Dax's Journal

Reunited

Cat flew back from the Philippines last Saturday and met up with us in San Francisco at the Hyatt that night. Dax seemed very confused when we opened the door and Cat was standing there; it was as if he wondered if daddy had been hiding away at a hotel all week eating room service instead of getting his Lola settled in waaaaaaaaaaaaay over in the Philippines. After he got over his initial confusion he was thrilled to be reunited with his daddy.

He was so thrilled, in fact, that every single time he woke in the night, he peered up over the edge of his pack-and-play and called out, "Daddy?" to make sure he was still there. The first time he did it he was pretty loud. I shushed him and said, "Daddy is sleeping." From then on he called "Daddy" in the loudest whisper I've ever heard.

Cat's trip went well and he enjoyed getting out and about. He took loads of pictures and even some videos. If you are interested in seeing them just email me at mmadayag@surewest.net and let me know.

The Way Overdue Entry

It's been a week since my mom visited and I am just now getting a chance to sit down and update the journal. Here is photographic evidence of what keeps me from making more frequent updates.

Fortunately for me, my mom cleaned up and organized my nightmare of a kitchen while she was here. She's a champ because she didn't even puke in the sink when she stumbled across one of our "sippy cup cheese" experiments. I was totally tempted to post pictures of the very clean and organized kitchen but I know you come here for pictures of the kid.

Here he is with Nanna at Fairytale Town. He's riding one of the horses pulling Cinderella's pumpkin carriage. I don't remember that her carriage was pulled by carousel horses, but whatever.

I will not post the pictures of Nanna chasing Dax around Fairytale town because in each one she looks like she's making silly faces because she was in the middle of saying things like, "Look! There's mommy! Go to mommy! Dax! Don't go in the lake! Don't! Go! In! The! Lake!"

Dax had so much fun with his Nanna, even though she's named after a yellow fruit that he loves to eat and isn't that just hilarious? No? It is to a 18-month-old kid. For awhile we had him calling her "Diva" which is far more befitting of her stature but might get some strange looks on the street.

We went to the new West Sacramento Ikea, the Sacramento Zoo, Fairytale Town, the San Francisco Zoo, Golden Gate Park, and the beach while she was here. Those are the only times I let her leave the house. All other times she was made to stay indoors and to toil like a seriously underpaid servant. We even made her make a huge batch of chicken and noodles. Dax helped.

By the way, mom? They're gone already. Can you mail frozen chicken and noodles to us or am I going to have to finally make them myself?

Dax's airplane

A few days before my mom arrived for her visit a large box arrived on my porch. The box contained a gift for Dax but I was as excited as a five-year-old on Christmas morning. The gift needed to be put together and that was going to be the first thing my mom did when she got here. Waiting was agony.

But here is the final product. Isn't it amazing? It's a rocking airplane and Dax LOVES it.

I didn't know if he'd be able to get it rocking but he did. He gets it going so much that it sort of travels around a bit, sliding forward on the carpet.

This is the third one my dad has made. He made the very first one years ago for my cousin Chris (who is now in law school so that should give you an idea of how long ago that was). He made another one for my nephew Jack and it is now shared by him, Peter, and Charlie. Each one is unique.

None of us get to see my dad all that often; he doesn't get to visit as often as we'd like. So having things in my house that he made with his own hands makes me feel closer to him. I keep reminding Dax that this airplane he loves so much is something his Poppa made special for him. I hope that this will help him feel closer to my dad, too.

Maybe he'll be better at math than me

Awhile ago Cat picked out a puzzle for Dax. It's a numbers puzzle. The pieces are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. I didn't think Dax would like it.

He has other puzzles that he really likes a lot. One of them has pieces shaped like cars and trucks and they fit into spaces that have pictures of the same cars and trucks. So you just have to match up the pictures.

The numbers puzzle just has the pieces and spaces shaped like the numbers. There are pictures inside the spaces but they aren't of the number. For example, the number 1 has a picture of a spider. One spider. But still, it's a spider and not a number. So, yeah. I just didn't see this one working out. Not for awhile.

I was wrong.

Not only does he love this puzzle, he's also learned his numbers. He can identify them all. Sometimes he has trouble with 7. Sometimes he calls it "clock". I have no idea why.

Now we're off to entertain ourselves until Dax's Nanna gets here. She flies in today and should be landing at around 5:30. Stay tuned for many pictures.