Racing the rain

Its raining in the darkness outside and I woke to the same sound this morning. The chickens were most mournful and Frost was concerned about a coat in case he got very wet on his way from the bus. I should have known that the blue skies of mid-morning would not last (cloudless windswept blue) more than an hour when I decided to walk to the playground and library - a walk which takes at least half an hour each way.

It was just so blue and sunny that I was fooled. Later, when we were at the playground the wind suddenly changed and huge black clouds covered the far hills above the arboretum. I told Wren to get in quick because "the rain is coming back!" I dashed up the hill to the coffee shop and holed up there for the first downpour.

Here are some pictures from our walk. Unfortunately I missed the really scene-setting picture of myself returning home with my hair plastered across my face, my fleece and woolen gloves soaking and the library books wrapped in a towel under the stroller. Yeah, be prepared.

Walking in fall, Wren keeps asking me to stop so he can pick up leaves. As I push him this is what I see typically. For a while after each walk he asks me "where that leaves are?" as if I should be keeping track of them.

The playground we visited is not our regular one so Wren was excited to try out the slides. Here is is pretending to be a lizard coming out of a lizard hole. I dried the slide with the towel (which was later used to cover the books).

Here Wren does BIG JUMP (also caught in movie) from the teeter totter. Note, he is now wearing the bonds shirt Mum bought for Frost. I discovered a box of 3T clothing I had stored and Wren is now set for fall long sleeved shirts.

This is to show off Wren's new [thrift stored] sweater. Its made in Iceland and is pure wool. It was $5. I wish it came in size Women's M! The cool thing is that it has VERY long arms so Wren's hands are never cold as they are with regular size 3's.

On the way to the park we passed a garden full of dahlias and corn stalks. Wren stopped to smell the dahlias (they don't smell like much) and we were both impressed by the Big Dahlia. Wren wanted to take it home but I told him that the gardener was very proud of the Big Dahlia and would be sad if we took it. We took a picture instead. When I put it into iPhoto it suggested brightening the picture which is a bit underexposed. I like it this way. It is creepy, slightly malevolent. For the third year in a row I have planted dahlias but failed to get one bloom. I am giving up.

The BIG Dahlia

Time to smell the dahlias.

Today Wren coughed less but remained very chesty when he coughed. I think I will take him to the naturopath this week to see if we can help clear his chest. Last time he had a cough like this is lingered 3 weeks and then he developed pneumonia from a fever-illness on top of it. I don't like that path and would like to do more to help. I remember reading about a family in which both parents were hospital respiratory therapists. Their child had a severe pulmonary condition and survived against the odds because of their care. I thump Wren on the back in a misguided and hopeful imitation of "loosening phlegm" - I need some more guidance!

Penumbra Faire

On Saturday, Frost Wren and I went to the Penumbra Faire at Enumclaw for Alexander's birthday. Frost dressed up as a knight and Wren wore his dragon outfit. It was bitterly cold, the wind felt as if it had blown straight from the glaciers on Rainier and the steel grey skies were an appropriate counterpoint to all the hand forged armor and chainmail. Unfortunately the faire lacked roasted chestnuts, soup, hot mead and slabs of roast pig but was otherwise realistic and entertaining.

Two events were exciting. One was jousting on horseback and the other was shooting arrows at a troll. The troll was a large man dressed in chainmail and a formidable black helmet which obscured his face. The bows were small and loosely strung which lowered the odds of hitting him, plus he jumped and dodged despite his size. At a quiet moment he walked over to us and took off his helmet revealing realistic looking pig tusks coming from his lower jaw.

Wren was horrified, his reaction worsened by a wench-friend-of-troll who told him that The Troll Eats Babies for Breakfast.

Wren started crying and said he had to go away. The Troll, remaining in role, tried to ameliorate the situation by saying he was full. That made Wren feel even more worried and the rest of the morning he kept saying "not go back there to troll!"

Here are some pictures of the event.

Frost and Zephyr watch Jousting

Alex aims at the Troll

Frost Meets the Lost Boys

Frost, Isaac, Matthew and Zephyr

Wren speaks chicken (in our neighborhood)

Two Years and 10 months

This morning I woke to an emailed newsletter from Swedish Hospital - titled "Your Baby and Autism Screening. Under the big banner - "YOUR BABY IS TWO YEARS AND TEN MONTHS OLD" it announced boldly that:

"One in 166 children today is diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder, making it more common that pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined."

Thankfully, I am not worried that Wren has an autism spectrum disorder but someone writing that newsletter has a screwy perspective if they think that many mothers of 'healthy' toddlers are worrying about toddler diabetes, toddler AIDS and toddler cancer. I should hope not. It just seems an odd comparison.

Recent CDC data shows that autism rates may be closer to 1:100 so a more reasonable comparison would be to heart defects. Imagine receiving an email "one in 100 children today are diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder making it as common as a congenital heart defect," which would also look odd.

The truth is that concerns with autism are pretty widespread and newsworthy. "one in 100 children today are diagnosed with a congenital heart defect making it as common as autism spectrum disorders."

That's startling.

Wren today (at 2 years 10 months)

Wren still has a cough but it hasn't kept him up at night for a few days. I kept him out of preschool today and yesterday in case he catches something else on top of the chesty cough and I'm right on the fence about taking him to the naturopath and/or doctor. I have been listening to other kids with this cough (kids at preschool and Kyler) and they all sound the same so I am not sure whether he needs to be seen or not. I am giving him cod-liver oil, echinacea, honey cough syrup and his daily vitamin. I occasionally hide some reishi in his hot chocolate (prescribed by the naturopath). He is in good humor so I hope he recovers on his own.

Wren is very talkative and demanding. He tells me what to do and shrieks and yells if I use a firm voice or say no. If I agree with him we get on well. Unfortunately he tries to dominate Frost as well which does not go as well.

This morning Frost was very sweet and played puzzles with Wren. They made many digger puzzles we found in the cupboard, stored from when Frost was small.

Wren loves board games but does not play by the rules.

He also loves to make "guys" or duplo people or stuffed animals talk. This is his latest favorite thing. I talk the animals and he talks and responds to their needs and the situations we create together. He has endless concentration for this game.

We are going for a walk to the coffee shop.

Deconstructing the Lullaby

I sing to Wren at bedtime. I used to sing "hush little baby, don't you cry" but Wren stopped liking that. Instead, for the past month I have sung The Unicorn. It is almost the only song I remember from listening to as a child. We used to have this record of Des and Dawn Lindberg singing the song and it was memorable but disturbing. Every time I heard it I was sad because the song is about the Flood and explains that the reason we don't see unicorns is that they were disobedient and played in the rain so they missed the ark and all drowned:

"the unicorns was hidin'

playing silling games.

They were kicking' and a splashin

while the rain was pourin'

oh them foolish unicorns."

then later...

"And the unicorns looked up

from the rock and cried.

And the water came up

And sort of floated them away

That's why you've never seen a unicorn to this day."

I started singing the first verse:

"A long time ago

When the Earth was green.."

"What?" said Wren. "How is the earth green. Earth is BROWN! Was the animals eating green earth?"

"No," I explained. "I think they mean that the land had green grass on it. The animals could eat the green grass."

"Oh."

I continued singing until a few lines on:

"The loveliest of all was the Unicorn."

"Why they are singing about a horse with wings when there IS NO HORSE LIKE THAT??"

"Well, um.. they are singing that there was a horse like that but it didn't get on the boat with Noah."

"Oh, but there IS NO HORSE with wings."

"Not now, no."

Then we reached the line "there were green alligators.."

Wren:"Why are alligators green?"

Me: "So they can hide in the green river water to catch animals. They like to be camouflaged."

Song: "There were cats and rats and elephants."

Wren: "wait wait. There are no cats and rats here in the zoo!!"

Me: "It was on Noah's ark. All the animals in the world had to get on."

Song: "The lord said ... stand back, I am gonna make it rain."

Wren: "How is he do that magic. How is he make it just rain?"

Me: He is a god so he can just do that.

Wren: "How is he do it?"

Me: "lets just sing it"

I sang it.

Tonight Wren has a cough. I gave him a homeopathic honey cough syrup and he liked it. I have also given him a pillow for the first time. He is proud of his pillow and showed Daddy when he came in for his lullaby. He is still in there. I wonder if he is being similarly interrogated.

NatureBoy vs The Small Screen

Today Seattle Public Schoolkids have a day off. This is the day where we can catch up on quality time with our kids (or panic about babysitting). Of course, seeing the cool sunshine I thought it would be a great opportunity to take the boys Outdoors. My first suggestion was Discovery Park but Frost was worried that would take too long so we compromised with Carkeek.

My first inkling that things were not so hunky dory was Frost's attempt to make me promise that we would be no longer than an hour. Since part of my motivation to go to Carkeek was its proximity to Swanson's Nursery (where I needed to buy some bark chip and heather for the front yard) I wasn't going to promise a short trip. INstead I promised a cookie at Swanson's Cafe.

As soon as we arrived at Carkeek the boys were thrilled. There was a log smouldering in the firepit which Frost poked and prodded. A train came by and we waved and the drivers SAW US AND WAVED BACK. A crazy man was walking along with a satchel filled with bread pieces and appeared to be training a vast flock of wild crows to follow him (he walked off up the trail ahead of us dropping bread pieces like Hansel and Gretel. The crows followed him through the wood eating the pieces. It was quite peculiar but quite scenic.)

We could hear seagulls, Frost slid down the big cement salmon-slide (and tried to persuade Wren who felt it was "too scary because that is a dark place").

I was just settling into congratulating myself on getting the Kids Out into The Open Spaces when Frost told me it was time to go. We had been there half an hour. "I have TWO HOURS of screentime and I want to get home."

I suggested we climb a trail. He headed up moaning about the trail. Wren felt anxious about the moaning and moaned too. He was worried a train might come through the forest because the big fast train had scared him.

I said it would not.

Frost said I didn't UNDERSTAND: "Daddy, Wren and I are inside people, we like to be at home and relaxing and doing screentime things. You are a person who likes to be outside and do active things."

I reminded him that we used to call him Natureboy and that he loved coming hiking and looking for mushrooms and seeing salmon and walking in the rain.

He seemed confused. "Well, I like that sometimes but now it is completely freezing and I am boiling hot from climbing this hill."

I let that puzzle be but suggested he try and run down the trail like cross-country training. Frost loves PE at school and was interested in the idea. He headed off fast. When we returned to the field I said we could go home now (we had survived one hour in the wild local park) if he did some exercise running around the field. He jogged around the field and then checked his pulse as he has learned in PE. It was not accelerated.

Frost said "I need to run fast for muscular conditioning and cardio-respiratory endurance. At least that is what I think it is."

I suggested he jog and then sprint across the field. He did. That made his heart thud so he felt he had achieved his exercise goal and got into the car.

All the way home from Swansons the boys bickered. Would Wren get to watch a Diego before his nap or would Frost have screentime first to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl on the Wii?

I am contemplating all out screentime blackout days to reduce nagging and increase appreciation of my unstimulating nature jaunts.

PS. The picture is courtesy of Shirt.woot

Snigger-Booger

You have had a long day. It started at 5.45am and you've been busy running errands, building trains and making meals. You know you're frazzled because when the Physio called to ask why you missed an appointment you thought it was Monday and its obviously Thursday. Anyway, you made it through and you're in the bath.

Its a great bath. It started off limed with a strange dark sediment but you washed and and made sure it was HOT. You and the toddler are both happy IN THE BATH TOGETHER. "It is a very nice" he opines while bobbing his duck and capsizing his playmobil boat. You slide down in the bath to chin level and its just great. The bath salts rise up in a sweet haze and you know you can be a good parent again.

Then the toddler notices that his boat has no "guys".

"I need guys" he says.

You're not getting out so you say "Frost?" There is no response but you know he's out there. He's in a reading whiteout so you ramp up the volume :

"FRO-OST? FROST!!!"

"What?"

"Wren needs a guy for his boat. Will you get him a guy?"

"I need one-two guys" Wren adds.

"Just one or two guys please."

"No, ONETWO guys."

"Frost, he needs onetwo guys. Not lots."

There is a clattering noise and Frost comes in with about 15 playmobil figures which he dumps in the bath. The toddler becomes frantic as the guys are drowning "the boat is sinking, I CAN'T HOLDEM ALL!!"

You have to sit up to save the guys and insert them in their boats. The toddler is freaking out about this. Frost walks off down the hall saying "I am hungry. I am going to find something to eat."

The playmobil guys are drowning and you are warm but your mind is whirring somewhere. You think its 5.45pm. You eat dinner in half an hour. That kid must not eat. You know that if he DOES eat it will be Halloween Oreos and just then you hear a loud crackle from the kitchen as he rustles the packet.

"Frost" you squeak. "Frost. Frost. Frost." There is no acknowledgment. He's playing I can't hear you so its not his fault if he eats cookies at dinnertime. So what do you do? Do you leap out the bath and run naked through to the kitchen? Do you bellow like a wounded bull? Do you resign yourself to letting him eat?

You decide not to risk it and bellow very loudly about not eating now at all anything at all. It flashes across your mind that a friend who had to shout a lot as a coach got laryngeal cancer and you wonder if you are going to get voice cancer too. As if messing with your bath is no big deal the hungry kid says "oh, ok. I'll wait."

Meanwhile, the younger one is startled out of his dramatic control issues and you give up on peace and invent a new game with him in which you say "snigger-booger" and try and tickle and splash him in the bath. Do not tell your friends to try this at home because the toddler falls over a number of times and has to be rescued in deep water. However you both love the game and water is splashing up and around and you get hairwash done without incident.

Later, at dinner, you tattle on them to The Father. You explain you can't ever have a peaceful bath without one kid having a mass casualty and another trying to eat cookies from the pantry.

"Oh," says the bigger kid, "that was a prank. I was just rustling the top of the Lucky Charms packet to make you think I was eating stuff." [laugh laugh]

PS.

An interesting NPR Report showing that the charge for procedures skews medical treatment to detriment of patient outcomes.

Yellow Leaves

Wren went to preschool this morning and had a fun time. He didn't even need to be really "brave" to stay on his own. He made a picture of a spiderweb using marbles dipped in white paint which he rolled around on a tray covered in dark blue paper. Then he glued a black spider t the web. He likes these a lot.

After preschool Wren likes to "go bagel shop" as he has done with Heather on many occasions. I used to be allowed to buy a bagel and leave but apparently HEATHER sits down so we have to sit down and eat his bagel and chocolate milk.

After bagel we walked around the neighborhood. Its a startlingly lovely day - the sky a vivid blue but the air chill enough to give you energy. The weather reminds me of England - that bright peppy sun and chill air of autumn.

Here, we can see some pictures from our walk:

The Sky, the sky.

The yellow tree.

Wren, looking UP UP

A short walk down the road we came across some other smaller trees which Wren wanted to "not climb I hang on". I lifted him up and then left him hanging while I took the picture. He was yelling "AAAAH" at this point. It was not more than a foot if he let go but he thought I he might be dangling over the Niagara Falls and hung on tight. I thought it was ok to let him hang a bit as payback for all the bossiness he has been displaying.

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!"

We went to the library before lunch but it wasn't open. Our local library is being remodeled and I find it very inconvenient. We are quite dependent on our library for new books. Perhaps I shall have time to go tomorrow. I am now the Librarian for our preschool class and am due to take out some books for classroom use before Thursday. The theme for October is Fall ad Families.

Flying Kites

This Sunday was very windy and Josh suggested we head up to the local playground to fly kites. The wind was so strong that all our kites whizzed up into the air and it was a bit of work to hold the octopus one steady. The box kite which is rated "for light wind" broke bit by bit until Joshua declared it could not be fixed and put it away. While we have taken Frost kite flying before we have never had such a strong sustained wind and it was quite exciting for him and all of us. Wren was very brave considering his recent fear of things that move and make noise (like wind). He talked about the wind but didn't panic or demand to go inside.

Here are some pictures of the boys at the field.

Here is a video I just uploaded. It may take a half hour to process and become available so if it doesn't work, please try again later.

I know that some of you, like me, have been trying to interpret Wren's use of NATING in my prior post. I haven't had any success myself but I don't think it matters. I think he is willing to simply contradict anything I say. He probably misheard me saying something and thought I said NATING and so was going to deny the nating by putting away the game.

A bit later this morning I tested this theory by talking gibberish. I said "I am boggling the herp" and Wren said "NO, YOU MAY NOT BOGGLE the HERP". I asked if we could "Fribble?" "NO," he said. "We are NOT Fribble."

See, its just about control. Not sense. Never about sense.

Imperious. Authoritarian. Almost 3.

Wren and I are playing blocks. I have finally woken up enough to build a little city of towers and battlements. As soon as I get absorbed by the game Wren says:
"Now put it away. It is too NATING."
"Do you mean frustrating?"
"NO NATING. You build the towering and they are TOO TOWERING so it is NATING and we are going to put it away."
"Ah, ok. Can I keep that one?" I ask, gesturing towards my favorite tower that has a nice red turret. Its on a slab of wood we got in Vancouver - the piece we call "dead bunny." The tower is pretty.
"No, they go in the box. I do it." He breaks them all down and dumps them in the slim cardboard box.
"You need to get them flat in the box or the lid won't fit."
"NO, THEY DO NOT GO FLAT IN THE BOX."
"Well, lets see, if I put the lid on it does not shut now."
"NO, I DO IT. IT DO NOT GO FLAT!"
[another demonstration and a sleight of hand in which I flatten the offending blocks. The task is completed quietly.]
"Now we play candyland."
"Ok, first let me go and pee and I will come back."
[I try and re-enter the room which involves opening the door.]
"Do not open the door! I NEED to pee."
"But I am trying to come back in to play"
"I am doing it. I am coming out."
"Ok, I will come back in a minute."

It is 6.59am and I have been ordered about for 45 minutes already. I am feeling 'RATED and 'TATED and wondering where my compliant little toddler went to.

When I woke him in the morning Wren told me that last night Kitty Haiku visited him in the night and came to look at him and he thought she was a scary Halloween cat and so he hid his face in his soft toys and then she couldn't SEE him.

My Kids Are Weird

This morning I noticed Wren had a purple bruise on his foot.

"Oh, look, you hurt your foot! How did you do that?" I asked.

"When I was a baby I trod on a dead beaver and it had a spike in back and it hurt my foot but I am alright now," he told me.

I mean, what do you say to that one?

Wren is also clever at reading 'signs'. He can read the green walking figure to tell me when we can cross the street (but fights me holding his hand while I insist). He saw this sign at the coffee shop we like near Frost's school and told me it said "DOESNT STAND ON ONE FOOT HERE."

We really like that coffee shop because they will make kidicino's - foam filled little espresso cups with a sprinkle of chocolate - for only 50c. As any good Seattelite, Wren takes his 'coffee' very seriously.

Meanwhile, Frost is in the kitchen unpacking the kitchen cupboards to find products "past their expiration date".

Since I poisoned him with rancid peanut butter a few months ago (he had a horrible bout of food poisoning from peanut butter I found in the Emergency Supplies Cupboard and fed him before checking its use-by date which was 3 years prior) Frost is very invested in checking food is not expired. He is also distrustful and routinely looks on boxes and cans before he eats things. The stuff he found in the cupboard today has raised his level of vigilance:

1) A bag of soy flour expired in 2005.

2) A cup of noodles in a flavor none of us eat. When opened it erupted in a purple dust of [probably toxic] mould spores leaving a few undecomposed noodles like the bones of an oracle. At least I would not have FED him that one.

3) Various grains eaten by weavils.

4) Packaged tofu that was EAT BY last year.

See, I tend not to think that expiration dates are very important with dry goods. By contrast, with meat I am quite careful and so those sardines that expired in August 2009 had to go.

For breakfast, I am eating the sardines which expire in a few months. Yum.

Frost and Wren dumped all the expired foods into a bowl and mixed them up. Frost pretended that the tapioca was snail eyeballs and the prunes were something else yucky.

Even though its early we have already been doing gardening and now its time for tea and sardines.