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I Know I'm Slow

If it makes anyone feel any better about my negligence to this blog, I apparently didn't know we had moved on into January because I have been telling people that Koa is 21 months old all month.  It just dawned on me today that if his birthday is coming up in March he probably isn't really still 21 months old.  Ooops! 

We started out the new year at some friends' house with a fondue party, dipping anything we could find in cheese or chocolate!  We have been in Hawaii for seven years now, and I still am in awe of just how over the top people go with fire works for the New Year celebration.  Normal households will buy professional fireworks and set them off on their front lawn or driveway or wherever they deem necessary.  When we drive down the neighborhood streets for about four hours prior to midnight (and a while after) it is like a war zone!  Poor Koa thought he was at war.  It scared him pretty bad.  Once we got in the house and he realized that the rest of us were not concerned about all the noise he calmed down and enjoyed the party along with everyone else.

We have had a very busy January so far.  Zak has been dedicated to filling out grad school applications like a mad man.  You would think he hasn't finished school at all since he still spends most of his time in front of the computer.  He has finished three of the applications.  The first one, Harvard Divinity School, was due January 11, so he got busy pretty much as soon as we got back from the Big Island getting references and writing essays.  Then he finished Yale Divinity School, Cincinnati Bible Seminary, Pepperdine University and just tonight, Oxford University.  He still has Multnomah Biblical Seminary left to finish, so I think he is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

We also kicked off our Malama Groups right after the first of the year.  So far the first two meetings have gone really well and we've seen God working through them.  Most impressive so far has been the number of people attending groups who barely attend regular services.  While we prayed for our Malama Groups to eventually grow our congregation's attendance, we didn't expect it to happen so soon!  So,   hopefully folks will continue to come, get to know one another better, and be an example to each other and our community of what being a Christian is all about.  This next weekend the group that Zak and I are leading will be meeting in our house!  Very exciting stuff!

We also had our Christmas gift exchange with friends this past weekend (we always do it after the holidays so we don't have to try to plan around traveling schedules and this year it got pushed back quite a bit).  Since we don't get a lot of cold weather here (don't hate me for saying this) we turned the AC up and everyone wore cold weather clothes and we had cold weather food and drinks.  I made my new favorite thing, spicy hot chocolate.  This year instead of a cap on our gift price we decided to do an exact amount you had to spend.  We drew the numbers out of a hat (or some sort of receptacle) and came up with $15.68.  Only two people didn't hit the number they were given and one of them was just being rebellious.  We were not allowed to give money or just purchase a gift certificate for the exact amount.  It was quite entertaining to see what lengths people went to in order to stick to the rules.

One of the things I've been working on since the first of the year is more research concerning vaccinations.  For those who don't remember the first time we wrestled with this the final decision was to wait until Koa was two and then reevaluate and decide if there were any vaccinations we would like to get at that time.  For anyone who might be interested in this topic I highly recommend a well-written book by Aviva Jill Romm--Vaccinations:  A Thoughtful Parent's Guide.  It's not an easy read as far as I am concerned because it presents so much information in a short time and it is very scientific.  As much as I like to know the science behind it, the plain truth is I am not a scientist, so it requires a lot of re-reading for me to take in all of the information.  I am enjoying it though.  I just don't get much time to sit and read it.

Koa is getting more and more active all the time.  Initially I did not think this was possible!  He has always been an active, highly motivated child, so I thought he would just maintain that.  However the last couple of days especially I have wondered if he is sneaking caffeine tablets or something.  I have contemplated putting a stamp on his Hieny and shipping him off to the grandparents or something, but I'm afraid he would just come back with "RETURN TO SENDER" stamped on his face!  Tonight Zak took him on a walk after dinner in hopes of using up some of the energy and I actually got a moment to myself in the house.  It was really kind of nice.  I was trying to think if that has happened at all in the past two years.  I think this might have been a first!

Another thing I have just started and am really excited about is a ladies Bible study on Daniel that we are doing on Tuesday nights.  The ladies have done several studies together over the past several years, but I haven't been able to attend as regularly as I would like because of logistics.  Now that Zak is done with school for a while I am hoping I will get to become a regular.  I have been "reading" Daniel over and over when I am driving with my new Bible on CD that Hunt and Myrna got us for Christmas.  I really like it!  I enjoy listening to scripture like that where it is just read as a complete story.  I especially like having the Old Testament read because I get different things from the story when I am not having to pronounce the names in my head.

I'll stop there for now, not because I'm out of material, but because I'll spare everyone (myself included) from reading another marathon post.  Stay tuned for further posts on Koa's happenings, Malama Groups, Zak's grad school applications, vaccinations research, and whatever else happens in the weeks ahead.

Aahhhh, Monday...

What a week this last one was!  We had near hurricane force winds (around 60 mph) blow through here on Tuesday night and we spent the rest of the week recovering from that.  We had no electricity for two days last week--one for no apparent reason and one from the storm.  There were trees torn out of the ground, terrible traffic woes, flooding, high surf, and 18 power poles knocked down on the leeward side of the island.  It was a little crazy around here to say the least.  I wasn't feeling well for a couple of the days, so Koa and I mostly stayed home to ride it out.  Zak had to work and was teaching a class so he couldn't stay home.  Fortunately his building had power, so he showered there in the morning.

Zak had two of his three finals of this semester a couple days ago.  On Friday he finished Ethics in Leadership and on Saturday he finished Philosophy of Religion.  He is now one final away from having his bachelor's degree complete!  He doesn't officially graduate until March, but he will be done with classes on December 15th!  Yea!!

Zak also wrapped up our Malama Group Leadership Training yesterday, so we had a little celebration with ice cream and brownies at our final meeting.  It was rather emotional for some folks, and I think the nervousness about this whole thing is starting to set in with most of us!  We'll have our first group meetings the week of January 6th, so we have about a month to get ready.

Yesterday seemed like a culmination of the rest of the week as we rushed around to get last minute things done and nothing went smoothly!  It was a day of Murphy's law, I think.  Everything went wrong from a broken copy machine at the church to running in the commissary for a couple of things and having someone set off an alarm, so I was stuck there while they did a "thorough investigation."  Of course it was my idea to go to the Hickam commissary because I thought it would be quicker!  That was how our whole day went.  By the time we got home we felt like we had participated in the Honolulu Marathon along with several of our friends.  Fortunately we have fewer blisters to show for it today.  I think we have mostly recovered.

Koa was happy to begin the week with mow-mow day.  That is what he calls the lawn mower (or any other small engine he hears).  He spends most of his Monday mornings dashing back and forth from his step in the window of our bedroom to the step stool that I usually set out on the lanai for him.  As the mower leaves one area Koa runs to the other area to try to catch a glimpse!  He can't get enough of it!

In addition to all the madness this week an important evolution has taken place at our house.  Koa has moved on to slippas (flip flops) without the additional strap to hold them on his feet.  Prior to this week if we even so much as thought about putting a strapless slipper on his foot he would have a meltdown right there in front of the house and refuse to take another step until the offending shoe had been removed!  However, this week he decided he wanted to try wearing his shoes around the house sans strap (usually shoes stay outside at our house), so I let him try it.  Eventually I went to him with the scissors and chopped off the extra strap.  From that day forth he has been sans straps.  He's still learning the art of clenching with his toes to keep them on when we pick him up or he is sitting in a chair without his feet touching, but he is catching on very quickly.  I must say, I don't know if I have ever seen a prouder Zak!

Along with the big-boy shoes apparently comes imagination.  He has really started to use his anyway.  For a while he has done things like pretend he has food in his mouth when there is no food in the vicinity just to get a reaction out of me because I always think he has stuck a rock in his mouth or something.  Sometimes he will take my pack of gum and mess with it and then pretend he is chewing gum.  Well, today he decided Daddy was in the computer desk and he would get me to open the little door to the tower for him (because the magnet is too strong for him to open without a handle) and he would yell inside, "Hi, Dada!" and shut the door real quick.  Then he wanted me to do it, too.  So, we took turns saying, "Hi, Dada!" and "Bye, Dada!" into the computer desk and he thought this was great fun.  For the rest of the morning anytime he closed a door in the rest of the house he would pretend that Dada was on the other side.

I think he is also getting the concept of sharing a little bit.  I'm sure we're not home free, but there have been some good steps made this week, I think.  When he goes to the potty I still give him one chocolate chip for going without a fuss and one if he tells me he needs to go.  So, when we get out the candy container I tell him if he gets one or two.  (If he only gets one he tries to plead his case by holding up four fingers and saying, "Two?")  Well, one day this week he got two, so he very carefully reached in and got out the first one and put it in his mouth.  Then he reached in and got the second one, looked at it and offered it to me.  I thought it was so sweet and I let him know that it was very nice and told him "thank you."  Then he prompted me to open my mouth because he wanted to see it.  I had already started to chew it and I put the remainder on my tongue for him to see and he exclaimed, "Oh, it's a mess!"  It's so funny when he does stuff like that because most of our communication is done in one word sentences.  So, when he makes a statement like that it always catches me off guard.  Since that day he has shared his candy with both Zak and me, and twice it has been when he only got one candy.

He's also learning a lot more about language through his signs.  One day this week he had been drawing on an envelope from a card we had received and he brought it to me and I looked at it and said, "What is this?" and he gave me the sign for "surprise!"  I would never have even thought to teach him that sign, but he learned it on Signing Time.

I absolutely adore those videos.  I never thought I would say that about a children's video series.  However one day this week he asked to watch them and Zak said, "No, how 'bout you go get a book?"  Normally that statement would have been met with much rejoicing and running to get a whole stack of books, but this time he just got kind of sad and never would go get us a book.  That happened a couple of times so we decided the videos needed to go back to the library for a while.  They were due anyway, but normally I would have checked out some more or at least renew some of the same ones.  This time however we left empty handed.  We still work on all the signs and he still uses them very well, but we figured a break from the videos was a healthy thing.  Even though the videos are educational, Zak and I don't want to raise a child with the TV.  Ya know, I don't think I have woken up with "The Silly Pizza Song" in my head once since then!

We get to wrap up this week with another vacation to the Big Island (this will be our 4th!).  We are celebrating the end of Zak's BA in Religion and using this as our family Christmas gift to each other.  We get to stay on Kilauea Military Camp which is a very nice area and it gets nice and chilly there during the winters, so we can indulge in hot cocoa and fires in the fireplace without sweating while we do!  They have been having blizzards over on Mauna Kea and got a foot of snow a couple of days ago, so we may actually get to see some snow while we are there!  Then we can go to the beach when we get tired of the cold!  That's the beauty of Hawaii!! 

Brave Or Just Crazy? You Decide

So, today I decided it was time for a second haircut.  I had recently mentioned to Zak that I thought I would take Koa to one of those kid's haircut places and he mocked me.  Yes, mocked!  He thought it was silly that I do everything else "from scratch" so to speak, but I wouldn't cut his hair myself.  He reminded me that he is a year and a half old and would not care what his hair looked like.  So, bravely, I put it off.  But this morning I decided something needed to be done.  So, I called my sister (who used to be a hairdresser and who cut Koa's hair the first time) to ask for pointers.  She is camping in the mountains this weekend and couldn't be reached.  So, I consulted the Internet.  I found this article.  I decided to cut it anyway.  There are some before and after pictures in Koa's nineteen month photo album for you to critique. 

His hair is not the only thing that has been growing like crazy lately.  His vocabulary is doing it's thing, too.  I'm not terribly surprised, but he is quite a talker!  His favorite words right now:  wash, bash (a combination of bath and wash), It's stuck!, Why?, and I don't know.  I thought the "why" thing was supposed to come much later, but he has gotten a head-start on that apparently.  It's usually in response to doing something he wasn't supposed to do.  He no longer yells, "No, no, no." when he does something naughty.  Now he looks at the result (or hands it to me) and says, "Why?"  Then he replies to himself with, "I dunno."

After much debate in our house we decided to get some videos for Koa.  We are not so anti TV that we keep it off when he is in the room, but we have never encouraged him to watch it by playing kid's shows.  Until very recently he has not cared at all when the TV is on.  So, I went to the library and got some Signing Time videos.  It is a program they show on PBS, but here it comes on Saturdays in the middle of the day, so there is no way I ever think to stop and watch it.  He seems to like them OK.  He still won't sit still through an entire one, but I'm perfectly fine with that.  They have books that coincide with the videos and actually he likes the books more.  We have watched each of three videos once, but he likes to look at the books pretty much every day and he is starting to pick up on a few new signs.  He now knows bath, ball, milk and help, in addition to all the ones he already uses regularly.

The other TV program he likes is Wheel of Fortune.  I always like to watch that in the evening while I am making dinner and as soon as Koa hears it, he comes running into the room.  One night I started making dinner, but it was too early for The Wheel and the TV was off.  Koa went and got the remote and brought it to me!  The funny thing is I think he kind of gets it a little bit.  He always throws out his guesses which is usually an "M", but the other night he guessed "S".  I'm kind of embarrassed that I am encouraging him to watch TV, but I guess it could be The Bachelor or something!  Mostly we think he loves clapping with Vanna every few seconds.

Along with all of the new developmental things, we have been dealing with new attitude problems.  I guess they aren't exactly new, but rather a slow-growing problem.  He has been whining a lot more and has been "talking back" a lot when I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do--which means high pitched screaming some of the time.  So, we started our own form of "time out".  We have a corner by the door where he has to go and stand (facing in or out, but it has to be in the corner) as soon as he starts to talk naughty.  He is allowed to cry or scream as long as he wants in the corner, but he is not allowed to come out until he can tell us, "Yes" he is ready to have a good attitude and he has to show us his smile.  He really hates this...  The first couple of times there was much screaming and gnashing of teeth (like 15 minutes at a time), and if he thought Dad might show mercy and rescue him, it was even worse.  But once he realized no one was going to rescue him (via the screams), he has figured out he really can have a good attitude pretty quickly.  The first few days we had to employ the technique several times a day, sometimes in rapid succession.  However, now it is usually once a day or less and life is so much more pleasant without the whining and back talk!

We decided for Halloween Koa would be a Colorado Rockies baseball player (Go Rockies!) so my sister sent him a jersey since we couldn't find anything out here and I ordered a hat for him on-line.  Yesterday I went and bought him a ball and glove.  He loved it!  He wears the glove as a hat and throws the ball like a wild man!  The glove is pretty big but I just could not resist!  Well, I just went to the mail box and got the jersey and it is a basketball jersey with the Rockies logo!  So, maybe I will get him a basketball now.  Like he needs another ball!  At any rate, I think it was probably time for him to have a ball and glove. 

Speaking of the Rockies--Wooo Hooo!  It's about time they made it to the Series!  Now let's hope their home games go a little better then their first two in Boston!  I've never been much of a baseball fan--it's just too slow for me--but I am being converted.  We even went to a Hawaii Winter Baseball game the other night.  HWB is sort of like Minor League baseball, but the players come during their off-seasons to Hawaii to continue working on their skills and get scouted by teams.  Most players in HWB are already signed and are just working their ways through the farm systems.  Koa ate his first hot dog (which I am still lamenting) because Zak insisted that is part of the baseball experience (but, to Zak's chagrin, there were no boiled peanuts, sausage dogs, garlic fries, or Cracker Jacks ).  That was a lucky night for us -Zak's class got canceled because his professor was sick, so we took advantage of a rare Friday night off and enjoyed some family time.

Speaking of school, last week Zak finished his last big paper (An Exegesis on the Lord's Prayer) for the class that he considers the hardest of this semester (Biblical Interpretation).  He will officially finish the class next Friday, but he is mostly finished already.  So, he's pretty much down to three classes left until December 15th when he's all pau!  Today he already went to class, so we have the afternoon to play.  We're going to go to the pumpkin patch and pick us a pumpkin before Zak locks himself away again for the evening (he needs to prepare his lesson for our Malama Group meeting tomorrow).

The Lion Sleeps (Soundly) Tonight

What a full weekend!!  Zak started his philosophy class this weekend.  It is an interim semester class so it is condensed into two weeks.  It is his first class where he actually goes to a classroom to take it.  It was kind of funny to send him off to his first day of school during his last semester of college!  Friday was his first day and he had class from 5 to 10 PM.  I had a girls night out slumber party that I was going to as part of the "Chanda Goodbye Tour."  So, I took Koa with me to that and then Zak picked him up after he got out of class.  Then on Saturday morning he had class again at 10 AM, so he brought Koa back to me since the girls were having breakfast together, and he had class until 2 PM. 

Saturday afternoon Zak did homework and I did some chores around the house and then we headed out to dinner at Sarento's to continue the "Chanda Goodbye Tour."  We had a lovely evening in this small private room with a beautiful view of the city and Waikiki beach.  The best part, however, was the company.  What a neat group of friends we have!

This morning we got up and headed to church and then right after church we drove downtown to see the off-Broadway production of "The Lion King".  It was excellent!!  We have had tickets for several months now, so it has been much anticipated, but it was way better than I expected it to be.  I've seen pictures of the characters and the sets and all of that, but it was so cool to see just how they executed all of it!  It's been a very long time since I've seen a big production like that and I'm sure my perspective is very different than it was years ago, but I think this was my favorite play I've ever seen.  One of my favorite things about it was just how involved the audience was.  There was a lot of cheering and whistling and such like that I have never experienced in a theater before.  It was really cool!

We really wanted to take Koa with us, but in the end we decided not to and it was a good decision, I think.  As much as he loves music we thought he might really get into it, but since he doesn't even watch TV yet, I think it would have been too loud and over-stimulating for him.  I look forward to taking him sometime when he's older, though.

Koa's Auntie Jessi graciously agreed to keep him today while we went to the play and they went to the park for a picnic and games to continue the "Chanda Goodbye Tour."  As they were getting ready to leave the church building Jessi asked him if he was ready to go and he said, "yes" and headed to the car.  She asked him if he wanted to say bye to his parents and he waved in our general direction without even looking at us and kept on walking! 

After the play we headed back to the church building to continue our second week of Malama Group training.  Zak is doing a really great job with that and we are making baby steps towards starting our groups.  It's getting pretty exciting!!  He has set up a website for our leaders and anyone else interested.  You can check it out by going here.

When we were done with that it was a couple steps from the classroom to the auditorium for evening services.  We walked in and sat down with Auntie Jessi and Koa and he acted like we weren't even there.  He was just sitting there eating a snack an having a drink like such a big kid and didn't even acknowledge us for about 10 minutes.  I guess he was showing us just how independent he is!  It was pretty funny.  Jessi said he had a great day and only asked for us a couple of times, but never acted like he was upset that we weren't around.

After church this evening they still had a bunch of food left over from the picnic, so everyone was invited to the Aloha Room to have dinner together and fellowship some more.  After that we headed home and we are pooped!!  Koa was fast asleep about the moment his head hit the bed and I hope to be in the same boat here in a few minutes!  Zak will probably be up doing homework until the middle of the night again!

What a Flop

Well, I wanted to have pictures and a great report about how fun our game night was last Sunday, but to tell the truth it was not really all that fun as far as game nights go.  (So, I posted a picture from Zak's birthday celebration which was a good time!)  We played the Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud board games and they were really quite bad.  Bible Jeopardy was fun, but a little difficult to execute with teams and no buzzers.  One of our friends just made that one up.  It was still a good time to be with friends and the food was good, but I don't recommend those games--not for a group, anyway.

I got to try out Grandma's apple pie recipe for the first time.  Unfortunately the recipe was written with measurements, and I don't think Grandma ever used measurements, so they weren't very accurate.  The crust came out great, but the apples ended up a little too sweet.  I guess if you're going to err on something with apple pie sweetness isn't the worst thing.  On Wednesday we had a couple of folks to whom I wanted to take some meals, so I decided to try again.  I think the second one turned out better.  Of course, it's still not as good as Grandma's, but I'd say it turned out pretty good.  I've also been making her chicken noodle soup (with homemade noodles) for a while now (I attempted it for the first time last time we had food-from-your-childhood night) and I think I've just about got it down.  Of course, by now the only thing that is the same is the noodles because I cook just like Grandma did--no measurements and I morph the recipe a little every time I make it.  It's so fun to have food that we ate growing up so I keep trying to add new recipes into my repertoire. 

Koa has now started to hide when we play hide-and-seek.  However, after he hides he doesn't have the patience to let us find him.  He will hide and almost immediately reveal his position (by giggling and running out of the place of hiding)--especially if we say, "Where's Koa?"  He usually hides in the same places we have hid previously.  I don't know where he gets his love for games...

He's getting pretty close to actually jumping now.  I think he must watch us very closely when we are doing jumping exercises at Stroller Strides because he has perfect form and uses his arms and everything.  He will put all this preparation and effort into the jump and only end up on his tip-toes or with one foot off the ground.  It's pretty hilarious.  He also loves playing on my BOSU ball and has very good balance on it.  You can see him playing on it in Update Sixty-One.  There are also two other videos, Updates Sixty-Two and Sixty-Three.

I forgot to mention in the last post that Koa also says "Hazah!" and "ahh-ha!"  I'm not sure if those count as words, but they are pretty fun to hear!

One more funny thing.  Today we were at Borders shopping for a friend.  Since I knew Koa would want to touch ALL of the books, I brought along a couple of his so he would have one to touch at all times and would be less tempted.  I was right, the minute we walked in the door he started in with the oooohs and aaaah's and he had to touch, touch, touch.  So, I gave him one of his books and that seemed to satisfy him--until he saw a lady seated on a very low stool.  He walked over, handed her the book and sat down in front of her and proceeded to let her read the whole thing to him and when he knew it was coming to an end he turned the pages back to the middle of the book.  She was so nice to sit there and read to him (one and a half times).  You'd think he never gets any attention at home!

Now for the non-Koa news.  Zak is in between semesters until Monday, so hopefully we will get to hang out and relax as a family tomorrow.  Maybe we will go to the beach!  Zak completed his three classes last week and finished with two A's and a B.  However, he may have gotten the break of a lifetime!  He had an A in his Preaching class until the last week of his semester when he didn't turn in an assignment because he was working on assignments for his other two classes.  But the professor made a mistake and gave him credit for turning it in, thus gave Zak an A for his final grade in the class.  When this mistake was discovered, the professor took the lost points back which dropped Zak's final down to a B.  However, the new B grade hasn't been updated in Zak's official transcript yet (it still says he got an A), and on Friday Zak applied to have his transcript sent to Thomas Edison State College since that's where he's getting his degree from.  So, it's possible that even though Zak technically finished with two A's and a B, the official transcript sent to TESC might still say he got straight A's!  We'll know for sure when his transcript arrives at TESC and they post his grades in his degree plan.

As far as Zak's scholastic future goes, it's pretty crazy.  His goal is to finish his BS by the New Year because Navy Chaplain applications are accepted annually in the spring, so he needs to be done with his degree by then.  So, to fit his remaining 5 classes into the next 4 months, he's going to take classes through multiple schools.  Zak's taking Biblical Interpretation with WBU starting on Monday.  Then he starts an interim semester (only 10 days long) Intro to Philosophy class in mid-September with Chaminade University.  Then on October 1st he starts English Composition and Reading (a prerequisite for a class he needs later on) with WBU, Introduction to Islam with TESC, and Foundations of Christian Theology with Chaminade.  Yes, that's 4 classes from 3 different schools at the same time!  Then in mid-December after 3 of those classes are over, Zak will start an interim semester Sociology and Philosophy of Religion class with Chaminade (that's the class he needed the English prerequisite for).  So technically all this will get him his remaining 5 classes by the end of the year - as long as it doesn't kill him!

Currently (while in between semesters) Zak is working on finding Malama Group (small group) leaders and getting the training started for them.  He's recruiting until the beginning of September.  Then throughout the month of September he'll conduct leadership training.  Then, God willing, our church family will begin our Malama Groups the first Sunday in October.  I'm getting pretty excited for them to get started!  Please pray not only for Zak, but for our church body as a whole as we enter this exciting yet nerve-wrecking time!

Let's Try This Again

The last time I tried to write a post something went haywire with our internet and when I tried to save it I lost everything.  It was late and I was frustrated, so I just went to bed.  This time I will practice good computer "technique" and save often...

Boy there are lots of updates--especially on the boy, so we will start with him.  He is now sleeping soundly in his big boy bed which is no longer on the floor (the mattress), but back on the bed frame.  So, I guess we have made that transition.  He's only fallen out of bed once out of all the daily naps and night-time sleeps over the past month or so!  However, with new developments come new freedoms.  He is a little more difficult to put to bed.  The child who used to jump at the chance to put on PJ's and get in bed now writhes in pain at the thought of it.  Maybe that's a little extreme, but he is learning to use his manipulation techniques to delay the process.  One more book, one more hug, kiss the teddy bear, drink please...any parent knows the routine, I'm sure.  We try to be strong, but sometimes we, too, want to read on more book and get one more hug, etc.  Eventually he goes to bed, but that usually isn't the last of him we will see.  He is known to frequently appear as if out of nowhere, blanket in hand, with a huge grin on his face ready to face the day again.  We scold him and put him back to bed.  It does not matter how much trouble he gets into he will be back in no time (just barely suppressing a giggle).  One night he tried to be sneaky and just stand right inside his door just to listen to what was going on in the other room.  Unfortunately for him, his sneakiness was sabotaged by a bad case of the hiccups!  It was really hard not to laugh as we put him back to bed.  Lately if he doesn't go right to sleep we close his door for a while.  He doesn't always like it, but he goes to sleep in just a few minutes when he's not distracted by what he might be missing.

He is getting better and better at communicating and all those months of teaching him sign language have started to pay off.  We were pretty sure he knew exactly how to do all of the signs we had taught him (especially since he was an expert when he thought it might get him chocolate), but it became quite clear when he suddenly started using all of his signs on the same day.  I guess he was just storing them up until he was proficient.  He now says, (in sign) more, please, thank you, all done, potty, food, drink, and he has started using some of them in compound.  Here is a website with an American Sign Language dictionary if you want to see what the signs look like.  Some of them are his own version of the real sign.  For instance "please" is supposed to be your right hand over your heart making a circle but when he does it it looks like a full body massage and he scrunches up his face in this adorable smile.  Of course as soon as I try to show that to someone, he does it exactly like it's supposed to be done.  What a little nut!

The sign language has really helped cut down on the whining and he seems really proud of himself when he can tell us exactly what he wants.  He still whines sometimes when he is trying to get our attention, but we have been working on having him say, "Mama" or "Dada" and then give us the sign for whatever it is he wants.  That is helping a lot, too, but he has to be reminded quite a bit, still.   

Koa has been saying "Dada" for quite a while, but he has just recently started using "Mama" regularly.  He is also picking up new words almost daily.  I'm not sure I can even list them all but some of his latest are thank you, Bible, nut, rubbish, duck, dog and stack.  The other day we were looking at his board book Bible together and we got to the story of baby Jesus and he started singing his version of Jesus Loves Me.  He continues to love to sing and lead singing and any chance he has a free arm.

He also continues to love to read.  His favorite books right now are "Rattletrap Car" by Phillis Root and "From Head to Toe" by Eric Carl.  We have to read each of them several times a day.  Well, at least half way through.  We never quite make it to the lake in "Rattletrap Car", but he still insists on reading the first half multiple times.

In other news...(this is where you stop reading, grandparents :) Zak finishes up his college semester tomorrow.  He is writing his last final exam as I type this.  He will have a short break between semesters in which he can work on small groups for our church family and then he starts the madness all over again.  He has just five classes left, but those are proving to be the hardest--not because they are all upper division and the subject matter is challenging--he is having a hard time just getting signed up for the right ones at the right time.  He is getting his degree on-line from Thomas Edison State College, but they don't offer all the classes he needs to complete the degree!  How crazy is that!?  So he has already been taking classes at Wayland Baptist University to try to fulfill the requirements.  Well, he needs one certain class that they don't offer, either.  So, now he is enrolled in yet another college, Chaminade University, to fulfill that credit.  Unfortunately in order to do that he needs a certain prerequisite that they don't offer in time for him to take it (the prerequisite) and take the course he needs!  What a hassle!  I guess there are still some bugs to work out with on-line degree programs.  The whole system has served him well until now.  The saga continues...

Zak did get to take a little time out from the madness for his birthday.  We had lasagna and tiramisu at home on his actual birthday and then on the following Saturday we went out to dinner with friends to 3660 On the Rise.  We started out with a group of 15, but two couples had to cancel.  We still ended up getting the private room they had reserved for us which made for a lovely evening of fellowship.  The food was an 8 out of 10 according to Zak.  Boy, he is becoming a food snob, isn't he?

We get to have our monthly game night this Sunday night with some of our closest friends.  This month's theme is "game shows and food from our childhood."  I will be attempting to make Grandma's Apple Pie and Zak will be making his No Yolk noodles, just like mom used to make on the Trail of Tears!  (Regina, Zak added that and wouldn't let me delete it!)  I need to go shop for the Wheel of Fortune game that we offered to bring before we realized we had trashed it when we moved.  Oops!  The other games will be Family Feud and Bible Jeopardy.  It promises to be a fun time as usual!