Baby signing.

We have tried to sign a few words like milk, all done, more, and drink to increase the understanding of a concept. I'm sure that you already sign a few things without thinking about it; bye-bye, up, cry, hug, kiss and hi. Yesterday, TJ signed 'more' [thumb and first two fingers together, both hands, tapping each other]. You can see it on the Internet. Google 'baby signing'. It was so cute I could have just hugged him forever. This sign from TJ came BEFORE the familiar signing bye-bye. Everyday is a blessing with TJ or any baby/grandchild.

Page 4) 4-21-98

Mama leaves for work and you stand at the door yelling "Mama- come back".
4-27-98
'Helped' Grandmas dig a garden at Uncle Tim's [2135 Hanford, LP MI 48146] and plant seeds.
This is a game we play:
Who loves you? ....................................Mom
" " " .....................................Grandmas
" " " ...................................... Uncle Tim
" " " ......................................Great
" " " ........................................Aunt Katrina
" " " .........................................Rekha
" " " .........................................Devin
" " " .........................................Papa
on and on.
A small bird hit the stroller as I was pushing you and Kelli home from the park. It landed on the grass and died within a minute. I picked it up and let you and Kelli hold it. I said " It's broken"

Page 3) 4-2-98

You are very friendly and like everyone. Kelli is your every day companion. We have lots of fun together. You give lots of hugs and kisses - even to your toys. Your smile is as big as the sky and everyone thinks you are adorable. You can count to 15, know 22 letters of your alphabet [by age 2] and all your colors. You know what MOM spells. Your favorite word is "mine"
You call me "Grandmas" grandma's house, grandma's car, grandma's etc. Grandmas loves you very much. I love taking care of you while your Mama works. You are the pride and joy of my life. " Good morning, Munchkin" Big hug and kiss.

Kisses

TJ has been kissing us since he was about 4 months old. I didn't realise it because babies don't pucker up their lips. His kisses were open mouthed. Once his mom figured out the pattern, we were kissed by an angel every day. Today TJ's daddy was holding TJ in his arms. TJ kissed Tim. Tim said "thank you, baby". TJ kissed Tim again. Again, "thank you baby". TJ kissed Tim again, and again, and again.........12 times in a row. I don't think my son has ever felt as loved as he did this morning. Just conjecture. I might be wrong. I should ask him.

15

Today my very first grandchild turned 15. It's hard to believe. Wasn't it last week when I was walking him to pre-school? We would stop and say 'hola perro cafe' to the brown dog. Wasn't it last month that we were swinging at the park, I bent to pick him up, and Jay said, 'no, dada do'; he wanted the other child's father/mother to push him in the baby swing? Wasn't it just last year the he wanted to go to McDonalds to play on the balls and get a toy in his Happy meal? Where did the time go? My most fervent wish, was to make great memories for Jay. I hope I did.

Ball

TJ loves his balls. We play catch all day with a pink 'basketball size' ball, a white plastic baseball, a small stuffed football, hard plastic balls that 'enter and exit' a 'gumball machine' like toy and small tennis balls. When he had a chance to play with toys at the library, the first thing he picked up was a yellow ball. We've gone from 'catch' to throw, to bouncing on the wood floor, to rolling into a turned on its side plastic tub - score! Soon we will start to swing a bat at a ball; as soon as TJ can walk.

I seem to have missed blogging Monday.

And here it is Wednesday morning. I was meditating under a blanket last evening and I seem to have forgotten to brush my teeth. Can't remember what time [2am?] it was when I was done meditating and crawled into bed. [there are two beds in my cavernous bedroom - one for company/meditating.] Some times I think that my body is fighting a bug off and requires extra zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

page 2) 4-2-98

Today you asked me for 'broomas' . I said ' what do you want a broom for?' You took my finger [come on] took me into the kitchen to the fridge. I opened it and you took out the prunes!
When we were at Sarah's birthday [3-22-98] you were playing with a 4 piece fence that kept coming apart. When it would come apart, you would say ' what happened?'. This is a very mature sentence for a 2 year old.
You have been using the VCR for about 6 weeks. Mom says ' don't let him play with the VCR'.
You can put tapes [movies] in, eject them, push play, and rewind the parts that you want to see again. You like ' air bud', 'toy story', 'barney' and ' Thomas the train'.

Sat & Sun

I'm going to reprint from my Journal to Jay when he was little.
P.1) 4-22-98
Dear Jay,
Mom called from work today to tell me that you fell asleep in your bed last night-cuddling your baby doll. [added: you very rarely slept IN your bed]
I remember when you were 7-8 months old we were playing with dishes in the kitchen drawer and I pretended to make soup and you PRETENDED to EAT it!
We were at the playscape Monday [3-30-98] and you were inside the [covered] bridge and asked me if i wanted 'french fries or tacos'. then you asked 'for money'. You thought you were a fast food server.

Books

TJ gets settled down by being read to. We like to read books that have a bike theme in them. 'Bear on a Bike' by Stella Blackstone is cute but, I think there are too many images on each page. 'Duck on a Bike' by David Shannon has a semi cute story and great pictures but, it condones 'borrowing' something that is not yours without permission. We also like 'Bertie and Small and the Fast Bike Ride' by Vanessa Cabban. Cute story, great size, wonderful pictures but, 'Bertie" rides over the 'desert' through the 'meadow', around the 'world' edge of 'forest' and around the 'mountain'. I don't know about you but, I think baby should learn about dirt before he learns about desert. He can learn about mountains, meadows, and forests later when he is already familiar with dirt pile, grass, and trees. I just change the words to suit me...........he can't read yet.

Bakery

On my travels around Charlotte, I pass a bakery named Nona's. The sign out front says that they have over 100 different tempting items to separate you from your money. My curiosity got the best of me today [I'm trying to be 'white flour free'] and I stopped to inspect the premises. Now 'white flour free' means no cookies, bread and pastries unless it is 100 % whole wheat. I can guarantee that EVERYTHING in a bakery is made of bleached white flour with no nutritional value. How on earth did we survive growing up in the 50's???? Tang, Koolaid, Wonder or Tastee bread, jello and spam? Back to Nona's....$85. for a birthday cake, $.60 for a 1 inch cookie = $6.00 FOR 10! $2.50 for a SINGLE cupcake! Besides not going back because of my 'no white flour' stance; I can't afford to set foot in the door! I really knew before I went in that it was going to be a mistake. A long time ago, the first thing I noticed in a new place was the............bakery.

Everyday.

Everyday is the same as the previous day. Wake up at 7am, green tea. Downstairs 7:30am - banana, coffee and something for breakfast. A cup of green tea. Music, book and play with TJ in my room; until he is ready for a nap. Downstairs 11:30am - lunch, coffee, and feed TJ and by default Lily. Now in the living room; book, play, cup of green tea, and floor time in the sunspot. Outdoors when the sunspot disappears, until TJ wants his second nap. 3:30pm light dinner. Cup of green tea. Ann arrives home at 5:30pm; back to my room to rest and relax. 7:30pm snack [cheese & crackers or nuts and dark chocolate chips or yogurt]. Movie/DVD, computer, reading, crocheting, probably sipping another cup of green tea. Lights out 11:00pm..............repeat. Each day with a baby is new and exciting!

yup

TJ was again in close proximity to the lap top and I never had to say 'don't touch' because he never tried. Amazing!!!!!! It must be voodoo or something. TJ should not be able to control his impulses. At the park yesterday and today, TJ was reminded not to put wood chips, pine cones and dirt into his mouth. Lucky for me, he spits things out when I say "out" with my hand near his mouth. As many times as I have told him 'gentle' with Lily, he still grabs a fist full of fur. TJ has tried many times to 'kiss' her. Ahhhhh time will hopefully give Lily some respite from the fur grabbing. The cat is smarter than Lily and removes himself from harm; before it gets near him.

I'm prepared.

I'm prepared to tell TJ 50 times not to do something; I know that babies and small children don't have a self-control button. He knocked over the stool I had to prevent him from touching the laptop and was very unhappy if I kept my foot on the stool so he couldn't move it. After he fingered the laptop, I asked him not to touch the computer because it stops his music. TJ did not touch the laptop again. Fluke????

Another

Another cousin passed away. My mother and father had 4-5 siblings each. And my aunts and uncles had 4-5 children. So I have quite a few cousins. The first to pass away was a young adult. He was in a mental hospital. I can remember going to visit him. 20 or so years later, my brother committed suicide when he was 39. The third was a few years ago. He had cancer from smoking; slow suicide. Last week the fourth cousin died in his early 60's. I suppose now that we all are in our 60's that death will be more frequent in our lives. Sometimes I can't believe that I still have BOTH my parents. They are in their 80's now. It feels comforting that my children have had children and I will be fortunate if I get to live long enough to see my grandsons have children.

Change

Humans have lived on this earth for about 200,000 years. Egypt was great 5,000 years ago; and that is considered Ancient History. Seems like a long time ago; until you put humans running around on this planet vs dinosaurs. Dinos ran around planet earth 160 MILLION years. [230 million years ago] If you are lucky, you might live 70 - 80 - 90 years. Makes you feel kinda insignificant. Humans are not even HALF way to Half a Million years. Change is good - it makes you/me feel alive.

Naps

I like them. But I'm talking about baby naps [or lack there of]. TJ gets cranky around 10 am and is ready to be cuddled with a bottle and rocked to sleep. Heaven forbid that you should prematurely take the bottle out of his mouth [the babies on the bus go wa wa wa..........]. So I have to wait until he is deep asleep to remove the bottle. He really is only using it as a pacifier. I wish I could remember how I managed to get 2 ten month old babies [Jay & Kelli] to take naps. For the life of me, I can't remember. Tim & Dee didn't even have a bottle at 10 months; they gave them up at 9 months. HELP!!!! Even with a tired boy, a blanket, a bottle, rocking, and his nap song - 'The ants go marching.......' - I could not get TJ to conk out for an afternoon siesta. I'm flummoxed.

Optimistic

The first publisher that I sent my manuscripts to; said that they would not be able to look at my work for a long time. They are not the only fish in the sea. Today I stopped at the post office and picked up five 'flat rate envelopes' - Priority Mail. I have 20 short stories [limit 4 lbs] that I can stuff into the envelope for $4.95. Then I will send them off to five different publishers. And maybe for good measure, I will get five more envelopes. A couple of artists have said they were interested in drawing a sample illustration for me. I will include a few sketches with my stories. Nothing ventured................... Take time to follow your dream.

OOps

Watched a free movie from the library last night [Infamous...............Truman Capote] and forgot to blog. Baby has a stuffy nose and a second bottom needle [tooth] poking through the gum. TJ does think biting your toes is a treat. "OOOOOOOOOOOhhhhh stinky feet" cracks him up every time. He's standing alone for a few seconds now. The coffee downstairs is calling my name. What a great smell to wake up to. Taking Lily for her 'spa' visit today. She'll come back feeling very good about not having an itchy bottom. Going to meet her new vet.

Rain Rain go away.

The pinging on the window while I was waking up told me that today was going to be a soggy one. TJ likes the Rain, Rain go away song. He likes all my songs and some on 'You Tube'. We have a few 'Mary Poppins's' songs, River Dance, Selena Gomez, Old McDonald, etc. It usually takes a bottle, song, and rocking to get TJ to settle enough to take a nap. Today [for the first time ever] he fell sound asleep in his 'Johnny jumper'. His dad [Tim] was exercising in the same room. We let him sleep there. NEVER disturb a happy/sleeping child!

Weather

Snow storm across 2000 miles of USA. 65* in Charlotte NC. I took TJ and Lily for a walk to day and thought of the 20th children's picture book to write. I'm meeting with an illustrator tomorrow.

Happy 10th month BD TJ

Everyday is a great special day with TJ [or any baby]. Everyday brings new wonderful things to observe. And there is the growing relationship between TJ and me. I am blessed and honored to have been given the 'where with all' to be able to be daycare provider for both my grandsons. Today I hired two illustrators to send me one sketch for my books. They answered a posting for an artist for children's picture books. The posting just started today and I got 4 calls. I was hoping that an art student would need $30 bucks. The pictures will be of both my grandsons in situations that I have witnessed. My son Tim suggested the book proto type and the Craig's list.