~Hodo Happenings~

Not sure where this summer has gone, but it is already almost over! I figure I better update this before it's Christmas & I forget all of this. :o)

Much of our summer has been spent inside trying to escape the heat. I don't think there has been one week so far that we haven't hit 100 degrees at least 4 days out of the week - usually 7 days - and it's been between 100 and 106 most days! Yuck! We've spent many days at the pool, the lake, the local splash park and lots of trips for ice cream. Jake LOVES the water and I can't keep him out of it whenever he sees it - whether it's the pool, the sprinkler, the hose, even the dog's water bowl! And we all already know what a fish Lily is. She took 2 weeks of swimming lessons this summer, but I was not very impressed with their teaching skills, so we may try a different pool next year. She had fun though, which has to count for something. :o)

Jake has become quite a little ham and will do just about anything to get a laugh out of us - especially Lily. But of course, with a laugh like hers, who can blame anyone for trying to make her laugh. That laugh of hers is still unbeatable. :o) When Jake is not acting like a clown, he is walking around just looking for trouble. You can watch him walk around with his eyes scanning the room for something he can get into. It never takes long for him to find something...and his favorite is to find something of Lily's that she will freak out about him having. Ahhh, sibling rivalry - who knew it could start this early? Whenever he's about to do something he knows he's not supposed to or when he's just being silly, he makes this crazy silly face that we call the "cheese-face". It is the funniest thing & usually succeeds in getting him out of whatever trouble he's about to get himself into...

Lily's time is mostly spent either hiding in her room from Jake or acting like his mother - yelling at him to get out of her room, stop doing whatever he's doing, or to not touch her stuff. She does have her moments though ~ just when I think I am about ready to scream she will pick up a book to read to him, or share her snack, or let him chase her around, both of them giggling like little monkeys.

One of Jake's favorite things to do is read (although maybe he just likes emptying out the bookshelves in the bookcase). He gets a book from the bookcase, brings it to one of us, says "boo!" climbs into one of our laps and waits for us to read to him. We don't get more than two or three pages into the book before he gets up to get another one & repeat the process all over again, but those few minutes with him in our lap are so precious.

Lily's reading abilities are astounding (at least to Brian & I :o)). Neither one of us can believe how well she's doing, not only reading, but spelling out things she wants to write down. She can sit & read an entire book almost by herself, needing only minimal help. She reads the guide on the tv when we are trying to find something for her to watch, she reads road signs, store signs, you name it, she reads it. We're so proud of her!

Jake had his fourth ear infection within a years time this summer, right before we went to Boston, so we were referred to an ENT specialist. We were worried the doctors were going to recommend tubes being put in his ears, but luckily that is not the case. Jake was sent for a hearing test, which he passed with flying colors and although he seems to be retaining some fluid behind his right ear, the doctor doesn't think it's enough to worry about. He said as long as he doesn't get 4 more ear infections before Christmas they will not want to put tubes in...so lets keep our fingers crossed!

Lily has some very exciting news: her first loose tooth!! For the past year and a half she has come to me almost every day asking me to wiggle her tooth because she thinks it's loose - but it never was. She was getting pretty upset because "all my friends have already lost their teeth!". I told her her teeth would fall out when they were ready & she should enjoy having a pretty smile as long as she could ;o), but of course that was not good enough. Then while we were at the dentist for Jake's chipped tooth (another lovely story about the love of siblings) Lily starts freaking out, telling me to wiggle her tooth (while I am trying to hold Jake still so the dentist can seal his tooth, of course). So I reach into her mouth, fully expecting yet another false alarm, but lo & behold - it wiggled!! She was so excited she could hardly contain herself & I don't think she has stopped wiggling it yet! The tooth fairy better get ready because I don't think it'll be much longer before she has an empty space where a tooth used to be...

Jake is starting to talk little by little, but he understands far more than what he can say. We are officially saying that his first word is "shoes" because that is the first thing he said that we understood and knew he knew what he was talking about. He picks up his shoes (or anyones shoes), brings them over to us & says "shus!, shus!". He's still saying "bye-bye" - or trying to - and waves, he says "ot!" (hot) whenever we put something that could be hot on his highchair tray & then tries to blow on it to cool it off, he's starting to say "Dada" to Brian, when you ask him what the doggy says, he says "oof, oof!", if he sees a picture of Elmo, he says "la,la,la" and when he does something he's proud of, he will clap & say "yeee!!!" - and he's much happier with an audience - the bigger, the better. And we must not forget "Vroom!" which is definitely his favorite. :o) When I ask him to get his shoes, he goes to get his shoes & brings them back to me, if I ask him where Daddy, Lily or the doggy is, he points to them (but he still won't point to me if I or anyone else asks him where Mama is...grrr....), if I ask him where his ears are or his mouth, he will point to them, and if I ask him to give me a kiss, he leans over with his mouth wide open to give me a wet, wonderful, perfect kiss :o). He will also blow kisses when he's in the mood to perform his tricks ;o). Everything else he wants is communicated by pointing his finger & saying "eh, eh, eh, eh, eh!" until we figure out what he wants.

We've been so busy watching how fast Jake is growing up, we haven't noticed how much Lily is growing up right before our eyes as well. I took her school shopping last week and we went to Gymboree, which has always been a favorite of ours. Lily looked around for a while & then came over to me & said "Mom, all the stuff in here is really cutesy. I'm in first grade now, and I don't wear cutesy stuff anymore!" Talk about a dagger right in my heart! My little girl thinks she's too grown up! So through the tears I was trying to hold back, I told her we'd go somewhere else. She said someplace that sold "rock star stuff" was more preferable. (Note to Hannah Montana, iCarly and High School Musical: you are banned from my house! Ha ha - like that will ever happen). Later in the week we went to the Skechers store to get new school shoes and Lily already knew what she wanted before we even walked through the door: bright blue & pink hightops...yes, I said hightops...bright blue & pink. (I think I had a pair of these in the 80's...is this really what I put my mother through??) So we get the new coveted shoes & bring them home where Lily decides she needs to put on a fashion show for us, walk up & down the hall in them - and then says "Am I going to Hollywood, or what?". Or what...

Brian is now working where he will be working for the remainder of the time we are here at Fort Hood. (When he first got here his unit was deployed, so he was part of the rear detachment, but now that his unit is home again, they have all been split into their regular companies.) He found out that he is not going to be doing the job he has been trained to do (there is not much he can do while he is stateside anyway, but even less when he is not in a mortuary unit), so that's a little disappointing, but he is up for the challenge of what they have planned for him. Hopefully this job will allow him time to further his career by taking classes & going to school.

He's also been busy working on the house. We're in the process of updating one of our bathrooms. The whole bathroom was ripped apart right down to the studs & been rebuilt. He did the sheet rock, the tile, the plumbing, the electric - everything. It seems there's nothing he can't do. It's almost done & we can't wait to have it done & post pictures for everyone to see. :o)

He is also thrilled to finally have his Chevy truck at our house (it's been being stored at his dad's house since we moved here). Jake is pretty excited too and no day is complete without him going out to the garage & either pointing at it & saying "Vroom, Vroom!" or getting into the drivers seat and "driving" it in the garage. :o)

So all in all, our summer has been full of fun, sun, relaxation & lots of love. We had 2 great vacations (Boston/Cape Cod & Galveston/Houston), one wonderful weekend at Julie's lake house and lots of fun trips. We still have a couple weeks that we are going to make the most of before Lily goes back to school & real life starts again. :o)