12 February, 2007
Scary babies
Having Lucy hasn't been nearly as scary as we all thought it would be. She is much more demanding than I could have prepared for. And since she is already talking "Hi Dada", "Hi Jah" (that's "hi Jake"), "Hi dah" (that's "Hi dog") and "bite" (when offering the babysitter a graham cracker). I know we are in big trouble in a whole new way.
Everyone eats tuna
I know it may seem like no big deal, but today my entire family ate the same lunch. Cooking
will now be much easier going forward.
It is also one of those moments when you realize that your "new baby" isn't so new anymore. Lucy is 8 months old now. And while she only has 1 1/2 teeth, she is already a chow hound eating a tuna melt for lunch today and pizza last night for dinner.
I think most people were worried that if we had a second child Jake would somehow injure me while I was pregnant, or that Jake would hurt a tiny new baby. Well Jake, as it turns out is the nicest big brother on the planet and we have not had even one scary incident betwixt the kids. Now I really do wonder why we waited so long to have another child. Fear is so powerful.
Fear may be even more powerful if you are on the smarter or more creative side of life. With fear, your amazing intellect can conjure up all sorts of bad things that "could" happen. Like my father, I am able to create fantastic scenarios then with each horrible thing I imagine, I create the contingency plan that saves my baby, my family, my friends, the dogs, the house, the car, the planet..what or whomever lies in peril.
It is exhausting. It also means that I have tennis shoes under my bed, rope in the car, Jake's bus vest and a leash with which to tether him at the back door, extra towels in the laundry room, spare cell phones and more than 50 batteries of all shape and size. We also have cash and coins at the house (not that much so don't get any ideas that we are worth stealing from) and my cell phone is always charged and my gas tank always has at least 60 miles worth of gas (to get to the East Bay to Descartes' parents... or an hour outside of the Bay Area). I have pedia-sure, dried milk and diapers in every size. Spare medications, paper plates, several sets of silverware, enlough liquor to whet every whistle in town, AAA, way too much car insurance, homeowners insurance life insurance and Earthquake insurance which doesn't even kick in until there is more than 60k worth of damage to my home.
I have every single phone number plugged into my cell phone, 2 dozen eggs and an extra gallon of milk in the outside fridge, two propane tanks filled and ready to grill, and a corded phone so we can still make calls if we have a land line but no electricity. All of our cars have AWD and we have a pop up trailer that we can live in at a moment's notice.
There are more things I do, more things I have stored. Am I a freak, is this just being well-prepared in Earthquake country?
will now be much easier going forward.It is also one of those moments when you realize that your "new baby" isn't so new anymore. Lucy is 8 months old now. And while she only has 1 1/2 teeth, she is already a chow hound eating a tuna melt for lunch today and pizza last night for dinner.
I think most people were worried that if we had a second child Jake would somehow injure me while I was pregnant, or that Jake would hurt a tiny new baby. Well Jake, as it turns out is the nicest big brother on the planet and we have not had even one scary incident betwixt the kids. Now I really do wonder why we waited so long to have another child. Fear is so powerful.
Fear may be even more powerful if you are on the smarter or more creative side of life. With fear, your amazing intellect can conjure up all sorts of bad things that "could" happen. Like my father, I am able to create fantastic scenarios then with each horrible thing I imagine, I create the contingency plan that saves my baby, my family, my friends, the dogs, the house, the car, the planet..what or whomever lies in peril.
It is exhausting. It also means that I have tennis shoes under my bed, rope in the car, Jake's bus vest and a leash with which to tether him at the back door, extra towels in the laundry room, spare cell phones and more than 50 batteries of all shape and size. We also have cash and coins at the house (not that much so don't get any ideas that we are worth stealing from) and my cell phone is always charged and my gas tank always has at least 60 miles worth of gas (to get to the East Bay to Descartes' parents... or an hour outside of the Bay Area). I have pedia-sure, dried milk and diapers in every size. Spare medications, paper plates, several sets of silverware, enlough liquor to whet every whistle in town, AAA, way too much car insurance, homeowners insurance life insurance and Earthquake insurance which doesn't even kick in until there is more than 60k worth of damage to my home.
I have every single phone number plugged into my cell phone, 2 dozen eggs and an extra gallon of milk in the outside fridge, two propane tanks filled and ready to grill, and a corded phone so we can still make calls if we have a land line but no electricity. All of our cars have AWD and we have a pop up trailer that we can live in at a moment's notice.
There are more things I do, more things I have stored. Am I a freak, is this just being well-prepared in Earthquake country?
09 February, 2007
My kid is Bi-lingual
It is time to start taking Spanish classes.
Pretty cool eh? He has been slipping out more and more lately.
When I read the journal report from his teacher in the car I asked him if he had done that and he put his head down and smiled!
Just now he gave his sister a toy in her highchair (after stealing all of her Cheerios, of course.)
I think he is hitting another phase of development.
On Wednesday he didn't seem to want to eat anything 'normal' so I asked our babysitter to make him whole wheat cinnamon sugar toast. She sliced it up, then told me he wasn't eating that either. I said, from across the room, "C'mon Jake, you love cinnamon toast"
He then dropped his head made a face and shook his head "no" and smiled at Valerie!
As if to say "my mom is nutters".
Apparently when Jake was walking in the hall today (hallways in California schools are outside remember) he saw the rain, pointed and said "Agua"
*******Just so you know Jake does not point and rarely speaks. ********
Pretty cool eh? He has been slipping out more and more lately.
When I read the journal report from his teacher in the car I asked him if he had done that and he put his head down and smiled!
Just now he gave his sister a toy in her highchair (after stealing all of her Cheerios, of course.)
I think he is hitting another phase of development.
On Wednesday he didn't seem to want to eat anything 'normal' so I asked our babysitter to make him whole wheat cinnamon sugar toast. She sliced it up, then told me he wasn't eating that either. I said, from across the room, "C'mon Jake, you love cinnamon toast"
He then dropped his head made a face and shook his head "no" and smiled at Valerie!
As if to say "my mom is nutters".
08 February, 2007
Christmas Parts Two and Three
I do not find it odd at all that I am writing about Christmas in the near middle of February. I have taken down the tree, the lights off the house and the Christmas boxes are back out into the rafters of the garage, but I am still sorting through holiday cards, peering at family and friends and debating whether to throw away those lovely photo cards, or stuff them into a small sack (think babyGap bag) and place them in a box or on a shelf where i will find them in one and two and three years and experience the wonder of whether I should keep them all over again.
So Christmas part two was driving back to Northern California. I suppose I never finished Christmas part one. That was Christmas dinner at my mother's house. My mother and father have a beautiful home which has a view of the ocean. They took advantage of the vista and placed a tent with a heater in the back yard, set up a long table, put out the finest china and wheeled out the high chair and booster seats for the babies. It is not very often that we are all in one place. This year we had all four kids and spouses and their kids.
We are an odd lot, filled with insecurities and joys and pride and eagerness and needs and hopes. I know each family has their own shape but I am not sure this family even knows what it is supposed to look like sometimes. It took so long for the "blended" part to blend.. we are still working on it. When my parents remarried and I realized I was going to have three step sisters and one step brother in addition to the one brother I came with.. I just decided that this is what my family looks like, what it will look like for a long time so I had better get used to it. I called the girls my sister when I introduced them ( and when I put their names on Gap family Day invitations) and the brother, well he was a brother. I introduced my new step parents as my "mom" or "dad". This was most painful to everyone else at first. My older step-sisters probably didn't really want me around at all at first, and it has only been in the last 5 years or so that I feel like there is a deeper affection (at least with one of them!) My step-brother (from the other side of my family) and I really love each other, but we don't know each other very well. We are getting to know each other better as we get older, but having never lived in the same house, it is difficult to have shared memories outside of the Christmas when Demanda fell into the Christmas tree and Easter when Maga (his grandmother) wore all black. We are getting there though, and have had quite a bit of fun in small bits and pieces.
So Christmas part one was beautiful and made very relaxing by the fact that my parents had put us up in the fanchy schmancy hotel providing us with a little breathing room with crazy Jake and babyLucy...and giving the precious objects in their home a chance to live another year.
So Christmas part two was driving back to Northern California. I suppose I never finished Christmas part one. That was Christmas dinner at my mother's house. My mother and father have a beautiful home which has a view of the ocean. They took advantage of the vista and placed a tent with a heater in the back yard, set up a long table, put out the finest china and wheeled out the high chair and booster seats for the babies. It is not very often that we are all in one place. This year we had all four kids and spouses and their kids.
We are an odd lot, filled with insecurities and joys and pride and eagerness and needs and hopes. I know each family has their own shape but I am not sure this family even knows what it is supposed to look like sometimes. It took so long for the "blended" part to blend.. we are still working on it. When my parents remarried and I realized I was going to have three step sisters and one step brother in addition to the one brother I came with.. I just decided that this is what my family looks like, what it will look like for a long time so I had better get used to it. I called the girls my sister when I introduced them ( and when I put their names on Gap family Day invitations) and the brother, well he was a brother. I introduced my new step parents as my "mom" or "dad". This was most painful to everyone else at first. My older step-sisters probably didn't really want me around at all at first, and it has only been in the last 5 years or so that I feel like there is a deeper affection (at least with one of them!) My step-brother (from the other side of my family) and I really love each other, but we don't know each other very well. We are getting to know each other better as we get older, but having never lived in the same house, it is difficult to have shared memories outside of the Christmas when Demanda fell into the Christmas tree and Easter when Maga (his grandmother) wore all black. We are getting there though, and have had quite a bit of fun in small bits and pieces.
So Christmas part one was beautiful and made very relaxing by the fact that my parents had put us up in the fanchy schmancy hotel providing us with a little breathing room with crazy Jake and babyLucy...and giving the precious objects in their home a chance to live another year.
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