Category: Naomi

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Sledding (2005–2006)

We have been leaving our sleds out most of the winter as offerings to the snow gods. So far it has been working, although I had to correct the kids on making the proper offering. Scattering the toboggans about the yard is not the way to get the snow gods’ attention: One must place the sleds vertically, up against the deck or porch railing, as if ready for instant use. You don’t want to get rain all winter, do you?

This is Naomi’s first year sledding.

Above: NaNi, at the bottom of the hill after one of her first-ever sledding runs. “Again!”

Sledding was great last night at Roby Park, in Nashua, which is not far from our house! The snow was perfect for speed; we were getting within about 20 feet of the fence at the bottom of the hill. Conditions should be same for the next few nights; I can’t go tonight. I might go on Tuesday, but will probably have too much work.

Isaac was practicing on a $1, small, narrow snowboard we got at a yard sale—it’s amazing how quickly he learns. He had several runs where he made it almost completely down the hill. I wonder how he’d do on a larger board with boot clamps. David tried it sitting and laying down. Isaac also challenged us to race him, sleds versus feet. He’s fast.

Above left: Isaac’s Calvin & Hobbes snowman (2 heads, 4 arms, etc.).

Above right: Our three-toboggan sled train. NaNi is in the front, Doug is in the middle (and providing the steering), David is in the back.

Naomi was completely thrilled. She always wants to go from the very top of the hill. I hold her sled in front of mine, which provides excellent steering control. The second day we went sledding, someone bumped her, and she was noticably timid for the rest of that day; last night she was fine. She seems nervous still while we are getting in position. I reassure her by explaining what I’m doing. “I’m just getting onto my sled. Don’t worry, I won’t let go of you. Remember, we won’t move until you say, ‘Go.'” And then she counts down (or up), and calls out, “Go!” and we’re off! Her first word upon reaching the bottom is, “Again!” She burst into tears when I said it was time to go home.

Above left: In the Wilcox backyard, the natives are restless. Isaac uses his bow and arrow to enhance his Mutant Snow Goon.

Above right: Even though our sledding was done, and we were all a little wet and cold, NaNi insisted on continuing to play outside.

Earlier this year, I took some pictures, and even have a short video clip of one of Naomi’s first sledding runs (if for nothing more than freaking out Nichelle). I’ll have to see what’s worth posting. (Editor’s note: I looked; the video isn’t that great, and the photos are mostly dark or blurry. It was cold when I took them! I’ve added the one that was decent.)

(New photos above added January 25, 2006.)

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Domestic Security Consultant Visits Wilcox Home

On Friday, the Wilcox family received a long-awaited visit from Clover, a border collie who is employed as a domestic security consultant north of here.

After an intimidating first meeting, Naomi and Clover became fast friends. NaNi adopted the same pose as Clover for all their photos together. (Note that Naomi is wearing some of her new Geekwear: a “Version 2.0” t-shirt.)

More hints has said that Clover presented on such important topics as stick-fetching, ball-fetching, stick destroying, Nerf-ball chewing, human herding, neighborhood patrols, criminal background checks, and indicating when one needs to use the little dog’s room. (I am told by Matt Camillieri that other canines, such as Winnie Sohmer, are not so good at communicating such a vital topic.)

Clover is a good dog.

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Christmas Glimpses

It is Christmas morning in the Wilcox home. The children awoke early, of course, but not too early. Nichelle and I slept until 8:30. I could have used another hour, because I was too excited to sleep Christmas Eve, and stayed up until around 2:00 a.m.

We let the kids open their stockings before church, and one other gift (chosen by us) on the way to church (John missed out on that one because he left for church earlier to navigate for my sister Cindy). I was thrilled to see the church auditorium packed. Normally on Christmas Sunday we have a lot of people traveling, so I expected the attendance to be down. (Of course, there are people traveling to our area as well, but generally not as many.)

Above left: The portion of the Wilcox family spending Christmas in Nashua with us. Back row: My sister Joyce Thorne, my daughter Naomi, my niece Jennifer, my wife Nichelle, my nephew Andrew. Front row: My son David, my son Isaac, me, my sister Cindy (Jenn and Andrew’s mother), and my son John.

Above right: David, Isaac (mostly obscured), Andrew, Naomi, and Jenn opening Christmas stockings. Naomi is eating a chocolate chip muffin.

When I was growing up, I never slept past 6:00 on Christmas morning, even though I never could fall asleep before midnight. Thankfully, my own children are a bit more reasonable, although they have resorted to sending notes in attached to Isaac (2 years old at the time), and playing the trumpet outside our door. (Actually, that was my nephew Andrew.)

Did you know the cardboard box has been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame?

Naomi singing, dancing and spinning around to Tish Hinojosa’s Spanish Christmas song, “Milagro”:

Milagro, milagro, es la Esperanza
Milagro nuestro es la Navidad

(A miracle, a miracle is the hope …
The Nativity is a miracle meant for us)

Above left: A new sombrero ranchero and the Lego AT-AT. Nichelle is good to me!

Above right: Naomi with her new Navajo Barbie. (Yes, I let her take it out of the box. Calm, calm. Deep breaths. Slowly now. That’s better.)

Above: Naomi “helps” construct my new Lego AT-AT.

My niece Jennifer driving the Xbox controller like a steering wheel (and moving her whole body as if driving) while playing Burnout 3: Takedown with David and Isaac.

David wearing the mask from his Darth Vader Voice Changer helmet, singing, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands …” while NaNi wore the cowl backwards, dancing to some inner music of her own.

Isaac’s shocked expression and dramatic dropping of the box when he opened his Carnivorous Creations terrarium.

Above left: Aren’t you a little short for a Sith lord?

Above center: Isaac dramatically reacts to opening a Carnivorous plants terrarium. (You should have seen his expression when he opened the RoboRaptor.)

Above right: NaNi models my new sombrero

Around Christmas, I always think about my favorite Christmas hymn: “God is Born” (“Bóg siÄ™ rodzi”). I’ve only got one recording of it, on an old cassette entitled “An English Christmas.” It is the National Christmas Hymn in Poland, where it originated. Here’s what I’ve been able to transcribe from the English version I have:

“God is Born”

God is born and night is shaken
He the Heaven’s King lies naked.
The living Word knows brightness darkened,
He the Limitless takes limit.
Born disdained yet worship given,
Mortal, yet the Lord eternal.
Now indeed the Word made flesh
Has come on earth to dwell among us.

What hast thou, O Heaven better,
God abandoned thy perfection?
Here to share the trial and sorrow
Of His poor, beloved people.
Suffered much and suffered dearly,
For we all were guilty sinners,
Now indeed the Word made flesh
Has come on earth to dwell among us.

Born into a common stable,
He is cradled in a manager.
How then tell me what surrounds you
Hay and peace and simple shepherds.
You were ones who had the honor
Him to greet, and kings came bowing.
Now indeed the Word made flesh
Has come on earth to dwell among us.

I love the old hymns that are filled with such great doctrine. (So much of our modern popular and sacred music is vacuous—or at best superficial—by comparison.) Here the subject is the Incarnation: God the Son lowering Himself to become one of us. Wow!

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I Ate It

NaNi has learned to joke. (As most parents know, this is an amazing and fascinating part of child development.)

A couple of months ago she was entertaining us by putting a 1/2-gallon pitcher on her head, and asking herself, “Hat?” and responding, “Noooooooo,” in her songlike voice.

A few days ago, we were looking for the handset to our cordless phone, when she piped up with “Where’s phone? I know. I ate it!” and openened her mouth wide to emphasize the point. Later she followed up with a variation including, “I swallowed it!”

The real kicker came yeterday. Our friend Mary Jo stopped by briefly, and I asked NaNi, “Where’s my cell phone?” She responded, as I expected, with, “I know … I ate it!” Then MJ asked her, “Where’s my cell phone?” Naomi replied, “I know … pocket!” and pointed to Mary Jo’s jacket pocket, where she keeps her phone.

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Another Visit from Tish Hinojosa

Friday night we headed down to the University of Hartford’s Wilde Auditorium to hear Tish Hinojosa—a Mexican-American folk singer whose voice I can only describe as hauntingly beautiful. (This description got me in trouble a few years ago when Nichelle failed to notice the word voice in what I had written.) Tish was accompanied, as previously, by the extremely talented guitarist/mandolin player Marvin Dykhuis.

This is the fourth time Nichelle, NaNi, and I have had the pleasure of hearing Tish’s gorgeous music live, and the third for the rest of the kids. (Naomi’s first experience was several months before she was born.)

We were a little concerned about taking Naomi. Last year she spent part of the concert in the lobby screaming. To our delight, NaNi was immediately enchanted by the singing and the guitars, and remained enthralled for the entire program.

The auditorium was over half full, but it’s a venue that feels delightfully cozy. The audience clearly adored Tish, several times breaking into applause at the beginning of a song. My favorite occurrence was the applause and cheers that broke out Tish sang the line “Our forefathers crossed the muddy line,” in “By the Rio Grande.” Tish interacted often with the audience, taking requests, and (as is typical of her) paying extra attention to the children she noticed. After croaking on a line at the end of La Llorona (due to having a cold), she joked that the weeping woman had died, but the cold did not seem to affect her singing after that.

Last year David got special attention because he was wearing my sombrero vaquero—Tish has a thing for cowboys. This year David (age 6—the old smoothie) asked if he could wear my hat again. I found him one that was his size, but he got embarrassed and wouldn’t wear it after we got in.

The concert was lovely, and the time flew by.

While purchasing Tish’s latest CD, “A Heart Wide Open,” I mentioned that “Frontejas” was probably my favorite, and that we were hoping for another all- or mostly-Spanish CD. She mentioned that she’s been talking about doing another one for five years now. I keep hoping.

For other fans who may be interested, here’s a rundown of what Tish performed:

First set:

  • Tu Que Puedes, Vuelvete (You Who Can, Return)
  • La Llorona (Weeping Woman)/Riendo El Rio Corre (Laughing River Running) medley
  • By the Rio Grande
  • Siempre Abuelita (Always Grandma)
  • Sign of Truth
  • Shotgun Ridin’**
  • The Kitchen Table**
  • Finding Paris**
  • Magnolia
  • Roses Around My Feet
  • West Side of Town

Second set:

  • Las Golondrinas (The Sparrows—Tish was kind enough to dedicate this to Nichelle*)
  • Something in the Rain
  • Never Say Never Love Again**
  • Derechos del Corazón**
  • Something More than This**
  • Con Su Pluma en Su Mano (With His Pen in His Hand—A corrido about the life of Amerigo Paredes)
  • Donde Voy (Where I Go—This was a big hit in Korea)
  • Taos to Tennessee
  • Closer Still
  • In the Real West
  • San Antonio Romeo
  • Reloj (The Clock)
  • God’s Own Open Road

Encore:

  • Song for the Journey

*I had written out this dedication as, “The most beautiful song I have ever heard, dedicated to the most beautiful woman I have ever known, my wife of 14 years, Nichelle”; Tish presented an introduction about the history and style of the song, and a little bit about its meaning in English, but remembered only to dedicate the song to Nichelle, rather than my longer, sentimental dedication. (This was just as well: My sappiness would not have paired well with her introduction.”)
**From Tish’s newest album, “A Heart Wide Open.”

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Hi, Slacker!

Naomi turned two on Thursday. Friday night, when I got home, she echoed David’s typical greeting of “Hi, slacker!” and has been saying it—with immense glee—ever since. Give it a listen: naomi_hi_slacker.mp3.

After a day, her pronunciation became even better: Give it a listen: naomi_hi_slacker_2.mp3.

Naomi even made up her own song using her new favorite word:


(Click here, or right-click and save if the above video won’t play, or you can view it on Google Video.)

Google Video is now including embedding code. Here it is below:

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Halo: Naomi, Dad, Isaac, and Peter Jackson

Naomi:

Naomi has learned her first video game name. It is Halo!
Give it a listen in .mp3 format: naomi_halo.mp3.

Dad:

Since I purchased John’s Xbox at the beginning of summer, we’ve played countless rounds of Halo 2 in split screen mode. The problem: I can almost never beat David (age 6), and can never beat Isaac (age 10). :: sigh ::

Peter Jackson / Isaac:

Peter Jackson, amazing director of The Lord of the Rings films, has been tapped to run (as executive producer) the Halo movie, coming out in mid-2007.

The photo on the left shows how Isaac reacted to the news that Peter Jackson would be involved with the upcoming Halo movie. If anyone can pull off a successful video-game-to-movie production, it’s Peter Jackson. (Arguably the only game-to-movie film to date that even bears watching is Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.)

Microsoft, film studios tap Jackson for ‘Halo’

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Oscar-winning creative team behind the “The Lord of the Rings” films, including director Peter Jackson, has been named to run the production of the upcoming film based on Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) blockbuster “Halo” video game, the company said on Tuesday.

Jackson and his wife, Fran Walsh, will serve as the executive producers for “Halo,” which is targeted for worldwide release in mid-2007 by Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox film studios.

Universal will oversee the film’s production and domestic distribution. Fox will handle international distribution.

“Halo” will be shot in Wellington, New Zealand, and will use Jackson’s production and post-production facilities there.

“I’m a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen,” Jackson said in a statement.

The executive producers will collaborate with Universal, Fox and Microsoft’s Bungie Studios, which created the game.

“Halo,” the best-selling franchise for Microsoft’s Xbox game console, follows the adventures of the futuristic super-soldier “Master Chief” as he battles an alien onslaught.

Screenwriter and novelist Alex Garland wrote the original feature film adaptation of Halo. A director will be named in coming weeks, but the cast has yet to be announced.

And there’s another article at 1Up: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3144311.

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Cuteness

NaNi (Naomi Nichelle) will be two years old in two days! I can’t believe how much she has changed in the past month. Her speech, which was just getting past the R2-D2 phase a month ago, is now exploding with sentences and more complex thoughts, and with more new words every day than we can list.

Every morning when one of us goes to get Naomi out of her crib (surprisingly, she hasn’t climbed out of it yet), she will not even say hello, but asks for the other parent. If I go in, her greeting is, “Where’s Mommy?” If Nichelle goes in, her greeting is, “Where’s Daddy?” Last Sunday Nichelle and I decided to go in together to see what her reaction would be. She wouldn’t say a word, not even hi.

Today Naomi received a birthday card from Grandma Wilcox, and it contained a $5 bill. She was excited to get mail. (Nichelle sang the “Mail Time” song from Blue’s Clues.) As Naomi opened the card, she saw the $5 bill, grabbed it, held it up to her face, gave it a hug, and then gave it a kiss. Yikes!

Nichelle had fun creating—and has fun maintaining—NaNi’s classic beaded hairstyle.

As for me, I’m keeping my shotgun in good order. Those boys will be coming to the door any day now; I want to be ready.

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David’s Grace

David is our most socially aware child, although John is very close. (Isaac we often called Machine-Boy, when he was an infant, demonstrating the contrast in human interaction degrees between the two youngest boys.)

Wal*Mart had small plasma globes for only $9.92 (which Ravi Gopalan had pointed out to me). I decided the plasma globes I had drooled over had finally gotten inexpensive enought to purchase.

I brought one home to surprise the kids. Nichelle went to plug it in, and asked, is this supposed to be in two pieces? Despite the globes’ being packaged in heavy styrofoam, I managed to pick one that was broken. Fortunately for us, Wal*Mart is only a few minutes away, although I was glad I brought a book with me while waiting in the customer service line.

I returned with a new plasma globe, and the kids loved it. (See the photo above.)

The next day, I returned home from work to learn that the new plasma globe had been broken. Isaac apparently left it on the floor, and later forgot it was there and damaged it. So, justly, Isaac had to pay to replace the plasma globe.

However, David stepped in, and for reasons of his own, demonstrated grace. He said, “I have more money than Isaac,* so I want to pay for the new plasma globe.”

I haven’t purchased the new globe yet. I am thinking that a $20 model which is much larger would be better, but I am amazed by the grace David showed, especially in an issue involving money, which he cares quite a bit about. It’s wonderful to see one’s children behaving unselfishly. Now, if they would only default to unselfish behavior …

*This is a statistical anomoly. David never has more money than Isaac.

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NaNi’s Words – Getting Beyond the R2-D2 Stage

Naomi is now 22 months old. She seems to have gotten remarkably taller in the past month, and also seems ever less the baby.

Photos in this post: top—Naomi the explorer (Rattlesnake Hill, elevation 1,231 feet, next to Squam Lake, Holderness, New Hampshire); middle—Naomi enjoys reading Calvin and Hobbes while on a trip to the Lower Falls, Kancamagus Highway; bottom—Naomi shows off her block-tower-building prowess.

Right now, she is in a fascinating speech development stage, after a fairly long plateau (if anything can be considered long in toddler development) of sounding like R2-D2, where we could figure out what she was saying by the emotion put into the words and sometimes matching syllables, to using new words every day. We repeat what we think she’s said back to her in an interrogative tone, so she can confirm it.

One funny example: We were watching the 2004 movie Thunderbirds, and she was watching it quite intently. I asked her, “Do you like this movie?” She replied, “[Unknown syllables], [unknown syllables], [unknown syllables] cute.” “What!?” I responded, “He’s cute?” (Probably referring to Brady Corbet, who played Alan Tracy in the film.) “Uh-huh,” was her answer.

Also like R2-D2, NaNi can understand just about everything we say to her, and has been able to for the past 9 or 10 months—even complex sentences with multiple commands, like, “Pick up your shoes and put them in your room.” Of course, she’s also at the age where she’s developing a strong will (or perhaps a strong won’t), so she is equally good at ignoring our instructions completely when it suits her purposes.

She’s also doing other cool things. She can identify just about everything in a picture or storybook we can name. She recognizes people in photos. She builds block towers, puts together Duplo, and will sometimes partially assemble Lego people. She can climb the long ladder to our slide, and slide down it without help, now that she’s learned to slow herself down. She will come over to me, lie down, and stick her feet up in the air, which means she wants a “pendulum” ride, where I pick her up by the feet and ankles and swing her back and forth while upside-down.

She recognizes the tunes of many songs, and can even hum along to the “Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back. She brushes her teeth by herself. She picks out which pair of shoes she wants to wear, and can put them on. (When we got back from vacation, she insisted on wearing her ruby-red dress shoes to bed, as she apparently missed them while we were away.)

In the past two week, she has started using new words, such as up, and even surprised us with lifejacket.

She has managed to wrap every one of us around her little finger.

So, I’m going to try to enumerate her vocabulary. (I’ll be updating this often in the next couple of days, as I think of new words she is currenlty using):

  • ah-ha
  • all done
  • apple
  • baby
  • backpack (to refer to her baby-carrier backpack that we wear, or to her riding onto my back without the backpack, with her arms around my neck)
  • Bible
  • Blue
  • Blue’s Clues (Her absolute favorite television show, although we limit her to about one hour of TV per day. For the record, Steve was a much better host than Joe is.)
  • bye
  • bye-bye
  • cheese
  • cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene
  • Chapstick (Yes, I know it’s a brand name.)
  • Chaz
  • Daddy
  • hi (She also—just yesterday—started using hi in conjunction with a person’s name, as in “Hi, Daddy.”)
  • ice
  • Isaac
  • keys
  • lifejacket
  • marble
  • me
  • mine (I taught her that one. I tried teaching her gimme, but Nichelle took issue with that.)
  • Mommy
  • no
  • nooooooooooooooooooooooo (used especially when her brothers are bothering her, or trying to take something away from her)
  • okay
  • oooooooooooooooooooooooh (drawn out with a long o sound, as if in realization or final comprehension of something)
  • ow
  • ooooooooooooooooooooooow (used especially if her brothers are touching her in the slightest way)
  • pee
  • Phoebe
  • please
  • plum
  • pool
  • Pop Tart (Another brand name)
  • stuck
  • thank you (more of a syllabic match than a phonetic one)
  • T.V.
  • up
  • uh-huh (for yes)
  • uh-oh (for no)
  • uh-uh (for no)
  • up
  • Yes, sir! (Only when singing “I May Never March in the Infantry …”; she also salutes with her hand, and does all of the other actions correctly.)

NaNi loves to sing. Some of her songs are more phonetic or syllabic than verbal, but here are her favorites:

  • Blind Man (an old chorus I learned at Camp Fireside)
  • The Emperor’s March, from The Empire Strikes Back
  • The Farmer in the Dell (which her See ‘n Say® plays)
  • Happy Birthday (She surprised us by knowing that one today.)
  • I May Never March in the Infantry
  • Jesus Loves Me
  • Old McDonald had a Farm (another See ‘n Say® one)

And she can identify the following body parts:

  • belly button
  • ears
  • eyebrows
  • eyes
  • fingers
  • hair
  • mouth
  • nose
  • spleen (I’m not kidding)
  • toes
  • tongue