Monday, November 22, 2010

She'll be comin' round the mountain...

Grandma is on her way. She's in the air right now, landing at 11:30. Bob gets home from San Francisco this evening. Good timing for a winter snow advisory in Portland. The house is clean, the guest bedroom is ready, the kitchen is stocked with coffee, apples and bananas. We can't wait. Wish dad was coming at the same time as mom, but he will be out later this week.

This song has been stuck in my head since yesterday, when I took August to see the Alphabeticians -- live Sunday morning kids music at a local coffee shop (Brilliant songs including "The back-facing carseat blues" and "I just want to put it in my mouth" in addition to the classics).

Oh, we'll all go our to meet her when she comes...

Friday, November 19, 2010

So little



What is it about baby socks? Every time I pick up a pair of August's socks I am overwhelmed with cuteness.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Let the holidays begin

I know it isn't Thanksgiving yet, but I'm all about the holiday spirit. I usually hate "rushing the season" but this year, bring it on. The Christmas songs started on the radio this morning as we were driving in to town.

I sang Feliz Navidad to August as we waited in a road-work traffic jam, trying to get on to the Hawthorne Bridge. Then "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" came on. Have you ever listened to the lyrics? It's an awful song. Maybe because in our family, grandma and grandpas are pretty special. Or, it's just a dumb song.

Our very own mama/grandma arrives a week from today. I think that is contributing to my seasonal excitement. I'm taking the week off of work, and August and I will help her look at houses. Then dad/grandpa/TeSo will join us for Thanksgiving festivities. It's going to be wonderful having everyone here, all of us together. And come December 23, they will be living in Portland for good. The whole family in the same town. August is one lucky grandson, and I am one lucky gal.

I have a couple holiday craft projects in the works. For our Thanksgiving decor, August will color some pictures that I printed out from online (simple Thanksgiving pics, like a pilgrim's hat, pumpkins, etc). My vision is to display them in the dining room on a string with clothespins. Or if that ends up looking lame, use them as place mats? We'll see. (Oh, and by "color" I mean "scribble").

For our Christmas card, I am attempting a collage that represents our year. It's fun as I collect the images and piece it together. The challenging part is finding a safe place for the collage-in-progress, away from babies, dogs, and vacuum cleaners. It's currently sitting on a large wooden cutting board in August's pack-and-play (which shows you how much time he spends there these days).

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

At the park

That smile! Those cheeks!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Oaks Bottom

In Portland, you don't have to travel far to find a little wild nature. We had an urban adventure recently to Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge on the Willamette River. It's just a short drive from our house. The air smelled like fall, the big leaf maples were in their golden glory, and we heard all kinds of birds and Pacific chorus frogs. I walked down the path with A in the Ergo, and let him down when we got to the tadpole pond. I love seeing him explore different places, textures, etc.



Frog habitat.



A. got a kick out of throwing sticks and stones in the water and making splashes.



Back in the Ergo, A was getting fussy, ready for a nap. We walked a little more and came to the river.



Major fussiness now, so we didn't linger. With binky and shushing, we headed back up the path. The lullaby of Pacific chorus frogs sang the babe to sleep.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Bug

August has a stomach bug. He threw up a lot yesterday. I smelled like vomit the whole day (that sour smell on my shirt brought me back to the newborn spit up days) and he was clingy and cuddly, and I loved it. Of course I hate that he feels bad, but I loved the day of cuddles and little boy sweetness. In the Ergo, his head on my chest. Crawling into my lap to snuggle as I sat on the floor. I don't think we've cuddled that much since he was an infant - these days he wants to be held if he's nursing or tired, but that's it.

He is a full-fledged toddler now. He got his first real pair of shoes (with solid rubber soles, not the soft leather Robeez). On Friday we went for a little excursion down the sidewalk and explored the wild alley -- it isn't paved, and is where we picked blackberries in late summer. He points to pictures in books, and he likes to move the beads along the wires of his wooden toy. He no longer ignores his stuffed animals, but points to them (asking me to get them out of his crib so he can play with them on the floor). Sometimes he hugs them. He hugs the dogs at least once a day - he gets a real kick out of them, watching them play and throwing pizza crusts at them.

Right now he is asleep on the bed and I am typing on the laptop. The clock says 5:20 but b/c of the time change it's really 4:20. And I should be sleeping. I've already folded laundry...maybe I'll go downstairs and make some muffins. Pumpkin apple oat?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Masterpiece



August did this drawing today with a green marker. He also crumpled up the paper a little bit and drew on the back, which I think makes a pretty bold statement and adds a whole new dimension to the piece. His teacher said that when he was finished he had green marker all over his forehead -- the sign of a true artist.

Lunch


Well it's really more like a snack, but it's all I could whip together this morning.

Post-Halloween Trail Mix:

* toasted pumpkin seeds (preferably harvested from pumpkin guts with help of one-year-old)
* dried currants
* dried cranberries
* roasted almonds
* shredded coconut

Toss together. Throw into a container. Bring to work and eat at desk -- and then scoot over to daycare and take the boy to the park in the middle of a glorious warm sunny fall day.

He played with fallen leaves and I showed him how the little caps fit on acorns. And then he tasted them.



And then we settled down on a bench and I nursed him under the golden canopy.