Notes for the Baby Books:This week Jessica memorized a song that teaches multiplying by 3s. I don’t think she really knows what the numbers mean, but she just sings the tune “3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18…36†(see below at the end of this post…)
On swim team, Coach Rich is really teaching her a lot and now she can dive in headfirst and is starting to learn flip turns. They have been gearing up for a big swim meet this Sunday against the Naples Tiger Sharks. Jeremy is growing taller. He grew 1½ inches since March of this year. We are having a harder time with Joshua these days, as he has been regressing a bit since the baby was born 5 months ago-more tantrums, bladder control issues, finger sucking, clinginess, middle-of-the-night crying episodes, etc. Today was an especially rough day for him because of an injury to his left 4th finger. Here’s an excerpt summary from an e-mail I sent to EC: We spent a couple hours in the ER this afternoon for Joshua’s finger. (Ben was on-duty working in the ER at the time). Thank P. for us for looking at it this morning. He had crushed it falling from his bike the other day. Then early this afternoon, he struck it with a beyblade and then it started oozing a yellowish fluid and became even more painful, red and swollen, so it’s a good thing we had planned to go in to have it x-rayed as P. recommended anyway. At least there was no fracture. Ben gave him some antibiotics (Keflex) and we have to soak it in water. The next day, his finger injury worsened and turned into a “felonâ€. Ben and Dr. “P†took him to the hospital and Dr. P gave him a digital block of lidocaine, made an incision, and drained the pus.
Jonah took a longer nap today, about 2 ½ hours. Usually he would only sleep for 40 minutes at a time. Today, he grabbed at my cup as I was drinking and wanted to take a sip of water from my cup, so he took a few sips. He is a voracious eater and generally eats 1/4 cup of rice or oatmeal baby cereal with a few teaspoons of applesauce or jarred baby food twice a day, 4-8 oz of formula, juice, or water, and breastfeeding about every 2-3 hours as needed. He is so mobile now, rolling around all over. He even rolled off of our futon bed a couple of times and has a couple of little bruises on his head to prove it… Sayonara LidoYesterday Ben was post call and we went to the “Sayonara Lido†beach at Fontana Bianche (just past Siracusa) with the Cs. It was really clean and beautiful…a great day. The beaches here are mostly all privately owned so we paid 2 euro for parking and 12.50 euro for 2 beach chairs and an umbrella for our “spotâ€. There are plenty of vendors walking around selling everything from Chinese massages (15 euro) to hats, clothing, and bracelets. After that, we went to bible study and had a good discussion about the “fear†and providence of God. (PSALM 34:7, 9, PSALM 145:19, PROVERBS 1:7, 9:10) “Social’ed Out†Last Friday evening, we went to an ACC Pool Party for Ben’s work, Saturday we went to MG’s farewell luncheon at the G’s in Pennisi near Aci Reale, then our block party ice cream social/beyblade tournament at the C’s, and then in the evening, to a “low country boil†(It’s a Southern US custom that this former California girl had never experienced before.) with people from a certain committee at Ben’s work. We had a neighbor teen babysitter come over to babysit the older 3 kids. Then on Sunday the kids and Ben went to Jessica’s Brownie Troop Pool party and we all went to church in the evening. That day, 8/24/03, was Jonah’s first time in the church nursery without Mom. He did well and only started to cry when his diaper was changed.
8/27/03 Great and NobleA good quote even for parents to ponder while changing diapers and consoling the little ones’ cries:“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.â€
A Mother’s Morning Prayer I thought this was kind of humorous… A Mother’s Morning Prayer (from http://www.nurturing.ca/perfectparents.htm ) Dear Lord, Posted 8/29/2003 at 5:14 PM
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Home School: The First Farmers used a Shaduf
8/22/03 We are starting to say good-bye to summer vacation and ease back into home schooling…Jeremy’s Oral Narration Chapter 1 The First Farmers of the book Story of the World. (based on a coloring page.)These were one of the first farmers. They used a tool for farming. It’s called a shaduf. He puts the bucket down in the water, lifts up the other side, turns it, and then drops it on his crops. Jessica’s Oral Narration on The First Farmers. They were farmers. First they were nomads, then they turned farmers. A girl was too scared to go into the water because she’d never been in the water before. They were dirty because they didn’t take a bath for a long time. They stayed in one place and they watered the plants. Posted 8/24/2003 at 5:51 AM
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Sticks and Stones“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me…†Try telling that to an almost 4-year-old (Josh), whose neighborhood friend tells him “I don’t want to be your friend†over some petty and minor issue. This kid has said this to Joshua before and the next time they are both out, they played again with neither of them remembering the incident. It reminds me of times in elementary school, when the popular girl would say to me, “I’ll be your best friend if you give me those cookies in your lunchbox.†I didn’t really know the right words to say to Joshie and I don’t really know how much he understands about finding and keeping true friends. We mainly just talked about watching our words and trying to speak kindly, even when nice words are not said to you. Posted 8/19/2003 at 8:33 AM
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Tie Dye Shirts8/17/03 Last week, our neighbor EC helped the kids to tie-dye shirts, which turned out to be a unique and major project. Even Jonah now has a tie-dyed onesie! It’s kind of odd because to the kids, they are just colorful shirts that they helped to create and like to wear. The kids don’t associate them with the ‘60s-hippie stereotype like adults would do. We had a great time resuming our Bible study after a summer break on Thursday evening. Yesterday, we went to a hospital “Hail and Farewell†pool party at a hotel/restaurant across the street from the base. They catered Filipino food, which was a delicious, rare treat for us around here. Last night, I felt a twinge of guilt that maybe I haven’t been giving Joshie enough individual attention. I was holding Jonah after changing his diaper and Joshua looks up from playing with his Playmobil toys and asks me, “What do you like better, Jonah or me? I was just wondering…†I gave him an extra hug that day, knowing it must be hard to have that coveted “Baby of the Family†position suddenly usurped from Josh, who is still getting used to now being a middle child. The Jonah Jingle: “Jo-na-na-na-naaaah”8/15/03 Jonah is 5 months old today! Jessica made up a little song or jingle for him that makes him smile… “Jo-na-na-na-naaaah, Jo-na-na-na-naaaah…†You have to say it with a sort of hip-hop beat to it. Jonah is starting to get into everything, grabbing the phone when I’m talking, touching everything, and he can roll and sort of scoot to almost get to where he wants to go. Jonah doesn’t like baths but he loves playing in the big pool. Back on land, he can sit up on his bottom, slouching, for a few seconds. He giggles and laughs when properly amused or tickled and he can sometimes use his hands purposefully (as our departing radiologist friend TG noted) to put the pacifier-on-a-leash into his mouth. Ciao Italia8/12/03 On p. 191 of the Italian cookbook Ciao Italia-Bringing Italy Home by Mary Ann Esposito, there is a good synopsis of Sicily: “Sicily is heat, prickly pears, colorful painted fishing boats, fishing nets, gelato, hand-painted tiles, mountains, tuna, artichokes, fava beans, shepherds, almond trees, Greek temples, unbearable traffic, markets, fried food, swordfish, scirocco winds, mosaics, palm trees, oranges, cassata cake, cannoli, pageants, pupi di zucchero, puppets, wild fennel, ricotta cheese, Pecorino cheese, Marsala wine, salt pans, monasteries, hand-painted carts, miniature donkeys, grapes, Mount Etna, Holy Week mysteries, incense, vineyards, bougainvillea, sea chants, the malocchio.†So, to our faraway friends and family across the oceans, “Come visit us…” Regarding the cookbooks, I have heard from PG, our friend who has lived in Sicily for many years, that this original Ciao Italia cookbook and Nella Cucina are two of the best (as opposed to the Bringing Italy Home one). (See below, at the end of this post…)Sibling Annoyances8/12/03 Proverbs 12:16,18 “A fool shows his annoyance at once,
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The PianistLast night Ben and I rented the movie The Pianist, a true story about Wladyslaw Szpilman’s life as a brilliant Polish Jewish pianist escaping from the Holocaust. Posted 8/10/2003 at 5:22 AM
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Drinking Glass EtiquetteOn our brief West Coast of Sicilia camping trip, we first stopped at Segesta to see the Greek ruins and then we camped at El Bahira Campground in San Vito Lo Capo one night. It was different there because they have a strictly enforced reposo time. From 2-4pm, cars are not allowed to be driven in or out, and all tvs and radios have to be turned off. We pitched our tent in an open wooded area that soon became much more crowded by dusk. We had fun camping, esp. sitting around the warm glow of our lantern telling stories (Campfires were not allowed). Jonah woke up at 4:45 am and amused himself by hitting the side of the tent with his hands and watching and listening to the rippling effect of the tent. Unfortunately, the beach there was quite rocky and the ocean water was cold and mossy, so the kids couldn’t swim so well. As we were leaving that area, we saw some nice, sandy public beaches nearby. We went to Erice, a medieval town high up on a mountain with stone paved streets. We stopped for lunch and had the town’s special of the day, Couscous. We could definitely sense some of the African influence of that location as compared to the eastern side of the island near the base. At the restaurant, the kids were asking what is the correct way to hold a wine glass for their water. In Italy, the water is always served in wine glasses, for both adults and children. After we returned home, we decided to get out some inexpensive wine glasses for the kids to practice drinking their water and they thought that was kind of fancy and classy, as compared to their usual kiddy cups. Most people from the West Coast area of Sicily were kind and friendly toward the kids and us, but a few were not too friendly and I could tell that most people were probably not used to seeing Asians. One boy in the campground gave us a “Chinese squinty eyes†face as we walked by and in Erice, a woman near us stared at us and whispered something to her husband, and he replied loudly “Giappone, Giappone†(“Japan, Japanâ€). After Erice, we went to Sciacca and tried to find a spot at a campground but they were full. We stopped by the beach there, fired up the camp stove, cooked and ate dinner, and let the kids play in the ocean. Then we headed home and arrived at 10:30 pm. Posted 8/9/2003 at 1:1 PM
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Camping? Yesterday was Vicki’s mom’s 79th birthday. Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma! We pray often for her spiritual condition and relationship with the Lord. Last Thursday, we had a great time at our Bible study’s (OCF) Summer BBQ at the G’s home near Aci Reale. The kids, especially, looked forward to that night all week. Sunday evening during church, our Italian house cleaner, “pseudo” Italian language teacher, and friend Pina showed up with her brother and a sister-in-law and later took us to a nice privately-owned restaurant (owned by her friend) in the Belpasso/Nicolosi area, Tre Archi. We had a very nice time with them, despite the language difficulties. Pina and her brother spent many years living in Germany and her brother could speak a little English with some German and Italian mixed in. Ben has the next couple of days off because we were planning on driving/camping to attend the swim meet in La Maddalena/Sardinia, but it was cancelled. So we are planning to go camping somewhere on the other side, the west coast of Sicily. It all depends on whether we can find a campsite during this very high Italian holiday/tourist season during the month of August… Posted 8/6/2003 at 4:34 PM
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Yesterday, I read a sad story in the Stars and Stripes newspaper (our neighbors, the Cs, recently subscribed to home delivery and passed it along to us) that was originally from the Washington Post entitled “For an Iraqi Family, ‘No Other Choice’ Father and Brother Are Forced by Villagers to Execute Suspected U.S. Informant” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10829-2003Jul31.html Posted 8/3/2003 at 3:3 AM
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| A Very Nice Tribute to our US Military Men and Women
http://www.pressaprint.com/som/WeSupportU2.htm Posted 8/1/2003 at 6:44 AM
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