The Zog Blog

I know, I know. All I can say is, I promise to update at least twice a week from now on. I am hereby stating it publicly with many witnesses!

So what’s been happening? Well, a steady stream of visitors, which I guess shouldn’t surprise me since we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Not that I’m gloating or anything! (That’s Jon’s job.) Our friend Gayle snapped the above picture while spending a weekend here with us.

Jacob would like you to know that I still take far, far too many pictures of him.

On the Wednesday following Gayle’s visit, my wonderful Aunt Dina, her really cool son Ryan and his equally cool friend Jamie arrived for an extended weekend visit. We showed them all of the beautiful scenery the Central Coast has to offer, despite less-than-perfect weather. PCH 1 is pictured above…

…Big Sur…

…some trees…

…but I think their favorite was the PGA course tour of Pebble Beach. Turns out, there are three PGA courses within a mile of the house. I think Ryan was a little scandalized that I had no idea. We had an absolute blast with them, and were very sad to see them leave. Jacob was especially grateful, since they prompted me to get off my butt and drive the long haul up to San Francisco for a day. Jacob LOVED San Francisco. You wouldn’t believe the number of buses and trucks in that town! Not to mention the boat ride we took.

It was his first, to Alcatraz Island, and he and I had a lot of fun exploring while Dina and the boys took the audio tour. He is still talking about the boat. The night that Dina and the boys left, our friend Carl from college showed up and stayed most of a week with us. That was also a lot of fun, though I have far fewer pictures.

Carl, the saint, even watched Jacob one afternoon so that Jon and I could escape for an hour alone. Man, we needed that. This weekend we were supposed to head down to LA for our ten-year college reunion, but Jon’s mother and Bev show up on Friday, and I’ve taken on some contract work for MITRE, and I think someone is going to send in the troops to deal with the laundry/dishes situation soon… yeah. Suffice it to say, we needed a weekend wherein we do absolutely nothing but catch up.

So, hi! Sorry I’ve been away. Greetings from a very busy household–what have you all been up to? (Credit for the last photo goes to our friend Carl Coryell-Martin, by the way–he took the camera and tripod out while we put Jacob to bed one night. Thanks, Carl!)

Folks, it’s been a long week in a long month in a long year. Both Jon and I came down with the stomach flu this week, one of us more spectacularly than the other. Thankfully, Jacob seemed to dodge that bullet. And that’s all I want to say (or remember) about that.

When Jacob asks for a walk these days, this is what he means:

Of course, there’s a fair amount of running the stroller into the weeds, but he seems to have a great time and it’s unbearably cute, so we humor him.

The only thing that will get him to leave the stroller alone for a few seconds is a truck. (GUCK! GUCK! BUUUUUUE GUCK!)

Now that he can ask for what he wants (and open the door to the garage and climb into his stroller), we’re getting a lot more exercise, which is fun. In fact, it’s a lot of fun to be with Jacob all around these days. He’s reasonably obsessed with colors and letters these days, and knows a handful of each. He’s starting to play pretend games, for example “cooking” with play-doh in the kitchen or crawling around meowing like a cat. He’s even started singing along and making hand-motions for our favorite songs (Little Bunny Foo-Foo and the Itsy-Bitsy Spider rank the top of the list currently).

As badly as I want another baby, and as badly as we generally want more children, sometimes it’s terrifying to think about. What if this disruption takes away the joy and happiness with which he approaches life?

We sure got a lot of weather, in Maine.

In the course of the 12 days we were there, we saw bitter cold (4.1 degrees, baby!), relative warmth with accompanying rain, and a blizzard. Fun times! Jacob loved the snow, and on the whole loved the trip. Even the airplane rides weren’t so bad.

One of the most rewarding things about this trip was getting to see Jacob’s interaction with his grandparents. He started talking in earnest while we were in Maine, and managed to call Nancy “Neenee” (Nanny) while we were there. I really felt, for the first time, that the visit gave Jacob a big benefit, in addition to being great for those he was visiting. It was a wonderful way to mark his transition into a communicating, highly autonomous person.

I snapped this picture of him at my maternal grandmother’s house. I loved seeing him next to his one-year-younger self. He looks so much older, so much more like a little boy, in the pictures from this trip.

He’s really sounding like a little boy, too. Jacob jumped from being nearly silent to speaking in two-word sentences in the course of about two weeks. When we hopped on the plane, he wasn’t saying much other than “Mama”, “Dada”, and “Bye”. Today, the favored game was to run around the house admonishing me to “Mum-mum, tickle!!! Tickle tickle tickle, Mum-mum!!!”

As he gets more able to meet his basic needs without our help, our thoughts are turning more and more to the next baby. We really want at least one more, and I’m starting to feel like if I get too far past the baby stage I just won’t want to go through it again.

So what’s the holdup? Me, really. I hated pregnancy so much that it’s tough to contemplate going through it again. Add in the 20 pounds I’m still carrying around from the first pregnancy, and I just can’t deal. Since the fall is my internal deadline for the next pregnancy, Jon and I are both back on the South Beach diet. Today is day one, and we’re both suffering through the requisite sugar-crash and zombie-like fascination with all things baked.

On the bright side, and this is why I’ve tagged this entry “Gloat”, there are worse places to start South Beach than CA in the spring. Our dinner tonight was white fish freshly caught in the bay this morning, along with a fresh salad and the season’s first asparagus. Spring has totally sprung here, and I hope it’s not too far in coming wherever you happen to be.

One day, not long ago, it was warm enough outside for Jacob to run around wearing only a diaper.

Another day, not long after that, Jon decided to get his outdoor herb garden started for the year.

Today, the high in Pebble Beach is 65 degrees. It’s already 50, and sunny, and beautiful.

Today, the high in Portland ME is 17 degrees, and currently it’s only 2.

Wednesday night, Jacob and I will fly from our warm, sunny paradise to a frozen tundra. The things we do for family. :) I’m a little ashamed, honestly, at how quickly I’ve adjusted to the great weather we have here. Jon and I were talking last night about what we’d do in ME, and at least the first 5 ideas tossed around wouldn’t work in a cold, snowy place. I’m sure we’ll have a great time, though, and Jacob is looking forward to seeing his grandparents.

Honestly, the thing I’m most apprehensive about is the air travel required. It’s the first time I’ll be flying solo with Jacob, and I’m pretty uncertain that 2 arms will be sufficient. I ordered an attachment to our carseat that turns it into a stroller, and hopefully it will arrive today or tomorrow. Then at least I could contend with “only” a suitcase, a backback, a carseat, and a toddler (theoretically) riding in the carseat.

Aah! It sounds insane when I write it that way. Wish me luck!

(Oh, and I upgraded the WordPress version that powers this blog. Hopefully, for those of you with problems commenting and viewing extended entries, this will take care of things. Please let me know if you continue to have issues with the site.)

You know, I really do think of something to post about almost every day. I get the post composed in my head, and then Jacob either smears mayonnaise on something or attempts something life-threatening and I run off to deal with it, the words of the post scattering through the air like dust.

And then, since I don’t have any time to clean anymore, they mix in with all of the other dust already there and I blink and a month has gone by since I’ve last written.

Jacob is enjoying the rain (bagel included for scale). We’ve been getting more of it lately, which is pretty nice since it’s still also sunny almost every day. I like the variety, it reminds me of Maine. Except, you know, there are no mosquitoes. :)

We had a wonderful time hosting the Providence Herzogs here for a couple of weeks, even if the house was a bit bursting at the seams with 8 residents. Many deer and seals and otters were seen, lots of gorgeous scenery drunk in, many good meals shared. And Wednesday night, Jacob and I hop a plane to spend a 10 days or so in Maine, seeing family there. I’m really looking forward to the Maine part–not so much the traveling alone with a toddler part. But, we’ll make it through okay, I’m sure.

(Jacob loves to be tossed in the air, by the way.)

It’s still about as beautiful here as you’d expect, and I still pinch myself occasionally just to make sure it’s all real. Which isn’t to say that we don’t have our funk days, even here in paradise, of course. Life is life, no matter where you’re living it. But it’s almost always possible to take a beautiful walk and snap out of it, here. It’s a nice contrast with March in Boston, always my least-favorite month.

I’m not sure where I’m going with that, but Jon just came downstairs for our nightly TV watching so I guess I’ll sign off. Hope you’re well!

I don’t let Jacob watch much television, but lately he has been requesting Sesame Street. Watching it is a really neat trip down memory lane. They still use some of the little shorts from when I was a kid! (Although the ones I recognize are invariably pocked with film-marks and scratchy.) Cookie monster liking carrots isn’t as bad as I feared, and Oscar is still Oscar. Jacob is fascinated by the letters and the numbers. He’s clearly trying to figure out how to read, write, and count. (Of course, he’s light-years away from any of them. But it’s so much fun to watch the wheels turning.)

I’m sorry I haven’t posted much recently, we’re just having too much fun I guess. Here’s a general baby-update: Jacob is more of a little boy every day, and the first year is slinking into hazy sleep-deprived long-term memory. He feeds himself with spoons and forks, can drink from an adult glass under supervision, and loves to draw. The other day, he drew a few little squiggles and pointed at one of them, and said “Da da”. So I asked what the other one was, and he pointed at me! And then he informed me that the little one (I kid you not) was “Yaycuh”. I almost died.

He’s still kind of half-and-half with actually saying “Ma ma”, although he clearly knows who I am (and where my eyes, ears, nose, hair, etc. are). We’ve been waiting for him to talk for ages, it seems. But it looks like he’s going to follow the path that our friend Stacy followed, and simply wait until he can speak in complete sentences. The other day, out of the blue, as he was going down the stairs he beamed up at me, and said “Jacob go down!”.

On nice days, which we’re having a lot of lately, we like to go to this awesome playground with a fenced-in toddler area.

There are lots of places to climb, and music chimes to ring.

And stairs to climb down ALL BY HIMSELF, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

And yesterday, when he decided he’d had enough, and wanted to run around on the soccer field, he figured out that he could squeeze himself right through the grates in the fence.

God help us.

That is all.

Did I really write “crisp but not cold temperatures” in that last post?

Uh, sorry about that, rest of CA. Just to show how wrong I can be, we’ve had below-freezing temperatures at night for what seems like FOREVER (but is at most two weeks). Houses here just aren’t built to handle the cold. Single pane windows and zero insulation means brrrrrrr.

Jacob doesn’t mind, so much. We’re still walking during the day, and we have finally gotten off of the waiting list (*boggles*) at the local Gymboree-type place. So we’re also going to the Padded Room of Toddler Heaven a couple of times a week. It’s called “Tots in Motion”, and it’s basically a big open space filled with padded little tubes, ramps, mazes, and trampolines. He has a blast, and I’m meeting other mothers. It’s really, really nice.

I’m generally not much for new year’s resolutions, but this year I’m striving for a better balance between being mom-Amy and me-Amy. When your “job” is with you 24-7, it’s surprisingly easy to lose sight of everything else, and I struggled with that a little bit last fall. I’m spending a lot of time knitting, and meeting other adults through that, which is really nice. And I’m getting more serious about photography, which I hope to turn into a small business. If you’d be willing to be a model for some sessions (or loan out your kid for same) to help me get better at portraiture, please let me know!

…and I leave you with a cute picture from our trip back east. Here’s me and my nephew Zachary, the other absolute cutest kid in the universe.

Hope you’re well!

It is So.

Damn.

Good.

To be home.

Sorry about the radio silence, folks. The jet-lag has hit all of us a lot harder in this direction, and we’re basically just coming up for air. It was wonderful to see friends and family, but I have to say I vastly prefer the CA surroundings. Crisp but not cold temps, leaves on the trees, sunshine, a distinct lack of anything dreary.

Jacob is pretty glad to be back, too. I snapped all of these pictures at our outing to the beach today. Our music class and some drop-in Gymboree-type classes start for us next week–I am expecting the spring to be a lot busier than the fall!

And not returning until January 2nd! Traveling this long with a toddler presents a packing challenge. Wish us luck with that. I don’t yet know whether I’ll be taking the laptop and blogging from the road, but in either case, Happy Hannukkah to those of you who celebrate it.

Last weekend we attended a holiday party and cookie exchange. Jacob had a lot of fun tearing around with the other babies, and he even decorated his first cookie!

He enjoyed eating it even more than decorating it.

Last night we started the holiday off well with some presents. Jonathan and I got one another a video camera (finally!), so expect little movie clips as soon as I learn how to make them. Jacob got a little plastic 3-car garage, complete with cars and keys. Tonight, before hopping on the plane we’re spending dinner time with friends. Mmm. Latkes.

Oh, and administrivia: I’ve put Jacob’s November pictures online, finally.

See you later!

First things first: I really, really enjoyed reading and hearing about what all of you are thankful for. This time of year always makes me sentimental and mushy, and I love knowing that you are all surrounded by beauty, joy, and good things. (Even through very, very rough times.)

Jacob is 15 months old.

(!!!)

When the hell did that happen? Seriously, isn’t he still a newborn? I mean, I remember kissing those pudgy, ill-controlled little feet like it was yesterday. And yet, probably thanks to the severe sleep-deprivation at the time, when I try to remember individual things I almost always fail. When exactly did his teeth break through? How old was he when he started waving bye-bye? Clapping? Trying to tickle me? Who knows? Not me, that’s for sure.

(Can you tell I was trying to fill out his baby book yesterday? Do you think he’ll be heartbroken if he finds out later that I mostly wrote down educated guesses?)

So here’s a snapshot of Things Jacob Does and Likes as of December 2006.

Jacob still puts almost everything he comes into contact with in his mouth. No amount of pleading, distracting, or threatening on my part can stop this.

He also likes to draw, though. He produces mass quantities of scribble in many eye-rending colors.

Being naked still tops the “fun” list, but he also enjoys pushing his little bus around making vroom-vroom noises. OH MY GOD THE CUTE.

When he’s happy about something, which is really quite a lot of the time, he does this cute little stompy-foot wavy-arm dance.

He understands that this whole tickle game is supposed to involve some running, but not that he’s supposed to run away from whoever is tickling him.

He likes sitting in big-person chairs.

Favorite toys include: The bus pictured above, his ball (“MBUHL! MBUHL! MBUHL!” says Jacob), Legos, a singing piggy bank (don’t ask), his big plastic dinosaur and roll-a-balls, his shape sorter, his xylophone and bells. He loves music and dancing, and is starting to try and hum/sing. He has 10 teeth, and we’re still waiting for the canines to appear so that we can stop getting visited by the demon-evil-twin-Jacob.

He walks, runs, kicks his ball, feeds himself moderately well, loves the outdoors, and is shy around new people. He’s very affectionate and LOVES books–both to “read” to himself and to be read to. He still signs most of the time–he seems to understand it’s more effective–but is also trying to talk a lot more these days. (Can I write this? Will I be jinxed forever if I write this?) He seems to be sleeping through the night with us. (Glory glory all praise sleeping toddlers.) He still hates to nap.

And boy oh boy, do we love him.

Before I say anything, Jacob would just like you to know:

dadadadadadadadadadadadada…

…DaDaDaDaDaDaDaDaDaDaDaDa…

…DADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADA!!!!!

(Got that?)

*****

Anyone who has shown even the slightest willingness to let me whine at them over the last 6 months knows how tired I am of nursing. At the same time, I appreciate how important it is to Jacob and I don’t want to simply stop without any give and take. So over the course of the last three months, I’ve tried out several weaning strategies and attempts.

We started with “don’t offer, don’t refuse”, which didn’t really change anything at all. Then came offering the sippy cup instead, which worked about half the time. After a month (?) of this, I realized that what really made me loathe nursing was the impact it had on our sleep. We (mostly) night-weaned, and things got a lot better. Recently, I stopped the ’snack bar’ approach to nursing during the day and established set nurse-times for Jacob: first waking, nap times, his bedtime, our bedtime, and usually around 5am I’d give in to his pestering so that I could nab another hour of sleep. We went to Jacob’s 15-month wellness visit recently, and the doctor said “absolutely not” to sleep-feedings because of increased risk of tooth decay. So one week ago, we cut out the nursing at our bedtime. Tonight, we cut out the 5am.

And I have to say, going through all of this structure, all of these attempts, really seems to have brought into relief what nursing does for Jacob. It’s his security blanket, in a nutshell–he doesn’t suck on a pacifier, have a lovey toy or blanket, hell, he doesn’t even feel the need to stay within sight 80% of the time. But when he’s feeling crummy, when he’s in a new situation, when he’s waking up hard from a nap and is all disoriented, he asks to nurse. And when I let him nurse at these times, it’s like I’ve been visited by the magical nursing fairy in all of those Dr. Sears books. Jacob snuggles into my lap, cuddles his arms around me, and hangs out for 5 minutes or so while nursing. Then he gets up and does his own thing.

It really is one of the sweetest feelings in the world. And after all of the nursing elimination we’ve gone through, it’s incredibly lovely to have the final few nursings per day be these cuddly bonding experiences. And this leaves me in a place I would never have predicted two months ago: Am I desperate to cut these last few feedings out and wean Jacob entirely? Not at all. I’m even feeling more relaxed about the “only at naptime” rule during the day.

Color me shocked.

I am thankful for so very many things. But at the top of the list, I’m thankful we’ve gone from here:

To here:

With no major illnesses, catastrophes, or even seriously hard times. We’ve had a wonderful year, and I’m so grateful we’re all still here.

I’m thankful, too, for curiosity.

And wonderful friends to share a potentially-lonely holiday with.

And love.

It’s trite. It’s overdone. But really, I’d like to know. What are you thankful for?

This weekend we spent a wonderful Sunday with our friends Stacy, Neil, and Asher (6 months). The farmer’s market up in San Jose is larger than our Thursday market, and I tried two new foods there: Chestnuts, which we roasted tonight and which are fabulous, and pineapple guava, which I think is disgusting.

We then went to dim sum for the first time, which was lots of fun–Jacob’s favorite by far was his sesame ball, but he humored us and also tried a little egg tart, soft tofu, sticky rice, and roasted duck.

After lunch, Neil let Jacob help him rake leaves.

Well. Help is putting it a little strongly.

Then Stacy and Neil, saints that they are, watched both children so that Jon and I could escape alone for an hour or so. We went to a local, quaint little downtown and walked around, sipping latte (me) and talking about this and that (Jon) and generally enjoying one another’s company. It’s the first time we’ve been really without Jacob since we arrived here, and it was incredibly refreshing. It filled all of our reserves back up, both for one another and for Jacob.

To make the weekend even nicer, Jon took his Veteran’s Day holiday today and we spent a quiet domestic day at home.

And right now I’m listening to the rain drip outside, and all things are quiet, and I’m in awe of how lucky I am to be in this life. I hope it’s going as well for all of you.

Ah, fall.

That special time of year when a boy’s mind turns to one thing: puppies.

Just kidding. One of my favorite things about Jacob as a toddler is that he has such a wide range of expression with us, now. When he was very little, it was basically crying. Then crying and smiling/laughing. Now, it’s a whole different world.

He signs bye-bye, more, food, milk/nursing, nap, diaper change, all done, pain, tickle, up, down, and he even made up a sign for music. He claps his hands, and points at what he wants, and is starting to try out verbal language. (The ever-popular “no”, bye-bye, what’s that?, mine, and his name/tickle/maybe both.) His ability to communicate goes a long way toward heading off the frustration I’ve read about other parents experiencing at this stage.

(Which is not to say there’s no frustration, of course. It’s just more rare than I’ve read about.)

*****

Jacob’s canine teeth are on the move. These are by far (by far) the worst yet. We’ve been getting a ton of the “pain” sign, and a few days ago he actually got a bamboo crochet hook out of my knitting bag and started attacking his gums with it. All you seasoned parents out there, this is it until the two year molars, right? Right?