phases i hope will end soon: "no nap!" at the end of every request i make starting at 7 in the morning to 8 at night. especially with how often it turns into a hyperventilating chant. and rolling his eyes and looking in every direction other than my face when i ask him to look at me. eating toothpaste while i'm feeding nomi, making me call poison control. being able to find all the locked down stools and get into EVERYTHING. i love him. i swear i do.
phases i hope will never end: spontaneous kisses to baby nomi. saying "agoo" to nomi every time she coos, and 'be happy nomi, sh sh sh' every time she cries. he's a very sweet brother. being great at crafts, especially drawing right now. he hunches over his paper, and slowly and maticulously draws a little line or circle, and then tells me who or what it is. his understanding of complicated storylines, and his patience with me when trying to be understood. tonight it was 'boy milk cow' for the storyline of Christmas day in the Morning (the book). it took me several tries, but i finally got it. and such a sweetheart to people. hugs, thanks yous and pleases. also he's not running away as much. he stands in line like a pro (disneyland taught him that) being sweet with everyone he meets. and the last habit i hope isn't a phase? holding my cheeks and staring into my eyes while talking to me a centimeter away from my face. it's creepy sometimes, but i love it. it's even creepier when he makes his lips touching mine, but starts talking to me instead of giving me a kiss. haha. creeepy...and yet super sweet.
love him. (maybe i should write about him more...it seems to make me love him more.

a small note about my angel baby nomi. she not only smiles and is so so content all day long (even during all of porter's loving harrassment) but she's now experimenting in her coos. she starts to change the shape of her mouth giving her interesting different vowel sounds, but also keeps surprising herself with the loudness of her own voice. she'll be smiling with soft coos, but then will belt out a sound, and jolt her body in surprise at her loud sound, and then bust into a little hiccup of a laugh. daddy really got her going tonight, but alas, she always stops cold when the camera comes out. porter did that too. drove me crazy. she loves looking at herself in the mirror above her bouncer, but other than making herself laugh there, she'll usually stay quiet all day until someone starts talking to her.
love love her too.

all things porter

porter speaks in almost sentences. "Porter night night" you want to go night night porter "no. no mommy. porter no no night night." oh, you don't want to go night night? "yah. yesss mommy"

it blows my mind to think of what a boy he's become, and that he's no longer my baby. when he pretend cries i ask him what he's doing. "nomi" oh- you're trying to cry like nomi? "yah".

and he's so sweet with naomi. he'll give her hugs, cover her with the blanket and give lots of kisses. he's also worried if she's upset. "die mama" what porter? "nomi die die...WHAWHAWHAWHA" oh, cry. naomi's crying? "yah." (porter does that all the time. when he knows he's not being understood, he'll play charades or 'sounds like' just to help you figure it out. he's incredibly patient, and will just keep trying. in fact, he's so persistent, that when i'm just not getting it, i have to find a pretty good distraction to help him drop it.)

i was mostly excited about our trip to visit Christy, since i was looking forward to porter getting some interactions during the day with his cousins. mostly, porter was the monster that the other kids like to run and hide from, calling his name to keep him interested in finding them. or austin and ethan's favorite game of 'you wanna piece of me??' they all read him books and got him to really take time on drawing a detailed picture, and i was just so impressed with all of them in the way that they communicated so well with porter, in a way he could understand. porter loved the companionship, and i think he started to wish he was a younger brother, since he also seemed to enjoy being told what to do. that trip reintroduced him to chey and shydan and also gave him a grasp on what snow is, and snowmen too, which he now takes every opportunity to point out "noman, mommy!"

we also got to visit uncle ben and aunt raena, which was so great! porter always wanted to know where uncle ben was, if he wasn't in the room. "Wur bun? Bun, whare ar u?"...and having two thanksgiving dinners was fabulous as well.

he's starting to play favorites. "book book." yes porter i'll be right in to read you a book "no no, Daddy. Daddy book" ...at the end of a long day, that's fine by me!

he's figured out the computer screen dimming button, as well as the volume up and down, and the shut off button. no i don't LET him play with the computer...but while i'm pushing him away, these are his favorite buttons to take a stab at. unfortunately when i'm not looking, i've also seemed to find his handywork with our camera as well, as he's taken several pictures of his toys and books. he's also becoming a big boy on the playground as well, conquering the harder climbing structures that have always threatened his life before. sad- how fast he's growing.

as for Christmas, just like with his birthday, he's getting excited for the holiday. also, he hasn't really been able to let go of that birthday spirit since the fact that birthdays only last for one day eludes him. rightfully so, since he had his birthday one weekend (and we sang to him) then we celebrated his birthday with a party the next weekend. soon after it was mommy's birthday...so now everytime we talk about Christmas, it's "BIRDAY BIRDAY MOMMY!!!" it's Christmas honey "CHRISTMAS BIRDAY!!!!" ...so if you can't beat em, join em. at least now he's transitioned to saying "JESES BIRDAY"

and on that good note. merry Christmas.

Naomi.

naomi started cooing a couple of weeks ago. just this week i was convinced that all of the smiles naomi gave christy weren't gas, and just yesterday christy got her first giggle out of her. not just one fluke giggle, but several giggle coos intermittenly spread across twenty minutes of straight smiling. she has the touch...and the patience apparently. i didn't remember that this was how fast it all happens.

For the SLO friends We Miss and LOVe-Seeyou when You Come To Disneyland!!

see no, hear no, speak no

I couldnt resist, it was just too perfect.

Porter's vocabulary is growing and growing. We have to start watching our mouths the way that he starts mimicking sounds and intonation from us. His new one recently is letting us know when he is doing his business by squating, and tapping his rear while saying "beep beep" which has slowly evolved from the noise to identify cars, then farts, and now the dirty deed. At lest he is good with association.

Porter is feeling like a big boy these days, which is good since a baby sister is on the way. He takes running steps into the sand pit, walks up the slide the wrong way, and will even jump off edges into Daddy's arms.

He still likes to remind us however that he is still our little baby now and again, especially at the beach.

We love you Porter, our little social butterfly!!

time for words!

Mama and Dada (with actually knowing their meanings), 'ma-urrrrr' for more, 'tuk' for stuck, 'uh oh', 'no no' for OH NO!, 'die-pah' for diaper, 'al-Dah' for all done, byebye, HI (which he says everytime he leaves or enters a room), 'Nay' for naked (which he wants to be all the time), 'wa-er' for water, 'mi' for milk, 'pees' for please, 'eye', 'no' for nose, 'mou' for mouth, 'dog' (and then he gives a high pitch bark to emphasize his point), 'naaay' for horse, 'ksss' for keys (which if you hand them the whole key ring, he can run to the car, find the right key, and stick it into the car door, and almost twist hard enough to unlock it....oh man, he's going to be trouble the way he loves buttons and driving), 'chz' for cheese, 'cakah' fro cracker, 'ou-sie' for outside, and 'aye' for yes (just like a pirate), 'beep beep', and 'bump' for when he lets gas, 'buh bah' for bubble bath and belly button, 'up', 'dow' for down,'ga-coo' for thankyou (after you give him anything, said with the right intonation-pretty cute), and his most common phrase right now is 'weh-ahh-uuu' for where ARRE you??? it's so cute- he sticks that at the end of any inanimate object he may be looking for...like mr. bear, "beh, weh-AHH-uu??" or the keys "ksss, Weh-AHHHH-uu??", which is followed up with a 'tada' or a scream of excitement when he finds it. he's just started using that phrase to find people now too, like Rayne, who stays with us sometimes, "Wehweh (rayne), weh-AHHHHHH-uuuu???

I'll have to write down the funny things he does lately, but not till later. work calls.

Marks Senior Show

It's all over....This past week was my senior show. 2 quarters of work all piled into one night of show. It feels great to be done. As a class we all pitched in to get a venue downtown in a gallery that went out of business. It provided for some great visability by the public and was a fun experience to put together. I created a display framing that looked like a shack where I suspended my work from twine. My project was in Minneapolis on the Mississippi.

Porters Likes

Porters likes. . .

. . . looking like a newsie

. . . Bu bu baah 2 times a day

. . . beach days with mommy and daddy

. . . mommy's shoes, most definitely

. . . getting ready for Valentines date

. . . camera time

. . .disc golfing with buddy, Sam

. . . nope, definitely doesn't like missing naps

All Done

took porter to the doctors office to get shots. the second porter saw the needle, he started desperately saying and signing (to make sure i understood) ALDOHN ALDOHN over and over. after the crying he continued being "alldohn" all the way out the car until we traveled safely in and out of weeks, through a night and a day, and almost over a year, until we were back home and in his very own bedroom.

don't worry porter- with the terrible response time we get with your doctors, i am 'all done' too.

Our Weekend with Penny and Lis and the kiddoes

Visiting in San Diego was a great...thanks for such a fun trip you guys.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

a porter update.

porter-isms:
loves to walk backwards.
now understands that he can make you come with him if he grabs your fingers and pulls you.
twirls.
sometimes will grab our hands and walk us backwards, then forwards then backwards...i'm pretty sure he's dancing with us, since he sees mom and dad do it a bunch:)
cries through naptimes.
signs 'dad' 'mom' 'water' 'food' 'please' 'milk' and 'more'...and he'll sign all of them in a row when frustrated hoping something will communicate.
loves to fold his arms to pray, and will demand prayers up to five times a meal.
runs away every time i say to come here. gotta break that one somehow.
makes a sour face every bite of food when he thinks it will be funny.
throws his arms up for a 'whoohoo' when we drive and the windows are down.
will bring books to us to read to him, then put it back and get another one- suuuper cute.
whines for a second every time he sees me. laughs every time he sees mark. hmm.
misses all of you...oh- wait - that's me. i miss all of you. Porter just misses the grandparents.