Grie’s Visit! Sept 16-22

Grie (my mom) came to spend a week with us. She landed in San Francisco after Jeremy’s bedtime, so I went to pick her up all by myself. I don’t get to do many things all by myself…so this was a bit of a treat!

            The plan for the week was to play with Grie and show her all of Jeremy’s fun activities. It was awesome having her here--she cooked and prepared meals, cleaned our windows and blinds, played games, walked Molly, and still had time to soak in some serious Jeremy time! Here are the top 22 things we got to do.

1.     Jammie parties: There is a crib and a twin bed in Jeremy’s room, so Grie got to share a room with Jeremy. Jeremy was sure surprised to see Grie in his room when he woke up!

2.    Happy You! We celebrated Grie’s birthday (one month late) while she was here. Jeremy spent the whole week saying Happy You! Eventually it transitioned to Happy Grie! Or Happy Momma!

Jeremy fingerpainted this for Grie. When the blue and red mixed, he shouted, "Purple!"

3.    Jeremy chose a balloon shaped like a cloud for Grie’s birthday. I am not sure who liked it more…

4.    On Monday, we had lunch at Amici’s Pizza. Jeremy got to shake parmesan cheese all over his pizza, so he ate a ton. (First we had “dip,” now we have “shake.” It’s great to have some tricks to encourage Jeremy to eat new foods.)

5.    Bag of goodies—Grie brought Jeremy a big bag of new toys, stickers, pajamas, and Halloween dishes. He is constantly requesting his pumpkin bowls. Thanks Grie!

6.    One of the toys is a remote controlled Thomas. Jeremy loves trains, but we had no idea that he knows who Thomas is—he definitely knows! He has been driving Thomas around under all of our feet ever since.

7.    Grie brought three Disney figures—Mickey, Donald, and Weesha. Who is Weesha? Goofy. Jeremy can say Mickey and even Donald perfectly, but for some reason, he is sure Goofy’s name is Weesha.

8.    Speaking of talking, Jeremy learned how to say his name properly! No more Nare-my…he is officially Jeremy.

9.    Molly remembers Grie! She was absolutely ecstatic to see my mom.

10. Molly got tons of extra walks from Grie—this just solidified how much she loves my mom. Molly proved her love by licking her all week.

11.  After walking the dog, Jeremy heard Grie walking back towards our door. He ran to the door and did a happy dance while shouting “Grie, Grie!!!”

12. On Tuesday, we went to gym class, and Jeremy wanted to show Grie everything. He wouldn’t let her sit down at all—he kept shouting for her to come and see something.

13.  Jeremy showed Grie all of his toys and wanted her to play with him on the floor all week, in the sandbox, and at the park too. They also colored pictures with crayons and markers, drew on the MagnaDoodle, and colored our patio with chalk. 

Holding hands with Aaron at the park.

Showing Grie how we play in the sand.

Climbing!

Riding in the wagon with his best bud.

14. Pocket and Giraffe—How many times can Grie (and Momma and Dada) read There’s a Wocket in my Pocket and Giraffe’s Can’t Dance? Thousands? I think Jeremy is going for a record.

Reading Giraffe with Grie.

15.  Play doh!

Play doh!

Making an under-the-sea scene...see the octopus, coral, dolphin, turtle, snake?

16. On Wednesday, Grie came to play group with us—she got see a lot of Jeremy’s friends again. She met many of them at Jeremy’s 1^st birthday in January.

17. On Friday, the space shuttle, the Endeavor, was doing a fly-by over the Bay Area and Nasa/Moffett Field, which is only about 4 miles from us. So we went to the park to try to see it.

See that little thing in between the trees?

There it is!

This was Christian's view from Google...much better than ours.

18. Then, Jeremy showed Grie story time at the library—he wanted her to sing all of the songs and dance with the scarves with him.

19. On Saturday, we went to the fire station for their annual pancake breakfast. Jeremy is in love with fire trucks, so he was in Heaven. Grie is even making his Halloween costume, which is a fireman!

Jeremy and Grie driving the fire truck!

Eating pancakes, sausage, and fruit prepared by the chefs at Facebook.

We ate right next to all of their real uniforms.

Jeremy learning to Stop, Drop, and Roll

He earned his Junior Firefighter hat!

Just smiling with Momma 

More interested in the grate...

Ok, the fox is cool too.

Jeremy watching the fire demostration

Here come the firefighters!

Jeremy and Grie checking out the truck!

The boys.

Jeremy could feel the water pumping through the hose.

Even their tunnels were cool.

Jeremy to the rescue!

Jeremy showing off his Stop, Drop, and Roll.

I couldn't snap a picture fast enough to get them both wearing the fire hats.

Jeremy and the firefighter putting out a real fire with an extinguisher.

20. Later in the day, we toured a house and played at Ortega Park for a while.

We didn't get the house (10 offers!), but we had fun playing at the park.

21. On Sunday, we spent the day at Happy Hollow, which is a small children’s amusement park and zoo. Jeremy rode a ride all my himself for the first time!

Jeremy is too excited to sit in a stroller.

Buying some food to feed the goats.

This goat wasn't going to wait for us to feed him!

We stopped at the goats first thing in the morning, so they were hungry! And so gentle. 

Brush!

Grie liked feeding the goats too!

"Help, please!"

Grie lends a helping hand.

Dada climbed to the very top (about 5 feet off the ground)

"Baa Baa Sheep!" Jeremy's version of Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Grie loves all animals--even the really funny looking ones.

Jeremy chose the giraffe while waiting in line. There were tons of animals--peacocks, polar bears, lions, elephants, rhinos, oh my!

Waving to Grie!

"Bye bye g-raffe. Thank you!"

He chose the "Red one, bell, ding!"

His first ride all by himself! Pure joy! And he rang the bell and steered the whole time.

2nd big boy ride. He's pointing at us!

He is totally cool, calm, and collected.

Jeremy a"maze"d

Will the leopard change his spots?

Jeremy would rather see animals then pose for pictures.

Macaws! He knows these birds from an Android game--still wants to get down!

Turtle! This was actually the fastest turtle that I have ever seen.

Excavating "saur-saur" bones.

Jeremy and Grie--perfectly captured moment.

222. Grie had to leave on Monday :( On Tuesday, Jeremy woke up shouting "Grie! Grie!" as he searched all around the house looking for my mom. We miss her already!

Happy You!

MiMi with her cupcake sprinkled lovingly by Jeremy!          

           We celebrated MiMi’s (Christian’s Mom) birthday on Saturday, Sept 15. It was fun to have a party for her on her actual birthday. Since MiMi and Pops moved to CA last summer, we have been able to spend many holidays and special days together, which is so much fun! Even though it was technically MiMi’s birthday, she prepared a big meal and had a fun spread of toys out for Jeremy to play with. Most of the toys were Christian’s when he was Jeremy’s age…maybe we will have a house big enough one day to store toys for Jeremy’s kids! When we walked in, Pops said, “Welcome to Jeremy’s preschool!”

            We spent a very pleasant day watching football—all of our teams won! Way to go GA Tech, Stanford, Mizzou, and Florida! Jeremy played with duplo blocks, in the sandbox, with play doh, with cars, read books, and so much more. He threw a tennis ball to Brody (Drew’s dog) about a million times. And he ate a ton of salami. We had a yummy meal off the grill too that Pops cooked!

Reading with Pops

            Jeremy’s version of the Happy Birthday song is…Happy You! So he told MiMi “Happy You!” many times. He painted her a picture and put all the sprinkles on the cupcakes to help celebrate. He also helped to pick out wrapping paper for her present and all the stuffing for her bag. He was very concerned about wrapping her gift—he actually burst into tears when I put it in the box. He was so excited to help her unwrap everything!

MiMi likes the art that Jeremy painted!

Helping MiMi to open her presents.

Happy You, MiMi! May you have a happy and healthy year!

Papa's Visit Sept 13-15

My dad, Papa, was working nearby, so he was able to spend a few days with us. Even though the trip was short, we packed in some fun. On Thursday night, Jeremy and I drove to the airport…I thought he would enjoy seeing some planes up close and checking out the airport, so we left extra early. We are so not used to commuting anymore—Christian works about 3.5 miles from home and when I used to work, I was only a 0.5 mile walk from our house. Needless to say, we sat in tons of traffic, but we made it just in time to scoop Papa up at the door and drive home. Papa got to listen to a very few select children’s songs—all other songs get a resounding “No! Else?” (as in something else?). Thank goodness traffic wasn’t so bad on the way home.

Jeremy was so happy to see his Papa and wanted him to carry him everywhere (Heavy! Every time you pick Jeremy up, he says, "heavy"...I must say it a lot). While I was cooking in the kitchen, he took Papa’s hand and told him to “sit, sit down!” He meant on my kitchen floor…which no matter how often I sweep always seems to have a layer of sand on it. Anyway, Papa sat down and played lots of to-oys with Jeremy, he was thrilled. 

Jeremy and his Papa eating dinner together.

       The next day, Jeremy, Papa, and I went to see the koi ponds in San Jose. We walked around the beautiful gardens and fed the fish. It's so cool that Jeremy talks so much...we walked by a waterfall and he said "wa-wa, fall!" Then he asked Papa to pick him up and said, "Piggies? Fall?" He wanted to dip his toes in the waterfall! Something we would never have known he was thinking about. Also, notice Jeremy is wearing a shirt with a shark on it? Very appropriate for the tranquil koi ponds.
       When Christian got off of work, we grilled and played in the backyard. Papa was surprised to hear that Jeremy knows brie by name too. :)

"Smile Jeremy! What are you looking at?" says Momma.

"Fishes!" replies Jeremy.

Ducks! Quack Quack!

Look at all the fish--this place is amazing.

We sat on a bridge, and Jeremy fed the fish. He kept saying and signing "More, more! Please!" You know he means it when he is talking and signing at the same time.

Papa liked feeding the fish too--they were so tame!

Jeremy running along the pathways.

       Who is calling Jeremy on Papa's phone? ELMO! (Thanks Aunt Krissy for the great idea!) Elmo called Jeremy several times throughout Papa's visit. When Papa got a real phone call, Jeremy got all excited and questioned, "Elmo?" The phone calls from Elmo were a major highlight of the weekend.    

Elmo calls Jeremy.

ELMO!

     The next morning the boys fixed our bathroom door, we all ate bagels, and then headed to the airport. It was short, but we sure loved spending some time with Papa! Jeremy keeps opening my computer and saying, “Papa?” Thank God for videochat! It makes my family seem so much closer than they really are.

Jeremy ran and got his hammer, so he could help fix the door!

Music Together

As many of you know, Jeremy loves music. His first year birthday was truly a musical masterpiece. When we saw Music Together was giving free demo classes, we signed up. Jana’s parents were in town, so we got to go out to lunch afterward—a perfect morning!

Jeremy and Aaron drumming.

Aaron and his grandparents.

Our friends Jackson and Jennifer

Checking out the menu while waiting for lunch.