Curtis Clan - Springtime 2003
Vernal Equinox to Summer Solstice 2003
Week in Pittsburgh, Wash-PA and Washington DC 21-30 March 2003
The first day of spring brought a death in the Bethany's family. Her great Uncle Jim passed away after being ill for a number of years. Since Randy had a research trip in DC the following week, we decided to pack up the car and all go to the funeral in Washington, PA.
We left a day or so early so we could visit other family in Pittsburgh. A two free night coupon at any Marriott courtesy of a number of nights on the road for work allowed us to stay at the swanky Renaissance Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh in the refurbished Fulton Building. It was certainly one of the nicest hotel rooms we've ever stayed in (and the price was right).
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Bethany Jane and Randy enjoying the plush digs of the Pittsburgh Renaissance Hotel
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On Saturday, we spent up the evening talking with Bethany's Aunt Katie and Uncle Don, enjoying the conversation so much that we stayed up until the wee hours.
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Jane with
Uncle Don
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Other members of the Sage family also gathered in Wash-PA as well, as seen below.
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Rosemary, Bethany and their niece Katie
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Bethany, Jane and Alvan in front of "Old Main" at Washington and Jefferson College in a shameless photo op for inclusion in the alumni magazine
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Jane at 7 and a half months
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After the funeral, Bethany and Jane spent the week with Randy in DC. While he spent the days looking through smelly boxes of records, Bethany and Jane enjoyed the tourist attractions.
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Bethany and Jane in front of the White House
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Jane enjoying the dinosaur*
exhibits
at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
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* actually the "dinosaur" is a Camptosaurus Dispar that was a common herbivore in the Late
Jurassic.
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Jane at the Capitol (asleep and dreaming of future power brokering?)
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We drove home the following weekend, staying at Pittsburgh en route. The 10 hour drive pushed the normally good road warrior Jane to her limit and she was intermittently fussy through Illinois. But
then again, who wouldn't get a little annoyed seated backwards with only the backseat to look at?
A week later, Randy returned to DC for two weeks more of work. Going back to the hotel room after researching, seemed much more empty without Bethany and Jane. The widespread blossoming pear trees in the Greenbelt did much to cheer him up though.
April 2003
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The view north from the 18th Floor of the Marriott Greenbelt
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Meanwhile, back in St. Louis, Bethany and Jane were enjoying the signs of spring in the
front yard.
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Bethany and Jane with the budding redbud tree.
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Jane playing among the tulips
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Jane with her Easter basket
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After Easter, we began our new home addition, which will likely dominate much of our lives for the next 4-6 months. Since we're trying to update that portion of the website weekly with our progress, we won't clutter up this portion with
it.On the Jane front, she started May by learning to click her tongue and
seemed exceptionally pleased with herself that she was able to share this skill
and communicate with her parents and everyone else. For a couple of weeks it sounded like
an African bush tribe at our house! At her 9 month Dr's appointment Jane measured 27 1/8 inches in length
(25%-tile) and weighed in at less than we were expecting, but still substantial: 20 lbs. 13˝ oz. (75%-tile).
The 9-month milestone meant we could now supplement her diet with some non-standard baby food items
(finger-food!) like Cheerios and cheese, which has greatly endeared our dog Maddie to
her during mealtime!
May 2003
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Jane helping Randy play hearts at the last Sunday Dinner on 4 Mayhe was doing better BEFORE we put her to bed!
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On Mother's Day we hosted a gathering of the Sage clan for brunch and the Curtis clan for dinner. At the Sage Clan gathering, there was a joke that everyone else laughed at that Jane finally "got" as the laughter subsided and starting laughing heartily, which caused the entire table to laugh again (OK so that's sounds sappy, but it was a really nice moment for us).
While Randy remembered to buy Jane's mother some impatience flowers to plant, he made the faux pas of neglecting to take any pictures of
Jane with her mother on Mother's Day (or any of the Sage family), but proceeded
to take a bunch of his mom and sister with Jane when they came for dinner later
that evening... His only defense was that his mother tasked him with taking
pictures of them while Bethany was cooking dinner. On a more cheerful note, the next day Jane started clapping on her own, and
we think it's possible she could be a leftie.
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Rhonda, Maddie, Jane and Nana enjoying the spring evening of Mother's Day
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Over Memorial Day weekend, Randy's father drove in from Brookings, OR and got to see his granddaughter for the first time.
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Memorial Day Weekend - Jane and Grandpa Curtis
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Randy, Bethany, Maddie and Jane enjoying the roses in the front yard on May 27
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Bethany and Jane sharing a laugh
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June 2003
On 12 June, the Corps of Engineers had their annual
picnic in Forest Park. Bethany and Jane joined them for lunch and a visit to the zoo. It was Jane's first visit (she's been a member since Christmas courtesy of Aunt Rhonda), and she enjoyed it a great
deal.
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Jane's favorite mode of travel and perch is
atop Daddy's shoulders (pulling his hair to hold on if needed)
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Bethany and Jane enjoy the seal lions
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Jane mesmerized by the fish at the River's
Edge
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Jane's fascination with the fish and hippos
lasted as long as we felt comfortable blocking the view of others
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As June unfolded, Jane's mobility increased daily with long anticipated rolling over and
scooter-butting across the floor followed quickly by clear unarguable crawling
(!) by the 17-th. Besides the standard motivation of being able to put new and different things in her mouth, there's been a unrelenting desire to be with the pets.
Brazil is tolerating it the best.
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Not quite the Sistine Chapel moment - Jane successfully touches Brazil after minutes of effort to get there and do so.
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Maddie is less enthused that Jane's gotten the hang of the crawling thing. As she approaches, Maddie grumps & growls under her breath. Jane, eager to be friends, has learned how to
imitate this sound and happily “growls” back at Maddie, joyfully conversing with the dog. Unfortunately, Maddie doesn’t quite see it that way, and gives us this really pitiful look that says "please save me".
It's all very funny, yet kind of sad for Maddie.
Among her growing verbalizations are "DAH-DEE"
(when looking at a picture of Randy while out of town) with some prompting from
Mom and "BOOK" which she was repeating it after Bethany would say it when they were returning ALL the books off her bottom shelf, which she likes to remove whenever possible.
Additionally, more than one member of the Sage clan will attest to hearing Jane
mutter her mother's curse word of choice repeatedly at Mass (of all places!)
near the end of June... Bethany is working on removing the word "sh_
_" from her vocabulary! (Ask Gramy about the word "dammit"
and the deal she made with a 1-year old Bethany -- perhaps this is a maternal
thing!)
The summer solstice/longest day of the year coincided with sibling Micah's 21st Birthday at midnight. The Indy Sages came into town for the occasion, and the whole crew went to the Cardinal game followed by the Sage Sibling tradition of karaoke at Carson's afterwards.
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At the Cardinal Game celebrating Micah's 21st Bday
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The Sage Siblings at Carson's kareoke bar for Micah's 21st B-day
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