Happy Wednesday

Monday: Isaac says "doh" for "go" and "no" for "avion".

Tuesday: Isaac visits Corvallis and the OSU campus. He is fascinated by the sprinklers and sprinkler maintenance.

He wanted to take an upper level Biochemistry class but hadn't taken all the prerequisites.

Wednesday: Vermicelli for lunch. Those sticky little vermicelli. I think some of them made it into his mouth, but I'm not sure.

Happy Wednesday!

lake billy chinook

We went on a trip last weekend over to central Oregon. Here are some pictures from our day at Lake Billy Chinook, by Culver. These pictures were taken by Uncle Craig, and Mama is using them for now since his camera is much better than hers.

The scenery
Isaac in his life vest

The rock walls around the lake. The lake was created by a dam, otherwise it's just the Metolius, Deschutes, and Crooked River coming together.

Isaac and Mama went for a kayak trip later in the day. Isaac had been fighting sleep all day. He would also get very upset when either Mama or Papa jumped in the water. Very, very upset. But, when anyone else jumped in the water, he didn't care. They could just drown for all he cared, as long as he had his Mama and Papa.

After a little kayak excursion, Isaac signed out.

It was a lovely weekend, and hopefully I'll post more pictures later. We hope we can have a family vacation like this every year!

a week at home

Are you ready for a crazy developmental update? Because you better believe this mama feels the need to blog about all of this, so please bear with me.

Monday - we had cream of wheat for breakfast, and Isaac really enjoyed it. He liked the chunks of cheese in the cream of wheat too. He started saying "nana" for "banana". He has been saying "uh-oh" a lot since last Friday and it seems like his vocabulary went through a little expansion lately. He is saying or signing a lot of things consistently, but they don't all bear resemblance to the real word. Mama, papa, hi, and bye all sound like they should. Ball is sounding better. It's pretty hard to tell the difference between basketball (or is it ball ball?), Bouba (that cartoon) and baby. Then there is the famous "da" which means shoe. And I have decided that "da da" means "shoes on". As I said "nana" is now being said for "banana", but "nana" also refers to Nana and Lana (who is his main teacher at daycare). He says "dega" which we think is an approximation of "Regarde" which means "look" in French. Papa reminded me that Isaac says "no" a lot. How could I forget that one? He also says "na" when he needs my hand for help in getting somewhere. Not sure what it's supposed to mean, but it's consistent! Also, his word for "water" is changing. Right now it is also "na na", I think. That's a change from "bluhluhluh" but I'm not sure why the word isn't closer to either "water" or "l'eau". Isaac only has "stops" and "nasals" down pat which are the consonants b/p, d/t, and g/k and m and n, but just started also saying "f" and "v". He also says "dai" for "light", and also says "no" to request his favorite food, but with a slightly different intonation than the other "no".

When you say "yay!" Isaac claps his hands. When you say "thank you", he pats his chest. That sign actually means "please" more or less, but I'm not really sure how he means it. It is consistent, andit's his own little response to "thank you". He has started to pat his chest when I say "Isaac" and pats my chest when I say "mama". He can find his nose or my nose when you ask him "Where's Isaac's/Mama's nose?" with about 50% accuracy. I'd say he doesn't quite understand the possessive thing yet, just the nose part. I've tried to teach him a few other body parts but he seems to be obsessed with the noses right now. Given that mine sticks out nicely, just asking to be grabbed in any sort of peekaboo game, I'm not surprised. I've heard him also repeat "no" for nose. Like I said, the consonants and vowels and syllable structures he is capable of using right now kind of make everything sound the same. But Mamas and Papas know what their babies are saying! As before, he signs "more" and "all done", which I find very helpful. Sometimes he vocalizes to accompany these signs, but I'm never quite sure if it's just a coincidence. Anyways, here's one picture before I launch into more observations.
Ah yes, so Monday and Tuesday - we watched our neighbor's sweet little 1 month old baby and their 9 year old, who is the one that really likes Isaac. Their baby was so chill and easygoing. She was so cute and smelled like a new baby. :) I almost forgot about the new baby smell. Isaac loved the little baby and tried to give her a lot of kisses on the head. He also tried to climb up on her crib to check on her and say "hi". He has started to climb on everything. This observation was corroborated later in the week with his daycare teachers, who have noticed that all the little boys his age are climbing to dangerous heights. Here is a video of Isaac trying out some new physical movements. Tuesday was also the day we visited Grandma Hurliman.

Wednesday - Mama made some pancakes. Was Isaac impressed? Not really. Wednesday Mama's friend Mary came over for dinner, so Mama cooked a lot of things, but they were all pretty easy - just leave them and come back later - like ribs, bread, and steamed artichoke. We went to the natural foods place on the corner and lucked out because we found 2 artichokes freshly put on the 50% off produce shelf. Remove a few of the outer leaves, steam them up, and they taste great! They also have a great thing where everytime you go in there with your kid, they get a free banana. So, of course Isaac got a free banana. There were also samples of 4 different kinds of melons. Initially, Isaac was hesitant to taste. By the time we got back from selecting our artichokes, Isaac was throwing himself bodily towards the samples. So, he had a few more samples. Then one of the ladies working there asked if he would like some blueberries, so she gave him a few blueberries to eat too. This boy loves his fruits and vegetables. He really is a healthy eater and actively rejects most desserts even if I offer him some. He will look at them, smell them, then push them away, shake his head and tell me "no". It was great to hang out with Mary again, and now I am kind of tempted to go acquire a melon somewhere since Isaac liked them so much.

Thursday - What did we do yesterday? Ah, laundry. That's about it. Oh, yes, we also went to visit Isaac's daycare. On Wednesday he had seen his teacher Lana from afar as she was leaving and said, "Nana?" Later that day (after the daycare was closed), he went over to the building, tried to open the door. He missed his friends! :( Poor little Isaac. So on Thursday, we went to visit the boys and the one girl in his classroom. It sounds like next year there will be another Isaac, one more girl, and two more boys. So, just two girls and then, what, 8 boys? Something like that. Lots of boys. And lots of Isaacs! I knew it was getting to be a more popular name, but, well, I guess Isaac will have to get used to not being the only one at an early age.

Friday/today - Isaac has been really interested in these candles that Grandma had blessed. He keeps grabbing them off the top of the dresser. He keeps trying to eat them, ever since yesterday. Every time, he realizes that they don't taste good, but he keeps trying them out. They do smell good... Still, hopefully he'll learn soon.

Evidently blessed candles can, like many other things, also be used as a phone. "Hi!" says Isaac.

We took a little walk over to campus to do some various errands, then came back and did a little cooking. While Mama was not paying attention, Isaac got a little crazy with a dry erase marker.

So Mama took the dry erase marker away, and Isaac had a little tantrum.

And a little more of being upset. Notice the marker on both legs, the face, and the bottom part of the jumper.
Well, we had a better day after that - we went to one of the parks by our house and Isaac had a blast running all around, going down slides, going on the merry-go-round. I'm so glad there are two more weeks of just hanging out with Isaac with no particular agenda. Well, I have to do a little more of my speech study. Sigh. I don't know - it's fun but... I just want a break. I guess next summer?

great great grand ma ma

Isaac, Mama and Papa visited Grandma Hurliman on Tuesday. She looked a lot better than the last time we had seen her. It was interesting that even though Isaac hasn't seen her in awhile, and she probably doesn't remember him explicitly, they were both definitely more interested in each other than in other people, and Isaac was more comfortable with her than the other people there. I was talking with one of my great aunts a few weeks ago and the obvious reoccurred to me: the mind and the soul are not the same. Even though the mind might not know something, the soul does. It's important for Mama not to forget that.

a fair day

Last Saturday, we went to the Benton County Fair. It was free to get in because Papa and Nana both work for the same place, and all their employees and families got in free! Great fun was had by all. Isaac particularly liked looking at all the animals.

He also had fun just spending some time with Boompa, Nana, and Uncle Mikey.

He even got a balloon and went on several rides. He found a new girlfriend who turned out to be the daughter of one of Mama's high school classmates. :)

The fair is so fun, but very tiring. Even little party boys can't stay up that late.

days go by

Since I have trouble picking just one or two pictures like my cousins, and since it has been 3 weeks since I last posted anything, the goal is to summarize wedding season 2010 in 17 pictures and a video.

First, a stop (on the way to the first wedding) to meet Kevin, who is 8 months old now. "Woah," Isaac says, "you are almost as tall as me!" Kevin is such a cute little guy. Hopefully we can see him again soon.

Then, a foiled trip to the zoo. Evidently it was closing early due to Zoolala - some gala fundraiser thing. Isaac tried to put the blame here and there, but really it was on us for not getting started earlier. Next time, Isaac.

We found a beautiful Vietnam Veteran's memorial...

...with an enticing fountain!

Then we went to Boram and David's wedding. The ceremony was so beautiful, it made Mama a little emotional. Isaac was not feeling so good, and he was screaming (Papa removed him from the ceremony), so we couldn't stay for the reception.

The next weekend, we spent lots of time with our sweet cousin Louisa, who came down for a surprise special weekend visit.

Then we took a series of pictures which, as some cousins have already posted and mentioned, are not posed at all. Sure.

They are all 1/4 Swiss, except Isaac, who is only 1/8th.

The same weekend, Uncle Craig came to visit for the first time in about 11 months. We were so happy to see him too! We also got a smudge on the camera lens, which you can see in the rest of these pictures. And, on Sunday, we drove to Newport for a going-away party/bridal shower for my good friend Crystal, who is going to Brazil indefinitely and will be getting married to a Brazilian guy she met when she was living down there on Sept. 25.

The following weekend (last weekend), we went to our cousin Dustin's wedding. Now we have a new cousin Amanda! Here we are waiting to ride the short bus for the kids. Only one parent could ride with each kid, so Isaac and I waited. We got to spend some time with new cousins Rita and Addison. This is his cousin Rita's carseat. Looks like a good omen, right?

This what our trip to the wedding site on that short bus was actually like. Just to get a flavor of it. Let me tell you that the passengers on that short bus did not soon forget Isaac after that. The Capri side just laughed it off, because what else can you do? I guess we could have broken the law and saved everyone's ears, but the bus driver lady seemed pretty tough.

With a little special mother-son time upon arrival, Isaac calmed down. Then, we ended up sitting on the bride's side because the Capri-Dougherty side is just too darn big. :)

Here is the groom and his lovely mama (Mama's Godmother).

And the bridesmaids, including our cousin Chelsea.The camera wasn't working so well, so I don't have a very good picture of the lovely couple. But they were stunning, and they are amazing people that wrote their thank you notes and sent them in their 2-day "break" between the wedding and honeymoon. Talk about internally motivated. They are going to be awesome together.

Isaac agrees. We got to see Auntie Anna too! Isaac got to spend a lot of time with Uncle Mikey. They were super cool together.
Since then, Mama has wrapped everything up and is done with summer term! Time for a 3 week break! And, we haven't been entirely serious around here, although we have somewhat rearranged the furniture.

Tomorrow, Benton County Fair! And hopefully some blueberry picking sometime this weekend... Mama is so looking forward to this time free of schoolwork!