"Run Like a Monkey" Explained....

Jason here. I few days ago I was awakened to Brendan screaming, "Lets go running... like a monkey" (Christine blogged about it). Our son seems to know precisely when my energy is at a low point to demand that we go on these little jaunts. "Son," I say, "I just want to lay here and die for a minute. Is that ok?" It never is, and I give a weary look to Christine, who looks back sympathetically, glad that she is not being asked to sprint with our little Energizer bunny.

Well, I was curious as to where Brendan came up with running like a monkey. Lately Brendan has taken to watching The Planet Earth, the jungle episode. If you haven't seen it, they are AWESOME. In the jungle episode at the end there is a segment on a band of chimps. They scamper around and run across the jungle and Brendan loves it. He starts jumping around like Tarzan and hooting and hollering. Mystery explained.

On a side, and slightly disturbing, note - if you have seen how the chimp segment ends you may not really want your kids watching it. We did not realize it when we first let Brendan watch it. It shows how one band of chimps attack another band of chimps. The larger group scares off the other one and they trap this smaller chimp and, well, eat him. Yeah, its bad. Not at all the adorable little chimps you usually see on TV. They hand different parts of this poor monkey to each other to eat. "Extra Protein," the narrator says. Christine and I sat there watching this, wondering what Brendan would do. He doesn't seem to handle conflict on film very well. He looks over at us and says happily, "Look Mom, they are sharing!" Oh dear.

Even though we live by SF, its not that kind of fairy

In doing some internet searching I found that in Oakland they have a family park called Fairyland. The whole park is centered around fairy tales and children's stories. And this time of year they were having their Winter Wonderland. I convinced Jason to take us on Saturday. The park was just amazing. Jason said it was a mini-Disneyland. Huge slides, puppet shows, a bubble blowing elf, tunnel mazes, carousels, train ride, and more all themed around familiar stories. We stayed for about an hour and a half but had to cut it short when a certain little boy ran off amongst the crowd after going down the dragon slide, thus making his parents hunt him down for ten minutes in the park. Sigh. But, we are SO going again. Here are some pictures (this place was one big photo op).
Here is most of the family at the Wizard of Oz stage - Brendan as the Wizard, Daddy Dorothy (he didn't know what was on the other side of the hole when he put his face there) and the cutest wicked witch ever.


A very jolly horse
Bathroom directions
Brendan is mesmerized as he watches the puppet show

Brendan's two favorites - Humpty Dumpty and the whale whose mouth you could enter. Consequently, this is where we found him when we scoured the park for our missing son. Stinker.


Eva tries to see everything as we ride the train around the park. The train cars were really tiny and adults could barely fit. And, we were lucky enough to have one of our children fill their diaper just before the ride started.
So fun!!

Traintown

That's right, a whole amusement park dedicated to trains. Last week we went to Sonoma Traintown. Can you imagine the hysteria that ensued when I told Brendan we were going?
Once we got there we had to wait for the train to come. He was practically jumping out of his skin. Meanwhile, Eva and I rode on the carousel.

Due to yucky weather, we were the only ones in the whole park when we arrived. It was great.
Brendan chose the caboose to sit in when the train pulled in. The train ride is 20 minutes long and stops in a miniature town with real animals to feed. There are trestles, tunnels, waterfalls and scenery all over the 10 acre park. We are so glad we went.

Through a tunnel
The miniature town


Departing the station


Feeding the animals

Outdoor potty training?

Brendan's rightful place :)

After Traintown we drove around Sonoma. It is just gorgeous! I love the day trips we take from Marin. We are lucky to live in such a place, even for a short time.
P.S. Brendan still has the train tickets and treats them like they are gold.
P.P.S. Please excuse the blurry pictures. I was experimenting with camera settings. Things didn't turn out as I had hoped.

The ultimate alarm clock . . .

is waking up before 7am to a three-year-old in your room shouting excitedly, "C'mon Daddy! Let's go running . . . LIKE A MONKEY!" Good times.

12 Days of Christmas Tag

Jason here again. I was reading a friends blog and it turns out that by finishing the blog, I was tagged. So here we go.

Funniest Christmas memory: Oh this one is so easy. I am going to apologize up front to my brother Brad. When I was in high school Brad got the worst present ever from my parents. I don't recall what Fred and I got from our parents, but Brad received a box of sample size jellies called the 12 Jellies of Christmas. That was his present that year. We (Fred and I) just died laughing. Danica, if you are reading this, DON'T BRING IT UP! He is still mad about it.

2 Reasons Santa uses the Chimney: 1) Santa is trying to prove it to himself he still has it after all these years. 2) He needs all the exercise he can get after eating all the cookies.

Three things I want for Christmas: A laser. A red rider BB gun. A Benchmade 4" fold out knife.

Four Favorite Christmas Movies: A Christmas Story, Scrooged, Its A Wonderful Life, Star Wars.

Five Ways I have been naughty: Plead the 5th on the 5.

Six ways I have been nice: I change poopy butts all the time. That has to be worth a few. Lets say at least two, one for each poopy butt cheek. That leaves 4. I made everyone else look good with my board scores. I usually let people over in traffic. I apologize to Christine when I am wrong, which is on average every day. I cant think of anymore. Sorry.

Seven People I suspect are elves: Eva-girl, my old O-Chem teacher, Mrs. Romney (my high school english teacher), Canyon Fairbanks, Tom Cruise, George Stephanopolous.

Eight of Santa's Reindeer: Dasher, Slasher, Prancer, Vixen, Blitzen, and... Rudolph

Nine uses for snow: 1) Snowboarding 2) Sledding 3) Snowballs 4) Storage for food when summer backpacking (tested this one out this year) 5) Cheap thrills "Do you know the street value of this mountain!" (if you know what movie that is from, you get cool points) Did you know that when artists paint snow, they use blue? 7) Doughnuts in a parking lot 8) Igloos and snow caves 9) Snowmen

10 least favorite things: How hectic it can get. Traveling during the holiday season is so stressful. The pressure of trying to come up with awesome gifts. You know how you feel like a dork because you have no clue what to get the people you love? I hate that feeling. I dislike how my Christmas break is so short. I don't like people who are so liberated that they can't stand to have anything religious involved in this holiday. How many is that? I dislike that I am going to put on 10 pounds this season.

11 Word association with "figgy pudding" Doesn't figgy pudding sound like some byproduct of an oil change?

Twelve Reasons I love Christmas: Seeing family and friends. Catching up with old army pals. Getting Christmas cards. Getting presents. The First Presidency Fireside. Christmas trees, the music, Brendan freaking out about Santa, people being nice to each other, snow (at least the idea of it), Nativity Scenes.

Ah... Vacation time!

Jason here. Finals are DONE! I am so relieved. I have friends who are now going to study for boards. My friend Ben Counihan is taking them Monday. I am so burnt out right now that the thought of studying for another 12 hours a day just makes me want to end it all. Poor guys.

So we had two finals yesterday, and three today. It has been non stop studying for about week now, though I took my customary Sabbath break (which is always nice, and highly recommended). I am just glad the madness is over and I can enjoy being with my kids and lovely wife. Speaking of kids, Brendan just broke the slow cooker. Gotta go.

Trip to the base

Last weekend we had nothing to do so we made the trip to Fairfield to visit Travis AFB. I had been wanting to see what a base was like since they are a big part of military life. Also, Jason happens to have been born at Travis so it was doubly interesting to me.
I felt a little odd having to show ID to come in and realizing that this place is kind of exclusive. It was not really what I expected but that is based mostly on war movies. For example, everything was neat and orderly (expected) but I didn't see too many soldiers and it was crowded with shoppers (unexpected).
We shopped at the BX which had very good deals on a lot of things but had to leave due to cranky children before I could get a look at the commissary (grocery store) which is supposed to have KILLER prices. We also looked at old planes and had a long distance look at the new ones (which Brendan dearly loved) and drove around the officers' housing so I could get an idea of what to expect in the future. It was kind of neat to have a small peek into my life for the next few years. Army posts and Air Force bases are pretty similar.

We went by what used to be the hospital and Jason vaguely remembers rolling down the hill, hitting his head on a stone bench and getting stitches there. He doesn't remember much else about life at Travis. Maybe his older brothers do.

Wish I were a bit more festive but there it is . . .

You Are Considerate and Mature

You approach the holidays with responsibility and cooperation. You'll do your part to make sure that everyone else has a happy holiday. You aren't particularly picky or high maintenance during the holidays. You're happy to be in the company of people you love, and you're willing to "go with the flow." Of all the types, you are the most likely to give someone exactly what they want. You're also the most likely to wrap all your presents well - to prevent peeking!

The Wrapping Paper Test

Spelling your name and seeing the "tooth doctor"

Today Brendan came home chattering about "letter cookies". I didn't know what he was talking about until he opened his backpack to show me sugar cookies in the shape of all the letters in his name. Now, I know he is still far from being able to write it, but I thought it was great way to get kids familiar with how to spell their name. One funny thing - when he ate the "A" he bit off one leg and then told me it was a "4". Clever guy.

Also, today was Brendan's dental appointment to figure out what to do about the decalcification and "deep pits" in some of his teeth. We have been talking this up for about a week now to make sure it went as smoothly as possible. The dentist told me that she thought he didn't need a filling yet, that a varnish would do and we'd have to come back in 3 months to check out the progress. Despite a long wait in the operatory (it took a lot of creativity on my part to keep him occupied and away from the dental instruments), Brendan was really good when the dentist came in. He opened wide this time (we have been practicing) and let her put the fluoride varnish on easily. He even got a Thomas sticker when we were done. And one last thing that will make his daddy pleased - she said that we need to start flossing his teeth since he has very "close contacts". Jason will love that.

The Little Things...

Jason here. I have gained a lot of things in dental school. Books, bald patches, gray hairs, you know the deal. None are quite so troubling, however, as the twenty pounds that have magically appeared. It is a sad fact of geography that Baskin Robbins is less than a block from our house. That darn Apple Pie a la Mode ice cream does it to me every time!

So I am on a diet. No Baskin Robbins. At least not everyday. A little more running (I used to be in pretty good running shape) and a little less for dinner. It is that last bit that gets me in trouble. In my Army days we had to "chew, choke, and swallow" our food and then rush out. Eating fast was a point of pride. Physiologists say that it takes a good 20 minutes for our brains to figure out that we have eaten something. Unfortunately I can do quite a bit of damage in 20 minutes seeing how I can finish my dinner and have about 17 minutes left on the clock.

I came up with a solution to the left over time problem. Here it is. Take a bite. Chew it, enjoy it. Don't even think about the next bite until the first is down the hatch. When I actually do this (sometimes I revert to Major Payne mode) I find myself savoring my food AND feeling satisfied with only one helping since the meal lasts almost fifteen or twenty minutes. Nice.

Well, this little pearl of wisdom (enjoy what you are doing, don't just look forward to the next thing) has other applications too. For instance, I am in charge of putting Brendan down for bed. I brush his teeth, change him, read him a few pages from his favorite book, sing a song, say prayers and off to bed he goes. This almost always takes about five minutes or less. Usually he tries to stall me, but I don't let him, gotta stay on track. After all, I have to ... do something or other downstairs. Check the Utah Jazz score or some other randomality.


The other night though I realized that Brendan is getting bigger and someday he may not care so much if he has my attention or time. So I decided to savor the moment and have some fun with him. We played steamroller on the bed. I let him push me around a bit. He loved it. It took much longer than the usual five minutes, and I didn't mind. I tried to enjoy the moment without trying to dwell on what was next and it made all the difference, which was good.

Anyways. I don't think that I will ever enjoy a moment of jogging as much as I do ice cream. Not while BR still makes that Apple Pie ice cream, or the Heath Bar Crunch, that stuff is KILLER!

Rockin' Christmas lights

This is the most AMAZING Christmas light show ever! You have to watch it! How did they do this?

Nightly walk

Lately we have tried to go out for family walk after dinner. This past Friday we bundled up the kids (it has gotten cold here!) and walked to 4th Street.


As we turned the corner we see that there is a parade of some kind coming down one of the streets. Apparently it was a parade for the Virgin of Guadalupe (or something like that) and they were headed for St. Raphael Mission. We stopped to watch. How often do you just happen upon a parade? There were flag bearers, marchers, dancers and musicians. The dancers were dressed like Meso Americans. This dude's legs must have been really cold.

Jason kept saying that he wanted to jump into the parade and march with them. I told him that he hardly looked Hispanic and it was not a good idea.
After the parade ended we went to see the town's Christmas tree. Brendan liked it and managed to grab one of the lights.


He wouldn't listen so the night ended in a timeout, like this. An all to familiar occurrence nowadays.

The logistics of holiday decorating

1 small artificial tree with ornaments + several presents + the area of the top of the entertainment center = 1 babyproof Christmas. Someday, when I have more space and older children, the math will change.

Jelly Belly Factory

Today the kids and I met some family in Fairfield at the Jelly Belly Factory. Amanda was nice enough to meet us there and bring the Christmas decor that I left at my parents' house. I got two boxes when we went for Thanksgiving but didn't realize there was a third - the one with the tree and stockings in it. Sheesh.
So anyway, Brendan was excited to see his cousins again, along with Aunt Amanda and Grandpa Dave. Grandpa held Eva the whole time. She was so content.

We had a fun time at the factory. It was all decorated for Christmas. Brendan's favorite was the inflatable train outside. Surprise, surprise. The boys also liked the motorcycles out front and the photo booth in the lobby.


We took the free tour (sorry, cameras are prohibited on the tour but we did get these nifty hats), got our picture taken with Mr. Jelly Belly where, amazingly, everyone was looking at the camera and then visited the store. My dad bought us a bag of Belly flops (thanks Grandpa Dave!)

However, we spent most of the time at the sample bar trying the interesting flavors, and I am not talking the tasty ones. We went for the weird ones. Among the three adults we tried flavors like skunk spray, moldy cheese, earwax and toothpaste. I'd have to say that baby wipes was the grossest (and tasted shockingly like baby wipes smell) but I just couldn't try the vomit flavor. Amanda and Dad did. They are very brave.

Visiting Santa

This year Brendan is actually old enough to "get" Christmas on a whole new level. He has learned who Santa is (along with Frosty, Rudolph, etc.). This weekend we met Santa twice. At Falkirk Mansion in San Rafael they have a Victorian Christmas party every year. People dress up in period costume and there are carollers and refreshments. We went last time but spent the bulk of the time chasing Brendan around the very old, filled-with-breakable-heirlooms mansion. So this year we timed it and just waited outside for Father Christmas to arrive. Why was this so important to wait outside on a very cold night just to catch a glimpse of the man in red? Because he arrived in a fire engine!! Brendan loved that. Santa even gave a personal wave to Brendan. He had the biggest smile on his face. I wish I had a picture but it was so dark and there were a ton of people crowded around.

Last night was the ward Christmas party and guess who was there? You guessed it, Old Saint Nick! This year Bubbs sat on his lap but didn't know what to do next. Jason whispered that he should tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Seeing that Dad was whispering, Brendan whispered that he wanted a train to Santa. Then he started to pick his nose. Sigh.

At least he didn't cry like in years past. Here he is in 2006.

Eva sat on his lap too. She looked confused but went willingly. Someday maybe she can give us such a lovely photo op on Santa's lap as her big brother.

When babies feed themselves with a spoon

The hair is my favorite part. Bathtime following.

To the dental wives

Have pictures like this shown up on your camera? If not, expect it someday soon. Lovely. Especially lovely when they pop up as your screen saver cycles through the "My Photos" on your computer. And it will seem totally normal.

The stats are in

Eva had her 9 month appointment today (even though she is 10 months old). It sure is tough taking two kids to the pediatrician's and keeping them entertained in the small examining room. Or maybe it is just Brendan. I guess they are used to kids playing with the medical gadgets or they wouldn't put them down within kids' reach, right? Anyway, Eva is leveling out. She is 18 lbs 9 oz (1 oz less than last time), 28.5 inches tall and her head is 18 inches. These measurements are all right on track for an average baby but not along the same growth curve that she was on. The pediatrician said she sees this a lot with very active babies who have been breastfed. They spend the first few months chunking up and once they are able to move, their growth dips down since they burn a lot of it off. She wasn't worried but told me to keep an eye on it and gave me several suggestions for getting more good calories into her. I also got reaffirmation that this sleep phase will pass (disrupted drastically by teething and learning to walk). Somedays, you just need someone to point out the light at the end of the tunnel.
Eva was due for a flu shot as was Brendan and, it turns out, I could get one there too. So we all got one shot. Even though I hate needles, I'd do it for my kids. Mine didn't hurt. Brendan didn't cry (just looked annoyed) and Eva let out one good wail and reached for me. Pretty easy. Trying to redress her and keep Brendan from putting the medical instruments in his mouth or "Mom, I need to fly" off the examining table was another story.
After some drama at the front desk over insurance (another story for another day - don't get me started since I am still SO frustrated), we were outta there. The kids are to go back in a month for the second shot.
Here's our big little girl.

Eva in her bear hat. It was cold outside and gave me an excuse to put her in it. She hates that thing but it is so funny/cute. Ah, the things we do to torment our young.

Special friends

When I first heard that Brendan would be in a special education program, I had many different emotions. Part of me was concerned that he would be stigmatized his whole life. Today, however, I saw something that adds to my belief that he is in the right place. When he got on the bus to go to school, he first ran to the back where a young mentally handicapped boy was sitting. He said, "Hi Alfred!" and then trotted back to his seat and waited for me to buckle him in. He told me, "Alfred go to school." I thought it was sweet that Brendan had become friends with this unique boy enough to say hello first thing when he got on the bus. I know they are not in the same class at school so he must see this boy on the bus and maybe at outside playtime. He also says goodbye to a little Hispanic boy in his class that rides the bus home with him. These kinds of moments give me a glimpse into how he acts with the other kids in school. I am grateful for the opportunity Brendan is having of associating with all kinds of kids. Maybe he can continue to have the empathy and compassion that we tend to lose as we grow older.

Learning about fall

Just a cute picture of a proud preschooler and his artwork. He had such fun telling me about his tree and the leaves.

Thanksgiving and after

I don't have many pictures of Thanksgiving at my parents' house because I was having too much fun visiting to take them, but we did have a great time with family. Brendan and his cousin played in the dirt (that boy needs a backyard), Eva played with every toy, I ate way too much dessert over the weekend and Jason was sore from the Turkey Bowl.
The day after Thanksgiving we traveled up to see my sister and her family. They just welcomed twins into the world about a month ago and it is the first time I had seen them. They were so little (my babies were never that small) and so cute! Its funny how soon we forget how newborns are.


My niece, Hailey, the big sister, played with Eva and let her wear her hat and necklaces. What a nice cousin.


On Saturday some of my family came up here to SR to attend the Winter Wonderland. The city trucks in snow and lets kids sled down one of the streets. This year Brendan loved it.

But there was also a train ride so that was the show stopper for him.

After that we took them to Rodeo Beach to see the ocean. The waves were the biggest I have seen in my life. We hiked around a bit at first and the kids played in parts of the old army fort. Then, since they don't get to see the ocean much, they all wanted to play in it, running away as the waves crept forward on the shore.


Brendan was FREAKING OUT and kept calling their names and crying. He is scared of ocean waves. This is not the first time he has freaked out when we go to the beach. However, the funny thing is that just after we agreed to take him to the car and leave the "scary ocean", a wave came up and doused two of the little girls. They then wanted to leave too.