willkommen

Juma's cousin, Ammon, and my sister, Jody, arrived in Utah from Germany on Thursday night. Willkommen! It's amazing how close and how far away they can be at the same time. I think Germany might actually be as close to us as Utah is. When we head out to Utah after Christmas, Juma will be able to play with both Ammon and Ethan, both cousins within 7 weeks of his age. Juma really wants to go to Chuck-e-Cheese's with them. What do you say, Jody and Randall? (Just avoid the pizza at all costs. It tastes worse than a shoe sole dipped in rotten tomatoes. I would think.)

I think this is the most recent picture we have of Juma and Ammon together, and it's two years old. The most recent one we have of all three of the stooges, Juma, Ethan, Ammon, is from their first Christmas when they were infants. (Is that true?)

toys

Juma had to get creative with toys in Zanzibar last summer. We brought only a couple toys with us, such as this glow stick, above. In the lower picture, he's playing with a thrown-out piece of electronic equipment, I think. He was pretending it was a remote control (not that there was a TV). And of course the soccer ball was the most favorite toy for Juma and all his friends. And any adult men walking by.

chores, and forever

Yesterday: Juma asked if he can go outside to play. I said, "Sure, but sweep under the table first." Then I gave him my "I'm just teasing" smile. He responded with a smile that showed he knew I was teasing. He then went to the broom closet, pulled out the broom and dust pan, and started sweeping. And he actually did it right. That is, a pile of garbage and dust bunnies actually made it into the garbage can, rather than just getting pushed around.

Today: He sat on the toilet, counting. He counted all the way to 100, while a little help from me for the tens (fifty, sixty, etc). He then said, "I'm done. That's all the counting." I explained how he can go further. He got to 110. "That's it. That's all the counting," he said. I told him it's possible to count forever.

"Forever? Forever?"
"Yes, forever."
"Like all day? Like all day and all night?"

guitar

Last night before bed, Juma pulled out his "guitar," a racquetball racquet, and serenaded us. Strumming away on the strings, he sang about a chair, a forehead, and an acorn. He has a musical preference for "fast music," rap, hip hop, and hard rock. These songs took on a 4-year-old's version of hard rock.

"I have a chair, oh yeah, oh yeah.
It is for sitting on, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!"

"There once was an acorn, oh yeah
It fell on the ground, oh yeah
It was so happy that it---"

He was at a loss for words on what an acorn on the ground could do when happy. I suggested that maybe it could grow into a tree. But he disagreed; an acorn that's not buried can't grow into a tree.

This morning he brought the guitar out again, and asked, "Mom, when I grow up, will you buy me a guitar? I really want a guitar." I told him that perhaps when we are in Utah, he could play a little on Grandpa's guitar, and see how he likes playing a real guitar.

"But I already know everything about playing guitar. I already know. I saw it on TV." He then proceeded to play some more, asking me to sing along the ABCs. Jamming away, he took a quick break in the middle of playing to mime tuning a string.

as time goes by

You know how you think of people as a certain age, frozen in time, but they just keep on aging, defying all doesn't-the-world-revolve-around-me-ness? Like how I still think of Aunt April as 33 and Aunt Danelle as 27. I don't really know why those ages froze in my mind. Maybe it was the first time I asked how old they were, and then I lost track. Now I'm 27.

And how my sister Melissa is 12 in my mind, because that's how old she was when I moved out. But now she's married and has a baby. Andria is 15, and Cameron 17, the ages when I first met them (I think). Nephew Isaac is 5, and his little brother Xander is 3 (they're actually 7 and 5).

Then there's how people feel an age, when their real age may be something entirely different. I'm been trying to pinpoint what age I feel, and I can't do it. I've tried determining my internal age before, and I couldn't do it then either. What does that mean? I'm not in touch with myself? Or I haven't reached my internal age yet?

look alike contest

My sister Melissa recently commented that Juma looks like Eric Lloyd, the kid from The Santa Clause movies. And Juma's teachers at school volunteered that he looks like Haley Joel Osment, famous for that movie that disturbed the wits out of me, The Sixth Sense.

So I'm taking a poll among all ya'll. (No, they don't say all ya'll in Connecticut, but I have a good friend from North Carolina. And she might say it. And my mom and my other good friend are from Texas. And I'm sure they don't say it. But they are from Texas. So that's my excuse.)

Which is it? Haley or Eric? (Or submit another name.) Not great pictures, I know, but you can find more through a google search.

Post your vote in comments. If you post using the "anonymously" option, just sign with your name in the comments box. Unless you want to post anonymously.

elections? what's elections?

No, I won't get into a political post, since I figure our political views clash with, oh, 90% of our readers. So I'll just leave that be.

But around dinner time we did turn on the TV to see how the House, Senate, and Connecticut races were going. That was unusual for Juma, because we rarely watch TV, and we generally do not let Juma watch TV during the week. (We "save up" his restricted TV-time for Saturday and Sunday morning cartoons, so we can sleep in a little. It doesn't really count, but it saves our sanity.)

Juma quickly got bored with political analysts, and asked Justin to change the channel. So instead of keeping up with the tight races, I heard Juma's running commentary on a monster truck rally.

Juma: Whoa! He fell over! Is he hurt? Dad, is he hurt?
Justin: No, he's fine.
Sarah: Gives Justin a look that says, Why are you letting him watch this stuff?
Juma: jumping up and down in excitement Wow! A pirate one! A pirate truck! It's a real pirate one, Mom! Look, he has a pirate flag! He's a real pirate. He is!
Juma notices Justin is holding the remote control
Juma: Don't change the channel. Stop. I want to watch this.
Justin: I'm just holding it, Juma, I'm not pushing the button.
Juma: Okay. Don't change it. I want to watch the trucks. (says trucks in a manly voice)

All right, so I probably made up half of that dialogue. But you get the idea. Lieberman-Lamont Senate race; Rell-de Stefano govenor race, whatever. We've got monster trucks!

learning new words. sort of.

Sarah: Juma, you get to have pizza twice today! Once at home, once at your friend's party.
Juma: No, I get to have pizza thrice.
Sarah: Thrice?
Juma: That means three times.

Juma: I have four favorite ice creams. No five.
Sarah: What are they?
Juma: Green apple. Chocolate. Vanilla. And I can't remember.
Sarah: What about mint chocolate?
Juma: Oh, yeah, that's my fifth favorite. Fifth? Does that mean five?
Sarah: Yes. What's your fourth favorite?
Juma: I don't know.

travel plans

We've bought tickets to visit family in Utah the week after Christmas. It'll be fun to see everyone again, and it will be interesting to have Christmas "alone" for the first time. We have some friends out here in CT, though, so we won't be too lonely.

Friends and extended family: If you will be in Utah end of December/beginning of January, do let us know. We'd love to meet up. Contact us for exact dates.

Halloween

First off, happy (late) birthday to Cameron K, who shares his birthday with Halloween.

The weather was perfect for trick-or-treating: cool, but not so cold that kids had to wear coats over their costumes. Juma loved going door-to-door, and we hit maybe 30 doors this year before he got tired. That's up from 5 last year.

Just like last year and the year before, Juma was a dinosaur. And he wanted the jack-o-lantern to have a scary face...even though it scared Juma.










"I want Halloween to be every, every day."