Silly little monkey

RJ made friends with this particular monkey when we went down to Patterson for their Annual Apricot Fiesta.

Fortunately, friendship is cheap:



At the asparagus festival last year we had deep fried asparagus so when we saw the chocolate covered apricot ice cream bars we got excited -- but they were pre-packaged.

Other than the monkey all we did was walk around to the vendors. Once RJ is older, I'm sure he will enjoy all the bounce houses and other festival rides that are part of the festival circuit in California (Asparagus, Wine, Garlic, Tomato, etc.)

Skadoosh

I don't know why there wasn't a post about this already, but the latest movie from DreamWorks Animation opened a few weeks ago and (has been doing well).

We of course got to see the movie in the theater a week before opening day at the friends and family screening. It's quite the perk to go to see a free movie with free popcorn and drinks. We had good luck with taking RJ to the Bee Movie screening, as he nursed and slept and then actually watched and enjoyed the movie. However, 4 months is MUCH different than 11 months, so this time, we brought an entourage, which was a really good idea. Krishawn was the lucky babysitter who got to come, with the understanding that if RJ was good, then she just got paid to see a movie, but that if he was making a ruckus, then she would take him and amuse him elsewhere in the theater. An additional perk was that she brought her boyfriend, Mike too.

This worked out well because both Lance and I actually got to see the whole movie, and RJ, who was a little freaked out by the loud noises, got to play with Krishawn. The bummer was that she didn't get to see the whole movie.

I think if RJ was a year or two older, he would've enjoyed the movie much more, but right now I'm relishing in the fact that the fight scenes seemed to scare the crap out of him. Yay for disliking violence! I know that it probably won't stick, but one could hope. In reality, it was the really big, really loud, sharp , ominous sounds and actions on the screen that seemed to scare him. So it was a big difference from Bee Movie, which, being brighter in color and more melodious in sound, mesmerized him.

We left the movie and went out to lunch at a cute little Mexican restaurant, where RJ stole rice and beans off my plate. He apparently has his Momma's tastes, as he LOVED both!

All in all, it was an excellent day for all! Now, go see Kung Fu Panda and help Lance get his 2008 bonus (only domestic box-office returns directly impact bonus calculations, so renting or buying the dvd doesn't help)!

Thank You Teachers!

Today was RJ's last day of school until September. The pictures of him with Krishawn really show just how much he's changed during his time at the CDC - his teachers have really gotten to experience his development first hand.

While I'm really happy that I will get to spend a lot of time with him this summer, we will both really miss his teachers. These women have done a fantastic job this year and deserve a great big pat on the back.

To show his appreciation, RJ wrote his teachers a poem to accompany their end-of-the-year gift (a Bath & Body Works gift certificate). He wanted to share it with all of you too:

I've spit up on your shirt,
I've wiped it in your hair.
I've spit up on the table,
And spread it everywhere.

I've put boogies on your pants,
Because you said to share.
I know that it's disgusting,
But you didn't seem to care!

I've made you lose in poo roulette,
And clean my stinky mess.
You even wrapped my butt in cloth,
With no visible distress.

And because you kept on smiling,
Through all my messy little quirks,
I figured you could use something,
From Bath & Body Works!

So to Krishawn, Kasie, & Melody and Amanda, Ashley, & Marie: THANK YOU!!!

End of the Semester Countdown Update

One more week until I convert from our grueling school schedule to "RJ Time". A bulk of my grading is complete, but here's what I have left this week.

CDEV 3140 (Human Development I):
Post Final Grades TODAY!

CDEV 3180 (Early Social & Emotional Development):
Post Final Grades TODAY!

CDC Internships:
Grade Final Portfolios
Grade stray assignments
Compute Final Grades and Post
Clean Center with inordinate amounts of diluted bleach (with plenty of ventilation) TODAY!

The load is getting lighter!

End of the Semester Countdown

I cannot even begin to express how much I am looking forward to the end of the semester and my summer off with RJ. I took on the directorship at RJ's school and I'm loving it, but it does take time away from my teaching and grading. I'll recap on that experience when I'm officially done, but for now, I just wanted to share that the end of the semester, along with the end of my second year as a professor, is finally in sight. Here's what I have left:

CDEV 3180: Early Social and Emotional Development
- Last Lecture TODAY (Monday May 19)!
- Exam 3 (Wednesday May 21)
- Grade 33 4-6page papers
- Grade exam
- Assign Grades

CDEV 3140: Human Development I: Childhood
- Exam 2 (Tuesday May 20)
- Grade exam
- Assign Grades

CDC Internships
- Grade late lesson plans and weekly evaluations
- Look over Portfolios Due on May 28
- Assign Grades
- Final Exam: Cleaning the whole center with inordinate amounts of bleach Wednesday May 28

Directorship:
Start hiring process for next year

Then I attend Graduation on May 30 and hopefully I will be done by then! Wish me luck.

Baby Artwork

RJ has recently been interested in the crayons at school. Usually he just likes to hold them or wave them around and his teachers spend the next 15 minutes repeating, "out of mouth, RJ", but last week, he started using crayons for their intended purpose; making marks on paper. Here is his first crayon drawing:



It was a big art week for RJ. He also made his first finger painting, which became a gift to me for Mother's Day (in addition to the massage that I will redeem when my spring semester grading is over):



He has also made a ball painting (which is his first official painting), which is a pretty neat way of doing artwork with toddlers. The teachers put a piece of paper and a superball covered in paint in a closed cylinder for the children to shake around. However, his masterpiece is currently on the bulletin board at school with the others so I don't have a picture of it to share!

RJ's First School Pictures

A photographer who takes on an entire preschool and infant/toddler program in a two-day span is a brave soul. I'm sure we could've eventually gotten RJ to sit still, but it seemed best for all involved since I was around as director to just take a mommy-and-me picture so the poor guy could move on to the next challenge.



As acting director I was in his class photos as well. Here is RJ's Monday, Wednesday, Friday class:



and his Tuesday Thursday class:

Breakfast Bar Bandit

RJ has been participating more and more in his classroom in the last month or so. He's able to stand at the activity table and the other children are usually more than happy to share the activity materials with him. In fact, the very same children who grab toys away from other children or get upset when other children take toys from them will readily give their toys away to RJ or simply let him take toys away from them. After all, he's "the baby" still. It is really cute to watch. However, I don't think that little Camila was expecting what RJ did on Friday.

On Friday, Teacher Krishawn came into my office (which is maybe 5 yards from the Infant/Toddler classroom) asking if I had any teething biscuits for RJ. It was close to, but not yet lunch time. Unfortunately, I didn't have any with me that day and she then asked if RJ could have a breakfast bar. I suggested that he could eat his lunch a little early if he was hungry, but asked her what prompted the question. Well, it turns out that RJ stood up at the table when his friend Camila was eating a breakfast bar (which they keep on hand for impromptu snacking in the Infant/Toddler room), snatched the bar from her and proceeded to eat it! What a little thief! Camila, who frequently helps Krishawn feed RJ (and actually does a REALLY good job for a 2 year old), luckily didn't seem to mind. So, I said he could have a small bit if he was curious about it. He of course LOVED it, mostly because the first ingredient, as we found out when he was eating it (doh!), is high fructose corn syrup, which is really bad for you and banned in our house. Why? This article starts to explain why these bars are so bad. So, it's RJ's last taste of those particular breakfast bars until he can sneak unhealthy snacks in on his own. However, what's really nice is that it actually prompted a discussion of changing the snack bar to Clif Z-bars or a healthier, natural or organic breakfast bar instead of Nutrigrain bars because the children (or adults for that matter) shouldn't have high fructose corn syrup.

The Stand...

Here is a video demonstrating some of RJ's recent developments. Particularly notable is the unassisted stand. While we obviously enjoy most of his new skills, there are a few tricks our little handful has that we're not too fond of.

1.) Turning on the bathroom water faucet while we're trying to brush his teeth
2.) Turning over and attempting to crawl off the changing table before the clean diaper gets on
3.) Reaching behind the couch, grabbing the moose lamp and swinging it back and forth while gleefully saying, "No. Noooooooo"
4.) Grabbing my cell phone, turning it over to try and "find" the person behind the voice, and hitting the red phone, thus hanging up on Grammie Carola.
5.) Laying down in the crib when we say, "Lay down, RJ", only to stand up 5 seconds later. Repeat ad nauseum until the end of the story or an "I don't want to sleep" tantrum ensues.

Oh....No...nononono.

As the title would suggest, RJ has learned the word "no". He understands what the word means (he will stop what he's doing if you say it firmly enough), but uses the word in a couple of ways.

First, he will push things away and say "no nononono". This is pretty clear and appropriate usage. Unfortunately, pushing away the bulb syringe when he has a bad cold is not something that we can give in to.

Second, we have been trying to set some boundaries since he understands what we're saying. So for example - after nursing, he loves to stand on my lap and grab the moose lamp behind the couch and rock it on its base. I've said "no" and redirected him fairly consistently. However, he now says "no nooooooo" and then shows a devilish smile and does it anyway. So he's showing that he gets it, but can't actually inhibit the behavior yet. I'm actually working on saying "no" less and using positively worded guidance instead. So instead of "no" in the moose lamp situation, I'm now trying to say, "keep the lamp on the floor". Children have an easier time complying with positive statements rather than statement requiring them to inhibit or stop. If you give them an idea of what they should be doing, rather than what they shouldn't be doing, you'll be much more likely to get compliance. But in reality, it is hard to break the, "no" or "stop" habit. We use this technique at RJ's school and it is extremely effective, even for some extremely negative behaviors like biting and pinching.

And just this week, when another child at school took a toy that he was playing with - RJ told the other child, "no". Teacher Krishawn was very proud of RJ for using his words at such a young age!

In addition to the word, "no", RJ has quite the verbal repetoire. He regularly talks to me during our long commutes to school/work and back. He can say momma, dada, no, dat (cat), bo or do (boca), boob, and an assortment of other sounds that are sounding more and more like organized language. He also is linking his speech to the referents more and more. Although, I am convinced that he calls me dada more than momma just because he loves my reaction and increased attention when he does it. In fact, I think he's playing a game because he kind of laughs when saying dada, particularly after I say, "I'm momma, (pointing to me) momma momma momma" and he says dada again.

My favorite has been the few times he's said, "momma boob" (which honestly sounds more like, "mamamama bbbib" when he was sick and wanted to get out of the high chair and stop being fed solids, or when he was thirsty in the fun zone. It was pretty obvious that he was linking the referent since he was also going for my shirt and smiled when the boob came out!

Not only does he have good verbal skills, but he has also been pointing and reaching out for the things he wants. This is both a benefit and a pain in the ass. Its a benefit because it gives us a clue to what he wants, but it is also a pain in the ass because now he grabs at everything in sight!

All in all, he's a really good communicator, and I just can't wait until he has more words and phrases in his repertoire - I'm sure it won't be long. I've been asked by some of our friends about Baby Signs, which are all the rage now. There is actually some substantial research supporting the use of baby signs, but at this point in the game, I simply don't have the time to read the book. Plus, from my understanding, we're actually following some of the principles behind baby sign as it is. Koos noted on Xander's blog that I was categorically against the use of Baby Sign, but that's not entirely true. The point that I was trying to make is that the designers of baby sign provide a method and baby-friendly signs (based on ASL) which enable a child to communicate a few months earlier than they normally would using verbal means. While that sounds great for lowering frustration for everyone involved, in our particular situation, because RJ has been doing a fairly good job of communicating with us, I thought I was better off spending what little free time I have with RJ and showing him to point at things he wants (something I do naturally) and giving him the words for things he wants (which a lot of parents do naturally) rather than spending that free time reading the baby signs book in order to implement their method specifically. So I don't believe that Baby Signs are a waste (anything that gets you interacting with your child is worthwhile). I think that Koos misunderstood my choice not to teach RJ Baby Sign and my reason why as a belief that the method isn't worthwhile rather than a reflection of my belief that the specific method isn't what necessarily leads to all the good results and of my complete and utter lack of even a free hour to read the book.

Do I wish I had time to read the book? Yes - in fact at some point I really should, because Susan Goodwyn (one of the authors who did much of the baby sign research) is a former faculty member at CSU Stanislaus, where I teach. I hope to read it over the summer just to become acquainted with the theory and method better.

In sum, I think that if you have time for reading and implementation, great, but if you have a verbally expressive kid already and you're pressed for time, then I don't think it's a necessary part of baby rearing and I don't think that you'd be putting your kid at a disadvantage for not doing it.

Captain Tripps...

The sick day. I've noticed since moving to California that people seem to take sick days much more frequently. Presumably they are sick but I think more often than not they are just fine. I don't think I took a sick day over the five years I spent working in Boston, but now we've found the sick day is an essential perk for parenting. Every time RJ gets sick things become chaotic.

I've already taken four sick days this year, one for myself when I got the flu and three days to cover for days when RJ was sick and quarantined from school. Cheryl has had to miss two days as well. Luckily for one day she could have someone else proctor an exam, but for the other she had to cancel class and appointments. All of our babysitters are students at CSU Stanislaus, so we couldn't even get a babysitter to help Cheryl get any work done from home.

In the last month, poor RJ has really given us a lot to handle. He had a diarrhea bug for 2 weeks (luckily he was still allowed to go to school even before it officially cleared up) and then got a monster cold, which started like pink eye and later developed into bronchitis and a double ear infection. The annoying part is we took him to the doctor not once, not twice, but three times over 9 days before the diagnosis. Anyway, we're in day 8 of the 10 day course of Amoxicillin and he's back to 100%. It is the most frustrating thing when he's sick because he refuses to eat solid food. Those lips stay sealed shut.

We hope he can keep it together for a few more weeks when the semester ends -- then the day care cooties will not be a factor for a few months.

On Safari...

Recently RJ had an opportunity to meet some 4 legged furry creatures. He made good friends with a baby goat as the baby goat made very good friends with Cheryl's dress.



The Oakland Zoo is pretty close to us in the east bay but we haven't made it there yet. We haven't been to the San Francisco Zoo either and after last Christmas we know to stay away from their tigers. No, for this petting zoo all RJ and Mommy had to do was go to work with Daddy.



To celebrate a milestone on Madagascar 2 the company had a little party complete with safari themed mixed drinks, food, and lots of animals and games.

There are more pictures of the goats, chickens, sheep, ponies, zebras, lemurs, coworkers and monkeys that RJ got to meet.

This was RJ's first visit to the office so he took some time to explore and see the big Po and Oscar statues too.

Hard work = Trips to see Friends!

One of the perks of academia is that if you are lucky enough to find time to do research, you can sometimes find conferences near your friends across the country. Sometimes if you look really hard and decide that you're a workaholic, then you can find two.

In my job however, we can only get significant funding toward travel if we are presenting something - so this year I submitted abstracts for two separate conferences and I had a student submit an abstract as well. I basically wanted to ensure that I got to go somewhere to see my friends this year. I really only expected one of the three abstracts to get accepted, but apparently, I'm awesome and all three did. This is why I've been so busy this March! So we had quite the travel itinerary to fit in visiting with friends, 3 conference presentations (one of which was my student's presentation, and involved my guidance of course), and of course keeping RJ on a reasonable schedule.

The first conference was the International Association of Laboratory and University Affiliated Schools (NALS) in Providence, RI.

And the second conference (immediately following the first) was the Conference on Human Development in Indianapolis, IN.

The timing of these conferences were also good in that they were the week following spring break and Caesar Chavez day (March 31). This meant that since I'd have to miss the whole week of classes anyway because of the conferences, we could leave early to make sure that we had a weekend to visit with our friends, who we really really really miss!

Here was our Itinerary:
Friday March 28 - Fly to Boston (get delayed at JFK and get to Jeremy & Sharona's around 11 or so - instead of 9 or so, vow never to fly through JFK again since we haven't NOT been significantly delayed there)

Saturday March 29 - Heather & Steve hosted the "Midget Party" so that RJ could meet all his little friends and we could catch up with our friends and note how our conversations have changed since becoming parents. RJ was very excited to see all the other babies and even got to borrow his buddy Jace's crib for a nap and high chair for dinner. As you can see, the two were fast friends!

Sunday March 30: We spent some time teaching RJ about big kid toys at Uncle Sully's place. He was particularly fond of the stressball-esque brain and Sully's streamer.


He was not as fond of Shaun's dancing turtles - only the one that looked like a fraggle didn't scare him.
We also went for a walk with Lilia and Jeremy to visit with Jordi & Jen (who as of last night was in labor!). RJ got to give a cloth diaper demonstration for Jordi & Jen and meet their cats!

Monday March 31: We went to Brandeis to show off RJ. He was a big hit! We then met up with Michele in Allston and met up with more friends (Craig, Alyssa, Brian, Otte, Eva, Michele, and Galen) in Harvard Square.

Tuesday April 1: Grammie Carola Day! My mom flew in from Buffalo for a day (it's a lot easier to come to Boston than San Francisco for a day)! We went to brunch, then for tea at the Boston Public Library, where we also spent some time playing in the children's library. After driving Grammie to the airport, we drove down to Providence and checked into our hotel, then joined Koos, Stef, & Xander for dinner, and then I worked with my student on her presentation when we got back.
Wednesday April 2: NALS Conference Day 1. Myra presented her project and received lots of good feedback about her project. RJ got to meet my undergraduate honors thesis advisor, Sharon Carver. We drove around the state of RI looking for Rhode Island College (where the conference was being held) and then Lance and RJ drove around the state again looking for Koos & Stef's again. After the conference, Josh, Rachel, and Zach had dinner with us and Koos, Stef, & Xander.

Thursday April 3: NALS Conference Day 2. I presented my research, and actually had a great time doing so! I got some great feedback about it as well. Then RJ had lunch with Stef and Xander, while Lance met with Koos and his colleagues about a possible project. We spent the evening with Koos, Stef, & Xander. RJ has his first diarrhea poo (yuck), which we originally thought was teething related because shortly after his poo, we noticed that his second tooth had cut through! He now has his two bottom middle teeth!

Friday April 4: NALS Conference Day 3. Myra and I went to the conference and then Lance and I spent the afternoon with Stef and Xander before heading to the Providence airport. We were delayed for a bit there, and then got ridiculously delayed at Dulles on our way to Indianapolis. We didn't reach the hotel until almost 3 am. At least we didn't have to pay for a rental car because they were closed by the time we landed and we took a cab instead (which ended up being cheaper anyway). As it turns out, cabs have the latch system, so the car seat was no big deal.

Saturday April 5: CHD Day 2 (Day 1 was Friday, but I did not attend because I was still at the NALS conference). Lance, RJ, & I had lunch with Joe, my graduate school advisor. Then I presented my poster, and we were picked up by Heather and Iris. Iris made us a wonderful pot roast for dinner that night!
We spent the rest of the weekend visiting with them and their dog Gabby. RJ loved Gabby and of course, Gabby's toys, including her rawhide stick! Don't worry, we didn't let him chew on it!

Sunday April 6: We spent the day with Heather, Iris, & Gabby and then headed to the airport to start our return trip home.

*Note* Due to our crazy schedule, we repeatedly forgot the camera or remembered it, but forgot to take pictures. So, if you have any photos from our trip and haven't already posted them somewhere, please send them our way!!! With that said, you'll notice that we used one of Heather & Steve's photos here. Just wanted to give credit where credit was due.

Be True to Your School

RJ & Momma in their matching Child Development Center at CSU Stanislaus T-shirts. RJ is finally big enough to fit in the smallest t-shirt they made (size 12 mos.)!!

In search of the perfect sippy

We have just started giving RJ a sippy cup with water. He doesn't really need water and shouldn't have more than 4 oz. a day (the bulk of his liquid intake should come from breast milk still), but we wanted to get him used to a sippy cup and he likes to take sips of water during his meals. More than anything else, he loves to chew on the spout. We currently have just one (Born Free's Trainer Cup) which RJ seems to enjoy, as pictured here.
I want to try out other sippy cups as well, since the Born Free does leak a little and it is plastic. I never thought that I would put so much time and energy into searching for a sippy cup (or toys or plates/bowls).

Why is this such a production? Well, recent studies show that many plastics leach toxic chemicals into our food, more so when the plastic is heated. These chemicals are estrogenergic, meaning that they mimic the effects of estrogen. Right now the biggest worry are the chemicals Bisphenol-A (BPA) and phlalates - but with plastic, I'm sure that time will only show that all the Bisphenol-A free, phlalate free plastics have some other sort of toxic chemical leaching into our food and drink. The sad part is even baby product companies are not responsible enough to do this - bottles made by Avent & Dr. Brown among others are not BPA-free. Gerber even puts their organic food line into BPA leaching plastic. I bought Gerber Organic once, but I won't anymore since I learned that their packaging can leach BPA - I'm sticking to buying Earth's Best and O Organics (which comes in the traditional glass jars) for the baby food that I don't make myself. I made sure that the bottles we use for breast milk(All Medela products are BPA-free) and the Born Free Trainer Cup are on the current safe list , but the more I think about it, the more I want to avoid plastic as much as possible. So that leaves Stainless Steel for drink ware since giving a toddler glass is just silly.

I agonize over this because I want to give RJ the very best start in life. After all, I know that in no time he'll be trading his organic cookies for a twinkie or some equally horrible substance for his body, and there won't be much that I can do to prevent it unless I want him to become known as the bubble boy at school. So, while I can control things, I want to make sure that we give him the safest, most pure, and most environmentally conscious environment that we can. Hopefully some of it will stick!

I'm trying to decide between a few sippy cups at the moment. I could get a second Born Free, but I'd like a non-plastic option because I think they're safer.

Here are my options so far based on multiple reviews from http://www.naturemoms.com/blog/ and http://zrecs.blogspot.com/. I don't know these people or anything, but they gave detailed reviews of safe sippy cups.

The Safe Sippy $14.95

Thermos Foogo $14.99

Kleen Kanteen $16.99


I'm leaning toward the Kleen Kanteen because it converts from a sippy to a sports bottle top, so it doesn't have to be retired in a few years! I'm even thinking of getting the adult version for Lance and I. What do you think? We welcome your knowledge about safe products for children.

RJ's Gated Community...

Ever since RJ went mobile, life has been a little more challenging. His need for interactive play is only matched by his curiosity for all things dangerous. We decided we needed a solution for containing the little one so that we could do things like clean the house. The additional challenge was that we have an open floor plan, with our kitchen and family room being one in the same. Also, our laptops with their assorted cords are pretty much always around in the family room. So clearly a regular old baby gate was just not going to cut it.




We purchased a North States Superyard XT Gate Play Yard from Amazon for $60. Perhaps the best investment ever, as we can just put RJ in his baby prison "fun zone" to play while not be too worried about him hurting himself. In fact, he's enjoying having the "wall" to cruise around on.




And, as you can see, Boca likes the "cat vs baby" cage matches too.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

We've been posting some pictures, but we've been pretty slack in posting the many candids we have of RJ. My intention was to post a monthly update with the pictures from that month, but it hasn't happened since RJ was 4 months old and he's now almost 9 months old. So here we present links to the monthly picture folders (just click on the pictures to get to the rest).

RJ during his 5th Month (4 -5 mos old)

6th Month (5-6 mos. old)

7th Month (6-7 mos. old)

8th Month (7-8 mos. old)

































9th Month (8-9 mos. old)

And my first word is....

boob.

Just one more piece of evidence that RJ is still a big fan of his milk source. On Sunday night, after RJ was finished nursing, he looked up at me, then looked at my boob (which I had not put away yet), grabbed hold of the nipple and with a very deliberate, determined look, said, "b b ba boob".

RJ has many sounds in his repertoire. His most frequent vocalization for just about anything is "dah, dah" or "daht daht" He has also said, "bahbahbah" "bleh", "hah", "arr", "ttt", "puh" and my personal favorite, "mommommommom" or "mommy". There are also some sounds that he babbles that are pretty much gibberish.

He also seems to occasionally match his vocalizations with the referents. This is something babies typically start to do around 10 months or so. First words typically occur around a baby's first birthday. To "count" as a first word, the vocalization has to be linked to the word's referent - so if RJ said "ball" it would have to be in reference to a ball.

For example, RJ says "dah dah" all the time, not just when he sees daddy or wants daddy (although one could argue that throughout the day he's asking me "where's daddy?" by vocalizing), so it's a pretty safe bet that RJ is not totally linking dahdah with daddy the person. However, he has only used the mommommommom vocalization at times when he sees me or wants me to appear, so he *might* be starting to link the sound to me. Plus just this week, in his high chair, he looked straight at me, said, "mommommommom" and grinned ear to ear, looking all proud of himself (an emotion that he won't truly be capable of for another 9 months at least). He's also looked at Boca and said, "bah bah" and "at at". These all *could* have been coincidences, but as with the "mom" example, he seemed to be rather deliberate. Of course, I could be having mommy-vision with all of this as well!

There is wide variation though, so even though RJ appears to be developing these language skills a little early, he's certainly not a prodigy. His doctor was impressed with his vocals and said that he'll definitely be speaking soon. It's funny that I lectured on Language Development in my Human Development class just this week!

What we do know is that he understands who is who. For example, regardless of who says, "Where's Momma?", RJ will look at me, and in response to, "Where's Daddy?", RJ will look at Lance. So, he clearly knows our names, even if he's not always using them vocally, which is the normal progression of language development.

Feverish...

On the weekend of the first of March
Daddy had the flu
Not too much later in the week
RJ seemed to have it too.
Fevers, chills, and stuffy nose,
So miserable in truth,
But at the end of March the sixth,
He was sporting his first sharp tooth!

How can you have any pudding...

Earlier this week we introduced turkey into our Berkeley boy's diet. He kind of gagged and showed general distaste for it. I don't know if it was the texture or that it smelled like cat food, but on the second try he ate it down just fine when we mixed a little bit with his cereal. I guess he's not vegetarian after all.



If only he had a tooth to chew with.

RJ Goes to Rock City

We live less than an hour away from Mount Diablo State Park, which is home to a 3,849 ft. summit. We have been saying that we'd go see it as it is claimed to be a great view of the bay area on a clear day. One way or another, something always seemed to get in our way of going, despite it's closeness. But last weekend with the weather being so nice, we FINALLY ventured out with RJ in tow.


We drove up to Rock City, with plans for continuing on to the summit after lunch. But we decided to stay in Rock City and explore after realizing that the summit was farther away than we thought.

So we have yet to see the spectacular view, although even from Rock City's lower elevation, we got some pretty pictures AND RJ got introduced to one of Momma's favorite pastimes! Rock climbing classes, here we come!

Thank You Mystery Gift Giver

RJ recently got a package in the mail with an adorable Steelers onesie and a plush football blankie. The return address was the manufacturers and there was no note inside.

As you can see, he's really enjoying his new toy, but doesn't know who to say "thank you" to. You can remain anonymous if you wish, we just wanted to be able to say thank you!

Maniacal Giggle Fest

Watch the video to see what RJ's favorite toy is. If only we knew what jokes were being exchanged!

The Mortgage Mess: Part 2 Rent or Buy...

We don't want to be homeless, so we need to figure out where to live next. Have any advice or insights to add to my analysis? We know a lot of homeowners, so if we're missing something you'll have to set us straight as we try to figure things out.

Option 1: Rent

We could just find another place to rent. Taking a look at craigslist there are places available in Mountain House and Livermore. We could also look at Tracy, CA the next town to the east and live next door to MC Hammer but Tracy smells like cow poo.

It is off-season for finding rentals, but with the number of foreclosures displacing people it is likely the rental market supply will continue to shrink. The homes available for rent comparable to what we're in now seem to be a couple hundred dollars more each month than what we're paying. Plus we have the expense of hiring movers and commitment to a one year lease to consider. We've been month-to-month since last August.

One problem I have with rents is it is unclear whether the rent increase is due to increased mortgage expenses as rates reset or due to increased demand. I have been trying to track the number of listings on craigslist to see how quickly they are being scooped up. There are at least two rentals that have been available for the past 10 days.

Option 2: Buy

We are pretty confident we're not going to be in California for 30 years, but we still may be here long enough to justify buying a place. In Mountain House and towns farther east real estate has dropped hundreds of thousands in the past year and a half. Livermore and the Bay Area have softened some but are not yet affordable with a traditional mortgage. We are not far from Stockton where 1 in 6 homes is vacant and considered the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis. Is there opportunity here?

The $600k home I mentioned in the last post was ridiculous and didn't make sense. I dug up some numbers to try to figure out what was going on.

Historical Pricing Trends

Based on data from the US Census Bureau there is median house prices collected since 1940, both nationally and by state. In 1940 the median price in California was $3527, in 1950 it was $9564, and by 2000 $211,500. The best decade, 1970 - 1980 saw a 13% increase in house value year over year, and the worst decade 1980-1990 saw an average increase of less than 1% per year. Overall from 1940 through 2000 the average was around 7% per year housing appreciation in California. If you project that out to 2008, the median price of a house in California would be around $365,050.

Income-to-Home Ratio

Ok, what about income trends. I only found California data for 1990 ($33k) and 2000 ($47k). With those median household income values, we find the median price of a house being 4.5 - 5.5 times income. With the most recent data I've seen (2006) for our area, the median household income is around $75k. That projects to a house valued around $375k.

Affordable for Income

Based on income above, a traditional loan would recommend you spend no more than 30% of income on housing. Based on rates at 5.75% that projects out to an affordable home for the area to be around $330k not counting property taxes or homeowners into the equation as 40% seems generally common practice.

So, based on that data I'd expect half the homes to be priced under $350k. They're still not there yet.

Market Conditions

In Mountain House as of 01/08/2008 there were 87 active homes for sale with 7 pending sales and 2 homes sold in the last 30 days. Pulling data from trulia it looks like there were 12 homes sold in Mountain House in January ranging in price from $340k to $665k. Looking at MLS data there are 160 3+ bedroom, 2+ bathroom homes for sale in the 95391 area code. In just Mountain House as of Feb 9 there are 79 homes for sale with a high at $819k and a low of $299k and median asking price of $445k.

The economic fortunetellers are predicting home price declines potentially for the next few years. Back in October Goldman Sachs did an analysis where they concluded:

"Our house price model indicates that Californian homes are 35-40% above the price range implied by current and forecast economic conditions... economic conditions support prices between $350-$380k; material price declines are likely, in our view."

Rent vs. Buy

Given the current rental and selling conditions, is it worth it for us to buy? I put together a spreadsheet long ago that has evolved into a little python script for performing a price sensitivity analysis to figure out when to buy.

Let's take a $300,000 house as an example and make some assumptions for down payment (20%), income tax (25%), property tax (1.25%), and insurance (1%). The mortgage payment would be $1400 for a total monthly cost of $1963 with taxes and insurance.

After one year:

• remaining principal: $236,912
• home equity growth: $3,087
• tax benefit: $4,573
• property taxes: $3,750
• homeowners insurance: $3,000

If we took one of the rentals at $1750 and an investment savings rate of around 4% we would increase our savings by $1,876 in interest alone for the year and put $4,433 more in savings by avoiding property taxes and homeowners insurance.

In a flat market on that $300k house, rent would need to go up to $1845 to make the costs of homeownership balance the benefit. Then it would require a 6% commission or $18k to get out of the home. That means the house would need to appreciate at least 1% a year, or 5% overall to make up the cost of selling if we were to leave in 5 years.

This model is simple and does not account for maintenance costs and I think long term appreciation in home value beyond 1% a year is reasonable -- though that was the case throughout the 1980's as mentioned above. Buying would lock in the cost of rent that could continue to rise. Anything else I'm missing?

We went to take a look at some foreclosures last weekend so I'll talk more about that in the next post.

If you made this far -- enjoy Hammer time:

Negative Reinforcement for the Teenage Years

We're amused by the funny face that RJ makes when he's dropping a load in his diaper. This is quite convenient because if we see poo face, we can change his diaper right away instead of waiting for him to start smelling. We're hoping that poo face will come in handy when it comes time to potty train as well.

RJ has been making poo face for quite some time now, but we've only now gotten it on video. The kid seems to poop when he's eating - I guess he needs to make room for more.


If nothing else, this movie might help us in the teenage years. For example, "Oh, you don't want to help mom fold your laundry? Well, I guess we'll just have to show Vicki the poo face video next time she's over to 'do homework' with you." A little negative reinforcement never hurt anyone!

(BTW for those who want a little psychology fun fact, negative reinforcement is not the same thing as punishment. It is the reinforcement of a desirable behavior by removing an undesirable consequence. So not showing the video {removing the undesirable consequence} is supposed to keep RJ doing the desirable behavior {helping fold his laundry}. It's not quite as effective as positive reinforcement of behavior, but more effective than punishment.)

Peekaboo...I see you!

When we're dressing RJ we usually say the requisite, "Where's RJ??" when his head is still in his clothes and then, "There he is!!" when his head pops out. It appears that he enjoys this game of peekaboo and now engages us in the game by utilizing his bib during meals.



Not only is this the cutest thing EVER, but it's also a sign that he's figured out object permanence. Object permanence is the understanding that things exist even when they are not in sight. Jean Piaget believed that babies don't get object permanence before 8 or 9 months, but more recent studies (mostly conducted by Baillergeon and colleagues) show that babies as young as 3 months old can understand that hidden objects exist, even though they're still unable to physically search for hidden objects. The peekaboo video is an excellent portrayal of this very amusing milestone, as is this picture of RJ (at 5 mos.) peeking around the edge of the book to see me!

Yet another hat to wear....

So not only am I a mommy, a wife, and a professor; but I am also going to be the Acting Director of the Child Development Center on campus (a.k.a. RJ's school) while the director is on maternity leave. I'm barely juggling my other responsibilities, but in a moment of ambition and dreaming, and apparent insanity, I volunteered to take this on without being asked. Why?

First, it is exactly the type of job that I've wanted since I was an undergrad. My honors thesis advisor, Dr. Sharon Carver was the director of The Children's School at Carnegie Mellon, in addition to her appointment as a Professor in the Psychology Department, for which the school was a laboratory. The Children's School was the laboratory preschool and kindergarten on campus in the Margaret Morrison building where I worked as a work study student during my undergrad years. I loved that she could run the school and get to teach at the college level. Her research was based on the learning environment - and it was her research that got me interested in pursuing a research-based PhD rather than a clinical PhD.

Second, I was really interested in helping Jennifer (the current, very pregnant director of RJ's school) improve the Child Development Center in terms of its thematic curriculum (one of my research interests) and making the school easier to conduct research in.

and Third, who wouldn't want to be in charge of her son's school?

I saw Jennifer's pregnancy and maternity leave as an opportunity to get a taste of what my "dream job" was like for a semester, without making the long-term commitment. So in addition to teaching two classes (Human Development I and Early Social & Emotional Development), I will also be taking over as director when Jennifer goes into labor or the first week in April, whichever comes first! Starting on Wednesday (the first week of the Spring Semester), I will be transitioning in as she is transitioning out.

Stay tuned for more thoughts as my experience unfolds... hopefully I'll have time to blog!

Eat Your Vegetables...

"When I was young, parents encouraged their kids to eat their vegetables by saying, 'People in India are starving.' This is the sort of parenting that teaches children values, such as stupidity. To this day, when I think about people who are starving, I eat a little extra. I think it helps." --Scott Adams

January was a month of food exploration. Our first week back from the holidays we started the pattern of oatmeal at 6am for breakfast, rice cereal at noon for lunch, and multigrain cereal for dinner at 6pm. He's eating three heaping tablespoons mixed with freshly pumped breast milk. We've gradually been introducing vegetables and fruits as well to go along with his cereal -- once a week at first but now pretty much one new one every 3-4 days. He eats about 1/2 jar (~2 oz.) each serving.

He is getting a fruit with breakfast and vegetables with lunch and dinner. So far we've introduced in this order:

* Peas
* Bananas
* Sweet Potatoes
* Apples
* Avocado
* Pears
* Carrots
* Green Beans
* Butternut Squash

We have started making our own avocados, sweet potatoes, bananas, butternut squash, and peas with a Food Mill that we ordered from amazon. We mill the food, blend it with liquid if necessary, and then put it in ice cube trays to have serving size portions for later.

Squash has been by far the easiest baby food to make. The consistency was just perfect. Next week he will try beans and then mango.

The Mortgage Mess: Part 1...

We are renting a 2000+ sq ft house in Mountain House,CA which was intended as a foothold to get to know the areas before deciding where we wanted to settle down. We checked out new construction in Livermore last year where they wanted over $600,000 for a condo. We looked at the numbers and then at the Shea representative and questioned how anybody can afford this. If you haven't been following the news the past six months -- the answer is not many people could.

This past Sunday Carolyn Said in the SF Chronicle reports:

The lending debacle, which wiped out hundreds of billions on Wall Street, made the stock market tank, triggered hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and led the nation to the brink of recession, may be the biggest financial mess of all time.

According to the San Jose Mercury News:

Some 316,769 California borrows received subprime loans in 2006, the study said. The foundation said that in 2006, more than 90 percent of subprime mortgages in California were adjustable-rate mortgages and the "dominant type" of subprime loan was one that reset in two years. In 2006 there were 12,672 foreclosures in California according to DataQuick Information Systems. In 2007 there were 84,375, an increase of 565.8 percent.

The Tracy Press reports on Mountain House that there have been

50 * homes that have fallen into some stage of foreclosure in the past six months

There are only around 2000 rooftops in Mountain House.

The other day we got a business card in the door. Written on the back was the owners name with a note "I'd like to help you with your situation". The other side of the card identified it was from a risk mitigation real estate company. I called up the property manager who was able to confirm that the home we are renting has had a first notice of default.

What we know so far:

• The owner owns more than one property in foreclosure
• The owner stopped paying the mortgage, but the property management company informed them they must put our rent toward the mortgage or face criminal penalties
• It usually takes a minimum of 120 days to reach the point of foreclosure
  
• The property management company has our deposit so the owners can't run away with it
• Banks can only have some percentage of homes in foreclosure at a time or risk losing access to federal funds -- so we are probably in a queue of homes until the bank can get to it so we might have as long as 6 months
  
• We haven't received it in writing yet, but are being given 60 day notice from the owners, after which we can stay as long as we pay rent up until the bank tells us to get out, and we can leave at will without giving notice
  
• The bank must give us at least 30 days, but we might be able to argue for 60 days since we've lived in the house for more than a year

This means we need to find RJ a new bedroom sooner than we had anticipated. We have started weighing our options which we'll discuss in the next post.