Eighteen Months

Dear Rachel,

I know I'm a bit overdue, but I'm sure that looking back at this, years from now, you'll understand that your Grandfather's 60th birthday was a bit more important than getting your letter out on the day you turned a year and a half.


It's been yet another interesting month. It seems like every time we turn around you're doing something new.

For me, the most exciting thing this month has been the fact that you'll sit in my lap and let me read a book to you. Before this month, whenever we tried to read to you, you'd want to take the book yourself, and turn the pages back and forth, and would never let us actually read it to you. You still don't let us finish a book, but you'll let us read a few pages at a time, and you'll turn the pages when we ask you to, but once you're bored with it, you'll close the book and tell us you're done in your own special way.


And that special way is to sign "finished" (albeit backward) and say "BAH!" which is your word for finished, gone, done, no more. It's actually pretty standard Mexican baby talk for finished, you've just taken it one step further (because you're so dang smart!). When you're eating, even if you have food left to eat, if there's no more on the plate, or you see us taking an empty plate to the kitchen, you'll say "BAH!" Drink empty? "BAH!" We put away your toys - "BAH!" You get the point.


Another thing you've started doing this month is giving kisses loudly. You've given us kisses for months and months, and you've been blowing kisses for a while too, but someone (probably Judy) taught you recently to make noise when you give blow kisses. "MMMMMWWWAAAAH!" That has carried over into other kisses as well. The other day, you were kissing my knee and my hand over and over and over - "MMMMMWWWAAAAH!" It was too funny.


You went on another road trip this month to see your Grandma Connie and Grandpa Rick. You also got to see both of your great-grandmothers. While we were up north, we went to the zoo, and you saw all kinds of animals. You also showed us just how smart you are. When you were playing with your music table at Grandma and Grandpa's, you would spin the thing that sang the alphabet song, then you'd go and dance in the middle of the room, almost until the song was over. Then, right before the song ended, you'd run over to the table, wait for it to end, then spin it again so you could dance some more. Spin, dance, repeat. Another spinnny thing played different music each time you spun it, but you knew exactly how many times you needed to spin it to get to the song you wanted to dance to.


Speaking of spinning you figured out how to spin yourself around and make yourself dizzy. You'll do that as part of your dancing. It's hysterical to watch you spin and spin and spin, then try to dance, or even walk. I just hope you don't ever decide to do that right after you've eaten. I don't want to clean up that mess.
You've also started bending yourself completely in half and looking between legs. We don't have a clue why you do it, and you'll just stop at random points throughout the day, bend over and look at the world upside down for a few seconds.


You're chatting with us more than ever, but we still don't quite get what you're saying. You're so close to sentences, it's scary. You'll play the Mama Dada game with us in the car, but a few weeks ago you were playing that, and then you said, "Mama?" and when she answered you, you went into this 5 minute conversation, with arm movements and eyebrows and the whole 9 yards. And speaking of eyebrows, you've started imitating our "looks" that we give you when we're not happy with you. It makes us laugh so hard that we can't be mad with you anymore. You've also started crossing your arms when you see someone else doing it, except you'll make darn sure we know you're doing it because the motion to cross your arms is so exaggerated, and you do it about 4 times before you finally get your arms crossed and down for good, and you've got this big cheesy grin on the whole time.


You continue to amaze us, and we love every second of it.

Love,
Daddy

Sixty

Yes, I'm well aware that my daughter turns 18 months old today, but she's taking a back seat for something much more important.

Today is Dad's 60th birthday. Six decades.

Husband,

father,

grandfather,


fisherman,


and all around great guy.

So after 60 years, there's a little less hair (courtesy of Sarah and I)...

...but the fish are still the same size.


Happy birthday Dad. I love you!

Hot and cold

It looks like it's finally trying to be winter around here. We woke up this morning to a chilly 38 degrees.

Of course the high is supposed to be 71. Saturday is supposed to be 82.

And so goes December in south Texas. Just a taste of winter. Just enough to get you into the Christmas spirit, then it's back to shorts and t-shirts for the weekend.

Best part - no shoveling snow, no scraping ice off the windshield.

Ill-annoys

So we made the trek up for the week, and when we got here we were amazed at the beautiful weather.

Then, today, the weather gave us a cold, wet, slap in the face. This is one of the reasons we moved back to Texas. That, and the fact that we live like kings in San Antonio on salaries that would put us just above the poverty line in Chicago.

We're looking forward to seeing some family while we're here, but mostly we're enjoying just hanging out and having four extra hands to help with Rachel.

Elementary, my dear Watson...

Well, I'm glad to know that my nieces can supposedly read and understand my blog. Not that they do, read it, that is.

Two years of Laleblog

Two years ago today, I started Laleblog as a way to keep in contact with the family and friends. Actually, more as a way for ya'll to keep in contact with us. I said it last year, and I'll say it again this year. I'm horrible when it comes to writing back.

I'm still having fun with it, and as long as the fun continues, the blog continues.

Two years. Who knew I had this much crap to say?

Seventeen Months

Dear Rachel,

Yesterday, you turned 17 months old. Pretty soon, you'll be a year and a half, and before we know it you'll be off to college!


Your biggest accomplishment this month is finally letting us know that you know who we are. "Mama Dada" is a common phrase when we're both around and when we're not, you're constantly asking us where the other one is. To a stranger, it might look as though you're confused about who your Mama and Dada are, because if you're with me, you're always saying "Mama....MAMAAAA....mama....MAMAAAAA," but it's always with a questioning look, like, "where is that other person who pays attention to me?"


One of your other big things this month has been asking us what everything is. You're at a very inquisitive time of your life, and you want to know about everything around you. Any time you pick up something, or we pick up something, even if it's something you've seen million times before, you'll point to it and ask, "What is that?" Since "what is that?" is one of the four things that you know how to say really well, you say it a lot. So you'll point and ask, and we'll tell you, FOR THE 800TH TIME, IT'S TOAST! YOU HAVE IT EVERY MORNING!. But really, we're thrilled that you're communicating with us in a way that isn't screaming.


The last big thing you learned to say this month was "bye bye" except you don't say it like that. You say it more like the SNL airline skit - "buh bye." You definitely know when to use it. When we're leaving to go to Judy's in the morning, you'll tell Mama "buh bye," and this morning, when I was trying to get you to pick up some toys, you looked at me, said "buh bye" and walked back to your room to play. My jaw dropped because, well, just the attitude you had in walking past me and saying "buh bye" seemed almost adolescent.


You've become very attached to your Raggedy Andy lately, to the point that you won't let us take you out of bed in the morning without him. He accompanies your everywhere, until you find something better to play with, then he's discarded on the floor. You talk to him and hug him and kiss him when we put you to bed at night, and when we go in to check on you, you're usually sprawled out on your back with him underneath you, effectively smothering him.


You were sick for a good part of the month, and we were very worried about what might be wrong with you. It turns out that there really wasn't anything wrong, you just picked up a bunch of stuff all at the same time. You were at the doctor's office three times this month because we couldn't get you to stop pooping. I'm sure that's entirely too much information, but I just wanted you to know that even before you turned two, you were full of crap. Because of your sickness, we had to start giving you soy milk instead of regular milk, which you seem to like just fine, but I think we're going to try to get you back on regular milk so your tummy gets used to having dairy again.


We took you to the beach for the first time this month. Actually, it was the second time. We visited the beach when Mommy was pregnant with you, too. But it was the first time you got to see it for yourself. Since you love the water, you had a great time wading in the ocean, until you fell in and got all your clothes wet. Even, then you were still having fun, but it was very windy and you started to get a chill, so we changed you out of your wet clothes and into the only dry ones we had, then made you stay out of the water the rest of the day. You still had a great time on the beach, asking us what everything was, but the trip there and back almost killed your parents. For some reason, you decided that you didn't want to sleep in the car, and you weren't a very happy little person, which made us not very happy.


Lastly, this was your first Halloween where you went around and begged for candy from strangers. Last year, you were too little, and too tired, and we had just moved to our new house, so we just put you to bed. This year, we dressed you up like a dog and dragged you around the neighborhood until you cried. "No MORE! I cannot HANDLE the FREE CANDY!" Actually, you did pretty well, until you decided that you didn't like the hood of your costume (I'm sure it was hot) and you'd been walking for more than a block. You were a bit shy when it came to saying anything, even "hi" to our neighbors, but that's OK...you've got plenty of years ahead of you. Next year, you'll be able to tell us what you want to dress up as, so you won't have anyone to blame but yourself.

Love,
Daddy

Congratulations

Congrats are in order for my sister and her boyfriend fiancé! They have been dating for two years, and over the weekend, Britton popped the big question.


So I guess this means that we'll have to go to New York at some point in the next year...I guess I'll have to brush up on my cussing so I won't look like such a tourist.

Congratulations to both of you. We can't wait to finally meet Britton at Christmas. We'll have the BBQ ready.

A nudge for my sister...

Ahem...don't you have an announcement you should be making on your blog?

Hallo-woof

Yeah, this pretty much sums it up.



Rachel made it to about 6 houses, and we were done before 7. I guess her "dogs" were barking.

Anyway, here's a picture from the party last Friday at Pete and Carol's. Rachel and Matthew had a great time.

Preliminary Halloween Pictures

Judy took these today. I'll follow up with some pictures from the party this past weekend and pictures of her trick or treating tonight.

New digs, a year later

So this past week marked a couple of anniversaries. The first was my one year mark at my new job. Even though it can be stressful at times, I feel a lot better knowing that when I say something it will be listened to and that I have a big role in the decisions being made for our district. Even though the job title is the same as my last job, the responsibility is much greater, and I think that fact, in and of itself, alleviates the pain of having the drive over 60 miles every day.

The second is our one year anniversary of being in our new house. It's funny how quickly it went by. In our first house, I completed a bunch of renovation projects in just two years: replacing the back fence, making a garden (of sorts), creating flower beds along the edge of the house, remodeling a bathroom, redoing Rachel's room, taking down and rebuilding an entire wall, replacing the lighting in the living room and dining room, and replacing the kitchen floor.

In our new house, I've laid sod in the side yard and replaced the flooring, and even that isn't completely finished since I've never gotten around to replacing the baseboards, and we still have crap for carpet in the bedrooms.

But we are raising a child, which is a remodeling project all on it's own, every day. Now I know why people hire other people to do that kind of work for them.

Life's a beach...

Except for the part where you have to drive almost 3 hours there and 3 hours back with a screaming child that won't go to sleep. Other than that, it was a wonderful day!


You can see more of the pictures from our "relaxing" day at the beach here

Fall!

Fall has finally arrived in San Antonio.



We've spent the last 36+ hours with the windows open on the house, and despite the fact that it made it into the upper 80's yesterday, the humidity has been so low, that by the time the inside of the house warms to being uncomfortable, it's already cooling off outside. And next week, we're only supposed to have highs in the 70's!



Rachel has been sick again this week with a bacterial infection, so Monica took the day off work yesterday to take her to the doctor. She dressed her warmly for her 8 AM appointment, as it was in the upper 50's yesterday morning, and when they got home around 8:30 (yes, I said 8:30 from an 8 o'clock doctor's appointment! I love our doctor...I've never had to wait more than 20 minutes) she took pictures. Lots of pictures, some of which are posted here, but some of which I'm holding onto until the 17 month post.

Comfort Food

Tuesday evening, there was a chill in the air.

OK, maybe mid 70's isn't a chill, but around here, it's a break from the usual.

Anyway, it felt a bit more like fall. Overcast all day, cool(er) damp, air. The kind of weather that made me feel like cooking something. Not something on the grill, but something in the kitchen that would (ack!) warm my soul.

Monica was at class, so Rachel and I went to the store, we bought veggies and egg noodles. Monica had already defrosted the chicken, and when I got home, we started on dinner. I made us steamed broccoli, zucchini and carrots, chicken with a cream of mushroom sauce and noodles. The kind of meal I used to love having in the dead of winter. The kind of food that made me gain 20 pounds when we lived in Chicago.

But it was good, and it did warm the soul.

Then on Wednesday, it was over. Sunny, humid and 90.

So goes October in South Texas.

Sixteen Months

Dear Rachel,

Today, you turn 16 months old. As I was laying on our bed watching you and mommy play and tickle each other, I thought to myself, life couldn't be more perfect.

You are really starting to understand a lot. I'm sure you've been understanding things for a while now, but we're just starting to notice. Of course, that means we really have to watch what we do around you because this is the time when you start becoming a tape recorder of all of our bad habits.

Your favorite thing to do this past month is to GO! You are on the move nonstop, and I don't know how you do it. You love taking walks, and just like the dog, the second one of us puts our shoes on, you're at the door, grabbing the door handle, trying to go outside. I'm glad that this phase of your life is starting now, because it's finally starting to get cooler outside. I don't think we would have been able to handle going outside so much in the middle of the summer.

Part of this walking all the time is practicing going up and down steps. Any time you have the opportunity to go up or down, you'll do it, over and over and over again. It's fun to watch you learn this new skill, and it's scary to see you try it on your own. At least you're smart enough to know when you need help because you'll stop what you're doing and put out your hand to one of us.

You went to another wedding this month, and you tore it up on the dance floor. You were all over the place and loved the light show. You dance whenever there is music available, but you've never had the opportunity to strut your stuff on the floor like you did at Andy and Cindy's wedding.

Along with walking comes this sense of independence and throwing fits when you don't get what you want. There were times this month when I swore that the "terrible twos" were coming on early. We were a bit worried early in the month when you started hitting yourself when you would get in trouble. Miss Judy helped us to correct that behavior by showing you how to be gentle with yourself. Thankfully, we haven't seen you hit yourself for a couple of weeks now. The fits? Yeah, they're getting more frequent. Of course, it's all related to the fact that you're a very curious little girl, and you're headstrong and independent, too. I wonder where you get that from? Just this morning, you threw a fit because I made you walk to Judy's door instead of letting you play with the emblem on the grille of my car like you wanted to.

Grandma Connie and Grandpa Rick visited you this month. I say that because your mother and I could have gone on a cruise and I don't think they would have noticed. They spoiled your rotten, of course, and they also told us that they're going to come down for Christmas again this year, and Grandpa is planning on coming down in February for an extended stay as well. I guess our master plan worked! Bwah ha ha ha ha! While they were here, we went to the Jazz festival downtown, and you ran all over the park, always with a grandparent in tow. I think you were almost more popular than the artists who were performing. Everyone enjoyed watching what a good time you were having.

The other part of our master plan is starting to come to fruition as well...you've started helping us put dishes away. When one of us is washing the dishes, you want to be in the kitchen with us. Last month, you started pulling dishes out of the dishwasher and handing them to us. This month, I started telling you where to put them. Even though you just kind of throw them in the cupboard, at least you're helping. Of course, once you're done putting them away, you want to get them back out and play with them, then put them away again.

You are no longer satisfied to stay in your room and play with your toys. You figured out that your play tables will move if you push them, and you've started pushing them out into the living room to play with them while we're trying to watch TV. It's funny to hear you grunt and pant like an old man, trying to haul your table out of your room and down the hall. Now if we could just get you to take it back to your room when you're done with it.

You have also started to take some social cues this month. Whenever you hear people cheering or clapping, you will stop whatever it is you're doing and clap, too. You'll look at one of us as if to tell us, "See, I get it!" Even if you just hear cheering on the radio, you'll clap then too. You understand a lot of words now, too, and the other day you actually signed "more please" to me without being prompted. I was very excited.

This past weekend, you figured out that putting your fingers in your ears makes things sound different. We were out to dinner with some friends and you put your fingers in your ears, then out, in, out, in. It was funny to watch you figure out that the sounds changes when you do that. You even started talking while your fingers were in your ears, then continued talking when you took them out. The look on your face was precious.

In addition to the nonverbal things, your words are becoming much more pronounced. We still don't understand most of what you're saying, but you are most definitely having conversations with us. You'll also point to things as you talk about them, so we're at least getting an idea of the object you're talking about. I can't wait until we can understand even more of what you're saying.

Oh yeah, and after 15 months, you finally said "Mama." Your mother is so happy.

Love
Daddy

You can't tell me you didn't see it coming...

So the Cubs got swept out of the playoffs. Yet another disappointing end to what I think was a mediocre season. If the Cubs had been in any other division, they would have never made it this far. They dropped three in a row in Florida when they needed to tie up the division. They backed into the playoffs on a Milwaukee loss, after battling against themselves the entire second half of the season.

The fact is no team really seemed to want to win the central...the Cubs just didn't want it less than Milwaukee and St. Louis.

I mean, let's be serious here...this isn't the team from 2003 that had everything going for them. In fact, let's talk about that for a minute, shall we? A team that was just 5 outs away from the World Series, and where are all of those players? The only position player left from that team is Aramis Ramirez. The only other players left are Kerry Wood, who, let's face it, is pretty much worthless to the Cubs now, and Mark Prior, who hasn't thrown a single pitch in a major league game this year. This was a team where the middle of the order was as strong, if not stronger than the top of the order, they won a ton of games, won the first postseason series since 1945, and they dismantled the team.

Yeah, the Cubs front office sure knows what it's doing when it makes those trades, doesn't it?

Since these guys made the playoffs this year, I'm sure they'll trade Soto next year, probably keep Kendall as their everyday catcher, and they'll trade Lee and Soriano for sure.

Because I'm a realist...

I'm very excited that the Cubs clinched the central division last night. I stayed up to watch the Brewers lose, allowing (in my opinion) the Cubs to back into the division series. If the Cubs had showed up in Florida at all, they would have clinched earlier in the week.

No way am I this excited:
Tribune Photo

The Cubs have been at this point four time during my life, and every time they've failed to deliver. They choked earlier this week in Florida, and have been inconsistent the whole year. I'm just waiting to see which Cubs team shows up for the playoffs.

If they make it to the World Series, I'll be excited. If.

A new toy...

I found a new online video tool last week through an ed tech blog that I read. Animoto is so easy to use...just upload your pictures, pick the music you want, and it does the rest! It will cut and add effects to your photos to match the music. You can do as many 30 second videos as you want for free, or you can pay $3 for a "full length" video, or pay $30 for an annual pass and create as many full length videos as you want!

Here's my first creation:

Balanced

We are so doing this with Rachel.

Fifteen Months

Dear Rachel,

Today you turn fifteen months old. This has been quite a month for you, so let's get started.



I'll mention the worst first. You have starting throwing huge, two-year-old-style temper tantrums. You are becoming very opinionated about what you want and don't want, and by God if you don't want something, you're going to let everyone within a 1/2 mile know about it. You'll start flailing your hands and arms, kicking your feet, and the other day, you even threw a toy at Miss Judy. She wasn't about to take any of that, and you got put in your first time out, ever, during which your promptly fell asleep. Your fits, we think, are still tied to being tired, hungry, poopy, etc. and aren't just because you're being a defiant little stinker...we hope.



The walking is getting better by the day. You're all over the place all by yourself now, and in fact there are times when you prefer walking to being carried, if only that would last forever...but I know it won't. Since you started standing up on your own, the progress has been amazing. You still look like a little drunkard every now and then, but you're not falling down quite as much, and you're not holding your hands over your head for balance as much anymore. You even looked like you wanted to run the other day, and I had to slow you down for fear you'd crack your chin. Again.



Your chatter is incredible, and I know there are words in there just dying to come out, but we still don't understand 95% of what you say. Every morning when I go into your room, you say the same thing to me, and I have yet to figure out what it is you're trying to tell me. You and I do play this little game, where I'll say "Rachel" and you'll respond with "Da-Da" or "Papa." It drives you mother crazy that you still won't say Mama, despite her spending 9 months hosting you in her womb.



You've also started saying your own name, we think, but it comes out sounding like "WEE shull" most of the time. There are times where you'll say it two or three times in a row before I realize what you're saying, and then when I say it back to you, so stop and say "Da-Da."



In addition to talking, you are signing things to us. You understand when we ask you to say more, please, and finished, what to sign so that you'll get what you want. It's really cool, and I don't quite understand why it is that you can say certain words, and imitate how some of our words sound (albeit without saying the actual word) but "more" and "please" are still just signs in your vocabulary. At least you know what they mean. I'm sure you understand a lot more than you actually let on, and some day soon, we're going to hear our own voices coming out of your mouth, and we're probably not going to like what we hear.

Love
Daddy