Category: Daily – Life

A New Year – Back to the Basics and Running!

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Renaissance Granddad Returns to an Old Workout and Starts Running Again!!

 

Ok so I haven’t written anything here in a very long time! One of the reasons is that I switched and started posting more at my original website Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries, and most recently I decided that I was going to focus more on the books that I read, so I started a new website This Man Reads. The second reason is last year I sucked at turning my biological clock backwards. In actuality, I think the clocks moved faster last year! Anyway, I have vowed to do better this year.  So far that is happening and hence this post!!

Actually, the move to getting in shape and slowing down that speeding biologic clock started at the end of 2016!  For several years I did a simple 15-minute workout before work. The workout consisted of a 5-minute warm-up and tuning in using the Ek Ong Kar mantra. followed by 5 minutes of Kundalini exercises and then 5 minutes of light weights and resistance bands. Last year I stopped doing that workout and started doing more yoga in the morning. Additionally, for years I ran three days a week. Typically, I ran four miles to days a week and a longer run between 5-8 miles on the weekend. For a variety of reasons in 2016 I hardly ran at all.

Renaissance Granddad Postpones Yearly Doctor Visits!

 

When December rolled around and I was faced with my yearly physical and my visit to my cardiologist, I put them both off. until after the holidays. It’s not that I am in bad shape, just not the shape I am normally in. My weight is about 5-6 pounds over my  typical weight and 12 pounds over my running weight. Additionally, I have not been eating all that well!

So near the end of December I decided to go back to the old routine on a daily basis. On days that I work at Target I do the routine in segments of  3, 6, and 6 minutes. On the non-Target days I do the routine as follows 3  minute meditation, 6 minutes Kundalini, 6 minutes light weights ( 5 and 15 lbs) and a kettle bell and 6 minutes using a variety of bands. The result has been that while I have not lost weight I have lost some inches, I think!

A Return to An Old Workout Leads to a Return to Running – Hopefully!!

Anyway, I feel better and this has led me to the streets!! Yes this week I have run twice, so far! I hope to make it three days with a run tomorrow. And while I have not run far, both runs were 2.1 miles, my overall pace  was not bad the first day was 11:22 and the second 11:15 min/mile. Both times were better than I ran back in August and October!

And Doctor Appointments!

I also made an appointment with my doctor for my yearly EKG and blood work in two weeks and will make an appointment with the cardiologist  for a week or so after that, so I can take all the results to the appointment!

So the plan is to watch what I eat and see if the added running can help me lose a few pounds within  the next two weeks. So that I go to both appointments feeling good about myself! And maybe I can start moving  my biologic clock in the reverse direction!!

Wish Me Luck!! Don’t worry you’ll hear about the running!

New Morning Exercises & Hank Crawford’s Bday!

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Edward aka (Renaissance Granddad) – Day 23823 (Dec 21, 2016)

Woo! Hoo! Today is the Winter Solstice!! That of course means, today is either the shortest day of the year or the longest night! I prefer to look at it as the shortest day and from here until the Summer Solstice the days keep getting longer!! I used to hate it when it was dark when I went to work in the morning and again when I came home in the evening.

For years i ran at 5:30 after work. I always hated it when daylight savings time ended and it would get dark before 5! I particularly hated it the night I sprained an ankle coming off of a sidewalk and not seeing the two by fours that someone had put along the curb so they could jump the curb! From that night on I have been leary of running at night!

Now that I work in the mornings and could run in the afternoon before it gets dark, I am not running at all! That has got to change soon!! The only  thing I due hate now with these short days is getting up and ready for work in the dark! Come On Spring!!

Morning Exercises and Meditation

For the last week or so I have changed up my morning exercises. For most of 2016 I have done various yoga routines in the morning. On the days that I don’t work I had been sporadically doing a routine that includes: Kundalini yoga, weights and bands. I used to do that set of exercises each morning when I worked at Lippincott. When I did it on those mornings. I did 5 minutes Kundalini meditation called “Long Ek Ong Kars” followed by 5 minutes of various Kundalini exercises and a few typical exercises – leg raises, bicycle, etc. The last five minutes was composed of weights and bands exercises.

By doing that routine regularly, I always was able to maintain my weight at the same level even through periods when I didn’t run. Then came retirement and babysitting. Over the last two years, I have run less, but thanks to Oliver I had long walks two or three days a week. Well, back in June that ended, when Oliver went into full time day care. The result, I gained weight not a massive amount but enough to bother me.

While I have not gone on a strict diet I have cut down and have not really lost any weight. So the other day I thought maybe I will try to do the old routine on a daily basis again. I modified the routine so that it looks like this now 3:00 minutes “Long Ek Ong Kars”, 7 minutes Kundalini  and other exercises, and finally and 9 minutes of Weights and Bands. The whole routine ends with a 10 minute meditation.

Like I said earlier I started this about a week ago and since then I have felt a lot better, more energetic, etc. I actually feel like I could start running again!! Damn you cold weather! Anyway I think may have lost a little weight (my scales gave me two different weights this morning) but I do feel like I may have lost some inches! Overall, we’ll see where it takes me! Wish Me Luck!

The Soundtrack: Joseph L Young – Ethereum

Joseph L Young is a world-flute master and keyboardist. Ethereum is his fourth album. His music brings together global music traditions that mix primal earthiness with modern synthesized sounds. His primary instruments are a wide variety of ethnic flutes from around the world. I will write more about the album soon!!

 Jazz Birthday of Interest (at least to me): Hank Crawford

You can check out a complete list of Jazz Birthday on this day here

Hank Crawford – (December 21, 1934 – January 29, 2009) From the Artist Biography by Thom Jurek at AllMusic…..

Hank Crawford

With an unmistakable blues wail, full of emotion and poignancy, altoist Hank Crawford bridges the gap between that tradition and that of jazz more completely than any other living horn player. Born in Memphis, Crawford was steeped in the blues tradition from an early age. He began playing piano but switched to alto when his father brought one home from the army. He claims his early influences as Louis Jordan, Earl Bostic, and Johnny Hodges Read More

Wildflower is the only Hank Crawford album in my music library and it’s a good one! Again from AllMusic

….This record is so hot the only soul-jazz it can be compared to in both its contemporary form and funky feel are Grover Washington’s Feels So Good and Mister Magic issues. In other words, Crawford’s Wildflower is indispensable as a shining example of ’70s groove jazz at its best. Read the Full Review

after-dark-hank-crawford

Today when I was reading about Hank Crawford I also checked out his vast discography! I decided that I would listen to his 1987 release After Dark. After Dark is an editor’s pick at AllMusic. You can check it out here at Spotify

 

 

 

Hank Crawford – AllMusic – All About Jazz – Wikipedia – Spotify

About This Post

This is the first of a new kind of post.  I hope to continue the idea is to give you a glimpse of my ADD Days on one or two pages! The page may cover my exercise for the day, the music I’m listening to and the book I am reading. Maybe I should say plan to read! Sometimes I plan to read more than I can get through!!

Oh ED K Day at the top of the post is the number of days I have been alive!!

 

A Foundation Course in German Starts Me on My Way!

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Don’t Know Much about the German I Took – But I’m trying anew!!

 

So if you have been reading along you are probably thinking this guy doesn’t know much about the German language, Why did He start a webpage? And you know what you’d probably be 100% right. But that’s the point – the purpose of this blog is to chronicle my attempt to learn the German language. Over the years I have noticed that I have a lot more drive and determination to run now than I did back in my youth. If I put the effort into running then that I have over the last 20 years I would have been a hell of a lot better runner!!  It’s the same with German.I didn’t put much effort in learning the language back then, but I do want to put a lot in now!! Now there’s the added benefit that learning a new language provides those who may be a little older!! I am not saying the elderly, because I in no way feel elderly, except at the end of the day after babysitting Oliver all day!!

The book that I started my study of German was a book I bought at a library used book sale titled Foundation Course in German. And while the book is almost as old as me (it has a 1958 copyright) it seems to me to be a pretty interesting and comprehensive book. Each lesson starts with a short passage followed by sections on vocabulary, commentary (rules etc) and exercises. When I started several weeks ago I really couldn’t read the first passage very well, but going back to it and re-reading it today I had no problem understanding everything! So I am learning something, yeah me!!

Lets Learn GermanMany of the vocabulary words have become familiar to me from both this book and the Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary i checked out of the library. The picture dictionary groups items by locations and type of words. The first location is the classroom hence the familiar words in both books! Yes the dictionary is a child’s book but hey, you can consider children newbies to the language, which is also hat i am!! Anyway, I am going to start both a resource page for the site, listing information about the books and other resources I am using in my studies and a vocabulary page. Creation of the vocabulary pages will give me each practice in writing out the words as I learn new ones as well as providing me a place to review the words!!

So first I hope you will join me in this endeavor and secondly I hope maybe it will either give you so inspiration to try to learn the language, because if this older dog can learn it, I am sure you can. too!

 

Day Two – Another Boring Day – not with Zoe!

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Day Two – Work and Babysitting in German……

 

Today was just another day. The day’s summary in German follows. I have highlighted words I had to look up. I will list them at the end of the post.

Heute war ein Arbeitstag am Target. Ich gingen zu Arbeit am 7 uhr und ich hatte bis 12 uhr Arbeit. Ich dachte Ich war Kinderbetreung Zoe um 2.30 Uhr aber Es war um 1.30 Uhr! Also Ich ass zu Mittagessen schnell und habe es dort in der Zeit! Wir sassen mit Zoe bis 5 Uhr, wenn ihr Vater, unser Sohn Peter, nach Hause kam. Sie war sehr gut, wie immer!

Nach der Einnahme von Zoe nach Hause. Ich den Rasen gemäht. Es war heiß!! Nach dem Máhen kam ein kurzes Nickerchen und dann Abendessen! Nach Abendessen Ich ging in die Bibliothek. der Bibliothekar gefragt: Wo ist Oliver? Sie können nicht ohne ihn kommen! Wir beide lachten! Ich ausgecheckt zwei Bücher und links.

Oliver mit underer Tochter Elizabeth nd ihre Frendin Alyssa

Oliver mit underer Tochter Elizabeth und ihre Freundin Alyssa

Es war weiter langweiliger Tag von Zoe besser gemacht!

New Vocabulary

Arbeitstag – workday
Kinderbetreung – babysitting
den Rasen – lawn – den Rasen gemâht – mow the lawn
kurzes Nickerchen – short nap
Bibliothekar – librarian
Lachten – laughed (lachen -to laugh)
ausgecheckt -checked out

At the start of the year, I bought a page a day German calendar. While I have not read the phrases everyday, especially when i was sick back in February, I have been looking at it over the last few weeks.I thought I would try to incorporate these phrases, etc into this website.

Yesterday the phrase was…..

Ist sie noch ledig?

Is she still single?

I have been trying to answer the questions. My answer to this question was

Nein, sie ist nicht ledig. sie ist verheiratet mit zwei Kinder! 

No she is  not single. She is married with two children.

The two key words – ledig which means single and verheiratet which is married. I had to look up married!!

Today’s Phrase….

Wie lange sind Sie schon verheiratet?

How long have you (formal) been married?

My answer: Ich habe seit sechsundvierzig Jahre verheiratet!!

Es ist eine lange Zeit seit ich ledig war! – It’s been a long time since I was single!

Sind Sie ledig or verheiratet? Wenn Sie, für wie lange verheiratet sind?

(Are You single or married? If you are married, for how long?) The answer is…..

 

Featured Image – Zoe am Muttertag – Zoe on Mother’s Day

My Day in German 1 – A Backhoe in the Street

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Hallo und herzlich willkommen zu meinem Tag in detscher Sprache. ich heiß Edward und ich lerne Deutsch. Ich mache diese website zu helfen mir lernen.

 

A month of so ago, I started learning to speak and read German again. I restarted for two reasons. First to help in my research of my German roots and secondly because dropping my second quarter of German class in college led to my not graduating from the University of Florida on time! So learning the language is to prove to myself that I can do it all be it 46 years later! I have already written about the materials that I have been using in my study of German. For me write now it seems that reading and writing my own sentences and little stories are working best for me. With that in mind  I have started this website. What I want to do in this website is to write little stories of my life with hopes that the writing will help me learn to language.As I move along I will try to expand what I write about as my vocabulary increases. Right now I am using a couple of translation apps and a dictionary to help me put together the stories. I also plan to continue to use the other resources i.e. textbooks and other books with stories in my studies.
So here is my first installment in Mein Tag in detscher Sprache……

Heute Mein Tag begann Ich Mit Yoga. Dann Ich hatte einen Smoothie und einfache Müsli für Frühstück. Nach dem Frühstück begann ich unsere Wäsche. Dann machte ich unserer Bett.Dann sah ich es! Ein bagger! 

German: Die Bagger in unserer Straße English: The backhoe in our street!

German: Die Bagger in unserer Straße
English: The backhoe in our street!

ja,in unserer strasse gibt es heute ein bagger!. Mein Enkel Oliver werde sehr glücklich wenn es ist noch hierher diese nachmittag. Ich habe ein paar Bilder nd ein Video um Oliver später ziegen schießen. Die Arbeiter wurde ein wenig nach dem Mittagessen und der Bagger ein wenig später verließ. Pech fur Oliver!

Wir holten Oliver in seinem Siiter Haus auf 3 Uhr.. Er aufhoren nicht, bis wir ihn bei der Arbeit seines Vaters bei 5:00 geloscht!

Ok so I know it is no literary masterpiece but I am still in the crawling stage!! For me i am learning more just writing simple sentences like the above. than I do just doing exercises in a book! I do know that some exercises are important and will keep doing them!

Now a summarized translation of the above My day started with Yoga – my”New Beginnings Routine” Then I had a smoothie and raisin granila for breakfast. I made the bed and started the wash! Then I saw the backhoe out in the street!  Yes, there was a backhoe on or street Oliver would have loved it. In case they weren’t there when I picked him up at 2 this afternoon, I took some pictures and a video. The men finished up just after lunch. We picked oliver up at three and he didn’t stop until we dropped him off at his father’s work at 5 o’clock!

Some Vocabulary…...

Bilder schießen – take photographs
später – later
Pech fur Oliver – Too bad for Olive
Er aufhoren nicht – He doesn’t stop!
das Bagger – backhoe

Update:Two Runs, Music From Armik and Stubblefield!

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The Guitars of Jim Stubblefield and Armik Power Two Runs!

The Run – Sunday October 25, 2015

So the last two runs I need to catch you up on are from Sunday and Tuesday of this week. I didn’t get to run on Sunday until almost five o’clock and since I knew the sun would be setting a little after six o’clock and I was a little tired I decided not to run a full 10 K! The first three miles of the run were great the splits were: Mile 1 – 10:00/mile. Mile 2 10:07 /mile Mile 3 10:09 / mile. I started to struggle a little on mile four with the pace dropping to 10:14 /mile. Then the bottom fell out on mile 5 with the pace dropping to 10:42 / mile. Since my overall time was close to an hour I decided that was when I would stop!. The overall distance was 5.80 miles at an average pace of 10:20 /mile. Which is really good! The other good thing was my maximum heart rate on the run was 152 beats per minute (bmp) and the average was 148 bmp.

The Soundtrack – Encantato – Jim Stubblefield

The soundtrack for that run was Jim Stubblefield’s latest release Encantato. The opening track was a great way to start a run! You can read more about the album here.

The Run – Tuesday – October 27, 2015

Tuesday’s run was not the fastest of the year, I just missed going under 40 minutes over my flat Creek Out and Back course, but it may have been one of my most consistent runs. Th splits were 10:07, 10:03, 10:08 and 10:01 /mile!! The good thing was that it was actually a fairly comfortable run with an average heart rate of 142 beats per minute!!

So  overall after 3 months of running I am training fairly comfortably at  a 10 minute per mile pace, which I actually didn’t think I could do back when I started in August!! Now the trick will be to keep it going through the winter! See,. I hate running in the dark! I don’t feel comfortable at all if it’s not the cars, it’s the street and the sidewalks. Even with a vest and a headlamp or flashlight I’m still afraid of falling!! But now I can run in the afternoons (see I don’t like the morning cold either!) either on the days I’m off or the days I work in the mornings!

The Soundtrack:: La Vida – Armik

Armik (born Armik Dashchi) is an Iranian-Armenian world fusion flamenco and Spanish guitarist and composer. I have listened to his music before and enjoyed his playing immensely!!His music interweaves flamenco and classical guitar with Latin and jazz influences. He is one of the top virtuosos of the Nuevo Flamenco genre,. Armik has been among Billboard Magazine’s Top Ten New Age Artists  in  2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

La Vida is Armik’s 27th studio album was released on September 25 and already spent considerable time on Billboard’s Top 10 New Age Chart, climbing as high as No 2! From his website……

With LA VIDA, Armik’s 27th studio album, he offers a new musical calling card that reveals his stunning guitar virtuosity and the magical percussive layers of sound and soul of the Nuevo Flamenco genre. It is a testament to the continued relevance of Nuevo Flamenco sound that Armik’s global fans revere around the world. You will have the most extraordinary listening experience as Armik fuses the sounds of his flamenco guitar with different musical genres such as Latin jazz, and rumba. Read More

So Check out both Armik and Jim Stubblefield!! Here’s is the title track from Armik’s La Vida

Oliver Visits the Sheep Farm Again!!

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Babysitting Oliver Tomorrow – Is it Back to the Sheep Farm Again?

 

So tomorrow it’s back to babysitting Oliver solo, well at least for the morning, Through July and August both my wife and I have been babysitting Oliver on Wednesdays, with the reserves Elizabeth and Nick coming in the afternoon. But my wife started back to work today and Elizabeth started working at her new school job (her last year in her Masters program working a year in a school) last week, so all that’s left is me in the morning and Nick and I in the afternoon. I am sure everything will go fine, a lot of times he is better when there are fewer people around, i.e. there is less to get him stimulated when it’s just DA!

As I thought about this tonight I remembered that I hadn’t written about last weeks babysitting the highlight of which was another trip to the Stratton Hall Herd Sheep Farm. Oliver loves his baas and was excited when we told him we were going to visit them again. When we got there though someone forgot to tell the sheep that we were coming!! They were not in the portion of the pasture where we could see them or feed them, rather they were way on the far side of the field. The owner was at the main gate though and asked me if there was anything we needed, i.e eggs or such. I told him no – we had just brought our grandson to see the sheep. He said ok and that he would go and get them. So he went over to the pear trees and then off to the sheep and soon the Pied Piper of Stratton Hall farm was coming across the pasture throwing pears and with a herd of sheep behind him!!

Pied Piper of the Sheep Herd

 

As we watched the sheep come across the field towards us I saw that one sheep was coming along the outside of the fence alone and soon was at the main gate and staying in the driveway – baaing at us!!

lone sheep

We were concerned that she was out, but the owner said that her name was Helen and she was really bossy so they didn’t keep her with the other sheep. (Well everything about that is true except the Helen part – Helen was my mother’s and her nickname in high school was Impossible and well nothing much changed through the years-enough said!) He also said that she wouldn’t leave the farm. Anyway Oliver got a kick out of seeing her!!

The Farm has three main breeds of sheep: the Dorset Horn sheep, the Leicester and the Jacob Sheep. The sheep in the driveway must be a Leicester sheep Here is a Dorset Horn sheep….

Dorset Horn

 

and here’s a Jacob Sheep that we first thought was a goat!!

Jacob Sheep

Here’s a little about the Jacob sheep from Wikipedia:

The Jacob sheep is a rare breed of small, piebald (colored with white spots), polycerate (multi-horned) sheep. Jacobs may have from two to six horns, but most commonly have four. The most common color is black and white. Jacobs are usually raised for their wool, meat, and hides. They are also kept as pets and ornamental animals, and have been used as guard animals to protect farm property from theft or vandalism and defend other livestock against predators

Generally referred to as an unimproved or heirloom breed (one that has survived with little human selection), the Jacob is descended from an ancient Old World breed of sheep, although its exact origins remain unclear. Spotted polycerate sheep were documented in England by the mid–17th century, and were widespread a century later. Unlike most other old world breeds, the Jacobs of North America have not undergone extensive cross-breeding and selective breeding; their body habitus resembles that of a goat. Relative to their American counterparts, British Jacobs tend to be larger and heavier, and have lost many of their original characteristics Read More

I told my wife the other day I think that the unicorn came from the Jacob Sheep. What do you think?Unisheep

All in all it was a fun short trip to the farm and the more I think about it the more I think we may take another trip there tomorrow!!! Who could resist a grandchild look like this!

Oliver watching Sheep

Kori Linae Carothers’ Music and a four mile run ….

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….Perfect Together

The Morning Run……

So if there ever was a morning that had a good excuse for not running, today was it! We babysat Oliver last night and didn’t get home until 1:30 this morning!! While I knew it would be hard to get up at 7 to run this morning, I thought well maybe 7:30 would work. When the alarm went off this morning I thought “Do I really want to do this?” The answer was less than a resounding yes!  But at least it was a yes! The more  I thought about it I thought well I will be running tomorrow – that will be ok!  No – I said today was to be your long day – it doesn’t matter how fast you go, you just have to make it happen – so just do it!! My pre-run routine was the same as Friday, except for the head smack because today was not a Kundalini/Weights day, so doing the Meditation Preparation Routine was fine!!

Next came the music, I decided that a nice slow album would be great for the run. I had briefly listened Fire in the Rainstorm from Kori Linae Carothers a New Age album that is number 2 on the latest (July 2015) Music Zone Reporter’s Top 100 Radio Play Chart. The album is solo piano and I thought that was perfect for a lazy Sunday run!!

My goal was to just run comfortably and if that was at 11:20 or 11:30’/ mile pace that was ok. The goal was to run for distance, i.e. the four planned miles, and not for time.  One of the tricks that I use to keep my pace an easy one is to make sure that I could talk to someone who was running with me. As a result, I sometimes talk out loud on my runs just to make sure I’m slowing down a little! It also keeps people away from the crazy man!! Anyway I made the four miles and the total time was 44:25 at an average pace of 11:03/mile. Over the first mile the pace was 10:59, mile 2 was 10:45 /mile, mile 3 10:59 and mile four 11:25! Over the first three miles my pace was under 11 minutes per mile which was faster than I figured and the good thing was that I wasn’t really pushing it!!

Kori Linae Carothers

The Soundtrack: Fire in the Rainstorm – Kori Linae Carothers

Kori Linae Carothers hails from Cedar City Utah and grew up listening to the music of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Carly Simon, Seals and Croft, James Taylor, But the John Williams’ soundtrack to Star Wars, really caught her ear! She says that

. “…the group that made me want to be a musician and compose music was the Beatles. I absolutely loved their earlier material.” –

But her musical journey had a rocky start, at the age of 5 years old it was discovered that she was deaf in her left ear!

From her website….

….. Her young peers found out and the teasing began. In addition, throughout elementary and high school, Kori was constantly told she would never become a musician. Undeterred, she kept learning and practicing, never surrendering her dream. Despite these discouragements, Carothers was passionate about her calling and now, 45 years later, she is an acclaimed pianist and keyboard player with four albums to her credit. Clearly, she is an example of a person following her muse with courage, humor, and determination. – Read More

I really like this beautiful album of solo piano tunes. All of the tracks were composed by Kori who started taking piano lessons at the age of eight and composing her own tunes at 14!! Will Ackerman of Windham Hill Records who co-produced the album with Tom Eaton and Kori says this about Kori…..

Kori Carothers is, without question a brilliant pianist and composer. What sets her apart, however, is the broad range of styles she utilizes so gracefully. Kori moves between the worlds of achingly beautiful acoustic piano composition and lavish keyboard production with remarkable ease. –Read more

So check out Fire in the Rainstorm and the music of Kori Linae Carothers . As for me there are four other albums from Ms. Carothers that may be the soundtracks of future runs!!!

Links to Further Explorations of the Music of Kori Linae Carothers…

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Bandcamp
YouTube

Here’s Kori Linae Carothers performing “Time Passages” from Fire in the Rainstorm

 

Two Fun Afternoons With Miss Zoe

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Babysitting Miss Zoe while Father Pete Went Off to the Doctors

 

This week my son Peter had two doctor’s appointments for his recent bouts with pain in his upper abdomen. The pains sent him to the hospital and left the doctors scratching their heads. All of his major organs look fine i.e.gall bladder, kidneys and liver. The initial diagnosis was pancreatitis. On Tuesday, he had an endoscopy and Thursday he had an appointment with a urologist. Since his wife Melissa went with him, we were happy to step in and watch Miss Zoe.

On Tuesday, she was shy at first and was clinging to Grammie, but after a while she was fine and we had a great time. She really is an amazing child, so calm, nothing seems to bother her. She is  quietly interested in everything, and really studies all that she encounters. My wife always says that she reminds her of Elizabeth in the way she is always quietly analyzing everything!. If she turns out to be like Elizabeth, that bodes well for Peter and Melissa!!

On Thursday when we arrived, Zoe was almost asleep, lying on her Aunt Dolly. She wasn’t ready to give in, and soon got up and was ready to go! You would never have known, unless you were told, that she had only napped for twenty minutes instead of her normal hour and a half! After a while, I got down and started playing with her on the floor. First we were playing with blocks, which she stacks really well. Of course, she also knocks them down and tosses them very well! When she did throw them I said “there’s no clapping for that!” Her response was a hysterical (I’m really tired) giggle!! One of the first that I have ever gotten from her! I added to the giggling by putting on of her stacking rings on her foot!! The result was more giggling and when the ring came off – the foot went up to put the ring back on!! The best thing about her giggling was that the  crash and hysterical crying that usually comes shortly after this type of laughing never came!!

Here’s a picture of Zoe with the ring…

 

Zoe with a ring on her foot

Here she is with two of the little balls from another toy….

Zoe with balls2

hum. I forget what was going on here, but I see the block box in the picture……

zoe with balls

Of course we played peek-a-boo……

Zoe Peek a boo

 

the other game we like to play with Zoe is the “Oh No!

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All in all, we spent two fun afternoons with Miss Zoe. Oh, and the endoscopy found that Peter has a hiatal hernia, at least now we know that it is something that is treatable!!

Grammie and Granddad Babysit Zoe……….

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.…..and have a great two days with Zoe, can’t wait for the next two (Monday and Wednesday)  with Oliver!!

 

My son Peter and his wife Melissa spent an anniversary weekend in Boston this Friday and Saturday, so my wife and I go to spend some extended time with our granddaughter Zoe. While Miss Zoe is a lot more active now that she can get around on her own, she is still a sea of calm compared to the whirling dervish that is grandson Oliver.

It’s fun watching her play, she takes in everything very seriously and plays well by herself. The bad thing about yesterday was that she didn’t want to nap. She shortened her morning nap from two hours to about 45 minutes and then she shortened her afternoon nap to about 30 minutes. Even with not sleeping though, she was still pleasant and we had a great day.

Today,I’m resting up, because tomorrow we are babysitting Oliver!!  Okay, I’m taking bets on the time that he will first point to the stroller and want me to take him for a walk…..forecast for tomorrow calls for 60% of scattered thundershowers all day!! The plan is to borrow my son Andrew’s car seat just in case, so that we may be able to substitute, a ride say to the Deptford mall and a walk inside!! What a plan!! Either way I’m sure we’ll enjoy the day!!

Here are some pictures of Zoe that my wife took yesterday!! I love it when Zoe puts her hands up on the sides of her head!!

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The featured image at the top of this post shows that new fiesty side of Zoe. First, she dumped out all of her blocks and then put the box on her head. Now if you think that you’ve seen that before you have only it was Mr Oliver doing the dumping and the putting of the box on his head. You can check it out here, Now I want to know how Mr Man Oliver taught his cousin that trick or is it just in the genes