Fun Phrases!

Hi!

Here I am again with no pics or videos. I need to learn how to do it, but I just haven't yet. If it makes you feel better I feel guilty that we haven't posted any pics. ;-)

Anyway, Micah is doing so much! He is now talking in small sentences. The other day we were about to walk under the bleachers at CMU and he said, "Go in tunnel!" This morning he said, "I love coffee!" haha! He's never had coffee before but has participated in making it. Whenever he plays with water or even just with empty cups he says, "Pour coffee!"

He has taken to singing. The only song he really knows is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. However, we recently received a burned CD with the new songs that the praise team at church will be singing in 2009 and I really like one of them and was listening to it over and over in the car with Micah. (It's called "Bless the Lord/Son of Man" by Tye Tribbett). Now he sings along and will sing, "You are!" and "My soul!" And then he wants to keep singing but doesn't know any more words so he just breaks out with, "Tinko tinko...tar...how wonner...are! Tinko tinko tar...how wonner...are!" It's awesome!

Micah loves to read. His favorite author is Byron Barton. We have been going to the library and checking out every book about vehicles that he has written and he's written a lot. Micah actually asks to go to the library on Monday mornings because that's usually when I take him. He gets his hat and says, "Hat on," then gets his jacket and says, "Jacket on." Then he says, "Library! Eh-vator! Choo-choo!" The children's section at our library is on the second floor so we always take the elevator (eh-vator) and they have a brio train set by the picture books so that's the reference to choo-choo. It's a good time.

Oh! And some exciting news! He peed and pooped in the potty for the first time ever on Saturday March 14th! Woo! Go Micah!

HI!

Hi Everyone -

I have heard that many people are glad to know that Micah can drink from a cup, but want to know what he can do now! I'm going to give you a verbal update instead of an update with a picture or video (mainly because I don't know how to do a pic or video). :-)

About Brett: He is supposed to graduate August 2009 so he's applying for jobs. He submitted 42 job applications to Universities with Engineering programs in the top 65. He is also in the midst of filling out an application for a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship with IBM as well as applying for industry jobs. In the midst of all of this he is finishing up his programing, experiments, and writing for his dissertation. Soon (hopefully!) he'll be traveling often for job interviews. It's exciting but crazy!

About Sarina: In January Sarina wrote an exegesis paper and sermon which she preached yesterday. A representative from the Pittsburgh Presbytery came to hear the sermon and evaluate her. She goes before the Committee on Preparation for Ministry on Wednesday to present her statement of faith and be examined, then Presbytery on Feb 5th for the same thing. If all goes well, she will be ordained on Feb 22nd! The service will be at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh @ 3pm and you're all invited! Needless to say, there have been a lot of things to do in order to get everything completed. My Mom came to visit last week. Praise God! Before that I was only able to work on my myriad of things at night after Micah went to bed. I'm not sure how I would have finished everything if she hadn't come. Thanks Mom!

About Micah: Micah is 18-months-old. He is Mr. Constant Motion and Mr. Chatterbox. He's so much fun! He's running everywhere now and constantly has ideas about what to do next. He loves to talk and has a lot of words. Yesterday evening we went out to dinner and we asked Micah what he wanted and he said, "Soup!" In addition to soup, his favorite food is waffles, which he asks for often: "Faffle?" A new phrase he said yesterday is, "No way!" hahahaha! He also loves art. He likes to draw with pens, crayons, markers, and colored pencils. He likes to paint with finger paints and water colors. I'm sure he would like other mediums, but that's all we have at home! (I need to go shopping.) He always wants us to write "a Y!" or "a M!" He can do dots, lines, scribbles, etc. Yesterday he created his own signature: a super-spikey M followed by a frilly spiral (my interpretation, of course). He laughs now whenever I write it with sound effects. Today we were water-color painting a picture of the bus from the movie Cars and he wanted to paint the stars yellow. When he finished them all, he wanted me to paint more stars so he could paint them yellow. He knows his colors (his favorite is brown, followed by red, green, black, and purple), he can count, he can name most letters, he knows animals and their sounds, and all manner of vehicles. Wow! Brett and I are constantly amazed at how much Micah knows.

He is also a very caring person. Here's a cute Micah story to leave you with. This happened about a month and a half ago or so. I was upset about something (can't remember what) and I was crying in the kitchen. Brett was comforting me, of course! Micah came in from the living room when he heard me and said in a high pitched imitation of what I sounded like, "Mama, mama." He came to me and wanted to sit in my lap. By this time I had snot all over my face and Micah knows all about Kleenex and what they're for. So, I asked him, "Micah, would you get me a Kleenex, please?" He got this look on his face like, "I know how to do this!" He bounded off my lap and tore into the living room. Brett followed him and found him standing in the middle of the living room looking around with his arms out - he was looking for the Kleenex box. Brett pointed it out to him and he raced over, grabbed about 15, then tore back into the kitchen and thrust them up to me while trying to climb onto my lap at the same time. Oh! It was so cute and fabulous! I sat him on my lap, smiled, thanked him, and felt much better.

We hope that you are all doing well. It means a lot to us that you check our blog, even though we have been remiss at keeping it updated!

With much love,
Sarina

Drinking like a big boy

For some time now, Micah has been (mostly) successfully drinking out of normal cups. Every once in a while, he'll drop a cup, or pour water all over his face, but this is happening less and less frequently. When some mishap does occur, however, a well-timed and perfectly-intoned "uh oh" is in order.

Big pot

Sarina and I enjoy cooking. We eat out only infrequently, and as a result, Micah spends a lot of time in the kitchen with us. Of course, he likes to do the sorts of things that we do, like haul around big pots. We try not to fall over while carrying big pots, but as Micah learns, sometimes this is unavoidable.

Taking to the stairs

Micah has become quite a competent stair climber. He climbs with ... enthusiasm.


He's also started climbing other things, like chairs and the like. He's such a cautious boy in general that he hasn't taken in big falls. He hasn't bloodied a lip or anything. He's even managed to avoid major bruises. As a result, I don't think he's desensitized us to falling. Should we buy him a helmet?

... just kidding.

Walking and talking

What's this? Can it be? A second post in as many days!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what about a video? At one minute long, and 30 frames per second, this video is valued at nearly 2 million words. Plus, it's Micah.

I'd heard many times that you have no better mirror than your children. Micah at one point began calling to us from distant rooms, and we quickly realized it was because we had set the standard. I think we both also walk and talk. Does it show?


Yes, we let Micah play with our cell phones. No, in general he doesn't drop them, though he does call random people and make changes to our contact lists. However, it is good entertainment, and we figure we're training him for the many hours he's likely to spend pacing the halls of his apartment, talking on the phone.

Sign language

So ... it's been a while. How are you? We're fine. Busy, but fine. You know, we should catch up sometime. Now isn't a great time, but I have a special treat for you. We have a little video of Micah doing some sign language. I think you'll probably enjoy it.


Versatile Micah, proving that if you're coughing so hard you can't speak, you can still ask nicely for milk and cookies from Daddy if you know sign language.

Robeez Season of Giving

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that Robeez, our favorite brand of baby shoes, is donating products to Kids in Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) based on easy things that we can do, like sending e-cards or posting on our blogs about it. This is an easy way to make a difference. See details here.

Thanks, Ian!

Micah, in general, displays fantastic manners: he shares, puts things away when he's done with them, says please and thank you (in sign language). Of course, he is one, and he's a boy. He also has a close friend Ian (7) who can teach him things he might not otherwise learn at home. For example, hilarious hand noises. Thanks, Ian!

Eating with a Spoon

Hello Everyone! We're back! I survived retaking two of the PC(USA) ordination exams and Brett passed his proposal. Brett is now in the middle of writing a paper for submission to DATE (a conference) and preparing for SRC TECHCON (another conference, in Austin, TX and we're all going). I am recovering from the craziness of the last month...whew!

We thought we'd update you with the latest and greatest in Micah's life tonight since we've been away for so long. Micah is now successfully and messily eating with a spoon. It is still just a new fun activity more than an eating process, but we are both impressed with his dexterity. He is also babbling up a storm. He'll rattle off whole sentences of babble very earnestly, looking you right in the eye. It's so hilarious and cute! The following capture both of these things.

This picture is Micah's I-live-in-the-'hood-and-I-eat-from-a-spoon picture.


Here's a video of dinner tonight. :-)

B-day Party

Micah is ONE (as of 07/17/08)! I can't believe that we have a one-year-old. We threw a small party for Micah's b-day a week late. We wish we could have invited everyone we know and love, but we just didn't want to overwhelm Micah. Here are some pictures of the event, courtesy of Bethany Lomelino (formerly Sunquist).

Micah's cake was SO GOOD! Peggar Dixon made it. If you live in the Pittsburgh area and need cakes (or food for any event) she is the person to contact. When I was little my Mom decorated my cakes for my birthday. I drew the cow on Micah's smash cake.


Micah ate his cake with reckless abandon! He finished off almost the whole first layer. Amazingly, he went to bed at the normal time that night and fell asleep right away.


Here is a family pic. :-)


Happy Birthday Micah!

On another note, which will be very sad for most of you, we are going to take a break from posting until the end of August. We are going out of town, then Brett's proposal defense is happening on August 18th, then I take my (hopefully) last two ordination exams starting the end of that same week. There's just too much going on to keep up with the blog! We will miss you all, but don't worry...we'll be back!

Flashback filler: Look at the mess I made!

As Micah's mobility has increased, so has his capacity to make a royal mess. Here's a look back at the beginning, when he was just beginning to hone his make-making abilities.


At least there is a strong indication that Micah will be a voracious reader.

Flashback filler: I see you!

Micah discovered some time ago that he can look through objects at other objects. I'm sure there's probably a fancy name for this. I refer to this behavior as simply cute.

Flashback filler: A baby in motion

Soooooo there wasn't a post on Friday, nor one on Monday! Sorry. There nearly wasn't a post today, either. Our lives are a little busy. Is that surprising? Anyway, here's a picture from a while back to fill in the space until we can start pictures from "up north" and, of course, Micah's first birthday!

When this picture was taken, Micah didn't know how to crawl. He could pull himself up on things, but didn't know very well how to move (cruise) in that position. One day, Sarina sat him down in the middle of the living room, because she needed to go and do something in the hall or bathroom, thinking that Micah would be fine sitting there.

All of a sudden, Sarina heard an "uuuuUUUH" noise, and turning around, saw this:


So ended the days of putting Micah down someplace with any expectation that he would stay there: Micah had most likely scooted (half-crawled) across the carpet, pulled himself up on an end table, and cruised along the wall around the corner into the hallway.

Micah now crawls very, very fast. He's also pretty close to walking: he's willing to take both of his hands off of support to turn, and such. He's testing his balance, and falling a lot as a result. We're having a lot of fun, but I think we're probably also more tired. If that's possible.