A Couple of Beach Pix

(Photos Courtesy of the Tireless Uncle Gary)

My grandfather would not have been happy with the hat, but at least it's not a Yankees cap.

Big Questions

Most questions from a three-year old are batting practice fastballs ("Daddy, can I play with the axe?"). Occasionally, though, he'll throw a nasty slider down-and-away.

Last night, Jack was getting bored watching the legendary 'baby jaguar' episode of Diego for about the 38th time. He noticed a lovely little book, My Bible Storybook, that Annie received at her baptism. [Editor's note - I had forgotten how many people got whacked in the Old Testament: Goliath, the male children of Israel save Moses; even Jonah and Daniel had some touch-and-go moments there. It's like The Sopranos with worse food.]

After the first page, in which God creates the universe, I was feeling pretty good. Then came page 2, "A Bad Apple," about the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Jack: What's that, Daddy?

MDM: That's an apple.

Jack: Why is there an apple?

MDM: That's an apple from a very special tree that Adam and Eve were not supposed to eat.

Jack: I want to eat the apple!

MDM: Yeah, that's actually not surprising.

Jack: lmlmnnlnnnlnlnnlnl

MDM: Jack, please don't lick the book. You know you're not supposed to lick books.

Jack: But Daddy, I want to eat the apple!

MDM: That's the thing about temptation, buddy. When someone tells you you can't have something, you want it even more. God told Adam and Eve not to eat the apple, but they didn't listen, so God got very angry.

Jack: Where is God?

MDM: uh ....

Jack: Can I see him?

MDM: Not really. God is just all around us. We can't see him, we just believe that he exists.

Jack: Why?

MDM: ummmmmmmmm

Jack: Where does God live?

MDM: In heaven.

Jack: Can I go there?

MDM: um, er ..... Not right now. Let's skip to the part where Baby Jesus is born!!

I'm realizing now that we're going to be seeing more and more sliders, curveballs, change-ups, spitters, forkballs, split-fingered fastballs, knuckleballs and moonballs in the months and years to come. And I'm going to have to step up my game.

delicious

we've been making progress on food with annie ... rice cereal, banana and now ... avocado!

that might be her favorite yet!

and ... it makes a wonderful facial masque!

scenes from a 6 hour road trip

Jack: the rescue motorcycle is not driving on the beach.
Mommy: oh, right, because it's dark.
Jack: and remember the plane that comes over the beach?
Mommy: the plane that pulls a message? Yeah, I remember that from last year.
Jack: yeah. Me too.

Jack: the moon is chasing us!

Mommy: Jack, if you close your eyes and rest the trip will go faster
Daddy: [sotto voce] for all of us

Jack: say, "jack, why are you stretching your legs?"
Mommy: why are you stretching out your legs, jack?
Jack: 'cause I have to exercise ... But I'm gonna need more practice.

Annie: aaaaahhhhhh!

Jack: did you see that hot donalds sign?

Jack: (at 5:55:06 AM ) are we almost there?

Mommy & Daddy: Occoquan ... Occoquan ... Occoquan let me rock you, let me rock you Occoquan ...

Jack: [chewing on drawstring] hey mama, look at this ...
Mommy: yeah, please don't do that. It's better not to chew on your pants.

Jack: (at 6:26:13 AM) are we at the beach yet?
Mommy: not yet.
Jack: I waaant to get there!
Mommy: me too.

Mommy: we could come out here to cut down our christmas tree
Daddy: [looks askance]
Mommy: what? It only takes an hour ...
Annie: aaaahhhh!

Jack: cows like to drink milk. But not from a sippy cup!

Jack: (at 7:20:20 AM) are we at the beach yet?
Daddy: not yet. It's going to take a long time.
Jack: I want to be there! I'm just going to go to sleep!
Daddy: good idea.

Paul Simon: these are the days of miracle and wonder and don't cry, baby, don't cry, don't cry.

Jack: this tunnel looks like the tunnel to daycare.

(at 9:07:31 AM) [both children blissfully asleep]

Daddy: [upon seeing a truck full of sani-johns] that's the only job I could do as a truck driver -- hauling port-a-potties.

Jerry Garcia: what a long strange trip it's been.

Jack: [immediately upon waking] (at 9:34:38 AM) are we at the beach yet?
Annie: hhhuuuuhhhh!
Daddy: not yet, bear.

Jack: I said something to the baby, and she's laughin' like this: "ga!"

Jack: daddy, watch me!
Daddy: I can't ... I've got to watch the road.
Jack: You might crash into another car?
Daddy: I'm going to try to avoid that.

Jack: when you see a fire hydrant, say, "poof-yeah"
Jack: poof-yeah!!

Annie: eeeeeeeyoowwwww!

Jack: what's that on your finger?
Mommy: I don't know.
Jack: it's your blackberry
Daddy: yeah, it's permanently attached.

Mommy: poof-yeah!

Mommy: jack, please don't kick daddy's seat
jack: I kicking my box that I put my feet on
Daddy: how 'bout we do no kicking at all?
Annie: eeep

Ringo Starr: As we live a life of ease, every one of us has all we need. Sky blue, and sea green ... sky of blue and sea of green ... And a yellow (and a yellow) submarine.

Jack: (at 10:54:35 AM) are we at the beach yet?
Mommy: we're on the outer banks where the beach is, but we're not to our beach house yet.
Jack: I want to go to the beach. I don't want to go to the beach house.

Jack: This is the deal -- go to the beach, then go to lunch. Now ... Let's GO to the beach!

Jack: mommy, mommy, I saw the beach!
Mommy: cool, buddy!
Jack: but where were the motorcycle and plane?
Daddy: we'll see them tomorrow, buddy.

Annie: ehhhhha!

Bob Dylan: Nobody feels any pain ...

let me paint you a picture ...

of jack painting our dining room ...

in fact, rather than paint one, i can just upload one (or three):

we have been home improvement central lately. after months of delay and hassle with the insurance company after a large tree limb hit our house, the contractors finally fixed our rafters, our roof slates and our bedroom plaster and paint.

and all this progress led us to make some further improvements, including installing an thermostatic attic gable fan, a master bedroom ceiling fan, repairing broken bricks in our patio and installing a new chandelier in our dining room.

the chandelier replaced an old colonial-style brass number that i'm sure was all the rage in 1941 when the house was built. but nowadays ... well, not so much. we got a nice little mission-inspired number and it made a huge difference. combined with the new drapes we installed earlier in the year, the room was almost transformed.

all it needed was a coat of paint.

daddy did all the trim and cut-work while mommy kept the young 'uns entertained elsewhere. but we returned before all the rolling was done and jack, true to form, was desperate to help paint.

daddy had wisely saved jack a "special spot" (aka the wall behind the built in china cabinet) and then showed him the finer points of brush work.

jack was very proud of himself and repeatedly said, "mama and annie, you stay out of our way 'cause the guys are working!"

a painter and a chauvinist ... who could ask for anything more from a three-year old.

incidentally, jack's father, painting barefoot, fell off the ladder and hurt his toe. his grandfather did the same while painting jack's big boy room. that's genetic. expect to see that from jack, too!

annie eats

annie had her first meal on saturday and she did pretty well. as expected, as much of it ended up on her face (and up her nose, in her eyelashes, in her ear, on her toes) as it did in her mouth but she is a fan of rice cereal.

wait til she gets a load of sweet potatoes, bananas and avocados (the next on the list)!

see how she enjoys eating ... and expresses it clearly:

pediatric update

the 6-month stats:

• 16 lbs. 8 oz (+1 lb. 3 oz)
• 26" long (+1/2")
• 44 cm (+1 cm)

she got great marks for her healthy looking body and meeting her developmental milestones. she is bearing weight on her legs and "jumping" ...

she is sitting up (relatively) unassisted, and she is reaching for things with both hands and bringing them to her mouth ...

and, because a true blog that aims to capture memories should be "warts and all" a little story about today ...

in our rush to get out of the house, we nearly forgot the diaper bag ... daddy ran back into the house to get it and threw it in the back of the car. unfortunately, neither mommy nor daddy had remembered to put a bottle and a packet of formula in there.

so we arrive to the doctor's office with a baby who has last been fed at 4:15 a.m. and realize ... we have no bottle!!

annie is usually not terribly hungry when she first wakes up. in fact, if fed immediately upon waking, she will only take a few ounces. so, we thought, we'll probably be okay with our 9 a.m. appointment and then we'll race home and feed her a bottle.

well, we would have been if the doctor had run on time.

and this practice is very good, usually, about short wait times. but today they must have sensed that we were on borrowed time. doctor dana was forty-five achingly long minutes behind.

about 2/3 of the way through her checkup, annie began to protest. loudly.

the nurses scrambled and found some ready-to-feed similac nursettes. sadly, no nipples. so, we started by trying to let annie sip from the bottle.

that didn't work out so well.

so we tried feeding her with a syringe, as if she was a newborn.

that helped somewhat ... until the other kind of syringe came out ... that's right ... *shots*!

she got three vaccines -- dtap, hib and prevnar -- and by the third was screaming so hard that she was actually crying silently. poor lamb.

we quickly slipped her dress back on, buckled her into her car seat and beat a hasty retreat. she fell asleep in the car before we hit the beltway and mommy called ahead to ensure mamaxana had a bottle at the ready.

second child syndrome ... your parents forget to feed you. but, no matter how happy and docile she usually is, annie will never be mistaken for a shrinking violet.

and we will never forget a bottle again!