2/06/07: We had a great time at the medieval fair this year. Geoff was so excited by all the sights and costumes. He really enjoyed the jousting and picked up the idea to hit daddy really fast.
1/11/07: Geoff finally has a daper little haircut. We planned to trim his bangs which were getting in his eyes. Cutting a 2 year old's hair is never so "cut and dried." He ended up with a serious mullet, so I cut it all. It's pretty nice over all, considering he is 2. I can't find the camera, but you'll get pictures as soon as I find of it. New hair cut, and DC pictures. He is loving the food now, tonight he hogged the lazanga. It's pretty fun.
1/02/07: We had a great holiday and trip to DC. Geoffrey is a remarkably good traveler. The 13 hour trip was only as difficult as it had to be, Geoff was great. We attended a Deaf congregation in MD and really enjoyed the experience. It's too bad there is nothing closer than Ft. Lauderdale. Geoff's ear was bothering him in VA, hopefully it was just the climate change. Happy New Year!
Geoff is either trying out for a boy band, or to be an anime character with this crazy long hair. It's still so soft and sticks up pretty well.
12/14/06: Well the shiping deadline is just past and none of my christmas presents are even boxed up! I better get on it. I made a DVD for all my family this year and hope it will get finished soon so I can send things off.
Geoffrey is shining through clear and strong. He's learning his colors, orange, blue, red and yellow. He's also wigging us out by learning the hand shapes for letters and being able to identify A, B, C, D and X. He use to do this cute thing of scrunching up his little fingers in aproximate shapes when we'd sign the alphabet together. It's pretty cute.
He eats!
11/27/06: At the moment Phillip is reading an autobiography, Geoff is watching a Signing Time and I'm typing on the computer. We're happy and generally in good health, except I've got a cough that sounds terrible. Geoff got his flue shot at a recent trip to our "regular" pediatrician. The Hemoc clinic wants to give him some IVIG though since he's still not up to normal and we're more than 6 months off treatment now. So we're off septra and all medicines. We'll have to get the 4 hour infusion through a periphrial IV tomorrow. So we'll have to get a periphrial IV, and get stuck (because you don't want to draw blood from an IV lest it be lost and a new one need to be started) for counts, and keep Geoff happy and not pulling his IV out for about 6 hours tomorrow. I mostly feel numb about this prospect. It's just one of the many things that we'd rather not do, but arguing about his medical care isn't something I do, except if it's someone who doesn't know Geoff. The Hemoc clinic knows Geoff, oh, how they know him. So it's ok for me to let them dictate them terms of our relationship.
11/25/06: Well, this year has been just sooo uneventful! I can hardly believe Geoff will be 2 in one month. It's great to just be a normal little family and worry about diapers and laundry. We had a great Thanksgiving, Geoff really enjoyed playing ping pong at Grandma's. We then went bowling on Friday, Eliza bowled a strike on the first turn and thereafter didn't do so great. Geoff had a lot of fun telling everyone how to bowl and sitting at a racing arcade game. Pictures to follow.
11/9/06: Woah, what a scare I had today. Geoff fell asleep on the way home, after having rolled down his window. He can reach the button and I sometimes forget to lock the switch. Never Again! I went to lift him out of his car seat and noticed that his left hearing aid was missing. Thankfully I quickly saw it on the seat where he'd tossed it. He could have just as easily have thrown it out the window. AHHH! It still freaks me out to think of it that possibility. Geoff's doing well now in general. If you've got a prayer to spare, pray that we won't loose or otherwise destroy a hearing aid! Thanks
11/6/05: What do you do with the cutest baby? You brag about him to everyone who still notices, and a few that don't. Tonight we were looking through a deck of cards (for a game called Flux) and identifying signs for various things, like cookie, sun, etc... I got to a card with a heart to represent love and asked Geoff what it was. I planned to show him the sign for heart (draw a heart over your chest with middle finger of open hand)instead, he showed me the sign for love. We hadn't really worked on that sign before, so I was so proud of his spontaneous production of it. He's learned it from the Signing Time video on Family Fun and Feelings.
Geoff watches the PKY Marching Band from the stands
11/4/06: We went to the game last night and Geoff got all bundled up like it was November or something. The weather has been really great here.
11/2/06: Well, we finally forgot to got to a clinic apointment. I've actually been forgetting a lot lately, but this is good in a way. It's now a sporadic thing rather than a regular part of our week. Geoff's doing well and I'll remember to go to the resceduled apointment. Instead of going to the clinic, we hung out at home and then went to the park. Geoff climbed the 10 foot slide and went down with assistance. He's really living it up. I find that things that scare many parents don't really scare us so much. We've already been to the ER so many times and signed so many consent forms accepting terrible liabilities. It's time for Geoff to experience life. It's great.
10/30/06: More fun, we went to a play group with some friends from the birth center and it was fantastic. I love having friends that I can hang out with all day and watch each others kids grow up. The kids in the group range from 2 months - 3 years (including siblings) and it's just great. Geoff was a real prince of happiness and loved chasing the cats all around. Thankfully they were patient and Geoff didn't get scratched!
10/27/06: We had a pretty exciting night last night. Geoff and I drove down to Sarasota to see Rachel of "Signing Time" perform in conjunction with a Buddy Walk. We got off a bit late, then got a lot lost. Finally we got there in time to see the second set of songs. Geoff was so excited to see her in person, and he loved feeling Hopkins soft fingers. Hopkins is the giant frog, yes, it's a frog.
10/27/06: What a busy time we've had, it's been great. We just recieved a wish for Geoff through the Children's Wish Foundation.
10/20/06: We went donw to the stadium for the light the night walk. Geoff had fun with the balloon.
10/16/06: We had a great visit with Aunt Mary for the last week. Geoffrey learned her sign which is to trace the birthmark on her cheek. We had so many fun times eating and hanging out and around town. Geoffrey's hair is really long and we really may consider cutting it, but it's easier to not and they we can't possibly cut it badly...
10/3/06: When we went to Savannah last week we went to a nature center that featured water buffalo. Geoff enjoyed seeing the animals. Between the horse ride and this nature center, Grandma Chiu got us out and about to see lots of new things.
10/02/06: Well Happy October! This year is going really fast. Geoffrey's hari is so soft and wispy, it's great. He got all excited today to help with the laundry and started putting dry clothes into the dryer rather than the wet ones.
9/29/06: Geoffrey's new signs include "water area" for pool or swamp, and "pay attention." His new words are "bop" for Stop and "magra" for grandma. One great thing about signing is that you know what they mean long before you can understand what they're saying. It's great.
9/27/06: We've had an exciting week with family in town and many great activities. I just wanted to take a moment to show you Geoff's first horseride.
Thanks sister Thompson for the great time. We've also had the treat of seeing cousins, Grandma from Utah and other family from Virginia. It's been busy but fun.
9/19/06: Geoff is getting really good at taking a nap. The last few days I just tell him it's nap time, lay him in the crip with a bottle, and he goes to sleep! It's amazing. We're really busy right now trying to accomodate everyone who wants to learn to sign with us, which is great. I hate being so busy, but it opens venues of communication for Geoff. We're excited about the holiday season and looking forward to band competitions and so forth.
Presenting...Geoffrey, the littlest band boy...
9/15/06: We finally brought together our plot to make Geoffrey the complete center of attention like never before... Eliza made this little band uniform to look like the ones that the band wears. Geoffrey looked incredibly cute at the game tonight and enjoyed wandering all over, throwing a ball, dancing to the drums and eating a cookie. To those who still read our update, thank you for being part of the community we love so much. We love to make you smile.
Geoff and his friend try to combine their skill to break into the computer
9/9/06: We're doing so great! We had some friends over for dinner on Friday. The last time we had them over it was on a break from the Hospital, we had to end the movie short to get back in time for a 7:00pm dose. Geoff is super cute. We've started some Sign language classes and are enjoying the chance to share it with other families.
Geoff gets water at the park with a little help from his big buddy Dad.
9/01/06: Geoff got his other hearing aid back from the audiologist today. We visited Grandma and Great Grandma en route to other errands. It's great to have family around. Tonight we'll go to the PK halftime show and see the band! We're starting some basic sign groups soon, more to follow. Geoff had fun playing in the cupboard while I made bread the other day.
8/27/06: Ouch, another 6:30 day, but at least Geoff got a nap today. On Friday he pinched his hand in a door so I gave him a frozen twinkie to sooth it. He decided it was just as soothing as a treat and asked me to open it. My favorite sign that he uses now is "open." He doesn't just move his hands a foot apart. He flings his hands to the full wing span as he ducks his head to get the last bit of stretch. Then he looks up excitedly and does it agian. He's a great kid.
8/23/06: Geoff decided that 6:30 was the time to be awake and demand to go outside time. He's getting pretty tricky and at nap time he'll tell me repeatedly that he needs to potty. Yesterday I took him to the pot 4 times before his nap was final. We ran all over town and were lucky to avoid the torrential rain. We had Speach Therapy, diaper lady, restraunt dinner and going to school to pick up dad. We'd planned to walk down town, but the thunder finally made us turn back and wait for Phillip to finish band practice. My diaper lady friend showed us these great leggings and we liked the orange and blue ones best, oh yeah. Geoff likes them too!
Geoff is all boy. He loves to sleep with his arms behind his head.
8/21/06: We're doing great, as the absence of exciting details would indicate to the practiced "Geoffrey Update" reader. Geoff's doing so well eating banana bread, mozzerella cheese, PB candy, pretzels and a few other random things. He really liked the icecream sandwiches we had a while back. You can see he took it from Phillip, and then told his dad where he wanted to eat it with him. He's getting pretty funny about grabbing one of our fingers and pulling us to where he wants to go. I usually won't go. I try to get him tell me what he wants.
08/15/06: We made it out yet again, yesterday at noon. We'd been without roommates up until Sunday night and we we're paired with a single mother and daughter, the daughter a neuroblastoma patient. We're always glad to have a room to ourselves, but it's always good to be reminded of how lucky we are. Geoff got his port out on Sunday and we got to leave 24 hours after. It's great to be home.
