Pre-Christmas Fun

I really had a great time this holiday season. I'm not sure why, but I bet it has something to do with Matthew not destroying the tree. He's such a good little dude all-around. He has a whiney side that can drive me crazy in a matter of seconds, but over all he's very easy-going and compliant. I'm glad of that because it seems that we will be adding to the family some time next summer and I'm going to need all the easy-going toddler I can get. I have a feeling that things might be a bit different by then, but we're all very excited about the coming attraction (i.e. an enormous belly, I mean BABY)!This pregnancy is quite different than the first, with lots of nausea, pain, and fatigue that I wasn't prepared for. Things have ebbed somewhat in that department for now, and I'm looking forward to getting back into blogging and taking pictures of Matthew, two things that seem to slip my mind when I was so sick. There were lots of funny things to write about in the days leading up to Christmas, like the time that Matthew beheaded a flock of light-up, Christmas penguins at the Coast Guard holiday party, but I guess I haven't had it in my to share. I appreciate your patience and hope that I'll have some more to post in the coming weeks. For the first time in 5 years, the end of the holidays doesn't mark the end of the chaos. You'd think that a new baby coming would be enough the get used to for one family, but in the true style of my family we are stepping it up a notch on the transitions. In the spring, we'll be moving to Florida (We hope!) to start a new chapter in Jeff's career. We're so looking forward to being back in the south (sort of) and closer to family and friends. We are not looking forward to 10 hour plane rides with a 30+ pound 18 month old and a 6 month pregnant mama. Nor are we looking forward to the first few months after the new baby's arrival when we struggle to survive without the nearby help of close friends or family. Still, I like to think that we'll manage better this time. Won't we? Maybe the reason that I'm so into the holidays this year is that I know this marks the last few months of calm before the storm of planning, packing, shipping, travelling, searching, and settling begins. I knew that something was different when I thought to myself sometime early in December, "I should download some Christmas carols to listen to." Fifty-three carols, and countless hours of listening later, I still can't get enough. Poor Jeff and Matthew have had to endure this craziness, but they've also reaped the rewards in the form of homemade gingerbread, Christmas Eve melt-in-your-mouth pot roast, and brownies!

My favorite Christmas tradition is our tree. First of all, I love having a real Christmas tree, falling needles and all. I love the smell and the look and the ritual of picking it out. For ornaments, we only use handmade ornaments of things that can fly. Right now, we have 6 birds from our first Christmas together, a bi-plane and a flying fish from a couple of years ago, and a butterfly from this year. I can't remember when this tradition started, but I'm pretty sure that the theme comes from Jeff's love of flight. We have many ornament-designs in our heads that we haven't made yet (roaches, bees, kites, reindeer) and I can't wait until Matthew wants to make Superman for the tree. Above is a picture of the ornament he made this year. It involved markers, pipe cleaners and a cookie cutter. Isn't it cute?
So I guess that's about it for the few weeks before Christmas. Matthew is as cute as ever, though he has developed a very nasty habit of biting and hitting us when he doesn't like something we've asked him to do. Of course, he's also developed the very sweet habit of touching gently when he's saying he's sorry for letting his emotions get the best of him. And he likes to scream at the top of his lungs when his blood sugar spikes. That's a lot of fun when we're eating out. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Now I know what everyone is talking about when they say that Christmas is much more fun when seen through the eyes of your children. We had a great Christmas season, topped off by yesterday's toy-extravaganza. We got Matthew a small train set, which said it was appropriate for 3 year olds and older. Oh well. Matthew loves it; he's very into Thomas the Train, you know. And Jeff had more fun setting it up than I anticipated...

All the fancy toys around and all Matthew wanted to do yesterday was play with this wind-up Santa in an airplane. He's certifiably obsessed with airplanes, which comes as a big surprise to everyone, I'm sure. Jeff, of course, is trying to keep him mind off of them a bit since he knows how all-encompassing an obsession like that can be. Hence the train set, which is another favorite hobby.

Jeff really wanted Matthew to have a football because he's seen him at the park across the street chasing after them and being wowed by their unpredictability. Did you know that a new, regulation-sized football costs almost $100? Needless to say, that's not the one he got, but I do have some insight now into why pro-football tickets are so expensive.

This is a totally candid shot I took of Matthew who had thoughtfully surrounded himself with presents and then decided to sit still long enough for me to snap the picture. I tried to get him to actually look at the camera, but that made him want to stand up and walk away, so this is the best I could do. As you can see, he's STILL playing with the wind-up flying santa. Good work, Nana.

After all the presents were opened and Matthew was totally overwhelmed with newness, it was time to hit the park in our pajamas to play some football. Matthew wanted to wear the rain jacket his Banana (great-grandmother) sent. Isn't he adorable? After playing in the park, it was back home for some shrimp frittata that I whipped up. (After careful consideration of quite a few recipes.) So yummy and I made enough to feed an army, so we'll be eating frittata for a while...

Mele Kalikimaka, Everyone!

Hungry Hippos

At least once a week, we go to the zoo. These are pictures from such a morning. My favorite part of the zoo is the Siamang Gibbon exhibit. Once or twice a day, the gibbons start "calling" and it sounds like twelve different animals making distinctly different sounds, simultaneously. One of the calls even sounds like a woman screaming. It's really cool.

Matthew's favorite part of the zoo is that he gets to run and run and run. He does this funny thing that we call the "wind up". Every now and then, he'll just stop, head down, and contemplate the ground for a few seconds. Then, ZOOM, he's off. It's like he has his own stoplight in his head. Very cute.
Since it's now the rainy season, one of Matthew's favorite past times, outside the zoo or in, is puddle running. He could run through puddles for hours. Last night, we took him outside for the first time that day because it had been raining so hard. Dressed in his poncho and hat, he still thoroughly drenched himself by splashing in puddles for half an hour.

Sometimes, things work out with Jeff's schedule and he's able to come with us on our morning fun. He was especially fun this day at the zoo because he held Matthew up a lot so that he could see the animals. (I normally just tell him the exhibit is closed. Kidding, I'm kidding.)
Here's Matthew looking at the hippos. Did you know that hippos are disgusting? Really, really disgusting. We saw one of them poop, which was not the gross part. The gross part was when the poop, which had been floating in the water between the two hippos, "disappeared". There's a reason they call them Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Yuck.

Story Time

I just love this picture of Matthew lying on the floor at the library. He's listening intently to the library reading a really interesting book. Or maybe I just snapped this photo during the split second that he was in this pose and he immediately proceeded to pull all of the storytime books off of the table.

November was quite a month. I can't remember exactly what happened, but it must have been fun because I don't have any pictures or blog entries to show for it. I'll try to do better in December, but this vague "fun" might just last through the new year. I have been reading a lot, which is such a luxury, so I should at least be able to update the Alabama Book Worm blog!

We read to Matthew all the time. He loves picture books, rhyming books, c, anything with pages, really. And he likes to turn pages. Quickly. Before you can finish reciting from memory, I mean, reading what it says. Most of the time it's cute, but every now and then I just stop reading and he looks at me with these eyes that say, "What does it say, Mama? You don't expect me to read by myself, do you? I'm just a baby!" When I start reading aloud again, he goes back to turning the pages. *Sigh*

Beach Time

Tonight we went to the big beach park to play volleyball, as is our custom on Wednesday nights. It was my night to play with the little one while Jeff kicked butt on the court.
We had a great time playing in the sand, especially throwing rocks into the water. Matthew would throw the rocks and I would retrieve them. He has me well trained.
Every now and then, Matthew would turn around and point to his papa. I don't mind not playing most of the time because watching the chaos of amateur volleyball is almost as much fun as playing.

Great Man

Tonight I will sleep more soundly than I have in months, knowing that I great man has won the opportunity to do great things for our world. I hope his graciousness will teach us all to focus on our common goal: a better world for our children.

"And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too."

Hawaiian Halloween

Today couldn't have been more beautiful. It was sunny, breezy, high in the low 80s. I wish everyone could experience Hawaiian Halloween just once. Matthew chose his costume this year by picking out his very own, Matthew-sized plunger at the drug store the other day. It was just days after the last debate when Joe the Plumber became such a phenomenon. I am so proud of him for wanting to participate in the national political dialogue at such a young age!Tonight we went to a friend's house for dinner and to celebrate the birthday of their little one. Getting in the spirit, I bought a dog collar today, had an American-flag dog tag etched with my name, and put on some lipstick. I was a dead ringer for a Hockey Mom, as you can see below. Jeff was going to go as Joe Six-pack, but he said that he hadn't done any sit-ups in a while.... We ate an amazing supper, including buttermilk gingerbread that I made from scratch the other day. Happy Halloween!

A Day in the Life

Since I haven't done a lot of posting or picture-taking lately, I decided to take pictures all day last Monday. I'd like to say that the day was typical, but it didn't involve Matthew starting his nap in the car following a busy morning out, or a horrifically messy house, or me scrambling to put dinner on the table before 7PM. I also didn't get pictures of some things that I've been meaning to - Matthew in his crib in the morning, eating a meal with a fork, and pajama time before bed. Still, I think I captured a lot. I hope you enjoy our day in the life.

Because it's so warm here, Matthew is almost always naked until we leave the house. He is also almost always carrying around a ball, sometimes two. If he already had two balls in his hands and sees another one, he will spend a few minutes trying to figure out how to pick up all three. The ladies at the program we go to on Fridays call him the Ball Monster.

A very favorite morning pastime of Matthew's is to stand on the lanai chairs and point to various things. He sees bees, airplanes, construction trucks, buses, birds, and lots of things I'm sure escape my eyes. He is very good about holding on and not climbing on the railing so that I don't have a heart attack.When we leave for the morning, Matthew helps get himself dressed by putting his arms in his shirt and stepping in to his shorts. He can almost put his shoes on, but they are so stinky now that I think he'd rather avoid them. He goes down the steps by himself and knows how to get into his carseat, sort of.

On this morning, we grabbed the stroller and walked down to the local library for storytime. Matthew loves to look at all the goings on in the neighborhood, especially when I let him get out of the stroller to do some inspection of his own. Here he's checking out the papayas at a local market.

We made it to the library on time but Matthew isn't really old enough to sit and listen to the stories. At one point, he simply climbed back into his stroller and looked like he was going to take a nap. Then he thought better of that and went back to pushing all of the library chairs around. Needless to say, he was the most exhausted of the attendees once the stories were over.

Because our house is at the top of pretty steep hill and Matthew was getting hungry after so much chair-moving, I decided to take him on his first ride on The Bus. I forgot how crowded the bus can be, however, and my visions of fun evaporated when the doors opened to a bus full of old Chinese women without even room to stand. Ahh, taking the bus in Honolulu.

By the time we got home, I had just enough time to get lunch on the table before Matthew fell asleep. I used to use his naps as time to catch up on chores and other housework. Now I think that makes too much noise - and is not very rejuvenating for me - so instead I take a nap, too, or blog, or read all about my favorite presidential election.

To be continued...

Day in the Life, Too

After his nap, it's time for playing in the kitchen while I clean up after the first half of the day and start some things for dinner. Sometimes, Matthew dances around the kitchen and tries to climb onto the table while I'm not looking. Click HERE to see video.

About that time, Papa gets home, which is easily the most exciting time of the day for both Matthew and me. We all hang out together and talk about our day. I like helping Matthew tell Jeff about his day, and I think Jeff likes to relax with us after a long drive home.
When it gets too hot in the house, we head over to the park across the street. Usually, Jeff takes Matthew for Papa-Baby Bonding Time, but I went over, too, because I had made most of our dinner ahead of time. Matthew loves it when both of us hold his hands.
Once we get to the playground, Matthew is all about the slide. He does a full circuit on the play structure: climb up the steps, stand up on the platform, walk to the slide, turn around to go down the slide, release, repeat. You can click HERE for video. After all that sliding, a boy needs a drink of water.

By this time, we head home for dinner, which inevitably involves a lot of fretting by Starvin' Marvin. If he could talk, he would tell you that he is scared every night that I am never going to feed him again. After eating though, it's back to playing, often bare-bottomed, for a few minutes before bed, bath, and beyond.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. The rules said that the kids had to be in long pants and closed toes shoes, so I put Matthew in his pajamas and too-big-for-him Crocs and headed out. Once we got there, Matthew was very serious about pumpkin picking. I don't know if it was the red dust in the air or the oppressively muggy heat, but he never really lightened up. During the hayride, he kicked one shoe overboard into a huge pumpkin field. Of course, I didn't know that and couldn't go back, so the outing was pretty much over at that point - except for the part that had me lugging a 30 pound sack of baby with only one shoe, my overstuffed purse and snack bag, and the largest pumpkin I could lean over and pick up without tipping over.
Later on, I made corn chowder from the yummy corn I also picked up at the farm. At least, I thought the chowder was going to be yummy, but I should have known that it wasn't my day when I encountered the "very hungry caterpillar" in my very own kitchen. Six such caterpillars, to be exact. There was one in each ear of corn, but they only ate a little off the top, so I wasn't bothered. They were such cool colors that I saved them all in a little jar for Matthew to check out, but they don't move fast enough to hold his attention.

Anyway, back to the chowder. Since Matthew woke up early from his nap and insists on standing on his stool next to me while I'm working in the kitchen, we were both involved in making the chowder. I cut the corn off the cob and pushed the corn into a pile. Matthew's job was to cram as many kernels of sweet corn into his mouth as possible using both hands. Unfortunately, Matthew fell off the stool and while I was tending to him the chowder burned a bit. I was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, but the chowder never recovered. Still, we ate happily tonight and I'm looking forward to carving that big pumpkin tomorrow!

Clean Beach

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to help the University of Virginia Alumni Club of Honolulu clean up a local beach. Since I'm was kind of the organizer of the event, I asked Jeff to come, too, and help with Matthew. We weren't a big group, but we made an impact, which is the whole point. Afterwards, we went to a local bar to watch the second half of the UVa-UNC game. At one point, Jeff was holding the baby chatting with someone and I was holding a beer and a chicken wing while I cheered the football game. I love my husband. Go 'Hoos!

Forkteen Months

Matthew was fourteen months old on Friday. We had a great time at our usual playdate, and even more fun at the mall later where we found this cool miniature British bus for Matthew to play in. From the looks of this picture, he might have found his calling. He really enjoyed the bus.

On Friday, Matthew also learned how to use a fork, which caught me totally off-guard. I was so intent on him using a spoon - the easier of the two implements, it seemed to me - that I forgot to even offer him a fork. He still can't scoop very well with either of them, but he can darn sure get the food to his mouth. And that's what counts.

Last night, Jeff and I went out and left Matthew with Miss Mel, the babysitter. When we returned, she said that he had had trouble with his corn on the cob, so she had cut some off for him to eat as individual kernels. Never one to accept defeat, Matthew proceeded to pick up the kernels, place them on the now-empty cob, and bend down to eat them. I wish I had been there to see it.

So, we're doing well at fourteen months, I think. Naps are easy, mealtimes are predictably messy, and we all usually sleep through the night. These days, I'm Matthew's favorite person, which means I get lots of hugs and attention. I know this time won't last forever, so I'm trying to enjoy it to the fullest. But I know that I'll miss it deeply once it's over.

Playing Pillows

Matthew loves to climb. These days, he's all about climbing into the lanai chairs, or onto the kitchen stool he uses to wash his hands, or onto the futon in his room. I have to keep him out of our room because he likes to climb onto the window seat and then use the bedside table as a path to the bed. He looks like a cat crawling on a window ledge. Problem is, he is not a cat, and therefore often falls from the bedside table before making it to the bed. Poor thing.

His very favorite thing, still, is to play pillows. It doesn't matter what's going on with him - hunger, fatigue, pain - he is immediately energized and happy if he even thinks that there might be a game of pillows in the near future. Pillows, for those who don't know, is a game that involves covering Matthew up with pillows and waiting for him to come bursting through like a G-rated stripper out of birthday cake. He also likes to play Strong Man Competition which is easily incorporated into Pillows. As a competitor for the strong man title, one must pick up something heavy and unwieldy (usually a pillow), hoist it above one's head, and then bodyslam it. Matthew is very strong. He may one day win a real Strong Man Competition. Until then, we'll keep on training.

Trisha's Wedding

My good friend Trisha got married yesterday to her best friend. We were honored to be a part of the service and the fun that followed. I hope they are blessed with many more years of happiness together.

The best part of the service was that two of her friends sang, "When I'm 64" by the Beatles with ukelele accompaniment during the recessional! It was nice to be part of a wedding for two people who know better than to take themselves too seriously!

Duck Duck

Matthew and I spend a lot of time at the park. It doesn't matter which park, really. We find them all over. One of the best things about Honolulu is that there's a play structure every few blocks or so. Our newest discovery is the play structure at the school around the corner. On this day, school was out so we had the place to ourselves.

The parks are usually full of kids, like the little girl and her brother who we saw at the park the other day. She was about 7 and insisted that her older brother play duck-duck-goose with her. He kindly obliged, but after a few rounds of what had to have been the most predictable and boring game of DDG that I have ever witnessed, she screamed, "WHY DO YOU ALWAYS PICK ME?!?!" Priceless.

Mobile Way

Click HERE for a lovely video from 1935 of the Mobile area and its state parks. My childhood was filled with visits to these parks, and I never realized that I had the Depression era to thank. Maybe we'll get out of our coming economic ruin with some more beautiful parks to show for ourselves.

Celebrity Baby

Lately, I haven't really felt like taking pictures or blogging. I've been super busy, but somehow I haven't felt the urge to record it. There's something about living in the moment - and trying to keep up with a toddler and a house - that makes it nicer just to enjoy. There are many moments that I wish I had captured, but the capturing always changes things, so maybe they were more fun because there wasn't a camera in sight.
Speaking of cameras, one moment I desperately wish I had recorded occurred on a recent trip up to the lookout near our house. The windy little spot is always crowded with tourists, many from Japan, who come to see the fantastic view. As Matthew was walking up the pathway, doing his thing, one of the Japanese tourists stopped to take his picture. Soon there were more people stopping to take his picture as he coyly played with a sign post and looked at them with his cute boy face just enough to keep them wanting more. In a matter of seconds, we could not believe the number of cameras being thrust in his face, all with accompanying Japanese phrases aimed at making Matthew smile again. It was nuts. I know that people respond positively to Matthew - ladies stopping on the street to comment on how cute he is, neighborhood kids calling his name from across the park - but I had no idea that we could be turning all of this into Japanese baby celebrity. With economic times being what they are, it's good to know that we have something to fall back on.

Sky Cap

How sweet is this picture? Jeff was gone for a couple of weeks, so Matthew and I went to pick him up at the airport. I had no idea that we were going to help him with his luggage!