Bathtime fun

Decided it might be a fun activity to let the boys take a bath and steam them out a bit.  Worked like a charm and now they are both crashed out.  Check out the shark hair on those boys :)

Video from the Transalaska Pipeline

yet another video experiment. My old iphone doesn't have video, but I have this .99 cent app that will shoot something like 9 frames a second. Uploaded to the blog direct from the trail. Not bad for the middle of nowhere. You can't tell, but Keet's knocked out asleep in the chariot...he's the little white band in the middle there.

This trail runs on top of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. It's wide, and clear, and the snowmachiners pack the trail so it works great for the Chariot stroller.

It was goregous today. I needed to get outside. 20 above or some craziness. The light is back, and I think the hardest part of the winter is now behind us.

Keet's Snowy Walk

We went on a sled ride to Grumpa's, then Keet tried walking in the snow for the first time.

Fwd: Fw: Pictures of Gym INC

----------

From: Nicole Worrall Subject: Pictures of Gym INC Date: Friday, January 22, 2010, 1:59 PM

Bollywood Bash

Friends had an Indian party. We dressed both East and West.
Keet was non-traditional, as always!




Classes start tomorrow, and the whir of the academic machine churns on. Keet was in full time care with Nicole last week for the first time. He did just fine, but it will always be hard on me.

I just found out that I'm retained for yet another year as a Term Faculty member for film. I thought term was, you know, terminal. But I am NOT complaining! Glad to know I have a job. Yet, Nicole sees more of Keet these days than I do. What kind of life is that for a family?

Our routine is to drop-off around 9AM, and pickup at 4:30PM. He wakes at 7:30 only with prodding, and is back in bed no later than 8PM. That's only 4 hours of waking time (not traveling to or from town) that we actually get to be together. I feel like most of that 4 hours is spent getting ready to go, making dinner, and then bath and bed. Maybe an hour of playtime a day with my son? Fortunately, Keet gets to play all day, so that makes me happy and he seems happy too.

It's especially hard after a nice long stretch of time together as a family. We had time just to be, with no agenda over the holidays.

Here is Keet in love with his dolphin. It was love at first sight. Solstice present from Mommy.


Reloaded video. Hopefully it works now!

Fwd: You will never believe what your baby did......

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nicole W.
Date: Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 10:58 AM
Subject: You will never believe what your baby did......
To: Maya Salganek

Keet was acting like he needed to poo so I talked to him about where poo goes and we went into the bathroom and I sat him on the potty and we read a book and in about 2 minutes he had went pee and poo. I took so pictures but they aren't great. We sang bye bye to the poo and he got to flush it down. He's still walking over to the bathroom door and clapping his hands. I'm sure it was a total fluke but in all my years as a nanny I've NEVER had a 14 month old use the potty!

Avid Reader

Keet is Fourteen Months today. I can hardly believe it.






In the past few weeks, Keet has become an avid reader. It's his first sign in the morning, and last in the evening. We often sit and read 5 or more books in a row. He signs along too.

The sign language seems to really be working well for him. It's great as his 1st/3rd language besides English and Spanish. We know that he's comprehending, as he'll sign for "cow" weather we say "cow" or "vaca." Same is true for anything else. His signs include:
BOOK
cow
monkey
grandpa
moon
"k" (for Keet)
the number "1"
cat
potty
bath
cheese
flower
toothbrush
please
car
draw
red (which he recognizes)
fish
berry (his favorite food)
stars
and he does "downward facing dog" on command! Son of a yogina for sure.

Vocally he says
"hi"
"dada"
"mama"
"dog"
"cat"
"up"


He's really into identifying nose, eyes, ears, stomach, feet, head, hands, and all kinds of animals.
This past week he started to play keep-away for the first time, by keeping away his food/cup/book as a joke. His first joke!

This next week he starts full time with Miss Nicole. She's so wonderful with him, but I still hate to let go of my time with him so young.

Sent from my Windows® phone.

Christmas Day 2009

We had a beautiful Christmas day. Great weather, great food, great time with family.

Keet opened presents for the first time. He'd open one, then play with it (or the box it came in) and we'd have to try to convince him to open something new. We opened presents at home, then headed to the Grumpas for more! Yikes. Overload for sure.


Such a lucky boy. So much to be grateful for. So many blessings.


I feel the need to create new traditions for our family. Celebrating Christmas devoid of a religious context feels superficial and commercial at best. Although the time together with family is valuable, the meaning of Christmas is lost to a child without a spiritual context. It's just about Santa, presents, and sweets otherwise. I guess that's where the value of making gifts comes into play, along with service in general. It is an adventure to untangle the social norms and dysfunctions in an effort to rejuvenate the culture with meaning and aligned actions and ethics. That feels to me to be as much as a mother's responsibility as anything. We either repeat the traditions we know due to a deep love and respect of them, or fear of the repercussions for abandoning them. I am not much one to uphold the status quo for convenience, nor do I believe in reprisals. I do fear being embedded in a system I don't believe in. I'd rather renew or revamp a tradition than bow to one that has lost its meaning...

So, here's my idea for Winter Holiday 2010. As the phenomenon of Christmas is unavoidable in America (we do live only miles away from North Pole after all!) we will expand our idea of the holiday for a bit of balance. We can celebrate the Winter Solstice with a day of simplicity. Honoring the darkness. Fasting. Taking a moment to reflect. By comparison, Christmas will be a celebration of the light!

VIDEO OF KEET DANCING TO ABC'S



P.S. Speaking of light, notice the nice crisp photos! No more iphone photos, Dada got Mama a nice new digital camera! YEAH!!!!

Keet and Kyle at Christmas 2009

Keet and his buddy Kyle are enjoying Chrismas time! Kyle is already starting to cruise at not quite 9 months, and Keet went from a few steps last Sunday to walking from room to room at our house! He still has to pull himself up on something in order to get to his feet, but once there he's a little toddler all the way.

Fox Lion's Chistmas

Pushing other stuff around

Pushing stuff around

Steps! 1-2-3!

Yes!
He had taken a step here, a step there, been tricked into it once around the end of October, but yesterday was the first day that he stood by himself and initiated a step, then another! Straight to Da-da at his art opening at the Annex.

Keet loves a crowd.
Mom jumped up and down with joy.
He took another two steps this morning too.

There goes my baby. Now I have a toddler!

Keet is ONE Year Old!!!!!

Unbelievable! Keet is already One Year Old! How did it go so fast? It's somehow impossible to imagine that much time has slipped by. At the same time, I've probably aged five years in this one!

This morning we took pictures, (coming soon), opened presents, and measured his height on the wall. He grew about 9 inches this year! Of course, Keet is very fun and engaging. He already communicates via sign language. His signs so far are:

Milk
Hot
More
Potty
Finished
Airplane
Dog
Bath
Book
Flower (he just showed me this one tonight while reading his book!)
What/Where (this may be more of a gesture than an ASL sign, but it's pretty universally understood - look for it at the end of the video!)

I may have seen a moon too, but I'm not sure.

Vocally, he's imitating lots of sounds and words, in both Spanish and English. "mama" and "dada" are spoken as is "ba" (for ball). Today I heard an "ag-ha" along with the "Hot" sign as he pointed to his hot water vaporizer. A sort of mix of languages but it totally works!

My beautiful son. We are so blessed.

Getting some Shutter-eye

Our self-portrait in our hipster shirts Dada brought from NYC

Wild gods

Or is that dogs?

First Family Halloween

We took Keet to the UAF Wood Center Halloween Party where they were taking pictures of all the kids. Akka sent the cute bear costume. I figured wearing my PJs would just make him my teddy bear. Someone asked us if we were the tired parents! Click on the photo for a large one!

The cutest pumpkins in the patch

Keet and Kyle (Nanny Nicole's son) playing. Kyle has Keet's foot!

Sleeping beauty