Lucy is almost six months old and is beginning to show a new talent: grabbing things with her hands.
At first she just flailed them around as if they were merely endings on those two jointed sticks that Mommy and Daddy call arms. Now she has enough coordination to work her fingers into vise grips. She has demonstrated this power repeatedly on women's jewelry (while the women are wearing it, lest you think Lucy is some sort of cat burglar), Mommy's hair and Daddy's beard. She is also good at grabbing onto skin and getting a good hold.
Yesterday, though, she brought a smile to my face. I was feeding her from a bottle (she is only just starting on rice cereal and oatmeal cereal) and she reached up with one hand and then with the other and grabbed the bottle. She held onto it and held it in place for about 15 seconds. Hopefully she will build on this success and give Daddy a chance to do more while she eats. Maybe I could even blog with her eating in my lap. That may be too much to hope for.
I'm looking forward to future talents.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
The Scariest Thing at the Library
Jacob and Lucy attended a holiday program at the Savage branch of the Howard County Library on Friday. Frosty the Snowman was the theme for the program that included stories, songs, a craft and a special visit from the snowman himself.
Lucy was very attentive during the program and seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit. Jacob went into his usual passive mode. The librarian handed out colored scarves that the kids used as snowflakes. Most of the rest of the kids swirled the scarves in the air like snowflakes in wind and let them fall to the ground. Jacob just held on to his scarf. I helped him to wave it around. He enjoyed the stories and the sing alongs but would not stand up and dance around. He never has before, so I guess it was no surprise.
Then came time for the craft. Everyone who registered had one craft set to put together. The craft was pretty simple: glue a snowman to a stick, then glue a snowflake to a Styrofoam cup, then stick the stick into the top of the cup. The librarian handed me Jacob's kit. When I asked him if he wanted to do the craft, Jacob said, "No, no, no, no, No, NO, NOOO!!" After about 30 seconds of this, I asked Jacob if we should give the craft to one of the other children who weren't registered. Jacob just said, "No craft, no, No, NOOO!!" So I gave the craft to another child while trying to keep Jacob from bolting from the room before Lucy left.
We headed towards the door when Frosty came in. He waved to us. Jacob went up to him and gave him a high five, which made the librarian escort for Frosty (celebrities never go around with an entourage) laugh. Frosty then left to another room, where Jacob reenacted the high five and I was lucky enough to get the picture:
You would think that Frosty would be the scariest part of the program for kids, but they all loved him. Next week is Santa, so we will see how Jacob and the rest of the kids will do.
Lucy was very attentive during the program and seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit. Jacob went into his usual passive mode. The librarian handed out colored scarves that the kids used as snowflakes. Most of the rest of the kids swirled the scarves in the air like snowflakes in wind and let them fall to the ground. Jacob just held on to his scarf. I helped him to wave it around. He enjoyed the stories and the sing alongs but would not stand up and dance around. He never has before, so I guess it was no surprise.
Then came time for the craft. Everyone who registered had one craft set to put together. The craft was pretty simple: glue a snowman to a stick, then glue a snowflake to a Styrofoam cup, then stick the stick into the top of the cup. The librarian handed me Jacob's kit. When I asked him if he wanted to do the craft, Jacob said, "No, no, no, no, No, NO, NOOO!!" After about 30 seconds of this, I asked Jacob if we should give the craft to one of the other children who weren't registered. Jacob just said, "No craft, no, No, NOOO!!" So I gave the craft to another child while trying to keep Jacob from bolting from the room before Lucy left.
We headed towards the door when Frosty came in. He waved to us. Jacob went up to him and gave him a high five, which made the librarian escort for Frosty (celebrities never go around with an entourage) laugh. Frosty then left to another room, where Jacob reenacted the high five and I was lucky enough to get the picture:
You would think that Frosty would be the scariest part of the program for kids, but they all loved him. Next week is Santa, so we will see how Jacob and the rest of the kids will do.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Jacob's Jealousy Reaches New Depths Today
When Lucy was first born, Jacob was not too jealous of her. Angie and I had heard the typical story. An older sibling tells mom and dad after a week of living with a new bundle of joy that the infant can go back now. Jacob never said that to us and has always been very good and affectionate with Lucy, for example:
What could be more affectionate? Things have changed this week, however. It started with Jacob taking toys and books out of Lucy's room and putting them in his room. To be fair, some of them were Jacob's previously (though Lucy did receive her own copy of Goodnight Moon, and it's unclear to me why Jacob needs two copies; nevertheless, he took both). Lately, Jacob has been asking to get into Lucy's crib and into her playpen, as for example:
Today was the biggest move yet by him. We had gone shopping to the local grocery store. I've developed this system where Jacob rides in the shopping cart and I pull Lucy's stroller behind me. Sounds awkward? It is, but it is much easier than going through the process of putting Lucy in a carrier and taking her out again. The stroller also has a handle at the front so I don't have to pull the stroller backwards through the store. We are like a little train in the store, with Jacob as the engine (even though I provide all the power) and Lucy as the caboose.
But enough of this digression, the important facts are Jacob was sitting in the cart and Lucy in her stroller. We got back to the van. The parking spot on the passenger side was empty, so I pulled the cart by the side door with Lucy in the stroller by the back wheel. I opened the front passenger door and loaded a couple of bags. As I turned back to the cart, I saw Jacob finishing a kick at Lucy's stroller which sent it slowly rolling away from the van and into the traffic lane. My heart leaped almost as fast as the rest of me did. Another van came by at the same time. The women rolled down her window and said how she was scared to see the stroller come out. Yikes, Jacob! Have you been playing nice all this time, only waiting for this opportunity?
I'm sure it really was an accident but you can be assured, I'll never load groceries first again.
What could be more affectionate? Things have changed this week, however. It started with Jacob taking toys and books out of Lucy's room and putting them in his room. To be fair, some of them were Jacob's previously (though Lucy did receive her own copy of Goodnight Moon, and it's unclear to me why Jacob needs two copies; nevertheless, he took both). Lately, Jacob has been asking to get into Lucy's crib and into her playpen, as for example:
Today was the biggest move yet by him. We had gone shopping to the local grocery store. I've developed this system where Jacob rides in the shopping cart and I pull Lucy's stroller behind me. Sounds awkward? It is, but it is much easier than going through the process of putting Lucy in a carrier and taking her out again. The stroller also has a handle at the front so I don't have to pull the stroller backwards through the store. We are like a little train in the store, with Jacob as the engine (even though I provide all the power) and Lucy as the caboose.
But enough of this digression, the important facts are Jacob was sitting in the cart and Lucy in her stroller. We got back to the van. The parking spot on the passenger side was empty, so I pulled the cart by the side door with Lucy in the stroller by the back wheel. I opened the front passenger door and loaded a couple of bags. As I turned back to the cart, I saw Jacob finishing a kick at Lucy's stroller which sent it slowly rolling away from the van and into the traffic lane. My heart leaped almost as fast as the rest of me did. Another van came by at the same time. The women rolled down her window and said how she was scared to see the stroller come out. Yikes, Jacob! Have you been playing nice all this time, only waiting for this opportunity?
I'm sure it really was an accident but you can be assured, I'll never load groceries first again.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Long week since Thanksgiving...
Last week is definitely the sorest I have been in quite a long while. It all started on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, when I took my brother-in-law, his wife and one of their friends on a high ropes adventure course at Terrapin Adventures. It was an awesome experience (videos will be posted soon on YouTube), with all sorts of climbing and walking challenges (traversing rickety bridges, walking on two wires, climbing cargo nets, balancing across logs, etc.). We had lots of fun but I was pretty worn out afterwards.
Everyone flew home by Sunday afternoon, which left a golden opportunity (since the sun was shining and the air was warm) to rake leaves. I started by myself while Jacob and Lucy napped inside. Eventually, everyone else came out later. We filled about eight bags, which may not sound like much, but I'm the sort to mash down the leaves and squeeze as much as possible into the bags. It was a full day's work in a couple of hours. My soreness from the day before was just beginning to kick in; leaf raking and bagging only added more.
Monday had no major exercise. Tuesday was Tae Kwon Do night with my friend David. We do about 1.5 to 2 hours of martial arts, followed by hanging out (playing board or video games, watching movies, etc.). I was not recovered from the weekend, so this workout definitely prolonged the agony.
Wednesday was Angie's birthday. I ran around to get a bunch of things done. No heavy lifting happened, but I did get a lot of chores done at home so that we could have a fun evening of nothing in particular to do.
Thursday was the big moving out day for my sister Rosemary. I helped load the truck with all her stuff that was stored here for the past half year or so. Only a couple of heavy items were a challenge for lifting. She has a piano, but it is a digital one that is moveable by two. On the other hand, many trips from the basement had to be made for all the boxes, etc., that were stored down there. After dinner, I went to her new place to help unload. I was very glad to help her out, and by this point being sore was becoming the natural state of things.
Yesterday, we had a beautiful snowfall of about three inches. Since it's the first snow of the year, not much stayed except on grass and trees. Jacob and I sledded and threw snowballs in the back yard (see proof on Facebook). Not really a hard work out, but fun.
Also, Angie received Wii Fit Plus for her birthday. We tried it out yesterday and today. The new games are fun and challenging. I look forward to future soreness from this!
Everyone flew home by Sunday afternoon, which left a golden opportunity (since the sun was shining and the air was warm) to rake leaves. I started by myself while Jacob and Lucy napped inside. Eventually, everyone else came out later. We filled about eight bags, which may not sound like much, but I'm the sort to mash down the leaves and squeeze as much as possible into the bags. It was a full day's work in a couple of hours. My soreness from the day before was just beginning to kick in; leaf raking and bagging only added more.
Monday had no major exercise. Tuesday was Tae Kwon Do night with my friend David. We do about 1.5 to 2 hours of martial arts, followed by hanging out (playing board or video games, watching movies, etc.). I was not recovered from the weekend, so this workout definitely prolonged the agony.
Wednesday was Angie's birthday. I ran around to get a bunch of things done. No heavy lifting happened, but I did get a lot of chores done at home so that we could have a fun evening of nothing in particular to do.
Thursday was the big moving out day for my sister Rosemary. I helped load the truck with all her stuff that was stored here for the past half year or so. Only a couple of heavy items were a challenge for lifting. She has a piano, but it is a digital one that is moveable by two. On the other hand, many trips from the basement had to be made for all the boxes, etc., that were stored down there. After dinner, I went to her new place to help unload. I was very glad to help her out, and by this point being sore was becoming the natural state of things.
Yesterday, we had a beautiful snowfall of about three inches. Since it's the first snow of the year, not much stayed except on grass and trees. Jacob and I sledded and threw snowballs in the back yard (see proof on Facebook). Not really a hard work out, but fun.
Also, Angie received Wii Fit Plus for her birthday. We tried it out yesterday and today. The new games are fun and challenging. I look forward to future soreness from this!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Jacob's new skills
Sorry it's been a while since there's been a posting, but things have been really busy. Hopefully things will be less chaotic now that Christmas is coming. Yeah, right!
Anyway, Jacob's latest amazing activity is creating new song lyrics. He started with "Old MacDonald," where the farm had all sorts of new and interesting items: a coal car (with a chug chug here...), a drum stick (with a drum-drum here...), a tambourine (with a tambourine here...), etc. He goes through his toy box and imagines everything is on old MacDonald's farm.
Recently, he's started rewriting "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" In case you haven't read it, the basic structure of the book is like this: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I see a yellow duck looking at me. Yellow duck, yellow duck, what do you see? I see a red bird" etc. etc. Jacob started rewriting it with his puzzles, specifically the Cat and the Fiddle puzzle from the library, which features the cat with fiddle and the cow jumping over the moon. Jacob started saying, "Fiddle, fiddle, what do you see? I see a...cat feet looking at me. Cat feet, cat feet, what do you see? I see a moon looking at me. Moon, moon, what do you see? I see a cow butt looking at me." Jacob went on while Angie and I looked at each other. Both of us deny that we taught him that one of the puzzle pieces was the cow's rear end. Who could have taught him such a thing?
We just finished a Thanksgiving visit with Angie's family, and our suspicions immediately fell upon Grandpa. He's had a whole history of either Jacob or he misbehaving which has so far gone undocumented. Hopefully Grandpa will read this post and set the record straight.
Anyway, Jacob's latest amazing activity is creating new song lyrics. He started with "Old MacDonald," where the farm had all sorts of new and interesting items: a coal car (with a chug chug here...), a drum stick (with a drum-drum here...), a tambourine (with a tambourine here...), etc. He goes through his toy box and imagines everything is on old MacDonald's farm.
Recently, he's started rewriting "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" In case you haven't read it, the basic structure of the book is like this: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I see a yellow duck looking at me. Yellow duck, yellow duck, what do you see? I see a red bird" etc. etc. Jacob started rewriting it with his puzzles, specifically the Cat and the Fiddle puzzle from the library, which features the cat with fiddle and the cow jumping over the moon. Jacob started saying, "Fiddle, fiddle, what do you see? I see a...cat feet looking at me. Cat feet, cat feet, what do you see? I see a moon looking at me. Moon, moon, what do you see? I see a cow butt looking at me." Jacob went on while Angie and I looked at each other. Both of us deny that we taught him that one of the puzzle pieces was the cow's rear end. Who could have taught him such a thing?
We just finished a Thanksgiving visit with Angie's family, and our suspicions immediately fell upon Grandpa. He's had a whole history of either Jacob or he misbehaving which has so far gone undocumented. Hopefully Grandpa will read this post and set the record straight.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Scientific Experimentation with Jacob
Jacob had a fun day on his birthday at the park riding on his favorite slide. He also discovered the new property of static electricity and began to experiment with it. You will notice the effect of the slide on Jacob in the next picture:
Getting charged up as he slid down the slide definitely had a shocking result on his hair. Luckily, he knew how to expend his excess charge, as documented in the next picture. It is difficult to see, but he is touching a small metal bolt with his right hand.
He also tested the bolts on the other side of the slide to see if he could achieve the same effect:
Lest you think that we have merely doctored the photos in order to give Jacob an undeserved reputation for scientific genius, here is a video clip of one of his many experiments that day:
Getting charged up as he slid down the slide definitely had a shocking result on his hair. Luckily, he knew how to expend his excess charge, as documented in the next picture. It is difficult to see, but he is touching a small metal bolt with his right hand.
He also tested the bolts on the other side of the slide to see if he could achieve the same effect:
Lest you think that we have merely doctored the photos in order to give Jacob an undeserved reputation for scientific genius, here is a video clip of one of his many experiments that day:
Friday, October 2, 2009
Jacob's latest development
Jacob and I were playing with his puzzles today. He loves the wooden puzzles with pieces that fit in just the right spot. Like this.
Sometimes he works on them and doesn't want anything from me. I will come up to him to check out how he is doing and maybe help out. He responds, without even looking up from his puzzle, with, "Bye-bye, daddy. Bye-bye." I take comfort in the fact that he does this to his mom too.
But today something different happened. He let me help out (which is not the something different). Sometimes we work together to get a piece in and I say, "Good teamwork!" He even repeats "good teamwork" back occasionally. I might also throw in a request for a high-five and he'll slap me five in celebration. Today, we put the last piece in one of the puzzles and Jacob asked for the high five. I was more excited than him for once.
Tomorrow we're having a birthday party for Jacob with some friends. Hopefully it will generate some interesting stories. The still camera and the video camera are plugged in. With any luck, we won't forget to use them.
Sometimes he works on them and doesn't want anything from me. I will come up to him to check out how he is doing and maybe help out. He responds, without even looking up from his puzzle, with, "Bye-bye, daddy. Bye-bye." I take comfort in the fact that he does this to his mom too.
But today something different happened. He let me help out (which is not the something different). Sometimes we work together to get a piece in and I say, "Good teamwork!" He even repeats "good teamwork" back occasionally. I might also throw in a request for a high-five and he'll slap me five in celebration. Today, we put the last piece in one of the puzzles and Jacob asked for the high five. I was more excited than him for once.
Tomorrow we're having a birthday party for Jacob with some friends. Hopefully it will generate some interesting stories. The still camera and the video camera are plugged in. With any luck, we won't forget to use them.
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