Decker

Ok, fellow ankle biters - listen up. My mom and dad took me to a magical place yesterday, and apparently they’ve been holding out on me! Up until now, I thought the only place you could get fruit was from the grocery store or the refrigerator (and I’m pretty proud of myself for having figured those out!). Well, yesterday morning they bundled me up and drove me really really really really far away, to a far off land called “Brentwood”. When we got there, I saw lots of buckets, some other families, and lots and lots of trees, as far as the eye could see! Pammy, Cappy, Katil and Tully were there, and kept saying “Happy Birthday” to my mom (whatever that means), and then we all went inside the place with the trees. And let me tell you - it was amazing! It just went on and on and on, and as long as I had a grownup with me I was able to walk as far as I wanted. But the best part of all? On all of these trees, you could get fruit! I’m serious - I’m not making this up! You could reach up and pull fruit off the tree and eat it right there! And lots of different kinds of fruit! Fuzzy peaches, orange apricots, and best of all? CHERRIES! There were lots of cherries in the buckets, and lots on the ground, too. I got to eat as many cherries as I wanted, as long as they were cut in half and didn’t have any rocks in the middle still. Oh my gosh I got so full! And then? While the grownups were still pulling fruit off the trees, I walked up along the dirt road with Pammy, and we saw….a tractor! There was a grandpa and his grandson (a big kid - probably 4 or 5 years old!) and they were riding along on this tractor and it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. That lucky kid. I was mesmerized, and I won’t deny not a little jealous!

When we came home after our long journey, I was WIPED. Man. I can’t believe we hadn’t ever gone to this place before - and I can’t wait to go back! I really like cherries - and my face and hands were as juice stained as anyone could ask for! I looked so awesome!

I guess you could say it was a cherries…jubilee! Ha ha ha ha! (Mommy told me that one).

Hi everyone! Gunga Decker here! It’s been warm lately, and I’ve been guzzling my juice and milk cups like a thirsty fiend. But it occurred to me that my stuffed animal friends must get pretty thirsty too, so lately my mom has noticed me holding Big Bird or Grover on my lap and feeding them from my cup. They’re my buds, I don’t mind sharing the wealth! Plus they’re pretty polite - they don’t seem to drink too much when I offer it to them. I also like to lay all my stuffed pals down for a nap in my blanket basket; Big Bird, Grover, Cookie, Froggy and Duckie all co-exist quite peacefully! I tried to help Big Bird take a ride on Froggy’s shoulders, but it was a no go.

Top 5 for the week:

1. Strawberries!

2. Playing outside!

3. Brushing mine and my mommy’s hair!

4. Counting the monkeys in my “Five Little Monkeys” book!

5. Sticking out my tongue!

Hi there, everyone!

Guess what? Yesterday, Daddy and Mommy took me to my first ever A’s game! Boy oh boy, it was a lot to take in. For those of you who have never been to a baseball game, I’ll describe for you what I saw:

First, you park in this big huge parking lot with lots of other cars and trucks! I thought when we got out of the car, that we were gonna get to stay there all day and look at all the neat stuff with wheels, but my folks must have smelled someone cooking or something, because they said they smelled ‘pot’ (you know, like you make noodles in?), so they wanted to go ahead and go inside the big building at the edge of the parking lot. I couldn’t believe they wanted to leave that amazing place so quickly, but grownups are funny that way! Anyway, I was hoisted up on my daddy’s shoulders, and we got in line with all these other people who were wearing hats that looked just like ours - their moms must all shop at the same store for sun hats!

OK, so we go inside and then we walked down a really crowded hallway and then came out and sat down in some seats (my dad called them ‘bleachers’) and there was a big park in front of us - lots of grass and people playing with balls! We didn’t get to go down there and join them, though. But, even more exciting (to me at least) was this giant tv that was up in the sky! My folks kept trying to get me to look at the park and the people playing with balls, but I was entranced by that tv! But as much as I pointed to it, no one would change it to Sesame Street for me! Boy, grownups don’t know what they’re missing!

My mom gave a granola bar to eat while we sat there, and my dad went and got lunch for him and Mommy. They kept trying to share their lunch with me, but I’m not so much interested in hot dogs, thanks anyway! Give me grapes! (which they did, later on!). Then, the game started! Now, I don’t really quite get how baseball works yet, but here’s my general take on it - apparently, some people down on the lawn throw and catch balls, and sometimes hit them with sticks. Depending on who is playing, my mommy would say “Yay! He caught the ball!” or “Yay! He hit the ball!”. Sort of confusing, but she and my dad seemed to get what was going on. But the best part of all? People around us kept yelling, and singing, and clapping! So I figured, I should clap too! It was fun! Plus, everyone was really loud, so I got to be loud too! They kept singing “Let’s go, Oakland!”, which I guess means they were getting ready to go run some errands, and wanted Oakland to get in its car seat. So I sang along too: “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ah ah pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb DAAA DAAA!”. So satisfying!

After doing that for a while, my dad took me to change my pants, and then we went for a walk around the building and to look for Cappy, who was also at the game with some of his friends from work. We snuck past the ticket taker (I guess Cappy had better seats than us) and surprised him! He gave me a big hug, the grownups all talked with my parents for a bit, and then we moved back up to the hallway and found some different seats for us to sit in for a while. I drank my milk and tried to be good, but at this point I’d been sitting for a long time, and I wanted to get down and walk up and down the stairs and explore! Mommy didn’t seem to understand how fun this would be, and she and my dad decided to take me home. They kept telling me that I had been a good kid through the whole game, so that’s nice to hear!

Anyway - baseball games are fun and there’s lots of neat stuff to look at! I hope we can go again really soon! I will once again tell Oakland to get in its car seat, and will clap along to the loud music from the giant tv. (Maybe next time they’ll be showing “The Koala Brothers” on it!).

sticking out my tongue

is what i like to do now

just discovered it!

splash! in the bathtub

little splash little splash then

ONE BIG BIG BIG SPLASH!

where’s bellybutton?

why, right here! and it’s ticklish!

much giggling, squirming

decker likes bubbles

but blowing is a challenge

let’s eat wand instead

i sing of big trucks

of cars and trains and buses

vroom go wheels vroom vroom

strawberries are good

as are bananas and pears

not so much green beans

i like outside play

outside is the very best

let’s go outside NOW

vacuums are scary

so are the leaf blowers - eek!

i do not like them

i like kitty cats

i like to chase them  and laugh

but they run away

Deckers like trucks!

I especially like to sort them all out and line them up in an endless variety of ways. My folks keep trying to figure out the rhyme or reason to my categorizing and assortment of my vehicles, but it is mystery understood only by me! I love all things with wheels, but now I am starting to discern very distinctly b/t cars and trucks, and the trucks are winning out as of late! I will line them all up on the back of the couch, on the cushions of the couch, on the dinner table, on the coffee table, on the kitchen counter, on my garage, on the stairs…you name it! On Sunday, I went with my mommy and daddy to Grandpa Rick and Grandma Chris’ house for a birthday party. Let me tell you - I spent the whole afternoon lining up vehicles in the flower bed - except for the glorious moment when I turned the corner and saw a whole driveway and street FILLED with trucks! Wow! Mommy was very patient and let me wander around them and point to them excitedly! We did that several times, b/c we would go away for a bit and then of course I would remember that they were there all over again!

Then, yesterday was Cappy’s birthday and we went over to Cappy and Pammy’s house. And guess what? There were all sorts of boxes wrapped in paper with pictures of cars and trucks on them! Jackpot! Plus - there were all these really neat shiny bows on the boxes, which of course needed to be removed immediately. I helped Cappy take off the bows so he wouldn’t have to. Then, my “Mr. Neat” instinct kicked in, and I started to sort the bows and put them all in a pile that Tully started for me. Ah, the bliss! They lit the cake on fire at this shindig (WHY do grownups do that?), but I got to eat tomatoes and grapes so I was all good.

Oh! I can put my hat on all by myself now! Hats mean going outside, so I eagerly find it and put it on my head to give mommy a clue that I want to go play. She’s a little slow,  but she’s learning!