Category Archives: Firsts

Oakland A’s Fans

21 Apr 2011

Oscar temporarily switched allegiances for Tamir’s birthday party last weekend.

And, in an unexpected big-boy move, he declined the offer of my presence at the ballpark. I believe this to be his first “drop-off” party. (cool! and so very adventuresome!)
With Tamir’s parents Amanda and Barry, and surprise guest Ms. Ruth, the kids Barted to the game, ate hotdogs in the sunshine, and watched the A’s cruise to a 5-1 win over the Tigers.

We broke out the face paint for a little pregame Green and Gold:

Jacob chose his hand instead (clever I thought):

{insert photo of kids at game here.}

After the game, we re-joined the group at Tamir’s house. Lucy was rooting for the A’s too!

Here’s Tamir after blowing out the candles on the yummy cake:

Thanks for a fun day at the ballpark! Happy Birthday Tamir!

Lucy’s First Two Word Sentance (and other word developments)

13 Apr 2011

“Where’s Dada?”

(In the bathroom brushing his teeth.
You have to close the door to do it in peace, because Lucy is obsessed with it.)

Kiera said she swore she heard a ‘Where’s Georgia’ last week.
So I’m certain that the girl is actually, finally, learning to talk.
Other new words she knows are:

hot
up
two
hi
dog
poo poo

I guess Oscar isn’t the only one working on short little words (he’s reading them.)
In Oscar’s world, these are called “sight words” and you should just know them on sight, skipping the need to sound them out. Oscar got a 100% on his sight words assessment at school.

Reading is so exciting! Omi reports that Oscar read to her last night, Make Way For Ducklings. It’s definitely one of his favorites. (He has pretty good taste in books! I credit Laurel Hill.)

Speaking of ducks, the other fun new Lucy sounds are the farm animals!
We have a collection of Schleich plastic toys that help a lot.

Lucy can do the sounds of a pig, a cow, a duck, a dog, a cat (‘no’ in the tune of ‘mew’), a rooster (that’s a fun one!) and you get the idea. She has by no means mastered them, but we’re all enjoying the process.

We haven’t been to any farms recently, but now I see we should! Omi & Opi’s place in Sebastopol should help – there’s some cute animals up there. We’ll be doing a weekend there soon. And a lot this summer I hope.

Lucy has made one other sentence; a long one. It goes like this:
MommyDaddyMommyDaddyMommyDaddyMommyMommyDaddy.
She sound super conversational when she does it, which is Cuteness! Wish I had a recording.

Last, she has learned the sign language word for “more”. (You tap all your fingertips together – I think!!)
Well, we’re going with it. Lucy requests more of things easily, and I see she would have been a wonderful kid to do sign language with. It suits her (more physical than verbal). I just never had the motivation to learn it. And of course now it’s a case of third kid syndrome… They get what’s left. :) Maria Kelly is terrific with signing, and both of her girls enjoyed it before they were talking. Shall I learn another word, and teach Lucy? which word? suggestions?

Update:
Some more words that I should clarify/have in the Lucy record:
-cheese (heavy emphasis on the chee)
-peek a boo (heavy emphasis on the boo)
-nim nim (This is good for all food and any bottle – if she wants any liquid from a cup she makes the tisk tisk sound with her tongue)
-baby (two words, bay and bee)
-shoes (come out more of a “choose” – looks like she’s a fan of P.P.!)
-the lion’s roar is her best animal sound and don’t you forget it.

Our New Pet Fish

13 Mar 2011

Oscar got a Beta, and named him Owen. His nickname is Spiderman. This is Oscar’s first pet fish.
Luckily we got to borrow this awesome tank from Cole and Kiera. They know lots about keeping betas, so we will look to them for advice.

So far Owen doesn’t eat much. He’s still getting used to his new surroundings. When he sees his reflection in the mirror, he puffs out his fins and gills – it’s really cute. He thinks he is scarring off a competitor.

Welcome to your new home, Owen!

Click to see large, then advance with your arrow key:

I’m a Soccer Mom Now

13 Mar 2011

We are doing our first Saturday morning “thing” – soccer.
I have successfully defended my weekends until now. Let’s see how the Sat. morning commitment goes.
It’s Soccer Kids at 11 at Rossi, with Trevor. Sitting with Shelly in the sunshine was pretty nice…