Solstice

Welcome to the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year! We had a lovely family day today that started with our usual Sunday morning: a visit to our favorite bakery and a trip to the Trader Joe's. Back at home with a refrigerator stocked full of good food, we enjoyed the spectacular weather with a neighborhood walk and bike ride.

Then this afternoon we sang carols with the San Diego Master Chorale and watched some beautiful ballerinas dancing to the Nutcracker at the Family Festival Concert downtown. Elliot and Owen were both transfixed by the orchestra and the singers and the dancers. And, even cooler, they had an instrument "petting zoo" before the concert where kids could walk around looking at all the instruments on display and try their hand at playing some of them. Owen tried the cymbals and the drums, but particularly loved the trumpet.

Then, this evening we sat by the fire and warmed ourselves with hot cocoa and marshmallows (and Peppermint Schnapps in the cocoa for Mommy and Daddy) while we talked about welcoming winter and enjoying the season of hope and happiness around us.

Here's hoping your day was special too!

The Magic of Christmas

Despite the fact that I have a newish camera with all sorts of bells and whistles on it that supposedly prevent red-eye and are able to capture an "active" child, all my pictures lately have been blurry and crazy.....

but, I'm sharing them with you anyway because I promised! Also, they are really sweet and I hope you can see the excitement and happiness oozing out of us....

such as this one on the North Pole Limited:

or this one adoring our new Santa Wonderland Village Train:

Click Here to see the whole set.

Wordless Wednesday (with a lot of words)

I know, I know, it's been a while. It's interesting -- I've had some beautiful reflection and introspection time lately since I've been home making and organizing for the holidays and the coming year. I love winter (even in San Diego) and the season of celebration that's upon us.

Anyway, just to say I've had some great epiphanies and realizations lately but for some reason haven't found the desire to sit down and type about them. Some reflections are just for me, I suppose. Let's just say I'm excited about the coming year and looking forward to working on bettering myself as woman, wife, mother, sister and friend.

Anyway, back to the kiddies: I did just upload some pictures of our little stepping stones of celebration this December: Finding the tree, Riding the North Pole Limited, Finding just the right Santa for our Christmas cards, decorating the tree, making gingerbread cookies and gingerbread houses, and seeing far away family. I will post a link to all of them tomorrow (hopefully). But for today, here's a glimpse of our holiday excitement:

When you are almost 2....

life is like a fun-house mirror!

Stone Soup

This is the only photo I managed all day: our table at the end of the night.

Turkey was eaten, pies were devoured, sweet potato souffle was finished off. It was a delicious meal thanks to everyone who attended. I mentioned at the dinner table how I felt like it was a Stone Soup kind of meal. I offered to have Thanksgiving dinner at my place and then everyone else brought all the good stuff. Well, I made the turkey and cranberries but I absoutely could not have done it without my mom's help.... Owen wrote and decorated the place cards, and Elliot helped by devouring all the carrots and broccoli he could find.

Anyway, it was a great Thanksgiving, for which I am very thankful.

A week of things to be thankful for.

1. Cleaning out a corner of the office to make room for some serious painting.

2. Enlisting the neighbor boys to help dig in the garden. No weeding or planting gets done, just lots of moving rocks and piles of dirt from one area to another. Our block has 10 boys under the age of 10 (including my 2, but not including the twin boys due any minute a few houses down!!!! I swear, there is something in the water here that is saying BOYS BOYS BOYS! but I digress...), so getting them all focused on one co-operative play is quite the after school challenge.

3. Having a week off of school and spending a large portion of it in the library.

4. Owen's first Soccer Clinic. In the past, he has only taken sport classes at the YMCA which are pretty general. But, since he has the whole of Thanksgiving week off from school, I thought it would be fun to enroll him in a day camp. I borrowed all the gear from a friend and the instant he put on the shin guards, the cleats, and the soccer shirt it was magic. He spent 3 hours at the camp just playing soccer, and when I picked him up, the first thing he said was "That was fun, can I do it again?" Ooooh, I am so becoming a soccer mom!

5. Our first week of truly winter weather (well, for San Diego). That means rain! If I lived in Seattle I'm sure I'd feel differently but I love the way earth smells after a rainstorm. So full of promise and life.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and the chance to share a wonderful meal with family and friends. I hope everyone out there in blog-reading land has a fantastic day of feasting and merriment celebrating community, family, love and happiness.

Hold me!

In the past few weeks, Elliot's vocabulary has just exploded. And, Mr. Precocious has discovered that certain phrases elicit certain responses from me.

His (and my) favorite: When he wants something from me -- like he wants to get down from his high chair or wants me to carry him somewhere -- he reaches for me and says plaintively "Hold me!!!" and then gives me a huge koala bear hug around the neck. It melts my heart every time, even when I carry him all the way home from the park because every time I suggest he get down and walk he looks at me with those huge eyes and pleads his case "Hold me!!!!!" Hug. Of course I will.

He also has turned the phrase "I do it!" into his personal mantra. Except when Elliot says it it's more like "I DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I don't even think I'm using enough exclamation points to really show you how emphatic he is about it. This phrase applies to absolutely everything. Cutting onions for dinner, brushing his teeth, peeing in the toilet, locking the car door, using the scissors, playing the guitar, trimming his nails, setting the dishwasher buttons, etc. He shows an alarming disregard for how dangerous the task might be and he is so vehemently committed to following through I sometimes have to literally pry him from the task. Sometimes I don't win.

He has taken to collecting coins in his pocket. Whenever he finds one, he yells with glee "Pemmy!" ( Penny, or dime, or quarter, they are all pemmy to Elliot) and then carefully places it in his pocket. Then he stamps his feet to hear the jingling of coins in his pants and is totally and completely happy.

And even Owen was impressed when Elliot "accidentally" messed up something Owen was playing with and Elliot immediately turned to Owen and said"I sorry, Owee".

He is a little parrot repeating things back to us and finding new ways to combine his words. "Baby-drinky-table!" he said today at lunch when he wanted his milk next to his plate. Then, he broke into a huge grin when he realized that I actually understood him.

Fall

Our Halloween pumpkins were put to good use this past week:

pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice bread and toasted pumpkin seeds for snacking.

All I can say is, YUM. I love fall foods.

If only our weather would cool off a little so we wouldn't sweat so much while eating all the soups and roasted vegetables and hot baked goods I've been craving. We've been having a Santa Ana weather condition here which is resulting in some terrible wildfires up in LA, but is leaving us here in San Diego (thankfully) with no fires -- just warm, dry, windy weather.

Which is great for going to the beach between shows (matinee at 2pm, evening at 8pm) like we did last Saturday:

but is terrible for those of us who grew up in climates with four seasons. Although I don't miss the bitter cold and the snow of deep winter, I do miss the stormy autumn days of rain and gloominess that can only be dispelled by hot chocolate and a night by the fire doing a puzzle.

Update

Well, I survived the shows last week. I hobbled around on my broken toe a little, and had to wear matronly flats instead of the upscale high heels that my character's costume normally includes, but I made it through 7 shows and no-one in the audience seemed to notice.

Since some of you have asked here's a link to the show I've been working on: http://www.northcoastrep.org/season27/dinner.html. It's been doing phenomenally well and we were sold out all last week. The reviews have been great and we've extended through this week. It's not meaningful or deep or art with a capital A..... but it has been so much fun to do.

Anyway, I have one more week of shows and then I can concentrate on the fact that there are only 6 weeks until Christmas! Yikes! Also, I plan to finally upload all those photos I've been talking about since about August and our famous (infamous?) Michigan trip... Wow, I've put a lot of things on the backburner lately.

Anyway, I promise to give you some cute stories about Owen and Elliot soon. I'll leave you with this quick story: Paul had this great idea that Owen would really like Mr. Bean so we got some episodes to watch together. Oh, my, was he right. Both Owen and Elliot think he is pretty much the funniest guy on the planet..... and they have been practicing their Mr. Bean goofy faces and re-enacting his escapades all weekend. Especially this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4cmrMJul1g.

Housework is dangerous

Yesterday morning at 10:30 am I broke my toe while vacuuming.

Yes, it's true. Unglamorous as it is, it's the truth. Even the emergency room doctor found it amusing. Then, when I asked if I was going to be able to do my show this week, he cracked the joke. "I thought you were supposed to break a LEG!" Har de har har.

Happy Halloween

Despite his excellent roar, Elliot has since refused to put on the lion costume. We've been to several Halloween events and each time the sight of the lion costume elicited a "No! No! No!" and a run in the other direction..... I'm sure it has something to do with the excessive heat we've been having in these parts and the fact that the lion costume is probably more suited to colder Halloween celebrations.


At any rate, this morning before taking Elliot to his preschool co-op, and after he declined (not so politely) one more time to put on the lion outfit, I looked through the other options and threw something together at the last minute. Surprise, surprise -- Elliot took to the idea immediately and has been running around saying "Arggh!" all day while brandishing his foam sword.









Owen on the other hand is a tree. Yes, a TREE. Weeks ago when I was trying to help him make his decision, I was offering all sorts of ideas with which he semed singularly unimpressed. Finally, he decided he would be a tree and the design and execution of the costume was all his doing. (well, I worked the hot glue gun, but he came up with all the parts and decided how it should look). We went to his Elementary school Halloween party last weekend and there were some surprised looks as well as a few people voicing their shock at seeing something home-made. Yes, home-made! Since when do all Halloween costumes have to be superheroes? I love Owen's tree, especially because it's all his own idea.



This year, I located some fairy wings that I had made years ago that had been hiding in the garage, and became the Tooth Fairy. It was perfect timing too because Owen lost his SECOND tooth yesterday!!!!!! Wow. What a week!





Anyway, I hope everyone has fun this Halloween!

on girls and dorkiness

Early on in Kindergarten when I was asking him how his class was going and who his friends were, Owen would tell me a little about the kids he hung out with and he mentioned one girl who he thought was "bossy". Well, the other day we were chatting and he talked about all his friends and he mentioned this same girl again. This time, however, he was quite convinced she was his best friend and spoke very admiringly of her. -- I'm not trying to imply anything about this except a little passing thought that I hope he always admires (and respects) strong-minded girls.

In other social awareness news, Owen is developing his inner goofball to an alarming degree at school. When we go to school in the morning and he sees his friends, Owen does a little pratfall comedy routine where he trips over his backpack or "accidentally" runs into the wall or the table or something. Then he rolls his eyes and says something to his backpack like "Hey you, backpack! Don't fall over anymore!!!!!!!" His friends watch him and some of them smile or laugh, some of them ignore him, but I've seen a couple of them wait until he does something else and then try the same thing on their own. Future class clown? I don't know.

My friend who posts here recently had a post about nurturing her boys' inner dorkiness, and I couldn't agree more.... it's not always cool to be cool. There is an awkard sweetness to 5 year olds.... I love Owen's goofiness and I hope he doesn't feel the need to stifle it any time soon.

Wordless Wednesday: Elliot's Pizza Party

Sneak Peak

Some of you may remember this picture from October 2004:






Well, guess who tried on the Lion suit this past weekend and discovered a truly excellent Roar?







The question is, what will Owen be for Halloween? 18 days and counting.... he'd better figure it out soon!

After school thoughts, by Owen

Today I picked up Owen from school and we had the usual exchange:

Me: How was school?
Owen: Fine.
Me: Did you have fun?
Owen: Yes.
Me: What did you do?
Owen: I don't remember.

So, I decided to try a different tact and went with a very specific question instead of an open-ended essay question.

Me: Who did you sit next to at snack today?

Well,I hit the jackpot. That question unleashed a barrage of information which I will try to highlight here because it had me giggling in the front seat as he talked on and on in the back seat....

Basically, he usually sits with his friend Conor because they like to make jokes. Today's joke was that one of them would say: "So and so (someone at the table) has a bee (or something else) on their back!" and whoever's name was called had to scream wildly at which point the whole table would erupt in laughter.

I asked Owen who else was at the table and we had the following exchange:

Owen: Just a group of boys who like jokes. Girls don't want to sit at our table because it's too crowded up with boys.

Me: Do girls ever sit at your snack table?

Owen: No, the girls want a fine snack time.

Me: Fine???? What do you mean fine?

Owen: Like, not interrupted. They want to sit and finish their snack and they usually don't like our jokes.

It went on and on, but this was the part I remembered and had to share with you all.

Yes, by the way, Owen is definitely enjoying school more....

In case you were wondering

Have you ever talked to Elliot on the phone? Although the phone in this video isn't real, it will give you some idea of what's going on on the other end of the line: Lots of aimless wandering, a few words and a meandering goodbye.

Work

I started working again.

In my line of work that means rehearsals Tuesday through Friday from 6pm-11pm and Saturday and Sunday 12-5pm. Which means that I spend my days running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to manage the affairs of the household (cooking, groceries, bills, cleaning, laundry, school drop-offs, gymnastics classes, etc.) and then I leave for my "job" before Paul gets home from his while my Mom stays with the kids and makes them dinner (which I've prepared but needs to be assembled or heated or what have you). And I'm drinking loads of coffee so that I can stay up until 11pm and be a coherent, articulate, creative collaborator with the other members of the cast and crew.

I'm loving it.

It's crazy, but I really love it. I love thinking intellectually and creatively about something other than the dinner menu or the grocery budget. I love talking with other adults about politics and art. I love having 20 minutes of commute in the car all by myself to listen to NPR or nothing at all (if I so choose). I love that Elliot is finally learning that it's ok when I walk out the door because I will be back in the morning. I love that Owen is excited to come visit my theater and see my sets and costumes and see where I work.

It's crazy busy, but it feels really really good.

I just don't know when I'll memorize my lines...

These are a few of my favorite things

The days are getting shorter, the air is getting hazier and I see pumpkins and apples and blustery days ahead. I love the arrival of fall! To celebrate the transition, I'd like to share with you a few things that bring all of us happiness right now at the end of summer.

Late Afternoon Art

reading Calvin and Hobbes -- any time, any where.

Homework

"Go for a Color Walk with your child and find items in your neighborhood that are red, blue, green, purple, yellow, brown, orange, black and white. Then draw a picture of each item." Owen and I both loved this homework. One of many fun and interesting projects in his September Homework packet (yes! times have changed and Kindergartners get homework!) See below Owen's red flag, blue fence, green grass, purple flower, yellow fire hydrant, brown roof, orange flower, black truck, and white flower.

Owen's Chore Chart (courtesy of Simple Mom)

Owen absolutely loves this chart. He gets to put the stickers on once he completes his chore, and we have it posted on the refrigerator so that we all can admire and reward Owen for all his hard work.

Breaking Bad Habits

It took 12 days, but I think it's all going to be ok.

Every morning at Owen's school, the bell rings at 9:05am and the students line up with their classes on the recess black-top for the morning pledge and song (sometimes God Bless America or sometimes This Land is Your Land) and then the principal makes some school-wide announcements. The Character Trait for the month of September is Civility, and he talks about what that means and how to exhibit that trait. Some chosen students -- usually 4th or 5th graders -- share a poem or a comment and then he dismisses the students to have "A Great Day of Learning" and to follow their teachers back to the classroom. Parents mill around the outside of the black-top area and then give their kids a final wave, hug, kiss and smile as they walk off to class. The whole thing takes about 5 or 6 minutes.

I actually really enjoy staying for the assembly -- I love the ritual of it I guess. However, Owen had gotten into the habit of crying at the assembly. He has been fine once he gets into the classroom, and his teacher told me he was doing well (I think "Awesome!!!" and "Really great!" were her exact words). Owen had just gotten into a bad habit. I think they say that it takes 3 days to break a bad habit? Well, its true. On Friday Paul took him to school. No tears, of course. On Monday we challenged him (ok, bribed him) -- if he didn't cry he would get an extra sticker on his responsibility chart at home and it would be worth a whole 25 cents! and then Tuesday I had our neighbor take him to school.

This morning I walked him to school again and stayed for the morning assembly. Finally, finally, finally FINALLY! this morning when I gave Owen a thumbs up and a smile and said "Have a great day!" he actually smiled and said brightly "I will!!! I'll be good! See you later!"

No tears, no pouts, no crying for Mommy. Ahhh, a new day has dawned.

7 years ago today

There are seven years worth of reasons why I love my husband. And I'll be telling him them all tonight over dinner (yes, we got a babysitter! yes, I'm going to wear make-up and maybe even a nice dress!!!!).

Happy Anniversary, my dear.

Thank you, Tooth Fairy.

The tooth is now in the happy hands of the Tooth Fairy. There were a few tears yesterday when it popped out, but he did manage to make a joke about it. "Should we e-mail the Tooth Fairy to let her know it came out?" Followed by a smile.

At the end of the day, I turned off the lights and sat there in the rocker with Elliot in my arms. Owen sighed and sat up in bed, facing me in the dark.

"Mommy? I have a really good idea. I think when I lose my last tooth, we should save it for a really, really long time."

"That's a great idea," I said. "Did you want to keep this tooth, too?"

"No," he said, "but I want to keep my very last tooth. Make sure you tell Daddy."

And this morning he found a nice $1 bill folded neatly in his little tooth box where the baby tooth was hidden last night. I guess it seemed to the Tooth Fairy that when you lose your tooth on the First Week of Kindergarten, it should be worth more than a quarter!!! Owen was quite pleased.

School Report: Week 1

This school thing is harder than I thought. I know Owen will succeed and gain confidence and be the excellent Kindergartener that I know he can be, but so far this week has been filled with a lot of tears and temper and exhaustion.


Day 1 went great, but when I picked him up after that long, long day ( 9:05-3:35pm) he was hot and sweaty and the first thing he said was "I need more snack!!!!" So we sat down and had some water and snack before heading home. I couldn't get a lot of information from him except they had 2 recesses.


Day 2 when I picked him up after school he started crying the instant he saw me and basically didn't stop for 30 minutes. Apparently they read a story in class with pictures that scared him, and for various reasons he wasn't able to recover. He teetered on the edge of his emotions all evening long and then practically fell asleep in his dinner.


Day 3: With a wavering lip and a brave chin up he promised me he would have a good day and did! But when I picked him up after today's early dismissal (they have one early day a week), he spent the afternoon bickering with Elliot, grabbing toys and crying in frustration that Elliot was messing up his stuff. Then as he started getting ready for bed (again, exhausted), he was on the verge of tears again and I asked him what was wrong and he said something about wanting to stay home from school on Friday so he could have a chance to play with Elliot some more. Oh no.


Day 4: It was a rough start today. Owen dragged his feet and didn't want to go, and there were some tears and trepidation. But, luckily our neighbors came over to walk down to school with us. Yay! At the sight of his friends, Owen perked up and loved the walk to school. He went into his class with a wave and a smile and Elliot and I went home (no tears from Elliot this morning!!!). All day long I wondered: would it be a good day or a bad day? At 3:35 I went to pick him up and thankfully it was all good. He had a fun day, made some new friends and finally started telling me about what he does during the day... whew. I feel incredibly better about the whole thing after today. Here's hoping he remembers the good and not the bad come Monday morning.


So, in hindsight there are several reasons why this week has been so long -- not least of which is that everything is so brand new. This is a whole new way of spending our days, and it's not easy. Also, I've figured out that he's a little apprehensive about losing his tooth while eating, and he's been saying he isn't hungry, even when he is. So, he hasn't been eating enough at snack or lunch. AND lunch isn't until 12:50pm. That may not seem late to some of you, but believe me it is! He's used to eating lunch at 12 and without a proper snack he is seriously starving by 12:30. Which leads to? You guessed it: crying jags, temper and tiredness. Add to that the fact that we are having a late summer heat wave and we have no air-conditioning in our house. Which normally isn't a problem, but add it to this heady brew of short-tempers and exhaustion and you've got an emotional maelstrom happening.


So, it's been rough. Did you notice I haven't even said anything about actual learning ( like reading, math, science, etc)? I guess I'm really realizing that starting Kindergarten is alot more about emotional adjustment. After today's good day, Owen told me they had "centers" today at school, and one of the centers was puzzles. GOOD! That probably made him feel better immediately!


Let's hope he gets some good food and rest this weekend (and finally loses that tenacious tooth) so he can head to school on Monday without any worries at all!

18 Months

Although he cried saying goodbye to Owen again today, Elliot is starting to really enjoy ruling the roost at home without his brother around. He's exploring his toys in a totally different way, and I haven't had to pull him off the bookcase or down from the stove once this week.

Today he had his 18 month well-child visit at the doctor. High marks all around, although the doctor felt he was a little underweight: 75% in height, less than 25% in weight. Sometimes I forget that kids need to eat more fat than we do. For health reasons, and because it just feels better for us, Paul and I eat a low-fat, whole food, vegan-ish (yes I just made up that word) diet... but it looks like butter, ice cream and whole milk yogurt are back on the menu. At least for Owen and Elliot. Won't they be pleased!

I'll give everybody a school update tomorrow. Let's just say it's been an emotional week and I'm very glad tomorrow is Friday!

Another day...

....another wrenching display of brotherly love.

We dropped off Owen at school again today and Elliot cried and cried as we walked away and up the hill to home. He definitely does not like seeing Owen say goodbye.... I appeased him with a banana and we counted school buses in the neighborhood as we walked home. Hopefully this will get easier for him.

Of course once we got home he got down to the business of playing and did so beautifully -- with creativity, joy and vigor. He plays so differently when Owen isn't around.... very thoughtfully and carefully. In all his 1 1/2 years, he and I have had very little Mommy and Elliot time. I'm excited for all of us as we make our way through this school year.

Back to School Pictures

Outside our front door this morning:

Walking to school:

Outside his Kindergarten class:

Elliot's look of despair and worry at seeing his brother going off to have fun without him:

For the record, Owen walked smartly into class and said hello to Miss Allen, his new teacher, without even once looking back over his shoulder. Meanwhile, I walked back up the big hill to our house fighting back tears and thinking about all the new things he will see and do without me. Elliot's face pretty much matched my inside emotions, I guess.

I wonder what he's up to right this minute? Elliot is sleeping and the house is oh so quiet. This will take some getting used to.

We interrupt this previously scheduled program

to bring you the news: Owen has his first loose tooth!


See that gap on the bottom? That is his little baby tooth loosening to make room for the gigantic BIG KID tooth growing in underneath it!!!!!!


I've been enjoying my little self-imposed blog-hiatus and I'm looking forward to sharing lots of stories and pictures with you all once I resume regular postings next week. This August has been so lovely -- full of beach visits, family vacations, Zoo trips, and hours and hours of brotherly playing (squabbles, giggles, Legos, pillow fights, fort-making, ice-cream eating, you name it).

But, I couldn't wait to tell everybody how exciting this loose tooth is for us. And by exciting I mean I can no longer ignore the terrifying, thrilling, mind-blowing reality that my little boy is DEFINITELY growing up. Just in time for (gulp) Kindergarten next week. Oh, my god. Is it really here already?

See you all after Labor Day.

Hi.

It's been kind of quiet around here in blog land. Sorry about that. I sort of made this realization that there are only 3 weeks left of summer vacation and decided to not look at blogging as an assignment...

Instead, we went on a mini-family vacation for a beautiful 4 day weekend involving ferris wheels, swimming pools, bowling alleys, sand and the most delicious vegan cuisine ever (see Urth Caffe and Real Food Daily for our faves)....

and we are currently preparing for a maxi-vacation next week involving my grandpa's 90th birthday, 4 cabins full of family members, and a three hour flight plus two hour drive. For this one, though, Paul is staying back at home for the week to watch James Bond movies and reality tv while muttering something about not enough vacation time... hmm.

Anyway, consider this a short hello and I guess I'll check back in when we have maximized our August to its full summer potential! This will likely involve plenty of coffee shop trips.

Cheers.

File this under....

Better late than never. Click HERE for some birthday party photos from earlier this month.

So, yes, Owen turned 5 on July 7th and we had a Pirate Party complete with Walking the Plank, Scavenger Hunt with Treasure Map, Pin the Flag on the Pirate Ship and much, much more.

It was beyond fun. Owen and I spent weeks planning and creating our artistic masterpieces (er, cardboard decorations)... and he couldn't have been more pleased with the way it all turned out. I went by the rule where you don't invite more kids than the age of the birthday boy.... and what with siblings and neighbors stopping in, it was the perfect size party.

And then on Monday (his actual birthday) Paul took a day off work and we went to Legoland as a surprise. Owen might as well be a Lego designer when he grows up the way he loves his Legos sets... It was a great day.

And now I have a five year old. Definitely not a baby anymore. I look at him and see him changing before my eyes and I just want to squeeze him so tight, cradle him in my arms and tell him that I love him. I'm so glad that he still lets me do that!

Hot and Heavy in the Land of Gibberish

Within the last few weeks Elliot has increased his vocabulary exponentially and become much more stable physically. Even just last week, he fell off the couch and landed on his head pretty much once every day. This week? No major injuries to report and its already Friday! (I hope I'm not jinxing this good luck by posting about it).

Mostly, though, its his communication skills that thrill me. It's so incredible when suddenly you realize you are actually communicating with your child. I remember loving this stage with Owen, too. I can say something like "Take your book and put it in the basket by the door", and I can watch his brain working and figuring it out. The look of pleasure and satisfaction on his face is so pure when he knows he is truly understanding the world around him.

Among the dozens of new words he uses, these are my favorites because they are always accompanied by a physicalization that fits just perfectly:

1) I'll put his food on the table and he'll look at me quizzically and put his hand directly on the food and ask "Hot?" and wait for me to say yes or no. If it's yes, he'll blow on it and then taste it. "Hot!" he'll answer in smug affirmation.

2) If you ask him if something is heavy he'll go around the room pretending to lift things like the couch, the chair, the table (or me!) and as he grunts in fake exertion he exclaims "Heavy!!!"

3) When he's done with something (the bottle, the food, the toy, the book) he'll hold it up in the air and shout out "THERE YOU GO!" to anyone who may be nearby to take it from him.

And he carries on a pretty fine conversation in gibberish, too, with rhythmic cadences, questions, statements and answers. Sometimes we have whole discussions about things where neither one of us has used a proper English word, but somehow, we totally get each other. It's fun.

Vacuuming and Painting

On our long, long afternoon here today (made longer by Elliot's too short nap, of course), I took some advice from 2 very knowledgable sources. First, I took Aunt Carol's advice and put the kids to work. Owen ("Mr. Meticulous") loved the chance to get down on his hand and knees and vacuum those especially hard to reach corners. Elliot helped a lot too although I don't think he realized his vacuum wasn't plugged into anything (I had just given him the extra attachments to play with). Nevertheless, he went at his job with his expected vigor. Thanks, Aunt Carol, for reminding me of this great activity.

Then, I put into action an idea I first noticed on http://www.parenthacks.com/ which is fast becoming an essential parenting website for me. Check it out for tried and truly great ideas on how to deal with a variety of issues, including how to spend a long summer afternoon.

Seriously, for over an hour this afternoon Owen and Elliot methodically painted the entire backyard, every toy, every chair and the entire patio. Both of them doing the same thing, but this time working together beautifully. It was brilliant.

meet Harold, my new babysitter

I let the kids watch tv very rarely... occasionally a little bit of Sesame Street or a Thomas the Tank Engine video. But I saw this at the library a couple of weeks ago and since they love the book, I thought I'd give it a go.

Let's just say, sometimes you absolutely need 30 minutes of this:

Boys will be boys

The other night at dinner, Paul and Owen and Elliot commenced a "funny face" game which involved crossing eyes, sticking out tongues and generally stretching their faces to make every one laugh. Everyone, that is, except me. I'm exhibiting that "boys have cooties" vibe lately as the three of them gang up on me with fart jokes, belching contests and general boy mayhem.

The other day Paul was horsing around with them doing I'm not sure what and Owen laughingly, gleefully called out to me from the other room (I think I was in the kitchen washing dishes at the time) "WHY does Daddy like to do things boys like to do?????!!!!!!!!" Then they ran around being goofy for a little while longer.

Here's an example of something I would never have done, but obviously makes Owen go bonkers with joy ( forgive the fact that you have to turn your head to watch this, I thought I was taking a still shot and happened to catch it on video instead):

Getting better

Monday was immediately followed by some good days, thank goodness.

Here's what made Tuesday great: I didn't try to get anything "done" and instead helped Owen paint his pirate ship while Elliot napped.

Then on Wednesday, Elliot and I spent all morning at the Zoo while Owen was in camp and then when we got home he took an almost 3 hour nap. Owen and I had plenty of time to paint, play with the camera, and chill out in the hammock.

I liked it so much, I made him sit in the hammock with me today too. It's amazing how 5 minutes of peaceful swinging and chatting can make a BIG difference in the afternoon. I think I'll make it a daily date.