The Wishberry Fountain

This is the reason our next water bill will be so high.



I am so glad I tore myself away from the opening of the Oscars to come outside and see what was going on. I thought I was seeing it all from the living room window, but no, not in the least. Remember that this childhood only comes around once.

Baby's Latest Tricks

RTR is learning some new tricks. One is making this funny noise-- I guess it's blowing bubbles. But to me, he sounds a little like a motor boat or a motor scooter... put-put-put.



Another trick he has in the works is pulling himself up to standing. He's been trying pretty hard while sitting in his crib. I'll spare you the boring video of that. He didn't stand up. But it means we have to lower the crib mattress--soon!

Mother's Musings

I think sometimes it's a fine line between chaos and creativity. At least at our house. Probably much to my husband's chagrin, we've kind of developed a loose set of rules when it comes to toy territory. I like passing along sturdy boxes, containers and other stuff to CSR to play with in his pretend kitchen. That was the original intent anyway. Lately though it seems, stuff is everywhere. CSR is really, really good at getting stuff out to play with. But he needs a LOT of work on putting it away. Toys and the other detritus are often spread from bedroom to kitchen to dining room to living room. I swear he also takes special advantage of the distraction dinner preparation and the baby take.

I should give CSR credit for his how he puts the stuff to use with his imagination. Maybe all kids this age are this way, but I think he has a really brilliant imagination. One night he pulled out the green afghan and wove in some pipe cleaners and set up some bean bags and called it his rose garden, insisting that I be sure to water the flowers after he went to bed.




Another night Tyler went to check on CSR shortly after bedtime and he found him propped up on the pillows on his bed with some toy as a remote in his hand, to watch TV. And before you are horrified by the thought-- we do not have a TV in his bedroom. CSR had set up a small box on his dresser and was calling it his TV. He's also been known to pull out the cushions in the armchair and set them up in such a way so he can go fishing off the dock.




So what's a mom to do?

Hiker Dudes!

A beautiful sunny day brought out our adventurous side... okay, maybe hiking at a city park isn't exactly adventure, but we've come to call our family outings Family Adventures.

This one involved loading up the car and heading to Carkeek Park. It's one of the best in Seattle-- with a great playground, awesome beach, cool trails and fantastic views of the railroad tracks (anyone who's ever had a son knows how exciting watching trains can be).

I think this might count as RTR's first official hike-- we put him in the baby backpack. He really seemed to like it too. He rode on T's back without a whine or a whimper. I'm sure he loved the view too, sitting up so high.



CSR loved the hiking too, choosing which way to go at the trail intersections. On the South Bluff Trail there is a tree that's hollowed out, making for a fun little playhouse, complete with windows and doors. Just don't get too close to the edge. There's a reason why it's called South BLUFF Trail.

Be My Valentine

Looking at the pictures of this Valentine card, you might think it's from my husband. But no. This is the card my four year old picked out. I think he was drawn to the cartoon animals and the bubble bath. Tyler says CSR chose the card on his own and didn't care that it was for a wife. I think that and the penmanship make the card all the more precious.

The Boys

There's just something about playing outside. I swear. CSR and his friend Evan have got the outdoors figured out. This picture is of them this morning playing in the backyard. After asking for their lunch to be a picnic, they dragged the picnic table from the deck and parked it underneath the slide on the swing set. They came inside wanting a game while they waited for lunch to be made. Not willing to let them take Candyland out there, the boys were satisfied with checkers and a box of Go Fish cards. Before all that, it was all about water and making soup. Begging at the back door for water, I slipped on some shoes and went out and filled their various buckets from the rain barrel. At first, I had my doubts and didn't want to end up going outside every five minutes to refill their containers. They only came back one more time wanting a refill so that wasn't so bad.

Since they started playing together regularly in September, the backyard at our house or Evan's has been the prime play spot. Evan's yard has a great tree (Laurel?) that provides a cool canopy for their imaginations. When I picked CSR up on Tuesday, he didn't want to leave (which can be a sign of a good time being interrupted). They were making "soup" and had a campfire going-- which was two real pieces of firewood surrounded by some wire garden fencing. Very creative I thought. They had also discovered a plastic wastebasket filled with water and were pushing a ball down in the water to get it to spill out of a crack and into their watering can. So besides playing outside, they were maybe getting a little science lesson on water displacement.