Winter Wallop 2008

I'd like to give props to Bill for dubbing the storm "Winter Wallop 2008" before the newscast picked it up. Genius.

Collin is loving the snow and is constantly saying "ohhh" and "Whoa" as we drive around in the trusty old Dakota. Bill made a great snow angel, but Collin wasn't down with it.

Sea-Tac is not handling the snow well and I am starting to get nervous that we will be unable to get out on Christmas Eve. There is no reason to fret now, but this snow is giving me some serious doubts. The neighbors driving around on their snowmobiles in the middle of the street doesn't provide me confidence either.

Once again my work is closed and it is WFH, although I will pick Collin up at noon. So I better get back to the grind--PPT anyone?

Snow Day!

My work closed this morning and my boss called me before I hit the road. Auburn only accumulated a few inches, but Seattle proper was hit hard. Luckily for us, Bill wrapped the pipes last weekend and covered some of the vent holes under the house so we should not have any freezing pipes.

Collin was pulling his ear this morning and say “hurt” so I am going to get him to the doctor today. I’m just waiting for this conference call to finish up! Technology is great, but it means even a snow day doesn’t get you out of meetings, Dang!

Pants

Saturday marked Collin's first day of putting on his own pants. I'm excited--one less chore for me! To top it off we had a pleasant lunch at Red Robin. Not exactly the most romantic location, but one gives you the evil eye when a child squeals.
On a different note, Advent is going well. Collin screamed all through the prayer this evening, but did enjoy trying to blow the candles out.

Thanksgiving 2008

Well, it was just the three of us this year for Thanksgiving. I was super bummed that we didn't have any guests or family to share the time with. However, the weather was pleasant enough for an hour long walk and Collin serenaded us out the door.

We made a full dinner with everyone pitched in to make something. The food was tasty **note Collin wanting more turkey** and the day overall was relaxing.

Krispy cooking

Collin and I had our first adventure of making Rice Krispy Treats together. He helped to swirl the butter, toss in the marshmallows and mix them all together. He is a superior stir-er. He even washed the pot himself. Ah, he won his mom’s heart with that last step.

I did let him have a taste of the treats, but truth be told I almost ate the whole pan myself. I have a feeling that will not last much longer.

Baby bully

Collin came home from daycare yesterday with a bite mark on his cheek. When dropping him off at the Tuesday/Thursday daycare provider she mentioned that Collin is the bigger of the little kids at her place. He tends to grab toys and runs away from the younger ones. When he is at the Monday/Wednesday/Friday location his age places him in the middle, and the kids are better at defending themselves.

I’m sure he’ll learn to share one of these days, but in the meantime I hope he doesn’t come back too beat up.

Fire, Frog and a pejorative

Fire. Bill got the fireplace in order for the upcoming frosty cold nights. It turned out to be a great distraction for the boy (e.g. Put down the knife and look at the fire. e.g. Stop hitting your Mom and look at the fire. You see where I’m going with this.) He was amazed and concerned by the blaze in the fireplace. He sits three feet back and says “Hot! Hot!” He curls right up on mama or papa’s lap, wraps the grownup arm around his waist and stares.

Frog. I was encouraged on by Bill to toss the food scraps since I had left some food in there last week and it was growing fuzzy. Yuck! Collin and I wondered out to the yard waste to dispose of the food scraps and lone behold there was a frog sitting right on the YW lid. Most likely it was a runaway from one of the local frog habitats created by the runoff water collection ditches. Collin got to touch it briefly but then it hopped off. We spent a good ½ hour frog hunting in trees, under the patio and around the truck. Did I mention he pronounces it “Frog-ah”? So adorable.

Pejorative. Unfortunately for us Collin can now say “Fuck”. He has amazing enunciation with this word. It is hard to pretend that he is saying fog, frog, truck or anything of that sort. Luckily he doesn’t use it in context—yet.

Halloween 08

Here's a clip of our little cutie.

Will it never end!

Like everyone else I want this election over like yesterday. The advertising gets more divisive as Election Day approaches. The amount of TV ads and direct mail pieces make me think two things: 1) what a waste of resources and 2) why isn’t my agency getting in on some of that revenue. In case you are wondering, I voted by absentee ballot already.

Collin loves Bill’s skateboard. He pulls it out and tries standing on it by himself. We are going to the finals of a skateboard competition on Sunday; I think he will be in awe.

Pumpkins and a Corn Maze

Today was a beautiful fall day. The leaves are shades of red, gold, orange and green. The air was lightly damp, but clear skies. It was amazing. We hit the corn maze/pumpkin patch about 10 this morning. It was perfect timing, not too crowded and tons of other parents with kids that wake up way too early also.

Bill led us through a 2.3 mile maze with no detours. Collin tromped most of it himself. He stopped only for the occasional dog, kid size hole in the maze or fallen corn stock. Then we hit the pumpkin area. Ah, glorious pumpkins everywhere. Collin climbed on many pumpkins, helped push the wheelbarrow and later opted to ride in the wheelbarrow.
We carved up the pumpkins at home. In reality, Bill carved and Collin and I scooped. We are going to toast the seeds this afternoon!

Fall fun for all.

Date night

Collin’s daycare provider offered a date night last week and it was fabulous. We were able to eat at our favorite Auburn restaurant Ristorante Auguri‎. Unfortunately for us, the owner was short handed that night and was waiting tables himself. He is a true Italian, an abrupt tough guy who just wants to do business. We wanted to be moved from our table by the door to farther back in the dinning room, but I was afraid to ask. You know, he might kick us out.

He approached our table to take our order and said “What?” Not, What do you want? What sounds good this evening, just “What?” He also was attempting to be refined by not writing down our order. As a result he came back to our table three times to clarify the order.

And then we hit the movies. Amazing. We saw all 2 hours and 9 minutes without ANY interruptions! No baby to chase. Ahhh, it was great.

Peer pressure

Today, on his way to daycare Collin insisted on wearing a miniature backpack Auntie Elizabeth gave us. I schlepped his diaper bag and my own bag, while he wore his empty bag with glee. He EVEN climbed into the car seat and sat with the bag on his lap ready to go (a miracle in itself). Collin goes to a family daycare with some elementary school kids and I think he just wanted to fit in with the older kids. He promptly removed the bag when he got to daycare and gave it to me for safe handling. Our little boy is growing up!

Mini Pooper

We invested in a potty chair today. Collin promptly took to the chair making sound effects and saying "poop, poop". Bill and I would like to thank our parents for toilet training us :)

Dino times

Bill and I have picked up on Collin’s interest in dinosaurs. He loves the How do dinosaurs learn their colors book and he makes a cute dino impression—with the hand gestures. So I had great intentions of making him a homemade dino costume for Halloween.

I even found the McCalls pattern. However, Bill found this costume for less than the cost of fabric. So I decided to save my energy for future costumes when Collin might remember, and better appreciate my effort.

Unfortunately, he didn't share our excitement about the costume. See for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dB6oP0cGNs

Dance party

Every morning and evening this week Collin has turned the house into a dance party. It has been the highlight of my morning all week!It’s so fun to watch him groove and I love that he doesn’t care about my lack of rhythm. Easy jazz, classical, alternative, reggae—he vibes them all and just shakes it.

Bill and I have tried to get a video but it just hasn’t worked yet. Stay tuned.

The tail end of summer

Now that it is September Seattle is finally getting some sunny days. It makes me think of all the spots I wanted to see so far but haven’t gotten to. Here they are:

• Take a ferry to Victoria BC and visit the Butchart Gardens
• Woodland Park Zoo
• Pacific Science Center (I even have a coupon for this one, it expires in November which creates a sense of urgency that might cause me to act)
• Stay in a Yurt
• Get reservations to stay at the Kennedy School

You said what?

Here’s a list of words the little boys can accurately say in no particular order:
Cook, cracker, bird, car, walk, shoes, socks, milk, mama, dada, plane, no, bye-bye, moo (for any barn animal), ruff (for any dog or kitten), ‘side (for outside), shhh (when sleepy), vroom (for any car, truck or van driving by)

Barnyard buddies

There are many benefits to having a child. One of them is beating the crowds since you wake up early even on the weekends. We used this to our benefit last weekend when going to the Puyallup Fair. We were early enough to shimmy into free street parking, yes—an extra $15 to spend on Fair Food!

Collin loved the real life barnyard animals and managed to not hurt any of the sheep or goats in the petting barn. Bill packed Collin around in our new child carrier. Collin had the benefit of height to see over the animal stalls and we had the benefit of mobility to snake through the crowds.

Calculate your solar energy potential

Becoming ‘off the grid’ is an ongoing discussion for us. We aren’t in a hurry since 1) technology keeps improving and therefore pricing goes down and 2) we aren’t settled enough in life to start investing that much in our house.

We are both excited to rent an Earthship and get some inspiration for the future. I just tinkered with RoofRay a free tool to calculate solar potential of an existing roof using Google maps, perhaps Washington isn't the best location for solar power.

Why start now?

While we are in Seattle away from family and friend folk I think it would be convenient to have a place for all 'ya all to just 'check in' when you see fit. A cyber version of stopping by the house for a cup of coffee. So sit back with your steaming cup of joe and see what's been going on in our little world.