Yesterday I went with Diana for the sonograms. We got to keep the pictures they printed, I’ll have to scan some. Cocoa-bean is doing fine, and put on a bit of a show with punches and kicks. Got a good image of sucking the thumb, and counted the fingers. Five.
Avery spent last night with my mother. When he came home this morning, Claire immediately left with her to New York to see a Mermaid play of some sort. Avery sat down to watch TV, and then suddenly noticed Claire wasn’t there. So I took him to the window and pointed to Claire getting in the car. “Say ‘Goodbye, Claire'” I suggested. He refused.
As she got in the car Avery suddenly started calling out “Hi! Hi, Claire!”
I puzzled over that a bit and suddenly realized. “Are you saying ‘Hi’ so that Claire will stay home?”
“Uh huh. Why it not working?”
I’m getting ready for my trip to China. Since we don’t seem to be able to get a KVM of any type over there (or bring it in) I’ve been testing the considerably lower tech method of just using 25′ of video cable.
So far it seems to be working fine, but I can’t find the two F/F PS/2 connectors I need to make the final connection. So I purchased the cheapest two connectors with female PS/2 connectors, and I’m wiring them together.
At my last job I was banned from using a crimping tool, and now I remember why. Despite leaving 2″ of wire prepared, I almost ran out thanks to repeated bad crimps. I actually managed to mess up more often than get a good crimp (and remember, you need two in a row to get a connection). But I finally did it, and after successfully connecting 4 wires, the keyboard works.
Now all I need to do is connect six wires successfully to get the mouse. Wireless is sounding real good right now.
Okay, (Diana, here) I’m finallay writing. Of course the primary motivation behind this “blog” site is to record the goings on surrounding ‘cocoa bean’, so here’s my first entry. Okay, I know they tell you that you won’t feel the baby move until about 14 weeks, but, I gotta tell ya, this little one is a dancer! I KNOW I’m feeling movements, (it’s week 12) and one of the reasons I’m so sure is that I have felt sensations like this before with my first two. I remember my first ‘quicking’ so clearly, I even replied “well, hello there!” with Claire, and that was supposed to be ‘too early’ too.
So, here we go, Number 3 will be tearing up the dancefloor/soccer field/dojo before you know it! And I’m the #1 fan! Can’t wait to meet you little one! Love, MOM.
Diana was out late last night, and when Avery woke up I let her sleep and took him downstairs myself. A while later I needed to dress him and the laundry basket had no underware or pants, so I went upstairs to get him some. Avery, of course, had to follow. When I showed him the underware I picked out he looked it over and shouted “BLECH!”
“Shh,” I said, “Mommy is still sleeping.”
“Oh.” He thought for a moment, leaned in close, cupped his hand over his mouth putting it right next to my ear, and whispered “blech.”
Yesterday was the Church Children’s fair. As usual, Diana and I traded off watching the kids and running the petting zoo. Avery was a bit difficult, but Claire is old enough that she spent most of the time in the children’s section handling herself. She did play with Ava and saw a Mime show at the library too.
As we were readying for the after-fair dinner Mom took Avery to the bathroom. On their way out, Avery pointed to the sign over the sink and said ” That says ‘Wash Your Hands’.” My mother was surprised and asked how he knew that. “I read it,” he said.
We still aren’t sure he really read it or just remembered it from a previous visit, but it was surprising either way.
I got back home last night. This morning I gave the kids their return presents: Litle glass blocks from kidscom.com that flash different colors when you twist the top. Kurt, my boss, gave them to me. They love them.
I also brought home a lego airplane (well, some knockoff brand actually — the pieces don’t fit together quite as well as legos) which both kids want to play with. It’s a little hard for them to put together, but it is their first standard size lego kit (or lego-compatible kit) so it will take practice.
I’m in California today, and talked to Diana on the phone. She’s not feeling so hot today, but sounded much more chipper than yesterday. I also talked to Claire a bit, she was coloring with her right hand to see if she could do it while talking on the phone. Avery wasn’t so interested in talking since Avi was over for a visit.
I told my parents about the trip to China. They were pretty excited. My mother insisted I would save a fortune buying Christmas presents there. That’s my mom. 
Just a start of tracking fo rthe new baby as well as family news in general. Hopefully this will be easier to keep up than the spud update was.