happy new year's eve

We're in Utah now, chillin' at my parents' place. Juma was concerned he'd be too shy to his grandparents, but he warmed up quickly and talks to them animatedly. Just now, he volunteered to Grandma that the Grinch doesn't like Christmas. But then he liked it.

We'll be heading to Salt Lake's first night tonight to see the Matt Lewis Band and to party in the new year.

Happy 2006!

and then he said

Juma's feeling much better, just in time for Christmas morning.

Just now, he asked for something to drink. We've been giving him pedialite (electrolyte solution). But since he's feeling better, I offered him plain water.

He said, "No. That rinses out my salt."

Merry Christmas! And Christmas gift!

(Do I have any Jewish friends reading the blog? If so, Happy Hanukkah, in a few minutes.)

Juma got a Buzz Lightyear warm-up suit, very 1970's retro looking. He also has longish hair, which is unusual for him. A kind of retro '70's look. So he's lounging on the couch, his hair long and unkempt (and unwashed as long as we've been on vacaction), the jacket of his warm-up suit unzipped, no shirt on underneath. All he needs is a thick gold chain to complete the picture.

What have we done?

Juma said:

When am I going to get better?

Disneyland's "Code 3"

We make the trek down to Los Angeles and went to Disneyland yesterday. It was fun--for the hour and a half up until Juma got sick.

All over the floor in the line for Autopia.

The call went out among the employees, "We have a Code 3 in the Autopia line," as Justin and I took Juma out of the park and back to the hotel to get cleaned up.

He didn't improve during the day, so he never made it back to Disneyland. Justin, ever the diligent father, stayed with him. Today he decided to throw up again right in the middle of "Christmas Adam" dinner (but not on dinner, luckily).

He hasn't kept much down other than some pedialite.

So when does the vacation start?

sunny California

Well, okay, not sunny. But it's warmer than Connecticut.

After 14 hours of travel, and accidentally leaving my glasses and contacts case on a plane in Chicago, we've arrived in Merced.

Ah, vacation.

the pretend lasso and the incredulous kid

When I was a kid, and my parents went out, they would often leave the older kids to watch the younger kids. More often the not, the toddler-age kid would miss Mom and Dad very-extremely-much, and cry and whine for their swift return. To help out, one of the older kids (Rus, was it?) invented the lasso game.

We would throw an imaginary lasso out the window and down the street as far as we could, in hopes that it would catch Mom and Dad's car and pull it home. A toddler could be preoccupied for a full three minutes of precious whine-free time while she pulled that rope back into the house. If the pulling produced no car, we told her the lasso must have missed, and we threw it out again. Eventually, Mom and Dad came home, or she went back to crying.

This morning while Juma and I were waiting in the cold for the bus to take him to school and me to work, I tried the lasso game to catch the bus and bring it faster. Luckily, the bus came into view down the street as soon as I threw out the lasso, but I pulled and pulled that rope anyway, saying, "Look, Juma, it's working! I'm pulling the bus!"

To which he answered, "No you're not! It's driving. See, a driver!?!?"

Juma wants to type now:

juiyrehvgfdjuyr
yyyyyyyyytewsafgjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhu
uu
cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
ccccccccccccccccccccccc

"I want my unicorn" and the horrible night's sleep

After going to bed two hours late because we had dinner at some friends' house, Juma woke up at 4:30 in the morning demanding his unicorn.

Which doesn't exist.

We didn't even know he knew the word unicorn; he certainly doesn't have a toy one. It turns out he needed to go to the bathroom (at least he didn't go in his pull-ups), but he wasn't able to sleep after that. He wanted everything from a toy ("No, not that one!") to a snack ("I don't know which food I want!") to moving his bed back into his own room (but not to sleep on it) to his watch (so he could see if it was seven o'clock yet) to nothing at all (but crying pretty loudly about it).

That lasted two hours. I finally got him calmed down enough that I let him stay on the couch with his watch, waiting for the six to become a seven. He fell alseep there, and slept until nine. So did we.

On a happier note, we're hopping on the plane tomorrow to head to California! Just six more sleeps 'til Christmas. (And when am I going to shop?)

sick...again

Juma is sick once again. Some sort of cold or something. Eight children from his school stayed home sick yesterday. A cough keeps him (and Justin, mostly) up at night, and a mild fever keeps him from wanting to play much during the day.

The missed-school days and the waking up at night couldn't have come at a worse time: finals week. But the semseter will all be over for me by 11am tomorrow. Hallelujah.

Then I'll finally have some time to make some Christmas toffee and write some Christmas cards before heading out to the (relatively) warm weather of California.

But for now, it's back to studying.

whew!

I just got out of my biostats final. It went okay--except for what I'm really hoping was a majorly trick question. It didn't make sense at all. Oh well. Just one final to go! And considering today is the first official day of finals, I'm feeling pretty good about that.

I am slowly going crazy...

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 switch!

Slowly crazy I am going

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 switch!

Crazy going slowly am I

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 switch!

Am I slowgy crazy going

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 switch!


Okay, so I'm studying for my biostatistics final and needed a break before my head exploded. Bright and early 8am tomorrow I get to shuffle through Fisher's exact tests, Simpson's paradox, paired t-tests, and a bunch of Greek letters like alpha, beta, rho, and sigma, not to mention p-hat, x-bar, mu-of-i, and insignificantly small numbers like .0001 (which is highly significant in statistical terms!). Like I said...

Going I am crazy slowly...

remembering summer

Here are a couple of photos Ann sent us from our trip to Oregon this year. (Thanks Ann.) The first is of Juma and his cousin Rylee, the second is of Juma and me in a cave. As always, you can click on the pictures to see a larger version.





If you haven't checked them out yet, give a big welcome to Alisha and Lance and Patrick and Jody who have now joined us on the blogging bandwagon.

Oh, and someone please leave a comment! I've opened up the comments for everyone--you don't have to register anymore.

more snow

We decided to go sledding this morning for the first time this winter. Luckily we live right next to the Divinity School, which has a great hill. We hiked over and had a great time. Scroll down for some pictures of a perfect Sunday morning in December.

new videos up

We posted two new videos of Juma. One is of Juma dancing the night away, and the other of Juma playing with some hot wheels cars, sound effects and all.

Enjoy!

it's beginning to look a lot like...

We went to the lighting of the huge New Haven christmas tree on Wednesday. Juma went on a hayride and we enjoyed what will probably be the last mild evening of the year.

Here are some pictures:

way past their bedtime

Ever wonder what three-year-olds talk about at a sleep over?

Yeah, me neither, but it's pretty funny anyway. Here's a snatch of Juma and his friend Zachary's 45-minute conversation lying in bed.


Juma starts, Zachary is indented:

You lost your soccer ball? How could you DO that?

       A alligator ate it.

A alligator took it?

       No, it crushded (sic) it.

Oh.

       Like, [crushing noises] CRUSH! It goes in the water.

Crocodiles don't like mine. I have two soccer balls, small one and a big one. I don't have three. That's it. Why did you don't like Dasanya? [Lasagna]

       Because it's yucky for me.

It's not yucky for me.

       Michael [brother] plugged his nose and he ate it. He said, "Mommy,        I don't want Lasagna."

Just taste it. You'll like it!

       My mom said that.

it's birthday season again

Happy Birthday to all the November and December birthday people!

November:
Matt
Randall
Melissa
Patrick

December:
Jody
Grandma Hudson
Ryan
Tristan

(Can someone tell me when Cameron K.'s and Cody's birthdays are? I don't know. I don't mean to leave you guys out.)

developing a sense of humor

Juma is picking up pretty quickly how to tell jokes. This morning, between baking pecan pie and candied sweet potatoes, I told Juma "I'm going to jump in the shower really quick, then I'll come play with you."

He responded, "Don't forget to take your clothes off first!"

The other night I was doing homework, when in came Justin and Juma without their shirts, pounding their chests and yelling just like King Kong. They only lasted a few seconds before they broke down laughing and rushed off to get dressed again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope all our friends and family have a great Thanksgiving.

We had a great surprise this morning with our first real snow of the year. Juma and I went outside and played for hours.

too cool

parent-teacher conference

We attended our very first parent-teacher conference as parents. (I always thought I'd be a little bit older when that happened.) Juma is doing well in preschool. He doesn't get in fights or get bullied, he plays well with other kids and enjoys the activities. Only problem is that he's just so darn shy. (Gee, I wonder where he gets that from? Double whammy.)

He talks to the other kids just fine; it's talking to the teachers that gives him lockjaw. It wouldn't be a problem, really, if it didn't interfere with communicating needs and problems--going to the bathroom, help opening up his string cheese--but it does. (Again, sound familiar?)

But he is overcoming his determination to not talk to the teachers. He even tracks his progress at home with us. "I talked to Miss Reeny today!" or "I wasn't shy to the teachers today."

All-in-all, school had been really good to him. He's a really fun kid to have around.

I think we'll keep him.

depressing day

Sarah, Juma and I went to "The Game" today. We had high hopes for our Yale Bulldogs against the evil Harvard Crimson Tide, but it wasn't meant to be. In a very exciting, triple-overtime game Harvard came out on top.

It's a good thing I'm not the suicidal type, because our other team, BYU, also lost a heart-breaker in overtime against their arch-rivals, the hated Utes.

I'm done with football; as of tomorrow, I'm moving to Tibet to become a monk. A monk with no access to ESPN.

more silly things

While driving in the car tonight: Hey, the moon is following us!

Juma to our Siamese fighting fish, Nemo: Have a good Nemo-poop!
Sarah: Have a good Nemo-poop?!?
Juma: (casually) Yeah, fish poop all the time. (as if he was saying, Of course. What's so weird about that?)

While we were playing golf at a sports store: I'm good at golf! (thinking I might feel bad?) You're good at golf, too. (and he kissed me)

uguuhhhhhhhhhhhjuma

silly things

It's time for some more cute Juma-stories.

"I'm drinky!" means "I'm thirsty."
____________________
After Halloween trick-or-treating, we told Juma he can have one piece of candy per day. A couple days later, I was really busy and hoping to bribe him into a few minutes of quiet so I could get something done. "How about a piece of Halloween candy?" I said. (Bad Mom, bad Mom!)

He replied, "No, I already had one piece today!" (Good kid, good kid.)
____________________
Yesterday Juma took a late nap and woke up very cranky for dinner. We could barely get him to eat, and Justin decided to speed up his bedtime ritual by skipping the bath. Juma continued to be grumpy and just wanted to sleep.

But when Justin pulled out a new package of pull-ups (underwear-shaped diapers for bladder-control challenged nighttimes), Juma saw that none other than his hero Buzz Lightyear was on the pull-ups! He rushed into the living room to where I was, waving that pull-up around, screaming, "Look, Mom, look! Buzz Light-chear!"

He was at that moment the happiest kid in the world.

a day with Thomas the train

We went with Justin up the coast to Essex, CT, while he finished his scuba certification with an open-water dive. I figured there had to be something to do in Essex to entertain a three-year old for a few hours. As fate would have it, none other than Thomas the Train was in town giving rides to lucky litte kids.
Juma was thrilled to see a life-size Thomas and ride on a real train.
Unfortunately, Juma also developed a fever a couple hours into what was supposed to be a six-hour stay in Essex. So we cut our activities short and came home. Juma's fever reached almost 103, but we got it to come down. He's still stightly feverish, but feeling a lot better than yesterday.

Halloween highlights

Here are some bits of our Halloween.
Juma has worn a costume for all four Halloweens he has lived through, but he only remembers (and loves) the dinosaur costumes. Rrrooooaaarr!!!!

This is the first year we've carved a pumpkin with Juma. He wouldn't even touch the ooey-gooey-slimy insides.

















He specifically requested we carve a "scary face!"

the silly tree

Down the street a bit there's this great tree, dubbed The Silly Tree, whose branches grow down instead of up. The effect is this great shady dome underneath the leaves, and some great swing-like branches to sit on.

Santa Claus is coming to town...

We bought plane tickets for Christmas. We'll be in California December 20-28 and in Utah December 28-January 4.

We're looking forward to seeing everybody! (Too bad Rus & Kelly and Jody & Patrick won't be around. We miss you guys and all of Juma's cousins.)

It'll be nice to have a much-needed break from my first semester of school. It's really draining me.

movies to see

Avoiding homework tonight, I (Sarah) decided to surf the internet for soon-to-be-released movies I want to see. Check out their websites.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Pride and Prejudice

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

autumn in New England

Most of the trees here in southern Connecticut are still green, but there are a few gorgeous ones in brilliant shades of orange and red. Some seem to be on fire. Juma and I went on a nature walk to take some pictures so you can see a little piece of New England in the fall.
(Unfortunately the sky was not blue that day, so I couldn't get any great "the color of the sky when you look through the leaves of an oak tree in October in Connecticut." I'll try another day.)

Click on the pictures to see larger versions.

an email from Juma

Juma wrote me this email, with some assistance from Justin:

hhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyytttttttttttttttttttttttdddddddddddddddddd
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
vvvvvvvvvvvvvcccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
cccccccccccccccccccccccccccssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

Once upon a time, there was an ant.
suhdjckjhcgk .xhcx hkjhc hkj h jhchhjch jhjkhkh vkhlhlnbbbusaibobb
bubsobb8dyvbv v v
vvvbxxvvcdccccccccccdtrrkcdddddddrvtwttdwttvdwutvvvvvvvd
tckdckdtrckckdrkcrkrdkrkcrycryurcuyrytcdrtrerrr5yr5c6ccece5xsss
xe5ccehmkmhgfxdfnnmnxxnxnxz

midterms already?

This week has been a high-stress one for me. I turned in a 15-page group paper on Monday, I have a biostatistics test at 8am tomorrow, and an epidemiology test on Friday at 9am. I also turned in another paper and an assignment today. It all came crashing down at once.

The biostats is at least open-book, but for epi I have to remember things like the attributed risk percent in a population is prevalence minus relative risk minus one over prevalence minus relative risk minus one plus one, times 100%. Or some such garbley-gook. And that 40% of the mortality in the developing world is due to non-communicable diseases. Or is it communicable diseases? Hmm, I better get back to studying. It's all melting out my ear.

it's time for a picture

the story of the calapitter (caterpillar) who went slowly, slowly

Lean your chair back, close your eyes, and click here to let Juma tell you a bedtime story he came up with tonight.

October

Happy birthday to Dad Wilson and Anna this month!

Juma's been learning all sorts of stuff in school. Stuff like "That's not fair!" and "What the heck?!" And more conventional school-oriented terms like "cubby," "activity," "circle time," and "playground." He also has picked up some songs we've never heard before, like, "Johnny hammers with one hammer" and "Did you feed my horse? -Yes, ma'am."

He's also built more confidence, been sillier and happier, and has developed more social interaction skills. It's pretty amazing to see him develop and grow up (all of which would also be happening without school, of course, but it's fun to see him pick up on things that we never taught him).

take me out to the ball game

Welcome to October!

Juma-at-home is quite energetic, funny, silly, talkative, articulate, etc. Juma-at-school is quiet, shy, and reserved. His teachers tell me he whispers whenever he has to talk to them. (For roll call, he whispers "Here," and if they ask him something during circle time, he whispers his answer.)

So it was quite the suprise to his teachers when Juma, encouraged by one of his classmates, busted out the entire song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at the top of his lungs. He sang every word, and held up one-two-three fingers at the "One, two, three strikes you're out" line. He just stopped short of yelling "Play Ball!" at the end.

Sounds like Juma has his version of my three-year-old sing along "La! La! LAAAAA!" that suprised the missionaries so much. (For those of you who have never heard that story: When I was about a toddler, my mom was giving some missionaries a ride. I was a terribly shy kid, and would not open my mouth to let even a single syllable out no matter the young men's pleadings and teasings. They eventually gave up. But my favorite moment in a tape of sing along songs came on, and when the singer instructed, "Sing it soft: la, la, la. Sing it LOUD: LA, LA, LA!" I chimed in at the top of my lungs, "LA! LA! LAAAA!" The guys about fell out of their seats in shock.)

scuba update

I had my second scuba-diving class on Sunday. Let me tell you, they do not waste any time.

The instructors gave us all of the equipment--a huge tank of air, wetsuit, vest, breathing thingy, etc. We strapped it all on, together with fins, mask and snorkel, started breathing through the mouthpiece, and stepped off into a 14-foot pool.

It was like stepping off an 80-foot cliff.

I was sure I would sink to the bottom and kiss this sweet life goodbye, but, amazingly enough, I survived that first plunge. We spent the next hour and a half chilling on the bottom of the pool and practiced flooding our masks with water and then breathing air back into the mask again.

If you've never been scuba diving, you have to try this--it's like being able to fly. Now I understand why NASA does all of its spacewalk training underwater; you're completely weightless.

I have to admit that I did freak out once and scream to the surface when I got a big stream of water up my nose.

Did I mention that I sat on the bottom of the pool for an hour and a half??--it still blows my mind.

going to the dentist

Juma went to the dentist for the very first time today. He did just dandy--didn't cry or anything. At least, he told me he didn't cry. Justin was the one who took him. The dentist gave a good report: no cavities, and no problems with his teeth. Whew.

a pretend story

Juma likes to tell and be told what he calls pretend stories (made up stories as opposed to written-in-books stories). He's getting pretty practiced on his form. Here's the story from tonight's bedtime ritual.

Juma: Once upon a time there was a caterpillar named Juma. [aside] What was his name?
Sarah: Juma.
Juma: [to himself] Oh, yeah, that's a good name. This caterpillar met a worm. They played.

cut

Juma fell at school today and got a nasty cut on his forehead. I took him to the emergency room and they glued it together quite nicely. (In the picture, he's trying to pretend to cry for effect.) The cut is about an inch long, but he's doing just fine.

On a completely unrelated note, I went to my first scuba-diving class yesterday. Two hours of class work and another two hours in the pool left me completely exhausted. Can't wait to get that little card that says I can dive in Zanzibar!

orange juice and limits

The other day, I made some fresh carrot-orange-apple juice. Juma tried it and liked it.

I asked, "Can you taste the oranges in there?"
He replied, "No, the oranges are hiding. I just taste juice."

He's trying every tactic he can think of to stall going to school and for me to leave him at school. "I'm not ready to leave yet" is a popular line with him. Covering his mouth so I can't brush his teeth before school is another tactic. Then when we're finally at school, he'll say, "Just stay a few minutes...Stay a couple minutes...Stay a little bit longer."

Then he's completely fine and ready to play as soon as I leave. Testing the limits, you think?

school and more school

Well, I survived my first week and a half of school. That included my first homework assignment--in epidemiology (the measure and study of the spread of disease in humans). It's a little weird to be doing math problems and such things--I'm so used to homework being read a book, then talk about it in class. Very open-ended, qualitative, no rigth answers, just theories with enough information to back it up. One of my public health classes is like that.

This program, on the other hand, is very quantitative--statistics, surveys, concise, compact; we never read a whole book, just articles. Read this article, then do problems 6.3 6.7, 6.11. Quantitative people don't have time for whole books--the TAs actually have to prep some of the students on how to read qualitative articles for a couple of the classes, because they've never read them before.

So it's different for me. I keep sane by reading books at home, for fun. Not as much time for it as before, but I'll go insane without it.

no more Holocaust class

Well, I found out a few days ago that I have been switched out of the Holocaust class and will now be teaching two sections of a class called "History of Modern South Asia." In some ways it is a relief--teaching the Holocaust would have been really draining. But then I was looking forward to it, also. It seems like a subject where the students would be really excited to learn and understand.

The extent of my knowledge of India is the movie "Ghandi." This should be interesting--I'll keep you posted. I'll have to keep just ahead of the students by reading like crazy, but I'll still probably be saying "I'll get back to you on that question" a lot.

September birthdays!

September is another big month for birthdays for both the Wilsons and the Beckhams.

Sept 7 Happy Birthday Rylee
Sept 9 Happy Birthday Ammon
Sept 11 Happy Birthday Isaac
Sept 12 Happy Birthday Rick
Sept 24 Happy Birthday Lance

And Happy Anniversary to Lance and Alisha this month too!

goodnight kisses

Juma was trying to give Justin a good night kiss, but was laughing so hard he couldn't pucker up. He repeatedly settled down, puckered up, but then as he was moving closer, he would break into a giggle and have to start all over again.

baseball

I haven't posted for a long time--sorry. Good thing Sarah has been taking up the slack.

Today, Sarah, Juma and I went to another minor league baseball game to watch our New Haven County Cutters. It was an absolutely perfect day. Septembers here are simply amazing. Juma got another baseball from the mascot (Juma calls the mascot the "big blob thing") and we watched a good six innings of America's pastime.

Here's the big blob thing in action:

It was nice to take a break from the stresses of the first week of school and relax a little.

I will be teaching a class on the Holocaust this semester. I hope it won't be too emotionally draining, but given the subject matter, I will need to remember happy days like today if I want to smile....

school

School started for me and Justin, and it's a little crazy. We've had to juggle Juma between us and some babysitters, but he doesn't mind. I had four classes yesterday, and I have one today. So on my birthday I was gone from 8:30 to 4:00. Ugh. We were so tired by that time, we didn't do anything for my birthday. Maybe we'll go out this weekend.

Chef Juma

Juma decided to help Justin cook the other day. Reportedly, he made noodles, more noodles, bagel cheese, and more bagel cheese.

what's up with Sarah now?

(This post may be PG-13; reader discretion is advised.)

Today is the last day of working (a lot) on my job. I'll continue to work, but at very limited hours, something like two to five a week. I've been working at CIRA for almost a year (see link to the right).

When I first started here, I did transcriptions of life history interviews of women here in New Haven who had histories of drug use and sex work (pejoratively known as prostitutes). I've also done a large literature review on the topic (female drug-using sex workers). This population is interesting to my boss because these women are at double risk for HIV (and sometimes triple risk, if they also have drug-using and/or unfaithful partners).

I have learned a whole lot of stuff I'd have never learned otherwise about the subcultures where drug use and other high-risk behaviors are common. I've learned that these populations can rarely be "blamed" for their behavior. Yes, everyone makes their own decisions. But there are also enormous external pressures (from society, economics, culture, etc.), interpersonal pressures (e.g experiencing abuse from a relative or partner) and internal factors (e.g. mental impairment, depression) that affect people's abilities to make decisions, and especially, the range of choices available to them. Sometimes alcohol/drug use is the best of bad choices in a highly-constrained life, for example. Not that is doesn't hurt lives; it certainly can.

It all reminds me of the exceedingly privileged life I have had. Not only have I escaped physical, emotional, and sexual abuse (amazingly, considering the rates at which these occur in the US); escaped major injury and non-violent trauma; been raised with a loving family, and formed a new loving family; I've also been able to graduate from college (less than 1% of the world manages this), and now go to graduate school. Just like I can't blame drug-using sex workers for their hard lives, I can't laud my own abilities in accomplishing all that I have in my cushioned life. So much must be attributed to my society, culture, and those who have supported me in my dreams and endeavors (thanks, by the way).

Orientation starts Monday and school starts on Wednesday. This first semester will be very busy; I'm not sure yet excactly how busy, but every student I've talked to says it's pretty crazy. Most of the subjects will be new to me, such as biostatistics, epidemiology, toxicology. It's all a little more math and science than I'm used to--I prefer the qualitative side of research--but it'll be a good background to have.

school update

Juma did better on his second day of school. He cried for only a couple minutes, and didn't have an accident in his pants this time.

His feelings are a bit back-and-forth about it. He especially enjoys having a lunch box, a basketball-shaped ice pack, and a nalgene bottle for his milk. It makes him feel like a big boy to carry a lunch box around (see picture below). He's also happy about riding the bike down to school (he sits on the back of one of our bikes in a child seat), but when it's time to say goodbye to Mama or Baba, school is suddenly too scary. And I don't blame him; we did leave him with almost complete strangers on the first day. (We had visited the school before.)

Maybe tomorrow's school day will warm him up to it--they're having pizza for lunch. After that, Juma will have a week-and-a-half off, then start up 5-day school.

Juma's first day of school

Here are some cute pictures of Juma's first day of school.



We took Juma to his first day of preschool this morning. He's never been in formal childcare or school before, so it was an adjustment.


He was excited to go, but he cried for about ten minutes after we left. Watching a man prune the bushes out the window somehow distracted him enough to stop cyring, and he was fine the rest of the morning.



When we picked him after lunch, he smiled shyly, but happily, and gave me a big hug.



He had wet his pants and hadn't told anyone, but it was a good morning other than that. He goes back on Wednesday.

funny things Juma said

Juma said:

When putting on soccer shorts: "Soccer is my favorite sport!" (Aunt Andria will be proud.)

When trying to snatch Justin's credit card away from him: "Here's the rule: no pushing kids when they're trying to get credit cards."

When I was trying to convince him he's old enough to help clean up his room, I said, "You're not going to grow up thinking only women do housework!" He replied, "Yes, I'm am!"

When Justin came out of the shower one day (I was at work already), he discovered Juma laughing hysterically. Turns out Juma had poured himself his own glass of milk (found a used cup in his bedroom, opened the fridge, pulled the gallon of milk out of the fridge, poured it into a cup with minimal spillage, replaced the cap, and returned the gallon to the fridge, closed the fridge), and was so pleased with himself that he could do it, that he laughed himself into hysterics.

Out of the blue, "What is 'people'?" And 'persons'?"
I tried to explain, and pointed out that he is a person.
"No, I'm not a people! I'm a boy!"

is it still camping if we slept on an air mattress?

We just got back from a short camping trip in eastern Connecticut, near the border with Rhode Island. We were near a lake, so we enjoyed swimming, canoeing, and fishing (not that we caught anything, though I did get nibbled multiple times by some sun fish).

Our friends the Wests invited us, so we were in good company for the weekend. It was Juma's very first camping trip (no, Tanzania does not count), and he loved it. He was also very happy to be back to his house.

He starts school tomorrow--yikes! That means I better get to bed so I can wake up to take him.

birthdays

Birthday season has started in both the Beckham and Wilson families.

So...

Aug 17 Happy Birthday Cameron (sorry it's a little late!)
Aug 20 Happy Birthday Aidan
Aug 22 Happy Birthday Andria
Aug 23 Happy Birthday Ashli
Aug 29 Happy Birthday Ethan
Aug 31 Happy Birthday me ;)

And if I got someone's wrong, I'm going to be kicking myself.

blueberries for Juma

Juma and I went to a farm/orchard to pick blueberries this morning. Juma got his own little bucket to plunk, plunk! blueberries into and he had a great time.

It reminded me of the book Blueberries for Sal, except that Juma wasn't eating the blueberries out of the bucket, and there were no bears.

He was determined to make blueberry muffins when we got home (even though I had to run to work), and even more determined that his blueberries make it into the batter. So we dropped all his (20) blueberries into the batter and cooked them up.

I don't know how they turned out, since I popped them into the oven then ran to work. Maybe Justin and Juma can report.

Next: blueberry pancakes for breakfast and blueberry cheesecake for dessert. Mmm, mmm.

Juma makes major scientific breakthrough!

Juma: (to himself) They don't fall off!
Sarah: What don't fall off?
Juma: My feet don't fall off when I run!

News flash: calculator becomes an excavator

Juma saw me using a calculator for work and asked Justin if he could also play with an "affigator...a cacrilator ...cacridator ...caclidator ...elebator...excavator ...cakilator ...that thing that Mama's playing with!"

silly cousins

Rylee and Juma enjoyed some time together in California while they listened to Grandpa and Grandma tell stories from their childhoods.

great memory

Juma watched an episode of Blue's Clues yesterday. A cat lives next door to Blue, and loves to perform magic tricks. Last night Juma was reciting the magic words from the episode, "Hocus Pocus Crocus!"

"Oh, yeah," I said, "the cat did some magic tricks. What is that cat's name again?" None of us could remember. It was one of those times where you know it's going to bug you until you can remember. But it didn't; I forgot all about it.

Apparently it did bug Juma all night, because when Juma woke up this morning, the first thing he said to Justin was, "On Blue's Clues, the cat's name is Periwinkle!" Now how in the world did he remember a word like Periwinkle!?!

Right now, Justin's refreshing Juma's Swahili skills. It's great to hear that little tiny voice say, "Samaki; mbwa; mpira; ndiyo; chupi!" (fish; dog; ball; yes; underwear!)

thoughts on August & birthdays

It feels like we just stepped into August, but school is already creeping up on us. I was suprised to hear that Grandma Beckham (Vicki/Mom) started school today! As they say in Zanzibar, Pole sana (That's too bad/I'm sorry/I sympathize).

Juma will go to three days of school the week of the 22nd as a summer fun "warm up" for five day school, which starts after Labor Day. We start school on my birthday, yippee. At least I won't have to do homework that day. If I remember right, this is the 4th or 5th time school started on my birthday. And, of course, Justin's birthday was always during finals week when we were undergrads.

As for Juma's birthday--we've never been home. We were in California for his 1st and 3rd and in Zanzibar for his 2nd. His 4th will probably be in Zanzibar too.

Bo knows

In a whirlwird five minutes, Juma and Justin played every sport Juma knew how to play (until he lost interest). They played badmitton, golf, soccer, football, basketball, fencing, and volleyball. The hadn't made it to baseball yet when Juma had to try sprinting--to the bathroom.

Juma even tried Olympic diving, off the couch, to get a good bonk on the head. (He's fine.) Really, he was trying his skills at wide receiver (he even learned how to pronounce it) while on the couch, and the cushion gave way under him.

That very same cushion is now supporting his had as he sleeps, an hour before bedtime, exhausted from all that playing.

making progress

Juma is making good progress with his golf game and his intimidating faces. He carried his plastic "iron" around the entire city today taking swings at everything from aluminum cans to pigeons.

Click here or click on the picture above to see a video of Juma's new skill.

hole in one

We got Juma his first set of golf clubs. They're about 2 1/2 feet long and very flimsy plastic. I say they'll last about two weeks before they are all broken. But he loves them. It comes with a golf bag and six golf balls, too. He has a driver, a putter, and a iron.

Juma: Mama, you be the driver. I'll be the i-run.
Mama: The iron?
Juma: Yeah, the i-run. Golf with me!

It's been took hot and muggy to play outside, so we've been sticking with a miniature golf course in the living room. He hasn't quite got the swing down. He does more of a baseball type swing, and misses the ball 75% of the time. Though I think there a good number of dents in our wood floor by now.

"are we home in connecticut?"

We're back in Connecticut after a long day of driving, flying, and driving some more. Juma asked several times on the flight, "Are we in Connecticut yet?" It's funny to hear his little voice pronounce Connecticut.

When we were landing in New York City, Juma and I looked out the window and played "I spy." It went something like this:

Sarah: I spy with my little eye something blue.
Juma: Where?
Sarah: Over there, on the wing.
Juma: Oh, yeah! I see it. Okay, I spy with my little eye something...a tree! Over there. Do you see it, Mommy?

We had a great time visiting with the Beckhams in California. Juma and his cousin Rylee got along great (most of the time), and we loved getting to know everyone better. Thanks for letting us come stay!

more birthday pictures

Birthday guests (Justin's extended family)

Juma devouring a cupcake on his birthday.

click on the pictures

FYI, for all the pictures we've posted in the past couple weeks, as well as future picture posts, you can click on the picture to see a bigger version.

Tristan, Juma, and Rylee

Juma chillin' with his cousins Tristan (left) and Rylee (right) on the RV we drove from Oregon to California. Juma is trying his best to say "cheese!"

Happy Birthday, Juma!

We celebrated Juma's third birthday at Cousin Camp on the 22nd. He'd been requesting a basketball cake for months, so I did my best to make one. All his Beckham cousins were there, and most of Justin's Beal cousins too.

Juma was more interested in the basketball cupcake frosting than the presents, and we kept on having to take away the cupcake to get him to unwrap the next present.

aaahhh...vacation

We're back! Well, sort of. We were in central Oregon for a family reunion (Cousin Camp), and now we're at Grandma & Grandpa Beckham's house. In Oregon, we river rafted, biked, swam, played with cousins, caught up with family, celebrated Juma's third birthday (pictures coming) and enjoyed a nice break from real life. We'll be here in Merced for another week.

no new posts for a few days

We're headed out of town tonight. I do not know that we'll have internet access for at least several days, so my apologies now for no posts during that time. We'll be off having fun in Oregon!

We should be reachable by cell phone.

surgery

The ear tube surgery is all over and done with. The procedure itelf took only 10 minutes, but we were at the hospital for a good three hours for all the paperwork, nurses' questions, waiting, and recovery.

Juma was pretty ticked off after he woke up, but once the grogginess wore off and some tylenol kicked in, he was fine. He was out playing baseball within a couple hours of waking up, so everything is fine.

The only complication is that we have to be very careful about getting water in his ears for the next several months to a year, until the tubes fall out and his eardrums heal up. (We'll need earplugs.)

If you want to know more about this surgery, check out this explanation from webmd.com.

18 hours later...

Well, I have emerged from my HarryPotteritis 18 hours after onset of symptoms, but not without giving a case of it to Justin. He has now shut himself in the bedroom, only to emerge when he has finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, too. Knowing how fast he reads, he should emerge sometime this evening.

I predicted right about who would die in the book and who Harry would "hook up" with, but I was wrong about who the half-blood prince might be. I've also got a solid theory about who R.A.B is...but you'll have to get to that part in the book yourself.

Happy reading, for those of you who also like to enter the Potterverse.

take me out to the ball game...

With Sarah completely out of touch with the real world due to an extreme case of HarryPotteritus, I embraced my single-dadhood and took Juma to our local minor leage baseball team, the New Haven County Cutters.

I have to say it was a lot of fun. I've never been to a minor league game before, and this was Juma's very first baseball game.

When we arrived we were greeted by a huge yellow alien-blob-thing that served as the team's mascot. Juma's eyes immediately teared up and his lip came out to signal "Dad, I am very afraid." To tell you the truth, I'm not at all surprised--what a strange mascot.

We bought tickets for the cheap seats and then moved down to front row right behind the batter. We tore through a bag of peanuts and cheered "Go Cutters!" When we left during the seventh-inning stretch, the Cutters were up 3-2.

We crossed the street heading for the car and a foul ball almost took my head off. Juma ran over and grabbed it and then spied two more balls that had gone foul earlier in the game. So, we came home with three baseballs and lots of smiles.

We greeted Sarah with the baseballs, but she just muttered something that sounded like "Petronicalicus" and tried to wave us away with a flick of the wrist. Only 300 more pages and I get my wife back....

thoughts on the moon & basketball

Juma, on seeing a "cheshire cat" moon: The moon melted!

On seeing a half-moon: The moon is cut.

Juma's new basketball phrases:

-Get on D!
-Nice shot!
-Fake right!

ear tube surgery

Well, we finally got the hospital to give us a date for Juma's ear tube placement surgery. It's a very uncomplicated deal, and takes only ten or fifteen minutes, but he does "go under." It will take place on Monday. He will be recovered by the evening, and we'll be good to fly to Oregon on Wednesday. If fact, the ear tubes will help him with the changing air pressure in the airplane. As far as Juma is concerned, it won't be much different than a doctor's visit.

more Juma-isms

Juma has been entertaining me with some of his toddler talk. Here are some things he said lately.

While getting out of the car, with lots of sandbox toys to carry: "Mama, can you carry my shovel? I don't have four hands!"

While trying to persuade me to come to the swings with him at the park: "Mama, you can come, or I can take you come!" (From my "give him choices" parenting technique, You can come [go to the bathroom], or I can take you [to the bathroom].)

While looking at construction vehicles working: "Mama, look! That one has hydraulics!" (He pronounced hydraulics perfectly, too. And considering I'm not even sure what hydraulics are, I was impressed.)

And finally, "Baba, what color are my jambas?" (If you don't know what jamba means, you'll have to ask. But you might be sorry you did. And you'll never want to drink a Jamba Juice again.) Juma decided his jambas are orange.

sixth & first

It's our sixth wedding anniversary today, so we went out last night to a nice French restaurant and had a delicious four course meal. We enjoyed the night out alone, and enjoyed each other's company just as much and more than on our fateful first date.

Juma stayed the night at his friend Zachary's house (Juma's first sleepover!). That's the first time Juma has spent the night without at least one of us to put him to bed, but he did great. He had so much fun, he came home kicking and screaming this morning.

knight in shining armor

Juma pretends he is a knight, protecting himself with his mask and sword.

say it nice

We've been working with Juma on "saying things nicely" and being polite.
For example, a friend's mom offered him a fig newton. He began crying and said, "No! I don't want one!" I explained how it's nicest to just say, "No, thank you."

Or if he whines for a drink, we'll say, "Ask nice," and he'll immediately switch from the most sincere seeming cry to the most cheerful smile and ask in the sweetest voice, "Can I have some water, please?"

I think some of this parenting is working. This evening when Justin brought Juma in for a bath after a nice BBQ, we had this conversation:

Juma: Can I go back outside after my bath?
Justin: No. It's bed time.
Juma: [crying, running over to me] Mama, Baba said no. He's supposed to say yeah--that's what it is to say it nicely! It makes me sad when he's not says it nice.

What?...What?...What did you say, Mama?

Juma's had his fair share of ear infections, so we're looking at getting tubes put in his ears to relieve pressure on the ear drums. As part of the process, he got a hearing test today. Instead of the traditional "raise your hand when you hear the beep," Juma got to play with fishies, point to his nose, eyes, ears, etc. He did very well, no problem with his hearing. He'll be getting ear tube placement surgery in the next couple months sometime.

the things kids pick up...

As Juma and I were putting away a play tea set this morning, he objected to me putting a couple plastic cups in the basket. "But they fit," I said. "See?"

He turned away and muttered under his breath:

"Okay, okay, so I was wrong."

out of the blue

Juma yesterday:

"You know rock and roll? It means to shake your body."

magnificent thunderstorm

In the wee hours of the morning, we were awoken by the most magnificent thunderstorm I have ever heard. The thunder crashed and boomed with such force, intensity, and duration that I twice peeked through the windowblinds to check if the neighboring building was on fire. (It wasn't.)

Remarkably, Juma slept peacefully through it all.

wading on a hot day

Juma joins me for a wade in a fountain downtown

1-10

Last night when I went to go check on Juma before going to bed, I heard him mumbling something in his sleep. When I got closer I heard,

"five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten."

I guess all that SAT preparation we've been giving him is starting to pay off. Next step: algebra.

shake it up

Juma and friend Javin play homemade shakers at a drumming festival downtown

kids are weird

Juma has come up with some very strange games in the last few days.

The first has him yelling something like "Shainaaaaaaaaaaaah!" at the top of his lungs while he runs full speed through the house with his baby stroller. He then makes a grunting, groaning noise and falls to the ground while flailing his limbs in an epileptic fury.

The second game involves a colander and plastic easter eggs. He loads up the colander with the eggs like a lacrosse stick. He then yells,

"Hotcha ready?"

"Okay!" answering his own strange question.

"HOTCHAAA!" he screams while hurling the plastic eggs around the room as his parents dive for cover.

first fish

Juma caught his first fish yesterday.

Well, that's not entirely correct. I was the one who split the worm in half with my fingernail, squished its slimy, gooey body onto the hook, cast it into the river and handed the pole to Juma. He then reeled it in and caught a six-inch perch on his very first try. I then stuck my fingers in its mouth and removed the hook. I guess I'd call myself the guide; Juma never even got his hands dirty, he just did the fun stuff.

We then said goodbye to our new friend and let him go back to his family in the river. It was fun to see how excited Juma was to catch a fish.

Next time, though, he's getting worm guts on his fingers too.

big boy bed

Juma's almost three, but he's never figured out how to climb out (or fall out) of his crib, so we've kept the crib as his bed this long. That way he can't climb out of bed in the middle of the night and get into trouble. But yesterday we acquired a toddler bed ("big boy bed" in toddler language) from someone who's moved out, so we thought we'd try it out.

Juma really likes it--"It's red and yellow and green and blue and blue!" And most importantly, he stayed in it all night long.

He was still sleeping when I left for work, so I peeked in at him sleeping there, his little body on that little bed...precious.

happy father's day, everyone

I've had a great Father's day.

Sarah prepared breakfast in bed and Juma delivered it to me without spilling a drop. I got a silly card from both of them. We then went to an Episcopal Church down the street to hear a friend play the organ and sing (he's studying organ performance here at Yale). After that we went to a barbeque for lunch, spent the afternoon downtown at a festival of arts and ideas, and went to another barbeque for dinner (mmmmmmm, lots of meat).

To our dads and granddads--Happy Father's Day! We love you.

videos

I put up a few more videos of your favorite grandson/nephew/cousin/little dude. Click here to see him in a fountain and shaking some maracas to the beat--well, sort of to the beat. (Sarah filmed these ones.)

finally

It's taken almost two years, but I think we have finally found a good Mexican restaurant. Everyone breathe a sigh of relief with me. Ahhhhhhhh, so good.

campus

This is where the Yale Graduate School is housed. The History department is on the second floor. Irreverent students (like me) refer to the building as the "lego rocket ship."



This is the main library on campus. It is designed to resemble a cathedral both inside and out.

I'll add a few more photos of campus later. You're going to love the gym, trust me.

can I, please?

Conversations with Juma:

Juma: I want a tennis ball.
Sarah: Well, I can't find a tennis ball. Here's a hockey ball. You can use that.
Juma: Oh, can I pretend it's a tennis ball? Pleeeeease?
Sarah: Yeah, you can.
Juma: [sincerely] Oh, thank you. Thank you to telling me I can pretend a tennis ball!

[later] Juma: My bum hurts. I need to rest my bum. Okay?

Juma and his very good friend, Zachary

warning: semi-naughty word in post

[very impressive burp]

Juma: I farted in my mouth!

typical conversation while Sarah's away at work

Juma: I just went to smell the garbage.

Justin: Was it gross?

Juma: Yeah.

Justin: What did it smell like.

Juma: Um....garbage.

Justin: Oh.

shameless plea for pity

I think I broke my right index finger playing basketball Wednesday night. It's very big, very blue and very painful.

I jammed it at the beginning of the first game and then kept playing. Of course, a few minutes later I stuck my hand out again to block a bullet pass and that was it. Since my Mom's 3,000 miles away, I'll have to settle for some good Internet vibes from ya'll.

Juma's scared of my finger.

a very well-loved Buzz

i did it.

I am officially a Connecticut resident.

I went down and got my CT driver's license today. Sarah has had hers for a while, but I had a hard time giving up my California license. Yes, I still had a CA license--even though I haven't really lived there since the day after my high school graduation. Nothing against Utah, but, well, I really like my home state.

Preachers should try to work the DMV into their description of what awaits sinners in the fiery pits of hell. Imagine enduring a two-hour line while being serenaded by a squeaky child singing "Three Blind Mice" at the top of her lungs over and over and over and over....

ladybug eggs?

As Juma and I were exploring in our courtyard, we discovered (what I'm pretty sure are) ladybug eggs. I snapped pictures of the eggs, then got a picture after some of them hatched. In the second picture, the upper left larva have left, but there are little dark brown larva in the lower set of eggs. Can you see them?

two more videos

I put up a couple more videos of Juma from last week. Click here to see them.

wet, wet, wet

Humidity sucks.

Could you say no to this face?

Yeah, neither can we. This is going to be one very spoiled kid....

neighborhood party

We spent a great Saturday at a park by the river. We started out the day with some ultimate frisby and then noticed people setting up a barbeque. We went over to check it out and found out it was a party being thrown by a local business to say thanks to the community.

So we ate burgers, hotdogs, fruit and chips. Juma jumped in a bounce house, got a dolphin painted on his face and had an all around great time.

Sarah went home at around one o'clock to get some work done for her job. Juma and I stayed at the park and played for another five hours. We watched people playing an intense game of whiffle ball (yes, surprisingly it can get intense), played basketball, football, soccer, baseball, hunted for bugs, played by the river and chilled in the shade. Great day. And since it's summer there's still hours and hours of daylight left!

Oh, can't forget to mention the b-ball playoff game tonight--should be a good one. I hope Shaq and Wade get shut down.

silly Juma

This morning when Juma didn't eat much breakfast, I asked him why he didn't eat more. He answered matter-of-factly:

But I'm full enough already!

After we went grocery shopping, I wanted to thank Juma for being well behaved.

Sarah: Thanks for not crying or whining at the store, Juma.
Juma: But I did whine!

which language next?

I'm almost resigned to the fact that my next language will be French.

Unfortunately, after living in Germany for two years, I've found that the anti-French bias has rubbed off on me. Actually, thinking back, I have never, ever wanted to learn the language.

"Why learn a language you don't like," you ask? Well, a lot of scholarship on Africa is in French. French is a second language in much of West, Central and North Africa. It really would be valuable for my career and in my desire to be able to communicate with Africans all over the continent.

But then I think, "is it really possible to master a language you have a strong aversion to?" We'll see, I guess.

Any advice from you Francophiles? I need someone to persuade me that French is, in fact, a rich, beautiful language and not the nasal, stuffy, stuck-up language I hear.

pee on a tree

Just minutes after I snapped the picture below, Juma started dancing around in the ancient choreography recognized by parents everywhere as the "I really have to go, but I don't want to stop playing" dance.

Sarah took him over to a tree and pulled down his pants. Having no experience with the mechanics of the process (it really is more complicated than it looks), she was soon frustrated and called me to take over. I then helped Juma with his very first tree-watering.

Afterwards he smiled very big and said, "I wanna pee on 'nother tree!"

mad river, vermont

Sarah and Juma on a hike