Daley Ponderings

11/2 - Jeremiah, "Aunt Prudence gave us this one."  perfect grammar

11/3 - Jonathan, "Mom, did you know that if you take the 'c' out of 'record' and add 'er' at the end, it becomes 'reorder'?"

11/3 - Jeremiah, walking backwards with finger in front of his face, "Me try to pick [scab], but me go 'way."

11/3 - Nathaniel recognizes his name.  Jeremiah calls from the other room, "Nan-el!".  He turns and crawls to Jeremiah.

11/3 - Nathaniel says, "Guh-guh-guh"

11/5 - NPD sticks his hand in oatmeal fresh from microwave. I rushed him to the sink for cold water right away, but blisters still formed in between fingers and on his wrist.

11/5 - NPD upper left 2nd incisor

Noah's favorite hobby - opening presents (More)

9/2 - NPD definitely pulling up (on bathtub) - see Mom's post of Maggie P.

9/2 - NPD, "ma-ma-ma" "na-na-na"  JDD is convinced it means "Mom"

9/2 - Joy, "2+3 is 5. [pause] I learned that in bed."  Subsequently also taughtherself other addition facts.

9/2 - Joy making bracelet with paper and tape. She pointed out to me, "I made the tape not so it would hurt you." She had made sure to place the sticky side facing away from the skin!

9/3 - Joy and JPD get their own bath.

9/4 - Joy figured out 2+4=6 at breakfast.

9/6 - JPD, "I doved under water, no." (Means "I didn't dive underwater.")

9/8 - Me, "Tomorrow, NPD has a dr appt."  JPD, ruefully remembering the doctor's office, "Lady poked me." Me,"Yes. Yes, she did." JPD, "Why?"

9/9 - Our kids like to count how many American flags they see on the way to karate (and other destinations.)  Joy, " 'Merican flag!".  JPD, "Merry gag!" (More)

7/6 - Noah is building a paperboard New England village.

7/6 - Jeremiah opened the cupboard under the kitchen sink with the TotLok. He was so proud of himself.  "There we go.  Open!"  (sounds like "deh-do. Opih!") He closed it and opened it several times, each time repeating his words with delight.  The very first thing he did with his newly opened cupboard was to take out the dishwasher detergent, squeeze the correct amounts into the two cups in the dishwasher door, close the little detergent door, and put the detergent back in the cupboard.  I'm sure he would have also started the dishwasher had I not been there to tell him it wasn't full enough yet.

7/7 - Nathaniel was doing pushups (hands and toes only on the ground) and Joy was counting them.  At one point, she said, "Six! You just have four more to go!"  And that session, he did twelve total (but that was, of course, after he got to her expected ten first.)

7/13 - Jeremiah had on the Jango Fett helmet and Nathaniel was getting worried. But then Jeremiah lifted the helmet and said, "Me, Nan'el!" and he was happy again.

7/21 – Joy, holding NPD, “You are my best sweetie ever.”

7/29 – JPD, “Open this door, please.”

7/31 – brass/organ hymn CD in car. Ryan, “It's like Grammy's church, but in the car!”

7/31 – same trip. Ryan, “Look! A wooden table in the middle of nowhere!” Joy, “My Dad goes there!” (No. Weare)

JPD answered how old he is correctly, at Shaw's before NY trip – and many times since.

On our Daley vacation in the Finger Lakes in New York, there was this great old-fashioned playground with merry-go-rounds, a big tall slide, and metal jungle gyms.  It was great fun!

8/8 – Joy wants to marry NPD

8/15 -  living history event in Hillsboro (not sure what I was going to say about this except that we went to it)

8/1 – NPD roll back to front, maybe the day before also

8/1 – JPD potty training day

8/7 – NPD on back, with soccerball. Dropped to right, rolled over to reach it.

NPD sitting if propped

8/18 - NPD crawl to sit

8/30 - Jeremiah was interested as usual when it was time to take communion at church.  I explained a little, and his reaction was very similar to the disciples' in Jesus' day: "Eat body, gucky."  "Eat blood, gucky."

5/6 - Jonathan is as tall as Mom!

5/7 - Faith, "Ramen numerals"

5/8 - Jeremiah, "Don't touch it."  I think that's his first three word phrase.

5/9 - Jeremiah was looking at the New Bible Dictionary that has a painting of the last supper (or something like it - Jesus in the middle with a few disciples around him). I think it was rather in the syle of Rembrandt, with lots of browns and off-whites, with Jesus a bit brighter. He pointed at Jesus and said, "Scary" (sounds like geh-wy".)  I never had really looked closely, but it did make him look kind of freaky...

5/9 - The girls and I went to our church's Mother-Daughter banquet. Afterwards, Joy said, "At church, I dreamed about hearts and ribbons and flowers."  I replied, "How did you dream if you were awake? Were they daydreams?" She answered, very confident and matter-of-fact, "I have dreams *all* thetime."

5/18 - Joy counted to 100, only needing a prompt at 50.

5/20 - Noah said, "assumination" when he meant "assumption".

5/21 - Joy counted the odd numbers to 99.

5/25 - Joy counted the evens to 100.

5/27 - Jonathan followed the Betty Crocker biscuit recipe on his own.  He mistook "shortening" for "thickening" so he used a cup of cornstarch instead of butter.  The biscuits turned out surprisingly edible.

May - Jeremiah says "mung" for gum.  Also, "now" for down.  Other words I can't recall at the moment he also pronounces backwards.

5/28 - Amazing baby Nathaniel sleeps 8.5 hours.  He consistently sleeps 6-7 hours at night.  Thisis such a blessing for me.

5/28 - Jonathan likes to exclaim with an "evil" laugh.  Jeremiah this time copied him, "Mwa-ha-ha-ha..." very cute.

5/29 - Jeremiah is starting to initiate going on the potty.

6/3 - Nathaniel can kick himself forward a few inches (on his belly and on his back.)

6/4 - Jeremiah recognized and named a circle.

6/4 - Nathaniel's first solid food.  Jeremiah fed him some tortilla chips. Thankfully, Faith observed and called me right away.  Nathaniel's gag reflex did its job and I got it out before he really choked.

6/5 - Nathaniel rolled from front to back.  The first time startled him and he cried.

6/5 - Jon went to the station to do his shift chores.  Faith, Joy, and Jeremiah went by themselves after him to help.  They came back the first time, Faith unsure of which direction to turn at a particular cross-street.  The second time, they made it successfully.  And Jeremiah kept his promise to hold Faith's hand the entire time.

June - Jeremiah likes to pick flowers for me, and he always lets me know that they are from "my yard". (Because we are not allowed to pick flowers from other peoples' yards.)

6/9 - Joy washed the kitchen windows on her own initiative. She started with water, and then I showed her the window cleaner and squeegee, and she did a nice job on the windows she could reach (lower panel).

6/19 - Jonathan and Noah have a discussion with Dad-o about geography and time zones, latitude and noon.

6/20 - Faith transposed Journey By Camel from C to G.  This included accidentals.

6/20 - Jeremiah counted, "one, doo, wee, doh"

Jeremiah says "way-way" to mean "this way" or "that way" or "the right way" etc.

6/20 - Jeremiah had a 12-inch ruler and went around measuring all sorts of things.  Each time, he would exclaim, "Inches!"

Nathaniel has said "Hi!" several times in the right context.  One time in the morning he said what sounded exactly like, "Please."

6/29 - Jeremiah climbed to the top bunk unassisted.

6/30 - Jeremiah climbed down from the top bunk unassisted.

Jeremiah consistently identifies the color blue correctly.

From an email written to my mom on April 4, 2015 at 7pm.

Just after noon, Noah came screaming in from outside.  He was holding one hand with the other and blood was dripping.  I took him straight to the sink to wash off.  He couldn't tell me what had happened and there was blood all over both hands and even his mouth.  I pretty quickly determined that it was only on one hand (he had put his thumb in his mouth as anyone might at first and that's where that blood came from.)  I grabbed some paper towels to press on the thumb to stop the bleeding and then saw that his index finger was bleeding, too.  So I grabbed more towels for that. He still was crying uncontrollably.

I took him over to the couch so he could lie down.  Carefully, I took away the towel from the index finger and found that it was minor.  I sent Jonathan to get a bandaid for that and then it was time to investigate the thumb.  A nice sized slash across the top, perpendicular to the nail.  I had Jonathan get the bandaid box and some tylenol.  I put a butterfly closure on it and then a regular bandaid on top of that for a bit more protection.  Noah was still in such pain that he could not tell me what happened.  But Jonathan made a guess and he was right - Noah was stripping the bark off of a maple sapling with his Swiss Army knife and slipped.  (More)

3/2 - I told Jeremiah I'd clean up the (play) food because he was still playing with the cars.  He came up to me, gave me a big hug, and said, "Thank you" (sounds like Duh-doo).  So sweet!

3/2 - Faith offered to ask Dad-o to walk them to Joyful Noise, "'Cause...I want you to have enough rest, Mommy."

Jeremiah calls Faith's headbands "crowns".

4/6 - Joy was counting, Jeremiah repeating after her.  After she got to twelve, he repeated twelve and then said thirteen on his own before she did!

4/8 - Pinewood Derby.  Noah won 2nd place in the kids' division. Jonathan got 5th.  Jon got 3rd in the adult division.

4/17 - Faith went to ride her bike at St.Mary's parking lot all by herself.

4/22 - Dropping Jon off at airport, trying to get gas, turning wrong way on Brown Ave, all the way down to Hudson.  Dunkin Donuts, directions even further south, then finally back up and at Lowe's with only Jeremiah and Nathaniel, lady at checkout "you have your hands full!"

4/23 - JPD can plug in toaster. "pug"  Also, "ow-coke" = artichoke

4/24 - Noah, "I was racing myself around the car.  We tied."

4/24 - Joy, about Nathaniel, "Oh!  He smiled so much, I think he loves me!"

April - Jonathan makes placebo potions.  The first one was for when someone gets mildly hurt outside - a poultice to rub on the hurt part to feel better quickly so you don't have to go inside to Mom.  Then he made drinkable ones - water with xylitol, almond and vanilla extracts, food coloring.  But then they sat around in jars too long and that phase was over.  They still do the outside one, though, because it's easy to make from grass and twigs and dirt. (:

Once again, we were blessed to have Grandma and Dad-o with us for a birth. Jeremiah was still too clingy on Mommy for us to be comfortable having him at the birth.  He did well completely away from me, but had trouble when nearby and I was unavailable.  That is exactly the situation a birth would be, so we decided that he should stay home with Dad-o when the rest of us headed to the birth center.

Once that was decided, we thought we should give the other sibliongs a choice. Do you want to watch the birth, or would you rather stay home? Faith chose to stay home.  She said her favorite part is holding the babay, and she could hold him when we got home.  She is a sensitive one and it was wise of her to want to avoid seeing her Mommy in pain.  The rest of the kids wanted to come.

Friday night, February 13, I had some mildy crampy contractions.  I drank some extra water and they stopped.  In the morning, we went to church (switched to Saturday because of impending storm Saturday evening into Sunday morning.)  In the bathroom, I discovered that those contractions in the night had done something.  This evidence was present throughout the day.

Sunday, February 15, contractions at 1:45am, 2:45am, 3:00am.  At that point, Jon went out to shovel the driveway which had 12" of snow already and it was continuing to fall fast.  We got ready to head into Concord in the snowstorm.  Normally, we wouldn't have gone so early, but Jon knew it would take much longer in the storm and we didn't want to take any chances.  We left our house at 4am.  The roads were "surprisingly driveable" - Jon's words.  The snow was all powdery and not slippery.  But it was hard to see the lanes.

I was quite aware for the trip, and had some mild contractions that started coming 5 minutes apart.  We arrived at 4:47 to an unplowed parking lot, but Jon drove in Beth's tracks and it was fine.

Once we arrived at the birth center, my contractions slowed down.  We were all able to get some sleep, except maybe Grandma and Joy because Joy was keyed up.  When I woke up in the morning, we tried to get labor going again.  I got into the birthing tub and Joy joined me.  That was a fun little special time with her.  Then we got out and dried off and tried walking up and down the stairs and around the center.

By 11:30am, it was apparent that my labor had paused.  So we headed home on cleared roads on a bright sunny, very windy day.

I decided to act just like normal for as long as it took for labor to get going again, but really hoping that it would be less than a week.

So we did regular restful Sunday activities, like take a nap and read books to the kids, go to bed on time.  (More)

1/25 - Joy, about ready to dance, "Mommy, if you don't see this show, you won't see it again, EVER!"

A good reminder to be present in the moment!  I turned away from the  computer and gave her my attention and I watched her beautiful solo dance show.

1/29 - Reading with Noah about archaeology and the Stone and Iron Ages. Then he asks, "So... People who lived in the ice age used tools made of ice?"

2/1 - Jeremiah can say the names of his siblings: Jza-nee, No-ee, Thay, Jzoe. I'm not quite sure how to spell the "j" sound.  It's a soft one, without the "d" at the beginning.

2/3 - Jon was writing the alphabet for Jeremiah, having him repeat each letter name.  After each of J, K, and L, Jeremiah said, "LMNOP!"

2/20 - Jeremiah calls Nathaniel "Nan-el"  By 2/22 it becomes "Naniel".  (and then later goes back to Nan-el, and still is January 2016)

~2/18 - Joy was playing with her animals by herself.  We overheard her telling one, "Don't keep crying, or Daddy will have to come talk to you..."

2/23 - Jeremiah got out three socks from his drawer.  I said, "How many feet do you have?"  He looked down, and said, "Uh, Uh, Ee!" (That is, one, two, three!) Well, then, I guess he needed three socks after all!

2/27 - Jeremiah put on his shirt, sweater, and pants all by himself.

I am the kind of person who enjoys writing.  I process my thoughts well by writing, and I like recording my thoughts and my family's life.

This year, I will be posting more.  At first, most will be catch-up posts.  I have a whole year of pocket notes to enter, not to mention Nathaniel's birth announcement and story!!

And even if the only readers are my mother and my future self, that's ok! I'm doing it for myself.

Happy Epiphany!

We went sailing today in the Black Rabbit, which is the name of our Flying Junior.  I do need to find out the history of it, because I think I don't have it quite correct.  But Heather's grandpa have it to her when she was a kid and we've sailed it since we were married.

It needed a couple things fixed this year: the toe strap finally snapped while we were sailing under rough winds on Lake Owasco a couple weeks ago, and on the same trip, the main sheet cleat's screws rusted away and so we had an adventurous trip to get home.

 (More)

Yesterday was an exhausting day, so I made sure to get us ready for bed early.  We were in bed by 9:00.  But Jeremiah kicked his covers off just about every hour and asked me to put them back on again.  By 3:30 or so, his medicine had worn off and he was wheezing and coughing.  It was apparent by 3:50 that he was not going to sleep without more medicine, so we did that.  In the middle of the night, it is easiest to make sure it dispenses properly if he sits up in my lap.  (That way, if he does fall back asleep, I can still keep him upright.) 

But this morning, he did not fall back asleep.  He was quite awake.  So I decided I might as well pay some bills if I'm awake.  Jeremiah sat in my lap but still was not sleepy.  At this point, I realized that there was a business bill due today and I had transferred too much money into the personal account last month so there wasn't enough in the business account.  So I got everything ready for making a deposit as soon as the bank opened.

At the opportune time, we went to the bank.  I knew I did not have the energy to make sure Jeremiah would listen to me if he walked with me, so I got out the double stroller so he could ride.  As I was at the teller making my deposit, the lady next to me answered her teller's customary, "How are you?" with,  "Good.  Every day is a good day."

Yes.  Even if you were awakened at 3:30am and have not yet had a nap, "at least you woke up."  Even if your two year old is driving you crazy, he still has a great smile.  Even if you have to go to the bank when you weren't planning on it, at least the money is there.  Oh yeah, and when you have a baby who sleeps all through the hours the toddler doesn't, it is an almost unbelievable blessing.

This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

12/26 - Daley Christmas.  Baby cousin G gets a pretty dress.  People exclaim over it. Big brother C says, "I'm not impressed."

12/28 - C, "Dad, [cousin] O says 'ellow' for 'yellow'".
Ben, "That's ok, bud."
C, "It's not ok with me."

12/30 - Joy counts to 30.

1/5 - Jeremiah gets pinworms.  All family takes medicine, except Heather takes homeopathic remedy given by midwife.

1/10 - JDD, "It's Satur-awesome-day!"

1/10 - Jeremiah, picks up a tomato, exclaims, "Mah-now!".

1/10 - Jeremiah recognizes pictures of cousins, "Viv-a!", "Ow-ee!"  Also, "No-ee!" and a very close rendition of "Joy".

January sometime - Jeremiah loves oatmeal, "eh-moo"

1/20 - Joy counts to 40

1/20 - Joy, "Zucchini climbed the sycamore tree."

I'm very much behind on the blog.  But I have kept the pocket notes safely typed up in my email.  So here goes.

In June, the kids and I made a trip to Florida to visit my parents, and my sister and her kids visited, too.

6/14 - Joy, "Mommy! I saw a dinosaur!"  (It was a lizard in Grandma and Dad-o's yard.)

6/15 - Joy, "Jesus die, then froze again!"

6/17 - JPD lower right lateral incisor

June - JPD give kisses

During the Florida visit, I confirmed that I am pregnant!  Due on Joy's birthday. (More)

5/1 - Joy playing with even/odd dot cards.  Didn't quite get the concept but sometimes was lucky, so I praised the correct answers.  Then 6/2 - much more consistently correct.

5/1 - Jeremiah, watching the kids in karate class, copying them - doing punches from the "en guarde" position. Very cute!

Jeremiah claps every time someone says, "good job!"

5/2-4 - Jeremiah says, "Uh! Uh!" going "up" the stairs.

5/7 - We were walking home from karate and I saw a place in someone's yard where there was a pile of dirt spilled on the sidewalk from the landscaping. Faith was behind me and when she got to the place started yelling very excitedly for me to come see this cool thing.  I'm thinking, "dirt is really that cool?"  But I came anyway, and when I got there I looked closer.  She was right!  It was ants.  A whole giant mass of ants, crawling all over one spot, looking like some spilled dirt.  It was worth all her excitement!  (Jonathan says to make sure to note that they were not army ants.) (More)

3/23 - I told Jeremiah the toaster was hot, and he held up his hand, palm facing, but not touching, and said, "hah".

3/25 - Jeremiah was whining about something, and Noah, to cheer him up, said, "Why cry, my pygmy fly?"  It made me laugh anyway!

3/26 - JPD definitely says "hi" now, especially when people walk into the room. Grammy also taught him "high five" which is pretty fun.  He said "hot" more, also. (More)