Windowsill Frog

A frog lives in my kitchen. Things you never saw coming, right?

He belongs to Dee. One of his first purchases with his own money from the new allowance we instituted this year. His name is Albert. He comes from Africa. He'll never grow larger than he is...just a tiny inch or so in size.

He loves to "burble" which is the fabulous name for floating zen-like, with his arms and legs extended, just being in the water.

He also hates eating that stupid pellet food they tried to sell us from the pet store. Teeny tiny worms are the way.

The window sill is getting pretty chilly, especially at night so I am off to get him a tiny little heater this afternoon. (Mama spoils house-frogs) and while I am at it, a pretty little plant for him and tiny cave to hide in might make into the purchase as well.

So fun to have living things in the house, and to watch which creatures each of the boys think are most  fascinating. Ru is more of a mammalian kind of guy at the moment. Loves to hold animals and listen to them communicate and try to teach them tricks. Dee loves the detail of this tiny amphibian, loves water animals (fish, tiny shrimps, jellyfish) and is also really taken with the insect world. Love being a household of science lovers! Go biology hobby!

Wednesday Goes Like This

When A goes away suddenly I get all night owl-ish and want to stay up late every night, usually blinking wide-eyed at the computer screen while I dream and write and sketch and research. I am on a travel bender right now and keep digging up new obscure facts about Morocco and places to stay for a pittance in Finland. I usually stay awake until the first kid has a nightmare or has to go to the bathroom and stumbles down the hallway to the office squinting.

Once that kid is tucked in again I put myself to bed, resisting the urge to read a nip or two from a bedside novel in the midnight stillness. I just pat the book stack and tip A's alarm clock over on its face so the neon green numbers can't stare at me all night and drift off. The only catch with this habit is that I find it harder and harder as the week goes on to get up at my scheduled time and have my early riser solo hour in the quiet dawn.

This morning I was a positive stone, sleeping leadenly the recycling truck collection and the school bus arriving for the neighbor kids. When I pulled the curtains I saw that it was a dove grey morning with mist rolling up the hill. What light there was was muted and cloudy. The boys and I had tea at breakfast (green and mint!) and ate slowly, passing the bowl of blueberries around several times. It is a luxury to just eat. To breathe and realize that we can go as slowly as we like since there is no train to run after, trying to make sure Daddy makes his connection for his commute.

A luxury until the smalls start taking their time, eating one blueberry every 10 minutes, putting their feet on the table and giggling uncontrollably about it and asking for fourths and fifths of tea. So then breakfast was over and we were off on errands and read-alouds and Picasso lessons. The good news is, the car has nothing wrong, the brakes are great + the oil is changed, the girls in our book started a new adventure and it does look like Michael will marry their favorite auntie after all and the pressing has been all dropped off at the cleaners. Now on to kid's club, registering for chess, signing up for a mommy yoga class, and a quick early dinner before a friend drops by! Whew.

I'd say we're a go...time for a Thursday. 

Lego Distraction-ating

Started working on my second major Lego build in my life tonight.The boys and I are putting together this one, Dee's big Christmas present this year.

Its good to have a project after dinner when it is California Week (the one week a month that A is spending in Cali). We just got a little bit of it done, the first four or five pages in the instruction manual....a layer of bricks on the base piece. The baby was so exciting he kept stirring the box full of pieces and sending them flying and then climbing up onto the table in his excitement. Super silly!

Dee loves to build these scenes and really enjoys hunting for the next required bricks in the "Big Pile" of materials but he gets worried by the complexities of the big picture and feels all nervous and stressed that he'll "do it wrong." He actually is a pretty good team player with Ru who has bravado for miles and loves to read out directions but doesn't have the patience for hunting for the exact bricks specified. If I'm around to pluck a baby off the table and lend encouragement and the occasional long fingernail for prying bricks apart....we make a great construction crew. Nib is so far not really old enough to join in and follow directions. So he usually does his own thing next to us, building some imaginary design and we bargain with him for bricks we need off of his structure. It works. He's peripherally involved and free to do what he likes and generally occupied on the same topic.

Love these Legos but wondering what my organizing future holds for storing, constructing and displaying them. Right now the boys aren't anywhere near organized or motivated enough to possess a lot of them or to have one of those incredibly pleasing sorted-by-color file drawer storage cabinets that are always floating around on Pinterest. It would be a mess. So right now they all live mixed in a big glossy rainbow in a small tub with a lid. My in-laws have an astounding amount of Legos leftover from raising their 7 children and my eyes widen every time we are there to visit and they bring in the GIGANTIC Rubbermaid tub with 5,000,000 bricks in it. Is this in my future? 

I am not equipped. 

Man Flowers

Noticed Dee pick a mini-bouquet the row of zinnias he planted the raised bed I let the boys have. Was amused watching him carefully select his blooms and compose them together. Was even more amused when I went upstairs at naptime and found the little nosegay in one of the "kid cups," neatly decorating the radiator near his bed. Love that boy.

Diesel Celebrities

There have been celebrities across the street. And no, I'm not talking about Tom Cruise. My boys have been glued to the windows on the front of the house for a good while (a week? longer?) watching the demolition, expansion and re-construction of our neighbor's driveway and stone retaining wall.

This is the sort of thing I never imagined getting excited about in all my life. I don't personally get shivers up my spine about the fact that a "real live dump truck" is right across the street but how do you resist feeling a thrill deep in your gut when watching your kids feel like this?

Man, reciprocal emotions are real and also very good. Just the thought makes me smile.

So, there I was, for days...watching a diesel powered this and that smash cement up and then a dump truck pour out a load of something or other while my little boys press their hands and noses against the windowpanes and sigh avidly. So very, very funny and yet happy to see what makes their little hearts go pitter patter, especially when it is so clearly their own taste and not mine reflected.

I love me some blossoming children. :) Might be time to check out our local Big Rig Day the next time one comes through the area. Anyone know when the next one is?

A Little Sand In Our Shoes

We took the afternoon off and headed to the beach. A little sand in the shoes, a little saltwater behind the ears, a little wind in the hair, just the ticket. I am still so new at identifying all the little things we find at the shore. I think I know more than last year but never enough. So many little glinting mysteries in the sand. So glad to watch the boys pawing around on the edge of the sea just as curious as I am and never ready to leave.

Ren Faire

Best donut holes of my life. Amazingly tender and melty.

 The local Renaissance Faire is gearing up for a final spring weekend before they close up shop until autumn. I'm sharing our recent experience just in case anyone feels inspired to go take a wander through the grounds and see a joust face to face. I had never personally been to a Ren Faire although they are just the sort of places "my sort" of people tend to hang out, the people who like old fashioned things, who like costumes and acting, the sort who love fairs, the sort who make things, the sort who are kind of in love with romance and literature and all things dreamy. Yeah...my people.

 In fact, the reason why we went at all is because an acquaintance mentioned in passing that he thought I ought to know that there was a Renaissance Faire happening nearby this weekend....he told me that it "seemed like my sort of thing." There's a piece of me that bristles somehow at the accusation, but I have to admit he's completely right. It was exactly my sort of thing. 

 I loved all the handmade items for sale, the beautiful ideas, the impressive craftsmanship and the wonderfully hard to find types of objects that only the old fashioned folk would even think of selling or buying. Ah, specialization!

 The boys were wild fans of the live jousting match that we watched, never thought of a Ren Faire as the perfect boy activity before, but I sure will now! And thus inspired, Dee went charging across a field after a poor, surprised grounds maintenance woman, sending about a dozen onlookers into titters. I can't believe I caught a picture. Love his ardent fervor.

 The big boys both got to shoot at very Robin Hood-esque targets with an old fashioned bow and arrow and the kind target practice booth man also gave them a free demo of crossbow shooting which Ru thought was positively dreamy. He's kind of mildly obsessed with medieval weaponry (especially crossbows) thanks to this book which he got for Christmas and has been devouring ever since. Nothing like an unintended living history lesson.

 Lots of wonderful music at the fest too. Fiddle, uke, guitar, and peppy vocals in large doses. Makes me remember how much I love traditional folk music of all kinds and how much I really need to get serious about attending the local contra dances. Why in heavens name have I waited so long?

Oh, wacky Ren Faire people....you're so cool.

Ren Faire....I think I love ya.....

A Boy List

It's been a while since there was a good list posting, eh? Time for a nice enumeration I say! Today, (inspired by the photo below of sweet Dee absorbed in the giant maze of a ball sculpture at the local Children's Museum...so just his thing!) I am sharing a list of reasons why it's great to have sons; of course lots of these things aren't exclusive to having boys but really, I wouldn't know any better anyway, right? I only have boys!

29 Reasons Why It Is Great To Parent Boys!

1. I am learning more about knighthood, construction equipment and Super Heroes than I have ever known in my whole life.
2. Someday, I ever have a daughter, an inquiring niece or a little female mentoree who is frustrated with males and asks me for advice, I will have all the inside tips!
3. I finally have a compelling reason to see Star Wars.
4. I get to dabble in a whole range of fashion I've never experimented with: bow ties and suspenders and boy underwear!
5. Seeing stories like The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe or Little House In The Big Woods through the male lens is pretty different and highlights fun bits I never noticed with my own viewpoint.
6. I am having conversations with A about what his childhood was like that I don't think I'd ever have thought of if we hadn't any little boys.
7. The impetus to re-assess sports and fitness.
8. I get lots more practice at hair cutting.
9. I get to learn bravery first hand.
10. Learning to throw a spiral and catch a baseball might actually happen in my lifetime.
11. My bras, earrings and high heeled shoes will always be curious fascinations; bizarre, rare objects that are puzzling and yet intriguing.
12. Hearing my little ones say to me passionately, "When I grow up, I'm going to marry you Mommy!"
13. Cooking in a few years is going to get really fun. I love to cook and I can't wait for the "bottomless pit stage" when I will be able to saute, bake and fry wildly and watch it all disappear with relish!
14. I get to inform a set of fresh young males on the ways of women and what we are all about. Cool and scary, all at once.
15. Hearing my son say bravely to his daddy "Don't worry! I'll take care of Mommy!" as he goes out the door.
16. Lots of pairs of strong arms around to help with all my future heavy lifting projects. *rubs hands with glee*
17. Being sure that nobody will raid my stash of pads or tampons on the sly and leave me low.
18. Lowered wedding costs in the future!
19. Not stressing about the overwhelmingly suffocating Disney Princess obsession.
20. The chance to raise some good-hearted, male feminists.
21. An inside look at male puberty. (come on...you know all you ladies were always curious!)
22. Experiencing The Boy Scouts!
23. Not dealing with that sissy-type-squeamish-girl-thing.
24. Watching even the baby, join the sword-fighting obsession in our family
25. Planning birthday parties and Halloween costumes for themes I never would have dipped into: dinosaurs, motorcycles and cowboys.
26. I will finally get the Windsor knot in my head. 
27. Lots of dance partners for years for square dances!
28. Better odds for many good map readers, logic puzzlers and mathematicians in the house.
29. Studying with my husband the puzzle of: what it means to be a man and what is important about masculinity.

Such fun stuff! Feels good to get a good list out there again.