Dear Angus

I'm taking a cue from our online friends Heather & Jason and addressing this blog post to you. I'm not sure that this style change will last forever, but I feel compelled at the moment so here we go.

There's a lot going on in our lives right now. Momma & Poppa have come to the sad realization that we are broke ("broke" means out of money, by the way), so much so that we have decided to move in with your Tata & Lita (who are Poppa's Dad & Mom, did you know that?). It's partly because we have been fiscally irresponsible, partly because of some bad luck, and partly because the US economy is the in the shitter (shitter is a word for toilet that you shouldn't use). So for the next few months you, and Poppa, and Momma will live at Tata and Lita's house. You'll eat dinner there, and take your bath there, and sleep there, and wake up and eat breakfast there. Nana will pick you up from there to take you to school each morning and Momma or Poppa will bring you back there every afternoon. I know change sometimes makes you feel a little nervous, but I want you to know that you're safe.

Your Momma & Poppa love you very much and our family is very strong right now. We are all going to stay together and even when it isn't much fun sharing space with another family (which is natural by the way, and doesn't have anything to do with love or even respect... it's just hard to adjust to other people's ways of living sometimes). Soon we'll straighten up our act and we'll have our own place again and we won't mess it up again because you are too important to us to put you through anything this disruptive again.

On another note... you are growing increasingly amazing. Momma continues to lack the energy (or maybe patience) required to upload photos, although she has taken some gems lately. Soon. I promise. BUT! this can't be a reason not to post the funny stories I tell to Poppa or Nana and then forget to write down.

So, you refer to yourself as Bobo now. This is Poppa's nickname for you, and you've now formed your identity around it. It's probably because it's easier to say than Angus, but it's most certainly also because you think your Poppa's the bee's knees (which is a silly way to say something is neat, or that you like it a lot). You've even corrected Momma after she called you Angus by saying "no... bobo" and shaking your head.

Recently you rejected anything resembling a high chair. You presently must sit in the same type of seat as any present adult and must get into it yourself. You also learned how to open the refrigerator and help yourself to yogurt as often as you like. Good thing we got a fridge lock from our friend Jen... now if Momma can only find it...

The most amazing thing about this little stage you're in at present is the things you say. We had a week or two where you were saying an awful lot and Momma had no clue what any of it meant but much to her surprise that passed quickly and you are nailing new words every day. You've got your old standards as always and you frequently ask "wasat?" to inquire about the correct term for anything and everything within your line of sight... but now you've just started saying things. And these aren't words we've pressed into your vocabulary with repeated effort, nope... these are just words you've absorbed through your environment that you're attempting on your own. Wow!

A few days ago in the bath you pointed at your sesame street wash cloth and told Momma where "Ehrnie" and "Buht" (Ernie & Bert!) were. Today at lunch at Nana's house you told us about the "acrahni an geeez" (macaroni and cheese) she had served you. And this evening when we were leaving Katie Slack's birthday party you pointed to the sky and said "Moon!"

You also have some of your own words still, a pacifier is still a bonkie, but now we have Bea (the panda... I think you are trying to say Bear) that must be with you in bed and out at all times, and 2 boogies (blankies), and you call strawberries "wah-whrebbies." You also say cup like "buc" and yogurt "agoo"

You have the sweetest voice, it's getting a little raspy which as we all know means you are going to be a bit of a troublemaker, but since your liberal parents encourage that kind of thing you found the right family for you.

I think that's enough for now. You're attention span is probably spent and I bet our audience's is too.

Love you baby doodle,
Momma (and Poppa too)

Little Update

I'm largely opposed to posting blog updates without photos but since I keep leaving the newest photos on my external hard drive at work I'm thinking it might be better to post now...

So, as any of my other photo less posts I'm afraid this is going to be a bit solemn.

We're okay. Hanging on by a thread... a strong one, I hope. Once I get around to it I'll post the photos from New Year's Day when we met our CO friends Kristin & Roman (and family). We had a great time. :) Since then we haven't been taking too many pictures.

Instead we are checking the mail waiting for the disability, unemployment, or last year's tax return checks that STILL haven't come...

Or we're scraping together something resembling a meal from the things way past their use by date everyone has hidden deep in their cupboards combined with the fresh food leftovers from Lita's state funded preschool food program...

Or we're spending time together hugging, smiling, laughing, talking, doing anything to keep our relationships above water so when we finally come out of this financial crisis we still have a family.

Rod is still applying for every job he can find with no results. I find myself in a position at work where I'm hiring for open positions (none that I can hire Rod for) and getting hundreds of resumes where we used to get 25-30. That's a lot of people being turned away...

One of our cars is broken, and we luckily have another we can borrow... but we have no money to fix the broken one and the payments still come due at the same time each month.

We're surrounded by loving, generous people who do as much as they can and often more than they should to help us... but it's hard for them to support a whole family of three. So we're getting close to decision time. If Rod can't find gainful employment soon it seems as though we're left with three choices. #1 file bankruptcy, #2 move into a studio apartment in a rotten neighborhood, or #3 head to another state where the cost of living is lower.

Which do you think we should do? or... have any other ideas?

 

Hung by the chimney with care

Momma's favorite part of Christmas has always been the stockings. :) Angus seemed to get a kick out of it too! He knew just what to do with the recorder and every subsequent item got an "oooooh! wasat?!"
 
 
 

Uh-oh, Elmo Fell Down...

Can you help Elmo up please?

Nana & Papo got Angus the Elmo Live this Christmas. The feature he finds most entertaining is that when you knock Elmo over he politely asks for help up and then pronounces you his best friend once righted. Angus' favorite means of inciting this response is to kick Elmo repeatedly until he falls... then body slam him.

Here we caught a few seemingly innocent and loving moments, but they are all just lucky shots.
 
 
 
 

Wasat?!

That was the question of the year... When he saw something with a ribbon on it made of brightly colored plastic he knew it must be for him. In this case, he knew just what to do with the bike and climbed right on. On our many trips outside with it he has spent more time pushing it than riding it, but now that he understands he can put his feet up and be taken for a ride he is taking advantage of that option more often.
 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve came naturally to Angus... he started by acting like a football devouring wild animal...
 
 

and after taking a much needed break
 

He worked as Santa's Helper handing out gifts
 

Really got into opening his own gifts (notice that he is sitting on top of a present while opening another. ah capitalism!)
 

and even helped with the assembly of some!