Time is like a river, or is that an ocean?

In honor of Ada's birthday, I offer one of the poems she wrote recently:

The Ocean

In the ocean the jellyfish is swimming.
The ducks are in danger because the shark is there.
The turtle is happy because the water is warm.
There is three happy sea stars in the water.

-Ada
May 2011

Watch their language

A friend of Chris's likes to collect phrases he has never heard before. When he gets a good one he'll mention it to Chris. A few years ago he heard a girl in the cafeteria say to her friend "every time I barf at night..." This jumped out as something new, a phrase Greg had never run across in his prior 40-some years.

I was thinking about this phenomenon in the context of two year olds. Two year olds are amazing. For instance, Ian points at the yellow rectangle under his bowl and says: "my place mat!" Which, sure, not such a big deal, but considering that I have never heard him utter this before it feels immense. Ian and Mira are literally learning new words every day. Those of us who are not toddlers do come across words we have not known before, but not with the intensity that is a young child's language development process. The world is a fire hose aimed at them, and they stand delighted with their mouths wide open.

Mira's all purpose happy salutation is: "Happy Dir Day" 

Ian, after learning he can make adults insane by getting too close to a horse's back legs

Now talking in paragraphs, only a fraction of which is comprehensible

The day they learned to say "hay loft"

Amazing in her own right. Did I mention she can read?

Two at Two

Mira and Ian turned two on Sunday.

In between the requisite cries of "Mine! Mine!" 

we are getting a lot of collaborative play these days. 

The cupcakes baked in ice cream cones (our friend Tera's idea) worked out well. The batch that fell a bit got ice cream topping them, the others received chocolate icing. 

Snacks were enjoyed, fun was had.

Reminder: Parents of Twins have Feelings Too

I took the kids to the Rhododendron Garden today. On the way out, we walked up the path in front of another family. Ian and Mira showed interest in the child; they are fascinated by all children small then them, especially when they are in a stroller. The mother asked "are they twins?"

Yes, I said.

"I'm so glad I didn't have twins!"

I just stared at her.

Think, people. Think before you speak.

What we've been up to lately

snuggling

creating

hiding and peeking

smiling

flying

Evidence that U.S.A. has not cornered the market on strange

This is fascinating and confusing. At first I thought it must be a put-on. 



I really love the investment these guys have put into their outfits. I do wonder a little about whether they might put some extra effort into their "choreography."

(found on the Craft blog)

Look Mom, No Rain!

(Why yes, that is your house in the background, Steven, why do you ask?)

Vivian Maier

If you are interested in street photography (or photography generally) you should check out the work of Vivian Maier. Until recently no one had seen her photos, but a real estate guy in Chicago bought the contents of her storage locker at auction and found thousands and thousands of her photographs. I am hooked. (There is a link to a CBS news story about her and the guy who found her work.)

(Thanks to Lisa of Smacksy for sharing the CBS story that got me digging into Maier's photos.)

Be Still My Heart

Funny that what I think to write is that I could eat him up. Not funny ha-ha, but funny ouch, as in: NO BITING, IAN! Good thing he is so cute.

Naming Names

Because I can't have my one post in weeks be about vomit, here is one of my favorite books:

Names, By Ada

Abi Abi Abi

is nice

I love her

Maya Maya

is nice

I know her

Isabel Isabel

I love her

Wednesday Wednesday
I love her

Crea Crea

I like you

The (end)

This book is especially wonderful as it documents a fleeting moment in Ada's development. Throughout the year Ada's class has been learning to write books. They started with the idea that every book has a title and the author's name on the cover. They have talked about various elements of writing a book, and recently Ada reported that a book should have characters, a setting, a problem and a resolution. This book predated this set of ideas, but her newer books tend to have a clear problem and resolution. As exciting as it is to see her growth, I love the simplicity and honesty of the Names book

Practical Parenting

So if, for sake of argument, one of your kids vomited repeatedly on the couch, how would you get the smell to go away? Sparing you the ugly details, let's just say the residual odor has a spoiled milk vomit-y smell.

We used carpet cleaner on it. Should I move on to less earth-friendly cleaner, risk washing the cover in the machine (from past experience it doesn't come back out the way it went in), or rent a steam cleaner?

Or maybe I should convince Chris that it is time to buy a new couch...

Your advice is welcomed!

Me, Me and Me

 

Yup, still obsessed with instagram, why do you ask?

Random Photo Week, Day 5

Happy Friday!

Random Photo Week, Day 4

Random Photo Week, Day 3

Random Photo Week, Day 2

Welcome to the First Annual Random Photo Week!

My Valentine

I hope Chris knows how much I love him. I try to tell him, but sometimes I might wedge such thoughts between "don't forget to buy chicken thighs" and "who left this poopy diaper on the counter?" and he might not hear it or know how much I think about him every day.

We went out to dinner on Friday, just the two of us. I said: "I think it is going to get worse before it gets better." Instead of sighing or rolling his eyes at the tempest in a teapot that is the legislative session, he reminded me that we knew this was coming and let me know it was okay. He is calm where I am excitable. He is patient where I am ready to jump out of my skin. He's reserved; I am the queen over the over-share. For all this and more I am so thankful and love him so intensely.

Smile

I enter her room, like I do every night, to turn off the light she insists stay on while she falls asleep. She is curled on her bed, the covers pushed down near her feet. As I grab the blanket to cover her back up, she turns and opening her eyes, smiles. Her smile is so broad, so genuine that I know she is seeing me, even in her sleep. After a moment I snap off the light and my beautiful daughter turns back to the window, returning to her dreams.

I lay in bed thinking about how much I love her, unable to sleep until I write this down.

Now That's A Weapon!

Spotted here.