The End of the Year 2000

Dallapè Dirt

Dallapè Family Newsletter
December 2000

Hello to our friends and family in this last month of the year 2000. We hope everyone is doing well. This has been one of our least-traveled years, but what we didn’t gain in distance we made up for with excitement—this was the year our newest family member was born!
Here is a year-end update on our family.

Our Activities
     In the spring, Suzanne’s sister Allie came for a month-long visit. We spent some of that time going to museums and other places. Rio had a wonderful time with his beloved aunt.
     Most of our year, however, was spent inside, waiting for the birth of our baby in late summer. Other than some bad morning (all day) sickness, it was a smooth and uneventful pregnancy, leading to a very easy, painless birth. Ewan entered the world with his whole family there to welcome him, and it was a nice, non-chaotic, peaceful way to meet us.
     While most of our year was spent close to home, Suzanne and the boys did manage to squeeze in one vacation before the year ended. In the beginning of December, they went to Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, to see Suzanne’s parents and Allie. They were thrilled to see Rio, of course (it had been a year since Grandma Xan had seen him, and a year and a half since Grandpa Jim had!), and they loved meeting their new little grandbaby Ewan. While we were there, we went to the beach twice. It was cool but not cold at all. Suzanne and Allie dipped their toes into the cold water, and within ten minutes were splashing up to their waists! Rio didn’t go in the water, but he had a ball playing in the sand and getting very messy. Suzanne dipped Ewan’s feet into the cold water, and each time he gave a little gasp at the coldness, but he didn’t cry. We were there for ten days, and it was a nice visit (though Jerry sure missed his little boys!).

Jerry
Jerry is still working at Bed Bath & Beyond, as Operations Manager. He’s worked at three different stores over the course of the year, all three Salt Lake area stores. He is going strong with his Star Wars figures collection—he’s ending the year with a total of 300 figures. He has taken digital pictures of all of them for his archives. He has also photographed his figures to look like scenes from Star Wars (he’s covered the first 20 minutes of the movie so far), and is currently displaying them on his website: Click Here! Go there some time and have a look!

Suzanne
Obviously, Suzanne’s main priority these days is her family, but she does occasionally take time to herself to write to friends and to work on her website, which she tries to update regularly to keep up with the changes of the kids. You can see it Here. She’s not as much of a symphony regular as she was a year ago, but she was able to get out and see one program last month by herself, as well as a family concert where she took the boys.

Rio
     At age 4, Rio is just as smart and funny as ever. He is working his way through the Utah Kindergarten requirements; we think he’ll likely finish those requirements in the spring, then will move on to 1^st grade requirements. He is getting very good with writing and spelling, and can read most easy words (but he doesn’t have much interest in reading these days).
     Rio recently got some pets of his very own. He bought a goldfish, which he named Doggie. He took such good care of the fish that we decided to buy him two more goldfish, which he named Ice Cream and Dolphin. Sadly, despite Rio’s spectacular care of them, they all died last week. Rio recently acquired a frog habitat, so he’s looking forward to getting a tadpole, and perhaps small mammals aren’t far behind.
     Rio is very creative. He recently got into X-Men, and has taken to drawing, coloring, and cutting out X-Men paper dolls to play with (he even invented some new characters). He also has made the entire Toy Story cast out of felt and fabric glue—designed, cut out, and pieced together on his own. He also recently wrote and illustrated a book about his brother. Rio and Ewan have a great relationship—Rio loves to play with and talk to Ewan. He is always teaching him things and helping him learn to play with toys.

Ewan
Ewan is now four months old. He weighs about 20 pounds, and is very fat—his thigh measures about 11 inches around. Born with lots of black hair, he is now almost bald, except for some remaining hair at the nape of his neck and on top. The little fuzzies coming in underneath seem to be almost as dark, so he will probably be brunette. His eyes are a very strange color. In some lights, they look solid gray; in others they look brown or even pure olive green, without the usual "speckles." One eye is significantly darker than the other too, and one of his pupils is off-center.
He smiles any time you ask him to, and he giggles all the time for no reason. If you say "HI" to him, he’ll start laughing as if it is a big joke. He has a very strong personality, making his needs well known—nursing only when hungry and laying down only when tired. He knows night from day, and sleeps through the night for the most part, but wakes up at exactly 4:35 each night to be repositioned, at which point he falls back asleep, sometimes even without nursing. He has started to enjoy chewing on toys, and he loves to stand up holding peoples’ hands. Just like Rio, he has never shown any stranger anxiety; he smiles at everyone he sees. He simply adores Rio, smiling at him all the time and loving to spend time looking at him as Rio goes on with his daily business.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!
The Dallapè Family

Our Year In Pictures
2000

Allie visited in the spring, and Rio loved it!