Finally - the beach

So we've lived in San Diego for all of Harrison's life. We go to the beach several times a year, but he has always been scared of the ocean. (It's the waves, because he loves the tub.) He loves to play in the sand and throw rocks and chase the birds. But he would not go in the water. In fact, sometimes he would not let us stand in the water.

Today we went to the shores to play at the playground. I was not anticipating any time at the actual beach, so I wore jeans and no one had a swim suit. After a while playing on the gym, we all went down to the beach to play in the sand (or so I thought). I started the traditional hole in the sand. I dug the hole at the edge of the tide. So every 5 minutes or so when the big set came in, water filled our hole. The boys like that, and that's where our beach experiences have ended in the past. But Harrison wanted to put rocks in the hole. After he put in all the rocks shore side, he discovered that there are also rocks further into the surf. He wandered out into the ebbing tide to pick up rocks! No warning. We just saw him tromping in the water. A few minutes later, he and Mollie were wading when he jumped down and sat in the water. I went out with him to where he was almost waist deep in the water. I was astonished, and very dripping denim wet.

We don't have a picture of any of this, but then again it was totally unexpected. Even Noah wandered out into the water. I am so glad that my boys finally like the ocean. Hopefully we will go again soon and take the camera.

Sam

Sam's Theory of Economics

I have over the past few months been noticing the incredible deals that I’ve been party to, and how much I unfortunately spend on non-deals. So here’s my theory. You should not pay more for things when you could get the same enjoyment by paying less. Earth shattering, this is not. Neither is it controversial, however I'm often surprised at how inexpensive joyful fulfillment can be.

Let's take kids toys as our example. Garage sales and ebay have been very good to me. I don’t ever need to pay full price for toys again. And after seeing Noah elated with a nickel stuffed animal, I'm confident that I'm not robbing him of anything. Tricycles, push toys, hot wheels, books, clothes, sometimes still in the wrapper. The best part about getting toys for a nickel, is that when you discover that your kids don’t really play with it, you can toss it without any attachment. This is crucial to our crowded apartment. Our apartment complex has an unofficial “free table” in the laundry room. We often find stuff here, play with it for a while and then “return” it to the free table.

Computers, however are a totally different story. I've never heard anyone say, "I got this old computer, and it's awesome!" Maybe this is because I am a computer geek, but I feel that it is important to pay for a good computer. Any computer will be old and slow soon enough, don’t make it come any sooner because you bought something bottom of the line. We recently bought a new computer and are very excited. I use the word “deal” cautiously. We spent a good amount of money, but got lots of features.

Look Who's Talking....

So, for the past 6 months or so, Noah could say a few words, and they had held pretty steady for a while. Mamma, Dadda, Ball, Hi, nigh-nigh (night night), hot, hat and a few others. He added a word or two every few weeks, but his vocab hadn't grown all that much since the initial starting to talk. Well, this week, his tongue was loosed- he just started repeating almost all the words we say to him, "rain", "socks", "shoes", "cat," "hug", "dog", and even picking up objects and naming them on his own. This morning he went in the pantry, grabbed a packet of oatmeal and said "pack-it". In his bath he stuck his head in the water, and then came out and said, "bubbles!" Yesterday at the park he exclaimed "buck-it!" to claim the bucket a friend had just snatched. When I asked him if he had a poopie diaper, he pointed at his diaper and said, "poopies, poopies!" This morning I was going over body parts with Harrison, and Noah pointed to my arm and said, "arm!" I find my self doing a double take, because where there used to be no comprehensible response, now he almost always repeats part of what I ask him. He is also not afraid of expressing his opinion. Yesterday day I said it was time to go night-night, and he looked at me, shook his head, and said, "no." and went on playing. Even though it has increased his ability to defy me, it's fun to hear him express himself in new ways!

The Experiment

One interesting aspect of living in a University setting, is the opportunity to participate in studies that are being conducted by the University. While I have not actually ever been a participant, I have wittnessed Harrison as a participant in 3 studies, and Sam has even lent his body to science for a few hours.
Today Harrison was able to participate in one such study. While I wont go into the details, I will say it was very interesting to watch. He was connected up to machines to watch his brainwaves while he performed certain tasks. He was a really good sport about everything, but he was pretty tired by the end. When Sam got home this afternoon, Harrison told him that "scientists looked at my brain." I didn't even realize that he knew the word scientists, but apparently he was paying more attention today than I ever realized.

Grandma's Little Sewing Boy

During Grandma Grettle's recent visit, Harrison acquired a new skill he is quite proud of. He learned to sew. After Grandma showed him how it was done, he would regularly request to sew with Grandma. He would very carefully keep the thimble on his thumb, but never use it to touch the needle. He learned quickly that it was very easy to poke yourself with the needle if you weren't careful, but everytime he did so, he would exclaim, "Ouch! I'm okay." Grandma taught him that sewers are very brave, not whimps. I think he truely believes that sewing is some sort of noble sport that only very brave people take part in. Now that Grandma is gone, he talks fondly of sewing, and looks forward to visiting Grandma at her house in Texas so he can sew with her. I think Grettle is looking forward to it also.

It Snowed!

As I loaded the groceries into the trunk of my car today, I could feel the hot sun beating down on my back, and was amazed to think that we woke up to 3 inches of snow fall less than a week ago. Okay, so we weren't technically in San Diego when it snowed, but we were only a short hour and a half drive from our apartment staying in Julian when it snowed last week, and right now it is 78 in La Jolla.

Sam and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary by taking a little overnight trip up to Julian. Thanks to Grettle, we were able to leave the kids and have a mini "vacation" to ourselves. We had a great time. We stayed in a cute little Bed & Breakfast called Mountain High . It was very nice and calm - we had the whole place to ourselves. We stayed in the Rose cottage, and I believe it was actually larger than our whole apartment. We had a wood burning stove which kept it nice and cozy through the snowy night, and breakfast was delivered to the back door. Scott (the "inn keeper") even brushed all the snow off of our car in the morning. We also spent some time in town along main street visiting the little shops there. Julian is quite a world away from San Diego. Many of the stores and restaurants were closed due to snow. We weren't sure if they were out sledding, or they had to stay at home with their kids who had the day off... Nonetheless we enjoyed delicious pie and hot chocolate everywhere we ate, and brought some yummy treats home from the Julian Cider Mill. It was a good reminder of the weather we've been missing since we've moved to San Diego, but I'm glad to be back in the 70 degree weather!

Nestled All Snug...

The other day while Noah was in room time, I noticed it got incredibly quiet for a busy little toddler. When I opened the door to check on him, I found him nesltled in the corner of the crib on top of a fluffy comforter, fast asleep. Unfortunately, the taking of this picture awoke him, but at least I have a momento of a cute moment.