Contents of June

JB reminded me that if I am writing a post about reading I need to mention Benjamin's obsession with the "contents of april," his name for the "table of contents."  It has proven impossible to change his way of saying this.  I'm sure it's one of those things that will work itself out...right? 

Using his phrase as a title for this post also suggests that I am writing about what is making us content this first month of summer--reading and imaginative play together.   

I think this was an attempt at "rest time" 

Indeed, reading or looking at books is a primary activity for both kids right now, with Benjamin in the early stages of actually reading and Liza Jane pointing with great excitement at pictures she sees and "look mommy, letters!"  She will also sit down with a book and flip through the pages as she talk herself through the book, most of which I don't usually understand except for the occasional "mommy and baby and baby and daddy..."

reading right there in the middle of things at Poppa Rollos 

And what a delight to read with Benjamin this summer.  Reading is truly the go-to activity at our house, so it makes sense that Benjamin should be eager to read on his own I suppose. We're not big believers in pushing early reading for it's own sake though; it's really been his initiative that has made him a reader.  We're going through first reader books like Hop on Pop and the Little Bear books.  We just got a new bunch from the library so we can read some stories he doesn't already know.  As I'm writing this during Liza's nap, Ben is reading "Going on a Bear Hunt" next to me here on the couch.

Another wonderful thing about this summer is sibling play.  Benjamin and Eliza have really learned how to enjoy playing together. Not that they don't have their fights, and I do wonder how this is going to be different when Eliza starts to really dig in her heels about being bossed around, but I don't want to diminish this stage either.  Their favorite thing to play right now is microwave, which is actually our old broken microwave that we put on the floor of the entry-way a few weeks ago and will probably stay there a bit longer.  

The Thomas the Train tent someone gave us has also been a hit for play time.  Benjamin really doesn't care very much about the whole "Thomas" thing, but he does like to take the train/airplane/boat to places like Mars, Paris, and Liza's favorite place:  "I'm goin' to town, mama."  I love it when they talk together and get into the same game.  Usually it starts with Ben saying, "ok Liza, let's do this" and Liza responds very sweetly with "Oh, awright Ben Ben!" But sometimes Liza has ideas of her own and I've tried to encourage Ben to be responsive to her ideas too.  

The last picture of the day is from a little canoe trip JB took with Benjamin and another family. He took Liza out for a little spin when we met them for a picnic.  And now I hear Liza on the monitor, "Mama, it's time to wake up!" She's being very sweet about it, but that won't last long...

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Eliza turns two

When Eliza Jane was just a few weeks old, or maybe even days old, like in the picture below, I remember being struck by her distinct personality.  It was inevitable that we would compare her, our second child, to our first, but she has certainly done her best to set herself apart.  The picture below often comes to mind when I consider how unique she is.  It's not a remarkable picture at all, but something struck me about her dark eyes and distinct features when I took it and for me it is still a peek into her soul.  

our mysterious new child in her first week life 

What I noticed back then has been confirmed and clarified as she has grown.  Our little two-year-old still has a mind of her own, but now that she can talk, we are all much happier.  She has clear ideas about what she wants and is persistent in her pursuit of of her goals. "Re-direct" has not been as helpful or effective a parenting dictum for our second time through toddler-hood.  I've found that making rules and expectations very clear and leaving a bit of room for negotiation seems to work for us.  A few months ago I told her it was time to go downstairs, but she was not done playing with blocks and said, "No, I'm buildin' my towah, mama."  I was so delighted she had used a complete sentence, I let her finish her tower and when I said it was time to go, she responded with her typical refrain, "Aw-right, mama."     

looking more like her daddy all the time 

Eliza's sense of humor has blossomed recently too.  Eliza has picked up knock-knock jokes from her brother and has made up her own about a bee (knock-knock, who's there, a bee, a bee who?, a bee MAMA!).  I was having a little conversation with her the other day about her class at school, and she was naming the kids in her class.  I would sometimes prompt her by asking, "Is there a Mallory in your class?" and she would say yes.  Then I asked, knowing that there was no kid with this name in her class, "Is there a BOB in your class?"  Eliza started this big belly laugh like I had never heard from her before.  "Bob in my class! Make me laugh, mama!"  We both had a good laugh.  

As she rides her horse around,
Eliza says, inexplicably, "glinka, glinka!" 

Liza's eagerness to learn and have fun, her keen social instincts, delight in music, and love for her brother have all made this girl such a joy to nurture this year.  When asked what he likes about Eliza Jane, Benjamin says, "she plays with me and she speaks really loud." Hmmm.  

ritual hot chocolate with granddad 

We had her birthday celebration in Sulphur Springs this year with JB's family, complete with helium balloons and purple cupcakes, both of which were requested consistently for the two weeks leading up to her birthday.  Eliza is becoming quite the little girl--we're thankful for her life every day!

good-bye until next time!  

with her new and beloved Madeline tea set 

a summer trip to homestead heritage for ice cream

Special Friends

This boy sure did love being reunited with his special
friend Aunt Amy.  

I did too.  We made bagels.  And we made cheese.
 Yes, we are amazing.  

A special tree house picnic.  

With william the giraffe, who chases away the skunks.  

Up high by the Brazos River.  

An explorer and a "big hik-ah" at the zoo 

A very rainy Spring 

A brave man

loving to play together 

more rain coming in 

Together for Holy Week

Loving her Easter photo shoot 

We managed to get these lovely pictures of our baby girl after quite a rough couple of days recovering from grammy and grandpa's departure.  We had a lovely time with my parents, despite Ben being sick half the week, but our little four-year-old just couldn't handle it when they left again.  He bonded with them in a new way this visit, but he also had much more complex emotions about their leaving and just didn't know how to handle it.  It's beautiful to see him growing up and also painful to know he is struggling.  

We'll have another chance at this transition in a few months when Aunt Amy comes to visit.  We need a plan!  

For now, a few pictures of our grandparent visit. I was frustrated while Ben was sick that we weren't getting out to do more things with them, but Mom reminded me over and over that they were here to visit us, not for the activities. I know Ben was glad Grandpa was able to sit on the couch with him for hours on end when he had a fever.  Another advantage to lots of home time is that dad did lots of fixing around the house. He made short work of what would have been extremely expensive and/or time-consuming projects for us, and we always appreciate it!  

Stopping to smell the bluebonnets on the way out to Homestead 

These kids just brought their grandparents book
after book after book the whole week long 

Grammy extended their attention span for watercolor painting way longer
than I can do.  Great to see grammy in her element with paints.  And grandpa
in his element fixing our house.  

And we finally got to take them out to the Waco Wetlands.  

Celebrations

My Valentine.  I'm so lucky to have one who enjoys cooking and putting
together a picnic.   

I spent my birthday this year bringing the kids around to three different birthday parties.  Birthday parties for other kids.  JB was away on a men's retreat for the weekend, so it actually ended up being a great way to pass the time.  One of the parties was just a gathering at the farmer's market, which we enjoy going to anyway, so no pressure there.  Another party was a where-what-you-choose "masquerade ball" and Benjamin had it in his mind that he wanted to make a mask.  Specifically, the fish mask in the middle of the page below from "King Bidgood's in the Bathtub":   

It would have been pretty easy to shift his attention away from this project.  And I don't really do big involved crafting projects.  But why not, really?  It's not so hard to make a papier mache mask, is it?  

I'm actually very glad we took this on.  The kids both had fun with it--especially the painting and decorating part.  I had a loose plan, I let go of perfection (or even a tail that stays on!), and we all had fun.  Ben was delighted after he got over the initial fear of putting the thing on his head.   

Benjamin has also been enjoying making cards and "scenes" for people.  He makes these great little scenes and then says that they are for specific people, puts them in envelopes, and I never see them again.  So I've started taking pictures of them before they disappear.  

Here's the one for the masquerade ball.  It was so much fun to watch him delight in figuring out (more or less) the spelling of words.  The picture at the top is "The Giving Tree," by Shel Silverstein.  He looked at the pictures in the book, counted the falling apples, falling leaves, and the rocks the boy hides between and put just that number in his own picture.  I love it.  

For my birthday I asked for a scene of my very own.  What I think was at first a purple scribble turned into a map of our trip to Caddo lake last week.  On the left is our house.  The road leads around to grandmommy and granddad's house, then to our cabin in the woods, and finally to the canoe we took out on the Cypress swamp, in all of its gloomy glory at the bottom of the picture.  I think all of us people are squished in there in the swamp.    

Birthday trip to Caddo Lake

Conveniently, my birthday often happens to fall right at the beginning of Waco and Baylor's spring break.  So whatever we do for spring break doubles as birthday celebration for me.  I'd like to think this means I get an extra bit of say about our plans.  This year JB and I got to bring the kids to Caddo Lake in East Texas.  The last time we were there, we were not yet married.  I can't say I didn't know what I was getting into when I married someone who's idea of a romantic getaway is camping in a swamp!  

The point of this trip, when it comes down to it, was taking Benjamin canoeing through the swamp.  We had a few setbacks on the way including pouring rain the evening we drove out, flooding on the bayou which meant the state park wasn't renting canoes, and arriving too late and on the wrong day for any restaurants to be open for supper.  But we made the most of it all and bought Benjamin some rain boots (they light up!), rented canoes further into the swamp, and ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches for supper in our little heated cabin.    

And we got to canoe in the swamp.  Ben loved sitting in the middle, learning the rules about riding in a boat, pulling water plants from the swamp, and asking endless questions about the cypress trees and the spanish moss.  We even found a baby turtle he tried to bring back in the canoe.  We decided the turtle would be happier right there in the water.  

Without grandmommy and granddad's help, we would not have been able to do this at all of course.  They came out for the day and played with Eliza Jane while we went canoeing.  A bit of a long trip out just to babysit, but we all had a good meal together on the way home, and we hope it was worth their while.  Eliza had a great time being a "big hiker"--her face just lights up when she sees her grandparents.