2.5 or, Where the Sidewalk Ends

Dear Miriam,

This month included many days of playing outside, a few days of camping and Cowboy Tunes every single night.  I came home the other day and you were sitting at the top of the stairs singing, "Home on the Range."  I have a feeling that your Apocalypse Survival plan will eventually be, "Just stay home and enjoy my grass-fed beef."

Grandma and Grandpa took you camping for a few nights up to a campground called Rancho Oso.  You came home with a new little stuffed horse, who you call Rancho Oso Pony.  You liked to watch the horses that they had, and the big pig named Bob.  I'm not sure if you knew why the rest of us thought the big pig named Bob was quite so funny, but we were all very amused.

We took Dad to the South Coast Botanic Garden.  He was the only one who hadn't been there yet.  We spent a few hours there, walking around the various gardens.  We walked up to see the lake, but they had drained it to do maintenance, so that a bit disappointing.  We'll have to go back in January, when they say they'll be done and the lake will be re-filled.  For someone who grew up around natural lakes, it's very odd to think that you might empty a lake for a few months.  Very odd.

We also discovered a new place to visit, the Point Vicente Interpretive Center.  They have exhibits on all kinds of things--whales and dolphins, geology, Native American history, Spanish and Mexican American history.  It's a neat museum.  Hopefully, we'll be able to go back this winter when the whales are migrating and do some whale watching from shore.  They also have a hiking trail, which would be fun to do when you're a little older.

One day this month, I got home from work after you were done with dinner.  You were playing in the living room, but then came around the corner to where I had just walked in the door.  You said, "Oh! I thought you were at work!"  Which made Grandma laugh.

The big news this month is that we found a new house to buy.  You are just a little bit younger than I was when we moved into Grandma and Grandpa Lam's house in Madison.  I have a memory of someone driving a blue pick-up truck to help us move.  I don't know if that's an accurate memory, but it's in my head.  I wonder how much you'll remember of the past year.  In some ways, you've been the luckiest one of us all.  You probably won't remember how stressful this whole process has been, and you're too little to carry any boxes.  You should probably be careful about that karma, though.  My childhood was all spent in the same house, and then after college I moved 5 times in 4 years.  And that doesn't count the number of times I helped other people move, which was many.  Hopefully, we will not move again for a long time, partly because it's much harder when you're older and partly because it's a really nice house.  It's well put-together, in a good school district.  There is a dog park a few blocks south and a playground a few blocks north.  It's a much quieter neighborhood, too.  The only drawback might be that the sidewalk goes all the way down the block, which means when you're teasing us by running off, you'll be able to go that much farther.  That's a problem I'm willing to have.

Love,
Mom

At Rancho Oso:

Bob the Pig:

The new house:

5.6 or, Positively Prepped

Dear Corbin,

This month, we got you ready to start school.  At the beginning of the month, you and I went to Target to do your school shopping.  For this year, that consisted of a new lunch box and a new backpack.  You did manage to talk me into new light-up Batman sneakers, but you were disappointed when I denied you new How To Train Your Dragon dragons.  You settled on a Spiderman lunch box and an Angry Birds backpack.  Someday, you will need a real backpack, a travel-to-different-continents backpack, and then we will truly shop for a backpack.  Because happiness is a great backpack.  A great backpack will be there with you when you need it, won't mind your baggage, and will give you hugs whenever you pick it up.  A great backpack will smell like that lunch you ate on a beach in Australia, will have that grease stain from your bike chain when you rode to classes in college, will have more miles on it than your first car.  A great backpack is a thing of beauty and comfort and pleasure.  But I suppose until then, Angry Birds will have to suffice.

At the end of the month, you had a two week session of morning classes called Jumpstart Kindergarten.  You got to meet your teacher for the year, Ms, Kawaguchi, and get to know your classroom, Room 13.  You brought home a plethora of worksheets, practicing writing your name, practicing cutting and pasting, practicing story comprehension.  It was a very useful program, and a good way to start the school year.

During the month, we went to the South Coast Botanic Garden.  Dad hadn't been there yet, so we had fun showing him the Children's Garden with the tunnel and the troll under the bridge.  I thought it would be a good time to walk up to their lake, since it was just the four of us.  We brought the wagon and the map and went searching for the lake...which they had drained in order to do maintenance.  So, all we saw was dry lake bed with tall lake plants wilting in the sun.  It was very disappointing.  But, we did get to see a huge beetle and a praying mantis in the Rose Garden, and brought home yet more toy lizards, and it was a nice way to get some exercise.

Grandma and Grandpa took you and Miriam up to a campground called Rancho Oso for a few days.  It seems like somewhere we should go back to when you're both older and do the horseback riding.  Miriam liked looking at all the horses, and the other animals in the barn.  They even had a big pig named Bob, which we all thought was a funny name for a big pig.

We discovered a new fun place to visit: the Point Vicente Interpretive Center.  It explores the history of whaling in the area, as well as the whales themselves.  It also has exhibits about the Native Americans who lived there, the Missions that came in to colonize the area, and then geology underlying the whole region.  It's a very nice museum inside, but it also has a hiking trail outside which looked like it might be fun to do.  Cousin Sue Yen has told us that she goes whale watching there in the winter, so hopefully we'll be able to do that, too.

The real news this month was that we put an offer in on a new house, and it was accepted.  So now there's lots more paperwork and things, but hopefully that will all go well.  Moving will be awful, it always is, but then we'll get to settle in to a much more comfortable place and hopefully live there for a long, long time.  The house itself is nice, with four bedrooms, a nice living room and a large dining and family room.  The kitchen has been updated nicely.  The garage is small and needs some work, but we've decided to park the RV in front of it and use it as a workshop instead of parking.  The backyard isn't large, but it's nice and has nice plants in it.  It's large enough for a bigger climber, which will be nice.  There is a dog park two blocks South, and a kid park three blocks North, and we won't have the terrible noise from the traffic any more.  We are all looking forward to getting all of our stuff out of the storage units, both here and in Madison.  It will be a process, but it will be worth it.  I'm saying that now, because I'm sure what I say during that process will not be worth saving for posterity.  Let that be a lesson to you: put positive energy into the world every chance you get.

Love,
Mom


At Rancho Oso:

Bob the Pig:

The house we all liked:

2.4 or, How much is too much?

Dear Miriam,

July was busy and fun.  The whole Thorne/Spencer side of the family came to visit, which was great.  You had never met Uncle Scott, and we had never met Cousin Sebastian.  So at least we all managed to finally get in the same room.  We got to do some fun things while they were here.  We all went up to the Tar Pits, and down to Cabrillo Aquarium.  We went swimming in the hotel pool, and had big family dinners.  It was very nice to see them all.  I hope we're able to do that at least once a year.

You grew noticeably this month, which means that you've actually outgrown some of your shorts.  I realized the other day that Corbin has been wearing the same shorts for three years now, partly because he stopped wearing diapers during that time, which effectively shrunk his waistline.  I wonder if the same thing will happen with your wardrobe, too.  I also realized that neither of you has worn a pair of long pants for months, either, except on your trip to WI and MI.  I guess that's life in CA for you.

We gave up on barrettes for your hair and tried head bands.  Then we gave up on those and went with the top knot.  We'll claim it's because of your Asian heritage.

Your camping trip left you with predictably terrible bed time habits.  You think it's perfectly reasonable that we should just hang out in your room with you all night.  One night, at 2:30am, you tried to convince me that I should just sleep on your floor.  We had just started to get you back into a good routine when you went down to San Diego for a few nights.  So it goes.

We got a new slide this month, which you really like.  As soon as I walk in the door from work, you give me a big hug and then say, "Can we play outside on the playground?"  You climb all over it, and have great fun telling me which hole to peek through while you're inside.  Your animals climb all over it, too, which is funny.

We had this conversation this month:

Me: [singing] "How much is that doggie in the window? I do hope that doggie's for sale."
You: How much is that kitty in the window.
Me: [sings kitty version]
You: How much is that fish in the window.
Me: [sings fish version]
You: How much is that floor lamp in the window.
Me: ....Let's go outside and play.

Love,
Mom

The thumb nail coming off:

Your new hair style:

Helping Grandpa do the dishes:

Helping Dad fix the computer:

5.5 or, Would you like strawberries with that?

Dear Corbin,

July was an eventful month!  It started with a visit from the Thorne/Spencer side of the family.  Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Erin and Uncle Scott and all the cousins came out for almost a week.  It was so nice to see them all.  We had never even met Cousin Sebastian yet, and Uncle Scott hadn't met Miriam, either.  All of you had fun playing together, which was nice.

They stayed at a near-by hotel, so we were able to go swimming in the hotel pool a couple of times.  We took them up to the La Brea Tar Pits and down to the Cabrillo Aquarium and beach.  We had big dinners at the house, and one dinner out.  The Spencers went down to San Diego for an overnight visit with some of Uncle Scott's relatives.  Overall, it was really good, and I hope we're able to do it again soon.  With all of you kids being close in age, it makes for a fun time.

Over that same time period, we closed on the sale of our house in Minneapolis.  The adults were really, really happy to have that happen, but I didn't want to talk about it very much.  You have said several times that you missed our house and wanted to go live in it again.  I felt like making too much of the sale might actually be a sad point for you.  I wonder how much you'll remember of our life in Minneapolis when you're grown.  I wonder if you'll ever live in the Midwest again and find it all strangely familiar.

What was definitely familiar is the little slide that we bought from a neighbor.  We left our with some neighbors in Minneapolis, but Miriam needed something to monkey around on.  You are too big for it, really, but it will be all right until we get into a house with a bigger back yard and can get something better.  Like a parkour course, maybe.

I found you some new books this month.  I'm trying to upgrade the level of non-fiction in your library, to something past 1979 and 1980.  I've found one used bookstore near us, and it's not a very good one, but they did happen to have a couple of the more recent Eyewitness encyclopedia books.  I bought the ones about the Seashore and Mammals.  I did not buy the one about Forensic Science.  A few more years of not dissecting things would be fine with me.

Dad did some electronic and automotive dissecting this month.  He put a new drive in the living room computer, and tracked down a short in the wiring harness of the motorcycle.  You are always interested in that kind of thing, so I usually try to make sure you can get in on the fun.  Even if it's just reading the display on the volt meter.  I want you to grow up to be willing to take things apart and see how they work.  Hopefully you'll learn to put them together again.

You put together your own sandwich one day.  It was salami and provolone with mayo and strawberries.

And then you ate it.

The whole thing.

*shudder*

The last week of the month, you took a short trip to San Diego.  You went down with Grandma and Grandpa Lam and stayed in a hotel with a Lazy River swimming pool.  You thought floating around was great fun, until you got doused by one of the waterfalls.  You tried to swim around it, but instead you went right under.  You also got to visit Uncle Alex's house and see the chickens, which you thought was pretty neat.  And, while you were gone, I saw a house that I liked, which was a nice way to end the month.

Love,
Mom

Helping Dad fix the computer:

At the aquarium with Charlotte and Family:

At the park with Carter and Family:

Helping Dad work on the motorcycle:

5.4 or, There and Back Again

Dear Corbin,

You spent most of June on a long camping trip with G&G Lam.  It was the first trip in their new RV.  You were excited when you were leaving, and you were excited to come home.  When you got home you told me, "I'll never leave you again!"  Which all of your adults agreed would probably not last past middle school, but I appreciate the sentiment none the less.

Your first week was spent driving to Madison.  It was so hot in Arizona and Texas that you could barely play outside.  Then you drove through tornado weather in Kansas and Missouri and Iowa.  I kept calling Grandma to make sure that you hadn't been blown away to Oz.  Your stay in Madison was very nice, seeing lots of friends and getting to play with some other kids.  Then you drove up to Menominee, which was so full of mosquitoes that, again, you couldn't play outside.  You did manage to have some fun catching bugs, and visiting with Aunt Cele and Uncle Russ, but Grandma and Grandpa decided that it was a better idea to come home early.  It was a very disappointing part of the trip, especially for Grandma, who thought she would have a whole other week with her family.  Hopefully we'll be able to visit again and have a better experience.

On your way home, you drove through severe weather again.  That was one of the biggest reasons I was glad when you were back.  You stopped at Mr. Rushmore and the Corn Palace, but they weren't very fun.  The really fun stops were at Wall Drug and Bryce Canyon.  The place you didn't want to leave was Devil's Tower.  You thought it was pretty awesome.  We'll have to go back when we can do the big hike around the base.

The biggest change while you were away was that Dad got his motorcycle license and bought a motorcycle.  He gets home much earlier, now, which was the point of the whole exercise.  It's always nice when a plan works out.  You were interested at first, but it became mundane fairly quickly.  Which is good--it will be just fine if you do not end up as a motorcycle rider.  Learning to drive a stick shift, on the other hand, is definitely something I want you to do.

Dad and I went and looked at more houses while you were gone, but we didn't see any that we wanted to buy.  So we've doubled our search now, to include houses for rent, with the idea that we might just find a better house to rent for a few years.  Grandma was hoping we would find a new place while you were gone, but it's still a slow process.

So home didn't change much while you were away.  The pile of books on my dresser has grown, and some or your too-small clothing went to Goodwill.  And now we're all back to normal.  Or, as normal as this family ever gets.

Love,
Mom

2.3 or, Get Along Little Dogies

Dear Miriam,

You spent June on a long camping trip in G&G Lam's new RV.  You came home covered in mosquito bites and addicted to a cd of Little People Cowboy Tunes.

Your first week was spent on the road to Madison.  It was crazy hot in Arizona and Texas.  Then you drove through tornado weather in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.  I keep watching the severe weather reports and calling Grandma to make sure you were all safe.  You spent a few days in Madison seeing lots of friends.  Then you drove to the UP to stay at the cottage for two weeks.

Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were so bad in Michigan that you couldn't be outside almost at all.  There was so much rain this spring that all the marsh land by the cottage was flooded, and about three years worth of mosquito eggs had hatched.  I'm sure the birds and bats were happy, but the humans were definitely not.  So, even though it broke Grandma's heart, you decided to leave for home a week early.

You stopped at some fun places along the way, like Wall Drug and Devil's Tower.  Other places, like Mt. Rushmore and the Corn Palace, were over-run with tourists and not very fun at all.  You got to see Bryce Canyon, and spent a night in Las Vegas.  But you were very, very happy to be home.

You gained weight this month, probably because of all that time spent sitting in the RV and having snacks whenever you wanted.  Some of them might even have been healthy.

You are a monkey on the go these days.  You love to run and climb.  You make us swing you around and carry you upside down.  You ask me to throw you on the bed and tickle you on the couch.  You do funny dances and funny walks.  The other day when I came home from work, you jumped up and down and screeched for a few minutes, and then ran off into the living room.  It was pretty much what I imagine life will a chimpanzee would be like.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure a chimpanzee would not crawl up onto Grandma's lap and say, "Let's see what Marmaduke is up to today."  One morning when you were still tired and cranky, we had this conversation:

Me: Do you want some milk?
You: No.
Me: Okay, no milk.
You: Yes.
Me: Yes, milk?
You: I said no and yes.

While you were gone, Dad got his motorcycle license and bought a motorcycle.  I'm not sure exactly what Grandma told you before you got home, but we had this conversation:

You: That's the motorcycle.
Me: That's Dad's motorcycle.
You: I don't want to ride it.
Me: You don't want to ride it?
You: It's too dangerous.

I had sent a couple of new cds with Grandma for the trip, but you only wanted to listen to the cowboy songs cd.  Now you break out into choruses of, "Ki yi yippee yippee yay!" when you're playing, which I find really funny.  I suppose at some point I'll walk in and you and Grandpa will be watching The Good, the Bad and the Ugly instead of Tom and Jerry.

Love,
Mom