2009 Reflections - A New Home

2009 – A New Job, New Responsibilities, and A House.

In our six years of marriage we probably searched for a house brutally and dilligently four times, in 3-6 month long binges. I'm not sure we ever believed it was possible. What we desired did not match what we could afford. We began each search with excitement and vigor, only to end the search months later disillusioned, filling the file cabinet with another folder of notes, offers, and flyers advertising homes for sale, again making the decision time and again that it was not possible in our current situation. It was getting a bit repetitive.

With the economic crisis, I'm not sure we even dreamed this would be the year we'd own a home. My consulting job was not looking stable anymore. Obama's $8000 offer gave us the boost we needed to hop on board the roller coaster once again. Halfheartedly, we began our search. Then one afternoon, a job opportunity literally fell into my lap when Tom came home venting about a teaching position at Aveson that they were having some difficulty filling. What about me? I said. A few months later and I was teaching high school history part time. This helped us qualify for a better house. Due to the crazy real estate market, we made offer after offer, only to lose the battle each time.

A beautiful story for another blog, but somehow, it happened. And here we are. Homeowners in Monrovia. It's been a few months but we are still in a dreamlike state. Waiting for the ball to drop or literally waiting for the roof to cave in, we are in shock that this little home is ours. It is far better than we ever imagined. We feel very lucky.

I think my favorite part is the yard. A place to run and jump and play. Trees and greenery. Tom's must be the garage...storage shelves and tools and manly stuff. A lawn to mow, leaves to rake. He is in man heaven. Noah loves his blue bedroom with the fish on the walls. They swim around when he closes his eyes at night. And Jack. Jack adores the outdoors. And the long hallway he can ride or push something down.

It has been a very happy year for us. We are looking forward to opening up our home to family and friends and celebrating life often.

2009 Reflections - Jack Thomas

Jackie Boy - Bumps, Bruises, Scratches – Doctor Visits and a 911 Call – And 1 Million Smiles

If Noah was busy exploring the limits of his mind, Jack was quite occupied exploring the limits of his body. He started off 2009 as a 4-month old little squirt, flashing his many-toothed grin at anybody who would give him the time of day. Desiring to move before his little (or not so little) body was ready, he was crawling at ??? months and attempting a sprint at a year. His head disproportionately bigger than the rest of his body, he often (sometimes every few minutes) met the ground head first. Never cautious, never fearful, he hops back up with a fresh bump or scratch sometimes without a single groan, ready to run and fall again. He ends 2009 as a15-month old daredevil clown. He hops aboard at least five different ride toys several times a day. He not only attempts to ride a trike meant for a 3-year old (and he figures out how to get it going), he wants to invent new and more exciting ways to ride. What about if I rode it backward or stood on the seat? As I'm writing this he is standing atop a scooter sideways with no hands, seemingly attempting to jump off. Keep in mind that he is not capable of jumping.

Jack is a social being. He says hi when there is a knock at the door and smiles at every passerby. When he does not get attention from a stranger, he looks at them, walks up to them, and nearly forces his smile upon them. At red lights I catch the lady in the car next to us, waving back at her newfound friend. He's a ham. Take out a camera and he squints his eyes, shows his full set of teeth, and says “teeeeese”.

He's a clown. He makes us belly laugh daily. He tries to crack jokes only the way a baby can and he loves his own sense of humor (Hmmm - remind you of anyone?). He attempts to bit off noses, tackle cousins to the ground, and runs around the house growling and chasing us during monster play. He's rough and tough and enjoys a little pain with his play. Head bumps may leave you tearing up in pain while he is belly laughing.

A Music Lover, especially hard rock. When he was an infant, he was not soothed by Mom's singing or lullabies. We had to put on the grateful dead to rock him to sleep. Party environments relaxed him. I remember one family party in particular, it was long past bedtime and he was cranky and whiny. I tried nursing him, rocking him, taking him into a quiet room. It wasn't until we entered the karoake bar with a few loud ramblers obnoxiously singing some 80s rock song that he was soothed to sleep.

And a talker. Quite the parrot. We adore the way he says NooAh. When his uncle Steven sings the ever favorite “Hop on board the animal train...” Jack singsongs “Animaw”. And if you start singing old MacDonald he joins in at “E-I-E-E-O”. He barks and pants at dogs at dog-eees and belly laughs when family dogs knock him to the ground. He calls Debandababa Baba and sometimes spits out all the syllables of her nickname. He loves saying Dimmy (my brother Jimmy) and Eyi (cousin Eli). He'll repeat anything when he feels up to it but never for show.

He's growing too fast as the second child often does. I hardly remember the crawling days. We're not sure when he had his first word. We only have about a 1000 digital pics of his life so far (Noah had 3 video movies of the birthing experience alone). He had a full set of teeth at his first birthday and sometimes he eats more than I do.

He terrifies us. With his rambunctious, fearless nature, his oral fixations, his body rashes, and his febral seizures, we are kept on our toes. If Noah has us using our imaginations more, Jack keeps us active, literally jumping and sprinting over to him to try to prevent another disaster.

We love it.

2009 Reflections - Noah

Noah 2009 – The Imagination Blossoms

This was a magical year for Noah. Every week seemed a new adventure as he attempted to make sense of his world while creating his own imaginary creatures, scenes, and fantasies.

The year began with Curious George. His obsession was quite obvious. His eyes lit up every time we would turn to a page where Curious George was involved in some sort of accident with a medical cart, a library cart, or any sort of moving vehicle. His interest in accidents of this sort had him recreating these scenes. Sometimes he gathered a cart full of toys, mixed them all together, and created one random mess, only to crash the cart all over the living room floor. In preschool, he sought out the tricycle with the small trunk, filled it with random toys, and took off. Riding the tricycle was not the thrill however. Instead it was the slow motion fall to the ground, toys spilling out over the path, limbs spread out frozen still that gave him great joy.

We enjoyed having two extra guests in our household for a few months. Noah's imaginary friends, Pip and Pop, made every day a new adventure. Pip was apparently Noah's alter ego, carrying out his secret sinful desires. Pip threw Jack out windows, attacked grandmas, hopped aboard moving vehicles, and caused mayhem wherever he went.

The year ends with Noah's animal obsession. In the last few months of 2010 our house has been jam- packed with animals of all sorts. Zoos are created with blocks on a daily basis. Animal encyclopedias, and books on narwhals and whales are strewn about the rooms. Diego's animal adventures and Planet Earth are the videos of choice. He would go to the zoo every day if he had a choice. Our living room rug is an ocean, Jack's crib is a gorilla cage, the couch a snow-capped mountain. Noah himself is not Noah anymore. Every day he is a different animal, sometimes animals we've never heard of...a chinchilla monkey, a mountain camel, a killer whale. “I'm NOT Noah” he tells friends. His hands become flippers or claws causing some difficulty with carrying out the everyday tasks of life. At school, he refuses to wear his Noah nametag or have Noah written on his artwork. Instead, it must be the name of the creature of the day. At the store, he greets strangers with a bark or a growl. “I'm a killer whale” he shouts. The stranger's blank stare is perceived as fear as he quickly reassures them, “I don't eat people.” His curiosity is endless. His desires are adorable. And his imagination enhances the facts.

Pip is long gone. No more tricycle accidents. We're not sure how long a gorilla will roam our hallways. But these short-lived obsessions bring us back to the innocence and silliness of our own childhood play forcing us to reboot our own imaginations.