Last year, when the Christmas lights went up, it was a nasty day with below-freezing temperatures.
Today, it was nice and I didn’t have much else to do, so they went up.
Hope seems to like them.
Category: Hope
The Firefighter and the Pumpkin
Our family reached a milestone this Halloween: Hope kept her costume on all night.
Just like last year, we let Hope pick her costume. She wanted to be a firefighter. With her rejection of the helicopter costume in mind, we wanted to keep this year’s costume simple. Helmet, boots and that’s it. She was very proud of the helmet. She was also much more into trick-or-treating. A little too much, as she wanted to keep going and eat her candy after every stop. She learned eventually and thankfully, we were able to limit her intake.
Not only was she proud of her helmet, but she also seemed happy to tell Luke what was going on and involve him in her night.
(I should note that bag isn’t her bag full of treats. It’s just a Target bag full of toys. She’s really into bags right now).
If the outfit Luke’s wearing looks familiar, that’s because it’s not the first time it’s been worn in the family. Hope (at six months) wore it two years ago. Luke, who just hit four months this week, barely fit into it. I don’t know if it’s just me, but they look similar. You’d almost think they were brother and sister or something:
Hope’s Favorite Alternative Music Artists
For as long as The Civee and I can remember, Hope has been into music. From our first few days with her, music (not just kids music) has quieted Hope and now that she’s old enough to pay attention, it entertains her.
She has been into Weezer for a while. If a Weezer song comes on while we’re hanging out at home or driving in the car, she will immediately identify it as a Weezer tune (and that includes songs that I don’t play all the time). But now, if we’re listening to the radio and a non-Weezer song plays, she will ask who plays it. For example, the other day Van Halen’s Jump was on. She asked “who plays this?” I replied “Van Halen.” She waited a few seconds, then repeated her question. I repeated my answer, adding “featuring David Lee Roth.” She asked a few more times, with me each time stating Van Halen and adding a few facts about the song. So by the ninth time she asked, I replied “Papa.” “Papa sings this,” Hope said.
So everytime she hears a non-Weezer song she will ask who plays it. She keeps asking until we reply with the name of someone she knows. Her grandmother sings Crazy Train. Her Uncle played Rockit. And her bus driver sang a bunch of 80’s rock tunes.
So if you ever meet Hope and she asks you if you sang The Safety Dance, please just smile and nod politely.
The Smile Era
I can confirm that Luke has reached a milestone: the era of non-gaseous smiles has begun.
Luke is starting to respond to other people to the delight of The Civee and I and (especially) Hope. He’s been giving us a lot of this lately:
For comparison, here’s one of the first pictures of Hope smiling , also at the same age (six weeks and a few days):
We went to the Zoo today, about an hour before closing. It was the first time we’ve ever seen the kangaroos awake and moving, which was entertaining. So if you want to see the kangaroos moving around, eating and getting into kangaroo fights, visit them at the end of the day. Any other time for them is nap time.
Hope Meets Luke
For the past few months, The Civee and I had been talking up Luke’s arrival to Hope (although because we didn’t know if he would be a boy or a girl, we referred to him simply as “the baby”). We gave her the basics about babies and told Hope her brother or sister would be here around fireworks time. Some days, all Hope would talk about was the baby, while others, her interest waned. We tried to keep everything as positive as we could, but didn’t know what to expect.
The day after Luke was born, Hope’s grandparents brought her to the hospital to meet her new brother. She walked in the room, excited to see her mother and me. Hope gave The Civee a big hug and then noticed Luke in my arms. Her first reaction was “baby…fireworks time!” Hope then launched into a long stream of stories, things she had done and seen, like feeding the goats at the farm last Columbus Day or seeing a bird land on a guy’s head at a Clippers game. It was easy to see that Hope liked her brother.
That hasn’t changed since bringing Luke home Sunday. She’s always talking to him, trying to play with him (although she still has to learn why one would need to be gentle with a newborn) and still telling him stories. And they’re the same stories, which to Luke and Hope, haven’t gotten old yet. Although, today, she’s tried a new twist. Rather than tell Luke stories, it’s almost as if Hope is trying to start a stand-up routine, mixing and matching her stories. See for yourself:
Hope the Garden Gnome
After last year’s failed artichoke growing experiment, I decided to get serious and start a box garden. Right now, we have peppers, green beans, broccoli, spinach and beets growing.
Hope likes the garden. She was good a few weeks ago with planting all the seeds. The biggest challenge, though is trying to keep her out of the garden. She likes pill bugs and worms and will go digging for them if I’m not watching her close enough.
It’s nice that she has an interest in bugs. She found a lightning bug today and let it crawl on her arm for a few seconds (she’s still learning that if she wants the bug to stay, she can’t wave her arm around). I told her about what lightning bugs can do and I’m looking forward to a few weeks from now when she can stay up a bit later and see them in action.
Hope and the Goat
Hope and a friend at the Zoo, today.
Hope’s First Civics Lesson
One of Hope’s favorite places to go is the Ohio Statehouse. We take her there on weekends when it’s empty and she loves to run around and be as loud as she can be. The Civee (who used to work there) and I enjoy our trips too, as we’re both history nerds and think that Hope is absorbing our love of the place by simply being there.
Today, we took Hope to the Statehouse, not to run around, but to be a part of the legislative process. Last fall, The Civee’s old boss, Senate Minority Leader Eric H. Kearney, introduced S.B. 135, which would designate September as Craniofacial Awareness Month. As the Senator said in a news release:
“The inspiration for this legislation was Hope Chansky, a two-year old who suffers from a craniofacial disorder,” stated Senator Kearney. “She like many other children endure many hardships associated with this disorder and this legislation provides an opportunity to educate the public about prevention measures that can be taken.”
We were at the Statehouse today to watch the bill go for a vote before the Senate. The bill passed unanimously, with several senators signing on as co-sponsors. Even more exciting for Hope was her being acknowledged during Senator Kearney’s floor speech, during which she waved to the crowd and threw her milk cup up in the air. You can’t see Hope, but here is the senator’s floor speech (including the shout-out), courtesy of the Ohio Channel:
Even though the bill passed in the Senate, it still has to go to the House, where who knows what will happen to it. It is nice to get some recognition for all the families, care providers and educators that help children with craniofacial disorders. Hope’s next surgery isn’t for another five or so years. But she is going to a school where she gets speech therapy, which has been helping her a lot. She has come a long way and I’m glad we could play a part in acknowledging all those who have helped her.
The next time we go to the Statehouse, it probably won’t be as exciting as today was. But Hope will get to run around all she wants, which will make her happy.
Because Kids Like to Say Salsa
I found out that today for snacktime at Hope’s school they had salsa.
While I’m happy her food choices keep expanding, I’m happier for the excuse to bust out one of my favorite routines.
(Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video), so I’ll include the text:
GEORGE: Why don’t they have salsa on the table?
JERRY: What do you need salsa for?
GEORGE: Salsa is now the number one condiment in America.
JERRY: You know why? Because people like to say “salsa.” “Excuse me, do you have salsa?” “We need more salsa.” “Where is the salsa? No salsa?”
GEORGE: You know it must be impossible for a Spanish person to order seltzer and not get salsa. (Angry) “I wanted seltzer, not salsa.”
JERRY: “Don’t you know the difference between seltzer and salsa?? You have the seltezer after the salsa!”
Hope at Two
Last night, The Civee and I realized something- we’ve kept our daughter alive for two years.
It’s amazing the progress she’s made over the past 12 months. She’s getting better at understanding what we say, her speech is coming along (something we were concerned about earlier on, with her being born with a cleft lip and palate) and she went from having no hair to having a halo of hair that would make Art Garfunkel jealous. Here she is over the past 12 months:
As with every other stage, Hope is a lot of fun right now. We enjoy having her to ourselves, especially considering in a few months she won’t be the only kid in the house.
I know soon she won’t be as big a Weezer fan as she is. And she won’t repeat everything I say with such enthusiasm (she learned Hello, Newman! last night). But she is an incredible little girl. And The Civee and I are proud to be her parents.