Decker

Hi everyone! It’s been a couple of weeks, but I’ve been keeping busy! Preschool is still lots of fun, and of course there’s also Sutter to keep me occupied at home (along with my toys, which frankly are more interactive than Sutter at this point, though Mommy tells me that will change soon). Anyway, here’s some stuff I’ve been up to lately:

On Sunday, my mom and dad decided they had cabin fever and needed to get out of the house with me and Sutter. So, we went to the big fish place over in San Francisco (it’s called an ‘aquarium’, which is really hard to say!), and it was pretty neat! We saw big fish, big turtles, snakes, and best of all…DINOSAURS! Yup, lately I’m really into dinosaurs, and this place had a great big T-Rex skeleton, and a smaller T-Rex skeleton that moved! Plus it had a Brontosaurus and a Triceratops and a Stegosaurus! I wanted to stay all day, but finally we left and went for a walk in this cool park called “Yerba Buena Gardens”. Mommy fed Sutter and I played hide and seek in the trees with Daddy and then chased some pigeons. Pigeons are so silly!

In school this month, we learned a lot about this day coming up called “Thanksgiving”. We learned a funny song called “Hello Mr. Turkey”, and I like to sing it over and over and over! (Soon I even caught my folks singing it!). On Thanksgiving, you talk about what you are thankful for, like family and teachers. Then you eat lots of good food! Today in school, for our ‘cooking’ activity we had a mini-feast, and it was yummy! We ate popcorn, corn muffins, and best of all…PUMPKIN PIE! I really like pumpkin pie! I hope I get to eat some again really soon! We also colored pictures of pies, pumpkins, and turkeys, and then we made a placemat with a turkey on it that I painted all by myself! We don’t have any school at all next week, because everyone will be going away for Thanksgiving. I hope they all get to have pie! Poor Sutter - he doesn’t get to have pie!

But…Sutter does get to play with his awesome big brother - that’s me! I have been sharing my old gymini playmat with him, and when I ask nicely, Mommy lets me hold him, too! I am a really good big brother to him. Sometimes he cries and I tell him to ‘be pleasant’ and ’stop crying’. Mommy and Daddy say that’s because babies can’t talk, so I guess I’ll have to wait a while for that!

Picks for the week:

Books: Danny and the Dinosaur, 5 People in My Family, Grover Stays Up Very Very Late

Foods: PUMPKIN PIE!

Songs: “Hello, Mr. Turkey”, “Do You Have a Spooky Ghost?”

Hi everyone! Guess what? There’s a new baby at our house! His name is Sutter, and he is my baby brother! That means I am a BIG BROTHER now - isn’t that cool? It’s been a very busy 2 weeks, but it’s also been lots of fun. Babies don’t really do a lot - so far, Sutter sleeps (a LOT), and gets his diaper changed (a LOT), and eats (a LOT). When he cries, I tell him it’s ok and not to be sad, that he will be ok. I try to talk to him, but so far he doesn’t really say anything back to me. Mommy tries to pretend that Sutter is talking to me by using a silly voice, but I know it’s really her! That’s ok though - everyone tells me when he gets bigger he’ll be able to play with me and that we will have fun together, so right now I am patient and am happy to play with my toys and Mommy and Daddy and everyone else.

Mommy’s big tummy is gone now! She says it’s because now Sutter is here and isn’t in her tummy anymore. A couple of days before Sutter was born, Mommy and Daddy put on this video that was all about me as a baby. I love it! It’s my favorite thing to watch now - I ask to see it at least once a day! Mommy says it’s spooky how much Sutter looks like me when I was a baby - I guess that means that Sutter is one good lookin’ little dude!

The day that Sutter was born, Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital really really early, and Cappy came over to stay with me at our house. He took me to school and picked me up, and then I got to go play at Cappy and Pammy’s house for a while that afternoon! It was really fun - Cappy put on a video for me, but I decided it was much more exciting to play in his office under his desk for 3 hours. I think I was probably very helpful! Then Cappy put me in my carseat, and we went to pick up Katil and Tully to go to the hospital to meet Mommy, Daddy, and Sutter! When we got there, the first thing I noticed was that Sutter had a microphone in his bed! (Just like the one I have at home!). (*Editor’s note: “microphone” means “aspirator”, as mentioned in previous blog entries). Then, after I hugged Mommy and Daddy and said hi to my baby brother, I found out something cool about babies - they bring you presents! Yup, Sutter had brought a present for me: the Sherriff car from “Cars”! Wasn’t that nice of him? I held him afterwards and was very gentle with him (you have to be gentl with babies). Then, Pammy and Cappy gave me the SALLY car from “Cars”! Wow - it felt like my birthday or something! It’s great to be the big brother - everyone brings presents for you when they come to see the baby! I got a ‘Super Big Brother’ cape from Ryan and Amanda, some bath toys from Grandpa Rick and Grandma Chris, and a t-shirt from GQ! And I also got some Halloween stickers from Pammy to play with in the hospital room! I put them on Mommy’s window, so everyone could see the Halloween decorations!

For the first few days, Mommy stayed in the hospital, and Daddy and I would go home and then come back to visit her. One night, Daddy stayed at the hospital with Mommy, and Tully and Katil came and spent the night with me at our house! (And made pancakes the next morning - yum!!). When I would go visit Mommy, I had to be careful when I gave her a hug (her tummy had an owie). Sometimes I got to go for a walk on the roof patio! It had neat statues and fountains on it!

Now Mommy and Sutter have been home a few days. It’s been pretty cool - Sutter and I both wake up in the middle of the night (I wake up from nightmares, and Sutter wakes up to eat or be changed). Mommy and Daddy keep saying we need to get together and synchronize our rythyms! Sometimes I cant’ sit and cuddle with Mommy when I want, because she is feeding Sutter. But Daddy and Mommy have both made sure that I get lots of attention anyway, so I can’t complain!

I’m looking forward to Sutter being old enough to play with! Till then, I got some stickers to go organize and some stuffed animals to line up…

Have a good week!

Boo! Did I scare you? It’s ok, it’s just me, Decker! Last night was Halloween, and boy was it fun! We’ve spent the whole month of October talking about Halloween things at school, like spooky ghosts, witches, spiders, and pumpkins. Last Friday, we got to pick our very own pumpkins at the school ‘pumpkin patch’! And then on Monday, we did a practice trick-or-treat; all the kids brought their costumes to school, and then we got to go trick-or-treating at the school office and at our classroom door! We had made our very own jack-o-lantern trick-or-treat bags, and it was really fun. THEN … last night was the real deal, Halloween itself! The night before, Daddy and I had made a jack-o-lantern for our house, and we put it outside and lit candles inside it. (Daddy also made one with a monkey on it that lit up with electric lights - it was cool!). That afternoon, Daddy drove me over to Moraga so I could show off my costume for Grandpa Rick and Grandma Chris, and then we came on home to go trick-or-treating at my house! What was my costume? I was MATER, from “Cars”! I looked good! Daddy strung some working Xmas lights around my costume, so I looked like a REAL truck! Isn’t that neat? Before we went out trick-or-treating, Pammy, Cappy, Katil and Tully came over to join us. Mommy put on a pumpkin hat, and silly Katil and Tully climbed into my play bus and walked around in it with their heads and legs sticking out! They came with us to all the houses in my neigborhood, and helped take pictures. Trick-or-treating is awesome - you go to someone’s house, knock on the door, and when they open the door you say “trick-or-treat!”, and then they give you candy or toys to put in your bucket! Then you say ‘thank you’ to them, and ‘Happy Halloween!”. I got lots of great stuff in my bucket, and then we went home for dinner. Other kids came to our door last night, and I got to hold up our candy basket for them to pick a treat! I was very helpful! All the grownups had pizza and watched Jeopardy together, and then it was time for me to go to bed (after all, I had school the next day!). Boy - Halloween is fun! I can’t wait until next year!