trading curses for blessings

annie and i were talking a few weeks ago about a phrase parents often use as a curse on their children: "i hope you have one just like you." our recent experience teaches us that the curse works; both annie and i did exactly the things we were not supposed to when we were younger. in fact, there are reports of me standing right next to the television, making sure everybody was looking as i touched the forbidden appliance, but i am sure these reports are exaggerated.

as we talked, annie told me about a story she had read in a book from MOPS about a mom who used this same phrase to speak a blessing over her children: "i hope you have one just like you." instead of teaching her children to focus on the things that annoyed her, this wise and brilliant mother chose to help them see the ways in which they brought life and joy to those around them. it was a tremendous paradigm shift for me, b/c although there are certain things that drive me a little bit nuts about isaac, there are also so many things that bless me and many others.

he typically smiles at anybody who will look at him, even though they don't always smile back.

when we have breakfast at bruegger's he sits and tries to make eye contact with everybody who comes out the door.

he waves at random cars on the street.

lately when i come home he has lit up and crawled straight towards me, laying his head on my shoulder after i pick him up.

he laughs at himself, and at the stupid things we do to entertain him.

he has the personality to help people feel welcomed, included, and loved. and i hope he has one just like him.

the fun at 13 months...

for a kid who has been pinned up due to a cold, the park is heaven.

our scuba diver

isaac doesn't enjoy sitting as much as he does climbing, pushing and moving.

isaac has found a new interest in hiding in and under anything that allows.


step 1: pull out all pans; step 2: make as much noise as possible; step 3: mom cleans them up; step 4: start back over at step 1.

grauntie came down to watch isaac while we
went off to a wedding...

amanda, annie and paige


norene (amanda's mom), jan (annie's mom), joanne and sheryl.  old friends.

isaac and his cousins (avery & mike) at mike's first birthday.

red headed step child

mail time with grammy. isaac gets to carry the key to the box, and then he promptly drops it into her hand when they get there.

auntie's birthday party

no, it's water

loving the rides at the outlet mall. it was his first time and he rode it 3 times.

labor day block party

brushing teeth

new toys: bulldozer + auntie = good times


a group trip to the ellen degeneres show for allison's birthday scores 16gb itouches

isaac and lexie. they are having a tiff.

the cousins on my side

"avery, sit back, you don't want to take a digger off the couch."

modeling at babies 'r' us

so the blog has been a little neglected lately, and it is starting to show. it has been sulking around the house, peeing in the corner, and sending pharmaceutical spam to my work email account. it is not that we don't care anymore, it is just that there have been other things going on lately.

first of all, our house has been in disrepair for the past couple months, the result of a small flood originating in our neighbor's condo, which then caused an insurance company estimated $6K worth of damage to our place. the process was much longer than we had originally anticipated or hoped for, and we gratefully invaded the menconi's for about 90% of our waking hours for a couple months, but in the end we have new hardwood floors and baseboards so i suppose all is well that ends well.


isaac has also been in various stages of unhealth, logging his first real legit ear infection, and a couple really long and restless nights. a couple days after he got over the ear infection, he got another sickness, a cough and super snotty nose. he seems to be through the worst of it, knock on wood.

something he is not through the worst of, and in fact is just beginning what will be an issue for the rest of his life: pushing boundaries. for some reason i didn't think this was supposed to be a challenge till at least the terrible twos, but we have hit the ominous ones. he has a mind of his own, which will probably be one of the greatest and toughest things about him. and now one of the toughest and greatest things as parents will be learning how to handle it well.

apparently he is in an exploratory phase, but to me it seems more like a do everything he is not supposed to do phase. the tough thing is he seems to know the difference: he knows he is not supposed to put electrical plugs in his mouth or touch the buttons on the television and yet those are the only things he wants to do. at times i get pretty frustrated, especially when he seems to be deliberately disobedient. i am not sure that is what's going on mind you, but it certainly feels like it at times.

i know that to become healthy a kid needs boundaries. i know as parents it is our responsibility and privilege to establish and enforce those boundaries. what i do not know is how the heck that is supposed to work. there is a tremendous amount of fear wound up in this subject for me, because i don't want to discipline him in unhealthy ways so he grows up to torture small animals with happy meal toys.

if you have any ideas, tips, or books you can recommend, please do share. otherwise you can expect my kid to show up to your next party wearing nothing but tortillas.

skate or die!!

i've got the best grandparents ever!

"it's what?"

"it's grandparent's day!"

"thank you grammy, grandpa, grandma chris and grandpa alan for all you do to love me!  i love you!"

"it's true, my grammy takes me skateboarding and i love it."

isaac also wants you to know that "gangka" a.k.a. grandpa  was one of his first words.  he was trying to get it down for grandparents day.