Turning 3: an in Depth Look

(written on his birthday, posted a few days later)

So today was finally the big day and he was so excited. When he saw the happy birthday decorations he got very excited. He pretended to read them and then started naming all the letters in happy Birthday.

Just before sacrament me eting started at church he said alou d “Isaac getting big, big, big” and he reached his arms up high. It was also father’s day so when I told him the kids were going to sing, he said “sing happy birthday to Isaac?”

Charlotte was officially old enough for Nursery as of Thursday so we also let her take the sacrament for the first time (we decided as a couple that it seemed like a good age to start). Isaac was very kind and picked out a piece of bread and then offered it to her before taking his own.

After church we had lunch and then Isaac helped me decorate his cake. We had chocolate frosting so I got some construction cone candles and I bought some small trucks to go on the cake. He was so enthralled with all the trucks on the cake that I had to take off the forklift and clean off the frosting so that he could play with it. He drove it around the living room an d used it to transport his presents across the room.

He told me that his presents were all full of trucks. At one point he told me one of the presents was a cement truck and another present was cement for the truck. He thought the big cylindrical present (Lincoln logs) was a car seat.

He had been practicing the happy birthday song and he was very excited to have it sung to him, however he was afraid of the fire on the candles so he blew them out from a distance with a series of short puffs that made us all laugh!

After cake we opened presents and he did much better this year. Although he wanted to play with each toy after opening it, he also allowed us to provoke him to open other presents.

It was also father’s day so we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner. He rode his new bicycle. Most of the way I steered while he watched his feet and made comments about the mechanics of his bike. It was neat to see how mechanically minded he is. He didn’t eat much dinner before he decided that he missed his new toys and wanted to go home. He rode his bike home and as he rode he told me that mommys were good at keeping Isaacs safe.

Wisdom of a Toddler

5.12.07 – 6.6.07 I’ve been making little notes here about things Isaac has said, but I haven’t written about them so I don’t have real dates for each one, but I know they happened between the dates above.

One day I told Isaac that I needed to go fix my hair, he came to the door and yelled out to me that his hair was broken and mommy needed to fix it.

I don’t know why, but Isaac goes through these phases where he wants to sleep in different places. For about two weeks he slept almost every night on the table top in his room. I think the only nights he didn’t sleep on the table top were the nights that he was so sleepy that he fell asleep before he had time to think about it. He regularly sleeps on the floor as well.

One morning Isaac was watching a Baby Einstein DVD that showed l ots of images of animals. He came running up to me and said ‘Mommy, go to store buy cows.’ Later he asked me to buy dogs and bugs and horses.

One day after making a mess Isaac said “Oh no, mommy needs to clean it up. Mommies good at cleaning up.”

I took Charlotte into the nursery a few weeks early to help her acclimate. One day we went on a walk and Isaac saw a bird he yelled out “Bird say tweet tweet.”  a week or two later he yelled at the neighbor’s train to say “whooo whooo.”

The other day Isaac said “Mom, buy more money at the store.” Obviously he still has lots to learn about how money is acquired.

One day when I came home, Isaac said “Mom, put Ohio on” which apparently meant he wanted to watch the home movie where he went to Ohio.

Isaac has been anticipating his birthday ever since Charlotte’s birthday in December. For the weeks leading up to his birthday he would say “Isaac’s birthday is coming up and Laresa’s birthday is coming down.” Prior to his birthday, we went to the party store and bought a letter banner that spelled out “ISAAC3” and every time I asked him how to spell his name he’d say “with a 3.”

My Zoo, Part 3

P1000926I spoke too soon.  I was just about to clean out Hernando’s habitat when he gave some kicks.  He may still be in this.  The trick will be getting those pedipalps out of the old skin; not an easy task for a post-ultimate male.  I misted the enclosure to give him a little humidity.  That’s supposed to help the process. 

In the meantime, here’s a picture of Jack being ridiculous.  This shoe box is one of those tiny ones for a pair of flip-flops, but he felt he should cram himself into it anyway.   

My Zoo, Continued

Well, we lost Hernando.  He was a pretty old spider by tarantula standards, so this wasn’t a shock.  Most male tarantulas don’t live long after their ultimate molt, and his came about a year ago.  In some cases, a a male tarantula will attempt a post-ultimate molt, which nearly always ends in death.  That’s what happened in this case.  Males generally live 3-6 years (G. rosea species, anyway) with females often going as long as 20 years.  I suspect in the pet industry breeders are less discriminate about gender, and all the pet shop employees I’ve ever asked have been completely clueless. 

Kathleen jokes that Isaac will learn subtraction from our pet attrition; Hillary the rat died a few days ago as well.  Anyway, Hernando was my first spider pet, and I learned a lot watching him.  Maybe it’s time for a more active/aggressive species?  I wonder if Kathleen will go for that. . .

My Zoo

My new baby rat, Cindy

Can you believe Kathleen was opposed to me rescuing this little creature?  She was crowded in with a bunch of other rats, and she showed the most spirit by trying to get away the hardest.  So I figured she could join Nancy and Hillary in the rat house.  She’s named Cindy, in honor of a certain war protesting harpy’s retirement.   I also snapped a nice picture of Jack Jr. while I was clearing out some cricket corpses in his jar.  I’m not sure on gender yet, since this one hasn’t molted, soA. avicularia, Jack Jr. I defaulted to male for now.  So that makes two cats, three rats, three tarantulas, and a small colony of B. dubia roaches in a big Rubbermaid tub in the basement.  I have a small aquarium I’m meaning to get set up again too, once I’ve made a dent in the bedroom re-organization project. 

Anyway, I’m excited to see how Cindy fits in.  She’s just a baby, so it’ll be fun to watch her grow.  Rats are bright, curious, active little creatures, so there’s a lot to enjoy there.

Keeping Up

Well, it’s one of those days.  I’ve got so many projects open that it’s been crazy staying on top of them all.  The short week doesn’t help, but it does seem nice that it’s ending soon.  Hopefully I can close out a lot of these clients and make some space for my other projects.

Tough break for the Jazz.  You can see some thoughts from Deron Williams here about what’s behind it.  Seems like Derek Fisher agrees.  You know he’s talking about Memo, AK, and Giricek.  Our reserves played their hearts out.  You have to give praise to the Spurs for the killer instinct, though.  Except Ginobli.  He’s a flopping Euro-ball thug.  I love Tim Duncan, though, and Tony Parker seems decent and is a fun player to watch.  Congrats to the Spurs, and watch out; the Jazz will only be better next year.

My room is a mess.

It’s largely Kathleen’s fault, too.  Ok, it’s pretty much all my fault.  I’m not much for organization, but I’m trying to work out a system to de-clutter.  I stumbled on a couple of good blogs, such as ZenHabits.com, which have some good ideas for clearing out crap.  I feel like I spend too much of my life wasting time and never really getting anything done.  Granted, I have a home, a family, and a decent job; we have plenty to eat and enough money to have a little fun now and then.  But I can’t really shake the feeling of wasted time lately.  I read things like this and think about what I might accomplish if I bent my energy to it.

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Random Song Problems

Well, more random would be better.  For some reason I keep getting the Rescue Rangers theme song stuck in my head in the mornings.  There’s something triggering it, I’m positive; when I was on my mission in New Jersey, the blinkers in our Escort would tick right to the rythym of the opening drum lick of Natalie Merchant’s “Carnival”, and that would get into my head frequently. 

I have had some cooler songs get stuck recently; I’ve had a lot of David Bowie’s “Strangers When We Meet”, which is a pretty good song.  But if I start hearing the songs from Duck Tails or TaleSpin, I’ll be seeking professional help.

Sad Songs

I found this list on Digg.com today. It’s supposed to be a list of the saddest songs. Some of them I agree with; “Brick” by Ben Folds is quite sad, as is “No Surprises” by Radiohead. Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” is quite sad. Some I would have considered would be “Little Girl Blue” by Janis Joplin, or maybe “Going to California” by Led Zeppelin, or “Circle” by Edie Brickell. When I was younger and depressed about love, I’d listen to “Why Should I Cry for You” by Sting, or “Love’s Recovery” by Indigo Girls. Sone others to consider would be “Was It Something I Said” by OMD, “Amy Hit the Atmosphere” by Counting Crows, “Running to Stand Still” by U2, “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying” by Sting, and “Lonelier Than This” by Steve Earle. Anyway, just got me thinking and I thought I’d share.

Belated Easter Celebration

I looked up the word ‘belated’ to make sure its definition really fit this post and here’s the definition I found: “coming or being after the customary, useful, or expected time.” That works!

We celebrated Easter yesterday (almost a week late). Last weekend Zach was miserably sick and throwing up. He spent most of the weekend on the bathroom floor. Isaac had a fever on and off and then threw up once on Sunday and little Charlotte had the sniffles. I felt fine, but I had so much homework to do over the weekend that I stayed up past 6:00 AM on Friday night and past 1:00 AM on Saturday. So it didn’t make much sense to try to squeeze Easter into all that.

We made a jelly bean trail from Isaac’s bedroom door into the living room. Charlotte woke up first, but it was easy to keep her from seeing the Easter surprise since she always wants to spend the first part of the morning hugging her mother. Isaac decided to sleep in this morning so I went into his bedroom at about 8:30 to wake him. I told him that the Easter Bunny had come and left him some candy. It took his sleepy little mind a moment to process, but soon he hopped out of bed. He opened the door and saw the candy trail leading into the livingroom. We handed him his Easter basket and he sat down on the floor and started singing the ‘clean-up’song as he picked up jelly beans and placed them in his basket. Charlotte caught on quick and after sampling a few started collecting them in her basket. They stopped picking up candy when they discovered their little Easter gifts. Charlotte got some dress-up shoes, a boa, sunglasses, jewelry, and a silver sequined purse. Isaac got a car transporter truck, a tanker truck, and a crane truck. They each took turns playing with the new toys and collecting candy. As Isaac picked up candy he would laugh about how silly it was that candy was in this place or that place. Charlotte had a blast picking up and sampling candy and really seemed to enjoy the process of picking them up and putting them in the basket. At one point she started emptying out her basket into Isaac’s Easter basket. After collecting all the candy he could find, Isaac handed his basket to me and said ‘here mommy,’ then went to play with his new Easter trucks.

Charlotte enjoyed her little dress-ups. After I helped her put the shoes on she walked around the room in them smiling. Later in the evening when I put them on her she walked all over the house and said ‘oh no’ every time one of the shoes came off. The sunglasses were a hit too—probably partially due to the fact that she always wants to play with mom’s glasses and never gets to. She would put them on and then smile really big and shake her head. Her other favorite thing was the sequin purse. I put some old credit cards in the purse and she would take them out and put them back in over and over again. She would also walk around the house with the purse over her shoulder—she’s such a girl. I can’t get her to wear the purple boa long enough for a picture. I’d love to get a picture of her with the dress up shoes, sunglasses, purse and boa all on. She smiles or laughs when I put the boa on her, but she promptly removes it—I bet she’ll start putting it on and walking around the house in it soon enough.

Feeling better?

Little Charlotte had a rough weekend.  On Saturday morning when I retrieved her from her bed I found that she had vomited at some point after being put to bed and had been sleeping in vomit.  Unfortunately this was just the beginning of a very rough day.  She continued to throw up every single thing she ate.  If she drank a sip of water, she threw up a sip of water within ten minutes.  She probably went through at least ten outfits.  I had done all the laundry on Friday, but by the end of Saturday I had to wash three more loads comprised almost completely of things that Charlotte vomited on (mostly her clothes, her mom’s clothes, and the towels I had provided to protect the couch and carpet).  Aside from vomiting, she was cranky and sluggish and spent the entire day on her mother’s lap–so much for my homework that I usually do on Saturdays.  By the end of the day she was completely miserable and starting to look dehydrated (no tears when she cried, her eyes looked dry, and only one wet diaper the entire day) so I took her to Orem Community Hospital.  They were able to give her half of some sort of magic pill that allowed her to drink fluids without vomiting.  She was in better spirits, after the pill and actually smiled a few times before going to bed.  Sunday she only vomited one time, but had several bouts of diarrhea and spent the entire day either in her mother’s arms or next to mom on the couch.  She woke up at 1:00 AM on Monday morning with a leaking diaper and screamed and cried or about a half an hour.  She wouldn’t eat or drink anything, but arched her back as if she didn’t want to be held.   When I laid her on the floor she rolled closer to me and continued screaming and kicking.  She finally calmed down and fell asleep in my arms.  She slept the rest of the night without incident, but joined her mom in bed in the morning and slept in mom’s bed from about 6-7:45am.  She continued to be clingy and sluggish until after her morning nap.  When she woke up she had more energy and actually left her mother’s lap to play.  I hope we’re in the clear now.  Her appetite is starting to come back and she smiled, laughed and ran around with Isaac the rest of the day.

The ABC song

Isaac lined up a series of numbers on the door and  the stood in front of them and sang the ABCs.  This is a picture of him singing the ABC song to his sister.  

I also like this picture because it shows the difference in height between my little ones.  They grow so fast!  I am very grateful to have children who adore each other so much.  Today when Charlotte heard Isaac crying in his room, she went to his door and nocked on it and called out “Isaac, Isaac.”  Isaac always makes sure that if he gets a treat, his little sister gets one as well He’ll say   “one for Charlotte” and wait expectantly until Charlotte gets one.  

Not just for bottoms anymore!

Isaac had a hard time going to bed tonight. He got up over and over again. Finally when I thought he was asleep I went into his room to put a toy away and found him smearing diaper cream all over his shelves and toys! I read somewhere that baby oil is effective for removing diaper cream from a small bottom and it turns out that it also works on shelves, books, trucks, coats, walls, and night stands! For more pictures of this unfortunate incident check out our flickr pictures.  Our collection of pictures is nearning 5,000!

Growing up

Well, the pacifiers are finally gone.  Here’s the story as it is written in the family log:

 

3.3.07 Isaac decided to grow up a little today. We were a t Walmart and he wanted to see the trucks. I told him that he had to trade his pacifiers for new trucks. We found a small set that he really wanted so he agreed to trade his ’plugs’ for it. When we got home he ran into his room and got two ‘plugs’ and I traded with him. He was very excited and happy about the trade. We brought it up several times during the day as he played with his new trucks. When I told him that he was such a big boy he lined up next to the fridge so I could mark how much he’s grown!

3.13.07 The first night after giving up his pacifier was rough. He had fallen asleep in his dad’s arms so I thought we had lucked out by skipping the fight to go to sleep the first time with out his beloved ‘plug.’ Unfortunately, he woke up at 11:00 and realized that he had no pacifier. He cried and screamed. He said no more new trucks. At one point he came up with a plan. He gathered up all the new trucks and put them in his closet then asked for his ‘plug.’ I held firm through hours of crying and begging me to trade his trucks back. Finally at 4:00 am he fell asleep, exhausted. The next morning when he woke up he rolled over and said in a very sleepy voice ‘no plugs.’ We talked about how big he was and discussed his new trucks several times. He didn’t have another night like the first one, but there were a few times that he asked for his ‘plugs’ and offered to trade the new trucks. I think he cried one other time when he was tired and wanted his pacifier. Ten days later, it seems to have worked. He no longer asks for his ‘plug.’ With that success behind me, I decided it was time to take away Charlotte’s pacifiers. She is less attached to hers and she still sleeps in a crib so although she cried, overall the transition was smoother for her. I took hers away on Friday night, but allowed her to have it back for a half an hour during Relief Society—I didn’t think it was appropriate to make her cry herself to sleep in that setting.

One Crazy Sunday

Yesterday was an interesting day. Zach had to be to church early since the choir was singing (he left just before 8:30). At 8:45 I headed out the door with both kids and the diaper bag and as I shut the door behind me, it locked and I realized my keys were still inside. Isaac was holding some of his noisy trucks that I had planned to leave in the car. I quickly put the trucks in the diaper bag and with no access to a stroller, I took off on foot.  We made it to church just in time to sit down before the meeting started. When I explained the truck dilemma to Zach, he took the trucks out to his car. While he was gone, Isaac remembered the trucks and attempted to hop down off the pew, but his head went forward and he hit the hymnal holder and he let out a cry. The meeting was just beginning and Zach was still placing the toys in his car—luckily someone behind me offered to take Charlotte so that I could take my injured and crying Isaac out into the hall to calm down. He ended up with a nice read mark right next to his eye (pictured above). The rest of the meeting went ok and Sunday school passed without incident. I took my place in the back of Relief Society with the other mothers (we have our own row with space for our babies to play right in front of us). As I was sitting there listening to the lesson with Charlotte standing right in front of me, the sister beside me nudged me and pointed to Charlotte. It took me a moment to realize what was happening. First I saw what looked like water spilling onto the floor at her feet then I looked up and saw that she did not have any water to spill. That’s when it occurred to me that it wasn’t water at all. I lifted up her dress to find that one of the straps of her diaper had come open and the diaper was detached and the diaper was falling off. I quickly reattached the strap, blotted the floor and took her in for a diaper change. Amazingly her dress, socks and shoes were all dry—the floor was the only casualty! The picture is of Charlotte before Church–doesn’t she look innocent? 

I’m employed again!

I got an offer from Omniture just moments ago. I start Monday. For those who aren’t familiar with them, they’re the premier web analytics company, and they have a number of huge clients. The pay is quite a bit better than I was getting at PH&A, and the benefits are excellent as well. Plus, the office is right here in Orem, just about a mile from our home. I’m very excited – it’s a great company, and I’m in a good position there. This looks like a great break for our family. Thanks for all the prayers and support! It’s been a kind of tough month, but we’re looking better than ever.

Well, the Colts won.

Those of you who know me well know I’ve been a Colts fan for some time.  This has been a strange season, when it seemed like they struggled to win every game right up to the end.  Peyton wasn’t as brilliant as he was in his record-breaking season, but he was brilliant in the crunch.  The defense struggled all season but came together in time to win it all.

So why am I feeling so subdued about the win?  Well, I don’t want to look like I jumped on the bandwagon when I’ve been rooting for the Colts all along.  I also didn’t want to get to involved emotionally and get set up for disappointment.  As a Jazz fan, I’m too familiar with that feeling of getting to the brink and not getting over the top.

The Colts are a great organization.  Tony Dungy reminds me of LaVell Edwards – quiet, patient, tough, and beneath all that a kind and good man.  Peyton is the opposite of a guy like Terrell Owens, a humble superstar who gives credit to his team and devotes himself to the game.  I’m proud to be a fan of a team representing the best in sports today, and I’m proud of them for winning the big one.

Anything can be a train!

Is it normal for two-year olds to be so creative?  Isaac is always building things and pretending that different objects are trucks or trains.  Lately whenever I give him a straw it turns into a ‘digger’ and drives around the table.  He makes the most interesting trucks with his blocks and he regularly turns household items into trains.  The other night he emptied my cupboard to make a train as I was fixing dinner.  He’d sit on the cookie sheet behind the pressure cooker and say “Isaac in train” then he got up, moved back to a cookie sheet farther down the line and said” Isaac in train car.”  He then decided that he needed to eat dinner on his train.  He took his bowl of pasta off the table, grabbed a fork and sat down on my cookie sheet and started eating!

Little Mommy

If you don’t belive that there’s an innate difference between girls and boys, then I’d like you to meet my children!  As you know, Isaac is all boy.  Loves trucks, trains and anything with an engine.  Charlotte on the other hand likes girly things that Isaac never cared about.  She loves her plastic bead necklaces, she enjoys trying to play dress up and she loves her dollies.  When I was pregnant with Charlotte, Grandma Cochran would put a doll out with the rest of the toys in an attempt to prepare Isaac for the arrival of his little sister.  He would have nothing to do with the doll, he’d just push it aside to get to the toys.  He never picked it up or held it.   Charlotte, however, picks up her doll and holds it close to her.  She rocks it and “talks” to it in her little girly voice.  She also likes to take the doll’s hat off and try it on her own head!  She also shows more interest in stuffed animals and kittys.

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