Sunday, June 7, 2009
Smores
We had dinner by the fire outside this evening. Dinner was sushi and red wine followed by smores.Until a few days ago, Dad did not know what smores are (roasted marshmallow and a few squares of chocolate sandwiched between two Graham crackers). This evening Dad and Frost had some practice making smores and eating them.
Grandad discovered that the marshmallow in smores makes them very sticky. I discovered that I really cannot eat more than two half-smores (one cookie each) without feeling sick. While we ate and cooked the raccoon ate the deer food in the feeder nearby. Dad scared him away to let the deer, who were afraid of it, eat. But it returned shortly and the deer went away.
Wren wanted raw marshmallows and chocolate. He was very cranky after missing nap so he got what he wanted. Frost is right, it is unfair that Wren gets his way. I need to work out a better way of avoiding meltdowns and conflict. Wren can be very plaintive and explicit about his needs but utterly irrational at the same time.
Dad is reading the Roadside Geology book and keeps making interesting comments like the news that Washington was inundated 100 times by giant glacial lake collapses and that lahars from earlier erruptions have been gargantuan and reached as far as Tacoma and Renton.
Josh started the fire for me after my firelighter didn't light. His solution was a balled lump of paper towels. These were very successful. This is the only picture I have of someone with a marshmallow on a stick and Joshua does not even eat marshmallows or does so very rarely.
Grandad discovered that the marshmallow in smores makes them very sticky. I discovered that I really cannot eat more than two half-smores (one cookie each) without feeling sick. While we ate and cooked the raccoon ate the deer food in the feeder nearby. Dad scared him away to let the deer, who were afraid of it, eat. But it returned shortly and the deer went away.
Wren wanted raw marshmallows and chocolate. He was very cranky after missing nap so he got what he wanted. Frost is right, it is unfair that Wren gets his way. I need to work out a better way of avoiding meltdowns and conflict. Wren can be very plaintive and explicit about his needs but utterly irrational at the same time.
Dad is reading the Roadside Geology book and keeps making interesting comments like the news that Washington was inundated 100 times by giant glacial lake collapses and that lahars from earlier erruptions have been gargantuan and reached as far as Tacoma and Renton.
Josh started the fire for me after my firelighter didn't light. His solution was a balled lump of paper towels. These were very successful. This is the only picture I have of someone with a marshmallow on a stick and Joshua does not even eat marshmallows or does so very rarely.
Mount Rainier
A few short days and a few 100 miles and we are now fever free at Mount Rainier with Dad, who is visiting from South Africa. The heat of the past week has subsided and we have low cloud obscuring the summit and enveloping the forest near Paradise with thick fog.
Yesterday, we drove to the Paradise Visitors Center but today we did some walks.
Before Joshua and Frost woke up, Dad Wren and I did a three-quarter of a mile circuit around the meadow at Longmire. It was close to 7am when we started and the swifts and swallows dipped in the mist over the bright reeds. Its a remarkable place: a big clearing in conifer forest where water bubbles with gases from a volcanic vent. The vent deposits mineral rich water at the surface - iron red mud, slimy yellow clays and strange basins of water in which strands of frothy green algea float. In the morning quiet you could hear the slow, fat bubbling at edges of the lake reminding me of Halloween sound effects. Wren enjoyed poking the venting areas with a stick to churn the red slime and bubbles.
After breakfast we took a longer hike to Carter Falls. The trail started about 2 miles beyond the Longmire camp and is usually 3 miles to the falls and back. It was quite steep at times and Wren liked to be carried most of the way. For the last third of the trail we found drifts of snow which increasingly covered the trail and made us miss Madcap falls on the way up. The snow covered a small watercourse to the side of the trail which had melted a tunnel under the snowcap. At places the crust was thin enough to fall through which made walking the path hazardous. Both Frost and Wren found this a bit stressful. Wren said he wanted to go home and after initial enjoyment Frost started a tirade about how unfair it was to drag him so far when he was so tired and it was dangerous and he was tired and hungry. We had snack but he really wanted to go down. The hike took 2 and a half hours of almost solid walking so we were all tired.
Here are Frost and Grandad posing in the bed of the Nisqually River which we had to ford on a narrow log bridge over a torrent flooded with glacial snowmelt. The riverbed is quite fantastic due to the debris left from the huge 2006 flooding which changed its channel and destroyed many roads into the park.
Here, Frost and I cross the bridge. If you are attentive you will see we are wearing different clothes because this picture of the bridge was taken on Friday when we stopped off on the way up to Paradise. Frost was very nervous about crossing the bridge, saying "it was dangerous, creeping and unsatisfying in the making. Those engineers should be sued!"
We tried to explain that when you are in natural places its good to see what your body can do and not have everything controlled and made safe for you but he was not convinced hence the rather fierce pout on his face.
This next picture shows Wren (2.5 years old now) looking down at the "water fountain" or waterfall in our language. He loves to look down waterfalls and still wants to return to the big "water fountain" higher up the mountain.
I took this picture of the walking party to try and capture the bones of the riverbed - the scale of the floor is awe inspiring years after the event. By the way, this flood occured about a month before Wren was born.
Frost crouches down in a hole where his foot fell through the snow. He enlarged it and climbed in. This was during the cheerful stage before he had become anxious after overhearing me suggest that we couldn't see the trail anymore due to snowcover and could become lost. Frost becomes very very opinionated and argumentative when he feels we are taking undue risk. I can't remember behaving like this with my parents. Me? No, never! Not when Dad drove us at an enraged rhino. Not when he dragged us into the mist on the Drakensberg. Not when we had to walk on a slippery cliff about the surging ocean 100s of yards below. No, not me. I was EASY.
This next picture is just of some debris in the rubble. I bought a book titled Roadside Geology of Mount Rainier (which Dad is now reading with half-closed eyes) and we are learning a lot about the reason for the various rock types and the formations we are seeing on our walks and drives.
Health
Wren's cough is still chesty and crackly and I would not be surprised if he has to see the doctor again on Monday. I have been giving him honey (on her recommendation) and he had a long steamy bath this afternoon. Frost is also coughing and Josh has also contracted the barking cough and general malaise but has no fever. Dad has it too - he is hoarse and has a bit of a cough but is denying it as usual. I have been taking reishi tincture and sharing it around to help boost our immunity.
New Bird List Today
Barred owl (near cabin)
Western tanager (Longmire)
Rufous hummingbird (Ashford)
Cedar waxwing (Ashford)
White crowned sparrow
Red-winged blackbird (Longmire meadow)
Winter Wren (carter falls)
Band-tailed pigeon (Ashford)
Chestnut backed chickadee (Longmire)
Animals
Red squirrel
Raccoons (eating the deer food and climbing on the deck)
Deer (at our feeder as well)
Yesterday, we drove to the Paradise Visitors Center but today we did some walks.
Before Joshua and Frost woke up, Dad Wren and I did a three-quarter of a mile circuit around the meadow at Longmire. It was close to 7am when we started and the swifts and swallows dipped in the mist over the bright reeds. Its a remarkable place: a big clearing in conifer forest where water bubbles with gases from a volcanic vent. The vent deposits mineral rich water at the surface - iron red mud, slimy yellow clays and strange basins of water in which strands of frothy green algea float. In the morning quiet you could hear the slow, fat bubbling at edges of the lake reminding me of Halloween sound effects. Wren enjoyed poking the venting areas with a stick to churn the red slime and bubbles.
After breakfast we took a longer hike to Carter Falls. The trail started about 2 miles beyond the Longmire camp and is usually 3 miles to the falls and back. It was quite steep at times and Wren liked to be carried most of the way. For the last third of the trail we found drifts of snow which increasingly covered the trail and made us miss Madcap falls on the way up. The snow covered a small watercourse to the side of the trail which had melted a tunnel under the snowcap. At places the crust was thin enough to fall through which made walking the path hazardous. Both Frost and Wren found this a bit stressful. Wren said he wanted to go home and after initial enjoyment Frost started a tirade about how unfair it was to drag him so far when he was so tired and it was dangerous and he was tired and hungry. We had snack but he really wanted to go down. The hike took 2 and a half hours of almost solid walking so we were all tired.
Here are Frost and Grandad posing in the bed of the Nisqually River which we had to ford on a narrow log bridge over a torrent flooded with glacial snowmelt. The riverbed is quite fantastic due to the debris left from the huge 2006 flooding which changed its channel and destroyed many roads into the park.
Here, Frost and I cross the bridge. If you are attentive you will see we are wearing different clothes because this picture of the bridge was taken on Friday when we stopped off on the way up to Paradise. Frost was very nervous about crossing the bridge, saying "it was dangerous, creeping and unsatisfying in the making. Those engineers should be sued!"
We tried to explain that when you are in natural places its good to see what your body can do and not have everything controlled and made safe for you but he was not convinced hence the rather fierce pout on his face.
This next picture shows Wren (2.5 years old now) looking down at the "water fountain" or waterfall in our language. He loves to look down waterfalls and still wants to return to the big "water fountain" higher up the mountain.
I took this picture of the walking party to try and capture the bones of the riverbed - the scale of the floor is awe inspiring years after the event. By the way, this flood occured about a month before Wren was born.
Frost crouches down in a hole where his foot fell through the snow. He enlarged it and climbed in. This was during the cheerful stage before he had become anxious after overhearing me suggest that we couldn't see the trail anymore due to snowcover and could become lost. Frost becomes very very opinionated and argumentative when he feels we are taking undue risk. I can't remember behaving like this with my parents. Me? No, never! Not when Dad drove us at an enraged rhino. Not when he dragged us into the mist on the Drakensberg. Not when we had to walk on a slippery cliff about the surging ocean 100s of yards below. No, not me. I was EASY.
This next picture is just of some debris in the rubble. I bought a book titled Roadside Geology of Mount Rainier (which Dad is now reading with half-closed eyes) and we are learning a lot about the reason for the various rock types and the formations we are seeing on our walks and drives.
Health
Wren's cough is still chesty and crackly and I would not be surprised if he has to see the doctor again on Monday. I have been giving him honey (on her recommendation) and he had a long steamy bath this afternoon. Frost is also coughing and Josh has also contracted the barking cough and general malaise but has no fever. Dad has it too - he is hoarse and has a bit of a cough but is denying it as usual. I have been taking reishi tincture and sharing it around to help boost our immunity.
New Bird List Today
Barred owl (near cabin)
Western tanager (Longmire)
Rufous hummingbird (Ashford)
Cedar waxwing (Ashford)
White crowned sparrow
Red-winged blackbird (Longmire meadow)
Winter Wren (carter falls)
Band-tailed pigeon (Ashford)
Chestnut backed chickadee (Longmire)
Animals
Red squirrel
Raccoons (eating the deer food and climbing on the deck)
Deer (at our feeder as well)
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Mount Rainier - Paradise in the Mist
On Friday, we drove up to Paradise - the main Visitor Information Center on the Nisqually road. The park is very popular in summer when the wild-flowers bloom in the high meadows (about 2 million visitors annually!) but right now the area is covered in hard dirty snow and mist and snowshoes are still rented from the gift shop. One day I hope to visit the Mountain and see the peak. We see it well from Seattle on a clear day but on this and our last visit it has been obscured by cloud.
When we reached the visitor center carpark we were excited to see a fox. Inside, we saw many warnings about feeding the foxes and figured out it was begging from visitors - hoping for a scrap.
After the recent heatwave both kids were excited to see snow but had forgotten how cold it is. It was hard to remember because the air was not cold but the snow itself could freeze your fingers pretty quick if you tried to make snowballs. Here, the kids throw snowballs made by Dad and I and Dad helps Wren descend from the snowbank which was "slippelly!"
"Watch out, its slippery!"
We stopped off at a viewpoint to see a waterfall and hoping to find a Gray Jay. We had seen them at this spot one winter when we came here with Mum and Mervyn. Unfortunately there were no Gray Jays in sight but Wren loved looking down the cliff at the tumbling waterfall. He called it a "water fountain" and as soon as we drove off he started crying to return.
Wren likes 'water fountains'.
I bought a few field guides at the Visitors' Center - a key for tree identification, Plants and Animals of Mount Rainier and the Cascades and a book on Roadside Geology of the park. I am very excited about each of them. As always - I want to know more than I have time for.
When we reached the visitor center carpark we were excited to see a fox. Inside, we saw many warnings about feeding the foxes and figured out it was begging from visitors - hoping for a scrap.
After the recent heatwave both kids were excited to see snow but had forgotten how cold it is. It was hard to remember because the air was not cold but the snow itself could freeze your fingers pretty quick if you tried to make snowballs. Here, the kids throw snowballs made by Dad and I and Dad helps Wren descend from the snowbank which was "slippelly!"
"Watch out, its slippery!"
We stopped off at a viewpoint to see a waterfall and hoping to find a Gray Jay. We had seen them at this spot one winter when we came here with Mum and Mervyn. Unfortunately there were no Gray Jays in sight but Wren loved looking down the cliff at the tumbling waterfall. He called it a "water fountain" and as soon as we drove off he started crying to return.Wren likes 'water fountains'.
I bought a few field guides at the Visitors' Center - a key for tree identification, Plants and Animals of Mount Rainier and the Cascades and a book on Roadside Geology of the park. I am very excited about each of them. As always - I want to know more than I have time for.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Fever again
Frost still has a fever. It was 101.9 in his ear this afternoon. Unlike the past few days he is really rather groggy and had a long nap this afternoon. He says he has a headache as well as his bad cough.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
30 lbs!
I forgot to mention that Wren was weighed at 30lbs yesterday at the pediatricians. That makes him about 50th percentile for weight. I am quite relieved as he has been patchy in his eating. He ate well today but doesn't ask for food or take responsibility for eating at mealtimes. However, he will suddenly demand snack, yoghurt, apple, salami or whatever when hunger strikes. This is seldom at mealtimes. I need to figure out how to avoid him eating snack all day (cookies more often than I like) rather than meals.
Montlake Fill
Dad has arrived from South Africa and despite the sickish kids we have been having a good time with him. This morning, when Frost's fever had abated, we thought he was well enough for an early birdwatching walk on Montlake Fill. Its a natural area (aka wild parky place) on the shores of Lake Washington near our house that has a very rich birdlife.
Here is Dad carrying Wren near the cattail trees. We saw a number of birds - Dad chats to everyone we meet so we received some help from other birders. We saw a great blue heron, a chestnut teal, many redwing blackbirds, many turtles on logs, gadwalls and various other ducks whose names I forget.
Dad had to carry Wren because Frost faded fast and had to sit and be pushed in the stroller. I felt guilty and stopped to get him a Jamba Juice on the way home. Here he is collapsed and coughing.
We also saw some strange sights on our walk. The pond on the West side of the fill was churning with fish. I think they were carp and were doing some kind of mating pursuit. They were thrashing the surface, chasing, hitting water littles, pushing through reeds and even approaching the shore. Some other birdwatchers (with cameras and big lenses) said they had "never seen anything like these fish before" and that the nest of a grebe seemed to be threatened by the fish. The nest was a floating platform of twigs and had eggs in. The carp were thrashing up and looked as if they could break the next or smash the eggs.
Further on, at the inlet near the cattails, we saw a huge bloated dead beaver floating on the surface of the lake. You can see it as a tiny dot above the highest log in this photo. Wren overheard me talking about it to Dad and asked to see it again and again. Frost said "that is DISGUSTING" and wished he hadn't seen it.
The rest of the day Frost lay around and had extra screentime, rest and reading. We did gardening and made an excellent risotto with some local morels, chicken and lemon. Delicious. We finished it off with a bit of Molly Moon salted caramel icecream. Mrrmm Mrmm.
Here is Dad carrying Wren near the cattail trees. We saw a number of birds - Dad chats to everyone we meet so we received some help from other birders. We saw a great blue heron, a chestnut teal, many redwing blackbirds, many turtles on logs, gadwalls and various other ducks whose names I forget.
Dad had to carry Wren because Frost faded fast and had to sit and be pushed in the stroller. I felt guilty and stopped to get him a Jamba Juice on the way home. Here he is collapsed and coughing.
We also saw some strange sights on our walk. The pond on the West side of the fill was churning with fish. I think they were carp and were doing some kind of mating pursuit. They were thrashing the surface, chasing, hitting water littles, pushing through reeds and even approaching the shore. Some other birdwatchers (with cameras and big lenses) said they had "never seen anything like these fish before" and that the nest of a grebe seemed to be threatened by the fish. The nest was a floating platform of twigs and had eggs in. The carp were thrashing up and looked as if they could break the next or smash the eggs.
Further on, at the inlet near the cattails, we saw a huge bloated dead beaver floating on the surface of the lake. You can see it as a tiny dot above the highest log in this photo. Wren overheard me talking about it to Dad and asked to see it again and again. Frost said "that is DISGUSTING" and wished he hadn't seen it.The rest of the day Frost lay around and had extra screentime, rest and reading. We did gardening and made an excellent risotto with some local morels, chicken and lemon. Delicious. We finished it off with a bit of Molly Moon salted caramel icecream. Mrrmm Mrmm.
Various sick kids
I took Wren to the pediatrician yesterday because his cough has been sounding increasingly crackly. Its the cough part of a cold that has lasted 2 weeks or so and he hasn't been acting obviously sick but is obviously snotty.
Dr Levitt listened to his chest and said she could hear some crackles at the lower back. She felt that he could have a secondary pneumonia so prescribed Zithromycin, one per day for three days. He took his first today.
Meanwhile, Frost has been ill too. I think it is something different because it started with a fever on Sunday night and a sudden cough. He has had a bad hoarse cough since then, much worse at bedtime and in the morning. His fever isn't high but for the first day he had a bad tummy ache and ate very little. He's eaten a bit more today but is still lethargic and unwell.
I spoke to Dr Levitt about him too - wondering whether we should have a rapid flu test on Frost in case it is Frost flu and Wren catches it from Frost. She said we could do that or wait and see whether Wren develops a fever illness first. I decided to wait and see.
Unfortunately, this fever means Frost will miss his graduation trip with school. He is sad but there is nothing to do about it now.
Dr Levitt listened to his chest and said she could hear some crackles at the lower back. She felt that he could have a secondary pneumonia so prescribed Zithromycin, one per day for three days. He took his first today.
Meanwhile, Frost has been ill too. I think it is something different because it started with a fever on Sunday night and a sudden cough. He has had a bad hoarse cough since then, much worse at bedtime and in the morning. His fever isn't high but for the first day he had a bad tummy ache and ate very little. He's eaten a bit more today but is still lethargic and unwell.
I spoke to Dr Levitt about him too - wondering whether we should have a rapid flu test on Frost in case it is Frost flu and Wren catches it from Frost. She said we could do that or wait and see whether Wren develops a fever illness first. I decided to wait and see.
Unfortunately, this fever means Frost will miss his graduation trip with school. He is sad but there is nothing to do about it now.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Diamonds are dead
Wren really needs more toddler friends. I have signed him up for co-op preschool this fall and along with the usual anxieties about "how will he cope being left at preschool for the first time" and "I hope he doesn't hit someone" are thoughts like "I hope he doesn't yell I FIGHT YOU AND YOU DEAD" or grab a foam toy some kid is building with and start brandishing it like a sword. Wren is really 2 going on 8 because that is his real playgroup.
Anyway, this morning at breakfast I brought out the bugs. The bugs are little rubber bugs used for counting and sorting games. While I cleaned up breakfast Wren slowly moved the bugs out the box and made a collection on the table. This was his monologue:
"Dey called DIEMONDS
They die
They DEAD.
Diamonds are killed.
Diamonds.
Dey called orange diamonds. [these were the orange bugs]
Dey orange.
Diamonds cos they die."
"Wren," I asked. "Why are they called diamonds."
He didn't even look up but apparently my question was dumb.
"Dey diamonds. Dey abslutely DEAD."
Great. That's clear now.
------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, through absent minded carelessness Frost continues to get injured around the house. He runs into things, stubs his toes on doors, pinches his fingers in things and weeps and moans for short periods of theatric agony fairly frequently.
My sympathy is taxed and my empathy is pretty non-existant in this area.
This morning he was faux weeping again clutching his elbow. I tried to look sympathetic and asked what happened. "Ow, ow. I hit my arm on the chair."
I said I was sorry but suggested he should try and move a bit more slowly or be more aware of his body.
"I AM AWARE OF MY BODY. I just get hurt in very unlikely ways!" he said.
"Well, what happened?" I asked.
"I was coming in the door and this side of my arm hit into the chair so I turned that way and then my arm was hooked IN THE CHAIR but I pulled away and it wrenched my arm and it was pulled off almost."
I sighed. I can't help myself. How do you guard your child against such unlikely accidents. How do you maintain a perky level of sympathy when they happen again and again and you think its their fault? I know I should do better but I just want to know when natural consequences start to teach the lesson. I mean, isn't pain there for a purpose?
-----------------
While I was writing this post the boys got into an argument and Frost and Wren rushed into the house from the garden, Frost brandishing the large pencil (1 foot long and red) at Wren. I decided to use our school technique for resolving playground disputes and sat them both on the floor in the kitchen for a "knee to knee". The idea is that you each have a chance to talk uninterrupted and have your feelings and version of events heard, leading to mutual understanding. I have edited out most of my facilitation:
Wren started off saying "Frost come to destroy me with BIG PENCIL!"
Frost: "But before that Wren, what did you do?"
Wren: "Frost have big pencil. Frost CROSS because Wren don't stand in goal [soccer goal]"
Frost: "No, AFTER that."
Me: Frost you explain what happened.
Frost: "Wren, what happened with my book?"
Wren: I took the book and I THREW it in garden. I say YOU IDIOT.
Frost: Yes, and then what did you do?
Wren: I threw it.
Frost: Then he took his chair and he pushed it down the stairs and I was coming up the stairs. So, it could have hit me.
Wren: I threw it down. Frost is mad.
I explain to Wren that Frost is sad Wren threw his book in the garden and we do not throw books. I explain that the chair can hurt Frost. I tell Frost Wren does not have to stand in the goal to let Frost play soccer [last night Frost went to a Sounders' soccer game with Josh and is all excited to play soccer]. I tell them that the big pencil is for WRITING.
They agree for now. Hug, kiss and say sorry.
Frost is so validated and happy by having his experiences heard that he rushes to the basement and brings ALL HIS PLAYMOBIL up to Wren's room (5 boxes of it) and they are now building a vast army on Wren's floor.
Of course, this will perpetuate the growth of Wren's vocabulary into all things military at a time when he should simply being stacking blocks.
In other news. Grandad Peter arrives from South Africa (via NYC) today. We are cleaning and very excited.
Anyway, this morning at breakfast I brought out the bugs. The bugs are little rubber bugs used for counting and sorting games. While I cleaned up breakfast Wren slowly moved the bugs out the box and made a collection on the table. This was his monologue:
"Dey called DIEMONDS
They die
They DEAD.
Diamonds are killed.
Diamonds.
Dey called orange diamonds. [these were the orange bugs]
Dey orange.
Diamonds cos they die."
"Wren," I asked. "Why are they called diamonds."
He didn't even look up but apparently my question was dumb.
"Dey diamonds. Dey abslutely DEAD."
Great. That's clear now.
------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, through absent minded carelessness Frost continues to get injured around the house. He runs into things, stubs his toes on doors, pinches his fingers in things and weeps and moans for short periods of theatric agony fairly frequently.
My sympathy is taxed and my empathy is pretty non-existant in this area.
This morning he was faux weeping again clutching his elbow. I tried to look sympathetic and asked what happened. "Ow, ow. I hit my arm on the chair."
I said I was sorry but suggested he should try and move a bit more slowly or be more aware of his body.
"I AM AWARE OF MY BODY. I just get hurt in very unlikely ways!" he said.
"Well, what happened?" I asked.
"I was coming in the door and this side of my arm hit into the chair so I turned that way and then my arm was hooked IN THE CHAIR but I pulled away and it wrenched my arm and it was pulled off almost."
I sighed. I can't help myself. How do you guard your child against such unlikely accidents. How do you maintain a perky level of sympathy when they happen again and again and you think its their fault? I know I should do better but I just want to know when natural consequences start to teach the lesson. I mean, isn't pain there for a purpose?
-----------------
While I was writing this post the boys got into an argument and Frost and Wren rushed into the house from the garden, Frost brandishing the large pencil (1 foot long and red) at Wren. I decided to use our school technique for resolving playground disputes and sat them both on the floor in the kitchen for a "knee to knee". The idea is that you each have a chance to talk uninterrupted and have your feelings and version of events heard, leading to mutual understanding. I have edited out most of my facilitation:
Wren started off saying "Frost come to destroy me with BIG PENCIL!"
Frost: "But before that Wren, what did you do?"
Wren: "Frost have big pencil. Frost CROSS because Wren don't stand in goal [soccer goal]"
Frost: "No, AFTER that."
Me: Frost you explain what happened.
Frost: "Wren, what happened with my book?"
Wren: I took the book and I THREW it in garden. I say YOU IDIOT.
Frost: Yes, and then what did you do?
Wren: I threw it.
Frost: Then he took his chair and he pushed it down the stairs and I was coming up the stairs. So, it could have hit me.
Wren: I threw it down. Frost is mad.
I explain to Wren that Frost is sad Wren threw his book in the garden and we do not throw books. I explain that the chair can hurt Frost. I tell Frost Wren does not have to stand in the goal to let Frost play soccer [last night Frost went to a Sounders' soccer game with Josh and is all excited to play soccer]. I tell them that the big pencil is for WRITING.
They agree for now. Hug, kiss and say sorry.
Frost is so validated and happy by having his experiences heard that he rushes to the basement and brings ALL HIS PLAYMOBIL up to Wren's room (5 boxes of it) and they are now building a vast army on Wren's floor.
Of course, this will perpetuate the growth of Wren's vocabulary into all things military at a time when he should simply being stacking blocks.
In other news. Grandad Peter arrives from South Africa (via NYC) today. We are cleaning and very excited.
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