I'm with the Band

Here's a little clip of Desi and Zoe jamming with DPJ's new birthday instruments -- back-up music compliments of Grandma Jones!

Desi Candor VIII

“I’m a surpriser! I’m a package guy!” As he was marching around pretending to be a mail carrier.

While drumming on a makeshift “boomboomdrum” Des closed his eyes and said pensively, “Yeah… yeah… feel good!”

I’m not a baby anymore. I turned into Desmond Jones.

I like cowboys they’re savers! Then we talked about other savers: firefighters, Jesus, teachers, mom&dad…” Des chimed in “Police officers!”

“A Zoe rolled ear tortilla!” After folding her ear over.

As Des was marching through the kitchen he tripped and fell and said, “I just wander off – I was in the woods. I just pretend I wandered off.”

In the bathtub with Zoe, Des began pouring water over Zoe’s head and said, “I’m growing a plant. Grow grow grow grow!”

On a recent night I prepared an ambitious dinner with a lot of unusual ingredients – I look forward to these moments to challenge Des and his palate. When I placed the Thai Salad down in front of him, Des immediately reached into his bowl and pulled out a piece of tofu with peanut sauce clinging to it and said, “I don’t believe this! This is a yucky dinner!” (He did eat it!) I looked over later to see him, with his eyes dreamily closed, feeding on a big leafy green. Ha!

Like a Rhinestone Cowboy

DesmondPJones loves playing dress-up! After opening up Grandma&Grandpa Jones' birthday package and finding the musical birthday card they sent -- which had the first couple of verses of "I'm a Rhinestone Cowboy" play upon opening -- he immediately wanted to get out all his cowboy gear from Grandma Simkins (great Grandmas think alike!) I had also secreted away a homemade horse head (thanks Natasha!) and it seemed like the perfect time to premier it. Here are the results!!

A Look Back -- Remembering...

Desi Turns THREE!

I hesitate to take up space waxing nostalgic, declaring amazement, aching for the power to fully live every moment... :::sigh:::

From those of you whom I've heard from today, you all feel that way too. So we're in unity. Our Desmond P. Jones pushes forward with that consistent smile on his face and that comical swing to his swagger, determined to proceed -- leaving us full of the sting of perspective: what was before, what is to come...

Nevermind, I guess I'm guilty of waxing forth anyway...

Onto a Birthday Montage of Pictures -- in the interest of perspective, here are the links from the last two years:

Birthday Boy 2005
Birthday Boy 2004

Happy to be the birthday boy!

He's opening up this pop-up sucker that he begs me for everytime we go to the pharmacy (I always postpone). He was so happy when he opened it, " I love this! It's my favorite!" He's never had one before. "It's green! I like the color green mom!" He's been telling me for over three weeks now that his favorite color is green.

Nate went to FAO Schwartz this week to get Des a "Band in a Box" -- these two love to make music together. Zoe picked up the cymbals and started banging them together as if she'd done it before. I've always wanted a musician in my household -- now I have three!

This Curious George puzzle -- interchanging, head, torso, legs -- turned out to be his favorite gift till the Pirate Ship arrived!!

Birthday morning surprise display! Testing the thrill factor on the feris wheel at our local Toys R Us

Desmond knew exactly what he wanted -- a batman guy.

Facing the dinosaur with batman for backup.

Zoe enjoying pizza at 10months (!)

Enjoying a yummy slice of pizza at the fabulous Johns Pizza on 44th Street

Back home with batman
Zoe loves having an older brother

MORE PICS HERE

Zoe turns 10months!!!

My BIG infant!! It’s a bit hard for me to see the time add up!! She has pleased me so much with her babyhood. :) The latest cherished moment(s) have been her participatory response to my cuddling ques: pressing her head down on my shoulder when I hold her and mumbling soothing noises, holding her hand when we're on the train, cuddling on the bed, snuggling whenever we're in the mood, happy lunges into each others arms. I thought babies came cuddly, so I was a bit taken aback when Des just wasn't into it most of the time. So with Zoe, I thought I must take matters into my own hands and train her. She's a good student and Des, seeing our tender moments has slowed his pace down more often to join us... though it quickly turns into tackles and "human siccors!" Boys.

Zoe insists on drinking from a cup after she sees me do it – she acts like she’s dying of thirst till I give her a cup with a small amount of water in it. She does pretty well.

She's started exhibiting this little cheesy smile now – the kind that makes me think of a oft heard story my Dad would tell about me, as a crawling, climbing babe smiling this cheesy smile when I reached the top of the stairs – uplifted chin, high in the air, and a grin so proud. Zoe has that!! I’ve seen pictures of myself, so I know! Can’t wait for you to see it Dad.

I think her hair is now longer than it was when she was born (the dark locks fell out and came back lighter). Her neck is making an appearance. She sometimes looks so content and regal when she’s sitting by herself with her neck extended and her back straight.

Today, while I was holding her, she leaned into me and, with her mouth open, gently placed it on my cheek. She hesitated for a moment then pulled away. A tentative kiss!! Later, while I was talking with a friend, Zoe took interest in her little boy, Benjamin 3-months younger, and at one point leaned in and planted one right on his mouth! Ha!! She’s such a DesJones!!

Simkinitis!

This is a term Nate coined to explain the idiosyncrasies he's uniformly observed in my family: the Simkins.

Some symptoms of Simkinitis are: not replacing the empty toilet paper roll, allowing toothpaste to clog at the spout, slobbering while sleeping, leaving chewed gum in random places, anything we may do that resembles something my Dad might do, acquisitioning all covers and bedspace at night, habitual lateness, gushy and consistent physical interaction (aka cuddling), inability to follow directions while driving and high likelihood of getting lost, sleeping to radio programs that primarily involve talking or storytelling (at relatively high volumes)... and various other tiny, minute, little things.

Well, over this last weekend, Des obtained some bubble gum from a checkout girl at the grocery store who took pity on him. It was a lot of gum and when we got home I tried to keep a close eye on his chewing progress. After putting Zoe to sleep, I checked in on him playing in the living room and noticed that he wasn't chewing anymore. When I asked him what happened to his bubble gum, he pointed over to the bookcase. Confused I looked over there and asked him to explain, "the picture mom". Then I noticed this -- see if you can see it.

Many of you know this story. Many years ago, when Nathan and I were in our first year of marriage, I had a bad case of leaving gum in whatever random place I could find to "save it for later". Understandably, Nathan was completely annoyed by this. He tried various shame tactics but nothing worked. I just couldn't let a good wad of gum go to waste! Finally, he brilliantly began his Relocation Counter Defense. I began to find my ABC gum in places I never would have placed it, e.g. on top of my toothbrush in the bathroom, inside my little velvet ring box where I kept my wedding ring, on top of an ice cube in the icecube tray, on the bathroom mirror, on the headboard on my side of the bed, on the wall (which took the paint off when I removed it), etc. After a short while of this counter attack, I got the point (and had some good laughs!) and have been able to throw my gum away without any pangs of regret ever since.

A Potpourri of Updates
Zoe's talking!! When it's time for bed and we do our traditional good night kiss and hug with Desmond she suddenly began saying, "nigh nigh, nigh nigh, nigh nigh". When she and I went into the bedroom together to nurse&cuddle to sleep, she repeated her words, getting excited, "nigh nigh! nigh nigh! nigh nigh!"So cute!!

There has been increased mischief over the past few weeks as Des has amplified his level of curiosity and independence. He's interested in pouring his own beverages now, so when we happen to be occupied it can make quite a mess when he takes things into his own hands. I had a friend over the other night and we were having an emotional conversation and Des decided to take a beverage break and help himself to some grape juice. Things were going well, I suppose, till the juice pitcher fell off the table (splattering the wall) and cracked. Eventually all the juice oozed out over the kitchen floor.

Des has renewed his interest in coloring/drawing. On a recent night, I was enjoying his company so much that I let him stay up later than usual. He wanted to color, so we sat down on the floor together. After awhile, I left the room for a few moments and when I returned I found him asleep. When I picked him up to move him I noticed a big drool puddle - just like me!

"Laalaa... I made this song by myself -- its my own music!" One of Desi's latest rock-n-roll lyrics. All songs that Des sings seem to meet with the "I hope they call me on a mission" tune.

Des calls the computer the "cute picture", which is similar in sound (sort of) and hints at the many photos he's been viewing from the computer screen. It has certainly replaced the album so far in this household.

Zoe has begun cruising around the furniture, the cupboards, our legs. She's very strong and when she protests anything, she'll kick her legs and arch her back and we've got to hold on tight! She's also figured out the best way to handle undesirable food items -- drop them overboard onto the floor!

Des has been attending preschool for 4 weeks now (It's once a week, on Tuesdays). He looks forward to it but when it comes to reportage he has so far been unwilling to detail anything to me. Ugh! I want to hear all about it! So, I've been calling my friends, whoever happened to teach that week, for information fearing that perhaps he'd been a distraction. I've been told he's fine and participatory. I suppose he's just not ready to talk about it yet with me.

For more snapshots of us click here

I'm a Helper!

Happy Halloween!

My little superboy and my little clowngirl. We threw ourselves together in under 15minutes. Hectic day. Grammy had sent the costume many months ago (the ‘S’ lights up!) and I’d found Zoe’s at a flea market somewhere – lucky it still fit!



Desi and Thomas as hulk – these two boys are very attached to one another. Anytime they go anywhere they each want to know if the other is going to be there. And when they find each other, they always embrace with such happiness.

Zoe doing clown tricks. She did a lot of people watching -- so many crazy colors and noises!!

Zoe and Emelia as cowgirl – Emi is a month older than Zoe. Emi was standing at 8mos and walking at 9mos!!! Amazing little girl!!

Ayden Fugal (Emelia's big bro) as Buzz Lightyear and Des and Thomas. These boys have fun together.

Zoe and me people watching from the sidelines.

Grammy also sent other options the day before Halloween. Des loves being a Knight in Shining Armor. He puts it on and asks us what he can do to help – so this morning I asked him to get me a drink of water.

MORE PHOTOS HERE

Bronx Botanical Gardens II

I Love taking this trip in the Fall with friends here in NYC! Here’s the group of babes – I think only 2 are missing. From left: Cole, Margaret, Desmond, Famke, Roscoe, and Zoe.

Lots of scarecrows along the way. Des tried to undress a lot of them or shake their hands.

Here he is falling into a bunch of potted plants. Instead of getting him out like a good parent would, I snapped pictures.

Here we are having a good time.

Zoe a budding scientist.

Des is taking art very seriously these days.

Leaving the gardens – Roscoe and Desi hand in hand.

Sleeping Zoe – a very big day for my little baby.

There are many more pictures -- click here

Le Petit Academy

We held our second co-op preschool class today. It was all perfectly timed: it was our turn and I happened to have the day off due to a UN observed holiday (Ramadan)! Nate will be teaching from here on out. We're basing our lessons around the alphabet and today was the letter "B' and also number "2".

We colored pictures with letter "B" objects. We also played a matching game trying to find "2" of each picture out of many in a large pile. We had wiggle time and many beverage refills. At the end, we made Halloween bbbats with our hands (thanks Heidi for the idea!). After the boys hands had been traced, I busied myself with the cutting and tried to go quickly till I realized they were each happy doing their own things: Des was most content coloring on the floor and Ian and Ayden had each found a book and sat themselves down on the couch completely absorbed. I couldn't believe it! There was a complete studious silence for 30-seconds or more (before I tried to raise an enthusiastic round of the Alphabet Song!) 3 boys!! So quiet and diligent!! I had envisioned things a bit more, er, crazy!


These boys are sooooo great!! It was so much fun! Ayden Fugal is the oldest (turned 3 in Sept) and he instructed me on how to spell his name (!) and Ian Todd was most pleased with himself when he decided to color his bbbball with bbblue and Des Jones was so pleased to have his friends with him that he was frequently playing good host and asking them if they needed any more refills for their bbbeverages. ;)

Desi Candor VII

He's been speaking unforgettable things at a fast clip these last few weeks. So much laughter!

With the crib tent now gone, Des rises when he wants and tries to recruit playmates. On a recent morning, too tired to move, I tried to coax him to come cuddle. His reply was, "No. I have my own bed."

“Magnet guy is stuck – his powers are broken!” Our can opener became a favorite plaything for a week, he said this when it had gotten lodged between some folded chairs in the kitchen.

“Jesus! Hi Jesus! I’m Desi and I love you!” While looking at a picture of Jesus Christ.

After a morning bath, I sent Desi into the living room with his towel, clothes and diaper while I got Zoe dried off first. When I entered the living room, I saw Des there with his rain boots on and nothing else saying to me, “I’m a naked boot guy!!”

"Mommy? Can you open the door for us? Can we get out!?" I heard this through the closed bedroom door one morning. It struck me that it was the first time, I could remember, that he spoke for Zoe and used “us” and “we”.

While getting seated in his high chair one evening Des says, “We’re at Mommy’s restaurant”.

Des enthusiastically approached me saying, “Hey everybody! I’m a kazoo!” then he gave a big blow on the little kazoo in his mouth, “Thank you for all mine heart!”

Hello little lady!

I’m doing hip-cups while I’m reading.

I was showing Desi one night how full my belly was after dinner and he smiled and asked, “Do you have another baby in your tummy?”

Mommy, can I watch the superhero video? Pleeeeeeaaase? You’re a nice girl... Please!

While looking in the mirror, Des said to his reflection, “I’m Desi and I love you!”

I explained one afternoon about my wedding ring and after listening carefully Des said, “When I grow up to be a girl, a guy gonna marry me and give me a ring! Yippie” and began to prance around the apartment shouting over and over again, "Yippie!”

Without fail now, while eating dinner together, DPJ will ask me, “Mommy? What you do at work today?” He loves to hear my work stories – it’s so cute. Even on the weekends and my (1) day-off during the week, when I’ve spent every moment with him, he’ll ask me.

Mommy? Dadda was eaten by an angry bear last night. Poor Dada.

Last Sunday morning after getting all dressed up in his finery Desi declares, “Excuse me everybody! I’m a church boy!”

Zoe I love you. I’ll keep you forever!

As I placed some avocado’s on Desi’s tray, he sang out in a happy voice, “Avocados! These are my favorite!!” Then he placed them in his mouth and immediately spit them out, “Yuck!” It was then I realized that they weren’t quite ripe enough. Ha!

Tonight, for some reason, I referred to Des as “My Pet”. I’ve never called him that before. He screwed up his face and said, “What Pet? What you talking about pet!? I’m a pet! I’m a pet?”

“Here’s spaghetti, you should eat it.” He said this to Zoe after putting some long shoelaces on her highchair tray.

Des was undressing for his bath and got as far a taking his shirt off then was briefly distracted by something else. When he took up the task again, he looked a bit confused and asked me urgently, “Where did my shorts go? Mommy, where are my shorts?” I asked him what shorts. “The shorts I was wearing at breakfast time, those shorts.” I responded, “Honey, I think you’re still wearing them.” He looked down and saw them still on his body and began to laugh at himself.

Hi Zoe! You’re a cute baby.

Pretty Baby

I know, I know but I just can't contain my love for her!!! I had some friends visiting from Utah a couple of weeks ago and so I had the use of a camera. One gorgeous evening, while we were walking through Central Park, we found the prettiest place with a little pond and a bridge all glistening in the setting sun.


Here are the pics.

Zoe is now 9months old. Her hair hasn't quite reached it's birth length again, but she's probably easily doubled her birth weight (8.2lbs) by now. We visit the doctor next month. She's still sticking to her creeping around, no knees just elbows. She's moving quicker though and now will follow us from room to room. It's incredible. She's gotten used to her nighttime routine, bedding down at 6:30pm and even if she hasn't fallen asleep before I leave her most evenings she won't cry in protest. Such a triumph!! She regularly creeps around at the playground while i intercept acorns and leaves from going into her mouth. I don't want to dicourage her from feeling things with her hands so I will let her touch and hold them all the while telling her, "no mouth Zoe". Sometimes I think she understands me, though not quite able to obey! She recognizes her name, which is most sweet, and will usually smile when I include it in my little sing-songs and chants. She still enjoys Desi but definately lets it be known when he crosses the line and she wants him out of her face. I know I've written here before, this girl can be fierce!

Desmond's Weekend with Auntie Heidi III

Desmond P. Jones loves his auntie Heidi it looks like from the below account a lot may have to do with her apartment (!) or the fact that she spoils him everytime he takes a solo trip to spend a weekend with her in Connecticut. This was their 3rd CT weekend together. Heidi sent me an email account of their adventures together:

Urgh- another missed opportunity. I accidentally left the camera I borrowed from Chris, with Heather so I had to turn to the ol' camera phone. I was still able to catch some fun moments although I didn't have my bright idea until the day was half over. :(

We had a great time- I picked Des up from the city around 8:30 on Saturday morning and he was half out the door before I could walk in. Very excited to come to Connecticut to my apartment. The trip up to CT was full of laughter as usual. A lot of cute funny things came out of his mouth. It started at the elevator in NY when I went to kiss him. He had a grossed out look on his face and he said "Heidi have coffee" I giggled and said yes, can you smell it. He said "Yes, it's yucky and not for little boys. Little boys only drink milk and juice not coffee" ha ha Soon after that I popped in some gum to avoid grossing him out any further. lol :) Once we got into the car, we started talking about all the fun things he did last time he came to CT. He'd obviously had been thinking of it for awhile. He remembered EVERYTHING!! :) I told him he was a "Keeper" and he asked, "what is keeper?" I told him that it means I hope we are friends for a long long time. He then informed me that we couldn't be friends cause I was a girl and that he can only be friends with "boys and big guys". lol :) So who knows where that leaves us girls. He was very talkative 15 minutes into the trip and then silence. Every question I asked was ignored until suddenly he warned me that he was going to throw up- I quickly pulled off the road and found a bag and got it to him just in time. We cleaned up what missed the bag and I realized it was the same spot I pulled over last trip up to CT. At least he is consistent. :)

Some time passed and I told him about the haircut appointment I'd made for him at a salon for kids. He was not excited about it in the least. "I don't need a haircut", "I don't like haircuts", "No haircut- go to Heidi's apartment" In fact, all he seemed to want to do is go back to the apartment but I promised him a "creature guy" if he was good during the haircut. That worked. He was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo good during the entire cut. He sat in a jeep and watched "Dora the Explorer" even when she got out the razor and the blow-dryer he remained still. So good- I was proud of him! He walked out with a new do, balloon, and lolly pop. I have a feeling the next cut will be a little easier to talk him into. :)

Off to Target we went to find a creature guy- he specifically wanted an "angry guy". Not sure why he is so fascinated with angry guys- it must be a boy thing. :) We found one that he was quickly drawn too and we were on our way. I suggested we buy something for baby Zoe, which he quickly got excited about. He went straight to the pink isle and found a stuffed frog and hugged it saying, "it's cozy- this will be good for baby zoes"..."and it's little". :) (So Heather, that's the explanation for the random frog in your target bags) :)

During our whole shopping trip all Desi wanted to do was go back to my apartment. What is it with that place that sucks you in and you never want to leave???? ha ha :) It was such a nice day, I wanted to take advantage of it but des was persistent with his request. I managed to keep him out longer by going to McDonalds and eating inside. But even then he wanted to take the food back to my apartment. Strange huh?

So finally- I was the good Jeannie and granted his wish. He inspected each room one at a time and then went straight for the toys I keep under a chair in a box- we played for a little while and then he wanted to watch the movie he picked out at Target "POWER RANGERS"- well ... he wanted angry guys and boy was that movie angry. He was glued to it for the first 5-10 minutes before I realized how violent those guys are. I shut it off quickly, knowing that if Heather saw this she would be cringing, telling Des that it was a very short movie and we would have to find something on T.V.

A few hours later he had enough and wanted to go to a playground- Bad me- I hadn't done my homework so I wasn't sure where a park was located in my area. So we went for a walk to find one. He stopped to smell each patch of flowers and took it all in. I was amazed how much he noticed and appreciated. He would go to every flower sit down on the ground and stick his nose in each bushel. So sweet. We came across the court house where they have recently added a few statues. That was all the playground he needed. He was so surprisingly happy with just this small area. He climbed on the benches, balanced along the wall, came nose to nose with the statue (See Pictures)- we spent about 30 minutes there before it got too cold and back home we went.

We got home and started making Halloween Decorations. Desi painted a paper plate with all fall colors and we made a pumpkin mask with a paper plate, a wall hanging, a few lolly pop ghosts, a spider wind sock, and the funniest part we made hand print spiders with googly eyes, and ghosts out of his footprints. Applying the white paint to the bottom of his feet was hysterical- we were both giggling so hard and then trying to get him to stand up on the paper with one foot painted was so funny. After a few tries and a lot of laughs we just applied the paper to his foot instead of his foot to the paper. :) ha ha They all ended up really cute and he was very proud of all his work. After that we ordered pizza "AND ROOT BEER" (which I almost forgot), and got ready for bed. It was such a FUN day!

globalgirl246's AOL Pictures Public Gallery.

Flea Market Saturday

Fun times last Spring when I set up a spot with a friend at a local flea market at the Ring Garden, so we decided to do it again this Fall and invite two more friends to do it with us – we split the cost of two spaces between the 4 of us and had a great time talking, helping each other sell their stuff and sharing hot cider and cookies! The weather was perfect and the other goods were so enticing to me that I found I could easily shop and sell at the same time! Therfore, I came away with $11 and lots of new great junk – clothes mostly for the babes. Great fun (such a nerd!)

Heidi, the cool Simkins, came to the city to hang with the babes while I was gone all day -- they stopped by for a visit and as usual showed them a good time. We love her!!


SEE MORE PICS

Excursion to the East Side

Back in September Nate had a Saturday free so we took the babes through Central Park over the the East Side to this wonderful playground north of the Metropolitan Museum. Took some footage of the babes and the playground and a bit of the neighborhood.

Baby Contemplations

To have a little baby, who will be
A daughter. A girl. An echo of
Where I was once.

We belong to each other --
You remind me, I remind you
Of traveling -- of journeying.

You take the nuances of your heritage -- hand picked
Or undetected. And I now wonder
Will that blue vein sit plumply
Across your left index finger
Keeping pulse with my Mother and I?