There are so many life lessons in learning to ride a bike. Balance, perseverance, fear, pain, joy, focus, momentum… Almost as many lessons in teaching your kid.
There is a dip halfway down the hill Elijah is learning on. I hold my breath every time he gets close, at the edge of control. And I keep quiet. Each time he gets through, I heave a sigh. One time though, Natasha saw him going down, fast, and yelled, “Watch out! slow down!” and of course, he lost it…
BAM!! Screams, bloody face. 😦
That night in bed he is drifting off to sleep and mumbles:
“I think you need to put the training wheels back on my bike…”
“OK,” I say, “Or, you could learn how to slow down without stopping. that is the trick to going down that hill.”
“Oh” he says, not committing to either path, and sleeps on it.
The next day I come home from work to hear that he decided to leave the training wheels off.
How did it go?
His stoicism- not sure about this- and Natasha’s hand, also telling of another dynamic ( a post for another day)
So the exciting news is that I’ve passed the draft of my research (10 years! phew!) on to co-authors and so we not only get family time, but a little time to blog too. 🙂 Our experiment is going well. Some of the things Wendy and the kids have been doing for homeschool have been so heartwarming. The Easter hunt and Potluck they organized was fantastic! I only took a few pics, but if anyone else took some pics and want to share please do so in the comments or even in a guest blog.
Maia found the Dinosaur Egg!
And we’ve rearranged the house, we decided to move their bunkbed into our bedroom, and move our computers into theirs… This is supposed to help with Elijah’s nightmares and keep them from wanting to come into our bed at night. It is also a taste of a more traditional tribal living, the kids LOVE it.
The Father in me says, “Good work Son”, the Boy in me says, “You gotta be kidding!” 🙂
Meanwhile, Emerakaya is growing fast! When I came home from work yesterday I gave everyone a quick kiss, but she was having none of it. She got super fussy, and when Wendy was holding her Emerakaya was craning around Mom to watch me walking to the fridge and the kids etc. It was flattering and touching and so nice to then come over to a big smile and take her into my arms.
Some of our moments together have been such magic. She is even more adorable and heart-fluttering in person than in pictures.
The ducks and chickens are happy too and producing lots of eggs, (anyone care for fresh eggs for trade or sale?)
The kids are in baseball class, and love it. I’ll be organizing games in the summer. Contact me to be put on that e-mail list.
My Sister Annie with Emerakaya at 2 weeks. (We downlaoded our little camera, some real gems.)
Including this one of the girls.
and this one of My Love and New Love
Wendy has been doing an amazing job.
I had a hard time choosing which pics to post, others that you’ll like more no doubt are in the slideshow. Some of you are in them too. You can download any of the pictures.
Life is good here in Santa Cruz. Wendy is 8 months pregnant, and we are very excited. Natasha is an amazing little girl. She is still not even 2 but is talking up a storm and loves to play and explore. (The picture below is from June)
November 30. We walked allaround the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden in Cape Town, and on the way back to the car stopped to check out the concert for a few minutes…Great place for a show. Natasha loved it.
and a movie. Thanks, Sabre for the mobile. She loves it. (Folks, when you see the “play” triangle in a picture, you can press it and a movie starts playing.)
Natasha Kate Gallo was born at 4:37 PM on December 9th, 2007.We are delighted.Here is a journal entry of the birth and the first week.
Wendy started having contractions on Friday the 7th, and by the evening they were consistent. “Latent Phase” had begun!We did not sleep much that night, and at dawn Saturday we started filling up the birthing pool.By noon, all was in order for the home birth.We wanted to bring the baby into this new world in a calm, quiet, lowlit atmosphere without a bunch of stimuli.Active phase finally started at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon.Wendy was doing amazing at staying calm and handling the pain.It seemed like she went into fully dialated phase at about 9 PM, but then things started going backwards.Then exhaustion was setting in and the pain was getting unbearable.By 3 am Sunday she was back to only partially dilated.So, we went for a relaxing Sunday drive into George, and checked into the hospital.
Natasha’s first moments in her new world
The epidural was such a relief, for both of us.It killed me to see her in that much pain.She got some sleep.Unfortunately, she still did not dilate very much, and by 3 pm we had a tough decision.She was 6 cm dilated (need to get to 10), and feeling strong, but the baby’s heart was indicating signs of distress.We decided to go for the caesarean for the baby’s sake.It was amazing how fast the operation was.We were settling in for the long haul, Wendy had just asked me about chess in an effort to distract her from the pushing and pulling going on inside her belly, when suddenly, boom, there was a baby being held in the air.“It’s a girl!” I said, and Natasha’s first cry echoed through the world.Wendy melted with an avalanche of emotions.
All of that was quickly forgotten as we held Natasha in our arms.She was healthy, (and out) and that is all that mattered.While Wendy was being sewed up, they let me hold Natasha in the recovery room, alone. Away from all the fuss and bustle. They had me take my shirt off so she could get skin to skin contact. Holding your newborn is magic, it feels as if a miracle has just occurred, and if you think about it, one has.
She felt so small and fragile in my arms, but apparently she was averaged sized: 3.4 kg and 58 cm.(What, you don’t use metric?Silly American.That is 7 lbs 8 oz; and 23 in ;).She has Wendy’s hair and my lips, and the rest seems to be a mix.Right now her eyes are HUGE and almost the color blue of Aunt Annie’s.She had a small birthmark on her temple. I read later that is called a stork bite.Those storks still need to work on their technique apparently.They could have brought her a bit earlier too.Anyway, it is already fading–no lawsuits necessary.
An exhausted but content mother and daughter.
It was great to be in touch with the Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles so quickly.Getting a call on the bedside phone was great, making the 15,000 miles seem a lot closer.We quickly adjusted to our new roles.I overheard Wendy telling my parents when she thought I was sleeping: “a Dad was born as well during my labor.”
So, enquiring minds want to know: how did we choose the name?Wendy and I both have liked the name Natasha for a long time, and it just seemed to fit.Also, the only Natasha we know is awesome, so that is cool too.(Yay Dr. Tash!) Wendy’s mom Gerry suggested the name Kate, and did not even know that is my Mom’s name.We both love the name too, and figured it was kind of a serendipitous thing; we are honored to name our firstborn after MaMa.
Things got better back home. Natasha at four days.
As far as life goes, it has no resemblance at all of life two weeks ago.Sleep is a commodity.But fortunately, our friends here have been lifesavers.They have given or lent a whole suite of baby furniture clothes, and do dads.All the gifts of the Blessing Way are coming in handy.Bethany and Andrew even dropped off a home cooked meal!And everyone has also been respectful of our space and letting us get into a rhythm of some sort.
Fortunately, Tasha’s digestion is coming into its own, and her burps and gas (called winds over here) are getting under control.Wendy’s milk took its time coming in, but is here in force.We are having lots of poopy diapers now.Yay!Wendy is recovering slowly, but steadily.Maybe she’ll be able to post something soon.Frankly, after watching the operation, I am amazed at how fast she is healing.She is a strong woman. Meanwhile, Indi seems to know what and who Natasha is, and is being appropriately respectful. But he is just dying to give her a good lick.
Well, Natasha has been sleeping in her rocker (thanks Mandy) next to me, and is starting to wake up.Miss you all, and glad we can stay in touch this way.There is a cool “comment” link below to add to our list of communication options.The e-mails and skype calls have been great, thanks!Gotta go.
Peace,
Pappa J
P.S. Natasha at 1 week is below, and the oher dozen or so photos are at Flickr as a a Slideshow or Individual Photos. (To clear up some confusion: underlined text, usually colored, is a “hotlink” and if clicked will lead you to the promised webpage).
Inner Eden 