Wet-Bottom (We Don't Mean Diapers)

We recently visited Elizabeth's Grandmother Hamill in Lancaster County, PA (aka "Amish Country"), where Will met his great-grandmother for the first time. On the visit, Granddad Sam reported, "While very good-natured by her very nature, Grace Hamill, 94, of Tel Hai Retirement Community is known for her composure. But even she brightly beamed with love and joy on Friday, October 9 when her children, grandchildren, great-grand child, son-in-law, and granddaughter-in-law gathered for lunch, conversation, hugs, kisses and what-have-you-been-up-to-latelies in the Friendship Café at this Mennonite-sponsored non-profit for the elderly nestled between two dairy farms owned by two Amish families, both with the name of Stolzfus."

Grandmom has Alzheimer's, so while she recalls that she has grandchildren, she doesn't recognize us anymore. That didn't stop her from displaying her trademark blend of polite wittiness. For example, after reintroducing Elizabeth, Aunt Tina introduced Will as "Elizabeth's baby." Surveying the room with a twinkle in her eye, Grandmom remarked, eyebrows raised expectantly, "Well, he's somebody else's baby, too!" We promptly reintroduced Jason.

After a feast of make-your-own sandwiches with just about the widest variety of fixin's we've ever seen courtesy of Aunt Tina and Uncle Bob, we all enjoyed pumpkin and Shoo-Fly Pie thanks to the "pie-man," Uncle Bob. Shoo-Fly Pie is worthy of its own post, but this is a blog about Will and not about pie. So we'll just say that should you ever find yourself in Lancaster County, do not leave without sampling a piece of Shoo-Fly Pie. We strongly prefer wet-bottom style.

Granddad Sam also noted that the visit culminated with a (surprisingly on key) version of Let the Lower Lights Be Burning, "the eponymous hymn of the Lower family (as in Grace Lower prior to the advent of Messrs. Heffner and then Hamill) [they always rhymed 'Lower' with 'flower,' like their last name]. And who else but the highly literate Betsy would wonder why they were dubbed the 'lower lights.'" I might add, what other family would know the answer without having to look it up?

Actually, while Mom digresses, the history of the song from the link above is worth posting in full here, especially when as a parent, it's sometimes hard to keep the lower lights (let alone the lighthouse!) burning:

This famous hymn was written by Philip Bliss over a century ago. He was inspired by a sermon he heard while living in Chicago. In that sermon, the preacher talked about a ship that was trying to find Cleveland harbor in the midst of a storm at night.

The captain could see the lighthouse. As he drew near, he shouted to the lighthouse keeper, "Is this Cleveland?" The lighthouse keeper shouted back, "Quite true, sir." The captain asked, "Where are the lower lights?" The lighthouse keeper said, "They have gone out. Can you make the harbor?" The captain replied, "We must, or we will perish!"

With that he sailed his ship into the harbor, passed the lighthouse, missed the channel, and was dashed against the rocks. It was a terrible tragedy. Many people were killed.

The preacher brought that story home with these words. He said, "Brothers and sisters, the Master will take care of the lighthouse. Let us keep the lower lights burning."

I was never sure what "lower lights" were. I thought many times about the phrase in the hymn, "Let the lower lights be burning." Well, the lower lights are the lights away from the lighthouse that illumine the water line. They're the various lights from our windows that enable vessels to come into the harbor at night, through a narrow channel of the harbor's mouth.

Do you shine a light for the world to see?

You Want Fries with That?

Will tried his first Bison Burger at Bullshead Restaurant in West Portal on Saturday night (and no, he didn't have the fries!)!

The Things I'll Do for a Crinkly Piece of Paper

Rise and Shine!

Don't you wish you were this happy when you woke up this morning?

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

This past month has been filled with exciting milestones for Will. While he's still a bit challenged in terms of crawling forward, he is an expert and moving backwards on all fours and manages to otherwise move around the room with surprising speed. He also figured out how to transition from crawling or being on his stomach back to a sitting position, and vice-versa. Midway through the transition, he shows off what appears to be a "side plank" move, where he faces sideways and holds his torso off the floor. Mom and Dad attempted this move while attending our first (and probably only) Pilates class a few weeks ago. Needless to say, Will is much better at it. He sometimes even holds his top arm up and open and closes his fingers with glee while showing off this move, the closest thing he'll get to saying "Nanny nanny boo boo!" for some time to come.

Clapping has also become a mainstay in Will's daytime and evening routine. Just about everything deserves a round of applause, if even just a few claps, if you ask Will. Waking up, falling asleep, looking around for his bottle, eating (before and after), a diaper change, general playtime, a ride in the car - you name it, it's worthy of some applause. It makes for a very positive day, what with all the complementary singing of If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands!

Last but not least, he figured out how to pull himself up to standing on his crib rail a few nights ago. Dad had caught him making a practice run the night before, and he showed the real-deal to his nanny the next afternoon. So the crib mattress has been moved down to the lowest setting, and now resembles a toddler bed. Our little baby is growing up!

Along with these milestones forward comes some regression in the sleep department. Apparently babies have so much practicing to do that they frequently find themselves too excited to sleep, yet too tired to function like the happy babies they once were just a few weeks before (despite all the clapping). As for us, we have been reminded once again why sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

Compounding Will's challenges in the sleep department and his eagerness to practice his new skills is Major Cold #2. While it didn't get to pneumonia this time and he's on the mend, after a 1AM drive with Dad last night to finally get to sleep and crying for nearly three hours straight this morning, Mom decided that this qualified as an example of a change in "temperament" that pediatricians always tell parents to look for in their kids, in lieu of more clear-cut symptoms (in fact, when sick, Will is usually a remarkably happy baby). Of course, by the time we got to the doctor's office this morning, he was calm and smiling. Cherubic, really. The doctor was very nice about it and commented that a side effect of Will's cold medicine can be restlessness and crankiness, but I still felt like I was getting the "Yeah, lady, I know you said that your car is making a clicking noise, but I drove it for 20 miles and didn't hear a thing" look that you get at the mechanic shop, even though I explained that this was not the same child that I called in about an hour before. I think next time I'll just pretend to take him to the doctor and see what happens.

Mom will be posting photos of all the action soon, after she gets some sleep!

Da da da da da!

Bathtime Splashes

In Memory of Great-Uncle Dean

Elizabeth's Great-Uncle Dean was an avid backpacker and hiker. Mom wore her Lower Trail t-shirt in his memory while in Carmel this weekend.



September 9, 2009 -- T. Dean Lower, 91, Presbyterian Village at Hollidaysburg, formerly of 224 Ruskin Drive, Altoona, and 815 N. Juniata St., Hollidaysburg, died late Wednesday afternoon at the home after a brief illness. He was born in Williamsburg, son of Thaddeus A. and Anna G. (White) Lower. He was twice married, first to Jane Young, March 23, 1942, in Winchester, Va., and she died March 30, 1987. He then married Jane Patterson Kazmaier June 2, 1988, and she preceded him in death May 16, 2008... Mr. Lower was a 1935 graduate of Williamsburg High School. He graduated from Dickinson College and then Yale Law School in 1947 and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was a U.S. Army Air Corps veteran of WWII. He was an attorney for 53 years without interruption, being admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in July 1949 and retiring Jan. 31, 2002. Dean was instrumental in the development of the [Rails-to-Trails] Lower Trail and Lower Lookout, which were named in his memory. He was the first recipient of the Philanthropic Award given by the Central Pennsylvania Community Foundation.

Man-Walk

The much anticipated "Man-Walk" took place today. Jason and his good friend Jay (Will) Choi set out with the boys in Golden Gate Park while the moms enjoyed pedicures. We met back at home, where nearly 4-month-old TJ and nearly 10-month-old Will dropped trou to show off their chub.

Aunts All Around!

In August, Will got a full dose of aunts across generations, not to mention uncles and cousins. We enjoyed a wonderful visit with Aunt Linnie, who came all the way from India to see us! While she was here, we headed up to Santa Rosa to see Will's Great-Great Aunt Bobbie and also had dinner at GiGi's in North Beach with Uncle Kit, Aunt Heidy, Second Cousin Betsy (or is it cousin once removed? We decided to promote her to Aunt status!) and Betsy's boyfriend, Nathan.

Will is sitting up very well these days and considering crawling. We say "considering," because really what he is doing is figuring out creative ways to get to his toys without actually having to crawl. This includes rolling - this kid can roll fast! - as well as Mom's personal favorite, his ability to fold himself in half. In this technique, while seated with his legs in a V-shape in front of him, Will can bend so far forward that his belly touches the floor! You can achieve a remarkable reach radius when you're this flexible!

A few pictures from Aunt Linnie's visit and Will's reaching techniques are below:



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We also hopped on a plane to Tulsa, OK to visit the Misner side of the family. We were surprised to discover that Tulsa has many rolling hills, and enjoyed our tours of several neighborhoods, the parks and downtown. Will met Aunt Katie, who traveled to Tulsa from Maryland, for the first time, and also got to see Aunt Karissa, Uncle Matt and Mimi and Poppie. But the icing on the cake was that Will met his new cousins, Alex (7 months) and Lydia (2 1/2 months), for the first time!

Here is a photo of the proud grandparents with their adorable grandbabies:


























Will picked up a few new things in Tulsa from his cousin Alex, including a penchant for saying Da-Da-Da-Da, much to Dad's delight (though it is somewhat indiscriminate). Not content with just one consonant, we now hear a medley of Ba-Ba-Ba-Bas, Fa-Fa-Fa-Fas, Ka-Ka-Ka-Kas and La-La-La-Las. Think Ba, Ba Ba, Ba Babara Ann...; Fa, la la la la, la la la la...; De doo doo, de da da da. Hmmm, perhaps we have a mix CD in the making! There are some Ma, ma, ma mas mixed in, but much to Mom's dismay, the Ma series is usually employed when he's getting a little sad! Looking at it in a positive light, perhaps he knows that Mom is always happy to give him a snuggle when he needs one.

It's especially cute when he makes these noises under his breath while concentrating on something else, and he often rehearses the full sequence in his crib when he wakes up in the morning.

A few pictures from our visit to Tulsa are below:



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