Noah Got A Bike!

And it isn't a hand-me-down. He likes its new bike smell.

Angus Spells

Last night, Angus started putting words together on his own using his alphabet puzzle. He spelled ANGUS, EXIT, and WHY.

Today he said, "Look, Momma! Today is April." I nearly let this statement slip past without a second thought, ordinary as it was. Since they do the calendar reading every day during circle time at school I have grown used to his proclamations of today's Marchness or Tuesdayness or Twenty-Thirdness. But then he repeated it and waved toward the dining table. And when I looked where he'd gestured toward I saw that he had spelled out APRIL, too.

This means he can move on to the movable alphabet at school now. Which means he may no longer be so bored. He has been having trouble finding work that interests him or work that he isn't intimidated by lately. So this is huge. Well, it's huge when any three year old can read, but my kid has language difficulties so this is a really big deal. And it means that he is progressing after all, just at his own pace and on his own timetable. Far ahead of others his age in some areas, and far behind in others. It all evens out in the end. Not that it ever needs to for him to keep on impressing me.

Hello Again

it's been awhile since i posted here. things were crazy. sick kid, short hospital stint, then playing catch up, you know how it goes. then spring just sort of happened overnight. so we have been busy cramming as much fun as can fit into each minute of every day.

here is a short (and fairly dull) list of some happenings since i last wrote:
1. angus rekindled his relationship with Maurice Ravel's Bolero. it is once again spinning at least once daily. from the time he was 2 to 3 we listened to it about four times a day. you'd think we'd all be sick of this piece of music by now, but it still feels new. the kid has excellent taste. angus calls it "angy's music."
2. noah became lobster boy. pinching is his new favorite pastime. he has these gigantic thumbs which give him incredible strength seemingly designed specifically for this task. we were all ill equipped to handle the abuse from something so cute. nasty little bugger. he has been spending quite a bit of time in the penalty box lately.
3. angus, fresh out of the hospital after six days of gastrointestinal distress courtesy of the ever-so-awesome rotavirus bug (jerk), started refusing to take naps. the kid went from a regular daily routine of a 4 hour nap to zilch. his explanation was so sweet and so true. "no nap, momma! i already slept for five days!" he is back to napping now. phew. this mommy's not ready to give those up yet, kiddo.
4. i saw the trailer for pineapple express and laugh/cried myself silly. i can't wait to see this.
5. i discovered this amazing artist.
6. and participated in my first photo trade through nectar & light. the theme for the month was "a faerie tale told" and we were to photograph our own take on a fairy tale. i received the greatest alice in wonderland-inspired package from a really cool girl. i hope mine stacked up ok. i based mine on hansel & gretel. but with boys. hansel & hansel, i guess. it was fun and i want to do it again.

Awesomeness

take a look at this greatness i found on flickr. someone plastered a whole neighborhood with good PR for their dog. and it wasn't sherrie partin. looks like doug's mommy needs to try harder to spread the gospel of his awesomeness.

click on the poster to enlarge for your viewing pleasure.

missing my babies

The house is very quiet this morning without my little noisemakers scampering around.

sharing is fun!

The "because I'm bigger" method of attack isn't going to work much longer. But for the time being, it's pretty effective.

Happy Would-Be Birthday, Old Friend.

Even Koko loved good old Fred Rogers.
For always encouraging children to make the most of this beautiful day, Mr. Rogers---I thank you.
I am so happy that my boys think you're great.

welcome, spring!

more daylight is good for my soul

Lunchtime Jokers

who's afraid of the big bad owl?

about a month or so ago, angus had a nightmare about an owl. he woke up drenched in sweat and screaming sometime around 2AM. from what i've been able to gather in our many many discussions about owls since that night, the dream involved an owl sneaking into his school and flying around the room, tormenting angus by staring at my terror stricken boy and blinking his eyes wildly and flapping his wings up and down. which is actually a pretty terrifying thought. i'm sure he'd had nightmares before this one, but the owl dream was the first dream he was ever able to articulate as a bad dream, and was able to describe what it was about.

that night, through tears and in a panicked whisper, he told me the basics: "momma, i had a bad dream! a big scary owl in my school!" poor little buddy. holding him tightly and wiping away his tears, i carried him into my bed and laid him down in that magical safe spot of childhood that exists in the warm space between two slumbering parents.

since that night, little man has had a gigantic fear of owls. we had to cease our regular trips to a nearby nature center because of the owl's presence in a certain dark side-room. i had to edit many of our favorite read-aloud books for content-- pages containing owls were quickly passed over to spare my otherwise brave son's nerves. and most of all, he wouldn't even look at those decoys people put up on rooftops to scare away critters. it was honestly heartbreaking to witness the development of a phobia.

but today, my brave little munchkin decided it was time to face his fears and spent 20 brave minutes observing owls at the nature center. he first demanded i hold him and then clung to me and hid his face in my neck. then he slowly loosened his grip, slid down from his perch on my hip and lingered in the doorway to the darkened owl habitat. within a few minutes, he was standing right up against the sheet of glass separating him from a large one-eyed great horned owl and a much smaller screech owl. my baby studied the larger and scarier beast's face for the longest time. and then just like that, out of angus' mouth came the sweetest little sound ever. "owls aren't bad, momma. owl's not scary. they're nice. and cute. look! it's a momma and a baby momma!"

aren't little people amazing?

Don't Tell Me NO-ah

This here is a small fry who does not believe in the concept of being too little for anything. If he can imagine it, he will attempt it and will usually succeed in at whatever daredevilry he puts his mind to. I used to be at odds with myself, and with him, over whether or not I should allow him to do half the things he does on playgrounds, stairwells, and even (yes) on ladders. But I eventually grew tired of the daily struggle to keep him away from the things he was naturally drawn to. So I let him explore at his (seemingly) own risk. I expected a few falls, maybe some little I-told-you-so sort of moments riddled with hugs and boo-boo kissing. And then he kept on surprising me with his crazy good climbing and problem solving skills. He could not only climb up, but scoot on back down without and bodily harm. He has really never needed me to intervene on behalf of his safety when it comes to that sort of thing. He climbs up, and then he climbs down. Period. I lurk nearby, ready to catch him if he tumbles, but I make sure to stay just far enough away so that he feels the glory of freedom that every natural born thrill seeker craves. And, oh man you should see this sucker run down hills. Big hills. The kind of hills that, when snow covered, give you that, "Ummm...should I really be doing this?" feeling before you go whizzing down on a sled. He can run down, straight down, and fast without falling down. You should see the other parents faces as they watch me let it happen. His tiny little body just trucking downhill while me and Angus just laugh and laugh.

while noah sleeps....

I sadly don't get to spend much one on one time with Angus anymore. Bedtime is our time---a good solid hour every night for our routine of bath, bedtime stories, singing songs together in the dark, and snuggling close. I miss the old days of our little spontaneous daily adventures, just the two of us, and I know he does, too. Should I feel guilty admitting that? I love being a mom to two kids, but I honestly miss the ease of having only one soul to please and protect when we are out and about. They do this whole divide and conquer routine on me now which makes the smallest errand kind of stressful. Going to the library, something that was once very relaxing, is now a misadventure every time we go. Noah thinks the goal is the hasty removal of every book from the shelves while Angus demands my undivided attention as he shows me a million and a half things a minute. So understand me when I vent that I am only doing that. I feel for the little guy. He deserves me to himself, and likewise. It seems that I now spend most of the time we are together running defense for him, trying my best to keep Noah from ruining the big-kid fun Angus is having. Noah eats crayons and paint and Play Dough so we can't let him near the table during arts & crafts time. Noah is a book shredder, a train track annihilator, a block-castle destroyer, and an enthusiastic racetrack messer-upper. So I get the pleasure of being a one woman police force dutifully patrolling the border between Angus' fun and Noah's pursuit of happiness. And it is murky territory, since the two lands bleed together and, at the moment, mix like oil and water.

Family-Portrait-Face Practice

And Now, Our Feature Presentation......

Rest Stop

Lately I have been altering my digital photos to look like film. Maybe that's a sign that I need to break out the old SLR camera and dare to actually shoot some film. I think I will make it my February goal. I just realized I have no analog pictures of Noah.

The Count

Angus' favorite Sesame Street skit taken to a whole new level. Man alive, YouTube is a pot o' gold.

Lunchtime Sillies

Quiet Time

Parenting Tips

Friendly Fun

Houseguests kept things fun and exciting this weekend. I hope they come back soon.