Fitch's Birthday Party

 

Eggs!

 

Happy Belated Easter!

 

Fitch has teeth and gets a Haircut!

Fitch is 9-months now and just as happy as could be. He's got two beautiful pearly whites on the bottom and is sprouting fangs on the top. He also received Mommy's special buzz haircut last weekend.

He and Tobin are best Buddies. On this morning, Fitch was finishing his morning snooze in our bed, Daddy was in the shower, and I went to get something from the laundry. When I came back, I saw this happy sight- the boys playing together on the bed, laughing and having a great time.

He's loving feeding himself, too! I joke with a note of utter seriousness that he'll probably get more to eat when he's feeding himself than now. I have so much distraction at dinner with feeding Fitch, attending to Tobin, and eating my own meal. On the plus side, I am almost back to pre-pregnancy weight. On the minus side, Fitch, like Tobin is mostly made of air, and is only in the lower 10% weight (just like Tobin). With less mass, he's extremely active and cruising quite a bit- will post video soon!

Tobin's achievements!

Hi all,

Tobin moved up to pre-kindergarten classes in school a few weeks ago. Although he was really looking forward to moving up, it's been quite an adjustment to move from the older-toddler times to a more academic, disciplined class. He had also languished a bit in the old classroom, so was out of practice at being challenged.

At the open house last night, Nate and I had a chance to talk with his teachers. He is really making progress at coming back around to succeeding in the classroom. His teachers are amazing. At his small group practice, they were writing their letters.
First, they had them trace a letter, then write the letter 3 times next to it.
Then, they had his name and he had to write it all together.
We are so proud of his progress!

Love,
Erika

The end of infanthood

Fitch has been an incredibly "with-it" child. He's always observing us and challenging himself to get to the next level. Tobin has been his main inspiration, and Fitch so loves his big brother!

He's been working on his mobility recently, and this morning put it all together into a Squirmy Crawl that's just adorable.



Mommy's a bit sad, because it's the end of infanthood, but so proud of her little guy!

He's also been a champ with eating and is making signs that he'd like to feed himself.

OK, OK- I'm out of practice at blogging...

Sorry, Apologies, etc.

1. I have actually sat down and written a few times, had severe technical issues, which erased the entry.
2. I've tried writing and immediately been distracted by my family.
3. And, in general have been exausted from it all.

So, we're a bit out of touch. I'll work on backfilling the story.

Happy Easter

Tobin was very excited that the Easter bunny came both to church and to our house. It is a little cold and rainy this year, but Tobin loves to wear gloves and jackets. We had a fun time at Church and had a great brunch before heading home. The Easter bunny hid Tobin's and the Baby's Easter basket around the house and we had to search room-to-room to find them!! After an extensive search, where even the potty was verified to be Easter-basket free, he finally found them in the hallway closet. In addition, the Easter bunny also brought a present of (toy) Tools!! Wow!!! He got to work right away fixing things both inside the house and outside.
Let Tobin tell you about the bounty:

Tobin's Third Bday

Hi All, We had a great Western Roundup for Tobin's 3rd Birthday. He really couldn't believe that all of his best friends were all one place! We had a friend from preschool, our old neighbors, our new neighbors, and my childhood friends. They ran around for hours of high energy playing. This is Tobin's new (new-to-him) house, which he is very proud of. Note the doorbell- that's a key success factor for younsters. These guys made their own version of how many tubes and boys can squeeze inside.
Then we reorganized with a pull-pinata (3 year-olds with sticks, not a good combo). I was really happy to find the directions: basically, one cuts a trap door and attaches strings to it. Each child gets a string to pull all at once. I was so excited because instead of the normal somewhat violent pinata tradition, I think it emphasizes and encourages teamwork (call me narrow minded). Everyone got a denim patch bag to fill with Fruity sweet creams (no choking hazard, bonus!).

At dusk, we headed inside and refueled with cupcakes then present time!

A home of our own!

Here's our prospective new house! It's a 1,400 sq ft 3/2 bungalow within walking distance of Tobin's first two schools. The neighborhood is wonderful, filled families with children, and all sorts of friendly people. Of course it's a fixer-upper, so Nate and I will be putting our own touches on it for the next decade or so...

And here's your impromptu guided tour:

Christmas Letter 2008

We continue to be blessed with good health and full days. We have had a wonderful year as our family has grown, Tobin is a very active toddler and keeps us very fit!

We enjoyed several visits from our family. Starting in April, Erika’s grandmother, Patria, stopped in on her way back to Washington from New Zealand. Tobin was thrilled to meet his Great-Grammy for the first time! In late May, Nate’s mom came out for a visit. We then took a car trip to Lake Tahoe, with highlights as Laurie’s first mushroom hunting trip and experiences of the lake on three different levels: on the beach with Tobin, a lake cruise, and high above with dinner at the Forest buffet (18th floor = great view of the forest canopy and Lake Tahoe). In June, Nate’s uncle Brian visited on his Motorcross across America trip. He and Tobin had a great time and he even sat on Great-Uncle Brian’s motorcycle. In August, Nate’s friends Jon and Geeta and their children Chandani and Yosanna visited. It was so much fun to see them again, we hadn’t see each other since our wedding- and the kids loved playing together! In October, Nate’s dad, Warren, brought Tobin trick-r-treating. Tobin had a hard time with the whole title “Grandpa Warren” and even “GW,” and settled on Double (for W). He and Double were inseparable and in fact still watches video clips on the computer. We were so lucky to receive so many visitors!

We also made a few car trips despite the exorbitant gas prices. In April, we went on our annual trip to Bass Lake with Erika’s parents. Tobin had a great time at the beach and discovering pine-cones in the woods with his Ama and Papa. We brought Tobin on his first Tent-camping and Mushroom-hunting trip in May. Mommy shopped and purchased a huge tent (132 sq ft – no kidding! it’s called the “campsite palace”). It’s roomy enough for the crib, a queen size inflatable bed, and more still. It’s big, but is significantly easier to store and much cheaper than a travel trailer! In September, we devoted two weeks to Northern California and Southern Oregon. Nate planned the driving segments and found places to stay with playgrounds, we had a wonderful trip! We also made several day trips throughout the year over to Lodi to visit Erika’s family. Most recently, we went to Mickey Grove park and went to the Zoo! Tobin was fascinated by the monkeys and ring-tailed lemurs!

Finally, the day to day. We are lucky to both still be employed but find that we are still putting in 9-10 hour days. Nate changed jobs from in September, and is now working at Genentech. It's also in South San Francisco, so he still has a long commute every day. Erika is still at Codexis, but is continuing her development by taking classes in project management from UC Berkeley. It’s tough to work full time, take classes, and have a family, but Nate and her parents have been super supportive and she’s getting straight As. Tobin is healthy and active and has an incredible vocabulary, he’s stringing together 6 word sentences. We continue to try our best every day!

For 2009 we hope to buy a house for our family to grow into and continue to thrive. We are wishing for health and happiness for all of you too!


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Rainy Days

It's been raining a lot here! As you know, we are avid mushroomers, and a good rain brings out the mushrooms. Daddy would say, the rain makes the mushrooms fruit. In fact, there is a saying, "When it rains, it spores." (when it rains, it pours- get it?)
(groans)
Anyway, we were delighted to find this rainsuit in size 18 months! It has kept him dry, warm, and comfortable in the most drenching downpour. We have already used it on our trip to Mendocino and around the yard. (There are some times our little active boy NEEDS to get outside, as long as it's followed by hot soup, I'm ok with that).

Speaking of hot- Tobin's vocabulary is:

• "hot" applies to food, heater vents, oven, dryer, and a few other things
• "eyes" (eiz) he will point out your eyes, eyes in a book or newspaper- we are working on nose, mouth, teeth
• "all done" (ahl duh) when he is finished with mealtime, when something is empty, some times uses it instead of "bye-bye"
• "Uh-oh!" when he drops things (accidentally or on purpose), when something unexpected happens
  
• "hi!", "Dah"- dad, "Light" (ite), "That?" (u-duh?)
  
• more that we haven't deciphered/made the connection on yet.
  

1st-ish Hair cut

I've been working on Tobin's hair for about 2-weeks. A snip here, a snip there- He doesn't tolerate it very well. However, last night he fell asleep on the way home. Which is the perfect time to finish the job!! It was great, he was still as a rock and was upright since he was in his carseat. Here is his fabulous hair:
PS- other things I recommend doing in while they sleep in their carseat- trimming fingernails and toenails- so much easier! Just carry a pair of clippers in your purse!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We didn't get a Christmas letter out this year- but we're still hoping to make a "Happy New Year, 2007 in review type letter."

Happy Birthday!

Because Tobin's birthday fell exactly on Thanksgiving this year, we had his Dino party a little early, on November 17th. He had two friends over: Eli, who is 6 weeks younger than Tobin, and Josh, who is 5 months older! Of course, Eli's parents, Dave and Ginny and Josh's parents, Matt and Katie were in attendance too. Naturally, with three toddlers in motion, we didn't get all the pictures we wanted, but we are lucky because Matt took great pictures- Thanks Matt!

Here is of Tobin's first birthday cake (it's supposed to be a dino egg).
Just like his Daddy, he seemed to prefer savory/salty to sweet. He especially didn't like the sticky frosting on his hands. But the dino-chicken-nuggets were a big hit!

There were toddler sized inflatable dinosaurs, a tyrannosaurus balloon that Daddy taught Tobin WWF dino wrestling, and dino bowling from the Learning center. We padded the glass top of and legs of the coffee table, and turned it into a dinosaur to reduce the sharp corners.

We had a great time playing in the land before time-and no one got hurt!

Tobin had so much fun that he pretty much collapsed with exhaustion near the end of the party, which left Mommy and Daddy time to talk to our guests and clean up (so considerate!). We left the decorations out until his actual birthday, though.

Growling Good Halloween

At Daddy's work there is a Halloween party. We were really excited to go!

He doesn't know how to say "trick-or-treat" yet, but he does understand chocolate. In order to get the message across he growls and smiles (get it? "growls-or-smiles")in his lion costume. So far no one has been able to resist him.

Theravance also had inflatable bouncy rooms. He tried that out too!

11 months!

Hi All-

Sorry for the lack of writing. We've reached the winter months, when the colds/flu/sickness come in waves every-other week since September. We've already had the wet cough scourge, the crusty eye disease, thrush, stomach flu, the frighteningly high fevers of Roseola, and the green slug mucus ailment. Did you know that kids get up to 14 colds/flu per year in their first 4 years of life?

We have managed some fun, though. We bought Tobin up to the mountains again for the apple harvest. He found pumpkins too- we were so excited! We rented a tent trailer to try (before we buy). It was great for the heater that kept us cozy at night and that he could have some independent floor time, to play with toys and move around.

He is also walking 5-10 steps now, very controlled. Mommy and Daddy are really very grateful for the reprieve. We were worried that he was going to be an early walker- super mobile without the cognition to understand cause and effect. That would have been so dangerous. Now, he is always wanting to go walking, but wants to hold a hand for stability. So sweet!

We have also started rejoin the social scene- we had a Harvest party at his preschool, Halloween Party at Daddy's work, and today a first Birthday party! Currently, he's fast asleep after the birthday party (why Mommy can get to work!). Speaking of sleeping- most night's he's sleeping all the way through- Yipee! Mommy's finally catching up on sleep, well almost.

We hope to post some Halloween mischief soon, until then: "Bye, bye!!"

Eight months and cruising!!

So far we've sprouted three more teeth- the top two eyeteeth and a front tooth (the other is a few days behind). Yup, he is teething out of order- blame it on his novice parents, not knowing the right way... "How unusual," said our friend Katie, who is a real Dentist!! Actually, he's taking after his mommy, who also cut her fangs before her front chompers. At day care they call him the smiling Jack-o-Lantern!

Eight months old today!! Tobin is cruising!!



He's been holding our hands and marching along for the last week, but now he's doing it independently. Daddy is so proud!!



Our best to you!!

Seven months old

Hi all- Time flies so fast! Tobin is already seven months old!! He's a man in motion.. well, baby in motion anyway... He's always working hard to get to the next level- He's speed crawling now, and pulling himself up, so keeping us very busy.

So busy, in fact, that we had our first call to poison control last week. Toby crawled to my beloved dieffenbachia and broke off a cane and popped it in his mouth before I knew what was going on!! It turns out the dieffenbachia is also known as "dumb cane" because it can cause swelling in the mouth that renders the victim unable to speak. We rinsed his mouth and called poison control, but luckly the toxin is more prevalent in the leaves than the stem, so we were ok. Now the plant is out of Tobin's reach- and we're always looking for a good home for it...

It turns out that he was looking for something to chew on due to rapid dental onset- he's cut four teeth in 2 1/2 weeks!! Here's his two pearly white (razors) bottom teeth and his two eyeteeth have just cut through the gums on the top (not visible in this picture:


Here's footage of his improving crawling from two weeks ago:


Sorry, no footage of him crawling now (my old camera can hardly keep up!!).

Our best to you!!

Getting Started

Hi Friends and Family-

We've been looking for a way to do this easily for a while. This is a trial of the Google suite- hopefully this one will stick.

Here are links to TobinCinema:

First crawl (6/7/07)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lkhdAzU0wI

Rockin' out in the Kitchen (5/17/07)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXrlXAKsOFE

Enjoy!