Moon phase

Before becoming a parent, I don't think I quite understood the charm of toddlers.  Every now and then I see Benjamin through the eyes of my previous self, who would have noticed the repulsiveness above all:  the constant nose running, the food everywhere at dinner time, the sippy cups and sticky fingers.

But the toddler charm is more alive to me than the grossness.  The last two weeks or so, Benjamin has been obsessed with the moon.  As soon as I see him in his crib in the morning, he is pointing at the ceramic moon hanging over his bedroom door; he grabs Goodnight Moon as soon as he gets out of his crib, and we read through his other moon books multiple times a day; he can follow the moon with his finger in the sky when we are taking a walk; and he points out the moon on other objects, like his diapers, before I have even noticed.  Now if he could only say "moon."  We are still waiting for that. 

 Here are some pictures of some of Benjamin's favorite things to do these days.  I was thinking that these aren't particularly special pictures, but we need some pictures of our daily lives.  When I look back at childhood pictures, the pictures of special events don't really have any more meaning for me than the pictures that show me and my sisters doing daily things.  I love the pictures where I can see bits of the houses we lived in growing up:  the rugs on the floor, the 80s style pots and pans, and the wall hangings that are fuzzy in my memory.   

In the above pictures maybe Benjamin will remember when that couch and blanket were new.  And oh look, remember how all three of the lamps in that picture didn't work?  And, oooh, that was before I broke daddy's guitar...just kidding! That will never happen.  We hope.   

Below are pictures of our time in the backyard:  Benjamin's favorite time of the day.  He could spend hours in his swing, throwing the ball to Brazos.  He's discovered the joy of dandelions and he waits expectantly by the fence for the neighbor's dog to pay us a visit.  The neighbors and the dog are very nice.  Don't worry.   

In memoriam

 And finally, we've got our winter/spring garden started in different places around the yard.  Winter never actually arrived, so these peas have been growing for a month already.  I think the snails (or something!) actually got this little pea plant.  The radishes are starting to leaf out, the flowering trees are starting to flower, and there are new leaves to see on the roses (which I never got a chance to prune), the herbs, and the wee little bay tree we planted last year.