Tag Archives: language development

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 10

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

July 31, 2026- We couldn’t go for our walk today, because two of us over the age of 30 forgot to take the stroller out of the trunk, when we got back from the doctor’s, on Wednesday. Hana occupied herself nicely, using me as a support in pulling herself up to a standing position, several times today. This is something she want to do on her own and she will get it accomplished. I would say that, at this rate, she will be standing, pretty easily, by the middle of August.

Her speech is also rapid fire and sounds fairly specific, though much of it is babbling, still. “Mama”, “Oma”, “Apa”, “Daddy”, “Dada”, “Mommy” and “Papa” are all spoken with regularity. “I want”, “I don’t want”, “Yeah” and “”I love” also are clearly pronounced.

HANA’S NOTE- I really, really, really want to walk. I like standing up. I can see so much more.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1983 My paternal grandmother was someone I thought would live forever. A month shy of her 84th birthday, Nana was choking on something,at a Senior Center lunch. A well-meaning gentleman intervened, and performed a Heimlich procedure on her. It didn’t have the desired effect and she had to be hospitalized. She died shortly thereafter. Nana lived to see 49 grandchildren and at least a dozen great-grandchildren. One of those grandchildren preceded her in death. The rest of us honoured her memory.

Penny and I settled into Tuba City, and into our work. We were regulars at a coffee house that was put on each week, at the Episcopal Church. We had people over for dinner, at least once a week and taught those who were interested, about the Baha’i Faith. One comment, from a video store operator, who was a member of Four Square Gospel, still sticks in my memory: “All religions follow the same God?” That is indeed our story, and we’re sticking to it.

We also traveled around the Southwest: Pipe Spring, Colorado City and Lake Havasu City (for Christmas), in Arizona; on our First Anniversary-Durango to Silverton, Colorado (on the Narrow Gauge Railroad); Chama,Rio Grande Gorge, Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico and several Baha’i-sponsored events, from Phoenix and Casa Grande to Jemez Springs and Crystal, New Mexico. In the Fall, my brother, Glenn, married his sweetheart, Barbie. So we made the trip back to Massachusetts, at the height of foliage season. It was sweet.

We did very well, as a couple, during this first year of wedlock.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 23

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Posted by on in children, Community, Education, Family, Historical, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

July 14, 2026– Lunch is peaceful, when a bit of tactile feeding is involved. The food that ends up in Hana’s hands, as opposed to the spoon with which I feed her most of it, still ends up in her mouth-either by her own actions or by my scooping it from the body bib, high chair tray or food catcher at the base of the chair. What little finds its way to an unsanitary area, like the foot rest of the high chair-or the floor, is of course, discarded. She ate everything on her plate today.

How lunch proceeds also depends on the quality of her mid-morning nap. Even though that was brief today, she was energetic and happy, when she woke up. So, she probably slept pretty deeply. We also went out earlier than normal, so she had the extra pleasure of a cooler morning walk.

Hana is calling us “Papa”, “Daddy” and “Mama” more these days. She even used her own name and pointed to herself, for the first time, this afternoon. Her vocalizations, in general, have vastly increased, this week. She can also be quite loud.

HANA’S NOTE- I am happy with my name-and happy with the meals that Mama leaves for me. They feel nice and taste good.

YEAR IN REMEMBTANCE0 1966 Sophomore year went well, in every subject except Algebra I. Coach Stead tried his best, but I till didn’t get the hang of it. I managed to finally get a B in the course, in Mr. Quinlan’s summer course.

Most of our family summer vacations entailed a few days somewhere in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and 2-3 days at Johns Pond, in Mashpee, on Cape Cod. This year, after Mashpee, we took a day trip from nearby Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard. I like walking around Vineyard Haven, but more enjoyed a visit to a Wampanoag community, on the west of the island.

Junior Year, in the fall, brought Geometry, Chemistry and U.S. History, along with a dismal year of French- mostly because it entailed memorizing long lists of conjugated verbs-not my jam, then or now. One of my best friends was a freshman girl, who I had met at the beach over the summer. She was dating a sophomore boy, who also became a good friend. He and I sat in the back of Geometry Class and enjoyed one another’s snarky humour. We also managed to get through the class with Cs.

I hung out with a variety of kids this year. I had a ways to go with picking up on social cues, Joan and Charlie, to whom I alluded earlier, helped a lot, as did several of the guys in my neighbourhood- even though their name for the group was rather lame: “The Ave. Boys”. (We lived on or near Adams Avenue.) I walked over to Howard Johnson’s Restaurant, where one of the kids on my street worked. A number of teens from Saugus and nearby Melrose gathered there, mostly during the summer nights. We seldom drew the attention of the police-but Officer Gus Belmonte would chat us up and made it clear he expected no trouble from anyone. Gus was one of the better cops.