Wow! It's been more than a month since I last posted! The last few months have been crazy! We had Christmas, then Tahoe, then North Carolina for Jeremy and Julie's wedding, then we came home and Jack was sick, then I got it from him, then we moved, then we had Winter Dinner at church, which ate up every waking hour for a week. Now, finally, things have settled down a little. I have a husband who is kind enough to empty the dishwasher and refill it while I catch up on e-mail and this blog.
Jack is developing a language for himself that Joah and I can somewhat understand, based on context... here is a pronunciation guide of Jack's words:
o (short o)= hot
a (short a) = hat
ee=keys or toy or kitty or cookie or eat or teeth (or brush my teeth)
i (long i) = eye or outside (when accompanied by a doorknob turning motion) or drive or light (though light has a separation, like "ah-ee")
bew=bear
ew=sticker (if pointing to hand where the WalMart ladies put smiley face stickers) or upstairs or downstairs or ear or hair or yucky (if drawn out like eeew)
ba=up (if arms are raised) or grandpa or Bob (the builder)
ma=mom
da=dad
dowwww=down (his favorite after nap time)
ow=out or nose (though "out" is separated, like ah-oo)
oo=shoe
mo=moon
ba ba =bad bad (referring to Lulu the cat)
uh-oh= uh-oh or milk (I have no idea how uh-oh became milk. Did he drop his sippy one too many times?)
yeah=very well pronounced yeah
no=no
He also has a variety of animal noises and other sound effects (instead of saying "ball", he has a throaty sound effect, somewhat like a gun shooting sound, and a throwing motion to go with it).
We really need to work on the consonants. Yesterday we had a really hard half-hour after his nap when he kept saying "ee, ee, ee, ee!" and I kept trying to feed him a snack or let him chew on his toothbrush, but he was seeing my keys on the couch and wanted to play with them. A simple K sound could have solved a long and frustrating ordeal! I hope those consonants develop quickly!
So next comes Jeremy and Julie's reception in March and increasingly intense VBS planning, but the coming few months should be nothing like the busy-ness of December through now. Hopefully I'll have time to post some pictures in the near future!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Each day, we took a trek down to the (frozen over) creek where there's a great sledding hill. On the way the first time, Papa gave Jack a ride on the icy street.
If you know Jack, you'll expect that he wasn't content to sit and be pulled for very long.
Jack loved sledding with "Da", learning the exclamation "Whoo!", which he used after each run and when he saw other sledders take a ride!
Cute Buddy!
While we were in Tahoe, we learned that the bank wants to close on our house by January 9, when we'll be in North Carolina for Jeremy and Julie's wedding, so our loan officer is scrambling to get things together by Tuesday the 6th before we leave. This is going to be a VERY busy month!
Christmas '08
The Widmans' Christmas was wonderful, filled with fun and family... we spent Christmas Eve at Papa and Neenee Brown's house, buried in presents (lots of presents and lots of big presents), and Christmas day at my parents', aka Pa and Grammie's, with Grandma Carol also there.
At Papa and Neenee's house, Jack was very interested in the balls on the tree, since our tree held no balls within his reach. Of course, several of the balls ended up on the floor, with hooks still on the tree.
On Christmas morning, he forgot this was on his head for a while.
Papa and Neenee Dean gave Jack a tricycle, which he enjoyed in Pa and Grammie's house on Christmas day (see his excellent parade wave technique), but then was put away for a while, and should be just about perfect for him when the weather warms up in the spring. Thanks, Papa and Neenee!
Hope everyone's Christmas was great!
At Papa and Neenee's house, Jack was very interested in the balls on the tree, since our tree held no balls within his reach. Of course, several of the balls ended up on the floor, with hooks still on the tree.
On Christmas morning, he forgot this was on his head for a while.
Papa and Neenee Dean gave Jack a tricycle, which he enjoyed in Pa and Grammie's house on Christmas day (see his excellent parade wave technique), but then was put away for a while, and should be just about perfect for him when the weather warms up in the spring. Thanks, Papa and Neenee!
Hope everyone's Christmas was great!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wouldn't you be curious too?
I was at the grocery store yesterday and I spotted some tourists. I'm not sure where they were from, maybe Europe somewhere, but they were definitely grocery store tourists. I observed them wandering in the produce section: a dad, a mom, and a 20-something son with no shopping cart. They were dressed nicely, like Thanksgiving day nicely, and were perusing the variety of produce. They would comment to each other here and there about this cabbage or that kiwi, but I couldn't quite get close enough (without being rude) to hear an accent or language. They then meandered to the baked goods where they viewed the pre-made birthday cakes (and the dad said something like "ich"--that German throaty chokey sound, so maybe they were German, or maybe he just doesn't like cake). I said hi to the mom as I passed her, and she answered hi back, but it's hard to tell an accent from hi. The son picked up and examined a small frozen turkey from a bin, as if he couldn't read the sign and was trying to figure out what this frozen package contained. I later saw them leave the store without purchasing anything, and I can only surmise that they were visiting their sister/in-law who married an American and moved to Brentwood and they wanted to see what an American grocery store was like. I regret now that I was not more nosey--that I did not pretend to need produce or cake or turkey near them to find out the truth. Now I will always wonder if I was right about their tourist status.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
So I'm finally getting to blog about Thanksgiving, now that it's almost Christmas! We spent Thanksgiving day at my family's house with the Milburns and my grandparents and Joah's mom. After dinner, most of us went for a walk (to look at a house that's for sale, of course!):
Jack does not enjoy holding one person's hand when he walks, but he loves to hold two people's hands. Maybe it's the possibility of one, two, three, swing! (here with my dad and Uncle Pete)
A nice lady on the trail offered to take our picture:
On the day after Thanksgiving, we made our annual BART trip to San Francisco for the lighting of the Christmas tree in Union Square. The Milburns, minus Jodie and Drew (who were in Oregon), plus Jamie's boyfriend Josh, the Storrers, minus Josh and Lindsay (who were in Hawaii, poor things!), the Browns, minus Matthew and Pamela (who had to work, really poor things), and the Widmans went.
This was kind of an experimental day for Jack because we left before lunch, so there was not a chance for his afternoon nap. We've never gone a day without a nap before, but he did great! He did not fall asleep in the car on the way to the BART station as we had hoped, nor did he fall asleep on BART. He lasted through the jam-packed muni bus ride and the crowded sidewalks on the way to the restaurant. (He rode in his stroller.) He did amazingly well in the Rainforest Cafe (what a perfect place to keep his attention!), and then finally fell asleep at about 6:00 in my mom's arms on the bus back to the Christmas tree lighting. We transferred him to the stroller when her arms grew tired, and he stayed asleep through the lighting (which we couldn't see very well anyway).
Here is the Christmas tree in the background. See how far away we are. I don't think there has ever been that many people at the lighting before. The sleeping Jack in the stroller almost got trampled a couple of times by people who didn't look down when they were trying to push through the crowds. I finally picked him up out of the stroller (which woke him up) because I was worried that someone would walk or fall over him.
In other news, it looks like we finally have a house to buy. Our offer has been accepted, reconsidered, and accepted again, and we've already signed a million papers, though I'm told we're just getting started. Our close date is elusive. The contract says 45 days, which puts us to January 10, but our loan lady says it's going to take longer--60 days--which puts us at January 23. We hope to clarify it soon so we know when to start packing!
In still other news, that Matthew and Pamela Brown are full of surprises! They announced to us recently that they are expecting a honeymoon baby, due at the end of June! We are all very excited for them and I am kind of just realizing that I'm going to be an aunt now! Somehow in the shock that my brother is going to be (is) a dad, my aunthood didn't really occur to me right away...
So life lately is full with holidays and new houses and babies coming. God is good.
Jack does not enjoy holding one person's hand when he walks, but he loves to hold two people's hands. Maybe it's the possibility of one, two, three, swing! (here with my dad and Uncle Pete)
A nice lady on the trail offered to take our picture:
On the day after Thanksgiving, we made our annual BART trip to San Francisco for the lighting of the Christmas tree in Union Square. The Milburns, minus Jodie and Drew (who were in Oregon), plus Jamie's boyfriend Josh, the Storrers, minus Josh and Lindsay (who were in Hawaii, poor things!), the Browns, minus Matthew and Pamela (who had to work, really poor things), and the Widmans went.
This was kind of an experimental day for Jack because we left before lunch, so there was not a chance for his afternoon nap. We've never gone a day without a nap before, but he did great! He did not fall asleep in the car on the way to the BART station as we had hoped, nor did he fall asleep on BART. He lasted through the jam-packed muni bus ride and the crowded sidewalks on the way to the restaurant. (He rode in his stroller.) He did amazingly well in the Rainforest Cafe (what a perfect place to keep his attention!), and then finally fell asleep at about 6:00 in my mom's arms on the bus back to the Christmas tree lighting. We transferred him to the stroller when her arms grew tired, and he stayed asleep through the lighting (which we couldn't see very well anyway).
Here is the Christmas tree in the background. See how far away we are. I don't think there has ever been that many people at the lighting before. The sleeping Jack in the stroller almost got trampled a couple of times by people who didn't look down when they were trying to push through the crowds. I finally picked him up out of the stroller (which woke him up) because I was worried that someone would walk or fall over him.
In other news, it looks like we finally have a house to buy. Our offer has been accepted, reconsidered, and accepted again, and we've already signed a million papers, though I'm told we're just getting started. Our close date is elusive. The contract says 45 days, which puts us to January 10, but our loan lady says it's going to take longer--60 days--which puts us at January 23. We hope to clarify it soon so we know when to start packing!
In still other news, that Matthew and Pamela Brown are full of surprises! They announced to us recently that they are expecting a honeymoon baby, due at the end of June! We are all very excited for them and I am kind of just realizing that I'm going to be an aunt now! Somehow in the shock that my brother is going to be (is) a dad, my aunthood didn't really occur to me right away...
So life lately is full with holidays and new houses and babies coming. God is good.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Some Birthday Present
Joah turned 30 on Tuesday. On Thursday morning he woke up stiff and sore from sleeping wrong. I guess getting old comes like a thief in the night.
Wednesday night, we celebrated his birthday by going to the new Rave Theater to see Quantum of Solace (the new James Bond movie, which was pretty good according to me who has never seen a Bond movie before). As we came out of the theater through the unlit overflow parking lot, discussing the movie and anticipating waking Jack from his slumber at my parents' house, we approached the car, which looked a little funny. "Oh no," Joah said, realizing the problem before I did. "We have two flat tires."
Sure enough, both tires on the driver's side were totally deflated, causing the whole car to lean to the left. We have a spare, but that doesn't help two tires, so we called my dad, who was thankfully still awake, to go and get the fix-a-flat spray from Joah's truck and bring it to us at the theater. Meanwhile, Joah started changing the back tire for the spare as we wondered aloud what we might have run over on our way to the movies.
Realizing that Raley's might have fix-a-flat, we called my dad to tell him not to come all the way out because we were going to try to make it to Raley's before they closed at 11:00. We hustled across the empty parking lot and across the street to Raley's where we made it by 10:58, just before they locked the doors, and did find what we were looking for. We made our purchase and headed back to the car, slipping on some mud in the dark, almost falling, but not quite.
Joah attached the fix-a-flat bottle to the remaining flat tire and started spraying... and we began to hear a constant hisssss. I pulled out my cell phone, opened it up, and shined its light on the tire. There it was. A lovely slash. We inspected the other tire, and sure enough: another slash, longer than the first. Someone had slashed our tires. Ours. Out of the whole parking lot of cars. No one else was standing around with cars leaning to the side.
We have no McCain/Palin stickers, we have no Christian fish. We did not cut anyone off on the road before the movies. There was no rhyme or reason to the slashing.
The next day being Thanksgiving, we did not want to leave the car anywhere for two days, so Joah called a tow truck (thankfully covered by our insurance) to tow the car to our house, and my dad came to take me back to their house where I took Jack home in their Expedition.
The tow truck did not arrive to pick up Joah and the car until 1 AM, so we were both glad that the next day was a holiday.
Joah joined the throngs of shoppers on Friday morning, searching not for deals on Christmas gifts, but on a set of tires, which must be replaced in groups of four, lest the all-wheel-drive vehicle be ruined. The man at the tire store told Joah that another man had recently come in with all four tires slashed, also at the Streets of Brentwood shopping center.
Lesson to be Learned: Don't park in an unlit parking lot, especially at the Streets of Brentwood. Or else become Amish so you drive a horse and buggy with wooden wheels that cannot be slashed.
Wednesday night, we celebrated his birthday by going to the new Rave Theater to see Quantum of Solace (the new James Bond movie, which was pretty good according to me who has never seen a Bond movie before). As we came out of the theater through the unlit overflow parking lot, discussing the movie and anticipating waking Jack from his slumber at my parents' house, we approached the car, which looked a little funny. "Oh no," Joah said, realizing the problem before I did. "We have two flat tires."
Sure enough, both tires on the driver's side were totally deflated, causing the whole car to lean to the left. We have a spare, but that doesn't help two tires, so we called my dad, who was thankfully still awake, to go and get the fix-a-flat spray from Joah's truck and bring it to us at the theater. Meanwhile, Joah started changing the back tire for the spare as we wondered aloud what we might have run over on our way to the movies.
Realizing that Raley's might have fix-a-flat, we called my dad to tell him not to come all the way out because we were going to try to make it to Raley's before they closed at 11:00. We hustled across the empty parking lot and across the street to Raley's where we made it by 10:58, just before they locked the doors, and did find what we were looking for. We made our purchase and headed back to the car, slipping on some mud in the dark, almost falling, but not quite.
Joah attached the fix-a-flat bottle to the remaining flat tire and started spraying... and we began to hear a constant hisssss. I pulled out my cell phone, opened it up, and shined its light on the tire. There it was. A lovely slash. We inspected the other tire, and sure enough: another slash, longer than the first. Someone had slashed our tires. Ours. Out of the whole parking lot of cars. No one else was standing around with cars leaning to the side.
We have no McCain/Palin stickers, we have no Christian fish. We did not cut anyone off on the road before the movies. There was no rhyme or reason to the slashing.
The next day being Thanksgiving, we did not want to leave the car anywhere for two days, so Joah called a tow truck (thankfully covered by our insurance) to tow the car to our house, and my dad came to take me back to their house where I took Jack home in their Expedition.
The tow truck did not arrive to pick up Joah and the car until 1 AM, so we were both glad that the next day was a holiday.
Joah joined the throngs of shoppers on Friday morning, searching not for deals on Christmas gifts, but on a set of tires, which must be replaced in groups of four, lest the all-wheel-drive vehicle be ruined. The man at the tire store told Joah that another man had recently come in with all four tires slashed, also at the Streets of Brentwood shopping center.
Lesson to be Learned: Don't park in an unlit parking lot, especially at the Streets of Brentwood. Or else become Amish so you drive a horse and buggy with wooden wheels that cannot be slashed.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Raking the Gravel
I recently looked out my front windows and found, to my interest and wonder, two strange horses, feasting on my front lawn. What do you do with horses who have no saddle, no bridle, no lead rope, and no apparent owner? You hop on bareback and ride into the sunset, of course! Just kidding. You call your landlady and she calls your back neighbors, whose horses they are.
What a surprise--horses on the front lawn!
Jack's favorite activity lately is to drag or push anything with a stick attached. My mop, my broom, Joah's rake, Joah's shovel, on carpet, on linoleum, on cement, on asphalt, on gravel, on dirt, on grass, he pushes, he pulls, he drags, he drops, he picks up again.
And here is one of our rare attempts at self-feeding with a utensil. We try it every once in a while to see how motor coordination is moving along. Most of the time, Jack helps mom or dad with the spoon. Somehow the face gets a little less messy that way!
Joah's brother Jeremy and his fiance Julie came to visit last week. It was great to see Jeremy again, and so fun to meet Julie! Their wedding is in North Carolina in January. Joah is the best man and Jack is ring bearer. I, thankfully, am nothing but mom, wife, and sister-in-law to key players, and helper-where-need-be.
What a cute couple! Julie's first trip to Cali... This was on the way to the airport to drop them off...
...and Joah and I got to stop for clam chowder in a bread bowl for lunch at Pier 39 on the way home! (Jack was home with Grandma! Thanks, Mom!)
What a surprise--horses on the front lawn!
Jack's favorite activity lately is to drag or push anything with a stick attached. My mop, my broom, Joah's rake, Joah's shovel, on carpet, on linoleum, on cement, on asphalt, on gravel, on dirt, on grass, he pushes, he pulls, he drags, he drops, he picks up again.
And here is one of our rare attempts at self-feeding with a utensil. We try it every once in a while to see how motor coordination is moving along. Most of the time, Jack helps mom or dad with the spoon. Somehow the face gets a little less messy that way!
Joah's brother Jeremy and his fiance Julie came to visit last week. It was great to see Jeremy again, and so fun to meet Julie! Their wedding is in North Carolina in January. Joah is the best man and Jack is ring bearer. I, thankfully, am nothing but mom, wife, and sister-in-law to key players, and helper-where-need-be.
What a cute couple! Julie's first trip to Cali... This was on the way to the airport to drop them off...
...and Joah and I got to stop for clam chowder in a bread bowl for lunch at Pier 39 on the way home! (Jack was home with Grandma! Thanks, Mom!)
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