3.9 or, Thanks I'm Giving

Dear Corbin,

We have many things to be thankful for this year.

I'm thankful that your Grandpa Lam had another birthday.  He just turned 77, which we celebrated on Thanksgiving Day with cupcakes.  You and Grandma put candles in them, a big number 7 and then seven individual candles.  Then you had fun blowing them out.  Dad said, "Someday you're going to go to a birthday party and wonder why someone else is blowing out the candles."  I'm so grateful that your Grandpa is part of our lives.  Grandma would tell you that I was always a Daddy's Girl growing up, and it's true that he and I have always been close.  We're alike in many ways, which will tell you who you can complain about when I drive you crazy.


I'm thankful that we live close to a really great Children's Hospital, which we ended up visiting because it turns out you're allergic to penicillin.  You had been on amoxicillin for over a week now, treating that sinus infection.  Sunday morning, you woke up with spots all over your body.  We called the nurse line and they recommended an ER visit because you thought that your tongue felt swollen.  So we got to spend about 90 minutes in the ER making sure that you weren't having too bad of a reaction, which you weren't, thank goodness.  The real fun will be going back to the clinic in a few days to see if you need to be on a different antibiotic.  We've seen more doctors in the past three months than in your first three years.  I'm thankful that we have health insurance!

I'm thankful that we have a safe house to live in, and food to eat, and cars that run, and jobs that pay for all of those things.

I'm thankful that the 2012 elections are over, and I'm thankful that President Obama was re-elected.  You can say many things about the US political system, but I am so grateful to live in a nation that holds peaceful, regular elections.  This particular election pointed up many problems, from long waits at polling places to the fact that money has far too much influence.  I think the biggest problem has been growing for a long time: the effect of the 24-hour news cycle.  I think it's obvious, if you watch any amount of news, that instead of contributing to an informed electorate, it instead contributes to partisan hysteria.  News has become entertainment and opinions have become news, neither of which is really useful, and it's also led to a terrible drop in journalistic standards.  Good journalism takes time.  Good journalism is non-partisan, but not non-confrontational.  I hope that when you are old enough to vote, it will be easier to get good information about the people and issues that you will be voting on, but if it's not, I hope that you will do the work to make sure you understand them.  And I hope that you'll recognize that while no system is ever perfect, we are blessed to live in a country that has the imperfect system that we do.

And mostly, I'm thankful for our lives together as a family.  You keep us challenged with your constant questions.  You keep us entertained with your humor.  You keep us exhausted with your energy.  You keep us learning as we try to satisfy your curiosity.  You keep us present and mindful in a way that nothing else could.  I'm so thankful that you came to be our son.

Love,
Mom

 Building Grandpa's birthday Lego set:

 Holiday card pictures:

 Chipmunk Boy:

 With Grandma on Thanksgiving:

Dad and kiddos:

Your new hoodie for this fall:

 Rawr!

Month 7 or, Up to 11

Dear Miriam,

We don't know entirely why, but this month you got loud.  You're loud when you're happy and playing.  You're loud when you're unhappy and crying.  You're loud when you're tired.  You're even loud when you're sleeping.  Several times I've gotten up at night thinking you wanted to nurse and found you still asleep, making noise.  Even when you're not shouting, you're smacking things with your hands.  We've gotten you playing with the turtle drum so you can even make more noise.

You're crawling quite well now.  You'll follow us from room to room (complaining that we won't just pick you up) and you're Miriam-on-the-spot when someone's playing with something or handling something that you think looks interesting.  Corbin's started using the phrase, "She's messing with my stuff!" which I will probably hear for the next million years.

You're still pulling up on everything, including us.  The other day you trapped me in the kitchen, in between the stove and the sink, by attaching yourself to my legs.  You've also almost managed to crawl up onto my back when I'm sitting on the floor.  You've gained weight, too, of course, which is a constant reminder that I need to get back to lifting weights.

We keep expecting to see a tooth poking through.  You chew on everything and drool like a constant small waterfall.  Sometimes I can't tell the difference between you've drooled all over yourself and you've spilled the dog's water dish all over yourself.

I've been trying to make some good fall food for you: acorn and butternut squashes, sweet potatoes, applesauce.  You seem to like things when they're added to your oatmeal cereal, but you're not too sure about them on their own.  I wish I had more time to cook in general.  I hate to think that you and your brother will end up in conversations with your college friends that go, "What do you mean, you've never eaten fish?!"  And then you'll have to tell them that your mother fed you the same 7 meals your entire life and that's why you keep asking them what their plans are for Christmas break.

Love,
Mom

PS: Sorry for the lack of photos this month, sweetheart.  Think of it as quality over quantity.