Joke of the Day

Toe only lets me sing to him before bedtime. The rest of the time he says, "Don't sing. It's dangerous to sing and (Insert phrase here. Today it was "sing and hold the telephone." The telephone was nowhere nearby). But that's not the joke. I've been singing Christmas carols to him for a couple of weeks now and as I sing, he comments on them. "Sleighbells? Like on Santa's sleigh?" "That's like the birth story of the baby Jesus!"

Last night I was singing "The First Noel." I got to "... shining in the east, which was so far..." and Toe said,  "Oh yeah! Like the stuff we put in pizza!"

Shining in the yeast.

It's actually a great image. Stars, singing, yeast, pizza.

Sweet

As I understand it, our friend Marie started hosting an annual gingerbread house decorating party a few years ago when her kids decided they were too old to decorate any more. All I know is Marie invites us over and we have a great time. This was our second year. Last year was the first time Toe had ever tasted candy.  

This year, it was a race. I tried to get the candy on the house before Toe shoved all of it in his mouth. We had talked ever so carefully before-hand about how he was going to only eat SOME candy and most of it would go on the house. But when confronted with a bowl of sweet-tarts and gumdrops, the kid caved. All sense went out the window and we could barely convince him to put a single candy anywhere but his mouth. As you can see, I did my part, but the kid still experienced a pretty severe sugar rush.

Toe's friend Miss "M" was there. She is three and a half years older than Toe and she shepherds him around and plays with him at family gatherings. He worships the ground she walks on. I do too. She has been a fantastic playmate for Toe - part friend, part ???babysitter? mentor? caregiver? older sister?

Marie's daughter, who decided a few years ago that she was too old to decorate any more was there babysitting another friend's niece. It was really great to see her there in the mentor capacity. 

After a great time at Marie's, we all evacuated to the playground to burn off some steam.

Cold, Wet, Sandy, and Blissful

Some great low tides this weekend, coupled with PERFECT weather yesterday coaxed us down to the beach for some tidepooling. We took it at a two-year-old's pace. He was more interested in splashing in the puddles than finding live animals, but he did like looking at the "wall of animals" on the rock (mussels, barnacles, snails, sea stars).  I don't have more photos close to the tidepools because I was pretty busy helping him stay upright. Walking along tidepools and rocks is precarious work, especially with such short legs and boots!  As we walked along the rocks, Toe carried his Lightning McQueen car very carefully. He said, "I wish I could have my other cars here too, so they could see this!"

We ran into Mom and Ron who were also enjoying the low tide and we all watched the sunset together.

The kid slept REALLY well after that!

Clark Kent/ Superman

For the past three? two? Christmases, "Papa" comes over for a quick visit as Father Christmas. He delivers a present and then leaves (talking as little as possible). Papa does a quick change and then joins us as himself. Toe still buys it completely. It was made very apparent to us this year by the different reception "Father Christmas" and Papa received.

Toe was very polite, but stuck close to Nana.

 Wouldn't sit in Father Christmas's lap, but would sit in a chair next to him. Love the look on Toe's face here.

 When Father Christmas left and Papa arrived, Toe ran straight to give him a hug and let him pick him up. They opened the first day of the advent calendar together.

Makes me think about what features we use to identify people, especially when we are little. Of course, Papa is an actor, so he does put some oomph into it (gotta give him credit for finding the balance and making a VERY tall, VERY hairy guy not seem TOO terribly scary to a two year old).

Thanksgiving

He's making pie. He is actually quite good at helping with crusts. He also loved eating them. We have been gorging on pie for almost two weeks now (I keep making 'em, he keeps eating 'em. Ok, J and I do our fair share. This is a pie-loving household)

We spent Thanksgiving with Ana and Rob. Very low key. Very nice.

Give My Love to Everybody

My friend, Jen Weaver-Neist has written and published a book that collects letters from her great-uncle who died in World War II. It is really interesting in that it is mostly just everyday letters about training and homesickness, not a "Saving Private Ryan" type story. Jen's great-uncle Bud died a few weeks into heavy combat. The story is about this one real guy with a great sense of humor who was drafted and went to war. And the people he left behind and how they handled his death. 

J and I had the priviledge of reading from the book at a book signing in Portland. Jen's husband Tylor read Bud's letters and J and I filled in the other parts. Jen narrated to tie the story together. There was an honor guard to open and close the evening and Jen shared audio clips of interviews with other WWII soldiers who were also Timberwolves (Bud's ?batallion?). It was a moving evening and we felt honored to be a part of it.

We dressed the part. I have to say it, I was particularly proud of my hair.  The look of discomfort on my face is because I was holding my breath. Loved, loved the dress. It was at least a size too tight but was so perfect, I couldn't pass it up.Thanks to the Coaster for helping us assemble costumes on such short notice.

If you are interested in the book, it is "Give My Love to Everybody: Letters from a World War II Soldier" edited by Jen Weaver-Neist and published by Dame Rocket Press.

Like Father Like Son

Now that he fits the boots that match his Dad's, I can't get him to wear any other shoes.

Health Update

We did our 3-month CF clinic visit two weeks ago. Toe has been having an exacerbation (flare up of the bad bacteria in his lungs. Right now it manifests as a cough) so he was put on antibiotics. The doctor also put Toe on a new regimen where we do percussive therapy every day (3-4 times per day when he is sick) and use a bronchial dialator (a puffer like you would use for athsma) 10-15 minutes before. Everyone seems happy with his growth.



Yes, he is eating butter here. CF diet: high fat, high salt.



All I have to say is the kid has long arms and big feet.

We have all had our flu shots and are washing our hands like fiends. Keep your fingers crossed for a healthy winter.

The Circular Conversation

Preface: Toe has seen the podrace in Episode 1 of Star Wars and I have read the book of Episode 4 (A New Hope) to him. That's his entire contact with the story of Star Wars so far. He still thinks Anakin is a good guy, so...

The conversation goes like this:
Toe: Hey Mom, I won the pod race!
Me: Oh, Anakin I'm so proud of you! You have brought hope to those who had none!
(I hug him)
Toe: Hey Mom, I won the pod race!
Me: Oh, Anakin I'm so proud of you! You have brought hope to those who had none!
(I hug him again)
Toe: Hey Mom, I won the pod race!
Me: Oh! Well Anakin I'm so proud of you. You have brought hope to those who had none!
(He looks at me expectantly and I hug him)
Toe: I'm going to race. My engine is on fire. I fixed it. Hey Mom, I won the pod race!
Me: Annakin I'm so proud of you. Now those people can fly home in their space ship.
Toe: Hey Mom, I won the pod race.
Me: Anakin, I'm so proud of you. You must be really hungry after that long race. Take a bite of hot dog.
Toe: Hey Mom....

An hour and a half (and all of lunch) later and I was practicing deep breathing. Fact is,  I know I did this to Gra'ma and I owe the Universe about five years of this play.

Slightly glazed smile from our household these days.

Surpise!

J was washing dishes the other day and Toe was drawing at his table. When J took a look, Toe had actually written his name. The "o" is less decipherable, but it's the intention that counts... I mean the kid isn't three yet.

A Little Closer

Our dear friends (and Toe's godparents) Rob and Ana have recently moved to Oregon from Bayonne, New Jersey. We've spent much of the last two weeks with them. They're not sure whether they're settling here or in Portland, but they're living nearby for the time-being. It is the first time in fifteen years we have been in the same state for more than a week.

Toe could totally get used to having the full attention of four adults instead of two. I could too.

Halloween Toe's Way

Toe has been firm on his Halloween choice since August - a "white kitty with black spots." I don't sew. They don't make white kitty with black spot outfits. We punted.

On Halloween evening, I decorated Toe's face and then he wanted to decorate ours. So we went trick-or-treating as a white kitty with black spots and two of Toe's drawings.

Toe's idea of trick-or-treating is going to a person's house, knocking on the door, and then marching in and making himself at home. This actually works out fairly well and has been a habit we have encouraged because we like visiting and he hates chocolate, so Halloween trick-or-treating the usual way is not really for him.

First we went to Ron's:

Then we paid a visit to Victoria (they're meowing at the camera)

At Mama Duck's house, she had put 20 balloons in her living room and set out paper and crayons for Toe. Needless to say, we stayed a LONG TIME. Toe kept sending the balloons up and yelling "Balloon Party!!"

From there we went to Uncle Donny's and played with the dogs. Toe liked the yellow lab but was a little unsure about the St. Bernard (she's HUGE).

That's it. We made it to four houses and by that time, it was so late we didn't even trick-or treat at my mother's.

Mercurial

Everybody comments on how good-natured he is. And he is. He is one of the happiest, sweetest children I have ever met (not that I'm biased or anything).

But he is a child.
He is mostly sunny. With chance of thundershowers.

Just in case the cherub face and curls had you completely convinced he was not of this world... 

More Anecdotes

Not much time to linger these days on contemplation. Just seems like we're going going. Someday I might be actually able to think straight again. Right now I'm working on writing a book for the Aquarium's 75th Anniversary in the spare moments between being a full-time mom. Burning the candle a little too much. It's a fun project, though, and is all I can talk about if you actually run into me (poor Toe. He and J bear the brunt of my rambling).

In the meantime, we used one of our rare sunny days last week to take the car out for a spin. Toe's much better about driving but still doesn't understand the steering thing as well as he should. We're working on it. I spend  a lot of my time saying, "Look where you're going!!" He LOVES driving. Yeah, I see that one coming.

 Halloween. Toe decided over a month ago that he wanted to be a white kitty with black spots and has been unwavering in his determination. Didn't really find a white kitty outfit and I don't really sew, so we had to punt. He'll be wearing a black shirt and pants and sporting some kind of kitty face (either make-up or mask. I'm pushing for make-up so his vision is not impaired). I love that a three year old is thrilled with this jurry-rigged costume. He feels like a kitty in it.

As a side note, the mountain goat is out.  He has been alternating between kitty and  sheep lately. When I was this age, I pretended to be characters from the books my parents read to me. I find it fascinating that Toe is just as interested in pretend play, but ONLY pretends to be animals.

J and I, on the other hand, are expected to be the voices for his stuffed animals, his cars, and any other inanimate objects he feels like talking to. I was asked today, "Mom, what are my enzymes saying to me?"  My response, "EAT ME!!!" Ok, so sometimes it's pretty easy.  When we wash his hands he says, "What are the germs saying to me?"  "Oh no! We're going down the drain! Can't get Toe sick!"  I find the anthropomorphizing of everything fascinating. Not sure if we did that to him or if he picked up on it and ran with it...

Three Weeks With the Goonies

My friend Mick Alderman just published a book, Three Weeks With the Goonies, on his experience observing the location filming of The Goonies (that cult classic from the 80's that was filmed in Astoria). He read excerpts from his book and had a book signing last week. J and I both went and had a great time. It was like getting the DVD extras from the movie in person.

When the movie was shot, Mick made a deal to be able to be a "fly on the wall" of the production. So he had a lot of standing around, but also got to witness the process of making a big budget film (which IS a lot of standing around). It was neat to read the anecdotes but also neat to get a 19 year old outsider's perspective on the movie business... Mick does a great job of describing what was happening even if he did not understand it at the time (he was not allowed to read the script, so he had no clue about the plot of the movie as he observed everything being filmed). The part that is amazing is that Mick wrote this book while doing post-production work on the movie Crimps, which he wrote, directed, edited, and has been slaving over for almost three years. For more information on the book, go to 2001productions.com

Made me think of the first time I saw The Goonies. I was in Phoenix, Arizona, visiting my cousin for two weeks, the longest I had ever been away from home. I was homesick. My cousin Jes had recently moved away from the Oregon coast and when we sat in the movie theater and saw Astoria, Ecola Park, and Cannon Beach, we held hands and cried. For me, the movie was about home. Such beautiful cinematography.

And when I moved to New York for college, that was how I described where I was from. "You've seen The Goonies? I live there."  (Incidentally my favorite geography lesson in college was with someone who said,  "Seaside, Oregon? Is that somewhere on the Great Lakes?" Those opposite coasts can be confusing. To make it simpler, my father once told a cabbie in Manhattan that Oregon was a suburb of California)

Goings On

We've been so busy lately, just had to make a few notes.

• Cousin visit - My cousin Jane who just got married in Italy came to visit. She and her husband Fabio were WONDERFUL with Toe. My favorite part of their visit was watching Toe play the piano with them.
• Fire House- Yesterday we were walking to the small grocery store in town and as usual, we stopped by the fire house to oggle the fire trucks. Toe had his nose pressed to the glass when a man came and asked us if we needed anything. When I told him that we were just admiring the fire trucks, he invited us inside and showed them to us "up close." We saw the inside of one of the big fire trucks and where the hoses connect. Toe got a little nervous and we ended up leaving, but the man (our local fire chief who was working on a Sunday) gave Toe a Junior Fire Department sticker and hat.
• Trip to the laundromat to wash bedding yesterday was a great adventure with Toe. He loves putting coins in the slots. Thank goodness. The large washer required 20 quarters! We spent the time at the laundromat hanging out with my friend Rhonda.
• Toe, J, and I made vegetable soup this morning a la the Wiggles song "Vegetable Soup." We made a few modifications, but it tasted great. Toe learned how to peel carrots and potatoes and munched every vegetable that we used (including raw onion).

Pumpkin Patch

 We took Toe to the pumpkin patch last week with our friends Jen and Tylor. We chose one in Portland that had animals you could pet, slides, and mazes. To avoid crowds, we went on a Monday which worked out perfectly for us. Fewer activities, but less chance of Toe catching a cold, too.

Toe is getting to the age where transitions are difficult for him. He gets going on one activity and it's like pulling teeth to get him away from it, even though the next activity will be even more fun. He is a very easy-going child, but we had a few cranky moments as we transitioned from the dried corn area (where you take off your shoes and climb into a pool of 12 inches of corn and stomp around) to the animal area and from the wheelbarrow to the playground.

The big hit for all of us was the monster slide. There was a smaller tube for young children, but Toe completely bypassed that and went for the big one. He went down by himself without a glance back. Multiple times. We all took turns, too. A fun slide for adults. Every time someone would get ready to go down, Toe would say, "Don't forget to say 'Kowabunga!'"

By the end of the afternoon, our little sunflower got a little cranky about having his photo taken. Unfortunately for him, it just made him cuter.

Do What You Want

Somehow it has become part of the bedtime routine this week to "rock out" to OK Go's song "Do What You Want." Toe requests it, and then proceeds to jump and air guitar through the whole thing. We're actually pretty thrilled. It is very fun to dance to.

OK Go is famous for their crazy music videos. The "Do What You Want" one is people in front of a wall with beautiful fabric wallpaper dressed in the exact same fabric so you can barely see them, just their movements. It's worth a visit to YouTube to check them out. I especially love their treadmill video "Here it Goes Again" and their Rube Goldberg video, "This too shall pass."

My sister suggested that we buy a bunch of flannel and put it up in Toe's room and then make pajamas for him and film him dancing in front of the flannel wallpaper. Love the idea. I think we'll just keep dancing.

The Inevitable

Well it happened. I was making lunch and listening to Toe draw contentedly on the easel, when I came to look at his drawing and discovered that he had instead been drawing on the WALL. On Toe's behalf, the dry-erase board was full and is harder to erase since we moved to dry-erase crayons (yes, they do make such a thing. No fumes, no dried out pens.)

We had a little talk about how that is not ok and you only draw on the easel or paper and then he helped me clean it up.

Just have to give a shout out to my helpful boy. And to Crayola who makes crayons for dry-erase boards that are both good on dry-erase AND washable. Crayola, I bow to your awesomeness.

Toddler Time

It's not just the transitions that are slower with a toddler. Everything takes more time. As you walk out of the house, you must take a detour on the grass and maybe peek into the neighbor's yard. A trip from the couch to the bookshelf to get a book might involve a few extra minutes choosing a car to take with you or a stop to play with a toy on the seven foot journey.

Partially it's the fact that everything is a distraction at this age. And focus is different. You focus on what interests you right now and what is in front of you. So if you want to get a book on the bookshelf and there's an interesting toy on the way, the book can WAIT. It is also that at this age, everything is so new and INTERESTING. New dandelions growing on the path on the way into Grandma's house? Gotta check them out. Now.

I spend a lot of time waiting. I have realized (again) that the destination is not as important as the journey and this little guy needs time to discover and explore. Sometimes when we are on the way to an appointment I have to take a few deep breaths. And at bedtime as I'm trying to get him into his pajamas, I have to remind myself that a few extra minutes are not going to kill me.

We visited a friend the other day and Toe asked to go into her garden and pick blackberries. On the way into the garden, Toe discovered strawberries and started picking those and looking at bugs. My friend said, "Toe, the blackberries are over here." Toe did not respond. My friend laughed and said, "Oh yeah, I forgot, we're on toddler time."