Transparency

A sign of things to come?

(Also, please do not judge my spelling)

Ride 'em

Today Beckett had his first "horsemanship" lesson. I met his teacher Michele the other day when we were at the park and she was giving one of his classmates a lesson. She has a horse rescue organization and uses rescue horse to give kids lessons. I really liked her system because she teachers the kids all aspects of taking care of horses. He started by grooming the horse (Ellie) and he learned all the safety rules. Then he was ready to get on. At first he was a bit nervous, ("Horses are not really safe for 3 year olds,") but then he started to get comfortable and pretty soon he was asking Michele when he could come back and also saying that next time he didn't need her to hold the rope. (later in the car, he asked for lasso)

.

Alden, of course, is just as cute as ever and has started walking. He'll take two or three steps before toppling over. If he's going for the remote he can get a up to about 5. He's demonstrated his persistance (read: stubbornness) at the babysitter by spending the whole day going after the tricycle despite several war wounds. He likes to push it around while holding on to the seat. You'll notice all the photos are seated. That's because I don't dare take my eyes off him to get photos when he's up and running.

Alden's Birthday

Alden's first birthday was a low key affair. We didn't plan a party, but just had some cake and candles and presents at home. But of course, I was not terrible enough to forget the obligatory frosting on face first birthday picture! Beckett got a Winnie the Pooh cupcake, Alden got a Tigger cupcake, Daddy got a brownie, and mommy got some coconut cake.

Alden liked the cupcake wrapper better than the cake. Here's what he looked like when I took it away.

And here's what they both looked like later.

Helpful Hints

Last week on the way to work after I dropped off Alden at the babysitter. (as I have done every work day since August).

Beckett (waiting in his car seat to go to school): Mommy, where's Alden? What did you do with him?

Me (feigning confusion): I don't know. He was here a minute ago. What could have happened?

Beckett (with exasperation): Okay, where did you have him last?

One

Tomorrow is Alden's 1st birthday. So on his first birthday he weighs 23 pounds and taller than he started (that's about as accurate as I can get). This is what he looked like one year ago.

And this is what he looks like now (well, actually what he looked like around Valentine's day when I planned to post this video.)

Beckett: His tonsillectomy seems to have cured his sleep apnea, but his sleep habits are still terrible. He can't fall asleep, he wakes up at 2 am all the time and then again at 5:30. The ENT tells us it will be 6-8 weeks after the surgery for things to calm down, then we'll see. He continues to be interested in Barack Obama, Rachel Maddow, and other news casters (all of whom he thinks are John McCain). He also has gotten into dinosaurs and space lately, too. Beckett has also gotten into using some pretty funny terms: "Mommy, did you know pterandons ate fish. For example, they swoop down and snatch them from the ocean." or "Daddy, panda bears eat stuff. In fact, they eat bamboo." (I didn't tell him that, in fact, pandas were not bears.)

Click on the e

Not much new, except that Beckett learned to log himself into the internet, "No mommy, you need to double-click on the e." (And then he proceded to do just that!)

And in other news, Alden loves our new vacuum cleaner:

My friend Ginny got the boys shirts at the McDonald Observatory. On Beckett's solar system shirt, he recognized the sun and the planet Earth.

Thursday

Today Beckett had a tonsilectomy-adenoidectomy at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. (This was the third time we had scheduled it.) The procedure was recommended due to his sleep apnea discovered because of his persistent difficulties with anesthesia. He did so well! He started of the day wowing the nurses with a civics lesson about Barack Obama, and then explaining to them the tonsilectomy procedure:

First, you smell the bubble gum, then you go to sleep, then the doctor uses a big tool to take out your tonsils. Do you get your tonsils out? Why? 

Then he went back for the surgery which went totally fine. Turns out the adenoids were "enormous" and "infected" and so we're glad they're gone. 

For his bravery prize, Beckett declined going to Toys R Us, and opted for going to the stationery store for a calendar and a special pen (orange highlighter). Once home we made smoothies, but hw wasn't that into them. He was pretty miserable when we got home, as expected, but is now snoozing (6:30 pm) before his next dose of Tylenol.

Wednesday

Well this was going to be a post about how Beckett's getting his tonsils and adenoids taken out tomorrow or that his latest MRI was awesomely stable or that the oncologist said we didn't have to come back for six months, but then I found this....

In which Beckett becomes a member of the paparazzi

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Beckett LOVES the digital camera. He can now get his subject in the frame.














...but needs to work on timing....














...and getting people's "good side".

Alden Crawls and Beckett's Fashion Sense

(I know Beckett's chonis are backwards, but at least he put them on himself, right?)

Here are some things we thought we'd never have to say:

Me: Beckett, a potato isn't for drawing on.
John: Beckett, when Alden cries it means, "Don't push on his head."

Redwood Marching Band - Washington '09

Okay, so I have nothing to do with the band but my school was the only middle school from California to play for the inauguration.

Diplomacy for Preschoolers

Beckett's teacher gave me a letter he had dictated. He declined to write a note to Mommy, Daddy, or grandma. Here is the text of the letter he wrote:

"Dear John McCain,
I want to write you a letter. Good news! Barack Obama wins the president.
From,
Beckett"

Do bears...?

They have been studying bears at Beckett's school and he is very interested in everything about them. This was his bed time question:

Beckett: Do bears poo in the woods?

Those who do not think this HILARIOUS must not have as much of a potty mouth as I do.

Portless

After a day of talking everyone's ear off, getting poked for no reason, and totally eventless anestheisa (plus almost one year of stable MRIs) Beckett is port-free and only has a few steri-strips to show for his trouble. (He also got a teddy bear which he inexplicably named Pinky Doo Bear.) A gem from the trip to LPCH: "I want to be a Cal-Trans worker when I grow up so I can fix roads."

Beckett does "Dali"

Beckett was avoiding going to sleep and kept running out of his room with pictures. Finally he ran out screaming: "I wrote my name, I wrote my name." you can definitely see the Ts and he said the funky figure-8 thing was the B. I think that's a letter e in the bottom corner. In other news, assuming all goes well, Beckett is having his chemo port removed tomorrow! Yeah!