He's an outlaw

Jim always said "He's an outlaw, you can see it in his eye." Or course, being naive, I said "No, no he's not, He's a good boy." Well, it looks like Jim was right. This morning when I was watering my plants, Joseph was eying the hose because he wanted to play fireman. I fought with him for a while, and then I just let him have it, naively thinking he would just be spraying the lawn or something. When I went to get him he was spraying the front porch, including the door and my newly cleaned windows. Then he told me he sprayed the inside of the house too. "Oh no, and it's my fault for letting him have the hose", I thought. Luckily if wasn't true, but he was thinking about it. Sigh....

Kapla Blocks

Last week Joseph commented that the Elves had not visited for a while, and suggested that we invite them over for coffee. I explained that being shy of loud noise that they probably wouldn't like coffee time (though I assured him that it was very generous of him to want to invite them.) I told him that I would call them and ask them to come for a visit, and so this is what they built last Wednesday night ...




I suppose they had such a good time building this tower, that they came back and built this (Of which I hear they are especially proud because of its original design)...






After this fury of building, it came to my attention that perhaps the Elves need more blocks. Through my research I found that there is an identical product made by a french company called Kapla, however, they also produce colored blocks. This was something I could not resist, so I went ahead and ordered some. I can't wait to see what the Elves think of them!

Unbelievable

Can you believe this?



We lowered the playpen because Tommy was trying to stand up all weekend. Yep, you read that right. At six and a half months he is trying to stand up. Boy, am I in for it.

Changing Fast

This is one of those weeks that things are changing so fast I can hardly believe it. I am so glad that I am home with these boys to see their changes.

Last Friday I caught Tommy sitting up in the portable playpen outside. He fell over almost right away, but he kept trying all day. The next day he was already sitting up for longer, though not very straight, and by Sunday evening he could already totally straiten up and balance pretty well, with minor tipping.



On Monday morning he would already sit up for half a minute or so, and then later in the day he would sit up for several minutes. Unbelievable. It literally seemed like minute to minute changes. Now he can already sit for twenty minutes or so to play with his toys. With these photos you can see how things progressed.


Another amazing change is that Tommy started signing this last Sunday! I have been making different signs to him for a couple of weeks, and on Sunday he started to wave his arm when he has to go potty. And today, he made the sign for nursing. He is just brilliant!

Close Call

For a little while this evening it seemed like we lost Spot. I was watering my plants before dinner, and accidentally left the gate open to the front. We went inside to have dinner and didn't think much of it that Spot wasn't there until a couple of hours later, just as I was bringing Joseph up to bed. I guess we just assumed that Spot was out in the yard, like he prefers so often as of late. Jim noticed that the gate was open and then went out to look for him. He didn't see him anywhere and came back home, only to go out and look again. About the third time going out, Jim found Spot was two door down from our house with a neighbour that found him wandering around. It really goes to show how poorly we know our neighbours when something like this happens, because after all, we are always outside, and we walk Spot at least once a day.

Well anyway, I am very happy we found him, because I was really starting to get worried. It is so unlike him to wander away, but I guess he is feeling rather comfortable here now that we have lived here a couple of years. Just imagine how Joseph would have reacted...

Freecycle

Freecycle is an internet news group where people post stuff that they want to get rid of and want to give away for free. The idea is that it is better to exchange things in the community so that we reuse things and not contribute to adding to the landfills as much as possible. It is not always possible, or worth it to try to sell things, and it is better than donating it to a thrift store because you are certain that the person who comes to pick it up really wants it, and you don't even have to take it anywhere to get rid of it.

Today I did my first freecycle. I needed some chicken wire to keep a cat from pooping in my garden (more on that later.) I didn't really want to buy any, since I didn't need very much. I thought, 'hey let me check freecycle', and lo and behold I got an offer the very next morning. I also put up on the board a kids knitting machine that I didn't want anymore because it dropped too many stitches for my taste. Coincidentally the lady who was going to give me the chicken wire wanted the knitting machine, so that worked out very nicely.

Now I am working on getting rid of and old screen door that I was going to use to make a trellis and a bread machine that doesn't work anymore (you wouldn't believe what people are offering and taking on this board.) Unbelievably I already got two replies about the screen door. One man's junk is another man's treasure.

Storytelling

A couple of days ago Joseph and I were playing a game with picture cards that have opposites on them. He wanted me to tell stories about them, so I told a few. Here is an example of one of my stories. The pictures were a clean boy and a dirty boy, so I told a story of how a Memmy got a boy ready to go out and then he went outside and jumped in a puddle. I said that then he had to go to the library dirty, but Joseph made a face showing he didn't like that. So then I said they went in and got clean clothes on and then went to the library.
This was lots of fun and after a while Joseph wanted to tell a story too. The picture pair he picked was of a candle that was lit, and one that was unlit.

Here is his story:
Once there was a boy. There was a candle with a flame and he blew it out. Then his Memmy and Daddy came and said "Ohhh, you blew the candle out." Then the boy lit the candle again, and the Memmy and the Daddy said, "Ohhh, you lit the candle again."

Pretty good story, isn't it? I mean it shows a timeline, has characters, and cause and effect. It just keeps getting funner.

Six months old

I can't believe it! Tommy turned six months old last Sunday. He had his six month well baby check on Monday and he weighed 16 lbs, 8 oz, which is 40th percentile, and was 28 and 1/4 inches long, which is 95th percentile. He had to have his shots, and of course he cried but over all he did very well the rest of the day. Today he sat up by himself for the first time! He was in the camping playpen outside; he moves so fast now I can't just put him on a blanket anymore. I was working in the garden and looked over at him, and there he was sitting up. I was so surprised and from the look on his face, so was he. The playpen has soft mesh sides, so I am sure that helped him to get in a sitting position. Here is a picture of Joseph at six months old for comparison.
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Colds

Yesterday morning the boys and I woke up with a cold, so we have been staying home. It is just a cold, and I actually don't feel too bad, but judging from Joseph's whining yesterday, he doesn't feel as good as I do. Then again, maybe he is just three years old. I am actually getting some rest at the moment because Tommy is taking his late morning nap after an active morning of almost crawling! He is so close, it is scaring me. This morning it took him about eight minutes to cross our bedroom floor over to where the cords of the fan and air conditioner are. I guess it is time to baby proof the house. All morning long when I had him in the ergo, he wanted to get down on the floor so that he could move around. After a while I just decided to put him on the floor where ever I was going, and that kept him happy. This way I spent much of my morning doing laundry, and downloading photos to Snapfish so that I can finally make some scrapbooks.
Joseph spent the morning watching video's, which we don't usually do in the morning, but considering how he was feeling I figured it was OK. Afterward he actually went to play quietly in his playroom, so I figured he must be still feeling sick, but hey I'll take quite anyway that it comes, which isn't often in this house. At the moment he is outside because after a torrential rainstorm last night and threats of rain all morning it is now sunny and also not too hot. I think that I am going to move the laptop out there in a bit when I am done with this post. Just think, I can sit on my patio with the internet moving photos around, all while listening to Tommy's baby music on the baby monitor! Ah the wonders of technology...

Finally!

We have a tooth!

Monster Dandelion

Check out this monster dandelion plant that Joseph and I found. I took some of the seeds home so that we could plant it to see what the flower looks like. I recently did this with an interesting seed that we were finding everywhere, and it turned out to be from a Honey Locust Tree.