We love you Uncle Dan!

We love you Uncle Dan!, originally uploaded by Wingates.

Kate's new 'do

new do 2, originally uploaded by Wingates.

Oliver plays the fiddle

When I was a kid I took violin lessons for a while. I must have been five or six, and I had a child sized violin. I moved on from the violin, but my parents tucked it away in a closet, probably knowing that a grandchild would pick it up someday. Well,Oliver craves music. He asks for fiddle music most mornings soon after he wakes up. When we visit Gma and Gdad's house he wants to be up close and personal with the instruments. So a week ago he got a chance to play the fiddle himself. He was ready--he played "all by self" and even threw in some dancing. Check it out:

un.....doo......free......

Oliver is now talking up a storm. No full sentences yet--although he did say "Jeffrey monkey says hoo hoo ha ha" yesterday to Kate--but tons of single words and a lot of two word combinations. He has always been able to get his point across pretty well even without the aid of extremely early verbal development that Cora enjoyed. We still have to translate most of his words when he's asking for something, but more often than not we figure out what he's talking about.

Numbers seem to fascinate him--last week in the car he counted to ten out of the blue. He had never counted past two before, and then suddenly, unprompted, he singsonged his way all the way to eleven. He won't do it on demand, only when he feels like it. If I ask him to count, he just says "no" with a little shake of the head. Two nights ago he was counting in his sleep.

Christmas Tree time

Introducing "Guava", our Christmas tree this year. It was 70 degrees outside and we decorated the tree with all the windows open. Very surreal.

The Haircut

Before (above)....
During......
After!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It's 7:30am and the house has been in full swing for some time now. Oliver and Cora are reading together and only fighting occasionally. We're getting to that stage where it pays to have two of everything. When one kid has something, the other one wants it, no matter what it is. We've talked a lot about sharing and not grabbing, and I expect it will be a theme for some time to come.

Some things we are thankful for today:

Kate was admitted to Belmont University to complete her Undergraduate degree. She'll start classes in the new year.

Oliver is getting his hair cut today. Aunt Sarah is bringing her scissors to Thanksgiving dinner and he will be sheared before, after, or during our feast. We have enjoyed every minute of his sun drenched locks, and until now they seemed too beautiful to cut. But just last week he crossed that mysterious line when you just know it's time for a haircut. We'll take some before and after pictures for posterity.

We're also thankful for our family and friends who have supported us as a family for the last six years. When Kate and I found out she was pregnant, we were living in a very different world. Ensconced in the buffered environment of Omega, still young and exploring possibilities for ourselves, having children was the last thing we expected to be doing within the next year. Other than Phyllis, our ninety year old friend at Omega who insisted a baby was on the way (and who is honored by Cora's middle name), no one else expected it either. Phyllis was right about the baby, and she was right about another thing too.

Phyllis insisted that this child would bring our families together. I still remember how stunned Kate and I were after breaking the news to our families to receive the instant support, love and acceptance that has never wavered to this day.

Kate and I often talk to each other about how lucky our kids are to have such a loving network of family and friends. They have both grown up in a web of grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends that love them to pieces. And sometimes, when we emerge briefly from the thrill ride that is parenting, we let it soak in that this love surrounds us too. And we are very, very thankful.

Pictures

We're having trouble posting a photo from Flickr at the moment, click "Online Wingate Photo Album" to see some pics from the trip...

More Fall Fun

We took a much-needed vacation last weekend, consisting mostly of hiking, eating, dancing, and lazing about in front of a roaring fire -- not bad, eh? Pop Pop and Grammy Rena, Grandma Sally and Granddad, Aunt Anne, Uncle Nate, Cousin Mary Grace, and our Wingate crew converged at a cabin at Pickett State Park in North-Central Tennessee for our annual November getaway. Aside from said cabin having no heat (what are blazing fires for, after all?), everyone had loads of fun and agreed that the time passed much too quickly for our liking. Visuals soon...

Trick or Treat

Still Life with Dinosaur and Fire Hydrant

























Cora as Pippi Longstocking



















More candy, please























Post Trick-or-Treating Silliness



Well, Halloween 2006 was officially a success. Aside from a cranky dinosaur who refused to take a nap earlier in the day and a few minor wardrobe malfunctions for Pippi (her wig kept falling off!), much candy was accumulated by all. We journeyed over to Cora's schoolmate Ben's neighborhood for the evening, and boy, do they know how to do Halloween in those parts! One house even had the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas being projected onto a screen on the front of their house. And there were just droves of trick-or-treaters -- way more people on the streets than I've ever seen in all my Halloweens. My favorite costume (aside from Cora's, of course) was a sumo wrestler -- it was made out of the same material as those large blow-up yard snowmen and pumpkins and had a fan built in which kept it inflated. There was also a dad dressed up like Kid Rock. He had a portable amp slung on his shoulder and whenever his kid approached a front door, he'd play a rif on his electric guitar. It brought back memories of being completely embarrassed by my dad, who always accompanied me trick-or-treating with a paper bag over his head, with holes for the eyes and a face drawn on the front. Hmmm... maybe I'll do that to Cora and Oliver next year...

Happy Birthday Brian!

It's Brian's birthday (yay!), but we won't get to celebrate it as a family today because he's working til 10 tonight (wah!). While she was visiting us last weekend, Grandma Carol had the wonderful idea of bringing him cupcakes at the office on his birthday. It just so happened that he was teaching this morning, so his co-workers and I surprised him at the end of his class by coming in and singing to him, and then handed out cupcakes and juice boxes to his students. Susan even spanked him 33 times -- one for each year and one to grow on. He was sufficiently surprised and embarrassed, I do believe...

Long Time No Blog

Bear with us, dear friends and family -- it's a crazy time here at the Wingate household. With Brian's teaching schedule in full swing, most nights he doesn't get home til 10. This leaves Mommy with the lion's share of kid/house duties, so come evening time, neither of us tends to be up for computer time. Repeat with us, "This semester WILL end. This semester WILL end."
In the midst of it all, however, we somehow managed to organize a fabulous (albeit VERY late) 5th birthday party for our dear girl Cora. She made her "friend party" request way back in July, right after her real birthday, which we celebrated with our extended family at the beach. And what exactly was this request? Nothing other than a (and I qoute) "John Denver campfire singalong." How could one refuse her this? It took me a while, but finally, last weekend, she had her very own John Denver party at a charming picnic shelter in the woods, replete with a stone hearth and lots of friends. Some pics...

Cora

Cora
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

I finally got some pictures of Cora this morning. She can be hard to catch on the run. She's usually engrossed in something else or doesn't want to be bothered by the presence of a camera.

more notes

pondering
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Cora has enjoyed an unprecendented burst of creativity since turning five. Learning to read boosted her creative confidence in all areas. She now wanders off and draws pictures or colors on her own.

When we're in the car she'll read signs as we pass by and ask questions. The world has opened up to her, and it feels like she has been waiting for this age since she was eighteen months old.

Our sleep has evened out a bit as Oliver grows accustomed to life without Mommy milk. He has a transitional addiction to Elmo crackers. As soon as he wakes up he says "Emmo............cacka?" He has been devouring food all day long for a week or two now. He must be growing.

Notes

Oliver started putting words together this week. He says the first word, pauses, then says the second in a singsongy question. He already has some words like school bus that are more than one word, but now he is starting to express concepts.

Long week

Last week was a long one at the Wingate household. I started teaching my Monday/Wednesday night classes, we weaned Oliver; he did not appreciate it one bit and started waking up for the day at 4:30am every morning on the dot, getting out of bed and wandering around in the dark, knocking on the door pitifully. He's also breaking in four new teeth all at once.

Today he woke up at 4:50, so that's some improvement. We don't know exactly how he does it, but Oliver has a circus-like ability to crawl out of enclosures. We've never seen him actually do it, so there's still an element of mystery to how he pulls it off. It involves kicking one leg up over the rail and then heaving his body up after it. But that takes a lot of strength. He's manly.

We retired Oliver's crib because he fell out once and was halfway out a second time when Kate came into the room. With his recent nightly wanderings we decided he needed to be contained for us to have any sanity. Rather than reassemble the crib and risk another high fall, we set up the portable play pen in his room. It's roughly the size of a crib but lower to the ground; the rails are at his eye level or a bit higher, so it should still be tough or impossible for a baby to climb out. Sure enough, at 4:50am this morning he woke up and started crying. A minute later we heard him plodding around in the dark, looking for a door to knock on. He didn't crash to the ground or make a thud; one moment he was in the playpen and the next moment he was out. He's a little Houdini. The playpen did help, though. We put him back down and he slept until 6:00. It was probably too much trouble to escape over and over again.

Cora, on the other hand, has been a dream. She enjoys school soooo much. She has had two sleepovers at friends' houses the last two weekends, so she really knows she's growing up.

Oliver--One Year Ago

Boy, kids grow up quickly...

Oliver has been a trip lately. His personality is blooming. He is absolutely obsessed with school buses and trucks, squealing with delight whenever we pass them on the street. "Boo Buck!" (School bus) "KUK! (Truck)

We were riding in the car a few days ago and listening to some old-time music on the radio. Uncle Dave Macon came on the radio. We didn't know that Oliver was really listening, but as soon as the music started he called out "Dad Dad!" for Granddad, who plays guitar. Then a day or so later, he pointed to a small picture of a fiddle on the wall and said "Dad Dad!" again. He obviously has Granddad's musical style and instruments pegged. Then when Grandma Sally was over for dinner he tried to strum the image of a fiddle on her shirt. He has been mesmerized by music since he was very young, when he crawled up to anyone playing an instrument and tried to strum the strings.

All By Self

hammock boy
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

When Cora was Oliver's age she would often refuse our help with any task and say "All by self. All by self." Oliver has reached that stage. He wants to do everything all by self. Going down stairs, putting on shoes, eating with utensils...all by self. He was in the hammock all by self and flipped out onto the ground moments after this picture was taken.

We enjoyed a visit from my lifelong friend Alex this weekend. Oliver called him Ack. Uncle Ack it is. Both kids loved Alex, and we managed to fit in some grown-up catch-up time as well as kid playtime. We took Cora to her first baseball game at the minor league stadium. We caught a foul ball, so Cora even got a nice souvenir.

Oliver's Mane

Sickies

Cora and Oliver stayed home with colds today. One week at school and the kids are swapping germs like crazy. Cora got to watch movies all day and Oliver was tickled to have her around to play with. It's a fine line when a five year old gets sick--they're crafty enough to realize the perks of getting "sick" more often--so you've got to make them suffer a little while at home. I know it's a beautiful day and you want to play outside, but you're sick, remember?

Oliver goot new shoes for the fall, and his feet have slimmed down to wide from 2X wide. Cora is still growing like a weed.