Daley Ponderings

2013 Daley Christmas Letter

11/8 - It was gusty and the maple seeds were being blown off our big tree by the thousands.  It was such an amazing sight!  The little helicopters were fluttering everywhere, even swarming like a host of grasshoppers or little birds.  The grand picture was the swarming, and then if you focused on one little seed, you could see it twirling and swirling up and down like a little hummingbird.  It was such a neat thing to watch!

11/9 - JPD first step - JDD saw it

11/11 - JPD climbed up the stairs all the way with me behind

11/12 - JPD climbed up the stairs all the way by himself

He's done it several times with and without people behind him and he's had a few tumbles (with and without people behind him.) (More)

The boys (and Heather has enjoyed it too - I haven't gotten to it yet) have really been enjoying Khan Academy this last week.  It is an educational tool, with lots of questions to test you on different skills.  Jonathan is especially motivated by the reward badges it gives you when you do certain activities.  It does a good job of remembering how well you have done on previous problems to decide whether you need more practice or not.  It also has helpful videos to teach you new concepts.

Noah was working on some fraction problems (identifying the numerator and denominator).  He had gotten three problems right and couldn't figure out why the fourth was wrong, and so I asked him if he had watched the video.  He hadn't, but had just guessed, and the first three has asked him what the numerator was, and so he had picked the first number.  He didn't notice the question changed on the fourth problem.  I suggested that perhaps he should watch the video, although I think he didn't, but did see that the question was slightly different, and so then did the bottom number instead....  I guess we will see as time goes on whether this form of experimenting/learning is useful, or if it teaches you interesting things that end up not really working out. (More)

9/13 - A Friday. Jonathan had been asking me if he could read Harry Potter for a while.  I told him I needed to talk to Daddy about whether we thought he was ready, but I kept forgetting.  The strategy that worked was asking me in Daddy's presence so I didn't have time to forget.  So the decision was "yes, but you have to finish all your school and chores first."  Immediately after completing those in record time, he ran to the library.  Jonathan proceeded to read the first Harry Potter book in four hours.  He started book four by Saturday evening. In these first two days, whenever he talked about the story, he kept calling Harry "Arthur".  Daddy made him take a break from the constant reading on Sunday, but Monday (after school) he was at it again.  He finished the whole series the next Saturday 9/21.  So that's an average of a book a day.

9/16 - Jonathan whistles the Imperial March from Star Wars while reading Harry Potter. (More)

Faith had a blast at Star Island with Grammy and Papa.

7/25 - JDD, explaining why he likes to use a certain spoon for his breakfast cereal, "That spoon
is special to me, because Grammy gave it to me for Christmas last year."

7/28 or 29 - Joy had a cold and I gave her 1 or 2 nebulizer treatments. (Putting this in so I can
keep track because now I wish I had written in other ones.)

7/30 - Noah lost his upper right 2nd incisor.

8/3 - F: "I like brothers, I just don't like when they're annoying." (More)

Having a dad in the fire department is educational in more than just fire safety:

5/17 - Jon is called to an accident "involving motor vehicle vs. moose"
5/18 - Jonathan reads about moose and siberian tigers on wikipedia

~5 - Joy says "owee here" = outta here

5/20 - jpd 17 lb on our scale
5/20 - After bikinh home from his ipiano lesson: Noah: "Mom, I fell.  The chain got off all the gears. So I put it back on. The handlebars got crooked from the wheel, too."

5/21 - We have a game on the Kindle that involves both a princess and a knight. Faith was talking about it and called it the princess game.  After listening to her description, Jonathan said, "Oh, you mean the knight game?"

5/22 - I have more to say about attention spans a little later, but here is one example.  Joy peeled garlic for 20 minutes while I was making dinner. (More)

So last week I was worn out with the extra work that unexpected messes bring.  Today I'm tired but happy about it.

Yesterday, Jon left very early to go on the church men's retreat.  Our morning at home started out pretty badly (bickering/fighting) and the boys had to go run around the house in the rain (10 times for Noah, 20 for Jonathan).  But that did its job and the morning chores got done well after that. Then was lunch, afternoon chores, special times, not too eventful (which is good!).

Then, the really good parts started! Jonathan had been wanting to make some French bread, and I suggested he make some for his youth group mock sleepover that night.  So, Jonathan got out my Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. This was his first attempt at making bread by hand, but he had read the directions thoroughly.  His kneading was pretty vigorous ("What's that banging?" I thought from the other room.) but he did a great job.  He started the first rise at 3pm.  I was surprised that he put the dough to rise in a cool place, but he insisted that's what the directions said.  He was right.  Then as I read through, I realized there was no way it was going to be done before his 6:30 start time.  French bread takes a VERY LONG TIME!  So he made graham cracker, chocolate, marshmallow treats. (More)

Thursday morning, we wake up to find mouse droppings and other evidence all over the kitchen.  Result: big kitchen scrubdown.

Friday morning, Noah wakes up to find that the silly putty he fell asleep with is now melted into his pants, sheets, and blanket. Result: big fabric scrubdown.

This morning, the boys wake up with pink, swollen, itchy faces.  It turns out they have been making Indian bows and arrows with poison ivy vines for the bowstrings.  Result: big boy scrubdown.

(We're still in the middle of that.  I haven't yet gone out to spray the loads of poison ivy that turns out to be in their fort area.  And who knows how much poison oil they've tracked all over the house...)

I really hope that tomorrow is a day of rest.

Joy says "lellow" for yellow, which appears to be her favorite color.

4/24 - Jeremiah figured out his thumb! It's the left one he sucks. Does this mean I'll finally get a left-hander?

4/26 - Sometimes when school runs past noon, Joy decides to get lunch for herself.  Usually, she doesn't do too badly of a job - cheese and crackers, cereal, an apple or banana.  This day, however, she got into Jonathan's chocolate stash and ate half a milk chocolate ovomaltine bar!

4/29 - Faith came up to me and said, "Mom, say, 'little boat' ten times fast."

4/29 - Jeremiah likes to watch his fist, moving his hand and wrist. I like this stage. I like lots of stages. (:

5/7 - Joy can say the /k/ sound now!  She doesn't yet use it in all the words that have it, but is increasing her use.

5/7 - This was the day Joy got out a nice lunch.  Leftover soup, poured into her own bowl, cheese, which she sliced with the cheese cutter, and a box of oatmeal packets which she opened but didn't prepare.

5/11 - Joy was sleepy, lying on the couch, singing to herself, "Mommy love you, Thay love you, Miah love you, Dad-o love you, Daddy love you, Papa love you, Don love you, Noah love you, Damma love you, etc."

I've noticed I don't have much on Jonathan and Noah lately, so I'll try to think of some of their accomplishments.  But right now I'll write just one becuase it's dinner time - prepared by them!

3/30 - Jeremiah started cooing.  He also can make minimal forward progress along the bed when waking up.

Joy says "my do it" for many things.  She also pronounces "water" correctly now instead of saying "wow".  She's also really good at remembering to say thank you. (Sounds like "dankt you")

4/7 - Jonathan, as we were walking to church: "The air tastes fresh and crisp like a Cortland apple."  (This is from the boy who during school time says he can't write poetry. I think what he really means is he doesn't like to write poetry when constrained by meter and rhyme.)

4/17 - Joy, starting to progress to full sentences, "Uh-oh, where my coat?"

That same evening, Joy put away the pasta sauce from dinner, scooping it out of the pot into a container all by herself.  Yes, there were drips on the table, but not too bad, really.

4/22 - We had a young friend over for lunch, and she wondered if Mr. Daley was going to come have lunch.  Here is Noah's response, summarizing Daddy's life: "He sleeps, then he eats breakfast, then he works, works, works, then he eats dinner, then he sleeps, then he eats breakfast, then he works, works, works, ..."

I might add, on some days, some more "works, works, works" after dinner and before sleep.  I hope his customers are thankful for him!  (We are thankful for them - and him!)

4/22 - Me, to Joy, "Why is your hair all wet?"  Joy, "Um . . . water?"

A picture of Jonathan at about 3-4 months came up on our computer - it has been confirmed: Jeremiah looks like Jonathan!  Joy was convinced it was "Miah".

That reminds me.  Joy says all of our names now: "Daddy, Mommy, Djon, Noah, Thae, Me, Miah"

3/24 - Faith counts to 100 by ones.

3/25 - Joy says "Miah" for Jeremiah.  She started this before that day, but that's the
first day I realized that was what she was saying.

3/25 - Joy sorts the Peanut Butter and Jelly cards by type, all on her own initiative, and
correctly.

3/26 - Noah read Faith's handwriting scripture upside-down.  He only had trouble on the
longest words (like "Scripture").

3/28 - Joy counts, "3, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3..."

Joy now consistently calls Jonathan "Jon". 

She also says "God Bless You" when someone sneezes, and it sounds like "Blebt, bloo"

Oh, yes.  It has been half a year since my last pocket notes post...

9/6 - Joy says "yum" and "yummy", "all done/gone" (sounds like ah-doh), "where shoe?", and "mine" (sounds like my)

9/25 - Faith reading the Bible to Joy: "When you want Mommy to cuddle with you but she can't, you aren't alone because God is with you."

Faith also reminded herself of this as she went down to put tools away in the basement.

9/28 - Noah let me listen to his piano practice and I was impressed with his progress: both hands, dynamics, steady rythmn  (More)

9/19 - Joy  has been telling me when she needs a new diaper (patting her bottom) but this day, she got out the changing pad and wipes, set up the pad on the bathroom floor, put a new diaper on top of the wipes box, lay down on the pad, and called for me.

9/20 - Noah is definitely our hands-on guy.  He asks for crafts related to what we do in school.  When we read a book about archaeology, he immediately wanted to go dig in the back yard.  He got a trowel and a sieve and a container to hold his treasures and happily dug and sifted for a long time.

~9/20 - Joy can say, "ow".

9/25 - Joy put on her own socks all by herself.  Before this, she had successfully put on mine.

9/27 - Joy says "please" to go with her sign.  It sounds like "wee".

9/27 - Sounding the same, but in a different context.  When she plays with the abacus, she says, "wee, wee, wee" as she movs the beads.  9/28 - She also "counted" "wee, wee, wee" when playing with the corners cards.

9/28 - Faith really wanted to play Corners with me, so I made up a version she can do.  (The "real" game involves finding numbers that add up to 5, 10, 15, or 20.)  We played where we had to match the color and the numeral.  Faith loved it! (More)

These notes are really old, but not lost.

6/7 - Noah's first lost tooth.  Bottom left front.  It took a very long time for it to come out.  He doesn't play with it at all..

Joy was sitting on the couch.  Faith wanted to do a trick, so we asked Joy to get down.  She did it willingly, waited for Faith to do her trick, and then climbed back up, without complaining.

6/20 - Noah's right bottom front tooth came out.  He was eating a cookie.  The tooth was chocolatey, so he went to wash it off, but then the tooth went down the drain.

~6/30 Joy steps down two stairs like a big person.

8/10 - Faith can pump a swing needing only one starter push.

8/14 - Joy was having a fun time in the bath, leaning back, nearly floating on her bath, then putting her face in, over and over.

8/20 - Noah's front right upper tooth is lost.  He says, "I'm going to get money."  Jon asks, "How do you know?"  Faith pipes up, "Because Mommy is a fairy!"

All four of Joy's canines have appeared since the move.  I did not pay enough attention to note dates for them.

8/24 - Noah did the monkey bars at the playground all by himself.

8/27 - We're at the playground.  I can't hear the boys' conversation, but then I hear Noah shouting defensively, "I'm not a homo sapien!"  You might imagine that until he finished the second word I was concerned that Jonathan was talking inappropriately.  But I could not help but laugh when I heard what the accusation had been.

9/1 - We were visiting our next door neighbor's yard sale.  The lady said "hi" to us and I said, "Say, 'hi'".  Faith got all shy, and hid into me.  But then I heard from the stroller, "Hi!"  Joy said it several times!

9/6 - Faith's 4th birthday!  It was a really fun day.  We went for a walk, we went to the playground, Grammy took her out for ice cream.  They had a grand old time with balloons.  We had a dinner of pizza, pasta, and salad.  Then Faith opened her presents, and then we had cherry 'o cheese pie and ice cream with sprinkles. (Faith actually skipped the ice cream in the evening because she had had hers earlier with Grammy).  Faith's review?  "That did be the funnest birthday I ever had!"

How do I begin? Not really at the beginning.

June 15, we sold the house we were living in and drove to New Hampshire in two moving trucks and a minivan. (A very hearty and grateful "thank you!" to Ron and Ron for driving the trucks!)

The days preceding that day were extremely full, including two funerals for people from families dear enough that we felt it necessary to carve out the time to spend with them.

We did not technically buy our new house for another couple of days, but it did eventually work out.

We are staying at Jon's parents' house while renovating our new house.  This is for the very most part a good thing.  The only disadvantages we've found so far involve having things in two places.

Renovations are right now at the "rather overwhelming" stage.  There's a lot of work to do and we wonder how it will all get done.

At the end of June, we took a break to spend a week at the Maggie P with lots of family, including the Swiss cousins, and Noah and Joseph had their birthday together.

After we got back, Jonathan, Noah and Faith had two weeks of swimming lessons at the lake.  Jonathan started learning official strokes, and Noah got to the confidence level Jonathan had last summer.  Faith made progress in being comfortable in the water as well, though she still wouldn't put her head under by the end of the sessions.

For the past week, Jon and Noah have been in Pittsburgh finishing the fixing up of Carroll St, and getting some work done for Lime Daley customers.

I've been meeting with a bunch of contractors - plumbing/heating, painter, plasterer, chimney guys. A local college student has been coming over nearly every day for a few hours to scrape wallpaper.  It turns out when you start taking down wallpaper, it just goes and goes and soon you have two whole hallways including staircase of wallpaper to take off.  About four layers of it, too, a hundred years' worth.

Speaking of a hundred years.  Jon took off part of one wall in preparation for building a built-in bookcase, and he found a treasure!  A Mother's Day postcard from 1912, from the Sunday School of Smith Church (Jon's parents' church).  It is really neat.  We're going to copy one side and then frame it with the copy so you can see both sides.

Time to start getting ready for bed.  I will try to post updates more frequently, but it's hard to find the moments. Tonight, I found myself alone with the computer while all the kids were outside playing with the neighbors.  After some grueling looking at curriculum stuff, I thought I'd have a nice little blog time. (: