"mommy, the house is bouncing"

[rlu]

Here's one for the baby book - first earthquake. Just a 5.6, no real damage, but the first since DS was born significant enough to be noticed. He took it well, noting the house was bouncing (we were rolling, not shaking), and I explained it was an earthquake and that was about it. It was at bedtime though, so I explained we might have an aftershock and then he wanted a little more cuddling and off he went to bed. A true Californian, even if he was born in Texas!

As a note of comedic timing, my husband had just finished unclogging the commode and flushed when the quake started. He thought the old old pipes below had burst and the floor was going out from under him.

What events are not normally in the typical baby book that would make sense in your region/family?

[JTsMom]

ROFL about the toilet! :D

[tny915]

LOL about the toilet!

We're slightly north of you and felt not a thing last night, saving me from the dilemma of how to explain an earthquake to DD. I didn't even turn on the tv last night, so was oblivious to the entire event till this morning. DH came home from work this morning (he works nights) and was amazed that I didn't know about it.

[avd3875]

Congratulations to your DS for experiencing his first earthquake! I live in a very old house too, so I completely understand why your DH thought it was the pipes. Maybe it was, do you think your pipes could measure 5.6 on the richter scale?
Since my DS was born most of the earthquakes have been at night, so he's never actually felt one. I told him about it on the way to school this morning and by the time I left him all the preschoolers were playing "earthquake" doing the duck and cover thing under the play structure.

[tarabenet]

Y'know, somehow my teaching Aubrey to clap and cheer for thunder and lightning just doesn't go on the same scale as rearing a kid who can drift securely off to sleep after the Earth literally moved under his feet!

I am still laughing about your DH's take on the timing! That is too funny!

For the baby books? This year we took the traditional Texas spring pic of the kids in the bluebonnets. The next day, we took more pics of the kids in snow-covered bluebonnets -- something we'd never seen before.

My stepdaughter was born in a freak ice storm -- mom and dad made it to the hospital, but the doc didn't arrive there until hours later, just in time to catch. The short-handed nurses were in a panic, telling the mom "Don't push! Don't push! Whatever you do, don't push!" It was a small community hospital, and although it wasn't revealed until later, there wasn't a single MD of any sort on premises. And my parents have no pics, but my mom has early childhood memories of watching a tornado race through the backyards of her neighborhood, ripping up clotheslines and chasing her little dog home just before the whole family dove into the big bathtub. My dad has memories of climbing on the roof in junior high, to watch a tornado in the next town pick up a train and spin it in a huge arc, like an angry little kid with a toy.

[katydid1971]

I was on the phone with MIL who lives in Scotts Valley, she said "oh I have to move to a doorway" and then continued her conversation as normal. Such a Californain. :) Glad DS's first earthquake wasn't too scary.
Sarah

[rlu]

The bluebonnets! DS was born in TX and we have a shot of him at 1 month crying his head off in his carseat in the middle of bluebonnets in Ennis.

The thunder and lightning we have here is nothing compared to that we enjoyed in East Texas. MIL stayed up the night watching during one of her visits.

Tornados and hurricanes scare me.

[rlu]

DS and I were brushing his teeth at the time and I thought about picking him up and standing in the doorway but figured that screwing up the routine would upset him more than the earthquake.