Monday, December 31, 2001
When the kids were younger, we tended to not differentiate who owned which toy, and would avoid fights by getting two of anything popular. However, now that we're starting to encourage the kids to learn to share, we first have to instill a sense of ownership: "it's mine, but I'll share it for a little while, and then you'll give it back," etc.
For example, this Christmas the kids received a pair of stuffed animals from their grandparents -- a monkey and a lion. It was easy to decide who got which one, since Maya's climbing prowess has gained her the nickname "little monkey".
The next step? Name that critter, with bonus points for accuracy and/or humor:
Verbatim dialog excerpts from the last 24 hours:"Maya, what's this?" "Monk-ih!" (lots of excited clapping) and"Bryn, what's this?" "Yaya!" (grownups fall down laughing) Out of the mouths of babes. :-)
1:09:00 PM
Friday, December 28, 2001
Heavy weather. We woke up this morning to heavy rains, pretty typical for this time of year. But before we could get depressed by the gloom, we heard about the record snowfall in Buffalo: 6 feet in five days...
... and still snowing! OK, call us spoiled rotten by CA living, but the verdict is:Buffalo -- a wonderful place to visit relatives, but we'd never want to live there. Yikes!
2:19:00 PM
Thursday, December 27, 2001
On the advice of various safety experts, the kids have done all of their car travel to date in rear-facing seats. The panoramic views they've been getting through the back window must have been pretty neat, although as they've gotten taller, there have been more and more complaints about too much glare from:- the sun (early morning, early evening), or
- headlights, especially from all those SUVs.
So, to commemorate their 18-month birthday tomorrow, Maya and Daddy took a trip to the sheriff's office today to confirm that we could safely install their seats in a forward-facing position. Yep. Now everyone has enough leg room again. What a relief!
9:15:00 PM
Wednesday, December 26, 2001
Outtakes. A thrilling, behind the scenes, exposé of the making of this year's evohr.org holiday card.
Have you ever wondered what it really takes to get a cute picture of young, active twins with a mind of their own? You know, one where you can see both faces equally clearly, with no dorky expressions or chopped-off heads?
Well, we chose this year to find out which was the most important factor:- a good digital camera,
- dogged persistence,
- careful planning, or
- sheer dumb luck.
From prior experience, we planned on throwing away lots of takes -- in this respect, digital "film" is free, after all -- and we even started more than a week ahead of time, in case the first photo session(s) didn't pan out.
There's a technical term which captures the essence of our naiveté here: "suckers!"
[ In the interests of equal time, Bryn and Maya would like to take this opportunity to point out that they are consummate professionals. Any reported difficulties during filming couldn't possibly have had anything to do with them. They humbly suggest that you keep an eye out for crouching monsters that are this big. No, bigger, and they make horribly silly faces, too. ]
Anyhow, during a total of four separate sessions over the span of a week, we took over 130 pictures, nearly 70 of which got deleted immediately. We've spared you all the:- blank stares,
- missing hats,
- blurred motion,
- redeye,
- slightly out of focus,
- too far away,
- badly framed,
- etc.
Still, it's amazing how many of the cutest of the remainder still just wouldn't do, for one reason or another.
Don't get us wrong, though. The whole effort was a ton of fun.
So now that you've seen the outtakes, what do you think the real image looks like? Stand outside and keep a close eye on your mailbox this week!
PS: If it doesn't show, please make sure we have your current address and we'll send another pronto.
12:43:00 AM
Monday, December 24, 2001
Now that Gramma and Grandad are here for their holiday visit, we're getting more insights into the kids' vocabulary. Specifically, we're learning what you need to listen for if you want to understand all the words the kids are using these days.
For example, it always helps to pay the most attention to vowels, since those tend to be pronounced in pretty conventional ways. By contrast, it takes a little while to get used to which consonants they'll choose to substitute (or just plain omit) when their tongues get twisted.
However, some words are just total stumpers until you get enough context. For example, you can't help being stumped by one of the words on their last list, unless you've been here long enough to learn about ... happy feet!
Sometime this fall, Paul unwittingly created the following evening ritual. After a long hard day, it's not always easy for tired, hungry youngsters to sit down calmly in their high chairs and focus on eating. Thus, as a relaxing distraction, he'd ask "Who has happy feet?" and then take off shoes and/or socks, one at a time, until both kids were gleefully focused on wiggling their tickled toes.
Thus, for over a month now, they've been using the easily-pronounced word "appy" (short for happy) to request the removal of footwear. Then, about two weeks ago, Bryn started using it more generally to talk about feet. Of course, now that we've started hearing the entire phrase "appy fee", that brief coinage isn't likely to last long.
4:20:00 PM
It was only a matter of time. Both kids have long known that laundry baskets have the following wonderful characteristics:- They're lightweight, so they're easy to move around.
- If you flip them over, they're a perfect height for standing on.
Well, this morning young Maya, climber extraordinaire, put two and two together. Eureka! Guess who just reinvented the stool?
And boy is she thrilled. You can just see the wheels spinning in her head as she plots her approach to all sorts of previously unreachable delights...
3:35:00 PM
Thursday, December 20, 2001
Off-topic, again. When Paul nattered on last month about the "small world effect", he couldn't find much about current work in this area. No longer. Welcome to the cutting edge, as of yesterday! If you feel like it, they're currently recruiting for research subjects.
5:56:00 PM
Saturday, December 15, 2001
Recently overheard. We've been remiss. The "language explosion" (to quote one of Kath's colleagues) has descended upon us in full force over the past month or so.
We're now hearing lots of requests, many of them vehement:- mow (more)
- piece (the magic word)
- reet (this book for me)
- uppppp (with plenty of saliva)
- offff
- out
More specific requests, especially for Bryn, are starting to include the indefinite article ("a"):- uh bye (bite)
- uh bippy (binky)
We're also hearing more about the material world:- tee (tall leafy thing)
- wa-doo (H2O)
- jooss (fruity wa-doo)
- cheess (Maya's favorite food)
- app-uh (any red fruit)
It's not clear whether this is a typical twin phenomenon, but in addition to their prior vocabulary, the kids seem to be in nearly total agreement on the pronunciation of all of the above, with the notable exception of Maya's "wa-doo" coinage, which Bryn hasn't adopted. Yet.
Of course there are still some idiosyncracies with newly adopted words. For example, while she's still not fond of plurals, Maya's gamely plugging away on body parts:
- eye (what you see with)
- noh (what you smell with)
- e-uh (what you hear with)
- hai-uh (keeps your head warm)
- mao (what you eat with)
whereas Bryn's interests seem to be a bit broader:- na! na! na! (I really don't want to)
- ice (what you see with)
- appy (what you walk on)
Finally, we should note that this list is still woefully incomplete. We didn't think of writing this down until after the kids fell asleep, so tomorrow we'll probably notice other stuff they've been saying for weeks now. Ah well.
1:18:00 AM
Tuesday, December 04, 2001
With apologies for the delay...
... pictures of the kids' spoon prowess, from last month.
8:05:00 AM
|
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
about this site:
keeping friends and family informed about what's going on with our family and friends
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
family
bryn
maya
kathy
paul
events
halloween '08
blizzard '05
1st snow
easter '03
1st costumes
5th anniversary
1st birthday
1st shoes
1st party
1st repair
1st xmas
1st solids
house
birth
wedding
trips
pro cycling
Big Sur
Calumet
Cuauhtémoc
aquarium
Gilroy
Portola
Lassen
SFO
Audubon
San Ramon
Golden Gate
Davenport
Fitzgerald
Año Nuevo
CO Rockies
High Sierras
Mendocino
cross-country
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
archives
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
January 2009
December 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
March 2008
January 2008
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
April 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
June 2003
April 2003
March 2003
January 2003
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
April 2000
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
© 2000-10, the evohrs
|