The Blog of Dominic: January 2008

Dominic Rides Again

Dominic has finally indicated a willingness to ride his bike again. We bought it for him for his birthday, but he wasn't too sure about it. After a couple of falls, he decided he didn't want to ride it and preferred his trike. So he's been riding the trike for the last few months while his best friend Brianna would come over on her bike. The other day Dominic asked for his "big boy bike" and DominicsMom took him out on it. He was still a bit hesitant, but we could see his confidence grow throughout the ride.

Today he and I were outside when he asked to ride his bike again. I took him out and he made remarkable progress. By the end of his ride, I didn't have to stand next to him the whole time and he was pedalling, turning, and braking on his own. Our cul-de-sac has a little incline to it and so he tends to pick up speed as he heads towards its exit, so I make sure I'm down there when he needs to turn around. He's almost run into a couple of parked cars or the curb as his confidence is up enough to take turns at a decent clip. He just has to remember to look up and watch where he is going!

Something DominicsMom is always harping on me when I drive...

DominicsDad

Playin' in the Rain

A series of rain storms hit San Diego this weekend, but for the most part they came during the evening. Sunday afternoon, a pretty good shower hit us and I asked Dominic if he wanted to see the rain, so I opened the front door and walked out with him. The house and front door gave us some shelter and I was able to stretch out my hand to feel the rain drops. Monkey see, monkey do and Dominic quickly followed my example. It wasn't coming down too hard at this point, but I felt the rain on my hand.

By this time, DominicsMom had Jocelyn with her in her arms. Joss stuck out her hand so DominicsMom obligingly stuck it out into the rain for her. Of course, Joss is a bit smaller and her face caught some of the rain and she made a cute face. DominicsMom and I laughed at this. Then I took Joss, held her in both hands with my arms out in front of me at full extension (think Michael Jackson dangling his son Prince from a 3rd story balcony, but Joss was just sticking out in the rain.) I had her out in the rain for only a second as she shrieked in surprise and laughter. So I did it again...

Dominic thought the whole thing was a blast and he was giggling away, so I gave Jocelyn back to DominicsMom, then grabbed him and stuck him out into the rain. He screamed and laughed and we all laughed at him as we trooped back through the door. As we were shutting the door, I told Dominic that I used to play out in the rain as a young boy.

"Who wants to go out and play in the rain?"

Joss was first with her hand in the air and a quick "Me!" in her cute little voice.

Joss says "Me!"

Dominic was right behind her with his hand in the air. Well I was stuck, so we suited both kids up in their rain coats and I led them outside. Dominic, Joss, and I cavorted in the rain, splashing in puddles and hollaring and laughing. DominicsMom opened up the garage door to watch us. She soon went inside to make some hot chocolate for everyone, anticipating cold little feet and hands. After five minutes, I was starting to feel the cold (their coats had hoods, mine didn't) and I told them it was time to go in. Both of them balked at the suggestion, so I told them that Mommy was making hot chocolate. I had to move quickly to keep up with them as they darted into the garage...

DominicsDad

Call of Duty IV

Blogging has been light lately and I have to blame it all on Call of Duty IV (and me of course.) The multiplayer on-line mode has been veeeery addictive. I've been playing about an hour an evening and have been promoted to Master Gunnery Sergeant (Level 23, so I've been promoted 22 times.) I'm working on enough points to be promoted to 2nd Lieutenant (I bet that would tick off a real MGySgt. Going from MGySgt to 2ndLt is probably a demotion in their eyes....)

Once I kick this habit, I want to start working on another home movie, so that will definitely keep blogging light for awhile. I'll try to keep the pictures coming.

Dominic and Jocelyn both love to wrestle. Sometimes Joss will run up behind Dominic and just tackle him! It's not really fair, Dominic gets warned a lot to not hurt Joss, but we don't say much to her (unless she just starts waling on him, which she does on occasion...) Here she has jumped on his back and is getting an impromptu horsey-ride.

And here's Joss just looking cute in Dominic's crown. The other day she grabbed it again. I paid no attention as I was fixing dinner. I came over when I heard Dominic's blood curdling scream (ok, it wasn't quite that bad, mostly a loud whining) about how Jocelyn was destroying his crown. Well, she was. When I walked over she was busy picking all of the shiny decorations off of the crown. To console him, I had to promise Dominic that we would glue them back on.

DominicsDad

Quick Photos

Here are a couple of quick photos:

The kids are good, we are keeping busy...

GO CHARGERS!

DominicsDoad

Milestones

A while back I wrote how Jocelyn was playing at sitting on the training toilet. The other day DominicsMom was giving her and Dominic a bath when she pointed down (you know, there...) and said "Poo poo."

"You have to go poo poo?" asked DominicsMom?

Joss nodded her head and said "Poo poo" again. So I came over, we took her out, dried her off, and sat her on the training toilet. She sat on it for awhile, got up, sat down, got up again, and sat down again. Pretty much what she had done previously, so I asked if she was done going "poo poo." Joss nodded yes and she stood up. I picked her up to take her to our bed to put on her PJ's and looked down into the training toilet. There was a little bit of pee there! Our little girl used the bathroom on purpose for the first time!

So we made a big deal out of it (as all the books say to) and then proceeded to put a diaper on her as well as her PJ's. We finished up the evening by reading books before bedtime. As we were reading, DominicsMom sniffed the air and asked if someone had gas. I checked Joss and sure enough, she had a full diaper!

She really meant it when she said that she had to go poo poo...The pee pee must have just been the precursor!

And DominicsMom got to change the diaper....

DominicsDad

Jake on the Beach

Here's a quick video of Jake at the beach!

DominicsDad

New Years Eve

This year DominicsUncle Andy, Aunt Laurie, and Cousin Jake came down to visit us for New Years. It had been awhile since they had all been to San Diego and they wanted to see some old haunts, so we all drove down to Pacific Beach (after my inadvertant little detour through La Jolla, but I'm not going to talk about that...)

We walked out onto the PB Pier and Dominic got a kick out of watching the surfers and a couple of fishermen.

Joss fell asleep on the ride over, so she missed most of the pier. She was O-U-T!

After walking down the boardwalk a ways, we decided to let the kids play in the sand (gotta love San Diego in December!) for a bit as all of them were pretty much begging to. Jake pretty much headed straight out to the water where Uncle Andy & Aunt Laurie let him play at the edge of the surf. He had a great time!

On the other hand, our two...

I eventually convinced Dominic and Jocelyn to try the water out. Like last time, Dominic dipped a toe into the ocean, decided it was too cold, and went back to digging in the sand, looking for 'sea shells' and hermit crabs.

Joss on the other hand had a great time running through the smaller waves and I had to drag her back a couple of times to keep her from going deeper.

After the beach, we cleaned up our feet and headed over to the PB Bar & Grill. On the way we passed a few landmarks.

"Dominic, this is where Mommy & Daddy met!"
"Whaaaat?"
"This is where we met, before-Dominic."
"Whaaaat?"

I'm not sure he got it....

Anyways, we had a great time at PB Bar & Grill, sharing a bunch of appetizers, just like old times (if you ignore the 3 screaming kids and two high chairs, diaper bags, sippy cups, etc.)

DominicsDad

New Years Story

We had a 'little' get together with friends and family for a New Year's Eve party. It was pretty much a last minute affair and we were unsure of how many people would show up. We ended up having 10 kids (all under 6) and about 13 adults. The kids absolutely ran wild and they all seemed to have a ball. I'll have a couple of New Years Eve pictures to post in a day or two.

For the party, I dug up a recipe for Bourban Balls, a treat I enjoyed while I was still at home. The recipe calls for 1/3 cup of bourban, a box of vanilla wafers, cocoa, and a few other items. This is a no-bake recipe, so the alcohol is not cooked off (but there is not a lot of bourban in each bourban ball.) The finished products look a bit like donut holes rolled in powdered sugar and they have a strong bourban taste. We placed them high up on our bar to keep the kids away.

Later that evening, after I had finished eating, I had a bourban ball and a couple of others tasted them. After I explained what was in them, one of our friends had a good laugh. He explained that he asked his little girl what she had eaten. She said, "I had a chicken leg, rolled taco, carrots, and one of those donut holes!"

I think I might be going to jail....

DominicsDad

Christmas 07

This year we spent the weekend before Christmas up at DominicsGrandma Pat & Grandpa Frank's place. DominicsUncle Andy, Aunt Laurie, and Cousin Jake were visiting from the East Coast where Andy is stationed and we had the opportunity for a nice visit.

Joss & Dominic look a bit introspective

(they are actually watching a video...)

Cousin Jake...he's a real cutie! He has only been walking for a little while now and he was a bit unsteady on his feet, leading to several spectacular falls.

Dominic hams it up in a Santa hat.

Joss looks cute in the same hat. Both kids sometimes fought over the hat...

Christmas 07 (Part II)

Some additional photos:

DominicsAunt Laurie & DominicsMom

DominicsPapa Frank shows Dominic the train. The train set is an 'O' Scale train built in 1957. Frank has kept it in great shape and Dominic absolutely loves it!

DominicsMom and the kids.

Dominic opens his stocking on Christmas Eve.

Dominic looks cute on the bed. But he's just plotting some new mischief...

Laurie reads to Cousin Jake, Joss, & Dominic.

"Don't worry! I'll protect you little lady!"
On Christmas Eve we headed back to San Diego where DominicsMom and I had a little bit of last minute wrapping to do. Dominic was soooo excited and he had a hard time falling asleep that night.