Cometa Baby

A Rather Eventful Day

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 21:02:43 -0800

I will remember today for many reasons. The one most relating to this website is Arwen had her first Dentist visit today. Cheryl took her at 9am per her appointment. Cheryl kept me updated throughout the visit. Arwen did very well. I told Arwen about it yesterday to start preparing her for it. Explained what the Dentist is and what he does. She has always been good at all her doctor visits so I had no doubt she would make it through this unscathed. I admit it has been a while since I have been to the dentist but there has been many many changes in the relatively short time. They had an LCD screen for Arwen to watch as she was getting her mouth looked at. She watched Shrek 2. She was very good through everything except the cleaning. She seemed uncomfortable and "eh.. eh!"ed a lot (Thats the best I can do to describe that sound) as they were cleaning her teach. She told me later when I asked her about it, "But I liked the bubblegum toothpaste."

She has a couple of cavities. I don't know what to say about that. She really doesn't eat that much candy. She rarely has a sip of soda and she brushes her teeth every day. Such is life. She has another appointment in Dec to have those filled.

We also came to an end today, the end of our shot to buy the house we have been in escrow for for 3 months now...Circumstances beyond our control at this point has caused us not to be able to get our loan. We are ending escrow and getting our escrow money back. Minimal loss in comparison to the time, stress and inconvenience of the last 2 months and now having to find a place to live. We have our heads up through. We are still able to stay in the house we are in. We have time to find and we are actively searching for a place to live. Our plan is to rent for 6 months, save up and take another shot.

A new beginning is also marked today. Senator Barack Hussein Obama II has been announced the 44th President of The United States Of America. I hope, along with many others I am sure, that he can help turn this economic crisis we are in around. Congratulations Senator Obama, you have quite a job ahead of you.

"Remember Mommy? Remember when.......

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:05:24 -0700

I closed that thing and all the dishes fell down and they broke and Daddy spanked me and I had to go to my room....remember Mommy, remember?" About 6-7 months ago Arwen had an "accident". In our kitchen we have a small cart that has a side that lifts up and has a leg that comes out to support this side. Well I was cooking dinner one night and I had set up all the plates with the food on them on this cart. Arwen for some reason came along and pushed the leg so the side came down, slamming to the side and dropping all of the food and plates to the floor. Shattering one plate and almost ruining dinner. Needless to say I was livid. Of course she started crying and carrying on. I honestly dont remember Bobby spanking her, but I do recall her having to go to her room. I also dont recall it being horribly tramatic or anything like that. To her though I think it may have been. I am truly amazed at the things that she will say, do or come up with. The recent "remember" stories have seemed to take over her life. She will now on a daily basis tell us some sort of remember story. They all begin with "remember......remember when.....", then the elaborate story will begin. She told us a great one about a movie that she had seen in daycare, about a mean Mommy and teacher. I need to ask Lisa what the movie is so I will know what shes talking about. Arwen says its a cartoon. Her young brain is such a sponge and just absorbs anything and everything we throw at her. As of late I have been filling it with studies to prepare her for Kindergarten or 1st grade. She will be alot older then most in her class due to the cutoff day for enrollment and her Birthday. We have been learning to count to 20 (which she does, missing 16 almost everytime) She actually surprises us by counting well into the 20s and 30s. She pretty much gathers that after 20 is 21 then 22 and so on, just knowing that its the same as 1, 2, 3 and so on. Makes is soooo easy to teach her, because she just "gets it". She pretty much knows all her alphabet by sight. We go over all the shapes, including ones that are somewhat out of the norm, like octagon, cylinder, cube and cone. Seems that the kids need to know 20 shapes, although thinking about it now I might of gotten that wrong and she is just supposed to know shapes and know HOW to count to 20. Either way she will know, and be that much further along. She also now knows how to spell her middle name, last name will be next. I have been working with her with the Leap Frog word builder, which is a great learning toy. I highly recommend it. Since her letter recognition is good she is learning to spell using this toy. Just small 3 letter words, but words none the less.

Arwen also knows beauty and delicious. She will tell me when something is beautiful or delicious. "Oh Mommy this is delicious", she will say. All things are beautiful. A beautiful rainbow or flower. This past weekend we took her to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda. There was a scene that showed a sunset. Now if anyone knows this is a cartoon....a cartoon. She thought that the sunset was beautiful. She voiced this aloud, "thats beautiful", which sent me again realing into a place of cuteness that there is no return. She has been singing this song that her Daddy sings. "I can ride my bike with no handle bars...." She actually started singing another verse from just memory. Most of the time its just the I can ride my bike with no handle bars over and over and over again. :) That amazed her Daddy. She is also very strong willed. She stands by the things that she says or believes in. At her young age she is very strong in those. She will say something and if we say it a different way or interpret it wrong, she will say "no thats not it, I said....." Or she will say "I already told you that". Just things like that that are, oh I dont know, just very "big girl". Very adult like in my opinion. Shes good at conversating and explaining. She knows the frustration of not knowing what to say next and will simply stop and say, "thats all", or "I dont remember".

She still is a child though and with all that is said, will still do things that are the complete opposite of everything that I just said. I will tell her to go put her jammies on, knowing full well that they are on her bed. She will start crying as she is going down the hall, telling me that she cant find them. She hadn't even looked yet. Things like that get to me. Tell her to pick up her blocks, I will get, "I cant". Like it is a complete physical impossibility for her to do it. Shes normal I guess. Shes a good girl and she is very clean and tidy. I love that most about her. She will always ask for things before she takes them out. She will ask for candy, even though the bag is in her room, she never sneaks. She is very honest. However I do notice that some of the things she does she is "learning" from daycare. She has started crossing her arms and "Hmmpphhing" at me. Very adamantly and defiant. However she is very easily swayed. I have gotten pretty good at changing her mind. Whether it comes down to a "threat" or just her giving up....with the usual "okkkkayyyy". :) SHe really truly is just a true joy and pleasure to have around. She makes my day in the morning and closes my evening at night. Life is complete with a little Arwen smile.

2 Years Later

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:44:13 -0700

I think the thing I love about this website is being able to go back and read our thoughts at the time. Exactly two years ago in August 2006 we were frantically moving into our new home. We were renting a house, quite a step up from the apartment we were in. It was all new and exciting. We loved our house. We had some awesome times in this house. I just read through the posts in Aug 2006 in the archives. The "You're Welcome" story is one of my favorite memories that I have shared on this site. Aug 3rd I posted "A Place To Grow Up" and boy has Arwen grown in this house. We are now buying a house and moving out in September! Exactly two years later, another major move in the works and an even bigger step up in our lives, I can't wait for another two years to go by. Now Arwen will grow up in a house that is Truly Ours.

General Update

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:49:45 -0700

Life is crazy as Bobby stated below. So many plans are in the works for what seems to be the remainder of the year. With working, moving, vacations and business trips it seems we dont have much time to spend as a family. We have implemented Date Night and Family Night into the time slots that we do have. Which is really nice, it gives me and Bobby chance to have alone time and on Family Night it gives us all a chance to do something together, whether its going out or spending time at home playing with Arwen and Alex. Right now Arwen just wants to go swimming. We have a couple blow up pools of different sizes that we fill up and she will spend all day out there playing. I will invite her friends to come over and play with her, as she has discovered what boredom is. She has come to me on several occasions to tell me that she doesnt know what to do. She gets lonely with no one to play with. Breaks my heart. I play with her as much as I can....or can handle :) But with all kids they can just go and go and go. I think siblings come in handy sometimes. They always have a constant playmate. However I dont have to deal with the bickering and fighting that comes with that. :)All said Arwen (as is the rest of us) is doing great. She has graduated to a big girl car seat. Not too sure if that was mentioned in an earlier post. She knows how to spell and write her name. She can also spell Alex name....she could probably also spell it as she knows most of her alphabet by sight. We have been squeezing numbers in as much as we can, but its hard for her (as with most kids) to remember the difference between numbers and letters. Most of the time they are all letters. But thats okay, because she knows what she sees, meaning she will see a number 2 and say...."look Mommy a letter 2" We cram in as much as we can into her sponge like brain. She will just be that much more ahead of everyone else when it comes time to get in school. Plus with what she learns at Daycare she really really is a very bright little girl. She is very easy going and just a true joy to have around. She does things everyday that me and Bobby are just amazed by. The smallest things that she does just sends Bobby and I realing into a place of cuteness that there is no return. She says and does things that you would swear there is a tiny adult in an Arwen costume running around. Her sentence structure and comprehension are out of this world. I will ask her why things are the way they are and she can explain it to me in clear and full sentences. We will play 'which item is different' games, and she will pick out the different item and be able to explain to me why its different. I think thats pretty good for a 3 year old. Not to mention that (and im being very boastful) she has been able to do most of the above stuff for a long time now. She just really is smart as a whip. The really really good and impressive part out of all this is her retention. Her abitlity to retain everything that is taught to her is phenominal. Shoot she can remember things that I dont remember, til she says "remember Mommmy, remember......(fill in blank)."

Soon we will be planning a trip to Disneyland. I believe my Aunt is planning to take Alex for her past Birthday. So we may make it a big family event, as Arwen still has not been. Everyone has been wanting to take her, but me and Bobby want to be the first. She is old enough now to know most of the Disney characters, so she will really enjoy it when we do go. Just need to find a good day when its not too cold or hot. Would really love to go around the Holidays as Disney really does it up beautifully for the holidays. We shall see.

Life

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:55:24 -0700

Life has been awesome lately. We are buying a house! Arwen is very excited about having stairs. It's funny how something turns around when you are older. My Grandpa Chatterton used to yell at my sister and I to stay off of the stairs. "No playing on the stairs!" I find myself already planning the talk I have to have with Arwen about not playing on the stairs. She was so funny as we looked through potential houses. She definitely doesn't hold back opinions. She loved the stairs... and jumping off of them.We looked at some pretty rough houses. Arwen would see a bug or look into the bathroom and say "Ewwwww". We have found one that is as close to perfect as we can get right now. 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with both bathrooms upstairs having dual sinks. We are currently in escrow. Escrow should close and we will have key in hand no later then Aug 28th. Exciting times. The plan is to live in the house until the market goes back up and sell for a profit. I estimate this to be between 7 and 10 years. Arwen's Uncle Jason has been a great help in looking and buying the house. His knowledge and wisdom of the real estate market is much appreciated.

Cheryl and I are on the adventure to become debt free (Other then the house :-P). We have a budget that we have started to follow and will start a savings for Arwen and Alex. We have been shown the light of compound interest and that we have the power to change the rest of our daughters lifes with minimal effort now. I'm excited about the possibilities in the next 10 years.

New Videos

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:25:32 -0700


Arwen Reads Your Fortune	Arwen Loves Balloons
Use the links above to watch the videos on YouTube or click Here to see them on Cometababy.

Cute

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:29:10 -0800

[Family has gathered in Arwen's room to put her down for the night.]

Dad, "Go say goodnight to Uncle Bobby and get your shoes"

[Arwen leaves and returns without her shoes]

Arwen, "I put them next to your shoes Daddy"

Memory & Tomayo

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:47:51 -0800

Arwen's memory is amazing to me. I don't know what I should expect from a three year old but she brings up detailed info about things. We were just eating dinner here at my work and she asked us if we remember when "Daddy spilled his dwink". Cheryl and I looked at each other because it was awesome that she remembered a couple weeks ago I spilled a full extra large ice tea on my lap. Then Arwen continues, "It was Mommy's fault." She is referring to a comment Cheryl made right after I spilled the tea. She said something to the effect of "Oh thats my fault because I saw the lid not on all the way..."Although I joke about it above Arwen's pronunciation is getting a lot better also. She now says tomarrow without a problem and even boasts, "I say Tomarrow, not Tomayo!" She has always cracked us up with her pronunciation. Snow Man started out as "Be Bon," Apple Sauce started out as "Bopple Hoss," then she learns the correct pronunciation and thats that. We will always remember teaching her to say snow man. She would say Be Bon and we would say nice and slow "Snooooow Maaaaaan" and she would come right back just as slow "Beeeeee Booooon." So Funny!

She can now trace letters with straight (for a 3 y/o) lines and she has very good letter recognition. I watched her tracing her name yesterday, very close to writing it by herself.

Cheryl took Arwen to the 99Cent store tonight to get some new teaching aids. A couple of new books and some flash cards. Arwen just loves learning. Sometimes Lisa sends "Homework" home with Arwen. When you ask her if she wants to do her homework she gets excited like you asked her if she wanted a giant cookie. She still loves her flash cards and her letter magnets. She makes us very proud.

Media Updates

Sun, 3 Feb 2008 11:50:48 -0800

New Video: Arwen On The Computer

I created my 2008 Phone Album and uploaded some new pictures.

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Arwen + TV

Fri, 4 Jan 2008 23:19:40 -0800

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