Waco Wetlands Part 2

Benjamin at the Waco Wetlands (and at the end of a loooong cold)  

             

One of the first posts I made on this blog included pictures of JB and I at the Wetlands with wee Ben just weeks from being born.  I was remembering that day when we returned to the wetlands this past Sunday afternoon with Benjamin almost 17 months old.  Benjamin is such a nature boy, and the Wetlands did not fail to excite his curiousity.  We took pictures on the dock you see here because it is the only one with railings to keep him from throwing himself headlong into the water.  He wanted to reach, reach, reach into the water (maybe like Curious George in one of his books?) with no sense that it meant falling in.  In the pictures below, JB is holding him tight as he reaches in to inspect the snails.

And this below is where I found Benjamin one morning soon after he had woken up and gone downstairs.  He put all of these instruments up on the bench by himself and contented himself banging away for at least 15 minutes.  Just enough time for me to get breakfast together, milk warmed up, and coffee brewing.  As I was listening to him play, I was impressed that he was going back and forth between all three instruments--usually he gets fixated on just one.  

Next post should be full of pictures from our spring break trip to New Orleans!  

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.

Projects

At a church women's retreat last fall, one of the women brought a whole car load of hula hoops for us to play with.  So we let go of our inhibitions and learned to hula hoop together. Don't ask how long it took me to be able to keep the hoop up.  It probably helped that we were all inspired by the woman who brought them--she did all sorts of cool tricks with a hula hoop and made it look downright elegant.  Apparently hula hoops are the hot thing in Nashville right now. (hello, Waco!)

So she promised to host a hula hoop making party, and last weekend we cut plastic tubing, fused it together, and used colorful tape to wrap it all up.  Someone asked me if JB would want to try out the hula hoop, and I said that he would scoff when he saw it.  But I brought it home, and he said, "Alright! A hula hoop!"

Benjamin does not so much like the hula hoop. He thought it was funny for the first 30 seconds of watching me do it, but then he got bored and decided the hula hoop was getting more attention than he was.  I'll just have to put it away and take it out when he goes down for his nap.

Benjamin likes daddy's projects a lot better.  He's been helping daddy with the patio for months now, moving rocks, lightening the soil with a little added sand, and showing us (over and over) that there is no possible way to make a patio baby proof.

Just in the nick of time, JB installed this baby swing on the porch to keep B out of trouble.  You can't keep this boy away from a swing.  I don't think I've seen him happier than when he is swinging high at the play ground, laughing out loud.   

There is also this one other project of mine that Benjamin has enjoyed recently--chocolate cake for JB's birthday.  I think the picture below is B eating black beans, not chocolate cake.  

Benjamin also helps with an almost daily project:  he gets pretty giddy when I tell him its time to do the laundry.  This week he climbed all the way into the dryer with the whites.  

So many of the good pictures are already on facebook that this post seems sort of an afterthought, but I think I have some from our camera that you haven't yet seen.  The outdoors pictures really come out the best, don't they?  It almost seemed like we wouldn't get a hike in the mountains this year with the weather and sickness working against us, but we made it up on maybe the coldest day of our time in NY.  We even saw a few snowflakes. Of all of the beauty around us, Benjamin was, not unexpectedly, most interested in the pinecones and leaves and bottle caps closest to his eyes.  The mountains are beautiful, but this time around I have to say I was most interested in watching my little penguin march around in his snowsuit.  

Our trip included a last minute trip to Beacon, NY where we met Benjamin's Aunt Amy and explored the Island of Misfit Toys.  Seriously, it was a strange playground where it appears people had donated/abandoned all sorts of toys.  Benjamin could have played there for hours.  

The highlight of our time in NY was being in the ultrasound room with Sara and Sean when they found out they are having a boy.  I cannot WAIT to meet young Jack when he arrives in May.  I kind of wish we could skip to the stage where he and Benjamin can play together.  Benjamin has so much fun with them; I know they are going to be great parents!  

Drums were the theme this year for Benjamin's Christmas in NY.  He can't get enough of Sean's bongos, and he plays with the two percussion sets he got from his aunties and uncles all the time back here in NY.  We have so many great percussion instruments for kids now that I'm thinking about having some of the other toddlers we know over for a music party.  We'll see if that materializes now that classes are starting again on Monday.  

When we got back from NY we had a week before we went up to SS for the New Year and second Christmas.  I don't have my own pictures of that, but we couldn't have asked for a better weekend.  With escargot, roast duck, and champagne to ring in the New Year, how could you ask for more?  

We are not looking forward to taking down our tree this year--it's been a great Christmas.  

Christmas Wagon

 This is the best wagon ever.  Not just a little red wagon, but an all-terrain, steel-based, wooden-sided riding and pulling machine.  It was delivered to our house from Grammy and Grandpa Wilson right before we left for NY, and it was all put together under the tree when we got home.  A friend who was staying at the house put it together for us--what a treat!





One of the many new things Benjamin has learned in the last month is how to talk on the phone.  He holds the phone up, as in the picture above, and makes human-like inflections into the phone.  He carries around our old cell phones and talks all the time.  I think this is one of those things I wouldn't have approved of before I had a baby.  But it's either let him have his own or deal with the screams when he sees me with mine.   We do make compromises.

JB took him on a walk around the block in his wagon this morning.  He is a proud little boy.

Today we are recovering from our Northern journey.  More to come...

Christmas in October

What a truly strange year when the Christmas tree is up and the fall foliage is in full array.  In NY this would be mid-October and here it is mid-December.  And so warm we're wearing our spring clothes.  

B has enjoyed the christmas tree, especially, as you can see in the picture below, Eggbert the talking egg who figured large in our childhood Christmases.  Benjamin will get to meet Eggbert this year in NY.   I remember loving the Christmas display with Eggbert at Devitt's.  A giant talking Christmas egg may be a little scary for B.  Maybe it should be scary for all of us.  

To back track just a bit, I don't think I posted any thanksgiving pictures.  Have I said how much I enjoyed hosting our first Thanksgiving at home?  I loved it.  Friends came over and contributed much, and we ate and hung out at the house ALL DAY.  We had live music in the house all afternoon.  And a rousing game of Settlers later in the night.  We have enjoyed our other Thanksgivings with family, but there is something special about hosting the meal at our house and cooking in preparation for our own feast.  Loved it.  

And the fool-proof pie recipe (secret ingredient: vodka) was excellent.  I will be using it from now on.  

After such a brilliant day, you can imagine the let-down when both JB and Benjamin sick (like days of throwing up sick) in overlapping succession the week after Thanksgiving.  It was bad.  Took Benjamin-to-the-doctor bad. Once Benjamin was on the mend, I realized how emotionally exhausting it is to have a sick child.  Even though I was not sick myself, I did not have capacity to teach Sunday school for the pre-schoolers like I was supposed to that week.  I prepared for it, and had it all planned out, and then Sunday came along and I just couldn't do it.  I am very thankful for the people who were ready to take over for me on a moment's notice.  

Ah nap time.  Let's hope B sleeps just a few more minutes.  The pictures in this post have nothing to do with the post itself.  They are just a few I took of Benjamin on our trip to San Francisco, a month ago now:  arriving at the SF airport, "drinking coffee" at Philz, posing with "our" mural in Balmy alley, and walking the soggy grass at Golden Gate park.  

But that is ancient history.  I am thankful this week for getting to work for two whole days on my own writing and research.  JB's mom came down for a few days to watch Benjamin so I could meet a journal deadline.  I cannot express in words how much I appreciate her ability and willingness to do that!  The best way to get to know someone is to spend a few solid days in his or her company; I think Sarah and Benjamin certainly got better acquainted.      

At this time last year, I don't think I was ready to get back into my own writing/research work again.  I don't know if it was dissertation burnout or my inability to multi-task (i.e. watch a baby and do anything else), but I was not ready and I did not know if I would ever be ready again.  This week I was excited to be editing part of my dissertation to send out to a journal for publication.  I am relieved that I haven't lost the desire to write about literature.  Which is good because I have also committed to presenting a paper at a conference in March, so I have to keep working (hi Stephanie!).  

So today, B and I are getting re-acquainted.  After doing my own work, whether it be teaching, lesson planning, writing, putting together a newsletter (which I need to be doing this week...), I always feel more energized to do the other work this life demands:  grocery shopping, menu planning, yogurt making, laundry, baby minding.  All of which I did this morning.  I kind of feel like patting myself on the back.