Go Away Rita

That was displayed in lights on a sign in front of a nearby business and made me laugh out loud. But since hurricanes often have a mind of their own, we are going to go away instead. Thank goodness we took action when we did, because it seems that all outbound flights from Houston are now booked. As I write, Rita is a Category 5 and heading this way. The news is referring to it as "Katrina's BIG sister." We have opened our home to one of Jim's MBA teammates who is escaping his place about 50 miles south of us, much more in harms way. It is an added bonus to have someone keep an eye on things while we are gone.

We just watched the live landing of jetBlue in LAX with landing gear problems. And while it was predicted to be ok (and it was) it was stressful to watch nonetheless.

With our evacuation plans in hand for tomorrow morning, we took a little time out tonight to bring Spencer for some fun at Pump It Up who was having a drive to raise money for a Katrina relief fund. For the first hour, we were the only ones in the entire place! The next people to show up was a family I recognized from the YMCA. Sadly, I don't think they raised even $100.

bubbles

Like most little kids, Spencer loves bubbles. This weekend he woke up from his nap Saturday afternoon in a foul mood and after going through an exhaustive list of options, it seemed the only thing he wanted was bubbles. He wanted to try to blow them too, and much to everyone's surprise, he was successful! It gave him even more delight to see the bubbles that he created! Spencer also gave them a taste and was NOT pleased. He made nasty faces and tried repeatedly to spit them out. And kept stating over and over "tastes yucky!"

food for thought

Jim took a 36 hour study break this weekend - his best friend Karl flew in and they were able to do some flying and also go to the Steelers game on Sunday. They also had wristbands to get on the field before the game and were able to take some pretty close up pictures! Despite the fact that many of mine and Jim's good friends live around the country, they (and we) are happy to jump on a plane and close the gap quite often. Karl asked an interesting question during dinner Saturday night that has had my mind spinning since then. He was commenting on the amount of work that Jim's MBA program requires him to commit, and the corresponding amount of work it requires of me to take care of Spencer while he is so busy. I started to reply that while it was tough, I certainly was not bored. And I stopped to think - is it perhaps better that I have Spencer to 'play with' while Jim is in school? I could easily see myself getting a bit whiny about being left solo if we were pre-kids. Yes it requires a lot of work, but Spencer and I can make play dates with other friends and kids, or go on outings together. It might not work as well as a temporarily single person trying to be a tagalong. Yes, it is a bit exhausting when the weekend rolls around figuring out how Spencer will be entertained. I'm sure I'll be wishing for that feeling of boredom as we get deeper into the program, but for now I'm happy to have my buddy! (When I call Spencer "baby," he corrects me and says "buddy!") Here are some pictures from activities in September.

traffic cop

Now that Spencer fully understands and pays exquisite attention to every traffic light encountered, he gets very upset when the rules we have taught him are not followed. Last week he shouted "orange! orange! orange!" when I ran though a light that was changing. And today when Jim made a right on red, Spencer complained for another few miles "not green! not green! not green!"

be prepared

Last night at CPR class I learned about a great volunteer opportunity (like I need more stuff to do?) here in Houston. Various groups that are part of the Citizen Corps here in Harris county have been mobilized in supporting efforts for evacuees from Lousiana that have come to Houston. Performing tasks such as setting up thousands upon thousands of cots at the Astrodome before the busloads of people arrived. I know I was not alone in wanting to DO something to help out, and during times of emergency, groups of organized volunteers can be the most effective. I hope others will consider signing up too. At the class was a group (den?) of cub scouts. It was encouraging to see them taking time out on a weeknight to learn such a valuable skill.

what an imagination!

Spencer is growing and learning so much, and I am amazed even though I am with him every day! This morning he was playing around while eating breakfast, and decided that the shape of a partially eaten piece of pancake on his plate looked like a pair of pants. He signed and said "pants" a few times, then took another bite, after which he inspected the pancake again and annouced that is looked like a "butterfly!" and put it down so he could use both hands to make the sign. I guess sometimes it is ok to encourage your child to play with his food!

Spencer's pals

Well, we didn't get to meet Paige at the birthday party on Saturday night for Spencer's classmate Ian, but we did meet sweet Ann Marie, and a pal named Brandon. Spencer had SO MUCH FUN playing around with his friends at Pump It Up. And I enjoyed getting to meet three sets of parents from his class. Ann Marie's mom's jaw practically hit the floor when Spencer came over to say hi and called Ann Marie by name. He had a truly great evening bouncing around, going down the big slide, and 'socializing' with his friends! With Jim at Rice and unable to attend the party, Spencer didn't get to share stories with him until this morning. He told Jim all about "Ian's party" and listed off his friends "Ian, Ann Marie and Brandon" he saw, and told him that he ate "pizza" and "cake" and made sure to tell Jim that they were able to "jump!" It was so cute to see how much he enjoyed reliving the event! Tonight, when Jim was putting Spencer to bed, he reminded him that tomorrow was Monday and that he would be going to school. And Spencer responded "Ian's party?"

momma's little helper

With daddy off to school early this morning, Spencer did a great job of picking up the slack and helping get ready this morning. Since he woke up before I got ready for the day (or out of bed for that matter) he joined me in the shower and played nicely with his letters while sitting down. (He still gets quite a bit of mileage from rotating "M! W! M! W!" around.) After we both got dressed, I brought the laundry around to the washer and sorted everything on the floor. Spencer was an excellent helper in moving clothes from the 'light' pile into the wash. He was a bit confused why some socks were getting washed now, and others not until later. Nonetheless, he was a big help, although I think I'm on my own later for folding!

toddler talk

It is just too darn cute now that Spencer is using small sentences to communicate along with his signs. This morning I sneezed and he said "bless you mommy!" Aww, thanks Spencer!

long holiday weekend

Our new MO for the weekends is spending lots of time with Spencer away from the house so Jim can study. This weekend we went to the pool at the YMCA, the Children's Museum, Splashtown and Jumping Jax (and indoor play place that made me think of a crack house, and I'm not sure we will ever return, but it was an entertaining afternoon for $1.) It was also a wonderfully social weekend as well. Jim and I went to an "adult" party on Saturday night and drank margaritas until we rolled in at 2:00am. We had friends join us at Sunday's Children's Museum outing, and impromtu company for a snack afterwards at Ruggles. I love having friends who are spontaneous! Our trip to Splashtown yesterday was great. We arrived in time to walk through the gate as it opened, and enjoyed a very uncrowded morning. Spencer requested to visit the dolphin slide first. He went down that slide over and over again for about 15 minutes, and we were the only ones in that area for the entire time!

Spencer's food opinions are increasing by the day: "red juice (v8) in purple cup" and we try to jump in ahead of time and offer up options of what is available in the fridge, and clean in the cabinet, before he sits and thinks of something we might not be able to deliver. Last night we took him to Hido, where he enjoyed the show and devoured everything on his plate. He is a big fan of soup (or "oop!" as he calls it) and gave a big "Mmm" after each mouthful. And the day before at Ruggles he happily enjoyed an entire cup of tomato basil soup. Soup with a spoon is still too challenging (yogurt is about as thin as he can manage) so he drank it from a cup, stopping to remove some basil from his mouth. I expect I'll be making a bunch of soups as fall (?) comes along!

Spencer has a girlfriend

This week's return to school after the trip to NY was a joyous one for Spencer, apparently. Usually when we talk about school, he runs through the list of names of his teachers and a few friends. But this week we heard a new name, and he kept on repeating the name as if this was the only person at school: Paige. "Paige. Paige. Like Paige. Like Paige." Hmmm. So yesterday Jim just had to ask the teachers about this. They confirmed what we had suspected, which is that Spencer and Paige are definitely buds. (And they added that she is very sweet and a cutie.) Her cubby is near Spencer's, and next to the boy whose party we are attending next weekend. I am really hoping that she was invited to the party too and I can watch them interact!

Katrina sucks

I found this link on Katie's site, and am very pleased to read about how Houston recreational and entertainment places are offering free or deeply discounted activities for folks from Lousiana, Alabama and Mississippi who will be spending time in our city who will arrive in approximately 500 busloads to the Astrodome. Related, I have left multiple messages for Audra on her cell phone and gotten no return. I expect she fled Mobile for Atlanta, but now her blog is down and I wish someone knew her whereabouts.

Last night I was worried a bit about how Spencer would sleep adjusting back to Central Time, coupled with a day of travel. Spencer appeared in the doorway of the kitchen at 5:30 while I was making dinner and said and signed "sleep?" It was so pathetic. Not wanting him to wake up at 5:30 the next morning, I did not indulge his request. But we did eat dinner promptly, followed by some brief playtime and bathtime, and put him down for the night at 6:30. And, I guess the poor guy was zonked because he slept until his usual time of about 7:15 this morning. Fingers crossed that this means he is fully adjusted!

back in TX

Well, it's not surprising I barely got to blog in NY. The time when we are there is always so jammed packed. This trip included celebrating mom's birthday, a few visits with Spencer's great-grandma (he says and signs "great-grandma" very nicely now!) more visits with moms friends and most importantly for Spencer was a trip to the Chappaqua library for storytime! He was so excited to return to the familiar room and after the first toddler selected Spencer's favorite rhyme, he could hardly contain himself and exploded "YAY!" when it was over! We were next to choose, and the librarian asked "what would Spencer like to sing" and he promptly answered her! He was sitting in my lap so I hadn't seen his hand signal to communicate but then she said "ok, good choice Spencer," and we started singing another one of his favorite tunes!

Spencer's accomplishments this long weekend include:

- swimming in a lake for the first time (and getting nibbled by fish!)
- learning the color turqoise
- picking cherry tomatoes (and learning that he should only pick red ones!)

My accomplishments this long weekend include:

- Getting Mah Jong three times in a row

These were the first plane rides I think Spencer actually enjoyed (sort of.) He was definitely aware of the fact that we were at an airport and there were airplanes all around, and I think he understood that we were actually on an airplane as well. He was an excellent passenger both ways, but much of that has to do with the time of day and length of flight. Today's flight was exceptionally nice with good luck having an empty middle seat in our row. I'm not sure how I have never known until this trip that LaGuardia airport has a wonderful family restroom which makes navigating solo with a stroller a breeze.

Here are pictures from the trip.

plays nicely with others

Last night I called to RSVP for the birthday party at Spencer's school. I was surprised to learn from his classmate's mom that she had not invited everyone in the class. Rathe, she handed some invitations to the head teacher in the room and asked her to pass them out to the kids her son is friendly with. It's so cute that they have friends before they are two years old! And I know this boy is indeed one of his buds because I've heard Spencer say his name before. Sadly, the fact that it is his birthday coming up means that he'll be moving on to the next room at school.

Spencer and I are in NY now. He was a great traveler today (whew.) And he was thrilled to ride in an airplane and see so many at the airport too! Almost bed time for the little guy, it's been a long day.

Spencer time

Spencer and I are going to have an awful lot of time together this weekend, but right now i'm missing the little guy very much. Due to an unfortunate collision of early morning meetings and untimely internet outage, I was up and out the door before Spencer work up today. I definitely felt that something was 'off' during the day not having seen him in the morning. I can't wait for Spencer (and Jim) to return home shortly so I can give him a big squeeze!

cuddly book?

The last two nights Spencer has PLEADED to have his rainbow book in the crib with him. Not exactly a cuddly request, and his crib is getting a bit full with pillow, puppy, lion, blanket and now rainbow. But when I handed it to him he threw the blanket off and sat up so he could read. Good grief.

Today we received an invitation to a birthday party for one of Spencer's classmates at school. How nice! Jim and I were talking earlier in the week how we feel so much less connected at this new school. Before, we knew all of the kids and all of the parents. Spencer's world has expanded from an infant room with 10 babies 0-18 months, to his new toddler room with 24 toddlers from 18-24 months. So there are many more names and faces and the turnover is quite rapid. On the same hand, we felt that we HAD to stay tightly connected at the old school to keep an eye on things and decisions that were being made. It is so much more relaxing for us to trust in the staff and structure at his new school and know that everything is going great. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to the party and meeting other parents.

busy weekend

It seems like there is not any other kind. With school underway for Jim, the weekends are quite tiring. We enjoyed last minute social plans to have dinner with friends and their son on Friday night. On Saturday, Spencer and I had company join us at the Children's Museum which was super fun. I forgot my camera, but thankfully Michelle took pictures. Jim was able to meet the four of us at Ruggles for lunch, and then headed off to Rice to meet with his team until it was quite late. Sunday morning was lazy family time: enjoying some date nut bread I had made the night before, and hanging around the house until lunchtime. After Spencer's nap, he and I headed to the outdoor pool at the Y for the rest of the afternoon. Until now he had been apprehensive of of the wall o' water that cascades off of the rooftop of the main play structure, but yesterday he ventured through it a few times and overall had a blast!

Spencer's words and signs are coming more and more easily. He has been putting two words together for a while, but now we are seeing the beginnings of sentences emerge, such as "Elmo dance on table" and "orange juice in Spencer's purple cup." Of course, when he says 'Spencer' it still comes out sounding like 'Bobin.' We tried working on that yesterday, saying "s-s-s-s-pencer" and as usual he repeated "s-s-s-s-bobin."

backseat driver

Spencer has been able to identify stop signs for quite a while now. He is only too happy to point out "octogon - stop!" Then he pauses and says and signs "go!" But now he gets the gist of traffic lights too. After sitting at red lights and having him tell us "go!" we had to explain "red stop, green go." So now he sits and stares at the red light. He says and signs "red, stop, wait." And he waits. And when it finally changes, he excitedly exclaims and signs "GREEN GO! GREEN GO!" Good grief. I didn't realize driving to and from school this week would be so exciting.

Spencer remembers!

I was so proud last night at dinner at Spencer's ability to dig into his memory for an answer. Our Sunday afternoon outing took us to the Houston Museum of Natural Science where he got to see butterflies up close for the first time. While he was equally pleased to play in puddles on the paths, he did enjoy seeing the butterflies all around (after getting over his initial fear when they flew right at him!) At dinner I asked Spencer if he had fun at the museum ("mu-see-uhm," he repeated) and to tell daddy what we saw. He sat there and thought for a few seconds and then announced "butterflies!"

It was a great end to a great weekend. Saturday morning we celebrated Nicholas' birthday at Pump It Up. Having never been there before, I was a bit concerned because Spencer doesn't know how to jump! But he had such a wonderful time! I do expect that we'll be returning sometime soon, especially since it is so close to the house! Saturday afternoon and evening I spent back on Rice's campus and it felt great. I was initially taken aback at the nearly six hours of time planned for the Rice MBA spouse/partner orientation, but I enjoyed every minute. It felt good to be in such an intellectual environment again. For at least a second, maybe more like two or three, I wished that I were part of the elite program as a student again. Indeed, I met a few spouses that afternoon who had received their Rice MBA a few years earlier and were now supporting their partners through the process. But, as the spouse of a student in the class of 2006 commented, "we both tought the program is very valuable and right now she is enrolled as the student, but I can still read the cases too, get the benefit of stimulating discussions and don't have to write papers and take tests!" For now that is the attitude I am adopting as well, and I guess Jim and I will see where our priorities lie two years from now.

Pics from the weekend have been added to the August photo album.

joke of the day

Spencer's joke for the day today occurred at breakfast. He was goofing around while eating, and leaned all the way over to one side as far as he could, and then announced "upside down!"

Peee-ewwww!

Spencer's sense of humor is so entertaining! In addition to getting his giggles by trying to scare us, he also tries to think of things that we will find funny. Last night in the tub, he took the foam letter "V" and placed it on his nose, so that one point was on each nostril. He then sat back and declared "PEEE-EWWWWW! STINKY!" and laughed his little head off! What a goof!

Boo!

For a couple of weeks now, Spencer has enjoyed "scaring" us. Sometimes he'll realize that he's a few steps ahead of us going down a hallway, and will duck behind the corner to pop out and say "BOO!" when we get closer. It is very cute and makes him (and us!) laugh and laugh.

He is also excellent at giving kisses. (Finally - it was quite unappealing to have your baby lean in with open mouth and tongue out trying to lick your cheek. This morning after getting him up and out of the crib, we went in to say good morning to daddy. As usual, he insisted on bringing puppy, lion and blanket with him. When I asked Spencer for a kiss, he decided instead to place puppy on my cheeck and say "muuuuah!"

It seems as though I think about blogging every day, but by the time I get around to posting, another whole week has elapsed. Even though we have all been in town for the last nine days (hooray!) we are still on a tag team schedule. I have taught two Baby Signs Parent Workshops since the last post, so Jim and Spencer got quality time then. And Spencer and I have had plenty of quality time with Jim's MBA work - both group study sessions and getting away to allow for some quiet individual study time at home. This weekend we cooled off at the outdoor pool at the Y, and also met up with friends at Splashtown. Last night Jim & I got away for a nice dinner at Fleming's - yum!

Spencer turned 20 months old last week. Geez. His signs and language skills are continuing to explode. He knows almost the entire alphabet (V and Z continue to trip him up) thanks in large part to his daily play with foam letters during bathtime and listening to Here Come the ABCs on the way to and from school. We had started with a few at a time, and were amazed as we 'introduced' more than he already knew them! I don't know how I learned then, but I definitely remember my sister learning letters in kindergarten!

weekend in Houston!

Spencer and I had a happy reunion on Friday evening and I hugged him until he said "all done!" Over the weekend we had lot of quality (and quantity!) time together. With Saturday being a class day for Jim, Spencer and I were together for the entire day. Having finally adjusted to PDT, it still felt quite early to me when Spencer roused his sleepy self at 7:45am. We played around the house together in the morning and hit Wal*Mart before lunchtime. Spencer loves the large sign out front and shouts "W! M! W! M!" After his nap, we had a great afternoon together at the Y outdoor pool, and even ran into a friend from our Mommy & Me gym class from earlier in the summer. Back at the house, he did a great job entertaining himself for a bit to let me cook so the two of us could enjoy a nice dinner of chicken marsala. With just a couple of page turns left in Goodnight Moon, Jim came home in time to kiss him goodnight and cap off a great day. Sunday followed a similar pattern, but it also included Jim, which was very nice. Our mother-son afternoon outing was to the Children's Museum, and Jim met us for dinner at Niko Niko's.

We also caught up on a little tv last night, and I'm still very much in shock over Six Feet Under...

almost home

I think I did a good job this week to not dwell on how much I was missing the boys back home, and able to enjoy meeting and learning more about my co-workers from around the US, Canada & Mexico. I have truly enjoyed our hotel with walking access to many wonderful shops and restaurants. Tonight we walked to Krung Thai for dinner and it was quite good. We never eat Thai food at home, mostly because I don't know much about it and only go with others who know how to order.

Last night I drove out to visit Alli and Dave at their place. Not two minutes inside the door Alli blurted out that she's pregnant! I was/am soooo excited for her (and Dave!) So glad to know more of my good friends are becoming mommies. I hope that she will indeed come to Houston to visit for Rice homecoming this year, it will be exciting to visit as she gets closer to the end of the term!

Tomorrow I get to hug Spencer and Jim, and I can't wait!! I have been so happy with Jim sharing pics and video from breakfast and dinner. Seeing Spencer sign "I love mommy" was too awesome.

on the road again

Sunday I arrived here in California, but not before Spencer and I spent a few hours at the World Series of Dog Shows in the morning. We enjoyed watching agibilty, flyball, frisbee and freestyle. Spencer's head was in constant motion to see so many dogs in on place! We were able to squeeze in a quick trip to Uncle Mike's for lunch to visit with family while they were in town (where Spencer was able to continue saying and signing "great-grandma") before Jim had to run off for MBA stuff and I had to get to the airport.

I forgot how much I really love the bay area in California. As long as I am stuck being away from my sweetie and my baby, this would probably be my first choice. And, as far as trips go, this is a pretty easy one as I'm here for training - no presentations to give, no team breakout sessions to define deliverables, just pay attention and absorb information. It's also great fun to get to finally put a name with a face on people I've worked very closely with for the past few years. We're based in a swanky hotel in the middle of the very trendy Santana Row which allows us to walk to dinner in the evening.

This will be the longest stretch of time away from Spencer since he arrived. I was so ridiculously happy when Jim sent a picture of him to my phone during a simple outing to the grocery store. Hopefully the week will fly by, and I'll be back in Houston giving him a big hug real soon!

still traveling

Nearly another whole week has elapsed, geez. Mom called one night during the week and asked "tell me something cute that Spencer did." but nothing came to mind. I think the next day he provided some good gems. Like when he was eating salmon for dinner, and we told him it was fish, and he looked at the food in his hand as he repeated "fish" and the gave it a kiss! And picking him up from school is always in a big "show-off mode" at the end of the day. He picked up a tissue, said "tissue" and then said "AH-CHOO!" wiped his nose and then walked across the room to throw the tissue in the trash. His teachers and I were hysterical!

We just got back from a Leach family wedding outside of Houston. Spencer was a big hit, showing off his shapes and colors and letters and saying "great-grandma." Definitely had no patience for a service, but said "cheese!" as he smiled for the pictures afterward!

home!

Well, Spencer did indeed have one of his best flights ever yesterday - but it started after spending over three hours in LaGuardia with flight delays due to mandatory crew rest. I have a sneaky feeling that one of the gate agents was sympathetic to my situation of chasing a toddler around the terminal for so long. Somehow there was miraculously an empty middle seat in our row, even though the plane was completely full and they had pulled people on from a standby list. Having the extra seat meant I was able to eat a bit while I put Spencer down for his nap. And later was able to put the laptop on his traytable and belt him in to watch signing videos. Boy were we both happy to see Jim waiting there in baggage claim for us when we arrived! :)

Spencer learned a lot during his trip to NY. He can now say "upside down" which he learned from a new book Silly Sally. But most notably is that now Spencer is able to open doors - ack!

leaving NY

Our trips to NY always seem to fly by, and I can't believe it's already our last night here. Our trip to Montauk in the middle of the week was fun, but not the typically relaxing getaway I remember! We ate well at places like Gosman's and Duryea's and enjoyed some wonderful steamers, shrimp and lobster. Yum! We don't each much seafood at home, so I didn't realize how much Spencer enjoyed it too! (We knew he was a huge fan of boiled shrimp, but he loved everything else too!) We were able to spend one of our days out there visiting Joan & Dean at their spectacular home and swimming in their pool.

Yesterday, after morning storytime at the Chappaqua library, Spencer and I had a quick lunch at Susan Lawrence and were able to catch up with pop for the rest of the day. We went to the Bronx Zoo and had such a good time! We've been to the Houston Zoo before and I know it wasn't that great, so it was wonderful to visit a really nice zoo! Spencer certainly seemed to remember "poppa" from his visit to Houston last mont!

This morning we enjoyed a nice brunch at the house with some of mom's friends who I like to visit with during trips. Penny brought Emma and Jake and later in the afternoon Spencer and I headed over to her house to continue playing.

Pics from the week are in this album.

Tomorrow is another flight. Fingers crossed this one goes as well as the trip up!

in NY

Well, Spencer and I made it to NY yesterday, and I have to say that he was a pretty darn good traveller. He fussed a bit on the plane when I thought it should be naptime, but he decided he'd rather keep on watching the signing videos so I indulged him. He decided to stay awake for the entire plane flight, and only sleep for final 30 minutes - closing his eyes as the captain annouced that we were starting our descent in the NY area.

We made our (usual) first stop at grandma's for dinner, and Spencer impressed her with his version of the words "great-grandma!" He showed off all around, acting cute and saying "hello!" to everyone around. Fortunately, he was fairly hungry which translated into well-behaved at the dinner table.

Today was great. My cousin Hedy, Michael and their kids Sophia (8 1/2) and Ethan (6 1/2) stopped by for several hours in the afternoon. They had been at a Bar Mitzvah yesterday and were able to visit while in NY before heading back on to Maryland. Despite their five year gap, Spencer and Ethan seemed to be quite fond of one another. Ethan is thrilled to have a boy cousin (although there is another one on the way next month) but wishes Spencer didn't live in "that other country, Texas." And Spencer was equally delighted to call out "E-tan" to get his attention. They played together with legos, and kicked a soccer ball in the backyard (sort of.)

Spencer was sooo tired that he started saying "sleep" around 6:30. Adjusting for the time zone difference, that's almost an hour and a half earlier than he usually starts his bedtime routine. Nonetheless, we started up his bath, put on pj's, read a story and put him down. He complained for a few short minutes, and was sound alseep by 7:00. Wow.

Tomorrow we're off to Montauk for a few days (back in time for weekly Mah Jong game!) No knowledge of internet connectivity, so probably no photos until the end of the week. Here are a few pics from yesterday and today.

bad and good

Last night's plan was to pick up the pottery that we painted at girls' night out last week. Jen and I decided to have dinner first, with the boys. Spencer was soooo bad. Not "bad," but rahter unpleasant. He threw food, he threw toys, he pushed himself back from the table, he screamed... I was so embarrassed. We ate fairly quickly and then left. Hardly getting a chance to really enjoy my first trip to Berryhill Tamales. Whose $0.99 "happy hour" tamales were very yummy! And, to top off the bummer of our evening, the pottery place had closed early that night. Argh!

Today was at the opposite end of the spectrum. I was able to pick up my pottery piece during lunchtime (and was pleased!) then on to lunch with friends. The three of us went out to dinner out and met up with a larger group, and we all had such a good time. I was initially very anxious after the painful experience the night before. But Spencer had a good nap today, and was very well behaved at dinner, staying mostly focused on his food and toys. His friends Chloe and Brian were both excited so see Spencer, as he misses out on seeing them weekday lunches.

Now he's in bed, and every once in a while we hear him squeezing his puppy to play "twinkle, twinkle little star." How cute!

kitchen toy

I have gotten a bit tired of taking the pit out of cherries for Spencer using a paring knife. It's so tedious. Yesterday I finally stopped in Sur La Table during lunchtime to purchase a cherry pitter. I was able to try it out when I got home on some big, beautiful Rainier cherries and it worked even better than I had hoped! Spencer was equally pleased at dinner to enjoy eating them!

hot 4th

With temps reaching 100 every day this holiday weekend, we hit the water everyday. Saturday Spencer and I checked out the YMCA outdoor pool for the first time after my pilates class. It was a wonderful pool and Spencer had so much fun! Sunday included a visit to Splashtown (possibly our last one for the month of July!) and Spencer rode the dolphin slides like a champ - barely even holding up the line as he climbed the stairs and took his turn. Yesterday morning we were invited to join friends at their subdivision parade - although we had planned to swim, the kids just had so much playing we never went. But in afternoon we swam in Jack & Lori's pool, where Spencer displayed his 'no fear' attitude just walking up to the edge and jumping in. He is still doing a great job putting his face in the water and blowing bubbles as he learned in Mexico. Here are a few pics from the 4th of July.

At night when he gets in his bath, you can see such a brown line between his tan back and his white tush. And he also has some funky tan areas on his feet from the water shoes that he wears. Thank goodness he seems to have inherited Jim's good skin genes, and not mine which might have caused him to be quite crisp by this point in the summer!

he keeps on growing

Not that it's surprising, but sometimes Spencer seems to get larger by the minute. I finally accepted the fact that my not quite 19 month-old can no longer fit into his clothes. Yesterday he said and signed "hurt" when I buttoned up his shorts. Sigh.

Jim came home last night, and we're all together for the long weekend -hooray! It's July 1 and already we are overbooked for the entire month ahead. It is making me tired just thinking about it!

we're back!

Well, we're not all back quite yet, but tomorrow things should settle down - at least for one week until travel picks up again. Tonight was the first time since the previous post that Spencer took a bath back in his own tub. We've had a whirlwind of a month, with visits from Jim's grandpa and mom, house guests which included Karl and my dad, an opportunity to catch up with Stacie during a brief trip back to the states from London, and our family vacation to Cancun with Spencer. What finally prompted Jim's grandpa to fly to TX was to make a trip to Lubbock to visit the Silent Wings Museum which was opened a couple years ago to commemorate pilots who flew gliders during the war. Here are pictures from the museum visit. We have also created a separate album for miscellaneous June pictures, including many from Stacie's visit with her daughter Kate (two months younger than Spencer) and a couple of Karl and pop. We did take pop to Splashtown with us, but no pics from that trip. And, most recently we have returned from five days in Cancun with Spencer. I'm not sure it is all that 'relaxing' to vacation with your toddler, but we had great fun introducing him to the beach and the ocean. And I am happy to report that we had great weather every day (it poured the morning we left) and no one got any sunburns. Here are (a lot of) pictures from our vacation to Cancun. I have to confess, there was nothing cuter than Spencer saying "Hola!" to the folks down there! And the women at Baby Club where he spent a few hours one day were pleased that he knew to ask for "agua!" He was a great flyer (fingers crossed he does well when I fly solo with him to NY next month) but chasing Spencer around a resort for a few days has left Jim and I wanting our own vacation. Plus, both of us used our leisure reading time to read Jim's required books for business school. The two I read I found absolutely fascinating: "Sam Walton, Made in America" and "Nuts!" which tells the story of Southwest Airlines' success. With the Rice MBA program kicking off in July, I think our getaway will have to wait until a break in courses at the end of the year.

He's a big boy, still

The nurse and the doctor were quite pleased at Spencer's 18 month visit yesterday. He continues to grow exactly along the 80% curve for both height and weight - a little over 33 inches and a little over 28 pounds. They were very impressed at his developmental milestones, as Spencer rattled off shapes and colors and counted a little bit. (He still starts his counting at "two!") It's been obvious how signing with him early on has helped to build the impressive vocabulary he has today. Earlier this week I gave a promotional talk about Baby Signs® Programs to a new moms support group at the hospital where Spencer was born. They were so excited to get started, and I expect that many will show up at the next scheduled workshop for parents. Another woman called out of the blue to sign up for the workshop and it turns out that she lives in an adjacent subvision, so it was easier for me to drop the kit off at her house instead of bringing it to the Post Office! She was delighted, and couldn't wait to get started!

So far, so good

Things started off smoothly this morning - I gave Spencer his choice of cups BEFORE I poured his milk at breakfast. (He chose pink today.) Everyone here seems to be healthy for the first time in nearly a week. This afternoon is Spencer's 18 month check up and he is not due for any shots - hooray! He is totally wise to the doctor's office and rarely lets his guard down anyhow. He is adjusting well at his new school and we are so thrilled and we sleep much better now. Unfortunately, although he naps well at school, Spencer has decided to NOT sleep better these past several nights. We are perplexed, as his routine is unchanged.

opinions

Spencer had a near meltdown this morning when I poured his milk for breakfast. Apparently he wanted the orange cup, not the purple one I had selected for him. He began to cry. "Orange! Orange! Orange!" Good grief.

I did indeed get horribly sick to my stomach just a few hours after the Monday post. The lunch I just finished was my first meal in the last 48 hours.

weekend wrap up

Man, I do need to blog more often. Friday evening was lovely as Spencer gave me big (& loud!) unsolicited kiss while getting into his PJ's. But later at night as Jim and I were heading to bed, Spencer began sobbing and through the tears we heard "all done!" We knew something wasn't right, and as soon as we opened the door we smelled the puke. Poor guy got another bath, and we stayed up another few hours with him while he continued to puke. Not fun. By 8:00am Saturday he was back to his chipper self and we headed off to our first play class together at the YMCA which he LOVED. Jim was able to buy wood for one last play room project (not sure what it will be, as it has morphed from a bookshelf, to a bench, to a window seat to built-in bookshelfs plus a seat!)

Saturday night we went to Rice to socialize with MBA classmates. It's exciting and becoming very real! We met some new folks who will be part of Jim's class of 2007, and connected with a few HP people who have now hit the halfway point towards their date in 2006. We stopped off for a quick beer to celebrate Todd's 30th b-day. It felt so great to be out socializing like an adult for the evening!

Spencer and I had a fabulous afternoon meeting up with friends at Splashtown yesterday, but things had taken a turn south for Jim. While Spencer was ill for less than 12 hours, the bug managed to take Jim down for the count. Why do we ALWAYS get it 10x worse than him? I'm still feeling ok, but so far the pattern usually flows Spencer --> Jim --> me. So I'm just enjoying my time of feeling healthly. I can't deal with another two weeks of feeling horrible like last time. That was just too awful.

Today is Spencer's first full day at his new school. We went three times last week for about an hour each time, so the environment is hopefully familiar to him. I have had my fingers crossed that the sprinkles we drove through on the way there will not keep the kids from water play, as Spencer was super-excited (albeit a bit confused) to put on his suit first thing in the morning. He was unhappy when I left this morning, and I'm hoping that when I call to check in later today they will tell me he has been having a wonderful time.

Good Friday

Today is a good day. 1) It's Friday. 2) Fridge is full of groceries. 3) A major project launch at work this week was tremendously successful. 4) Still excited that Jim will be getting Rice MBA. 5) Spencer is about to wrap up his final day at current school before moving to a new school on Monday. 6) We're planning to go to Splashtown one day this weekend. 7) Making plans to go to Montauk during next month's trip to NY. 8) Already booked a vacation to Cancun!

Holiday Weekend

Things are very busy with a toddler. And the long weekend was all about him. We did get to have a great lunch with Audra on Saturday. We haven't seen each other since August of last year - Spencer wasn't even crawling yet! It was great to see her looking so great, and meet her beau and enjoy a yummy lunch at Lupe Tortilla.

We went back to Splashtown, Spencer's new favorite place. He is among the youngest children playing in the pools, but that didn't stop him from climbing way up the dolphin slide and going down headfirst! After I picked him up from his submerged state at bottom, he was very quick to say and sign "MORE!" Speaking of signing, I have four more signing classes officially scheduled through the summer. How exciting!

Save the Date - May 12, 2007

Two years from now, Jim will be receiving his Masters in Business Administration from Rice University! We'll be a two-owl family. It's been a stressful spring here in the Leach household while Jim busied himself with the application process, taking the GMAT and getting pre-reqs taken care of. But it paid off when the letters arrived announcing his acceptance for admission. I'm so proud of my sweetie for all of his hard work to date. We know there is a very tough road ahead for the next 22 months, but we think we're ready!

Algeria, Bulgaria, Cambodia

"Here Come the ABC's" arrived today (pretty darn quick for free shipping!) and the Alphabet of Nations is one of my favorites so far, along with E Eats Everything. Spencer likes the scat feel on Rolling O, and often says "yeah!" and claps during the songs, and says and signs "more!" inbetween tracks! Very fun!

Over the weekend we went to Splashtown for the first time. Man was it awesome! Spencer and I spent hours hanging out at Crocodile Isle. After a few trips down the slides with me, he enjoyed going on them alone (although he did squeal like a girl a few times!) The afternoon there wiped him out COMPLETELY! He crashed for a late afternoon nap in the car ride home, and woke up on the way to dinner. He simply sat at the table with us with eyes half open, and mostly too tired to even eat. It was very pathetic. But I can't wait to go back with him again!

Sunday was an indoor (AC!) day at the Children's Museum catching up with Tracy and almost 1 year-old Aurelie. But, before that trip, we enjoyed some more swimming (or as Spencer says "mimming") in the morning in the new pool I picked up at CostCo. He simply outgrew the infant pool which was so perfect for him last summer. :(

Friday

Today Spencer got to experience Tot Shabbat at the JCC. We practiced singing "Shabbat Shalom" in the car on the way down, and he thought it was pretty fun when we got there to discover that other people knew that song too! We enjoyed seeing Alicia and George and their daughter Sophia, who is just a week older than Spencer. And 17 month-old Seth's mom was so proud to show that he had learned the sign for moon - one of the few signs I had taught during a promotional talk for some moms and toddlers last week. Spencer had so much fun playing with the kids, and sat captivated when we lit candles. He had three (maybe four?) pieces of challah, and was still sitting at the table long after everyone else had returned to play!

Pics have been posted to a new May album which include some backyard fun from last night, Tot Shabbat at the JCC, and Open Gym at the YMCA this evening.

mutli-media

I finally broke down and ordered the latest versions of the Baby Bargains and Toddler Bargains books from Amazon today. I needed to add a few dollars to qualify for free shipping, and splurged on a They Might Be Giants CD for Spencer that I've been wanting to get since I heard about its release in February of this year. Listening to their music always puts me in such a happy place. I rarely go to concerts, just not a huge fan, but I have terrific memories seeing them perform at Rice during my freshment year when "Flood " had recently been released, and a few years after graduation when they did a show at Numbers. I have no doubt that their newest children's album will stir up that same sense of happiness for Spencer. "Here come the ABCs" has twenty-six tracks (of course!) including titles like "The Vowel Family," "Letter/Not a Letter," and "Who Put the Alphabet in Alphabetical Order?" How fun! Spencer already knows several letters, and is THRILLED when he sees one he knows on a street sign. He enjoys when we sing the alphabet, and I hope he enjoys this new CD about letters as much as I think I will!

tiiiiired

Man, I haven't been this beat (when feeling healthy!) in a long time. We were on the go all weekend, spending much of it outdoors. Saturday morning we left to spend some time at a nearby playground, then down to the Art Car Parade. We ran into Katie, which was ironic because the last time we were there was when she and Audra and I were actually in the parade in 2002. Spencer was not quite sure what to make of the whole event. He recognized tons of objects/animals, but was visibly confused by the size/shape of many of them. Such as a larger-than-life mouse car, upside down cars, and flowers driving down the street. Here are pictures from this weekend's parade. After spending time in the heat, we enjoyed some AC at Joel & Julie's who graciously allowed us to park in their driveway, just a block away from the parade route. Then headed over to a bbq at Pete's (the only other Carleton grad I have ever known besides my sister, who then became a classmate of Katie at UH Law) with the rest of Jim's hockey buddies and their wives and kiddos. Spencer's eyes were practically closing on him as he played in the sandbox, so we said our goodbyes early and headed home. We promised, as we always do, to make dinner plans with some of his teammates and I really hope we can follow through. We have such a good time hanging out together at the parties, but those only happen a few times a year.

Today we discovered that Spencer seems to have outgrown his kiddie pool from last summer. It was still fun for him to sit and and play around, but he could rest his head on one of the inflatable walls and his feet on opposite side! After drying off, and a brief nap (Spencer only) we all went to a MBA graduation party/first birthday party for one of Jim's co-workers (and his son.) Spencer had a BLAST playing with someone else's toys for a few hours in the afternoon! And we caught up with Aunt Ronnee for dinner, who showered him with toys and books and clothes.

Now I'm beat. Finally relaxing on the couch, while asparagus soup is simmering on the stove. (This is the recipe mom made in NY that Spencer though was so delicious.) Just one last step to puree it, and then maybe an hour or so of relaxation before bed, and then the week starts all over again...

"Bobin"

That's how Spencer says his name. We're not sure how that came about, because most of his vocabulary is pretty understandable, but he is quite sure that his name is pronounced "Bobin." I point at Jim and ask "who is that?" and he says "daddy!" Then I point at myself and ask "who am I?" and he says "mom!" But when I point at him and ask "who is that?" and he says "Bobin!" Hmmmm. Maybe they have a nickname for him at school we don't know about??

Do the Hokey Pokey

Spencer thinks the hokey pokey is pretty fun. His favorite part is turning himself around and he usually makes a couple of spins. I try hard not to laugh at his attempts to stand on one leg while shaking the other one. Today Hokey Pokey Elmo arrived from grandma. He sings, he dances, he spins around, and then declares "whew - Elmo's pooped!" Spencer was not totally sure what to think, but I'm glad to have someone else help sing the song!

Mother's Day

We are all finally feeling a bit better around the house. Yesterday, after a nice treat of Spencer sleeping until 9:00 in the morning (!) I took the boy to the Downtown Aquarium for an afternoon outing. I wrestled with taking the stroller or not, and finally decided that it would be worse to need it and be without it, than to juggle Spencer and the stroller, which turned out to be just fine. The weather was terrible, but the place was packed. I'm looking forward to going back so we can ride the train into the shark tunnel and play in the fountain. Here are some pictures at the Aquarium, with comments, from our day.

sick sick sick

Two weeks ago, Jim and Spencer went to doctors for feeling poorly. That was the day before we left for NY. Spencer was better within 24 hours, as usual, but Jim was in pretty bad shape. By middle of last week I was feeling so crummy that I had to go see a doctor in NY. Sinus problems gave way to a dry cough that has kept me awake for the last six nights. Jim has only been marginally better, fighting a sore throat and cough as well. Yesterday I finally went to the doctor, who prescribed cough medicine, which was also to help me sleep. But, I have been nauseas and throwing up since I opened my eyes this morning which the doctor concluded as an unfortunate (but not uncommon) reaction to the medicine. I just want everyone in our family to feel better!

back in tx

I am completely exhausted right now. Spencer was an ace on the plane ride home, but I am still wiped out. He was so sad to say goodbye to "mama" (poor guy got upset every time she went into another room!) and I know she was equally sad too.

The week ended at the same pace it had gone on since we arrived. More visits with friends: back to Penny's and across the street to his little girlfriend Emiliana, and family: lunch and a playdate with pop, and visit from cousin Carol and Bob from Philly, and of course more time with Spencer's great-grandma. I got a great picture of her reading to him that has been added to the album from our trip this Passover. During that visit we also discovered that Spencer loves asparagus soup. As he drank it from a cup, he annouced "MMMMM" in between each mouthful.

I have been sick as a dog, and have no idea how I will make it back to work tomorrow. Although I'm looking forward to a bit of a rest when Spencer goes back to school tomorrow, I will definitely miss the litte guy more having had him by my side practically 24x7 for the last ten days!

Mama and Mom

During the course of the trip, I have become "mom" to Spencer. How sad that my not-quite-yet 17 month old son thinks he is already mature enough to just call me "mom." And, on top of that, he now call my mom "mama" as his way of saying "grandma." This afternoon we had a play date with Amy and Zachary. Mom dropped us off and ran a quick errand, and when she returned, Spencer spied her walking to the front door and grinned widely as he said very clearly "mama!" Pictures from this afternoon have been added to the end of the Passover album.

Passover 2005

I have to confess that I scoffed at mom last month when she said we needed to hurry up and make travel plans because they flights were going to be very full for Passover. She was exactly right - the flight was completely booked and it seemed the entire plane was filled with people travelling to NY to celebrate Passover with their families.

I feel awful that I did not take any pictures of the seder we went to at Harriet's, or the seder we hosted here last night. Both evenings were wonderful (and Spencer looked too adorable all dressed up and wearing a bib that said 'matzoh baby' on the font!) I still can't believe that we had fourteen people here in mom's little house last night.

Jim is back in Houston, and unfortunately missed our visit to see cousins in NJ this morning. I did make sure to take some pictures of Spencer and his cousins.

scared and dirty

These are two of Spencer's newest words and signs. We have been using "dirty" for quite a while (as toddlers this age are frequently picking stuff up off of the ground!) but he has never made the sign or tried to say the word until yesterday. He had picked something up off of the floor under the table, likely a crumb from the previous meal, and when I said and signed "dirty" he repeated it! I invited him to throw the "dirty" in the trash which he proudly did! A teaching opportunity for scared occurred as he was rummaging around in the pots and pans and one of the lids fell on to the floor and made a huge noise which upset Spencer. He clearly understood that word and sign right away, and used it again several times later that day. It is so cool to see how their little brains work!

weekend visitors

Karl and Heather came to spend the weekend visiting with us and young Spencer. For me, the highlight was when Heather & I hit TJ Maxx on Saturday night after Spencer went to bed. This followed a lowlight earlier in the day of getting rear-ended while stopped at a red light. The Pilot shows hardly any damage (getting assessment at the dealer tomorrow) but the front of her car was smushed and had to be towed. Strong argument for driving an SUV.

Teething is STILL bothering Spencer. Last night, just as we were getting ready for bed around 11, Spencer woke up wailing pitifully. He was not able to relax enough to sleep in his bed until nearly 1:00. Poor guy, and poor us. He slept well one of the two nights with houseguests this weekend. I hope things improve before out trip to NY, that won't be terribly fun...

$37.12

That's how much it cost to fill up our vehicle this week, ack.

Yesterday was Jim's b-day and we went out for an 'adult' dinner at Fleming's Steak House. What a phenomenal place! Their chocolate lava cake was out of this world!

Tonight Spencer and I went to hang out at the Y for an hour before dinner. It was "Open Gym" night and was such a blast! I enjoyed getting to meet some other parents, and Spencer had SO MUCH FUN on the see-saw, and playing with the parachute and jumping off of big foam mats and laughing and yelling "YEAH!" We are definitely going back!

still teething

Spencer's big molars are a big pain - literally. Poor guy has been off of his game for over a week now. He hurts (knows the sign and has been using it, along with the word, quite often this week) and he cries a lot. He wakes up wailing during the night, wanting medicine and to be held. This evening, our olympic eater wanting nothing for dinner - no food, no milk. He cried and begged through the tears "UP!" to be picked up and held in my lap. (Which made eating dinner a bit of a challenge for me!) As I sit here thinking about heading towards bed, the past week's events have reintroduced a familiar and unpleasant feeling I thought was behind us. It is the false sense of security offered by the bed, not knowing when the peace it offers will be interrupted by mid-night cries. Fingers crossed as I head towards the bedroom...

more teeth

Spencer's four molars are in various stages of breaking through. Compared to the little ones in front, these seem absolutely huge. And our poor guy has been feeling the pain on and off for the last few weeks. (Not to mention new incidental problems like biting his tongue while eating.) These past several days have been particularly bad with teething pain. How sad is it when your baby looks over at the tube of baby orajel and cries "me'cine! me'cine!"

great weather

Our fabulous April weather in Houston continues. Spencer and I went to Collins Park this morning for our monthly meet up group with other signing babies and toddlers (and their parents.) I expressed my frustration about the lack of financial commitment for the upcoming workshop on Monday. Lots of people have called/emailed they plan to come but haven't "sealed the deal." I just hung up the phone with a kind man in Colorado who paid for his son and daughter-in-law to attend. He saw the article in Life Magazine that ran in late February and had called me back then to find out how soon they could sign up! With one exception, everyone who I have talked to on this topic has nothing but positive things to say, believes in the documented benefits, etc., but I guess the word is just slower to spread here in Texas, compared to the area around theBaby Signs home office in northern California. When our signing toddler group broke up, Spencer and I hung around and ate a picnic lunch in the sunshine at the top of the hill. He tried to follow me as I ran up and down, but he decided that going down was too steep for him. So he turned around to put his hands on the ground, backed down on all fours for a few steps, stood up and tried to walk forwards, before deciding he needed to turn around and bend down to use his hands again. It was too funny for words. Some pictures from today have been added to the new April album.

happy day!

Today has been fabulous. Jim and I just got home from having a delicious dinner out at Ruggles for an impromtu celebration on a job very well done! For me, it capped off some great Spencer & mommy time as we enjoyed a picnic lunch with friends at the Oil Ranch. Here are some pictures from today.

oc'gon

Another one of Spencer's favorite objects to identify is "octagon." And he is delighted that we pass several [stop signs] driving to and from school each day.

Hot and Cold

These are two of Spencer's new favorite signs and words. He's got the concepts down, and can generalize quite well that many different objects (besides food) can be hot or cold. When he enters a tub of warm water he'll say "hot hot" and make his baby sign by blowing out through his mouth. Or, yesterday when wandering barefoot at home, he came across the cool tile, pulled his arms in to his chest and shivered and said "BRRRRR!" Very, very cute.

April in Houston

Today was a reminder of just how perfect April can be in Houston - temps right around 70, bright blue skies with no clouds, and ridiculous amounts of sunshine. I felt a bit guilty dropping Spencer at childwatch while I started the day with Pilates, but I knew we had big plans in store so it was ok. Afterwards we wandered over to the fields to the annual YMCA Healthy Kids Day, and our Y sure seemed to do it up right. Spencer was most pleased by the abundance of balloons, and demonstrated his newly learned sign for 'train' when we rode on it with other moms and kids around the field. Then off to Brenham. Last year I never made this trip when Spencer was little, a bit worried about driving around aimlessly with an infant. But this year I was armed with specific info from other mommies about "prime spots" for flower pictures. Unfortunately, armpit-high wildflowers made Spencer less than pleased, but I kept snapping away. We even stopped in at Blue Bell Creamery - I failed to deliver on my promise to Spencer that we were going to see cows, but I think sharing my ice cream made up for it! Here are more than a few pictures from a gorgeous day in Houston/Brenham.

weekend o' Spencer

I did make it to pilates class again on Saturday, but by 10:30am, the weekend was all about Spencer. We brought him to play at Collins Park and a picnic lunch on Saturday, and yesterday we enjoyed the cooler temps and gusty winds at the Zoo. He was a little more interested in the animals than our last trip three months ago, making lots of spontaneous signs when he spied animals he recognized. But I wasn't quite sure what to tell him about animals not found in his books - like meerkats and okapi. Smiling at the ocelots, Spencer proudly signed "cat" and I could only enthusiastically reply "that's right!" He had a blast in the petting zoo, toddling around holding a brush and gently brushing each goat he came across. At home, we let him brush his own hair at each morning, so he has gotten very good at it. And did try to use the animal brush on his hair once or twice, thank goodness he was wearing a hat!

And I had no idea that Jim had been working on numbers with Spencer. I was absolutely speechless when I heard them read a counting book together and Spencer knew SEVEN numbers between one and ten! I was floored. He is still missing "one," and no matter how many times we try to prompt him to repeat the word when we say "one" he always quickly responds "TWO!"

A few more pics from the weekend have been added on to the end of the now huge March album.

Purim Rocks

Tonight we went to celebrate Purim at temple and Spencer had an absolute blast! I was pleased that Spencer's belly was able to still (barely) fit into his Elvis costume from Halloween. Mistaken identity plays a major role in the story of Esther which is read on Purim, and traditionally everyone wears costumes to temple. As before, Spencer delighted many folks, and was even cuter this time around as he was able to walk and dance, looking extra cool sporting his sneakers with flashing lights mom brought earlier this month. While reading the story of Purim, every time the name of villan Haman is mentioned, it is drowned out with graggers (noisemakers.) On the car ride down, we practiced by saying "Haman - BOOOOOO" and Spencer thought this was a fabulous new game. When it came time to read the story and Haman's name was mentioned, the noise from the congregation would cause Spencer to jump with surprise (every time!) and then immediately break into a huge smile and laugh and try to figure out how to twirl his gragger to join in the noise-making. After the reading was the traditional Purim play, which is a re-telling of the story with some fun! Our temple seems to always do it up right! Past years have included themes such as The Beatles, Grease, and even Harry Potter. This year it was done with characters of Shrek, including a whole new slew of unique songs. Afterwards we enjoyed Hamantaschen, and Spencer zonked out in the car on the ride home. Tonight was the first time since he was tiny that he stayed up later than 8:00... we'll see when he wakes up in the morning! A few pics from this evening have been added to the end of the Purim photo album.

'mips

That's more or less how Spencer pronouces the word "grapes." And he says it very deliberately, making sure to get the "ps" sound just right. Currently, grapes are one of his favorite foods, and he delights in naming each handful as it makes its way from plate to mouth. Last Friday, Jim and I picked up Spencer after school together. While heading down busy 1960, Spencer started saying "mips, mips, mips." Grapes? Grapes?? Sounds like he's saying grapes?? Why the heck is he saying that?? "Car," or "truck," or "flower" is what we usually hear during car rides. Then, with great understanding and an even bigger grin, I spied the Olive Garden restaurant across the road - with a giant bunch of grapes on the logo above the entrance! Spencer wins again!

Family Sunday

Today we took Spencer to the Purim Carnival at our temple. Purim is a fun holiday and I think it's safe to say he had a great time. As challenging as it is to have a baby that only takes one tiny nap a day, at least it doesn't prevent us from getting out an doing stuff, as he can take an entire nap on the car ride to get inside the loop, which just isn't that far. Although, the flip side is that he has an early bedtime, which forces us to eat dinner at 6:00pm, which can make for an early evening with friends! The holiday itself is later in the week, and (right now at least) I'm planning on going with Spencer, and staying until he annouces that he's ready to go. Here are some pics from the Purim Carnival.

weekend again

Things have been super-busy here this week, I can't believe it's already over. Spencer delights himself with his communication skills and sometimes enters a zone where he has to say or sign everything he sees. This can make for a very drawn out meal time as he repeats the sign for banana before every single bite.

I'm gearing up to hold my first few Baby Signs® Parent Workshops within the next month. It's very exciting and a bit nerveracking too.

spring time is here

The weather this weekend was just too fabulous to not spend as much time as possible outside. We brought Spencer to Meyer Park yesterday morning and again this morning, and later this afternoon we checked out the St. Patrick's Day Parade on F.M. 1960. A year ago the loud noises would have freaked Spencer out, but today he took it all in stride and proudly wore the beads thrown from the floats (I ate the candy!) We were a bit camera happy this weekend - here are a whole bunch of pics.

Zzzz

So, after catching a whopping 15 minute nap on Wednesday, Spencer slept nearly 14 HOURS that evening. Holy cow!

This weather has been so darn nice. Yesterday at school they moved a little table outside so the infants could enjoy their afternoon snack dining al fresco. How fabulous!

cat nap

Spencer took one nap at school today, and it lasted for 15 minutes. They tried to coax him back down, but no success. They tried again later in the afternoon, and again no success. So, this evening Spencer ate his dinner at 5:30, took his bath at 6:15 and was sound asleep by 6:45pm. We'll see how long he sleeps in the morning...

overachieving toddlers

Tonight I spoke on the phone with my fabulous friend Tracy who relayed an awesome story. Tracy's friend was picking up her 21 month old daughter, Maia, from day care when another toddler came over, pointed at Maia and exclaimed "baby!" Maia stared back at her friend, who was wearing a cute t-shirt that said "cotton" on the front and excitedly responded "C-O-T-T-O-N!"

Not nearly as impressive: today we learned at Spencer's 15 month check up that he continues to track in the 80%-85% in both height and weight. We are excited to learn that the next well-baby visit has no shots! Yeah! Although, our nurse was great and Spencer was a champ today.

grandma

Mom was in town for a long weekend to visit us, and most importantly to spend time with Spencer. On Thursday we went to see animals at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. As you can see from our pictures, he was in heaven being so close to the animals at the petting zoo. Since when are kangaroos part of petting zoos?? Spencer was thrilled because he knew what they were, and had not been previously familiar with llama or deer. He also did not recognize black sheep, or black pigs which he does recognize when they are white/pink. But kangaroos were a big hit, as he bounced his torso and kept repeating " 'op 'op 'op!" ("Hop hop hop!")

keep on signing

Today I received a completed application from someone looking to get certified as an instructor teaching Baby Signs Programs, an email from someone else requesting an application to become certified, and an interview request with a weekly newspaper located outside of Beaumont. Holy cow. And I haven't even taught my first class yet! I have a presence on the world wide web at www.babysignsbybonnie.com but all of the traffic, for now at least, comes to me from folks entering a zip code on www.babysigns.com. I think I have almost all of the essentials for starting a new business completed. Just need to keep reviewing class material and get something scheduled!

more babies

I forgot to blog congratulations on Friday as Rebecca welcomed her third son, Elijah River Miller, into the world.

busy times

It's been a very busy few days since Tuesday's post. I'm happy to report some items I have now checked off the "start up my new business to do list" include: decided on company name, filed DBA, opened business bank account, established EIN with the IRS, registed domain name, set up email account, designed a website and found a (back up) place to host a Parent Workshop. Still open items include: secure a better (i.e. free) location to hold classes, get TX sales tax permit, order business cards, advertise class info and brush up on material. At least those are of most immediate priority!

Last night Jim & Spencer went to a birthday party for JB's three year old son Jack at the Children's Museum. In keeping up with the 'big kids' there, Spencer got to do a lot of activities outside of the Tot*Spot, including getting soaked head to toe by dumping a bucket of water on himself in the water play zone outside. Meanwhile, I was way up in The Woodlands as a volunteer judge for SCI://TECH science fair. It does give you some great feelings to see how 7th graders can put together an depth experiement: formulating a hyposthesis, designing the test set up, collecting data, analyzing data and drawing out results and conclusions. My assigned category to judge was health & medicine, and I loved to ask the kids what prompted them to pursue their particular project. One girl's experiement was to figure out which drink (water, coke, caffeine-free coke, or gatorade) would send you running to the bathroom the quickest, because she and her family were never able to make it through an entire movie without a break! Or the boy who conducted a taste test because he wanted to show his mom how cigarettes were deadening her taste buds. Or the girl who wanted to find the most effective antacid on the market because her mom suffered heartburn when pregnant with a younger sibling. Despite all of the publicity about the overall decline of excellence in the technology sector of our country, it was very encouraging to see what the minds of tomorrow will bring.

That was quick!

I just got my first phone call from a stranger who saw the Baby Signs segment on Good Morning America and got my name from the Baby Signs website. She just can't wait to get started signing with her 13 month old daughter and want to know when I'll be offering Sign, Say & Play classes. Ack!!

Baby Signs are everywhere!

Ack! I feel like I'm under pressure to get things rolling. I am now an Indepenedent Certified Instructor to teach Baby Signs programs. I thought I would kind of ease into things and slowly get rolling, but apparently this timing is catching a HUGE wave of publicity. There was a five minute segment on Good Morning America today talking about Baby Signs, and following some of the (now) teenagers that were part of the research in the 80's which helped point to higher IQ scores for signing babies. Plus the signing baby in Meet the Fockers, and Debra Messing has been on the talk show circuit for her new movie and has been plugging the fact that she uses Baby Signs too! I'm still working on a company name, DBA, sales tax permit, website, and finding places to hold some parent workshops ASAP! Ack!

Car! Car! Car! Flower! Car! Car!

That's more or less the sounds heard from the backseat as we go driving around these days. Spencer now delights as he identifies everything on the road as a car or truck. And I never noticed how many flowers are planted on the roadside until Spencer started pointing them all out - mall entrances, gas stations, etc.

Today I took a vacation day from work so that Spencer and I could join some other mommy friends and their little ones at Collins Park. When Spencer and I were there two weeks ago they were working on the main play structure, but today it was open again and he had a blast climbing on it. Although it was cool and drizzly, it didn't ruin our picnic fun and I enjoyed getting out and socializing with friends! I dropped Spencer at school for a few hours in the afternoon, and picked him up early so that we could go swimming at the Y before dinner. While there, another mom asked if he was deaf because we were signing to each other. She said she has a very good friend who is deaf and recognized some of the signs. I explained that thankfully Spencer was not, but we use Baby Signs to help bridge the communication until his language skills are stronger. She was impressed at his knowledge. Pictures from today have been added to the end of the February album.

Bo

It's great that Spencer has now turned the corner and is walking. He holds my hand and toddles to get the mail with me, and is pleased as punch when I give him a piece to hold as we walk back to the house. And now he climbs up the steps of the stool Jim built so he can wash his hands in the bathroom sink before dinner (and breakfast if we're too slow in the morning to make it to school for breakfast!)

His newest word and sign is 'flower.' With an arrangement of valentine's day flowers from my two guys (red ones from Jim, and puh-pull ones from Spencer) on the kitchen table, he says and signs the word often throughout his meal. An interesting 'problem' has arisen by signing during mealtime which is that Spencer likes to sign the food he is eating, often in between each bite. On the surface that sounds ok, but the sign for 'apple' involves touching the face, so it contributes to his messiness. And tonight he enjoyed pineapple, but it was no neater of an experience.

And just have to add that this is the first season I have watched American Idol and I am really looking forward to hearing Bo sing again next week!

Teething

It's been an up and down day for Spencer. We both had a great time this afternoon at the Children's Museum with Marcos, Diane & 13 month old Michael, and Oriol, Tracy & 8 month old Aurelie. I think they may start to join us more frequently for our Sunday afternoon ritual. Once we got home, however, Spencer's teeth got the better of him. He is clearly in the process of cutting a whole bunch and the poor guy was miserable in between orajel applications. Didn't help that we cut him off cold from the bottle this weekend. Spencer has been drinking out of a regular cup for a couple of months now, and it's a bit tiring to keep on washing bottle and treating him like a baby when he's not one. We also had to teach him to drink from a straw for going out in public. (He's good with a cup, but does randomly dump it over or stick his hands in when he decides to play around.) Overall, it seems to be a success to have moved away from the bottle at home, but we'll see how things go at school tomorrow when he sees other kids getting bottles. Mom told the story when they weaned Deena off the bottle: the next weekend they went to a farm and saw the baby animals being fed with bottles which she found to be a bit confusing...

Busy Saturday

With the threat of afternoon showers (which never actually materialized) Spencer and I headed out early to Meyer Park. He just loves the energy from all of the people and dogs and ducks and nutria (!) and giggles so much while playing around on the toddler-size equipment. Even insisting on going headfirst down one of the baby slides!

Tonight we took some more pictures of Spencer with his new haircut - enjoying chili for dinner, his full naked belly after eating, and naked tush before hopping into the bath!

#7

Spencer has had six teeth in his mouth (two bottom, four top) since October. No activity at all since that time. But we've been pretty certain things have been brewing underneath the gums recently. Last week there were a few episodes of crankiness, and a few middle of the night wakeups which we attributed to teething pain. Even the teachers at school noticed, and pointed out how the gums are getting wide, and a little less rosy as the teeth are pushing up underneath. Well, yesterday the tip of tooth number seven finally broke through on the bottom. We're pretty sure this is the first of several to come in rapid succession. We'll see how wise we are (or aren't) in the weeks to come.

he's a toddler, finally

Yep, that day has finally come. Spencer has been crawling since just before nine months, started taking a couple of well-balanced steps right after his birthday, and has even mastered walking the length of our entire hallway unassisted, but until now - crawling was his preferred method of locomotion. This weekend Spencer mastered the art of standing up in the middle of a room - not needing furniture or a wall or anything. He just plants his feet, walks his hands in while sticking his tush way up in the air until he finds his balance point and can lift his hands off the floor. So now he toddles everywhere. And loves it! And I love not carrying the heavy dude everywhere too!

Spencer has been 'socializing' with the older infants, who all are all toddlers, for several months now. They took interest in him once he started moving around and didn't just sit there like a lump of clay. He's one of the 'big guys.' So strange as he was by far the youngest baby in the room from March until July last year. Now there are only two older than him, and a whole slew of new little ones who are not even crawling yet. To prove the point, Spencer has now 'graduated' to one of the two big cribs in the room. Kind of like stepping stones. He was in a 'top bunk' crib as an infant, then moved to a 'bottom bunk' crib when he was able to pull himself up (and was pretty darn heavy to lift into an upper crib!) Now he's near the top of the chain. Unbelievable!

mambo

Spencer has a new favorite book. After being partial to Goodnight Moon for the past four or five months, Spencer has suddenly decided that What Makes a Rainbow is the only book we should be reading at bedtime. He asks for it by name "mambo" to let us know he wants to read the "rainbow" book. (And I keep forgetting to look up the sign so I can teach that to him too.) He loves the ribbons threaded through the pages of the book, and we quiz him on the colors too.

A February photo album has been started with a few pictures from yesterday.

the apprentice

Today in Houston are the open call auditions for the next Apprentice. Not only for the upcoming season to learn under Donald Trump, but they are also interviewing for the new spinoff of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. Maybe I should have sent in a ten minute video tape and driven down to the auditions. But then I look at my resume compared to those folks on the website and feel kinda lame.

Actually, I will be passing the audition site shortly as I return to my favorite hair stylist from years back. I stopped going to him when he left the chic salon on this side of town in favor of location inside the loop. But during a holiday party in December I met up with a friend who moved to Austin last year, and learned that she still drives back to Houston to see him. I thought to myself that it really wasn't that big a deal to drive a little bit further (and pay a little bit more) to continue seeing him at the swanky new salon. It's been years since I felt like I had a great cut - I'm so excited for my appointment!

curls

This morning I was waiting in line behind two moms, each with a little boy about three years old. And these two boys had the most beautiful curly hair! I always expected my baby would look like they do, but Spencer's hair is clearly coming in straight. For now at least. We'll have to wait and see what he looks like when he is three, but I'm not holding my breath. Which reminds me, it's time to take the little dude for a haircut again - ack!

keep on chowing

This weekend was a bit off for Spencer. He ran a fever Friday afternoon, spiked at 103.4 on Saturday, and came back around 100 on Sunday. Fortunately no other symptoms, besides just being a little cranky for my pop's weekend visit. But it sure didn't affect his appetite. Holy cow. Saturday we had lunch out at Pappasito's (a must when visitors are here from out of town) and Spencer put away an unbelievable amount of food. He just kept asking for 'more' and packing it in. Part of me thought he might throw up later in the afternoon, but it never happened. And at dinner time he ate a huge amount of food again! We were stunned and impressed. Not to mention the few bottles of milk plus a snack he had between the two meals. He is usually a good eater, and we've seen him pack it in like this before, but back-to-back meals of that size was an eye-popping feat.

chow time

Yesterday for lunch Spencer's school served lamb curry with chutney - how awesome is that! Jim was able to stay for breakfast and watched him devour the freshly baked molasses brown bread. Their tasty menu is one of our favorite things about the place. It's amazing to see how Spencer is one of the 'big kids' in the room now, when he was the 'little guy' for such a long time!

Pictures of baby Mia, mom's visit to Houston, and some other random ones not previously downloaded have now been added to the January photo album.

she's here!

Spencer has a new friend. Our neighbors (the only ones we really talk to) welcomed baby Mia into the world yesterday morning. Jim and I went to the hospital to visit her at lunch today and she's just beautiful, with lots of dark hair just like Spencer had when he was born!

"help"

Of all the words that Spencer can say and sign, I think it's cool that he can ask for "help" - something that is not a noun or action. And he's coming close to combining signs to say "help, please." Today Jim showed the teachers at school Spencer's variation on the ASL sign so they can recognize any requests for "help."

I definitely blogged too soon yesterday about feeling better, as things are still not quite right today. One of Spencer's teachers was out sick with a stomach virus, so maybe we have all been hit by the same bug going around.

weekend downtime

On the surface, things got much better on Friday. Spencer spent a full day at school, and Jim and I were able to work the whole day without any unforeseen interruptions. But something wasn't quite right. I didn't feel very hungry at lunchtime, and by dinner I had no appetite at all and knew that something was very wrong with my stomach. By Saturday I felt completely puny. I managed to get out of the house with Spencer to meet other signing mommies and babies at 11:00, but I was hardly feeling chipper. Unfortunately, the meet up was a bust as a birthday party for someone else was being held in the pre-arranged location which prevented a bunch of strangers from getting together. So I fed Spencer his lunch (thank goodness HIS appetite has returned, and easing him back into milk this weekend by combining regular and lactose-free has been successful) and played with him on the Meyer Park playground for about 45 minutes. By then he was beat and passed out for a nap on the ride home. I transferred him to the crib, crawled into my own bed, and didn't get out until 4:30 in the afternoon. Feeling nauseous is no fun at all. Things seems to have turned the corner this morning for me, thank goodness.

back to normal

Spencer ran a small fever and had gotten sick a few times over the weekend, but he seemed to have turned a corner by Monday/Tuesday, and now with mom back in NY, I thought for sure that on Wednesday everything was going to go "back to normal" around here. But instead, Spencer threw up all over himself when Jim was taking him to school. So they came back home where I watched him for most of the morning and Jim did duty in the afternoon. I felt frustrated for forgetting we had encountered this pattern before a few months ago. The doctor had explained to us that often times a nasty stomach bug can shear off the ends of the villi in the stomach, and this is where lactase is stored. So, after the bug passes, the baby develops a temporary lactose intolerance and returning him to milk causes more diarrhea and vomiting. Sigh. Back off of milk again, and back on a diet to help bind things up. Spencer took three naps yesterday, and was not quite on top of his game, but did quite fine considering. So, today was another attempt at "back to normal." But after Jim and Spencer left, I discovered that our recently flaky high speed connection was out. For us, this means no internet and no phone, essentially rendering my home office worthless. Jim came back to the house to wait for the cable guy, while I dashed to the office to host meetings from there. We swapped again after lunchtime, and fortunately everything is working fine now (after I understand multiple cable guys were checking out screw ups all along our cul-du-sac.) Maybe tomorrow things will get back to normal...

not so little boys

Tonight I just couldn't stop the tears. Mom left this afternoon after a wonderful week here. I don't know why I can have infinite patience with my son, but not my mother. Our visit was great, but I know they can be even better if I learn to just chill out and stop trying to be a mom to everyone. This evening Spencer and I were singing and dancing together to a Raffi CD that mom had brought. As we were listening to "Puff the Magic Dragon," Spencer stood up by himself for the first time (in the middle of the room, without needing to pull up on any one of anything else) and it was exactly as the line "a dragon lives forever, but not so little boys" was sung. And the tears started streaming down my face as I think about the "infant" chapter in his life coming to a close. We'll move forward together with new and maturing relationships, but this part is gone forever and I am really beginning to understand how it can make a mom so, so sad that these days are behind us. Then my mind flashed to yesterday's Oprah with Nate Berkus recounting his experience in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit. And I could only think about poor Nate crying and mourning the horrific loss of his partner who he watched, and felt, get carried away from him in the waters. His loss is permanent, but Spencer will continue to be a part of my life, just in a different way. Nonetheless, the tears just kept coming down my face as I tried to smile and keep singing along for my son.

WOW!

WOW!,
originally uploaded by Leachfamily.

Spencer has begun not only to do signs for certain things, but has started to add a little extra to them with facial expessions.

Da da?

Spencer does not seem to distinguish between Jim and me as parents and says "da da" to refer to both of us. It's a little deflating to be the first to arrive in his room in the morning and be greeted with a huge smile and "DA DA!" When I remind him that I am "ma ma" he easily repeats it, but so far he has yet to get it right the first time.

Momma?

Is this the cutest story ever or what???

I watched the premier of the new show Wickedly Perfect last night. Mainly because I heard a radio interview with Candace Bushnell earlier in the morning and learned she is also a Rice grad. Looks like the show will be "entertaining," and I really like how the website includes instructions and recipes for all of the projects

"All Done!"

It was cool to see the signing babies in "Meet the Fockers." Now perhaps folks will have a better idea of what our life is like with Spencer. He knows and uses about two dozen signs - including eat, drink, sleep, play, socks, shoes, and of course 'milk' which was signed many times during the movie! He is also saying more words for which he does not have signs. He can identify and say his favorite shape "oh-oh" (oval) and favorite color "puh-pull" (purple) and is working on a few more colors with help such as "deen" (green) and "boo" (blue) and "elllll" (yellow - which involves running his tongue back and forth across his upper lip!)

He definitely has a good handle on "all done" (both speaking and signing) and is able to generalize the concept very well. He announces "all done" when he has finished dinner, when he is ready to get out of the bath tub, and when he has turned the last page of a book and reached the end. This weekend while playing around he paused for a bit to grunt and poop in his diaper, and when the grunting stopped he looked at Jim and announced "all done!"

Today our usual Sunday outings to the Children's Museum and Niko Niko's were made a little bit more fun as we were joined by Tracy and Oriol and seven month old Aurelie. It was their first time to visit both the museum and the restaurant. Tracy was so impressed with all the museum had to offer she plans to get a family memebership so perhaps they will be joining us frequently in the future. Unfortunately we didn't bring out camera today, so no pics of cutie Aurelie. Maybe they'll get to play together next Sunday!

Happy New Year! We have enjoyed a long week off of work - even sending Spencer to school for most of the week to allow us time to do things for ourselves (like run errands and go to the movies!) On Thursday poor Spencer was sent home from school early with a fever, but fortunately it was gone by bedtime.

Spencer's signing and verbal vocabulary continues to improve. We took a walk to the nearby duck pond today so Spencer could get a closer look and he has been saying "duck duck duck" and signing it all day. And yesterday at the grocery store he was so excited to see to many apples all in one place! I gave him one which he held with both hands (and did try to eat) while riding in the cart repeating "ah-pull."

Pics from today are in a new January album. And the December album has been updated with more pics found in the camera with Spencer wearing some of his new clothes and also enjoying opening a Hanukkah present from mom.