The Small Family   

Well, it has indeed been the week of big expenditures around here. First our refrigerator died. Well, not completely...but we’ve tried three times to have it fixed, and it’s leaking a ton again. So I think it’s time to put it out of its misery. We got lucky, though, and found a floor model with a nearly imperceptible dent in the side marked down by $200. Sold! The boring new appliance should arrive next week, after our trip to Oregon.

Second, Chris’s card needed a 90k-mile service. More boring expenditures...on the service and on the timing belt and some other belt. But, I can handle a $650 car repair bill. It’s much nicer than the $2,000+ the Subaru was going to cost us a few months ago.

And third...and for the FUN big expenditures: our anniversary! We exchanged presents a bit early for a number of reasons. Our anniversary is actually this coming Wednesday, but we exchanged presents on Friday night. I got Chris a PlayStation 2 and a bunch of games. Sounds like an odd anniversary gift, perhaps, but there’s a romantic component to it: We actually love playing videogames together, so I figured it was something we could enjoy doing together. And Chris is pretty darn excited with his new toy. We had a tournament Friday night. I lost miserably at Tekken (a hand-to-hand fighting game) but prevailed at Ms. Pac-Man, my personal favorite!

Chris’s gift to me will be equally fun, when it arrives—an iPhone! I’ve wanted one for a long time, so Chris is buying me one for our anniversary. I say “is buying” because it just so happens that the new iPhones are coming out two days after our anniversary (along with a lovely drop in price—nice!!), so we’re picking it up after we get back from Oregon.

As for our anniversary itself, Grandma Diane is coming over to spend a few hours with Theo so we can go out to a grown-up dinner. I think Il Fornaio is our destination—yummy Italian food, and a place where we can’t easily go with Theo. Should be fun! We leave Thursday morning for Oregon, so it’ll be an early evening, but still a very good one, I’m sure.

But back to this week. On Monday, my friend Amber came over with her pug, Bailey, and Theo was greatly entertained by watching Luna and Bailey play in our living room. He giggled and giggled at those pugs, and I think they wore him out, which was great.

Tuesday, alas, Theo was not worn out, and thus naptime was pretty much a nightmare. So on Wednesday, I was determined to wear him out so he wouldn’t shriek at me throughout his naptime. Thus, a trip to the mall play area to meet Janeane and Emma was in order. And it worked—I think Emma is the remedy for kids who need to be worn out. Every time the two of them play together, I have a wonderfully placid and sleepy son afterward!

On Friday, Chris and I decided to revive last year’s anniversary activity of having a family picture done. Our actual anniversary will be slightly hectic, packing for our trip to Oregon the next day, so we decided to do said picture a few days early. I’ll put a few of the proofs in this week’s album. The family ones came out pretty cute; the ones of just Theo were kind of blah. He wasn’t in the mood to smile, so we didn’t order many of those.

Saturday and Sunday were big days this week! On Saturday, Chris, Theo, and I went to a pug meetup. There were about 15 pugs there, and Theo enjoyed seeing them play. But more than that, he loved splashing in the wading pool that was set up for the pugs. In fact, the pugs didn’t do much playing in the pool, but Theo was entertained for a good half-hour, trying to get a rock out of it. We really need to get one of those for our yard!

And Sunday was a trip to San Jose, which, on the whole, went very well. Theo enjoyed seeing his grandma and grandpa, as well as Auntie Tanya, Uncle Steve, and Nik. And this time, he didn’t even bellow and squall at Nik—he seemed to enjoy playing with him. It was very cute to watch the two boys together! And, Theo got the added bonus of a trip to the mall near Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Tom’s house to play in the play area, which he very much enjoyed. The downside to the day was Theo’s battle with a small table that Grandpa Tom made in high school. It’s currently in one of their spare rooms, and Theo was in there getting a diaper change. When we finished changing him, he was toddling around the room a bit. Alas, he’s still not overly steady on his feet (though getting more so every day), and so he pitched headlong into the table...and, in the process, did a real number on the inside of his lip. Luckily, no teeth were sacrificed in this incident, but poor Mr. Theo had blood gushing from his mouth for a couple minutes, and Chris and I felt absolutely awful! I mean, it’s an accident that could happen anywhere and anytime, but we still felt just awful that our poor little boy got such a big owie! I hear kids’ mouths heal quickly, and I’m sure he suffered no permanent harm, but still...it’s hard to see your baby in pain!

Theo is continuing his verbal explosion, too. I think he has said “grandma” a few times. He also says “duck” sometimes when he sees a picture of a duck in one of his books, and he makes a quacking sound. He has figured out that the doggie says “woof,” and he now makes that sound whenever he sees a dog. He also now says “there” (“dere”) and points. And, perhaps cutest of all, he has a needlepoint of a bear that my Aunt Laurel made him when he was born. It is hanging above his changing table, and every time I change him, he insists on flipping over, standing up, and patting the needlepoint and saying, “Dat!” “Dat” usually means “that,” so I always tell him, “That? That’s a bear! Aunt Laurel made that for you because she loves you!” So on Saturday, when I was changing him, he stood up and patted his needlepoint and said, “Dat bear!”

I’m also working on the sign for “drink” with him, though he hasn’t quite gotten that one down yet. He is obsessed with signing for milk and asking for a bottle, though. We try to only give him a bottle at naptime and bedtime, but lately, right when he makes up, he starts signing “milk” at me and exclaiming “Bop!” I try to give him solid food first thing in the morning, but often he insists that he wants his “bop.” And so, being a softie, I often give in...as long as he eats a little bit of solid food, I make him a small bottle to go along with it. It’s just so darn cute how he says it; he always adds a happy little sigh at the end, so he says it with great relish: “BOP...ahhhh!” It’s like the “bop” is the greatest thing in the world. I think he says it the way I might say, “Hot fudge brownie sundae!” or “Peanut-butter fudge!”

I have created a monster in another way, too. Theo is now obsessed with the mall play area. If he sees the play area when we’re at the mall, he starts thrashing in his stroller and squawking away. Obviously, he’s a bit young to understand, “We’ll go there after Mom does her shopping,” but I keep trying anyway. One of these days he’ll get the concept that the play area comes at the end of the mall trip.

We’re having a rather cool summer (for us) so far, so I’ve been able to take Theo to the park more than I usually would, too. This week we went one afternoon (in yet another attempt to tire him out before his nap). The park near us has a big play structure built to resemble a rocketship, more or less. Theo played on the slide for awhile, and then he decided that he ought to climb to the top of the play structure. And what do you know—he made it! I was, of course, right behind him in case he lost his footing, but he did it all on his own. Big boy! I swear, the kid has no fear... He also thought it was great fun to go down the big slide on his mama’s lap.

Speaking of footing, Theo is also finally walking a lot more. He still staggers around like a little drunk, but he’s now doing more walking than crawling. Yay for our boy!

We are leaving for Oregon on Thursday and won’t be home until Monday, so next week’s blog probably won’t be posted until Monday night or Tuesday. But, rest assured, there will be a LOT of pictures when I do post it, I’m sure. We’re renting a beach house for the weekend with my best friend, Lisa, and her husband Chris, who are driving down there from Seattle. We’re driving up from here, but it’s a nine-hour drive, so we’re splitting it into two days of driving each way. So, we get a night in Medford, Oregon each way, which will be nice. We’re planning to visit Ashland (cute little town in southern Oregon where they have a yearly Shakespeare festival that runs all summer long...though I’m sure we won’t see any plays with a toddler in tow) and Mount Shasta, as well as any other places that strike our fancy on the journey. It should be a fun, relaxing vacation.

Anyway, have a great week, all!