So little bit seemed to be a bit behind developmentally with his language skills. His vocabulary consisted of "banana" "baba" "mama" and "da". But I began to notice a lot of his little baby sounds sounded a lot like Indonesian words: "apa" "bapak" "mau", so I began speaking to him this weekend primarily in Indonesian. OMG! His language has taken off! Now he tells me when he wants something, what he wants, calls to us, names things in books. . . unbelievable. Granted, his language is kind of a mix of Indonesian, Spanish and English, and often his words are jumbles of the three, but he is communicating where he couldn't really less than a week ago. I am thoroughly amazed.  

 Sissy's gone to New York today and won't get back til Saturday, and Daddy's going fishing Friday, so little bit and I will have the place to ourselves for an evening! Hoping to be able to cancel the housekeeper on Sat morning so we can goof around and maybe go to the zoo. Woo hoo! We can eat waffles in bed and do whatever we want! 

Looking forward to a trip to SD to see a girlfriend who is due soon. So glad we have paid it up already, since they just raised our daycare tuition by $135 a month! Yeeowch! So we are also looking for alternative care. Hubby's CD sales are picking up, thanks to a couple of people in Japan and Canada who really seem to love the music and a few who have bought multiple copies. He put so much work into it, I really hope he can sell enough copies to feel it was at least worthwhile. (Even better if he could sell enough to make up the daycare difference -ha!) Of course it was all really a labour of love.

Have started a diet, but was too scared to step on the scale before I knew I had lost a little weight. Since then it has been another two pounds - little by little, eh? I am looking at this as a long term change in eating habits, because I think it is going to take a long time to get where I want to be and stay there. I'm sure many of you can relate *sigh*. Even those that look fine to others tend to look heavy to themselves. 

First of all, hubby released his latest album - check it out, it's really really good! 

Link here: www.leonplaysmusic.com

At work yesterday, the president of the company projected the inauguration on the wall so everyone could see the new president of the country. I am very hopeful about the new pres. even though I know he has his work cut out for him. Of course all the pundits were off to a running start and I just had to stay up late and watch Jon Stewart. Let's keep our fingers crossed for good things to come.

Work is picking up, too. We had a round of layoffs and thought we were about to have another, but projects started rolling in in the nick of time. Odwalla is thankfully keeping me really busy. Yay! 

Planning a trip to San Diego in April to see a friend's baby wh ois due in Feb/Mar. It's been sounding kind of like she (her husband) doesn't really want us to stop by, so we are turning the trip into kind of a birthday thing for one of our daughters. Looking forward to visiting the zoo and Disneyland, and anything else we can cram in. This will be the baby's second trip out, and I am a teensy bit nervous, but very excited at the same time. He and I will be doing all the lame stuff while Dad will probably be spending most of his time at Space Mountain with his daughter. I'm actually really looking forward to having that time alone in the park with the kiddo. 

 I think E's first word will have to officially be "banana." His big sister has been coaching him to say it and finally on the airplane to FL he did. Of course since I was sitting behind them I didn't hear it over the plane noise, so on the flight back I refused to let him off my watch. I just don't want to miss a thing, this being my only. The ladies from the day care claim he calls for "Mommy" during the day, but I have yet to hear it. I've been trying to get him to say "banana" on video, but always forget to have my camera at the breakfast table and of course when I remember all I can get out of him is "muhnamanah."Wouldn't it be funny if "muhnamanah" meant "camera" in E-speak?

 E had his first trip in a plane and in the ocean ever! The plane went fine with the aid of a sippy cup on the way up and some chicken nuggets on the way down. The ocean, not so much. He didn't like the instability of the sand and the waves coming at him were just plain scary. Had a great time with the grands, though (and the great grand) and definitely used up more than his allocated share of energy. Pic at the beach:

 e gave me his first noisy, sloppy kiss yesterday! I'm melting! We were playing and I had him upside down, then before I knew it, tchwsmtch! right on my eyeball. Best Christmas present EVER! 

Ran across this while hoiday shopping, and love it!

 mamabargains:

This site offers only 1 item at a time, usually, a different one each day, but each item is at least 50% off and often more. The products are very nice quality, boutique-y stuff, so great for gifts. 

www.alongfortheride.biz

good luck!

 Off one big project and soon to be onto another one. With the economy as it is, we are so short-handed and doing whatever we can to secure some extra projects. I'm thankful to have a job, but I'm pooped!

Little E's hearing checked out a-ok when we went back to the ear doctor - yay! And we're all booked up for our trip to Florida to see the grands this holiday. Can't wait! Hubs and the girls are meeting their aunt and  going to Disney for a day, but I'm staying with the boy and my folks. He's really too little for such a long drive. It would be a waste when he could be spending the day being spoiled by his Grandma and Grandpa. I'm a little jealous, but not too much. I expect I'll be a little spoiled, too. 

Got news our big girl is planning to graduate even earlier! She wants to take classes in the summer so she can graduate in 3 years. We just have to see if her scholarships will transfer. If that is the case, then this time next year she will be a college graduate! Hard to believe. She is editor-in-chief of the college newspaper now and was flown by the school to Kansas City to accept an award for the paper as one of the best college newspapers in the country. Hopefully the economy will shape up and with her merits she'll be able to find a good job.

The little one is getting more and more excited about starting college. It seems she studies all the time now and we hardly see her. I'm sure she is looking forward to winter break more than anyone! She is president of her Travel and Tourism Club and really enjoying the hospitality industry. My dad mentioned to me the other day that we need to come to terms with the fact that there is a good possibility that both kids will end up working overseas. Wah! I just told him that would mean we'd have to travel more. 

Gratuitous picture of the munchkin getting into the baby powder: