Asia Lily

A very cut girl I know was kind enough to write a blog all about me! I was so flattered I thought I should return the favor.

Here are some things I like about her:

The way she screams at ANYTHING. I walk in the room and she screams. I poke her sides and she screams. I say her name really loud and she screams. I throw machetes at her and she screams. It’s a hoot.

The way she thinks about what’s best for people instead of just what she wants. She is very mature for her age in this sense. She really looks at the whole picture and makes decisions based on the long run outcome, not the immediate satisfaction. She is better than most adults I know. On the 4th of July her dad was buying fireworks and she kept telling him he needed to save his money and buy a couch first.

She always acts excited to see me no matter how long it has been since we’ve seen each other (which these days is a lot less often than I’d like). And she doesn’t want to just play with me. She wants to help me too. She will change my baby’s diaper, clean his room, feed him, whatever I need.

Her giggle. She gives it freely and frequently and every time she does it makes me giggle.

And about a million other things that I can’t think of right now.

Girl’s Retreat

My sister-in-law, R, turns the big 3-0 this year. Sometimes these milestones can be a little disturbing and/or depressing. To combat this possible side effect, R plans big celebrations. This year she planned a girls’ retreat to the Oregon Coast.

The greatest thing about this vacation was that it was totally relaxing. We spent most of the time just reading, talking, playing games or walking on the beach. We were out in the middle of no where with nothing but beautiful scenery around for miles. Perfect.

It was so green and the temperatures were so moderate that Ian and I want to try to move there in a few years. While I was there I realized how ridiculous it is to live in a place that is too hot to go outside 3 months a year and too cold to go outside 6-7 months a year. Why not move to a fabulous place like Oregon where (near the coast) it never gets too warm or too cold?

This is me getting clobbered by a wave. My sister-in-law saw it and could have warned me, but decided the picture op. was worth it. She was probably right, but it sure was cold.

We stayed in a little condo right on the beach. This is the view from our back porch. It was great to be able to just walk down to the beach whenever we wanted and to hear the ocean as we went to sleep at night.

Vocabulary

My 18 month old has turned into quite the jabber mouth. He talks at me constantly and has such a funny personality. I have been so proud of how quickly he is picking up words that I had to get it down before I forget.

Here is a current list of words in his vocabulary (which to me means words he uses on his own, without prompting).

shoes, mama, daddy, Budgie, Bubba, Grandpa, Grandma, Rhoda, Lia, please, thank you, Isis, doggy, duck, cow, horse, truck, bus, train, ball, teeth, J.J., monkey, go, button (as in belly button), bird, gone, back, mine, bath, moon, mouth, eyes, nose, ears, more, loud, read, book, car, cookie, no, bread, cheese, water, bed, hi, hello, see ya, bye, out, down, up, walk, bottle, boo, kitty, head, hurt, lap, rock, apple, baby, pool, sun, strawberry, banana, Kris.

Wow, that’s almost 70 words! What a kid. Can you tell I like him?

Lonely Dreams

After seven months of sharing our bed with the cutest toddler in existence,  we finally decided it was time to move on.  My first project for my (hopefully) sleep-filled summer was to transition Vincent to his own bed, in his own room. It went much more smoothly than I ever imagined it would. At first.

For the first two weeks he went to bed peacefully and only woke up once or twice a night. I was pretty sure he was the best child ever. But then something changed. I don’t know if it was separation anxiety or loss of interest in the “new” bed. But suddenly our perfect child didn’t want to sleep in his own bed anymore. He would wake up in the night, and when I went into lay with him he would continue to cry. Instead of calming down and going back to sleep he would point toward my room and cry “bed, bed.” Heartbreaking.

Last night was a real throw down. I read v 4 books and he still wasn’t asleep. So I lay down next to him and closed my eyes. He whined and complained and called for Daddy. About 10 minutes later Daddy came in to see if he could help. He turned off the lamp, and then the crying started. We both lay next to the bed and tried to get him to copy us. After another 10 minutes Daddy decided he wasn’t helping and decided to leave. That’s when the screaming started. After another 10 minutes Daddy came back, knelt down and said, “Mommy and I make our decisions together, if Mommy says you have to go to sleep then I agree.”

In a sigh of defeat V collapsed into Daddy’s arms and hugged him until he was completely calm. Then he wadled  over to his bed, lay down and went to sleep.

Spoiled Surprises

One thing you might not know about me is that I am an excellent gift giver. Let me amend that–when it comes to my husband I am an excellent gift giver. For Christmas this year I completely surprised him with a dog–something he desperately wanted but never thought my dad (our landlord) would approve.

His birthday was this month and I wanted to get him something good. But I had no ideas! Everything I could think of was boring and practical: wallet, belt, sock, blah, blah, blah. So I decided on a different kind of surprise–a surprise party. Now I knew going into it that I enjoy giving and planning surprises much more than my husband likes receiving them. This is yet another way that he is like my mom and I am like my dad. My husband (and my mom) would much rather be in on things and have his (or her) opinion known than be surprised. I decided to proceed  as my dad usually does–with an “Oh well.”

Thanks to the wonderful world of myspace I was able to contact all his friends without making him at all suspicious. His sister, who lives above us in a mother-in-law apartment, offered days in advance to take him video game shopping on his birthday to get him out of the house for me. Everything was arranged and ready.

And then his birthday came. 10 a.m. rolled around and he wanted his video game. We tried everything to stall him, but to no avail. I spent the rest of the day trying to think of something, anything to get him out of the house. But all he wanted to do was play his new video game. Finally about 15 minutes before the party I just broke down and told him that I had a surprise planned but I needed him to be gone for a half an hour.  Just as he agreed his best friend Dave pulled up.

I managed to get Dave and his crew in the backyard unseen. I thought it was a success. Five minutes late Ian called. He had recognized Dave’s car outside our house when he was pulling out. The gig was up. I told him to come on back. A few other friends showed up before he did, and that was a surprise since he was still only expecting Dave and co, but it certainly didn’t go over as planned.

Despite my inability to manage a surprise party, we still had a great time. Ian really enjoyed himself and got to see some friends he hadn’t seen in quite a while.