domiciliate

Attitude

2012-01-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

He's 3 going on 15 these days. Defiance, determined independence, willful disobedience, and a little bit of manic preschooler moodiness thrown in for good measure makes for some frustrating times. Sometimes I want to pull my hair out; other times it's all I can do not to burst out laughing at the cuteness of his defiant posturing coupled with a baby doll and temporary flower & heart tattoos. He's working hard on his sneer, too.

SNOW!

2012-01-17T17:44:00.000-08:00

Sudden Loss

2012-01-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

This week our community was stunned by the sudden and tragic loss of a young boy, Caleb Kors. Caleb's parents are friends, and I have been deeply affected by this staggering loss. He was a special boy, talented and charismatic and posessed of extraordinary potential.

I left work early when I heard the news. I really needed to see and hold Conan. I didn't tell him anything (I didn't know what to say, frankly, and I didn't want to burst into tears in front of him) but he sensed my sadness. He said I needed some quiet time, and he took me by the hand and led me into the bedroom, where he made me lie down and then carefully tucked me in. He got a book and sat by me and "read" it to me. Then he lay down next to me so we could cuddle. It was exactly what I needed. I am continually astonished at his sensitive and loving nature.

The outpouring of support for the family has been amazing; I am really proud of Bellingham right now. There is a memorial on Monday and many, many organizations collecting donations, putting together benefits, and generally demonstrating our community's love and support in every possible way. It is beautiful, and also profoundly sad.

Most of all though, this tragedy has reminded me to make sure I make every day count, because we REALLY don't know how much time we'll have with the ones we love.

Life, Death & the Holidays

2012-01-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

Sorry the blog has been dark for a while, it's been a busy and emotional month.

On the 11th of December, Conan's "Great Marjorie" passed away at the age of 92. It wasn't a surprise, exactly: we knew her health was declining and she had started hospice care. But we all thought there was more time. I suppose that's a common phenomena, that the end comes more quickly than we expect. The picture above was taken just a few days prior to her passing; Conan was excited to show Great Marjorie his new balance bike, which was an early birthday gift.They had a great relationship, for which I am really grateful. Conan saw her nearly every Wednesday, and they shared a love of reading, a fascination with cats, and neither of them ever missed a chance for desert.

In addition to Marjorie's death, we also had to put down one of our cats. To most people, Marcellus was a big mean scary cat, but he had his loveable side too. He came to us as a few years back for a temporary stay while Cynthia (who had raised him from a kitten) finished graduate school. He had a serious weight problem and an eating disorder, but it quickly became clear that living with us really improved his health. We got an automatic catfood dispensor which helped prevent him from overeating, and he got a lot more excercise wandering our property than he had gotten as an indoor cat. He dropped from 24 lbs to 18 lbs, and really seemed to enjoy life with us.

Cary really bonded with Marcellus, and when Cynthia graduated and returned to Olympia we officially adopted Marcellus. This past year, however, his quality of life begin to deteriorate. He appeared to be in pain when he walked, and he was grouchier and meaner than usual. Conan was afraid of him. He took his last trip to the vet the day after Christmas, and is now buried in the yard near a spectaularly thorny shrub called a Poncirus Trifolata. It seemed a fitting marker for him.

Marjorie's memorial service was this past Saturday. Conan doesn't understand memorial services any more than he understands death. He misses both Marcellus and his Great Grandma, and has told me more than once that he wants them back. I told him that the memorial was "a party where everyone remembers Great Marjorie" and he asked me if she would be there. I had no answer for him. He still looks for Great Marjorie in her bedroom when we visit his grandparents house.

The memorial was held at the SGI Buddhist Activity Center in Bellingham. Marjorie wasn't a Buddhist (she told the hospice spiritual councillor that music was her religion) but Dave and Anita are active SGI Buddhists. The service was simple and lovely. There were many special rememberances of Marojorie, some chanting, and a ceremonial offering of incence for her spirit. Afterwards, Conan was very interested in a framed picture of Marjorie as a young woman, which was sitting in a place of honor on a small table next to a vase holding three yellow tulips. Worried that he would spill the flowers, I picked up the vase and held it for him, thinking he wanted to smell them. Instead, he gently kissed each blossom. It was a sweet and special moment, a perfect goodbye.

Despite (or perhaps because of) our losses we had a wonderful Christmas celebrated with both sides of the family, and a fun New Year's holiday with many great friends. We really have a lot to be grateful for in this life, no matter how short it may be. :)

Conan's Pink Star

2011-12-21T18:19:00.000-08:00

When we decorated our tree, we found we didn't have a good topper. So I suggested to Conan that we ought to make a star. I got out the construction paper, and pulled out a couple sheets of yellow and orange paper. Conan eyed them skeptically. "No, Mama" he said. "It would look better made out of pink." Now it was my turn to be skeptical, but I went ahead and complied. We traced out a star-topped cone on the pink paper, and Conan helped me cut it out. Then we got out the sticker box to choose some stickers to decorate it with. I thought the dinosaurs would be nice, but Conan went straight to the pink fuzzy alphabet stickers. I was still pretty skeptical, but his design really came together in the end, and looks great on the tree. I will treasure it for ever.

Playdough Party

2011-12-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

For Conan's birthday we had a playdough party. It turned out really well, and it was simple to put together. I just made a dozen batches of playdough, went to the Goodwill for spatulas, mellon ballers, scoops, and potato mashers galore, and put a plastic table cloth over the dining room table. Voila!

The playdough provided hours of fun for a dozen kids aged 2-5, including the birthday boy (who decided that his shirt was just slowing him down).

Some of the grown ups even got in on the playdough fun. Because really, who can resist?

After we picked up the tools and the big peices of playdough, the plastic tablecloth made clean up a cinch. We packed the playdough into medium-sized ziplock bags and sent them home with kids after the party.

Then it was time for cake! We got a Thomas the Tank Engine cake from the grocery store bakery. It was a big hit with all the kids. I do feel a little guilt about not making a homemade cake, but realistically I just didn't have time to bake the cake as well as do the other preparations.

Conan got a lot of great new toys and books for his birthday, and had a tremendous amount of fun. All in all, the playdough party idea was a total success.

Happy Third Birthday, Conan!

Photo Shoot with Aimee

2011-11-29T14:04:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks ago Aimee came over for a visit and took pictures of Conan and Morgan. We had a lot of fun, and got some great pictures of both the kids. It took me a while to narrow it down to my favorites, there were so many to choose from. Gabe has more shots of Morgan on his site here.
Click to pop through to see the larger versions on Picasa.

Birthday Thoughts

2011-11-22T10:01:00.001-08:00

It's my birthday! 36 years of being me, and it just keeps getting better. :)

Soon it will be Conan's birthday also, so we are talking a lot about birthdays these days. This year will be the first birthday party where Conan really "gets" birthdays, so I've been thinking about ways to make it fun.

Last night I asked Conan what his favorite part of birthday parties was.

Without hesitation, he replied "Eating cake!"
"OK" I said, "but what else do you like?"
"Ice Cream!" he shouted.
"Uh-huh, I know. What else?"
"Pie! And cupcakes!"
"OK" I said again. "But what do you like to DO at parties?"
"Maybe have cookies?" he replied after a thoughtful pause.
"Right, but what about games?" I said, trying to steer the conversation away from desserts. "What kind of fun games do you like to play with your friends when you go to parties?"
He thought about that for a little while, and then his face brightened.
"Trick or Treat! That's my favorite."
Sigh.
"With real candy, Mama." he added helpfully. "Lots of candy."

Playdough: It's Easy!

2011-11-17T20:50:00.001-08:00

So it turns out that playdough is actually as easy to make as everyone says. Who knew?

Well, OK, nearly everyone. Despite frequently being told that it was super easy to make, I always thought it would be hard to get it to turn out just right. This is probably because I have a vivid memory of my Mom making a disastrous attempt at playdough when I was a kid. I'm not sure what we did wrong back then, but whatever it was, I was able to avoid it this time. Our playdough turned out absolutely perfect, without a doubt every bit as good as the store-bought stuff. And Conan loved helping to make it.

Cooking this stuff was pretty strange. At first it really didn't seem like the goo in the pot could possibly work out, but after a few minutes stirring it on the stove it quite suddenly changed texture and voila! we clearly had acheived playdough.

The recipe said to add the color to the water, which did make it super easy to blend it in, but it also meant that all the playdough was the same color. I used yellow, and then took about half the finished dough and worked in some blue coloring to make green. (I would also have made some orange, but then I discovered we have no red food coloring - I think it all got used to make fake blood a couple Halloweens ago.) It was pretty easy to work the color through, and kneading the dough while it was still warm helped to work it smooth. Next time I don't think I'll worry about coloring the whole batch, and instead split it up after it is cooked and make several colors.

Conan's favorite thing to do with the playdough is to make cookies. If I set him up with some cookie cutters, his toy rolling pin, a plate and a spatula, he'll really crank them out!

He's quite serious about the cookie-cutting process. Here's a quick instructional video, in case you needed some pointers on how to make cookies from a real expert.

With cold, rainy weather settling in and lots of indoor playtime in our future, I'm really glad to have finally taken the plunge and made my own playdough. Seriously, give it a try! Take it from me: it's as easy as everyone always told you.

Here's the recipe we used:

Cream of Tarter Playdough Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups of plain flour

2 cups of coloured water
1 Tbsp. of cooking oil
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup of salt

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients in a medium size or large pan. Cook slowly on medium-high and stir it until the playdough thickens - just a few minutes. Keeps best in the fridge in plastic containers.

Peru!

2011-11-14T13:12:00.001-08:00

Click through for larger images, complete with captions.

I didn't get to spend very much time at all sightseeing, but the little bit of Peru that I did see was really nice. I was able to get out of the hotel for a few hours before the conference started on Wednesday and after it finished on Friday, otherwise all my time was spent networking and listening to presentations on various aspects of the international produce trade. My own presentation was the final one of the day on Thursday, and it went really well. I was a bit nervous - sweaty palms, a few mispronounced words, one flustery moment when I lost my train of thought - but everyone I spoke to afterwards kindly said that it didn't show. The best compliment I received was from an older gentleman from one of the large conventional growers, who approached me after my presentation and told me that he understood organics for the first time, but it had never made any sense to him (as a market or a production method) before. My goal at the conference was to present organics as a legitimate, logical, and profitable global market segment - to counteract the perception that it's run by wild-eyed hippies who want to turn the clock back to stone age agricultural technology - and I think I succeeded. :)

Update: If you're interested in the current state of the US organic market (or just a fan of power point) my presentation is now available online.

Travel

2011-11-08T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in the airport at SeaTac, waiting for my flight, thinking about Conan. I'm heading to Peru (Yes, Peru!!) for a business conference. While I don't usually get to go to such exotic locales, business travel is an increasingly frequent occurance for me. I enjoy it, for the most part, but it's without a doubt the most difficult part of my career to balance with motherhood. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who does a great job holding down the fort, but it's still hard on all of us.

I've learned not to tell Conan about upcoming events too far in advance, because he doesn't really grasp the idea of waiting for more than a couple days of future time to pass. So I waited until last night, when I was doing my final packing, to tell him I was leaving. "Mama's going away for a few days, on an airplane, for work. Then I'll come back!" He's always taken this in stride before, but it's been less than a month since my last trip, so he remembers it clearly. This is the first time he's really understood what it meant that I would be gone.

He seemed OK with it at first, asking some questions about where I was going, and what kind of airplane ("A big one? A really REALLY big one?") I would be flying on. He played normally while dinner was cooking, but then he refused to sit down and eat. That in itself is (sadly) not that abnormal these days, but he didn't even want to play "hungry Tyrannisaurus-T-Rex", which usually gets him to eat like a charm. He really started to act out - yelling "You don't talk to me!" and "Don't look at me!" whenever I spoke or looked at him, stomping his feet, throwing toys, and generally being as bad as he knows how to be. So, as is our practice, we declared dinner time forfeit and moved straight to bedtime.

He continued to misbehave, physically trying to push me out of his room, crying and demanding that Papa ALONE handle bedtime. Somewhat confused, I stepped out and shut the door. I stood in the hallway, wondering what was up, and feeling sad that on my last night at home this week I wasn't going to get to spend any nice time with my baby. Then, with one of those sudden 180 degree reversals only a preschooler can manage, from inside the bedroom came shrieks of "I WANT MAMA!"

In that instant I realized what was going on. This was not a standard dinnertime meltdown. This was "my mama's going away and I'm mad and scared so I'm pushing her away but I also want her and this is NOT getting me what I want but I don't know what else to do." I went back in the room, got down at eye level with him, and asked him "Are you mad and scared because I'm going away?" "Yes" he wailed, and colapsed into my arms. So we cuddled and hugged. We talked about the things we would do together when I got back. He calmed down, and we got his teeth brushed and jammies on, and then we cuddled some more and he went to bed happily.

This morning I kissed him goodbye, and he waved happily as he drove off with Papa on the way to Preschool, his fears and insecurities banished, at least for now. But it was a real wake-up call for me, that as he's understanding more ane more about how the world works, some things which didn't previously cause anxiety are now pretty scary. I'm not sure what I can do to make my travel easier on him, other than to make sure I tell him very clearly that I'm coming back, and that I love him more than anything.

And bring him presents, of course.

Guemes Island Cabin

2011-10-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

Conan and I just returned from a week's stay with my parents at the Westenhaver family cabin on Guemes Island. We had a great time fishing, walking the beaches, and just generally hanging around by the seashore. The weather was surprisingly good for late October on the northwest coast, only raining hard on one day; otherwise being generally clear with light breezes in the afternoon after the morning fogs burned away. Conan was thrilled to catch a "Peanut-Butter Fish" (the logical counterpart to the small jellyfish common in the water here), then watched, fascinated, as Poppy filleted it for dinner. We also had fun flying our fish kite (which Conan named "Potluck") off the breakwater in front of the cabin. It really was a wonderful vacation for all of us, and such a treat to be allowed to use the cabin!

Superboy C!

2011-10-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

Conan got all dressed up in his finest Superboy outfit today to go to the Bellingham Comic Con. As you can see, he was well prepared to whack any bad guys that might be there.

Play & Imagination

2011-10-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

Conan's imagination is really blossoming. His playtime includes lots of chatter, dialog and play acting both with real and imaginary participants in his games. I love it.

Here are a couple of recent examples:

Serving Cake & Ice Cream is one of Conan's favorite games. You can have it in a bowl, on a plate, or in a cone, your choice! Usually it is chocolate or 'nilla, but sometimes it is wild and crazy flavors like sunshine, grass, or purple.

Wee-Haw, ride'em cowboy! Cowboys know a lot about horsies. And they have hats.

Update: Since I had to re-upload both of these, I thought I'd go ahead and add a couple more:

Conan's new fingers come in lots of colors. I had to help him put the last two on, he tried for a really long time to do it himself but his new fingers just aren't as dexterous as his old ones. They do look neat tho!

Here he is combining riding his trike with tying knots in his "catchin' rope". Knots are really interesting to Conan, and he spends a lot of time tying and untying them. He still doesn't pedal his tricycle, but he's getting better at steering while pushing with his feet. And he loves to wear his helmet, whether he's going for a ride or not.

Occupy Bellingham Demonstration

2011-10-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

On Friday afternoon we went downtown for the Occupy Bellingham demonstration of support for the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York. I brought some extra markers and reusable large white envelopes to make signs. Conan colored his sign, then asked me to "put letters on it" for him. I asked him what he wanted to say, and he shrugged. I suggested something about sharing and he immediately blurted "sharing is good!" I wrote that on his sign and he held it proudly througout the demonstration. I didn't have my camera with me, but with Conan's extreme cuteness he was naturally a favorite of the many photographers out documenting the demonstration, so I knew there were pictures out there. I found this shot posted to the Occupy Bellingham facebook page this afternoon. At the point when this picture was taken, Conan was feeling a bit shy, so I held the sign for him. I'll keep an eye out and maybe another picture (or two!) will show up on the site as more of the photographers share their images.

Fruit Festival 2011

2011-10-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday we went out to Cloud Mountain Farms' fall fruit festival, and it was a blast. Conan got to eat an ice cream cone, put an apple through a cider press, paint a flowerpot, and pick a pumpkin - in that order. We also brought home some delicious apples (Karmijn de Sonneville - a variety that's been on the top of my planting wish list for quite some time) and a bunch of nice squash and potatoes.

We also did a bit of dancing. Conan was very eager to dance, and insistent that I join him, although he's a much better dancer than I am.

By which I mean I can't believe how silly I look. I'm pretty sure I was MUCH more rhythmic and graceful in real life. But hey, I may look like a total dork, but I look like a total dork dancing with the cutest little dancer anywhere. And we were having a great time.

:)

Zoo 2011

2011-09-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the zoo! Conan and I met Jon, Nadege and Chloe and spent the day checking out all the animals. We had a great time. One special highlight was seeing the tundra wolves hunting squirrels right next to the viewing spot at their exhibit. I've never even glimpsed the wolves before, my understanding is that they stay hidden a lot of the time. But not today! We also had a lot of fun watching the gorillas. There was a young one, not exactly a baby - call it a toddler - who was nursing when we arrived at the viewing station. It was such a sweet and loving moment to see between mama and child. Very human, for lack of a better word. Another gorilla came right up to the glass, sat down, and made faces and interacted with the kids for quite some time. We also enjoyed feeding the birds in the parrot house, watching the elephants being fed, and watching the penguins swimming in their pools. We saw snakes, toads, lizards (including komodo dragons), turtles, lions, tigers, kangaroos, meerkats, bears, eagles, fish, and lots of different kinds of monkeys.

I'm exhausted, but in a very good way. It's been a year since we last visited the zoo. I hope we go again sooner next time!

The kid I don't want

2011-09-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

As a parent, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want for my kid. I imagine him being talented, charismatic, intelligent, athletic, kind, generous and thoughtful (not to mention tall and good looking). I want him to have plentiful opportunities, wide-ranging experiences, and lots of fun. It's fun to let my mind wander to the future, dreaming of the amazing things Conan could do - maybe he'll be an astronaut! maybe he'll be the poet laureate! maybe he'll be a TV chef!

On the flip side, sometimes I think about what I don't want him to be. Oh, there's the obvious ones that all parents probably have: I don't want him to be a drug addict, or a gun runner, or a pimp, or a tabloid front-page celebrity. I mean really, I'm his mom: I don't even want him to get dehydrated, let alone arrested.

But that's all in the future. When I think about the short term, the kid I REALLY don't want him to be is the one that is good and nice and obedient when grown-ups are around, and then mean and spiteful and awful to the other kids the minute they are alone. The one where his mom thinks he's a little angel and everyone else just rolls their eyes and wonders how she can be so blind. Maybe even ALL the moms think he's a little angel, and it's only the other kids who know the truth. I knew kids like that when I was young, and it was horrible. It was incredible the way they could transform from angels to bullies the minute the adults left the room.

For the record, let me say right now that I don't think Conan is now, or will ever be, that kid. He's such a nice little boy. Everyone says so!

But then, I'd be the last to know, wouldn't I?

Preschool

2011-09-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

Conan started preschool at A Step Ahead in July, and he is loving it. It was a big transition for all of us, but we've adjusted now and couldn't imagine life without it. The school we chose is a really neat bilingual (spanish-english) language emphasis program, and Conan is learing spanish so fast, it's really incredible. The words just seem to magically appear in his vocabulary! So far, he has learned

hola
amigo
adios
por favor ("bor pabor")
muy bien
buenos dias
mamacita
agua
leche
manos
azul
and he can also count to ten!

Little children are natually attuned to aquiring language skills, and beyond the obvious benefits of simply being bilingual there is also a lot of evidence that early secondary language learning helps prime kids for better academic performance later. Not that it's all about the academic benefits - there's also a lot of fun to be had! The kids sing songs, play, eat snacks, play outside on the playground, paint pictures, and make whole hosts of things out of paper plates, glue and construction paper. (That's an octopus he's holding in the picture.)

Even more exciting than seeing Conan learning spanish, however, has been the improvement in some of his behaviors. Prior to starting him at the preschool, mealtimes were a constant struggle for us. Conan didn't like to sit still and eat, and when he would sit at the table he would fidget and play with his food, often knocking over his beverage and/or dropping food on the floor "accidentally". At the school they make the kids all sit down together for snacks and meals, and they all have to be seated before the food is given out. Then they have to wait until everyone has been served before they start to eat. After just a few weeks, Conan started announcing proudly "I gonna sit at the table the WHOLE time!" when we'd sit down for a meal, and it just keeps getting better. He now eats his food calmly, says please when he wants more, and asks to get down when he's done. Most shocking of all, he often says "Thank you for making dinner, Mama!" without any prompting.

He also has gotten better about taking turns, made more progress in potty training, learned to put on and take off his own shoes, and generally learned a lot about social interactions. He scolds me for not drinking up all my water, because "if you don't drink it, that's wasting it" and councils himself "you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit" when we're out of his first choice of popsicle flavor. He's proud to tell us fun facts that he has learned at school, such as "fish breathe water" and "big trees grow from little seeds."

He still frequently cries when he's dropped off in the morning on school days, but the teachers assure us that he stops after just a few minutes. He often tells me in the morning that he's not going to have ANY fun, but then when I pick him up he tells me that I was right, he did have fun. Some days he doesn't want to leave, or wants to go back again after we get home. All this is perfectly natural, but that doesn't mean I won't be releived when he is consistantly cheerful about getting dropped off!

It's a little bit of a struggle for me to come to grips with the fact that my little baby is grown up enough for preschool, but overall I'm really thrilled with how well he's doing. He can't stay a baby forever, and I'm glad we've found such a great preschool program for him.

Late Summer Garden

2011-09-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

It's almost fall, and we're finally getting our first taste of warm weather. All the plants are hurrying to ripen up their fruits and seeds, and I'm hurrying to keep up with the harvesting. The main crop blackberries are on now, while the tayberries, marionberries, cascade blackberries, and raspberries are finally finished.

I've made a nice collection of jams and jellies from our berries, and even a big batch of pickles, all from our home grown cucumbers. I love seeing the pantry shelves so nice and full of good preserves.

I'm very excited that we're going to harvest our first ever crop of asian pears! There will be three of them. There were originally two fruits on each tree, but one of them dropped off. The three that are left are looking really delicious, though. MMMMM.

We are also looking forward to our first hardy kiwi. I was super surprised to see flowers this spring, there were about 6 of them. Only one set fruit, and it's still firm and green. I really don't know when to expect it to get ripe, so I check it every few days.

Our little tomato starts have grown into big, healthy bushes with lots of green 'matos on them, and a few are starting to turn color. I sure hope we have a good stretch of warm, dry weather so more than a couple of them can actually ripen this year. I'm not sure why I keep trying to grow tomatoes without a greenhouse in damp, cold Whatcom county, but looking at these bushes now I get hopeful all over again. Maybe this year will be THE year...

The sunflowers are huge and lovely this time of year. I planted them in a circle in the center of the garden, about 10' across. Standing inside the sunflower ring is pretty cool. When I planted it, my idea was that it would be a place for Conan to play, but he doesn't seem very interested in it. Fine by me if it becomes a sanctuary for me instead!

Sequim Bay Super Ultra Campout 2011

2011-08-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing time camping at Sequim Bay for four days with the Ericsons, the Taylors, the Guzstiltzmans, Mark & Elna, and Keely, Silas and Semra. More pictures (from other cameras, as well as ours) can be seen at Gabe's site.

Highlights included:

beautiful weather
a beautiful, secluded group campsite, well away from the crowded 'regular' campground
our own "private" beach and dock (hardly anyone came over from the main campground)
phosphorescence in the water every night!
clear, moonless nights with ALL the stars
watching kingfishers and herons fish, and gulls catch and drop clams on the rocks
little crabs under all the rocks, and snails on top of them
giant bubbles!
a day trip to Dungeoness Spit
a whole gaggle of kids running wild through the campsite
kids taking pictures of each other (and their feet, the dirt, the sky, etc...)
good food (Woo! Sausagefest!)
plenty of beer
great friends

This was the second annual group campout, and it's success means there will DEFINITELY be a third one next summer.

Sanford

2011-08-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

If you had asked me, 6 or 7 years ago, if I'd ever let my baby play with this cat, I'd have told you "No way." In fact, when we first met Sanford, everyone, adult and child alike, was wary of him. He was a badass and he didn't care who he had to scratch or bite to prove it. He got "fired" from his job catching mice in the lumber shed at the ReStore for scratching and biting the customers and the staff too often. Janet even needed stitches! He was great at catching the mice, but his customer service skills left a great deal to be desired, so he came to live with us at the Apple Pharm.

After he settled in at the farm (read: once he established dominance over all the other cats) he decided I was the person for him. He liked to get up on my bed to snuggle, but I had to abide by the rules - no petting below the neck, no sudden movements, certainly no blankets over him and no handling his feet or touching his belly. It was a bit tense. Breaking any of his rules meant hissing and running away at best, biting and scratching at worst. But slowly he started to be more tolerant and trusting, at least of me, though he still scratched other people quite frequently. He brought me the freshest, most tender young rodents, fetchingly displayed on my bedroom rug, to show his affection.

When the time came to move out of the Apple Pharm, we had a group meeting to divvy up the cats. Sanford was unquestionably mine. He moved with us to an apartment in town where we lived for a few years until the house was finished. He dominated the small apartment complex from the start. He bullied the other cats and even went after raccoons, dogs and deer. He walked into our neighbors' apartments like he owned them, and ate their cats' food. He memorably came home one evening with his white fur covered in blood - and not a drop of it was his own. We grew to be a family, and he accepted Iggy and Sprout as part of his pride.

He loved it when we moved to our current house. He loved the territory and the rich hunting grounds (mmm, tasty little bunnies!). He loved and trusted us. He was no longer the wild, ferocious alley cat fending for himself. We could pick him up, pet him all the way from nose to tail, even treat his wounds and pet his belly. But even so, when Conan was born, I was nervous about Sanford. Would he put up with a baby? A toddler? Well, I needn't have worried. Sure, Conan had to learn about boundaries, and got a few scratches in the process. But Sanford always, clearly, understood these were just teaching scratches. He wasn't trying to hurt the kid. He loves Conan as much as he loves me - even more, I sometimes think. I'm not so sure he'd put up with me using him as a pillow! They are truly buddies, and it warms my heart to think about just how far this wild, trust-no-one cat has come.

Platform Roofed

2011-08-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

At last! The roof is up!

This picture is taken from across the swamp, from a little bit higher ground. The 'floor' you can see just above the tops of the shrubbery is actually the top railing 12 or 14 feet off the ground, so that roof is much higher (and more difficult to work on) than it would seem at first glance. It'd be a real simple roof to build if it were on a regular height shed - but it isn't and it wasn't.

I'm so glad to have that part of the project finished, so we can move on to other things, like an actual staircase that goes from the ground all the way to the platform. I'm also real glad not to have to mow around the roofing metal anymore. A heartfelt thanks to everyone who came out and helped raise the roof!

Sawing Logs

2011-08-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that Conan snores? He does. I think most people assume I mean cute little tiny baby snores, but no, I mean the kid saws logs. Not that he *always* snores, but when he does, he REALLY does. Observe:

It's pretty damn cute, although it can be hard to sleep through if we're in the same room.

He says cute stuff

2011-07-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

On discovering he has leg hair:
C: Mama, I have FUR!
M: Well yes, you do. Where do you think it came from?
C: Owls put it on me while I was sleeping.
M: Really? You don't think it just grew there?
C: NO! Owls bringed it. Now I have fur just like Sanford!

Planning ahead:
C: I need pick huckleberries.
M: Ok, you can eat some huckleberries.
C: NO! I need pick huckleberries. Then we find Papa and say BOO! Then we say 'prise Papa! we bringed you huckleberries. Then Papa let me eat some o' him huckleberries.
M: Good plan.
C: Yeah. I like huckleberries.
note: his plan worked perfectly.

Horse facts:
C: Horsies make apples with their feet. They just kick their feet and KAPEW! apples go flying all around.
M: Wow, really?
C: Yeah. Also did you know horsies drink water? It true!

Suspicions of foul play:
C: Mama, there a dead fly on the windowsill.
M: Yep.
C: Who did it? WHO DID IT, mama?
M: Uh, did what?
C: I think cows did it.
M: Cows did what?
C: COWS MAKED THE FLY DEAD!

Family structure:
C: I have two sisters, they names are Moira and Kiah.
M: They're your sisters, huh?
C: Yes, they are my TWO sisters. And also I have a baby.
M: You have a baby?
C: I have mine OWN baby and she name is baby Trixie!
M: Oh? And who is baby Trixie's Mommy?
C: I am! She mine baby and I her Mommy!

Introducing Marcellus:
C: This my kitty 'cellus. He will bite you.

.

Poppy's 60th

2011-07-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

We went to Plain for my dad's 60th birthday party and had lots of fun in the sun while we were there. Highlights included a backhoe ride, playing on the big swing, helping Poppy blow out his candles, and even a motorcycle ride around the garden for Conan. He LOVED it, but unfortunately it was too dark for good pictures. Here are the best shots of our weekend fun:

2nd Bee Sting

2011-07-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

On the 4th of July, Conan got his first bee sting, right below his right eye. He got his 2nd bee sting yesterday, on his left ear. I have no idea why he keeps getting stung on the head, instead of on his feet like most kids. I guess he's just hardcore like that! This sting came from yellow jackets that made themselves a nest inside one of his toy trucks. Yikes.

His ear swelled up and turned bright pink, so for about 30 minutes he looked like he had some kind of toy clown ear on. We gave him some acetaminophen and applied a baking soda paste, made some popcorn (his request) and then cuddled and watched cartoons until he was feeling better. The swelling went down nearly as fast as it came on, and he had a matching set of regular little-boy ears again by naptime. Whew!

Super Boy, the movie!

2011-07-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

Go Super Boy! But watch out for that dastardly Conan the Villain, he whacks people.

Oregon Country Fair

2011-07-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

We traveled this past weekend to the famous Oregon Country Fair, or as Conan likes to call it, the

Conan had a great time at the Fair. The last time we were there was in 2008 when I was pregnant, so technically this was his second fair, but who's counting? He enjoyed the parades, costumes, music, food, face-painting, as well as dancing, playing and riding around in the wagon with his "sisters" Moira and Kiah and Trixie. He went full hippie on us - flowers in his hair, a big smile, a dirty face, socks with sandals - the whole nine yards.

My beautiful boy.

It was a long long drive, but it was worth it overall for some great family entertainment. We were lucky enough to get invited (at the last minute) to work for Will & Keron so we received vendor passes into the fair in exchange for working in their booths. Not a bad deal at all!

Click through the slideshow for larger versions with captions.

There are a lot of stories to tell about all we saw and did at the fair, but you'll have to catch up with me in person to hear them - there's way too much for me to write it all out here. As fun as the fair was, it's good to be home!

Fourth of July Fun

2011-07-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time at the Ericson's blowing bubbles and setting off little fireworks in the warm sunshine - Saturday was first day this year that it really felt like summer! Then on Sunday we met up with my mom and dad at the Imagine Children's Museum in Everett, which is an amazing place for kids to play and explore. We had a great time and totally wore Conan out - to the point where he almost fell asleep over his lunch at a nearby cafe.

Today we're taking it more slowly, enjoying a nice day at home getting caught up on yardwork and other chores. Unfortunately, today Conan got his first bee sting while playing outside. A kid's first bee sting is never fun, but Conan took it to the next level by getting his first sting on his face, right below his right eye. He was very brave about it and recovered after a half hour of cuddling and watching cartoons. Poor little guy!

Mountain Climbing

2011-06-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

This past weekend the guys climbed Mt. Baker. Gabe's account of the climb is here with many beautiful pictures, so I'll just link to his site.

Conan was pretty interested in what they were doing, having watched all the preparations for the climb - gear sorted and tested, backpacks packed and weighed - so we went online and looked at some mountaineering pictures. That gave him an idea - he should climb a mountain! It didn't take him long to decide which one: Mt. Couch was the obvious goal. He geared up with a piece of rope and quickly reached the summit.

The Ascent.

Ready for the final pitch.

Summit shot!

I STILL PLAYING!

2011-06-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying that I realize it was a bad decision to stop at the consignment store on the way home. I knew Conan hadn't had a nap during the day, and while I was chatting with Christy after I got to her house he threw his snack on the floor and REFUSED to pick it up. I told him if he didn't pick it up, we had to leave, no more playing - and when he didn't, we did. Not an auspicious beginning to the evening, certainly.

But once we were in the car he seemed his usual happy and cooperative self again, and the consignment store is right on the way home, and I had the drop-off bag in the front seat... I decided to stop. "It'll be really fast. No problem." I told myself.

And in fact, it WAS fine. Conan found some toys he liked in the play nook, and I dropped off the bag and picked up a couple pairs of jammies and some sandals for him. I told him I was going up to pay, and then when I was done I'd come get him and it would be time to go. He cheerfully agreed.

I paid for my items and returned as promised to collect him. "Time to go!" I said lightly.

"Nooooooo" he whined. "But I still playing, Mama."

"Yes," I said, more firmly. "Time to go, like I told you it would be. C'mon now."

"FUCKING FUCK NO!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "I STILL PLAYING!"

[stunned silence]

"YOU BAD MAMA!" he continued. "I SEND YOU TO JAIL!"

I should mention that Conan has lately taken to "hiding" (usually just covering his eyes with his hands) when he knows he's done something he shouldn't have. It must have been pretty clear from the expression on my face that he'd gone too far. So in a way it makes sense that his next move was to dart past me and dive under the nearest rack of clothes, still screaming "I still plaayyyyiiinn!" It didn't make it any more pleasant to dig him out from under it, crying and struggling, however.

Thankfully, everyone else in the store was suddenly REALLY engrossed in whatever items they were holding, allowing me to haul my sobbing, struggling little boy through the store and out the door while maintaining the fantasy that no-one had noticed anything amiss. That was nice of them.

Predictably, he fell sound asleep in the car on the way home and is now tucked in bed for the night. 45 minutes of quiet weeding in the garden helped me to settle my nerves. I tried to think up some kind of wise, pithy parenting lesson to say I've learned, but mostly I'm just left thinking "I sure hope that never happens again."

How Fun this Weekend Was:

2011-06-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!

2 1/2

2011-06-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Today was Conan's half-birthday, so I measured his height. He's 36 and 5/8 inches tall. According to the old wive's tale, at 2 1/2 he's half his adult height, which would make him just a little over 6'1" when he grows up.

Afterwards, I let him play with the tape measure. He had a lot of fun measuring things, most of which were reported to be "Seven, eight pounds."

Can't Blog, Busy Gardening

2011-06-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, despite the unrelenting rain, we finally got the garden tilled up and since them I've been working hard to get it all planted.

Since then we've had a few warm, sunny days and it's so gratifying to see things beginning to grow. The spinach, radishes, kale, beans and lettuces have come up strong. The peas all got eaten by slugs, leaving behind sad little nubs. I have replanted; hopefully the second set will not suffer the same fate.

I laid out the beds with aisles going in both directions in order to make it easier for Conan to stay on the paths while walking through the garden. It's working - now if I could just teach the cats to stay out of the beds! The far left corner bed (with the truck) I left unplanted - it's Conan's worm digging place.

This picture is a bit underwhelming, it really doesn't capture the liveliness of the garden this time of year. With that in mind, I took a quick video of the bees working the raspberry blossoms. After the cold, wet spring we've had they are working double-time to catch up on their pollen collection. It's amazing to stand by the berry row and listen to them buzzing.

Photo bug

2011-05-28T11:31:00.001-07:00

Conan loves loves LOVES to take pictures. This explains why the camera batteries always seem to be dead...

Impromptu drum concert

2011-05-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

Dean, Hank and Conan treated us to an impromptu after-dinner drum concert.

Bragging

2011-05-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

Tonight at bedtime as we were picking some books to read, Conan started pointing to the letters at the top of one of them. I was astounded when he read off to me "A-L-L A-B-O-A-R-D R-F-A-D-I-N-G". Ok, so he made one mistake, calling the E an F. But for 2 1/2 I think it's pretty impressive, and I just had to brag. :)

Trixie is One

2011-05-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday big girl!

Alphabet Puzzle!

2011-05-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Conan really loves this puzzle. He's completely mastered putting it together, and can do it all by himself now. Although there are still a few mysteries about the puzzle design for him - such as why there's a "beaver" on the W piece. (What, you think it might be a walrus, not a beaver? Pure nonsense.)

It also seems kind of odd that there's a "Polar bear caught in a net" representing the letter 'i'. I guess Iguanas are hard to draw, or something. And seriously, if you'd never heard of an igloo before you saw this picture, what would YOU think that was? I think a net is a pretty good guess.

Whew, this Alphabet Express is finished and ready to roll!

Playing with Seeds

2011-04-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a rainy day activity that we have a lot of fun with: playing with seeds. It's not rocket science, just some basic pantry items turned into a quick fun game. I think half the fun for Conan is that it seems like something he shouldn't really be getting into.

I mixed up about two cups total of various beans, lentils, popcorn, rice, and a few cloves to make it smell nice. Poured out onto a tray, it's virtually irresistible to keep from running your fingers through them, whether you're big or little. Several small bowls and a couple of spoons completes the equipment needed to scoop, sort and just generally play around with seeds.
Occasionally a seed gets eaten, but it's no big deal - after all, it's just a bean or a grain of rice. Sure, a few get dropped on the floor, but they are easily swept up when playtime is over. In fact, you'll notice a small red dustpan in the background of the photo - sweeping up the dropped seeds is another part of the game. After we've cleaned up, I just pour the seeds back into a jar and save them for the next time we're stuck indoors.

It may not be the most creative game ever, but this rainy rainy rainy April we need all the indoor play ideas we can get!

Egg Day

2011-04-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely gathering at Grandma Joy's house. Conan, Chloe, and Odessa had a lot of fun hunting for eggs hidden by their older cousins Hazel and Hannah. The kids had candy and bubbles and new toys and books to play with, and the grown ups had a lot of fun watching the kids and visiting. The only downside is that I stubbed my toe badly on a chair leg and may have broken it. I went to the doctor yesterday, she advised that there was no need for x-rays to determine if it was really broken or not because the treatment is the same either way: elevation, taping, and ice packs. That's right, I broke my toe at Easter Dinner. (I'm just so hard core!) I managed not to drop my plate or curse loudly, so I'm kind of proud of myself for that.

Conan Reads

2011-04-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

Lest my February post about screen time give you the idea that Conan doesn't adore books, he would like to read you a bedtime story:

This particular book is a new addition to our library, so he doesn't yet have the story memorized. Most of the books we've had for a while he can recite verbatim, page by page, and will even point to some of the words as he says them. He loves to look at the pictures, point out and name all the animals and even many of the characters. He knows the titles and will ask for them by name at bedtime - and woe to the parent who can't find "Stuck Duck" or "Wheels on the Bus" when it is requested! We read 4-6 books at bedtime every night, and sometimes even more (Papa tends to be a real softie about "just one more book.") We regularly get books from the library as well as second-hand shops, because having new books to read REALLY helps keep our nightly reading from getting monotonous. Seeing a love of books and reading developing in Conan really, really makes me feel good.

Kiah's 3rd Birthday

2011-04-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

Flower pots to decorate, presents, new toys, butterfly cupcakes, good friends and a really cool new playhouse... it was a great party.

The problem with Dinner

2011-04-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Some nights, this is what Conan calls "eating all up" his dinner (a burrito, in this case):

Yep, 6 little nibbles, and he's done eating. D-O-N-E. You can coax, you can cajole, you can try to bribe him with promises of dessert if he eats Just Three More Bites! He will stand firm. He may cry when everyone around him has chocolate cake and he doesn't get any because he refused (and continues to refuse) to eat, but he Will. Not. Eat. Another. Bite. Of dinner.

Sure, some days he eats well, even asking for seconds on favorite items. On the whole, he's not a picky eater - he doesn't have anything against veggies, or need the crusts cut off his toast, or generally refuse to try new foods. But dinner is a struggle, more often than not.

We've tried things like letting him eat at the coffee table, eating with his fingers instead of silverware, pretending to be animals - "baby doggy, eat your doggy bone" - but while these novelties might work the first time, so far none have proven to be a real solution.

Serving his favorite foods helps somewhat. Cauliflower, broccoli, rice, grated cheese and anything with ketchup on it are usually good for a few extra bites. But they aren't a guarantee - from time to time he'll refuse even his most favorite foods, declaring "Me no like blueberries!" and other absurdities.

I try not to get frustrated. I don't want to turn dinner into a battleground. Already, I often get wails of "Noooooooo, no dinner! Nooooooooo!" when I mention that it's almost time to eat. (This doesn't happen with other meals - only dinner. Maybe we should pretend we're British, and try calling it Tea.)

I remind myself that not every meal has to be balanced. If all he eats is carbs tonight, I'll just try to get some protien into him tomorrow. Or vice versa.

I remind myself that he won't starve. He'll eat what he needs, when he needs it.

I remind myself that it's more important to model good eating habits myself than to try to force them on him. It's healthy to know when you are full and to stop eating then.

I remind myself that it's a win that he even sat in his chair at the table with us for a few bites. He's two; sitting still doesn't come easily.

I remind myself not to say "No" unless there's a real reason to. If he wants to use his fork to eat soup, fine. If he wants to take his lasagna apart and just eat the noodles, fine. We have four unbreakable rules: no standing up on the chair, no throwing/wasting food, no playing in or with beverages, and we always wear pants (at least a diaper) at the table.

Most importantly, no matter how frustrated I get, I take a deep breath and remind myself that it's only an hour until bedtime. I can get through an hour.

Hives

2011-04-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Conan has hives! I noticed that he had a few "mosquito bites" after playing outside all day Friday. Then when I undressed him for his bath I realized it must be something more than just mosquito bites, because they were all over his arms and legs! There were red patches, about the size of a silver dollar but irregularly shaped, with several small raised bumps (like fresh mosquito bites) clustered within each patch. I gave him a bath and treated the bumps topically with a hydrocortisone anti-itch cream, but a couple hours after being put to bed he woke up covered in NEW itchy splotches, all in different places. More anti-itch cream got us through the night, but in the morning he was again covered in welts.

He seemed fine after more anti-itch cream and some breakfast cartoons, and it was a nice day, so we headed outside to play. Sure enough, after being outside for a couple of hours the itchy splotches were back, worse than ever. A little research on the internet and we had a diagnosis: Hives. I took a trip to the drugstore for a bottle of benedryl and gave him a dose when he woke up from his nap. It was amazing: all the spots disappeared 20 minutes after giving him the medicine. Whew.

According to the information at AskDrSears.com we'll probably never be able to determine exactly what Conan is having a reaction to. It seems pretty clear that it's something outside right now, which makes me think that it is a pollen because the first few trees and flowers of spring are beginning to bloom. Indeed, today he woke up without any itchy splotches, but after being outside again broke out in hives. At least now we have the benedryl at the ready!

Friends

2011-04-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

I just love this picture. You've kind of got to blow it up to full size (click on it) but the mischievous look on Kiah's face is just perfect.

Signs of Spring

2011-04-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

Frogs are singing at night, the birds are back, and the first few new leaves and flowers are starting to appear. When it's not raining, it's a nice time to go outside an explore.Conan loves to feed his chickens.
Chick-a-dee-dee-dee!
Whoa, DOUBLE RAINBOW! Intense. :)

Talking About Death

2011-03-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

After Iggy died, Conan naturally asked about him. Not too frequently (we've got three other cats to distract him) but once in a while he'd say "Where Iggy?" or "Iggy outside?" and I'd simply tell him that Iggy didn't live with us anymore. I was rather proud of this answer, since it is completely factual and doesn't raise any potentially uncomfortable or scary questions about death. Conan would accept this answer and usually change the topic (he's got the attention span of, well, a two-year-old).

Then one weeknight, as I was bustling around trying to get dinner on the table before we all got too cranky to eat, he asked again. Distracted, I blurted "Iggy doesn't live with us anymore, remember? He died." Ooops.

Conan's eyes got wide. You could see the gears turning as he pondered this new revelation. Uh-oh, I thought. This could get ugly. I was envisioning tears, wailing, maybe even nightmares. How can I explain death to a little child? Philosophers, religions, scientists and shamans have been trying to come to an understanding of death for centuries - and they weren't suddenly put on the spot in the middle of dinner.

Then, very seriously, Conan asked "And his tail died too?"
Yes, I said, and his tail too. "And his nose died too?" Yes, and his nose. "And his feets died too?" Yes, those too. We went through all the cat anatomy Conan has words for, and I confirmed that yes, they had all died.

Finally satisfied with body parts, Conan had one further question: "Iggy no eat cat food anymore?" Nope, I confirmed. Iggy doesn't eat cat food anymore.

And with that, Conan was content. Iggy died. All the parts of him died. He doesn't eat. Iggy doesn't live with us anymore, end of story. No crying, no wailing, no existential questions about the nature of life or death.

Someday, years from now, Conan will surely learn more about death and loss, as we all must. But I was really struck by the beauty of his acceptance of it, and the purity of his curiosity. And of course, relieved.

Beavers

2011-03-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

We apparently have beavers. We haven't seen any beavers; nor have we seen any fallen trees or chewed logs. But what other creature would build a dam this substantial?
Last year we battled some kind of dam critter, but it never really approached this level of engineering, so we had hoped it was just a muskrat. Now I'm thinking maybe it was an inexperienced beaver, and he spent the winter really perfecting his dam building techniques.
This spring's dam is situated in a more critical spot on the stream, and is much higher than anything he attempted last season. We're seeing a real change in the water table around our place, as the spring rains are caught in the swamp and backed up behind this dam.

This is the second time this week that we've dismantled it. As you can see from the below pictures (taken just downstream from the dam site at the bridge), the water level really comes up in the stream once the dam is removed.

That's the same tree in the center of these two shots, the second one was taken about an hour after the dam was removed on Saturday. The water came up about a foot, and looked like it would continue to flow at that level for at least 24 hours before the water level would come down in the wider area.

Notice that I said "looked like it would continue" above. After the dam was removed Saturday afternoon, the critters completely rebuilt it Saturday night. Sunday morning it was as if nothing had ever changed. Not knowing what else to do, we removed it again... although I suspect that tomorrow morning it will have reappeared. I'm not sure what we can do, realistically, to prevent beavers from building dams. I guess the hope is that we can hassle them enough that they will move the dam back into the swamp where it will (hopefully) not back the water right up into our backyard.

Swimming

2011-03-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

Look at this cute little surfer dude! Conan has been taking swimming lessons at the city pool. He's really not a natural water baby, but the lessons are really helping him become more comfortable with getting wet. We've seen a big improvement in bathtime, although he still does NOT like to get his hair washed. He now likes to lie down in the tub and show us how he kicks his feet, which was unheard of before the lessons. He may not be the best swimmer in his class, but he's certainly the most improved!

We are on break between classes right now, but they'll start up again in April. Grandpa Dave has volunteered to take Conan to classes on Monday and Wednesday. Conan is really looking forward to it, and he asks nearly every day if he'll "go swimming at swimming pool today?" When I tell him no, not today, he responds with "Maybe Monday?"

Kriss' Baby Shower

2011-03-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I hosted a baby shower for my friend Kriss here at our house. We had a ton of fun with a great group of people and lots of delicious food. And of course, cake:

Aimee and I went a little overboard making this cake, but it was worth it. We made the fondant flowers and decorations last weekend, as well as giving the cake recipe itself a test run. Bo put his modelling skills to use crafting a duckling, frogs, and bugs for us. Then we stayed up until 12:30 Friday night baking and assembling the layers with the cream cheese frosting and strawberries. Saturday morning we draped the whole thing with the fondant and put on the decorations. Our fondant wasn't perfect, but we were able to cover most of the worst spots with the decor and the whole thing turned out cute as could be. The kids were very excited about it, especially Paloma, who got to help Aimee slice and serve it. Also, it was delicious!

Besides cake and brunch, we played some of the familiar baby shower games: "guess who is in the baby picture" and "don't say the forbidden words." We also had a door prize and a Uteriñata (Uterus shaped piñata) which I made. I've never actually made and filled a piñata before, but it was a lot of fun, and it was a fun and unusual activity for a baby shower.

We also had plain white onsies to decorate, and had planned for a baby bottle race, but ultimately didn't have time for it. Conan would probably have won anyhow, here he is showing off his expertise:

Conan had a great day, lots of playing with friends of all ages. Also lots and lots of sugar - including an unknown number of actual sugar cubes he pilfered from the tea & coffee station.

At about 4:00 in the afternoon the sugar wore off and he promptly fell asleep on the couch, with half a dozen ladies still bustling around giving Kriss a foot spa. He was one tuckered out little guy, and so was I, but it was worth every effort to throw Kriss a great shower. Now we just have to be patient until we get to meet the baby!

We're Doomed

2011-02-24T15:29:00.000-08:00

He's been able to open doors for a while, but now he has breeched our last line of defense: the baby gate. It's the end of an era...

Screen Time

2011-02-20T07:31:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my good friend Charlotte last night, just catching up, when I mentioned the fact that Conan was watching a cartoon. She chuckled and said "You know, I think you apologize to me for what you let him watch every time I talk to you, these days."

Oh dear. Hmmm.

She's absolutely right. I do. I bring it up in conversation and then apologize for it, assuring whomever is listening that I *really* don't use the TV as a babysitter, that I carefully monitor everything he watches, that it's very high quality educational fare, and - MOST IMPORTANTLY - that since it's all on video (DVDs, Netflix, or YouTube) there's no exposure to commercials. But why? Do I really need to justify my choices on Conan's entertainment to everyone I talk to? (Well, apparently, yes I did.)

So I have decided to stop. Stop apologizing, that is. I hereby admit to the universe that I allow my two year old child to watch video programs, and I am OK with that.

I'll even go so far as to admit that sometimes I DO use the TV as a babysitter, or maybe it would be better termed "respite care" - it is so much easier to make dinner (and many other things) without his "help". Right this minute he's sitting on my lap watching Peep and Duck via YouTube on the second monitor, and therefore not trying to help me type. (You're welcome.)

I'll even own up to the fact that he often watches more than the one hour a day that American Pediatric Association says is the limit for this age. I mean, not all at once, but in 10 to 30 minute increments... oh wait, I'm doing it again.

Instead of feeling guilty about the amount of video entertainment Conan gets to watch, I'm going to focus on the benefits. Besides giving me a few much needed minutes of guaranteed kid-unencumbered time, the programs Conan watches are so educational they'll just about make your teeth hurt. Here are the shows I'm proud to say have made it into our repertoire. No more denial, no more apologies!

1. Peep and the Big Wide World (aka Peep and Duck)

This show is the best. The engaging characters explore the world and learn about physics, math, scientific reasoning and the natural world, all in an age appropriate way that Conan loves. Topics range from the changes of the seasons, how water flows, gravity, shadows, weather, identifying birds by their calls, principles of leverage, sharing, counting, navigation, colors, the phases of the moon, the dangers of walking out onto frozen lakes (it is a Canadian program, after all.) There are 90 some complete episodes on YouTube that I've collected into our playlist. And with narration by Joan Cusack and music by Taj Mahal, it doesn't irritate adults the way many kids shows do.

2. Wonder Pets

This one is pretty formulaic and repetitious, but Conan really seems to love that about it. I appreciate the themes of teamwork and helping others, although they are a bit heavy-handed for my taste. The animation, which incorporates photos and video footage of real places and things, is neat, and I like the fact that they have a 10-person live orchestra (plus guest artists as needed) performing the score of each show. This is the only show that has inspired Conan to incorporate the characters into his own play, and I have also heard him singing the music to himself. Very few episodes are available on the internet, but we watch it through Netflix play instantly.

3. Bob the Builder

This is a British stop-motion animated show about (surprise!) Bob the Builder and his crew of anthropomorphic construction machines. They build things and have adventures while learning about teamwork, basic construction, and recycling, among other topics. Long before we aquired any DVDs, we had picked up a Bob the Builder book at a yardsale, and Conan loved reading the book and naming all the machines. He was super excited to see them all come to life on the screen. They seem to be pretty good at keeping this one off of the internet, and it's not available on Netflix play instantly (though they do have the DVDs for mail out). We picked up two discs at the local consignment store for .99 each.

4. Wild Animal Baby

Wild Animal Baby is a magazine for toddlers published by the National Wildlife Foundation (they also publish My Big Backyard and Ranger Rick for older kids). Conan received a gift subscription for his first birthday, and really enjoyed it, so when we came across a couple Wild Animal Baby DVDs in the ultra-clearance bin at the grocery store we decided to go ahead and check them out. The show is pretty cute, with four animated Animal Baby Explorers going on adventures in the natural world to solve "wildlife mysteries" such as finding baby dragonflies, figuring out what animal buries acorns and why, and where the worms come from that they find on the ground after a rainstorm. There's real-life wildlife footage interspersed with the animation, some of it pretty spectacular. The biggest drawback to this show is that all the characters have annoying, high-pitched voices and are prone to bad puns. Conan doesn't seem to mind at all.

5. Which brings me to: Baby Wild Animals

The internet is absolutely full of videos of cute/funny/amazing animals. This is what started it all - we used to regularly sit in front of the computer together and watch animals in order to distract Conan enough to clip his finger and toenails, clean his ears, and even cut his hair. We'd watch horses running, ducks quacking, cows mooing, whales breaching, puppies frolicking, even an elephant pooping (that's a BIG favorite) on YouTube. You do have to watch out a bit, because some of what you find may feature some scary violence or some hard-to-explain mating behaviors (they're, um, wrestling) or suddenly evolve into a heavy metal video. Especially if it features tigers or wolves.

There are a few others that we watch from time to time, including Pocoyo, Kipper, Pingu and Caillou.

So there you have it - my secret shame is out of the bag - and it feels great. We've made a concious decision to allow Conan to watch some high quality, age-appropriate educational programs, and I hereby resolve to just let go of all that weird guilt I was carying about it. No advertisers are getting their hooks in him, we're careful about what he does watch, and we do place limits on how much he watches and when.

Now it's your turn - what are your kids watching? Because c'mon - even though no-one wants to talk about breaking the great video taboo, you know we're all doing it.

First ABC's

2011-02-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

Conan is learning new things right and left these days. He talks all the time, and sings little nonsense songs to accompany his playing. He is talking in complete sentences now - and I don't mean simple, three word sentences. Last night before dinner he said "I have idea! Maybe I should eat chocolate now."

Impressed though I was by his verbal skills, he did not get any chocolate.

I have no idea when he started learning the alphabet song, but for a two year old he has a darn fine grasp on it. We didn't need those other letters anyhow.

Cousins

2011-02-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

Conan and Chloe enjoy a nice cup of milk together. It's nice now that they are getting bigger and can really play together. :)

No More Bottles

2011-01-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

It has now been two weeks since we "gave away" all our bottles. Gabe & "tiny tiny baby" Morgan were here for the weekend. We told Conan that since he was a big boy, we should give all his bottles to baby Morgan, because she needed them more. We mentioned it several times during the weekend, and then I let him see me put all the nipples, screw bands, inserts, tubes, lids, etc. into a bag, and take them out to the car. Of course, instead of actually going to Olympia with "tiny tiny baby" Morgan (who at 18 months old is really a big girl herself), the bottles actually went to the local consignment shop.

Conan was a little bit upset the first night, and has told us a few times that "miss mine bottle" but overall it has been a very smooth transition. He still has a cup of milk before bed, but he drinks it downstairs and then brushes his teeth before getting in his jammies and reading books. The only change in his sleeping habits we've noticed is that he is suddenly fascinated with sleeping on the floor, instead of in his bed, especially for naptime. Kind of strange, but no problem - we've got a small pile of blankets laid out on the floor for that. Probably just means it's time to get this big boy a real big boy bed!

Stitches

2011-01-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, Conan dove face first into the hard wooden arm rest of a futon at a friend's house. It was over before any of the adults in the room even saw it coming. We tried to clean it up as best we could, but Conan was NOT inclined to cooperate. We didn't know if his nose was broken, or just cut, and either way he wouldn't let us apply any pressure to stop the bleeding, so I decided we needed to head to the ER. Cary was called and left home to meet us there.

Coming into the emergency room with a screaming bloody toddler gets attention. We were quickly moved into a private triage room. Conan cried and cried and cried. He did not want anyone to look at his owie. He did not want a hospital ID bracelet. He did not want to be weighed. He DEFINITELY did not want any topical anesthetic applied to his nose. He didn't even want a sticker.

Hardened ER Trauma nurses were wincing and covering their ears from his shrieks and wails. I was nearly in tears myself.

Eventually we made it through the initial evaluation, and were moved to a treatment room where we met with the Doctor. The anesthetic was taking effect, so Conan had calmed down a bit, but he still wasn't willing to let anyone examine the wound closely. The Doc was pretty sure the nose wasn't broken, and just as sure that cleaning and stitching was going to require sedation.

The sedation required a respiratory specialist, and Conan had to have an IV. It took four of us to get the IV in him - not because of the needle, but because of the tape and soft bandage they wrapped over the IV on his wrist. THAT really freaked him out. He struggled madly to try and rip it off, nearly succeeding. Eventually he calmed down and they were able to start giving him the Ketamine.

He was so keyed up that it required 3x the expected dose to sedate him.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he was sedated and the doctor was able to clean and examine the wound. Then he was ready for the stitches. They placed a white paper cover over Conan with a 4 inch circle cut out through which the Doc would work. Somehow, that was too much for me. Seeing my baby disappear behind that white sheet, with only his bloody little nose showing, made me feel light headed, nauseous and weak in the knees. I had to go sit down.

Four stitches and a Snoopy band-aid later, it was all finished. A nurse stayed to monitor Conan as he slept off the Ketamine, but the Doctor and the respiratory specialist left. We were able to breathe and take stock of what we'd just been through. What an ordeal! Thank goodness that it was just a flesh wound, it makes me shudder to think - it could have been so much worse.

I also realized that I had been really afraid, in an irrational way, that coming to the ER was a mistake. I have a strange reluctance about the ER. When I was a kid, we were kind of poor and lived over an hour from the ER, with the result being that we only went if it was really, really, REALLY serious. Otherwise, Mom treated us at home, and then we went to the regular doctor a few days later if we needed follow-up care. So the whole time we were at the hospital yesterday, I was feeling a guilty sort of anxiety, that they were going to say I was over-reacting, that I should have been able to take care of Conan myself, that we really had no business burdening the ER with this little cut. And yet, it was unquestionably the right choice to take him there. Recognizing that this fear was completely unfounded was a good lesson for me.

We made it home a little after 5 pm, with a groggy, woozy and REALLY-happy-to-be-home little boy. We plunked him down on the couch and let him watch as many cartoons as he wanted. He ate a decent dinner and went to bed a little early. This morning he seems fine, there's very little bruising and swelling around his wound. We're going to stay home, take it easy, and count our blessings.

RIP Iggy

2011-01-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

Iggy asked to go outside Friday morning. He was stronger and more alert after a week on the thyroid medicine, so I let him out. He chose a nice spot under the bench under the big fir tree and quietly passed on. I found him this morning.

I'm pleased that he was strong enough to make his own choice of spot. We'll miss him, but I have no regrets or guilt - he lived a good, full life, and was loved.

Birdies have Feathers

2011-01-18T06:43:00.001-08:00

I brought home some old sheets of sticker paper from the office. Conan had lots of fun coloring them and then sticking them onto his shirt. Then he chirped like a bird and flapped around the room with his new feathers. I just love watching him develop his imagination!

Ignacio Mooma Pobst

2011-01-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

Iggy, aka Tripod, aka His Royal Fluffy Majesty, aka Fluffbutt, was born in August 1996. His mother, Jive, was my friend Mandi's cat, and I had pick of the litter. The only other kitten was stillborn, so Iggy was mine. When he was 5 weeks old I brought him home - a little too early, as I found out when he nursed holes in several of my sweaters and blankets. But he was just the cutest little kitten so all was forgiven, and he grew and thrived and we formed a strong bond.

Just before Thanksgiving 1997 he disappeared from my apartment. I put up flyers and contacted the humane society, and a few days later I got the call that he had been found, but was badly injured. I went to the shelter and picked him up, and could immediately see that his front left leg was probably a goner. He was so glad to see me he refused to stay in his box, so I held him on my lap and drove him straight to the Cat Clinic. I said "you're going to have to take off his leg, right?" and they said oh no, don't worry, probably not, we'll clean him up and take x-rays and call you in a few hours.

A few hours later when they called and said "well, we have some bad news about his leg" I was not surprised. There were some other options, I could have taken him to Seattle for experimental veterinary orthopedic reconstruction, but I could barely afford the cost of the amputation, let alone what it would have cost to try and save the leg. The clinic staff was very surprised that it didn't upset me to think about amputating my cat's leg, but I was just glad to have gotten my cat back at all. Even if I only got 90% of my cat back, that was still a lot better than I had really expected.

In addition to losing his front leg, Iggy's right hip had been dislocated and had to be surgically pinned. One of his canine teeth had been broken, so it had to be extracted. A few of his ribs were cracked. He was a hurting little kitty. The vet speculated that he might have crawled up into the engine block of a car and gotten his leg caught in the fan belt. We'll never know for sure; Iggy never would talk about it.

To pay for Iggy's medical care, I converted my already-scheduled birthday party into a fundraiser. The clinic even allowed me to borrow his x-rays and we displayed them at 419 to show people that we weren't making it all up. People packed into the house, paying $10 or $20 for a plastic keg cup of beer. I don't remember how much was raised, but I know it greatly exceeded my expectations. To this day I occasionally hear about that party from people I didn't know had been there, or who didn't know it was my cat. It has become one of those Bellingham legends.

Once he recovered from his major surgery, Iggy lived a happy and relatively uneventful life. We moved around a bit, and he made friends with many of the other cats, dogs, and people that we lived with over the years. His majestic fluffy tail and his silky soft tummy fluff were admired and petted by all. He was never shy about speaking up when a food dish was empty (or just low) even if he himself wasn't hungry. He slept on numerous couches, pillows, beds, chairs, and floors. He absolutely loved to roll on concrete. Being a tripod never slowed him down, but then, he wasn't ever interested in moving very fast to start with.

In the spring of 2009, when Conan was just a few months old, a routine trip to the vet discovered that Iggy had Thyroid tumors. The tumors were not malignant, in and of themselves, but they did cause his thyroid to be overactive, revving up Iggy's metabolism. He was constantly hungry and eating, but still losing weight. The only feasible treatment (kitty chemo was not in our budget) was a topical steroid cream that had to be applied to Iggy's ears twice a day, forever. However, we didn't feel comfortable having this topical steroid cream in the house around Conan, who was already becoming very interested in the kitties. One of his first words was "Iggy".

Instead, for the last two years, Iggy has had his own private dining room on the sun porch, where he can nibble extra-special kibbles and even enjoy canned cat food without having to share with the other cats. He's free to come into the main house or go outside whenever he wants, of course. He has really enjoyed having his own space, free of toddler attention or feeding competition.

Good times can't last forever, and this past December Iggy started to really go downhill. He lost weight until he is now just skin and bones. His majestic fluff became matted and straggly. We moved his private dining room into the bathroom, because he enjoys sleeping on a hot spot on the floor under the bathtub. In the last few weeks he has stopped showing much interest in food at all, just licking a little at the top of the cat food pate I put out for him before going back to sleep. He looks old, and sick, and tired.

I put off calling the vet for a while because I was scared that I would take him in and they would confirm my fears that Iggy is nearing the end of his life. But denial is only tenable for so long, and it isn't fair to let Iggy suffer because I'm afraid to face my fears of finally losing him. So tomorrow at 2:15 we are going to the vet. Perhaps they will have some treatment for him and he will recover, start eating again, and gain some weight... but I am not optimistic. I may have to let him go at last, and it's so hard. He's been my kitty for 14 and a half years, and I can't imagine life without his hard little head butting into my hand in search of pets, or his piercing meow demanding food, or his contented purring next to my head.

I'm going to go cuddle him a little more right now, and have a good cry.

Update: The vet examined Iggy, gave him some fluids, and tested his blood. The results showed that Iggy is OK except for the thyroid thing (no organ failure), and there's now an internal medicine we can try to treat the hyperthyroid with. So we're going to give that a shot, and see if he recovers. The vet said we'd see results pretty quickly if it works. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, because he's just soooo skinny (4.5 lb), but I feel like I owe him the chance. If the medicine doesn't work, at least we tried.

Holidaze 2010

2011-01-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

Whew, we have had a fun time the last couple of weeks. I took the week off between Christmas and New Years so we had lots of time to do fun stuff.

We started with a trip to Plain and had a great Christmas with Grandma Debbie, Poppy, GG Joy, Jon, Nadege and Chloe. My mom got both the kids and herself matching striped Christmas jammies which made for great pictures, and both the kids got beautiful wooden rocking horses as well as lots of other fun stuff. There was lots of snow in Plain and we had a great time building a snow horsie (which Conan even got to ride) and a snow man in the yard.

We came home on the 28th and settled in for a couple of nice, mostly quiet days around home. We had the Pazo clan over for dinner, went Bowling with a large group of friends (Conan's first time!), had the Davis family over for a slumber party, and helped Great Grandma Marjorie celebrate her 91st birthday before heading down to the Ericson's for New Year's Eve. We had a great time, as always - eating, drinking, playing games - all the good stuff to start 2011 off right. I can hardly believe it is actually 2011, but there it is. There's just no stopping time!

All this on top of one of the most momentous of parental milestones: Conan's first big-boy haircut. I'll sure miss those baby curls, but it was time. He's still extraordinarily cute, but it's different now...

Holiday Cookie Baking

2010-12-22T22:01:00.000-08:00

Making cookies with Conan was a lot of fun. Worth the mess!

Conan really enjoyed cutting out the cookies. He made stars, diamonds, flowers, bells and snowmen, as well as some abstract designs produced by using more than one cookie cutter on the same cookie. (See below, far left on the cookie sheet for one such creative design.)

After we finished cutting out and baking the cookies, Conan helped frost them as well. Masterpeices, every one.

And here's some video:

Tuesdays for Sanity

2010-12-21T12:18:00.000-08:00

I love Tuesdays. On Tuesday nights I play poker with my lady friends. The group has evolved some over the three years our game's been going. Some of us have gotten married, we've been pregnant, we've nursed our babies at the table and passed them around to be held by someone else while mama deals. When our babies are old enough to stay home with their papas we revel in getting out kid-free for a night. We bitch about our jobs, our husbands, politics, the weather, traffic, everything. We swap recipes and child-care tips and ideas for family outings and where the best clearance racks in town are. Our standard is a $5 buy-in, but when money's tight (or the tomatoes are ripe) we'll happily accept a barter item in place of the cash. I love my poker ladies.

As wonderful as Ladies Poker Night is, the BEST part of my Tuesdays now is the part before the game.

You see, once upon a time, poker was on Wednesdays, and it was early. I just had time to leave work, grab some kind of heat-n-eat or take-out dinner, and head over to the game. So that was OK - I got a night out, baby-free, and a game, and the socializing - that's what everyone says a new mom needs. It was hard though. I was too tired to really get into socializing. As a mom and a wife and an employee I had people talking to me and needing things from me all the time, and poker started to feel more like another commitment to be discharged than a respite from the rest of my life.

But then people's schedules changed, as they are wont to do, and with one thing and another we ended up switching the game to Tuesday nights at 7:30. Well, that left me with around 3 hours between work and game time. I could go home, but when I tried that I ended up getting caught up in dinner, bath, etc. etc. and blowing off the game entirely. No good! I needed my night off, away from home!

I started saving up errands. I'd go to the bank, grocery shop, go get some new socks and underwear, maybe get the oil changed in the car. That was better, my time was filled and I was getting my game in, but somehow it still didn't quite feel right. I mean, it's supposed to be my night off! I tried meeting up with friends before the game, but it was hard to fit schedules together consistently. And then one day, I went to the library to return some kiddie books, and decided to grab a book for myself. (I know - crazy, right?) I took it to the park and ate my take-out dinner and read. It was wonderful. It was exactly what I needed.

Now, the part of my Tuesday that I look forward to the most is the hours between work and the game. I go to the library, grab something at random from the "new releases" shelf just inside the door. I try not to spend too much time choosing - I'm not looking for the BEST book ever, just something to occupy my mind while I eat. I like to try different cafes, and I get a kick out of mixing and matching the book to the most unlikely type of restaurant. Little-old-lady mystery? Cajun pub. Modern cyber spy thriller? Co-op bakery. Cheesy pre-historic romance? Korean stone pot restaurant. Elizabethan fantasy swashbucking adventure? Shrimp shack. Definitely.

Tonight I've already got a book in mind, a post-apocalyptic vampire novel. I'm thinking tamales.

I order my food, sip my tea, read my book, and no-one asks me to do anything. (Well, except pay. Duh.) Nothing gets done. No errands. No socializing. Just pure "me" time. And then I pack up and head off to Poker recharged, ready to swap gossip and jokes and probably lose $5 - or maybe a basket of tomatoes - to my best friends.

Tuesdays for Sanity! Everyone needs a bit of time to themselves. I had heard the advice but I hadn't really understood it. I thought Poker - the socializing, the comraderie, the not-being-home-for-bedtime was what I needed. And it WAS part of what I needed, but just as you can't live on toast alone, I needed something more. Time for yourself sounds pretty simple, but it took me almost two years to figure it out. Blame it on sleep deprivation, I guess.

Santa

2010-12-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

Santa didn't upset Conan at all. Any trepidation he may have felt vanished the moment he saw the candy cane...

Happy Birthday Conan

2010-12-14T15:33:00.001-08:00

Conan turned 2 on Sunday Dec 12th, and we had a BIG party on Saturday with 43 (!) guests ranging in age from 3 months to 90. Everyone had a great time; all the kids played well together, there were no big tantrums, no-one got sick or hurt, and nothing was broken - pretty amazing considering how many young children we had in the house for 4 hours! It really was a blast - THE party of the year.

There were Cupcakes:

And lots of balloons

And friends of all ages, from near and far

And Grandmas and Grandpas and Great Grandmas too, of course

And lots of new books to read

And a big red wagon filled with toys

And a bright red tricycle for our big boy!

(Cousin Chloe liked Red Trike a lot too)

And we even have some video:

Happy Birthday Conan! We love you very much.

Story Time: The Rotten Egg Incident

2010-12-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Bear with me, I feel the need to reminisce...

I was always a good kid. I never really got into defiance for the sake of defiance; I always wanted to follow the rules and loved the praise and approval I received for being such a good kid. Occasionally I was naughty, but mostly I was not the trouble maker. Which is why the Rotten Egg Incident is still such a sore spot for me: I was innocent, but I looked guilty as hell. And it was spectacular.

I was about eleven, maybe twelve years old. My cousins, Heather, Sadie and Jessica, had come to visit, and the next door neighbor kids, Jamie & Ben, were also over at our house playing. Heather was three years older than I, Sadie was my age, and Jess, Jamie and my brother Jon were two years younger than we were, with Ben a couple years behind them. We were having a grand time, playing around and in the pond, on a beautiful summer day, while our parents chatted in the shade.

Now, the pond at my parent's house is not huge, and it's not deep, but it is murky and the bottom is mucky, not nice at all for wading or swimming. In the center of the pond is a small island where wild ducks nest nearly every year. Exploring the island was the obvious thing for us to do when my dad produced a small boat for us to play with. Jon and Sadie ferried Heather and I over to the island, and then headed back to the shore to pick up Jamie, Jesse and Ben. There was a lot of silliness going on in the boat, and somehow both of the paddles were dropped overboard.

Meanwhile, Heather and I began to explore the island, which was very brushy. We pushed our way through the branches and came upon an old duck's nest in the lee of the biggest alder tree. It still had an egg in it! What a find! I picked it up, examined it, and held it up for everyone to see, yelling to the other kids "We found a duck egg!". And they yelled back "Throw it! Throw it!"

So I did. I hauled back and unquestioningly threw the duck egg.

Which hit the network of low-hanging alder branches and aerosolized into a fine mist of pure rotten-egg putrescence which enveloped all the kids, both in the boat and on the shore.

Now, as is often the case in these situations, I knew as soon as the egg left my hand that it was a mistake. I suddenly saw the kids on the shore holding a tow-rope tied to a weight, ready to throw to the kids in the boat who had lost their paddles overboard. In an instant it was crystal clear, but it was too late. Everyone was shrieking, crying, retching, adults were running from the yard to see what was happening, and there was a mind-boggling terrible stink in the air.

To everyone but Heather and I it seemed like a completely unprovoked biochemical sneak attack. We were stuck on the island for what seemed like hours, while the adults rescued, bathed, and comforted our siblings. I think they even got ice cream. We were told we could wade to shore through the now stinky muck water on our own. No-one wanted to hear my side of the story, because really, what possible excuse could there be for doing such a horrible, stupid, mean thing?

Eventually after all the other kids were cleaned up and settled down someone came and rescued us off the island, but despite my teary-eyed protestations I don't think anyone really believed me that it had been an accident. I mean really, when your story is that you accidentally threw a rotten duck egg right at all the other kids because they asked you to, well, that's a pretty hard explanation to sell. But it's true. I was innocent... and also guilty. And although it was terribly traumatic for everyone involved (especially me) it makes a pretty funny story now!

Thanksgiving, with Snow

2010-11-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

We got 5 inches of snow on Thanksgiving day; it turned our yard into a beautiful winter wonderland. Although I worried for a bit that the snow would keep our guests away and we would end up facing a whole turkey ourselves, Eric & Miriam braved the drive from Olympia and Dave and Anita brought Great Grandma Marjorie and Anita's friend Ann out from Bellingham so we had plenty of help with the eating.

Conan worked up an appetite riding around the yard on the "snow boat" pulled by his only-slightly-less-excited-about-snow Papa.

We don't have any real sledding hills available, but it was a lot of fun anyway. With his warm winter coat, snow pants, fuzzy hat and big boots Conan was ready to make the most of the unexpected snow bonanza.
Sadly, the temperatures rose in the night, the snow turned to rain and there wasn't a flake left by the next morning, so we didn't get a chance to make any snow sculptures. Next time!

The food, of course, was delicious. We had smashed potatoes, roasted squash, ginger glazed carrots, vegetarian stuffing, bread, turkey & gravy, and pies for desert.

For the turkey I got a little creative and went with a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that promised over-the-top glaze, crispy skin, and tender juicy meat. I'm pleased to say it delivered.

The hard part was butterflying a 21 lb turkey. The turkey came from my buddy Ben Wiley, who moved back to Plain and raised a few birds for friends and family this year. We didn't necessarily need such a large bird for our group, but it was the one I got so there it was. It was a delicious, flavorful bird with great meaty texture and good muscle tone, so much better than the flabby pale meat from a supermarket bird. It took a good bit of wrassling to get the backbone out and break the breastbone in preparation for roasting, but in the long run it was worth it. The turkey cooked evenly and the glaze (apple cider, cranberries & molasses, reduced on the stove-top - now THAT smelled good!) adhered beautifully. Mmmm!

Frosthammer Falls

2010-11-23T15:46:00.001-08:00

Last night our biggest fir tree, the one we had named "Frosthammer" (yes, we really called him that, dorks that we are), came down during a tremendous wind storm. Thankfully it fell away from the house, landing just short of the neighbor's white picket fence. A number of other, smaller trees were crushed or snapped off, but no structures, animals or people were injured. We didn't even hear him fall.

The enormous rootball is easily 15 feet high, and positioned in such a way as to make an amazing sculpture on the edge of our yard to be enjoyed for years to come. We have often talked about digging a pond right below where Frosthammer stood, but I had been concerned that we might damage his roots; that's no longer an issue, and now we even have a hole to start from! And we'll be set for firewood for life, too. It will take a while to get used to not seeing him when we look out the southern windows, and our neighborhood eagles will have to find a new place to roost. It's sad and exciting at the same time.

Update - here's a picture with Miriam standing in front of the roots on Thanksgiving, for a better sense of the scale of it:

Birthday Story

2010-11-21T16:09:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my birthday; I'll be 35 years old. Last night we had a bunch of friends over for a dinner party that was lots of fun. We're in the midst of a early-season nor'easter, with c-c-cold snowy winds blasting straight down from the Fraser valley, so I was impressed at the number of friends willing to make the drive over icy roads and celebrate with us. I really am blessed with a great group of friends.

It got me thinking back through the years, to other birthday celebrations. Some years I've had big parties, some years small gatherings, some years my birthday's an afterthought to Thanksgiving, and some years it is the the main event. There was the time - when I was 13 or 14 - when what I REALLY, really wanted (and got) for my birthday celebration was to take my two closest friends to a chanting workshop with some visiting Tibetan monks. (It was neat, if not particularly eventful.) Of course I'll never forget the year that I got an engagement ring from Cary for my birthday - that was a shock. I had no idea what he was planning, and he'd gone to the trouble to wrap it up inside a bunch of nesting boxes, with the outside one being a couple feet square. ("Oh, haha, the old box-inside-a-box trick" I said.) Opening that final box and seeing the ring is the only thing that has ever rendered me literally speechless.

Of all the years I've celebrated though, my favorite one was in my mid-twenties, when I was living at the Apple Farm. I can't say for certain what year it was, probably around 2000. It was one of those years where my birthday landed perilously close to Thanksgiving. My family was gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving at my Grandma Joy's house, so Cary and I drove out there around noon or so. We had a great meal, lots of visiting and catching up, and then a few presents for me, all very nice. Cary, however, kept checking the time and making it known that he really wanted to head back to the farm. He had some weak reason, I don't even remember what, about why he wanted to head home, but I knew he just didn't want to stay and visit longer with my family because he was a selfish jerk.

Eventually, I gave in, we said our goodbyes, got in the car and headed back home, and I let him have it. "I hardly ever get to see my family! We see your family all the time! It's not fair! You must not really understand/love/respect me if you can't spend time with my family without wanting to leave early!" etc. Cary took my increasingly hysterical rantings about his problems dealing with my family with characteristic stony silence, which only made me even more convinced that I was hitting right at the heart of the matter.

It's about a half-hour drive between Grandma Joy's house and the Apple Farm, and I kept at him the whole way home. I was merciless. I was going to make him SEE! I was right, and he needed to know it!

And then I walked into the house to find we were late for my surprise birthday party.

I don't remember much about the actual party (I'm pretty sure it thoroughly rocked), but I do remember apologizing to Cary and realizing - not for the first time, but perhaps more deeply than before - that he was a real keeper. Happy Birthday, me.

Visiting Plain

2010-11-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

Chloe turned two on November 14th, and I was able to take Friday and Monday off work so that Conan and I could make a trip over to Plain to help celebrate. We had lots of fun with Poppy and Debbie. Conan got to drive a tractor, pet a real horsie, play chase with Ginger (the most tolerant cat EVER), pound nails in uncle Jon's house, play in snow, "ride" Gracie the dog, and of course play with his cousin. I also picked (and ate) wild chantrelles, went for walks in the beautiful autumn woods, and spent a nice amount of time sipping tea and visiting with my folks. It's nice to be home now, but it sure was good to spend a few days back in Plain.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

2010-11-04T18:33:00.001-07:00

We scored a nice kid's easel at the consignment store for $10, and Conan's really enjoying playing artist. He's quite enthusiastic, and occasionally has trouble confining himself to his canvas. This particular work took barely as much time as it takes Mama to put the groceries in the fridge and feed the cats.

I will add that Melissa & Doug's Non-Toxic Dry Erase Markers come off of skin, clothes and hair really, really easily. Which is a bit of a relief.

Tickee Teet! Happy Ween!

2010-10-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

Halloween weekend was a lot of fun. On Saturday we went with the Lease's to downtown Bellingham to trick or treat. All the downtown merchants give out candy and it's a lot of fun for the little ones, a good daytime practice for more advanced neighborhood trick-or-treating later. It took a little while for Conan to get the hang of it but he was soon charging right up to the candy bowl and saying "tickee-teet" and "happy ween" with the best of 'em. We ended at Boundary Bay for beers and food and finally some well-deserved candy. Conan's mouth was bright blue by the time we left, and he and Olive were bouncing off the walls, the chairs, and the legs of the very patient waitstaff.

On Sunday we went and visited Great Grandma Marjorie at Highland nursing home before going to the Columbia neighborhood for some really amazing trick-or-treating. We were accompanied by Brian, Abby, Chloe and Grandpa Dave, as well as some other friends. Brian had a really amazing Chewbacca costume, and Chloe was the cutest little Ewok. After trick-or-treating we went back to the Mapes place for apple pie and ice cream, and of course ate some more candy.

Chicken House

2010-10-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

We've finally got chickens! I've wanted to get our own birds ever since we moved in, but I was also determined to wait until we had the time to really build them a good solid house. Every other time I've ever kept chickens, I've gotten the birds first and then cobbled together some kind of "temporary" shelter for them. The problem with that approach is that the temporary shelter is always needing maintenance to keep it from falling apart so there's never time to build anything permanent. On the other hand, building a good, solid, permanent chicken house was a project that had to wait until a few other things were taken care of, so it's taken us nearly four years to get to the point where we could bring home some hens. The new chicken house is not yet completely finished (the roofing, siding, and full yard enclosure are still incomplete) but I think it is WELL worth the wait. This isn't just an ordinary chicken house, it's a chicken palace!

This chicken house has all kinds of special features. It's got a cleanout door along the whole bottom of the north wall, and a piece of remnant vinyl flooring (in a tasteful beige tile pattern) tacked down over the entire floor and up the side of the nest boxes. Those two features should really help make cleaning out the house a much more pleasant task.

On the East side of the house, the lower roofed area is the future duck house. It's not finished yet, but it won't take much to get it closed in and ready for ducklings in the spring. The ducks will have a separate outdoor pen adjacent to the chicken yard when everything is complete.

There are three nest boxes with access from the outside, and there's a built-in storage cupboard underneath for keeping chicken food, egg cartons, and other useful items dry and secure. The roof has an extra-wide overhang on the south side to keep the rain off our heads while we do the chores. There's a window in the people door, as well as a window that opens for ventilation and light. The chicken door is actually a window as well, which adds a little more light and also closes easily and securely to keep the chickens safe at night. There's a porch on the west end so the ladies can go outside even in wet mucky weather, and where their water dish can be without getting muddy or full of straw.

Most importantly of all, it's a solidly built little house, which will keep them safe and warm and dry in all kinds of weather and for years to come.

We couldn't have done this at all without Dave's help. He had the lumber, the tools, the know-how, the willingness and the time to take my sketch and turn it into reality. We had to purchase some new plywood, the tarpaper, and the cement for setting the footings, but nearly everything else was used, salvaged materials from the ReStore and Dave's collection, and a few things left over from our house. Even the chickens are used! They came from our good friend Janet, who is moving soon and needed to relocate her flock.

Conan really enjoyed the building process. He helped a lot - hammering, measuring, and toting materials around. He is really, really, REALLY excited to have "bokkies" of his very own.

Our seven ladies moved in on Sunday, and we got our first egg yesterday. Once they get all settled in and adjusted to their new home, I expect we'll get 3-5 eggs a day. Mmmm!

Cake Song

2010-10-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

1. I don't think he's ever seen anyone play the drum and sing, but he seems to know how it's done.

2. We hardly ever have cake (the last time I can remember was at my Cousin's wedding in July). Apparently it made quite the impression.

3. Yes, he has better rhythm than either of his parents.

True Story

2010-10-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've been in Orlando, FL for a trade show during the last 5 days. I left after work on Wednesday the 13th and didn't get home until 2 am this morning, so it had been a looooonnnng time since Conan had seen me. So this morning when we heard him stirring, we went into his room together to wake him up, anticipating an enthusiastic greeting for his long-lost Mama. He sat up in his bed and Cary said "Conan, guess who's here?" in an excited voice. Conan paused a moment, looked at me, and then responded "Dayd?" with a happy little chirp of anticipation. Mama, schmama - what would REALLY be exciting would be to have Grandpa Dave dropping by first thing in the morning. We had a good laugh, and then Conan and I had a nice reunion cuddle. He does love me, after all.

Executive Baby

2010-10-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

Workin' from home with Mama today. Typing, writing, calculating, and of course, talking on the phone. Looks like management material to me!

Pumpkins!

2010-10-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Cloud Mountain Farm Harvest festival. This was Conan's second year attending, and he really had a lot of fun. We met up with Marci, Silas, Cohen, Charlotte and Bellatrix as well as lots of other moms and kids we recognized from around town - it's really an extremely toddler-friendly event. There were several free activities for the kidlets. The first thing Conan did was to decorate a small flower pot and plant a little lavender seedling in it.
He is quite the artist, so it took a long time before he declared his pot finished and ready to plant.

He enjoyed spooning the dirt into his pot, but he was a little suspicious of the lavender seedling I stuck in there. He pulled it out a couple of times before he decided it was OK to have a plant in his dirt. Only time will tell if it will survive, but we can replace it if needed.

We tasted some berries and grapes, sampled some cider, and ate delicious Mallard's Ice Cream. But the biggest hit by far was the giant pumpkin. Besides the big one, there was a large pile of more moderately sized pumpkins, and a wagon-load of squash and gourds to boot. The kids had a lot of fun looking at all the different colors and shapes, and of course many pictures were taken.

I should point out that Conan did not wear his orange fleece as part of any pre-meditated parental photo setup - I'm far too much of a scatterbrain to have planned that far in advance. But it DOES look really nice with the pumpkins.

I really like this one. It's just perfect.

Even baby Trix got into the posing with pumpkins, although she wasn't too sure about that tricky balancing.
Next year I'm sure she'll be more excited about it. :)

Favorite Toys

2010-09-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge the image if you want to read the names of the toys

Conan is really starting to get attached to certain toys. Pictured above are his current favorites. It's interesting to see which toys he connects with - for example, his favorite animal may be the Elephant (aka Baboo) but he has shown very little interest in any of the stuffed Baboo toys we have offered him. He prefers the elephant puzzle piece from his animal board puzzle. Incidentally, if you were wondering, they are called Baboos because that is the sound they make, according to Conan. BaaaboooOOOOoooo!

He really likes animals, especially horses (Hort-sie), chickens (Bockies), and of course Baboos. Monkeys (Oo-oo), Sheep (Baa), Tigers (Tigah) and Cows (Moo) are also very popular. Balls of all shapes and sizes have always been a favorite. The wooden train was a gift from his great Aunt & Uncle, and ever since he got it he has loved taking his small toys for a ride in it. "Choo Choo" has become his word for any large, motorized vehicle - from trains to trucks and tractors to helicopters and airplanes. Cars, for reasons known only to Conan, are "Chaka Choo Choo".

And then there are Baby and Baa. These two, along with Baboo Blankie, nearly always accompany Conan to bed and require their own goodnight kisses from Mama. They often go with him to Grandma & Grandpa's house on Wednesdays, but they never go with Conan when he goes to Ya-ya's house, because Conan knows he doesn't want anyone else to play with them. They are his OWN. And that's just fine - every kid needs a special toy that he doesn't have to share.

It's really neat to watch as Conan's imagination grows and he invents little games to play with his toys. They are often subject to naps, along with frequent train rides. He is delighted to share his milk and snacks with them, as well as pretend food. Horsey runs and jumps all over the house and furniture. Sometimes Conan himself is a horsey trotting around the room; other times he is a doggie on his hands and knees carrying another toy in his mouth. It's simply wonderful.

Conan is calling

2010-09-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Conan loves to use the "hone" to call his favorite people: Dayd, Dee, Poppy, Dabbie, Kistee and Ya-Ya.* He's getting pretty good at talking when he's pretending, but still tends to get shy when there's really someone on the other end of the line, so it'll be a while yet before he's having real phone conversations. He's got the protocols down though - saying "Hi" and "Bye", pushing the buttons, even pacing while he talks. It's deadly cute. :)

*That's Grandpa Dave, Grandma Anita, Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Debbie, Christy and Olive, for those of you who don't speak Conan.

Deception Pass Camping Trip

2010-09-12T13:57:00.001-07:00

We just got home from camping at Deception Pass. Whew! Much needed laundry and naps are in progress, and I'm enjoying a hot cup of tea and looking over the pictures. (Life is good.)

We had planned this trip for a while. We met up with the Ericsons, Taylors, all the Davis-es (Grandpa Will even made a surprise appearance), and Mark & Elna. We managed to fit everyone into two adjoining campsites, which was a lot of fun. Each family had chosen a meal to prepare for the group, and we ate WELL! Fiday night the kids ran around in circles playing until bedtime, and then the adults sat around the fire talking, making s'mores, drinking and telling stories late into the night.

During the morning Saturday we explored the Bowman Bay area of the park, playing on the playground equipment and on the beach. Little plastic shovels and buckets were a big hit with the kids. A washed-up piece of giant kelp on the beach also proved fascinating. We cut it open to show the kids the air pocket inside that would make it float - Moira was especially interested.

After lunch while the kids were napping some of us went out to Rosario Beach, where Gabe & Cynthia went for a short SCUBA dive, testing out their equipment and learning in the process that Gabe's drysuit has a leak. He came out of the water with his suit absolutely filled with water - I expect (nay, demand!) some video of it to appear on his site shortly.

The weather was pretty good, although it finished up a bit on the soggy side. We had beautiful weather all day Saturday, but at dusk it began to sprinkle and by the time we broke camp Sunday morning it was raining steadily. But hey, that's camping in Washington in September. The kids took refuge in the minivan, playing "drive" until the grown-ups could get all the soggy tents and stuff into the cars and then we came home to hot showers and our warm dry house.

Blackberries

2010-09-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

Let's cheer things up around here a little!

What Scares Me

2010-08-25T01:19:00.000-07:00

In a nutshell, my biggest fear is losing Conan. I'm not a big worrier in general, but sometimes, especially late at night, it just hits me that it's possible something terrible could happen to him, and a huge wave of fear comes crashing down on me. I work my way through all kinds of things that could happen - from the fairly common (car accident, playground accident, gardening accident) to the hypochondriac (leukemia, SIDS, cancer, genetic disease, e. coli) to the sensational (crazed meth-head home invasion, weird cult kidnapping, dingo attack, terrorist plot) to natural disasters (volcanic eruption, earthquake, sudden rise in sea level) to the downright apocalyptic (zombies, nuclear strike, alien invasion, Large Hadron Collider created black hole).

If I'm really in the grip of a fear fit, I may even start to worry about possible pitfalls in the future. What if Conan makes bad choices in high school, drops out, runs away, and overdoses in a flophouse somewhere? What if he texts & drives? What if he drops dead of heat stroke one day after football practice? What if he's struck by lightning, or a meteorite, or a chunk of the international space station? The list of things I could worry about just goes on and on.

This focus on the horrible and tragic may seem morbid, but I think it's actually an effective coping mechanism. Thinking about these things, accepting them as possibilities and then dismissing them as remote and unlikely, makes them seem somehow less scary. I have good friends who lost their son at 4 months, and know several couples who were devastated to lose a pregnancy. My cousin died in a freak snowboarding accident when we were in our early 20s. My husband works at the city cemetery. Reminders that death is a part of life are ever-present. No one knows what the future holds.

So whenever this most primal fear bubbles to the surface, I spend some time exploring it in my imagination. Then, I take a deep breath and remind myself that the fearsome possibility of losing something wonderful is no match for the joy of really, truly loving every minute that I have with my son.

Conan vs Sprinkler

2010-08-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Juice for Conan

2010-08-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Conan loves juice and milk, but doesn't much care for plain water. When we went in for his 18 month checkup in June, our pediatrician told us that we needed to

a) make sure he stayed hydrated during the summer heat
b) give him less milk (24 oz or so a day - including the bedtime bottle)
c) give him less juice

Even watered-down, no-sugar-added, 100% pure fruit juice which we had been giving him was more sugar than he needed, apparently. So what to do, when he just ignored sippy cups filled with plain water? I certainly didn't want him to get dehydrated.

Enter sun tea. I made the first batch for myself, then discovered that Conan loved it. Now I brew it frequently. "Juice! Juice! Jooooooooooooouice!" he says, and points enthusiastically when he sees me set out the big gallon jar on the fence to brew.

I usally use a fruity tea, like raspberry zinger or berry blast. These are caffeine free, brew up to a bright, deep red or purple color, and taste delicious. I don't add any sugar, of course, so it helps to choose teas that are naturally sweet and taste great all on their own. It also costs virtually nothing to make, and Conan happily drinks tons of it. Win!

You probably don't need instructions, but just in case you've never made sun tea before, it's the easiest thing in the world. You don't need any special equipment, although there are some lovely tea pitchers available if you want to splurge. The basics are as follows:

1. Get a big clear jar with a lid. Wash it thoroughly.
2. Fill it with cold water.
3. Put in some tea bags. I usually use 8 bags for a gallon batch. They don't all have to be the same kind, you can mix and match to create new blends. For kids, stick to caffeine-free types.
4. Put the lid on and set the jar out somewhere sunny for a few hours. You'll know it's done when the color is richly developed, or it's night time and you forgot to bring it in earlier in the afternoon. Taste it if you aren't sure.
5. Remove the tea bags, chill & serve.
6. Store it in the fridge in the same jar you brewed it in until it's gone.

You can add lemon juice, mint leaves, ice cubes, frozen or fresh berries, fruit slices, and even sugar or honey (for adults) to enhance the flavor. Drink up!

Visiting Plain

2010-08-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Conan, Great Grandma Joy and I made the trek to Plain for a visit with my parents. It was a fairly short visit, but we packed in a lot of fun regardless. Conan was especially excited about the chickens and had fun going fly fishing in the pond with his Poppy. Dad even had a little toddler-sized pole and reel (no hook) all ready for him. Mom's garden is really incredible, and I came home with a carload of delicious fresh vegetables and garlic to supplement my own meager yields.

We also toured my brother Jon's house, which he is building next door. It's really neat to see it taking shape! It's simply an amazing project, the style of building, called timber framing, uses notches and pegs and mortise and tennons to fit together large, beautiful beams like puzzle peices. There's only 7 metal bolts in the whole thing! Not the easiest or fastest way to put up a house, but the craftmanship is incredible. When it's finished, the outside will be stucco'd over but on the inside the beams will be visible on the walls and ceilings. The beams and boards (including some beautiful fir tounge-and-groove panneling on the dining room ceiling) were all milled from trees harvested on the property, only the plywood subfloor came from the lumberyard.

Saturday afternoon many of my aunts and uncles and cousins on the Pobst side came out for a reunion/picnic, and it was great to visit and catch up with all of them. Conan charmed everyone with his cuteness and cheerful nature, and we enjoyed a delcious potluck meal followed by homemade raspberry icecream. Summer afternoons with family can hardly be beat!

Olympia

2010-08-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we visited Gabe & Cynthia and baby Morgan for three days in Olympia. Bo & Charlotte & baby Bellatrix also made the trek to Oly and stayed over Friday night. On Saturday we all went up to the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Fair in Buckley, and met the Ericsons there. It was so much fun to see everyone, and we had a great time at the fair even with the cold drizzly weather. It was kind of an impromptu thing to go to the fair, but we all agreed that we should do it again next year, with advance planning so we can dress up! I took some pictures that don't really do the fair justice, if you want to see some of the fun your best bet is to click through the link above and watch the video.

Update: The best performance by far was the Ma'Ceo gypsy riders:

Hiking to Welcome Pass

2010-08-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Conan hiked to Welcome Pass on Sunday with his Papa, Grandpa Dave, and family friend Nathan.

He was supposed to ride in the backpack, but he insisted on being carried in arms or walking for much of the way up 68 switchbacks.

He had a great time in the meadow at the top, running around enough that he was willing to nap in the backpack on the way down.

He also had fun playing with Dave & Nathan's walking sticks. Or at least, that's the official story. The camera, on the other hand, shows a lot of alpine baby kung fu training...

Family Picnic Fun

2010-08-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to the Anderson-Syre-Etc Annual Family picnic. The big attraction was that my cousin Andrew and his family (wife Lollie and kids Andie, Nichole & Alex) had come up from California. We had them over for dinner on Thursday as well, and it was really neat to get to meet them in person. We've been internet buddies for a while, but it had been something like 15 years since I'd seen Andrew in person. I'd never met Lollie & the kids, although I felt like I knew them from seeing their pictures and reading their family newsletter from time to time. Really great people... glad we're related!

Now on to the pictures - this may be the single best picture I've ever taken. No photoshop, honest!
Playing on the swing was a big hit. Grandma Debbie had fun too.
Time with Great Grandma is always special.
Nichole, Alex & Andie picked lots of raspberries from the rows around the picnic area, and Conan ate a ton of them.
Sitting on the "choo choo" with Mama was extremely exciting. The bigger kids got to drive the tractor around the field all by themselves, which was a ton of fun.

Self-portrait!
This picture is actually from last weekend, at Odessa's birthday party. Look out ladies!

Spiraea

2010-07-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

Also known as Hardhack and Steeple-Flower, spiraea douglasii is a common native wetland plant in our area. It is the dominant species in much of our swamp, and this time of year it is in full bloom.
Looking down from the observation platform, the swamp looks like a lush meadow sprinkled with bright spikes of fluffy pink flowers. But as is so often the case, looks can be deceiving. It's actually an impenetrable thicket, a thick, 8 foot high tangle of small woody stems growing over the soggy and uneven ground. No frolicing in this "meadow"!

Spirea is often thought of as a nuisance plant. It's a common weed in my flower beds and garden, and has to be cut back away from outbuildings, trails and driveways every year. It's vigorous, opportunistic, and tolerant of just about any growing conditions. In its proper place, however, it's a magnificent plant, and I am really enjoying the blooming of our swamp this year.

Saturna Island Wedding

2010-07-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 17th my cousin Fergus married his longtime sweetheart Svea in a lovely beach-side ceremony on his "hometown" island of Saturna, BC. We traveled up to the island on Thursday beforehand, so we were able to help out quite a bit with the preparations as well as visit with the rest of our family and Svea's. Essentially, we had a three-day celebration of family, with lots of good food, beautiful scenery, and wonderful weather.
Conan had a lot of fun, first with riding the ferry over to the island and then with seeing all the people and reading books with Great Grandma Joy, Mammie (aka Grandma Debbie), Poppy (aka Grandpa Dennis), and anyone else he could get to sit and read to him. He learned the names Mammie and Poppy from his cousin Chloe, they are her names for my Mom and Dad. Conan and Chloe were very cute together, and she learned to say his name almost immediately. "Conawn? Conawn?" she asked, whenever she saw me without him.

The wedding preparations were intensive, as we had to turn the island rec center basketball court into a banquet hall, complete with a tulle canopy and hanging globe lanterns, flower arrangements both large and small, and of course keep everyone on the crew fed and watered throughout the whole process. It all came together seamlessly, a great testament to how much a motivated group of people can accomplish! It was neat to get to know Svea's family from Nunavut by working alongside them to prepare for the formal bonding between our two families. I really only had a vague idea about Nunavut beforehand, so I was fascinated by all their stories of life in the remote arctic.

Conan & Chloe of course didn't do much in the way of wedding preparations, but they kept busy going on walks an exploring the beaches, and cooling off in the afternoons playing in buckets of water on the deck. Cousin Odessa joined them for some play time as well, delighting in soap bubbles and romps through my Aunt Pam's amazing flower garden. I showed them how to roll down the small hill in the yard, which was entertaining for babies and grown ups alike.

After the wedding ceremony, there was a splendid reception, complete with a catered banquet featuring an 85 lb beef hip roasted to perfection, a delicious 3-tier cake, toasting and roasting the bride & groom, an open bar, and finally dancing into the wee hours with a fabulous 9-piece live band. It really was a night to remember! I found myself marveling at the wonder of it all: here I was, dancing in a community gymnasium on a small Canadian island to a rousing rendition of Disco Inferno with family and friends from Japan, the US, France, and all across Canada, including some really remote parts of Nunavut. And all of that while my baby slept in his stroller in the beer garden! Life is pretty amazing, when you stop to think about it.

You know what's fun?

2010-07-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

Running through sprinklers!

Zoo Zoo Zoo

2010-07-06T08:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went with the Ericsons to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. It was amazing. It was Conan's first time at a Zoo and he had so much fun.

Some of highlights: Feeding the birds in the Australian bird exhibit, looking for penguins in the underwater viewing portals, seeing the Sloth Bears "wrestling", watching the Orangutan play peek-a-boo, and seeing the Snow Leopard mother & cubs playing out and about in their exhibit. The real tigers were sleeping, but we had brought along our own tiger anyway. The Lions gave us a nice show, stalking about their enclosure and evoking many good loud roars from our little guy.

We also saw Elephants, Giraffes, Brown Bears, Otters, Mountain Goats, Zebras, Meerkats, Kangaroos, Emus, and many snakes, bugs, and other birds and animals. Conan loved seeing the animals, although with the snow leopards and the elephants he was much more interested in the big ball in their enclosure than with the animals themselves.

By the end of the day Conan was super tired, but even so he stayed awake in the car for nearly an hour on the way home, happily babbling and making animal noises and generally telling us all about the fun he had at the zoo. It was a great day.

4th of July

2010-07-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from our 4th of July celebration with the Ericsons. Watermelon, smoke bombs, black snakes and pop-up pagodas were are BIG hit with the kids! Tombi's grill-smoked BBQ beef and custard fruit tart were big hits with the grown ups. The weather was cool and drizzly, but we had a great time sitting around the fire and watching the fireworks over the rooftops.

Swing!

2010-07-04T10:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we put up a swing for Conan. It met with imedediate approval.

It's a big-kid swing, so for the moment little C needs help getting onto the seat and pushes to help him go. But I expect that with a little bit of practice he'll soon be able to get on by himself, and push with his feet.
He's already practicing jumping off of it, because he's such a little daredevil.

Swinging with Mama is pretty fun too, although it's a bit too close to the ground to feel very comfortable for anyone over 3 feet tall. My hope is that he'll soon become skilled enough with the swing that he can play on it by himself.

I remember the first swing my Dad put up for me in our yard. It was a board and a rope, and I loved it. I would pretend I could fly, and just swing for hours in the warm summer sun.

Update: After I wrote this, Conan and I went out to the swing. I pushed him until he was swinging higher than ever, laughing and shreiking with joy. Then he started saying "Moo! Moo!" I asked him if he was going to fly all the way up to the moon, and he replied with what may have been the most enthusiastic "Yes!" I've ever heard.

Two More Teeth

2010-06-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Sheesh! Two more teeth have come through now, bringing Conan's total up to 10 (four in the last 10 days). The latest two are both on the top left, first the just-left-of-center one in the front and now the middle molar one that matches the one he got on the right last week. When these all grow in he's going to have a symmetrical smile for the first time in months, not to mention a much improved ability to chew. Hurray for teeth!

Strawberries

2010-06-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

Conan likes them! These plants were pretty useless (according to him) until recently, when they started having yummy berries on them. Now he checks the berry patch every day when we get home.
He ate about a dozen green berries (well, nibbled them, anyhow) before he got the idea that the red ones are the ripe ones. Yummy!

We have the berry patch well covered with bird netting that attaches to the sides of the raised bed which helps keep Conan from eating all the red berries and then starting on the green ones. :)

More Words

2010-06-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Conan's vocabulary has suddenly expanded again. It's really interesting to me to see what words he picks up, because it's a window into what he sees as important and neecessary to communicate. His new words include the following:

Up
Hat
No
Owie
Happy
Jus (juice - this is a big favorite)
Bouh (book - another favorite thing)
Bampah (Grandpa Dave)
Wower (flower)
More (now spoken along with the hand sign)
Tancoo (Thank you)
Moo (moon - this one surprised me. If you ask him where it is, he'll point to the sky. It's very cute.)

He also knows the names of several cats, both at home and at friends' houses. And when he wants milk, he points to the fridge and says "Muh!" which is not exactly a word but it is a start...

We actually had our first verbal argument the other day. He wanted juice, but he'd already had enough in my opinion (and mama's opinion is pretty much law). So I offered him a cup of water. Our exchange went like this:

C: Jus?
M: Water.
C: Jus!
M: Water.
C: Juuuusss?
M: Water.
C: Jus.
M: Water.
C: Jus?
M: Water.
C: Jus!

Then he went and asked Papa, who also gave him a cup of water. Foiled again!

For the Record

2010-06-21T20:05:00.001-07:00

Conan had his 18-month checkup last week, and he now weighs 22.6 lbs and is 33.75 inches tall. He's quite the skinny little beanpole. Developmentally he's right where he should be in all regards, and ahead of the curve with physical coordination. The only worry was his continued lack of teeth, particularly since they've come in in such a strange order. Dr. Floyd isn't too worried, but she suggested that we take C in to a dentist soon, in any case.

He only had six teeth a week ago, when we were at the checkup. Since then he's gotten two more. First he got a middle molar on the upper right, and then yesterday he got the right-of-center one on the bottom. Apparently he heard us talking about his teeth and decided it was a good time to grow a couple more. But we'll get him in to a dentist soon anyhow, 6 teeth or 8.

Great Grandma Joy, and cake!

2010-06-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening we had a surprise bridal shower for my cousin's fiance, Svea. They were down from Canada for the day, doing some wedding shopping, and had planned to stop by for a quick visit "to see Conan" before heading back for the night. So all the Whatcom County family came out for the evening; it was really fun to see everyone. The next time we'll all be together will be at the wedding!

Conan was especially thrilled to see his Great Grandma Joy - he threw himself into her arms when she first arrived and stuck pretty close to her for the whole evening. Besides cuddles, they also shared a big piece of cake. Mmmmm-mmm, frosting...

Conan also had fun romping with his cousins Hazel and Hannah. It's neat now that he's able to play with them more like a kid and less like a baby. The girls are really good with him, very understanding.
Little Odessa isn't quite walking yet, but she'll be able to keep up soon enough, she's getting so big. Almost a year old now, it's amazing how time flies. Conan is 18 months old now, I can't believe it!