An amusing anecdote (and requisite background info):

Background #1: Two weeks ago, I made a deal with Edward: if he could get through the morning drop off with no tears he could have an M&M when we got home. I was at my wit's end with the daily melt-downs and thought this would give him incentive to keep it together. Before you scoff, "ONE M&M??!" know that this was only my opening gambit and I was prepared to offer just about anything to break this horrible cycle. He did not counter, so we did not escalate the bargaining game. The first couple of mornings, I could see him swallowing hard and considering the prize awaiting before steeling himself for a "Bye, Mom!" He also started deciding in the morning exactly which color M&M he would choose when he got home. Call it bribery, call me a horrible parent, but it worked. He has resumed his customary cheerful disposition at school and I am no longer starting my days with a broken heart. It was so successful that after the first week, he became a bit hit-and-miss with requesting the reward. If he brought it up, I immediately produced the treat, but if he didn't mention it, neither did I.

Background #2: Last night we took a walk after dinner to get ice cream--a great way to end a summer weekend. We had the double stroller with us, but on the way home, pushing uphill, I suggested that Edward could get off and walk for a bit. He complied and I kept pushing while he and John trailed behind. Suddenly, I heard Ed's piercing shriek and looked back to see John scooping him up from the sidewalk. He had tripped (over his own foot) and scraped his knee, though the blood-curdling screams had John convinced he'd knocked out a tooth or worse! We were only half way home so it was a long, loud walk--not the restful summer evening we envisioned. At home, it was bath and bed time and as a distraction for Ed, I suggested he could take a "stand up bath." (I also thought it would be wise to avoid total immersion of the wounded knee.) I used the handheld shower head to hose him down, careful not to have direct spray on the knee. This was both distracting and calming and he got clean, pajama-ed, and tucked into bed. I didn't realize how big an impression this had made until we were leaving daycare and the director popped her head out of her office to say, "Hey, I heard Edward got to take a shower!" I gave her the back story and she said he hadn't told her anything about the scraped knee, just the shower.

Scene: Today, 12:30ish; returning from work/daycare, taking off shoes and putting away hats in front hallway; no mention of the after school M&M until...

Edward: I'm not going to have an M&M today. Yeah, because I'm a shower man and shower mans don't need M&Ms.

I'm not sure which is funnier, the ego-inflating "shower man" or the plural "shower mans" but either way, I almost choked stifling my guffaw.

Last week we ventured out to the Johnson County Fair and had another fun evening. The cows did not make the same impression on Ed as last year, but nonetheless, a good time was had by all.

The goats are friendly, though the boys were hesitant about the hands-on experience. Daniel preferred to stand back a bit and say, "Hi, goat!"


After trying on the helmet, Ed said he wanted the fire-fighter to show him the mask. He dutifully pulled out the full face mask and tried it on, demonstrating the attached microphone/speaker and letting Ed speak into it. Later, we learned that Edward had intended only the flip down mask attached to the helmet.
Luckily the kids are still small enough that the number of available rides is somewhat limited. Daniel rode this, a train, and the merry-go-round with John holding him tight. Edward also tried a small-scale Ferris wheel (which he rode alone with no objection, even when it stopped with him a the top to let another crying kid off) and a big inflatable bounce slide. In the future we may have to discuss ride rationing ahead of time or our "free" family fair outing could get quite pricey!

We ended the evening sharing a huge cup of ice cream. Edward, as usual, asked for chocolate, but I persuaded him to try a new flavor "cookie dough" (slightly less mess due to the ice cream itself being vanilla.) It was pretty loud though and he didn't quite hear my description of this new flavor. After a few bites, he exclaimed, "I like co-KEE-do!"

We've got him straight now and he actually requested this flavor on last night's excursion. He also asked me on the way past the grocery store this afternoon if we could have that "special treat," cookie dough ice cream at home some time. I'm guessing this will happen.

Daniel had his 18-month check-up last week and sailed through. He's tipping the scales at 29 pounds and measures about 33.5 inches. Within about 90 seconds of entering the exam room, his doctor said, "Well, I guess I don't have to ask you about his language skills!" He is quite the little chatterbox. His teacher reported that he now has most of the class asking, "Why, why?" about everything. Daniel also is into greeting everyone and everything, including this exchange as we drove by a landscaping crew, "Hi law-mo, har you?" (translation: Hi lawn mower, how are you?) If you say, "Hi Daniel, how are you?" He'll respond with a matter-of fact, "Good."

This post starts and ends with video and has two weeks' worth of photos in between. Someone has fallen behind in the family chronicle. I could try to come up with an excuse, but let's just chalk it all up to life, and whatnot. ("Life is not 'whatnot'." name that John Hughes movie!)

We actually had two of the most beautiful weather weeks ever in a Midwest July. Warm(ish) days followed by nice cool nights. Many around here were complaining about the lost summer, but not me. I could skip the whole heat/humidity scene without a second thought. It did get a little warmer this weekend, and yesterday I decided to blow up the kids wading pool during their nap time for a surprise afternoon activity. Amazingly, there was only one small hole in the pool, which had been wadded up in a ball for two years. Nothing a little duct tape couldn't handle. We never took it out last summer because with the house on the market, we didn't have a place to stash it out of potential buyers' view. They had a good time splashing around and flinging water with shovels and squirting implements. The part of the video with Daniel extricating himself from the pool cracks me up.

We've also had some summer fun with popsicles recently. Of these four shots, the first three are from the same sitting, with homemade frozen fruit punch popsicles. The last one is the aftermath of Daniel's "bomb pop"--my favorite red/white/blue popsicles that are a 4th of July staple. (Though this was just taken Sunday, well after the 4th!) In any event, they clearly enjoy the cool treat. Daniel was shirtless after soaking himself playing with watering cans in the back yard. Actually, he was pantsless too, and ended up with popsicle juice dribbled all the way down his belly and pooled in his belly button. Needless to say, next stop was the bathtub.




In the car recently, Edward spotted a jogger without a shirt and asked why. I explained that sometimes when guys get hot they take their shirts off. A few days later, on a nice temperate afternoon in the back yard, he began tugging at his own shirt, and when I realized he was trying to get it off, I questioned, "What are you doing?" "I'm hot," he said firmly. "Guys take their shirts off when they're hot." Of course Daniel had to get in on the action (he MUST do everything his big brother does and say everything he says) so they pranced around shirtless for a while. It was late in the afternoon and the yard is mostly shade at the time of day, so I wasn't worried about sunburn. Just look at those pasty white bellies!
The water is not turned on in this photo of Daniel, but you can see how he could get soaked in no time. The other factor is that he doesn't really understand pouring in a direction away from one's own belly. This also complicates tooth brushing as he is inclined to take a drink and then dump the rest of the cup down his shirt in an attempt to imitate Ed pouring back into the sink. Many a morning has ended in a shirt change immediately before dashing out the door to daycare/work!

Two Saturdays ago, there was a car show to benefit University of Iowa Children's Hospital so we took the boys and met Grandma and Grandpa to check out the vehicles and enjoy some kids games/activities. The owners of this vehicle were kind enough to let the boys sit on it. We were terrified that they would somehow break or scratch it, but owners were calm as could be. Ed thought it was the best thing ever and we had to stop by again later for more admiration.
Iowa mascot Herky was part of the festivities, which was a major hit with our kids. There weren't a lot of other kids around when he first came out so they kind of had him as their personal playmate for a few minutes. They each had their hat "stolen" and traded lots of "fives" but they had to draw the line at giving Herky a stroller ride.

As if this weren't already great enough, Grandpa played a beanbag toss game and won this amazing firetruck. We try to remind Edward that Grandpa won it for BOTH boys, but sharing is not high on the priority list when this truck comes out to play. Luckily, Daniel is easily distracted with other trucks. This one has buttons to push for siren and other firetruck noises and a ladder that goes up and down. In this photo, you'll see Ed has hiked his shorts way up. He told John, "someone at church wears his pants like this." Ha! I have no idea who he's talking about--many potential contenders for this award, no surprise. It didn't take long for him to decide this was uncomfortable. And once again, shirtless, despite, as noted above, our recent mild weather.Another funny Ed story, may get lost in blog translation, but here's at least an attempt. Last Sunday we took a trip to Chariton to visit John's grandparents. We stopped in Knoxville (the next town north of Chariton) to pick up KFC for lunch--Grandpa's favorite. Ed noticed that there was also a Taco Bell sign on the store and asked if we were getting tacos. (Note: I'm not sure how he knows what Taco Bell is--I think maybe he's asked about it as we've driven by in Iowa City.) He's also recently been interested in "open/closed" signs on store windows. So apparently this fast food convergence was percolating all week because on Saturday morning he was playing with John and offered him some food. He got out a bookmark he made at our town's recent literary festival, held it up and announced, "Ed's Chicken Bell is open!!" He then proceeded to bring various toys and offer them for consumption. Then he turned the bookmark around and said, "Ed's Chicken Bell is closed!" This game has been repeated frequently and never ceases to amuse any of us.

Finally, I've been trying for weeks to capture Daniel's "jumping" and the second part of this video is about as close as I can get. He never actually leaves the floor, but he does it with such gusto! The first part of the video was cracking me up. He's played with this car a lot, but this was the first time he seemed not to understand that he was in control of its motion.

Here's a funny story to get us going and then we'll see how much of this I can complete before naptime ends. Last night we went out for dinner--a rare treat at our favorite local restaurant. It's a bar by night, but at 6 p.m on a summer Sunday, perfectly suitable for families. So we're sitting there enjoying some pre-meal popcorn and coloring on the kids' menu/placemats when I look up and notice that someone sitting at the bar directly across from me has some extremely low-riding shorts. I alert John's attention to this display, subtly I think, and it's kind of a loud place with music and TVs and such. Yet, immediately, Ed turns around to see what I've just pointed out and says, loudly, "Who's tighty whitey?"

When, oh when will I learn to keep my mouth shut? Luckily, the person in question either did not hear or chose to ignore the observation. Once again, I note that it is a fairly loud atmosphere, but that does not stop our young parrot. Hear it, see it, say it.

Our dinner was sort of a celebration of the return to good health (which of course we chose to toast with french fries, but who's counting.) Daniel was sick ALL of last week and it was both sad and frustrating. Actually, he'd sort of been sick for the last three weeks, with two weeks of diarrhea leading up to spiking a fever on Monday that did not break until Wednesday night. (The two ended up being unconnected, except for the possibility that the two-week GI bug weakened him, allowing another virus to settle in.) We spent Thursday waiting out the daycare's 24-hour rule (fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school) and thought he was fine to go back Friday. When we got there, I noticed his arms were a little red. I lifted his shirt and he had a rash all over his torso. So of course we had to leave. In the medical mindset, the rash (roseola) was actually a good thing, because it helped explain the fever from earlier in the week. In the mom mindset, how do I cope with an 18-month old who feels like crap for a whole week and doesn't understand why I'm not doing something to make him feel better?

(continued from Monday...)

I think he'll forgive me, but he's still a little dubious as I have been returning to the bedtime-only rule for pacifiers. They were a Godsend last week when comfort at all costs was key. He'll still throw them back in bed when he gets up, but he's learned to say "paci?" with a pleading pitifulness that is hard to resist.

Edward's latest trick is the recitation of the fable, "Three Billy Goats Gruff." This is our latest book on CD from the library, and it's quite a dramatic reading, which he imitates with gusto, shouting, "Who's that tramping across my bridge?!" I wonder what they think at school when this bursts out of nowhere. I hope the teachers are at least familiar with the tale. I'm actually a little annoyed with his teacher, who is leaving the position in two weeks to move to another part of the state and seems already to have checked out. I get that mindset. I've been there. But I think when you're responsible for the daily nurturing of 12 three-year-olds, you owe it to them to be fully present until the very end. Of course, I can't say anything. I just keep watching her countdown in Facebook status updates and think I'll probably be as glad as she is when it reaches zero. It's too bad, because I thought well of her before and have not had a negative experience with any other teacher in three-plus years at this daycare.

So by now you're thinking, "Enough with the writing and make with the pictures already!" We actually don't have many right now as the camera took a back seat to the thermometer and ibuprofen. But here are a few at our afternoon park excursion before the aforementioned celebration dinner. (Note: I just spent 20 minutes trying to get this photo to display right and Blogger keeps rotating it back to vertical. Sorry--you'll have to turn your head or open and rotate in your own photo program.)

The last weekend in June, my family gathered in Chicago--all of us together for the first time in two years. All but John, who was in Minneapolis attending the annual conference for his newspaper association. If you think the word "Minneapolis" was ever used without air-quotes during our weekend together, you don't know the Geraghtys. John says he was sorry to miss it, but the conference was well worth the trip, as his paper won two national awards for coverage of last year's floods and the ongoing effects on area businesses. Woo hoo!

Since I was single parenting for the weekend, my pictures don't really chronicle the whole experience. (Though I must add that I was extremely fortunate to have so many helping hands available!) I think it's best to just leave it at "you had to be there" and let these pictures speak for themselves.

PopPop came to our room the first night to read goodnight stories for Ed, but Ed demanded Gram because he knows she never travels without books. She brought a new library selection about the beach and Ed made himself comfortable using PopPop as an armrest. She had barely finished the last page when PopPop's phone rang and it was Ann saying her girls were also in need of stories and kisses. Gram and PopPop's work is never done!Abby started the party with a bang and Joe was caught in the crossfire. Much hilarity (and a load of laundry) ensued.
We spent Saturday morning at a park carefully scouted by Aunt Nora. Plenty of equipment in all sizes, a sandpit, LOTS of shade (!) and several nearby food options for lunch. Props to Aunt Nora!Daniel is used to following Edward around and attempting to replicate all his physical feats, but this time he had yet another role model in cousin Sean, age 4. He saw Sean execute this swinging over the slide move and you could just watch his little mind immediately working out how to accomplish it. He did not end with a butt plop on the slide like Sean, but was quite pleased with himself and the swinging.Brothers holding up their end of the teeter-totter with cousins on the other end (and in the middle, I think.) This game later evolved into "mechanic," which was very fun until just after this video ends. The next time they got down to "fix" the truck, another kid immediately jumped on and started bouncing and Sean's finger was pinched. Ouch!



Now we skip ahead to the end of the weekend, when we retired to Gram and PopPop's with the Arizona contingent to play and have lunch while waiting for their airport departure. Daniel immediately found this helmet on the front porch and insisted on wearing it.



We stayed over until Monday, which was the plan all along, but also a necessity due to major sleep deprivation on my part. I could hardly stay awake until the 3 p.m. airport departure so there's no way I could have made the four-hour drive alone. We all took naps and then had an evening together. Monday morning Gram and I took the boys to the beach. It was a little chilly and Edward was not too pleased when he ended up on his butt while trying to fill a bucket. But he got over it and mostly spent the time digging. Daniel LOVED splashing along the shoreline and would venture out as far as I let him, undeterred by the chilly waters and breeze. Needless to say, it was tricky to get pictures of this as I was sure the camera would end up in the lake while I was lunging for Daniel.

Daniel has learned a new word this week: hurt.

As in, "You are hurting me when you change my diaper."

So sad. He's had a horrible GI bug since last Friday and with 10-12 poops per day, diaper rash was inevitable. (In this photo he's going commando on the back porch in an attempt to give him some relief, but the hot, humid weather probably wasn't any better than the diaper. Now there's a weather metaphor for you--this Midwest heat wave is like living inside a diaper. Eww!)

Daniel's been on a banana, applesauce, Cheerios and Pedialyte diet and none too happy about it. He keeps asking for milk, but I never thought of that as something on the approved list for a troubled tummy. I kept him home from daycare on Monday, hoping to knock it down by keeping focused on changing him as soon as anything entered the diaper. Tuesday he went back and I thought he was doing a little better, but today when they called from daycare to say he'd had four poops before 10 a.m. and the rash was close to bleeding, I decided he needed medical attention. Advice there: "Feed him through it." I'd never heard this before, but apparently you're only supposed to keep the restricted diet for 24 hours and then give regular foods because the nutrients will fight off the germ. They said to stay away from anything acidic (pineapple, oranges, etc.) but otherwise just give him whatever he'd normally eat.

Well he's much happier at mealtime but still none to pleased with the changing table. We're also supposed to use an anti-fungal due to suspected yeast in the diaper area, and the doctor said, "When it comes to diaper cream, I don't care what you use, but use A LOT. A quarter-inch thick is not too much." Well, slather it on then! So we're hoping for a turn-around before we head out to Chicagoland on Friday. My family is all gathering to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary (which isn't until August, but this was the only weekend all summer we could all come. Well, all except John. The annual conference for his newspaper association is this weekend in Minneapolis, so I'll be on the road solo with the boys.)

In a happier time before intestinal distress, last week we heard some construction noises in the neighborhood and went for a walk to investigate. A house around the corner was getting a new roof and there were lots of workers and plenty of equipment to admire. I'm not sure why the digger was brought for a roof job, but it was detached from the forklift and just sitting next to the sidewalk, so I let the boys climb in. The workers didn't object. I couldn't get them to look at the same time for a picture though. There were just too many other wonderful things to admire. The high point was the forklift off-loading piles of roofing material from a flatbed trailer and driving up the driveway. The excitement only magnified when the forklift then lifted some of the materials up to the garage roof (workers had shouldered the load up ladders to the main house.)

One of my sister's recent pictures of her new baby reminded me how much I love summer babies in just onesies so when a hot and sweaty Daniel took himself upstairs and stood under the towel hook calling "bath bath" before dinner, I decided he didn't need any pants once he was cool and clean. He looked so cute running around and he won't be a baby much longer so I have to soak it in while I can.

Edward has been much better with his emotions and closer to something we might call "equilibrium." When we drive up to daycare now he says, "When we go in my room I will say, 'Bye Mom!' " Then sometimes he'll ask, "Why did I cry?" recalling those horrible days last week. He did have one meltdown this week when John took him while I stayed home with a sick Daniel. We forgot to send his stuffed dog, which has become quite the security object through this whole stage. So between that and the fact that Daniel and I weren't there, his routine was just busted. Even though he's not having the crying jags, he's still a little sensitive. One of his newest things is asking "what if" questions and while some of them are a bit outlandish, others show a bit of anxiety/insecurity. Last night during a thunderstorm he called from bed to ask if we heard the booms. We talked about how booms and lightning are outside and we are safe and dry in our house. "Well, what if we didn't have a house?" he asked. So we talked about all the people who love us who could help us if something happened to our house.

He's also very keyed up about the possibility of tornadoes. We had a warning on Sunday night so we had to explain the siren to him, but we were not in the path of the most severe storm so we didn't have to take shelter. We tried to explain as much as we could without putting scary ideas in his head. But the next night he said, "A tornado can pick up a house!" I figured he must be getting this from school, and sure enough, today there was a new "book" on display of pictures the kids had drawn of various stages of a tornado (storm clouds, wind blows, funnel, etc.) I'm not sure this is necessary for three-year-olds, but the horse is out of the barn on this one so we just have to try to reassure him that tornadoes hardly ever happen and that the siren tells us if we have to check the weather on TV.

On a lighter note, for Father's Day dessert I made chocolate chip cookie dough brownies, a recipe I'd been alerted to some months ago, but had not had an occasion to try out. They actually were better in theory than execution as the brownie kind of overpowered the chocolate chip cookie, but they were still quite tasty. Anyway, when presented with this treat after dinner, Edward made the funniest wide-eyed, round-mouthed face and exclaimed, "Wooooooo!!!!" and we all just about died laughing. Now he thinks he can get a laugh saying that about any food presented to him.

Last Sunday there was an open house at the newly remodeled fire station on the west side of town. It's hard to tell who was more excited about it--John or Edward. However, Edward almost didn't get to go due to his current behavior pattern, but more on that later. In the end, he and John went (Daniel was still napping) and had a great time. They even brought home an extra hat for Daniel, who was quite pleased, not knowing what he'd missed.

John said Ed wanted to sit in every seat in every truck and wear the seat belt each time. That's a lot of in and out and up and down.

He had to be persuaded to leave his own gear (left over Halloween costume) at home, but he was sure to wear his favorite new (this season) hand-me-down from Arizona: the emergency vehicle t-shirt. As soon as it comes out of the wash, it's what he picks from his drawer. I have a feeling Sean was the same way and that it will not survive to be worn by Daniel!

John says he had to snap this helmet photo quickly because Edward was saying, with exertion, "It's heavy, Dad!"

He was also eager to point out the features of the vehicles, like the spinning light on the front of this truck. I think John was most impressed with the fact that the living area was built with individual sleeping rooms rather than the standard open bunk room. John once spent 24 hours with a shift of Iowa City firefighters to write a story for the newspaper and I think that communal sleeping experience left a permanent scar (though, if I recall correctly there were several calls that night and not much sleeping.) He also went through the full training regimen for the volunteer fire fighters in a neighboring town (again, in the line of newspaper duty.) So I think it's safe to say that this was one of those "for the kids" trips that was not too great a burden on the adult.

Also last weekend, one of John's co-workers dropped off a toy her own boys had outgrown. It's been passed around through several generations in her own family and among friends, so we're not sure how old it is. However, it is proof positive that the best toys are timeless: our boys LOVE it. It's quite heavy (no plastic construction back in the day!) so Ed doesn't go too far on it before he gets tired. Daniel can't reach the pedals so we have to bend over and push it up and down until he gets impatient and climbs off. Luckily he has a short attention span--kind of tough on the back! The sharing is not going as well as this picture would make it seem, but we're working on it--with this and MANY other toys and activities.

Which brings us to the behavior issues. My wise mom says kids have periods of "equilibrium and disequilibrium." Edward is definitely in disequilibrium these days. I have read some similar theories that suggest that growth surges have both physical and emotional components. Basically, Edward is a walking time bomb these days. Everything can be going along just fine but then one thing isn't exactly the way he wants it and it's a total meltdown. He also is testing limits and patience like it's going out of style. We try to correct bad behavior with a simple, "No thank you" or "Please don't do that." We know it's going to escalate when he looks right at us and again repeats whatever we've asked him not to do. Or, even more aggravating, he'll watch/listen as we tell Daniel No, and then go out of his way to do whatever Daniel had been doing to bring on the correction. It's all very frustrating and has led to several knock-down/drag-out battles, including one that almost lost him the fire station tour. Luckily, that one was right before naps so that allowed a cooling off period and calm prevailed.

The emotional drama is not just naughty though. This week, for only the second time in three-and-a-half years, Edward clung to me and refused to let me leave him at daycare. He and five of his classmates had moved up to the next age group classroom on Monday. Several of the kids had a rough morning the first day, but not Ed. He just marched right in like he owned the place. He's spent time in the room before and knows the teachers. But Wednesday and Thursday the main teacher was home sick. On Wednesday, he had a mid-morning meltdown that was calmed with some teacher one-on-one time. But Thursday, when we got there and he realized that his teacher wasn't there again, he grabbed my legs and would not let go. I actually took him with me to an appointment before work because I could see that I would not be able to extricate fast enough to make it on time any other way.

While we were driving to and from the appointment I tried talking about all the things he likes at school, asking him about his buddies and trying to get him to talk about all the fun things they do. I emphasized that kids go to school and moms and dads go to work. He said he wanted to come to work with me.
"Edward," I said. "I don't have any toys or books or colors at my office. I don't have a playground like you have at school."
"But I could just stand there and watch you," he said. Yeah, for how many seconds?
"But Edward, why would you want to do that instead of playing with your buddies.?"
"Because I like you Mommy."

Oh, a direct hit to the heart.

I took him back to school and he was fine until we got to his classroom. He again grabbed on to me and would not let go. I tried to talk to him calmly and let him know I loved him and that I knew he was going to have fun with all his buddies. But finally I just had to pry his arms from around my neck and hand him to a teacher screaming. If you think I made it out of there without tears of my own, you have a stone heart. But within about half an hour, two different staff members called me at work to let me know he was doing better. He was still tentative and one of them, the school cook, told me he kept asking her when lunch would be (this is at about 9:30 a.m.) He knows I pick him up after lunch so he was clearly marking time.

Friday was better. The teacher was back and he had a pine cone and a rock to show off. I am hoping we don't have to start all over this week. I guess all we can do is continue to teach self control but also offer plenty of praise for good behavior. Hugs are the order of the day whenever possible.

Our plans to meet Grandma and Grandpa at the children's area of the arts fest downtown this morning were scuttled when we woke up to grey skies and an ominous green and yellow blob on the radar stretching all the way to Des Moines. Rain, rain, go away! So we shifted gears and instead dropped the boys at Grandma and Grandpa's to play for the morning, have lunch and take naps. Hello, rain, my new best friend!!

Well, I think it worked out well for all of us. Reports are that fun was had in Coralville--enough to lead to three hour naps for the boys (and possibly Grandpa, though this is not officially documented.)

In our "free" time, John and I treated ourselves to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, but also tacked on some chores, including cleaning and organizing the garage (John) and cleaning/organizing our office (me.) Surprisingly, the jobs took about the same amount of time, but John's was decidedly dirtier. We now have a tidy garage with better access to the various child-size vehicles (which do not impede the adult-size vehicle for which the space is intended), and we also discovered that the top of our desk is in fact a nice clean cream color. Who knew?

By the time Grandma and Grandpa brought the boys home, the sun had come out and a brisk breeze had dried the grass so that John was just getting done mowing. We had pizza on the porch, topped off with fruit punch popsicles for the under-4 set. A fun-filled day all around.

Edward and Daniel both love to play in this dirt--I don't think this is the first picture like this to make its way to the blog. Daniel also likes to try to eat the dirt, which we discourage, but don't always prevent. Tonight he had dirt all over his face, perhaps aided in adhesion by the popsicle juice that might not have all been wiped after his meal. Ed heard us talking about a bath and called out mid-shovel, "Is it bath night?" When I responded in the affirmative, he tried to protest, "No, we had baths last night!" "Yes," I said, "but you're PLAYING IN DIRT!" He considered for a moment, then calmly stepped over the garden edging back into the lawn and began running around, as if a new activity would erase the effects of the previous one.

A note about Edward's attire: he wanted to wear his train shirt, and, once dressed, decided that he was a train worker so he needed boots and his hat. This apparently is also appropriate gardening gear.

Daniel has been expanding his vocabulary with words and short phrases. He repeats anything he hears and some of those sounds eventually are cemented as words in that ever-developing brain. He has started identifying "Bus!" when we're in the car, and a particularly amusing one is "stuck" when he gets himself wedged somewhere or is in the toy bin but can't climb out. But this week's real treat is "I love you!" He started saying it back to me one night as I was putting him to bed. Do you have any idea how heart-melting it is to hear a little echo in the dark room pluck out his pacifier to respond, "I ya yoo"? Wow!



Edward also worked on some vocabulary-by-imitation this week, but his was in Spanish. We were playing at a the park when a Hispanic family came to play. Three little boys were running and playing and calling out to each other in Spanish. Edward actually recognized it and asked, "Are they speaking Spanish?" Just then the oldest boy called out to his brothers, "Vamos!" and I said, "Yes, that's Spanish. He said 'vamos!' That means 'let's go!' " He considered that for a bit and repeated it to the amusement of the older boy (who was proabably about five or six.) A few minutes later the boy was calling out to find his brother who was hidden in a tunnel. The younger boy popped up and shouted, "Aqui estoy!" several times and Edward started trying to mimic. I explained: "Aqui estoy" is "Here I am!" We've been practicing these for a few days now and it seems like he's interested. They're also learning Spanish words for colors right now at school, and he made sure to show me on the wall when I picked him up this week, "Look, Mom. 'Rosado' is 'pink!'"