More missing Moose

Whew... crying takes alot out of you. We're both pretty pooped out these days. I feel kinda like we're in limbo, and things just don't feel very normal. It's like we're in this temporary state that doesn't quite feel right. It felt alot like this when James was in the NICU that first week and we travelled back and forth.. like life was on hold for a little bit. Since I moved down here, there has not been life without Moose. We keep coming down the stairs and expecting to see him quietly sitting by the couch, looking out the living room window (or sneakily hanging out ON the sofa!). When I walk Becky, it's wierd for Moose to not be there, scratching at the door for his turn. And Becky no longer has to howl when he gets his turn and she's stuck watching at the door.. it's all about her. It's wierdly boring. The power guy changed our meter yesterday and we lost power for a sec, the phones all bleeped, and I was sad, realizing that Moose wouldn't come cowering over to sit under the desk on my feet for the next half hour because he thought we'd lost power again. I miss that little *sigh* when he'd settle into a good spot, and I miss James saying "Moose!" when he sees him. I used to get frazzled sometimes when they both needed something at once, and now it seems so boring and wrong to not have that anymore.
We picked up his ashes yesterday, and I can't believe that someone so full of life, and who seemed so heavy when I carried him home the day I thought he had heatstroke* had turned into something so small and light... it doesn't seem possible that this is all that's left of him. I want him back. and now I'm sobbing again. We still haven't figured out what to do with him. Sterling said "I know his soul must be tortured right now to know that he's in that tiny little box!" (Moose HATED boxes, bags, and the open end of bottles.. but not Becky or the Boy... he was quite eccentric). Well, I started thinking, Oh man, he WOULD hate that, and that started me sobbing yet again. How long is this going to last? I guess we need to figure something out. For now, he's on his blanket on Sterling's workbench in the garage. He's at least under the roof again, and he's with his girlfriend.. guess that will get his soul by for the moment.

*Back when we lived in the apt near Olde Raleigh Village, I was walking Moose and Becky around the circle. Moose found a shady spot of grass and dropped down on his back and started to make this little snuffle noise while squirming around on his back. He'd flop around for a bit, then lay still and pant. I thought for sure he was overheating (it was summer), so I picked him up (while still holding Becky's leash) and carried him back to the apt.. probably about a quarter mile or so. When I got home, Sterling told me that, oh yeah, that was normal.. Moose likes to roll around in shady grass when it's hot out.. he just does it because it feels good. Sometimes you just need a good roll. Maybe I should go try that.. might make me feel better? If you drive by and see me making an ass of myself.. just keep driving.

Ode to Moose 

Ode to Moose

Moose Woodruff
May 23, 1994 - Jan 25, 2006

From the mouths of babes.. to quote James, "Oh, Moose.". Twelve years should be enough time to have with a rockin' dog like Moosey, but it wasn't. We feel gyped. An unfortunate snack choice led to the demise of someone we held very dear, and that just sucks. Moose held on for about a week after inexplicably eating CARPET (WTF?!?!), and had a good prognosis yesterday, but apparently slipped off this morning to that big Dog Park in the sky.. let's hope it rains Iams biscuits and there are lots of rabbits and squirrels to chase. A big thanks to Dr.s Gordon and Wages at the Oberlin Road Animal Hospital, where Moose and Becky have been patients for years.. they did wonderful work, but I guess our tough little guy was just too tired.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Chronicles of Moose, he was actually a gift for me from Sterling before I moved down here. He was the cutest puppy, and was quirky from day 1. He lived with Sterling and Scott for a year until I moved down, and by then, the Boys Club was unwilling to break up, so I got Becky and Moose stayed on with the men. He was Sterling's first dog. He tippy-toed through or jumped over puddles, he didn't like to get his feet dirty. He had to be touching something when he laid down.. either a pillow, a person, or whatever furniture he wasn't supposed to be on. He'd do anything for a biscuit, or love. He liked to sit in front of you while you were watching TV and stare at you until it creeped you out! He was the most patient, loving dog, and from the moment we brought James home, he was by his side. James loved him, and learned the word "Moose" very early. Most of all, he was our dog, and we loved him, and we already miss him. Alot.

The Earth doesn't revolve around Mommy

It may have at one point, but James knows that it revolves around the Sun, along with Jupiter, Mars (or "stop") and Saturn.. and all of this is way cooler than Mommy. When bedtime rolled around, I asked "are you ready to get in bed and see your planets?", and he got ALL excited and practically jumped into bed. I received a very token kiss and hug, and then he hopped in all atwitter. I asked "lights?", and he said "Go!". I asked if he loved his planets, and he said "mmmm-mm!" (which is his huggy noise), then he told me "see ya!", and he was done with me. He had his universe, and Mommy has been squeezed out a bit in favor of some balls of rock and gas.

The Solar System, and planet STOP!

James' new love is the solar system.. all things space! He simply can't get enough of it. Everything round is a potential earth, and he asks for planets, stars, moon, by name. If there's a crayon nearby, he'll hand it to you and beg you to draw him a moooon. During a trip to the museum last week, we bought him the glow-in-the-dark stars and planets, and he's just in heaven (literally!). He can identify the following (and here are his translations):
Earth: "erf"
Saturn: "sanuhn"
Jupiter: "juhjuaah", or "spot" (Daddy's idea)
Mars: "Mahs", he actually says this quite well when he sees it, but if you ask him what's the red planet? he says "stop!"
Sun: "Sunh"
Stars: "Sahs"
Moon: "Mooehn"

Pretty good, eh? Not that we're bragging or anything, but does YOUR kid know astronomy?

New pics

Click on Woodruff Photo Collection down on the left, and then go into the Winter 2005 album... new pics! Happy New Year!

Take a number ladies...

this boy likes SHOPPING and SHOES! James is a huge fan of Harris Teeter, our local grocery store. It has nothing to do with the fact that they offer free balloons and cookies. When we pull up into the parking lot, James yells, "Teetie! Teetie!". He is also escorts mommy on many occassions to the local Target (Tarjay, to those of you more familiar with that nomenclature). I'm slightly embarassed to admit that I probably visit Target about 4 times a week. Anyway, James can now identify "Target" when we pull in, too! The icing on the cake is this.. the boy loves shoes. You heard me. This has actually been one of his words for quite some time now, and he'll tell you when he wants to put on his shoes. We recently got him 2 new pairs and figured we'd wrap them up for Christmas just to give him more stuff to open...he was THRILLED!
On a quasi-related note, he also now says, "Oh, " about lots of things. "Oh, Moose" is his favorite, and he says this at random times. When he loses a shoe, though (which is often, because he's squirmy as the day is long), he goes "oh, shoe.", like he's chastising it for falling off! Such a cutie.

On the mend, the post-holiday glow

James is on the mend, and he didn't let any crummy old cold put too much of a damper on his Christmas! What a blast he had (and he totally racked up.. like that was ever in doubt!). We had Liz and Jim xmas on Friday, hung out on Saturday (actually, James and mommy had to get out of the house all day so that Daddy could sleep!), and then we had Woodruff family xmas Sunday morning. Sterling then *tried* to sleep Saturday morning, but Germy James was totally off of his scheduled due to the Christmas Croup, and a very cranky Woodruff family drove down to Clayton for Cooley/Pyne/DeMauro Christmas. James ran around like a nutcase, snatching candy canes off of the tree, and playing with his stash. Favorites: keyboard and mike combo, SpongeBob ball, and Harley Davidson Big Wheel.
Monday was Woodruff Christmas with a still not-fully-recovered James who was still totally off of his normal schedule. After his overdue nap, we opened gifts and hung out. James received an awesome easel (he's very into drawing!) which now graces the family room, and some super-cute new clothes!
The rest of the week was busy, but uneventful. Sterling still had to work, so mommy and James had to get out of the house every day to let him sleep.. thank GOODNESS the weather was nice.. was in the high 50s/low 60s every day! Newest discovery: the greenway trail at the Museum of Art. There's a trail that goes around the museum with artwork, benches, fields, just very cool for a high-energy toddler! Whew! I think I'm actually ready to go back to work for a break!

A tradition continues...

As his daddy and auntie did so many years ago, James attended the Roanoke Rapids Christmas parade with his GPs... although he's obviously enjoying an afternoon of entertainment and leisurely snacking, I think it's clear who's REALLY enjoying the afternoon!

MessyFingerPaints, 1 CanofDin, and a Partriiidge ina Pear Treee!

Thanks, Auntie E, for giving our child a bucket of noise and stuff to redecorate our house with.. finger paints and markers! How long did you say before you two are going to have on of your own? Because we're going to start shopping now... ! Hahaha.. I kid. Actually, Auntie E scored big with her selection of Toddler treats! She bought him the Bee Bop Band (aka "Can o' Noise"), and Crayola finger paints and markers that ONLY WORK ON SPECIAL PAPER! Yahoo! It took him a few mins because the colors don't show up immediately.. takes a few seconds and his attention span isn't quite that long! Once he realized how it worked, though, he loved it! To show his appreciation, he serenaded Auntie E with a drum solo... and then plonked her square in the face with both sticks! It was actually kinda funny, because although the entire thing took all of 5 seconds, you could see him look at the sticks, look at her, and the wheels in his little head started to grind and he just "boop!" thwaked her right in the eye and on the nose. You can't say he doesn't have good hand-eye coordiniation!

Crouptacular Holiday

Yet another milestone achieved.. first case of croup. For those of you unfamiliar with the condition, it pretty much means that you get some kind of cold or respiratory virus, but for some reason, it causes the vocal cords to swell which results in a barking, wheezing cough. It only happens in little kids because their little throats are so small. Once again, the end result was not just illness, but a wicked guilt trip! Liz and Jim had come over for Christmas, and James went down early for bed (craaaaanky!!). After they left, I realized that the jumping I'd been ignoring (which he normally does when he doesn't know that he wants to go to bed) was actually accompanied by this tiny little barking noise which was all he could get out! Poor bug! I whisked him into the bathroom and steamed it up quickly to help out (THANK YOU, Jamye, for telling me about croup nearly a year ago!!!). I then called Sterling to confab (naturally, this happened on a night he was working!!), and I looked it up in the book while we were on the phone. We paged the on-call ped, who confirmed that it was croup and phoned in a prescrip for steroids to reduce the swelling. On a good note, this is how we discovered that there is a 24-hour pharmacy in town! Poor little thing... he's doing a bit better, but his nose is like a faucet and you can tell he just feels like poop! Merry Christmas!

LookatthoseLIGHTS!

Ahh...the stuff that traditions and memories are made of! Tonight we went to the Chick Fil-A Celebration of Lights at The Pavilion Formerly Known As Walnut Creek (it's now the All-Tel Pavilion). Although we suffered a bit of sticker shock, and thanked our lucky stars for the extra change I carry in my wallet...$15 frickin' bucks! AND, there's a bunch of crap for sale in "Santa's Village".. I remember when this was $5, and you had to walk there uphill, both ways! ...but I digress. Anyway, we took James to see the lights, and he LOVED it! I was posolutely frreeezzing, but we still got out and stomped around Santa's Overpriced Village (perhaps next year we'll bring more than the $15 entrance fee and a handful of change, and actually ride the little choo choo!). We then got back in the car and had hot chocolate and mommy's chocolate chip cookies. It was an awesome night!

Not without my HAT!!!

Wow, toddlers are wierd. Every night before bed, James and I hang out in our room and watch a little bit of TV, then we play and roll around on the bed, and read some books. Well, tonight James started to say "hat! hat!", and I asked, "do you want your hat?". He started on his little desperate/relieved giggle he makes when he wants something really bad and he's so excited that you figured it out! I went into his room and brought him his hat, which he put on while he jumped around on the bed. It got closer to bedtime, and I said, "ok, let's take off your hat"... nothing doing! He started to fuss and protest and said "HAT! HAT!", so I put it back on. I brough him into his room and got ready to put him in bed and started to take it off, and again, he protested..vehemnantly! "HAT!!! HAT!!!"... so he went to sleep wearing his hat, just as happy as a lark. What a wierdo.

New pics

New pics posted! Click on "The Woodruffs Photo Collection" down on the left.

Nature vs. Nurture

This just in: it's genetic. Men are predisposed to fart jokes and base humor. Perhaps with alot of conditioning they can overcome it, but I really have my doubts. We were getting James ready for his bath on Friday, and I realized that the lotion dispenser was running low (I like the pump kind!). So I started to squeeze one of the new lotion bottles into the dispenser bottle, and every few seconds it would go "scqullerrtppht" and make a rather flatulent sound. James just stood there and cracked up every time, like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard! Mind, you, we are not the type of family who sits around making such noises or laughing at them... so I must conclude that it's in the genes. Pre-programmed. A part of the man he will someday be... a man who will belch and laugh at farts, not because he wants to be a pig, but because he just can't help it.

What a ham

Christmas comes early...

Daddy was away at the club today, which left Mommy and James home on a rainy day. While this might normally have me quaking in my New Balances, today it was.. an AWESOME day! James has learned to entertain himself.. for a looong time! Yay for everyone! He sat at his little toy cabinet downstairs this morning just playing with toys, then he'd move one out of the way when finished, then pull out the next one. So quiet, so good! He then sat there in the chair in the FROG reading some new books.. four in row. He'd quietly look at the page, point out a few things, then turn the page and keep "reading". He was so quiet I didn't even realize that it was naptime. Wow.

We also had two wonderful Turkey Days. Neither of us can believe that there was zero stress.. we're waiting for something to happen still! TG was at Liz's, and we just brough pies and collards (mind you, none of her yankee in-laws NOR HER would touch the stuff! And before you even get started, I think that being in the South for 10 years makes me a naturalized Southerner... so I can get away with calling people Yankees.. plus I just think it's funny). So no clean-up, no hassle (pies and greens made the night before), and home we went with full bellies!

TGII was Sat with the Floridians and my parents. Also very stress-free. Most of the stuff was cooked before everyone got there, so you didn't have that milling around while trying to cook thing (MAWTC). Ok, slight tangent here: we do NOT have a large kitchen, and while our house is decent-sized, it has a very traditional layout (read: not open), and everyone knows that when you have company, no matter how comfy and welcoming you've tried to make your living room (note: it ROCKS), everyone will find there way into the kitchen where they will stand DIRECTLY in the path of the cook, who's already grumpy because the food's not done, and general chaos will ensue. NONE OF THAT on Saturday. James was in a fabulous mood, the food was incredible (fried turkey, ALWAYS good!), and everyone was happy.

Also (sorry.. catching up on a BIG blogging backlog.. a backblog! haha), James has tasted the temptation that is Daddy's guitar. Here are a few quick pics of the boys strumming some catgut (it's really just wire) in the family room. Soooo cute!

What's in a name?

When you think of a new baby entering your lives, the kinds of questions that come to mind are:

• Will I be a good parent?
• How will I raise my child?
• Is my house childproofed?
• Can I afford this? What do I need to buy?

... unless you're a grandmom, then you ask

• What do I want this kid to call me?

Hehehe... that was the burning question on both grandmom's minds. As I'm sure is the norm around the world, the child has decided for himself how he'll address the ladies who spoil him so.

While staying with the Woodruffs during the week of Thanksgiving, he obviously noticed that Grandaddy referred to his wife as "honey", and that's what he's dubbed GM Woodruff.. Honey.

GM Cooley goes by "Sis" to all other members of the family. We were shooting for "GrandmaSis", but that's quite a mouthful, so James has settled for "Sis".. just like everyone else.

So his GMs are "Sis" and "Honey"... could he be any cuter?

James' new smile

So the other day I was filming James with the camcorder, when I noticed he stopped and grimaced at me twice. I thought, "wtf?", then I realized, it wasn't a grimace, it was a smile.. he was cheesing for the camera! What a total ham! Here're a few pics of what James thinks smiling is!

Play-Doh tastes good

.. if you are a toddler. Mind you, the colors it comes in these days will definitely keep ME from tasting them, but James.. quite a fan! He was introduced to Play-doh this week in an effort by Mommy to placate him while shopping in Tarjay. I figured the cool container it came in would keep him busy while we finished, but then we got home and I thought, "man, I haven't played with this in FOREVER...let's break it out!", and we did. It now comes in very cool colors! James mostly squished and sampled it, and really enjoyed pulling apart whatever I made for him. I did get several requests to make mooehns, which I did. You can see the pics of his first forays into this time-honored tradition in our photo albums.. check out the new link for Photo Collections, and select the Fall 2005 album.