Tide Pools

This afternoon, B and I went and checked out one of our favorite beaches. We needed some more sand for his sand box and it was nice, though a bit chilly, to get out of the house. We were surprised that the tide was out further than it had been the other times we had visited and there were plenty of tide pools to explore. We saw tons of hermit crabs and some anemones.



After exploring the tide pools for a few minutes and showing B all the hermit crabs, I went back up to the beach and collected just a few shells. B joined me and noticed that there were quite a few broken pieces of the type of shell that the hermit crabs live in. So he started collecting those.



Then we went back to the tide pools to look around some more and I took a few pictures with my phone. Meanwhile, a few feet away, B was busy collecting more hermit crab shells in his little cup- only these still had the crabs! When I went over and noticed what he was doing, I explained to him that we couldn't take the crabs home with us because their home was the ocean; they needed it and they wouldn't be happy at our home because we don't have the ocean.



He argued only a tiny bit and then immediately seemed to grasp what I was saying. I was a little surprised at how quickly he agreed and began helping me gently return them to the water. It was a proud moment.

All in all, a good day.

Sand Castle Day

B and I spent the afternoon playing at the beach today...and for the first time ever, after we had run around in some waves for a while and eaten lunch, he laid down on the beach towel and fell asleep!! Since this event was completely unexpected (but very welcome), I had no book or anything to do while he napped (for around an hour or more). So...I built a sand castle. Today was a magnificent day for sand dollars and shells, and I decorated accordingly.

"Rock A Baby"

Since B was born, I have always sung either "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or the "ABCs" to calm him down and help him fall asleep.

I don't know very many lullabies at all (obviously). Last summer I traveled back to where I grew up and it was my first time alone with B in a long time. GH normally helps extensively with B's night time routine and sings him several songs in Spanish.

So one night while on the trip, I started singing "Rock a Bye Baby"out of desperation. I don't really like the part about the bough breaking, etc, so I would generally just sing the same lines over and over. As repetitive as it was, at least it calmed him down and saved my sanity during the trip.

But last fall I was ready to add a new verse to our song. One night I just started singing about the fall colors, making the lines up as I went.

Recently, I have added a spring verse to our "Rock a Baby" (that is what B calls it- "Mommy, sing 'Rock a Baby!'") and I thought I would share my verses for anyone who might also want to sing this traditional lullabye without singing the part about the bough breaking.

Here is our version:

Rock a bye baby, on a treetop
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.

When the leaves change, the fall colors come.
Red, orange and yellow are the leaves.

Rock a bye baby, on a treetop
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.

When the buds break, the spring blossoms come.
Pink, white and purple are the blooms.



Happy Spring!

Anemones in a Tide Pool

Spring Time 2010

One in the bluebonnets...





And several from our spring beach vacation...

Dancing versus Dishes

GH is doing the breakfast dishes.

I am playing a CD on the computer and I started happily dancing away. I said, "Come on, B! Dance!"
To which he replied, "No! I am playing ball."
So I said, "Well, I can dance and you can play ball, ok?"

And he said, "Go wash dishes with Papi!".

Hmmmm....maybe he doesn't like my cool moves?

:-)

And one more beach pic from last week...

No picnik effects. This one is au naturale.

"That's okay. I forgive you."

We spent another afternoon at the aquarium today. B immensely enjoys the kids' play area which has various activities. One of his favorite things to do there is to "shoot" the air guns that are under water, so they make bubbles and currents in the water. The aquarium stocks the play area with various plastic toys- sea stars, fish, anemones, and a few boats.

B was playing with one of the boats in the area with the air guns, watching how the boat was affected when he "shot" it. When it was time to go, I asked him to return the boat to the area where he had found it.

He promptly turned around and threw it into that pool, splashing the back of a little boy's head who was playing there. I was embarrassed, even more so because the boy's father and grandmother were standing right there too, so I said "Look, you splashed that little boy! That isn't nice. Say you're sorry." B was taken aback and didn't say anything, just put his head down.

Then the other little boy, who was probably around 3, maybe 4, said "That's okay. I forgive you."

Wow. How sweet was that? I was so impressed. I am grateful that other people are raising their children to be so respectful and mannerly.

I hope it was a good lesson to B, even though I know he didn't mean to splash another child; maybe he will be more careful in the future.

It is so refreshing to have an experience like this in a public place in today's society where it seems like rudeness is the rule.

And one more "for the birds"...

More photos...

I just don't have much to say right now, mostly the usual going on around here. Doing a lot of waiting for different things, but trying to enjoy life on the way. So here are a few photos, as they say, "a picture's worth a thousand words," right?

















I used Picnik for the effects again...I just love playing with that site.

A few more pics...

Otters playing. 2/19/10



Otter with ice. 1/16/10



Sunset over the bay. 1/16/10



Waves. 2/19/10



I used Picnik for the effects.

Just a few pics

Fish at the aquarium.



Playing in the sand a few days ago.



B's feet - aren't they darling?

Slow Down, Mommy! Slow Down!

This week, my 27, almost 28 month old has begun correcting my driving. He (fairly randomly although sometimes perhaps accurately) has been shouting out "Slow Down, Mommy! Slow Down!" as we make our way through our day.
He certainly comes by his backseat driving naturally and as amusing as is it now it may not continue to be so as time goes by...

Today, driving home from the aquarium, in between his commentary regarding my driving skills, with his little brown stuffed horse in hand, he told me "Get bigger, ride a horse." Meaning, when he gets bigger he wants to ride a horse. I told him I thought that was a great idea and he said "Yeah!" in this tone of voice like "Duh!". It was too sweet. I can't wait to see him up on a horse.

On another subject, he went through a period the last 2 months or so where he would only watch a certain show during dinner and finally the last two days he let us watch a different show...hallelujah!

Once again, I am just sharing little tidbits from the week. I feel sure there is more I'm forgetting- I guess if I think of something I will post again!

Moral Obligation Questions

I have been reading the Alexander McCall Smith series about Isabel Dalhousie, who is the editor of a philosophy journal. So her character is constantly pondering questions about morality and what our obligation to others are or should be.

This got me thinking about a hypothetical situation.

What if there were two people, A and B, who were mere acquaintances but who both had something in common, say, collecting rare stamps. These two people were connected by their own choice on a social network.

Then suddenly A loses his rare stamp to a fire, robbery, whatever. A is extraordinarily upset about this circumstance, because this stamp had been an exceptional and difficult acquisition in his collection. Not only is he upset, he makes quite clear his feelings about his situation and specifically what happened to him and which stamp was lost.

B never recognizes the loss of A's stamp. Then a week or so later, B goes on to announce that he has acquired the exact stamp lost by A.

A congratulates B on his good fortune.

However, B still refuses to acknowledge the loss of A, in spite of his own gain. In fact, B goes on posting many stories about the stamp and how it has increased in value, and is even rarer than once believed. At the same time, A has continued to post his feelings about his lost stamp, because it is still weighing heavily on him. Many other of their philatelist friends sent words of regret and solace to A.

So one would assume that the second collector sees at least one of A's posts as they are repeatedly posted.

What is A, who lost his stamp, supposed to do? Should that person "hide" B from his news feed to avoid seeing the stories about the lost stamp? Defriend B completely? Address the person directly regarding the matter?

Meanwhile, what should B do? Are we obligated to have empathy with someone who has lost something treasured, even as we have gained the same? Of course not.

But if B does see A's posts and remains silent, what does that do to B's soul? Is it darker and less than it should be?

Why do people do such things? Should we not strive to be more empathetic to one another?

Stealing Kisses and Making a Fast Exit

A few brief stories from this past week:

At the aquarium this afternoon, I was sitting about 20 feet away and B went up to a little girl about a year younger than him and planted several kisses on her! I thought it was just too cute. Of course when I realized what was going on I walked over and said "Have you found a new friend?" Her parents did not seem that pleased about it. Oh well.

Interestingly, for the past few days, he has been suddenly fascinated with "EXIT" signs, like the lit-up emergency exits inside stores. Every time he sees one he points it out and yells "Exit" and then he usually talks about the color of the letters. I am most bewildered about the origin of this sudden interest. We don't remember pointing one out to him. But they are apparently his new favorite thing.
In other news, he has a "doodle-pro" magnetic drawing tablet that we've been keeping in the car and the other day as GH was driving, I sat in the back with him and I was making letters with him. I showed him that "W" upside down looks like "M" and "Z" sideways looks like "N". He thought that was hilarious. Sometimes he draws a letter and tells us what it is - it doesn't always look correct, but I love that he tries. He did a "C" this afternoon that was pretty good!

Last night, GH asked B to pick up some of his toys, and he immediately responded "Papi, stop messing [with] [B]'s life!" We burst out laughing and made him repeat it because we couldn't believe what we'd just heard. Sure enough, the second time was more of the same! We were especially amused because neither of us say this kind of thing, so we have no idea where he came up with that.

I need to go get him in bed. I just wanted to catch up a little with the latest happenings before I forget it all!

Dinosaurs at the Aquarium

So, GH was desperate for some "alone time" this afternoon so he could get some work done at home...and B really needed some quality time outside our home. He just has so - much - energy!!! It is amazing really.

Anyway, we headed once again to the Aquarium. Our yearly membership runs out at the end of this month and we aren't planning to renew, so we are trying to pack in the visits.

We enjoyed a walk along the shoreline before we headed inside. The weather was just so lovely it was impossible to resist. Then we had to move our car because we were at a 2 hour meter- which also meant we had to find change - which in turn meant we had to find cash, something that rarely makes an appearance in my wallet.

This meant a lot of walking back and forth and back again. Advantage- used a lot of B's excess energy. Disadvantage- required a lot of energy that I was rapidly running out of.

Eventually, we made it to our original goal, with only one tear-shedding incident- that was me, when B mercilessly yanked my hair in both hands as he was "helping" feed the meter. Yeah.

Anyway, we made it, and I was mercifully not bald (I double-checked in the bathroom).

I asked what he wanted to see first and he immediately said "otters," so we headed that direction, with a slight detour at one of the large tanks that has several sharks, rays, tuna, etc. Very cool.

When we got over to the otter area, it was the end of their feeding/play time, so we watched for a few minutes. As we walked back downstairs, B said "Dinosaur!". Huh? I turned around and spotted this whale skeleton.




So I explained that although it resembled a dinosaur skeleton, it was actually a whale skeleton, all the while going over in my mind how he had even drawn that conclusion. He has never been to a museum with a dinosaur skeleton that I remember, certainly not in any recent months. The only dinosaurs he's ever seen that I am aware of have been either on "Curious George" - who does often go to museums with dinosaur skeletons - cartoon dinosaur skeletons, and on "Dinosaur Train," another PBS cartoon, but it does have a paleontologist at the end, and perhaps shows skeleton photos sometimes?

In conclusion, my mind was pretty much blown away by this little incident. It was without a doubt the highlight of the past 2 days for me.

Adjectives and prepositions

B has been using adjectives much more the past couple of weeks. He says things like "Big red fire truck!" and "Little trashy truck" "Big yellow bullzaturner".

He's also started saying "and" sometimes, like when we are reading he will say "the cat -and- the dog -and- the chicken" It is just really cute to me the way he pauses before and after the "and's".

He has also started saying things like "under the table." I think this is his favorite preposition so far. He also likes "behind" alot. He said last night at dinner for example, "Quiche behind my mangi." Mangi = macaroni and cheese.

This afternoon he said "[B] has 2 cats sleeping in pappasan." Which was true, he was sitting in the pappasan with the two cats.

I just wanted to record these before I forget.

Go, Dog, Go! Sleep, Dog, Sleep?

Everyone knows there are two types of people- the night owls and the early birds.

I come from a long line of night owls, and apparently B has inherited these genes as well. He gets plenty of sleep, don't get me wrong, 9-11 hours per night, 1-2 hour naps most days (especially on days following the 9 hour nights).

It's just that he's not at all interested in going to bed at a "reasonable hour" for someone his age. On average he is asleep around 8:30-9ish, but many times he has been up til 10:30, 11, 11:30...
This schedule has advantages and disadvantages, of course. Less alone time for DH and me on B's late nights, but we all get to "sleep in" a little on the mornings after.

For Christmas, B's Godfather gave him the Dr Seuss book, "Go, Dog, Go!" - one of my childhood favorites as well. I still clearly remembered reading about the "big dog party" at the end; it just fascinated me somehow as a child, imagining all these dogs on top of a tree. B absolutely loves it and we read it usually at least once per day.

There is a certain page in the book which talks about how "Night is not a time for play. Night is a time for sleep." This is great in and of itself-now B has taken to quoting that particular passage, so he is hopefully absorbing that message to some extent. The associated illustration depicts a long line of dogs all sleeping in a row in their big bed, except one lone dog whose eyes are wide open.

When I ask B who that wakeful dog is, he responds with his name. It cracks me up every time.

It is so true.

Hickory Dickory Dock

Shortly after B was born, my Mom brought us a toy that had survived my childhood so that he might enjoy it too. I polished it up, but ever since it has been sitting up high on a dresser in B's room.

As I've blogged about previously, we have had a bedtime routine for about a year now with B, and it usually involves reading at least 2 books. Lately one we've been reading fairly frequently is a book of nursery rhymes, including "Hickory Dickory Dock."

One evening during our bedtime routine as we read his nursery rhymes, I remembered the little toy my Mom had brought and took it down for B to look at. It is a Fisher Price "radio" that plays the tune of "Hickory Dickory Dock." And he loved it!

Because he is a boy, of course he loves all kinds of the same things my husband played with growing up. I was overjoyed that there was finally a toy from my childhood that he was interested in and wanted to play with.

This is the first thing I felt that he really liked of mine. I am so glad that it still works and that my Mom thought to bring it to us so that we can share it with him.

Roll it, Pat it, Mark it with a...

Smelling the "flower"!










Licking the spoon.









It was baking day at our house today.

For many years (since before we met, 12 years ago?), my husband's favorite cake has been carrot. There was no chocolate groom's cake at our wedding reception- it was carrot all the way [totally delish].

So for the past few years, I have baked a carrot cake from scratch for him on his birthday, which is coming up again very soon.

But today was super special because it was the first time B helped.
He stirred the eggs, smelled the flour (I tried to explain that it only sounded the same as "flower" but he didn't quite catch that), and generally had a pretty good time. He also smelled the vanilla and cinnamon and was slightly more impressed with those than the "flower".

He even licked the spoon!

To make an omelette...

So, we all have our little ways of doing things, right?

Most of the time when you're living with someone, you can put up with a lot of their quirks. They feed the toilet paper roll under, no problem, you quickly reverse it, problem solved.

But then there are the things that you can't "fix". Ingrained habits we all have, but which may get on our most loved ones' last nerve.

In our household, a major issue is the technique employed for cracking eggs. Really, you ask? Seriously? I am afraid I must say yes.

I crack my eggs on the rims of bowls or pans. That is just the right way. My dear husband, on the other hand, takes the egg and cracks it - I am not kidding you - on the underside of my kitchen counters. Ugh. This little habit of his has been grating on me for months now.

Then just in the past few days I have seen this miraculous product, the EZ Egg Cracker, advertised. Many people may claim that this is a superfluous, even useless product. But this I dispute this as an oversimplification. It may be a sanity preserver or in the most extreme case, a relationship redeemer.

More Funny Moments with B

Driving home this afternoon from the aquarium, we were stopped at a red light.
I turned around and blew B a kiss and he said something, but I couldn't catch what he said. In the meantime, I noticed the light had changed.
As we drove on I kept asking him to repeat himself because he had said a phrase that I hadn't heard him use before and I was interested to know what it was. I had him repeat several times...
Finally, I translated what he had said: "Light is green!"
I burst out laughing.
I asked him, "Mommy turned around to give you a kiss and you were telling Mommy that we needed to go because the light had turned green?"
And he's like "Yes!"
I just thought it was hilarious.
:-)

Mashed 'Tatoes!!

We made homemade mashed potatoes while my parents were here for the holidays.

Ever since then, every morning if I ask B what he dreamed about he says "Mashed 'tatoes!" And laughs. When I then ask if he wants to eat mashed potatoes, he quickly says "no."

So I don't get the joke or why he always claims to dream of them, but I love it. I think it's too cute!!

Weekend

Yesterday, I took B to the Aquarium. It was wonderfully empty and quiet on a Friday afternoon. Quite a contrast to the previous Saturday when we all went. Although that was an awesome time too- but I was glad DH was with us!

This morning, we walked down to our little community center and attended the pancake breakfast to benefit our fire department. It was nice to be a part of a community event like that and be around other families, even though we don't actually know anyone and didn't speak to anyone else. Which caused us to discuss this very fact as we ate, how we grew up in the opposite way; if our families had gone to such an event, our parents would have known at least half the people there. We concluded that whenever we do get more settled, we will have to make much more of an effort to be community-involved.

This afternoon, we went to a local park that we hadn't explored before. The scenery was quite nice and since it rained a lot this week, the little creek that runs through was fairly high.

I have been feeling more hopeful lately than at the start of the year. I do not necessarily feel like following our doctor's advice to wait one cycle to start trying again...I don't really see why it is necessary and I am so anxious. I think the main reason doctors advise this is so that they will have an easy way to estimate due date, based on your LMP. Anyway, we probably won't "try" but we may not do anything to prevent either.

In summary it has been a great weekend so far. I hope tomorrow is nice too.

The things they say

Lately many interesting things have come out of B's mouth. Some super cute, some that make us want to hide...Here is a sampling:

"Have a good day!"
And its newest variation : "Have a good day, stupid!"
And lots of "stupid" in general. ugh!
"Damn it!" *cringe*
"What [are] you doing Papi/Mommy?" spoken in a high sweet voice. love this one.
"No!" also "Nope!" and "buh-BYE!"- same meaning...
"Get up, Papi/Mommy/bullzaturners (bulldozers)!"
"Ow! Ow Ow!"- not when he's actually hurt but when we are doing something he doesn't want to do- get in the car seat, put on his shoes/jacket/hat, etc.
He refuses to hold my hand, yelling (in public) "Dry skin!". *cringe* again.
When I ask him my name, he knows it (not perfect pronunciation, but we understand). However when I ask him what Papi's name is, he usually responds with my nickname for my husband. Very sweet.
He has known his middle name for at least 4 months now and if you ask him his other name he tells you.
He started saying "yucky!" a few months ago and I told him to say "No, thank you" instead. He actually does most of the time now.
Today, we were eating mongolian bbq at the mall and I was encouraging him to eat other things besides just noodles. So I asked if he would eat an onion and he said "No, thank you!" So I made a big deal out of eating it and said it was yummy and a few seconds later he said "Mommy eat onion. [His name] eats noodles!" Super cute.

A couple of months ago we were all driving along one evening and we saw a personalized license plate that said "A J Bug". So my husband and I were conversing about what it might mean and B just started cracking up. saying "Itchy Bug". So now Itchy Bug has been an inside joke for our family, and he cracks up whenever we say it.

"Up high, Papi/Mommy!" when he wants to be picked up.

"Big Bobba Boom" could mean that something scares him or that he got hurt.

"Poor [B]." This one also cracks us up and he says it appropriately, like when he falls down or something.

"Love Papi/Mommy...although usually he only says spontaneously "Love Scotty/Mocha"- our cats...

Calls McDonalds "Pancakes" because for the past few months for a treat sometimes we go there for breakfast.

My mom gave B "Hi God" for Christmas.
I was listening to it again tonight and I wanted to share this song. The youtube version is not the original Carey Landry version, but gives an idea. Below are the lyrics. It touched me even more now that I have a son who may ask questions like this someday.

What Color is God's skin?

"Good Night" I said to my little son
So tired out when the day was done
Then he said, as I tucked him in

"Tell me, Daddy- What Color is God's skin?"

CHORUS
What color is God's skin? What color is God's skin?
I said it's black, brown, it's yellow... it is red, it is white
Every man's the same in the good Lord's sight.

He looked at me with his shining eyes
And then I knew I could tell no lies
He asked "Daddy, why do the different races fight
If we're the same in the good Lord's sight?"

CHORUS

"Son, that's part of our suffering past
But the whole human race is learning at last
The thing we missed on the road we trod
Is walking as the daughters and the sons of God".

CHORUS

These words to America a man once hurled
God's last chance to make a world
The different races are meant to be
Our strength and glory from sea to sea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNqVw9gN7a0

Not so good start to the new year

So, I was hoping to shortly announce that we were expecting a little brother or sister for B, due in August. But instead I am currently going through a miscarriage. Ugh.
We had our first doctor appointment on Dec 9th and she didn't see anything in the embryonic sac. But actually, even before she looked she had said not to worry, because it was so early we may not see anything...but she had me go and check hormone levels. They seemed ok. The first day was 2400 and 2 days later, 4000. She expected to see the embryo by around 5000, and since the day we had gone to the dr was the 2400 day, things still seemed to be on track. I started getting the same symptoms I had had with our son and everything.
Our hopes and plans were blown apart however at our next visit. On Dec 23rd (really bad timing by the way), we went back and she still couldn't see anything in the sac. She started saying different things and then words like "blighted ovum" (which innocent me had never even heard of) and "miscarriage". What? No this can not be happening. I started to tear up but I was still in shock. I still had hope. Somehow.
Something strange that helped me was actually that the same tech was there that afternoon, right after we got that news, to take the blood for hormone levels. He had also taken it the previous 2 times, but at a different lab location. So I was shocked to see him, but we had shared small talk before, and now tears were just streaming down my face. I had to go to get the blood taken at the same hospital where we had had such a wonderful birth experience 2 years before with our son. And here was this stranger that I had only seen 2 other times. I told him, "It doesn't look good." Of course, he could probably tell that by the tears. Anyway, he took me back to draw the blood and he shared his personal story about how he and his wife had experienced the same loss and gone on to have 3 girls. I appreciated his kindness. That was the first thing that made me feel even slightly better.
I feel like God brought us together somehow. It was just a really strange coincidence to me that he was there at the other lab the 1st 2 times and then at the hospital lab that last time. Anyway, sure enough the numbers were high- 17000. Which was very bad news, since she still hadn't seen anything on the u/s.
During the next week, I had to go through the motions of the holidays without feeling like it at all. My parents were visiting. We all got sick.
But through it all I still had some crazy hope that my doctor, as much as I respect and love her was wrong somehow. I went back and looked at the early u/s pictures of our son. And I counted the weeks...the first one was at 6.5 weeks, and he was just a tiny dot, no heartbeat. On average, they expect to see a heartbeat on the u/s by 6 weeks. We didn't see it until the next u/s, which was at 9 weeks, 1 day. At the u/s on the 23rd, I was exactly 8 weeks. And my cycles are much longer than average, so maybe, just maybe I thought, she's wrong. I haven't had any cramping, no spotting, nothing. She must be wrong. I went over it, again and again. I googled "blighted ovum" and found stories of women who said they had had their doctors tell them the same thing only to see the baby at a later appointment.
We "celebrated" our 9th wedding anniversary on the 30th. Then, on the 31st, the spotting began. Just a tiny speck, but there. So I knew. No matter how exact my calculations, they couldn't change the truth. I just never thought this would happen to me. I have only been pregnant once before, and my son is healthy, the pregnancy was fairly easy- I did have gestational diabetes, but it was easily managed through diet. So how could this be happening?
I really couldn't talk about this with anyone at first, but when the spotting started, I decided to share what was happening on my facebook page and I have received so many messages of support and love and prayer. It has really helped me.
Writing this also helps I think.
I am slowly starting to have hope again. For the new year, that it may actually turn out decent after all.
I am never going to innocently trust the "pregnant" reading on a pregnancy test again though. In fact I was so angry at first that I told my husband I was never going to take one again because they just lied; that I would just wait and then make the appointment with the dr and see on the u/s what was happening. I may still do that actually. It is so painful to have been wanting this for more than a year and trying for several months, finally seeing that "pregnant"!! Only to find out weeks later that it isn't so.
We are going back to my dr on Friday. I have many questions, such as, can they tell the sex by what is left (chromosomally)? What does she think the chances are that the embryo had already stopped developing by the time I took the pregnancy test? When can we start trying again??? etc.
I will update hopefully with better news in the coming months...