Everybody's Talking

Charlotte is starting to say a couple of recognizable words. She pretty consistently says "Daddy" when I get home or when I've been in the other room for a while and return. And she also seems to say "Hiya". Her walking is getting better all the time, too. We went to the beach for pizza on Saturday and for a walk on the "boardwalk" afterward. Charlotte probably walked a quarter mile and she was having a ball. She continues to be as adorable as can be.

Audrey continues to express more and more complex thoughts. It's very fun. Some example:

We have two small water bottles that are green and shaped like crocodiles. One is almost always on Audrey's bedstand and the other is usually lost somewhere (e.g. the car). This morning they both happened to be in the kitchen, albeit on opposite sides of the room. In the middle of eating breakfast, Audrey said to me, "Oh, there's two crocodiles. I've never seen two crocodiles."

Tonight she was way overtired when she went to bed (she's been up a lot during the night for the last two nights, and hasn't napped). In her usual attempt to stall bedtime, she protested that she was hungry. We had just fed her a big bowl of oatmeal (the old standby to get something in them at bedtime when they haven't eaten much dinner), so I said, "You're OK, Audrey." She yelled back at me, "No! I'm not perfect!" Five minutes later she was asleep.

Audrey's best friend is a beanie baby named Vegas. We bought spares a long time ago, but one of the first ones is well worn and Audrey long ago christened it "Audrey Vegas". Audrey Vegas is missing an eye and has a weakening seam on his neck. The other cleaner Vegases are called "Mommy Vegas" (I think originally "Mommy's Vegas.") Only Audrey Vegas will do when Audrey is upset or going to sleep. After several close calls, we are very careful not to lose him. The other night at 3:00am Audrey called for "Daddy!" I went up and tried to sleep with her for a while, but she was really wide awake. At one point she grabbed both Vegases and did a little skit:

Mommy Vegas (with great concern): "Oh Vegas, look at your eye! Did you hurt yourself?"

Vegas (sadly): "Yes".

Mommy Vegas kisses the spot where Vegas' eye used to be.

Audrey bends Vegas's neck so it is doubled over.

Vegas: "Look at my neck. It's broken!"

Mommy Vegas: "Ohhhh."

Mommy Vegas nuzzles Vegas very sweetly.

Mommy Vegas: "It'll be OK, Vegas."

Audrey has also been very interested in jigsaw puzzles recently. We noticed she had a renewed interest in a small 8-piece panda puzzle she's had forever. Carol bought her a couple of 40-piece large puzzles and Audrey took to them right away. After a little frustration and some help from us, she learned how to solve them and can now do them unassisted. For Christmas, we got her another 40-piece puzzle of Cinderella that she is totally in love with. And her Aunt Carol gave her a couple of Mickey and Minnie Mouse puzzles for Christmas that she also loves.

Finally, we've been going a little crazy on Shutterfly this year. Near Audrey's first birthday we made a photo book for the grandparents that covered her first year. We just did the same for Charlotte. You can see them (and even order a copy) here if you want:

• Audrey (Methot version)


• Audrey (Guettler version)


• Charlotte (only one version)

I also got three 5x7s for my desk, one of each girl and one of Carol with Charlotte. I brought them to work today, and I really love being able to look at my family all day long at work.

I have a bunch of new photos to publish on the web site, but haven't had time to edit them. I'll get them up on the site this weekend.

Storm of the Century

We had a big windstorm in Seattle on December 14, including the highest winds recorded in more than 10 years (peaks gusts of about 70mph in Seattle). More than a million people in the area lost power. We never did, fortunately, although it flickered a lot. We did lose our cable, and therefore our TV and Internet. For 36 hours! It was horrible! :) We were the lucky ones. Some people didn't get their power back until Christmas.

I went out to get the paper in the morning. There was no paper (printing plant lost power, no paper for the first time in 54 years!) but there were a bunch of shingles in the yard. "Hmm," I thought, "those look like our shingles." We lost a patch of shingles about 3x8 feet from the house roof. I was able to make a pretty good patch with thick plastic sheet and strip material (to hold it down) that I had laying around from the garage project. Roofers in the area are quite busy, but I checked on the patch (from the attic) last night in a downpour and it was dry as a bone. I think this weekend I'll try to replace the shingles myself.

My headline, "Storm of the Century," is a comment on how breathless television news has to be every time a cloud comes by in recent years. If you believe them, every little weather system we get is "dangerous".

By the way, I bike commuted the day of the storm and rode home during its peak period. Somehow, though, my ride was during a lull. There wasn't much wind at all once I got out of downtown. However, there was plenty of rain. In one section I was riding through 6 inches of water for about 100 yards. We got over an inch of rain in an hour.

At one point in my commute I travel on a bike path that passes under a large bridge. It's dark underneath. I have a headlight, but it doesn't illuminate the ground like car headlights do. I noticed a different texture on the path and slowed a little, but soon found myself riding through a mudslide that had come down an adjacent hill across the path. It was about 6 inches of wet mud. I managed to stay up and ride through it (about 50' long). Then I scrambled around to find some cones to warn other cyclists of the danger. My bike is in serious need of a bath.

Charlotte Turns One

Charlotte Turns One

Charlotte's first birthday was last Monday. We didn't have any huge celebrations since she wouldn't know any better anyway. Audrey was pretty excited about Charlotte's birthday because it meant she got to have cake. Can't blame her for that! And Audrey helped make the cupcakes.

It seems like a lot has happened since my last post. November was the rainiest month *ever* in Seattle. It seemed like it would never end. And then at the end of the month we had a little sun, then a snowstorm that paralyzed the city. It only snowed about 3 inches, but it then turned icy and cold for a few days so the ice wouldn't melt. I couldn't commute by bike for most of a week. Downtown Seattle is close to sea level but most of the neighborhoods are on hills or require going over hills to get to or from. So it was interesting to have a struggle to get out of one's neighborhood only to get downtown and be unable to tell that snow had even fallen.

Charlotte continues to improve her walking skills. She's also become quite chatty lately. And a couple of days ago she started making gestures that mean something: she'll now point at something and then at herself and speak. We're pretty sure she's saying "Please give that thing over there to me." The only problem is that we never quite know which object has caught her eye. We can give her the item we think she's pointing at, but then she'll just point in the same general direction again.

The snowstorm we had was the first one we've had since Audrey was born, I think. It was definitely the first one she ever went out and played in. She loved it. She didn't like touching the snow, though. Neighbor boys were throwing snowballs and she thought she'd join in. But as soon as her hand (bare, because she refused to wear mittens) touched the snow she had had enough of that.

Audrey has recently taken another cognitive step. We can't ever put our finger on exactly what has changed, but we've seen this many times. All of sudden something is just different about her. The night it was snowing she was up late. Carol sneaked her out of her room conspiratorially and opened the front door so Audrey could watch it snow by the streetlight. Audrey said it was beautiful. Earlier, when I asked if she wanted to go for a walk in the snow, she said "Oh, that would be perfect!" Yesterday while driving I criticized another driver. From the back seat we heard, "Daddy, that not very fair."

Immediately behind our house is Schmitz Park, a wooded city park that mainly consists of a ravine draining from our neighborhood at the top of the West Seattle ridge all the way down to Alki Beach. It's about a 15 minute walk from here to the beach via trails. Today it was cold but sunny, so we put the girls in their backpack carriers and took the walk. Then we walked along the seawall for a bit and took the bus back up the hill. Audrey declared it a "good adventure." We don't take advantage of the park nearly enough - that's only the second time we've done it in the 14 months we've lived here.

Months ago some friends turned us on to a woman who works as a part-time nanny on a flexible basis. Last week Carol called her and had her come over for an initial visit. Her name is Jessica and she's a retired Head Start teacher. She works for many families on as as-needed basis. The girls loved her, so now we're getting set up to have her come for half a day once a week. That will be a welcome break for Carol.

We've made plans to visit my parents in Palm Desert, CA in early March. We haven't taken a trip in two years, so we're really looking forward to it. If all goes as planned and Charlotte is weaned by then, Carol and I will get to go to Las Vegas for a couple of nights while the girls stay with Grandma and Grandpa.

Carol and I are constantly in awe of our good fortune. It's exhausting having two kids this young, but oh so rewarding and fun.