Me, "dada"
Baby Sora, "mamamamamamamama"
Me, "Stone, what does she mean?"
Stone, "she likes momma, not you. She's a girl and likes girls. I'm a boy and I like you"
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
The first snow has come and nearly gone for this winter season. Aunt Stina and Uncle Ted (from TX) got to be here during the snowfall and the few days after. Having an extra set of hands for sledding (carrying the sled back up) was indeed a treat.
No sooner had I gotten most of the snow cleared from around the house when the first arrivals for the Thanksgiving day feast arrived. Quite an enjoyable day full of family and friends and food, naturally. I was reminded that in had been a bit too long between blog entries ...
As previously mentioned, he is now going to "school" a couple of days a week and in the class previous to Thanksgiving, he mentioned being thankful for friends. One distinct difference from last year to this is that he does indeed have a few sets of friends and that group is growing as we continue to branch out in our new surroundings. School is going well, he is adapting (at his pace) to the do's and do not so often please's of social life.
We are participating in a Cooperative school, so that we get to take part in a class day on a regular basis. He enjoy's his "special" days and I must admit it is enjoyable to see him in that element, good bad and CROSS ;). While normally I would expect him to repeat a word or phrase that I let fly or he picks up from his media exposure, we have no entered into the new world of "I have no idea what you are talking about" in response to some of what he says as he seems to be telling multiple stories at once as he searches for words when recalling the day at school. A good time to practice active listening skills.
Thus his vocabulary continues to grow and at times I fear mine is going in the other direction as I find that trying to verbally string together too many words at a time gets confusing to me too quickly :).
She continues to eat and sleep mostly at night and grow and almost walk and eat and grow. She seems between about five sizes at the moment and I am quite prepared to not be surprised when I go into her room soon to find she has climbed down a rope she made of monkeys in her crib to escape. I think I am be in trouble with this one. While brother has his moments, she already seems a bit too deviou ... smart for her own good!
No sooner had I gotten most of the snow cleared from around the house when the first arrivals for the Thanksgiving day feast arrived. Quite an enjoyable day full of family and friends and food, naturally. I was reminded that in had been a bit too long between blog entries ...
As previously mentioned, he is now going to "school" a couple of days a week and in the class previous to Thanksgiving, he mentioned being thankful for friends. One distinct difference from last year to this is that he does indeed have a few sets of friends and that group is growing as we continue to branch out in our new surroundings. School is going well, he is adapting (at his pace) to the do's and do not so often please's of social life.
We are participating in a Cooperative school, so that we get to take part in a class day on a regular basis. He enjoy's his "special" days and I must admit it is enjoyable to see him in that element, good bad and CROSS ;). While normally I would expect him to repeat a word or phrase that I let fly or he picks up from his media exposure, we have no entered into the new world of "I have no idea what you are talking about" in response to some of what he says as he seems to be telling multiple stories at once as he searches for words when recalling the day at school. A good time to practice active listening skills.
Thus his vocabulary continues to grow and at times I fear mine is going in the other direction as I find that trying to verbally string together too many words at a time gets confusing to me too quickly :).
She continues to eat and sleep mostly at night and grow and almost walk and eat and grow. She seems between about five sizes at the moment and I am quite prepared to not be surprised when I go into her room soon to find she has climbed down a rope she made of monkeys in her crib to escape. I think I am be in trouble with this one. While brother has his moments, she already seems a bit too deviou ... smart for her own good!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
This is typed ...
This message is typed on a phone just returned. After getting home from getting him and as I was getting her out of the van I realized I left the phone on top of the van: back at school as she looked so cute, she needed a picture taken.
As the door of the van closed we turned and another younger sibling starting calling toward her "Eehh eehh". We went over to say hi and to get in line to get him from his classroom. "Eehh Eehh eeeehhh", the other little sibling was insistent on being eye to eye with her, so I took him I my arms so they could chat, eye to eye.
After giving him back and gathering him and his stuff we make it back to the van. After getting the kids loaded we head back to the house as always.
Once I realized not only did I not take the picture, that I left the phone we began to double back. On the return trip I scanned the opposing "gutter" for signs of the phone. Nothing but beer cans mostly.
We return to the parking lot and park in the same spot. No sign of the phone.
There were a collection of workers (tree trimmers clearing around power lines in the area) parked in the lot for lunch. We "knew" them as they have been parking there recently when I pick up from school both in the van and on the bike. Nothing phone wise was found around the parking lot.
We head into school to see if perhaps it had fallen and been returned ... Not the case. As we were turning to depart we were greeted at the door by the two tree trimmers; they saw me come in, and realized the images on the phone (kids and bikes) matched me.
They had been working on one of the corners on the van path to and from school. They saw the phone and picked it up on the way to lunch. So it had made it about two miles down the road.
Sadly, the fellow who found it was looking for his phone: a different model in a bright green case. Mine is a bright green phone in a rather strong grey case. Should I see his on a ride, I know where I find him.
Monday, September 22, 2014
some images from the summer
Here is a link to the full album, prepare for lots of plane images as we went to Stone's first air-show and he got to meet Blaze (Caroline), a classmate of Joan's, who flies Air Force Thunderbird #3.
Welcome to Fall,
Jeff
Welcome to Fall,
Jeff
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Summer and movement
She has achieved mobility and thus I have even less time as one of the three of us is chasing one or all of the other three nearly all day.
He is enjoying swim lessons.
There is lots more to type and I even have some images to load ... off to chase another one ...
J
He is enjoying swim lessons.
There is lots more to type and I even have some images to load ... off to chase another one ...
J
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
A few things
Below are just a few snippets of certain times of certain days:
-
Ten minutes before leaving after a perfectly calm morning always has a "worst case scenario" feel to it, at least for me. On this Monday, preceding leaving for gym, it was nearly that. We had a rain hit the house from the South and East for a few days, which exposed a new leak in (around) a window into the house. I notified the contractor of when we would be leaving, he got there five minutes before we left.
She had a perfectly good morning eating, napping, playing and being regular all that time. So it was no surprise that she needed a change before we got ready to load up. So with roughly ten minutes to go, I begin changing her.
"Daddy, I go potty" ... so he proceeds to go.
Once I get her finished and into her car seat, I turn to see him walking out of the bathroom with one vanilla hand and one chocolate.
"Stop - hands UP!"
"OK sorry daddy" his eyes get bright and he gave his open mouth shocked face that something went terribly wrong even though he couldn't figure it out yet.
"You can get very sick, that is not safe, understand?"
"Yes, under-tan"
So with about eight minutes to go I start cleaning him and the toilet which was nicely painted ... As I mentioned, with bleached hands not dry I opened the door to let in the contractor to asses the leak with about five minutes to "go". We did make it to gym, a few minutes late.
-
On a recent family visit he demonstrated his ability to identify states by who lives there. Fortunately for him most of his people live in only two states at the moment ... he can pick out TX and NH from the lower 48.
-
He has started asking for momma more during the work days, so I have started explaining that one reason she works is so that we can have things, like banas and toys. I was cleaning his small table and chairs (where he normally eats / ipads / plays) and he was helping by moving a chair, "Momma I love it, I love chair, thank you momma" - he knew full well she was at work ...
-
He has a habit of moving things around in any given room at any given time. So normally I try to scan an area before moving through it, especially when carrying her. In this case, I had seen the small chair he moved next to the bed, yet as I turned with her in my arms (creating a big blind spot) I didn't see it / recall it and the top of the back of the chair (corner) planted into and just under my patella, gently suggesting that the connective tissue begin to separate as I was putting all of my weight on that leg striding forward ... I made loud unhappy noises ... Stone immediately turned and asked "daddy u hurt?".
"Yes, my knee folded around your chair"
"Ouchies, you ok?"
"It hurts, but I think so" "ouch owe ouch owe" - with the next few steps. I left the room and fed her. He came to me a few minutes later, "you still hurt knee daddy, can I see?"
"Sure, see that bump?"
"Ouchie, I kisses it ok?" Three kisses later it felt better. I glanced back in the room and he moved the chair to the head of the bed, not the side ...
-
She is now strong enough to get into the bike trailer, so yesterday we took our first him and her in the trailer bike ride:
-
J
-
Ten minutes before leaving after a perfectly calm morning always has a "worst case scenario" feel to it, at least for me. On this Monday, preceding leaving for gym, it was nearly that. We had a rain hit the house from the South and East for a few days, which exposed a new leak in (around) a window into the house. I notified the contractor of when we would be leaving, he got there five minutes before we left.
She had a perfectly good morning eating, napping, playing and being regular all that time. So it was no surprise that she needed a change before we got ready to load up. So with roughly ten minutes to go, I begin changing her.
"Daddy, I go potty" ... so he proceeds to go.
Once I get her finished and into her car seat, I turn to see him walking out of the bathroom with one vanilla hand and one chocolate.
"Stop - hands UP!"
"OK sorry daddy" his eyes get bright and he gave his open mouth shocked face that something went terribly wrong even though he couldn't figure it out yet.
"You can get very sick, that is not safe, understand?"
"Yes, under-tan"
So with about eight minutes to go I start cleaning him and the toilet which was nicely painted ... As I mentioned, with bleached hands not dry I opened the door to let in the contractor to asses the leak with about five minutes to "go". We did make it to gym, a few minutes late.
-
On a recent family visit he demonstrated his ability to identify states by who lives there. Fortunately for him most of his people live in only two states at the moment ... he can pick out TX and NH from the lower 48.
-
He has started asking for momma more during the work days, so I have started explaining that one reason she works is so that we can have things, like banas and toys. I was cleaning his small table and chairs (where he normally eats / ipads / plays) and he was helping by moving a chair, "Momma I love it, I love chair, thank you momma" - he knew full well she was at work ...
-
He has a habit of moving things around in any given room at any given time. So normally I try to scan an area before moving through it, especially when carrying her. In this case, I had seen the small chair he moved next to the bed, yet as I turned with her in my arms (creating a big blind spot) I didn't see it / recall it and the top of the back of the chair (corner) planted into and just under my patella, gently suggesting that the connective tissue begin to separate as I was putting all of my weight on that leg striding forward ... I made loud unhappy noises ... Stone immediately turned and asked "daddy u hurt?".
"Yes, my knee folded around your chair"
"Ouchies, you ok?"
"It hurts, but I think so" "ouch owe ouch owe" - with the next few steps. I left the room and fed her. He came to me a few minutes later, "you still hurt knee daddy, can I see?"
"Sure, see that bump?"
"Ouchie, I kisses it ok?" Three kisses later it felt better. I glanced back in the room and he moved the chair to the head of the bed, not the side ...
-
She is now strong enough to get into the bike trailer, so yesterday we took our first him and her in the trailer bike ride:
-
J
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
The good times
So far this morning: she was up at 1:30, 2:30, 3:30 and "awake" at four. Around five she decided to be upset and scream until 7:00 when help arrived in the form of Mimi. Shortly thereafter she was happy.
He woke shortly after I left for a quick errand. Upon my return he was happy and content. He asked if a program I had never heard of could be played and I said no thank you: some posturing, then screaming, then up with a side table and down across the room with the side table.
The woman checking me out at the Store suggested that the early morning interactions should be cherished as they are so sweet and cuddly in the morning. I should have offered her a nanny position covering the morning shift.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
around the corner from a complete thaw
we can go outside again without thirteen layers on and needing to mush through snow and ice, a welcome thing indeed. I am sure that as the Spring continues to emerge here I will get a bit more frequent in updating ... or perhaps not!
Friday, March 14, 2014
feetprints
He has already started his training in tracking things. Granted, snow makes it easy to train someone as you can get a very good snapshot of what was/is moving about. Thus far he can correctly identify the following types of feetprints:
- his own
- bikes
- rabbit/squirrel/chipmunk (he has yet to really discern the difference, just knows they are all small feetprints)
- tractor or monster (snowblower)
- daddy's
We know that a family of chipmunks is taking their winter break in the wood pile behind the BBQ pit. There are at least two squirrel nests up in the trees on the property and a number of nests in the trees up and down the street. A few weeks ago I noticed a fairly large grey squirrel moving about the property. A few hours later I just happened to be looking out as two hawks dove into the snow just in the tree line to the north of the house. I had an idea of what they were after. I made my way up to grab Stone and show him the scene, by the time I made it up one hawk had taken flight. The squirrel had made it up into the trees as we got the window ... the second hawk slowly got up and took flight. Hawks 0 Squirrel 1 (presumably as I saw it make to the tree tops ... but have yet to see it again).
We chose the area knowing that we could get land around the house and we are fortunate in that it is predominately wooded and backs to a creek. Thus there are lots of things that frequent the property and more and more moving back in after the clearing and construction phase. I started a pre-dirt (compost) pile knowing it would potentially attract a few critters. This morning as I took the trash/recycling to the street for pick up I noticed a set of bunny tracks heading from the street to the BBQ area (smart rabbit ;) ).
I briefly followed the tracks past the house to the back yard. From there it seemed to make a few outbound excursions from the compost area and I think it is under the Christmas tree that I left for such occasions. I've been peeking every so often in that direction for fresh tracks or a sign of it.
It is quite apparent that the critters are starting to take certain risks in seeking "stuff" in order to compensate for the continued perma-snow. There are still quite a few predatory birds about (even as I moved the waste), and as I tracked lunch..the bunny, I noticed two sets of prints that had recently been created: one by the chipmunk family going back and forth from the wood pile to the condos (the containers from last years shrub plantings) and another set by a rouge squirrel.
Looking forward to teaching how to track without the ease of snow ...
J
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
so it is snowing
I can't think of too much more of an update at the moment!
 |
| This was snow from before the snow that is now falling before the snow will fall later and then maybe more snow after that snow then more snow, snow please no more snow. |
Making Cakes
ouchy ...
Monday, February 10, 2014
tower making and unmaking
He has been showing some decent skill with tower building. If you leave things at his level that can be stacked, odds are they will. So careful when heading toward the pantry area.
In most cases the only reason to build is to watch how it falls. Sometimes the structure might have a temporary purpose.
Looking forward to Spring ... have I already mentioned that?
A few images:
In most cases the only reason to build is to watch how it falls. Sometimes the structure might have a temporary purpose.
Looking forward to Spring ... have I already mentioned that?
A few images:
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
up first
Rare for any day, especially a weekday, I am clearly winning the awake first race. I am not a morning person, unless of course I see the morning progress as I have been doing any number of things during the night, preferably riding a bike in circles, but that is a topic for other forums.
As we are a few weeks into my solo dual kid parenting gig, I thought I'd take some time to provide an update as the snow falls consistently outside hiding most of the morning light (keeping mom in for the day).
Mom: Typically her day starts around 03:30 or 04:00, feed and re-wrap the baby, perhaps get her to sleep again, then off to workout, workout, then work, then commute home, then some kid time and off to bed at a decent hour to carry on the following day.
Baby girl: Typically my day starts around 03:30 or 04:00, getting fed, and adored and changed then for some reason tightly bound and restricted ... again. Why they insist on keeping my arms locked down I do not understand at all. I simply want to flail them about and continually wake myself up when I ram them into my eyes ... ugh parents.
She had some trouble staying asleep after the early morning feedings initially, that is she did not want to continue to be in her crib. I could take her and sit with her and she'd pass out, etc. The moment I put her down in the crib (once mom has left) she would have none of it. So last week mom added the process of putting her into the "nanny" after the morning process.
The nanny is a swing that we were given from some folks across the street who's kids were too big for it. Initially she did not like it at all ... as of today she does and it IS providing sanity for me.
Once I have her needs addressed: fed, de-gassed, clean pants and at least one set of smiles and giggles procured, should I need to do anything else in life, I can put her in, un-wrapped (swaddled) and she will gladly swing and watch things and listen to music then perhaps one or two small verbal protests and then the eye lids fall. We had contractors in the house for the better bart of an afternoon, and while the activity did keep her up quite a bit, when she did sleep it did happen to be through the nail guns firing and the air canister/compressor operating in the same room. Noise clearly does not bother her.
During the waking hours, she is on about a two hour schedule: taking in 4-7 oz, sitting with me or in the bumbo chair watching brother run in circles and generally attack me, then start to get bobble headed and then sleep for a bit: repeat. Once mom is home, she is typically very tired (well they both are) ... and once she is swaddled, she is normally in her crib and sleeping between 19:00 or 20:00. I then typically feed her and change her around 22:00 or 23:00 just to keep her resting until mom wakes.
Baby boy: He has one weekly appointment, gym. He loves it and has made his first friends. It happens that the other two boys in the tumbling class have birthdays in February, so that all of their birthdays fall in a six week period. We have one more to go, and each of them really enjoys watching the other open presents ... naturally.
For the remainder of the work week, he occupies himself between: eating, cars, trains, books, chasing daddy, ipading, boombooming daddy, trains, planes, rockets, daddy chasing him, playing ball, sometimes cleaning, puzzling, trucking and so forth. He might be to sleep by 21:00 on a "busy day" otherwise a bit later. Over the past couple of weeks he has made his way consistently into our bed at some point during the night or morning. In most cases he just goes back to sleep ... which is fine and he will then sleep quite late. As we have no real schedules yet, I let him so that he is a bit more ... pleasant all of the day.
As we round the corner towards Spring (we have gotten over three inches of snow in the time I drafted this), I know that we will soon be back outside and that should assist in draining his cells of energy a bit more robustly. Of course, then I have to consider keeping up with him while managing her ... perhaps it is time to create a harness so that he can pull us around ... hmmmm
J
As we are a few weeks into my solo dual kid parenting gig, I thought I'd take some time to provide an update as the snow falls consistently outside hiding most of the morning light (keeping mom in for the day).
Mom: Typically her day starts around 03:30 or 04:00, feed and re-wrap the baby, perhaps get her to sleep again, then off to workout, workout, then work, then commute home, then some kid time and off to bed at a decent hour to carry on the following day.
Baby girl: Typically my day starts around 03:30 or 04:00, getting fed, and adored and changed then for some reason tightly bound and restricted ... again. Why they insist on keeping my arms locked down I do not understand at all. I simply want to flail them about and continually wake myself up when I ram them into my eyes ... ugh parents.
She had some trouble staying asleep after the early morning feedings initially, that is she did not want to continue to be in her crib. I could take her and sit with her and she'd pass out, etc. The moment I put her down in the crib (once mom has left) she would have none of it. So last week mom added the process of putting her into the "nanny" after the morning process.
The nanny is a swing that we were given from some folks across the street who's kids were too big for it. Initially she did not like it at all ... as of today she does and it IS providing sanity for me.
Once I have her needs addressed: fed, de-gassed, clean pants and at least one set of smiles and giggles procured, should I need to do anything else in life, I can put her in, un-wrapped (swaddled) and she will gladly swing and watch things and listen to music then perhaps one or two small verbal protests and then the eye lids fall. We had contractors in the house for the better bart of an afternoon, and while the activity did keep her up quite a bit, when she did sleep it did happen to be through the nail guns firing and the air canister/compressor operating in the same room. Noise clearly does not bother her.
During the waking hours, she is on about a two hour schedule: taking in 4-7 oz, sitting with me or in the bumbo chair watching brother run in circles and generally attack me, then start to get bobble headed and then sleep for a bit: repeat. Once mom is home, she is typically very tired (well they both are) ... and once she is swaddled, she is normally in her crib and sleeping between 19:00 or 20:00. I then typically feed her and change her around 22:00 or 23:00 just to keep her resting until mom wakes.
Baby boy: He has one weekly appointment, gym. He loves it and has made his first friends. It happens that the other two boys in the tumbling class have birthdays in February, so that all of their birthdays fall in a six week period. We have one more to go, and each of them really enjoys watching the other open presents ... naturally.
For the remainder of the work week, he occupies himself between: eating, cars, trains, books, chasing daddy, ipading, boombooming daddy, trains, planes, rockets, daddy chasing him, playing ball, sometimes cleaning, puzzling, trucking and so forth. He might be to sleep by 21:00 on a "busy day" otherwise a bit later. Over the past couple of weeks he has made his way consistently into our bed at some point during the night or morning. In most cases he just goes back to sleep ... which is fine and he will then sleep quite late. As we have no real schedules yet, I let him so that he is a bit more ... pleasant all of the day.
As we round the corner towards Spring (we have gotten over three inches of snow in the time I drafted this), I know that we will soon be back outside and that should assist in draining his cells of energy a bit more robustly. Of course, then I have to consider keeping up with him while managing her ... perhaps it is time to create a harness so that he can pull us around ... hmmmm
J
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Random thoughts
Occasionally things seemingly don't connect. Other times, the connections are overwhelming.
As we now have two little humans we now have yet another perspective on child guiding and rearing and watching and laughing and occasionally glaring at with some sense of grrrrr. It is nice to have one out of diapers and it is still not that cute when the newest one fills hers repeatedly within a matter of however many times you change her thinking there can not possibly be more in there ...
He very much enjoyed (dare I say) the doctor visit that was specifically for him. Just a check up, he responded well and was mostly relaxed. The complete opposite of the teeth doctor visits.
The number of small cars for endless crashing fun is n+1.
They are both at this moment in time in their lives above the 75 percentile on the WHO charts for height and weight, I want to see the breakdown for gingers.
42" counter top heights are not quite tall enough to keep his hands from exploring what might be up there.
I enjoy seeing a baby sleep to relatively "heavy" yet well arranged pop albums. Yes I also let her hear some good for the brain stuff too ...
With our two you do get some decent chore time during the work day. That is, time when she sleeps and he is reorganizing something you didn't know he could reach. Yet when your attention is needed by one, it is needed by both immediately and should you not have cloned yourself, get ready for some good clean up times.
Don't refinish/upgrade (vacate) your house a few days before your partner returns to work from parental type leave, if you can avoid it.
The cutest outfits deserve the worst in infant bodily function and wonders. Thus lack of lots of quite outfit photos.
New England makes Joan and I giggle at times ...
At just over two months she is: responding with "small talk" and smiles, when all of her requests have been addressed naturally; she is pushing up and over to her back from her belly; comfortably sitting up (with torso supported); seemingly ready to chase him around; providing daddy lots of opportunities to improve his overall dirty to clean time.
At just over three years he is: responding with ideas and sentences that are clearly his own; responding with ideas and sentences that are clearly influenced by media we allow him to be exposed to; responding with ideas and sentences that are clearly gibberish; for the most part has a good time all of the day; does not yet understand the concept of day of the week or schedule (time) in the day other than sun up and sun down; is easing his way into reading actual books on actual paper; counts preferably in threes (one, three, six, nine, twelve - he has not quite made it to fifteen); is waiting for the spring so that we can try chain driven bikes; is fun to watch on his growth spurt days when he is more clumsy than normal (and normally he's pretty sure footed); seems to adore his new sister; loves going to gym and tumbling; is one rather understanding and patient young man at times.
At just over two months she is: responding with "small talk" and smiles, when all of her requests have been addressed naturally; she is pushing up and over to her back from her belly; comfortably sitting up (with torso supported); seemingly ready to chase him around; providing daddy lots of opportunities to improve his overall dirty to clean time.
At just over three years he is: responding with ideas and sentences that are clearly his own; responding with ideas and sentences that are clearly influenced by media we allow him to be exposed to; responding with ideas and sentences that are clearly gibberish; for the most part has a good time all of the day; does not yet understand the concept of day of the week or schedule (time) in the day other than sun up and sun down; is easing his way into reading actual books on actual paper; counts preferably in threes (one, three, six, nine, twelve - he has not quite made it to fifteen); is waiting for the spring so that we can try chain driven bikes; is fun to watch on his growth spurt days when he is more clumsy than normal (and normally he's pretty sure footed); seems to adore his new sister; loves going to gym and tumbling; is one rather understanding and patient young man at times.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)