Wordless Wednesday

Like Uncle, Like Nephew

You see, Uncle Chad, he is a little bit of a daredevil. Actually, he is THE daredevil of the family. He is a snowboarding, surfing, rock climbing, thrill seeking guy. He also plays golf which surprises me as that seems like it would be a bit boring for him - but what can I say, he is unique.

Uncle Chad has always been this way. In fact, one time when we were kids, while my mom left us to wander a high school campus while she took an aerobics class, my sister and I convinced Chad to jump off a second story stair landing. I don't remember the convincing taking tooooo long, either. I am fairly certain it hurt but he did not break anything.

That's not to say Chad has not broken lots of parts. I know he has separated a shoulder. I think he has broken a finger and there was a wrist issue. Also lots of stitches. Once he rode his snow sled off the side of a hill and landed in a tree or some such thing. That resulted in stitches to the ear, I think.

I am sure he could provide us all with an updated list of his broken parts and stitched up places in the comment section below.

Me, I have never broken anything. And the only time I have had stitches was after the c-section. Jonathan..., also not likely to jump off anything.

MRA, however, MRA takes after Uncle Chad. The other day, a neighbor brought over a little toy that you can push or ride on.  And, well... MRA climbed up on it and acted like he was surfing. He promptly busted his butt. After Daddy calmed him, he got right back up there and did it again.

On a different occasion, MRA discovered his climbing skills. Daddy documented. Mamma saw the pictures and immediately checked the emergency room coverage on our health insurance.

I think we will be getting to know the ER doctors well in the future. Thanks Uncle Chad - you are like the gift that just won't stop giving.

Wordless Wednesday

Daddy Is A Hardass

MRA has been notoriously sick for the past few weeks. After the first week, we took him to the doctor and it turns out that he had the croup and an ear infection.

The little guy has been on steroids and antibiotics and doing much better.

Today, we got called to pick him up from daycare as he was covered from head to toe in a rash! Yikes! The doctor thinks it is a result of the antibiotics (great.) So Jonathan left work and brought him home.

I, who stayed at work, just got out of a meeting to find an e-mail entitled "If ur staying home from school, then ur gonna work". The following was attached

Wordless Wednesday

There are two kinds of people in this world

white light people and colored light people. I am not saying one is better than the other. But, what I am saying is that the people I know seem to fall distinctly, squarely, unequivocally into one of these categories.

No one I know says, " Oh, I don't care what color they are as long as there are lights." No sirree, my friends and family have strong opinions about the lights and what their preference is.

We are very much colored light people. For me, and my husband would agree, when you see the colored lights, you know it is a special time, you know its the Holidays. You know Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Festivus is coming.

You know this.

You know this because at no other time of the year does anyone really use these kinds of lights. Well, except for some people who are lazy and leave them up all year round, but, I digress.

And they remind me of being a child and how magical and festive Christmas was/is. The colors are warm and glowy and exciting and fun.

White lights are pretty but I can go to any number of places and see them at any time of the year. Many places decorate their patios, terraces and parks with white lights and people string them when they are having parties even in July. So the white lights don't really seem special.

And, even though some of the white light people I know may want to think that white lights are exclusive, they are not. they are everywhere,

Colored lights are, on the other hand, exclusive at least to the Holidays (if you are into that sort of thing.)

Again, no judgement on the lights. Colored lights are just my preference. Which lights do you prefer?



Wordless Wednesday

One couple, Two Individuals

This is really a story of two individuals, who are a couple, yet still, from time to time, function individually.

My "To Do" list yesterday after work included wrapping some presents. Jonathan's "To Do" list included running an errand (I don't know what) on the way home.

The texts went like this:

Him: Anything that I need to pick-up on my way home?

Me: depends. where r u stopping?

Him: May go to target

Me: if you stop photo paper, floss, toothpaste, tissue paper.

Him: R u asking for tp or tissues? I bought tp last week

Me: im asking for tissue paper for gifts. although using tp could be more fun.

Note: So, if we send you a gift, well... you have been warned.

Infant-Directed Speech (in other words, Baby Talk)

Before MRA made his debut, I did not spend too much time around children or with parents. We have friends with kids but they live far away and we only see them from time to time so seeing their kids was a treat and not in the same category as having to deal with a screaming, snot-nosed, bugger eating bambino at the next table during date night.

One thing that especially annoyed me was the baby talk. I mean, really, why did  parents have to change their voice and get all squeaky and make sounds that were not only not words but barely, actually, count as syllables.

Children are just little versions of adults so why not teach them from the start how to have a real conversation. Shouldn't parents be modeling this behavior?

And, then, then came my very own squeaky, babbling and oh-so-adorable-no-matter-what bambino.  What I have found is that when he babbles and we babble back at him, he is happy. He is encouraged. And, he thinks it is fun to "communicate".

                                                  

So, yes, now I have found both myself and Jonathan babbling away. Really though, its mostly Jonathan. We went through a whole stage where Jonathan and MRA would say boooooo-RAT back and forth for minutes on end. It ended with both of them laughing.

And then there was the stage where MRA would run his hand back and forth over his mouth to change up the sound he was making. Jonathan did that too. It kinda sounded like adeladle which was one of my favorite words after taking an anthropology course in college.

I can't blame either of them. Adeladle is just fun to say.

I don't (think) do too much of the babbling BUT I have noticed my voice changes AND I call my my little butter bean all kinds of ridiculous things including my little nutter butter.

But who could really help it? He is so stinking cute, I just want to sop him up with a biscuit!

Wordless Wednesday