We're Leaving on a Jetplane ...

So I'm just a little excited for going to Houston ... non-stop thoughts of, "What's the weather like in Houston? ... ohhhh I can have decent dim sum again! .... they have Todai there! (sushi place) ... Hey, I won't have to cook dinner for days!!" Etc, etc, etc. Anyhow, I started packing today since we leave Thursday and Isaac was very helpful:

"Okay, now if I can just get this thing open..."


"Great, now I need to strap myself in ...."




"Okey, dokey ... I'm ready when you are!"

If only it could be that simple! I'm a little worried about how we'll manage on the flight with such an active boy ... any suggestions aside from turning me into a living set of 'monkey bars' ... oh, wait, that's what I am already!

Sweet Surprise

Kent gave me an early Mother's Day surprise ... orchids! I love them! Before we married I use to buy some every month from Costco and place 1-3 strands throughout my apartment. They were my small indulgence and I kept the water changed and the stems cut every other day. They lasted nearly the entire month. Now such luxuries are few, but my dear hubbie thought to surpise me. I love my man!


I got a pair of shorts that were actually long enough!!! Anyhow, Isaac was amused by the tie strings on the ends and kept playing with it. At this stage of his life, everything is "doubly good" if it's in his mouth. I tried to discourage it by screwing up my face and saying, "Eeeewwww". That only illicts a giggle. Unfortuantely now he does exactly what I don't want because it makes Mama make a funny face!

We took a page out of Pat and Meagan's book on laundry and cars, thanks for the fun idea. It's the closest thing Isaac will get to having his own vehicle for a long time.

The Work of a Child

Since having Isaac I've often reflected on how difficult childhood can be. As adult it seems as if their lives are only filled with play and no responsibility, but I've begun to think otherwise. The world, with all it's wonders, is a scary place for them. Loud noisy food processers or vaccums, big animals, strange looking people ... it's all rather overwhelming. They also feel a sense of responsibiility, Isaac displays concern or is unsettled whenever Kent and I are feeling stressed. Prior to the match, he didn't sleep well and woke up at least once (albeit briefly) every night. After the match, he's slept like an angel!

And then there is just sssooooooooooo much to learn!!! We've been using sign language as we talk to Isaac and he's become proficient at tell us that he wants something, but not specific yet. Two days ago I watched him as he was 'playing' with his fingers. He was frustrated and kept looking at me. I finally realized that he was signing the letter 'O' which is what we use to indicate his Cheerios. Managing the 'want' sign andthe 'O' was difficult to coordinate, but when I looked closely it was there! Children are such keen observers, I hadn't realized he understood it all along and now wanted to communicate it on his own.


Speaking of being observant, I was flossing my teeth the other day and Isaac sat next to me. He loves playing with the dental floss boxes! He has a collection and whenever we need to floss, we check his toy bag. I guess he'd been watching me closely and pulled out a good amount of floss and was stuffing it back where his molars will be. On and off he'd look up at me and smile as if to say, "I'm just like Mama!"

Whoops!

So, being the brilliant individual that I am, I managed to fritz our keyboard the other night. I am and will always be clumsy. When Kent and I were dating, Kent always held my hand, not only out of a romantic gesture mind you, he also was saving me from bruises and falls that might otherwise be construded as his fault. Poles, sidewalks that end suddenly, all seem to elude my vision without his aide. In stores where there are fragile items, Kent hovers closely ... I guess my depth perception is lacking when I'm in such an area! Thanks to him, I've been saved from breaking many an item unintentionally. Well, my second set of eyes was missing the other night when I was blogging. I generally don't drink anything near the computer (see reason listed above) but can offer no excuse aside from temporary shortage of common sense (ironic, considering the last entry!) Needless to say, the cup of water was closer than I thought and before I knew it I had a nice puddle forming in my lap. After that pressing the 'T' button lightly would release a series of 'tbtb', etc. We replaced the keyboard tonight and the feeling was something akin to Christmas day for Kent since we rarely get anything 'new and shiny'!

Isaac also crawled officially tonight. Prior he'd been doing a commando crawl and no matter what we did, he just didn't seem to get the fact that if he'd use his hand and his knees he expend less energy. He was pleasantly surprised at the speed he could achieve when things finally 'clicked' for him. People had been warning me that he'd probably go from the commando crawl to walking ... I'm glad he didn't, this will give me the chance to warm up to all the running I'll be doing in the years to come! ;0)

A Shortage in Common Sense

Okay, I joke a lot about NM being ghetto, but there are honestly moments where I feel like it's true. Today is a perfect example. I needed to go to the library to grab the few books I had put on hold. Isaac and I had just had lunch and prior to that I was working out lifting weights. I thought I'd forgo the make-up deal and grabbed Isaac to make a quick dash out. While walking to the car, a guy in his late 20s or so whistled and then asked if I wanted 'some of this!' gesturing in what I suppose was to be some sort of sexy move. I decided to ignore it, but on the way there, I'm thinking to myself, "someone is pretty desperate if they come onto a woman in a parking lot carrying a child!" It turns out this guy works for the landscaping company that takes care of the apartment. Needless to say, I reported him. Apparently this isn't the first time this has happened with some of the crew. Kent thinks I should have sauntered up to him asked his name and number and then wished him luck in finding a new job.

Then, as if I haven't heard enough of what surrounds us, Kent tells me of his ER stop today. Apparently a fellow came in during the day with his hand nearly amputated by a machete. a) Who owns a machete, b) what are they using it for, c)don't people have better things to do during the day, d) ... do I really need to continue this list? It was severed to the point that when they briefly took of the bandages to get a glimpse, blood shot up about 3-4 inches high. His hand was literally 'hanging' and he could only move his thumb. I hate to think what this guy does at night, on the weekends, or who his friends are!

Now I know that Texas is not going to be much better. After all, Houston is one of the largest cities in the US. But I take consolation in the fact that we'll be living in the Medical Center area ... typically for those residents and interns. I have high hopes that these people will have more common sense than what I've encountered here so far.

Bathtime Hazards

Lately Isaac's been a little constipated which always makes me a little nervous at bathtime. For whatever reason, the warm water, play time with mom and dad ... inevitably he has to have a bowel movement in the bath. He hasn't had a large 'poopy' in about 2 days so last night at bathtime I was on my guard for any 'stiffening' of the legs or the slightest grimace. Of course it comes the moment Kent has left the room. Our usual routine is that I lift Isaac out of the water and Kent has to 'catch' whatever comes. So I yell for Kent and lift Isaac out. Kent rushes over and we wait ... nothing comes, a false alarm ... but lo and behold, the moment I think he's safe, a warm yellow streams comes, straight at my face. I manage to dodge it ... just barely! Ahhhhh ... the joys of having a boy!

Simple Joys

It was wonderful to listen to Conference today and yesterday and to have Kent home with us. For some reason, Conference weekend is always somewhat of a holiday. I cook lots of food in advance, always our favorites. We eat all day, listen to the talks and relax. It was harder to focus with Isaac around, and yet at the same time it was so fun to watch him crawling on the floor, playing and glancing back every once and a while to see if we caught his latest accomplishment. We went to the park afterwards to burn the many calories we consumed. Here are some of the pictures.







You can see he's already quite a little monkey!!!



This is his 'Superman' move! It was totally by chance that I even caught this moment.

Helping with Laundry

Isaac is now officially 10 months and his growth and development continually amaze me. In reality, we forget how difficult it was to learn to sit up on our own, crawl, stand, etc. We've become so accustom to doing these things we no longer see it as being wonderful .... until we have a child and watch it happen all over again. Today Isaac pushed himself up to a sitting position with the help of the laundry basket. He eventually flipped it over onto his head and spent the next half hour happily playing with it.



He's also learned to play hide and seek. The other day I was tired from ... (no explaination is really needed, is there? Motherhood seems to mean being tired alot!) and didn't want to grab him yet again from crawling into the kitchen. So I began calling him, "Where's Mama? Isaac, can you find Mama?" Sure enough he followed the sound of my voice and popped his head around the corner. He was delighted with himself and since then it's become our little game.