Cheesitsu

Many have created martial arts based on common items that have been found to be useful in self defense. For example, the Englishman Edward William Barton-Wright, who lived in Japan for several years developed a martial art based on the gentleman's walking stick he called Bartitsu. The Cheese has developed her own brand of martial arts centered around her eating utensils called Cheesitsu.

Here, she demonstrates "dragon mouth" where she catches a spoonful of prunes in her mouth that has been thrown at her from across the room. It can get messy, but who cares when your life is at stake!

We have to be careful, now when feeding her with the fork because of "scorpion." She has a pretty good reach. Note that the facial expressions are just as vital as the gouging and poking in striking fear into the heart of your opponent.

I had my back turned to her here, and when I turned around she almost got me right in the eye.

She's got some pretty good moves. Just wait until she's completely mobile and starts working in some flips and kicks. We can only hope to contain her!

Funky Cheese

We all know that The Cheese has a wonderful sense of rhythm when it comes to music. As she has become so much more confident on her feet - kind of - Lynnie introduced her to something a bit more funky than kid's songs yesterday. Julia spent some time with Aretha Franklin, then this morning we had a jam session with the Godfather of Soul - the late, great James Brown - she especially like his screams. Her reaction was almost involuntary. She stood to her feet and started dancing - I know... that may cause a future problem with her father being a Southern Baptist preacher, but for now, we're just going with it. Next, some George Clinton.

A Year of Cheese

I can't believe that we are here! The Cheese turned a year old - Friday, November 21! Lynnie and I were reminiscing about all the changes that have taken place over the past year. She was so little and scrawny when she was born.

And now to look at her, you would think it was a different child.

Birthday stuff is loads of fun. She really enjoyed her cake, once she figured out that it was edible. I think she suspected poision at first, but once we tasted it infront of her and nothing happened to us, she took a bite.

After our cake we enjoyed our presents and cards. Here a just a few:

Auntie Julia sent us books and an owl.

Auntie Lindsey gave her a pretty scarf.

Auntie Joyce and Uncle Scott gave her some pretty dresses.

Bubbie and Poppie sent a singing card (This song keeps banging around in my head. It stuck with me all night at work this past week.)

Dancin' Cheese

Music is a powerful thing. It invokes so much emotion and makes The Cheese dance. That's right, Party Peoples, she will get down with her bad self - but only to certain songs. She does have discriminating tastes. Lynnie bought her some CDs with children's songs on them that she loves. We tend to play them when she gets the most agitated (not unlike David playing his harp for King Saul): during diaper changes and meal times. She swings her legs on the changing table with such force, that she's even poked herself in the eye a couple of times. All in all, I'd say she has a pretty good sense of rhythm.

Strollin' Cheese

As The Cheese becomes more and more agile, she has also gotten rather adventurous. Recently, she discovered that she can get a good workout in if she pushes the stroller with her Mom. Lynnie will take her out to the campus green and they'll walk around, stop and gaze at the wonderment that is the giant sprinkler that waters the lawn, and give the death stare to sundry and unwise individuals that sit on benches or the library steps. She was feeling rather jovial during this stroll. If you listen carefully, you can hear her singing to herself as she goes.

From all these good times, Julia has formed quiet an attachment to the stroller -its her best friend. So when she finds it folded up to be taken to the park for a walk - it causes quite a response.

Screamin' Clean Cheese

Bath time is always fun and exciting with The Cheese. My parents got her these rubber frogs and fish that have little holes in their mouths that she can fill and shoot water out of. One of Julia's most favorite drinks is bathwater. We are constantly battling her in the tub to keep her from putting her face in water and drinking the tub dry. With these little toys, she has figured out she can fill them up with water and suck it out of them without being too conspicuous. The problem is she hasn't figured out which side has the hole it, so sometimes things get a little out of hand.

Subway Practice

When I lived in New York, the only mode of travel that I could afford - and completely enjoy with all my senses - was the subway. During morning or evening rush hour, as I made my way from the Upper East Side to South Ferry, I rarely found a seat, but would have to stand. My commute usually took about 45 minutes, so I would read a book or the newspaper. It takes practice to develop the skills necessary to move with the pitch and roll of the train while holding on to and reading the paper. As a means to prepare for the Cheese for this possibility later in her life, I've started her on a light regimen of subway practice. I thought she did pretty good for her first time.

Dogs n' Cheese

We have discovered that the Cheese has an inexhaustible love for animals. We have some baby animal books that she loves to look at. The first dog that she ever really spent any time with was Emmy - Auntie Eve and Uncle Blair's Canadian Lab. She is a giant ball of sweetness and loves Julia. When Emmy would get around Julia she would let out these little whines and whimpers that Julia has since associated with all dogs. So, when you ask the Cheese what the doggy says, she squeaks.

One day this past summer, I heard a dog right outside our door. I got the Cheese and took her out there to pet it. She doesn't really pet the dog, because she's too busy freaking out at the fact that she is actually in the presence of a dog. If you listen closely you can hear Julia squeaking.

The same thing happened when Lynnie came home with this battery powered toy dog that talks! She just freaked out.

Gettin' the Cheese

Usually, if I'm outside the room and I threaten to "get" Julia, she starts shrieking and flapping her arms. This time, she saw me coming, so it wasn't the normal thrilling suspense of an impending "getting." Most of you know, my baby girl isn't the most affectionate child on the block, so kisses and love are a tight commodity around here. And hampered by the fact that I do not lactate makes me even less "lovable" to my little Cheese. I was pretty shocked when she let me give her kisses like this. It was a rare and beautiful moment that I was pleased to have caught for posterity - and for all those times she slaps me rather than kisses me!

Crazy Foot and The Cheese

The other day Julia was enjoying some delicious Gold Fish crackers. She was sitting in her high-chair takin' story with her Momma, when all of a sudden they were visited by Julia's Crazy Left Foot. Since she was born, she had these crazy lookin' toes on her left foot. We called it her "Crazy Foot" and would treat it like a separate personality from the rest of her. If she is in a foul mood - it's probably because of "Crazy Foot." If she does something goofy - it's because "Crazy Foot" told her to do it. You can see from the video footage, that Crazy Foot just does what it wants.

Crawling Cheese?

Today I came home from the library and before I opened the door I could hear Lynnie and Julia shrieking inside. I came into the apartment to find my daughter scurrying about in the buff while Lynnie made her laugh. Naked time is happy time...for everyone. I don't know what happened between this morning and this afternoon, but the Cheese had really made monumental strides in her mobility.

Crawling - It ain't pretty, but it is forward progress. Julia has a tendency to get on her knees, cry, flop on her stomach, cry, pivot in a circle, cry, scoot backward, cry, get stuck under the couch, cry and give up. This afternoon, however, we saw a marked improvement. She went forward - it wasn't straight, it wasn't easy, but it was definitely forward. You will note her polite disposition as she says "Hi" on her way past me.

Lynnie was reading an ABC's book to Julia today. For the letter T there is a turkey tripping. We've read the book 100 times before, but today "tripping turkeys" were HYSTERICAL, because Lynnie would say "whoa" and pretend to make Julia trip. So whenever Lynnie told Julia not to trip, she would giggle. At the end of the video, you'll see Julia in stitches because Lynnie was warning her against tripping.

After some time as a quadruped, we quickly evolved to biped status, which she has been doing much longer, and scurried about.

After such a strenuous work out - we hit the showers!

Hide n' Kissin' with The Cheese

The Cheese has started to show affection by giving kisses, but only when she feels like it. Her Tutububbe (Tutu is Grandmother in Hawaiian and Bubbe [bub-ee] is Yiddish for Grandmother - so my mom's affectionate name is literally translated "Grandma Grandma" - kinda like Little Caesar's "pizza-pizza."), anyway Tutububbe sent Julia a book called Leilani's Hula. At the end of the book Tutu gives Leilani a kiss. After Lynnie initiating a few times, Julia started to impulsively give a kiss at the end of the book. Now, every morning when my girls wake me up, Julia will give me a kiss. Here she is playing a game with Momma and giving a signature kiss - that is extra wet for more love!

Ham n' Cheese

I guess we're starting her a little young, but bein' cute is a very important part of one's life. Remember, as Fernando Lamas used to say - it doesn't matter if you feel good, it only matters if you LOOK good. So, a couple weeks ago my friend, Josh Brown, came over for a visit while I was feeding the Cheese. She kept looking over at him and doing this little grin while she put her head on her shoulder. We started to call it her "super cute" look. It took a bit, but we got her to do it on command. I know - I'll never be able to stop her; I can only hope to contain her.

UP! with Cheese

Lately, Julia has started to make words - most of them are normal baby stuff like, "Momma", "Dadda", and "Superfluous." Her newest is "up" - she really digs that "P-ah" sound at the end. Sometimes I'll catch her just sitting around, reading books, and very quietly making that "P-ah" sound over and over again. We got some good post-bath footage of her brushing her teeth and enjoying some "up" time.

1. It starts with some tooth brushing.

2. Then she wants to do it herself.

3. Followed by a elated freak out.

Return to the Cheese

Lynnie has had a tough go at it for the past few days. Julia is teething and as we wait for her new teeth to drop in, the sweet baby Cheese that we know and love goes away and is replaced with a bag of constantly crying broken glass. Nothing will sooth. Nothing will bring joy. Nothing will make her smile. There is only one emotion and one expression - angry crying. Here's a small photo montage of yesterday:

The Cheese woke up and expressed herself in a song of sorrow. Her poor little mouth ached and all she could do was cry. Sooooo.....

Lynnie put her in the Johnny Jumper - which she loves - but it didn't do much to get her mind off the pain. She just screamed and filled her pants with a lovely poo-cano. It was a mess. So, Lynnie took her to the changing table to clean her up.

She proceeded to scream on the changing table while she got cleaned up and changed her clothes. It looks kind of like she's laughing here, but she's not.


Usually, a nice walk in the stroller makes her very happy. Even when she's teething, she'll sing and talk to us as we walk around campus getting assailed by the cicada bugs. But, that didn't do much for her mood.

Today, she's doing much better. She seems back to her good ol' self, but that little tooth still hasn't broken through. She was playing a little peek-a-boo game with me this morning with the laundry basket. The laundry basket sure get's a lot of milage. It is also her play pen. Here she is sitting on the floor playing with me and seems to be the Cheese again.

Cheesey Belly

The other day, I was being silly - big surprise there - and I was slapping my stomach much to Julia's amusement. I think I was trying to play "Wipeout". After a bit, she started to slap her own stomach in imitation. It was pretty cute. Here's a little clip of her in the bath. The slapping noise in the background is me, prompting her with belly slaps.

As an added note: the laundry basket was put in the tub for the Cheese to sit in because she had gotten too squirmy for her baby bathtub and we couldn't have her safely sitting in the big tub without something to support her. So Lynnie got the idea to put her in the laundry basket - it is small enough to keep her from falling over and big enough to keep her from trying to stand up - most of the time.

Turkey and Cheese

Julia was in rare form today during story time with Daddy, so I just had to grab the camera and video some of it. He was reading her a picture book that had different animals wearing different clothing and the last animal is always a turkey doing something goofy like wearing socks on its wings. So every time Mat said "turkey" he would make a turkey noise. Normally, she giggles and they continue. Today she was doing this "I'm an old Jewish woman who is suffering from consumption and every time I laugh - I have to gag" thing. She was also babbling at something on the other side of the room and would occasionally crack herself up. You just have to watch and see.

Changin' Cheese

In the immortal words of David Bowie, "Turn and face the strain - (everybody!) ch-ch-changes!" Were going through some changes right now in the Teves household that have been fun and astounding and straining all at the same time.
On the "facing the strain" front, our baby Cheese is cutting her little teeth. F-U-N! - the excessive drooling, foul moods, short naps, and the all around pleasantries that unfold have made for countless hours of celebrating parenthood. Yesterday morning after Julia woke up, Lynnie went to feed her and she was making this horrible grinding noise in her mouth.
"She's grinding her teeth and its driving me nuts!" Lynnie told me.
"How does she grind her teeth when she's only got two on the bottom?" I asked.
After some protest and squirming, Lynnie was able to get a finger in her mouth and find the culprit. Julia had sprouted a third very tiny top tooth that is now good for grinding. I called my mom and dad, who are visiting my Auntie Monica and Uncle Albert. I asked my mom and auntie if there was anything we could do to get her to stop. Auntie Monica said the best thing for the grinding is earplugs.
On the astounding front: last night while I was at work (the best things always happen while I'm at work) our little Cheese got fed up with sitting on her tokhes (backside) and decided to pull herself up. This morning, when she woke up, she did it again so I could see. It looks like I'm lifting her, but I promise, I am not. Here is the video to prove it.

Bouncin' Cheese

A few weeks ago, my mom sent us a "Johnny Jumper." Because of the joy the Cheese expresses in her EXERSAUSER 2000!, we figured that if we put her in something strictly for bouncing she would enjoy it. We weren't disappointed - she loves jumping in this thing. We were letting her go nuts one morning and Lynnie came up with the idea - how would she react if she were bouncing and she went up, but didn't come back down. The results were pretty dern funny - she made a few poses that reminded me of Chris Farley (may his memory never die) when they made him fly during "Weekend Update" on Saturday Night Live. I hope you enjoy this:

Where does "Cheese" Come From?

We get this question a lot, and understandably so, "Cheese" is not a common nick-name like, Stinky, Dirty, or Fummundah. While in the womb, almost on a nightly basis, when Lynnie was trying to go to sleep, Julia would start squirming and rabbit punching. It was really fun to watch from the outside - it looked kind of like an alien incubating in there. So, because of her poor behavior, I started calling her Hunka Munka - the lady mouse in Beatrix Potter's "The Story of Two Naughty Mice". When she first came out, she kinda looked like a little baby mouse. So we continued to call her Hunka Munka or just Baby Mouse.
After a few months, Julia started to gain weight and got some meat on her bones. Following the mouse motif, we would say that Julia was hiding her cheese all over her body. Her cheeks started to get rounder and more full, so we would say she hidding cheese in her cheeks - same with her thighs.After a while, she had hid so much cheese all over her body, that the cheese just took over. That is how she became The Cheese.

Talkin' Cheese

It's been a while since my last post. I was in class this past week and didn't get to it. It's amazing how quickly little ones change and grow. Julia has started talking this past week. No one can understand her, but she is saying something and it sounds pretty important. If you can figure it out, post a comment below.

Laughin' Cheese

You never know what is going to tickle her funny bone. Sometimes you make a face or a sound and she just finds it hysterical. Today, Lynnie was trying to get Julia to eat some apple sauce. Julia was being her normal difficult self and turning away, employing the resistance techniques of a SERE trained commando. Trying to get her attention, Lynnie used the "Filipino mating call," as we called it in Hawaii : spt-spt (for those unfamiliar with this - you'll be able to hear it in the video) which set Julia into fits of laughter. Who knew that would be the laugh of the day?!

Yoda Cheese or Cheesie Yoda

My dad is always messing around with Photoshop to make these very silly, fantastic renditions of our family. Some of his best work was done last summer when the final - or so we hope - Pirates of the Caribbean came out. He went nuts with that theme and created some of the funniest pictures I've ever seen. I will let you be the judge:

Then he went through a sporadic Yoda phase where every once in a while he would put Yoda's head on us. His most recent inspiration came to us in an email. I thought it was pretty funny. I hope you do to.

Swimming

Yesterday we went to the pool. It was pretty nice. There weren't a lot of people there and Julia digs the water. She even went all the way under - well, actually, I dunked her, but she didn't panic or cry - the first time. I dunked her a second time and she swallowed some water and wasn't very happy with me, as you can see in the pic below: I like for her to try new things and at this point in her life. I can't explain anything and she can't say no - so we have a lot of fun. Actually, I do... I have a lot of fun and she puts up with me.


She did very well with her bubble blowing:

And back floating:

Here she is going under the first time. She made some great faces, but I didn't think to point her towards the camera:

She did very good just hanging out in the water:

Overall it was a pretty good day at the pool.

High Chair

So, the Cheese got her first little high chair the other day. After Lynnie told me how to put it together - it was like some kind of crazy Rubik's Cube or something - we put her in it. She pretended to dig it while she tried to escape. I don't know what she planned on doing once she broke out - but it was a good attempt.

EXERSAUCER

Yesterday our good friend Joanna brought over an Exersauser for the Cheese. Julia had already gone to bed, so this morning, after breakfast, we strapped her in and let her go for a test drive. As you can see from this video - she pretty much freaked out! She almost missed a meal she was having so much fun. Praise God for friends like Joanna who are so generous and always thinking of others.