Thaddeus' 2nd Birthday

The Music of Our Lives

We're in the States! We received word early Monday morning that Ryan's grandmother, Arlene Edwards, had passed away, so we found ourselves on a plane back to Baltimore Wednesday. After a long and uneventful flight, we arrived at BWI, found our rental car and hotel, crashed for the night and got up early Thursday (still on Azorean time) and drove up to Rhode Island. We plan to drive back to Baltimore on Sunday and fly home to the Azores Monday. Please pray for the family as they honor Grandma's time here on earth and as we all head back home.

Chris and Leah Caron (and Alexis and Grayson) have graciously opened their home to us, and so our kids have been in kid/toy/music heaven as they have cousins and friends, Gram and PopPop, and Aunts and Uncles surrounding them. Legos, sand, and balls have been flying! We had an impromptu music fest with the Caron's tonight, which I know you'll enjoy. Notice our fearless leader and his violin. It's amazing what you remember from 3rd grade!:)





Before we left on our whirlwind trip, the kids finished swimming lessons. Ryan was able to be there for the last day. The highlight was definitely the flight off the diving board into the water for the kids (to my chagrin, their instructor had them in life vests--I've always preferred my kids learn that they can only do so much in the water until they learn to swim and not learn to rely on a safety vest that may not always be there). Hannah jumped into the water without a hitch. Nathanael the day before needed some coaxing and his teacher finally jumped with him. This time, Daddy was there to help!

I was in the baby pool with Thaddeus and happened to look up just in time to watch Nathanael walk the plank....er, the board. He was nervous, and finally Daddy got up on the board with him. Everyone watching in the pool relaxed, Daddy was onboard, all was good. The next moment, faces froze in shock, astonishment, horror as Ryan in a swift, concise movement, scooped Nathanael up and dropped him in the water. Even Nathanael was so little prepared for this air raid, that he made nary a sound as he traveled into the water with a great splash.

Leave it to Ryan to pull it off, though. Nathanael popped back up grinning and wanting to go again. This time, he marched up to and out on the board, then jumped off with no fear and great style. The worst was over and he survived. Now, he was going to live!

Finally, as swimming ended, I graduated. I may be officially called "Soccer Mom" now--complete with the "muddy van diploma." I find it interesting that the first soccer practice I took my kids to was in the rain (and that Ryan conveniently had to work!:). Thaddeus was tickled with the puddle of water forming in the canvas chair I had with us. So much so, he wanted to add to it--I was slightly appalled when looking back, I noticed my littlest precious boy spitting into the puddle in the chair. Not only did he already have plenty of grass and dirt in the chair, we had to add more... um, fluids. Boys bring such an enormous amount of glee and wonder to this mystery of life.

I had to include Nathanael's art work as well. He loved watching Daddy play soccer so much that he drew a picture of he and daddy kicking a soccer ball around (the soccer ball has a happy face, so it must be a good game:).



Both Hannah and Nathanael loved playing soccer (i.e. chase the ball). Hannah loved it so much so that her "infectious giggle" was commented on by other parents; and I noticed at one point that she was so tickled by something in her great chase she was having a hard time running and laughing at the same time.

Dictionary

I'm sure you're all dying to understand the mind of a two-year-old (ok, close to it). So, here we are with some enlightenment. Alright, alright... we're still just as befuddled as the next parent, but I have formulated a Thaddeus dictionary and thought you'd enjoy!

chă-choo -- bless you
rēē! -- read (he says this with great relish and demand)
tōēē -- toy
ăyŭt! -- yuck
baal -- ball
hĕp -- help
găăărd -- scared
sēt -- sit
wē-ă-wēŏ -- rolly-polly bugs (no clue!:)
(t like sound)-chŭck -- truck
(t like sound)-shash -- trash
nēner -- dinner
lă-ă-lă -- water (again, no clue!)
nī-nī -- good night
pwŭg -- plug (our word for pacifier)
tinkēē -- stinky (dirty diaper)
yă-ū -- love you
mălk -- milk
bŭh-bŭō -- bubble
MINE! -- mine! (It's necessary to loudly enunciate these important words)
bă-bī -- bye-bye
yō -- hello
brōt -- broken
pānt -- spank
bă-ppl -- apple
mŏŏŏŏr -- more
dān -- all done
bă-ēē -- potty
prā-plān! -- airplane
tē-tchŏŏ -- thank you
Nă-nŏl -- Nathanael
Nă-Nă -- Hannah
nă-nă -- banana (his favorite!!!)
Dă-ēē -- Daddy
Mă-mă -- Mama
Tă-dēē -- Thaddeus
nā-nā -- horse (the sound horse makes)
pēēs -- please
tchŏŏ-shŏ -- excuse me (really “excuse you”)
dă -- dog
năō -- No (he must be Portuguese:)
chŏŏ-chŏŏ -- train (the sound, again)

And a couple of cute Hannah/Nathanael words:

hang-a-ber -- hamburger
bre-fast -- breakfast (Hannah’s)