Shawna’s Whimsical Weblog

A few weeks ago, Tim and I went out to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. It was the traditional celebration, a trip to the Marston Gardens followed by dinner at the Park Manor. The gardens were their usual quiet selves, seemingly a little lack luster in the flower department. This is actually ironic since the traditional gift for the 4th anniversary is “flowers”. Also as per tradition, we took a number of pictures at the park.

Now tradition would have it that I would not enjoy the subsequent meal at the Park Manor. This year was different! Tim really enjoyed his short ribs and I had the delicious swordfish with lobster risotto. This was topped off by Tim making me a delicious Boston Cream Pie. Tim has often heard me bemoan that I can’t find this chocolate and custard pie that I enjoyed in my youth. Oh, how I love custard filling and chocolate together (sweet, sweet éclairs). I thought the cake (pie is a misnomer in this baked good) turned out great, but Tim and Brian were not fans. No, my brother was not celebrating with us. Since I can’t finish a whole cake by myself, Tim brought some over to him the next day. All-in-all, this may be the best anniversary celebration to date. Special thanks to my mom for babysitting.

Ah, the automobile. It is the paradox of the modern age. We need them, but only because we’ve created a landscape where we can’t live without them. They provide us with freedom, but only the same freedom shared by everyone else on the road at the time. They brand us with our image, but with an image that presents entirely the wrong message.

Shawna and I took Marshall to one of the local parks. It was a warm day, so we chose a school playground that was entirely underneath a protective roof. We rounded the corner only to see the push car pictured here. Shawna and I share a look as if to say “one guess what Marshall is going to be playing with for the rest of the afternoon.”

Unabated and without any competition for the new toy, Mal toddled over to the car. It only has one door (on the left side), which he hurriedly threw open. He climbed into the car haphazardly, trailing his left leg behind him. As he attempted to close the door, he is frustrated twofold; the door won’t Shut because his left leg is still in the way and his left leg can’t get into the car because it is stuck in the door. The battle between Marshall and the laws of physics rages for a few moments, before the cosmos chalks up another victory and Marshall flees the car defeated, broken and awash with tears.

Nevertheless, having the attention span of a bug, he returned to the same car only a few minutes later. He seemed to have since solved his foot/door problem, so he is able to climb into the car’s cockpit. As the photo illustrates, the car has a hole in its undercarriage, so the driver can push his feet through. Additionally, the front wheels are both on independent swivels, like a shopping cart. Therefore, the locomotion of the car is somewhat FredFlinstonian, in that it is totally and solely (ha!) related to the feet of the driver.

Well, whatever Marshall wanted that car to be, or however he wanted that car to convey him from point A to B, it wasn’t going to be. He struggled to move the car, crying angrily and bitterly all the while. He slowly moved towards fixed objects, yet seemed unable to steer the car away from said objects, occasionally becoming lodged under the play structure or against a support pole. It was like watching a train wreck, except the train was very slow and very screamy.

We can only guess what he expected from that car, but it didn’t deliver. In true Hamon Stubbornness, he entered and exited the car a 4-5 times, perhaps hoping that the toy would have somehow changed to suit his sensibilities. Each experiment ended in tears and frustration, with Shawna and I remarking “Ok, maybe THAT was his last time…”

Alas, he finally abandoned the toy to the playground from whence it came.

After a very long season together, it’s time to say good-bye to my latest hockey team, Ashassins. We ended up playing the most games a team can play together (17 games) and losing in the second game of the Championships. We beat the Champions, There Will be Blood, 1-0 in the first game and ended up losing 3-0 in the second. In the end, the culmination of team injuries would just do us in in the second game. Seeing as we both won a game facing each other on even terms, I feel like my team could have just as easily been crowned Champions that day.

Why the arabic title? As it turns out, the term “assassin” actually derives from the term hashshashin (or hashish user). Although the etymology is debated, it is believed that the original assassins, active in the middle east from the 8th to 14th centuries, ingested hashish before going into battle.

Team Photo including what we all thought about finishing 2nd place.

In other hockey news, I have joined the San Diego Floor Hockey League Board of Directors. I attended my first board meeting this past week. It feels good to help with the leadership of an organization that means a lot to me. I plan to build a carpooling database for the league to help individuals with the rising cost of gas as well as fulfill my basic treehugging needs. The new season starts on Sunday. It feels a little weird not captaining this time around, but I’m crossing my fingers in hopes I get to play with teammates as awesome as the Ashassins were.

Marshall takes great pleasure in his accomplishments. Recently, he has started to exclaim “did it!” upon the completion of such tasks as climbing up a slide, climbing up to sit on the couch, or climbing up the curved ladder at the park (did I mention he likes climbing??). It’s nice to see that Marshall has started on two word phrases. He usually does an adjective and noun combo, like “Mama’s shoes”, but more phrases are coming out now too. For instance, “done” has now become “all done” (complete with the sign language for it). Marshall’s annunciation can be quite striking at times. Yesterday, he repeated “river”, after Tim pointed it out in a picture. However, many of the earlier words Marshall learned are pronounced at a very rudimentary level. “Garbage truck” or “fire truck”, still remain to be called “uh-uuuh -uh”. “Cat” is mostly still pronounced “at”.

Appletoss
Marshall has kept his love of food. We recently reintroduced applesauce back into his diet (we had forgotten about this option when we moved away from baby food). Now you can hear him requesting applesauce (”appletoss”) 5-6 times/day. I don’t really know if he wants applesauce all that badly or that he just likes to say the word.

Marshall double-fisting his applesauce at 21 months.

Blue Book
One of Marshall’s favorite activities is to look at the two scrapbooks that Tim’s mom made for Marshall’s first year. Almost daily Marshall will request to look at the “blue book” (they are both bound in a light blue cover). Marshall has learned the names of all the people pictured within these two books. Don’t be surprised, if he knows your name next time he sees you. Thanks again Mamouse for these precious books.

Pool Time with Dad
Many an afternoon Tim will take Marshall down to our heated community pool. On occasion, Marshall will now request to go to the “poo-h”. He has even become acclimated with getting water on his face to the point that he will pour water on his own head during bath time (this always resulted in tears before). There is much squealing to be had between being launched up in the air by Dad or throwing rings and balls in the pool from the top step. We have had to implement a “no throwing in the house” policy, so Marshall now has to get all of his throwing in at the park and pool.

Flying Leatherneck Museum
During the summertime, the aircraft museum on the Miramar base holds “open cockpit days”. Last Saturday, we took Marshall to see what he would think about the big airplanes and helicopters. Marshall was too terrified to go in the F-18 and the F-5. We did get him into the open helicopter, but he’s still too young to really appreciate it. We can try again next summer. The next big adventure will be to Sea World for my company picnic at the beginning of September.

Dental Plan
Today was Marshall’s first trip to the dentist. We chose to take him to Dr. Stephanie Dixon. While I really liked her, Marshall really didn’t like the check-up provided by her. After many tears, Marshall was given a small plastic airplane for his troubles. I now joke with Tim that it is the most expensive airplane we’ve ever bought Marshall ($70). We had to pay out-of-pocket, since we haven’t added him to our dental plan yet. In hindsight, we could have waited until Tim’s open enrollment session (November). We were assuming everything was fine with Marshall’s teeth, but it’s nice to get that expert seal of approval. As with all child care, there is much debate on when a child should go for their first dental appointment. Our pediatrician, Dr. Robert Warner, had recommended we take Marshall in for his first dental appointment before his second birthday. In other dental-related news, Marshall is almost done with his teething pains. His upper canines are coming in. The last of the baby teeth, the big guns (second molars), show up typically between 2 1/2 - 3 years old.