Photos of very limited interest

Here are some old family photos that are presented without much information (if you want to know more about a photo--and I can't imagine why you would--just ask).

Reinhart Lietzow and Family, circa 1892:

Wilhelmina Beck and daughters Clara, Willie, and Emma Lutzow:

Willie Lutzow, circa 1907:

Wilhelmina Beck and daughter Clara Lutzow:

Willie Lutzow with Emma Lutzow and Family:

Reinhart Lietzow, circa 1934:

Reinhart Lietzow:

Van Lutzow & Charlotte:

The Tungates and Lutzows:

The Tungates and Lutzows:

George Washington Tungate:

George Washington Tungate:

George Washinton Tungate & Child:

Charles Allen's home in West Falls:

Charles Allen's home in Buffalo (is this a different house?):

Stanley Allen:

Stanley and Charles Allen:

Charles Allen and Jack:

Verner Allen at work (looking cool in the black shirt):

Verner Allen at Laguna Beach, California, July 1936:

Marcella Tungate (Sally Allen) at Laguna Beach, California, July 1936:

Mayme Holmes:

My Childbirth Playlist

I've just been browsing through my ipod and I came across a playlist I put together about 2 and a half years ago for listening to during labor. I wanted as much control during this difficult period as I could manage. (Yes, it was part of my attempt to micro-manage the labor process.) I was afraid of giving birth. I get claustrophobic in hospitals and I wanted to feel I had control over something--if not over the pain or duration of labor or the location, then at least over the music in the room.

The playlist is 4 and a half hours long and I listened to it twice in the hospital. What lovely gems are on this playlist? Relaxing, soul-centering instrumentals with the sound of a bubbling stream in the background? Fuck that. I wanted to be amused and even distracted. I wanted to pretend I was not on the fifth floor of a hospital. My attitude was "get back to me when it's time to push." My playlist is a collection of songs that made/make me feel happy and comfortable. Nothing difficult, but not necessarily relaxing. Here's a small selection:

Licking Stick (James Brown)
In the Mouth of a Desert (Pavement)
Mambo No. 5 (Prez Prado)
Anadolu (Ozel Turkbas)
Bonnie and Clyde (Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte B)
Care of Cell 44 (the Zombies)
White & Nerdy ("Weird Al" Yankovic)
You Won't Be Merry on a North Sea Ferry (the Toy Dolls)
Old World (the Modern Lovers)
Through Being Cool (Devo)
Abraham (Chico Marx Orchestra)
I'm Gonna See You (that dog)
They'll Need a Crane (They Might Be Giants)
Best Friend (the English Beat)
Disorder (Joy Division)
Montana (John Linnell)
Skinny Legs and All (Joe Tex)
Cold Beverage (G. Love and Special Sauce)
I Should Be So Lucky (French and Saunders)
Give It To Me, Baby (Rick James)
Bathtime in Clerkenwell (the Real Tuesday Weld)

It's funny to see the songs I thought of as being reassuring. They did the trick, though.

What's the sad guy doin'?

A few days ago Simon got annoyed by something and decided he was sad. "Is Simon sad?" he asked me. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me around the backyard in a playful manner. He stopped and looked at me. "What's the sad guy doin'?" he asked, then we ran around the yard again.







In this last photo Simon is wearing a swim diaper on his head. He named the diaper Ellie and said it was a hat.

More Simon Says

9/6/09:
"'Se cayó'--Spanish for 'go boom.'"

9/7/09:
"Oven is hot."

"S is for Simon."

"Cars parked on the street."

"Another pinecone."

9/11/09:
"Birds have feathers and they fly in the blue sky."

9/12/09:
"Go for a walk with grabs?" (He wanted to go for a walk and be allowed to grab my breast. What?)

9/17/09:
"Go for a walk?" No one wanted to go for a walk, so Simon tried another tactic: "Go get Perrier?" He remembered that a few nights ago Michael took him for a walk to the corner store to buy some Perrier.

9/24/09:
"The dudes come out. All the dudes come out. Daddy say that." (I don't know what this means.)

10/6/09:
"Sir Topham Hatt has a penis?" (This came out of nowhere.)

10/10/09:
"Like a gas station of spider webs." (I don't know what he was talking about.)

10/21/09:
"The moon! There on the sky. Has a crescent."

10/27/09:
"Simon was crying in the living room, on the rug."

11/14/09:
Simon: "Mommy is friends with Simon and the toys?"
Mommy: "Did you just ask if Mommy was friends?"
Simon: "Yeah. Amigos with us?"
Mommy: "Of course. I love you so much."

11/21/09:
"Hard to say, ‘seashells by the seashore’?"

11/23/09:
"The city is too far away for the trees."

"How to make so many foods." (looking through a cookbook)

"Let’s put Thomas in here. That’s a good idea." (playing with trains)

11/29/09:
"Okay, we’re gonna go here.... Duck, you wanna play with me? You wanna play with me sometimes?.... Sorry, Percy, we don’t go there.... No, Emily, you cannot go here on the bridge. We do not help Lady to the bridge.... Simon can do it all by himself.... Goin’ to the countryside." (a snippet of his monologue while playing with his Thomas trains)

11/30/09:
"Need a towel for the cries." (He wanted to wipe his tears.)

"Aidan has to share with the other very nice cars."

12/5/09:
"Mater towed McQueen out of the cactus." (He was acting out a scene from Cars.)

12/12/09:
"Wanna snuggle with Mommy."

12/16/09:
"The penguin says, ‘You got a friend in me.’ He says that." (referring to Toy Story.)

12/18/09:
"Be careful, Mavis!" (playing with his trains)

12/21/09:
"Thank you for Christmas." (He said this to friends of mine who had given him a Christmas present.)

12/23/09:
"Leo has to get his baton back so he can conduct. The animals help pull Rocket out of the rocks. The bumble bee helps and the other bumble animals help." (describing a scene from Little Einsteins.)

1/1/10:
Simon’s version of the Thomas song:
2, they’re 4, they’re 6, they’re 8.
Something trucks, all in freight.
Red and brown and green,
They’re the really useful crew.
All with and round the bends,
It’s Thomas and his friends,
Bum, bum!

1/5/10:
"Two balms!" (Simon was excitedly holding up two tubes of lip balm.)

1/7/10:
"Nemo is Mommy’s son."

"Chugga chugga choo-choo!"

"Confitty and beyond!" (He was trying to say, "infinity and beyond.")

1/8/10:
"You wanna walk with us?"

1/9/10:
"Simon loves Mommy very much."

1/10/10:
"You wanna snuggle me?"

1/13/10:
"Mickey Mokes!" (He calls breasts "mokes," and he made a Disney joke.)

1/17/10:
"Hi, Michael. What are you doin’?" (pretending to talk to his dad on the phone)

1/19/10:
"Karen, Aidan, and Kevin." (I was just impressed by his mental use of commas and the "and" at the end.)

1/26/10:
"Hi, Bulstrode. You wanna go at Tweety’s house?" (playing with toys)

"You want more cheese? It’s delicious!"

1/27/10:
"Don’t hit like that. Just slow hit." (I had told him he couldn't hit, that he had to be gentle, and he translated this into his own language.)

1/28/10:
"I can’t believe the moke is a big, long balloon!" (He was looking at a balloon and making a breast joke.)

1/30/10:
(Singing) "The barracuda is very big… in life." (Huh?)

"I love you, moke."

2/15/10:
"The kids go, 'nuh, nuh, nuh,' then they go wipe, wipe, wipe, and then they go flush, flush, flush."

2/17/10:
"You wanna pretend Mommy has moke?"

"Are you reading a recipe book?"

2/18/10:
"It’s a fish. I have to find it. Oh, no! Where are you? We’re in the water. Goin’ in the dark! Oh, no!" (part of monologue during play)

2/21/10:
"Please, I want some water."

2/22/10:
"Mommy, find more toys with Mater’s flashlight."

3/2/10:
"...and put the ingredients in the oven." (part of monologue while playing)

3/5/10:
"Is Sully vanilla? Is Boo vanilla? What are these vanillas doing?"

"Are you at Monsters, Incorporated?"

What I've got stuck in my head

More Sentences

Summer Theater is over now, so I'm able to scrape together a few minutes for an update. Simon is 21 months old and loves to talk. He's good with words. Here are some more of my favorite sentences:

* "Sun is like a orange moon. Sun is like a orange stop sign."
* "Two guitars. Guitar has a hole. Like a chimney?"
* "The truck has a flashing blue light."
* "Green leaves and flowers in the alley."
* "Tapioca is puddin'."
* "Mommy cookin' broccoli and sardines." (sardines pronounced "sar-beens")
* "McQueen and Sally drive on a bridge...water, dry leaves, huge waterfall." (referring to a scene from the movie Cars.
* "Lady playin' the bagpipes." (a woman was playing the bagpipes in the park)
* "This way bicycle, man with a helmet."
* "What's the deal?"

Sometimes he speaks a bit Spanglishy. Here is the way he described playing with his friends at the park:
"Niños at the parque. Lucas and Eli and Cairo and Justin and Jake. Niños say 'Hi.'" Remember the sand? Remember the library in the other parque?"

He made up a song the other day while we were walking down the street. It went like this: "Trees and cars and trash cans and vans... and Hummers!"

There was a carnival at the park down the street two weekends ago. I had performances and couldn't go, so Michael took Simon one night and my dad took him the next night. The first night I asked Simon what he did at the carnival. He told me, "Big wheel up in the sky" (he saw a ferris wheel), "White balls" (He and Michael played a game that involved throwing white balls at targets), "Monkey" (Michael won an orange toy monkey in the ball toss game). Later, Simon named the monkey Kumlee. Where he got that name is a mystery to all of us. The next night, after Simon went to the carnival again with Papa, I asked him what he did. He told me, "Red bear turn around" (they rode a red bear on a bear ride that goes around in circles), "Bee up in the sky" (they went on a bee ride that goes around in circles and up and down), "Ride on a truck" (they went on a truck ride).

I'm starting to be surprised by all the stuff he knows. For example:

Me: "This plant has thorns. They're sharp. Ouch! Be careful."
Simon: "Like a cactus?"
Me: "Yeah! Who told you about cactuses?"
Simon: "Daddy."

Here's a hilarious pun/joke Simon made the other day. The key here is the way Simon pronounces the word "milk." He says "moke." There have been out-of-control fires in our general area and you could see huge plumes of smoke in the nearby hills. Simon and I had talked about the fire and smoke quite a bit. A few days ago we were out walking, and I pointed to the hills and said, "That's smoke." He looked at me, then pointed to my chest and said, "That's milk!" He cracked up.

Simon also loves making rhymes. "Mommy salami" is one of his favorites. "Penis neenis" is another (usually only said during diaper changes).

Oh, yeah--Simon decided to name my car a few days ago. He named it Fatty. I don't know where he got the name. I don't think he knows what it means. I think he just likes the sound of it. Anyway, my car is Fatty.

Sentences

Simon has been speaking in sentences for months now. Here's one of my favorite sentences: Simon was nursing, then nuzzled his lips against the side of my breast and said "Kiss milk." Here are some others from the last 2 or 3 months:

* "Donald Connor boom." (Donald O'Connor falls a lot in the "Make 'em Laugh" number from Singin' in the Rain)
* "Julie mommy." (he likes to say my name sometimes)
* "Mommy silver car." (Mommy's car is silver)
* "Daddy brown car, hot wheel." (Daddy's tires were very warm)
* "Careful shoes." (being careful in his new shoes)
* "Simon sit step." (sitting on a step)
* "Michael funny." (Daddy can be pretty funny)
* "Ready go car." (wanting to go in the car)
* "Out spoon boom." (some yogurt dripped off his spoon)
* "So many cars." (he says this all the time while watching cars drive by)
* "So many people." (he says this a lot when people are around)
* "Moon like circle." (sometimes the moon looks like a circle)
* "Man say 'woo!'" (we heard a man yelling "woo!")
* "People dancing" (I don't remember the context of this)

Here are the words to a song Simon was singing to himself the other day:
"Simon, Simon. Other babies. Doo doo doo doo doo."