Best Thirty-Fifth Birthday Present Ever

Fans. FANS! Julie arrived home today to a gianormous birthday balloon, and. . .AUNT KATE AND COUSIN NICK!!!!!* [insert mad screaming here] Julie did not actually scream when Kate appeared in the porch, and Nick behind her.** No. She was very briefly confused--and then burst into tears. For Julie, really there is nothing that cannot be marked as an occasion for some kind of tears. They are here for the big THIRTY-FIFTH birthday weekend. Who knew?! Apparently, just Ted and Kate. Good thing. Julie is also notorious for attempting to smoke out birthday present secrets and surprises. She doesn't really want to know as she loves a surprise, but at the same time, she really does! Early surprises are still surprises! Despite this well-known flaw, they insist no special CIA-like operation was in place beyond simply not saying anything.

Julie is thrilled. (Joe is also thrilled. With the big balloon.)

*Uncle Scott stayed home to be all studious and what not. Sigh.

**Photographic evidence forthcoming.

MmmmmmcDonalds!

Tonight was a Mr. Mom night, it was also a beautiful day which led Ted to think - McDonald's drive thru for dinner! Not surprisingly the fries were the first to be eaten, though Clara Jane gnawed on her hamburger some too. During this meal Joe learned the word "contrail" when he pointed out "that line moving in the sky". He also pointed out all the trees that were changing colors. And before we knew it it was time to go inside for bath!

Mine? Mommy?

Birdie Brigade, we have been meaning to report on our Birdie's gathering and hoarding tendencies. In the morning, when we go in to the bambini's room to kick off the get-ready-for-the-day circus, Birdie takes a moment to gather up all her stuffed animal friends (Puddle Bunny, Pink Dog, Doll, Fluffy the Bear, Pink Cat, and Gorilla), and her blanket. She is really endeavoring to hold them all at once, which is, of course, impossible given the size of her arms. So what ends up happening, is she throws her body over the pile. Often this process is punctuated with "mi-i"--mine, we think.

Or thought. Clara will sometimes say this from her high chair. Julie always thought it was to do with Clara wanting Gorilla or some such back (stuffed friends sit to the side at breakfast and other meals; no milk baths at the Raleigh House Spa). But then we noticed that Clara would say this when Julie walked away, and so it may be that she is saying "Mi-ee" (Mommy). Joe, at the age Clara is now, called Ted "Dada" and Julie "Mama." Clara though, has always called Ted "Da-ee." It set us to thinking that maybe this is because she is imitating what she hears Joe calling us now--i.e. Daddy and Mommy.

In any case, it does seem true that Birdie likes to nest in stuff--her stuff. This series of pictures was taken the other night when she was trying to keep hold of Puddle Bunny, Gorilla, and her socks on the way to the bathroom for watch, before happening upon the magnifying glass, which she then wanted to come along, too. Ted had to tell her she couldn't nest in the tub. Birdie was a little disappointed.

Story Time Antics

Tonight, while reading stories before bed, Clara demonstrated that she can hiss like a snake! The Birds were reading Dear Zoo, which features a group of well-meant zookeepers sending various ill-advised animals to serve as pets (such as a snake), before landing on a puppy ("He was perfect. I kept him."). The Birds also read Say Hello to the Snowy Animals, Chicka Chicka ABC, Windows to Color (featuring a red fire truck; Birdie made a sien noise), Blue Hat Green Hat (Birdie thinks this one is so funny--and it does feature hats.), Moo Baa La La La, and Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? Julie tried to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but Baby Birdie was having none of that. She no likey it tonight. She closed that right back up and pushed it toward the shelf. Bye-bye!

Then, it was Joe's turn. He wanted to read Richard Scary's Cars and Trucks From A to Z, which features such cars as a crayon car and a zipper car. After Julie read it out loud, Joe informed her that he wanted to read it, "but not talk it"* because he wasn't sure of all the words yet (he just discovered this book on shelf yesterday). He knew most of the cars and trucks, and if he knew them, mimicked Julie's cadences and inflections perfectly. After he had talked it, Joe was so excited (apparently?) That he threw the book across the room--what?! Julie told him that we didn't do that and that books were over, which immediately unleashed a torrent of tears. It was a total bummer, Fans, since tomorrow night, Julie will be driving back from Ames, Iowa at story time and she, too, loves story time.** So Ted will have to duck the flying tomes!

*Read it out loud in case you aren't keeping up with Our Hero there.

**When Julie told Joe she would be going to Iowa tomorrow, he asked if he could go with her. After being told the sad news that Mommy must go alone, Joe later looked at the map in the kitchen, pointed to New Mexico and asked what it was, and after being told "New Mexico," informed Julie that he would be going to New Mexico tomorrow.

Joe's Latest Crazes

We would be remiss, Fans, if we did not report that these days, two things are all the rage with Our Hero: doing puzzles (and largely or entirely by himself!) and tracing letters. He has a set of four Thomas puzzles which he likes to work. One in particular features eight trains and, once he's completed it, he likes to count the trains in it. The other day, he was being silly and counting all the trains more than once, but it was in this way that Julie discovered he can now quite confidently count to 19--at which point he stops. (Clearly, he's not yet become friends with 20.) Sometimes, Joe will ask for Ted or Julie to work on a puzzle with him. Other times, he will assign them one to work. He offers encouraging comments like, "Yeah, you got it!" (He will also sometimes say, "Now you're cookin' with gas!", and it really is so charming, and so much fun to hear him testing out these adult idioms and expressions.)

And tracing letters! Ted got Joe a book, a few months ago, filled with letters to trace. Now that Ms. Kristin has the kids in her care tracing the letter of the week during that week, tracing has really taken off at home, too. Today, when we arrived at the KinderCare to pick the bambini up, Ms. Kristin had taped two pieces of paper to Joe's cubby on which he had traced the lowercase alphabet, and his name. Ms. Kristin's accompanying note explained that he had asked to trace letters during free play time.

Quiet! Quiet!

Joe's latest at bedtime is to arrange himself, and us, into a choo-choo train on the squares in the kitchen. Once arranged, we all chug off down the hall. Arms are employed, as are "chug-a-chug-a" sounds. (The track between the kitchen and door to the bambins' room is really too short to reach the "choo-choo!" bit, as those familiar with Raleigh House know.) Once we reach the door, Joe reaches for the door knob and pushes the door open while he says "Quiet! Quiet!" in a parseltongue*-like, rather loud whisper that completely belies what he is whispering. Also belying the content of his directive is the sound of his rather death-like grip on the doorknob, and his zeal to push the door all the way to the wall. Every night, Julie catches the door above Joe in an equally death-like grip to prevent it from slamming against the doorstop which would then THWANG!, providing a noisy counterpoint to the release of the doorknob. Joe then climbs quietly up onto his bed, stands at its end like he's on a diving board, and then executes a veritable cannonball onto the mattress.

It's sort of a miracle that Clara remains asleep as this train rolls into the station.

*For our readers who may be unacquainted with Harry Potter, parseltongue is, according to the Harry Potter wiki: "the language of serpents. . .and those who converse with them. . . .Parseltongue is, when spoken, a hissing sound, similar to that of a snake; as such, ,normal people cannot understand it."

All Tucked Up

And here is Ms. Birdie later that night, all tucked up, before she was covered back up with her blanket. This is how she most often sleeps. On her tummy side, little bum in the air, arms tucked under her (or, if she has recently been sucking those two fingers and twirling her almost-real-hair, sort of in those positions but not doing those things), and feet crossed. As longtime readers know (and longtime Ekkers!), Ted sucked the same two fingers as a child as Clara does now. Julie, she is told by Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles, slept as a child as Clara does now.

Me-Ow!*

Julie was just reading the plainly titled First Words (from the Bright Baby series) to Clara. This is a book that consists of just words and pictures, though Julie tries to jazz it up a bit by adding in fun facts like so: "This is an orange! Its color is also orange! And this is also a kind of fruit! An apple! This one is green, but usually, they are red!"** For animal pictures, frequently, Julie will include the sound it makes. As a sidebar, we would note that Clara seems to be hazy on the ubiquitous cow and the always fun to do "Moo!" But she is an absolute fan of a sheep and a "Baa!" Tonight, when the Birds reached cat, Clara cried out, "MEOW!"

*In the interest of historical accuracy, we would note that this picture was taken last week, but it is apropos for tonight's post. Look at all of Birdie's hair! As Ted commented, "It's gonna get awkward soon." Beause she's going to enter that unfortunate mullet stage which lasts so much longer for girls than boys.

**As a sidebar, why did the editors choose a Granny Smith apple? When most apples are, in fact, red? Some parents and longtime readers will recall that Julie has noted here her frustration with the editors of this series for confusingly, to Julie's way of thinking, putting a picture of a baby cow (a calf) in and calling it a calf. Really? Does any child from the under two set (or even beyond) understand the nuances between a calf and a cow? But naturally, the editors chose a Granny Smith apple as the exemplar of apple. Because the same bunch puts a "calf" in instead of a cow. MOO!

Potty Tree

So, after a four-year hiatus, Julie has signed herself up for a yoga class. It met today at 4pm, which meant Ted was on his own with the bambini post-nap. They went to the Blue Park via bike and bike trailer, where Julie (who rode her bike to yoga; yes, we are very crunchy granola green in this post) met them after her class. She pulled up and found Joe standing by a tree busy pulling up his underwear. "Oh! Mommy! Hi! I just using the potty tree!" Indeed! (See--very crunchy granola au natural.) Julie still thinks this kind of urinary flexibility is one of the best things about being a boy.

Pannekoeken Huis

The cupboard was bare when we woke up this morning, so we decided to try a restaurant near the KinderCare about which we have always been curious: Pannekoeken Huis. It's not pancakes spelled fancy, Fans. It's pancakes done fancy. It's pannekoekens (pan-e-co-ken). The Pannekoeken Huis is open daily at 7am, and today, we were the first to walk through their doors. We all got pannekoekens; with blueberries for the bambini and baked apples for us. It was fun (and it is super fun to say pannekoeken--try it!), but we probably won't be going back because bambini pannekoeken and non-bambini pannekoeken are the same price, making breakfast for four at a fancy-pants Denny's nearly $50. We Ekkers are a frugal lot, and we make a mean pancakke* at home.

*Get it?

We Return to Music Class

Fans, as you may recall, last Saturday were to be our first music classes of the season. Alas, the bambini were sick, so our first music classes were this Saturday. Clara is enrolled in Musical Explorations, and Joe is enrolled in Musical Make Believe. We plan to flip which parent accompanies each child each Saturday, but for this first time around, Julie was Clara's handler and Ted, Joe's. Julie can report that Musical Explorations with Birdie is a whole different experience than Musical Explorations with Joe. Sit down? In a lap? Dude. There's music on. You got to shake what your mama gave you! Yes, our Birdie, true to fashion, was not to be contained. She was mesmerized by the goings on and engaged in all of it. She shook jingle bells, she waved a ribbon wand about, she chewed on rhythm sticks and a ball, and "[she] sailed and [she] sailed and [she] stopped!", and she went under the parachute as it was waved up and down and giggled her little heart out. By the end of class, she was pretty zonked, could not be kept awake in the car on the way home, and napped until four!

Ted reports that Joe's class involves an art project. Clearly, a holistic approach to the arts in Musical Make Believe. Also, by the time one has progressed to Musical Make Believe, one has progressed beyond the usual opening ditty (Duo Duo*) to Sing With Me**. Readers, you will note that we include the opening lyrics to Sign With Me below, and can do so, despite the fact that but one of us has been to but on class. This is because we were given another of the MacPhail Center for Music's early childhood music education CDs, aptly titled Sing With Me, and Our Hero is rather taken with it, and specifically, tracks one (Sing With Me) and twleve (Floating Down the River). Sing With Me is the second effort and, it would seem, they cannot give enough of these things away, in contrast to the first, for which you practically had to promise to name your next born MacPhail to obtain a copy. Here we pause to note three things, and will leave you with them:

1. This second effort is not a Billboard chart topper.

2. In Sing With Me, the song, the singers, rather annoyingly given the "all together now!" lyrics, do not sing all together. What?

3. We sing Floating Down the River better than these two ladies that sing it on Sing With Me, the album. Our rendition is full of joy, the way any song that does, or can be made to, linger on the O vowel (e.g. OOOOOHHHHH-klahoma where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain!). We are thinking of heading into the studio to cut some vocals.

*Hello, Friends, duo duo.

Hello, Friends, duo duo.

Hello, Friends, duo duo.

Shake your fingers down.

Repeat, exchanging Friends for child's name.

**Sing with me, all together now!

Sing with me, all together now!

sing with me, all together now!

Won't you be my darlin'?

Through the Tunnel

But Brigade! We have gotten ahead of our story a bit. We are pleased to report that to date, Clara's ears have remained infection-free! And Our Hero appears to have kept largely at bay whatever this contagion was. But it was a bit of a long haul on the way from Saturday morning to Monday morning given that we had to bow out of our first music class Saturday morning, and our Sunday morning play date, and--and!--it rained Sunday morning. Sigh. "The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold wet day." And so we broke out a tent and a tunnel which made for a crowded living room, but also so much needed new and fun distraction, and thus, we made it through.

I was thinking about. . .

As we have also reported here, Joe's speech and thought is becoming much more sophisticated. Below is a brief, but representative exchange we had in the car on the way home. It followed in the wake of our trying to suss out what was served for lunch. We had guessed macaroni and cheese.

Joe: "How about we have macaroni and cheese for dinner?!"

Julie: "I was thinking about a quesadilla."

(beat)

Joe: "I was thinking about macaroni and cheese."

We are tempted to leave it at that, but we suspect that at least some of you, Dear Readers, will be wondering what was served for dinner.

Macaroni and cheese. Were you ever really in doubt? Quesadilla had been a thought only because by the time all the two-legged Ekkers were rounded up, together with their satchels, umbrellas (de rigueur for Our Hero on even an overcast day) coats, and--of course!--hats, and we were in the car on the way home, it was just after six which is pushing the envelope and quesadillas are quicker than macaroni and cheese.

Hat Antics

Birdie Brigade! As we have reported here before, Birdie is most taken with all things hat. Putting it on, taking it off, hanging it up, carting it around--it's all a gas. Taking it off is easy, but we can report that she is now rather adept at putting it on. She may achieve more of a Seattle-grunge circa 1987 tilt that is not quite purposeful, and the bird may be to the side or backward, but it's on! She was practicing this weekend, and was so pleased with herself, she gleefully tore around "the track" from the kitchen to the dining room to the living room to the hallway, back to the kitchen. Tonight, in the car on the way home, she took off her hat and cried out "Uh oh!" It was all a ploy to see if we would say "Uh oh!" back, which of course, we did. Birdie giggled. No doubt she thinks we're easily fooled.

Her teacher Ms. Katie reports that when they are outside, sometimes, Clara doesn't quite know what to do with the hat, which of course impedes her ability to twirl the beginnings of her hair while she sucks her fingers. We're told she gets rather frustrated. (Imagine!) Ww saw some evidence of this frustration this evening when Birdie took a header on the walkway from the garage to the front of the house on our way in this evening. Julie saw it all go down and got to Birdie just as her delayed reaction kicked in. Birdie was immediately struggling to pull. Her. Hat. OFF! Julie helped her out, but then Birdie ended up sucking her fingers and twirling Julie's hair!

You can't see it in these pictures, but Birdie's shirt says "one of a kind." That she is, Brigade. That she is.

Beh-Bee

As we have reported, Clara has a few words down absolutely pat, among them, baby. Tonight, one of the books she selected to read was Dr. Seuss' ABCs*, in which the following rhyme accompanies the letter B: "Barber, baby, bubbles, and a bumble bee." For the rest of the book, Clara kept saying "beh-bee," and gently flipping back to that page. (Birdie Brigade, you can also, unfortunately, hear how rattle-y her breathing is in this video clip. You don't even have to turn it up.)

*Julie recently realized that she has the whole of this book memorized.

Socks

Joe can really and truly pretty much dress himself now. He sometimes needs help ascertaining which side of a garment is the front, and will often need help turning the "fuzzy side" of the sock out, but otherwise, he can manage the whole operation himself. The ability to put his own socks on with ease is relatively new, and he seems pretty taken with it. Similarly, Clara has recently figured out that clothes can be taken on and off--and that she can do it! So she likes to take off her hat, and her socks. Putting them back on is much trickier. All she knows about the putting on bit at this point is that it's tricky, tricky business. But she's always keeping tabs on Joe, and since he's often putting things on, she wants a piece of that action, too. This morning, Joe found one of Julie's clean socks waiting to be folded and was sporting it like a thigh high. Clara promptly found one of Joe's socks and wore it the same way. By this time, Joe had moved on to two socks of his own, but Clara didn't seem to mind.

And With Fall Comes. . .

The coming of fall brings lots of lovely things, but also: more colds. And Fans, wouldn't you know it? The Dynamic Duo already have their first! Clara has been hit hard. She was coughing last night, and woke in the early morning hours, and had to be whisked up to the Big Bed for the rest of the night. She can still sleep on to of Julie. She spills over like a glass that's too full, but it works (and Julie missed the Bird so much, she didn't mind).

By the morning, when Bird was a bit off her feed, we were worried that her ear may have become infected again. She got a clean bill of health this past Monday at the end of the second round of antibiotics, but we were reminded that fluid remains behind for a while. So we skipped what would have been our first music class, and took her and Our Hero in to see the doctor. The good news is that her ears are still infection free. The bad news is that there is now fluid behind both her eyes, and she's got a cold. In other words, conditions are ripe for infection. All things considered, her spirits aren't so awful, but she runs out of steam pretty fast.

Our Hero has just a touch of the same cold, or something similar. His right eye was pink so we were worried about pink eye. It wasn't pink eye. The doctor had a fancy name for it that seems to mean the-pink-and-watery-eyes-you-get-when-you-have-a-cold.

So we are sort of watching and waiting, and hoping that Clara's ears remain puppy and infection free, and Our Hero continues to keep the germs mostly at bay.

Homecoming

Fans, the best part of leaving, is the homecoming. Julie arrived home last night, and spied what she thought was a little blond head watching out the front window (there was a black furry one obscuring her view!). It was! And it started bobbing up and down as she got closer. But the porch door was locked! So Julie and Joe giggled at each other, and jumped up and down on opposite sides of the glass until Ted figured it out and came to let Julie in.

Julie's mom travelled as much as she does now when Julie was little. Julie doesn't know how her mom managed. When Grandma Connie came home in those days, she almost always had a surprise for Julie, and she would always say, "Close your eyes and hold out your hands," before placing the surprise in them. Julie had Joe do the same thing last night when she gave him the monkey.

Monkey

Today was Ted's last day of solo parenting and it was another success! I took Joe and Clara with me after pickup to get "Mommy Daddy dinner" which is our now Friday ritual take and bake pizza and 6 pack of beer - we are nothing if not sophisticated gourmands. I could have used an extra hand, but they charmed the beer guy out of a lollipop and Joe serenaded the Papa Murphy's customers with a foreign sounding version of ABCD while Clara walked in circles with her little bird hat just slightly askew.

The highlight of the day was clearly the arrival of Mommy just in time to read Joe books (Clara will get her moment in the morning). Joe immediately absconded with Julie's shiny big gold necklace, but that was nothing compared to the monkey doll that was presented to him. Monkey was soon given a funny voice and was dancing and doing many other tricks. So after a couple books and hugs, Joe took his monkey off to bed to be introduced to the rest of the zoo. Welcome home Mommy (and monkey)!

Genius loves company

Here are the bambinis before heading out for school - strategically positioned. It was another good day for everyone sans Julie. Clara worked on her shapes at school and helped make a birthday card for a friend. Joe was reported to have concentrated very hard on getting his coat on properly and zipping up his coat (when asked about it later he denied everything). Mommy was asked after of course - I think the state of Indiana is falling low on Joe's list of Most Admired States as it keeps his Mommy away from him. Good night fans!

Mr. Mom

I am through night one of Mr. Mom, and I can say it all went well. Joe agreed to Indian dinner tonight, so we all shared in a medley of Chicken Tikki Masala and Palak Paneer. In this picture, Joe is shouting "cheeeeeese palak paneer!"* Baths went fine and books went fine, though I am sure both felt short changed because there was little of the extra snuggles, snorts, and 20 questions provided. Both went to bed fine, but when Joe started his normal wailing and I went in to check on him, he was buck naked (again) and when asked what was wrong he said "I don't want Mommy to go away." So he earned some good hugs and I layed next to him and asked him "what is your favorite thing about Mommy" and without missing a beat he said "playing with her." That got another hug and reassurance that Mommy would be back soon. We all miss Mommy!

* You can see Joe is in his new "Back to the Future" shirt - how sweet is that? We worked on the word "deloreon" today...it starts with the letter D. Clara has been sporting a lot of new fall clothes as well, we are supposed to get our first frost tonight!

Tonight | 12 Times as Old

Well (again), Fans, Julie's first work trip of the fall has rolled around and you know what that means: it's time for her to be all maudlin about going. She read one of Birdie's new favorite books to Birdie tonight: Moo Ba La La La. Clara likes to "baa" like a sheep (but is not so keen on mooing like a cow). When Julie gets to the part that goes "Rhinoceroses snort and snuff, and little dogs go ruff ruff ruff," she snorts and snuffs right in Birdie's ear which makes Clara laugh. She and Birdie had a long snuggle after reading books that involved Julie dishing out a lot of raspberries and Clara laughing. Julie pointed to herself and said "Mama." Clara said what may have been "mama," but she also seemed to be saying "papa" while pointing in the direction of the bathroom (where Ted was giving Joe a bath; though in all other instances he is Da-ee!!!!!), and "baby," which may have been all to do with baby doll in the stroller. She definitely said "bye-bye" all the way to bed.

Joe is still on the asking questions before bed kick. Tonight, we discussed favorite car (Bronzie got both Joe's vote, and Ted's vote, Julie said she was torn), favorite dog (Joe said Sparky--the firedog from the Little Critters firehouse book; Julie and Ted said Berenice), and favorite book (Joe said Lucky Sneaker--which we'd just read; Ted said Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog; and Julie said Where the Wild Things Are). Later, Joe was caterwauling in his room where we found him buck naked. He stated he needed to use the potty. Off he went. After he was back in his pajamas, he gave Ted and hug and then Julie a hug. He then decided to see if he could hang off Julie as she was crouched down to his level. He could. That's how little he still is, Fans. So little he can hang on one of us crouched down, just by tucking his legs up off the floor.

Julie lifted him up (magic!) and carried him back in, and when she came out, she looked at Ted, started to cry and said she didn't want to go. Ted said it would be a "good mental break." Julie refused to believe him (shook her head in the crook of his arm). So we had cookies. And then Ted said today he thought that now that he is 36, he's 12 times as old as Joe. Which set Julie off again.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well, Fans, Ted celebrated a birthday today. When Julie went downstairs to greet the bambini, she reminded Joe that it was his daddy's birthday and asked him if he wanted to go wish Daddy a happy birthday while Daddy was still in bed. Joe was on the stairs before Julie had even finished speaking. So Ted's day began with the entire family piling into the bed where we sang him Happy Birthday. (Clara, most charmingly, claps and says "Yea!" but not at the end! She actually, even more charmingly, jumps the gun a bit and breaks out the claps and cheers after the penultimate "Happy birthday dear Daddy (in this case). . . .)

[attempting picture + Berenice + 3-year-old + 16-month-old = false]

[if no Berenice; still false]

After Ted made himself a birthday breakfast of waffles, we were off to Target. As you know, Fans, the authors and editors of (The Spectacular Adventures of ) Joe and Clara Jane like to bring you slice-of-life-"and-that's-the-way-it-was" reporting, so we feel we should take this opportunity to report on the trip to Target. Joe asked if we could sign a song. When asked what song, he said "That song we sang yesterday." Hmm. The Itsy Bitsy Spider?* NO! Joe then elucidates that the song of which he is thinking is "the river song." Julie guesses, Moon River?** Joe says yes. Julie begins. NO! Joe allows that "the river song" is from music class. Ah. Now--now--we have it:

We're floating down the river.

We're floating down the river.

We're floating down the river on the O-Hi-O!

Then we had another chorus of Happy Birthday.

Little Sheepie, Pink Elephant, Sheepie, and Neaky may also have made this trip with us. Ted was charged with Neaky; Julie with Sheepie. It was at this point that the Birthday Boy said he wanted to listen to a guitar song on the radio. Neaky and Sheepie danced in boy band style synchronicity to a country song of which we do not know the name, as well as How Deep Is Your Love. (Theirs is very deep indeed. We had to remind them that they were not in the backseat after all.)

And here, Fans, is where you are maybe thinking a birthday couldn't get much better. And this is where you would be so very wrong. Because Ted spent the post-nap hours of the day*** having hors d'oeuvres in his garage. The bambini were in the garage, and why rock the boat? As you know, Grandpa Tom and Lynn are in town for a State Visit. They made cream cheese and roasted red pepper jelly spread crackers which were a huge hit with Our Hero and his erstwhile sidekick, Birdie, who was pinging around like a pinball, really dissolving rapidly in the early evening hours.

By the time we got to Act Five of Daddy Ted's birthday, we were ready for that cake. Let them eat it! And so we did. Julie's not sure what Ted wished for on his birthday candles, but she knows this: he's a birthday wish come true for her (and yes, probably he wished to have cocktails and snacks in the garage again next year on his birthday).

*Singing rather a lot of TIBS as Clara tries to sing it, and to do the hand motions. It is also very charming.

**Julie sometimes sings this to Clara when she's changing the Bird. She used to sing Joe Eight Days a Week. Neither your standard bebe fare, but they are nice songs.

***We think of this as the Third Act.

Act One: Morning Fanfare Including Lunch (sometimes worthy of its own act, but more often like a big scene as one that would proceed. . .

Act Two: Nap (In Which the Adults Attempt to Recover/Clean/Nap/Read/Mow/Go For a Run/Run a Random Errand/Bake Cookies/What Have You)

Act Three: Post-Nap Fun

Act Four: Dinner! Bath! Bed! In! Rapid! Succession!

Act Five: Other Dinner and Collapse (In Which the First Half Hour is Usually SILENT)

In His Glory

Our Hero, meanwhile, had a busy day painting his self-portrait with finger paints (we await this masterpiece with bated breath), identifying his name, and playing Red Rover and Red Light Green Light, all this per Ms. Kristin whom we saw at pick-up. She said that Joe came on over when she said "Red rover, red rover let blue shirts come over!" (Our Hero was sporting his Cubbies shirt today), and that he knew his name--and Darby's, and a few others, and may have had to be told to give the name bearer a chance to recognize their name on the card on the floor first! We know how this goes. Often, when we will ask Clara to find something in a book, or whatever, Joe will exuberantly point it out, and we gently have to ask him to let Clara try first.

As it happens, the theme of this week and next week in Joe's room (as you will no doubt recall, Dear Readers, "All About Me"), dovetails with one of Joe's newest kicks: asking questions after stories. You will also, no doubt recall, that we began this a few days ago as a coda to the we-do-not-call-others-poopyheads discussion. Now it is all the rage. After an introductory question, Joe likes to do most of the questioning. It is great fun to watch him working out how to frame the question. "What favorite food is your favorite?" and "What favorite food do you like?" are examples of his usual sallies. But we always back up and rephrase, Counselor: "What is your favorite food?" (For the record, tonight, it was spaghetti.)

Then, sometimes, there will be a burst of very lucid phrasing, and sort of adult banter:

Joe: "What's your favorite way to go to the zoo?"

Julie: "In a canoe!" [rhyming Fans, rhyming]

Joe: "No! That's no fun! Pick a different way!"

[beat]

Joe [as though realizing he's going to have to spell it out for his dolt of a mother]: "Which car do you like to go in to the zoo?"

Julie said Bronzie, which gave Ted the rhyme with Blue.*

These pictures have nothing to do with this post, other than that they are pictures of Our Hero as he was on this day, in his glory, running about post-dinner and pre-bath, in his underwear (milk was spilled on his shirt and pants during the dinner--when Julie asked Joe a question and he forgot to swallow before answering; really).** Yes, the undies which began the day "stripes in the front," have somehow gotten turned about. Joe was outside helping Ted ferry the recycling to the bins as we prepare for the start of Grandpa Tom and Lynn's State Visit tomorrow. While outside, he had to build a "tower castle." In this second picture, he is saying, "Cheese tower castle!"

*We refer to our cars as Bronzie and Blue.

**For those who follow our gardening efforts, this is also a picture of Julie's meadow rue, that she got at least three years ago at the Friends' School Plant Sale that is held annually each Mother's Day at (insert drumroll!) the fair grounds. It lazed about for three years, nothing doing, and then, this year, it was like Emily Dickinson's Fringed Gentian! (That's a good one, Fans. Google it up!) And THEN, it was knocked clean off at the ground in the "boom echo" storm we had mid-summer. But look at how it rebounded! It is a cloud of little purple puffs!

Feet!

Clara's daily doings report from today said, "Today I. . .had fun exploring my feet! Clara got to take her shoes off and feel the cold floor. Then we painted her feet with brown paint to make foot prints. She crunched up her nose and her toes because it tickled so much. :)" Then, tonight, after Julie had put Clara down for the night and was reaching for the door to the bambini's room to close it behind her, she heard, "Feet?!" And there was Birdie, just as Julie captured here a moment later, grinning like all get out, holding her feet.

Birdie! Boom!

Brigade, Our Birdie is, more and more, every day, her own little creature. Traffic was just crawling this evening, so it took Julie seemingly forever and a day to reach Ted, let alone the KinderCare. We arrived at six, and found Clara in her teacher Ms. Lisa's lap (in the signature pose--was there ever a doubt, Birdie Brigade?), looking--there is really only one word for it--morose. She fades fast at the end of the day, and she is HUNGRY! She leaped up when we appeared in the door and made a beeline for. . .her coat! She was bouncing on her little knees, grunting, hanging on the coat, all "I am Audi folks. My ride's here. Check ya."

Once we had Joe, and were all loaded back into the car, we headed for home. Joe learned the word "traffic" when he asked if we could drive faster. Later, he requested a book. As you know, Dear and Loyal Readers, it is our fervent hope to raise Joe and Clara up as dorks. Lovable dorks. But dorks nonetheless. As this is our hope, and we ourselves are fine dork stock (if we do say so ourselves), we do always have a book or two in the car. So we broke out "First Words" which opens of a pictures of a Girl ("Like Clara and Mommy!") and a Boy ("Like Joe and Daddy!"), and Brigade, wouldn't you know, Our Birdie, upon hearing and seeing "Girl," was all boom! with her finger, pointed right to herself, and then to her pants, and then to her socks and shoes, in turn. This morning, we exclaimed over a yellow pick-up truck and a big rig we passed on our way to school, and there, too, Birdie was "boom!" with the finger. Picture a very sharp and precise extension of the arm with one little finger most deliberately extended and you've got the "boom!" Birdie point.

In short, she is totally catching on to just everything--this includes, we have been wanting to mention, catsup, into which she will dip her chicken nuggets and the like, just like Our Hero. Who knew?!

Speaking of Itching. . .

Today was Joe's first day in his new pre-school room, Pre-A, as it's know at the KinderCare. (Longtime readers will perhaps recall that confusingly, Pre-A, follows Pre-C.) Joe's teacher is Ms. Kristin, who told us that Joe spent the day reviewing some class rules with his friends, and that he and his friends learned about each other in accordance with their two-week theme, "All About Me!" They practiced using full sentences as they got to know new things about each other. They also marched around the room singing The Ants Go Marching. And you think you've had a busy day!

When we arrived to pick Joe and Clara up, we learned that there had been one reported case of everyone's favorite--absolutely favorite!--childhood and school days pest: lice. So besides collecting Joe, we also collected his blanket and jacket which are currently being washed in hot water.

Signs of Fall

Fans, you will no doubt notice two things about these pictures:

1. Birdie is sporting a bird hat that is too cute for words. This hat comes to Clara courtesy of Kendra who happened upon it while in the Pittsburgh airport recently. What you cannot see is that inside, it is lined with a bird be-decked fabric. (As if the green pom-poms weren't enough!) Birdie is fond of taking the hat off her head, but she knows that a hat goes on a head. We know because she will point to her head whenever a hat comes up. Generally, she's got all the heading-out-the-door accoutrements down. You know more begin to say shoes than she is on it! She collects her shoes, she gathers her coat, she grabs the hat. Once outside, she will man the steps in the middle of the walkway herself, thanks. She plops right down and scoots on down, one, two, three. She is a model of efficiency in the morning.

2. Birdie and Joe are in fleeces and Joe is sporting long pants. It's true. Fall is upon us here in the Great White North. This makes for some of our loveliest weather--chilly-get-yourself-a-warm-beverage mornings, cool-sleep-with-the-windows-open evenings, and temperate-walk-to-lunch afternoon. Joe is also sporting his fall kicks. (Mainly this is because his sandals possess a horrific stench. They remain in our home in case we still have a warm day or two, but Julie is itching--itching!--to throw them away.)

You're a Bagel, Poopyhead!

Sometimes, after Julie reads Joe books, she chit chats with Joe. Sometimes, it's because she has something specific she wants to talk to him about. Such was the case tonight, when she wanted to rediscuss why we do not call anyone, especially our sister, a poopyhead. It was bound to happen, given the currency of poopyhead right now at the KinderCare, and the fact that Our Hero is, after all, three.* When we went into their room after nap, Joe was gleefully calling Clara a bagel. Yes, Fans. You read that right: a bagel. The bagel label was reprised at dinnertime and followed by a quiet, sort of experimental poopyhead. It was so soft that Julie almost didn't hear it and so when she said, "What did you say?" she half meant it literally. Ted was at the table though and between his response and Joe's immediate shrinking into himself, Julie deduced that he had in fact called Clara a poopyhead.

So we reviewed why we do not call others poopyheads, especially our sister, which we are very lucky to have. Joe admitted that he did not want anyone to call him a poopyhead. Julie said if that happened, he should ignore it, figuring it is never too soon to teach the "be a bigger man" lesson. But it is, admittedly, a tough lesson when one's little man is so little.

After the Poopyhead Summit though, Julie asked Joe what his favorite color was, and his favorite animal, and his favorite thing to eat. The answers were blue and purple, a giraffe (because it's big), and chicken nuggets (revised to chicken nuggets a birthday cake after we called up to Ted to ask him what his favorite food was, and he said cookies, to which Julie said her favorite food--if we were going in that vein--was birthday cake). He delivered these answers while bouncing around the sofa, periodically saying, "Who do you think you are?! Queen of the Trampoline?!" (from Olivia), and "Are you kidding me?!", this last, also apparently, all the rage at the KinderCare.

We are not kidding you, Dear Bagels, about any of this.

*"As sure as prehistoric fish grew legs

an sauntered off the beaches into forests

working up some irregular verbs for their

first conversation, so three-year-old children

enter the phase of name calling."

From Child Development by Billy Collins. The same port who brought you the snippet from the August 15 post, Late Summer, Early Evening.

Ballerina Bird?

After the post-State Fair nap, the boys headed off to Whole Foods while the Birds stayed home and folded the week's laundry. Birdie was initially sashaying about in her skirt sans top (which had gotten covered in catsup at the fair) looking, Julie thought, every bit the dancer. It was largely to do with the skirt, but still, Birdie will sometimes place her leg out in such a way that she looks like she's doing a kind of barre work. She is, moreover, as we have written here, very, very confident with respect to what her body is capable of; moves with lots of assurance; and seldom falls.

After the Julie had folded some of the laundry, and Birdie had gotten tired of watching that and dragging her blankets on the floor, the Birds headed inside where Birdie wanted to read some books on the couch. As we have recorded here, Birdie likes to pick out the books read to her, so she was sliding down off the couch to gather a new tome as Julie finished each previous book. Birdie does not turn and back off a piece of furniture, reaching for the floor with her feet. Instead, she makes to get off just as an adult would, reaching for the floor a bit with her feet as she goes, but clearly only to compensate for her height. Julie kept reaching out to help Clara, and Clara kept looking at Julie sort of bemused as if to say, "Mom. No worries. I got this."

So often Julie looks at Clara, and at Joe, and thinks already, we can see so much of who they are, and she always wonders what they will do in life, what they will be.

Clara and John Deere | A Story in Pictures

The keys are in the ignition, right?

"She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line."

sissy cab

Could Not Be More Darling, fig. 1

Signature Pose

Our State Fair is the Best State Fair

Saturday we headed across the river to the fairgrounds, "Where Minnesota Gets Together!" We kicked off State Fair 2011 with a mocha on a stick and, thus fortified, we headed for the animal barns via the DNR Fish of Minnesota pond. (That's the Department of Natural Resources fish pond to you non-natives. When you live in a state like Minnesota, where the local public radio station has like, three weather people on staff; a special weather report on Fridays; and boating, fishing, and hunting news is often reported in the top half of the hour during these seasons, you get to know your DNR acronym.)


First up was the pig barn because really, you can't walk about the fair without some funny animal headgear. (Cabela's--all things sporting and hunting emporium--was giving away headgear with big fish on either side.) Pig ears procured, we motored on.

Now Fans, if you want to wake yourself up, what you need to do is make sure you visit the chicken barn before 8am. In a word: LOUD. Cock-a-doodle DO! We made the rounds of all the barns except the horse barn, in which Our Hero expressed no interest.

Maybe we should have pressed it because he also initially expressed no interest in stopping to check out the John Deere equipment before getting into the spirit of it all. Birdie, on the other hand, was all, "Who is this John Deere, and am I old enough to date? Because JD has some pretty sweet rides." We spent a pretty long time checking out the tractors, front loaders, back hoe loaders, and lawn mowers. (While Clara was busy kicking the tires on a tractor with an enclosed cab, Julie overheard one man tell his lady companion that was the sort of tractor he wanted, "But without the sissy cab." His lady friend pointed out that the enclosed cab would allow him to work in air conditioned comfort. Apparently being smart and cool is the new sissy.)




From there, we made our way to a children's farm. We'd like to tell you what this all entailed, but so far as we could tell, it entailed a whole lot of waiting in line to walk through, for example, a silo. So even though Joe was all decked out in an apron, grasping his silver bucket, we made like the donning of the apron and gathering of the bucket was the attraction there and split for the food building where we had lunch before heading home.

Of Ear Infections, Sprinklers, and Running

Friday found us back at Dr. Harrington's office, as we had been thinking that Clara was still not acting her usual self after her course of Amoxicillin for the ear infection in her right ear. As before, Dr. Harrington had no more put the ear-look-y-in-y-scope in Clara's right ear, than Birdie wailed for all she was worth. Dr. Harrington pronounced Clara's ear "red and pussy;" in other words, still infected. So Bird is on the broader spectrum Augmenten, with which we are (and longtime Fans will be) familiar from Our Hero's ear infections travails. Augmenten is chalky tasting, and has the added bonus feature of increasing the likelihood of messy diapers.

When we got home, Ted had the sprinkler going, which provided a welcome and mesmerizing diversion for Julie and the bambini while Ted made the bambini's dinner. First though, we watched two UPS trucks scamper through the neighborhood making deliveries. (In this still shot, we should tell you that Joe is saying "Cheese delivery truck!")

Both Joe and Clara scampered in and out of the furthest reaches of the sprinkler, and so it was all very charming early evening and late summer fun when our neighbor across the street called hello and then dashed off. (Some of our fans will know that our neighbor is always "dashing." There is simply no other word for it. We have never actually seen her walking. She is always dashing. Often, she is flat out running.) This prompted Joe to say--towards the end of the video clip--"Why does she run?" This unprompted, but hugely observant question caused Julie and Ted to laugh silently, but uproariously.

Babar

While Clara was getting a bath, Julie and Joe were in the basement switching the laundry. Upon their return, Joe was carrying Babar who had previously been sitting on a basement shelf. Babar then got a tour of the upstairs where he wrestled on the bed with Ted and Joe, then he watched Joe do a puzzle with Julie before being carried into the bathroom to watch as Joe brushed his teeth and took a bath. To get the full experience, Joe decided Babar needed to put on underwear (stripey in the front!) and pj's. So here is our Hero with a Babar all ready for bed. Eventually Joe took back his underwear and pjs and the two went off to bed to join the rest of the zoo.