Jeter'sTwin

Zach was talking about Derek Jeter just a little while ago (he is always talking about Jeter) and I said something about his twin. Zach was all, "What twin? He has a sister, but that's it." For a couple minutes I had myself thinking that I know something about baseball that Zach doesn't, and then I remembered I tend toward the naive side of things.

Here's what I was thinking of though: Remember that Skippy peanut butter commercial Jeter was in a few years back? Actually, I've since looked it up and it appears that it's from 2001. Jeter's 'twin' appeared in it with him, or at least that's what I've thought all these years. Apparently it was just computer imaging. So I am stuck on this now and I want to find the commercial so I can show it to Zach because he's claiming to not know what I'm talking about.

I just spent a large amount of time driving myself crazy trying to find it. I can find several places online where they make mention of the commercial, but no clip of it. Not even on youtube or anything. I know someone reading this (if there is anyone left who still reads my blog) will have better luck and you'll post a link for me.

Road Trip '09

Two years ago we took a cross country trip in an RV. Remember? We decided that is our travel personality. No Disney World for us. I have no desire to ever go back to Disney World. We just want to travel around to all the places we've never been (where we can get to by car) and see what there is to see. So last year when we found out about a friend of Zach's who is getting married in Virginia, we started gearing up for Road Trip '09!!

I am so excited to get out of here! I could cry at the prospect of shedding behind the day-to-day monotony. I've been saving money for months on end and started packing last week. I've been making lists and plans and trying to work out the details. But I'm also excited about not knowing where we'll end up. I just want to be prepared enough to get out the door and the rest I don't care about. The wedding is on July 11th so we'll be heading out on the 6th. Our first stop will be a place I read about, Dutch Wonderland, in Lancaster, PA. It's some kind of eco fun park.

More details to come, and I'll be sure to update while we're away because we'll be in hotels (no RV this time - we'll miss that aspect) and with no housework to attend to I'll surely have more time for the computer. Plus, my mom and Jamie are coming with us. They'll watch the kids while we're at the wedding. I'm am so stoked that they're game for a trip like this! Plus it makes it a 2:1 adult-kid ratio so that will make for easier traveling.

Come back soon to see where we are...

Yes Day

Ever heard of parents being fed up with always saying no to their kids and in response declaring it a 'Yes Day'? This is where they consciously say yes to everything they would normally say no to. Kinda like Jim Carrey in that movie, Yes Man. Well, it looks like today we are going to have a Yes Day.

Here is the reason: About a month ago Zach found out his step-father had Yankees tickets for a game today. There are four and Zach will be going with his mom, brother and step-father. If you can count you'll realize that that leaves no ticket for Jacob. Well Jacob got to go to Yankee Stadium (the old one) last year and that sort of set a precedent in his mind that Yankee Stadium is a thing to do. So when Zach found out he'd be going, and without his little boy (with whom the Yankees have become the stuff of major father-son bonding), we didn't know what to do.

I told Zach we couldn't tell Jacob, that he'd be crushed. And when Zach mentioned the camera, I thought that there was no way we could get away without telling Jacob because he'd see the pictures. Also though, we've never lied to Jacob. I don't want to start now.

Well today's the day and as Zach said a really long goodbye to Jacob this morning, the guilt was building. I'm good at lying and making the day fun in a pinch, but all I could of was that I didn't want to lie to him. I sort of brought it up in a casual way, as in a hypothetical situation. And Jacob was so good about it. "What? Tell me, Mommy." So I told him.

He tried so hard not to cry, but his face belied him. It slowly contorted, the forehead and bottom lip getting closer to one another. I told him it was ok to be sad and to cry, that we could talk about how he was feeling, and that we'd do plenty of fun things to make up for it. Jacob is taking full advantage of my guilt, and suddenly it's turned into a 'Yes Day'.

On one hand I realize there are many of kids in the world who don't even have the luxury of a roof over their heads, so we may seem spoiled, but I think it's more than that. I think it's about the father-son bonding thing. I think Jacob feels left out that Daddy is going anywhere, period, without him. They have such a strong bond that I'm actually surprised Zach is even going. I would think that he'd be like, "Oh I simply can't go if Jacob can't." I know that is completely naive though, coming from someone who is not a Yankees fan. Jacob had a really awesome first-time MLB experience (fourth row behind the dugout, a player handed him a ball, almost caught a foul) which will be hard to top in his lifetime. I think he is sort of spoiled in that respect. The same way we're runined for road-trips now that we've had the experience of three weeks in a free 31ft. RV (we're very lucky people that we've had some great opportunities land in our lap like that and I am forever thankful).

So for today Jacob has already had hot chocolate for breakfast, we're going to the diner for lunch (where he plans to have chocolate milk and pancakes), we'll have ice cream (probably chocolate), we'll go see Marisa....and who knows what else.

Dear Sabine: Month 12

Dear Sabine,

You turned the big 1 on Monday. We celebrated with a party on Saturday where we had close friends and family over. The weather was hot and muggy, then turned to rain. I said no way were you having cake because you hadn't earned it, with your little nibbles of baby cereal and Cheerios. No way was I going to give you a taste of sugar before you'd even developed a taste for the healthy things. But I let you have your first strawberry, and boy did you love it.

The real party happened in Daddy's office on your actual birthday. We had to get an oil change on the van so I'd dropped Daddy off at work and then later we'd gone in to pick him up. The day before Stella had brought over a small cake (presumably left over from her church that morning) and I instantly told Daddy to get it out of the house so I wouldn't eat it. Well Jacob remembered that cake and did a little snooping in Daddy's office. He found it and none of us could resist. We sat there in Daddy's office and shared one plastic fork dug from the back of a drawer and ate the entire thing - all four of us, including you! When we were done there was frosting smeared all over his desk and chocolate crumbs dug into his carpet. I thought to myself, now that's a birthday celebration worthy of our family. Nothing we ever do is within the realm of 'normal'.

For your birthday party, the 'formal' one where we had guests and such, you wore a frilly dress with pink flowers. Everyone was aghast that I would dress you in such an outfit, knowing full-well that I despise dressing you like an actual girl. But that was a special dress. I bought that dress two years ago in Colorado Springs when we were on our cross country trip. I spent more money on it than I would spend on a pair of shoes for myself, but when I saw it I knew that it was Sabine's dress. I wasn't even pregnant yet, but I knew a little girl with little brown curls was coming my way and so I bought that dress in size 12 months. And then I waited for you.

Boy were you worth the wait. You are so much fun, you're at the age where you're learning something new every day. Recently it's been high fives, your nose discovery(which you like to grab and squeeze, then crack up), a couple weeks ago you found your belly button and figured to dig your little finger in it. You love to wave "Bye-bye", give kisses, and hide stuff under the couch and bed. Seriously, something will be missing for a week or two and then one day we'll discover it tucked away behind the bed skirt.

And guess what...you took four tiny steps a month ago, and then not again until the other day. Your birthday actually. I couldn't call it walking though. Not until Wednesday, two days after your birthday, did you decide to use your new-found skill as an actual form of locomotion. And now you just love walking, can't get enough of it. This is different than it was with Jacob; I remember everything with him being more gradual. There wasn't any one day I could identify as him doing x, y, z for the first time, I couldn't pin point his exact first word. But with you it's clear you have definite opinions about yourself. That's not to say Jacob isn't opinionated - he very much has a mind of his own.

Speaking of words, you have many, most of which are the kind a parent needs to translate, but they fit the definition of a word. Water (which you love drinking!), light, doggie, Ginger, Daddy, rabbit, touch it, gentle, Na-na (which is me, we're working on making it Mama). You use several ASL signs and a few I made up. Infact, there is a sign you use most often and it is one you made up yourself. Instead of the more sign you adapted it and use it, as best we can tell, to mean 'want'. You do your little "uh-uh" chimp noise to get our attention and then point to something and do your want sign. You do this over and over, sometimes loudly if you're really excited. It's really freaking cute.

Also right around your birthday you started eating some actual food. You still only have two little teensy teeth but I guess you just decided it was time. You have no idea have this has improved my daily living. It's opened up different wardrobe choices for me, and it means other people can feed you for a chance. It means you can be bribed and coaxed by little bits of crackers and such. You're still nursing like a maniac, but it's been nice to have you eating some food. I actually don't know your weight because your birthday came and went without me even making an appointment for you 12 month visit. We're going next week though and I don't expect you to be over 17lbs.

Other things have gotten easier with you as well. Diaper changes are not always a traumatic event, but you're still not crazy about them. The same goes for getting you dressed. The carseat is not the torture device it used to be. Infact, we even made it home from Camp in four hours a couple weeks ago because you stayed happy while awake in your carseat for over an hour. Not as much stuff is going in your mouth these days, and when you do have something inappropriate in your mouth, you're more likely to turn it over to the autorities willingly.

Ride-on toys and the water remain among your favorite things. A few weeks ago you actually tried to ride the canister part of the vacuum cleaner while I was vacuuming. You wiped out and then proceeded to do an instant replay showing me what happened when you fell off. Your little horsey is a favorite ride-on here at the house. You just push that things all over the house, going in circles and steering like a pro.

And I can say that you are a bonafide water lover. You love being in the water, playing around and getting wet. You love drinking water from a cup and cry when I say you've had to much. Yesterday you actually threw up in the car because you'd had the water bottle unsupervised and drank too much. And always with the climbing. Everyday it is a new thing you've climbed, a new danger, a few inches higher that I have to move the breakables. At Jacob's gymnastics recital you were doing flips on the bars (with Daddy's assistance) and hanging from them (with no assistance). I expect next year it will be impossible to keep you off the equipment.

Well Sabine, if your first year is any indicator of the kind of person you're going to become, I think you're going to grab life by the horns, drink it in with gusto, and then puke it back up just to make room for the next adventure. I'll gladly join you for the ride.

Love,

Mommy