Category: Uncategorized (Page 26 of 40)

This week, October became a Summer month! On Monday it was about 83 degrees by the end of the day. We soaked up all we could get…see the video below, in 2 parts.

Can’t see the video? Click here for Part I, here for Part II.

t-shirt courtesy of a younger Otto (and spare clothes bin at school); “Cars” pull-up diaper courtesy of some other child at school…song by Sabrina Malheiros, Terra De Ninguem (Nicola Conte remix).

Last weekend Peter and Jannine were here for the 20 week ultrasound of their surrogate’s baby (it’s a healthy girl!). As we were making dinner, we had some unexpected company.

If you can’t see the embedded video above, click here to watch it.

These two beauties live up the street at a house that also houses chickens. They have a gorgeous coop and are highly domesticated. And they like kale (and now we know what peacock poop looks like).

And yes, they were back the next morning, looking for more of yummy leafy greens. Can you picture these guys walking down the street? Jeff says maybe they flew. Still. They’re as big as turkeys, maybe bigger. Now I scan the horizon for them when I am driving in our neighborhood.

(plumes up! cat nearby!)

Well, our little man in 3’1″ tall! That’s his official height from his 2 year old wellness checkup.

Yep, he’s super tall!

Here’s the percentile graph they gave us:

95th percentile! According to Jeff’s more-updated Wolfram Alpha app, D is already 49% of his adult height, and they predict he will be 6’3″!

In other stats, his head is coming into a more normal size (it was always small), and his weight is slowly catching up (he weight about 27 lbs).

When I was at Ikea with Mom a few weeks ago, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone who looked a lot like my old friend Audrianna, but then I thought: no, we just see people we miss. I do that all the time.

But a fews days later I thought: it makes a lot of sense that Audrianna Jones would live in Portland…and a quick google search yielded instant results, since she has such a unique first name (except she has a new last name!).

Audrianna and I met in our teens, when we were both “summer girls” on Chicago’s North Shore.

Here we are at O”hare dropping Audrianna off to go back to Idaho, circa 1988.

Then the following (? Aud help me remember this right) summer, we then backbacked around Europe together, sleeping in hostels (and once in a train station, if I recall correctly! And we didn’t wear bike helmets either–!). It was so memorable. We went to London, Paris, The Netherlands and Belgium.

And then we both got busy in college. Audrianna went to Hong Kong and the Netherlands and I lost track of her…

What a delight to find out we both have boys; her youngest close enough in age to play with D. We all got together a couple weekends ago and caught up. She has two boys, Canyon, who is almost 5, and Oakley, who is 3. We sat outside for a brunch and did a toast with sparkling cranberry juice (D loved it–his very first fizzy drink!).

It’s funny how with good friends, even those you haven’t talked to in about 20 years, you just pick up where you left off. Audrianna brought a photo album/scrapbook she had from the summer we met and we reminisced about the people we knew then, the adventures we had taking the kids into the big city, the movies we saw…the spouses thought that was pretty hilarious (and check out Maida’s crazy new-wave hair!!)…

I told my Mom it was like having family in town. It’s a nice feeling to know someone who knows you so well is so close by.

Playdates and other new adventures await us!

Well, it was a holiday (Labor Day weekend), so that meant Jeff must construct something…

Check out the frame he made for D’s new “fort” in his room…

I’m going to sew the “tent” material so it stays in place–the fabric you see is just something we threw on for now. I’m also going to make a thin mattress that will fit perfectly on the fort’s floor. We are thinking this might be a fun way to transition D to sleeping in a bed…a looooong time from now (he is still happy in his crib).

And here’s a video (in two parts; Part I and Part II) of D in action.

There is a golf course nearby that is family-friendly, encouraging the addiction to begin early in life. 2 year old in the golf cart? No problem (to their credit, he looks 3 due to his height). But really, as long as he doesn’t run around on the fairway or make divots, D is welcome.

Here are some highlights of our 9-hole game, played over Labor Day weekend.

Perfect outfit, huh?

Here’s D doing his now-favorite thing…

Having a week of vacation really helped D’s potty training skills progress. Last week at school he didn’t do anything on the potty, but it’s probably because the teachers there don’t know the “potty dance” we do to commemorate each success (at least, they don’t know yet!).

Over this Labor Day weekend we are already having much success. Yesterday school was closed and Jeff and D hung out together while Mom worked. D didn’t soil one daytime diaper! Today it was almost the exact same story, except for one morning pee in the diap.

So here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: D doing a form of the potty dance (close enough!):

And no, I don’t plan on showing this to his first date!

Here’s my fave pix from our week at Seaside, Oregon…where we had perfect summer weather (ok, it is Oregon; some mornings were downright chilly), good times by the waves, and a happy baby who slept like a log. What a great vacation! We also went over the big bridge in Astoria to check out an old military fort-turned-vacation spot–with incredible views and lots of quiet. The beachfront outside our condo was being set up for that weekend’s Hood to Coast event–that’s what all the tents are for. To beat the crowds (and road closures) we headed bac to Camas a bit early to relax at home before the inevitable Monday slog began…

Last week Grandma Sherry came to town and we all went to the seashore. D had been waiting for this day for a couple weeks; we had gotten him into the idea of taking a trip to the beach by re-discovering the book Amanda sent last year. He was all set to dip his toes in the icy cold waters of the Pacific and feel the sand between his toes. And D loves to have guests–each day he would check the guest bedroom to see if Grandma Sherry had appeared yet. And then one day she was magically here, so we packed up the vehicles (Stroller? Check. Pack-n-play? Check…).

The drive to the most accessible part of the coast is about 2 hours, and D is not used to sitting in the car very long. Although Gma and I were prepared (in our car) with lots of toys, books, and 2 pacis, D thought it would be funny to throw everything down where he couldn’t reach it, then complain about this fact. So we pulled over to retrieve the pacis (that were wedged under his leg!) and the spot we came upon was a meeting of the Willamette Valley Soaring Club. Imagine our excitement when we got out of our car just in time to see two gliders lined up, ready to be towed into the air! Amazing timing, and we were all astounded by the beauty of this sport!

We watched a glider get towed up by a plane with an engine, then get released to soar on the wind. It circled around then landed silently on the grass “runway,” as if practicing. I think I heard D say “wow.” As the instructor was towing the glider back to start again, he came to say hi, and asked if we wanted a closer look. Like someone who’s been asked about a million times by his grandchildren, this veteran reached out for D and yep, I handed him over to this stranger with a plane, and then I hopped the fence myself. Gma Sherry was terrified!

Don’t worry Gma, we’re not going up…just going for a tow ride:

Good thing D had his need Cars hoodie on–all set for speed!

Here is a video highlighting the best moments!

The song is Hope Machine by the Neil Cowley Trio.

Thanks so much Grandma Beverly and Grandpa Ed for the wonderful transportation-themed birthday gifts!

Here is a video, in 3 parts, of D playing with the new things. You may notice at the beginning that D can say “transporter” — for the Lightning McQueen car transporter truck. At the end, you’ll see D relaxing with the truck, and then he decides it’s time to put Transporter nite-nite, and so he’s off to find a book to read to him…

(lately he’s been reading to his toys, putting them to bed, and even feeding them!).

Part I
Part II
Part II