The Peanut Tracker

Persistence from tiznobias on Vimeo.

The kid kept at it until he acheived the goal. Proud of my boy!

(If you let the video fully load first, it should play less choppily.)

-T

“Kids say the darndest things”, they say. Yeah, well, we the parents end up saying the darndest things to our kids. Here are some of the things we’ve found ourselves telling our 15 month-old son. (It’s funnier if you visualize a rambunctious, 25-pound, 32-inch little stinker perpetrating the shenanigans.)

“Elliot…Son! Noooo, don’t put the vitamin bottle in your oatmeal.” (After he put the vitamin bottle in his bowl of oatmeal.)

“I don’t think your <insert name of stuffed animal or toy> wants to smell your feet, Pal.” (Everything must be subjected to his toe-funk.)

“Elliot! You do not kick daddy in the face!” (He also thinks its hilarious to make his parents smell his feet, with a forceful kick at the end.)

“Elliot, eat your beef.” (I dunno why, but saying this always cracks me up.)

“Son, nooooo. Take your hand out of your butt.” (During diaper changing time, he’s been exploring the undiscovered country of his backside.)

“Son, we do not climb the bookshelves.” (He climbs everything. We’re just trying to keep him alive around here. A sufficiently ‘child-proof’ (read: “Elliot-proof”) house would be a 1,000,000 square-foot space with nothing in it except thick, berber carpet, no walls, and the kid in the center–with a football helmet on, just in case.)

“No, no licking the walls.” (What can I say. He was licking the wall.)

“Son, no, no eating your books. Books are for reading, not for eating. If you want your books to last, you can’t eat them.” (Looking at his books is his favorite thing to do. But that doesn’t keep his books safe from the perilous grip of his seven not-so-little teeth.)

-T

For over a month now, Elliot’s been doing what looks like a Bruce Lee impersonation. Which is interesting, since he’s never seen Bruce Lee.

Y’know, he does the grimace with tensed arms, hands in either karate chop form or fists, and shaking slightly. It’s hilarious.

We caught him on video a few weeks ago doing a sort of toned-down version of it while waiting on dinner and leafing through a book; it’s still kinda funny, though. I wish I could catch him on video when he’s in full Bruce Lee form!

(It seems to take several seconds to load, so patience, Daniel-san! Or click the link below the video.)

Bruce Lee from tiznobias on Vimeo.

-T

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…GIRL!

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Our little daughter at 16 weeks, 6 days, sucking her thumb.

We’re blessed to have a girl! Which, interestingly enough, seems to be the first girl on my (Tobias’s) side of the family in quite a while, whereas Elliot was the first boy on Tania’s side of the family in quite a while.

We have restored balance to the force.

No, we don’t have a name yet, but we’ll be working on that. This time around, we’ve found that with Elliot and all the other things going on, it’s been hard to sit and think about these things. So, very soon, we’ll have to carve out time and give our daughter a name.

Family update: Tania’s having another not-so-fun pregnancy, but she’s hanging in there. Elliot’s got his seventh tooth–a molar–coming in. I’m still taking classes and working. It’s been tough on us out here (even though we like San Antonio), away from family and friends. Keep us in your prayers.

-T

Elliot’s vocabulary is growing. It’s exciting to watch him learn!

Here are bunch of the words, off the top of my head, that he says, and how he pronounces them (if different enough from the actual word):

• Mama
• Dada
• Dog (”Dah”)
• Green (”geen”)
• Blue (”Buuuh”)
• Off (”otts”)
• On
• X (”etts”)
• Baby (”me-me”)
• Tree (he makes the T sound)
• Flower (he makes the F sound)
• Frog (he makes the F sound)
• Hi (”Haaaw”)
• Bye
• Ball (”Baaaaw”)
• Horse (neighing sound)
• Sheep (”Baaaaa” )
• Pizza (”Tsss”)
• Pee-pee
• Shoe (”shhhh”)
• Lion (”Llluh”)
• Bob (”Bob” or “Bobbah” or “Bob-ob-ob”) (He likes Bob the Builder)
• Please (P sound)
• Banana (”Nanna” or “Nan-an-an”)
• What’s that (”At-da”)

Of course he understands a ton of what we can say; he just can’t say it all yet.

Darn cute kid.

-T

Learning to Catch from tiznobias on Vimeo.

Elliot loves kicking and throwing the ball, so the other day I thought I’d try teaching him to catch. After a few cycles of demonstrating and him trying, he actually got it. He’d even catch a few times consecutively. He’s sort of slacked off on catching lately, but I know he’s able!

-T

Our car after being tagged by a nice lady who was looking the other way.

Yesterday was an eventful Saturday.

As you can see, our car is not feeling so happy. But, more importantly of course, we are all fine. It was pretty scary, though.

A very nice lady with her head fully turned the other way began to pull out right in front of us on the main road we live on, only about a half-mile away. When I saw that, I thought, “Aw man… seriously?” I hit the brakes and tried to veer left a bit, but she kept coming, smacking into us and jolting the car to the side. Her bumper flew past the front of our car as we pulled past, straightened out, and stopped. I can’t clearly remember, but I suspect when she saw us she reflexively hit the gas pedal, tagging us nicely, which may have been why we couldn’t slip past her. Anyway, I’m just glad she didn’t shoot out in front of us, causing us to ram her. Even at the 30-40 miles per hour we were driving, it would not have been a barrel of fun. Whew. But everyone was fine, other than being a bit shaken up.

The lady was very nice, admitted (to us, at least) her fault in the matter (she was pretty upset at herself), and was very helpful with information for the insurance. One of those people you wished you’d met under better circumstances.

It’s hard to tell in the photo above, but I’m pretty sure the rear right axle (or whatever the proper name for that part is on this vehicle) is bent, causing the wheel to tilt inward a bit. The rear passenger-side door obviously won’t open, and the front passenger side door is a bit banged up as well. I’m sure there’s more damage here and there, but, all in all, I’m happy with how well the car took the hit. I never lost control of the car; its handling was pretty tight and solid through the whole thing. I do wish the brakes would’ve stopped the car faster, though. I think my old Camaro SS would’ve pulled up short of the hit. (Although, it’s possible that would’ve caused a rear-end collision with someone else. Who knows.)

So far, there are no aches and pains, so that’s good (but we’ll see). Now we’ve just got to deal with the insurance companies and hope the very nice lady doesn’t change her tune. That she was at fault is pretty obvious, but you never know what people will do after they go home and talk with other folks. Also, we hope the car will be fixed some time soon, since my little commute car doesn’t fit us all very well, not to mention its much-further-down-the-list safety status. Sigh.

-T

Elliot is 14 months old today!

Holy smokes, next thing I know he’ll be 14 years old, and then 41!

Happy 14 months, Elliot!

-T

A few weeks ago, our little man was slightly short on patience when lunch was being prepared.

Hey, it’s understandable.

Mr. Crabby Pants from tiznobias on Vimeo

-T

We’re very excited to introduce to you all the latest addition to our family: Peanut #2! (We’re working on something more snappy.)

Tania is 10 1/2 weeks pregnant now, and we just went to her first appointment (and ultrasound) yesterday. So far everything is looking good, although Tania’s getting hit pretty hard with the all-day “morning” sickness. Not so fun.

The timing here is actually pretty great. We wanted to expand our family fairly soon after Elliot was born (like right about now). It’s exciting to know Elliot will have a little sibling to grow up with, and we’re looking forward to meeting and welcoming him or her home!

Elliot was in the room during the ultrasound, watching his little brother or sister on the big monitor above Tania’s head. He was distracted and tired of being held–he just wanted to run around–but when I pointed at the monitor and told him, “Look son, it’s the baby in Mama’s belly; you have a sister or a brother. You’re going to be a big brother!”, he focused on the monitor, watching his little sibling. He doesn’t completely understand yet, of course, but he knows something is up. Elliot already knows what a baby is (he says “Mei-mei”), and Tania’s been showing him that there’s a little baby in her belly, just like him before he was born. (When she tells him, he looks downs at his belly, confused. ) Just the other day while reading to Elliot about Mary and Joseph, pointing to Mary’s belly and explaining that baby Jesus was inside, he pointed over at Tania. So anyway, he knows something’s up.

Let’s see if we can’t answer a few questions here, preemptively:

• The name factory is steaming away. Nothing to report yet.
• It looks like the little stinker is aiming close to my birthday to be born. Interesting. Well, it would make for a great birthday present! (Tania, you still have to get me something. At least those little chocolate-covered almonds from Whole Foods. And ginger beers. Oh, and…ok, I’m off track a bit.)
• Of course, it’s too early to determine whether we’ve got a little boy or girl brewing… But…
• Just kidding, I wouldn’t leave you hanging like that. The doctor said she thought she saw little boy-parts. Actually, she described what she thought she saw as “sort of glowing”. Make of that what you will.

See the pictures below (click ‘em for the Gallery).

Our latest little one, relaxing. Legs dangling a bit on the left.

Evidently Peanut #2 already has a strange sense of humor, judging by the moon-shot here.

Another side view of our little one.

-T