Unexpected nap

OK, enough ogling of Russell Crowe! Let’s get back to it. As many of you know, Kevin and I split our Mondays – he works the early shift (7 a.m. – noon) and I work the late shift (12:30-5:30 p.m.). So, Mondays are always a little hard for me as I have to leave Harmon after spending a few fun hours with him in the morning. And, yesterday, he made it even harder.

It’s been a while since he’s taken a nap with us (at LEAST six months). We try every couple of weeks to get him to take a family nap but he wants none of it. Yesterday, though, after we had breakfast and played for hours, I got him all changed and dressed and asked him if he wanted to take a nap with me. He said yes but he’s said yes before so I was skeptical! We got all snuggled up together under the covers and he got comfortable on his Daddy’s pillow and then was snoring within minutes. Initially, I was afraid to open my eyes and look at him as he sometimes has this open-eyed, staring-off-into-space-but-still-awake look but he was dead asleep.

Of course, I wasn’t able to nap with him long as I had to get ready for damn work. So, I moved him into his bed and he took a nice, long nap. I was so sad that I couldn’t enjoy it more. Why a Monday and not a Friday or the weekend? Who knows when he’ll take a break from his busy toddler life to take another nap with us? Everything just goes by way too fast!

A sight to see

After two straight crushing, embarrassing defeats at Michigan Stadium, finally something good happened on the Michigan sideline on Saturday:


Ahh, yes, that would be THE Russell Crowe. He and Coach Carr became fast friends in the off-season and he graced Michigan Stadium with his presence on Saturday. I can't believe Russell freakin' Crowe was in my town! I love him (not to mention he's a tremendous actor and SO should have TWO Academy Awards - damn Denzel and that stupid Training Day movie). And, he's in my five. GOD!

Oh yeah, the game. Anyway, we crushed Notre Dame AGAIN, 38-0. I could get used to these yearly beatings. Granted they are a god-awful football team so Saturday's game was in no means a measuring stick for where we are at this point. No matter what, though, it's always fun to beat up on the Irish and their a-hole QBs (Quinn and Clausen). Guess it will be at least ANOTHER year before we hear from our ND friends.

The big 22

Any time someone has asked us how old Harmon is, it was fun to have answered eight months, 14 months, 16 months, etc. But, now he is closing in on the end of his "months" ages. Pretty soon, he will be our big 2-year-old boy. And, as he turns 22 months old today, he is growing up every minute of every hour of every day. He continues to amaze us every day with his intellect and his love for everyone (except, again, Mr. G). Here are some things he has been doing:

1. He is in love with his stuffed animals lately. His two favorite animals right now are a snow leopard he got when we went to the zoo two weeks ago, and a sea otter that Aunt Stacey got him in San Francisco.

2. He has always loved to have us read books to him, but now he is repeating words and lines back to us. It won't be too long before he is reading books to us. One of his favorite places to do this is on his potty chair. In the course of the rest of his chatter, he will say, "potty, potty" and off we go to his chair. He has gone several times for us, with a few false alarms.

3. The boy loves to count. He had become very proficient in counting to 13, but now he is going all the way up to 20. Tonight at dinner, he just kept going: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

4. He does more than count numbers. He is getting more conversational every day. When we ask him if he wants something, instead of laughing or grunting, he now says, "yeah." Conversely, he has always been good at saying, "no." Dada has become "Daddy" of late, and last night he got to talk to his godfather, "Uncle Steve." He knows all of his aunts and uncle by name, but we still don't know who "Dee-dee" is.

We know it is still two months until he reaches those "terrible twos," but we don't think Harmon has it in his nature to be a bad boy. Sure, he disobeys sometimes and can be trouble at the dinner table, but he has been such a joy to watch grow up. As any parent knows, it is growing up.

Love you, little man.

Bergquist quote bag

When Kevin worked at the University Record, he and his co-workers used to keep a quote bag or sorts and they would re-visit them a few times a year for a good laugh. He’s suggested doing this at home so I finally got with it. Here are a few and we’ll see if we can keep this up.

1. Recently, Harmon said “hey, baby” to a cashier at Hiller’s and to one of the student helpers at day care. They both thought it was so cute!

2. Kevin used to work in a restaurant during his summers in Minnesota and the bus boys would yell “hot butter, gotta’ go” as they were clearing the candle-heated butter dishes that were used for the lobster. When we were out running errands on Saturday, Kevin taught Harmon to say, “hot butter, gotta’ go” and now he can’t get enough of it.

3. Kevin and I were watching VH1 the other day and a commercial for the Scott Baio show came on. If you’re not familiar, the show is called “Scott Baio is 45 … and Single.” Kevin suggested a new and improved title, to better reflect the star of the show – “Scott Baio is 45 … and a Tool!”

These next four are all Detroit Tigers’ related (what a surprise):

4. There was a quick shot of Pudge in the dugout and Kevin asked “is Pudge practicing his strikeout swing?’ All too appropriate this season!

5. The great Tigers’ TV analyst Rod Allen was commenting on Ramon Santiago’s fielding skills, calling him a vacuum cleaner. I replied with “yeah, and he bats a buck fifty!”

6. Kevin and I were discussing the recent demotions and promotions of pitcher Zach Miner. Kevin said I’m sure he’s thinking “I’m not your yo-yo!”

7. When discussing my favorite Tigers’ pitcher Jordan Tata, I mentioned that he’s from Texas. Kevin replied with “he’s from Texas, I wonder if he’s a prick?”

Wow, Coach, these are some IMPRESSIVE numbers!

Today’s U-M football game was filled with all kinds of record-breaking performances. Unfortunately, they all were BAD records. These are just a few to digest although I’m sure more will come out after the record books are inspected overnight. What can I say, I am SO proud!

1. Michigan’s 39-7 loss to Oregon was the worst since losing 50-14 to Ohio State in 1968 – the season before Bo Schembechler came to Ann Arbor.

2. Speaking of Bo, Michigan hasn’t won a game since he died the day before the Ohio State game last year.

3. Oregon rolled up 624 yards, the second-highest total by a Michigan opponent in its 128 years of football. The most was to Northwestern (654 yards) in 2000. While letting Oregon score at will, Michigan scored the fewest points in a game since a 9-3 loss to Purdue in 1996.

4. The last time Michigan started a season with two losses was in 1998 (with losses at Notre Dame and at home to Syracuse). The last time Michigan started a season with two losses AT HOME was 1959 (to Missouri and Michigan State).

5. This is the first time Michigan has suffered four straight losses since 1967.

You know, Coach Carr could have walked away a few years ago as a freakin’ hero. With his career record and his National Championship, not to mention all the things he does off the field, he could have ridden off into the sunset. He probably even could have had the new football building named after him. But, he insisted on sticking around way too long and now his legacy will be this 2007 season – YIKES. I feel bad for the seniors, like Henne, Hart and Long, who stuck around Ann Arbor for a chance at a National Championship. I also feel really bad for the U-M students who are having their college years ruined by 1902-style football.

I don’t even know what more to say. I am completely and totally embarrassed but I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. I think many people who have been critical of the program over the last few years aren’t surprised by this. We are disappointed but not surprised. As Kevin and I said today as we left in disgust during the third quarter, if we knew a change would come after going 4-8 or 5-7, I think most people would suck it up and endure. But, we don’t know and that’s what’s scary. I’m scared to think what kind of damage this is doing to Michigan football.

OK, on to humor (it’s how I deal, OK)! I read this on the U-M mlive.com forum a bit ago and died. Michigan Stadium is the hole that Yost dug, Canham carpeted, Schembechler filled and CARR DESTROYED.

And, this is something I said a few years ago (similar to Steve Spurrier’s “you can’t spell Citrus without UT” blast): You can’t spell underachievement without U-M!

Quick note: Thanks so much to my Detroit Tigers for once again pulling out a victory on a Saturday night after Michigan football completely ruined my Saturday afternoon.

Not in the job description

A lot of people are clamoring for LSU coach Les Miles to become the next coach at Michigan. There are many who object to that, in part because he is a little more vocal than what our fans are used to, and he once had the nerve to swear during a press conference. To that, Aimee replied:

"I don't care if he says f-ity, f, f, f throughout every Monday press conference, as long as he wins games."

'Nuff said.

Special Comment

I try not to let myself get too into politics these days. This administration has been such a disaster from the beginning that if I DO get into it, it’s really hard to get away from it. It’s so enraging that it just starts to take over. But, hey, at least I didn’t vote for him and thus can sleep at night.

One show Kevin and I do watch is Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Maybe it’s his SportsCenter history that drew us in but he’s great to watch and much more intelligent (and funny) than doing NFL highlights required him to be.

Last night, he had an extra special “Special Comment” and it’s something everyone should see:



If you would rather read the transcript, click here.

On a lighter note, I offer a compilation of Letterman’s Great Moments in Presidential Speeches. And, my all-time favorite! I think I say “internets” at least five times a day!

Going with the flow

Harmon graduated this morning upon his return to daycare. Our big boy went from a Grasshopper to a Butterfly, as did all of the older toddler group. It was not a seismic shift, just a new room, and he stays with all of his old friends from the Grasshopper Room. We weren't sure what to feel, or how he was going to react, but he was his normal happy self. He was a little apprehensive when he went into his old room (all of the kids get dropped off in one room and spread out from there) and there were new, younger kids there, but then he saw his new teacher, Deborah (she actually is moving with the toddler group to the Butterfly Room) and she gave him a big hug. So, as with most things, Mom and Dad worry for no reason. Harmon loves everyone (except maybe, Mr. G), and while he still has an occasional rough morning, just goes with the flow. Of course, butterflies do have wings, which is appropriate because every day he is learning to fly (like Tom Petty).

That Dog Won’t Hunt

These exact words were used by Jim Rome to describe Lloyd Carr after yet another crushing Michigan football defeat last season. Basically, the gist of Rome’s segment was to point out that he’s never going to change, no matter what. And, if that isn’t obvious to the world after Saturday’s debacle, I don’t know what it’s going to take to make everyone in the Michigan family see it.

It’s interesting, leading up to Saturday’s game, there was all kinds of talk in the media about what Carr’s legacy would be. Well, he defined his legacy by coaching (I use that word loosely) his team to the biggest defeat in college football history. No matter what the team does the rest of the season, this will never go away! We’ll always be the #1 seed that finally lost to the #16 seed.

There are NO excuses for what happened Saturday. Being in the stands, I saw a team that was unmotivated and unprepared. I saw a team that was completely predictable and this was confirmed by the entire Appalachian State team in the post-game interviews. But, a complete lack of imagination and an inability to adjust, not to mention the failure to ever go for the throat or play to an opponent’s weakness is what most of us fans have seen for years now. I can’t say what happened on Saturday is a complete shock because it’s seems we’ve been building up to this (or should I say deteriorating to this) since our national championship season in 1997.

The ’97 season was magical, due mostly to Charles Woodson. As is typical, we did just enough to get by offensively, always waiting for Woodson to make a difference. I sometimes think if 1997 hadn’t happened, maybe Carr would have been gone a long time ago. But, half a national championship buys you lifetime job security in Ann Arbor and allows you to do whatever you want. For example, he hired back his friend and crony (Mike DeBord) to handle the offense after he did such a bang-up job (12-34 over four years) at his previous school (Central Michigan of the high-powered MAC). Sounds like a great hire and, better yet, a great candidate for the future head coaching job at Michigan (especially if Carr has anything to do with it)! He absolutely refuses to put any thought into special teams, which is evident in how many issues we’ve had over the years. There is no individual coach who handles special teams, like at most schools. It’s coaching by committee at Michigan, which always makes for great execution like getting two field goals blocked on Saturday. He also loves his seniors, always choosing seniority over talent, unless his seniors are maimed on the field and underclassmen have to play by default. If it wasn’t for injuries to starters, who knows when Chad Henne or Mike Hart might have made their Wolverine debut! On Saturday, a walk-on, senior kicker was on the field kicking field goals with his eyes closed (I saw this photo on Saturday and now I can’t find it) while a SCHOLARSHIP kicker sat the bench. I could go on and on but it will just piss me off more and more.

For the first time since 1979, we have a three-game losing streak. Of course, our obligatory losses to Ohio State and our bowl opponent du jour along with the Appalachian State disaster. At this point, Michigan football is known for the following things: losing that big game early; losing another crap game during the season that we shouldn’t; losing to Ohio State; losing in the bowl game; and now losing to Appalachian State in the biggest upset in the history of college football.

No matter what we do the rest of the way, it won’t matter. The season is over and we’re the laughingstock of college football – and will be for years to come! Of course, the rallying cry in the locker room after the game was as follows: we still have a lot to play for; we still have a Big Ten championship to win. To that I say, who the eff cares! It’s not just about Big Ten titles and Rose Bowls anymore. The game has changed and the stakes are higher and, unfortunately for Michigan football, its leader has been passed by.

I’ve met Carr on several occasions and I know he’s a nice guy. He’s a great speaker and he does many, many nice things for the community. And, the Carr apologists out there love to say that “he runs a clean program and he has good kids” but that’s not so much the case anymore with our academic standards in question and players in trouble left and right.

If this awful, embarrassing, devastating loss is a catalyst for change, I could concede that MAYBE, just maybe, it’s a blessing in disguise. But, I think I know better. Carr will leave when he wants and most likely will have a big say in the selection of his successor. In spite of Carr, Michigan football has been able to sustain itself but how much longer can we survive the slow deterioration that most people can see so clearly? I hope Bill Martin has an answer to this question!

Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32

Yeah, pretty much speechless about this.

I'm sure we'll have more to say once we're off suicide watch.

Can't get it out of my head!

I think my favorite part is the crying vegetables!

This is from the new Nick Jr. show called Yo Gabba Gabba!

Good Lord! What has happened to me?

On this day …

… 37 years ago, Kevin was born. He was due in October but apparently was anxious to get into this world so he made his appearance a little early. He was just a little guy when he was born but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him now! He has grown into a fine man – the best husband I could ask for and the best father Harmon (and Isabel) could ask for. He does it all, each and every day, and even though we tell him all the time, we’ll tell him again. We love you so much and truly appreciate all that you do for us – big and small!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Potty Wednesdays

As I documented at the beginning of the month, Harmon has started to use the potty a little bit. Although he has gone once for Kevin (he hasn’t gone for me at all yet), he seems to do it every Wednesday when my Mom is here. I don’t know what it is about her but, when she’s here, he asks to use the potty. I don’t really care who he goes for as long as he has an interest in going. I know it will be a long process but at least there is some potty progress!

Spot Takes the Plunge

Harmon has loved his baths lately. While we’re out walking, he’ll start asking for bubbles and then care barely wait until we get home. Kevin will start his bath water and Harmon will run back and forth between the living room and the bathroom getting various toys to throw in the tub. Usually, it’s just balls but, last week, he threw his “Spot Goes to School” book in there! It took us a while to notice so Spot took a hit. We thought about just putting Spot down but then I felt guilty and spent the next half hour blow drying it. Of course, he wanted to read it before bed that very night and we had to tell him Spot was on the 15-day DL. We tried to explain that books don’t go in the tub but realized there was a serious flaw in our logic since he’s had Bobalong Whale with him in the tub for about a year now. Guess we’ll just have to make sure no more books take the plunge!

As a side note, we wouldn’t have minded if all three of his Spot books went into the tub and immediately disintegrated. Harmon’s Grandma (or “eema,” as he says) got him "Where’s Spot?" earlier this year and he LOVED it! He loved it SO MUCH that we ended up reading it about 15,000 TIMES EACH DAY. The next time she visited, she brought him “Spot Goes to the Farm” and we were happy that we could read a DIFFERENT Spot book. We then bought him “Spot Goes to School,” mostly because he saw it at Borders, begged for it and didn’t want to let it go, even when we were checking out. We like little Spot just fine – he’s cute and goes on many adventures. But, because of the sheer repetition, we’re hoping one day to discover “Spot Meets a Goodyear” on the shelves at Borders!

Back it up!

There’s one Harmon quirk that I love but I don’t think I’ve ever written about on the blog. He did it a ton yesterday so that reminded me to document it before it slipped my mind AGAIN.

When he wants you to read to him (which is, pretty much, all the time), he’ll go get his books of choice and, if you’re sitting on the floor, he’ll back up into you until he falls in your lap. It’s funny to see this little butt keep backing up and backing up and then he practically trips over your legs and falls into your lap. It shows incredible trust on his part, knowing that we’re going to be there to catch him. It’s like those team building exercises (I think they’re called trust falls) that co-workers do at their company retreats but MUCH, MUCH cuter!

How Saturdays used to be

With the college football season fast approaching, Kevin and I have been thinking about how Saturdays used to be before Harmon’s arrival. Our best memories were Saturdays when Michigan would play on the road. We would wake up just in time to watch Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit make their predictions on ESPN’s College GameDay and then catch the Michigan kick-off at noon. At halftime, Kevin would venture out to get pizza (usually from Papa Romano’s – yum) and then we would eat and watch college football ALL DAY LONG – well past midnight when the West Coast games finally wrapped up.

Although Harmon lets us watch a ton of football (definitely more than we thought), we can’t quite do Saturdays the same way we used to. Maybe as Harmon gets older and grows to love college football, we can return to those old Saturdays!

Rock, G!

Every other Thursday, Harmon's day care has Mr. G, a local musician, come in to entertain the kids. They all get together to sing and dance and Mr. G takes requests (which apparently Harmon makes quite often). Per the teachers, the first couple of times the new kids experience music time with Mr. G can be a little scary. He comes blasting in with his guitar all loud and crazy and the kids freak out. At Harmon's first music time with Mr. G, he got scared and started to cry. He then walked up to him and told him to go "bye bye!" Hilarious!

But now, Harmon is down with Mr. G and I always can tell when it's a Mr. G. Thursday because he sings all the way home. Since Harmon likes to say "rock" whenever he hears a good song come on the radio, we've been trying to get him to tell Mr. G to "rock!" It always comes out "Rock, G!"

Speaking of rocking, check this out! Awesome! There can never be enough Bruce!

Car knowledge

When we're out and about, Kevin often quizzes me about the other cars on the road and, more often than not, I fare very well in these quizzes. He seems surprised with my car knowledge until I remind him that I SHOULD know a thing or two about a thing or two since I was born and raised in the automotive capital of the world! I honestly just think it happens through osmosis around here.

Anyway, I think I passed on my car knowledge to Harmon. Not only does he love cars (and feels the need to point to and tell us about every car on the road), he already can ID at least two of them. A couple of weeks ago, he and my Mom were at one of the parks near our house. Usually, we don't drive home past this park but, on this day, we did. Unbeknownst to us, Harmon started yelling "Mama" and "Dada" as we drove by. We turned into our neighborhood and saw my Mom's car in the parking lot so we stopped to meet up with them. My Mom didn't see us drive by or pull into the parking lot and was wondering why Harmon was making such a fuss. She then realized that HE must have seen us. We thought, yeah, sure but then he did something similar Sunday night when we were out for our nightly walk.

We were walking through a ton of cars in the condo community near us and passed by a black and grey Honda Element. The second he saw it, he started yelling "Nana" and "Papa!" So, maybe he DID see our Jeep Liberty and know it was us back in the park that day!

21 months

Harmon is 21 months old today. I had a hard time coming up with new things to write about so Kevin and I had to brainstorm. We thought, jeez, he hasn’t done a ton of new blog-worthy things lately but, after thinking about it, he really has. So, following (in no particular order at all) is what Harmon’s been up to since his 20-month update:

He loves the clocks in our house and whenever they chime, he runs around saying “ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong” in tune.

He’s still talking a ton and repeating everything (we have to be SO careful). He says truck but puts an “f” in place of the “tr,” so that’s always fun. He also says clock (especially when it chimes, see above) but conveniently forgets the “l.” He is speaking in simple sentences and still is saying new words every day. Lately, he loves to say “hey, baby!”

When he falls down, which seems to be all the time, he comes running to us doing this fake-cry thing to get a sympathy hug. Once he gets that hug, he’s back at it. Also, if he wants you to go somewhere with him, he’ll walk up to you, say “hand, hand,” grab your hand and lead you where he wants you to go!

We’ve really worked hard lately on colors. His Legos (or noo-noos, as he calls them) come in red, yellow, blue, green, orange and purple so he knows those colors pretty well. It’s the cutest thing to hear him say orange. He’s also been interested in his numbers over the past couple of weeks and he can count to 13. I don’t know why 13, but he loves 13!

Before bed (or before one of us leaves), Harmon gives a hug, a regular kiss and an Eskimo kiss. He has to give all three and he has to give all three to both of us. And, speaking of bed, he is at the point where he can get one leg over the top of his crib. So, I think we’re going to have to lower it to the lowest and final notch. In addition to the crib thing, he’s also climbing on all items of furniture. He climbs up on his chair and then uses the chair to climb on the couch. Sometimes, he’ll actually sit there with us for two whole seconds!

A few months ago, the music and sounds on his stroller stopped working (evidently, the wires came lose and needed to be soldered back together). Kevin fixed it about a week ago and Harmon has been addicted to it ever since. He hasn’t even wanted to go for walks in his beloved wagon lately because he would rather play the music (on a freakin’ continuous loop) in his stroller.

His favorite things lately have been TWO BALLS (I hope his love for balls never goes away), hanging out in his pool, reading, and stalking his monitor (he is obsessed with that thing and we have no idea why)!

Whom?

When it’s time to go (or at totally random times during the day), Harmon will start yelling “Let’s go, Mama,” “Let’s go, Dada,” and then continue with let’s go Nana, Papa, Stacey, Erin, Grandma, Grandpa and Isabel. Sometimes, he also will include his teachers and friends from day care in this “roll call.” One name we don’t recognize at all is DeeDee. We thought maybe one of his teachers (Debra) had the kids call her DeeDee since Debra is hard to say but we asked and that is not the case. Basically, we have NO IDEA who DeeDee is so, if any of you know, can you clue us in?

Maybe he simply said “hey, baby” to a girl one too many times and now has a secret girlfriend. Who knows!