Grain of Rice

3D Sonogram from 32 Weeks

elizabeth — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:25:31 +0000

Joakim Singing

saxton — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:02:54 +0000

Joakim has been taking after his mother and singing a lot lately. What tonight’s performance lacked in intonation was made up for in enthusiasm. We were having trouble keeping it together. Click here to hear the audio clip.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 2009!

elizabeth — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:53:14 +0000

We hope this finds you well this holiday season. We sure miss you and hope our paths will cross during 2009 somehow. 2008 was a big year for us. We moved back to the “mainland” from Puerto Rico and bought a house, among other things. It was a bittersweet move for us. We had grown to really love the island and our friends and colleagues very much. We had Joakim there and had put down some big roots…so we’re still in mourning. I find myself making Mofongo and beans and rice quite often!

We moved because Saxton got a fantastic new job at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. We love our new home and neighborhood. We’re somewhat closer to family, and especially closer to some extended on my Mom’s side. We actually live across the street from some cousins! ☺ Saxton couldn’t be happier with the job. He’s also the new principal bassoonist of the Winston-Salem Symphony. This school year he has continued to travel down to Puerto Rico to play with the symphony and to teach his students at the Conservatory once a month. He’s real busy! He also has some very exciting recitals and concerts coming up. I’m very proud of him and grateful for all his hard work to say the least.

I had some fun performing experiences this past year – highlights being a fun, comedic opera by Salieri, another concert with the PR Symphony and IVAI, and a lovely experience in England with the Aldeburgh Music Festival. I just finished singing the complete Messiah here in NC and am very happy to be performing here already. I’ve recently gotten an agent and look forward to some successful future audition seasons because of this. I am also building a small private voice studio here. So, I’m also keeping busy with all this and running after our toddler!

Joakim turned 2 in Nov. and is incredible!!! He’s so beautiful and makes me melt with his hugs, kisses AND singing. I don’t really want to brag, but must ;)… He’s extremely bright. He’s obsessed with the ABCs and numbers. He counts to 100 and sings the ABCs at pitch and knows the basic phonetics of all the letters. We’re starting to blend 2 & 3 letter sounds now. He has recently learned both in Spanish, as well and has amazed us with this ability! He also knows his colors and shapes, etc. BUT mostly he is just all boy – running, climbing and jumping all day and LOVES trucks, cars and fire and trash trucks most of all. Unfortunately, he has been on nap and bedtime strike for a while now. We switched him from the crib to a bed and he loves the new found freedom too much! Needless to say, it’s making me insane! Due to the need of more stimulation, a challenging environment and most of all a group/social setting, we might start him 2 days a week at a fabulous preschool in January. If not now, definitely in August. I’ve been observing several schools and was blown away by a few here and the Montessori method. We’ll see….

So I’ve saved the best for last ☺… Our greatest news from 2008 is that I’m pregnant again! We’re expecting a little girl in March and couldn’t be more thrilled and excited. This pregnancy has been pretty tough, especially with the move and all that’s been going on, but we couldn’t be more grateful for this new amazing blessing and can’t wait to meet her! Well, as much as I can’t wait to meet her, I must say I’m pretty nervous about becoming a mother of 2. I hope and pray I can live up to the challenge without being checked into an asylum.

We’ll try to update this more often, especially when the baby comes. Much love, peace and happiness to you during this season and throughout this new year.

It’s a girl

saxton — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:06:10 +0000

We’re expecting again in Mid-March and just found out that we’re having a girl! We are beyond excited and happy! More to come soon!

1 1/2

elizabeth — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:40:37 +0000

Goodness, I don’t know where to begin…We apologize greatly, especially to our dearest Joakim that there hasn’t been an entry since October! Parenthood and our difficult schedules just took over…Things will continue to be chaotic until our big move in August, but we have many exciting new things coming up and couldn’t be happier for what’s ahead, especially for Joakim! We’re moving back to the states where Saxton has a wonderful new job AND we just bought a house! Joakim will have a house and yard to play in AND cousins right across the street. It’s sounds like a dream to us, too good to be true…but it really will be our life come August. :)Joakim will be 1 1/2 years old this Friday. He is a gorgeous, extremely energetic and happy child. Midst staying very active, he generally has a sweet and gentle disposition. He LOVES to be outside and with people. It seems like our whole complex knows Joakim. He’s so friendly - greeting everyone and their pet. He’s a true toddler (has been since he started walking!). He runs, plays and is very curious - getting himself into trouble daily. He goes up and down our stairs with no problem, which is very scary. Often, he goes into the kitchen and opens the fridge and the contents within. I find him in a lovely puddle of milk, syrup or ketchup and eating pickles, a tomato or an onion. He adores the bathroom - he can turn on all of the faucets and flush the toilet. He also loves our cats! Poor Zuc is a tormented and tortured creature now. He is such a good sport and lets Joakim do whatever to him…:(Joakim is also starting to test the waters and does not like the answer, “No.” He’s a little rascal trying to find a way to do what he’s not supposed to do. He’s also trying very hard to speak and has a nice little language working for himself, but when it does not work and he can’t get what he wants, he screams at us. Not pleasant!He’s very silly and fun, always wanting to play a game, hide or play with balls. He also loves singing and dancing, although I’m the one doing most of the singing and dancing. Once I finish a song, he says, “Ma, ma, ma.” meaning more - probably from mas in spanish. I usually sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy, Bitsy Spider, etc. at least 25 times a day! We go to a Kindermusik class in Spanish every Friday. He really enjoys it, but doesn’t really understand the structure part yet!He has gone through many stages with words already. He usually begins saying them well, but then over time they evolve into his own little language, usually always having 2 syllables - for ex. Ball became ba-ba, Trash became tsha-ra. it’s very cute! His comprehension level is astounding and his fine and gross motor skills seem incredible to us. He’s starting to do puzzles with me - it’s very cool! He knows how old he is and what the number 1 means. My heart melts every time he holds up his cute little chubby finger when I ask, “How old are you?”I could go on and on about our little grain of rice who’s become a giant plump cooked grain of rice…He’s a complete joy and we still can not believe that we have this amazing child! We are very blessed and so grateful BUT can not believe he is 1 1/2!Enjoy the new pics of him and our soon-to-be new home. There are also new videos of him on our flickr page! Enjoy and much love!

Joaking

elizabeth — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 03:18:52 +0000

So we haven’t written anything here since August 7th which is terrible but Joakim has been walking now since the end of August and that has drastically affected our downtime. And now after 2 months of practice, he’s pretty good at it. We’ve got about 6 seconds before he’s pulling something out of the trash, grabbing dirt out of the plants, biting the cats, pulling books off the shelf, splashing in the toilet or dangerously close to the cat litter. He has figured out how to open everything with a door, cover, latch or handle in the house and whoever designed the “childproof” electric outlet covers should have done a little more R&D as Joakim loves to pull them out AND put them back in. He also loves to climb and as seen on new the videos we posted, this is quite scary.
He understands so much. Close the door, throw me the ball, let’s take a walk, find the kitty; all things to which he responds. For some reason though, get down from there, don’t eat the soap, don’t eat Mommy’s shoe, be nice to the kitty, don’t spit out your food, etc… these things he doesn’t choose to understand.
I could mention again how beautiful he his and how sweet he his with kisses and the like, but I’ll spare you this this time. Overall, he is doing great and we are very proud. He will be 1 year old in 2 1/2 weeks! We can’t believe it! We’ll try to post again soon. Much love from Puerto Rico.
PS - I forgot to mention that he’s sleeping better

Ba-ba-bob

saxton — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:09:05 +0000

Joakim said his first words recently. Talking before 9 months is pretty impressive we think and we’re quite proud of the little guy. So just for the record, his first word was “ba” and first sentence was “ba ba bob.” We’re not exactly sure what he means but he says it all the time and really not much else so we feel it must be important and probably of enormous historic consequence.

When we told his pediatrician that Joakim was already speaking in complete sentences she looked at us a little strangely. We took that as shock as I’m sure she doesn’t get too many children talking at his age. Because “ba ba bob” could be English or Spanish, I’m sure the fact that he is already bilingual added to her surprise.

I am just hoping he is able to relate to the normal kids. We worry the other 9 month old babies may sense his genius and shun him. Well let’s all hope he is able to live a relatively normal life with these amazing gifts.

7 months and everywhere!

elizabeth — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:35:30 +0000

Our dear Joakim is now 18 pounds and 27 inches long, crawling everywhere and pulling himself up to stand on whatever he can find. He will even let go at times practicing his balance and walks along tables, chairs and has lapped his whole crib! Unfortunately, he likes climbing the stairs too… All of this is incredible, wonderful and we are very proud, but it is also quite scary since our home is completely covered in tile. A fall does not bring a pretty scene…. It is also quite exhausting following him around most of the day. I will never understand the energy babies and children have….Soon we’ll probably have an early walker. Both of us walked at 9 months. So we’ll be surprised if he’s not walking by that point, if not running!

He’s grabbing and picking up everything in sight and of course, putting everything in his mouth… including the cat’s tail! He is very curious, observant and explorative, wandering all over our home. Of course, his favorite places are the bathroom (the toilet!), the cat food and water on the balcony and the top of the stairs. I am positive that he knows now that he’s not supposed to go to these places. When he hears me coming after him saying, “No, Joakim,” he starts racing towards the place giggling, as if he’s thinking, “Hee, hee, I’m gonna beat you Mommy!” Little stinker already!!!

He is eating many solid foods now and in combination. He eats three meals a day and has 8 teeth!!! He’s doing everything so early and sometimes I think it’s too much, too soon. Where is my little baby?

He is a happy little boy; smiling, squealing, giggling and laughing the day away. He is also quite the social butterfly. He loves looking at new people and charming his way into their hearts with his dimple adorned smile. Everyone still stops to look at him because of his blond hair and big blue eyes. He then proceeds to win then over by being such a little cutie.
His babbling is starting to include some consonant/vowel combinations, but most of the time, his squeals and screams are an interesting array of vowel mixtures. This can last most of the day sometimes…. This week in particular, he has been quite loud! Sometimes, I think he thinks singing is talking because of all the singing he has been subjected to since in the womb.

He is also a sweet and sensitive little guy. He give us little hugs and kisses and is aware of others when all is not right. He has three little girlfriends to whom he is very attentive. He is darling and we are crazy about him! Can you tell???

Till next time….Love, Proud & Exhausted Mama Rose

6 months!!!

elizabeth — Mon, 21 May 2007 01:46:08 +0000

Our little grain of rice is just over 6 months, 17 1/2 lbs and over 26 inches long. He is super strong! He is sitting up (& in his high chair), sitting up from his “army crawl,” pushing up on all fours often and rocking, climbing AND pulling himself up to stand - even in his crib (scary!). Just today, we lowered his crib and he crawled a few “steps.” Our window of time is almost over!!! He is already going everywhere….He also has 3 teeth!

He is a happy baby for the most part. Both of us jump at the chance to go in and see him when he wakes up from his naps. We hear him over the monitor “chattering & singing” and just can’t wait to go in and see him on all fours, sitting up or standing (!) giving us a big toothy grin. He smiles and laughs often and is very responsive and interactive now. He smiles at most friends and strangers, too. He is very curious and
observant - Zuc, the kitty cat being one of his favorite objects to spy on and go after. He giggles when he finally touches him, especially the moving tail. We have to watch this carefully….
He loves it when we sing to him. He hears many children’s songs daily. He loves it even more if I do hand motions or dance….But “Twinkle Little Star” and “Take me out to the ball game” still remain the favorites.

He has tried a lot of food now - all the stage 1 vegetables, rice cereal and pears. Other fruits to come this week and next.

This age has been so fun for us, we are cherishing all our time with him. He seems so grown up already! But I know before we know it, he’ll be walking and then running….
Happy Summertime & enjoy all the new photos!

Squash

saxton — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:15:24 +0000

Joakim is almost 5 1/2 months old and is 16 lbs, 4 ozs. He has 2 teeth so we decided he was ready for some real food. He ate squash today, his first solid food. He also drank water from a sippy cup. He’s all grown up. Pretty soon rice cereal … ah full circle. Check out the new pics.