Bedtime Books

Nate and Toby have just started reading "By the Shores of Silver Lake" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I found myself tearing up a little when Mary loses her sight. And the grasshopper plague in "By the Banks of Plum Creek" was quite sad too. Frontier life was certainly a challenge!

But here is a bedtime story guaranteed not to make you cry!

Wild, Reading!

Harassing the chickens with dirt clods while dressed half in pajamas and half in backwards pants... and reading Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car while Malachi naps. The latter is more peaceful and requires less clean-up and discipline but I'm trying to convince myself that both types of activities are important!

Some of Toby's favorite books lately have been:

• Happy Birthday Moon (this was the first "real" book that he read almost entirely by himself without having it read to him first)
• Today I Will Fly
• A Carousel Tale
• All the McDuff books by Rosemary Wells

Malachi loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar and any book with animals in it.

What Child is This?

The reading: many possibilities where those genes came from. But the dancing...is a mystery.

Harvest Season

Parkity Park

The cast has been off for over a month now, Toby is walking (even running and sometimes climbing), and the weather is still park-able. Indoors, we're enjoying the usual: Duplos, music, books, and snacks.

John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Brothers at Play. Or work.

For the 8 weeks of cast, Toby and Malachi's play together was limited to "wrestling" on the floor.

Here is some video from today and yesterday...4 to 5 days after getting the cast off. After walking to the mailbox they didn't want to come inside because they were having too much fun pushing each other around on the tractor. Now that's what I've been waiting to see!

Blast Off, Cast Off

The countdown chain was at zero, today was the day!

We got to the doctor's office and had a little panic as Tobias was not on their schedule. They promised to fit us in but said it might be a little wait. We were blessed that the 11:40 appointment (the time we were supposed to be) was a no-show so we got in without having to wait.

Toby was upset as they cut it off: "It's time to go home, I'm not healed, I need another cast, I don't want to take it off!" Change is scary. But he was actually happy to begin wiggling his legs around. Seeing the big blue cast legs poking upwards out of the trash can was a little shocking for me even though I knew that Tobias wasn't in it.

Afterwards we went for a picnic to Howard Amon park and took some pictures on the swing where he broke it, and Finnegan Frost for frozen yogurt.

At home, Toby enjoyed one of the best baths of his life (even without playing outside, he got pretty dirty in 8 weeks without a bath) and rolling and crawling around on the floor. It's nice to have a squeaky clean boy!

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. -Proverbs 17:22

(a verse that Toby sings often)

To Portland, to Portland, to Buy a Fat Pig

Actually we were not there to buy a big pig. We did see some hairy pigs with big tusks at the zoo.
We were there to have fun with family, explore Portland, and see Nate's friend Ben. We succeeded at all those goals. We visited the Oregon Zoo and OMSI. Both were definitely fun for all ages; Malachi did seem more interested in the plants (eating them) at the zoo than the animals though.
We went to Ben and Liz's favorite Thai restaurant and it was very good! I had never had Thai food before. One of the waitresses served Malachi his very own plate with brown rice and helped him get started up with a spoon. He happily created a sticky mess about 4 feet in diameter, and I tried not to feel too bad about it because...she started it.

Swing Low, Little Monkeys

Another ~3 weeks left in the cast, and Toby is hanging in there. Some toys have lost his interest, but not the circuits and of course not Duplos. We don't get to the park or other adventures as much as we used to, but we do still need to get out of the house and Finnegan Frost was a fun treat enjoyed by everyone in the family. Remember those days when we didn't have to share food with anybody, Nate?

Humans are Moving Creatures

moving |ˈmo͞oviNG

• go in a specified direction or manner; change position
• provoke a strong feeling

Constraints Fuel Creativity

It's been a week since Tobias broke his leg. I got just a little sad looking at the 4th of July videos where he was running around with sparklers. And I got just a little sad when a box of clothes for him arrived and he can't wear any of them right now (I think they're big enough that he can still wear them a little this fall). Silly, I know. Don't worry, no one is spending too much time being sad! Mostly I'm proud of how patient and positive he's been.

I asked Toby how many days he thought it would be until the cast came off. He said 47 (that's the 3 year old version of "not quite infinity"). I counted, and that's Sept 16. We'll see.

He's in very good spirits and slept through the night last night for the first time in the cast. He's getting to try lots of new activities like tummy scooting, spirograph spinning, and accompanying Ben (Nate's friend) with shaky eggs.

A Few Memories

First food, 6th anniversary, 3rd birthday, first time in the swimming pool, the last mile of an 18-hour-drive road trip...life is filled with milestones and accomplishments. Sometimes they fly by at an alarming rate, but they're great opportunities to celebrate and remember. Remember how Tobias didn't want to blow out his 2nd candle last year but this year he knew just what to do? Remember two hundred people singing "praise Him above you heavenly hosts" at our wedding reception? 

I wonder if Tobias will remember our recent trip. Will he remember riding in the "granola" (gondola) and looking at the mountains? Making nutella and marshmallow animals? Throwing rocks in the lake with Uncle Jon? I hope he'll at least have fun looking at the pictures and hearing stories as he gets older! Maybe Malachi won't remember anything specific, but he knows that his Grandpas and Grandmas and Aunts and Uncles love him a lot!

Physical Education: Wrestling Class

In a scene reminiscent of the classic "Tobias introduces his brother" (except now Malachi can laugh and even fight back), Tobias scoops Malachi into his lap and chats with him.

In case some of the audio is unclear, here's a partial transcript:

H: Hey, gentle.

T: He is not saying stop, and he has one tooth, and he's a baby!

I'm gonna hold him for awhile

Hey, say hi to him! Hiiii! Hiiii! He likes me!

N: He sure does.

T: Yeah, do you like me?

N: I think he likes to pull your hair too.

T: Do you like that baby Malachi? Do you like that baby Malachi? Do you?

This is my friend baby Malachi!

N: It's your brother, Tobes.

T: Yeah, it is my brother...tickle him!

Theological Education

So much to learn! Tobias is soaking up Catechism questions and asking "what letter does that start with" dozens of times per day. Malachi is scootching, sliding, and drifting away from where I set him on the floor. Nate is business-ing and programming and I'm sure he's learning things that I do not even understand. Hannah is sewing and making patterns (hat tutorial coming soon when I work out the last quirks), planning for mega-freezer-cooking day next week, and scheming ways to keep the quail out of the garden. It might be a stretch to say the chickens are learning anything new, but they are enjoying the moveable coop, they get fresh grass every day or two.

Soundtrack: ABCs + Tron

Tobias serenades the Sunday park-goers with an abbreviated version of the ABCs (he does know them all, not sure why he left some out), and Malachi attempts to roll the other way (maybe if I'm lucky I'll catch that on video when it happens).

Roll, Baby, Roll

Cute vs. Cute

I recruited Tobias's help to make Malachi smile. Turned into kind of a friendly attack...

A Well-Rounded Education

Syllabus:

• Tobias: Construction skills, shapes, numbers, taking turns, apologizing (Tobias apologizes to "baby Mow-ki" for scaring him with the noisy hammer).
• Malachi: how to smile without falling over

Spring Smiles

I employed a film-making technique known as the "flashback" in this movie...the first clip is of Tobias at a little over 2 months old, followed by Malachi at about the same age (now).

Then some toddler vehicle negotiation by Tobias and Jayna.

Bedtime Routine

Most evenings in our house involve a little dancing before bed. It helps everyone get the wiggles out.