Babydays

I almost cried, I was so geekily happy. A system devised by someone other than me, the ultimate gift!

John, surprise me some more! How about that sock drawer?? My pile of paid bills?

Posted by janna at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)

Who is that?

"Gus," says Gus, while pointing to his chest (his name sign is a G on the chest).

That is how much John and Gus look alike, even to Gus!

After our Father's Day feast, we went to Granny (or Nanny, as Gus calls her) Janice's house to take a walk and look at John's baby pictures. Gus thought it was himself in several pictures.

Posted by janna at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2005

The Journal of Gustav de Vylder, naturalist in South-Western Africa 1873-1875

This is the only other Gustav DeVylder I have found in the land of Google. Even then, I had to put a space between the De and the V to find it. Here's his biography:

From this link: Namibia Biographies

000773 De Vylder, Gustav * .1827 in Sweden + .1908 in Sweden First entry to Namibia: 1873 Last departure from Namibia: 1875 --- Gustav de Vylder was born in 1827 in Sweden. He was originally a surveyor. He changed his field to the study of insects and reptiles. In 1871, after having obtained a grant to study and collect in South Africa, he left on the Swedish corvette Norrköping to South America and ultimately Cape Town. He remained in the Cape Colony until the early part of 1873 when he left for Namibia. A Swedish tradesman, Bergvall, wishing to try his luck in Namibia, asked De Vylder to help him in trading. Part of the trip was overland which gave De Vylder time to collect specimens. For the next two years, he remained in Namibia concentrating on the northern part and establishing his headquarters at Omaruru which by this time had a number of Scandinavians. De Vylder returned to Sweden in 1875, and much of his collection was subsequently obtained by the Riksmuseum in Stockholm. From 1879 to 1887, he was in Cape Town where he continued his insect collection as well as wrote poetry and other literary works. He kept diaries but never published his research. In 1897, he again returned to Sweden. He died there in 1908. --- Gender: m Field of activity: SCI

Namibia National Archives Database

Posted by janna at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2005

Happy Father's Day

John, you are an amazing dad. Gus is so very lucky to have you to look up to. Do you notice how Gus watches you, mimics you, asks for you, is utterly sad when you leave (even if it's just going to the basement to get socks)? Did you know that everytime we drive by the train tracks he asks for you? Did you know that he is a mirror of you? Every kid deserves a dad like you, too bad our house isn't big enough for all of them.

Paul, thank you for raising John to be so loving and caring. You did good.

To my dad, I wish we could have had a couple more father's days together. I can only imagine what fun we would have had together.

To my Mom, thanks for taking on the job of two parents, I love you.

Posted by janna at 10:27 PM | Comments (1)

Will you be our fake Mama?

I have never been asked that question before, and I suspect that today will be the only time.

On our weekly walk back from the farmer's market, we made a pit stop in the park. There were three boys, maybe between 6 and 8 years old. They were running around in the sand with socks on, their shoes thrown to the side. I made some comment about the sand being all over their socks...and that's when one of them said, "You sound like a mama, will you be our fake mama?" Unsure of what the implications of my answer would be, and since there were no adults around with these kids, I said, sure, while I was at the playground.

I thought that was the end of it.

Then they said, "You have to tell us to go in the house."

Ok, go in the house.

"Now what?"

Oh.... OH, I'm playing fake Mama, it's all pretend playing, not like you're kids without a mom and you need one... got it, got it...

Ok, I said. It's time to get up and go to school... and then it was time to come home and eat dinner, do homework, go to bed...

Then I sent them to summer camp so I could go be a real mama and take my real son home.

Posted by janna at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2005

Please, may I have another?

Wow.

For such a little boy, he really had a meal tonight.
We had breakfast for dinner... scrambled eggs, toast, yumminess. Gus was finishing up a little bit of peanut butter toast (another obsession, so much so he signs peanut butter, knows where it is in the cabinet, and even helped spread it on his own bread), then I brought him some eggs. Just a little, I figured he wouldn't eat much after the toast.

Gus was sitting at his little table. I put the plate in front of him. Suddenly, the machine turned on. Gus was no longer Gus, he was a vacuum. Ten little pieces of egg suddenly were stuffed, one quickly after another, stored into those scrumptuous cheeks of his.

He looked at me, mouth full, nodding his head, signing, 'MORE'.

O...k....

Brought back another plate.

MORE.

Another plate.

MORE.

Another plate (ok, I should be fair, this was about 8 little pieces of egg at a time, that's usually all I can get into him for dinner sometimes, it wasn't like he was eating the 'big man dinner' from denny's or anything like that).

He usually only asks more more cookies or crackers, I can't deny the boy eggs...

...although the one time he asked for more broccoli brought such giddy joy to my heart...

Posted by janna at 09:33 PM | Comments (1)

June 14, 2005

Top o' the morning to you!

Posted by janna at 07:12 AM | Comments (0)

Summer home in the woods o' devylder

Posted by janna at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)

There are friendly beasts who roam these woods

Posted by janna at 12:20 AM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2005

He would go for walks forever if he could

Yesterday we set out for the three-mile, round-trip walk to the farmer's market. We have two Gus-mobile choices: the stroller or the wagon. Now, the wagon is much more "buy-lots-of-stuff-and-haul-it-back-home" friendly, but the stroller is much more nap friendly (nothing like seeing a kid slumped over in a wagon to think twice about using it for long hauls). The stroller it was.

Zeppo in tow, we were off. Gus wore his sunglasses and hat ocasionally. When his hat would fall off he would attempt to put it back on, often putting it folded in half on his head. If you stoped walking for any period of time, he would say/sign: MORE! So demanding, okay, okay...

We arrive at the market, with Gus still wide awake. This is when we thought we were in for another one of those "I'm falling asleep RIGHT before we get home" trips. We chat with neighbors, buy purple asparagus and corn-fed beef and just-picked strawberries, and head back out. And what do you know. Gus falls asleep a mere four blocks from home.

Rather than taking him out of the stroller, we quietly brought the stroller inside. There he slept for another hour while I obsessively played chess (and lost) for a spell of time (damn computer never lets me win).

After Gus woke up, I took him out of the stroller, as any mother would do. Fury. That is what I felt from Gus. If he could only have verbally explained how he felt, he would have said something like this: "How DARE you remove me from my royal throne, you seriously just like inflicting insult, I WILL go outside, I WILL go for another walk, and you WILL push me, so help me or I will bite this rug so many times my new molars(TWO!)will fall out."

So I put him back in, why not. And there he sat, cracker in hand. He was happy. I was happy.

And when he's happy these days, he is beaming. I look at him and feel the joy oozing from the core of his being.

Posted by janna at 09:25 PM | Comments (2)

June 07, 2005

"Hi, Ashley"

I have a picture of my cousin, Ashley, on our piano. A week or so ago I noticed Gus was smiling and staring at her picture...it's no wonder, she's blonde and young and beautiful!

"Say HI to Ashley, Gus."

"ashheeeeeeeeee"

Flash forward to yesterday. Gus was playing the piano (ok, pounding ON the piano). It was time to change his diaper, so I picked him up. Oh, he was not happy. As I put him down to change him, I asked him what was wrong.

"asheeeeeeeeeee"

"You want to say hi to Ashley?"

So now, everytime Gus goes by the piano, he plays a little diddy for Ashley.

To add to the cuteness, Gus noticed that I was pressing on the pedals with my feet as I was playing. He crawled under the bench, moved my foot, contorted his body and attempted to place his own feet on the pedals. I have to say it was so cute it brought tears to my eyes.

I just love him so.

Gus definitely likes warning...he balks at the unexpected. Often there is a sequence of events that needs to occur before the 'fun' can begin, such as shoes and socks on before we go outside or diapers and pjs need to be on before we read books. I find if I tell him what the end goal is, and what we have to do first before we can get to that, he chills out a bit. It doesn't mean he doesn't think I'm slower than a tortoise, but at least he is starting to understand the concept of prerequisites. This method has really cut down on his frustration level, and makes me feel like I'm treating him with more respect. I mean, it must be very disconcerting to be doing one activity, suddenly to be snatched up and moved away, put on a table with no explanation, stripped of clothes, wiped with a cold wet cloth, re-wrapped up in diaper, all without a word of warning. Hell, I'd be angry, too!

Posted by janna at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

June 05, 2005

Happy Half Birthday!

Dear Gus,

Around 10:30 pm, eighteen months ago, you started a series of events that lead to your birth. I feel like you've been here forever, as cliche as that may be to say. Some of the amazing things you're up to these days include:

As we're driving:
-Signing/speaking 'truck', excitedly, after seeing enormous construction trucks;
-Playing peek-a-boo around the headrest;
-Signing/speaking 'home' everytime we come into the alley, cutely poking your finger into your cheek.

As we're gardening:
-Quietly and methodically playing with sticks and dirt and plants as we garden;
-You are obsessed with bubbles and love to carry around your bubble container.

As we're eating:
-You like to stick your finger in your mouth as you're drinking from your sippy cup. We don't really get it, but we don't have to get it. It's your finger, use it for good, Gus;
-You're just starting to close your eyes and shake your head, as if to block us out of all of your senses. It won't work, Gus. We have ways. (we don't know them yet, but I'm sure with time we'll figure it out)
-You're not so excited by much of the food we're presenting you these days, except you'll always peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and you'll often eat egg and veggie concotions. I feel better knowing you almost always eat everything Cristy makes for you, and she still makes these amazing meals.

As we're sleeping:
-...You're sleeping, too! You no longer nurse, stopping just a couple of weeks ago, and even then you were only nursing for a few minutes in the morning. You're now sleeping from 8:30 until 7, which is great...on the weekends. During the week, though, we're supposed to be leaving the house around 7:15, but that's not happening much these days, especially since you're our alarm.
-If we give you warning and go through our routine, going to bed is enjoyable for you. You love saying good night to Papa by waving and blowing kisses from the top of the stairs. You now have two toddler pillows that you LOVE (go buy them at www.mrbobblesblankets.com, or gift them to others, they're wonderful...and washable!), you love to snuggle up with a blanket and you're almost always waking up happy. We still go through the things we're happy about before you get in bed, and you're even starting to answer my questions now. Holy communication.

You amaze us with your curiosity, your gentleness, your desire to share and help, and your happiness. You are a stranger magnet, people love to interact with you and you, in turn, are such a cheese. Keep it up, Gus...it's that kind of spirit that will lead you down amazing paths.

We love you,
xo
mama & papa

Posted by janna at 09:43 PM | Comments (0)

June 04, 2005

You're officially a little boy when...

...your shoes flash when you walk about.

Posted by janna at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)

June 03, 2005

I've got you pegged, Gus.

I know your secret. You wait, oh so patiently, until we ALMOST get there, there being home, or landing or just before we park to get out of the car. You are a sleeping opportunist. You refuse to fall asleep shortly after embarking, oh that would be too convenient for your parents. Let's take our trip to Iowa this past weekend. We drove all the way from Chicago to Iowa City, three hours, and when did you fall asleep? As we were exiting the interstate to go meet Grandma at the mall. Seriously, Gus. Then as we were coming back, you did sleep from Ottumwa to Davenport, but after a lunch of running and fun, you stayed awake...until we got off the interstate in Oak Park. You needed that nap so badly, so we kept the car open in the garage and did some gardening and cleaning up in the alley as you snoozed.

It does make us laugh in that exasperated kind of way.

We had a great time visiting Ken & Deb and Mom. Traveling with a walking toddler is a whole new ballgame, but Gus was really flexible and patient with all the car trips. I love watching him interact in new situations, starting off shy, then flirting, then asking for more attention. Charming, charming boy. I watch him and think, John and I are doing a good job with Gus, if I may pat myself on the back.

Memorial Day pictures

Posted by janna at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2005

happy anniversary, john

...the best three years of my life!

june 1, 2002.

I love our anniversary tradition. We look at our wedding album (see, it was worth the cost!), read through our ceremony and read our vows. The best part: we read the letter that we wrote to ourselves on our last anniversary, then write a new one to the John and Janna of 2006. It's full of goals, dreams, questions (like, "Did you paint the living room yet??" The answer was no...). A mini time capsule. It made me think it might be a good exercise to do for my own personal goals, maybe on my birthday?

I both feel like we were married yesterday and ten years ago. So much life has happened in such a short time, which makes me feel relieved because I look forward to more!

Posted by janna at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)