Sweet innocent Jane a bully? Say it isn't so!

On the last play date of June, our 23-month old Jane shoved a visiting 15 month-old to the ground for opening a play oven door that she clearly meant to have closed.  Nothing too serious but embarrassing.

Our first clue that Jane might be a bully was a growing bossiness with pets.  She delights in telling them “NO”, “Bad” “Stay” after our admonishments.  She particularly relishes the squirt bottle to reprimand Bert for being on the dinning room table while we eat (a bad habit that Randy let form for years and we’re having trouble changing).

Fortunately it seems a toddler aberration.  Several weeks later we visited her cousins in Indianapolis, where she shrieked in terror at the mere mention of her exceptionally laid back, benign 3-month younger cousin Lloyd.  There was no apparent reason for her fear and our bully concerns shifted toward cowardly ones instead.

Jane suggests it ice cream time

Jane also wrote her first check in July though it was impossible to decipher who the intended recipient was with her lack of penmanship and spelling skills beyond even her father’s.

 

Jane helping Gral celebrate his 57th natal day

 

Cate

On the Cate front, by July she was smiling on a regular basis, which pleases us to no end.  However, getting her and Jane to do it together is like getting the cats to smile together.  Cate has also begun to roll over on her side when laid on the floor.  This is months ahead of her Jane.  We don’t think this makes her a prodigy or anything but having an older sibling to follow is a definite motivator.

Smiling Cate in July

Who me?

Tamed hair Cate

 

Baptism Justin Lonsway Sage

In the middle of the month we made a pilgrimage to Indianapolis to attend the baptism of Justin Lonsway Sage.  The immediate Sage clan was able to attend and a good time was had by all (except the previously noted Jane fear of Lloyd).

It was our second road trip in the minivan and we are clear converts.  The trip was made easier by an early combined family birthday present of a portable DVD from Sister/Aunt Rhonda.

Curtis Family - July 2004

 

Bethany feeding Cate - the G-rated version

We thought about including the pictures at the church, but the editor felt the less formal ones taken the next day at lunch captured the essence of the group in FFF (Forced Family Fun).

The Sage clan while Randy sets up the improvised tripod of Little Tyke tables

The Sage Clan

 

Randy at work

The last week of the month Randy went on site visits for work in southern California.  From a job justification point, the highlight of the trip was confirming the presence of a Marine Corps impact area from high explosive grenades, rockets and mortars on undeveloped portions of the University of California San Diego.  On the personal side, pulling off the road to climb on top of some boulders with his teammates enroute to Victorville in San Bernardino County was the best part of the trip.  The daring of his 18-year-old youth in the MSM-UMR Rock Climbing Club was tempered by age, an additional 50 pounds and the memory of a concussion last fall.  Fortunately the weathered granite offered easy hand and foot holds.

Randy on boulders in San Bernardino County

 

Rosemary’s Bachelorette Party

At the end of the month, Bethany hosted a bachelorette party for her sister Rosemary at the local Residence Inn.  Oddly there doesn't seem to be any available pictures of the events so there's no clear proof that the relatively innocent movie and game night activities actually took place and not some deviant girls gone wild thing that one could imagine.

End of July

In July Jane’s favorite phrases are: “Bert’s sick” and “Maddie poops” which she udders on a fairly frequent basis regardless of the applicability to reality.  

Jane and Nana at Shaw's Garden

Cate’s big trick of late has been rolling over which she was accomplishing with great ease by the beginning of August, months before Jane did (not that we’ve intentionally done anything to encourage such sibling rivalry).

Cate smiling on the floor

 

Visit from Grandpa Curtis

At the end of July and early August, Randy’s father drove in from Brookings, Oregon for a visit and to see his granddaughters.  Interestingly, Jane’s pronunciation of Grandpa came out sounding mostly like Pee-paw, which explains where that comes from in some families.  I don’t think it will stick in our family though.

Grandpa Curtis with Jane and Cate

 

Randy attends Kerry-Edwards Rally at Union Station

On 5 August, Randy took off work with a few of his teammates for a few hours to attend the Kerry-Edwards rally at Union Station. 

Randy with teammates Shelia and Janice at the Kerry-Edwards Rally

Although they got within 20 feet of where they and their families got off the bus, none of the photos were noteworthy, mostly a function of the signs they passed out in advanced to everyone, blocking your view most of the time (great for the media message but less enjoyable to watch).  It was an interesting experience but given the several hours wait, it’s a good thing Bethany and the girls decided to skip it.

John Kerry poking his head out the tour bus window

 

Jane's Second Birthday - 5 August

August 5 was even more noteworthy in the Curtis household because it was Jane’s 2nd birthday.  Bethany made her a very nice Elmo cake and the in town family came over to celebrate.

Jane opening presents

Jane blowing out candles with help from dad

Cate sharing a laugh with Gramy

 

Road Trip to North Carolina - Mid August

In the middle of August, the family joined Randy on a work trip to the North Carolina coast.  Driving roughly 2,400 miles roundtrip over the course of 11 days probably doesn’t sound like everyone’s cup of tea but the road warriors that we are, we enjoyed it…mostly.  We made stops in Knoxville, TN; Goldsboro, Morehead City and Edenton, SC; Portsmouth/Norfolk, VA; Hedgesville, WV; Ben Avon/Pittsburgh and Washington, PA and Indianapolis, IN.

Cate and Jane playing on the bed at the hotel

On the positive side:

• Jane and Cate got to see and play in the ocean (at Atlantic Beach) for the first time, although admittedly both were fairly limited endeavors.
• Jane went swimming nearly daily in hotel pools, which made her hair even blonder.
• We got to see family (Aunt Katie and Uncle Don, Great Aunt Sissy and the Indy Sages) and friends (Kent in WV)
• We found a beer warehouse in Wash, PA that sells Schaefer Light and pickled eggs in addition to regional beers like Yuengling.
• We’ve really bonded with out minivan.
• Randy wasn’t away from the family for the week.

 

On the negative side:

• Pickled watermelon rinds are only slightly better than they sound.
• 5 months old and 2 year olds go to bed at different times, which doesn’t work so well in 1-room hotel rooms.
• 2 year olds at restaurant are always a dicey proposition and the odds got us several times.  At the Cracker Barrel in Fredericksburg Jane experimented with her own version of the Rebel yell and like the Union Army a century and a half earlier we left town with our tails between our legs.
• Randy wasn’t away from the family for the week.
  

Bethany and Jane playing in the ocean at Atlantic Beach, NC

Bethany and Cate playing in the ocean at Atlantic Beach, NC

Randy burying Jane in the sand at Atlantic Beach, NC

Uncle Don, Cate, Aunt Katie, Jane and Bethany

Jane and Cate at Great Aunt Sissy's house in Wash, PA

Cousins Katie, Lloyd and Jane at the breakfast/snack table

 

Dreams of a 2-Year Old

In case you’ve ever wondered what a 2 year-old might dream about, we got a clue while Jane was talking in her sleep during our trip.  Randy heard her say:

 “Snacks...Cookies...Doughnuts...Peeps…OK”

Jane in a "typical" sleeping position dreaming of Peeps

 

Cate Goes Swimming and visits a petting zoo

Perhaps it was watching all the Olympic coverage of Michael Phelps in hotel rooms through the Mid-Atlantic but over the Labor Day weekend, Cate went swimming for the first time in Gramy and Gral’s pool.  She took to it like a duck and hopes to start classes at the YMCA soon.

Jane, Bethany and Cate at Gramy's pool

A week later, we took the girls to Hudson School (Randy's elementary school alma mater) for Webster's Parent's-As-Teachers Family Fun day. Among all the activities for the pre-school set, was a petting zoo with lots of farm animals including: chickens, donkey, calves, pigs, ponies, goats, etc.  FINALLY an avenue for Jane to use all her animal sound skills honed through roughly 30% of her books (It's not clear why culturally we think these are such important skills to hone at an early age).  She was less enthused about actually touching them though.  Cate didn't have such reservations but her animal sound imitations have a ways to go.

Bethany and Cate pet a camel

Rosemary and Patrick's Wedding - 18 September

The last event of the summer for us was the much anticipated pageantry and ballyhoo of Rosemary’s wedding to Patrick Shaw.  Bethany was the maid of honor and it was certainly a swell affair.  The 4 days of FFF began with the wedding rehearsal on Thursday night.

Rosemary & Patrick rehearse the happily ever after look

On Friday, the women had a brunch and another contingent played golf, which left Randy in charge of Jane, Cate and the 3 Indy Sage cousins for a couple hours.  In spite of the widespread anxiety by the rest of the family as to whether he could handle it, things went very well, though the sleeping infants and a Mary Poppins DVD had as much to do with this success as anything.  Afterwards Randy and Gral took the 3 older ones to the park to hopefully burn off some energy.

Wagon full of kids ready for the park

 

Jane enjoys getting a push from Gral on the swing at Margaret Park

Friday evening the Sage parents hosted a dinner and pool party at their home in University City for all the out of town clan (Aunt Sissy, Uncle Rob, Aunt Katie and Uncle Don and Father Mark) as well as the in-town clan.

Gral, Sissy, Rob, Bethany, Cate and Jane's head

The BIG day was Saturday with an afternoon ceremony at Christ the King Church which went well if not a little long (even on the adjusted Catholic scale).  The wedding party moved to Old Warson Country Club (OWCC) for the reception and pictures.

The Sage Tribe with Patrick at OWCC

The Sage family singers serenaded the happy couple to the tune of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme/Scar bough Fair Canticle with the assistance of the jazz combo.  The results were less than expected (think bad karaoke). There's a reason why you never hear jazz versions of the Simon and Garfunkel favorite.  Their version of My Love Goes Where My Rosemary Goes was much better received. The rest of the reception went off without a hitch and a good time was had by all.

The FFF ended Sunday with a brunch and another pool party at the Sages to see the couple off on their honeymoon to Ireland and England.

The Sage Tribe with the newlyweds

RBJC Curtis Family Front Page