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."