Counting down to spring

wyattandandrew.jpgMarch 15: It seems to me that nearly every day Andrew does something that seems worthy of a website post.  I file these moments in my mind, but now I am finding that when I sit down to share them with his adoring public that I’m not sure what to say.  The snow is melting…that’s a big one.  It was super warm earlier this week, and our feet of snow have shrunk to inches of snow. Lovely new daylight savings time has given us more light in the evening, and Andrew is having fun walking through increasingly mushy snow in his “BOOTS!” He’s also counting a lot.  “One, six, seveneight, nine, TEN!”

Photos from the last week are in the gallery.  They include some pictures of a recent wintry trip to Olbrich Gardens and a visit from Andrew’s buddy Wyatt.

The neighborhood owl(s) continue to hoot, hoot, hoot in the evenings, and it makes for a lovely end of the day.  As we leave the house in the mornings, I entice Andrew out the door by encouraging him to go outside to hear the birds sing.  And sing they do!  Andrew notes that they say “cheep cheep.”  He has a cute accent, and I love the way he says, “berds. sing-ing. berds. cheep cheep.”

We’ve been working with him on two-word sentences, but he’s pretty into the one word world.  He also alway repeats the last word you say, so if I parrot back something to him, encouraging him to repeat me, he nearly always happily says the last word.

Andrew is still doing multi-person hugs, spreading his arms wide and animatedly saying “Buddies!”  What a great way to start or end a day:)

We went to Monore last weekend to visit my grandpa and grandma, and when we visited my grandpa in the hospital, he was in ICU and was all hooked up to tubes and he was in pain and it was all a little scary.  My mom and I stood near Grandpa, holding his hand, stroking his head, and generally offering comfort.  Andrew was pretty unsure about the situation, but he seemed to understand that Grandpa was someone who we love.  So he held his great-grandpa’s finger and even gave him a hug and kiss several times. It really warmed my heart to see my little guy being so kind and compassionate despite being a little nervous.

One other little story I wanted to write down for posterity.  When we are driving to Karen’s in the morning, we get in the car and Andrew starts asking for his favorite song, Drip, drip, drop.  He gets increasingly worried, saying, “Drip. DRIP.  DRIP!”  Unfortunately, that particular CD lives in his dad’s car, so we had to make do without it.  The big highlight of our three minute drive to Karen’s house is when we get to see Lake Monona.  We talk about it from the moment we leave the driveway.  Andrew says “lake” in such a way that it sounds a lot like “ick.”  As we get close to the lake, he gets increasingly excited.  When we see it, he tells me about how it is “frozen” with “ice.”  He also may or may not mention “fishies” “snoring sound” (meaning they are sleeping)…don’t know where he came up with that one… “wahter” or “gators.”  What a great kid!

Those are some of the stories I can think of today.  I look forward to seeing what he comes up with for tomorrow:)

Phase II of website retrieval complete

March 15: To my great delight, the gallery photo albums I made prior to August 2006 have been restored to the Dotzour Family Website.  Now the “Peak in the Gallery” images you see on the left may pull from Andrew’s early days.  As you may remember, in August the server in which our website had been living met the end of its life.  We started a new website from scratch.  In January, our wonderful brother-in-law, Ben, was able to retrieve the database that housed all the posts I had made since I launched our family website in May 2005 (see the post from that happy day).  Then this past weekend, Ben helped me pull the photo albums from my old site into the current gallery.  A handful of the albums didn’t make it, but I now feel like this iteration of my website is running at full steam.  Many thanks to Ben for hosting our website for the first year, and special appreciation for helping retrieve our data from the defunct server.  Let me know if you have suggestions for how I could make this site more fun or friendly!

Winter Magic

andrewinsnow.jpgMarch 5: Bryan was at a conference in Milwaukee all weekend, so Andrew and I had a mom-and-boy weekend together.  One highlight for me was the ten minutes we spent looking out the window and listening for our new neighborhood owls.  I’d lit some candles, and the sun was setting.  Venus was super bright and the white snow reflected the bright blue of the evening sky.  We had heart the Great Horned Owls hooting earlier (listen here for their lovely call) in the evening, and as we sat listening and watching the still outdoors, Andrew kept whispering “ooowwlll” “cahndahls” “owl”.

Another new and completely, disarmingly wonderful activity Andrew has taken up is saying, “Buddies!” He spreads his arms out and wants a group hug.  For example, “Mama, Dada.  BUDDIES!”  While we’re all hugging, he often softly repeats to himself, “buddies…”  Andrew is really starting to hug where he grabs both of my shoulders and pulls me to him.  I was telling Bryan that it is things like that which take all the sting out of the fact that he is growing up.  He is becoming such a wonderful little boy.
Pictures from the last week – messy eating, playing with Grandma, and rolling around in the snow – are in the gallery.

Andrew’s friends

claraandandrew.jpgFeb. 26: Andrew got to see many of his friends this past weekend, and it was such fun to watch him interact with other kids his age. Pictures of the kids are in the gallery.
On Friday morning, Eli and Jessica came over for a little visit.  Andrew looks at this picture and says, “Tickle!” Andrew and Eli had fun knocking Andrew’s piggy bank off the coffee table and laughing when it CRASHED on the floor.  When they left, Andrew said, “I E I. Piggy.”
Later that day Clara (my co-worker Pam’s daughter) came over for the evening.  Clara is younger than Andrew (he is 20 months and she is 14 months), and it was quite bemusing to watch him showing off for her.  “Look at how wild and crazy I can be!” he seemed to be saying.  Clara is so petite; it was startling to see my baby look like such a large kid next to her!
On Sunday we hosted a little Academy Award watching party.  All weekend Andrew would find phone-shaped objects, pick them up, and say, “Ello? Par-tee!  Ello?”  Mike and Molly came with their daughter, 19-month-old Evelyn.  Andrew and Evie had great fun racing around the house and staying up past their bedtimes.  Parties are GREAT!

Neighborhood shovel-out

aliviaandandrew.jpgFeb. 26: About 15 inches of snow fell in Madison over the weekend.  When we woke up on Sunday morning, we discovered a world full of very wet, very deep snow.  In shoveling ourselves out, though, I was reminded how much I love our neighbors, and how fun it can be to do hard work when you have friends to help along the way.  The prospect of removing the snow from our driveway was quite daunting. Plus the snowplow had created a mountain about four feet high at the end of each driveway.  In barn-raising fashion, though, our neighbors came over and without a word began to use their snow blower to clean up our driveway.  Those of us without snow blowers worked on the end-of-driveway mountains.  It’s been months since I have seen much of my neighbors, but on Sunday we spent several hours talking and shoveling and helping each other dig out.  I have been feeling happy ever since.  Photos of the kids playing on the snow mountain at the end of the street and of Andrew and Alivia are in the gallery.  Happy winter!

Snowy Valentine

walkinthesnow.jpgFeb. 22: The last several weeks, the weather has shifted from deep wintery cold to springlike balmy.  Andrew has been putting on his “buhts” (boots) and walking out in the “noh-s” (snow).  It was pretty cute to watch him walking around in the backyard with the snow coming up to his knees.  Now there are “mahl-s” (small) footprints all around the yard.

Last weekend, Bryan and I took a trip sans-Andrew to Chicago.  The little guy and my mom had a really fun couple of days.  Bryan and I enjoyed a quiet couple of days hanging around in Chicago.  Photos from the last week are in the gallery.

Last weekend, my co-worker Sara and her husband Sean held a party at their new home to inaugurate their new chocolate fountain.  It was the first time we have had all the Gathering Waters kids together.  Shara, Egon, Alex, Andrew, Evelyn, and Clara.  Photos of the gang are in the gallery.

Chilly weather, warm sweater

olbrichfamily.jpgFeb. 11:   We’re enjoying a nice, somewhat quiet weekend at home.  I worked on Friday (normally my day home with Andrew) since we were on vacation in Texas on Monday and Tuesday.  It was fun to have our new executive director, Mike, to fill up the long-vacant office.  Now we have a full-house again.
Yesterday morning Andrew and I went to Kids in the Rotunda at the Overture Center and heard a performance of the Harmonious Wail.  It was great music, and a really packed, fun event.  Then we went up to visit with Terry for a while.  During Andrew’s afternoon nap, Mom and I went to Macy’s (Marshall Fields shall rest in peace), and I got myself a few fun items to bring some life back into my wardrobe.  Maretta…we need to talk…I think I need to borrow a few items from you.  Then after Andrew woke up from his nap, we went to Janesville for a visit with Mum.  She was feeling great, and we took her to dinner at Culvers.  It was a fun time.  This morning, we hopped over to Olbrich gardens for a romp around the conservatory.
Pictures in the gallery include some cute ones of Andrew in the new sweater that he just got from my mom.  She’s been working on it for quite some time, and the results are incredible.  Andrew loves wearing it, and it makes him look just adorable.  Enjoy!

Brrrr

grannyluandgrandad.jpgFeb. 6: We just got home after a wonderful visit in Texas with Bryan’s family.  Even though it was a quick visit, we had a lot of fun together.  And we’re basking in our memories of warm weather now that we are back in the Frozen North.  The snow here is beautiful, and our street is decked out in its perfect winter scene.  So I look out on it and remember warm sunshine, birds singing, pansies and dandelions, and the promise of spring.
Bryan’s mom headed up to Wichita today to stay with her mom while Grandpa Harvey undergoes knee replacement surgery.  Dandy, Bryan’s dad’s father is back home after breaking his elbow and being in rehab for a while.  And on my side, Mum is now in assisted living and Grandpa is in a nursing home.  It’s a tough time to be one of our grandparents.  I’m so glad that our parents are all strong and able to care for their moms and dads during this time in their lives.

I put loads of pictures from our trip to Texas up on our website.  There’s also a sub-album of a trip we took to the park.  And looking back at January, I have a little album of Andrew eating spagetti and some pictures of our wintery yard.  Enjoy!

Greetings from Texas!

Feb. 5: Andrew is enjoying a story from his Granny Lu, so I thought I would take a moment to post an update and to say “Yay!  A little vacation in Texas!”  I spoke to our neighbor Nancy yesterday, and she said there was a wind chill advisory until Tuesday.  I do love winter, but it sure is nice to be out in the sun and the warmth for a few days.  We played frisbee and ball in the yard yesterday, and I watched people jog or bike by in t-shirts and shorts.  It seems strange to see people’s legs again after months of hiding:)
Good news about Heather’s dog Pippin.  As of Friday, he home and doing really well.  Sounds like he has beat a lot of odds, and while he’s not out of the woods yet, Heather and Michael are really enjoying having him home.
I’m also really very relieved because Andrew’s little friend, Eli, was in the hospital much of last week with pneumonia.  He was such a sick little boy, and we were all very worried.  But last I heard, he came home on Saturday, and is on the road to recovery.
At my work we have some new happenings as well.  Our new executive director starts at Gathering Waters today, so I have now completed my tenure as interim executive director.  It was a great experience.  Now I return to outreach and policy coordination just in time for the state budget.  Should be an exciting six months policy-wise.
We hope to take a walk down to the park once the sun heats things up a bit.  It’s in the 40s now, but I’m hoping for warmer temps in an hour or so.  That’s the update from College Station!
~Althea

Thinking of a puppy

pippin.JPGJan. 28: I have been thinking a lot of my friends Heather and Michael and of their new puppy, Pippin these last few weeks.  Heather and Michael got Pippin for Christmas as a gift from Heather’s father.  After losing their son, Allan in September, Heather and Michael have had to find ways to make it through the last five months.  Pippin was bringing some fun and puppy love into the mix.  To my disbelief, Pippin came down with the Canine Parvovirus five days after he got home.  Parvo is a sometimes deadly virus that can strike puppies before they are old enough to be vaccinated.  After almost a week in veterinary ICU, Pippin came home.  Since then, however, he has had complications including  an auto-immune allergic reaction which affected his blood vessels, and  last night Heather called to tell me that Pippin’s kidneys are failing.  He has been at the emergency clinic where they are working hard to save him.  But it is just so sad for a little puppy to be so sick and it is so unfair for Heather and Michael to have to navigate this after all that they have recently been through.
I wanted to post this because it has been very heavy on my mind and because I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to encourage others to send loving thoughts their way.