« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »
The Seattle Kagles left us on Sunday after a pre-birthday party for Bradley. (He turns seven sometime between today and tomorrow.) We were sad to see them go. Simon really enjoyed being one among many.
Brad plays a game on the computer while Simon snuggles.
Getting Brad, Jeff, Andy, and Simon all in the same photo was very difficult.
Seconds after the first photo was taken... They're off!
In Simon's first year of life the most frequent comment he received from strangers was "How alert!" he was. In Simon's second year of life, the most frequent comments were all about his language - how he could go on and on and on and never manage to say anything that made sense. Now that we're in his third year of life, the most frequent observation by strangers is how incredibly tall he is (once they ask his age). Actually, we're pretty sure their first thought is "What an incredibly immature four year old!" but then they ask...
Their follow-up question is almost always "how did that happen?" Our polite response to height questions is, "clean living" because really, we have no idea. Everyone in Hava's family is of average height or slightly below. Everyone in Matthew's family is average or slightly taller (within an inch or two of the norm). How tall is Simon? We don't actually know (we'll get him back to his old doctor soon). What we do know is that, at thirty-two months old, Simon has outgrown his car seat that should have lasted at least another year, is wearing size 3 pants, size 9 shoes, size 4 everything else, and is a thin 35.5 pounds. He is taller than all of his two and three-year-old friends (the difference seems to be increasing with age) and we've run into three four-year-olds in the past few weeks - all Simon's height.
It will be interesting to see if his height continues along the 90+ percentile path. Apparently there is no reliable way to tell if he will be a tall adult based on his toddler height (although it is more likely). But, just so you know, Andre the Giant showed no signs of being abnormally tall as a child. We've checked!
Now all we have to do is convince the sellers that we should be their lucky buyers. (The bidding war is scheduled for March 6 so this will be a nail biter.)
The contender is this fantastically ugly one:
It's a designer's worst nightmare and dreamy dreamy dream dream all rolled into one. There are five different types of flooring within view of the front door - none of them attractive, newish fixtures that are HORRENDOUS, the ceiling is cottage cheese, there is a 60's iron railing in the living room, and it has a concrete palace of a back yard. The home also sports a SUPER tacky kitchen and master bath. On the positive side, the three bedrooms are large, the other spaces are open and have great potential, the backyard is spacious, and there is a ton of built in storage (the pantry in the kitchen is a walk-in closet). It's perfect. Our only hopes are that the bidding war goes in our favor, that we can buy the place for not too much over a cool million (and no, we're not joking), and that we can afford to put some work into it before moving in.
What's particularly great is that the home is literally around the corner from the house Calvin's parents bought last night!
OK, OK, enough real estate talk. You're here to see the Kagle Cousins, right? FIIIIIINE.
Simon spent Friday and Saturday with his cousins Brad (7), Jeff (4), and Andrew (1). And, no, it isn't an optical illusion that makes Simon and Jeff appear the same size. They are in fact almost exactly the same size. Simon is very very tall.
Simon, Jeff, and Brad being silly in the backseat of the car...
Simon and little Andrew...
Simon and Brad play in Simon's fort bed...
Brad, Simon, and Jeff have ice cream...
Please send lucky vibes our way on March 6. We're sure to remind you by then but, just in case, feel free to write that date down on your calendars.
Last night we took our weekly trip to Cafe Yulong to fill Simon up on steamed fish and leek dumplings (he had eight) and a new *instant* favorite, fresh spinach noodles with garlic. He ate and ate and ate and ate and ate and ate and ate. Then? He ate some more. It was incredible - even for Simon. After finally finishing, he spent time telling each waiter "goodbye" and "thank you" and we're pretty sure they're looking forward another visit from "the amazing dumpling boy" next week.
Here was Simon's fortune:
At this rate, he won't be small for long.
Simon and Matthew drove up to San Francisco this morning to spend the day with the Feefadders, Jon, Laura, Brad, Jeff, and Andrew.
Lots of fun was had, especially at the Exploratorium...
Simon was sad to leave but he will see them again soon, oh yes, he will.
Getting ready for the Bahamas...
zoom?
This morning we drove up to San Francisco to spend time with our friends, Mike and Cindi. Yes, those people. (They are the people who inadvertently convinced us to return to California.) It is a good thing they did because otherwise we wouldn't have had today in San Francisco - and what a great day. The weather was beautiful so we walked from Fort Mason to the beach at Chrissy Field.
Cindi took on Simon beach duty.
Holy cow, it's hot. We've been uncomfortably happy recently and have decided that it must be a bad case of Spring Fever. Flowers are blooming. It's t-shirt weather. It's FEBRUARY.
Simon woke up with a cold on Wednesday morning but, by Friday evening, he seemed just fine. That was lucky for us because tonight we had reservations for a four course fondue feast at La Fondue in Saratoga. While we were away, Simon woke up to Calvin and the gang. They took him to our complex's play area and it looks like a lot of fun was had...
We thought about putting an offer on another house this week, a fixer upper with a backyard the size of a two tennis courts, but we think we'll hold off. We're not sure we're ready to gut a house and live next to a freeway just to get a great back yard. We've learned a few things recently about real estate - what makes a house get eleven offers in two days and what makes a house stay on the market for months...
Do...
Live in a cul-de-sac
Plant fruit trees
Have hardwood floors
Have large bathrooms and/or bedrooms
Build a large master bath
Add skylights
Do NOT...
Cover your entire backyard with concrete/stone/tile/brick
Have a pool - even if it has solar heat
Take up your entire backyard with an addition
Over remodel - taste isn't universal
Tile your living room and hallways
Turn your garage into a room that looks... just like a garage... but with TILE!
Remodel so that when you open the front door you walk right into the kitchen
After being marvelously happy about life, the weather, and the state of the universe, we opened our mail yesterday to find that our wonderful dentist in Palo Alto, someone we had both been seeing since 1997, died three weeks ago of a sudden heart attack. Dr. Jeff Frost was in his late 40s and was, literally, the most genuinely happy person either of us has ever met. Thrilled to be alive! Happy! And very very genuine. We watched him go from a single guy to a deliriously happy married guy to a guy with two little girls that he totally adored and he watched us go from a dating couple to a married couple to a family of three. He was physically active and fit and happy and it’s just a big shock. We were both looking forward to having our teeth cleaned to see him again and it's really sad that that isn't going to happen.
Dr. Frost would have wanted us to end this on a happy note so how about this photo, taken by Darienne, of us at the Las Madres Valentine Party last week.
New Director of "The Moms," Matthew shows his love
With Love,
Hava, Matthew, Simon and Winslow
View Hava's Gift from Simon (with a little help from Matthew).
It has been such an eventful weekend it is hard to know where to start. (That's short for "this post is going to be wordy.") We watched several developmental milestones, went to three toddler parties, a swimming class, and we almost purchased our first real house.
But first, for the biggest news of all, Simon pooped on the potty! TWICE. The great thing about this development is that there was absolutely no prompting on our part. Matthew bought him a new, much more interesting potty that sings and gives praise:
Who would have imagined that was the trick? (Besides Matthew.)
So here is how it finally happened: This morning Simon asked Hava to remove his pants. She took them off and went about her business in another room until she heard "Look! POOP!" coming from the bathroom. Sure enough, in the potty there was poop (milestone 1). It was the most bizarrely thrilling moment any of us have had in a long time. We gave Simon not one, not two, but THREE mini cookies and lots of love and fanfare. Later this evening, as we were leaving for a party, Simon insisted he needed to use the potty again so he took off his own pants (milestone 2) and sat down on the potty. He strained and pushed and then... passed gas. He really thought he had to go so we gave him two mini cookies for a fine attempt. After being handed the first cookie he said “two!" and then, after holding the second, he said "three!"
What is interesting about this exchange is that it was the first time Simon clearly knew what three really meant. He counts objects all the time but, in the past, it has seemed more like he was imitating us counting objects than that he understood one object is one thing; two objects are two things, etc. So we're calling that milestone 3. Milestone 4 happened this morning when we were out for breakfast and Simon threw a crayon which went flying through the air and landed under someone else's table. He was immediately ashamed of his behavior - so much so that we didn't need to give the speech about how throwing objects at people is wrong. It was strange to watch Simon feel bad about something without first being told that he should feel bad.
Other weekend events:
Saturday we had swimming which was, for Simon, just as thrilling as last week. His teacher is very impressed that he is so confident in the water. He kicks and moves his arms (while Hava holds him) and jumps off the side (to Hava) and was fine with being dunked under the water. He would love to just dive right in and swim away, which is why Hava won't let go of him for an instant. Really, Simon has mastered being uninhibited - water is just his preferred medium.
After swimming we went right on to the party being held by a preschool in Sunnyvale. We're not sure if we'll send Simon there but he loved the place and ran around being his enthusiastic self much to the delight of the tour guide/parent/teacher who was impressed by his level of happiness.
After the preschool party we went for a second look at a fixer-upper house in Sunnyvale. We spent a lot of time there with our realtor, a contractor, and the current owners. We've decided that the asking price is too much (so has everyone else who has looked at it) so we may just wait them out until they realize they are the only house on the market that ISN'T SELLING. If we lose it we're sure there will be other ugly houses in great locations to make ours.
Sunday morning we took Simon to the Mountain View Farmer's Market where he met a blind South African guitar player. He danced for at least 20 minutes and didn't want to leave so we bought the woman's CD and got her email address in case we decide to have a guitar themed birthday party in June. Considering Simon's current interests, that seems like a very good plan.
Sunday afternoon, Simon went to his first professional puppet show at his first birthday party for a friend. Simon laughed as Goldilocks and the Three Bears moved across the stage. And, of course, he was the kid who kept trying to get a look behind the curtain while the show was on.
We took a completely exhausted Simon home to rest before the Las Madres Valentine's Party but way over tired Simon wouldn't sleep. So we went to the party with the lids-half-open boy who danced and jumped and ran in circles with "TOKYO!" and his other friends for two hours before we could convince him it really was time to go. Lids-five-eights-shut boy went to sleep around 7pm giving his parents plenty of time to write about how, at two-and-a-half, he is almost all grown up.
(With a television cable.)
Taken yesterday with Matthew's old RAZR...
Matthew is the new director of the 2004 Mountain View Las Madres Club. He may very well be the first man in Las Madres history to hold any leadership role. We Kagles believe in breaking down artificial barriers, oh yes, we do.
Here are his *very unofficial* goals for this next year...
As my first act as Director-for-Life of our Las Madres chapter, I would like to thank you all. We’ve worked hard together to make this chapter what it is today: the jewel in the Las Madres crown. However, there is still much work to do. Below is my agenda for the coming year.Once again, thank you all for your support. May our next year be productive! Long live Las Madres!
- A name change.
The director is the heart of any Las Madres organization and, therefore, with a new director, the organization should change its name to reflect that change. Some have suggested we change our name to Los Padres, but that name has already been taken. I also took French instead of Spanish, so our new name will be “Les Peres,” which translates to “The Pears.”- New website.
To appeal to our new, more masculine, demographic, we will no longer have hearts and pink backgrounds on our group website. From now on, it will have a more sporty, camouflage pattern. Houses of those who host playdates will have to be similarly reconditioned.- Chest hair.
Many of you will have to grow chest hair, drink beer from the bottle, watch football, spit, and scratch yourselves in public. If we can’t attract the demographic (see above) we will become the demographic.- Annexation of Las Madres 03 and 05.
Many babies in the 2003 chapter were born early and had originally been intended to be in our chapter. Similarly, others were born late and were pushed into the 2005 chapter. Therefore, both the 03 and 05 chapters were once part of our chapter and should be reincorporated. We also need them as a buffer zone to protect us from the hostilities provoked by the 2002 and 2006 chapters.-- Matthew Kagle
Simon built this "clock tower" Monday evening. The clock hands were represented by a Lego shovel which he held up and spun (he is holding it in his hands).
Simon calls this picture "pulling."
Simon and Calvin spent some time causing a ruckus yesterday morning. That was a few hours before Matthew fed Simon a cup and a half of watered down tangerine juice which came right back up (Simon doesn't usually like or drink juice). Simon ate a large meal and played normally all evening so it is hard to imagine he is sick. The best part was telling us about the food coming back up and going EVERYWHERE.
Barf is so cool.
Symptoms:
Grandparents Kagle have, so far, dutifully learned the words to Simon's favorite songs so they can sing along. They learned "the loud song," (Man, It's So Loud in Here, They Might be Giants) and then "the Kiki song" (Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson). They learned them and then they listened and then they sang. We even suspect that they let Simon play them over and over and over again until the songs took over a portion of all of their brain cells. And, of course, once songs ooze into brain cells, they bounce around reverberating the tunes for weeks after initial exposure.
Simon has a new favorite song, "the rain song" (It's Raining Men, Geri Halliwell). We wonder if Grandparents Kagle are feeling up to this one. Here are the lyrics.
Dear Chicago Friends,
We do feel bad about your negative digits so we think it may be in your best interests to stop reading now. We are about to gloat.
Sincerely,
These Kagles
---
It was supposed to be 65º outside this afternoon but, in the sun, it felt more like 70º. So while we watched the temperatures drop in Chicago land, we played outside all day without jackets.
Specifically, we visited the farmers market, played all over Shoreline Park, and took a tricycle ride around our apartment complex.
Yesterday we started the day off by swimming in the 96º waters of the Betty Wright Swim Center. Simon couldn't have been more pleased if we told him he'd never have to sleep again and we'd only be serving cookies for meals from now on...
After swimming and an early lunch we headed out with "Da NuNu" (Danuta), our favorite California realtor, and looked at five or six houses. All the houses were respectable. One rated very high on the Kagle-potential scale but they are asking an unreasonable sum (original owner, moving into retirement home, house needs remodeling) so unless they plan to come down by enough that we could put some work into the place *right away*, we're not going to bite. Apparently it has been on the market TEN DAYS which is a really long time for this area. They may come down in price, who knows.
How about one last weekend photo for Grandma Whee...
Simon picked a grape and pointed to the spot on the grape where the stem and the grape had been connected: "belly button!"