No new pictures yet—with Easter in the rear-view mirror, we’re now three or four major holidays behind, depending on how you count. We do, however, have a very cute video clip from February showing a part of the kids’ nighttime routine.
Grandma, Grandpa, Zoo
We discovered two disturbing facts this past weekend. First, it’s getting close to three months since we last posted anything; this brings us perilously near our previous record for futility of four full months, set at the end of last year. Second, we’ve got a batch of pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Wong’s visit to California last Spring that we haven’t posted yet, meaning that we are very nearly a full year behind (though we have, of course, posted more recent pictures in the interim—we’re bad, but we’re not that bad).
These frightening realizations spurred us to action: there’s a new (we can’t exactly say “fresh,” can we?) set of pictures online here.
Shame
So, it’s been a while since we posted anything. I could offer the usual litany of excuses: work has been busy, the kids have been a handful, British soldiers demanded to be quartered in our house, etc., but that wouldn’t change the fact that we haven’t posted pictures in a very long time. So, without further ado, we have:
- Various pictures from early 2007, including Valentine’s Day.
- Photos taken during the last days of Naveen’s stay in California, which roughly coincided with Grandma Flack’s spring visit. Naveen was one of Julia’s oldest friends: she and he were born two days apart, and his sister Asha was born mere hours after Joseph.
- A few outdoor shots of Joseph’s first experience with people food (assuming you consider star-shaped puffs of carbohydrates and air to be “people food”), with a few other roughly contemporaneous pictures thrown in for good measure.
- This year’s Easter photographs, now with more clothes. Plus, a few other delightful images from last Spring. Warning: judging from the previous set and this one, we were on a bit of bathtub kick earlier this year.
- Action-packed snapshots from Day Out with Thomas (and Molly). It’s never too early to immerse your children in the consumer culture.
- Long-overdue pictures from Julia’s birthday, way back in August. There are a few odds and ends from July in here, as well, notably some swimming pool pics from Brayden Hom’s birthday party.
You’ll probably notice that these latest sets of pictures are hosted on a different web site from earlier albums. As it turns out, Sharpcast is in the process of creating a new platform for storing photos and other kinds of files—this is one of the things that’s kept me busy the last few months—so I’ll be using the new system going forward. If you run into any problems viewing the pictures, just let me know.
Still to come: Grandma and Grandpa Wong’s two visits; going to the beach for Mother’s Day; Joseph’s first (sort of) haircut; Halloween; Thanksgiving; and Christmas preparations.
But we’re making progress, really.
Three Years Old
The big news, of course, is that Julia turned three yesterday. As usual, we have pictures. They’re just not posted yet.
Grandma Flack was in town for the occasion, which made the event all the more exciting: whenever she and Julia were in separate rooms for more than five minutes at a time, Julia asked, “Where’s Grandma Flack?” Never just “Grandma,” mind you, but always “Grandma Flack.”
Julia must have been a particularly good girl this past year, because she received an awe-inspiring array of gifts, including, among others, a Cinderella gown and magic wand from Grandma Flack; doll clothes and books from Grandma and Grandpa Wong; assorted doodads from Mommy and Daddy; and even a very nice card from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Wong.
The other good news is that Julia seems to be more or less potty-trained at last. Since we took her out of diapers full-time—including overnight—a couple weeks ago, she’s only had a couple real accidents. And she’s reliably getting up on her own in the night to let us know that she needs to use the potty, usually right around 6:45 or 7:00. Oddly, she seems to have chosen me as the designated Potty Chaperone, as she consistently wanders over to my side of the bed and says, “Daddy, I need to go potty.” This is generally a pretty fair arrangement, especially considering that I really ought to be up by then anyway, except on the infrequent occasions (like this morning) when she decides she needs to use the bathroom at 5:00. Even she was a little disoriented by the early hour: she actually stood, whimpering, at the side of the bed for a couple minutes until I asked her what she needed.
We’ll see how she does on the long drive out to Yosemite in a couple weeks. This may be one car trip for which she doesn’t get a sippy cup; I’m not sure that would fly if Joseph had one, though.
After all that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say something about Joseph. We’re hoping he’ll have three words he can use consistently by his fifteen-month checkup next week. So far, the leading candidates look like:
- Maaa…ma (for Mommy, generally when something has been taken from him; also milk)
- Da! (for Daddy, only when I first come in the door after an extended absence)
- Buh (variously, for book, ball and balustrade)
- Kizghssy (for kitty)
On the one hand, those don’t look spectacularly promising from a quantitative (or, for that matter, qualitative) standpoint, especially given that we’re still a little paranoid about the whole meningitis thing.
On the other hand, he’s got a number of animal noises and sound effects down pat: woof, moo, quack, boom, and a weird oinking sound that, as far as I know, he and I are the only humans capable of producing. He’s got a good handle on what’s going on around him and can wave goodbye, give out kisses on demand, and do the signs for “more”, “eat”, and “please”, which pretty cover everything he really needs to say. And he loves to be read to: he’ll wander the house carrying a book (usually saying “buh” all the while) and plant himself in the lap of the nearest parent.
So I’m not too worried.
Slow Progress
Julia stopped wearing diapers to bed overnight and and nap time last Friday evening. This was something of a Big Step, especially given that her daytime track record—especially for BMs—has been less than perfect. Thus far, however, she’s done really well: she’s only had one nighttime accident, on Sunday night, and even then, she came sheepishly into our bedroom the next morning to tell us what had happened.
My biggest concern was that she wouldn’t be able to get the door to her bedroom open if she decided she needed to use the potty—the door to the kids’ bedroom sticks, and she’s never been very good with doorknobs under the best of circumstances, but she hasn’t had any problems yet.
On the Joseph front, he apparently decided he no longer needs his bedtime bottle last night. I was in charge of putting him down on Sunday, and he wasn’t being particularly cooperative, chewing on the nipple and playing with it in his mouth. Last night, he flat-out refused it when Julie offered it to him, and I didn’t even try tonight, yet he still went to bed without a hitch both times. I have no idea what we’re going to do with all the kitchen cabinet space we’re about to reclaim.
Old School
We seem to be on a bit of a roll: three new batches of photos in the span of a single week. Admittedly, the vast majority of the “new” pictures are more than six months old, but don’t rain on our parade—this is an almost unprecedented burst of productivity.
The most recent set illustrates that you don’t need the latest and greatest high-tech, battery-powered, Internet-connected, learning-focused, interactive educational activity system to keep your kids happy. Sometimes all it takes is some colored goop and a collection of scary plastic accessories that would probably be illegal to distribute in this day and age.
Side note: Modern Play-Doh™ packaging contains the following disclaimers (emphasis theirs):
Fun to play with, but not to eat. Molded results vary depending on child’s age and level of skill.
You don’t say.
Bumper Crop
A few months ago, Julia made one of her sadly infrequent visits to story time at the library. She picked a good day to go, however, because the nice story time lady brought favors for the children: small tomato plants and corn seeds, which the kids planted in paper cups.
Being parents in possession of large, open spaces in our yard that desperately needed filling, we waited for the corn to sprout and then dutifully transplanted the seedlings into a flower box behind our bedroom. Then, learning that we couldn’t expect the corn to actually produce corn without other plants to facilitate proper pollination, we bought several more stalks and planted them, too.
The rest is history. Or, as Julia says, “My corn is getting bigger and bigger and bigger!”
Christmas in July
Well, sort of, anyway. After a protracted and arduous process of ruminating, pruning, filtering and editing, we’ve finally posted our Christmas pictures online here.
Next up: Groundhog Day.
Woof, Woof!
This probably wouldn’t satisfy the child development experts who insist that “uh-oh” isn’t a real word, but Joseph started saying “woof” this morning. Even better, he was actually carrying a stuffed dog at the time, so I’m going with the assumption that he knows what he’s talking about.
Joseph’s Checkup
Joseph finally had his one-year checkup this week and his vital stats came in as follows:
Weight: 20 lbs., 6 oz.
Length: 30 in.
Head circumference: 47 cm.
Everything seems to be tracking fairly well: his length comes in right around the fiftieth percentile for kids his age; weight was a bit low—about the twenty-fifth percentile—but we think the scale might be a little off. It’s certainly evident just from looking at him that he’s not starving to death, and picking him up closes the deal.
Next up: Joseph’s fifteen-month checkup and Julia’s three-year checkup, both in August. Shots all around.
Occasional Dispatches from San Jose 