Babysoroos

We made playdough using a new recipe this time. In the past, we’ve always done a cooked version, using cream of tartar and loads of salt. This time, since we had Kool-aid in the house (no, not for drinking! from a silk-dyeing experiment I just described on my other, non-baby blog), we did the no-cook Kool-aid playdough. It was a pretty different texture — squishier, softer, a bit stickier, less gritty. And it smelled yummy. They both had a lot of fun with it.

Sorry for the long gap in posting. Busy, sick, technical issues. Writer’s block. Cute boys who want attention. 🙂

We’ve been busy in the garden, clearing out brambles and gorse, rototilling, and planting — fruit trees and vegetable seeds. It looks pretty amazingly different back there compared to when we moved in.

The boys love being outside, both of them.

Ben was actually sick in this photo — hence the pajamas with the wellies — but he still wanted to be outside watching. (And yes, he’s sitting on a tree stump, the remains of the tree in the background behind him. We cut it down with the help of a neighbor a few weeks ago.) He usually wants to be doing exactly what we’re doing, exactly where we’re doing it. Then he needs help. 🙂 He’s had a great time shovelling compost, getting completely black and filthy, and of course he has his own bed in the vegetable garden with a little of everything in it.

Timothy just wanders around clutching a child-size yellow rake. He loves that thing, it’s so funny. He doesn’t do anything with it, he just walks around holding it and stops and stands and looks very farmer-ish.

I’m trying to upload more pictures, but my camera’s software has started freaking out and giving me weird error messages and I’m trying to use the old version of iPhoto that’s on my computer but I’m just getting grumpy over technology and workflow. Bah.

Pictures of last week’s snow coming soon, though. One way or another.

Timothy’s at our friend’s house, where he goes when I work at Ben’s preschool, even though there’s no preschool today. He’s totally happy to hang out there now, just wanders off into the playroom without looking back. And yes, he wanders. As in, walks. He’s walking everywhere now, it’s definitely his preferred mode of getting anywhere.

So Ben and I have been baking mince pies this morning.

We’ve been busy getting ready for the whole holiday season. Shopping, making, baking, decorating. Grandma and Grandpa arrive on Friday, aunts arrive on Sunday morning, we’re having a Christmas party on Sunday with lots of our friends (and lots of kids — it’s going to be chaos, but in a really good way!) And then, of course, Christmas Day here. For the first time, Ben “gets” Santa, and is quite excited about him. But puzzled about the whole chimney thing, given our 6″ diameter woodstove chimney pipe. 🙂

Will try to post pictures later.

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’

Watch Ben.

Today we went to the pumpkin patch with Ben’s preschool. It was a damp day, so we didn’t stay all that long. But we did get a few pumpkins, which we will be carving, and we also got to feel hubbard squash to some very large cows. I think that was the hit of the day, really. Oh, well, that and the cute kittens that followed us around and climbed up people’s legs. 🙂

Again, we got busy. We moved house, we’re getting settled in, my parents came to visit and help with that settling in part (Thanks again, Granny and Granda, for all your help! 🙂 Ben still misses you.), we’ve had stuff to do for Ben’s preschool, we’ve been chasing a VERY mobile baby, and here we are, end of October, and I haven’t posted for a month and a half. Ack.

So, updates.

Ben is great. And very three. Heh. Sometimes we have issues, but mostly he’s fun and engaging once he’s warmed up. He’s got lots and lots of ideas. Last week, we were stumped for a dinner idea, so Ben decided for us. “Two cans of pinto beans…. one can of corn… maybe some pasta. And tomatoes.” And then he proceeded to get all the ingredients out, open the cans (with help, of course) and helped me make his dinner. It was good too — I just added a few spices and we had Mexican pasta sauce.
Timothy is getting more and more mobile. He can stand for long periods, cruise anywhere, climb the stairs if you blink…. He even took a couple of steps all on his own on Granny and Granda’s last night here. Then nothing for a week or more, but he was doing it again tonight. Two steps, on his own, then flop into my lap. He’s going to be walking soon, I’m sure. On the other end of the development spectrum, he’s still not eating much food. He makes the funniest face as soon as he gets anything on his tongue. We keep trying, but mostly he wears it or plays with it. Someday it will click, I’m sure. And he’s not exactly looking starved.

We’re loving the house. We spend a lot of time outdoors, the boys both love being outside and there’s plenty of stuff for all of us to do out there. We planted a bunch of flower bulbs last weekend, Ben loved helping with that.

Here are just a few recent photos. I still have some summer ones I want to share too.

View album.

Wow, it’s been a month.

I had computer problems which prevented me from posting for a couple of weeks, and we’ve been sorting and packing and getting ready to move house, and unpacking and organizing and sewing things to help get Ben’s co-op preschool ready to start the new year in a new space. It’s been a little hectic. And once I let the blog go for a week or two, it’s so hard to get back into it.

News about Timothy: We’ve had a little bit of a development spurt. He’s CRAWLING. That started almost two weeks ago, on Wednesday Aug 28th. One day, he woke up and just got it. And crawled across the room. Then he started trying to get up the steps from our living room to our dining room. There’s only two, and he mastered that within a couple of days. Now he’s pulling up on things — couch, coffee table, laundry basket, anyone who stands still for 10 seconds — and can get up to standing in no time. He even let go briefly yesterday. And he’s climbing the wooden stairs at the new house. He got up 3 of them today, and probably could’ve kept going if I hadn’t spoiled his fun by lifting him down. 🙂

Packing up to move house with a newly mobile baby makes babyproofing a whole new problem.

News about Ben: He started preschool again today. He went two mornings a week to the toddler class last year, and did pretty well. This year, he’s in the older preschool class, 3 and 4 year olds, and goes 3 mornings a week. I work in the classroom 1 morning a week. It’s a fairly large class at this stage — 11 kids, only some of whom he knows — so he was a bit reserved (okay, downright clingy and silent) this morning, but even by the end of today’s class he was warming up slightly. I think another few days and he’ll be fine. Apart from school, he’s doing great. He’s so talkative, sometimes telling stories he’s made up, sometimes repeating (over and over and over) things he’s heard, sometimes just talking nonsense and making up words. And often asking questions. We’ve entered the “why?” phase. HOW long does this last???

News about the house: It closed last Thursday, and we move this Friday. We’ve been over there a lot, Eric’s been working (with help) on finishing what is to be his office space and installing bamboo floor. It’s such a wonderful place to be. 2 acres, very private, some wooded, some cleared. The back door opens from the kitchen into a huge (~ 1 acre?) fully fenced yard. Can’t wait to be living there full time.

Photos soon as I get through the backlog.

Today we met some of our preschool friends at one of the parks near us. Beautiful sunny day, with a nice breeze from the water. Ben decided to fly to “real Florida.”

This evening, we decided to let Timothy try some mango. He’s been desperately trying to grab our plates and our food for a month now, so much that it makes eating very difficult if you’re trying to hold him. We’ve let him have tiny tastes of a couple of things so far, and given him some food to play with on his high chair tray (banana slices are fun to mush! but not to eat! and green beans are great to gum!) but tonight we put a couple of chunks of frozen mango in the Baby Safe Feeder. Love that thing! He was able to hold on to it, shove it in his mouth and get the flavor and juice through the net bag, but no danger of choking. His first reaction wasn’t real sure, but then he seemed to get quite into it.

And lastly, a short video clip of Timothy babbling. He’s actually regularly saying both “mamamamama” and “dadadadada” — but he doesn’t quite appear to have meaning attached to them yet. 😉

Spent a little time at the beach by the marina in Langley yesterday. Just playing with the sand. And one of us was eating it. 😉