Decker

Hi everyone! In school we learned that it’s summer right now, which means it is very hot outside and you do summertime activities like play in the water and have bbqs. So far my summer’s been pretty busy, but it’s been very fun! I’m in summer school through the end of the month, which is neat because I really like school. In my spare time, I’ve been traveling all over the place! (And I let my mom and dad and baby brother come along). I’ve been to the California State Railroad Museum up in Old Town Sacramento, visited Fairyland (like a miniature Disneyland over by Lake Merritt - so fun!), gone to the park a bunch of times, and even went to a big movie outside in San Francisco one night! (It was a grownup movie, called something like “Cats Blankie”, it was black and white and not the most interesting movie but there was still lots of cool stuff to see outside). Best of all? A couple of days ago it was the 4th of July, and that was super fun! In the morning before it got too hot, my mom took me and Sutter over to the pool at my aunties’ complex - I love playing in the water! I floated in an inner tube and the grownups took turns helping me ’swim’ and kick my legs in the pool! (Mommy says I can take swim lessons very soon - looking forward to it!). Then, that night we went over the park and I got to go on the playground with Daddy, and then we ate ice cream (Yum!) and grapes (double yum!) and then while Sutter tried to fall asleep with Daddy, Mommy and Pammy and my aunties went down to the bandstand with me and we got to listen to LIVE MUSIC! So cool! There was a drummer and a guy playing the saxaphone and a guy playing the guitar and a lady singing and there were all these older girls (like 5 or 6 years old!) dancing in the front. It looked really fun, so I went up and danced for a long time too! I like to shake my groove thing - I like to move it, move it!  Oh yeah, and afterwards there were fireworks.

Try to stay cool this weekend - it’s hot outside!

Hi everyone! Been a while since I’ve written, but boy I’ve been up to lots of stuff the last couple of months, including finishing up my very first year at school! Hard to believe, because it seems like only yesterday that I started my educational career - I can remember having to pat my mom and dad back together on that first day of school (they were so cute and nervous!). But the months went by quickly (and I can name all the months for you by the way, because that’s one of the things we learned this year!) and suddenly it was June and time to say goodbye to my teachers Ms. Lori and Ms. Patti. Because this was a momentous occasion, we had a special ‘moving up’ party in my classroom on the last day of class, and all our families were invited! Mommy and Sutter were able to come join me, and it was really fun! We sang songs for our families, and then we each got a certificate and a little goodie bag from our teachers and everyone cheered for us when they said our names. Best of all? We got to have ICE CREAM in the morning as our snack, and cookies shaped like starfish that Ms. Patti made for us - cool!

I learned lots of neat stuff this year, but apparently there is still a lot more to know, so I guess I’ll be doing the student thing for a while! That’s ok, I really like school! In fact, after a week off for summer break, I got to go back today for summer school and it was really fun! I got to see all my friends again, and had a great time. I have a different teacher this summer, but then I get to have Ms. Lori again next fall, which makes me happy. I’ll be going to a second school as well, so I figure with all that school I’ll be learning lots and lots of new things! Can’t wait!

Hi everyone! Well, that’s what you chant at a baseball game! “Let’s Go, Oakland! cha cha cha” (at least that’s how it sounds to me!). This week Daddy surprised us with tix to a baseball game, and it was pretty fun! At baseball games, there are all these people down on the grass, and they throw balls to each other and hit them with sticks (grownups call them ‘bats’, but they didn’t have wings). Anyway, there’s also a really big tv and some speakers that a man talks out of, and there are flags, and concrete stairs you can sit on. At baseball games, you get to eat hot dogs (I tried 2 bites - yum!) and have lots of juice boxes. Sutter is just a baby, so he slept on Mommy’s lap the whole time. Daddy took me to the potty like 10 times! (I love my juice boxes). Sometimes the grownups around you get a little crazy and shout really loudly and say naughty words. I bet they had to take a timeout when they went home. Best of all - the very nice security man standing near our seats gave me a REAL baseball to keep! It had been used at batting practice before the game started - it has grass stains on it and everything! I had fun at the game, but I was tired when it was time to go home, and I slept a LONG time in the car!

Have a good weekend!

Hi everyone! April has been very busy, and it’s been a lot of fun so far! A couple of weeks ago, Daddy went down to Arizona for his cousin’s wedding. Mommy, Sutter and I stayed behind and we missed him but we also kept easily distracted because it was Easter that weekend too! So they wouldn’t be lonely, we decided to go over and have Easter with Pammy and Cappy. Katil and Tully came over too, so it was like a big party! Easter is really cool - first, you decorate all the eggs on the night before. I got to help for the first time this year, and I did a great job! To decorate eggs, you make all these different glasses of colored water that look like juice but you can’t drink them. Then you put the egg on a little spoon-thing and you dip it into the water and let it sit there. If you want to, you can color on them ahead of time, so your name will show up on the egg after you decorate it. Cappy got a little bored and very silly, and so he dipped each of his fingers into a different color! His fingers looked like used popsicle sticks! Then after we decorated the eggs, we left them with our Easter baskets by the front door for the Easter Bunny to find. Then we went to bed. The Easter Bunny and Santa Claus have the same rules, and you have to be asleep or they can’ t come visit your house. (I guess they like privacy). The next morning we all woke up and got to look for all the eggs and the baskets! I was a really good egg hunter - I found almost all of them and I also found mine AND Sutter’s AND my mommy’s baskets! They were all really close to the ground - thanks Easter Bunny! Easter baskets are great because they are full of toys and m & m’s! Mmmmmm!

Then, this past weekend it was my Daddy’s birthday! We all went to the Monterey Aquarium for the day, and it was so much fun! We saw penguins, played on a neat indoor playground that looked like the coral reef in Finding Nemo, and then we actually FOUND Nemo! And Dory! We also saw divers who were inside this big tank and cleaning the windows, and we saw river otters and sharks and jellyfish! It was very crowded when we left, and it was rainy outside, so we took a long drive home through Santa Cruz and Sutter and I napped most of the way. When we got home, it was time for Daddy to open his presents. I helped him, but he takes too slow! Sutter and I gave him a copy of The Muppet Movie, and we watched it together that night. It was pretty funny - there is a frog named Kermit and a bear named Fozzie and a pig named Piggy Fun times!

Sutter is still a lot of fun to play with. Now he can scootch towards me, and I let him ‘chase’ me and then he tries to eat my knees. I can make him laugh and he likes to listen to me read my books. He is still a baby, so he doesn’t get to go to big kid school like me. Maybe when he is bigger. We were on spring break last week, but I got to go back to school yesterday and it was neat to be back! This week we are learning about animals that hatch from eggs. Did you know chicks hatch from eggs? And then they say ‘peep peep’! And they are fuzzy and  yellow. Cool, huh?

Have a good week!

I can’t remember why I held out on these things. But they are delicious! Broccoli is delicious! Between broccoli, peanut butter and jelly, chicken, and vienna sausages my pallet has expanded more in the last month, than in my first three years of solid food. Mommy and Daddy are thrilled!

Hi everyone! Well, this whole week at school we have been talking about St. Patrick’s Day - that’s a day when everyone wears green, and there are plants called shamrocks that grow in the grass, and if you see a Leprechaun named Lucky and can catch him, then he will give you his pot of gold! Leprechauns have pointy ears, and we got to make our own leprechaun headbands, and I wore mine proudly all day today! I can sing songs about leprechauns, and we even made a green snack at cooking today! Cool, huh? Mommy and Daddy say that even though my last name, O’Steen, isn’t really Irish, that we can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day anyway. So hopefully we will find a leprechaun and he will lead us to his pot of gold coins! (Mmmm…especially if they are CHOCOLATE gold coins!)

On a side note -  I have decided that I am going to start trying bites of new foods, because my mom and dad and Sesame Street and my teacher all told me that’s a good thing to do. SO - prepare to be amazed, those who know me and my eating habits well - I have now eaten CHICKEN! And PEANUT BUTTER! And EGGS! And LITTLE SMOKIES! I know, I know - fruit and veggies are still the tastiest things in the world (oh, and pancakes), but hey I figured it would be a good idea to widen my horizons. And it’s been fun! Yum!

Sutter now lives in my room! (I guess it’s ‘our’ room). And even though he cries at night sometimes, it’s been lots of fun - I really like being a big brother. I take very good care of him, and I can make him laugh like no one else. Siblings are cool - I’m pretty happy that my mom and dad got one for me!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Boy I sure hope daddy’s trust in Wikipedia got that title right! Congratulations and be prosperous! I went to the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco last night, and I got to see lions and dragons and lots of pretty cultrural icons. Plus I saw a lot of pigs! It was live! It was loud! It was fun! Here are a couple of photos of me.

Hi everyone! Last night I was all snug and cozy in my bed, when all of sudden I woke up because our house was shaking! My duck toy fell off my shelf, and I got kinda scared. Mommy came upstairs and told me I could bring my pillow down and lay on the couch with her and Sutter and go to sleep there with them. She seemed a little rattled too - she told me that the house shakes when we have something called an earthquake. She said it’s ok to be startled, but that it was over now and it was safe. Daddy was in Palo Alto for a meeting that night, so I don’t know if he felt the house shake or not. But it sure got my attention! Mommy called Cappy, and he said they felt it at their house too. Then on the tv, it said the earthquake happened pretty much right by our house - that’s why my duck fell off the shelf! When Daddy came home, he carried me upstairs to bed and I went right to sleep. We didn’t feel any more shakes that night, and I’m glad! (I think Mommy is too).

Hi everyone! Wow - it’s been over two months since I checked in here on my blog, so let’s catch up!

I’m still really digging preschool - we learn about new stuff all the time, we get to do cool arts and crafts, and sing lots of neat songs, which I then like to come home and sing to my family. At school we’ve been learning about penguins, Valentine’s Day, rain, mud and rainbows! I have friends there I like to play with, and my teachers are super nice. I get stickers and hand stamps when I’m there, and then my mom and Sutter always come to pick me up!

I hit a pretty big milestone last week when I had my very first trip to the dentist! I wasn’t sure I wanted to go at first, but my folks got me a book about going the dentist, and I thought it was neat. And you know what? Even though I was nervous, going to the dentist was actually kinda cool! When you first get to the dentist’s office, you wait in this room that has lots of toys and books. Mom and I read a few books while we waited, and Sutter just hung out with us and mostly slept in my mom’s arms. Then, I met the dental nurse and she let me pick out my very own toothbrush and took me to a sink that was just my height and asked me to show her how I can brush my teeth (she told me I did a good job!). After that, we went to another room with 4 chairs just like the ones in the book, and I was a brave big kid and climbed on up and she showed me all the neat tools they would use on my teeth, like a water squirter and a thing that blows wind, and a mirror for my mouth (isn’t that silly?). She was really nice and looked at my teeth and cleaned them, and then the dentist, Dr. Bob, came in and looked at my teeth too. I opened my mouth really wide like a T-Rex (I love dinosaurs!), and they told me my teeth looked a-ok! Mom and Sutter got to stay with me the whole time, and when we were through I got to pick a toy from the treasure box (a dinosaur, natch!) AND they gave me my very own dentist kit with a mask, gloves, toy mirror, and another toothbrush! Cool, huh? Mom kept saying she wished HER dentist was that fun! I get to go back right before my birthday, too!

Sutter is getting to be more and more fun to play with. I’m a really good big brother - when he sits in his chair I come over and talk to him and sing to him and play “5 Little Piggies” and bring him his toys. He likes to look at me and smile. I like to share a lot, so I gave him my cold. Nice, huh? He and I have gone to San Francisco a few times together, and he rides on my mom’s front in a backpack - funny, huh? They say I used to ride in one too, but I don’t rembember it.

It’s very rainy this week, so I might not get to go play outside. Bummer! Oh well, I still have lots of puzzles and books to keep me busy, so I guess I’ll make the best of it. Plus, I do enjoy running laps around the living room!

Stay dry everyone!

Hi everyone! Ho ho ho! That’s what Santa Claus says! And guess what? It’s almost Christmas! I’ve been having a really fun time getting ready for Christmas this year - there’s so much stuff to enjoy! Mommy and Daddy and Sutter and I went and bought a Christmas tree, and I got to help decorate it! We have some really cool ornaments, like the Cookie Monster, Bob the Builder, and some pretty colored stars. I decided they all looked best hanging on the same 3 branches, right about at my height (a towering 3 feet, thank you!), so our tree has a very festive and crowded corner quadrant near the bottom - I did a great job! I liked decorating the tree a lot - in fact, I added my ornament hanging skillz to the efforts at Pammy and Cappy’s house, Katil’s house, and Tully’s house! Just call me four-tree Decker, yo!

Today is our last day of school before vacation for 3 weeks. (Mommy must be really jazzed that she gets to have me home for thee weeks solid - she seemed to tear up at the idea! Something about, “I can’t believe you’ll be home … for three weeks… oh my…”). Hee! But at school we’ve been having a grand time talking all about Christmas and Santa Claus and snow and snowmen and reindeer - and singing songs about them, too! My favorites are “Where is Santa?”, “Jingle Bells” (sung Tinkerbells, thank you very much), and “Here is the chimney”. We made presents for our mommies and daddies, and they will get to open them on Christmas morning! We also made some neat art projects, and best of all…we had a visitor to the school on Wednesday: Santa Claus! He came down from the North Pole to visit our classroom, and I got to go stand next to him and tell him what I want for Christmas. Then he gave each of us a really cool teddy bear! Thanks, Santa! Then he went home to the North Pole, to finish getting ready for Christmas.

What will I do during my time off? Well, there’s this video I’ve been watching a bazillion times, called “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street”. It’s very funny and I like to quote it a lot. So I’ll probably watch a lot of that. Plus, I’ve got a new hobby - making cookies! Last night I got to try helping the grown-ups cut out Christmas cookies - I stood on my very own step-stool, and picked out all sorts of cool shapes like snowmen and helicopters, and made a tray of cookies all on my own! Then I got to take the cookies home to eat with my mommy and daddy! Katil, Tully and Pammy were very helpful and helped me roll the dough and stuff like that, but mostly it was me! Can’t wait to do it again - who knew that cookie cutters were for more than cutting out shapes in play doh?

Sutter is still a lot of fun - he can’t do much yet, but he will look at me and when I hold him I pretend that he’s talking to me. I hold up his arm to wave at me, and say “Hi Big Brother!” in a high pitched voice - I’m very funny, if I do say so myself!

Hope you all are having a Merry Christmas!