bye bye 04
I’ve been trying to find the time and momentum to write a short little I’m-grateful-for-the-following-things kind of post (a la Astrobleme), but haven’t been able to really get my hands (fingers) around it enough to really tackle the subject. 2004 was a pretty good year, mostly for all the joy it brought in watching Zoey transform from a crawling, nonsense-talking infant to a walking, talking little toddler who can barely keep still. It’s pretty amazing, when you stop to think about all the little logistics it took for this transformation: She learned to walk, about a million words (hyberbole), how to eat with a fork and spoon (which she knows how to do now, but still rarely bothers with because hands are so much easier), most of the lyrics to about 10 songs (she mumbles over the words she doesn’t know, much like the rest of us do), how to ask for what she wants (and how to manipulate us into getting it for her), and many, many other little things that I can’t even bother to identify at this moment.
What’s weird about it all, what makes all these accomplishments hard to pinpoint, is that there’s just so much going on in the life of a toddler that you can only really focus on the surface levels, the stuff you can see every day. Right now, she can’t really put her own pants on, though she tries every time she gets a hold of a pair of her pants (or mine). And she’s really, really close to accomplishing this, but not there yet. In a few months, it’ll be old hat, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to look back and exactly pinpoint her little “A-ha” moment when it all came together for her regarding putting on pants. Me? I don’t even think when I put on my pants, but there’s really a lot to master. For instance, do you realize there are two leg holes in your pants? And you have to put one foot in each of the leg holes, which means you have to hold your pants just so, because not only do you have to get a foot through one big hole with an unstable border, but you also have another little hole to navigate after that. And all this using your feet.
Zoey’s current favorite phrases: “No more,” “You like (insert name here),” “I like (inset name here),” and “Two points!” That last one is a result of the cheap little mini-basketball and basket set her Gun-Gun gave her for Christmas. It’s literally one of those last-minute gifts he saw at his local Fiesta. She loves it and keeps putting things in the basket, not only every conceivably round ball-like object but just about anything that will fit (or not fit), like her stuffed Ernie doll. Sometimes he makes it all the way through and she yells, “Two points!” Sometimes he gets stuck in the net and she says, “Ernie’s sleeping.” She’s nothing if not flexible. This is a good thing.
Let’s see, back to 2004…we almost moved to Colorado. Zoey and I had our first road trip there in October and it was fun. We’ll miss that nice park that was about four blocks from our Pueblo where we went almost every day. And the wonderful weather we had there. Of course, now it’s rather cold there (and quite balmy here…hmmm).
Wow, I don’t know what button I accidentally pressed, but my computer has started talking like Stephen Hawking. Wait, that’s irritating.
Whatever, in any case, the year, the holidays are over and we can all start out the new year fresh. I'm really glad I got to hang out with Kilian and Tricia a few times while they were in town--I even got to spend one evening in a bar! Tricia took some good photos of Zoey, which you can look at here. I'm looking forward to seeing how the black and white ones come out. Zoey, btw, loved the Sweeneys, and uttered many a "I like Tricia/Kilian/Carlotta" each time we left Carlotta's house.
One last thing re the photos: I signed up with a new photo service called Smugmug, which allows me to link to photos (Yahoo does not). It also allows much bigger pics to be put online, so anyone can just right click on a photo and save it in the original size (though you may have to select viewing it at the original size). You can visit my galleries at http://maripool.smugmug.com.
What’s weird about it all, what makes all these accomplishments hard to pinpoint, is that there’s just so much going on in the life of a toddler that you can only really focus on the surface levels, the stuff you can see every day. Right now, she can’t really put her own pants on, though she tries every time she gets a hold of a pair of her pants (or mine). And she’s really, really close to accomplishing this, but not there yet. In a few months, it’ll be old hat, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to look back and exactly pinpoint her little “A-ha” moment when it all came together for her regarding putting on pants. Me? I don’t even think when I put on my pants, but there’s really a lot to master. For instance, do you realize there are two leg holes in your pants? And you have to put one foot in each of the leg holes, which means you have to hold your pants just so, because not only do you have to get a foot through one big hole with an unstable border, but you also have another little hole to navigate after that. And all this using your feet.
Zoey’s current favorite phrases: “No more,” “You like (insert name here),” “I like (inset name here),” and “Two points!” That last one is a result of the cheap little mini-basketball and basket set her Gun-Gun gave her for Christmas. It’s literally one of those last-minute gifts he saw at his local Fiesta. She loves it and keeps putting things in the basket, not only every conceivably round ball-like object but just about anything that will fit (or not fit), like her stuffed Ernie doll. Sometimes he makes it all the way through and she yells, “Two points!” Sometimes he gets stuck in the net and she says, “Ernie’s sleeping.” She’s nothing if not flexible. This is a good thing.
Let’s see, back to 2004…we almost moved to Colorado. Zoey and I had our first road trip there in October and it was fun. We’ll miss that nice park that was about four blocks from our Pueblo where we went almost every day. And the wonderful weather we had there. Of course, now it’s rather cold there (and quite balmy here…hmmm).
Wow, I don’t know what button I accidentally pressed, but my computer has started talking like Stephen Hawking. Wait, that’s irritating.
Whatever, in any case, the year, the holidays are over and we can all start out the new year fresh. I'm really glad I got to hang out with Kilian and Tricia a few times while they were in town--I even got to spend one evening in a bar! Tricia took some good photos of Zoey, which you can look at here. I'm looking forward to seeing how the black and white ones come out. Zoey, btw, loved the Sweeneys, and uttered many a "I like Tricia/Kilian/Carlotta" each time we left Carlotta's house.
One last thing re the photos: I signed up with a new photo service called Smugmug, which allows me to link to photos (Yahoo does not). It also allows much bigger pics to be put online, so anyone can just right click on a photo and save it in the original size (though you may have to select viewing it at the original size). You can visit my galleries at http://maripool.smugmug.com.
3 Comments:
there are really nice pix, and smugmug is way better than yahoo at showing them. very good.
now, i can't wait... to watch my own little one tramsform.
yeah it does look cool. I was going to sign up but then I noticed it said something about billing me after seven days but it doesn't say how much.
It's 29.95 a year--far more than the free Yahoo--but you can get $5 off if you let me "refer" you (and I think I get $10, but I'm not sure how that part actually works). Normally I prefer the free sites myself, but now it's really easy to add pictures to my blog.
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