Talk the talk

Rachel has been talking up a storm for several months now, and while most of you have heard the wonderful singing part, you haven't heard much of her actually talking. It goes on incessantly. ALL. DAY. LONG.

So I thought I'd share.

I was showing her the pictures in her monthly letter the other day and she just started telling me what she was doing in each of the pictures. I went back to the beginning, started recording, and got her descriptions of all of the pictures.

Nope

What a difference a few days makes.

Three days ago, this was the forecast for Hurricane Ike:



And that would be San Antonio, right in the middle of the path that was forecast. We stocked up on supplies, local weather guy was predicting 100 MPH winds, and it was general doom and gloom us.

Of course, we all know how difficult it is to predict the track of storms, as has been evident by all of the doom and gloom that just didn't come true this year.

This is Ike's current track:



At this rate, it looks like Mom and Dad may get more rain out of it than we will. I've been watching the skies all day, and we've had some beautiful high clouds, but that's it. No rain, no wind.

I hope we get some rain tomorrow, but with as far off as the forecasts have been all week, I won't be surprised if we get left high and dry from Ike. It's a lot like Rita a few years ago...pouring rain in Houston, just three hours east, and not a drop of rain here.

Two years, three months

Dear Rachel,

Yesterday, you turned 27 months old. It's been yet another busy month, and it's going to get pretty hectic this weekend as we prepare for what might be a really big storm, and no, I'm not talking about a temper tantrum you're going to throw.


Your big thing this month has been the use of pronouns. About three weeks ago, you looked at me after I'd gotten off the phone and said, "Dada talk to Mama on he phone." While it wasn't exactly correct, it was a start. Since then you've been calling everything "he," "she," "her," "hith," etc. You're still trying to figure out gender on some things, like you called your cabbage patch baby, Kinzie, "him" when you went to bed the other night. I guess it's because we don't talk about Kinzie as much as we talk about Andy, so you didn't quite know what she was.


You've started calling us by different names this month as well. One day, you just started saying "Mommy" and "Daddy" instead of "Mama" and "Dada." I guess that means you're growing up a little more.


Your other big thing has been your sentences. My God, can you ever string the words together. It's funny to listen to you try to sort through everything. I'm sure that, in your head, you know exactly what you want to say, but your mouth just doesn't quite keep up with your brain. You'll start sentences two and three times just to get the right conjugations and plurals/non-plurals on words. The great thing is that you realize when you've made a mistake, and you'll start over so that you can correct it.


You have been using your pink stool all over the house, and getting into all kinds of things that we don't necessarily want you getting into. For a while, it seemed like every time we asked you to come join us, you'd have to go get your stool first: "Dit my pink sool?" A couple of weeks ago, you got your stool and stood up on it to see the biscuits that Mama had taken out of the oven. Then you reached out to grab one and burned your arm on the hot pan. Since then, we've made you keep your stool in the bathroom so you can use it to brush your teeth, but nothing else.


Speaking of brushing your teeth, what is up with you lately? Sometimes you'll happily stand there brushing your teeth, and other times it's like pulling teeth to get you to brush them. You started this thing where we'll hand you the toothbrush and you'll stand there with it, waving it in the air, and when we take it from you and try to brush your teeth for you, you hold your hands over your mouth. Then even other times, you'll stand there and ASK us to brush your teeth for you. I have no idea what's gotten into you, and we never know if it's going to be a happy brushing day, a mommy and daddy brushing day, or a fighting to the death brushing day.


Another thing you've started to do this month is to get out of bed. When we converted your crib to a toddler bed, we went out and got you a soft gate to keep you from falling out at night. That soft gate doesn't completely cover the side of your bed, and you've figured out how to shimmy your skinny little butt around the side so you can get out of your bed. The problem is that you shimmy over a short wooden rail, but it's too high for you to get back into bed, so when we come in your room to scold you for playing when you should be sleeping, you can't get back into bed without our help. There have been a couple of times in the past week when we heard you out of bed at 10 PM, when we're getting ready to go to bed. Staying up that late doesn't make you the most pleasant person to be around the next morning.


There have been plenty of times this past month when we've been ready to sell you to the lowest bidder on eBay. Your terrible twos have come on full force, with all of this wonderful screaming and crying, and in spite of that, we still love you. Just know that when we punish you, it's because we want you to grow up to be a wonderful, well adjusted, polite human being, not a Republican.


We love you very much. Please don't make us sell you.

Love,
Daddy

You say it's your birthday?

Today, Monica turns 30 for the second time. When I put the banner up for September, she looked at me and said "That looks like way more than 31 candles."



You see, that's what happens when you get old. Your eyes start to go, and you think you're seeing things. There are, in fact, exactly 31 candles on the banner.



It's been a heck of a year. Here's to decades more birthdays together. Happy Birthday, Moni.

EDIT: Fine, fine...I'll admit, there were actually 33 candles in the banner, but that's hardly "way more" than 31. It has been appropriately photoshopped so there are now EXACTLY 31 candles. You didn't even notice the difference, did you? But at least my wife can now get on with her life knowing that, once again, she was right. Are you happy now?

Strength

I'm not going to go into details here, because it's really not my place to do so, but just know that our good friend Maria needs all of the prayers and good thoughts she can get right now.

We're all pulling for you, girl, and we hope you get well soon.

Next stop: Mickey Mouse Club

Two years, two months

Dear Rachel,

Today, you turned 26 months old. As you can tell by the title, I've decided to stop referring to your age in months because I once worked with a woman who referred to her child's age in months and her child was 10 years old. It was a bit annoying. And a little creepy.

We did some more traveling this month, and I'm glad that we did. You need to get used to taking trips during the summer because we'll probably do it a lot, especially as you get older. And the older you get, the better you travel. For the most part. If
the trip is short.



You got to meet almost all of the Laleman side of the family this month, and while there were quite a few people you already knew, there were also a bunch you'd never met before. I'm glad that we got to go - you had a great time, and I remember how much fun it was for me being at large family gatherings like that as a child. I hope we get to do more of those as you grow up.



You absolutely loved going to the beachswimming in the ocean when we went to Corpus earlier in the month. It was so weird though, because when we went in the fall, you had no problem walking in the sand, all over the beach with me, but this time, you wanted nothing to do with the sand. In fact, you made us carry you almost everywhere, even into the water. But the swimming, you couldn't get enough of. In fact, when you woke up Sunday morning after being at the beach Saturday afternoon, the first thing you said was "I go simming in bid oh-sun?" So we went to the beach Sunday morning and went swimming.



When we came back from the coast, you came down with what we thought was a nasty cold and sinus infection. You were all snotty and stuffed up to the point that we had to give you a pillow to sleep on to keep your head elevated. We thought you had caught something terrible from the ocean, or had gotten sick from our hotel room being so cold, but about three days after you got sick, we noticed that you were chewing a lot on your fingers. One day at dinner, I noticed you really gnawing on your fork, and it clicked - the runny nose, the chewing on your fingers and anything else that you could jam back into your mouth...I stuck my finger in there and felt your top molars coming in! Your bottom ones came in without us even noticing, but the top ones you had a lot harder time with. I'm glad that we're finally done with all the teething.



You learned to jump this month, and much to my dismay, you discovered that jumping on the bed and other furniture is really fun. So now starts years upon years of me being a dad and yelling at you for jumping on the furniture, or even standing up on the couch, when what I really want to do is join you in jumping on stuff, but I know that if I try it, we'll be buying new furniture really soon.



We converted your crib to a "big girl bed" this past month, meaning that we took the sliding rail off the side of it, lowered the mattress so you can climb into it by yourself, and put some smaller, non-sliding rails on each end. You loved climbing in and out of it, and the first night you got to sleep in it, you promptly fell out. Three times. Evidently, the space between the small rails is just what you needed to wriggle your way right onto the floor. At about 3 AM we both heard a thump, then heard you moan once, then nothing. I went in to check on you and found you sound asleep on your stomach on the floor. You didn't even wake up when I put you back into bed. The next day, we went and got you a movable rail to help keep you in bed.



You have become quite the little tape recorder, and now your mother and I really have to watch what we say around you. In fact, just today, someone hit my car in a parking lot and as I was kneeling down inspecting the damage, you came over and asked me what was wrong (which was very sweet), and as I continued to look at the scrapes, I must have muttered something under my breath because the next thing I knew, you were touching the scrapes just like I was and saying "dammit...dammit...dammit." Whoops. Earlier today, we were watching the US Women's volleyball team on the Olympics and you started in with "Yeah! Nice!" just like your mother was saying whenever there was a good shot.



You've also started singing to yourself. You know a bunch of songs now, and every once in a while, we'll hear you singing loudly and way out of key, but it is very cute. A couple of weeks ago, we were putting toys away in the garage and you broke out with "Please, please, please do not goooooo" and it was actually in tune. I was very impressed.



We are constantly amazed at how smart you are (or at least we think so). You know almost all of your colors, and identify things by color all the time (boo car, purple butterfly and so on). You can also count to ten all by yourself and even know quite a few of your numbers and letters by sight. Along with working on those, we started trying to get you to say your whole name this month. So far, it comes out "Way-shul Eeesa Mon-ez Ma-nen." But you're working on it.



As always, we love you very much, and can't wait to see what new things you learn in the coming month.

Love,
Dada

Why, hello there!

Yes, yes, I realize it's been almost a month since I posted anything.

I managed to be at home for three weeks and not write a thing, and then when I had to go back to work, I've been working 10 hour days and just haven't had the energy to do much of anything when I get home.

So here I am, back again. It was incredible to see everyone this past weekend. We're really glad that we and so many others decided to make the trip.

Pictures from the weekend are up at Flickr (you can see them over there on the right), but I'm going to post a few of my favorite.

Time flies when you're having fun...

Just a quick retrospective of what we were doing three years ago this month:

The wedding, three years ago today...


And our three week honeymoon:

Big Bend area...


That's Mexico behind us in both pictures.

New Mexico...


Bandelier National Monument (north of Santa Fe)



Colorado...


Rocky Mountain National Park


Both of these pictures were taken on Trail Ridge Road...the top one was taken at about 12,000 feet above sea level, and yes, that's snow on the ground behind us. The second was taken somewhere significantly farther down the road, and about 20 degrees warmer.

Wyoming...
Grand Teton National Park



Yellowstone National Park



And finally, South Dakota...
Mount Rushmore


The Badlands


Happy Anniversary, Monica!

Two years, one month

Dear Rachel,

Today, you turned twenty five months old.


It has been an extremely busy month for all of us. We've traveled quite a bit, and you've gotten to see Nana and Dodd a lot this month. You've also had the chance to meet a lot of new people.


Let's start with the talking. Holy cow, girl, your vocabulary has just exploded. We are having conversations all the time about everything under the sun. Your big thing this month has been this:

"Hi!"

"Hi Rachel."

"How you?"

"I'm fine, how are you?"

"I good."

Over and over and over again. Of course, your other big thing in the past couple of weeks has been learning how to say your name and age. Last week, we even taught you how to respond to the question "¿Como te llamas?" and when we ask "¿Cuantos años tienes?" you tell us "DOS." You're getting really good at repeating what we say, although your brain will mix up the beginning and ending of words sometimes. You've been trying to say "diaper" this week and it keeps coming out "pie-der." But you're also very good about listening to corrections and trying them on your own, so as long as we have the patience to keep repeating the words for you, you keep trying to say them correctly.


Speaking of on your own, another new thing this month is, "No, no...my turn." When we're counting (especially in Spanish) or singing or whatever, at some point, you'll stop us from leading and say "My turn" and become very upset if we don't let you take over.


The traveling. You and I had a "first" together this month. It was the first time either of us had ever been to New York. I'll admit, I wasn't all the excited about going. I figured the second we got off the plane my wallet would be gone, I'd be fitted for concrete shoes, and the mafia would sell you off as child labor. But I was pleasantly surprised. The mafia didn't sell you off. OK, so my impression of New York was completely wrong. The people were very friendly, and except for our car service, things weren't all that expensive.


You were quite the trooper in New York. I think the only day you got a regular nap was the day Aunt Sarah and Uncle Britton (Say-ah and Bit-on) got married, which was the whole reason for the trip in the first place. Ever other day, we were so busy doing touristy things, you just zonked out when ever you reached your limit, no matter where you were. One day in was in your stroller, then on my shoulder while we were fighting our way through the crowds at Coney Island. You slept through all of that commotion, but the second I gave you to Mommy on the subway (sub-bay tain!) you were wide awake. Hot, sweaty, people yelling and pushing - sleep. Comfortable, air conditioning, quiet - awake. Another time, we were taking a tour bus (ride red buth!) through Manhattan, and you knocked out on Nana's lap. You did really well for having your entire schedule messed up, and even when our flight was delayed over 3 hours coming home, you were still pretty good. I think we might actually have to go back to New York sometime when you're a little older, so you can enjoy it as much as we did.


The weekend after New York, we took a road trip up to Fort Worth to see a friend of our family get married. It was very interesting to see all of these people who knew me as a child see me now with a child of my own.


By the way, on both of our trips, you were quite the hit. Perfect strangers would talk to us and you, and tell us how beautiful you were. I don't know how many pictures were taken of you (excluding those taken by you mother and me) but I'm betting it was in the hundreds. Two weekends in a row you got to see Nana and Dodd and dance the night away. Quite the lucky girl, I tell you.


We started potty training late this month, and it has been less than successful. You are telling us when you have to go "poo-poo," but you're afraid to actually do it in the potty. The two times we've gotten you to actually go, you cried the whole time. We are being patient with you, though, and trying to teach you that this is what big girls do because Mommy needs a raise, and when you get out of diapers, she gets to stop spending money on them.


We are loving this part of your life because we're learning so much more about you now that you communicate with us. We can't wait to see what the next months will bring as you continue to grow and learn.


We love you very much.

Love,
Dada