Happy Birthday little man!

Olliecouch
Originally uploaded by cree78.

Aunt Sarah made a wonderful video retrospective of Oliver's first year. It's about eight minutes long. Get out your Kleenex or at least be prepared to smile a lot. There is audio also so turn on your speakers too. She posted it online here:


She had to compress the file to fit it on the site, so the picture quality is poor compared to the original. Kate and I haven't watched the original without crying yet. If you would like a good quality copy, let us know and we'll mail you one.

First Birthday extravaganza

sugar rushes are fun!
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

We all gathered at G'ma and G'Dad's last night for Oliver's first birthday party. It will still be a few days until the actual event (Feb.2), but we'll be out of town next week and it's never too early to celebrate. Especially when you've never had a birthday before.

We arrived in the early afternoon and Cora helped Sarah decorate the cake. That meant a fair amount of icing was ingested during the decorating process. Once the early sugar rush set in, Cora started running around the house while we all hung out and loafed while Grandma slaved away in the kitchen.

Oliver wore a new outfit-a slick nylon jumpsuit that Grammy Stella sent for Christmas. He looked quite stylish and Grandma couldn't stop squeezing his chunky legs.

We opened presents and enjoyed a fabulous dinner and then unveiled the cake. There were quite a few candles on the cake, and when Oliver saw a burning cake coming his way he started squirming in his chair, ready to head in the opposite direction. But once the candles were out and the ice cream and cake were safely on his plate he was happy to indulge himself. As you can see, the cake and ice cream eating soon devolved into a chocolate-sugar-fueled-face-smeared-plate-licking-kid-fest. Both of the kids had a ball, and we all did too. Kate and I were too uptight to let Cora have that much fun when she was one. Then again she had barely started eating food when she was that age. We practically have to hold Oliver back from digging into our plates he's so eager to eat grown-up food already. Once the carnage was over G'ma and Kate bathed the kids, got the chocolate out of their hair, we took them home, and tucked them into bed. A great first Birthday.

Roofers...

Things have been relatively quiet around here....Cora and Oliver both weathered their sicknesses pretty well without taking nosedives.

We've had a stack of shingles in our yard for two weeks now, waiting for the roofers to come give us a new roof. They dropped off the shingles and have not lined up a time to actually use them. The tarps are holding up well so far, but I imagine there's only so much sun, wind, and buckets of rain that tarps and duct tape can withstand. Since our house is at the top of the "T" in a T-intersection, our yard is highly visible to all the cars that stop there. Word must have spread in the "shingling" workers pool that our house had a large amount of shingles sitting in the yard with no one to use them. A guy approached Kate last week and offered to shingle the roof for cheap. This morning as I left our driveway a truck pulled out of another driveway nearby. He backed out and blocked the road and gestured for me to roll down the window. I did, and he pointed to our front yard.
"Do you have someone to put on those shingles?"
I assured him that we did. It feels like we're being staked out by opportunistic shady shinglers.

As soon as I got to work I called our supposed roofing company. Evidently our work order got lost in the shuffle. So hopefully the roof will soon be out of our yard and on the roof.

Winter bug

psychedelic ollie
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

The winter bug has descended and taken Cora and Oliver down. They're both fighting colds or some sort of sickness. Cora has a classic cold and Oliver keeps running a high fever with no other symptoms. Cora has been out of school for two days so Mommy has been on double duty.

Oliver is still crab crawling happily with occasional balancing moments. He'll probably walk in a month or two. He has stopped talking (he had a total of three or four words) and has chosen to go back to his native tongue of baby babble. He's doing that quite a lot with great enthusiasm. It's clear that he knows exactly what he's saying to us, we just don't understand him yet.

before...

the eye
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

after!

the new 'do
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

It had to happen eventually

New haircut profile
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Yesterday, as I picked Cora up from school, her teacher April personally escorted her to the car. This never happens. Bad sign number one. As April helped Cora into the car she asked me casually, "Will you and Kate be home this evening? I would like to give you a call." Very bad sign, ominous even. Surely a death blow. Then she turned to Cora and said "Why don't you tell your daddy what was happening this afternoon. I'll give him a call tonight and we'll see what you talked about."

April then shut the door, leaving me confused and obviously concerned. Just as I began to turn back around, April mimed with her hands a pair of scissors across her forehead and mouthed the words "She cut her hair." Three other teachers were standing by the fence, all smiling from ear to ear as we drove away.

Cora had a hat on because it was cold outside, so I couldn't see the damage done. I figured it was significant though. I asked Cora how her day at school had gone and if she had done anything unusual. On to me as usual, she talked about the playground and lunchtime. Then with a flourish she whipped off her hat and said "And I cut my hair!"

I must admit she did a pretty good job. The picture is after the visit to the barber. She had hacked the front bangs to the nub and then cut back the sides to just over the ears, leaving the back long like a supermodel mullet. It looked stylish in a weird way. She was quite tickled about it.

One self-haircut is fine, and probably to be expected, but it's not a habit we want to encourage. So we tried not to appear too amused and insisted that we go to Fantastic Sam's where people are trained to cut hair. We all agreed that would remain their job in the future and Cora would concentrate on other skills.

The funny part is how cute her new haircut looks. She has a little pixie cut and it looks great.

On another note, once again, as Cora was brushing her teeth today, she came up with another pearl.
She said, "Daddy, I had a dream last night that I was a giant chicken."
"Yeah? What did you do when you were a chicken?"
"I got baked in the oven."

Big Week

We just finished an exciting week. Cora went to the dentist on Wednesday--her third checkup--and discovered that she has big teeth underneath the baby teeth in her lower jaw. She is very excited about them and is telling everyone that her big teeth are pushing on the baby teeth. It will probably be a while before they start getting loose, but it's still a reminder that her body is only getting bigger and older.

Another reminder is her new bed, which she is sleeping in tonight for the first time. She inherited it from Anne, who won't have room for it in Asheville. It's a big girl bed, big enough for adults to sleep in. She has a new set of Pooh sheets that match her pajamas and she's snuggled in for the night. Quite a big coming of age week for a four year old.

We helped Anne pack the moving van today and she's heading to Asheville tomorrow for the next chapter in her life. It will really sink in soon that she's not just down the road, but for now it doesn't feel real yet.

Science lessons

This morning as Cora was brushing her teeth for school she turned to me with an excited expression. She gets her most inspiration for deep thoughts when we are on a deadline. She said, "Did you know, plants breathe out the air that we need to live. And we breathe out the hydrogen peroxide that the plants need! Isn't that neat!"

sunny day

sunny day
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

We enjoyed an afternoon of unseasonably warm weather today--it was probably mid-60's all day, San Diego weather.

Oliver got his own photo shoot while Cora was at school. Check out the set at the flickr site. Click on the picture and then "view as slideshow". Also check out the "new Camera" set.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Five years today....yeeha!

New Camera!

eyes
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Thanks to Pop Pop and Grammy Rena, we now have a new camera--a Panasonic fz20. As you can see, it is a considerable step up from the old point and shoot variety. I have to figure out how to use it, but in the meantime it is still making some beautiful pictures. Click on the picture to go to our Flickr site and see the set of pictures we took today.

Wingate Bobbleheads

Wingate Bobbleheads
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

We are now a commodity. Immortalized. The Wingates are now bobbleheads. And we're also mostly African American, Cora being the sole exception. That could only mean that Pop Pop and Grammy Rena are in town with Christmas goodies gathered throughout the year; you never know what they're going to bring.

They rolled in last night after a full ten hour day on the road. Cora was so anxious to see them that she kept running back and forth to the door. I offered to read a book to her when I got home and she said "No Daddy, I have to watch for Pop Pop and Grammy Rena." We had a wonderful evening together once they arrived and then put them to work today.

Standing!

Oliver stood up on his own for about ten seconds on Tuesday. He was playing by the couch and picked up a toy with both hands. He was so absorbed looking at it that he must have forgotten he couldn't stand yet. Ten seconds up, then.....plop on the diaper bottom. We'll miss the crab crawl. We'll also miss the butt swivel, when he sits on the floor and spins around with his legs like a gunners turret, surveying the 360 degree landscape.

At this point--almost one year old already!--we are starting to discern some of Oliver's passions. Food and music are the two frontrunners. He grunts and lunges whenever we eat apples, bananas, or drink water. Gimme some! Cora got a bucket of instruments for Christmas, mostly percussive ones like a hand drum, triangle, wooden strikers, clacker thingies, a penny whistle, a tambourine, and some other stuff to create racket with. On three separate occasions now Oliver has crawled over to the music box, dumped everything out in a pile, picked out the appropriate instruments and begun to play them. The first time he chose the drum and the matching drumstick. Then the triangle and the matching striker. Then the wood strikers. He gets completely absorbed.

Then when we were at G'ma and G'dad's and they were playing music at New Years he couldn't get enough of the music they were playing. He listened contentedly for a while and then crawled up to the instruments, intent on playing them himself. His technique is quite good already; he fans his fingers in a gentle strumming motion. There is obviously a strong genetic pull toward music in his blood, but it's amazing to see him approach instruments as if he's played them before. (Insert parental comments here--He's a genius!)

Critter adventures

Now that the temperature has dropped around here we have some tiny furry friends trying to share the house with us. We have been finding mouse droppings in various areas over tha last few weeks, and in the beginning the warfare was moderate--put all the food in containers, wipe the counters with bleach, make sure there are no water sources, etc. I read on the Internet that mice abhor peppermint oil and will stay away if you put some on cotton balls and drop it where you think they are coming in the house. It sounded like a humane enough idea, so I tried it. Also installed a sonic deterrent in the kitchen.

The next day, more poops, right on the countertop under the sonic deterrent. The house has a lovely smell of peppermint to mask the unsightly countertop turds. So we ramped it up a bit and got some catch and release traps, still trying to respect these creatures' right to life. No luck after several days.

The turning point came one night after dinner. We usually put our dishes on the counter, put the kids to bed, and then clean up afterwards. So a few nights ago I put Cora to bed and headed back into the kitchen to do the dishes. As I'm standing at the counter a mouse ran right across a plate and jumped behind the refrigerator. That was the last straw. I wanted that sucker dead. His right to life ended when he licked my dinner plate. He poked his nose out from under the fridge a few times to see if we were still there, so I turned on all the lights to keep him there. At this point it became clear to me that mice must pass on two golden rules to their young:
1. If you smell peanut butter, don't eat it. It's a trap.
2. Never let the humans see you in their own house. Then they will REALLY try to kill you.

I could tell this mouse knew he had violated the second sacred rule and would shortly be dead. Happy to oblige, I went to Lowe's for what the salesman called the "mouse electric chair" and some glue traps. I surrounded the fridge in a ring of death, went into the living room, turned on a movie with Kate, and waited. Not three minutes later we heard a "squeak, squeak!" and found the varmint stuck fast to the glue board. Kate wanted to peel him off the board and set him free. I assured her that wouldn't be feasible. If he had only gone into the electric chair it would have been so much easier. But we had to throw him in a trash bag and take him to a dumpster down the road, to asphyxiate slowly or freeze in the night. I felt bad for a little while--it doesn't feel right to extinguish life--but sure felt good knowing there was one less mouse around. I put a glue board behind our entertainment center and another beside the fridge and we went to bed.

The next morning we were happy to find clean countertops and no sign of mice anywhere. We made breakfast as usual, Cora ran around while Oliver played in the living room. Kate and I ducked our heads in occasionally to check on him and he was always playing contentedly with some toys or pulling up on the bookshelf. I had just checked on Oliver not even two minutes before when Kate looked into the living room and didn't see him. She went in to find him and I heard an "Oh no! Brian, come here!" I ran in to find Kate pulling Oliver out from behind the entertainment center, his hand glued to the mouse board. Turns out there's just enough room for a baby to get back there. He's an observant little guy--never been back there before, but then again there's never been a glue board to play with. Obviously the mouse wasn't the only curious critter in the house. Luckily it was non-toxic glue, we pulled Oliver out of it, and he's still in one piece. And we haven't seen any mouse poops since then.

Fam in the leafpile

Fam in the leafpile
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Now that Christmas is over life has resumed some of its normal rhythms. I've been able to take off from work most of the last two weeks, which helps blunt Cora's impact on a single caregiver.

We started getting estimates for the work on our roof and other parts of the house that are falling apart. The first guy came highly recommended and it was an interesting visit. I learned several things from him in the course of a 30-minute housecall:
1. He has a good account with the local animal hospital.
2. He can do anything and everything well.
3. His daughter was conceived on a pool table in a biker bar.
4. He was the manager of the biker bar at the time.

And the list goes on....it felt like a two hour visit by the time he left. Nice guy, but a little too much of something.

Merry Christmas!

Family Christmas
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

The kids are all nestled snug in their beds, and Christmas 2005 comes to an end. Suddenly all that Christmas music sounds tacky. So yesterday.

We had a great Christmas here. It's sooo nice to be able to stay in town with two little ones. The festivities started yesterday on Christmas Eve with Christmas dinner at G'ma and G'dad's house in the afternoon. That meant Cora had to withstand the anticipation of the event for most of the day. She struggled. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" really threw her off her game. The notion that he knew what she was doing, when she was doing it, and whether she was being bad or good definitely frayed her nerves. By about two in the afternoon she was crying uncontrollably. She looked at me and said, "Santa understands that everyone is going to have a bad day sometimes!"

About that time our roof started leaking, and I ended up on the roof in the rain with a tarp while Kate suddenly tried to corral the kids for Christmas dinner on her own. After a trip to Lowe's for better tarps I lashed them down with the help of my Dad and figured they weren't going anywhere. There's only so much you can do on Christmas weekend.

Once we got to Christmas dinner everything went well. Cora was giddy with excitement and could barely wait her turn in the gift giving before tearing into another present. After our eyes glazed over from a fantastic meal we packed the kids home to get ready for Santa and another round of Christmasness.

Cora was up a little before 6am, ready to go. We hit the ground running with stockings and started in on presents once Anne got here. We had three waves of opening to pace ourselves, and Cora did well. Opening some presents on Christmas Eve seemed to take some of the manic edge off. Oliver slept through most of the unwrapping festivities but woke up in time to thrash through boxes and paper wrapping.

G"ma and G'dad came over bearing instruments in the afternoon and set up a family quartet--Sally on cello, Mark on violin, Anne on recorder, and Kate on flute. Cora added an extra spice with accompaniment on triangle and drum. It sounded wonderful.

Words!

oliver's crawl
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

The crab crawler has his first "real" word--light. He says "ight?" in a singsongy elfin whisper and gazes at the ceiling in every new room. He first said it on Thanksgiving day sitting in Granddad's lap. Oliver suddenly lunged at the lamp over Granddad's shoulder and said "Aight!" like he had just put it all together in his mind. He's been saying it constantly ever since. He also said "hat" when Anne walked in yesterday wearing--you guessed it--a hat.

It's neat that Granddad was with Oliver when he said his first word because "light" was my first word too. Deja vu!

Hmmm....

On the way to school this morning Cora said,

"Dad, it would take one hundred days to drive to the sun."

"Really? How would you get there? That's a long way."

"They should put some gravity in outer space and then we could put gas stations there. I'd bring a biiiiiig bottle of glue and we'd glue them down."

Cora's Message to Elise and her parents

g'ma carol and cora
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

"To Elise and her parents:
I like you and I hope I see you at the beach at my birthday party. And I hope you have a very good time with me at the beach. It's fine over here but Ollie is crumpling up my stuff and eating my books. He's really good to me but he's just a little too silly for me. He sticks out his tongue but I really don't like seeing his tongue. Elise, I'm already four. Oliver is already almost standing up.

Love,
Cora"

(Transcribed verbatim)