After a joyous Christmas in Salem and another in Los Altos, we have returned bright-eyed and bushy tailed to march firmly into 2006. Except replace “bright-eyed and bushy tailed” with “sick as a dog with cold and flu symptoms” and change “march firmly” into “slither exhaustedly.” I’m reasonably confident I got the year right, though.
Despite this illness—which Jonah and I continue to share, which Erin seems to be beating, and by which Elisha seems unaffected—we have truly had a wonderful holiday season. Jonah had a terrific time playing with his cousin Jared, and we all loved seeing family and friends. My dad, despite some issues here and there, continues to make progress on his recovery.
We hosted the family Christmas in Salem this year, and other than missing dad (who we visited afterward), it was a great time. We had a Christmas breakfast, opened presents, and visited Dad at the rehab place before leaving Mom and Bret with him and driving up to Portland to get a ride to the airport from Erin’s cousin Adam.
Among other items, Jonah got a basketball hoop for downstairs, and he’s already taken to shooting baskets with his new miniature basketball. He’s a surprising decent shot, but more importantly, he’s having fun whether he makes baskets or not. Given the wide variety of gifts he received, the boy is unlikely to be bored anytime soon. That goes for his papa as well.
Elisha is teething, but it doesn’t appear to be causing her too much suffering, for which we are thankful. She remains a very happy little girl, and though we’re getting up in the night with her perhaps a touch more frequently than we were a month ago, she still occasionally makes it through and usually with only one interruption. We started her on solid foods a week or so ago, to the extent one can call paper-thin barley flakes and breast milk mixed to a watery consistency “solid.” More recently she’s taken in mashed up peas and seems to love them.
I continue to be way behind in virtually every facet of life, so if you’ve sent me an email or letter or what have you, and I’ve not responded, I apologize for the delay. I’m under the weather, I’m behind on everything (which means I’m not ignoring you specifically), and I leave for MacWorld in a week.
We’re flying up Erin’s sister Christine to hang out with Jonah and Elisha for the week I’m away—HUGE thanks to her for agreeing to come up. I’m going to try podcasting the MacWorld if I can get things set up in time. No guarantees, though. I may just end up blogging as in previous years. Either way, I’ll be thrilled to be there—especially if I can beat this darn cold.
In the meantime, I really do wish you the best for 2006.