Dancing Sippy

We changed the radio station in the kitchen away from the non-stop NPR talk to something that has more music. In this picture sippy is dancing to. . .I don't know what; it's the college station and I recognize almost nothing they play even though it all sounds pretty good to me.

This week Liam and I have spent almost every evening out in the yard weeding or planting something (blueberries, red huckleberries, bunch berry and today a fig tree that I've been waiting and waiting for). This has given Liam a new appreciation for where food comes from. Tuesday night he came running over pell-mell saying "ump-ah, ump-ah, ump-ah" which is his word for apple. He had just noticed all the apples in the tree and was convinced we should eat some right now. Because he knows his colors, we could talk about how we don't eat the apples until they turn red. What color are they now? "Green." Right. What color are they when we eat them? "Red. . .ump-ah, ump-ah, ump-ah." So he knows how to answer the question, but I'm not sure he's quite got the concept. We had the same discussion about green blueberries. But he still tried to eat one.

In a Will update; he is not feeling good. Congestion continues (or worsens? I'm not sure) and he just really hasn't been feeling well in his spirit or his body lately. We hope for a better day tomorrow. His next scheduled appointment isn't until the end of August, so we'll see if he wants to hold out until then.

Stay tuned, I'm in danger of finally finishing a sewing project in the next few days.

Beach

Liam was up at 5:30 today. He's been on a trend line towards earlier waking all week. I am a morning person and generally happy to be up at 6:00 but this 5:30 thing, I think, was really too much. Up at 5:30 and ready to go do something fun. The first thing he said to me (after "Daddy" which is almost always the very first thing he says) was: Beach. So, after a little snuggle, some time watching "e-o-e-o-e-o" (Liam's word for the video about animals that we let him watch sometimes, I bet you can guess the soundtrack), some waffles and blueberries (if I am up at 5:30 I think I deserve waffles, at least), we were finally off to the beach. Because I'm a very nice girl, I loaded Mollie in the car so she could come too. She loves to swim. Because they're very nice people, my parents called me back at 7:45AM and said, sure, bring them to the beach at our house. This meant I got coffee too and could let Mollie off the leash. Also we got to read stories at my parents house after, resulting in a rare picture of Liam and Mommy reading.

Other happenings: Liam had a hair cut today. Our neighbor cuts his hair (she cuts mine too). This is not quite as weird as it sounds. She used to cut hair at a fancy, expensive place but quit about 8 years ago to stay home with her three kids. As they got older, she started cutting hair from her house. It's homey. You get your hair washed in the kitchen sink, for example. And it's inexpensive in the extreme. She's great and she was nice about Liam crying and crying and clinging to me like a limpet. Also, 3 blueberry bushes were bought by me today at the farmers market, and as soon as I get peat moss (tomorrow) they will go in the ground. We're getting a big push of marine air (finally) and it promises to be 10-15 degrees cooler tomorrow and maybe even rain. What a relief.

Finally, I have done no work this weekend beyond open and read (but not respond to) a few emails. And most I haven't even opened. This is very unusual and feels quite nice as long as I don't actually think about it because when I do I get that queasy I am way far behind at work and am going to be in big trouble feeling. If tomorrow is very productive, I won't be totally sunk.

Happy 4th of July!

A very special thing happened this morning for the 4th of July: Bunny the neighbor's kitty came to visit us at our house. Honestly, I don't think Liam could have been happier, well, at all. Bunny stayed all morning and then came into the house and jumped up onto one of the kitchen chairs. Bunny is a high-quality kitty. She went under the porch (Liam followed) and ate treats from Liam's hand and purred. That's right. I asked Bunny's people if it would be okay for us to give her treats and they said yes. We're sunk, I think.

Delightful cook out at Grandpa DH and GG's tonight, with both sets of grandparents in attendance. And we got to bring cupcakes home!

Just a boy and his broccoli

Liam enjoys harvesting and eating vegetables from the garden very much. He is amazed by the pea pods and strawberries. Thinks the carrots are a miracle. And, today, broccoli, one of his favorite vegetables. It's funny; he doesn't associate the broccoli plants with broccoli until he watches me harvest them. Once that happens he's all over it.

Unfortunately, broccoli doesn't come off the stalk very easily without a knife so Liam ended up with the whole plant. Which he ate all the broccoli florets off of, raw, while I followed him around hoping he wouldn't choke. And then when I had my back turned he picked the zucchini squash flowers.

Other randomness: we are enjoying our rearranged kitchen very much and I would like it even more if it weren't 90 degrees outside (and at least that hot inside). I washed and cut up an entire flat of strawberries today in preparation for making jam. More on that later. And, while at the Farmers Market to buy the strawberries we sat at the same table of a world war II veteran; we talked with him a little, and it turns out he was one of the first Americans into Japan after the armistice and went through Hiroshima on a truck only a week after the bomb was dropped. That is something for the 4th of July, I guess.

Learning to Talk

Liam turned two earlier this month. He's officially a late talker, I guess. At his 2-year well child visit he was pronounced healthy in every way and we were told to encourage his talking. So, we've been trying. He understands everything, it seems like, and can follow pretty complicated instructions (e.g., go get your shoes in the kitchen and bring them to Daddy), but he uses only about 15 words and maybe 6-8 signs.

He uses his version of what animals say for both the noise an animal makes and the name of the animal. So, a dog says uh-uh and a dog is uh-uh. Except for my parents' SWD, he learned her name (Emma) and says it all the time. He won't say Mollie's name to save a life even though he can say both "mama" and "ollie" so he ought to be able to manage it. Similarly airplanes, airports, and the noise airplanes make are all the same sound "brrrrfpt." Some of it is, I think, just being stubborn. He says "gogo" for Grandpa, but won't use a word beyond "eh" for Grandma or GG (what we call Will's mother).

Lately the big thing has been learning his colors. He can say yellow, blue and (sort of) red and green; and he recognizes all those four colors and will pick them out and say his words for them if you ask. He also knows black, sort of. We're also working on recognizing and naming feelings, with an emphasis on happy (he'll say "happy, happy" but I'm not sure he's connected it to the feeling yet exactly) and sad. He is fascinated with pictures of people crying in books (e.g., the boy in this delightful book who cries because his pet kitten is hungry but won't eat the piece of birthday cake he is trying to feed it).

One really nice thing about this learning to talk is that now we can talk about what happens in the stories. This is neat. If you ask Liam what happens in the kitten/birthday cake story, he can pretty much tell you with his funny combination of words, sounds, signs and gestures.

One of the strangest things about raising a child is the realization that you really do have to teach them all this stuff: colors, feelings, names of stuff, numbers, letters, and those are just the easy lessons to contemplate. It's something.

Will is doing okay. The testosterone shots aren't making as huge a difference as we had hoped, but they are helping. He's starting to feel a little congested, so that's a worry, as always. The patio is done except for cutting the half blocks for the edge and putting in the edging. We'll get to that whenever, I guess. Similarly, the kitchen is basically done except for painting (who knows when that will happen) and patching the floor (also not likely to be a near term priority). So, we're enjoying our new spaces and all the sunshine we've had here lately. I'm off to Hanford at 0-dark 30 tomorrow, so Liam is at my parents' for the night. Sure is quiet without him.

Sooner or later it will be done

Work continues on the back patio and the kitchen. It is at that very dangerous about 80% complete stage. This is the stage in any project where it is really easy to say: well, if this is good, think how much better it will be if we only added this, that and some other stuff. And before you know it your house is all torn apart again and your budget is shot. I'm trying to resist.

In the kitchen, what remains is: set the rest of the cabinets (this is mostly two small fill in base cabinets I got to, well, fill in after all the cabinets we already had were moved around); put the counter top on the rearranged cabinet areas, we're going to reuse the counter top we tore off a part of the "old" kitchen; put up shelves for mixing bowls, etc.; re-hang the pot rack; paint; figure out a way to match the tile or do something on the small new area of floor where the back stairs used to be. That's it, I think. I hope. Outside, it is mostly sweeping sand into the cracks between the new pavers and finishing the edges of the patio which will involve renting a special saw, I guess. Liam loves the patio. Previous to this he wasn't allowed in the back yard really at all because it was dangerous, filled with junk and I didn't like to go there. Now he can't get enough of it! We owe great thanks to grandpa DM, grandpa DH and the amazing Auntie Chris who worked and worked to make this a reality for us. Thank you! I'll post project pictures soon.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

It's hard to believe that it has already been 2 years since you arrived on scene. You're so big now, and so able to do things on your own (run, jump, eat cupcakes); it's not like when you were tiny and just slept in our arms. We love your funny sense of humor and your interest in all things musical, and that you eat peas straight from the garden, and how you're busily imitating Auntie Chris by measuring and drilling and helping to put the kitchen back together. Most of all, we just love you. We love you more each day.