Friday, November 28, 2008

I Blinked.



I promise, that's all I did. I blinked, and my baby grew up. Just a second ago, Cory was a sweet, cuddly little baby in my arms. Then just this second, he grew up into an almost-toddler. He'll be a year old in less than two months; can you believe it?

This year has gone by so fast - faster than any other year in my life. If time doesn't slow down a little bit, I'll be 80 tomorrow.

Cory can communicate. He signs "more" and "all done." He points at what he wants when he's eating. He nods emphatically and adorably. He says "ba" for bottle and banana, "pa" for pumpkin, "ma" for more (that was actually his first word, spoken about three weeks ago.) He says Mama and Dada (and yes, Dada came first).

He tries to put his shoes on his feet. He lies down when I tell him to, when he's trying to get up and should be napping. He tried to put my sunglasses on his eyes. He laughs when he sees someone in a hood. He's been cruising the furniture for at least a month now, and will be walking any day.



Cory eats everything and drinks water from a bottle that he holds himself. He likes to look at books if he's the one holding them and turning the pages as he pleases. Once he read a book while nursing; that was funny.

He babbles. He points to everything that he's interested in, especially animals and crepe myrtle trees (go figure!). He has a temper which shows itself generally when I take something away from him and manifests in screaming and going limp in protest. Sometimes arching the back or throwing himself over backwards. That's a fun one.

He wears jeans and sneakers and looks like a little boy. His hair is longer now, lighter brown than it was when he was first born, and wispy. His eyes are big, brown, and expressive. When he sees me from across the room or coming around the corner, he points. If I point back, he grins.



He likes to pull one sock off (see mower picture) when he's in his carseat. Why just one? He thinks it's funny if I tell him something is yucky, and he sticks his tongue in and out and makes funny noises to show me that he gets it. Then he puts the thing back in his mouth.

Speaking of tongues, Cory likes to turn his upside down. Or stick it out. Or suck in his top lip and stick out his tongue. He sleeps not so well, but I blame the teething, in part. The other part is...who knows?

Cory is a little shy. If someone talks to him, he tends to put his head down into my neck and hide, smiling coyly all the while. He gives hugs sometimes. He loves holding onto hair, and always has. His favorite position used to be sitting on my left hip with his right hand up on my shoulder and holding onto my hair. (See? I said "used to be." There shouldn't be any used to be's yet with this guy!) He grabs and releases my hair as he's going to sleep - hold, tug, rake fingers through, repeat. Sometimes he tries to hold his own hair, but he prefers someone else's.

Cory is a sweet, sweet boy. His babyhood is almost over. If you blink, you might miss it.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Iain-isms Abound

Iain, on checking the empty mailbox: This one is out of mail. I want to check another one.

Looking in the closet: I'm checking in to see if they have shoes. They do.

Just now, when I asked Iain what funny things he's said recently: Buuuum-py.

Sometimes at night, Iain and I have a little game where I tell him what things I love him bigger than/faster than/longer than/etc. One night, I said: Iain, I love you faster than a train. I love you louder than a train. I love you bigger than a train.
Iain: I like the train better.

Yesterday while driving, I had to stop rather quickly, as the truck in front of me slammed on his breaks. I asked the boys if they were okay and said something about the crazy drivers.
Iain: Yeah, and Mama is a a crazy driver.
Me: No I'm not!
Iain: Yeah, you stopped too fast.

Not particularly quippy, but cute: here's how Iain ALWAYS wants his drink.
Iain: May I have some cold-water-and-ice-please.

The other day while playing with Aunt Kelsey's hair (and later the exact same thing with my own hair)
Iain: I m going to do your hair a little bit because it's very long and fat.

This one takes a bit of explaining. Sore of our favorite movie quotes come from Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler. One of the characters, trying to get out of work, says in an over-the-top croaking voice, "Cough, cough. Deeds, I'm sick." So last week when Iain had his cough, I taught him to say that, so he could make Jeremy laugh with his cleverness. Iain added a hilarious voice, kind of between a croak and a growl, and now if anyone coughs, we hear the chirping, rasping voice say, "cough-cough-Deeds-I'm-sick" and then Iain waits with a grin for us to laugh, and we always oblige.

Tonight in the car, says Iain: Have to help me take off my thumb. (Iain pulls at thumb.)
Me: Why do you want to take off your thumb?
Iain: Because I don't like it.
Me: But I like your thumb.
Iain, wailing: But I don't LIKE it!

More to come, I promise!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Word Number 40,000

...is once again, "I."

:)

50,000 here I come!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The 25,000th Word

Since I wasn't very clear in my last post on this topic, let me try again. :)

During this month, I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November. You log your word count at the NaNo website, along with thousands of other crazy people who are trying to accomplish the same goal.

It's been really great, though. I've had the story idea cooking (with help from my brilliant husband) for a few months now. (I've been planning on doing NaNo since last... what, June?) But one of the rules is you can't write ANYTHING before November 1. The first draft of the novel is supposed to be rough, they posit. And just writing and writing and writing is a great discipline to practice.

And they are right on both counts. My first draft is quite rough around the edges and has some holes, but by jove, it's being written! I have 26,300+ words right now, making this by far the longest single thing I've ever written. And I've written something every day except for two, which has been my favorite part - and my least favorite part. It means you still have to write when you're tired, you don't feel creative, or you'd rather just veg. It's kind of thrilling to make yourself write, to see where your characters take you.... And yes, I am a nerd. :)

So my 25,000th word: "see." Although I have to say, words 23,895 and 23,903 were, quite literally, "scintillating." Ha!

(Told you I'm a nerd. I get a rush from working that word into my novel not once, but twice. Maybe I need to get out more.)

Go here to check on my progress, if you're interested (or you can look at the graph on the sidebar), and feel free to leave threatening comments on the evils that will befall me at your hand if I don't make it to 50,000 by the night of November 30.

By the way, this month has been crazy! Besides the above mentioned insanity, Jeremy has been working practically round the clock to meet some deadlines at work, which leaves the boys and I far too much time to get into trouble. And we've all had this terrible cold. Here's what happens when all those things hit at once:

Saturday, November 15, 2008

I Forgot One

As we were driving past a particular store the other day, Iain pipes up: "I want to go to 45!" Translation? 7-11. Apparently you just choose whatever number suits your fancy and call it that.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Funny, Funny Boy

Tales from life with Iain, in honour of his 26-month-birthday.



Iain pulls up a stool and says, "I'm going to sit on my sitting thing and think about Noah."

Iain likes to jump up and down in his crib and say "onion."
Me: Why do you say onion?
Iain: Because it's funny to make a word

Iain, at dinner, turns to Noah's mom Lauren Geiger and says, "May I have some treats, Geiger-Beiger?"

As he sits on a blanket on the living room floor, he points at me and says accusingly, "You want to bring me some food."

A song that he doesn't care for comes on (my goodness does he have opinions about songs!). He says, "I don't like this song. It's making me nervous."

Me: Iain, do you remember your dreams?
Iain (and he says this story verbatim every time I ask him this question): I was walking down the street and it was raining and the thunder went BOOM-off, and I went in the building and Noah was there and I chased him.

David, who works with Jeremy comments on the fact that Iain is walking around in Jeremy's shoes.
David: How did your feet get to be so big?
Iain: Because I am two.

Instead of asking "why?" like every other child, Iain says, "because..." and leaves it to you to fill in the blank. The past two days, he's added a "yeah." So now it's something like this:
Me: Iain, get your shoes on.
Iain: Yeah because...

Tonight I was commenting to Jeremy about the fact that Iain doesn't like the nail on one particular thumb to be clipped. He always tells me to be careful of the thumb. Jeremy asked him why he didn't like that thumbnail being cut, and he replied, without missing a beat, "Because it's long and hairy." What?!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Breaking News

This just in: Today, Cory has begun to go from sitting on the ground to hands and knees, to hands and feet, to STANDING UNASSISTED! And this before his ten-month birthday! Walking is just around the corner!


(This picture is from today, in the front yard in the warm sunshine and cool air. It was lovely!)

P.S. pray for us: Iain is pretty sick with a nasty cold, and the other three of us are fighting it.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Gifts This Day

45. Cory looks SO CUTE in his little blue turtleneck/
46. legos. They're very theraputic, you know. They always seem to fit together just right.
47. cool weather
48. old friends
49. There's this blue wooden block on my desk. It has a clock face painted on it, and doors below that. Whenever Iain plays blocks, he always brings me this one and says it's my house. Now he just wants it to stay on my desk all the time, and I do, too.
50. music, in general
51. and good books
52. and this quote: "Seeing our Father in everything makes life one long thanksgiving and gives rest of heart, and, more than that, a gayety of spirit that is unspeakable" (Hannah Whitall, Smith)
53. seeing the Body of Christ come together yesterday to put on a beautiful wedding for a friend. Working together, sharing time and talents, enjoying blessing a family that we love and that has blessed us all - this is what Christians should be known for.
54. new journals waiting to be filled
55. this picture, which makes me laugh. Cory looks like an alien baby, no?



56. Iain learned the word Amsterdam when Kelsey and Haylee went there earlier this year. It has become one of his favorite words. Only he has morphed it in true Iain style and now likes to randomly repeat Hamster-dampt.

Friday, November 07, 2008

My 10,000th word!

Are you ready for this? It was "I". I know, disappointing, isn't it? I was hoping for something more scintillating, like, well, "scintillating." Onward to 50,000!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

We Voted!





And now we wait. In the meantime, I was glad to see that I should indeed be allowed to vote. How about you? Leave a comment and let me know.




You Should Be Allowed to Vote



You got 12/15 questions correct.

Generally speaking, you're very well informed.



If you vote this election, you'll know exactly who (and what) you'll be voting for.

You're likely to have strong opinions, and you have the facts to back them up.