Words and Walking?

Anders is starting to stand for longer intervals on his own. The Christmas tree at his grandparents' home is a good distraction from his apprehension. He doesn't notice that he's not holding on to anything if he has ornaments at which to look.

Anders now uses his fingers to motion you to come pick him up. For those few who remember, it's the same motion I made when setting the extra point huddle in high school football.

Anders says "Puh" for "up" when he wants to be picked up.

He now understands words along with saying them. The other night there was much loose talk of a bottle, which turned Anders apoplectic until his bottle arrived. He calls his bottle "bah bah." The same thing happened when we mentioned bananas without giving him one. This morning we were out of bananas, so Anna gave him mandarin oranges. He swept them off his tray, glared at her, and said "Nanas!"

He said "blue" the other day for one of his blue toys, which supports Renee's theory that Anders knows his colors. Anna thinks this notion ridiculous, but I'm leaving it in the post...

Anders has learned "no" since we deplaned. He says "no" and shakes his head quite frequently now. Last night, I asked Anders twice if he wanted to go "nigh nigh" (to bed). He replied "no" twice. I kept asking him and then he started laughing.

Anders has changed my name as well. I used to be "Dadada" or just "Dad." Now, I'm "Dee."

He also waves goodbye and says "bye" along with saying "hi."

Anders has been snuffly since we arrived, but generally well. The biggest problem is that he has not adjusted to Central Standard Time. He's still on Eastern Time despite the enveloping darkness of 4:30 pm sunsets and 8 am sunrises.

It has been a successful trip, especially for Anders' developmental curve. He's really made some jumps in the last week. Generally, his changes have not been as quick or dramatic in recent months.

We will spend New Year's Eve in Minneapolis at Mandy's house in order to avoid the Ice Harvest and to be closer to the airport (we are but a short train ride away there). We should mostly avoid the North Dakota blizzard. Anders will also get to meet their dog, Torii, which should be fun since Anders loves dogs.

So, Happy New Year to all six followers and anyone else who might have stopped.

Anders, Breaker of Houses

Anders ripped off half of a hanging vertical blind at Anna's aunt Kari's house on Christmas Day in the morning.

Yesterday at his friend Carlton Nordschow's house, Anders ripped their baby gate off it's moorings. I was picking him up at the time to prevent him from climbing the gate.

This morning, Anders tipped over two of Grandma Dorene's nice chairs, chipping one of them on the agate floor.

These are the reasons we need to sell our own house post haste.

2010 Christmas Letter

They say a picture tells thousand words. Well, here are nine hundred twenty-two words about the last year in excruciating month-by-month detail.

In January, I went to San Diego for a professional conference while Anna’s parents, Greg and Dorene, came to Athens to help take care of Anders as a snowstorm hit Athens. Never doubt that you will have a better time in good weather if the place you left has bad weather. I also researched at the Nixon Library at Yorba Linda in Orange County, which is a Pat Nixon cloth coat compared to the Nancy Reagan mink coat up the road in Ventura County.

Anna’s brother, Josh, returned from a deployment in Iraq at the end of January and immediately came out to Ohio to meet his nephew. With Uncle Josh, we took Anders out to his first restaurant, China Panda. Anders pounded on the table with glee and was carried around by our waitress. He had a ball.

In February, Anna’s sister, Mandy, came to visit. Anna and Mandy staged our house for the purpose of selling it. We then put it up for sale.

In March, my mom, Ingrid, visited us. Ohio University also beat Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament, which had Athens buzzing.

In April, Greg and Dorene came for Easter. I defended my dissertation. Our friends the Bloodworths and Renee Geary came to town to help celebrate.

In May, we had more visitors as our friends Dan and Jessica Seeley came for Mom’s Weekend, which should under no circumstances be confused with Mother’s Day. Our friend Brad Albers arrived later that month. Dr. Brad and Anna renewed their year-old debate over the health benefits of drinking orange juice. Anna is pro OJ, while Brad is pro-asparagus milk or something like that.

In June, I graduated with a Ph.D. in history from Ohio University. My mom and my uncle Fred traveled to Athens to mark the occasion. I tentatively plan not to be a student again.

We drove home for a month at the end of June. We caught Anders at just the wrong age to take a succession of long car rides, so naturally we brought him along for a four thousand mile road trip in just over a month. We took Anders to his father’s ancestral homeland in Marquette, KS. We also made a trip to my hometown of Decorah, IA. Anders was baptized on July 25, his first birthday, at the church of Anna’s grandparents in Litchfield, MN. It happened to be community band day at the Lutheran church led by a man the Minneapolis Star Tribune earlier that month called “The Mr. Holland of Litchfield.” Needless to say, Anders delighted in this loud brassy welcoming into the community of believers. His mother was mortified by such activity in a Lutheran church. Mandy and her husband Matt, along with Brad and Martha Albers were Anders’s sponsors. Ever the showman, Anders chose that day to begin crawling.

I began teaching at Ohio University-Chillicothe at the end of July. I primarily teach 20^th century American history, but I have also taught courses ranging from Renaissance and Reformation Europe to the Modern Middle East.

Anna began her sixth year teaching special education at Washington Elementary in Gallipolis, OH in August, but this year she switched to teaching Kindergarten and first grade, which she likes better than she did teaching fourth and fifth grade.

September was a blur of house showings and juggling our jobs with caring for Anders. Seeing as the economy is still awesome (sense the tone), we had some nibbles on our house but no bites. If nothing else, the intermittent showings taught us how to strategically vacuum around a nap schedule.

In October, I traveled to Worcester Massachusetts for my friend Ben Rudolf’s wedding. I had the added benefit of staying with my former officemate MN Steve, who happened to live in the same city by happy coincidence.

By the middle of October we rode a wave of houseguests that lasted well into November. First Ingrid and her friend Paul visited, then Greg and Dorene came on Anders’ adjusted 1^st birthday of Oct. 23, MN Steve and his girlfriend Elyse followed for Athens’ huge Halloween party, then our friend Bill Knoblauch, then Renee. We returned the favor by spending Thanksgiving with Renee and her family in Fairfax, VA. Anders was particularly taken with their Akita, the noble Lobo.

We are excited to head home to Minnesota and Iowa. It will be Anders’s first Christmas with his extended family, as the wider world was something of a biohazard to him last year. Anders has grown so much bigger and stronger over the course of the year, and it must have been hard for him to be cooped up for the first three months after his release from the hospital. This is especially true now that we have seen his personality come into focus.

Anders is remarkably outgoing. He is patient, happy, verbal, and mischievous. Our poor cat, Trudy Goodshoes, faces at least an “orange” threat level from Anders on a daily basis because Anders loves playing with her so much. Moreover, a deep passion stirs within him to turn on and off light switches, look at pictures of himself, and incessantly repeat the name of the parent not currently tending to him.

We are tremendously thankful for all of God’s blessings this Christmas season. 2010 was a much better year than 2009. We wish everyone peace, contentment, and prosperity in 2011.

Hallelujah Chorus

Anders and I were in Staples yesterday when the Hallelujah Chorus as sung by Neil Diamond came over the PA, at which point Anders started conducting from the cart. Anna was more surprised that Neil Diamond sang a Hallelujah Chorus than that Anders played the maestro role.

Anders new favorite thing is to wash his hands. We have a baby who likes vegetables more than other foods and loves to wash his hands. I'm probably jinxing it by even mentioning this new development.

When Anders is stirring in his crib he uses his supersonic baby hearing to identify me when my feet hit our hardwood floor in our room, at which point he clearly and forcefully says, "Dad." And then it is on for the day.

The Christmas card is coming online later tonight or early tomorrow. I am not happy with it. It reads like the second half of Bill Clinton's memoir. It is too much of a guest book or travel log and doesn't have enough rhetorical flourishes or comedy in it. I'll try to improve it tonight.

As I think of things..

Anders motored up the stairs yesterday with zero assistance. It's a real thrill to walk behind him since one side is open for about half the way up. It's his new thing when I put him next to the patio door between our plants, he turns around and crawls to the stairs in about four seconds.

Anders Brings the Heat

Another thing I forgot to mention is that Anders now throws his legos and other toys at Trudy. It is not sinister, he just wants Trudy to play with him. He does get a reaction out of her, which is why he keeps doing it. Anders has a pretty good arm. He can regularly hit Trudy squarely in the side with either arm. I'm not sure Anna could do that with her right arm!

I remembered!

Anders now feeds us. That's what is happening in the facebook video Anna and I both posted about a week ago. He is feeding Anna. I like to take the waffle, put it in my hand, and then replace it on his plate, which he usually eats. Recycling the banana pieces that he gives me doesn't work as well.

I might have mentioned this one before. Anders reverently whispers his name when looking at one of our computers because he knows his picture is the screen saver on both machines and he wants to see himself. He usually whispers, then he says "Bay-bee" louder, then louder, then even louder, and eventually points at the screen and waves.

Anders and Anna and Snow

Well, Anna had a snow day Monday, a snow day today, and will have a snow day tomorrow. Monday we had almost a full inch of snow. Today was a bit more legit as we had between 4 and 5 inches.

Meanwhile, Anna has been having trouble staying healthy. It would seem that she ate some bad cookies the other day at work. We hope she will be better soon.

Anders has found the key to having fun around the house that Trudy and I discovered years ago, wind up Anna. The problem is that he does so by grabbing the lamp or TV cords and chewing on them like a mynock. We have not been able to impart fear or consequences on him yet.

I will be happy when we can communicate beyond Anders asking us to turn on the light or Anders telling us he is done eating or saying "bye bye."

Anna said Anders watched five minutes of "All My Children" this afternoon. He usually just flips through the stations quickly without really watching anything (insert joke here).

Anders was given a Radio Flyer push wagon by my uncle Fred. Anders puts things in the wagon and pushes it around. He gets frustrated easily, however, if he runs into something as he pushes the wagon. Anders then cries, which means that it's best to walk with him and navigate.

The past few times I feel like I have forgotten something that he's doing. I just wanted to put that out there.

On the Mend

Anders is almost back to normal. The only thing he won't do normally yet is take a nap on his own. He still demands someone on whom to sleep. Anna is much better. She can talk again and isn't going to bed right after work anymore.
Anders' standing intervals are increasing. He also does this crazy move where he gets up on his knees and almost hops toward you in anticipation of being picked up. Anders is now rubbing his hands like a person would as the washed their hands or if they were hatching an evil plan. He helpfully pointed at the hand sanitizer as Anna washed her hands yesterday.
Anders does not like the voice of Yoko Ono. A couple of days ago, I tried to switch up my sports radio routine by watching a PBS documentary called John Lennon New York City on the computer. Anders took his shortest nap of the week and was out of sorts for the rest of the morning after Yoko awakened him.
Anders is getting better as rolling balls back and forth in a playful manner. He still terrorizes Trudy all day. They are like Israelis and Palestinians. They live on top of each other, seek to inhabit the same land, agitated each other, then go through periods of calm before doing it again. Their Jerusalem is either Anna's lap or my lap.
We decided against a Christmas tree this year since Anders would pretty much just be putting ornament hooks in his mouth for all his waking hours.
We have been closely following the biggest December snowfall on record in Minnesota. The video of the Metrodome roof collapsing is amazing. Lost in all that hype is that the Vadnais Heights multipurpose dome also collapsed, a suburb suffering in silence (in Don Shelby voice).
We are supposed to get some snow, a couple, three inches, but so far we've had nothing. Anna banked on a snowday tomorrow that might not come.
For now things are relatively calm, until our next minor crisis.

Sunday Update

Anders has his appetite back. He is eating more solid food than he has in days. He still has his hacking cough, but mostly just at night. He doesn't, however, cough as much at the dinner table as he has in the past few days.

A Good Night's Sleep for All

Anders slept for over twelve hours last night from just before 8 pm to about 8:15 am this morning. It is encouraging to see that he's getting better and nice for us to sleep again. Anders still has much congestion, but it seems like things are starting to drain a bit. We have stopped the Advil for the time being since he hasn't been warm lately. He is still on an antibiotic. Anders is eating a bit more and acting more like himself today than even yesterday. Meanwhile, I went off the deep end and bought a bunch of hand sanitizer yesterday, which apparently we already had on hand, but I did not notice... Oh well.

Update: Sleepy Friday

Anders played pretty hard yesterday afternoon, which led him to a big late afternoon/early evening nap, which pushed his bedtime back to about 9:30 pm. He then woke up at about 12:30 am for more children's Advil. He went back to bed and sleep and slept until nearly 8 am. He was up for about an hour and a half. Now, he has been sleeping since 9:30, so for about three hours. He is stirring now, so I better go.

Update: Good News!

Anders is feeling much better and the Corolla had some frayed engine wires, not a failing transmission! This incident once again proves that I know nothing about cars. Last night as Anna was scouring the Internet for used cars, I said, "I'm going to go to bed and dream that the Corolla is okay."

"But that's delusional. How will that help things?"

"It's the only way I will get to sleep."

Well, Boo Yeah!

Anders is playing more and longer today. Also, he is not turnip-faced right before his next dose of baby Advil. His fever is abating. Now, he needs his appetite back and his congestion to clear up. It could take a while, but we are on the right track.

New Anders Stats

Anders' head is 50 cm or about 20 inches, which is the 99% (all of these numbers are not adjusted).

He is 33.5 inches long, which is the 94%.

He is 22lbs 7oz, which is the 16%. He weighed 21 lbs 9oz three months ago.

Anders also has a light case of pneumonia in his lower right lung. He is on an antibiotic. The computers at the clinic were on the fritz, so things did not go very smoothly

I also think our Corolla is dying. I think the transmission is failing. I'll know more about that situation tomorrow. Anna is staying home tomorrow so that I can deal with the car situation.

It seems like we had a week or two respite, but now we are back in it. I don't imagine anyone will sleep much tonight. I am realizing that when you have a child, problems don't add up, they multiply.

Between the antibiotic and children's Advil, I think he will be better tomorrow. He had a couple of times when he played for a prolonged period today. Just this afternoon, he played for a couple of hours, but then he got tuckered out. He sleeps more during day, but he also spends a lot time not quite asleep and not quite awake.

And the stress got to Trudy too, as she barfed a couple of times downstairs.

This too shall pass, but experiencing Anders' illness is wrenching. I think we carry the baggage of three months in the hospital into this illness. Anything to do with his lungs will always worry me.