Category: Uncategorized (Page 36 of 40)

(Our New Family)

When Jeff and I settled down together, we both agreed that someday, we’d like to spend a year or two abroad, preferably somewhere that we could practice our German. We envisioned bringing our child(ren) with us so they could be exposed to another tongue at a young age.

By “young age,” I did not have 2 months in mind! But my sweet one applied for a job in Austria when Dash was about that age (I can see those of you who know Jeff well nodding your heads: yep, sounds like Jeff!). And naturally he was interviewed. And got pretty far in the process. The company decided the fit wasn’t perfect, and I breathed a giant sigh of relief, because I was not ready to go on that big of an adventure yet.

So we did the next best thing: we brought Germany to us, in the form of Lisa, our German exchange student. She arrived a week ago.

Wilkommen Lisa!

We are all still getting to know each other, and I think Lisa is still in shock, having moved in with total strangers, but it’s going well. I think it’s going to be an exciting year. Or at least a funny one; listening to our garbled German is cracking up everyone (that said, our German is already 100% better in just a week. This means we can now speak at about a 2nd grade level!)

Happy Birthday, Don!

Grandma Lori and Grandpa Don came out for a post-birthday bash visit. We had a great time touring some shops in Portland and sharing dinners in the evening after their day trips to wine country, Mt. Hood and the ocean.

On our Portland day, we made forays into some shops in the Mississippi District, including a stop at my favorite-shop-that-I’d-never-been-to, The Meadow! Here is proof that I can get out and about and shop with The Boy in tow (thanks to some help from everybody!), blow-outs and all (this picture was taken just before such an event).

You can see the fresh flowers and the chocolate wall. Not pictured is the salt wall and the stacks of salt blocks. Thanks again for the gift certificate!

Just down the street, Lori made an excellent purchase at Pistils Nursery, the windows of which sucked us in: exotic plants, displayed to show off almost an ominous but intriguing dark side, and terrariums in glass baubles reflecting the sunshine. They even have a “terrarium bar”–make your own!–dozens of drawers filled with pebbles, plants, shiny things….

G & G had another trick up their sleeve; they popped into a funky toy store and got a new friend for Dash.

Don & Lori took several good snaps of D. I like to call the flash on their camera the “Glamour Shot” filter; it puts a nice Marlene Dietrich-ish glow on every subject.

Chris & Stephanie got Dashiell a hilarious series of books by Leslie Patricelli about the life of a toddler. The illustrations are funny and simple, kind of Keith Haring-esque minimalist line drawings: the toddler boy has a large head, a single hair, and a diaper. In Blankie, the toddler lists the things he loves: I love Kitty. I love Bear. I LOVE birthday cake (…but I love Blankie best of all).

In another favorite (thanks Kim, Mitch & Rhys), Little Gorilla is adored by all the creatures in the jungle, because he is so cute and so little. But one day, he is BIG, and all the people come, and all the people sing, and there is birthday cake. And even though he is big, everyone still loves the Little Gorilla.

With all this exposure to the concept of the Birthday Cake, it was a surprise to me that, when presented with his very own birthday cake, he was more interested in the tablecloth!

He soon caught on though, as he saw everyone else devouring the excellent cake (from Larson’s, a local bakery that reminds me of my teenage days slaving away at Gould’s bakery).

Click here if you cannot see the video below!

Like many children, Dash is drawn to the water, even the roaring icy cold Pacific Ocean. Although his napping is getting better as he gets older, it still helps to have some fallback tricks for ensuring naps are not missed. The ocean is by far the best remedy, as demonstrated now in two trips to the coast. It is almost magical in its power. On brisk mornings, with the damp still in the air, we would wrap him on us using the Didymos sling and take him walking along the surf. He would inevitably collapse into deep sleep, lulled by the song of the waves and the misty breeze.

When I was in labor, I had a strong image of the contractions being like waves from the ocean, each one delivering Dashiell closer to shore, to our arms.

So when we visit the ocean, I tell him we’re going to vist the place he came from. He seems to understand (his second word was “dolphin,” after all). In any case it is a place that totally relaxes him, and he can’t get enough of the water, like his Mom. After “swimming,” he would always try to get back to the waves, out of our embrace and back into the long arms of a wave.

He is looking like a surfer these days, with his white-blond hair and his tan cheeks. I can see him as a beach dude, someday, tall and lean and at one with the sea.

Click here if you cannot see the embedded video below.

Sand in the pants, hot dogs, corn dogs, taffy, cotton candy, pizza, video games, bumper cars…it all spells Seaside, Oregon. Dash took a ride in a toy sports car and Jochen played Pac-Man. Marlon got to play putt-putt. There were also two injuries from all the fun! A day to remember…

Click here if you cannot see the video below.

I have a backlog of goodies from our birthday adventures…

Here is the first gem. Click here to spawn the video in a new window.

(At the end, when you hear Jeff calling me to point my camera at something, he is referring to young Lucye squatting unceremoniously into the sand. That bit has been left on the cutting room floor.)

Happy First Birthday Dashiell!

It’s taken me so long to post about this big landmark because of all the fun we’ve been having…thanks to all the people who travelled far and wide to be with us during the 2-week-long celebration!

And what a bash it was: friends in family in town and 5 nights at a beach house in Arch Cape, Oregon, followed by a visit by Grandma Lori and Grandpa Don.

There’s a lot more to say; for now, check out this slideshow to see the highlights (hoping to improve the slideshow interface soon):

no images were found

Update: since I have more to learn about JQuery and slideshows, I have posted the exhaustive photo album at Picasa.
Click on the image below to check it out

Dash Bash 2011

Thanks for the cool duds, Grandma Sherry!

Check out how Dad coiffed my do for my first visit to Big Boy school.

Here’s my insulated lunch sack (thanks to Aunt Cindy and Uncle Eric for the awesome stamp!).