Having Fun While Packing

My dad has been with us since June 8th. He helped us pack and watch the Bear while in NC. He let us sleep in while on the road by taking Stan Bear outside to play at 5 in the morning. He has watched the Bear in our new home while we unpacked the truck and set up our new home. He is an angel in disguise. I keep telling him we'd still be in NC packing if it weren't for him...we would have driven off the road from exhaustion if it weren't for him...we would be unpacking the truck in Idaho for months and months if it weren't for him. Angel, I tell you. Living legend. Thanks Tuka Bear! (Eyes tearing up with gratefulness.)

Packing.

Uke jam

Here he is packing with the Bear and making it fun:


hand tracing from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Here they are playing ukeleles:
hip hop ukes from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Cheers to you, Dad/Tuka Bear!

Home

We are home.

 

You know you are home when you can have good conversations and walk around without your pants on.

Tending to the soil.

At the key shop making copies of house keys.

The entire family relaxing in the morning (without Tuka).

Improvised windowsill breakfast.

Nesting

On the side stoop.

Day Six

Mountain Home, ID > Moscow, ID, 341 miles, about an 8.5 hour day. Lots of hills. It was my favorite drive of the trip because of the scenery. We drove along the Little Salmon, the Snake, Clearwater and the Payette rivers. We also drove through Hell's Canyon. Mike didn't enjoy this leg. We also drove along some of the prettiest farmlands I've ever seen - mostly wheat fields but also these fields of yellow flowers. Stan B did better this day. He still was a bit squirrely towards the end but he didn't lose it like the previous night. He did have his best rest stop adventure on the Little Salmon river.

White water on the Payette River.

On the Little Salmon River

And in the Little Salmon River.

Farmland.

Home at last.

Day Five

Those are buffalo in the pic above! They were at a rest stop in Wyoming. 

Day Five: Rawlins, WY > Mountain Home, ID, 544 miles, I think this was another twelve hour day. I don't recall. We drove through Wyoming, Utah and Idaho! 

It was probably the hardest day for the Bear. About an hour and a half before we reached Mountain Home he cried and cried. He would say, "up!" And "All done!" He was pooped. He fell asleep but he wasn't happy. When he awoke upon arriving at our destination he was thrilled that he got to put on his shoes and go outside! Other than that the drive went well and we arrived in our new home state!

Rawlins, WY and our truck

Utah

The welcome to Idaho sign!

On the Farm, One Last Time

Some flying fun at the farm in NC:


One, Two, Threeee! from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

TRUCKS!

Here he is playing with trucks back in Chapel Hill:


truckkkss! from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Day Four

Day Four: York, NE > Rawlins, WY, 508.1 miles, 11 hours on the road. We drove through Nebraska and Wyoming. Nebraska is the longest state it seems!

At a rest stop in Nebraska. He could have played there all day!

Pretty clouds in Wyoming

Playing with newspaper in the back seat and having a ball.

Day Three

Day 3: Columbia, MO > York, NE, 8 hours on the road, 367 miles. We went through Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska. (We changed our route. We were going to go thru SD.)

Stan B has done pretty well on these car rides. He keeps himself occupied with dinosaur and truck play (see pics below) and reading books(see pic below). It is actually neat to observe him with the books as he doesn't have one of us to read to him…because of that he seems to really take his time on each page and he even says things, as if he is reading. 

The Dino play is fun to observe because you can see him using his imagination (he is mostly having them poop put of the end of their tails...but sometimes they bite his legs and ride in trucks.

He has also played his harmonica and eaten a lot of food. 

Towards the end of the days he tends to get a little squirrelly and says things like, "up!!!!" and "all done!" While raising his arms up in the air. But so far, no need for a portable DVD player like many a person suggested.

On day 2 I cried because he kept saying, "home?" Because he was done sitting in the car and wanted to go home. I explained that we were going to a new home and it would take us several more days to get there. He then would say, "C?" As in Auntie C, and I would say she is probably still at work. And then he would say home again and so on.  anyhow. I can't wait to say, "home again, home again, jiggity jig." 

Long Day

Day 2: Kingston, TN to Columbia, MO, 475.8 miles, just over a 12 hour trip. (Day one was an 11 hour day). We are now safe at Auntie Meg's warm abode!

That's the our truck on the right!

Kitty at a rest stop. 

We drove through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri today!

Dum Ditty Dum Ditty Dum Dum Dum

One of Stan B's favorite books right now is "Hand Hand Fingers Thumb". It's about monkeys drumming on drums. It's great. He really likes drumming on actual drums too:
drumming from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Rest Stop, Kentucky

Good Morning, Tennessee.

Day 1: Chapel Hill to east of Kingston, TN, 304.2 miles covered

Peek a Boo and Knowing When to Say No

Stan B was playing with a young girl at the park one day. They really hit it off. She was much older...maybe 9 or 10. They played peek-a-boo and kicked the ball around. At one point she was tickling him and he went to hit her. He does this now...and I think it's his way of saying, "NO" or "Don't touch me!" So, I am trying to tell him that if he doesn't like the way someone is treating him to say no or put his hands up or both instead of hitting...I think he gets it...but we'll see when he starts implementing it.

peek a boo 1 from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

The Truck is Packed

A Big Hug to You NC (and Auntie C)

We finally hit the road today...a day later than planned.

Pretend Auntie C is North Carolina and our entire little family is the Bear:

hug from erin kawamata on Vimeo.


O.K. now watch this as the Bear giving Auntie C a big hug because he loves her so, as do we (we will never meet another Auntie C, ladyhusband, Coach, sisterwife ever again.)

Follow Us!

I got my first smart phone about a month ago when my flip phone went kaput. The most recommended app was instagram so I jumped at it and I am obsessed with it. I post maybe 1/3 of them to facebook but you can follow my entire feed. My instagram name is emikoerin.
Here some shots:

We haven't hit the road yet!!! We have more to pack and then we must clean the house!!! UGH! I never want to move again.
I will post as we go on the road, mostly pics and I will probably post more than once a day...maybe.

Bubble Bath Chaos

I got my very first smarty pants phone. I've been taking tons of pics and vids with it. I was experimenting either with the video or some kind of video app and this weird bubble bath video happened. He's shouting BUBBLES! if I remember it correctly:
bubble bath from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Puzzle Me This

This is kinda long...but I love it! He is putting together his Alphabet puzzle, which he loves doing. I tell him the name of the letter and he repeats after me. He farts, he cheers, and he greets his Papa coming home from work, and you can hear him say Thank You too...it sounds like, "Teetyou".
Enjoy:

Pooping and Puzzles from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Kicking and Talking and Kicking

Stan B likes to kick balls.
Here he is practicing kicking a foil ball in the kitchen...plus some bonus speaking moments:

kick talk from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Here he is kicking the ball on the dirt in front of the Co-op. He's super good at it!

futbol star from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Birthplace, No. 10

Number 10:

LIGHTNIN' BUGS

I'm really going to miss the lightnin' bugs...and Stan B hasn't ever seen one...I don't think. His bedtime is before dusk. I was driving one eve and I noticed that the lightnin' bugs had arrived, so I pulled over and documented there flashes. Not the best  documentation of these bugs ever but good enough for memories sake.

Watch them flash:


lightnin' bugs from erin kawamata on Vimeo.


I thought I would, for our Bear cub, write a post a week documenting something that I associate with his birthplace, Chapel Hill. You can see the first 8 here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here and here.

Jumping Bean

Stan B is really into jumping and practicing jumping. He usually says, "Jump!" while jumping.


jump 1 from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

At the Lake

I made a last minute friend via Auntie C. She has a boy (in pic above) and I work with her hubby. She's super nice and wished I had gotten to know her sooner because she's the bees knees (where ever did that saying come from?!) Anyhoozits. We went to Jordan Lake together a couple of weekends in a row and the boys had a ball together. It was pretty chilly too...but they ended up nude on the beach!

Here they are running after Auntie C

Here is Stan B trying on his shades and wearing my shirt because he got all of his changes of clothes sopping wet!!!

jordan lake belly flops from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

And here he is worn out, passed out in the car!

Sun Roof Love

We've been going to the lake (Jordan) or to Saxapahaw (neighboring town) almost every weekend. Auntie C drives and we put Stan B in her car facing forward (we still have him facing backward in our cars and plan to make the permanent front facing move on our road trip/move out west!) She has a sun roof in her car. Here he is ecstatic about the sun roof:

facing forward sun roof from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

And here he is the second time, more mellow and experienced, but enjoying it just as much:

sun roof from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Instrumental Duet : Gong and Recorder

Duets with Papa:


recorder from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Birthplace, No. 9

Number 9:

THE FIRE TRUCKS

I remember when we first moved here I just oohed and aahed at these trucks...and then you get used to seeing them...but you know we'll miss these Carolina Blue Fire Trucks. They are always so sparkly too. (Although the firefighter said that the one above was dirty...whatever, man, you should see my car.)

Because of where I work I have gotten to know some of the firefighters and even trained for our 4 mile running race with one of them. We would often run from her Fire Station and then Stan B would get to sit in the trucks afterwards:

 Here he is taking emergency calls ready to fire the sirens:

I thought I would, for our Bear cub, write a post a week documenting something that I associate with his birthplace, Chapel Hill. You can see the first 8 here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Baby Sign Language

I wrote about my allegiance to baby sign language on the Baby Mama facebook page (a secret group that my friend Heather started - it's great! Such a great community-if you're not on it and want to be just let me know and I can invite you!) and thought I would share what I wrote here with some extra edits and pictures!

Baby Sign Language=AMAZING.

My sisters-in-law both did signs with their children and I thought I’d give it a go. I figured, what have I got to lose? You can start from the get go and I don’t see why it wouldn’t work if you started as late as one year old. I started around 5 months with the simple sign for milk.

Every time I’d nurse I’d make the sign. His second and third signs were food and more. Before putting him in his chair I’d say something like, “Let’s have some food.” and make the sign for food. Between every spoonful I’d say, “More?” and make the sign for that. It seems tedious at first because you don’t see them making signs back at that age but it’s so worth it in the end. The first time he signed “more” I was thrilled! He ended up using the sign “more” not just for food, but for milk, tickles, to be pushed higher on the swing. He even used it to mean “I want”, although he doesn’t use it for that any longer. He also doesn't do the signs perfectly but that's o.k. According to the book I read, Baby Signs by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, they write that the child may not do the signs perfectly at first and that is fine. What is important is that we understand eachother. For instance his sign for milk was never exactly like the image above, it was more like twisting...a nipple with his thumb and forefinger! He usually does this with both hands at the same time. Not perfect but I got it. His sign for more is more like fists bumping together rather than fingertips bumping together...not perfect but I got it. My two favorite sign imperfections are when he does the sign for please and help:

His please is with two hands and he rubs his entire chest and belly in circular motions. Like he's rubbing lotion on his body..while saying, "Pease!" His sign for help is very different from the sign illustrated above. He actually clasps both hands together like so and says, "Howlp.":

image from: www.raisingyoungones.blogspot.com/

So, the child does not need to do the sign perfectly. It will work just as long as you understand one another. 

When he first used the sign for milk it was just as thrilling as when he signed more for the first time. Another great sign we taught him was all done which is simply putting your hands up in the air although the official sign for it is doing this:

Lately he has been standing up and raising his hands in the air at dinner when he's done. He's very enthusiastic. (At least he doesn't throw his food on the ground any more [at least not on purpose.]) 

We first started using the sign for all done for meals but it wasn’t until one day he was on the swing at the park that I realized how diverse this sign could be. Instead of crying he was able to put his hands up to say that he was all done with the swing. He has also used it while playing with the older neighbor boy who was pushing him on the tricycle too fast and Stanley signed all done with one hand, holding onto the handle bars with the other. He didn’t cry; he signed. 

When he does the sign for help I think it really cuts down on cries, whines and tantrums. Because he can’t verbally communicate very well he gets frustrated when trying to do things. If he starts to fuss I say, “Do you need help?” and I do the sign for help. He now will do the sign for help and say help instead of crying(most of the time)...even though I can tell he is frustrated. It’s really great. He is 22 months old now and we just recently looked up the sign for want because it seemed like something he was trying to communicate and couldn’t.

He is pretty laid back in general but I think that the use of these signs have really lessened the tantrums and cries due to the lack of understanding each other - which is what the experts say are the “Terrible Twos”. Other helpful signs we’ve used are hot, thank you, bye-bye, please, nigh-nigh (sleep/goodnight), and kisses. The sign for thank you is a good example of learning sayings. He doesn't reallydo the sign for that anymore but he almost always says thank you now when we give him food or when a playmate hands him a toy, etc. I think signing that first made him learn the saying more quickly. He has even made up a sign for his cowstar. You can see the video of him doing that sign here.

Of course in the beginning the child will not respond or sign back (because at first they don't have the coordination to do the signs nor do they have the verbal skills) but what is neat is that the child doesn't have to sign or speak back in order for it to work - their brains get it. So, if the parents are being consistent(I think consistency is key) and it doesn't seem to catch on, keep on keeping on, because holy wowzee is it cool to see it work...and to see it click right before your eyes! In the book that I read they gave a great example of a sign that all babies use and that is the sign for goodbye or hello - the simple wave - they learn that because if you think about it it is one of those signs (that we don't even consider a sign) that we big humans constantly do, even to children that aren't our own. Babies want to do what we big people do. Case in point, my son wants to wipe my butt when I'm sitting on the toilet, he wants to play the guitar like his Papa, he wants to put deodorant on like me, and brush his teeth with an adult size toothbrush, he wants to floss his teeth, grind coffee, put lotion on - and this is simply from observing his parents, and I feel like sign language is the same thing...if you do it, so will they.  

All illustrations from: http://www.mummypedia.com/

Except for the illustration for the sign want which is from here: http://sanespaces.com/