We made it to Maui after flying through Chicago. flight was packed with kids. slept 14 hours.
When we went into the ocean, Kawena didn’t like it as much this time. In fact his body seemed to be going into shock – feet and hands white as the dead, with a purple tinge. he stopped the blood from flowing to his extremities! But he loved crawling in the sand and grass. Exploring is his current forte – chanting DaDoDaDoDaDo like a tiny monk, while digging and uprooting grass.
mm… mom let me eat apple.
I like poi, but now i have eaten…
– poi
– rice cereal
– sweet potato
– winter squash
– peas & rice
– pears
– apple! real apple, tangy
Kawena has really settled in to the Auntie Lils care during the day. Note the cool stuff to play with, like wooden spoon, shoyu/mustard tray, and fast moving cousins…
We traveled quite a bit this month, to Silicon Valley and back, and to Memphis to see the Tennessee gang. Kawena was a good traveler, but he seems to have reacted to the disruption by being more clingy and easily upset. He gets upset when we go out of his range of vision, even if it is only a few feet away. But he continues to make progress in sitting, rolling, pulling himself up to standing. And at Grandma Kathy’s house, he even stood on his own for a full second before tumbling down!
San Jose was nice, good restaurants but a bit boring. You could see the effects of the building boom a few years ago with the high-tech bubble. Light rail connected everything, and hotels were high class but business oriented. Kawena stayed with Dad while Mom went to a conference on Intranets and information management. Wena loves to explore and his crawling has really taken off. He crawls some on his hands and knees, but since he wants to stand so badly, he often crawls on his hands and feet; little legs stiff and straight as if he was walking. We saw Brian for a milisecond before he flew off to Boston and we had take-out chinese food with Uncle David on our last rainy night in San Francisco. The last day we dropped in to see Great Grandpa Joe in Pleasant Hill and looked at old crinkled pictures and walked in the overgrown yard.
Uncle Nick came with us this time to Tennessee, and stayed with Tarn while we stayed with Grandma Kathy in her big clean new house. When we first arrived, we went to Tarn’s house. When he came out in overalls and a floppy black wool hat, something must have alarmed Kawena, because he took one look at silly Tarn and burst into tears! He calmed down, and crawled around on the floor with straight legs, inspecting the checkerboard floor.
We set up a fancy Thanksgiving dinner in Grandma Kathy’s dining room, kitchen and sunroom, with silverware and tablecloths and wine glasses. Leslie and Rachel came over before we even woke up and started warming everything Leslie had been preparing the whole day before: potatoes, green bean casserole, broccoli with cheese, honey baked ham, ambrosia, fresh rolls, sweet iced tea, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie. Tarn and Nick came over at the last moment, bearing two big deep fried turkeys – delicious! Carrie and her two girls came over, and Randy and Ken, trailed by a neighbor boy (Parker?) who was polite and hungry. We feasted like the King, in Memphis.
Last Sunday, we went with Kawena and Hana to Demarest Farm in NJ, to pick pumpkins. We got to ride on a tractor/hayride there.
Hana picked out her own pumpkin, and so did Christina.
Kawena liked all the trees, of course, and got to walk around the fields. We even got some apples.
wena rolled over from his back to front Saturday, when we were in Prospect Park with Nick.
He was just playing and made no fanfare – cool dude.
Well, we have been back for over a week now, half working and half trying to keep up with Kawena. Catching up with cousins and Auntie and Uncle is great fun and we realize how important family and trust really is when little ones are involved. Cousin Hana is just starting school and cousin Dassie is grown so tall and skinny. Now Wena has to catch up with the girls!
Wena seems to be reacting to all the change with caution, keen observation and a “wait and see” disposition. He still loves looking at trees and relaxing with Mom and Dad. He loves to play and loves suprises and tossing around toys and “boo!” He hardly ever cries anymore unless he is tired or hungry and he is very easy to comfort. 2 or 3 seconds and you say “shhh, its ok, sweetie, we got ya!” and he is fine. But it is all tempered a bit with a quietness, a dedicated observation, a hold pattern of some kind. He waits sometimes now, to react, until it seems safe to cut loose. Then the old yowl and crazy babytalk comes pouring out. And we know the trust is still there. He is still our Wena.
After spending all summer on Maui, we are finally getting ready to fly thousands of miles back to Brooklyn. Kawena is a very smiley baby now, always laughing and talking, ready to play, ready to go. He has really come a long way since he arrived. Now he is very engaged in the world, and loves new experiences. Besides his regular old baby behavior, some basic traits have continued to be strong or show up: overall, he is very calm, a “cruiser” as Jen put it. Kawena seems to talk more when he is with Mom, and that includes complaining too! He has great hand skills, manipulating mangoes, tangerines, bottle, balls, toys, and soon utensils too. He is cautious and observant when encountering new things – i.e. today he saw Auntie Terese’s very loud little dog and watched it carefully before reaching towards it. He recognizes humor and playfulness and is filled with laughter. He has come to complain and grumble, rather than crying, when he is hungry or upset and he is developing a very loud yelling voice. When we sucked his boogers out of his nose with the little plungey thing he hated it at first and started yelling – AAAAAAAAAGHH! Not like a baby crying, more like a sports fan yelling at a bad call. He likes books; when given a choice between a toy and a book he goes for the book.
The summer has been good to us, lots of things accomplished around the house and with the family and we lucky to have been surrounded by love and visitors: Grandpa Manu, Grandma Kathy, Grandma Sherrie, Great Grandma, Uncle Avi and Jen, cousin Katie, The Fogarty clan, Uncles Nick Brian and Sean, cousin Max, Auntie Stayci and Uncle Mike and cousin Tasha, Big Uncle Nick and Uncle David. For a family so spread out, it was really something to see the parade of loved ones promenading through. Kawena got to go all over the island and see Iao, Kaupo, Twin Falls, Kula, Paia, went to Waikiki, and even saw Ulalena! (Thanks Nara!) He got his 2 and 4 month doctors appointments and all his shots, he got a stuffy nose, learned to stand and grew 3 inches and gained 10 pounds. And when you call his name, his face lights up like sunshine.
Not bad for a little monkey!
Kawena got a new cousin – Nathaniel Kai Makana Goodness! Born September 9, 2007. Now Wena is not the littlest Goodness anymore.
Much aloha to the parents Haku and Cheryl.
