on the outside looking in...

This the outside of the house for sale painted by my pop. He came home with a green face for weeks. Today was the realtor tour day and we are scared the house is priced too high for this one horse town but maybe some sucker will freak out for the view and just buy it. Sharla the realtor queen tells us what to do and we just nod. I don't even nod actually. It has been one beautiful pretty day after the other lately so that's in our favor. My parents went to the big city of Seattle to celebrate the end of the grind and apparently my dad is not the man he used to be. Today they were both at home. Tired, but at home. I don't know what kind of man he used to be but I really do like it when he's around.

SELL! SELL! SELL!

Our house is on the market today! Oh my gosh. Its been such a long haul. So many hard working days for my daddy and grandpoop, so many long boring days with just my mom (just kidding Mama!) There are just a few little exterior odds and ends to do tomorrow and then a big sigh of relief and then we let Sharla the realtor work her magic and then it sells for SO much money and then we par-TAY!!! Here are a few pictures of all the really unbelievable handy work of the mens. Thank you to the uncle helpers who always showed up in a pinch, Victor No No No, P.I. P.I. P.I. and No Way Nick. Go team.








(and this is the good luck bald eagle who looks over our house...please join him and be our good luck eagles all over the world, wishing us a speedy sell so we don't go under and end up living in a van down by the river)

all's well

Mama and I are all better. It was a 24 hour type of thing. Powerful though, for sure. We are still not eating much, taking things slow, but back out there. This is the Aquatic Center where we swim. Its balmy and fun. I can put my whole face in the water and blow bubbles. I can kick my feet while Mama holds my arms. There is the big huge pool for real swimming around and there's a tot pool for just sitting and playing with water toys and then there is this lazy river thing that has a fast current so you just enter and it whisks you around like a fishy in the rapids. I love it in the water and if you want you can call me a water bug.

Sickie Poohs

This was me, yesterday, living large, feeling strong....
And then I got my first stomach flu. ICK. I wouldn't eat anything, not even my favorites like pb&j's or my mom's energy bars that I'm not allowed to eat. No one knew why I was on a hunger strike until I threw up all over my dad. Then they knew it was the flu. I'd never thrown up before and I didn't know what was going on. My tummy hurt and I started crying and getting scared and daddy picked me up and then this crazy stuff just fired out of my mouth like a rocket. Pro-jec-tile, that is the new word I have learned. Then, to make things worse, Mama woke up at 5 am with the same flu. She feels even worse than me I think but still she did not throw up on Dad. We are couch bound. We are trying to eat saltines and pedialyte but even that is gross to us. Please everyone hope and pray that dad and grandpoop don't get it because we have to finish painting that darn house which goes on the market Monday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA !!!

Today is my Nana's birthday and I really hate that I am so far away from where she lives in the California desert. This morning I blew kisses to her for her special day and its pretty windy here but still I worry that its such a long way for my kisses to travel. But be on the lookout Nana cuz they are out there!

The Other Side

When we're feeling lonely and cooped up out here on the ole isle, we ferry over to spend a morning with Jenn and the Baby Luca, or OOKA as I like to pronounce it.

He is so cute, right? Like the littlest bestest elf friend a guy could have.

His mama and my mama have a lot of mama chatting because the Baby Luca is almost but not quite sleeping all the way through the night and my mom has many strict words of advice about the Dr. Ferber and his mean tricks of making us learn to sleep on our own. There are a lot of strategies and dilemmas to consider when you are a parent, just so you know.

I like to play with my pal and get my hands on other people's toys but I really love the ferry because it means that I can sit in the front seat for a long time which gives me almost enough time to push every button, turn on every signal, wiper and secret overdrive buttons that no one but me knows about and then put the tape cassettes in and out and then in and out a few hundred times more. I feel its really good for me that mama takes me along with her everywhere. We are like me and my shadow. She has to get away every once in a while and be just her without a shadow like the other night when she went by herself to see Dreamgirls because none of the macho men here would see it because they cannot appreciate the musical as its own genre. And by the way, she was very very entertained.

Mount Vepoovius

Grandpoop as you know is my #1 bestest babysitter. He is always telling my parents to go ahead and go to the movies and get a drink and stay out as late as they want (which they never do, cause everything closes at 8pm on Bainbridge)...So last night they went to the movies and I went downstairs to play in the workshop with Grandpoop and as soon as they drove away I squatted down real low and started making my "face":

It is a look of combined panic and shame and everyone knows what it means. In case they don't, I grunt out the word "TOOOT!" as fair warning. No big deal, this is a daily occurance, but this was the first time it happened on Grandpoop's watch with Mamam not around to save the day. Grandpoop has never changed a poopy diaper and that is because Grandpoop had vowed never ever to change a poopy diaper in his lifetime. Until this night. I smelled bad and it was a whopper. He cursed and yelled and tried to think of a way out but he was stuck. He took me up to change the diaper and his wildest imagination could not have prepared him for what he discovered. (Old hat to all the mommies and daddies out there, but he was green) It was out of the diaper. It was beyond the changing table. He stripped me down and threw me in the tub and tried to splash the crap off of me. I guess I really don't need to go into all this detail....just know that there was crying on both sides of the tub and Grandpoop was changed forever.


He couldn't even bear to keep the diaper in the house so he took it outside and later burned it, trying to erase all memories of this terrible night.


This is Grandpoop finally moving the gas can AWAY from the flames after my dad yelled at him. He's not perfect but he has proven his love to me for all time.

b-day kisses

All the island kids wished me a happy birthday and that was real cool. This is Keller. He's probably my best friend at Little Sprouts. He's my age and my color and my size and we've been buddies for awhile. We used to just play near each other but pay no attention to each other but now we actually team up. He gave me a birthday hug and a kiss which may disturb some of the older deWitt generation. Keller is notorious for getting me sick so this was a risky move but sometimes you just gotta say what the heck and go for the love.

and the birthdaying continues...

Yes, yes, yes, it was a happy birthday. Indeed. It was a very special day. I got to do anything and everything I wanted. All Yesses, all day long. Very few no's. When I asked for juice, they said Okay instead of the ususal How about milk reply. And Mama danced with me to the entire ABBA record when I know she is really, really sick of hearing it.


I got to watch a whole hour of television, an uninterrupted Sesame Street, start to finish, instead of the standard twenty minute Elmo's World only.





And then there was CAKE. I have never had cake before. It was lit up like the hot fireplace and everybody sang the birthday song and I blew out the hot heat. And then I tasted my first intentional taste of sugar. Man oh man, now I know what all the hubbub around here is! Everyone helped me with my cake, even though I hadn't really asked for any help, and the next thing I knew I looked down and my cake had disappeared. It was really tasty and I didn't even get too freaky from the sugar. I was cool, I took it like a two year old.




And then, for the big finale, my parents led me into a room with a bed full of presents. A lovely display of toys! I feel like I just recovered from the whole incredible Santa concept, and then this. And it was all about me. Boy, what a great day. I love being two. And I promise to try my hardest to stay humble and unspoiled even though I am treated like a boy prince king.

I AM TWO ELECTRIC BUGALOO

Did you guess? TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! I AM TWO ENTIRE YEARS OLD!!! Whoa, right? I feel...I feel different. Kind of serious. Year one was for getting the kinks out, finding my bearings. Now I am gearing up to totally kick out the jams. We got on the early ferry to Seattle and hit the zoo. (This time the animals were actually behind fences.)


As you can see it was another freezer day up here, but when its your birthday you just gotta get out there and party (like its your birthday).


Somehow the snow covered savannah and tropical Asia seemed a little off.


and the poor animals would have to agree


this guy was just sittin' and a thinkin'...probably about a hot tubby.


this guy was thinkin' about eating me, I'm pretty sure. He just kept chewing and staring right into my eyes.


this tiger was cold and missing his warm homeland and he growled and roared and still no one brought him a jacket or a hat with ear flaps


I growled and roared back at him, then he would answer me. We had something real going on.


then we went to the zoonasium and I climed all over the rocks with the other kids


I don't have any friends in Seattle, except baby Luca who is too little for rock climbing, so my parents kept pushing me near some strange little girls birthday party so I could pretend like it was mine and they were all my friends.

Now we're home and the party just keeps on going....more to come:

It's been a good one...

Ahh, the things I have done at the exciting age of one. As you've witnessed through my daily discoveries, I have had a good good time. The playing I have played, the sights I have seen, the family and friends I have loved, the laughs I have laughed, the noses I have touched. And the general relaxing that is my life. All coming to a close, as today is my last day of being a mere one year old.

For tomorrow is....is....CAN YOU GUESS???

Mangia! Mangia!

This is the way to eat pasta:



I know how to use a fork, but really, why bother? Its faster and funner this way. What do I care if I look all gross and gooey? Who am I trying to impress? I know I'm going to be belly deep in soapy bubbles in about five minutes so might as well live it up while I can. This is a philosophy I am passing along to you: Go ahead and get dirty now, for soon you will be clean.

Mamam's in Margaritaville

I saw the suitcases and I got excited because I love to push suitcases around. What a fool I was! Suitcases mean someone is leaving me. Mamam left. She kissed me, she hugged me, she took those suitcases out the door and she was gone. And she's not coming back for a month. I'll be a teenager by then! How could she rather be in the 73 degree San Miguel when I am here back in the 24 degree wind and snow? Will someone tell her how insane she is being!!!

Live! On Bainbridge Island!

GUSTAVO VALENTINE AND THE ALL GEESE DANCERS!

Stances

When you are manly men, your moves and stances must always be perfectly masculine.

This is the perfect axe throwing stance. (We have moved to throwing the axe at the side of the tree where there is still some bark left. You can see the sun shine through tree now. When will it fall? Who will it fall upon? We are taking bets over here.)


This is the famous hand off stance. Play it cool and casual and confident.


These are the throwing your chopped wood in the back of the truck moves. You are so strong and capable that you can toss heavy logs like they are tennis balls.




And then, after the axes have been thrown and all the wood has been chopped, tossed, stacked and carried into the house, after the fire has been strategically and masterfully built and ablaze, you may practice your numchuck stances and moves. Are we not men, or what?

Dr. Gustavo Valentine Doolittle

My parents and I and Apple and Anton all went to the Olympic Game Farm, about an hour away in Sequim, and I've got one word for you: INSANE !!!

You drive through in your car with the windows rolled down and all the animals are just a few feet away. I went right out of my mind.


This is a peacock. There's about a hundred of them and they follow alongside your car the whole way. I learned how to say peacock this day but by the time I got home and repeated the word it came out babycock which caused a few raised eyebrows at dinner.


This is a chicken. You may say, big deal I've seen chickens before, but these ones have feather shoes which makes them much more stylish and fancy than your regular roosters.


The big moose with their big antlers or no antlers yet stick their noses RIGHT IN YOUR WINDOW!!! This is a very exciting way to visit with animals. We didn't know what was going on. All of a sudden a bunch of moose and deer and buffalo come running right for us and before we can roll up the windows they are INSIDE!!! You better believe I was tripping out. There's still moose slobber all over the roof of our car.


These are the buffalo. Everything was fun and games until the buffalo. These guys meant business. Their heads were the size of twenty of my heads, they couldn't fit them in our windows but they tried. We all screamed and yelled and my dad was driving and they were boxing us in and he was squealing like one of the little girls at baby gym and it got me very nervous. I wouldn't look at the buffalo and just kept saying no...no...no... I think this was the first time in my life I actually felt fear. We got away but those buffalo chased us all the way out.



See how big they are?!! You can't even fit them in a picture!!!


But my favorite part of the whole deal was all the bears. Big, furry brown Kodiac bears. Mama had told me we would see them and I said Big Bear the whole drive to Sequim but still my imagination did not prepare me for these great wonders.


This is Papa and Mama bear. I don't know where Baby Bear is. He may have left to live a life of his own.


Um, did I mention the bears WAVE at you. Yeah. I waved to them and said hey bear, hi and everything bears, and they waved back hi to me. I'm serious!


But the best thing was that we got to throw the bears pieces of bread and they would catch them right in their mouths. And if you threw it bad like I did sometimes, they pick up the bread with their long giant claws and put it in their mouths. Thats just how I eat bread!
As you can see the Olympic Game Farm was a very special and fun adventure for our family. We will go again when you visit.

Party Like its 2006

So, yeah, we had a mighty fine time with everyone visiting. The party never stopped.

We are men, but we can still get into a good ole dance party. (Thats ABBA Live on the tv, btw. Have I mentioned my curious obsession with ABBA? Grandpoop's against it, btw.)

After you do all your fancy claps and kicks, don't forget to fall face first on the ottoman!

We are men, but can still appreciate real beauty.

Sometimes the nature is so beautiful, I need a moment to myself.

Uncle Mike and Anton also took a moment. They were thinking about their glory days.

Should Old Aquaintance Be Forgot?

Christmas is gone, the magical tree is returned to the ordinary tree, the year of 2006 is gone, it is time to get real again....



That means saying good-bye to Uncle Mike with a tender yet masculine make out sesh...


I am resolving to be the best boy I can be. To be sweet and loving and entertaining. To not give my mom or dad any hard times. To grow more into a man that takes care of his own business. To stay connected to you all, my friends in this world. Happy New Year to EVERYONE OUT THERE! I have a feeling about 2007, I think it might be a doozie.