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!