Well, so far so good. Today marks the end of the first day of the Clark debate tournament. The speeches went okay, but since I’m new, I was still on notecards and most people were memorized and extremely polished. However, I think that my partner Rachel and I did pretty well in the debate. We went 3 rounds with different teams and debated issues from deregulating the FCC, to whether Hillary Clinton was the best nominee for president in 2008, to the precedence of entertaining political discourse over objective debate and personal analysis. I was truly surprised at how much fun it was. Whether we win or lose, I think that we put up great arguments and I’m satisfied with that. I really think that we have a good chance tomorrow of getting into the final rounds.

Much to my relief Johnathan seems to be on his way to recovering from his little cold. He still isn’t 100% but his cough is much less scary. Ben and I are starting to feel like we’re getting a little sick, but we’ve got one up on him cause we can take medicine. I’m sure we’ll be better in no time.

Today I pulled some chicken out of the freezer and parts of it looked a little leathery and I concluded that it was probably freezer bitten. I called our neighbor Melody to ask if I could just cut that part off. She replied that I should probably throw it away and join her and her family for roast. Bert and Melody have a huge family with four boys and a friend and a girlfriend for each, but they never have a shortage of food or a lack of willingness to share it. They are indeed good friends.

Today is just a few days before my first debate tournament at Clark College. I’m looking forward to it and of course dreading it at the same time. My platform speech is an inform and I think it’s pretty strong, however it still needs cleaning up and to get onto notecards. I just hope I have enough time to really get it down. Math is still going really well. Turns out that I won’t miss an exam because of the tournament, and I aced another quiz last week so that always helps with moral.

At home it is really tough with Djai being sick. Nobody want’s to see or hear their child sick and uncomfortable… especially when they are too young to understand what’s happening. I just setup the humidifier in his room again tonight, and his loving mother is putting him down to sleep. With any luck, he’ll make leaps in his recovery tonight, and be back into burnin’ up the rugs with his knees soon.

Djai was SO sick today with a cold. He is so miserable and sweet and cranky when he is sick. At one time today we were reading a story and he was pointing at things on the page. He then started hitting the book and threw it before breaking into a bout of sobbing. I must admit I shed a few tears myself today. At other times he would give kisses and lay his head on mine or Ben’s shoulder and just be mellow for a while. He usually has too many things to explore to mellow out and snuggle. He was so frustrated when he couldn’t breathe out of his nose and ANYONE with kids must know how much babies enjoy those nasal aspirators. Yeah. I finally got him down in the ninja hold on the ground up side down with his head between my thighs and his arms pinned under my legs so I could get some saline drops in his nose without getting it in his mouth or eyes. Torchure. He even screamed when I would just wipe his nose, but I think he was just pulling mom’s heart strings. Auntie Erinn wiped his face and he didn’t let out a peep! He barely ate anything and his eyes were all red and swollen- he just looked miserable. By the end of the night his cough sounded really nasty and we sat in the bathroom for a while with the shower running hot full blast. An instant home sauna. At bed time Dad put together the humidifier and we all took a little extra time snuggling and reading and singing to him before lowering him into his crib. All day he has been so tired and has not wanted to sleep, and I think he finally wore himself out. Ben placed him on the mattress and he was out. Hopefully he gets a good long hard rest tonight and fights off this bug! Hopefully for us too, as I fear I feel the pre-sick aura coming about me.

Moslty for our own records and some for your amusement, here are some changes in Johnathan we see lately.

Mobility
He pulls himself up to standing with ease and “cruises” the perimeter of the livingroom. There is a notable increase in his speed when he spots a magazine or a pile of mail within reach. The kid loves paper. He has stood for just a couple secounds unsupported and I don’t think he thinks he can walk without holding someone’s hand… yet.

Diet
Djai had a little independent streak a while ago and wouldn’t let me feed him. He would purse his lips shut and turn and shake his head, grab the spoon from me and mash the food off of it and try to get it into his mouth. It didn’t work very well and I decided it was time for finger food.
You should see this guy eat. He inhales whole crowns of steamed brocolli like there is no tomorrow. He loves cheese, and beans are a new favorite. He enjoys jelly sandwiches, but not until he has the two pieces of bread apart and jelly covering every square inch of skin that is showing. No peanut butter- he is highly allergic, he has had a reaction to even just the oil. We alternate water/juice and formula in the sippy cup and only gets a bottle for his one nighttime waking if he has one, and one first thing in the morning. We haven’t practiced with a cup for a while, and after typing that out I’ve decided it’s time to pick it up again tomorrow. We practice with a bowl and spoon at least once a day which seems futile at this point, but I hear they eventually catch on.

Communication
Like any parent, every noise he makes I think he is trying to say something. He babbles mamama and dadada… and one time he stuck his hand in the air at Erinn and said “Bye.” Another, he smiled at a cat and exclaimed “keekeekeet.” Or so I think. I’ve also sworn he gets out “I love you,” and “thank you,” so I probably need someone to back me to be credible. At this point, none of the previously mentioned have been a very clear indication that he is associating a word with it’s meaning.
I have been working on signs with him since day one and he hasn’t used any himself yet, though when I say “kitty-cat,” “more,” and “food,” he looks at my hands and waits for me to sign them.
Oh- but he has taken lessons from his cousin Alyssa and started waving bye-bye… but only to people he knows well and when he wants to.

Well, since moving the server into the office I actually found out how to finally run the actual domain into it. So, once again, my plans have changed. Although I feel a little bad taking the “ceckas.org” name just for us… nobody has complained yet. Maybe I’ll get a different name to even it out. Any suggestions? Well, next week sometime when I’m in the office I’ll configure it and get it the way I need.

Finally! I got the last touches setup in my new office and the server is up and running. I’m hoping to attach another domain name to it soon but it will take a little playing around with. For now, the same ‘ol IP address thang will work just fine.