Written by Michael
“I am soooo big I don’t need arm bibs, actually”*
This year marked the beginning of Stephanie’s entry into the realm of small business owners. As of the end of the year, she has an LLC, a website (www.armbibs.com), and an official “order” into the mill for her first full-scale production run of the Arm Bib sleeve protectors. Wish us luck with sales in 2008!
“Are you going to be here all day…?”*
Another big event during the year was the arrival of the new chip which I have been focusing on for some time at Intel. As well as things went to start (it’s in the press… no trade secrets here), the chip caused a few weeks of a completely absent father followed by a month (well, maybe two) of “sporadic” parenting where it wasn’t clear where exactly the weekends landed. Needless to say, this wasn’t the perfect environment for a two-year old, and led to a couple more months of the preceding question.
Eleanor attended her first nursery school this year; currently she is going two mornings a week. Apple Blossom Nursery School gave her the chance to socialize… we think. Mostly we got reports like the one above on notes that the teachers sent home each day, and very genuine surprise from them when after about three months she suddenly broke out with full sentences (Eleanor is a “verbal” kid, just not around anyone but us). We do get to hear a few stories from Eleanor about school, although she has also developed a very teenage “it was good…” response to the probably-too-frequent queries from her father.
“Let’s go to the airport!”*
Although there were no big expeditions this year, Stephanie and Eleanor made a 2-week tour of our Texan friends and family that coincided with the annual crawfish boil in May (I made it in for the boil, too). We also made a pre-Christmas trip (a very, very snowy pre-Christmas trip) to Wisconsin where we all got the chance to meet Eleanor’s new cousins. After roughly 17 flights in her life, Eleanor is actually getting a bit easier to travel with. Next year we hope to make her carry her own bags. J
“Once I’m 3 years old, I can eat nuts! And floss!”*
We can’t figure out the flossing bit. But nonetheless, we’re looking forward to everything that 2008 holds for all of us.
*Eleanor-eese. Meaning, thoughts as Eleanor might phrase them.
