A Monarchs Fan Until the Bitter End

Jeremy rooted for his Sacramento Monarchs up until the final seconds of the last game of the championships. He will always believe in them, even if the team came up short. Now he will rest during the off-season, and get ready for next year.

As the Summer Winds Down

Jeremy grows bigger and brighter, like an apple at the top of a tree, soaking up the autumn sunshine.

In the last few weeks, Jeremy has been quite busy. He went camping with his Nanny and Poppa and cousins Lindsey and Kara to the Russian River. He has been cheering on his beloved Sacramento Monarchs -- ferociously clapping his thundersticks -- as they fight to win the women's basketball championships. He has been a source of comfort and hope for the family, as we mourned the loss of my grandmother Jewel on August 28th.

Jeremy is serving ably as the deputy project manager for our backyard makeover. He inspects the depths of the drainage ditches, the integrity of the PVC pipe, the placement of the river cobble, and the granular qualities of the masonry sand. He helps tamper the churned up ground, as he stomps around the yard with about three pounds of mud on the bottom of each shoe. He has become my Muddy Buddy. He plays with the earthworms, yelping delightfully as the worms squirm in his outstretched palm. He also yelped painfully when he grabbed a cactus flower and acquired several microscopic thorns in his thumb.




He is solely responsible for about a half a yard of the fill sand disappearing. We think it all ended up in his hair.

Did I mention that Jeremy is in a new daycare? Again? Well, maybe it is not exactly "new." It depends what "new" is, or what "is" is. Whatever. Selena is one of the two cousins that run, or ran, Jen's Kid Farm, at least before there was some intrafamily squabble (the details of which remain vague) which led to a surprise phone call from Selena on a Saturday cheerfully announcing that Jeremy would be coming to her house with three of the other children ... starting on that Monday! Needless to say, the mommies were stressed and feeling guilty about the 5th daycare in less than a year (if you count the short-lived au pair). But the stress itself was needless, because Jeremy has been the happiest at Selena's than any other place. Jeremy had naturally bonded to Selena while at Jen's, so he felt secure in that relationship. The bonus, from Jeremy's point of view, is that Selena and her boys have a veritable menagerie: a milksnake (named Cobry), a guinea pig (Mr. Pig Pig), a rabbit (Bun Bun), a hamster (?), a bearded lizard (Little Dude), a poodle (CeCe) and a sweet, crotchedly old cat (Mr. Fur). So, all in all, all is okay. We remain a little cautious about whether Selena's 120-year-old Victorian will represent an environmental trigger for Jeremy's asthma, especially when the damp season arrives. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it won't!!!

Speaking of asthma, Barb stopped by Ms. Wendi's the other day to take care of some tax-related paperwork, and Ms. Wendi admitted that she thinks her air conditioning unit is keeping her asthma flared up. Maybe that pretty new house is really a sick building in disguise? It would help explain why Jeremy was so sick everytime he went there.

Now we look forward to a quick trip to Monterey next week, to fall, to Halloween, and to a November vacation to Hawaii with Nanny.