Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Ithaca Pics

Our trip to Ithaca was a success! Bright was great and everything went smoothly like we were pros with traveling with Bright. Ha! Will totally do it again to see Jaimie and shop, and eat. Naturally.Andy's footprint and Bright's footprint after playing in Buttermilk Falls.

Bright seemed to draw a crowd of kids today wherever he went- at the foot bath a little girl came up to him, at this brick wall two kids followed him around in circles and one girl tried to pick him up....note to self- teach a baby-ized version of Stranger Danger soon.

Andy and Bright at the Falls.

On the metal sculpture of a horse in the Ithaca Commons.

Playing the Falls' natural swimming pool area- with his action figure of course. He doesn't go far without one these days and calls them "Guy".

Momma and Bright at the park.

Jaimie and Bright. He LOVED! her. Oh, my god. Constantly putting his arms out to her. He was in love.

Playing on the rocks with dad and his guy.

The Falls and some shirtless dude.
There were all kinds of swimming areas there- even a diving board. If we had planned better we would have brought our suits.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Good Job

This morning I took Bright to church. I had been meaning to start doing that when he was littler but things frequently got in the way- naps, teething, tired mom, etc. Brian and Katie get married next month and we don't want to miss it, or to make a spectacle of ourselves during the ceremony so I figured it was high time to get him used to an hour of quiet play in a small area- much like riding on a plane, or not at all depending on your view. So we were lucky enough to spot Grammy on the way in and took a spot up front so there was lots to see. We were also blocked in by a boy in a wheelchair so there was very little chance of escape (for either of us) without making a fuss. He did fine. Just a few toys went awol, and there was no crying, or serious fussing. Next time I'll bring snacks too.

Here's some pictures of the past few days...
Andy and Bright with one of Andy's GI Joe vehicles from his youth.

Bright taking the coolness out of the vehicle by having Mickey Mouse and Tigger, and possibly Noah and the Crossing Guard manning the ship.

Bright and I reading Nuts to You!!

Funny how just the right camera angle and poor posturecan make you look much chubbier than you really are... (Me, not Brighty :) )

Off to Ithaca today to meet up with Jaimie before she leaves on another trek to Israel for two weeks. Maybe some munching at Moosewood or a Thai/Indian place, shopping in the Commons, and a dip in Buttermilk Falls. Pictures to come, if we don't forget...
This is me and Jaimie on our trip to Seattle two years ago, on a side trip to Mt. St. Helen's, right after I found out I was pregnant, and cut my hair...Jaimie and I worked at the Rochester School for the Deaf for a few years together and swapped classes mid year one year to help better meet our skill levels. Thank you Jaimie! We are very similar in our tastes and ideals and I love hanging out with her. Thankfully she lives only an hour away now!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Pictures

Last weekend we made it to Buffalo to see Andy's mom and Carlos, as well as Bright's great-grandma. It was hot and humid but Bright was great and slept in the car for the most part. Here are some pictures...
Andy with Bright, Grandma Mary and Carlos

Bright with car from Aunt Lynn

Bright with Grandma Mary



Grandma Mary, Andy, Uncle Jimmy, Bright, Great Grandma, Aunt Doreen
Bright on the ride home, until about Canandaigua....... :(

Still house hunting, not a lot of luck which is okay since we just signed another one year lease here. Steven, Andy's friend from U of O just left after a good visit. It's so much easier to have stay over guests now that Bright's sleeping better and nursing less. Great thunder storms almost everyday- good sleeping weather! Bright's godfather, Brian, has his bachelor party tomorrow and Saturday so Andy will be in Syracuse for that and we will be doing the home alone thing. Life without cable tv is not so bad after all, thank you Netflix for saving our queue!

More tomorrow on Lapsit 2.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Lapsit- Not Good

Some quick updates. Lapsit wasn't all that I wanted it to be. I was expecting/hoping for a good crowd of enthusiastic parents like the ones in Eugene. Instead I got 2 babies, one two year old and two very distracted caregivers. So without having to relive the horror again, suffice it to say that we will shift gears and come with even more baby-centric props and songs that will not bomb even if parents don't sing, again.

News on the more positive side? Bright is learning to put himself to sleep. Or a modified version of that. As you may recall, baby Bright required lots of work to get him to sleep. Labeling, reading, nursing, followed by 20-30 minutes of walking him around until he fell asleep in our arms. Well, toddler Bright is 23 pounds of sweaty, wiggly mass and as much as I love him, we were both miserable with the old system and as Dr. Sears says, "If what you are doing isn't working, or you aren't happy, switch it up." So that's what I did. Still doing the reading, still doing the nursing- at Bright's request, but then off to the crib where he will lay down and flop like a fish for 20 minutes until he falls asleep. Still a process but neither one of us is annoyed with the other. He really looks like a dog rolling around until he gets just the right spot in his crib. He still needs me, not Andy, to be right there and reaches out with his hand behind his back when he's on his tummy to either hold my hand or just make sure I'm still there. We'll work on that. But man, no tears?? Yes! Who cares that most other babies/parents figure this stuff out more than a year before he did. We're making progress! Yahoo!

It's been nasty humid here which makes us all cranky but the lake is great so we are in it every day. As much as I gripe about living here and having to listen to Upstairs Girl and Scuzzy Guy from time to time, the lake is a huge bonus that we are really thankful for and we count our blessings.

On the sweet side, Bright and I do nighttime prayers while he nurses and each time we get to "Amen" he stops and says his version of it. Very sweet indeed!

'Night!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Distracted

Tomorrow I lead the Lap Sit Group for the first time. I think I am ready but with a group that ranges from 0-3, who knows what will happen. Thankfully they are supposed to be supervised by a grownup during the stories and songs.

I have been a little distracted this week. On Monday I learned that a guy I went to school with was killed in a tragic bus accident in Washington DC. We used to ride the same bus to school from middle school through highschool and went to the same church. He was a really goofy, great kids with a terrific smile. Seems like such a loss for the world. Calling hours were today, funeral tomorrow which I will skip because of lap sit. Funny how you can not think about someone for 15 years and then all of a sudden you can't get them off your mind. This has made us become more anxious to finish our wills, health care proxy, etc. None of it is pleasant to think about but it has to be done. Become an organ donor if you can. A girl from my high school class receive a double lung/ heart transplant a little while ago and has gotten a chance to live a better life. I believe that Mike's organs were donated and he will gone on in others through his generosity.

Other less depressing news... Out cherry picking again, learning to do some interesting gymnastics,playing independently for 20 minutes with his Little People figures, play date with Madelyn was fun- the kids are really starting to be interested in what the other is doing or has in their hands. Not a lot of sharing going on, but no battles either. A few words popping up here and there- canoe, color, eye, ear, bra, cat, hat, truck, broccoli, zucchini- all with substitutions- are his words right now. No sign of him saying Mommy yet, expect for those two flukes a long time ago. Daddy is loud and clear though.

Hailstorms yesterday messed up our car roof and hood. Way more hail than I have ever seen and some the size of quarters. Enough that it looked like snow and stayed on the ground for an hour, even when it had been in the upper 80's earlier in the day. Our garden was ruined which breaks my heart. The zucchini was shredded and the tomatoes have cracks and holes in them. Sigh. Lots more rain forecast for the rest of the week.

Canceled all forms for cable tv today and gave back the DVR. Yikes! There has been nothing on that we have really liked or felt good about watching, other than some Discovery HD stuff like Sunrise Earth. Too much reality tv makes me crazy and the CSI junk is too much like real life that I don't find it entertaining, so why waste the 90 bucks? We can't get any network reception in our apartment but we don't even watch that stuff, so our Netflix has been reactivated and we have the Bourne Ultimatum and Waitress are here, waiting for a free minute, which I think I will start now!

Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Big Busy Day

Today was a busy day here at our house. We started the day off at 5am when Bright decided it was high time to get on with things. Ugh. So we managed to keep him busy until 7:30 when we left to go cherry picking. Just two miles from us is an apple and cherry orchard. Last Fall we picked apples for 33 cents a pound and this year cherries for 2.00 a pound. Bright had a great time plucking any that were in his reach and putting them in the bucket. He also loved climbing the ladder there just like daddy was doing... double ugh. Back at home we washed them off and tried to fight off Bright's demanding advances until we pitted a few for him. I think these may have been his first taste of them outside of the apples and cherries puree baby food. He loved them!! We couldn't get them pitted and quartered fast enough. Here are some pictures of that.






Later on in the day I thought he had a bruise on his scalp. It was only cherry juice. Tonight I went to change his crib sheet and there were patches of cherry colored drool here and there on it. He had a blast and ate a lot. Note to self- 2 bowls of cherries is really too much for a toddler's delicate system to process, if you know what I mean...

We purposely took him out that early to wear him out today. We weren't totally nuts. Andy and I had plans for a matinee movie date to see Hancock and Bright was going to be staying with a non-family member sitter for the longest time ever- actually he had never even been with a family member sitter that long either. (So sad, I know. Jeesh!) We wore him out and combined with the ungodly hour he woke up, he slept for two and half hours for his nap. Kelsey came and I was sure there would be tears but there wasn't and we went to the movie. I kept asking Andy if he had felt the cell phone vibrating. No word from her that things weren't going okay. A good sign. The movie was great. Nothing like what I expected and since I didn't go with many expectations that was good. We came home to them romping around and both of them with Tadoodle ink on their faces. This means we will have to go out more often now! I cannot wait to see Batman.

We went grocery shopping at Wegmans and when we came home there was more cherry eating to be done. Notice shirt #2 since the first was wrecked by juice this morning. The kid's teeth are even red!



Some other sights around the house:
Bright has an unnatural love of glasses. He started with this pair of sunglasses but lost the lenses to them pretty quick. He likes to wear them and demands that you wear them too. Kind of like how he is with hats. Most of the time we keep the real sunglasses hidden until he needs to wear them outside. He regularly tries to snatch my glasses and it is the first thing he tries to touch when he meets someone else with glasses.

Lastly, this is the scene I found in the bathroom the other morning.
If you look closely, you'll see Bob the Builder face down in a pool of blood red finger paint. Leftovers from the bath the night before. Bright got upset when we tried to rinse his hair, like usual, so to distract him I got out the finger paints and he smeared while I rinsed. Later on it struck me that it looked like a semi-ghoulish accident had happened in toddler town.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Run Ragged

Phew- the last few dyas we have been going non-stop- well not that bad when you compare it to some other families, but we like to live a slower paced life -so for us we have been on overdrive. Bright slept through the fireworks on the 4th, thankfully. I checked out the nonstop action on the lake around 10pm and the craziness went on until well past midnight. Seemed like everyone had a small arsenal of their own, much like when we were in Oregon. Then Saturday we had some errands to run and then we went to Dave and Gale's cottage on Seneca Lake where Bright finally tried out his life jacket without pitching a fit. The lake was actually warm which I don't think I have ever said before. Bright and Andy and I went in for a dip, then Matt came in too, followed by his seeing eye dog, Margo later on in the night. There was a good crowd there and we had a great time. We have been getting Bright to sleep in his crib without putting him down already zonked out these past few days. Some days he flops around like a fish for close to 40 minutes and gets up and wants to be taken out but we leave him in there- not crying, thankfully- and eventually he falls asleep. Sunday Mom and Dad brought their canoe down to let us borrow for the summer and we took it out for a short time to see if we still knew how to use it. It took a few minutes to get my sea legs and bearings but then we got in the groove of it. I have always had a really tough time with heights- some might recall the various meltdowns I have had at such places as Mnt. Penobscot in Maine, the Grand Canyon, the bridge from Canada to Sarnia, Michigan, the bridges to NYC, the list goes on and on- heights make my knees all rubbery and I start to laugh in an unnerving way. Especially when I am driving... Making trips around Portland a hoot with all of the bridges there. Anyways- being in a boat does that to me for about 5 minutes and then I am okay again. So we should be okay with the canoe. We have taken Bright out to swim in the lake several times now with his life jacket and he is still agreeable to wear it. I need to get some pictures of that.

The nights here have been HOT and MUGGY. Miserable for sleeping unless you are an almost 16 month old baby who slept 11.5 hours last night while I got maybe 5 hours of poor quality zzz's. Here's to hoping that tonight is cooler, or that I am smarter and go sleep in the living room by the AC.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Full Day on The Fourth

Lots of activities today. First thing this morning we left for the Fly-In/Drive-In breakfast at the airport in town. It was very foggy at 7am and when we got there there was only a handful of planes to be found. Lots of planes came as the fog burned off. The pancakes were okay but there was too much action happening for Bright to eat. He sat in a fire truck- several times, since he seemed to love it so much, touched some planes, checked out the cockpits, played in the puddles, listened to the steel drum band, and ran around while I chatted with people I hadn't seen in years. Here are the pictures from that. See the fog in the first one?




Then today there was a picnic at the apartment complex so we went out in style, wearing our shades. Bright likes his sun glasses and usually demands that everyone else wear them too.

We also stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's to swing and say hello. Grandma had just gotten done picking a huge bowl of wild black raspberries. Bright had a few.... :)

Grandma's birthday was Sunday and we tried like crazy to take a picture of Bright to give to her but he was so wiggly. Trying to take a decent picture of a toddler is really tough. This is the best we could do. He's almost 16 months now.

Grandma came by on Wednesday for dinner and then we went to the lake out back.

Bright likes doing arts and crafts things in his booster seat at the table. The washable crayons by Crayola are the best! They totally come off the table with just a little soap and water. I recommend them even though they say they are for 24 months and up.

Bright turned into a love bug lately. He likes to give kisses all the time. I like to think it's because we smooched him so much when he was tiny.

Well, off to relax. I hope he sleeps through the fireworks!