time warp

i'm not exactly sure how June got here all of a sudden, but there is no denying that it is, indeed, here.

In the recent days - officially one week today - Becton has started walking consistently. I hate that I haven't been writing in his journal as often as I did when he was in my belly. The time difference from having him in my belly versus having him out has surely had something to do with it! What's funny is that we take a lot of videos - which are date and time stamped - so it's a quick way of knowing when and where he did some things, since I can usually look at a picture or video and remember most of the events going on that day!

Anyway - a quick update from the Schultz household:

In May, Michael started his new post as a ranger at East Canyon State Park. There were huge budget cuts across the state and so positions were elminated and folks were shifted around. Mike was one of the ones to get shifted. And this is good considering how things have gone before when money's gotten tight at a job. So while a bit disappointed, we are thankful that he is employed.

East Canyon is a nice park. He has housing there as a ranger. We share a duplex with another ranger. *clarification* we do not live at the park. *history* We were offered the opportunity to move into ranger housing at his last park (antelope island) - we said yes with the stipulation that while he was gone to training from August through January, me and baby could stay in the house. So I was preparing in my head that we would be moving this year. They never got back to us until they told us that he was getting put at a different park. So we didn't move to Antelope. Now that we're at East Canyon, we could have moved there too - but decided not to do so. So while Michael works his 5-6 day shift, me and baby go up there and stay a few days with him. It's very serene, and tucked away in the mountains. Lots of quiet time.

Quiet time is very necessary since I'm done teaching and am starting up another round of grad school classes to take. I'm in the midst of working on my comprehensive exams for my doctorate. I have 3 questions to answer and about 10 pages per question to write. As of today, I'm about 8 pages behind. Ugh. It will be nice to sit and just get these done and out of the way. My goal is to turn them in EARLY, instead of right under the deadline. Something about working under pressure gives me good energy. By the end of the month, I should be a candidate for my Doctorate in Education with an emphasis in health professions. Craziness.

And finally, in the world of all things Becton - he's walking and talking and developing into a little boy. He has quite the opinion about many things in his little world and communicates pretty well. His latest thing (because it works much better than anything else he's probably thought of before) is that when he wants something, he knows that for whatever reason, he can't get it, BUT.... an adult can. So whoever the nearest adult is, gets the privilege of Becton comandeering their hand to move it to the item he wants or the action he wants to perform.

He's also getting very good at "reading" - he opens his books and points to the pictures and reads them to me or Michael, or to the other toys he is sitting next to.

We have a habit - Michael started this with him - of pointing to the pictures we pass in the house and saying who's in them. So the other day we were doing our usual round of pictures and when we got to the picture of the Hawaii temple, I said "That's the temple." and Becton said "Tem-pa."

Part of me is trying not to go the "from the mouths of babes" route and say "it's a message! i need to go to the temple!" but the other part of me is thinking maybe that's what I need. Some serene time to meditate in the temple. There's probably something in there for me and I should try to figure out what it is.

So in other words of Becton's vocabulary, besides temple, are "cat" - which he readily identifies actual cats as well as pictures of cats and tries to pet them vigorously. He also says "dah" (for dog) and does not try to interact with any of them. They are too scary (and big). He says "hi" and "byyyyyyyyeeeeeee!" as well as "mom" - which is still by chance. He doesn't really say it to me. And "da" - but da is usually when he wants to watch tv and not when he sees daddy. He also says "ba" for ball. He loves the little boy he sees in the mirror and likes to talk to him alot. And he loves motorcycles and says brrrrrm brrrrrrm when he sees them or hears something that he thinks is them (i.e. lawn mowers or trucks).

We went to Wheeler Farm yesterday and saw lots of stinky animals - like huge geese, pigs in stilletos, goats and their rat families. We also saw horses, and Becton seemed to like the horses best. I held him up at the bridge to look over into the river water and had to keep the freak accident thoughts of him going over the edge out of my head. I hope, one day, that I stop being so scared of random crazy things happening to him that are out of my control, otherwise I'll end up living in a bomb shelter for the rest of my life.

So that's our general update. We are healthy and doing well. Michael leaves in August for five months to do military training. He comes home mid-January. His unit is set to mobilize in January of 2011. So the next 3 years should be quite interesting in our household. Maybe after he comes back from his tour, we'll be able to finally settle into life, build on our land and play house.

Until then - here's a great quote I saw today and had to save it somewhere:
"Review the past but don't lament. There is no such thing as SHOULD, as in I should or shouldn't have. You do or you don't. You did or did not. The thing to do is to see your NOW clearly. Acknowledge how you got here, and focus on where you want to be."