Jack-O-Lanterns!

Today, we also made jack-o-lanterns! (Jack-o-lanterns are different from pumpkins, and if you are fuzzy on the difference, Joe can explain it to you.) Ted scooped the innards out of the pumpkins while the bambini were napping, and after they woke up, we carved. Well, Joe, Ted, and Julie carved. Clara stuck the marker we gave her to draw on the pumpkin in her mouth. Oh, eventually with the cap off, Brigade, with the cap off. (Tears were shed when it was taken away.) Ted carved an owl into his*, while Julie and Joe went the traditional route--and both happy jack-o-lanterns. The bambini looked so cute, sitting there are the table in front of their pumpkins, each pumpkin bigger than their respective heads. After we were done, Ted set the jack-o-lanterns up on the porch, and then lit them up after night had fallen. They work! So we're set for tomorrow.

*Julie was so skeptical when Ted brought this pumpkin carving kit home. She was remembering the orange plastic knives of, apparently, yesteryear that worked not at all. Pumpkin carving kits have come a long way. Ted's pumpkin is clearly the most spooktacular.

And Then (Again). . .

And then, the sun comes out again. Today was rather lovely. While Ted made waffles, Joe flittered around on the floor, and Clara flittered around on the bed. She has long been able to climb up the step stool by Joe's bed all by herself, and when she saw a bin of clothes from the closet, some of which Julie was transferring to a dresser drawer, she climbed on up and was in it up to her elbows. By the time it was all over, she was decked out in her diaper and pajama top, with her fleece, and swim shorts.

We took Joe and Clara on a playdate, where they behaved so well, we might just very well be asked back again! We went on a "pumpkin [bike] ride (which is when you ride about the neighborhood on your bike or in your buggy and look for pumpkins). While Clara was taking a bath, Julie ironed, and Joe did his 48-piece dinosaur puzzle all by himself, at her feet, with such focus. . .Fans, you should have seen him. You should have seen him!

And then, Julie was sitting down at the computer to write these posts, and as Joe was heading down to take his bath, he turned at the top at the top of the stairs, came back, and gave her a hug. No words.

No words, Fans. No words.

Birdie's First Fit

We have been meaning to report that we are fairly certain Clara had her first official tantrum this past week as well. It was in the always thrilling weekday, pre-dinner minutes, and Clara was busying herself ferrying the bambini dinnerware from the drawer under the microwave to her place at the table. By the time dinner was ready, she had a good amount of the drawer's contents on the table. She was very, very busy. Ted took her off to wash her hands and Julie began ferrying everything back to the drawer. She was just almost out of the dining room with the last load when Clara padded back from the bathroom and saw her. Birdie wailed, and pitched herself down to the floor. Julie picked her up and strapped her into her high chair, where she wept and wailed for less than a minute more before tucking into her dinner.

Having survived yesterday, Clara's display, in retrospect, seems amusingly charming. One almost feels sorry for her, she has such a long way to go. One almost wants to say, "Oh, Birdie. You have to crank that all up if you want to get anywhere with it." Maybe Doh will school her.

And Then. . .

And then, they were up. Yesterday afternoon, despite the fact that clearly--clearly--all any of us wanted to do was pitch a fit before curling up in a ball with a blanket and waiting for the next day, we had to head to pick up a book at the library and go to Home Depot. Joe informed us that he did not need to wear a coat. We said he did. He said he did not. Julie said if he did not wear a coat then he would stay home, with Mommy, and just Daddy and Clara would go.

Joe called Julie's bluff. But, she wasn't bluffing. Ted and Clara left, and Joe. Flipped. Out. Holy buckets, and cabooses, Fans. He SCREAMED. He tore up the stairs. He pounded on the walls. He pounded down the stairs. He ran out of the house. He kicked as Julie hauled him back in. He screamed some more and toys around.

There used to be some small and furry woodland creature that lived in or at the foot of one of the downspouts in the backyard. One day, Berenice and Raleigh caught sight of it as it made a beeline for home, and proceeded to nearly tear the downspout off the house in their zeal to nab this undoubtedly terrified scrap of fur.

Joe's tantrum sounded a bit like that. It was truly, truly, really epic.

Julie was in the kitchen doing the dishes, and furiously thinking, "Are we too strict? Did we make the right call? Should we draw such firm lines?" and so on in this vein.

Periodically, Joe would present himself to Julie in the kitchen, and say, "I have my listening ears on and my lip zip." (Presumably, "zip your lips" or something like this is said by the teachers at KinderCare since it's not something we say.) Julie would tell him that was wonderful--and go back to washing the dishes. And go would go back to screaming.

But then, he came to Julie, and of his own accord, said, "Mommy, I'm sorry. I'm ready to make a cision," by which he meant, "decision." After Julie had doped out what a "cision" was, she asked him just what that was. He said he wanted to go to the library and Home Depot. As he had long ago put on the coat, and Julie felt the point had been made, and well indeed, off we went to find the rest of our little Ekkers tribe, already headed to Home Depot, as it turns out.

And then the day was done.

A Trying Day in the Good Life

Life with toddlers. Settle in. And Fans, you should settle in, too.

Today began at approximately 2:30am, when Birdie woke squawking. Last weekend's "touch of a sore throat" is this weekend's "touch of a cold." Poor thing. She had dried snot all over the place when we opened the zoo door. Truly, we are living with zoo animals. We relay a gem of incident which happened, actually, earlier this week, as evidence and exposition. Joe was at the potty one morning, peeing, while Julie brushed her teeth, and Julie watched as Joe slowly glided his wee to the edge of the bowl and began peeing on it, such that pee was dribbling down the left side of the bowl. A flabbergasted Julie quickly spit out a mouthful of toothpaste to exclaim, "Joe!" Joe replied (whined) that he wanted to pee on the side. Indeed. What life must he like to have, to the three-year-old mind, the equivalent of a garden hose attached to one's body. So, we live in a zoo, quite literally it sometimes seems.

This morning, after Joe had pitched a fit (and various battles of the wills had been pitched) about getting dressed (he did not want to wear the shirt he'd just picked out), getting his toe nails trimmed (the day he can self-groom truly cannot come fast enough), and putting on his socks (he DID WANT TO DO IT, all evidence to the contrary), Ted said he would take the bambini to Target so Julie could get ready in peace and quiet. Off they went. Julie thought she would quickly vacuum and mop since it is really so much easier when the house is empty of all save Berenice. She was dashing about putting things that live on the floor on top of furniture and the kitchen countertops when she saw Ted's wallet, and phone, on the kitchen countertop, too.

She spent about a minute wondering if he would realize before reaching checkout, and how she might reach him, before hoping in the car and speeding off to Target. Omnipresent in her mind was the chance that Ted might not realize he'd left behind his wallet until checkout. She arrived at Target and didn't see Bronzie in the parking lot, but headed in to the store anyway to case the joint. Perhaps you are already ahead of us here, Fans: Ted and the bambini were nowhere to be found. At this point, Julie decided to hold position. After a bit, she thought she might call and leave a message on the home phone. So she called the house--and we do not make this up; you cannot make this up--at the exact moment Ted was calling her cell phone. After the whole o-kay-I'll-call-back-no-you-call-back-no?-o-kay-I'll-call-back shuffle, we connected. Ted said "Are you at Target?" Julie said "Yes." (We did laugh.)

And Fans, it's not even 9am at this point.

By noon, Joe had been wrestled into his car seat following music class (epic), wailed the whole way home ("I want to do good behavior! I want to do it myself! I want a song! I want to go the crazy other way!"), tried to wriggle free of his car seat straps, and banged all about the downstairs after being wrestled out of the car and into the house. Clara, in case you are wondering, sucked her two fingers and fell asleep in the midst of all of this.

Now, the bambini are rousing from the afternoon nap. Julie can here Clara chirping "Doh? Doh? Doh?" from her crib.

You can't help but smile, despite everything. And then there's this: the moment at the end of music class when Joe looked about for Julie and realized she did not have a handle to hold on the parachute to help fling leaves up and down, and finding her, said, "Here you go, Mommy," and made room on his handle.

Trick or Treating At Target Headquarters

Yesterday, Ted picked Thomas the Tank and his erstwhile sidekick, Garden Gnome Girl, up from school early so they could go trick-or-treating at Target's headquarters. Target's headquarters, as some of our readers know firsthand, and as many others may suspect, is in a sky scraper.* Ted works on a rather high floor of it, so the stairs were not going to be an option. But Joe is apprehensive about elevators. He's been in them before, but was perhaps too young to register those experiences. The weekend of Julie's birthday, when she and Kate took the bambini to music class, we parked in the parking garage on the second floor and took the elevator down. Julie thought Joe was on the verge of revolting then, but he didn't. Nevertheless, Julie was not surprised the next week when Joe flatly refused to get in the elevator. This is all to say that the path to trick-or-treating at Daddy's work included an elevator and we needed to do some prep work.

So we discussed it over "family dinner." We covered off on how neither tricks nor treats could be had if Joe did not ride the elevator. We decided that he might be afraid, but if so, he could hold Daddy's hand. By the time we'd talked it all out, he actually sounded excited at the prospect of riding in the elevator. But then he didn't.

So who knew how this adventure would go down. Ted was prepared to make ready all preparations and launch the mission, only to abort at the elevator doors.

We will not keep you in suspense. Our Hero was a champion. He asked for Ted to hold him, but he rode the elevator up. (Birdie pressed the red emergency call button, naturally.) The dynamic duo were, according to reports from the field, a huge hit. Clara, in particular, who motored from treat bowl to treat bowl gathering loot for for bucket. She does, as her legion Brigade will undoubtedly recall, love her a gathering activity. Joe called Julie at work and reported on all the sights he'd seen.

Then, he rode the elevator back down. This time, he pressed the button.

*Have we mentioned yet that we have been trying to elucidate for Joe the difference between a sky scraper and just a tall building? Say, like the apartment building by the Whole Foods that is maybe 20 stories tall? (And we haven't even gotten to floors of buildings being called stories. Oh this English language. . .)

Of Fall Festivals, and I Love Yous

[Editors note: This post was written last night, but not posted due to "internal errors" preventing Blogger from attaching pictures to it. So pretend it was posted last night and the timing will make more sense.]

Fans, we have much to report, but the troops are sleepy. Well, some of the troops are sleepy. We'll see how far we get.

As longtime readers know, before heading upstairs each night, Julie goes into the bambini's room and gives them one more pet each and says, "I love you Clara Jane Ekkers," and "I love you Joseph Trump Ekkers," as she does. Tonight, when she went in, Our Hero was still awake, so she stretched out next to him for a bit. But, she knew if she realy wanted to sleep, she shouldn't linger, so she told Joe she was headed upstairs to put on her pajamas, and she'd see him on the flip.

Before all this though, things were a little crazy-making. By things, we mean Thing 1 and Thing 2, and the Fall Festival at KinderCare. The Fall Festival is a shindig put on by the KinderCare staff at the KinderCare. Each room is a different sort of station, and costumes are welcomed. We did not go as Birdie's bedtime is still on the early side, but legions did. Parking places were in short supply, and thus was patience by the time one had actually parked one's car. Joe and Clara both wore their costumes to school today. Clara was a garden gnome and though a reporter is meant to be unbiased, I think we can all agree that she was darling, Darlings. Joe was Thomas the Tank Engine. Chugga chugga!

Anyway. Clara's costume meant she had another hat. She does love a hat. She wanted to hold them all on the way out. It took Julie longer than it should have to dope this out. Really--much longer since Clara was in her "I'm pissed!" crouch, with her little face all screwed up, and saying "Nah!" (No!).

[Birdie is not upset in this picture, but this is her crouch. Small but mighty quadriceps!]

Meanwhile, after one tears Joe away from whatever activity he has always, naturally, just begun upon one's arrival, one begins the hunt for Joe's belongings. They are strewn across multiple rooms. It is, however, never a mystery where his coat is. One knows it may always be found in the pick-up room--in a heap on the floor with all the other coats. (The pre-school and pre-K rooms go outside just before the kids are shuffled into their respective pick-up rooms, so the coats are just piled on the floor by the door. Hats and mittens are tossed there as well. Good times, good times.)

And so, getting in, and out, of the KinderCare today was something of a spirit-fatiguing battle. Once home, we sat down to family dinner. Perhaps the best part of family dinner was when Joe announced before Ted and Julie had even sat down, that he was done. Why? Because Our Hero gathers no moss and had already nailed down that he can have one of his treats from the round of trick-or-treating that happened in the morning at school today. Fortunately, Ted and Julie gather no moss either and were on to this like white on rice. Dinner was thus peppered with "Are you all done?"

Here's the point, Fans: by the time Joe was being tucked in, we were ready to be tucked in as well. And that, Fans, is when Our Hero decided to say to Julie "I love you, Mommy." As Ted said once the door was shut, "He knows how to pick his moment."

See you on the flip, Fans.

Birdie's (Fly) Coat

Of late, when we have been collecting Clara, we have been collecting her coat from her cubby instead of the hooks beneath the cubbies. We had been thinking it was there simply because Clara loves to try to put on her coat and all her cool weather accessories. It had not been unusual to arrive and find her with one arm in a sleeve (the wrong one), the rest of the coat flopping about in front of her, as the pick-up milieu swirled about her. But it turns out, as Ms. Katie informed us tonight, that all of Clara's cohorts love her coat, too, so they put it in her cubby to quell any burgeoning raucous over it.

It is a pretty fly* coat. Just this past weekend, we had Clara into the pediatrician.** It happened to be Dr. Harrington's turn to staff the Saturday clinic, and longtime readers will recall just how enamored of her we are. So, imagine Julie's internal delight--cartwheels!--when Dr. Harrington commented on Clara's coat! Specifically that she had wanted to get the same coat for her daughter but when she arrived at the store, they were out. "Yea!" Julie was thinking. "Dr. Harrington liked the same coat I liked! For sure we would be BFF if it were appropriate."

*The author of this post would not that she does not know if "fly" is still au current. But she would further note that it is apropos given Birdie's nickname. The author intends to bring it back, if it is out.

**As it turns out, Clara is peaches and cream. She does not, in any case, have an ear infection. She does, however, have teeth coming in, which is why she cannot settle, looks like 10 mils of bad road in the morning, keeps trying to cram her fist in her mouth, and dig at her little ear with her little finger.

Wrestling

Also all the rage: wrestling. So much so, that this morning, Clara tackled Julie. It's true. She's a tough. The Birds were "on an errand" over at Connor James' house. (We couldn't very well tell Our Hero that we were visiting Sara and Graham's brother because Derek and Graham were in Texas visiting Derek's family. "On an errand." Much safer.) Connor and Clara just stared at each other in their respective athletic gear ("Nice red track pants, Connor. I like a man who isn't afraid to be bold." "Thanks, Clara. Your outfit's pretty awesome, just like your shirt says.") and mooned about for a while, but eventually, they prepared some pretend breakfast for their mothers in the pretend kitchen and toddled around after one another. Connor kept going into the secret toy cupboard. Clara was always hot on his heels, even though really, at just a few days shy of 18 months, she's really too young for spin the bottle. As it turns out, there were mega blocks in there. After they were hauled out, Julie was lying on her belly making a tower (what else?) when all of a sudden, Clara had pitched herself onto Julie's back! Attack! Oh, Birdie thought she was something (which she is).

But we must also report this: tonight, when Julie was chatting with Joe after reading stories, she asked him what his favorite part of this weekend was. Now Fans, it was quite a hit parade: music class, a Halloween part at Marco's house, Celebrity Babysitter Sara coming over, yogurt (both mornings), hanging out with Dad helping him do all kinds of things, a bike ride--to the park. . .Here was Our Hero's answer: "Wrestling on my bed with my sister Clara."

For Abuelo Tom and Tio Scott

Ted has taught Joe how to count to 10 in Spanish:

Car Songs

We have been meaning to report that of late, Rainbow Connection, off the new, multi-artist Green album, which features tunes from The Muppet Show performed by contemporary artists, has been all the rage in the car as we make our way about town. Joe is clearly trying to memorize it, and he's well on his way. Still, though it's a lovely song, Julie (who doesn't think she's alone in this) thought she might go green if we couldn't mix it up. So, the other morning, we broke out the kids country music CD. Some readers may remember that this is a CD that was often played in Clara's infant room. It features contemporary country hits in which a chorus of wee ones chime in now and again. The cut selected was Little Bitty.*

Fans, Clara reacted with what can really only be described as the physical manifestation of the following thought, "THANK GOD. We have found the rainbow connection. Movin'. Right. Along.**" She was flat out line dancing in her car seat to Little Bitty. The girl has moves, and joie de vivre to spare.

So, we are on a new kick. Hopefully, it will go on for just a little bitty while.

*Chorus:

Well it's all right, to be little bitty

Little hometown of a big ol' city

Might as well share, might as well smile

Life goes on for a little bitty while.

**Movin' Right Along, another cut from Green, which was introduced by saying "Let's just see what comes next on the CD." Joe calls it "Right Along."

Little Man

Fans, we must return to Friday. By late afternoon, it was sunny and more warm than cool. We thought we'd play outside after arriving home, but as we walked up to the house, Joe demurred saying "It's a little chilly outside." Ted said "His mother's son." But, the sun was heading down! It was turning nippy. So we tromped inside. Ted was making dinner, Julie was picking things up, and Clara was motoring around taking new things out. What was Joe doing? Julie found him on the porch, sitting in a chair, with his cup of milk that had already been put on the dinner table at his side. He told her he was "sitting on the porch, watching the cars go by." Little man.

Yogurt: A Breakfast Revolution Whose Time Had Come

Our longtime Fans will remember that the bambini's breakfast at Raleigh House is a selection of fine cereals, perhaps with a banana, and a selection of fine juice for Our Hero, and some fine water for the Birdie. It had become rather a bit of a production in our somewhat slavish adherence to the toddler management doctrine "Give Choices!" When French toast or an egg and cheese sandwich aren't a possibility, Julie's preferred breakfast is yogurt. If she ate it at the table while the bambini were breakfasting on "ceedy" (as it was known in Julie's house growing up), then Our Hero and Birdie would each chirp in their own ways to "try" it, resulting in a round robin with the spoon and the stretching out of breakfast.

In short, things were ripe for a revolution, at least to Julie's way of thinking. So Monday, when Joe led off the morning with his usual query of what was on the breakfast menu, we replied, "Yogurt." It was rooted, at least in Julie's head, in two things: 1. she wanted to eat at the table with the kids without having to serve her yogurt up round robin fashion; and 2. the Wallaby toddler grape yogurt was on sale two four-packs for $5 at the Whole Foods this weekend and so we are awash in it.

Now, you might be thinking (especially after seeing this video) that yogurt makes for a messier breakfast wake. Not so! Joe now rarely spills. Clara does of course, but yogurt isn't a liquid so it stays put where it spills, if it does. Also, one just rinses those yogurt containers out, and the spoons and one is done and done. It's fab-yo-lous.

Joe does love the Wallaby-for-the-wee-set grape flavor. (Think grape bubble gum as a yogurt. Exactly. Narrow target audience.) Beyond this, however, he eats the yogurt we buy for ourselves. This morning, he had strawberry Greek yogurt (the adult version; the little champions version). He likes to do the stirring himself. Given that Greek yogurt is a little thicker, this morning he checked in with Julie to ask if he'd stirred it well. Clara also likes to stir. Her yogurt is served pre-stirred, but she's a careful observer, of course, and so is on this stirring sensation like white on rice. Clara usually has Stonyfield Farms Yo Toddler apple or strawberry banana, but has dabbled in the Chobani Little Champions Greek yogurt very berry flavor.

And so, ceedy has ceded (!) dominion over breakfast.

Urp-ple

So Clara knows a lot of words if one knows what to listen for. And we are discovering, the second time around, that we know better what to listen for. For example, this morning, the sunrise was a really beautiful pale purple wash all along the horizon. Julie pointed out the purple sky on the way to school, and Clara's little head popped up like, "I know that one!" and she said, "Urp-ple." We told her she was wearing urp-ple socks (just like the turkey in Blue Hat, Green Hat!), and she pointed right to her socks like "Yeah, I'm catchin' what you're throwin' people. I'm catchin' what you're throwin'."

T-E-A-M-W-O-R-K!

And what does that spell Fans? Tonight, after we piled out of the car (with relatively little grousing about who undid Joe's car seat straps from Our Hero), Ted went into to start dinner while Julie and the bambini moused around outside. Julie spied a yard waste bag over by the the wild flower garden and realized Ted had started hacking it down, but hadn't gotten to putting the cut down stalks into the bag. So she started gathering them up when Joe asked if he could help. So we all three set to the task, even Clara. It wasn't long before Joe piped up, "This is teamwork!" He was less excited about using teamwork to cheer about teamwork:

Julie: "Give me a T!"

Joe: [silence, looks at mother like she is complete and total weirdo]

But he got back into it with a simple "YEA TEAMWORK!" Clara flapped her arms (and armful of spent phlox), too.

Every so often Joe trots out a phrase like this and you can almost hear his teachers at school saying it. One that comes out more often than others is "This is a good choice!" Sort of a self-affirming pat on the back.

Teamwork. This is a good choice! YEA!

Book Worm

Our Hero also has a new super cool and fantastic shirt for the fall, courtesy of his father who has occasion to wander through the Target store downtown at least once a week it seems. Joe immediately identified Curious George, and maintained that "Curious George" is what the letters spelled (a logical assumption), but he was persuaded otherwise. We have taken to telling him that if he will tell us what the letters are, we will tell him what the words are. He started reading off upside down so "worm" started off with M until we got Joe, and the shirt, turned about.

New Toys

Aunt Kate, Uncle Scott, and Cousin Nick got Clara a "Roly Pop" for Christmas, which we tucked away until Clara was a little older, and for later introduction into the rotation. We broke it out today. We set it in on the floor of the porch while the bambini were napping. After snack, Ted was making bolognese in the kitchen, and Julie was readying herself to go to yoga (or "yogo," as Joe calls it), when when noticed all was rather quiet. There the dynamic duo was on the porch, mesmerized by the roly pop. So bright! So shiny! So roly! So poppy!*

The other toy making an appearance after having been tucked away for months was a kind of puzzle where the puzzle master, if you will, places different colored tiles in geometric shapes (including a trapezoid; Julie had to confirm with Ted that she had labelled it correctly) into board with animals on them. Julie had set this on top of a book shelf thinking she'd break it out around bedtime, but Joe spied it straight away. So we hauled it down, and all played with it. Clara liked gathering the pieces up and putting them in a bowl (that had been serving as, alternately, an owl nest, a monkey nest, and a puppy nest)--a place for everything, and everything in its place! (Berenice also thought this new toy was awesome.)

*Close observers of this picture will note that Clara's shirt says "awesome" across its back. Despite the fact that Julie could probably not relay the rules of a single sport in full detail, she is fond of Sporty Spice athletic wear and thus, thought this shirt was, awesome, and is so happy its moment and season have arrived.

Little Peoples Renaissance

We have been meaning to report that the Little Peoples have been enjoying a renaissance with the Little People. We have a rather large Little People fleet: the airplane, the school bus, a police car, a tractor-trailer, a school house, and a house-house. The airplane, the school bus, and the school house have been in heavy rotation. It was Clara, really, who kicked this trend off. She took the school house out one day and put the little boy, the teacher, and the dog in the school desk, teacher's desk and chair, and playground merry-go-round type thing. Then she took them all out. Then she put them all back in. Early on, she made a kind of desk for the dog by turning the teacher's desk upside down. She is also fond of putting all the Little People into say, the school bus, and then transferring them all to the airplane, and then back to the bus, and then back to the plane, and so on.

Clara's teacher, Ms. Katie, reported this week that Birdie loves to take a whole category of toys out of a bin and put them on a table, play with them, and then ferry them all back. We could believe, Brigade, we could believe it. Birdie is very just so with her play things, by which we mean she seems to be all about the a place-for-everything-and-everything-in-its-place idea. She's really so dear about it all.

The Twirly Tunnel Slide

We took Wolfe Park by storm, too. You see that big twirly tunnel slide in the background there? Fans, Our Hero was all over that thing. He quite literally would just pitch himself down it. You know how many slides will have some sort of bar at the top allowing the slider to grab on to it and swing his or her legs forward before shoving off down the slide? Yeah. Who needs THAT? Not Our Hero. He always went down feet first, but not necessarily on his bottom given that he'd just fling himself into the opening. Ted realized Joe's approach before Julie because he followed Joe up and went down once, too. Julie was at the bottom listening to the racket Joe would make on the way down, sort of vaguely wondering what in the world. . .? But then Joe asked Julie to slide with him, and though Julie is not really a fan of enclosed spaces, she decided to be brave and go for it. Going for it allowed her to witness Our Hero's joyful plunges.

Joe ever so sweetly asked if Clara could slide down with him, but we explained that she was too little for such a big slide. But Clara climbed the steps and went over the weeble-wobble bridge. She swung for a bit, and we all rode a wide teeter-toter while we chanted the first part of Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom. The point, here, is, that Birdie is always game to try and already, is nearly eighteen months old! So before we know it, she'll be plunging down the twirly tunnel slide, too.

The Dynamic Duo Take the TJ's by Storm (and Basket)

This morning, we had no formal plans, so we just ratted around. We went to Whole Foods, and then, to the Trader Joe's before hitting nearby Wolfe Park. We didn't need enough things at Trader Joe's to justify a cart, but did need something to corral the bambini, if not literally, then sort of figuratively. So we asked Joe if he could help by toting the basket. He was game. Clara then of course needed a basket as well. She runs with the big dogs and, she never met a basket she didn't like. (She is fond of taking Julie's mini red toting basket at home and, well, toting it about and filling it with various treasures.) They cut a wide swath through the aisles, and our fellow shoppers were pretty good about giving them a similarly wide berth. Still, we were an unwieldy foursome so got what we needed (frozen peas, sweet potato fries, and honey mango shaving cream) and split for the park.

Pumpkins!

It also would not be fall without pumpkins. The past few years, we have not carved pumpkins, and this year, Ted said he wanted to make some jack-o-laterns. So, yesterday, we headed off to get some pumpkins to carve as Halloween draws closer. We went by way of the library, telling Joe that we were going to "the pumpkin spot," after the library, which led him to inquire if we were going to "the pumpkin library."

Once we arrived at the pumpkin library, the bambini had a good time running (Joe) and toddling (Clara) among all the mums and pumpkins. We picked out four pumpkins that seemed like prime jack-o-latern material, and two little pumpkins, that seemed like prime set-on-the-porch-and-look-festive-and-cute material.

Art Project

Well, Fans, the leaves are now falling in earnest, and would it be fall without doing an art project with some of those leaves? No. No, it would not. So it was that one evening this week found the kinds creating leaf and Play Doh sculptures.

We would be remiss if we did not mention that this art project was born of necessity: we were headed into the house from the car after arriving home from picking-up the bambini. We use the term "headed in" in a loose fashion as Our Hero was protesting. Of late, if Julie tries to unbuckle his car seat straps, he wants Ted to do it. If one of us asks him to take off his shoes or wash his hands, he doesn't want to take off his shoes or wash his hands. Or, he will, but would like for Ted to watch him take off his shoes or wash his hands. (You read that right, Fans. You shouldn't be trying to make sense of all this though. It doesn't make sense. Any sense.) So we were "headed in" by which we mean that Joe was mullygrubbing about something and, necessity is the mother of invention.

Later, Julie and Ted had this exchange:

Julie: BTW, I really like the "art project."

Ted: Um, he was about the burst into tears so I said grab a leaf and we'll do an art project with it!

Julie: No! I really meant nice art project.

Ted: Toddler whisperer. Right here.

leaf sculptures, fig. 1 and 2*

*You guess which bambino made which sculpture, Fans.

Mickey and Minne

Grandma Connie was in Orlando recently where she got Our Hero and his erstwhile sidekick, Birdie, some Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears. Joe's are in baseball hat form, and Joe immediately pointed out that this was a hat "like Graham's," as Graham is known to often sport a baseball cap. Joe wore the Mickey ears to school this past Friday. He thought he was hot stuff.

Clara's Minnie Mouse ears are on a headband, and sparkle from sequins. Birdie loves Minnie Mouse ears as much as Joe loves his Mickey Mouse ears, but the Minnie Mouse ears have been temporarily hidden* because it wasn't long before Clara put them into her mouth and we were worried about her maybe gnawing off and swallowing a sequin. (Sidebar: in this picture, she is pointing to her own ears in response to all the talk of ears.)

No matter though, because Clara also likes to wear Joe's Mickey Mouse ears if she is able. Rollin'-with-my-hommies style.

*On top of the TV cabinet. You remember, Fans. Where we "hide" all things.

The Wild Animal at the Bath

They really are marvelous little creatures, Fans. But they are sometimes rather like savages. Our Hero, anyway (but give Clara some time).

Joe looks ever so Obi-Wan Kenobi (if a brighter, less tattered one) in his hooded towel each night he comes striding out of the bathroom. But we have perhaps, reported here previously, of Joe's penchant for yucking it up in the bathroom in advance of his bath--you know, the smallest room of the house with all the hard surfaces, at the hour when parental spirits are at their lowest ebb? The other night, things had really broken down, and so, when it came time for stories, Julie said she wanted to have a word with our young padawan.

Now, it may be overstating it to say that there was a meeting of the minds at this Pajama Summit, so let us just say that Julie presented her thoughts and would brook no arguments to the contrary. Julie's thoughts were, to begin, that she had overheard a lot of "silly behavior" in the bathroom. It was at this point that Joe, rather amusingly, broke in to correct her: "wild animal behavior." Ah yes. Julie stood most corrected. Let the record reflect that the behavior under discussion is "wild animal" behavior. She continued that she has overheard rather a lot of Joe acting like a wild animal, "a goon," if he will allow (he would--not yet having deduced where this was all going). Julie said that such behavior simply wasn't safe, and it was really hugely frustrating, and so, she was going to be listening, and if she heard what she deemed wild animal behavior in the bathroom in advance of bath, there would be no books.

It was at this point that things came together for Our Hero, and Our Hero did protest. Julie told him that she, too, would be rather disappointed should events take this turn, but that we simply could not be unsafe in the bathroom, and frustrating one's mother and father.

Now, Fans. You may be sitting there, across the ether, thinking, "Oh! Joe! Poor Joe!" Indeed. Here is where we will share with you that it was at this point that Julie asked Joe to apologize to the long-pre-bath-moments-suffering Ted, and Joe, turned into her leg, apparently beside himself. Oh no, Fans. No. He was laughing. Laughing. Oh he thought he was playing us like a finely tuned fiddle. And thus was promptly carried off to bed, where he wailed for all of about a minute (so crushed was his wild animal spirit).

Last night, we are pleased to report that the wild animal acted most tame. Tonight, was just a bit more touch and go. Julie heard a brief burst of consternation from the bathroom from Joe, but then all was quiet on the western front until Joe and Ted had decamped to the living room where Joe put on his pajamas. Some scuffle broke out such that Julie, arriving at the bottom of the stairs, found Joe clinging to Ted's leg, imploring him "not to tell Mommy." Julie had to turn away lest Our Hero see her laughing.

We will not leave you on tenterhooks. Books were read. Joe selected Today Is Monday and Frosty the Snowman. Our Hero does not know it, but he gave Julie her comeuppance as together with the book (and book length) version of If You're Happy and You Know It, Today Is Monday is her least favorite tome from the bambini's library. TIM is an Eric Carle book. Never heard of it? There's probably a reason. This, too, is a singing book. We have made up a tune. Music appears at the back of the book, but Julie, at least, has never been much of a sight reader. Julie doesn't mind the song. It's just that the lyrics are so wanting.* But listen to this! She sings the whole book tonight, and as she was closing it and turning to Frosty, Joe says--and we do not make this up, Fans--"No, you got to sing the song!" What?! Which is just what Julie said through a laugh so hard she was almost teary-eyed. Joe confirmed for her that she must conclude with an encore. She began, was stopped--and again, we do not make this up--and told to be louder. Ha!

Finally, we moved on to Frosty. Better book, better song. Sort of blew Our Hero's mind that there is a Frosty song.

*The final verse:

Today is Sunday

Sunday, ice cream

Saturday, chicken

Friday, fresh fish [clearly, a nod to observant Catholics everywhere; thanks Eric]

Thursday, roast beef

Wednesday, ZOOOP [soup]

Tuesday, spaghetti

Monday, string beans

All you hungry children

Come and eat it up!

O Brave New World

Well, Fans. It's Columbus Day. The day we celebrate a sanitized version of history in which Christopher Columbus discovered a brave new world, and a day on which the St. Louis Park KinderCare is closed for teacher training. So it was that Ted and Julie were both at home with the bambini. After the bambini woke up from their naps, we biked off to the blue park where we wound up our time playing in the leaves that have already fallen off the nearby cottonwood trees. We packed it in when the sky started to spit rain, and made it home before the rain really began in earnest.

The anniversary of Joe and Clara Jane's Grandma Jane's death is really Thursday, but three years ago, October 13 was also Columbus Day, and so Julie, anyway, often thinks of Jane's passing on this day. Joe and Clara were chasing each other all about the downstairs this morning after we'd had breakfast, screaming and giggling like wild banshees about who knows what, and though they aren't really savages of the sort Shakespeare's Miranda saw, still, Julie was thinking about what Jane would have made of this brave new world, with such really marvelous little people in it.

Museum day

On Saturday Julie was out of commission and off to get a strep test (negative) at the Clinic , so Ted packed up the bambini and went to the Children's Museum. We had a super fun time due mostly to the fact that Joe put on his listening ears and all were healthy. We started in the new exhibit called Story Land where they have little vignettes of various popular children's books (Chicka Chicka, Spot, Snowy Day, and Give a Mouse a Cookie were the ones we knew well). Joe had a lot of fun with the Letter Elevator at Chicka Chicka, and even teamed up with a museum docent for a while concentrating on matching the uppercase letter cards and putting them on the lowercase letter track moving up the tree. Clara tried pushing the buttons but had more fun crawling on top of the exhibit. Another highlight was discovering the snowman materials in Snowy Day. Joe figured the main part out and then Ted helped him with the arms and hat (Clara also walked around with this beret looking thing for a while). We also explored the bus (Joe made sure it would not be moving first) and the grocery store where Joe was the cashier and Ted and Clara brought groceries to the checkout. Lastly we explored the Marsh. Joe climbed into a shell to become a turtle so of course Clara wanted to try as well, but she climbed in through the head hole - it helps being small! Before we knew it it was time to head home - and all followed Ted out the doors without a single whine - which makes a Dad very happy!

Gatorade Girl

October 8, 2011. The day Clara got her first taste of juice. It was actually Riptide Rush Gatorade, but Brigade, that's not milk, and that's not water. You know it. And now Clara knows it. Julie had brought some out with her to the backyard when she came out to watch the bambini mousing around in the sandbox. Clara moseyed on over and helped herself. She managed the cup pretty well, in spite of it being as big as her head, but then she discovered the straw, at which point she all but started mainlining the stuff. Clearly, the Riptide Rush was quite the rush.

Getting Sandy

We are having unseasonably warm days here in the Great White North and so tonight found the bambini outside in (literally) the sandbox in the pocket of time before dinner. Clara was trying to jump, which meant her upper body made like it would if she was in fact jumping, but her feet never left the ground. Joe pretended the sandbox was a bathtub. He informed us that the rocks were the soap. (This, after he asked Julie if she wanted to "get sandy," and Julie said no because she'd already taken a bath.) Otherwise, they rearranged the sand in what seemed to be happy companionship.

Moon to Moon

And in other late, late breaking news from this past weekend, we can report that Joe is pretty into the moon again, perhaps because Aunt Kate and Cousin Nick brought with them Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off To the Moon (which we have read every night since they arrived, and left). It could also be because Ms. Kristin has formally introduced the letter C to Joe and his Pre A cohort, and it has been noted that the letter C looks like a crescent (and, fittingly--in case this is lost on you Fans--crescent begins with a C!).

Anyway. One night, as stories before bed were wrapping up, Joe was about to dissolve into tears over something, leaving Julie frantically casting about for a suitable distraction, when she saw a perfect crescent moon outside the side window of the living room. She quickly pointed it out to Our Hero, who just as quickly had to find The Going to Bed Book (by Sandra Boynton), which features a crescent moon, so he could make the match, holding the book aloft toward the window, "moon to moon!"

J-O-E!

In other letter news, we can report that someone named Joe (with whom we happen to be friendly), is running for St. Louis Park School Board. This is Minnesota, a state in whose inhabitants, generally speaking, have deep affection for a yard sign and political bumper sticker.* So it is that there are signs sprinkled about the neighborhood, and indeed, one in our own front yard, with J-O-E on them. Our Hero was so excited at his first sighting of one of these jobbers that he could barely spit out J-O-E.

*The next time you are a visitor to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, take note, for example, of how many Wellstone! stickers you see as you drive about. It's a lot.

C-U-T-E-S-T | T-S-E-T-U-C

We could not let this week close without reporting on a moment from this past weekend. Before Saturday's music class, we again stopped by the Mill City Farmer's Market down the street from MacPahil . We were settled in at a table on the Gutherie's patio that was across and underneath the Gold Medal Flour sign on what is presumably one of its old mills, and Fans, if there is a letter about to identify, Our Hero is on it. He started pointing at the letters and reading them backwards in reverse sneaky-snake fashion--i.e. R-U-O-L-F-M-E-D-A-L-D-O-G, and then back again the other way such that working from the top down, gold and flour would be identifiable in isolation; and medal would be recognizable working from the bottom up. It is in this way that you can see that he's got the letters, but hasn't quite yet made the leap to words, unless it is one of which he has memorized the whole shape, like Joe. But the world is full of letters, and he really does have it by a string when he's doing up the letters.

This story, though, is also about Our Birdie. As we have reported here before, Birdie modus operandi is keep up with the big kids. So it wasn't long before she had her little arm and pointed finger extended up toward the Gold Medal Flour sign, bouncing it along in time to nondescript noises, that were clearly intended to be letters in 17-month-old-ese. Brigade, it was the C-U-T-E-S-T (and T-S-E-T-U-C).

Coloring With the Big Dogs

Fans, those of you who have been with us when we were Adventures With Joe will perhaps recall Joe's beloved Ms. Nicholle (who really did spell her name that way). Ms. Nicholle was one of the teachers in Joe's toddler room with whom he had the greatest of love affairs, and who wrote daily doings reports with a daily immediacy and heart that has yet to be equalled.

The reports of Birdie's daily doings, for example, are usually written in a kind of "just-the-facts-ma'am" format, with much made of what the class as a whole did, and little mention of how Clara figured in the milieu.

So it was exciting to read today's report about Birdie's day:

"Today I. . .had a very good day! Clara was so happy to be outside today. Her [sic] and her friend Lucas had fun going down the slide together and crawling under it too! At group time we learned about Earth. We read 'I Love My Earth.' We also used our number chart to count from 1 to 10. Then Clara colored a picture of Earth using a blue and green crayon. She loves to color!"

See?! So many revealing details! As to this last, we can report to you via our stringer in the field on Monday (a really great guy named Ted), that Clara does indeed love to color. Ted reported that when he arrived at school that evening with Clara to collect Joe, Clara was sort of hanging out by the door for a bit. Some of Joe's classmates ("the big kids") were coloring at a table. It wasn't long before Clara made her move. Ted said she walked over and sat herself down all, "I know what to do here, thanks." (He also reported that naturally all the big kids had to sort of sniff around and mark her paper. Big kids? Big dogs?)

Reunited!

Fans. Gorilla is BACK! We went to Whole Foods after nap, went to the service desk and explained our dilemma, and they riffled through a big crate of stuff, and at the bottom was a little gorilla! Clara grasped gorilla and we were outta there! With our spirits raised, and the temperature around 80 (shorts in October!), we headed for Wolfe Park to eat some animal crackers (sent to us in a box of presents from Grandpa Tom and Lynn!) and drink an icy drink from Starfox. After snack and playground time, we marched up the hill to collect Joe from school. Upon our arrival Joe was working on a puzzle*...and we all know how he loves his puzzles, so we waited until he was finished. Meanwhile, Clara saw the big kids sitting at a table coloring, so she sat herself down, grabbed a marker and piece of paper and colored away. The big kids weren't quite sure what to make of the rookie, but after a few very close inpsections and marking her page like a pack of dogs, they left her alone to color. After Joe was finished, we all headed home to have dinner and wait for mommy so we could tell her congratulations on her first day in her new (but temporary) role at work...and then to eat the promised cupcake to celebrate that very occasion! We thank Infant Motrin for this wonderful afternoon.

* The puzzle was "Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh, and it looked pretty tricky!