The End of Summer

Hi Sidra,

Well you and i have had a terrific summer. I want to thank you for that. We will have other summers, of course, but it will be hard to beat the experiences we had this year. It's been a gas showing you new stuff and watching you change by the day. Our nearly nightly bike rides are going to be missed.

You know in the last post I said that you and your mom charmed the ship's captain into letting you take the wheel of the ship. In that case your mom definitely helped you out. However, even that afternoon as we meandered through Saturday Market I watched with interest how people are charmed by you. I've seen it in many different situations. I raise the issue because I hope that it is a quality that you use for good and not selfishly. I can see that you will be able to steer people into doing things that you want them to do. I just hope that you will use that power judiciously and not manipulate others too much. I guess it will be up to us as parents to help you use your influence in the right way.

Another feeling that I have as the summer comes to a close is that it is all passing by so quickly. Right now I feel like I'm at the controls of the Millennium Falcon as it pauses slightly before hitting lightspeed and making everything a blur. When I return to school this week all our time together will be compressed and we won't have much time to savor anything until next summer. I will have some time off when your new sister arrives but then of course it will be different.

I thought I would share with you some of the expressions you are using now as your language skill improves constantly. You used to say 'hold you' all the time and now you are saying 'can you hold me?' instead. You are also saying 'what should we do?' quite frequently now. Another favorite is 'will you play a game with me?' and your favorite game is The Ladybug Game. When you are hungry you say 'I want something' and we're supposed to know that it means you want something to eat. But you have also learned to say nicely 'please may I have __' although you use it sporadically. 'What did you do?' is another frequent question.

The two pictures here are you in the bumper boats at the Enchanted Forest and you being pushed on the swing by Cooper.

I notice that I've been posting like crazy this month compared to any other time. I hope it won't be another month before I make another post. You are starting your pre school in a about a week and I will surely want to report on that.

Love, Aba

Captain Sidra

Hi Sidra,

Summer is winding down but we have saved the best for last. We've had some pretty cool experiences just in the last few days. Two days ago we visited my grown up daughter Becky and her family in Bend. She has a school like the one you are going to attend soon and a HORSE! So, you got to sit on the horse and 'ride' for a few seconds. You also got to jump on a big trampoline and generally hang out with Cooper and Ivan who are actually my grandchildren.

Yesterday we took you and your friend Logan to the Enchanted Forest which is a theme based amusement park. You looked in the rabbit hole, but couldn't go all the way through it(neither could I, but Logan did) , slid down the witches mouth and the old woman who lived in a shoe, rode the train, ferris wheel, bumper boats, and frog hopper.

Today was the fifth anniversary for your mom and me. We went on a lunch cruise on the Willamette river in Portland. It was pretty fun, you had terrific time. You got to steer the boat! A big cruise ship with 250 people on board. We went up to the bridge near the end of the cruise and you and your mom turned on the charm and pretty soon you were in the captain's chair.





Oh, you also became 2 and 2/3 years of age today, so we talked about that. I'll post my thoughts about the ending of summer tomorrow or the next day.

Love,
Aba

OUCH

Hi Sidra,

You had a little tumble yesterday. It had to happen sooner or later but here's how it went down. You and I were on our bikes and your mom was walking with Jesse, our dog. We were going up and down driveways in the cul-de-sac one block down from our house. Your mom actually left the house a little behind us and was looking for us. She wanted to walk further down the street but we wanted to show her what we'd been doing. You were wanting to show off for her, I think. So, you went a little faster than you had been and your front wheel got wobbly and out of control and you went over the top of the handlebars and did a bit of a face plant.

As you can see in the pictures you have a fat lip. You bled a little and were pretty shook up but recovered after eating some pudding and a popsicle. I wasn't too worried about your teeth after seeing you bite on the popsicle.

I guess you're not too scared to get back on your bike because we went for another ride this morning and you seemed fine with it. You did begin by repeating several times your mother's words 'no more hills.' I said you could go back on the hills when you felt ready.

Love,
aba.

On Stage

Hi Sidra,

it's been a month since we did the open mic night with your mom. We had a another one last night and we did the same thing, helping your mom set things up and then you were first to perform, and then you and I went for pizza while the others were performing.

But this time we decided to bring the camera and record your performance. You hogged the mic for about 7 minutes but I trimmed it down to about a minute to post here. You are quite the ham.

Also, this week we took you to Oaks Amusement Park. You enjoyed that quite a bit. You asked immediately to go back. You were clearly exhausted, as your mother and I were too, but as we were leaving you wanted to go back for more. We promised another visit on another day. You liked the slide the most, I suppose, because we went back to repeat that several times. You also rode the Ferris wheel, the kiddie cars and planes, the tugboat, the miniature train, the balloons, and the carousel.

And, we are still in the early stages of the big girl bed, so there's another episode of that to report. We started trying to get you to bed/sleep at about 9:30 last night. Your mom read you some books, then I laid in bed with you and read my book for a while. During that reading, you were supposed to lay still and try to sleep. You were grabbing my pages, poking me in the eye, and generally flopping around. I said you had to stop or I was leaving and closing the door. You persisted so I had to follow through. You were upset, we compromised on a half closed door. Your mom went and laid down with you for a while. She finally came out and we began watching our 'adult' movie, behind our closed door. You soon appeared peeking around the door as you cracked it open. Instead of finding mom there the first thing you see is mean old dad, and I said
'Sidra, you have to go back to your room.' You tried once more a couple minutes later and then apparently gave up and went to bed. We checked on you about 20 minutes later and you were asleep.

Love, Aba

The Big Girl Bed

Hi Sidra,

We have moved you to the big girl bed. We have been thinking about it for a while and thought you were ready but were waiting until after our guests had been here. That was about the fact that we wanted to have two beds in the guest room. Now we've moved the beds around so you have the twin bed in your room and the crib went to the guest room.

Anyway, as I write this you are completing your second night in the big girl bed. It must be working well because you've done two nights in a row spending the whole night in your bed. Well, yesterday you didn't stay in your bed until you got up because your mom needed to go get you and bring you into bed with her about 7 in the morning. See, when you were sleeping in your crib, every night you would wake up and call for us to come get you. We've wondered if in the big girl bed you would just get up and come in to our room. But, so far you haven't.

We've also worried that you won't stay in bed when it's time to go to bed. The first night was a challenge but you did pretty good and last night you were really tired because you didn't nap yesterday.

You have been pretty excited about the whole thing. Yesterday you were actually playing some pretend games with the bed. We are also trying to get you on schedule for getting up in time for pre school soon. So,
because of that, I need to finish this and wake you up.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 4

Hi Sidra,

Well, today was the last full day that the Brookline girls will be here. We took them to some of our favorite spots again. The weather finally got a little better and there would be nice views up on Mt. Hood, so we went to Timberline Lodge to get a close look at that mountain and a long look at some others.

In one picture if you look really carefully over Grace's left shoulder you will see Mt. Jefferson. There was a little haze in the air so you have to work hard to make it out. In the other mountain picture you'll see Mt. Hood, the highest peak in Oregon. Mt. Jefferson is the second highest peak in the state. We were at a vantage point just a shade over 6000 feet above sea level. I told the girls that they were higher than any point in their home state. Nearly 3000 feet higher, it turns out.

Inside the Lodge at Timberline we ran across the mascot of the place, Bruno. He's a big St. Bernard that hangs out there. You all enjoyed showing him some love.

On the way home from the mountain we stopped at a local attraction that we like. It is the miniature train right here in Sandy. You've enjoyed this little activity a couple of times and we thought our visitors would too. They did and for the first time you rode with someone other than me on the train. Your cousin Rachel helped you ride.

When we got home the sun fooled us into thinking that it might be a good time to swim in the backyard pool. It wasn't very warm, though, and the water was really cold. You finally were able to stand in the pool for a whole minute and your cousins did last a little longer, but not much.

It's going to be a sad departure in the morning. We've all had a good time with our visitors here this week and all wish it could last longer. This week will make us want to make the trip east for a visit next summer.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 3

Hi Sidra,

We had a another big day with your eastern cousins. They spent the night in a tent at cousin Rachel's house. That was big for them. It was kids only in the tent, and adults only in the house. It may have been a cool night but everyone survived, even the dog Buddy who kept watch over the girls in the tent.

We then went east over the mountains to find sunnier skies and warmer water. We treated the Thompson girls to a visit to the hot springs swimming pool at Kahneetah. You've been to Kahneetha several times and almost always have had a good time. The water is a balmy 90+ and there is a slide that is the right size for you. Being Saturday it was a little crowded but that didn't dampen the girl power.

You did some good starfish floats, Mia went down the biggest slide, and Grace did some really good floats and strokes. On the trip over you watched Finding Nemo to get in the mood for swimming.

It turned out to be a good day to make that trip because the weather was cool and gray here but sunny and warm over there.




Our visitors are here for one more full day so we are going to do our best to show them more of a good time.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 2

Hi Sidra,

We had another great day with the girls from Brookline. First we went to the Japanese Gardens. Your mom had gotten passes for us from our local library. She is pretty good with that sort of thing, seeking out good things for you to do and then finding out the way to make it happen. Actually, your cousin Mia apparently requested the visit to this place and your mom pursued it.

It's not the most kid friendly place and there's really no action stuff there, but you girls still had a good time. We got a little treasure map that showed interesting things to look for and hunting them kept our interest up. It was cool because the map was a little vague and that made it more of an adventure when we solved the mystery. At least it did for me because I had the map but when I found something on it I would show you girls what it was and how it related to the map. We also got a couple of nice photos of you in some scenic spots. In one, the four of you are standing with a downtown Portland vista behind you. In another you are standing in front of the Pagoda Latern, according to the treasure map.

After we'd been at the gardens awhile we were all hungry and we left to find something to eat. That brought us to NW 23rd avenue in Portland and gave your mom a chance to show her cousin Dina some trendy shops. We ate at Noah's Bagels and then went back up the hill to the zoo.

We enjoyed showing the brookline girls around the zoo. We saw the mountain goats, bears, bobcat, eagles, turtles, beaver, lizards, petted some sheep in the petting zoo, polar bears, and then came to the Lorikeet landing. We got three cups of juice for the lorikeets and went in their cage. Grace got a bird to land on her wrist first, but she flinched and it flew right back to the tree. The competition for feeding the birds was tough because there were many others that wanted to do what we were doing and the birds were being fed seeds by the zoo keepers. But, we were patient and you and I got a bird to come to my hand and stay for a couple of minutes. It was long enough for your mom to get the camera out and take several pictures.

You did a great job keeping up and not complaining too much. You were pretty beat by the time we finished at the zoo and conked out probably before we left the parking lot.

Well, the girls are here for a few more days, so there's more to come.

Love, aba

Girl Power

Hi Sidra,

Here I am, outnumbered 5 to 1 by girls, 6 to 1 if you include the new baby to come. But you are enjoying the company of your cousins from Brookline. Mia, Grace and their mother Dina are here for the week. Today we went to a children's museum in Salem. We had planned to take our guests hiking on Mt. Hood but the weather was not good for that.

You had a great time playing at the museum, going down the slide, making bubbles, looking at magnets, playing in the blacklight rooms, dressing up, playing market, and also riding the carousel.

Tonight when we got home you were showing off with your bike, in just your underwear.

Last night you were pretty wired after having the visitors here for the first day and had trouble getting to sleep. You and I were kicked out of mom's bed and had to sleep in the other room. You asked me to sing songs to help you go to sleep and then asked me to stop after singing about 3 songs.

We have more fun stuff planned while your cousins are here, tomorrow we will visit the Japanese gardens and probably the zoo. There is a plan for all you girls to sleep in a tent at Uncle Aaron's house in a couple days, but we'll see how that turns out.

More soon,
Love, aba

Beating the Heat

Hi Sidra,

We've had some really hot weather lately. You've been spending a lot of time in the water. You have been going to swimming lessons in the mornings, and hanging out in our backyard pool a lot of the remainder of the day. One evening, we were even out in the pool until about 11 pm. I think that was the night that I had to umpire some softball games. You have learned to greet me when I am returning from such a job in a way that every umpire would love to be greeted. You say, 'Hi dad, did you do some good umping?' I always respond in the affirmative, regardless of what I heard during the games.

As has been the pattern for most of the last year, it is hard to write about your accomplishments because you invariably top them soon after they are documented. But a couple of days ago I suggested that while in the pool you jump over me without your 'noodle' for floatation. Once you tried you then kept doing it repeatedly. In the video, we are trying to embellish that skill by asking you to kick and extend your arms. You are doing very well with it.

The singing part was your own idea. Once your mom got out the camera to get some swimming footage, you broke out in your favorite song. In fact, it wasn't easy to convince you to sing something else. I don't know how A, B, C became your favorite, but you sing it a lot. We did manage to get Bingo in there, too.

Your progress in the potty department has been a little more frustrating. It seems to me that you have the skills necessary for it, but we haven't given you the right incentive. But the trying has given you the circumstance to say one of the cute things that you say. When you need to put your underwear on I put them on the floor in front of you while you are sitting. You say, 'can you say the words?' Which means you want me to say, 'this foot goes in this hole and this foot goes in this hole and the tag goes in back.'

There are also pictures here from a recent trip we took to Bonneville Dam. One shows you watching a wild steelhead passing the viewing window in the fish ladder. In the other one you are tossing fish food to the trout in the trout pond.




Love,
aba

A night on the town

Hi Sidra,
I just wanted to write you thanks for our night out on the town tonight. It wasn't really formal but you were a pretty good date. We helped your mom set up for an event in the park, and then walked over to get a couple of slices of pizza a few blocks away.

Before we left your mom you began the evening by being the first performer in your mom's event, an open mike night. You sang the a, b, c song and 'twinkle, twinkle, little star.' You also told the small audience your name and age when prompted. This didn't surprise me until I heard the 4 year old and 6 year old that followed you. Neither of them could finish the a, b, c song accurately. Anyway, you wowed the crowd with your presence, enhanced by the killer red dress. It should be noted that you didn't wear the shoes in the picture out. They are 'dress up' shoes that are still a few sizes too big.

You were really good at the pizza stand, too. You were happy with cheese pizza, didn't complain about my clothes, climbed into the high chair on your own and were convinced that water in a paper cup was better than the water we brought in your water bottle. You did lose a couple of points though, by asking me to stop singing along to the classic rock songs they had playing on the radio.

When we got home you topped it off by inviting me to go on a bike ride with you. You know that's always a hit with me. You impressed some of the neighbors as you tooled along in your red dress.

It was a really nice evening. It almost made me forget about this morning's manipulations. You and your mom were in a power struggle about eating enough breakfast before you both went off to music class. After two trips to time out and being told you'd be left behind you finally polished off the meager morsels you'd been asked to eat. THEN, you wanted to finish with 'yay, Sidra.' Nothing doing. I'm still not convinced we won that episode.

I forgot to include some statistics in an earlier post. At age 2½, you were 35 3/4 inches tall, weighed 30 pounds, and had head circumference of 50.5cm. The height and weight were a little under the median for your age but you seem to have a big head. For now we are chalking that up to a larger than normal brain.

I'm loving being able to spend a lot of time with you this summer.

Love, aba

Competition

hi Sidra,

Two days ago you entered your first competition and everyone learned a little something about how things may go for you in future competitions. We learned some things about you and about ourselves.
The event was the 'bike derby' for kids that is part of the local Mountain Festival. Your mom was once the director of this event and was assisting the current director. You competed in the 3 and under age group and you raced about 30 meters. You may have had the best coaching available, since your mom and I know a little bit about the event and began telling you about it 2-3 days ahead of time. You were also the only one in your heat on a 'runner' bike. The others were all on three wheelers. Anyway, you won the event and had a big smile afterward. I had a really strong reaction to seeing you win, I guess pride is the best description of what I was feeling.

Your mom and I were laughing at each other afterward at our competitiveness and how we reacted to what happened. As I said before, you won your heat and we had discussed wondering how you would have done against the winner of the other heat. I didn't see that heat because I was chasing you down since you continued around the track after your race. We had noticed in the 'warm ups' that there was another kid with a runner bike that looked pretty capable on it. Your mom and I joked with each other that you're only 2½ and we're thinking like 'on to the regionals!'

At that point I thought that your mom and I pretty close in our level of 'little league parent' syndrome. That was before I saw and heard the video she took of the race. I will let the readers and viewers decide who is the greater fanatic. The video is presented twice, once with a music soundtrack and once with naked audio.

I have to say that my thoughts as a watched you get ready for the race with the other kids I was reminded of a passage in Bill Strickland's book 'Ten Points.' He describes a situation that you and I may be destined to recreate in a few years. He and his daughter were at the start of a charity bike ride. They were going to ride with him on a regular bike and his daughter on a 'trail a bike' behind him. His daughter had looked over the other participants and said 'Dad, we can beat these guys.' He cringed, of course, knowing that confidence in competition is both good and best kept to oneself. I can see that same scene playing out in our future.

Another thought that struck me in the aftermath is that I know we will continue to give you chances to compete and I hope that you enjoy that. I hope that whatever stress you feel to succeed comes from within and not from pressure exerted by others. Just know that we will do whatever we can to help you reach your goals and will be your biggest cheerleaders.

The captions to the pictures: 1) Lounging with uncle Ben, 2) Ribbons from the bike derby, 3) a little mini train ride we went on right here in Sandy with cousin Rachel.

Enjoy the video,
love, Aba

Big News

Hi Sidra,
It's been a long time since the last post and it's partly because you are doing so many new things all the time that I couldn't get focused on what is the most significant thing to tell you about. I also believe that you are on the brink of being able to remember some of these things yourself. Between bike riding, climbing your dome, 'helping' dad shovel dirt on garden projects, going on walks, reading books, singing songs, trying to learn how to hold a pen or pencil and making your first letters, using your leap frog and dad's computer, jumping on your trampoline and everything else, and trying to become potty trained you usually go to bed exhausted. We like it that way. We think it's good for a kid your age to use up all the energy you've got playing and learning.

I'm wondering if you will be able to remember what happened yesterday when you get older. It was a day when you learned that you're going to have a little sister. You have known that your mom was going to have a baby, but yesterday you learned that it will be a girl. You got to go to the doctor's with us and see the ultrasound being done. Maybe it didn't make an impression on you as a big deal so that it will be one of the things you remember when you're older, but it might. You may end up remembering the big swimming pool that is filling in the back yard a little more vividly.

You are such a dynamic little individual right now. You learn things super fast and astound us with what you're aware of constantly. You know how to choose the right words, too. The other night I'm sure your real motive was being freed from your crib in order to lobby for permission to start the night in our bed. But your angle was devious. You said, or rather, wailed "I need to tinkle." Of course, your mom reacted as if it were a turning point in your potty training and once you were extracted from your 'prison' you completed the negotiation flawlessly. We have now instituted a new house rule that improves our bargaining position in these cases- you have to start(you rarely finish the night in your own bed) three nights in your crib between the times you start in our bed.

You've been in swimming lessons for the first time this week. Your swimming progress has been modest but in four classes this week you've improved tremendously in your staying with the group and listening to the teachers instructions. You are the smallest/youngest in the class and you usually get beat out for the bubbles or 'fish' retrieved from the bottom of the pool but you are making a lot of progress in finding your place in the social structure.

As can be seen in the video you are learning about bike safety and using your two wheels to explore the neighborhood. You also like to repeat some of your favorite lines from your stories.




Ok, for the viewers that couldn't decipher the 'sidra speak' in the first segment. She says "The big cars will squash you like a bug." The Fee Fi Foe Fum is from Jack and the Beanstalk.

That's all for now,
Love, aba

Growing Up Fast

Hi Sidra,
Well you've moved on from puzzles. Not that you've given them up entirely but you're not as riveted by them as you were a couple months ago.

Your new thing is the Leapfrog, which you call by that name, or 'mouse' or my 'computer.' It's a like a beginner computer. It has a keyboard and mouse, and you connect it to a TV monitor. It is set up in the guest room. A month ago when your mom got it for you you weren't too excited about it. Now you ask to do it and we've given you a limit of time whenever you play with it but you can pretty much work the whole thing on your own now.

The one software cartridge that we have is Dora the Explorer. There are some good activities included but a few are really only video game training. I guess their main function is training you to work the mouse. The only problem is that the mouse doesn't always work right, freezing on the screen a lot, and makes it difficult to navigate. There is one game were you have to click on matching items and I have seen you match them all in 48 seconds, but if the mouse worked better you could have done it in 20.

Now I really need to tell you what you did on April 10. It was Friday, and I had been away at school for a few days. When I pulled in the driveway that evening you and your mom were up the street a ways talking to some neighbors. You ran full tilt down the sidewalk yelling 'daddy, daddy, daddy!' Then you gave me the best hug ever. I'll never forget it. Thanks.

Another item in the grown up department is your toilet habits. You just spent the afternoon in what we are calling 'big girl underwear' with no accidents. They are a training pant, really just double thickness underwear, but you were pretty proud of yourself and claimed to really like them. Also, we've probably only had to change one poopy diaper in the last 2 weeks. That's mostly because we make you sit on the potty quite frequently and you don't mind sitting there quite a while if we are reading you some books. Yesterday you actually told you mom with accuracy that you needed to go. It seems like progress.

I'm going to add a video here when I get a chance. Here it is. It's not like you are really begging to ride the bike yet. We have to ask you if you want to ride it. I got probably 99% of your ride today on camera. But I am excited that you can handle it yourself a lot better now. Once you get the feel of where you can go with it you will probably take to it like you do swimming. We did that today, too, and you still have no fear and will jump in and off the stairs with abandon, even though I have to be there to pull you out. Soon you will have the same daring with the bike, i'm sure.

Love, Aba

One Day of Spring

hi sidra,

well it has been spring break but we haven't noticed too many signs of spring yet. The weather here certainly hasn't suggested that spring has arrived yet. But two days ago we got away for one day of spring play. We drove over the mountains to the east side of the divide where we found enough sun to make us a little bit pink (your mom just darkened, of course) where we missed with the sunscreen and some warm water. At Kahneetah Hot Springs resort you can usually find a little bit drier weather than here since it's on the lee side of the mountains and the hot springs makes it possible for the swimming pool to stay at about 95 degrees.
It felt tremendous to have the sun on our skin and blue sky overhead. And since the pool is so warm we didn't have to get you out of the water after a half hour because you were shaking from cold. You stayed in until you were exhausted. I think we were exhausted, too. At least I was by the time evening rolled around. Anyway, the last post I titled Daredevil but I should have saved that title for this one. You went beyond what I called daredevil behavior before. On this day, you did at least twenty laps on the slide they had at this pool. Nevermind that there was a sign next to it that said the height restriction was 48" and you are at least a foot shorter than that.
You had two little boo boos associated with the sliding. First you got your left foot up against the side of the slide, twisting you sideways so you bumped your head on the other side of the slide. I caught you before you hit the water on that one. That ended the morning session. Later, you were walking briskly on the deck and slipped into an unintended hurdler's stretch. That resulted in a scratched toe. Of course, neither of those boo boos stopped you.
Besides the slide, this pool had a shallow area that allowed you to be on your own a lot. You enjoyed jumping from the bottom of the stairs and doing a seat drop and then standing up since it was so shallow. Or you would do sort of a tumbling somersault and then get your feet under you to recover. All in all, you had a blast.
I want to tell you about a cute habit you've developed. When you want me to hang out with you, you say 'dad can shoot some baskets.' That's because your trampoline is near your small basketball hoop. So I shoot hoops with the nerf balls while you play on the trampoline and shoot a few hoops as well. So, we hang out and talk and play together and it's your way of asking me to spend time with you.
I should also say that the writing of this post was interrupted by a power outage. There were a couple of blinks and then everything was off. You were in your room alone when it happened and it scared you. I am pretty sure you're not scared of the dark, but this unexpected blackout threw you off. But we lit a few candles and read a few books and then it was time for bed anyway.




Love, aba

Daredevil

Hi Sidra,
I'm writing this on Tuesday after our trip to the swimming pool. So, whatever I write today might be superseded by your exploits at the Kaneetah hot springs pool where we are going on thursday. Anyway, you've become an incredibly brave swimmer all of a sudden. There was a spell where we were worried that you were a little timid in the water and might be a slow developing swimmer. Well you have blown that myth. Today when we got to the pool you started down the stairs and lunged into water over your head before I was even in the water. Your skills are little behind your bravery at this time so I had to get into the water pretty quick and help you out. You are pretty good with closing your mouth when under the water but not that great at kicking or stroking. You do your share of swallowing water but have your eyes open when you're under the water, too. You love to lunge into the water from the stairs and then turn and try to make it back to the stairs. You are holding your breath while doing this, and seem to understand that you need to do something to move where you want to go, but your movements aren't that coordinated so as to propel you.
Then, today near the end of our session, an older boy came along and was doing 'cannonballs' from the side. I asked you if you wanted to try that, and you said yes. Try it you did. You were launching off the side and pulling your knees up like a pro. At least you had two or three really good ones and other times you just landed on me. It was amazing to see someone your size leaping like that. It was definitely a fun experience. The swimming video on this post is from about a week ago.
The other video is staged. I asked you to spell your name for me and you did. The video makes it look like you might have had to try a few times to get it right, but the truth is that you only did two takes.
Since it's spring break, we also took a day trip to Salem on Monday. There are two photos here from that trip. We went to a place called AC Gilbert. It is a children's museum and has a lot of fun things for kids. In one picture you are on the huge rocking chair with your friend Logan who went with us. In the other one you are in the 'intestine' which was a crawl through thing filled with spiky balls and covered by the net. I got you to put your face up against the net and pose for the picture. While in Salem we also visited a carousel and rode it a couple of times.




You are a thrill a minute, and I expect it will get better and better.
Love,
Aba

Look Out American Idol

Hi Sidra,
man it seems like I should be able to get this more often than once a month. Well, you're almost three months past your birthday now. I guess I need to report some records. Not long after you suffered your burned hand, you got sick and had a pretty persistent fever. When we got home one night you pretty much went ballistic and we couldn't figure out what was up until we found out you were pretty warm. It stuck with you for several days and one night you were so hot your little feet against my back were enough to make me feel how hot you were. We measured you at 104.9F. You were cookin'! But you got through it and have been feeling pretty good since then.
I took you up to the mountain last weekend. You were excited to go, and were a real trooper while you were getting pulled around the lake in the ski trailer. But you didn't last too long sledding. I think you just had got to your limit in the cold. I learned I need to get you in to a warm place and get you some hot chocolate before we do the sledding part. We might have a chance to do it one more time before the winter's over.
You're getting to be quite a talker and singer. You like to repeat stuff we say and come up with a lot of your own stuff, too. You often say after I've said "thanks", "thanks said dad" or sometimes it's "thanks said Sidra."
I've been trying to catch you on video in one of your rants when you're not happy which goes "hold you hold you hold you hold you hold you hold you "(a phrase you can repeat like a machine gun for as long as you have breath) which means hold 'me' but by the time I can get the camera on you're over it or seeing the camera, instead of posing or acting for the camera you say 'I want to see' meaning see the camera. So, maybe we'll get lucky with that some day so we can share it with you when you're older.
In fact, we had trouble getting you to perform for the camera on these songs for the same reason, you wanting to be behind the camera instead of in front of it. Perhaps by the time you are old enough to read this American Idol will be a thing of the past and I'll have to explain the reference to you.
To close the post I have to say that daily I find myself thinking that we have hit the jackpot with you, that you have all of the best of both of us. We grow prouder of you everyday.
Love, Aba

Happy Valentine's Day

Hi Sidra,

I wish I could say that this Valentine's Day was a happy one. But that would be far from the truth. I think I managed to ruin the whole weekend. You got a nasty burn on your hand and I can say that it is my fault.
You are used to watching me make our grilled cheese sandwiches from your perch on one of the 'barstools' we sit on when eating in the kitchen. I pulled the chair up to the counter as I usually do and you climbed up to your usual vantage point. As I stepped over to the fridge to get out the cheese you bent over and put your hands on the stove as you usually do. My mistake was not connecting the hazard to the fact that your mom had just taken the teapot off that burner. You let us know right away and I rushed over to get your hand under the cold water faucet. My second mistake was misreading your body language and thinking that it was your right hand that was burned. Your mom figured that out after a minute or two and we got on the right track.
After some more cold water and tylenol you finally collapsed for a nap lasting over two hours. After you woke up we looked over the damage and decided to get a professional medical opinion on the next step in your treatment since you had blisters. We took you to the urgent care clinic and they put the bandage on with a burn ointment under it to help prevent infection.
During the visit to the clinic you impressed us as a total trooper. You barely protested and actually observed the bandaging process with considerable interest. In fact you showed off a little for the first nurse to come in to see you by saying she had a stethoscope on her neck(we prompted you to say it, you have recently got a toy doctor's kit so you know some medical vocabulary). In your first half hour with the bandage in place you did display a little frustration but quickly got over that. During the wait between the doctor's diagnosis and the nurse's treatment we told you that you were going to be seeing 'Doctor Dan, the Band Aid Man' who is a character in one of your books. Lo and behold, when the nurse came in it was a man named Dan! So our prophecy came true. When we got home your mom got that book out and read it to you.
Anyway, boy I am I sorry about this. You seem to be handling it well, but I wish I could reverse time so you didn't have to.
Love, Aba

Puzzle Queen Loves her Daddy

Hi Sidra,
Wow, it always amazes me when I finally get around to doing a new post and find out that it has been a month since the last post. But it's a lot easier to keep up with it when I'm on vacation. According to the title of the post there must be something about puzzles here. You have become quite a puzzle master. You have a set of zigsaw puzzles that has four puzzles that each have 4 pieces. They are the following mother/baby pairs of animals: Lions, Penguins, Giraffes, and alligators (or crocodiles as I don't know the difference). Those puzzles you can do by yourself in about 2 minutes. They don't even challenge you at all.
You also have some other 24 piece puzzles of Dora the explorer, Pooh, Eyeore, and Tigger. When working those, if we get the perimeter in place you can pretty much finish the rest on your own. I', always amazed because as soon as we dump the peices out you immediately have a couple pieces together before I can get them all turned face up. Your mom just bought you a about 8 more puzzles of about the same difficulty so you can keep trying new ones. They are all either Pooh family or Mickey mouse puzzles.
The other big development for you is speaking complete sentences. You are constantly suprising us with your speech, not so much with the fact that you can use a sentence, but what you are saying. For instance, in the middle of the night recently you said 'Mom, don't be sad.' Which kind of threw us because we were pretty much asleep and not showing any emotion, sad or otherwise. We figured you probably picked up the phrase in a story or video that you'd seen. You've also said more obviously motivated things like "Dad, I want another cookie" and "Sidra sleep in this bed."

Without question the best line you've ever spoken (to me) came last night. We were in the kitchen waiting for the cookies to get done. You'd had a pretty tough day, I guess, you had had a short fuse emotionally all day. So you had asked me to 'hold you and rock' and I was trying to comply with that request while standing and gently swaying. You put your head on my shoulder and then said "She loves her daddy" and of course that just made me melt. You have ways of grabbing us right by the heart and that was one of them.

By the way, while writing that last paragraph I had to stop in the middle and rock you to sleep. You had asked earlier to sleep in our bed tonight and we had turned you down. I put you in the crib and except for a couple minutes of silence you had wailed "daddy, daddy......." interupted by an occasional 'mommy' for about 10-15 minutes. I gave up and went in and got you from the crib. But, I didn't let you go in our bed because we had already said no to that I wanted to keep my word. But I put you on the twin bed right behind where I am sitting now. You were quiet and tried to sleep for about 10-15 minutes, but then asked for rocking. Now you are asleep behind me.

She Loves Her Daddy. Well, her Daddy Loves Her.
Love, aba

Happy New Year

Hi Sidra,
I have a couple of updates since the last post already. First, you have 18 teeth now. I looked in last night and found that you have two molars on the bottom just breaking through. The top ones haven't come in yet.
Second, tonight was the first night since Channuka that we lit candles. As we expected, you expected presents to be opened right after the candles were lit. You were n0t too disappointed to learn that there wouldn't be any presents opened after candles for about a year. Of course you don't yet realize how long a year is yet. It's half of your life so far!
Anyway we went out to play in the snow today and I thought I should post some pictures and video from that. It was a blue bird day compared to the other wintry days we've had in the last couple of weeks. We got about 2-3 inches of snow overnight and it was pretty clear this morning so we jumped the chance to play in the snow under somewhat sunny skies.


that's all for now,
Love, Aba