take it everywhere with me now.

Then we went swimming. This is me lounging by the pool. I was quite outgoing at the pool and stopped to chat with anyone who would visit with me.

And I was asleep by about 6:30pm. slept all the way home in the car and my dad got me to stay asleep while he carried me inside. zzzzzzz it is exhausting to be 1.

Father's Day, 2009 (June 21)

This is me on June 21, 2009. Father's Day. I was only ten days old. Beverly (Millie's mom) brought over a card for my dad and she made me a blue knit teddy bear in her church group. She is a good neighbor.

Happy Father's Day to my dad and my three grandfathers. This year, I am one grandfather short.

In this photo, and the other ones from the roll of film, you can see what kind of personality I would get. Back then, I preferred to go naked, wrapped only in my receiving blanket. I would run about naked still if I could but people really expect to see a handsome boy like me well dressed at all times. You can also tell that I am a bit stubborn and I know I am king of the world.

My mom also showed me a photo of my first bath. Back then, my little whale tub (that later became a toy bin) was placed on the kitchen counter for my sponge baths. I couldn't take a real bath for about two weeks because of my, uh, sore spots.