What Happened?

This morning I had to get Don up early because Makoa wanted Dada and not Mama, I couldn't even help with taking off the sleep sac. Then while Don was lying on the couch and I was having breakfast with Makoa telling him that we were going to playgroup today, he says, "Elsina" (the name of his carer on Mondays and Wednesdays.) Ah, mommy was not getting the love this morning. So, I took advantage of Don being up early and got a few things done. They worked on the computer and Don was happy to have a Koa helper.

Makoa was still playing in the living room while Don and I were getting ready and we were talking about how much Makoa loved Dada and how he loved the time they spent together . . . Don said that was great and that he hoped to spend as much time as possible with him because he would be going to San Francisco in a week for work. "Ahhhhhhhh," I said in a sad voice, "I forgot :(" Makoa comes rushing in from the other room saying, "What happened Mama? What happened?" and gave me a kiss. I figure I still rank pretty high with this precious boy!

Wii Fit

Some of you already know my story about when we got the Wii, but as a refresher and for those who don't know:

Makoa was due to be born on November 20th, the same day the Wii was coming to the Costco in San Francisco. Don had been looking forward to the arrival of the Wii nearly as much as the arrival of our son. So, as a devoted techie wife, what did I do on the due date of my child (who luckily came 4 days later)? I awoke at 5am and drove with Don to the Costco parking lot where we held our place fourth in line sitting on cardboard boxes. Yep, that picture in your mind of a humongous prego woman bundled up in the only coat that can zip across her belly sitting on a cardboard box is correct (and comical). By about 6:30 I could not hold my bladder or my empty stomach any longer so went on a walk in search of a bathroom and some food. And let me just remind you again that I am 40 weeks pregnant with a 10 pound baby. While I was gone I get these frantic phone calls from Don, who is obviously still on his cardboard box, not because his very pregnant wife is out wandering the streets of San Francisco but because Costco took pity on those waiting and decided to give everyone numbers so that they could come back and get their Wiis when the store was open. Only, guess where the Costco card was? In my pocket. Luckily the store clerk still gave him the number otherwise I would probably never have lived that down! After dropping Don off at work I got to go back to Costco to pick up our Wii and the guys at the exit who check receipts laughed as I waddled up carrying my big box saying, "Starting the baby off early I see!"

And that we have. We regularly have Wii family nights, and one of Makoa's first words was 'Zelda' - the game that he and Don would play in the evenings. Recently, Don got an early Christmas present from his folks and has loved playing his Wii Fit. It has a board that you stand and move on along with the controller and its sensor bar, which together open up a whole lot of new fun games. Among Makoa's favorites is the ski jump - notice the form of dad, Makoa, and the Mii on the screen!

and step aerobics - keeping time with the Miis by tapping the hips . . . and right foot . . .

Frozen Yogurt

On Tuesday morning Makoa found the frozen yogurt that Grandma had made while she was here. And yes, 'found' means that he got into the freezer by himself, while I was in the shower, and luckily agreed to the 'rule' that cold yogurt has to be eaten outside with a bib. Wheew! Thought I'd share the cute photos.

Toddler's Say the Darndest Things!

We all know this is true, so I thought I’d share a few funny things that come out of Makoa’s mouth recently.

1 – ‘Excuse Me’ He just learned to say this, which is adorable. What is funny whenever Makoa learns a new phrase is that he finds ways to use it about 368 times in a row and then tells me he said it. So the afternoon was basically him walking by, “excuse me,” and I’d reply, “Okay, good boy saying ‘excuse me.’” Then he’d get past and laugh and say something that resembled, “I said excuse me, haha!”



2 – ‘Big Boy’ Makoa’s highchair is GONE. He is now in a big boy chair, basically a restaurant style booster seat on the dining room chair. He can climb up all by himself (like a big boy) and sit in the big boy chair and of course, as you can imagine, he tells us that he is a big boy in the big boy chair as much as possible!



3 – ‘Come on buls’ The other night I was sitting across from Makoa as we ate diner and talked about our days and I hear, “Come on, buls.” (It is ‘buls’ as in vegeta-buls, which were having a hard time getting on his fork!) And now that I’ve typed it I realize that it doesn’t read quite as funny as it was, think of it in the voice that you might say the sh-word or some other phrase when something isn’t going your way. I’ve started to try and monitor my language as Makoa picks up on ANY word that might come out of my mouth so while I haven’t been cursing as much, apparently I’ve been saying “come on” quite a bit. As we continue in the talking phase I’ve really been learning a lot about what I say!

4 – ‘Koa’ The past couple of weeks Makoa has been using his own name (which I love) and talking about “Koa milk” and “Koa turn” and everything else that belongs to Koa, but this morning for the first time I heard him answer the question, “What is your name?” and he said, “Koa!” It continues to amaze me how children pick up language. Even though I knew he knew his name was Koa, I’ve never heard anyone ask him this before and I never told him that Koa was his ‘name’ I don’t think we’ve ever discussed the term ‘name’ before, so I was impressed when he knew the right answer!

K, I’ll stop bragging about my child . . . for now anyway!!

What's In A Name: Part 2

Remember when I recently posted about the meaning of Makoa's name is fearless? Just thought I'd post this new bathtime trick to freak out the grandmas and worry worts!!

I’m back – well, mostly . . .

Despite what some of you might think I haven’t been keeping you in the dark about the going ons of the Browns in Oz because I am a slacker or because I haven’t got much going on. Over the past 7 weeks I have hosted two sets of guests, first Grandma Rita and Uncle George then Don and Lois Brown. Having visitors is wonderful, but because I am Julie Brown preparing for visitors includes planning their itinerary, printing out maps, collecting tourist information, getting them a cell phone and bus passes, and of course scrubbing the house before and after they leave – exhausting in itself! I’ve also gone on two weekend trips (both with toddler in tow), cared for two sick boys, and tried to keep my sanity as Don and I remember how to balance our own time, work time, family time, together time . . . you know the usual! So, I apologize for not writing more, but I will soon catch you up and post some photos from the past two months, so keep checking back.

What's In A Name?

Do the meanings of the names that our parents give us really impact our lives in any way?? When choosing a name for your own child there is a lot of pressure just in case it does. I remember doing a project in first grade and quizzing my mom about the meaning of my name and why they chose the name they did. Julie means ‘youthful’ and I suppose I will always hope that I am young at heart. I just looked up Donald and found it means ‘ruler of the world,’ well perhaps he hopes he will someday be that too ☺ My niece is named Sofia, meaning ‘wisdom,’ and my nephews are named Ben and Sam, meaning ‘favorite son’ and ‘God has heard,’ respectively – what a smart mom. Me on the other had, I name my child Makoa, meaning ‘fearless,’ and boy oh boy does he try to live up to that name daily . . . today he stood on his bed, gave me a sly little look, and then belly flopped onto the trundle bed that was thankfully pulled out. Of course when I pulled the camera out he tried to go bum first and the landing wasn’t quite as soft, but the picture turned out!

And here’s a daddy cuddle pic too while I am at it . . . ahhh, my boys!