::milestones::

Some kids pick flowers for their moms. Mine picks up stones. 

Whether we are taking a walk around the block or exploring a nature trail, our pockets come home a little heavier with rocks and stones J hand selects for us.

Some C and I drop and leave outside. (How many concrete bits do we really need?)

But others we save. 

Both C and I have held on to some of these stones. We cherish them for what they symbolize:

:: our little nature lover

:: hand-picked gifts for mama and daddy

:: his idea of what is beautiful

I'm reminded of these stones as J cheerfully greeted another milestone today.

As I stood outside his classroom door today, my jaw dropped as he bustled in, said hello to his teacher, and hung his backpack up. When he wandered past the door again, I leaped in and asked for a goodbye kiss. 

I asked for the kiss that last year he would never let me leave without.

~~~

Thanks again to Stephanie of Adventures in Babywearing for sharing this idea for back-to-school pictures.

Dinos for Dummies

Taking advantage of the back-to-school sales, I bought J a composition notebook to encourage him to spend more time doodling or writing his letters and numbers. So far, it's been pretty successful--much more so than giving him blank computer paper or construction paper and asking him to write.

Last week as we were drawing, we were talking about his favorite subject (aside from LEGOs): dinosaurs. J was recapping the latest episode of 'Dino Dan'--about a baby dinosaur who hatches from an egg and then chases the dog. I took the pencil and paper and this is what I drew.

And this is the conversation that followed:

J: What's that?

Me: A baby Pterodactyl.

J: There's no such thing as a Pterodactyl.

Me: Yes, there is. It's one of the bird-like dinosaurs.

J: No, Mom. There's no such thing called a Pterodactyl.

Me: Well, then what is this?

J: Well... there is a pterosaur called a Pterodactyl-US, but not a Pterodactyl.

Me: Oh. Then this is a baby Pterodactylus.

J: Cool.

Well, excuuuuse me, Mr. Walking Dinosaur Encyclopedia! 

And based on what I found after a quick Google search, the little stinker is right. I was shamed not only by my 4 year-old but also by this wikipedia entry that says that use of the word pterodactyl is strongly discouraged and is usually used erroneously by journalists. Damn! No wonder J was so emphatic about it!

Lest you fall victim as well to being uninformed about the modern advances in the field of paleontology, here's a round-up of some of our favorite dinosaur books: 

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton This was our first dino book and an excellent starting point for babies and toddlers.

Let's Look at Dinosaurs by Frances Barry Also nice for toddlers, or preschoolers. Lift the flap to find out which dinosaur is hiding on each page.

Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea Not exactly a reference source on dinosaurs, but incredibly fun! Dinosaur can overcome a bowl of spaghetti and even bath time, but will he triumph over bedtime? Roar, roar, roar!

Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian These dinosaur poems are clever, funny, and informative. The author includes a Glossarysaurus at the end of the book for older or more curious readers. The illustrations are fantastic. They have a child-like quality, but also contain incredible detail and texture. According to Florian, "the illustrations for this book were done with gonache, collage, colored pencils, stencils, dinosaur dust, and rubber stamps on primed brown paper bags". 

For more book suggestions, check out my Goodreads page.

What topics are your children experts in?

Three {3}

"A man and a woman had a little baby.

Yes, they did.

They had three in the family.

And that's a magic number."

Today J is 3!

Three years have passed since C's and my marriage grew into a family. A threesome. We've had three wonderful years as a trio. Soon, we'll be a foursome. I cannot even imagine how the joy and love will compound in us then, but I'm thrilled and anxious to find out.

~~~

{I celebrated my guy's special day by arranging the trio of J's photos, taken by Jessi of Everyday Studios. I love how his eyes and his smiles brighten our sunny kitchen even more.}

{Song lyrics: "Three is a Magic Number"; Schoolhouse Rock. C and I have always loved the cover by Blind Melon.}

theme songs

Isn't it amazing the way that hearing a song can sometimes take you back to a particular time or place, and you get that eerie deja vu feeling passing over you real quick? I love that. Certain scents do that to me too.

This summer I put together a mix CD for our vacation drive up to Presque Isle. I used to be absolutely crazy for mix tapes, and I guess I'm not completely over them yet. In high school, my friends and I made them for each other all the time.

This CD was mostly current stuff that C and I are into right now: Adele, Beck, Feist, Kings of Leon, to name a few. (By the way, if you've not heard Adele, she's got an incredible voice and sings with such a sense of worldliness and experience for only being 19... my favorite track is "Cold Shoulder".)

So, for old times sake, I decided to throw in a couple favorite classics of ours, and wouldn't you know, J completely dug them and requests them every time we're in the car!

The first throwback on our vacation mix was Michael Penn's "No Myth". It was so cool when C and I randomly figured out that it was one of both of our favorites from the 80s/early 90s. Now I think we like it even more because of J's big grin when it comes on as he says, "Is this 'No Miff'?"

The other one is a little embarrassing. One that my dad used to sing a lot when we were kids and we just thought it was crazy nonsense. As a teen, I realized it was a real song when a friend had it on a mix tape. Harry Nilsson's "Coconut". I know, it's crazy!! But, let me tell ya, what's really crazy is when J is playing independently and he thinks no one is watching and he starts to sing:

put the lime in the coconut...
drink it all up...
then say, Doc-tah!!! (and he mimes holding a phone up to his ear)

Needless to say, my dad is mighty proud. I told him the other day that J got his funny genes from him. "Fine by me", he said with a wink.

Over the last year, we've really noticed that J seems particularly drawn to music. He'll stop what he's doing if he hears an interesting song on the radio or a tv commercial. He loves all instruments. He sings constantly as he plays, and also turns just about anything into an instrument.

I think we'd be crazy not to foster J's musical inclinations. No pressure or anything, but just get him exposed to lots of types and encourage him to be creative and have fun with it. I registered the two of us for Music Together, and I'm really excited to start classes in a couple of weeks. Their premise is right up our alley:

Music Together classes are based on the recognition that all children are musical. All children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and participate with confidence in the music of our culture, provided that their early environment supports such learning.

What songs are stuck in your heads these days?

power struggle

Hello world! I'm still here...but feeling swamped and sunk thanks to this little pair:

a certain toddler's tantrums (new Read Your Way Through post coming soon)

How can a child be so loveable and melt-your-heart-sweet one moment and then so utterly rotten the next? I mean, he can literally turn on a dime! Take today, for example. We had a nice brunch out with a friend. J climbed into the booster seat of his own accord and then proceeded to sit still while I buckled him in. He colored before his food came, he drank his milk without blowing bubbles, and ate his meal without throwing anything on the floor. Of course, he used his shirt as a napkin and interrupted us constantly, but, hey, I can deal. At one point, he even stopped my friend mid-sentence and said sweetly, "Am I being patient?"

Yes, yes he WAS.

That is, until moments later when we went into Target for 4 things. Just 4 desperately-needed things. A quick errand for Mama and then it was on to the park. But, no. The patient toddler was suddenly replaced by the angry, LOUD toddler. The toddler who hits his mama as she races down the aisle for the 4 things on her list. The toddler who, at odd random intervals, removes a shoe or a sock and hurls them out of the cart and into the aisles or on top of the shelves of diapers that his mama is scouring while trying to figure out unit price in her head amidst the screaming of said toddler. The toddler whose behavior elicits one of three reactions among the other shoppers:

The first, and any mother's favorite: sympathetic smiles. These are from parents or grandparents or just kind people who can see that I am hurrying on my way and doing my best to remain calm despite my embarrassment.

The second: glares or eye-rolling. These people would probably like to stop me and say, "Maybe you should leave and come back another time when he is either calm or you can come without him." I do not get that option. It's totally unfair. Leaving Target during a temper tantrum doesn't reprimand or correct J's behavior. It just inconveniences me. And I'm already inconvenienced by having to deal with a tantrum while buying diapers and other items to care for the child who is throwing the tantrum!

The third and worst reaction: snickering. Yes, snickering! I've not experienced that one until today. I didn't know it was possible to pause in your shopping, observe a child hitting, kicking, screaming, and then audibly snicker and giggle. Did they think J's behavior was funny? Were they laughing at me, stuck in this crappy situation? "The nerve!", as my mom would say. Well, I shot that guy a glare, but then decided not to look at any of the other shoppers on the way to the checkout in case they were smirking too.

The other thing bogging me down lately is the hectic and completely opposite work schedule that C and I have. Let me tell ya, doing the Toddler Stop Drop and Roll day after day gets old. But, I hate to complain because it is what it is and it is what we chose. We are lucky--and we tell ourselves this often--that we each get quality time with J. We made smart decisions to make this lifestyle work for us. We have very accomodating jobs. Nevertheless, I guess I'm going through a little phase where I either want what I don't have or I want what isn't possible.

And, sometimes that's enough to make me want to have a tantrum. Thanks for bearing with me.

~ sunday to sunday ~

Anticipating summer and feeling relaxed and peaceful on this gorgeous day, I'll let these pictures mainly speak for themselves, and for what we've been up to the last week.

Homestead Park -- Hilliard's home to an historic Ohio barn as well as an old blue train caboose; also many playgrounds, walking paths, and a cute covered bridge:

Gonna catch that train...

Early summer blooms:

Pretty sights from a morning walk on Memorial Day at Heritage Park , formerly the Rosedale Farm, home to the Everal family in the late 1800s :

The Everal Barn

Knock knock, anybody home at the Carriage House?

I liked the look of this old latched coal chute on the front of the chimney.

We weren't the only family out enjoying the lovely morning

Not the greatest gardeners, we spent a lot of time this week on our prettiest landscaping project yet -- still a work in progress.

Hope yours was a beautiful week, too, with another one to come!

OMG & LOL!

These days everything is about social media. Twitter. Facebook. Flickr. YouTube. Online gaming. And, supposedly, it's especially true with teens and pre-teens.

In a recent presentation to our library staff, Beth Gallaway (aka the Information Goddess) cited a statistic that teens spend an average of 80 minutes per day chatting and texting.

Surprising? Maybe. It certainly surprised me when this sly, proud face greeted me the other morning.

I was eating breakfast and thought J was playing trains, per his usual morning routine. Not so. He apparently took a cue from my typical morning routine and powered up the computer. He knelt on our office swivel chair from IKEA, hands hovering above the keyboard, only looking up for a brief second when I entered the room.

"Hey", I said. "What are you doing, buddy?"

"E-mail."

"E-mail?"

"Yeah. I typin' to Lulu."

Lulu is a friend's two year-old daughter.

Wow. Just two years old and this little guy is already sneaking time on the computer with the intent to talk to a girl. Am I in for it or what?!!

I will say though, in his (and my!) defense, his #1 favorite thing to do on the computer when I let him sit on my lap is look through our virtual photo albums, calling out who and what he sees and basically reminiscing. His second favorite thing to do is pore over the keyboard identifying the letters and telling me what they're for.

"A "J" for my name! A "H" for hen! A "D" for Daddy! A "Z" for Zebra! A "P" for Papa!"

And, of course, "A "L" for Lulu!"

And that warms my heart. My love-of-reading, literacy-promoting heart. Even when he's reminding me to blog and tweet in moderation, he still makes me proud.

TTYL,
Katie

Tenacity

The word "tenacity" came to C's mind as we watched our little guy climb the slide with happy determination tonight. Other words that come to mind:

fearlessness

spunk

purpose

freedom

motivation

delight

presence

and above all,

LOVE.

Sepia Sweetness

Hoping yours was a peaceful Easter, and wishing you a bright cheery Spring!

Dawes Arboretum

Today we enjoyed a lovely Spring day at Dawes Arboretum: 1,800 acres, beautiful scenery, elegant landscapes, walking and hiking trails, 15,000 living plants, and many species of wildlife.

Clockwise from top:

1. we do not use the timer setting on our camera often enough!
2. Dawes Lake
3. The Japanese Garden and pond
4. The Cypress Swamp
5. trees that looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book
6. J scouting salamanders (the salamanders had just migrated days ago to the swamp to begin their breeding season and were extremely well camouflaged, much to J's disappointment)
7. goldfish in the pond at the Japanese Garden
8. Conifer Glen, where we felt as if we were strolling through the setting of a Jane Austen novel
9. my silly boys imprisoned at the Japanese Garden!

A Faux February?

Doesn't February suck? It's the shortest month of the year, but never feels like it.

Cold.

Gray.

Snow, or worse, melting dirty slush.

Flus and viruses abound. (Is SAD contagious too?)

Cabin fever.

Continuous snacking and drinking hot cocoa like it's water.

Grumpy, bordering on depressed.

Long days of boringness,

begging for Spring,

cursing Punxsutawney Phil for consistently seeing his shadow.

Well, this February is shaping up quite differently, and not too shabby. A huge snow at the end of January hit Columbus and a week later bursts of warmer air and bright sunshine. My little guy's been seeing a lot of his shadow, too. Which seems counter-intuitive to me... why does seeing your shadow imply that more winter weather is ahead, when clearly bright sunshiney days do nothing but instill hope and excitement that the longer days of Spring and Summer are quickly approaching?

Regardless, we've been enjoying daily walks around the neighborhood, even a hike at a local metro park where J proudly spotted ducks and geese perched on the iced-over pond.

Then, a crazy fall-like windstorm sweeps in complete with rain and hail and tornado watches.

Add to this mix my absolute giddiness for Valentine's Day, some fun crafty playdates, a new energizing and exciting diet (which C. is teaming up with me on), and these 28 days are whipping by in a whirl of busy-ness and (gasp!) happy-ness! Is this really February?

How's February been treating you? Love it or leave it?

A Very Special Valentine

I think there's some connection between being a mother of a toddler and getting crazily excited and decked out for holidays...

This year, I'm really feeling the love as Valentine's Day approaches. J and I decorated the sliding glass doors with vinyl cling hearts. I purchased a cutesy love birds hangy-decoration-thingy for the front door. I've been scouring books and web sites looking for Valentine's Day crafts. I bought pink muffin cup papers and 5 mini jars of pink, red, heart-themed sprinkles in the anticipation of baking some heart-shaped cutouts! (I even caught myself looking at pink and red bejeweled socks in the dollar bins at Target, but snapped out of that one very quickly.)

All this, and it's only February 1st!!!!

With all these ideas and preparations underway, I thought I'd best get a move on with a Valentine gift or two. The always-up-to-something-cute Jessi at everyday studios posted the cutest, most perfect, most inspiring gift idea -- a love-themed photo book from Shutterfly. As I clicked through the pics of her adorable boys, I knew a book like this would be treasured by J's grandparents. So, I spent a couple hours working on one of our own tonight while J slept and C watched the Superbowl, and here's the finished product:



View Project at Shutterfly

Top 5

Here's a handful of the books we've been reading over and over again since Christmas. All of them were gifts and J (and Mama) couldn't be happier. I am so pleased with the little library he has built up in his mere 2 years, and even more pleased that he is such a bookworm! It's very clear that much of his knowledge and creativity and silliness is due in large part to the amount of reading we've done together.

The other wonderful thing about the books we own is the fact that so many of them are gifts from other people. It means more, especially to me, that our collection isn't just due to the fact that I am an amazon.com-addicted librarian. It's so special that family and friends have chosen books that make them think of J. So, I make it a point to help J to remember the connections between his books and the givers. I really believe that there's often a correlation between the gift-giver and the book...kind of like that idea that pet owners often look like their dogs!

Hug by Jez Alborough

Poor Bobo! Everywhere he goes, animals are hugging! Where is his hug? Mama and Baby Elephant escort him through the jungle to find the very best kind of hug.

J pores over the pages in this book and consistently looks concerned when we reach the page where Bobo is crying. (So sweet.) He also points at the word 'hug' on each page, runs his finger underneath it like he's seen me do, and says cheerfully, "Hug!" This is a GREAT book. Incorporates all kinds of Ready to Read skills.

Ribbit! by Bender and Bender

This hilarious book came from J's great-aunt, also a book lover. How cool that the Ohio-grown authors dedicated/autographed it to our little guy?! The crazy mix-and-match costumed frogs make the book appealing to a wide audience.

Jungle Gym by Stephen Krensky

J's Papa gave this book to him on Christmas. It's a cute rhyming, touch-and-feel counting book. Some time ago, Papa made a game out of teaching J silly little exercises, so this was a very fitting gift. Like the animals in the book, J and his Papa do push-ups, jumping jacks, and stretches. Goofy.

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins

Another silly rhyming book, this one was given to J from Nina. It's an oldie from 1969, and the rhythm is very Dr. Seuss-esque. When we were growing up, my brothers and I had this book and my mom remembers reading it over and over again. Apparently, when she saw it at the bookstore she could immediately recall most of the text and just knew J needed a copy. Here's a funny excerpt that J has been reenacting randomly while playing.

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
This 2005 Caldecott Medal winner is just too fun to pass up. Kitten is so adorable, as is the adventure she goes on as she tries to reach that big bowl of milk in the sky.

~~~~~

Which books did you give or receive this holiday season? Or, do you have any current favorites, whether they're gifts or not?

3BT

1. Uncle C reading with J.

2. Seeing our little guy start to bounce back to normal (i.e. ornery) after being sick for 4 days.

3. This exquisite turned wooden bowl my parents gifted to us this Christmas.

shots of the bigshot

A couple pics from the TWO Year Birthday Bash...

"Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You..."

Make a wish!

Eating his cake so neatly...where's the fun in that? And wait, when did he learn to use a fork???

Ever the polite young man, "Thank you coming!"

deck the halls

A tradition I have insisted on since I was a little girl is to have the Christmas tree up and decorated before my birthday, the 7th of December. As much as I loathe the dreaded birthday-Christmas combination gifts, I am okay with holiday decorations in the birthday celebration mix. Not sure why. It just feels like my birthday that way.

A tradition my husband has insisted on every Christmas we've been together is getting a Frasier Fir at Oakland Nursery. They are a full tree with a wonderful aroma. However, they are the priciest type, I believe, so we always end up with a short squatty one that still sets us back $40. This year we stumbled upon a new variety, the Canaan Fir: Ohio-grown, strong piney aroma, sturdy long-lasting branches and needles. For the typical $40, we were able to bring home a massive 7--8 footer! C had to make a couple of extra cuts to it in order to get it in the house and upright.

J was pretty impressed with seeing a live tree in the middle of our living room. He was also impressed with himself for the way that he "helped Daddy".

When it comes to decorating the tree, I always enjoy looking through our ornaments, finding ones I forgot about alongside the cherished favorites. But, this year we cannot find one whole box of ornaments; and, of course, it's the box that holds most of our favorites: my glass reindeer that looks so glowy when placed right in front of a tree light; the personalized sailboat ornament from our honeymoon; the wooden black bear carving from our trip to the Smokies; the "It's a girl!" 1978 globe; and, best of all, the homemade ones our parents saved and bestowed upon us. I really must look harder to find those because I love them (and our tree looks rather bare). J slowly and deliberately repeated "or-NA-ment" as he picked through one of the boxes, identifying snowmen and Santas. After much prodding, he agreed to help me actually hang the ornaments on the tree. Although, for him, this process just involved moving the same ornament over and over again to different spots on the tree.

Moments later, he hit the jackpot and discovered a gaudy, glittery train ornament.

He absconded with it straight to his LEGO table and began chugging and choo-chooing around and around. Within minutes, J's "uh-oh" alerted me to the fact that the ribbon and hook had already become dislodged. Later that evening I found the pitiful thing further crushed from its rough ride with J. Oh well, better it than my glass reindeer!

Happy decorating! Hope your holiday preparations are as fun-filled.