Why?

Why ask why? this is a typical round of "why" which we go through dozens of time a day:
Why rain? it's good for the garden. Why? plants need water to grow. Why? we need plants and they need water. Why? it's science Skyler, the water in the ocean goes up to the sky as moisture up in the clouds and then it gets heavy and falls back to the ground as rain. Why? because that's what happens, some days are rainy and some are sunny Why? Mother Nature does it so that we have a little variety, she doesn't want us to get bored. Why? Because that's what happens!

We've been having so much fun, Skyler is such a little man now, he understands everything and is finally old enough to take just about everywhere. We got up early and went to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building, we ate fruit and shrimp cakes and bought local honey (hopefully my allergies won't bother me so much) and then went to the waterfall at Justin Herman Plaza. Skyler jumped from stone to stone behind the water and screamed with delight.

We took Skyler to his first movie (that he stayed awake for) Winnie the Pooh Heffelump movie, he loved it and all of the kids that were there, he stood up and bopped along with the music and clapped his hands at the end. He's so cute!

Lessons in Sleeping & Communication

Noteworthy this week is that one more major milestone has been achieved by Skyler. Yes, he slept thru the entire night without waking up calling for "Mommy" in that wee hours of the a.m. voice that at first made us panic, then we had grown accustomed to (notice the dark circles under Steph's eyes). Now the question is will we miss it... Are you kidding?! I can't imagine how clear headed we'll be after a week of sleeping 8 uninterrupted hours a night. YIPPEE!

Other checkpoints reached - occassional full sentences with proper structure. Of course he is still two, and we understand his version of english best, but regardless, he is communicating like a champ. He repeats everything we say. And lest you worry, we are being really good about not using naughty words (although our friends need a bit more practice). So we will see how long it is before we hear his first "bad" word.

That may not seem like much, but we are extremely pleased and think that's alot to accomplish in a few days. Talk to you soon.

Grandma Sadie & Basketball

No, Grandma Sadie & Basketball are not really related, I'm just writing about last week...

First of all lets talk about our LA trip to say goodbye to the Fabulous Grandma Sadie: Flying with a 2 year old isn't supposed to be fun - but it was. He was happy and entertained the crowd at the airport with spins and singing (babble) and somersaults (the only 2 year old I've seen who can even do a somersault) and was a complete joy. I think half the people waiting for our flights wanted to put him in their pocket and take him home.

Sadie's "Goodbye Party", as we called it for Skyler's sake, was beautiful. But you cant try to explain death to a 2 year old; if you say she went to heaven he'll say "me go too mommy" because he wants to see her (he asked "why?" 100 times and we just told him that she was 93 and, well, it was time for her to go...) The funeral was at Mount Sinai and the weather cleared to a beautiful sunny day just for her. All of her children (family and friends) got up and said the most wonderful things about the intelligent, caring, kooky and fabulous Sadie Wernick Hurwitz. [I'm relying on all of those that spoke to add their comments! I cannot say what you said, or tell the stories that you told like you can, and Skyler will read this in the future and will want to know, so please add to this blog!!]. Skyler was so great, he sat quietly through the service (quiet for a 2 year old) and because we explained that people might be crying at 'the party' he understood how to behave and didn't get upset.

After the service we went to the gravesite and Skyler threw dirt on her casket just like all of the adults (a kiddy favorite!) and he picked flowers from the beautiful arrangements (honestly, the most stunning flowers!) and tossed those on to her casket as well. She was buried next to Grandpa Vic on a hill with a view of the valley.

Next was the party at Uncle Richard and Aunt Marcia's house. Skyler's first day with no nap (YIKES!). He had fun running around from one part of the house to another, delighting with his silliness and visiting with different groups of people - a nice break for mom & dad - and he liked the idea of having two big dogs licking his face, he was just a little too afraid of them to really enjoy it. He was great through most of it, but it was one of those rare chances to get pictures with family and friends that we do not see all of the time and after awhile he was over all the fuss and pictures (if you were in the arms of the beautiful Nicollette Sheridan and she was cooing in your ear, wouldn't you be smiling??) but I suspect that was due to the serious lack of nap and not the company. Sadie would have loved that party and it was a beautiful way to spend the day saying goodbye to her. We were proud to be part of the family that she created.

Now to the basketball: we came home to gloomy rainy weather and what do you do with a bouncy two year old in the rain? You can only go outside and splash in puddles for a little while or you'll all get wet and sick, so after dinner we went to Toy's R Us where you can run up and down the aisles, bounce in the giant Sponge Bob inflatable jumper and look at all of the toys you see on TV but your parents would never buy you - it's like and amusement park for a toddler. We picked up a mini basketball set. It's about 4 feet tall with a little hoop on a stand and comes with a mini basketball (badaball as Sky says). We set it up in our garage and played all weekend. Skyler can now catch, throw and make baskets (Blogs are hard, I feel like I'm boasting about him and I'm really just saying what happened!) and it helped to kill time on our pouring rain weekend.

Bye for now.

My great-grandma Sadie's funeral

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Skyler will not get to take any more pictures with his great grandma. A sad day for all of us. It rained the whole week (in LA & SF) but cleared up for the funeral. Skyler behaved just terrificly in a quiet adult situation, then we all met at Richard & Marcia's for Sadie's going away party.

We traveled (on a plane) to LA for the service. Skyler is getting those frequent flyer miles started early. Just like all technology, Skyler is an early adopter. He does have a website and a blog after all.

Bye Bye Grandma Sadie. We Love you and we miss you.

Happy Valentines Day 2005

Hello Everybody!
I LOVE being Two!!! Life is sweet like candy.

Miss Lynda & Alisha come to dinner

Alisha & Lynda came over for dinner last night. Alisha is working full time (shocking! but true) at a construction company. I know it's not her ideal job but I think something will come her way, I see her in some cool PR job at some point. Skyler can say 'Alisha' but he still calls Lynda "La La" - she might just be La La forever like Baba & Ahmee (Grandpa & Grandma). Alisha wanted hugs but he was a little shy, then when he sat at the dinner table he was ready to give her a hug but she said 'no'. I think she didn't want to get her blonde locks in the spaghetti. Matt told him never to give up a chance to hug a pretty girl. Skyler gave her hugs after dinner so everyone was happy!

Happy Valentine's Day!! Skyler loves M&M's, and he has a rainbow ring of colored candy and chocolate around his mouth and on his hands - messy but adorable!

Sad news... Grandma Sadie "went home"

Matt's Grandma Sadie passed away, very sad, but what a long and wonderful life she had - 93 years. What a spirited lady she was. I'll never forget her fancy outfits with high-heeled shoes, loud debates at the dining room table and all of that love.

Especially sad because Danielle is expecting her baby in just a few months. But Sadie is up there somewhere holding little Sequoia's hand and showing her what it's going to be like to grow up a strong, independent, beautiful woman.

It's not all fun and games all the time -

So I guess some people are thinking that this all sounds too good to be true, happiness and fun all day. Okay, here's a sample of what happened this evening: 45 minutes of screaming and crying. Why? Hungry, tired, no toys to play with, Torture!? NO! Skyler decided that he didn't want to wear pants, socks and shoes. When we told him that he had to because it's cold, that started the big ball of tears and protests going.

Once it starts it's a little like a skipping record; it gets stuck in the groove and you have to do something to move it past that point. We tried everything (it's like a game to figure out, you never know what will work). As I struggled to force his pants on him while he kicked, Matt made Indian Chief sounds on Skyler's screaming mouth (moving the palm of his hand quickly on and off Skyler's mouth, sounds something like "woo-woo-woo-woo-woo", do it to yourself, you'll see what I mean). This made Skyler laugh while he was crying which we all thought was funny, including Skyler, but he still fought and refused to let us put clothes on him. Then came the time out (that means sitting in your crib for a few minutes until you come to your senses and only works sometimes at 2 yrs). Then I tried to hold him on my lap in the rocking chair and calm him down. He didn't want to calm down, he wanted to scream and cry. We gave in and let him put on his ABC pants (usually only at nap time) and offered him slippers. "Wow, what great parents I have! How nice they are. I'll let them put my socks and shoes on me now." Is that what he said? NO! He still wanted nothing to do with socks and shoes or slippers. Another time out.

We tried logic - it's 52 degrees out and this house is cold so you must wear shoes. We tried to reason with him - mommy and daddy both have socks and shoes on and if you want to run around this house you have to wear them too. We all wear shoes and socks in the winter. We pleaded - your screaming is hurting mommys head cold!

Finally, Elmo saved the day! When we explained that the only people in the house that didn't need to wear shoes and socks were Elmo, because he has monster fur all over including his feet, and the kitty because he has kitty fur on his feet, Skyler understood that perfectly and let me put on socks and slippers.

Yippee! Life goes back to normal and everyone is happy. Ahh. He was so happy to be happy, and that is a beautiful thing.

So Adrian, it's not all fun and games but it really is wonderful all the time.

What animal were you at breakfast?

Yesterday morning Skyler was pretending to be a puppy and would only eat his breakfast if I called it dog food. He barked in between every bite. He was a big dog with loud woofs and a little dog with yappy barks. Today at breakfast he was a frog hopping around the house and during breakfast every bite of his pancakes had to be a different bug so that the frog would eat his food. I started running out of worms, beetles, flies and spiders and when I repeated a bug he pointed to his mouth and let me know that he already ate his spider. He did all of this hopping and bug eating with a gold crown on his head.

What animal were you at breakfast?

Sky & mommy play & go to park

Hi,

This is our new blog! Years from now I'm sure Skyler will say we were way behind the times writing in a journal for the first two years, but here we go -



Today my mom (Nana) came over and we went for a lovely stroll in our 'Bigger Backyard' Golden Gate Park, which is just across the street from our house. It's been sunny and warm, perfect weather for having fun. We went to the duck pond and feed the fat birds bread - mostly seagulls hogging the grub - and then we went to the Australian section of the Botanical Gardens and fed the squirrels some nuts. They live in a big tree and come right up and eat out of your hand. We went by the fountain and kicked the ball around and had a snack and then went to the playground. Skyler has become quite a daredevil and can walk the the netting between the jungle gyms all by himself. Then it was back home for a nap. This afternoon we hung out in our own backyard and played in the sandbox, blew bubbles, more kick ball and some batting practice (watch out Barry Bonds), watered the plants, and ate apples. Skyler is talking up a storm and we practiced opposites - he loves discussing the difference between 'mean' and 'nice' - left and right and ABC's.

More in a few days -
Steph