past updates and news |
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In August, I started keeping a journal of my past updates from the home page. Here they are... December 23, 2003— Ooh, we’re so excited for Christmas! Everett has just an inkling of what it means this year, at least, he likes playing with wrapping paper and love, love, loves the tree. He’s being very good, talking to it, looking at it, only taking down one or two ornaments, not even daily (we carefully placed all breakable ornaments on the top half of the tree). Are you here because you received a Christmas card with the website link? Cool man. Want to know how to set up your own website? It’s easy and way cheaper than you would think. Go to our new resale site (for mom’s work), Stumptown Domains. Buy your domain and a “junior web hosting” package. Mom will help you, just email her! I’ll write more tomorrow... December 9, 2003— It’s winter! It’s almost Christmas time! Big fun at the Sarah Martha-Stewart-Gilbert-Hanson residence. We’re baking and sewing and beading and cutting and gluing and making things out of random flora and fauna. Last night mom accidentally made FOUR batches of her favorite chocolate chip cookies (we meant to make two, and accidentally quadrupled the sugar). Yep, things are in high gear. Christmas card production has begun, so if you’re lucky, you’ll get one before the new year. Buying something for Everett for Christmas? Even better, making it (we love handmade gifts!)? You’ll want to check out some stats on what he likes, updated today. Everett is just the funniest little kid ever built. He comes up with something new everyday. He’s learning a lot now: how to talk (you should hear him say the sound of a bird, it’s “tee tee tee” instead of “tweet tweet tweet”), how to imitate (he did a particularly good goose sound during our Christmas tree hunt), how to climb on things and climb off them (here he is, standing on a tree trunk), how the world works. Oh yes, and did I mention he already has that cookie dough part figured out? He even knows how to take off his shirt (the sweater in the photo came off later that night) and to put his own hat on.
November 21, 2003— Boy has mom missed a lot of time! We know you really want to see the Halloween photos, so here they are. Everett sure did make a great cowboy. I promised pictures of our awesome pumpkins, too, they’re online here.
Everett experienced his first snowstorm EVER this week; on Wednesday it snowed all over Everett’s house, and yard, for about 3 hours. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, he fell asleep on our way to teach him how to play in the snow. I guess we’ll have to hope for a couple of repeats before the winter is out.
Everett and his family got some great news this month: his Aunt Destiny (mom’s brother’s wife) is pregnant with his first (blood-related) cousin! They are due in June. We are so excited, and really happy for Daniel and Destiny. Good luck, guys. We’re also trying to cook up a little brother or sister for Everett, so the family could be welcoming bunches of babies come next summer. Who’s next you ask? Betsy & Steve (dad’s sister), or John & Hannah (mom’s sister, the next-oldest sibling after Daniel). Come on people, we’re trying to build a dynasty here!
Mom’s book group, affectionately known as something unprintable on a one-year-old’s web site, decided after reading this book that they could do better. We’re working on a collection of essays about being moms & women. Let us know if you want to read some early drafts.
October 20, 2003— Everett and his whole family are feeling rotten! OK, no SARS here, but we all have colds that are high on the yuck-factor. Mom just beat the worst of it but Everett needed a whole lot of hugs to hang out with Henry & Peter today, poor little guy has a fever. (this from the little one who usually runs off to play before Mom has a chance to give him a kiss goodbye) Despite our collective grumpiness, we managed to visit the pumpkin patch a couple of times this month, once with friends; check out the photos.
ALERT! We have a talking update—Everett figured out how to say “touchdown”! In true Everett form, though, it’s “gunk-gown” - but you know he knows what he’s saying because he raises his arms above his head. We also thought we heard “Abby” for his aunt, and “go-out” when he wants to head for the great outdoors. He’s learning a couple of signs, too; he tells us he wants to get down from his highchair by wiping his hands together in an “all done” signal.
We all worked on carving pumpkins this weekend; Aunt Abby made a little white cat from Martha Stewart that wowed Everett like nothing else (he loves to pet its mini pumpkin nose), and Aunt Hannah and Mom made some pretty cool pumpkins too. We’ll post pics later this week, or you can see them for yourself at our upcoming event...
Upcoming events— Halloween party Oct 31.
October 10, 2003— Everett is fast adjusting to life as a toddler, learning a new word every day and discovering jumping, running, climbing and drawing. Any given day you can bet he will show up with a bump on his head, a couple of pen marks around the mouth area, and a nice loud scream of joy for good measure.
His words? Well, for some reason, they all start with “g”. “Gock” is his favorite word (sock), probably because you have to put “gocks” on to “go-up” (go outside, or go upstairs, or be picked up). His great-grandma Pat gave him the coolest dinosaur boots, which he loves, also calls “gock” and likes to clomp around in, even though they are at least a size too big (had to be done, it was the smallest size available). He also says “gog” (frog), “gook” (book) and “kak”, “duck”, “gog” (dog), and “bi-bi-bi-bi-bi” (mooo). Mom is “mum-mum” or just “mum-ma” or, if he’s really upset, “mum-mum-mum-mum-MUMM!” Once in a while, he just out and says “daddy” in the cutest way you can imagine.
Our little guy is quite the dancer. He has been enchanting grandmas, uncles, aunts and parents with his moves, which typically involve complicated, rapid, deep squats not seen on a dance floor since “flashdance.”
Upcoming events— pumpkin decorating & costume workshop Oct 18
September 22, 2003— Everett’s mom and aunt had big birthdays this month, mom’s 30th birthday and Aunt Abby’s 21st birthday. For Aunt Abby’s birthday, Everett stayed up far past his bedtime playing the entertainer: running around, squeaking, and saying “Goooaalll!” his new favorite word, which is basically a synonym for “ball.” (I threw the ball, I dropped the ball, you picked up the ball, the ball landed near me, I see a ball, etc.) The little mister is eating like crazy now, and especially loves sushi (don’t worry, we keep him away from the raw fish), shrimp tempura, and mom’s new secret recipe, Coney Island chili. Of course, he would rather feed you his food than eat it himself, any day: especially if he gets to push it into your mouth with his little fingers and giggle in glee.
Everett’s adjusting well to his new nanny, Karyn, and his friends Peter and Henry, who say “Everett’s here!” when he gets dropped off and who are really good with colors. His shoes are adjusting too: he just grew out of 5 and into 6 (a very cute pair of Chuck Taylor All-stars were just purchased to replace Uncle Steve’s favorite, Vans, shown above).
September 3, 2003— Everett and his mom & dad just returned from an event-filled weekend in Sacramento with his Aunt Betsy, Uncle Steve and Aunt Erin. He played in the ocean (at Drake’s Beach in Point Reyes, California), got knocked over by a wave, chased a volleyball around and was cooed over by all his relatives. He especially loved Aunt Betsy’s fish tank (to which he points and says, “gup, gup!”)
August 19, 2003— Mom added some of her “ real reviews”, check them out, let me know what you think. What’s new in Everett’s life? He’s about to start a new day care arrangement, sharing a nanny with two other little boys, and is starting to eat more adult food, like hot dogs and watermelon and bacon and French fries. Upcoming events: FAMILY DINNER AUG 22, 7 p.m.; MOM’S GROUP AUG 25, 6:30 p.m.
August 6, 2003— Mom just updated the web site with some new pages and lots of pictures. What’s new in Everett’s life? He just learned how to TWIRL around and went swimming for the first time last night in a big person pool. His latest funny move—running around the house, shaking his head like mad and laughing. He also just learned to water the plants. It’s the cutest thing ever. Upcoming events: PLAY GROUP AUG 14, 4 PM |
