drew’s news

This morning I was in the kitchen preparing for lunch, and Leo was drawing on his whiteboard out in the dining area. Suddenly he announced “D-A-D spells ‘Dad’!” I looked up and saw him holding his green marker, with a big grin on his face. So I walked out, looked at the board, and saw this:

Needless to say it brought a big grin to my face as well.

Hope your new year is off to a decent start. Happy belated New Year everyone! (Or maybe I should say “Happy Lunar New Year” and then it won’t seem so belated…) This year we decided to stay put and had some good family time at home. We got a little tree and some little decorations, helped Leo unwrap his presents, and generally braved the extreme California weather (as evidenced by the photo at right). My folks paid a visit for a fun few days, but mostly we chilled out and fought off the seasonal colds. Unfortunately we had to take Leo to the urgent pediatric care on Christmas Eve as his runny nose had become a wheezing cough. Luckily (for us, not for them I guess) we made it 15 minutes before they closed, and went home with a nebulizer.

We took some of Leo’s gift money and got him a comfy chair, which he seemed to appreciate. Sometimes he likes to sit in it and flip through his books, but most often he prefers to sit in mom’s or dad’s lap for stories. He weighs about 25 lbs these days, and in addition to stories he really likes running, jumping, and kicking his soccer ball. It’s already getting difficult to imagine the days before he could walk, just a few months ago! I used to find it strange when I’d ask other parents about their kids’ milestones and they couldn’t quite remember, but now I can directly relate. Ask me when Leo started crawling and I’d have to go look in the little calendar journal we managed to keep for the first year. Well, best wishes for 2009. Don’t forget to stop and savor the moment once in a while…

OK, it’s obviously way past Halloween, but I really wanted to post this snapshot of Leo in his costume carrying his little pumpkin. (If you were stumped, it’s a turtle costume, complete with a little shell velcroed on the back.) He was very excited about having his own pumpkin. We had brought some pumpkins home about a week earlier, and he quickly established ownership over the one that he could lift. Several times a day he would lift the pumpkin from the shelf it was resting on, carry it across the living room, carefully set it down on the file cabinet next to the stereo, and step back with a satisfied grin. Then a little while later he’d carry it back to the shelf.

Well, it’s been an exhausting Autumn for us and we’re looking forward to some relaxing downtime during December holiday season. Here’s a very belated “Happy Halloween”, and a somewhat less belated “Happy Thanksgiving” too!

A couple weeks ago we attended the wedding of our friends Derek and Patty in Yosemite National Park. The newlyweds are both avid rock climbers who recently scaled the face of Half Dome, so the Yosemite valley was the perfect setting for them to tie the knot. It was a great party (with amazing scenery of course)! Congrats to the bride & groom; unfortunately we had forgotten our camera so I don’t have any photos to post. This is the first wedding we’ve been to with Leo, who I may have already mentioned is quite mobile these days - we spent most of the evening chasing him around…

We stayed for the rest of the weekend and hung out in the valley with our friends Bob and Rich, his wife, and their twin daughters. They graciously sent us some of the photos that they took, and I’ve posted a few of their pictures below…

Rich had rented a surprisingly nice house in a small housing community within the park called Foresta, so we were able to cook our own meals, do laundry, etc. Rich’s daughters had fun chasing Leo around the establishment, and Leo had fun playing with all of their toys. We managed some short walks with the kids - up to Bridalveil Fall, and down to a sequoia grove near the western park entrance. And we spent part of an afternoon hanging out at Sentinel Beach on the banks of the trickling Merced River, which was a great spot for the toddlers (OK, the grownups too) to splash around in the cool water for a while.

I must say that it was refreshing to see a sky full of stars. As we sat on the deck gazing up at the Milky Way cutting across the clear dark sky, I realized that I need to make a point of “getting away from it all” more often…

Last week we headed out to Arizona to celebrate with my parents on their 25th wedding anniversary. They threw a wonderful party, with good food & drinks, cake, dancing, and some touching speeches. It was great having the extended family together for a few days, and Leo had fun hanging out with his grandparents (and aunties & uncles) and running around with his cousins. (Yes, he’s quite mobile these days, with plenty of scrapes on his knees, elbows, and cheeks to prove it…)

There were a few dramatic thunderstorms for the first couple of days (in fact, the night before we arrived in Phoenix a small tornado tore up trees throughout downtown!), but the weather soon cleared up and we got in some good sightseeing too. We spent most of our stay in Sedona, where we gazed at the red rocks and took side trips up to Jerome (a cool ex-ghost town) and to some nearby native American ruins. We also spent a wonderful day up at the Grand Canyon. The visitor center at the south rim is only a couple hours from Sedona and makes for a solid day trip. The view from Mather Point is quite fantastic. Thanks Dad for being a great tour guide, and happy anniversary!

Our friend Alex stopped by the other day with his camera gear, and snapped some wonderful photos of Leo. I couldn’t resist posting a few. Not bad, huh? Alex is quite good - you should check out some of the stuff he’s got posted on his blog (http://www.door51.com/blog)!

Here’s Leo with a drum that he has taken quite an interest in:

…And a family shot (albeit without the dog - it’s next to impossible to get both our squirming kid and energetic dog to sit still long enough for a photo):

Thanks Alex!