Adventures of a Family

Our first Christmas as a family of three is pretty wonderful. We wrapped gifts for mommy early this morning. Then we hung out by the tree looking at the lights while eating some breakfast snacks. Next came the unwrapping of gifts. Jonah hasn't figured out that the gift is usually inside the box and is more excited by the box then the gift. We can only hope that continues throughout his life. Think of the savings. We are all enjoying the 1.5 week winter break together as a family and looking forward to all the new experiences, love and joy in 2008. Love, Hallie Michael Jonah

Jonah is on the verge of crawling. He can get from the seated position to crawl position. Hold it. Do a push up or two. Then collapse onto his belly and fuss until put back into seated position. He has two front teeth on the bottom which came almost at the same time. And now has two front teeth on the top that have broken through the gums and two more top teeth another day or two away from the same fate. Jonah has been a good sport about all the new sensations (read PAIN) this has brought. Here is a picture of Jonah with his evolving smile.

Click here to view Jonah and his two buddies BeeBao and Gus.

If I could draw a self portrait at this moment in time, I would look like one of those multi- limbed , about-to-kick-some-butt, get-out-of her-way, Hindu gods. Motherhood is the ultimate girl power, for sure, and I pity the fool who gets in my way!! ;)

Jonah has been saying single syllables for some time now. They are as follows: bah dah buh duh guh puh mah gah Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee However, this week Jonah has started to put them together in multi-syllabic gibberish. The precursor to language. Or just imagine the first 6 words out of someone's mouth when they are suddenly awakened, "Huh? Guh? Wha? Da? Arrgh!" He even is beginning to recognize the protocols of dialogue. He waits for his turn to respond to whatever it is I ask him. Dad- How was your day Jonah Boy? Jonah- Guh. Duh buh guh. Dad- Wow! What did you do while daddy was gone today? Jonah- Bah.... EEEEEEE.... Gah buh mah. Bahbahbah. This starts me thinking about the different ways we could experiment with Jonah. Here are some things I have come up with. I don't think Hallie will allow me to try any of these and honestly, it probably is not a great idea for a child's development. Only talk with kazoos. Speak us

Halloween was great. Met up with BeeBao and Gus and the moms and dad and had dinner together. Then we went to two whole houses where you reached into the bowls of candy offered by strangers. One night a year it is okay to take candy from strangers I guess. Then Hallie and I ate Jonah's candy. A Twix and a Kit-Kat. Mmmmmmm.

I was recently introduced to a collection of poetry written by children held at the concentration camp Terezin in Czechoslovakia during WWII. The poetry was written in secret and was stuffed away, buried, hidden and later recovered after the camp was liberated. Of the 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, only about 100 lived. The poetry is touching, poignant, and terrible all at the same time. If I had read these before having a child, I would not have felt the depth of just how deeply tragic the poems are. I found this photo of Jews coming off the trains to Auschwitz. I can't help looking at the woman in the bottom right hand corner carrying the baby. Can you imagine what she was about to go through? I wonder why I am so lucky to be able to live so happily with my baby. He doesn't have to go without, there is no fear of him being taken from me, we even get to live in our beautiful house and enjoy each others company all day. I can't get this question out of my head:

Oh man, I don't want to spend too much time on this particular topic so I will try to be brief. Everything about babies is wonderful. The way they smell, the feel of their little breaths when snuggled into your neck, the cute coos and gurgles they create, the laughter. Even their poo is not a bother. It is what I imagine angels must leave behind. It even smells like fresh pastries or other baked goods (I swear this is true. Ask anyone who has changed a young, breast-fed baby). So, it has been quite a shock now that he is eating solid foods because his poo is disgusting . It reminds me Jonah is human, though I wish for a gentler reminder of that fact. Now I find myself troubled every time I feed him something new because you never know exactly how gross the end result is going to be. And I secretly chant to myself before changing him.. Please don't be the poo this time. Please don't let it be me. I know it is going to be there eventually but I am playing the odds ea

I realize some of you may not believe that my child's invented spelling is of his own making so I have included a video that shows Jonah in action.

Dear Dad-I'm so happy it's your birthday and I can't wait until we get to celebrate when you get home from work. Thank you for all the super fun times we've had together. I LOVE YOU!!

CARROTS ARE SO GOOD!!!

I am fortunate enough to be in Monterrey, Mexico for the World Forum of Cultures. Unfortunately only the picture of Jonah could come along. I miss you and mom my little boy.

One of the many things I work on with my fourth and fifth grade students is intention. When you told every single kid in the class that they shouldn't be friends with your current ex-best friend because he is mean did you intend for the situation to seem ironic when it ran its course? Was it your intention to punch those kids in the nuts 'cause it sure looked intentional? I don't get it. This is the one that gets me the most, "I don't get it." It is clear that their intention is to seek assistance, but they can't seem to bring themselves to ask and are not able to express what it is that they do not get. Intention. In class we work on ways for students to self-assess what they do "get" so they learn how to determine what they don't know and find assistance for specific need. Each day it is my intention to provide my students with the most interesting and engaging learning I can research, design, and facilitate. When I am well planned, hea

I officially said goodbye to my 9-5 office job a few weeks ago now. As this is the only thing I've known for about 12 years, the stay at home thing is harder to adjust to than I imagined. Every time Jonah and I go for a walk in the middle of the day, I have the sinking feeling that either 1) I am playing hookey from work, or 2) I am in a no man's land where the only people wandering around are strangely NOT at work either. I wonder who are all these people who don't go to an office everyday? I had no idea there were so many. I also had no idea how out of the loop I would feel. I got a lot of satisfaction from getting myself to work and making a buck everyday. Now I'm at home trying not to obsess about how the house cleaning isn't getting done 'cause the little tyrant wants to play! As you can imagine, intellectual stimulation is a little hard to come by these days. Don't get me wrong..I am absolutely thrilled that we stuck with our instincts

This is from Hallie.....there were a couple camping photos that I wanted to post..so enjoy.

A healthy garden means healthy predator insects. I have never seen a praying mantis up close and personal, so to find this big girl hanging out in my garden really made me happy.

Well, we practiced camping in the backyard last month. Set up a tent, had a fire in a cement planter (on purpose) and slept out on one of the many beautiful Summer nights of Portland. That went well so we headed out to the Clackamas River (one hour from home to campsite) and tried some hardcore car camping. Jonah had his own little nest in the tent, a play area under the trees and a great time enjoying the sights and sounds of the forest from morning to night. We even enjoyed a beer by the campfire. We all had so much fun that we headed out again the following weekend for an overnighter. Just one more activity that is better thanks to our little guy.

Jonah turned 6 months old on September 6th. I bought him 6 balloons and he giggled all the way home from the store as the gentle twisting and undulating colors danced at the ends of their ribbons. Happy half-a-year-old my wonderful son.

Gus sure is cute.

When I was growing up I had some pretty great experiences. Most of them had to do with camping and the outdoors and scouting. And all of the knowledge, excitement, friendships, and adventures were thanks to Rod Stark. He was the scoutmaster and all around hero that everyone looked up to. Having him visit recently and meet Jonah was a great honor and loads of fun. He shared stories about our camping adventures to Hallie, Jonah, my mom and dad. We ate chicken (sorry about that Rod, I really can BBQ. I blame that damn chicken) and caught up on years of events. It really made me happy to have someone I respect so much meet my own child. Thanks Rod.

This little toy is wonderful. The instructions say to only let the child play for 15 minutes due to becoming tired. Jonah got pretty upset that I took him off of the Bungee Baby Bouncer after 20 minutes. I think I have created a little jumping and dancing monster.

This has nothing to do with Jonah but I promise it is worth a read. Diesel-Driven Bee Slums and Impotent Turkeys: The Case for Resilience by Chip Ward

Today I saw an image of my mommy on a camera screen and then I heard her voice on the cell phone speaking to me I squealed with delight and drooled for my mom She'll be home to see me, I'll have my best smile on.

Jonah and his drool. One of the reasons I call him slobberwocky.

If you ever thought it a grand idea to cut wood without eye protection... don't. It hurts, you will have to go to the doctor, he will sound really concerned as he pulls out a half cm long piece of debris from your eye, and then he will patch you up to look like this: By the way. I have the coolest eye doctor ever. Thanks Dr. Zelada of Fremont Vision. He didn't even admonish me for my extreme stupidity.

After the three of us spent a lovely weekend together (which included camping in our backyard-super fun!) it came to my attention that things are starting to feel easy, or normal between the three of us. I suppose we have practiced and been in enough situations with Jonah now, that we're not constantly breaking new ground. We know how to take him to the grocery store, we know what time we need to show up at a friends house for dinner so we can still get home and get the little man to bed on time, we know what it's like to take him to the doctor and a million other little situations we've had to test out over the past months. So I guess the lesson to all of you who don't yet have kids....be kind to yourselves during this major upheaval in your lives..realize that it's going to take a while before you start to feel really comfortable, and give your partner and your relationship time and space to work out all the kinks. What you'll end up with is pure joy. -The Ma

This is just a test to see if I can get audio to play in the blog. The tune is one I have been working on that takes an 8 second sample, provided by the now defunct audio portion of www.whiplax.com , and I select smaller millisecond pieces of the sample, stretch, reverse and otherwise mangle and then create tonal instruments, rhythm and textures/pads and then use these to compose the tune. Eventually I hope to include some sounds as well as video on the site so that you can get an even better idea how happy our lives are with Jonah in them.

Grandpa and Grandma Diltz bought Jonah an incredible new toy (the exersaucer). We call it "the time machine" as it looks like something one of H.G. Wells' characters might step into, manipulate a few knobs, and end up meeting Morlocks, our ancient ancestors Homo Habilis, or hang out with a founding father or two. Jonah absolutely loves this thing and, given no time restrictions, could probably just hang out in this thing all day though pooping and eating get in the way at times.

Dear Auntie Deanna, I can't wait to see you again. I have learned many new things since you last saw me. I can make giant spit bubbles, squeal, make chicken sounds, smile really big, roll over (kind of), and turn pages in a book while daddy reads to me. I hope you have a fun birthday. I can't wait to have my own birthday. Daddy made a little sign and I tried to hold it but it tasted so good that I just tried to gnaw on it. Love, Jonah Elias Timetraveler Diltz Happy birthday sis. I love you.

It is our friend and neighbor Terri's birthday. We are going to go to their home in shifts to sing 80's karaoke tunes and celebrate with our awesome neighbors. Jonah felt bad that he couldn't make it but he had to get his own drink on at home and then off to slumberland for him. He made this poster for us to give to Terri, but we didn't have the heart to tell him that he used the back of our credit card bill and we didn't think she'd want it anyway if it were us handing it to her rather than cute little smiley Jonah. So.... Here is the picture of the poster with Jonah in it. Happy Birthday Terri.

Jonah played host to a touring rock band, The MayFire , last weekend. He had a blast meeting new people and you really couldn't find a better group of folks then Rob, Felipe, Kat, and Nachito. Next time they come through town on tour I will be sure and have a blog posting prior to the event so you all will know where you need to be.

When I see Jonah's face each day it makes me so happy to know his needs are being met and he is thriving. It also makes me sad thinking how this type of happiness is destroyed in most all of us due to the hectic and frequently inhumane world we have accepted as normal. Each and every day Jonah reminds me that we don't have to give up our love for little things in life. Shit, this is the guy who giggles when I look at him with an expectant smile and busts up laughing whenever I stick his foot in my mouth and hum a tune. So, your job today and for as long as possible, do something little that makes you and those around you happy. Do you remember how good that feels? Need an idea on where to begin? Find someone with clean feet and stick their foot in your mouth and hum the tune to Gilligan's Island (The Munsters works well too.)

(michael) - We are getting closer to completing the backyard garden. Though I have not been able to spend too much time back there lately. We are learning to grow vegetables and currently have planted in the photos here; potato, green bush bean, tomato, beet, cucumber, summer squash, cantaloupe, cabbage, leeks, carrots, lettuce, green onion, bok choy, hot peppers, kale and snow peas (raspberries and blueberries and a lonely single strawberry plant too). Of course so much of this is an experiment, and we ended up growing small quantities of many things, that I doubt we will see all of this grow in the space provided, but it sure is fun trying. I have learned that it is pretty darn easy to get a seed to sprout and grow into a plant. Getting it to thrive is what takes work. And it seems to me that it's the same way with people.

1. Putting on your shoes. This should definitely be done before putting the baby in the carrier because it is incredibly difficult to be able to reach around the baby, lift your leg high enough, grab hold of the shoe, fit the shoe on the foot and tie it tight enough for a long walk. 2. Drinking beer while feeding a bottle to the baby. It's incredbily hard to get the rhythm. When raising your own glass you will invariably end up tipping the baby's bottle back too. And when you return the glass to it's full and upright position on the table, you will be detaching the bottle nipple from his firm mouth grip with the other hand. However, the big difference is you can choose to pick the beer back up and begin anew. The baby just juts out the lower lip and gets ready to explode if his needs aren't met in 3....2....1.... 3. Digging. Whether you are using a garden shovel or a big manly hole diggin' shovel, this task just doesn't work with baby. Unless of c

You just need a sharpie and a shirt you don't mind messing with. Since we have this same shirt in 0-3 month, 3-6 month AND 6-9 month size I figured it was okay.

by Jonah Elias Timetraveler Diltz Today I am sad My little heart feels hungry My mommy left for work today But I know she really loves me I will occupy my hours With the antics of my silly father I'll giggle and I'll smile though without you it can be a bother Because there isn't anyone Who understands me quite the way you do I'm content and growing healthy And the reason why is you Now I know you must be sad as well But there's no need to worry I am saving up my biggest smile So come home in a hurry.

A Father’s Day Poem Today is father’s day number one And I’m so happy to be your son You gave me my first bath, and washed me real good And changed my pooey diaper when no on else could And when we got home you helped Mom so much She would have been in bad shape if it weren’t for your loving touch. Babywising you tried but I’m so glad you quit You were getting so frustrated I thought you would spit! Then back to work you grudgingly went All day long your loving thoughts you sent Mom and I did finally work it out But without you here, I just wanted to pout. Then fussy I was when you’d walk through the door But, pa, the milk was hurtin’ me right in my core! And sorry for testing you those first few Monday nights We’ve become better buddies because of those fights. Now here comes summer and our chance to play Though Mom will be sad she won’t be with us all day But she told me that you’re the greatest Dad on the Earth And I wiggled with delight and giggled with mirth To think that I’m suc

All of a sudden, little Jonah has become a fun little person. His hands have found their way into his mouth (entertainment!), he's been practicing rolling over onto his side, he makes all kinds of fun little noises, and he can hold onto an object for a few minutes. He has also figured out how to look from side to side when I'm holding him. As silly as all this may sound, it makes a huge difference- I know he's awake from his nap because I hear slurping noises coming from the bassinet (yum yum, those hands are tasty!). He doesn't just cry to let me know he's awake, because he's occupied, thank you very much. He's also starting to giggle just a little bit, when I bury my face in his neck and give him kisses. It's more like little squeals, but I'll tell you, NO stand up comic on the planet can make you laugh as hard as the sound of your baby laughing and being delighted. I could literally make a map of the milestones. It is so fascinating how they happ

These pictures show Jonah and his good buddy Boris (BeeBao) as they begin to learn to use their hands and hold their heads and bodies up. Write a caption for any or all of the photos and post it in the comment section. The winner will receive a special blog gift from Jonah to you.