Holidaze

Fat and Happy in the chariot.  We decided to go skiing up in Hyalite.
Bozeman has received a net 13 dm of snow this winter, so Laura has been
unable to skiskiski as she did last year.

A fine new year's day

So over the holidays we headed down to the Montrose to visit with the fam.  Twas excellent before christmas...well, and after. In the mass of christmas presents, sienna discovered something that is near and dear to the schoenes: recycling.  Being the third son that I was, I learned to appreciate hand-you-downs.  In fact, I'm not sure that at any point in my life I've worn an outfit, or get-up, that did not contain something that did not belong to me.  Indeed, using my brothers' style while I was in middle/high school got me many a date, and I'm thankful.  In colorado, the toys were plentiful, though certain proprietary assumptions were made regarding whose toy was whose.  Though our hosts are always beyond gracious, those that are around the three foot tall mark (no names) make a point to ensure that no trespassing occurs.  But, come christmas, amongst the six hour throng of opening presents, sienna discovered that another person's trash is another's treasure. Distracted by the flashy bells, books, blocks, and bridges, sienna laid siege to the forgotten toys of the house that just one day before were invaluable tokens of the childrens' identities.  As the saying goes, in with the old, out with the envy. (I am, of course, being facetious.  Yale was particularly generous with the *awesome* driving car noise thingy, as sienna loved that thing. I also have to say that I was astounded that he allowed any/everyone into his room to play with his toys.  I don't think I'd be as generous as he was, as a kid or today.  thank you sir).

Sometimes hand-you-downs cross generations: the upsides
of cyclical fashion.

This is the *awesome* toy I was talking about. You'll note
squeek has to keep looking over her shoulder, as her three foot
cousin is just outside the frame in this picture watching her.

This was probably sienna's favorite toy.  We were going to get her
one, but it would only fit in one place in our apartment and
it would prove mostly impassable, thereby dividing the apt in two.
The upside is that we could rent out the other side and make some
cash.

We took a day to head down to ouray and scope the gnar.  Looks good





For anyone that is scared of heights, I would recommend not only
not going to the ouray viewpoint, but more importantly, not taking your
1.5 yo daughter to the viewpoint.  Laura was a wreck.

This was Sienna's first car ride facing forward.  In the last year, the official recommendations were changed to not to face kids forward until 2 years of age (used to be one year and 20 lbs).  We had to make a gray area decision, however, because every time we got into the car she would scream until we stopped.  this proved frustrating and distracting and dangerous.  therefore, we decided that it was safer to not get into an accident and have her in a less safe position than to get into an accident and have her in a safe position. I'm sure the law would disagree with our reasoning.

We went sledding. Sienna loved sledding, and went down about fifteen times, asking for more.  This was the sixteenth time, the time that we decided to get the camera.  d'oh.


Seeing sienna with all the (male) cousins provided an excellent opportunity to begin the process of observing and enforcing gender stereotypes.  1) girls like clothes and shoes.  Sienna spends at least 30% of her waking hours dressing herself and trying on outfits.  She's actually gotten quite good at it, being self-sufficient with shoes, socks, pants somewhat, and working on shirts.  she picks out some excellent outfits, and likes big colors, particularly stripes and polka dots.  Now, I didn't assume that this was unusual since I also spend 30% of my time trying on outfits.  I was surprised to learn, however, that the male cousins have zero interest in dressing themselves. in fact, supposedly the three.5 yo still can't (won't) put on his shoes.  Compare this to sienna, who when mama mentions under her breath "maybe we'll go outside this morning" as she's preparing breakfast, sienna shows up five minutes later wearing a coat, a hat, mittens, boots, and an expectant look.  2) boys are wusses.  The boys can't keep up with her runnin', sleddin', swimmin', slidin' self.  Whereas sienna loves going outside, romping in the wind and weather, and craves speed and spills, her male counterparts are, umm, unenthusiastic about such ventures. You'll note that there are no little boys in the video above, and that is not due to a lack of trying on our part.  Their strengths lie in more domestic pursuits.  I guess it does start at a young age.  3) Girls have more hair. the head hair genes must lie on that second X chromosome, and when the odd boy has long hair, it must be because they inherited the wrong X chromosome from his mother.  4) Boys are happy-go-lucky and smile a lot.  I am unsure of the direct mechanism for such behavior, though I suspect that it is not genetic.  More likely, even at a young age they infer the unjust privileges heaped upon the male sex.  Our patriarchal, phallo-centric culture coaxes optimistic smiles from boys who learn early that they're gunna have an easy go of it.  Sienna, however, wilts in the bigotry of this world.
(in case it isn't obvious, I'm joking on all accounts).
But yeah, highlights of the trip included: painting pottery (we got a sweet bowl with all the kiddos' hand prints on it, though I've been informed that I'm selfish, as that bowl has become "dada bowl."), Delta hot springs (where I sat in a hot tub listening to a guy go off on the the history of the facility, and telling the story completely wrong.  How do I know he was wrong?  Because there was a huge sign hanging up that was readable from our vantage point in the hot tub, detailing the history of the facility.  i didn't have it in me to call him out), meat dinners (always a highlight), pass the ball game (after the kids went to bed, all the adults got a small item, and then we threw them in order to each other. chaos ensued, and it was a lot of fun. midway through, who should find his way out of bed because "he had to potty" but yale-bud, with an aghast look on his face. "they're having fun without me??!?!??!!!"), RISK (I'd never played before.  Adam and andrew were on a team and kiiiilllllled us), running (we went running). Hopefully we'll make it back sooon.
In other news, Bozeman is getting washed away.  Laura and sienna went to the old haunts on the north side of town, where we used to live, to check out the water levels at bozeman creek.  Turns out that the river has taken the trails for its own.

yeah, there used to be a trail there. hrmm.

okay, that's all for now.  bye.

otono

So this video is funny because normally we are showing her pictures of herself on the camera, so when she approaches the camera, saying baby, she means please show me pictures of myself.  She does the same thing anytime she sees an iphone because of auntie KT at thanksgiving.

this was a good picture two seconds earlier

where's waldo?

Words

I've been meaning to do this for a while too, but I just finished reading an alphabet book with sienna and the lesson was struck home.  What does sienna say?  mostly single words, though she'll also string "please" with words or say certain phrases: "thank you" "I love you." (said that for the first time..awesome!!!).  she also said "I want water" today, which was the first I had heard that. she also baby signs, please, milk, book, hi, bye, up, thank you, all done, food.  but to the best of my abilities, here are the words that she says:
dada, mama, apple, boat, water, cat (meow), dog (woofwoof, bowwow), dance, egg, ball (easily her favorite word), baby, shoes, socks, feet, leg, hair, head, eye, ear, nose, mouth, cheek, teeth, toothbrush, brush, wash, push, pull, lips, toes, bracelet, filibuster, blankie,train (hoohoo) bug, bee (buzz), kiss, face, moon, star, cow (moo), elephant (pfffffth), bird, horse, hand, rock, rice, ice, milk, book, duck (quackquack), cockadoodledoo, hat, coat, shirt, buckle, bib, cheese, boot, pee (pssss), poopoo, bike, hi (with arm wave), byebye (with hand wave), up, kick, down, shhh, spaceship, all done, food, yogurt, sit, seat, bubble, walk, sssssss (when she sees a snake), fish, bear (roar), off, on, house, chalk, box, bag, backpack, yes (head nod), no (head shake), back, trash, go, pancake, car, hot, help.  she also repeats a lot of words, but I haven't heard her say them independently.
laura would emphasize that 90% of the words out of her mouth are book and ball (though "no" is quickly joining the list), and that a random stranger would probably only recognize 30% (bear sounds a lot like bird, cat is sometimes tak, and I want water was ah wah wawah with the appropriate syllable emphasis to call it good in my book, and is still better than what most americans can do).

that's all for now.

Time Blast

I'm on winter break from medical school, so time to relax and reflect, or as laura calls it, time to start pulling my weight (laura would like to clarify that this is a peter joke, and not a reflection of how she actually views our relationship.  It is, instead, a more accurate description of my guilt for not helping to clean and cook more during the semester).
Back in september, laura and sienna went to maine.  Given that you have to pay for a plane ticket for kids older than 2, we knew we had to get in as much travelling as possible before that mark. I'd say we've done a pretty good job thus far: since she was born, we've gone (from bozeman) to denver, to montrose, to montrose, to kauai, to seattle, to montrose, to maine, to seattle, to montrose. we've also driven to jackson holes, to city of rocks, to madison/chicago, and countless times to boulder mt.  This is not including daddy's travels to reno, new england, portland or.  In conclusion, we travel way too much. it's exhausting.  sienna thinks so too. last night, when we got back from montrose christmas travels, she slept for 15 hrs straight, without any wake ups.  !!!  ...  luckily, on this past trip, she actually did great.  was pretty playful and flexible, and unbelievably slept on the last leg of the trip in mama's arms (hasn't done that in about a year, under any circumstances.  compare to our seattle trip where she kept starting to nod off, then waking up, shaking it off, and proceeding to scream until the next time she nods off.  two hours of screaming baby in an airplane sucks).  We have come to learn that sienna has my sleeping abilities, ie not sleep unless fully horizontal, at a 45 degree angle on my belly with a cuddle pillow under my shoulder.  vs laura, who falls asleep anytime anywhere, and alway has.  this makes for some uninteresting car/plane rides, and by uninteresting I mean awful.  given that she doesn't travel well, I can't believe we've travelled as much as we have.  I guess it's just part of who we are at this point.
anyway, I'm off topic...Maine.  they had a great trip, seeing all the wonderful old friends of yore. and enjoying some tai qi on vinalhaven. not bad. 

here's the maine gang, and I have to say that it makes me sad that
sienna won't grow up with this fine bunch of kids.  It's funny that
kids are just like adults: some are nice, and some are jerks.  These
kids aren't jerks, and make excellent playmates.  here in bozeman,
there are a few families with really nice kids who you'd want sienna
to play with, and then there are some that aren't nice, and as a parent
you have mixed feelings about them playing together. I feel like
people usually only talk about this in the context of teenage friends,
but it's just as apparent at this age.  Luckily, I think sienna tends
to gravitate towards nice kids naturally without our urging, and knows
to generally stay away from jerks because, well, they're jerks.  Anyway,
above is: Jude, Lucy, Abel, Isaac, Hazel (w teresa), avery, sienna. Since
this picture was taken, Micah has joined the ranks.  When we left maine,
there was only lucy and isaac.  turns out things change quickly.

On the ferry boat to vinalhaven.

Back when it was warm, and she sported the
emma watson post-hermione haircut.

Squeek in between barfing sessions.  because of the
winding roads in maine, she got car sick and puked
a number of times.  Sorry bree for your car!!!

carrying on a strong BOC tradition of having your
kids run around the schwartz and draw on nautical charts.

w da woodruffs (minus seamus), w maeve, lucretia, us, daere, michael, and finnegan.
If you look real close, you can see bree and laura still on the wall
above lucretia's r shoulder, and me in a raft after swimming the 3 sisters rapid on the
kennebec while training some younger guides.

Dinner at the woodruffs, with john and marielynn and maya and sean too

w breezy on a breezy night

did I mention it was breezy. This was near
where the yurt was, where you could really
hear the ocean winds blowing off the water.
before we were in the yurt, our tents blew away
twice, with all our belongings scattered
across the field/woods.  sienna loves the wind.

so people around here don't know anything about maine.  most people consider it "out east," the same way people out there consider montana "out west."  when you talk to the locals in either place, they talk about their hidden treasure that no one understands and are trying to exploit/ruin (more so in montana, probably because mainers all ready experienced what montanans are now feeling, though it was 150 years ago).  Invariably, I get asked, "what's maine like?"  and "what's bowdoin?" Like montana, it's hard for me to answer the question without confronting stereotypes and elucidating my qualifications.  And in the end, I feel like I always get it wrong.  but no matter how wrong I get it, I still have my own romanticized imagery of the place, and the many smiling faces that accompany it.  In the end, what do we really know of a place other than the personal experiences we've chosen to highlight?  Laura and Sienna's trip summarize my take on maine fairly well:

Humble cedar shingled homes atop compact white granite

Tranquil expanses of water set within a quiet moment

The homes take after the trees: humble, understated, and intimate

an emphasis on what's important

look at all those mugs...and so accessible

A place to gather.

Anyway, that's it.  I'll post some videos next time. by the way, everything above is copyrighted and I'll expect a call from the maine department of tourism promptly.

We're back!

Good news: Sienna has given up the charade, and decided to go back on air.  In retribution for me "going to medical school," she decided to "forego the blog." I told her that she was being rash, but she didn't listen, and then I told her to reassess her priorities, and she said I didn't know anything, and then I said, well, nothing, cuz I had to go to class. 

That bemused look is, "Why are you dressing me
in my halloween costume in December?"

"Cheeeezzz"

"Good lord I love cheese"

She likes to push more than ride, sometimes.
She did this for nearly a mile around greenlake.

zA Post that Starts with Z



Squeek took this one and wanted me to share it with you all

 So much has happened of late that it's hard to keep track of it all.  Let's see.  First of all, squeek has graduated from the Livingworst School of Dog Training.  She was about the right age, so we enrolled her over the summer so that she could learn some of the basic tasks of living and thriving.  First, they taught her how to sit, which she did magnificently.  Likewise, the instructor commented that she had a particular aptitude for shaking hands and rolling over.  When we questioned her as to Squeek's chances in the AKC circuit, she informed us that though she had the demeanor required, she was the ugliest bulldog that she had ever seen (maybe I should back up here.  see, apparently you can't enroll babies in puppy school.  We knew that it was the right time, but in our research we couldn't find anything appropriate for sienna's age.  Everything revolved around singing, and clapping, and stuff like that.  These skills seemed a bit infantile, and Bozone seems to be too rugged to offer anything more advanced.  So Laura had the great idea of teaching her some tricks.  Thus, puppy school).  While our hopes were dashed for the circuit, we were not surprised.  In fact, Sienna scored a flat D- in the areas of housetraining, and respecting the command "STAY!"  Likewise, she repeatedly nearly choked to death trying to gum her "reward," the dog biscuits.  Frankly, I think the instructor, "Karen," had it out for the squeek (squeek had more hair than her).



How embarassing is it when your daughter's mustache
is better than yours?

 What else?  Colblaylor came to visit from NJ, which was both splendid and ephemeral.  As proof of this, I can vouch that not a single "moment" was captured in which Sienna and Saylor played/SiennachaseSayloraroundwhileheplayedwithKira.  they seem rather well, and we're very touched that they could join us for some Montana fun (shooting stuff).
Laura began watching Kira after school, which was hectic at first though has since calmed down.  Kira rode her bike, and then Sienna tried to climb up it to get on to ride. she didn't make it, but she's not too far off. 
Last weekend, Sarah from interlochen swung through town on her way cross country.  she kindly gifted Story with a frog wood drum...thing.  Sienna immediately withdrew the drum stick and began playing.  while her wrist was a little stiff, she can hold a rhythm fairly well.  I'm trying to convince laura that, in light of this, the cymbals would be the perfect instrument for sienna, though she resists.  If I might ask a favor of all you, please send laura an email encouraging her to make the cymbals her future instrument of choice.  I think they complement the cello well.

School has also started, and is cruising along smoothly.  Great classmates, great material (our cadaver's heart had a sweet ante-mortem fibroblast clot in its right atrium and ventricle.  Didn't die from it, but enlarged teh atrium and probably caused some other problems), and great use of down time.  If anyone is feeling a little bored, or feels like they don't have a lot going on, I would highly recommend medical school. 

With all these transitions, though, squeek has been less than, um, mellow.  her sleep schedule has managed to get crumped (lame), and mealtimes are even more exciting than usual.  Additionally, she has become quite the risk taker.  I blame myself for this behavior, and laura whole heartedly agrees (who has taken up skeet shooting, in which she's the pidgeon.  Luckily for everyone, the little flinger thinger (Pull!) cannot propel her, but only gives her a good thump in the stomach).  Sienna received a plastic car/noise machine from a neighbor.  She likes to not only mount it, but then stand on it.  One time I was in the other room, and came around the corner and she was balancing, standing on top of the car with her arms in the air.  Big smile.  When she fails at this endeavor, we hear a big scream.
Check these out...they're rad:
                                    

Okay, Bye

Final Days

This last week has been an attempt to tie up all the loose ends before summer is over.  It reminds me of one of my favorite maine quotes.  I asked a friend, "so, how was your summer?" "It's ovah."  First we had to knock off some hikes, joining up with jen and luca to go to s. cottonwood creek (mike, you're right, it was fanastic. It seems I should take all my recreation advice from you.  I remember when I first met cate, and laura was preggers, and we weren't joining you two at the bar and you said, "eh, that's okay, you're not missing much." If I remember right, cate gave you a funny look), and then heading over to the humbug spires to check the dish. Let me tell you, the dish is gooooood.


I had to doggy paddle across the middle part of the creek, er,
um, River I mean... Raging river.



It turns out squeek digs the stream crossings



For those of that can see what I'm pointing at, and
for those of you that care (which I recognize are a scant few),
Above is the 800 ft tall granite wedge.  Superb rock quality,
coupled with a 3 mile approach.  In Montana terms,
this would be considered an afternoon crag (as opposed
to CA, where this is considered alpine).  We bailed due to
a horizon of lightning.



Sienna also digs checking out obscure climbing areas that we won't
climb at till she's bigger.



Lunch Time.  For those of you with tinies, or are
expecting, note the packet at sienna's foot.  There's a
couple different companies that make them including happy baby and
peter rabbit.  pure organic fruits and veggies, and they're
delicious.

We also had some final things to take care of up in boulder MT.  grandma and papa were out of town so we were taking care of the animals and garden while they were gone.



Sienna's giving the chicks water. She loved to watch the chickens,
whcih she calls ducks, but when amidst them mostly ignores em and
plays with the pail.  With this shirt she is lined up to play lacrosse,
which would be a good fit for her build.  Men's lacrosse, that is.



the dill went crazy this year.

We also had to put the final trim on the kitchen, which we were able to do.  Pretty darn pleased with how the whole thing turned out.

The final product.  The drawers to the right are full-extension drawers
(awesome), note the hanging pot rack (awesome), and behind the garbage
instead of a lazy susan we put in more ddrawer slides for the dehydrator and
canning jars.



Here's a close-up of the overhead shelves.
We used reclaimed lumber, which was a pain
to work with and way beyond our skill level,
but in the end turned out great.

 We also had to get in some running.  Tyson and I have egged each other into doing the seattle marathon in november, and after talking with jen, laura is psyched to do the half marathon then, too.  So, we've been doing some track workouts, which sienna also enjoys.


Definitely less baby, more girl.



While laura and I are pretty good at keeping pace in our intervals,
sienna has a long way to go.  I kept yelling, "you lack discipline" though
that didn't seem to help. She just wanted to play.



I think that's all I got.  What's she doing these days.  She walks and runs, climbs stairs and climbs down (still working on that), balances on one foot well enough to step over toys and legs and things.  She climbs into short rocking chairs, rocks, and climbs out.  Likewise on drums, strollers, plastic cars, etc.  She's experimenting with her movement, and is very confident over any terrain walking (including up and down hill, which is a big improvement).  She babbles, and repeats words.  She knows mama, dada, up, dog, woof, cat (not meow), bellybutton (which she drops the last syllable, and fudges the 'l's'), bubbles (bubuh), baby, head, shoes, and maybe some others (water, maybe).  More notably, she is understanding things.  She'll bring her shoes over to us because that means we're going outside.  When we say "you need to sit while you eat" she gives you a dirty look and sits.  "What's in your mouth," she opens her mouth.  "Where's your head," she points to her head. she starts to climb the stairs when it's nap time.  She reads books and finds the dogs in them. yesterday her hands were filthy with food and she was wiping it in her hair.  I threw my head into my hands in shame, and she kept doing it, and I realized that after a while she was pantomiming daddy by putting her head in her hands (thereby spreading the food).  She drinks well out of cups, sippy cups, bottles, eats mostly with her fingers and sometimes will feed herself with a spoon (usually the food drops into her lap before it makes it to her mouth (which is frustrating, though hilarious if you think of an adult doing it)).  She cuddles stuffed animals and sometimes kisses them, which makes daddy jealous.  Her favorite game remains running to the other side of the room, flopping onto the ground with her belly exposed, and giving you a big smile (that's your cue to march intimidatingly over to her and give her belly raspberries).  She learned this game from momma, who also flops onto the ground. When in her stroller she sings and lets the bumps play with her pitch.  throwing some excellent tantrums, though less violent than last month.  Is semi-purposefully bashing her head into the concrete with less frequency now.  This makes me happy.
That's about it.  i start med school tomorrow, so my posts will almost certainly be less frequent.  Laura is charged with taking over the picture taking.  Sienna is still in charge of being cute and kind.
c ya.