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November 22 - Ethan's drooling like crazy -- we think he may be teething. He
does this hilarious attack thing where he dives towards your hand, mouth wide
open, eyes intent. And then he tries to gum it to pieces. His other new tricks
include bringing both hands together -- he's either praying, or plotting
something. Also, he's increasingly interested in objects and toys, and can grab
them and bring them towards him in a way he couldn't before.
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Our new bed arrived! Now we're prepared for more guests, thank goodness. We
cooked a Thai dinner for Jeff's dad, Christy, and AJ. It turned out quite well
- Pad Thai, Pork and Green Beans with Red Curry, Tom Ka Gai, and Thai coffee.
Yummy.
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November 26 - Jeff had said last night that he would feed the baby if he woke
up early. Ethan woke up around 6, and Jeff got up and warmed up milk, but no
dice. He totally refused to drink from the bottle. I think, looking back, that
it's been the case for several weeks, and Jeff just concluded he wasn't hungry
until I got home and he nursed. I was so, so bummed -- this means I can't go
out for long at all. What about taiko? And what about WORK?
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Mom, Erika, and Gammi arrived, and Mom cut my hair off. It's great. After Angie
arrived on Wednesday, we all went for a walk
in Forest Park. Oh, and before she arrived, we all worked on a
sign for her, because she just graduated.
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I'm really noticing how much heftier Ethan is when I change his diapers. I'm
afraid we need the next size up of diaper covers.
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November 28 - Thanksgiving! Christy and Mom and I went to Ann and Zack's early
and picked some herbs, and spoke to them briefly. Another Fred Meyer trip --
just eggs and charcoal. Then Jeff, Dan, and Gammi ran off to church while the
rest of us cooked some more -- AJ and Jeff had set up the tripod in the back
already, so Christy stuffed the turkey and got him all ready.
Mom worked on the rolls. The turkey was
tricky -- we couldn't find aluminum foil that was really heavy duty
enough, so it kept ripping where it was wrapped around the chicken wire towers
of charcoal. And then the towers started
listing in different directions, making us worry that the turkey would
cook unevenly. But hey, it worked --
beautifully. We did have to stick him in the oven for an hour or so, just to
finish him up all the way.
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One funny moment -- everything was basically done, and Jeff wanted us to all
sit at the table before we ate. So we did, and the Hoppers sang a little song.
Then Jeff said, "So, is it all ready?" And five women jumped up and ran
frantically into the kitchen to finish heating everything up and laying it out
on the table. As is always the case, the meal took many hours to prepare, but
only about 20 minutes to eat. We took a break and went on
another walk, up to the top of Mt. Tabor again, and down. Half of us
drove back from the parking lot, and the other half walked all the way home.
After dessert, which consisted of four different
pies, we had another funny moment -- Jeff and his family were all in
the kitchen, singing. Tony, Mom, Aaron and I were in the dining room solving a
math problem. Well, to each family its own, right?
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November 29 - After breakfast, Tony ran off with Aaron to shop for a coat
(there is nothing that would convince me to shop the day after Thanksgiving)
and the rest of us got ready to go out. We got on the light rail and went
downtown to the Chinese garden, which
Jeff and I hadn't yet visited. It was lovely, really a neat place. Then we
walked to the waterfront and through the JA Historical Plaza, where I fed the
hungry baby. After that, Dan, Mom, Gammi and I (and Ethan) headed home, while
the young folk kept going. I was glad enough to get home and rest. Still,
overall riding on the Max with Ethan was pretty great.
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Before my folks all left, Erika and Mike and I met a woman at the Fred Meyer
Starbucks (don't tell Naoko) to pick up a sea anenome for someone at Intuit. I
guess he's very picky about what goes in his salt-water aquarium: it can't be
harvested. This sea anenome had budded, and so was OK. Several bystanders were
very curious what was in the cooler, as they overheard Erika asking about
sending it through the x-ray and all. Anyway, Tony and I stayed at the airport
until we saw that Erika had gotten through security with the anenome -- I could
see her gesturing as she explained things to the security guy looking in the
cooler.
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ethan
