Family Tales

On Wednesday, the moving truck drove away with all of our things, and we checked into the motel where we’d be sleeping for our last two nights in California. But then we headed back to the neighborhood for one last hurrah — a laid-back dinner at our wonderful neighbors’ house. They’d ordered from a legendary Berkeley pizza place we were quite fond of, and the conversation and atmosphere was easy and relaxed. As the night crept on, we grew tired and determined to head out. We said our goodbyes and the ever-energetic Callum jumped down the neighbors’ steps, walked over to our driveway, toddled up our front walkway, and stood patiently in front of our hunter-green front door, waiting to be let inside.

“No, honey,” I said, “we don’t live here anymore.”

It may go without saying, but many tears ensued, as it really sunk in that we’d never again sleep under that roof that sheltered a thousand memories. Memories of bringing Callum home from the hospital, full of worry and anticipation (and quite rightly so) of months of wakeful nights. Memories of his first steps, first tumbles, and first words.

Tomorrow we fly to our new home in NYC, where we’ll make many more family memories. Snow is forecast for our first night there, so maybe we’ll kick off the memory-making with a snowman.

is our 5 year wedding anniversary. Hard to believe.

Well, it’s been more than a month since we’ve posted an entry on here, but that doesn’t mean things haven’t been happening. We are starting to gear up pretty seriously for a move to the East Coast, so we can all be together as a family day-to-day. That will be nice. Right now we are looking at renting a place in New Jersey, somewhere around 40 minutes or so (by train) outside the city. We like living in a house, and want to keep things that way.

Meanwhile, Callum’s vocabulary has been exploding. (This morning’s new word: driveway.) I took him to be evaluated by a speech therapist and some developmental specialists, after the pediatrician said she thought his speech might be a little delayed. Since the original red flag, he’s really picked up steam. By the time the evaluation rolled around, they said he was doing really well. He passed all of the tests with flying colors — naming animals, matching up pairs, even threading blocks onto a string. I’m just delighted at how many more words he has, and how he’s able to string them together and express himself. That’s my boy…

We went to Colorado and visited my brother and his family (and my dad, who came up to meet us) earlier this month, and we have yet to get the pictures uploaded anywhere. It was a great trip through some really amazing scenery. It’s totally what you think of as the Wild West, with mesas, and cactus and all that.

Also, on a sad note, we said goodbye last week to my animal companion of many years. Our cat Nigel had been ill, and didn’t make it through surgery aimed to address his ailments. We miss him very much.

So, that’s our round up of the past month or so. The upcoming move, and preparations for it, are our biggest news and the most major thing keeping us busy. We’ll keep you updated!

The giant panda who shares Callum’s birthday - Tai Shan - also celebrated turning 2 recently.

camping 061

Originally uploaded by smartkitty
Callum and I went camping this past weekend with some of my co-workers. We went hiking. I hauled him around. He snoozed.

camping 062

Originally uploaded by smartkitty

at the lake

Originally uploaded by Pamela PC

This is a shot from our vacation at Lake Tahoe.

We got a webcam for home, so we can do video phone calls with Daddy across the country. Here’s the result of Callum and me playing around when we first installed it and were testing it out. It’s grainy and dark, but I think the fun comes through.