garrett for president

In a city of millions, you wouldn't think it possible to repeatedly run into the same people. But we all have our routines, I suppose, which forces many of us to cross paths on a regular basis. For example, I have boarded the same bus nearly every Sunday since we came here with one particular older Slavic woman. She was there at the corner again this morning as we waited in the ice and snow for the bus to arrive, her fur-lined parka hood wrapped tightly around her face. Despite the bitter cold, Garrett was incredibly amiable, and he struck up a chatty conversation with her. She smiled and listened to him intently, even though he spoke neither Russian or English, and commented to me about how much he'd grown since we first started coming to the bus stop and what a sweet boy she thought he'd become.

"He makes great speeches," she said, her English thickly accented. "He should grow up to be President."

"Wouldn't that be something," I responded.

"Da da da da da," said Garrett, followed by a well-timed conversational laugh.

The bus approached, but before we took our separate seats aboard it, this sweet woman turned to me and said, "I wish him good health, happiness, and that someday he will be the President. It is an old woman's wish," she added with a nod.

So you hear that, Garrett? You've got some pretty high expectations to live up to.

he loves me!

When we were new parents and desperately needed sleep, we'd often take Garrett into bed with us to finish out the night. Invariably, Garrett would always cuddle right into Blake's arms. It was as if that little nook between Blake's shoulder and elbow was meant just for his infant son. They always looked so comfortable sleeping together. I, on the other hand, was the parent with whom Garrett never snuggled with at night. Instead, he took to using my abdomen as a punching bag as he squirmed in his sleep. This made me a little sad (not to mention a little sore), but ultimately I learned to just be grateful that I didn't wake up with a dead arm.

As soon as Garrett was old enough to know how to take advantage of this sleep arrangement, at about 10 months of age, we worked hard to kick him of the habit. No more would we put up with "cry-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-they'll-come-rescue-me" behavior. Occasionally, however, we'll relent, though typically only because of illness or absolute desperation. The other night was one of those times.

After repeatedly and unsuccessfully trying to urge Garrett back to sleep on his own in the crib, Blake brought him into bed with us. As usual, Garrett snuggled right into the crook of Blake's arms, and, in an effort to save my abdomen, I rolled to my other side.

This position suited all of us quite well until a short time later when, just as I was on the verge of falling back asleep, I was jostled to my senses by my son trying to climb up over me. I jumped to catch him before he crawled right off the bed, and as I did so, he shifted his little body in order to nestle comfortably in the crook of my arm.

My arm! He had climbed over my back because he wanted to cuddle with me! What a sweet, tender novelty! And you know what? He stayed that way until, an hour or so later, Blake took him back to his crib to finish out the night.

I could get used to this. Only I won't. Because even though my quiet times with Garrett are becoming more few and far between, I still prefer him to sleep in his own bed.

resolves

I've been thinking about my goals for 2009 since Thanksgiving, and I've narrowed my ambitions down to the following:

1. Build a three-month food and water supply. This will have to be kept incredibly basic in large part because we don't have much space to store the hoard. It will also have to be creatively collected. We don't own a wheat grinder and, living in the city like we do, we don't have easy access to you-pick farms, let alone a garden of our own, so canning my own fruits and vegetables realistically probably won't happen. I haven't nailed down details yet, but I imagine this 3-month supply will consist of back-up ingredients of those I use on a regular basis -- the kind of food I'd keep on hand if I had a pantry to keep it in. And because finances are ever-tight, I'm giving myself 12 months to get this together. I can't afford to build it all in a few weeks, but I can tack on a couple extra items to my weekly grocery lists.

2. Practice the piano daily. This is partly to make up for all that time I should have been practicing (but honestly wasn't) when I was taking piano lessons, as well as because I sincerely want to improve my skills. I'm not going to assign my self a daily time limit. If I can only squeeze five minutes in one day, fine. If I can do more, even better. I'd especially like to improve my ability to sight read music (even when there are daunting sharps and flats), as well as my confidence and ability in playing accompaniment.

3. Reduce unnecessary excess. This means:

• Reducing excess stuff in my home. I have a natural tendency to hang on to things, either because I think I'll need it later, or I've attached sentimental value to it. In reality, though, there's a lot I can just toss. And don't hate me, book lovers, but a lot of the things in my home that need to go are books. Don't worry, though. I'm not rash. I'm keeping quite of few of them -- those that I really, truly love and would absolutely read again. I am, however, planning to read through a good number of them to decide whether or not they should be sent to a home where they would be loved more.
  
• Reducing the amount of time I spend at the computer. So much of my life revolves around the computer: maintaining our finances, organizing our photos, keeping in touch with family and friends, blogging, etc. And while it's a wonderful tool, I don't like to be consumed by it. So I'm going to keep my time spent at it to a minimum wherever possible. This will likely mean fewer and/or shorter blog posts, among other things. Don't fret, though. I won't disappear completely. This also will, I think, be an excellent excuse for me to occasionally forgo the email in favor of digging out my pretty stationery, felt-tip pens, and postage stamps for some good, old-fashioned letter writing. And who doesn't like receiving letters -- real letters -- in the mail?
  
• Reducing the number of demands on my time. I think I tried to take on too many projects last year. And it wore me out. This doesn't mean that I'll be spending my year lazily lounging on my couch. No, there's still plenty to see and do. I'm just going to try to be more realistic on what I have the energy to do. And I'll try very hard to go easy on myself when I'm not "doing it all." The idea this year is to simplify.

deep in the heart of texas

Because I don't want to spend all of 2009 reporting on the last few days of 2008, I'm going to wrap up the rest of our Texas adventures in one last post.

As was mentioned previously, New Year's Eve was spent in Fredericksburg. The stake activity wasn't scheduled to begin until dinner time, but because we all wanted to wander around town beforehand, we got there earlier in the day. Aside from boasting some beautiful wildflower farms on the outskirts of town and a proud German ancestry, Fredericksburg is home to a main street filled with small curiosity shops, boutiques, and restaurants which are fun to wander in and out of.

One highlight of the afternoon was a ride for Garrett on a mechanical horse, courtesy of Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Gary.



Earlier in the week we visited the Mexican Market in downtown San Antonio. Like Fredericksburg, the thing to do here is wander in and around the various shops, admiring the brightly colored Mexican-made clay pots, maracas, and linen sundresses. My cousin, Julie, who lives in Austin with her husband and baby girl, was able to join us for the excursion. I cannot tell you how great it was to see her and to finally meet her daughter Sofia.



On New Year's Day, with the whole entire clan in tow, we descended on San Antonio's famed River Walk. We took a boat tour on the river where we learned some history of both the city and the river's signficance to it. Then, once the sun set, we wandered along the narrow paths it to see the Christmas lights twinkling in the trees.

So there you have it: our holiday trip to San Antonio. We did more than I reported on, I assure you, but I'm sure you're as tired of reading about other people's holiday activities as much as I'm tired of writing about ours. But in case you're not too good at reading between the lines, we had a wonderful time and are excited for the next time we get to visit.

party hardy

What's the holiday season without a few good parties, right? With family, food, and fun, we sure celebrated good and hard.

First there was Christmas, of course. Because of flight delays, we didn't pull into the driveway in San Antonio until 4:00 Christmas morning. We were exhausted, and collapsed straightaway. Unfortunately Garrett did not want anyone to sleep in for too long as he was rearing and ready to go at 8:00. And so we dragged ourselves out of bed, joined up with the rest of the family in the upstairs family room, and trickled downstairs to the tree.


By this time, Garrett had had a bit of practice with regards to Presents And What He Should Do With Them. He picked one out from under the tree addressed to Blake from my brother, Riley, and pushed it around and fidgeted with it until we gave in and let him rip the penguin paper off.

Garrett walked away from Christmas this year pretty much victorious. He now has more toys than most toddlers would know what to do with, but in the days since he has somehow managed to arrange his schedule in order to devote time to all of them.

Two days after Christmas, Blake's sister, Kimberly, and her husband, David, joined us in Texas and, with the exception of Eric's girlfriend, Kiersten, who joined us a few days later, the family was complete. This meant but one thing: we could now have the Walk Around Dinner. A walk around dinner, for those of you unacquainted with the tradition, is simply this: a meal consisting entirely of appetizers, snacks, and holiday treats. The food is displayed on counters and tables for everyone to walk around and take their picks from to fill their plates. It is, in my opinion, the epitomy of delicious holiday traditions. I am a BIG fan of the Walk Around Dinner. This year Blake was put in charge of arranging the tiered dessert plates, and he did a fabulous job. He was pretty proud of his delicately displayed handiwork:


On December 30th Blake turned 28. All of the endowed members of the family attended a session and performed sealings in the San Antonio temple in the early evening, then convened back at the homebase for a birthday party. Garrett, not wanting to miss out on any of the fun, helped his dad open presents and blow out candles in his pumpkin pie.

New Year's Eve was spent at a Stake activity in Fredericksburg, a small German-settled town about an hour away from San Antonio. A true Texas barbeque was served, complete with some pretty tasty brisket (mmm...brisket...), followed by dancing. Everyone took to the floor at least once, though Garrett's energies were pretty well spent before too long.


The activity was over by nine (they told us we were ringing in the new year with Saints in Paraguay or Greenland or something) and, once home, we killed time playing games and lounging in the living room until it was the Central Time Zone's turn to call it good on 2008. Then we pulled out the cascarones, or confetti-filled eggs, from the Mexican Market and tromped out into the street where we smashed the eggs on each other's heads. Good, not-so-clean (try pulling shreds of confetti out of your hair) fun that was over in about 3 minutes.

So now you know, in these opening days of 2009, the reason why I'm very, very tired. All these parties can wear a girl out!

likes and dislikes

Garrett exhibited a number of extreme likes and dislikes while we were in Texas. For example, if it had a button he could push (like the button on the dancing monkey), he liked it unequivocally. A few things, though, he approached with more caution. The haircut his Aunt Kimberly gave him, for instance, was not what you would classify as a favorite:


He sure looked handsome afterward, though!

Due to an incident our first evening there, which resulted in an early bedtime for one bigger boy and physical and emotional trauma instilled in one little boy, Garrett was wary of his Uncle Neil. By the end of our visit, however, all issues seemed to have either been resolved or forgotten, and they decided they were quite fond of each other. They even shared some tender goodbye kisses at the airport.

Other things Garrett really liked in Texas included:

Sneaking pretzels from the pantry:

Sharing other people's ice cream:

Blowing bubbles with Grandma Joyce:



Playing ball in the backyard:

And playing with the giant parachute:

dancing

Garrett was deeply intrigued by the treasures to be found in the room of Blake's sister, Brittany. One toy he was especially fond of was a plush monkey which spun and danced to music when a button on its foot was pressed. Garrett pushed that button constantly, and every time the monkey started spinning and dancing, so too would Garrett. We all derived great pleasure from watching this little performance -- that is, until the song, played over and over, started to grate on our nerves. Brittany attempted to hide the monkey from Garrett, but he always found it, and each time he did, he'd repeatedly press that button and start bouncing to the rhythm.

Blake's youngest brother, Neil, also found his dance groove. Neil, for those of you who don't know him, is a few days shy of sixteen and has Down Syndrome. At a stake New Year's celebration in Fredericksburg, Texas, he was asked by a lovely young lady to dance. He initially turned the girl down, but, at his mother's insistance that it would be the polite thing to do to accept, changed his mind. By the end of the song, he was having a blast.

on a mission

a mural of the San Antonio missions displayed at the River Walk

During our trip to San Antonio I garnered a collection of photos massive enough to be worthy of the great state of Texas. And don't even get me started on the enormity of the undocumented adventures we had. Just thinking about reporting on all we did makes me dizzy, so over the next few posts it will be my mission to share with you (though in no particular order) some of our fun in more manageable doses.

And speaking of missions, let's start with those in San Antonio. The day after Christmas we stopped by four of the five early 18th century Spanish missions: Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan, and Espada. On New Year's Day, we visited the fifth: the Mission San Antonio de Valero, more commonly known as The Alamo.

clockwise from top left: Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose, Mission Espada, The Alamo, and Mission San Juan

They begin with The Alamo in the heart of downtown San Antonio and continue southward, each mission only separated by a few miles. The buildings are in remarkably good condition despite their age, and lovely frescoes have been uncovered on the walls and ceilings of several of them. Judging by the state of the chapels, it appears that regular Sunday meetings are held in all but The Alamo.

Garrett's favorite part of the visit? Games of one...two...three...whee!! doled out by dad, Uncle Eric and Aunt Brittany, of course:

Though, by the end, even he was getting a little tired:

in the nursery

The first Sunday of the new year has a natural tendency in the Church to be somewhat of a red letter day -- especially in the Primary. Today was no exception. When I wasn't running around keeping the new Sunbeams in tow, teaching Sharing Time, or trying to find a substitute Valiant teacher, I was dropping Garrett off for his very first (official*) day of nursery. He did great....for the first hour and a half. Shortly after snack time, though, something in him snapped and he couldn't be consoled. They brought him to me in the Primary room, where I wiped his tears and tried to convince him to try again. He wasn't up to it, though, which was fine. He instead spent the remainder of the block curled up asleep in Blake's lap as he sat in as my substitute Valiant teacher. I guess it's not so much shyness that is Garrett's issue with nursery, but rather his nap schedule. He'll adapt eventually, I'm sure. And in the meantime, we'll keep trying.


*I say "official" only because he spent the first year of his life tagging along to nursery while Blake and I were the leaders. Today, though, it really counted.

back in brooklyn

We're back, we're unpacked, and boy, is it cold here! San Antonio sunshine sure spoiled us. We've had lots of adventures, and consequently I have much to report, but until I get my Brooklyn bearings back (and my pictures uploaded), I'll have to request a little more patience. Stay tuned, though. I'll be back in force before you know it.