I finally talked to Chris last night and gathered some details of his training. He is currently in a tent, sleeping on bunkbeds with the 22 other guys. They have to walk three tent lengths to go to the restroom, which is a port a potty in a tent. He says they just began heating the "bathrooms" yesterday despite the cold temps on previous days. He walks to another tent to shower. There is a building for the chowhall, which does have television, so he's been able to keep up with the world news. One day they practiced riding in convoys, identifying roadside bombs, another day walking through town desiphering the "good" guys from "bad" guys and shooting appropriately. Soon they will be practicing riding in a convoy through live fire. I thought it sounded rather interesting, but I suppose it is in practice--not so much live. He thinks he may wrap up training a day earlier, which would allow Claire and I to meet him for a night. Although he continues to say not to get my hopes up. Hos can I not?? We are so excited at this thought. The thought of being together for just one day would be a wish come true! If this is the case, our plans will fall into place as we had talked about finding out the sex of our baby by having the tech write it on a card and opening it together over dinner. We found out with Claire, but felt it was very impersonal. I am happy that something looks to be falling into place. I just returned from a spa day with friends. It was fantastically relaxing. Much needed!
Claire is nine months old. She is such an active kid, always on the go. She no longer lays nicely when we change her diaper. It is quite the challenge. She is getting rather quick at crawling, so we have to move just as quickly to keep her out of where she doesn't belong--the fridge, cupboards, etc. Developmentally, she is right on track or maybe a bit advanced in our biased eyes. She crawls, pulls herself up, is beginning to move from one piece of furniture to another, mostly eats table food, and imitates us (both in the noises we make or actions--knocking on a door). When we hold her hands, she is beginning to take steps without much guidance. On Saturday, she made her first attempt to climb a step. Sadly, it ended with her sliding down. She has three teeth--two on the bottom, one on top with another coming in on top. Ten things we love about her: 1. her smile 2. her curiosity 3. the way she holds our hands or her own hands when she sleeps 4. her easy-goingness 5....
Comments
Love ya's,
Uncle Dan
Love ya,
Jessica
Glad to hear that you were able to enjoy the day at the spa - pampering you deserve!