The Dreamtime Years: Daddy Deck Care

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Daddy Deck Care

Ugh! Is it done yet, is it done YET?! No, not quite. Brian has been painting our deck for about 3 years now. In all fairness to him, we do actually have three decks, so a deck per year is pretty good progress, considering he's really only got weekends in which to work. We are getting so close to being done. Hopefully we will finish before preciptiation and dew in the morning and evenings makes it too impossible for the paint to stick. Unfortunately, it feels a little like painting the Golden Gate bridge. The part he finished first already needs a little touch up. Fortunately, he is done with the top of the Gazebo so risk to life and limb from this point should be minimal.

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Little Guy Tracker

I: 14 moths: The light of verbal understanding has been growing stronger in little Isaiah these past few weeks. Within the last couple, I can give him multistep directions, and he is following. Yesterday, he eagerly went to find Daddy and Truman in the bedroom, and today he was banging on the shower door waiting for me to catch up when I told him it was shower time. Watching the two of them play together is really great--Truman is a great conductor and everything becomes a train--from the laundry basket to the learning tower. Isaiah beams and smiles at his older brother as Truman happily chugs him along.

T: 56 months: T has been looking forward to Thanksgiving all week. He's been so excited to have Daddy home and keeps asking when Thursday is. Mama and Daddy have been tired with all the activity. Sensing this at dinner, T thanked daddy for making such a yummy meal and mama for setting the table. V. Sweet.

I: 14 months: You can't keep the little guy down. He thinks he's 4 and wants to do everything brother does. He is climbing, running, walking everywhere. He loves outside, but was having a bit of a hard time navigating the hill on the side of the house, but despite rolling down a few times (and skinning his nose!), he gets back up to do it again. He's got an eye for balls and finds all of them. During a shopping trip last weekend he started saying "ball, ball." Mama said, no honey, there's no balls --but then I looked across the parking lot, across a busy road, and far away there were indeed two tethered round balloons floating around advertising a business. The little boy across the street likes to play basketball, so if we are out in the front when he is out, Isaiah just takes out running across the driveway, yard, road, etc to get to his ball. As soon as we pull in the garage from an outing, he starts the ball chant as he knows we keep a basket of balls there for playing. To top it off, Isaiah usually a great slepper goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes around 7:30. Not this morning. Before 6 a.m. I begin hearing, "ba ba ba" (ball, ball ball). Determined, isn't he?

T: 56 months: Little T was a monster for Halloween. We made his costume with an old shirt of mom's, covered it in "dirty hair" (puffy green shirt paint--T had a blast painting this & then we sprinkled spices on top when the paint was wet), added a pair of jeans covered in rags (an old torn up shirt of dad's) and topped it off by spraying his hair green, painting his nails blue and black, and giving him a stick "club" to carry. I asked him if he would like me to put leaves and twigs in his hair, but he said "No, I'm a clean monster, I like to take baths." He went around roaring at Isaiah & I. I asked if he was going to eat us, and he said "No, I'm a nice monster. But I like to growl and beat my stick."

I: 14 months: Isaiah was a leopard. He consented to wear his "ears" for about 5 seconds. He has pretty much left crawling behind, preferring to walk around aroudn everywhere. He enjoyed the Halloween party we attended at the Muesum of Transportation. He played in all the bins, taking out everything. But once he discoverd the stairs on the pirate ship, nothing would distract him. He found his way back, no matter where we were in the very large room, around, under or through the little fenced areas, quite content to leave Mama and brother behind.

I: 13 months: I is definitely moving up in the world. Up, any chance he can get. Up on top tables. Up the stairs (and yes, he can get the baby gate open). Up into the "reading nook" rocker, designed for T but where he also "reads" his books, just like his big brother. V. cute.

T: 55 months: T is sounding so adult now. His vocabulary is amazing, and even though I haven't discussed it with him, he is telling all who ask that he is being homeschooled. He asked the other day if G [daddy's company; he has been hearing a lot of talk about the AB buyout] is going to let us stay in our house. Little pictures really do have big ears, as my Grandma used to say. Not that he would mind moving. He really wants "a house with a chimney, dontcha know? Why didn't we get a house like that? Didn't we (Mama & Daddy) know he'd want one??? "

What's in season now?

Thrusday, November 27 Putting the Garden to Sleep

We've been enjoying some nice sunny days in our little patch of the midwest. It's been great for planting daffodils, tulips and the bit of rye we've sown over our future planting beds. This week we thanked the earth for its gifts of fruit and vegetables, and gave back with some nutritous rye seeds, greensand, sulphur, laying a winter blanket of hay over the top to help. If this weather holds, we will do some of the transplanting we didn't get to yet. T is most excited about the leaf raking & bonfire to burn up the last of brush.

Sunday, October 19

We harvested all the remaining carrots and put them up for the winter. It looks like we won't need to buy any until the next harvest in spring! Yeah! They are so yummy. Is. especially likes teething on them, and T loves to dip the bitty ones in balsalmic vinegar and oil.

We also dug up our sweet potatoes. Is. was having a cranky day, so Daddy took over for me. Daddy says, :how do I do this?" I say, "you call yourself Irish?" He smiles and says, "Well, what about you?" I say, "I'm half English, we always had you people do this for us." Anyway--it was a little tricky finding them--they were v. small and nicely blended in w/ the dirt. But get them we did, and ate them last night, and although T has never liked them before, he really loved "ours." "Mmmmm. They were so yummy Mommy. Can we grow them again next year?"

The Dreamtime Years

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Daddy Deck Care

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Little Guy Tracker

What's in season now?

You've Just Gotta Read this!

Who We Are

*Origin of the "Dreamtime"