Photo Shoot

Today was picture day for siblings at the KinderCare. The bambini were decked out in their matching-but-not-too-matchy-matchy finest. You never know how the shots will turn out so we took a stab at home, too.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

It was a rainy cold afternoon here in SLP and we needed a good post-nap activity to occupy both Joe and Clara for a while, so we decided on a PlayDough extravaganza! The whole family got into it. Joe made a big pancake, Clara was mesmerized by the Fun Factory, Julie made snowmen for the kids, and Ted made spaghetti and meatballs - seen here being manhandled by Clara. Much fun was had, no tears were shed, and an afternoon was filled with fun!

Scarf

Joe's class has been listening, of late, to The Lion King soundtrack on CD. Yesterday, he said to Ted, "Did you know Scarf lives in a cave? He's not nice. From Lion King. The CD." For Fans who may not have seen The Lion King movie (and Joe of course does not know there is a movie, and was a movie first), we should say that its villain is Scar.

Creche

The creche is also on display. Ted is in charge of this and Fans, he really outdid himself this year. Certain of our Fans know well that our creche is comprised of a motley crew, ranging from a panda bear to a tiger. Each year, Ted chooses one animal for each of the bambini to add to the menagerie; this year's have not yet been selected. This holiday season, working from left to right, Ted has created the following areas: angels-we-have-heard-on-high, a jungle, a dessert, a meadow, a farm, and a woodland. The woodland area features a lake made of blue construction paper. For our Fans familiar with the creche from its days at Ted's childhood home at Camel Hollow Road, we know that the question on your mind is "Where is the tee pee?" (Now, for other Fans, the question on your mind is "Tee pee. . .?") The tee pee is on the shores of the lake in the woodland area. The baby Jesus in the middle of it all, between the jungle and dessert areas, in front of both of those areas. Our babies visit the creche after their baths and affect migrations of various creatures--just like the Star of Bethlehem did!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

The first words out of Joe's mouth this morning were (you guessed it, Fans): "Can we put up the Christmas tree?" We got it out. While the bambini were awake. From then, until Ted left with the bambini in tow on a cloud of Julie's everlasting devotion, it was a glittery and shiny mess. Joe wanted to hang ornaments, so Clara did, too. Joe is capable of taking some--we stress the word some--direction; Clara, of course, is not. So Joe ferried ornaments to Ted to hang, while Clara got relegated to the carrier, where she was permitted to play with the Rottweiler jingle bell ornament. (She also played with her pink phone which she kept holding up to Julie's ear and saying, "Ello? Ello?!") That fragile peace lasted less than an hour.

After Ted and the bambini left (for Ridgedale mall as it turns out), Julie hung ornaments at a furious pace until reinforcements arrived in the form of Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles. Grandma Connie trims a mean tree, but also has been known to spend a day doing it. Julie told her time was of the essence. Things were pretty well done by the time the bambini sailed back in, but there were enough ornaments for Joe to get his hand in it all again. Julie's heart smiled when she heard Grandma Connie giving him his first lesson in Tree Trimming According to Grandma Connie: the ornament has to dangle freely.

The tree is now trimmed. Julie finished the top up after the bambini had gone to bed. Ted helped after he saw her standing on the arm of the sofa again.*

But before that, and after nap, Clara managed to pull one ornament off, and is rather taken with turning on and off the lights. So although Joe could manage a "gentle touches" rule, and learned the word "delicate" in Christmas seasons past, we feel confident that a "no touch" rule must be the law of the season this year.

Oh but Fans, you should have seen Our Hero tonight, in his pjs, dancing around the tree, counting all the red ornaments as high as he could go, finding the purple one, and the snowmen, and the penguin and so on. Such joy.

*Longtime Fans may recall that Julie was chastised for pulling this stunt "when she was like, nine months pregnant." Let the record reflect that she was seven months pregnant:

http://joeekkers.blogspot.com/2010/02/unauthorized-cleaning.html

Clara's First Full Out Freak Out

Thanksgiving 2011 will also be the anniversary of Clara's first really big tantrum, featuring our Bird, on the floor, screaming, pushing away all within her reach that would make a racket in the shoving, crying (of course), spinning, arching, flipping. . .Poor Birdie. Who knows what was wrong? One moment all is well, and the next was on its way to hell in a hand basket.

Thanksgiving 2011

Fans, we have so much to report from Thanksgiving 2011. Settle in. Joe woke up chirping about. . .Christmas. He is keen to have the Christmas tree up, and Santa donate to him a Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle. You read that right, Fans. There is an organization here in St. Louis Park called STEP, that assists low-income folks with food and necessities and, around this time of year, presents for the holidays. We (by which we mean so far only Ted) have begun volunteering there. As part of his inaugural visit, Ted took some food and two toys Joe had helped choose: a garbage truck and--yes, you were no doubt there already Fans--a Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle. Joe does understand that by "donate" one means give away. But his definition is not yet so refined as to encompass the concept of give away to those with less. And so he has been keen to have donated to him a Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle. Fear not, Fans. The item has been secured and will be donated to Our Hero December 25. (It is perhaps worth noting here that later in the day, when Joe was kept occupied with making a list of all his heart's desires for Santa, his heart's desires numbered but two: the Thomas puzzle, and a fishing pole.*)

Alas, today was only Thanksgiving. We whiled away the early morning hours at the annual Walk Against Hunger at the Mall of America (Read: a good cause and excellent opportunity to let your toddlers tear about the Mall of America at warp speed thus tiring them out at warp speed; Joe tried an escalator! So brave!) with Marco and his entourage. As the meet was at the early hour of between 8am and 8:30am, we had cereal for breakfast. Joe charmed Julie when he brought his bowl to her at the sink and set it on the drain board, announcing, "Mommy, I'm just setting this on the counter because I need to go potty." That's verbatim because Julie was so taken aback by the completeness of thought and expression, she stripped off her dishwashing gloves to grab a pen and write it down. However, there was not a meeting of the minds, despite this clarity. Julie, assuming Joe meant he really had to go and thus was setting his bowl by the sink with a banana peel still in it instead of tossing it in the garbage first, tossed the peel and the cereal dregs and washed the bowl. Joe was rather sad when he returned from the potty, ready to finish the job. He meant he was setting it on the counter, but would be right back. !!!!!

Fans, by now, you may be thinking, "Editors. Get to it!" But we sort of like these little bits. They're really the good stuff, right? Also good stuff: the Grandparents Trump arriveth. Grandpa Charles is having hip replacement surgery in three weeks, and is really a trooper. Somehow, despite it all, he managed to tickle Joe on Joe's bed this morning for rather a long time. He has a cane for the time being, and Joe is quite taken with it. Let us simply say that Grandpa Charles does not deny Our Hero anything. Turns out, Grandma Connie is also rather good at tickling. While Julie and Ted were in the midst of the final moments of the Thanksgiving feast preparations, Joe and Clara were on the porch with their Grandparents Trump and Fans, we don't know what was happening, but the squeals could probably be heard throughout all of St. Louis Park.

And then it was dinner. Grandpa Charles said grace. (Clara banged her plate through it. Give it up for giving thanks!) Now, Fans. You would think that mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup (you know, the stuff you put on pancakes) that are orange would be the biggest hit with the bambini. And Fans. You would be wrong. The clear winner: "that red stuff."** This would be the cranberry sauce. It is good. We use a recipe from Grandma Jane that notes she took it to Thanksgiving at Kate's in 20-something-we-cannot-remember-right-now-exactly. There was also, naturally, pie. Clara ate hers the way she eats cake--i.e. just picks the whole piece up and tries to eat it all at once. The meal ended sort of organically when Clara picked up a remaining hunk of pie on her plate and pitched it on the floor--splat! (Fans, our dinner theater goes up every day. Our show runs 365 days a year. Matinees twice a week in addition to the dinner show. Don't forget to tip your wait staff.)

We mentioned that Grandpa Charles said grace. He did, and he does, and it's always nice--familiar, but unique to the year, too. And as Clara was banging away anyway, we did not, in the end, do as Julie has thought of doing--going about the table to share something for which we are thankful. But, if we had, Julie would have shared what Joe said at some point this weekend: "When we're all together that means family."

To our family, right now in Fayetteville and Santa Fe, we miss you. Happy Thanksgiving.

And here are some pictures!

*Special to Kate: We forgot this! Or at least, I did! Clearly, Joe did not! [Fans, many--all?--of you may recall that Joe was rather taken with a toy fishing pole that was at the lake house we stayed at this summer.]

**Honorable mention to green olives. Julie grew up with a "relish plate" on her holiday table that included dill pickles, green olives, radishes, carrots, and celery (the later three collectively referred to as "rabbit food"). She still likes to do the dill pickles and olives. So does Grandpa Charles. As it turns out, both bambini tried--and liked!--the green olives. Joe also had a pickle. [Special again to Kate: You're cringing, right? :)]

Three Reports, Two Incidents, One Bird (and One Big Red Barn)

Tuesday was a big day for Birdie, Brigade. By day's end, in her folder, in her classroom, she had three reports. In addition to the usual report on her daily doings, there were two incident reports. Incident #1 occurred at 10:45am: "Clara was playing by the sink when another child bit her upper arm." Incident #2 occurred at 4pm: "Clara was climbing on the shelf when she fell and hit her head on the carpet." Here's what happened in between: "Today I. . .made a turkey! Clara had her hand painted with brown, orange, and red paint to make her turkey. We also worked on our colors and read Big Red Barn. Ms. Julie [the Learning Adventures teacher is also named Ms. Julie] came to our classroom today for music class. Clara had fun shaking the bells!"

That evening, Clara was at the shelf picking out a book to read during stories-before-bed-time. She pulled out our copy of Big Red Barn, padded over to Julie with it, sort of pitched it at her like "Let's do this thing," and said--big as life--Big Red Barn. !!!!! Julie almost fell out of the big red chair.

We are pleased to report that Birdie's various wounds are healing up quite nicely. She may even manage to look presentable for school pictures this week.

15

As we have written, a concept Joe is still mastering is the recognition of numbers past 10. We are told he can count in sequence up to 20, and indeed, we have heard him to do so, but it is also true that sometimes, 15 does not exist. We haven't yet acquired a big wall calendar, but Julie remembered that Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever has the numbers 1 through 20 on the inside back cover and so, tonight, Joe said hello to 1 through 10, and, met 11, 12, 13, 14, and--15. After this, Joe said he had to show Julie something. What he wanted to show her, was the school page which--wait for it--has a wall calendar on it--!!!!! Just like his room at school, and which Joe also knew had numbers past 10 on it--!!!!! Pretty cool, huh, Fans?!

"Where is the. . .?" Birdie Style

When Joe was the age Clara is now, one of his favorite things to do during stories-before-bed time, was point to a picture of whatever Julie asked him to find in the big Bright Baby First 100 Words book. Clara knows a lot of words now, so Julie has begun to try this game out with Clara, too. But Birdie rolls differently. After the first few times Julie says, "Where is the. . .?" Birdie takes matters into her own wings, and just starts pointing out all the things she knows, with the word! If she wasn't pointing to a picture while she was saying the words, you might not recognize them as such, Brigade. Flower, for example, sounds rather like "dow-er." Which we smell with our noses so Clara will always slam her nose down onto the flower after pointing to it and saying "Dow-er!" Another word Birdie knows is "chair." Tonight, we found the two chairs in the book (one is on the cover), and then Birdie pointed to the sofa and said "chair." That's when Birdie learned "sofa" (oaf-ah), and thereafter, we were much occupied with tacking down the difference between chair, sofa, and the table, of which there was also a picture on the chair and sofa page.

Sweaty!

As longtime Fans know, Our Hero sleeps with a veritable Noah's ark of animals. Longtime Fans may also recall he used to sleep with his head entirely covered by a blanket, striking panic into his parents' hearts on more than one occasion. This afternoon, he was entirely enwreathed by animals and blankets as he was waking from his nap.

When he finally opened his eyes and popped up, he looked like he'd just gotten out of the bath or had gone swimming!

Cupcake Snow Day

Our first snow day of Winter 2011-12 was also a Cupcake Day. We had a tiny bit of frosting leftover from all the birthday cakes we made in September* and we'd been meaning to make some cupcakes to put it to good use. Joe was pretty excited to wake up from nap to a cupcake snack. He likes for the wrapper to be left on initially, to lick the frosting off, and then remove the paper. The first few times he removed the paper, the cupcake fell apart, and so did he. But now he takes any breakage in stride.

Clara picked her cupcake up and just shoved it up to her mouth. She eats it like a little squirrel that's gotten hold of a nut. So when she pulls the cupcake away, she looks like a clown in face paint!

*It was more than two, Fans. Birthdays and birthday cakes do not have an equal relationship in at Raleigh House.

Leaf Stompers

Far-Flung Fans, there is snow on the ground here in the Great White North. It was predicted, but it's still a little hard to believe in the wake of the long and rather warm fall we've had. But when we woke up, it was still warm enough that Ted thought he would try and gather up a few more leaves. So after breakfast, he and Joe headed out to the yard to do that and Julie and Clara went to Target.

By the time the Birds came out of Target an hour later, the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped. By the time they got home, raking had been abandoned. Joe was busy stomping leaves down in the yard waste bin ("I'm the leaf stomper!").

Naturally, Clara needed to try, too.

About two hours after these pictures were taken, the snow was falling. Raking season is over. See you in the spring leaves!

Cheers!

While Julie was affixing stars to the ceiling and doing a pale imitation of Madonna, Ted made family dinner. (Family dinner means we all eat together at the table, instead of just Joe and Clara with Ted and Julie eating later, usually on the TV trays). Joe and Clara's Great Aunt Susie sent Ted and Julie some wine as a surprise (and what a lovely surprise!) so Ted poured some and after we'd all sat down, he asked who wanted to say "Cheers!" Joe loves this some he was quick to get in on that action. But Clara is never, but never one to be left out or behind or dismissed in any way. She wasted no time in raising her little plastic cup. Here's to Birdie's first raising of her glass (cup?!)!

Lucky Stars

At pick-up today, Joe was excited to show us a package of glow-in-the-dark stars that he apparently received today for being a super good picker-upper and cleaner-upper of the Pre-A room. Once we got home, and in, and everyone has gotten out of their shoes, coats, hats, mittens and gloves, had gone potty, and washed their hands--phew!--we put them up. As we did this, Clara was a little frustrated she couldn't chew on one, so we sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, as well as Madonna's Lucky Star, an early, early hit of off her eponymous album. (Joe looked on in wide-eyed delight hearing this new tune.) Alas, these stars: not so twinkly, not so lucky. The dubious nature of these stars glow-in-the-dark-y-ness should perhaps have been suspected given that they were a dollar, and had no adhesive with which to affix them to the ceiling, but we didn't really think about it as we stuck tape to the backs of all these little stars and got them on the ceiling. Joe seemed nonplussed though and for that, and him, and his erstwhile sidekick, we thank our lucky stars.

Letter Boy

Last night, Julie went to a parent-teacher conference with Joe's teacher. Ted stayed behind again to man the circus. Fans, it will perhaps surprise not one of you to know that Joe is bonkers--bonkers!--for the letters. He has figured out pretty much all of them, upper and lower case, in sequence and mixed-up. He apparently, right now, prefaces every lower case letter with "lower case"--e.g. looking at d, instead of saying "d," he will say "lower case d." A few letters give him trouble: G (occasionally), p (sometimes calls it b), and q (tough; how often does one see a lower case q?). He also knows the sound a lot of the letters make, though he will still sometimes say an S makes not just an sss sound (like Susie and snake), but also a C sound. He's got colors, shapes, and counting, too, down, but he isn't much yet for identifying numbers beyond 10 on sight. We are thinking of getting a big calendar for home, like they have in his room, which will have numbers up to at least 30 every month. Ms. Kristin reports he is a sweet boy, and nice, and though it was fun, of course, to see all the letters and such he's learned, hearing that Ms. Kristin thinks Joe is sweet made Julie's heart swell and eyes tear up a bit.

In a related sidebar, we should report that recently, Joe has been chirping about his friend Nina (N for Nina!) going to an extra class they offer called Phonics Learning Adventures, and even though Julie, despite her love of reading, recalls phonics being decidedly not phun, we thought Joe might have fun with it and so, signed him up!

Of Fridays and Locking Up

In other humorous and charming conversational gambits brought to you by Our Hero, we can report that this evening, when we were very nearly home, Joe announced from the backseat, with increasing excitement, that tomorrow, after he went to sleep, it would be FRIDAY!!!!! And after that, it would be Saturday!!!!! "HOLY! MOLY!!!!! That's a lot of weeks!"

Yesterday, he wanted to tack down just how things would go down once we arrived home. He noted that we would lock the doors once we were inside so "anyone doesn't fall out." Of Raleigh House, presumably.

Road Trip to Heaven?

Also on Saturday, when Joe woke up from his nap, he was wondering if we could go and visit Grandma Jane. We think it may have come up because he happened upon a pair of her gloves that came to Julie when he and Clara were mucking about in Julie's winter wear bin. Julie told him we could not go and visit Grandma Jane because she was in heaven, which was way, way too far away, and that besides, once you go to heaven, you can't come back. Joe didn't touch this last part, but after a moment's consideration, as a rejoinder to the first part, asked if we could drive there. If only, Fans, right? If only. We could listen to our new "Beachy Boys" CD on the way!

Animals Overboard!

We meant to mention that, this past weekend, pitching the stuffed friends off the bed or out of the crib and onto the floor was all the rage with the bambini. We don't know who begins it and whether it is always the same bambino, or if it switches. From the sound of it though, it's a gas. Sometimes Joe will begin to wail. This is usually a sign that Clara has conked out and he is feeling remorseful that one or more of his friends are overboard. It is quite a crew with which he sleeps: Neaky, Sheepie, Teddy, Panna Bear, Kitty (purple), Babar, Puppy, Owl, Little Elephant 1, Little Elephant 2, Monkey, and, recently, making a surprise return appearance, Duck the Pillow Pet. Clara's collection is somewhat smaller, only because we still exercise some control over the migratory patterns of the animals in the basket: Pink Dog, Fluffy, Kitty (pink), Gorilla the Pillow Pet, Little Gorilla, Dollie, and, sometimes, Baby. Here is Clara after nap Saturday surveying the scene which we did not ourselves discover until they'd woken.

Yogurt Stock-In

We're thinking about getting a mini-fridge for the yogurt:

Wacky Wednesday

One of Julie's favorite books when she was younger was Wacky Wednesday. In this Dr. Seuss (writing as someone else) book, a child of ambiguous (and thus perhaps appealing to all genders) gender wakes up one Wednesday to find a shoe on his wall. More wackiness ensues on each page and it is the reader's happy task to spot all the wacky things as he or she reads along. Julie thought Joe might be ready for it, though as they read, she realized that some of the wackiness is subtle (e.g. a mouse chasing a cat) or rather advanced (e.g. a poster labelled George Washington nonetheless pictures Abraham Lincoln). Those bits did go over Joe's head, but he soon enough got into the rest of it. Wherever he'd spot something wacky, he'd say (borrowing, curiously, from another Dr. Seuss book, Hop on Pop): "HOW CAN THAT BE?!?!?!" He may have been all wackity wacksters by the end. Just in time for bed!

The Bambini Take the Winter Wear | A Play in One Act

[The setting is a three-season porch in Minnesota. It is fall, and not yet terribly cold. Late morning. A brother, three (sturdy stock, curious, clearly destined to be a heartthrob) and his sister, 18 months (willowy but strong, also curious, also destined to break some hearts) find some hats. And mittens. And, a scarf. They love these things.]

Clara: Doh. OMG. Mommy has such cools threads! Did you see that purple hat she had on this morning?!

Joe (Doh): I know. That's why I never pull out Daddy's bin. Bor-ING!!!!! I mean, even Mommy's Chicago Cubbies hat is way cooler than Daddy's. Grr Cubby Bear!

Clara: Doh? Doh?! Where are yooooouuuuu?

Joe: I'm right here. Where are you?!

Clara: Hey, Doh! Check it out! I'm like a crazy winter wear Diane Keaton!!!!!

[Scene.]

Fire Fighters!

Big, big news Fans: the fire department is coming to visit Joe's class Monday! In addition to the doctor's coat, we also scored a fire fighter's coat and hat at the after Halloween sales. Joe is set to bring the get-up and his Little Critter's Fireman Joe book to school Monday. Clara has her own fire fighter's coat. Oh, you didn't know that they now come in violet fleece? Well, they did. At least, they did several years ago in the fall at Eddie Bauer.

A Star is What You Are

Pink eye, shmink eye. Nothin's gonna hold this Birdie down! Brigade, she TORE IT UP at music class this morning! Hello, Friends! Duo, duo! She clapped, she shook her fingers down, she pounded and tapped the rhythm sticks, she played peek-a-boo from under the parachute. It was a rhythm day, and "the kitchen day." Don't look too deeply for an explanation. Likely, it was "kitchen day" so that the pots and pans and food shakers that came out made sense, to say nothing of the instrument of the day: the spoons! You read that right, though, Brigade: pots and pans, and the spoons. It was not a quiet day in music class. Holy. Pots. And. Pans!!!!! At one point, our hoarding Bird had piled into Julie's lap the following:

4 sets of spoons

2 pan lids

1 bowl

1 green measuring spoon

1 lemon shaker

and

2 baby dolls*

After gathering all of these items and stacking them on Julie's lap, Clara sat herself down in said lap, right in the middle of it all. She was at her most vivacious and charming, and she was, appropriately enough, wearing her shirt with what she is on it: a star.

*Baby dolls come out no matter what the day's theme is. Again, it is wise not to look deeply for explanations.

In the Pink With Pink Eye

Look at this picture. A vision! In pink! Right?! Oh more than you know, Biridie Brigade. More than you know. Friday morning, before Julie had even reached work, she got a call from Ms. Nadine at KinderCare who told here that Clara's eye looked a little pink? And could she come and get Clara? By the time Julie got to Clara, Birdie's left eye was yes, rather pink. The Birds flocked to Raleigh House in advance of the doctor's appointment to get the official word and eye drops. Snacks were had, sheets were stripped, blankets were gathered, laundry on the hot cycle was started. After all that, it was time to get to the doctor. Despite the fact that Clara was with the pink eye, she looked in the pink, and was rather taken with, oh, everything! (Especially her new pink Crocs.) And that's when this picture was snapped.

Oh: Birdie was in fact diagnosed with pink eye.

Can You Wipe My Butt?????

As we have reported here before, Joe is pretty self-sufficient when it comes to getting his potty business done. But, he is only three after all, and your three-year-old arm is not really long enough to ensure that an adequate job will be done in the wiping department after pooping. So Joe has learned to give it a go himself and since this usually means taking a wad of toilet paper (usually too small) and half-heartedly swiping it in the generally vicinity of his bottom, he has also learned to ask for assistance. This means that at various times, one can hear, "Daddy [or Mommy], can you wipe my butt?" ring out.

Fans, it's hard not to laugh.

Tonight though, it was especially hard not to laugh when, just as Julie had settled into the chair with Clara to read stories, she heard Joe cry out, "Daddy, can you wipe my butt?" to Ted, who was in the basement. Clearly, he was in the midst of something, and while it didn't take him long to get upstairs, it was clear that Joe didn't quite hear Ted who kept calling that he was on his way, and so kept saying, "Daddy, can you wipe my butt?" with increasing urgency, frequency, and volume.

India Food!

This morning, Julie had a mango yogurt. Joe saw the picture of the mango on the front and commented that it looked like a waffle. Julie explained that it was a mango, and that it was common for mangos to be sliced in half, the flesh scored, and then sort of flipped out of the skin. Sensing this was perhaps a bit more than Joe had bargained for, she tried a different conversational gambit:

Julie: "You know where they eat a lot of mangos?"

Joe looks at her solemnly.

Julie: "In India! Where Ms. Manisha is from!"

Joe (with mounting excitement): "You know what they have in India?"

Julie looks at him solemnly.

Joe: "FOOD!"

Joe: "Called India food!"

The Secret Life of Birdie

We had our first "parent-teacher conference" with Clara's toddler room teachers yesterday, too. Well, Julie had it with Ms. Lisa. Ted stayed home to make sure the bambini didn't burn the place down, and we suppose it was Ms. Lisa's turn to do the conferences. In any case, Julie learned that three months in, Clara is now comfortable with the room's routines. Birdie reportedly loves washing her hands. They cannot quote get her out of the sink end quote. She is also, reportedly, very neat. If she drops food on the floor when she's eating, Our Clara stops everything, gets out of her chair, and picks it up. Apparently, she likes to play with the kitchen items (the dishes especially; the yellow cup is her favorite), the books, and the baby dolls. She is also quite the dancer, as we knew.

So Clara, too, now really has her own little world that she navigates without our help. We remember when we realized that Joe was enacting a veritable Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Joe Ekkers?!) every day at KinderCare. Amazing! It shouldn't be, but somehow, it is. So it is with some relish that Julie settled into one of the little chairs last night and asked her two questions: "What is Clara's favorite thing to play with?" and the more open ended "What does she do all day?"

Birdie's First Sentence

As you know, Brigade, Birdie has been spouting new words right and left, and saying old words with increasing frequency (tonight, she proudly pointed to all the boats on the boat page in Things That Go: "Boat!" "Boat!" "Boat!". . .), but yesterday was a red letter day. Yesterday, Birdie strung two words together. In other words, Birdie spoke her first sentence! We were making our way out the door, and it seemed like Julie wasn't going because she was still gathering up her hat and arm warmers (when you live in Minnesota, your winter wear knows no bounds), so from the bottom of the stoop, Birdie looked back and said, "Bye-bye, Mommy!"

Paging Dr. Ekkers

Joe's mind was blown the other day when he said he was a doctor and Ted replied "Did you know Grandpa Tom is a doctor?" He stared at Ted and then walked away. So when we saw a doctor's halloween costume on 75% clearance we snatched it up. Tonight Joe discovered it in his dress up clothes bucket in the new basement play area, so here we have Joe as the next Dr. Ekkers in the family.

Election Day

As the Birds settled in for books before bed, Birdie spied Julie's "I Voted" sticker, slowly reached out, carefully removed it, and affixed it to her belly. Happy Election Day, Brigade!

Days Like This

This morning, as we headed into the bambini's room, Ted laid his hands on Julie's shoulders and sighed, "He's going to yell at us."

We were, admittedly, at a rather low ebb, given the events of Sunday, particularly the hours which followed nap and unspooled in much the same way that the events of last Saturday did. This would be when Our Hero heroically attempted to defend his self-proclaimed right to depart the house without a coat or hat in decidedly fall-like weather. This weekend found Our Hero simply being contrary: no, he did not want to go out for a snack adventure; yes, he did--now that it was no longer an option because of aforementioned contrariness.


Fans, it can be all rather exhausting and spirit-crushing.


As we begin most mornings with some sort of contrary caterwauling that we then have to ignore only to then endure wails and screams for varying lengths of time, imagine our delight when this morning unfurled with the barest of hiccups--namely, the briefest--but briefest!--moment of whining (about it being a school day and thus not a pancake or waffle day and, presumably, not a day when Joe can spend his day giving his parents a run for their money). When Julie was getting Clara dressed, she heard Joe climb down from his chair and issued her one call to get dressed to which Joe replied, "O-kay! But first I have to clear my plate." Then, he got dressed with a decidedly minimal amount of lollygagging. Then, he got himself into his shoes and coat again, with a decidedly minimal amount of lollygagging. Drop off was like a hot knife through butter! A revelation!


And then tonight! Pick-up! A breeze! We rolled our eyes at one another in good humor when upon Ted's remark that we had the rock star spot (as we have dubbed the spot just outside the door), Joe replied, "No, I don't want the rock star spot." He nevertheless trooped to the car anyway. He got in with minimal fanfare. Music was requested (by Clara, signing more) and no fuss was made regarding the selections (Write This Down from Kidz [sic, we think] Country and [Movin'] "Right Along" from the Muppet Green disc). Joe asked for his mother to get him out of the car! UNHEARD OF!!!!! We tromped into the house. Clara reached back for Julie's hand. Hearts may have melted in the moonlight. We came in. We shed coats and shoes in an orderly fashion. Fluffy was retrieved from the porch for Clara by Joe. Hands were washed with NO MULLYGRUBBING!!!!! The pre-bath time was whiled away in happy puttering and pattering.


Now, it is true that as Julie began typing up this glorious chain of events, that she heard things begin to breakdown in the bathroom as Joe's bath was being drawn. Still. Utter derailment was staved off, somehow.


Then, Julie and Joe read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and The Line-Up Book, and had rather a lovely chat about why Julie went to Iowa yesterday (all things in the past are yesterday to Joe), whether Joe liked the slide or swing best (swing), and what flavor of Cheerios we liked best (Julie: fruity; Joe: chocolate).


Julie believes Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was a bit too advanced for Joe, despite it's central message: Mama said there'd be days like this. Too true. But thank goodness there are days like today, too.

Birdie Finds Some New Hats

Now that it's November, we have been making ready for the inevitable onslaught of cold weather. We returned the cubbies we keep Ted and Julie's hats, gloves, and scarves to their wintertime spot on the porch, stage left of the door. Clara wasted no time exploring this new treasure trove.˚;˚˚;......................;;;;;;;///////////////////////////////////////.˚˚lk;kooo;olo;okpolp'pkkkkp

;* Longtime readers may recall that Joe also liked to go through these bins and don the various items contained within them.** Interestingly, Clara seemed to be fond of the three items of which Julie is also most fond: the red hat with ear flappers and a loose pom-pom on top, and a pale aqua scarf and glove duo, both of which date from Julie's law schools days.

*This interlude brought to you by Joe while Julie stepped away.

**http://joeekkers.blogspot.com/2010/03/hats-and-mitts.html

Birdie's 18-Month Well-Bird Exam

Birdie had her 18-month well-child exam on Friday, though she wasn't necessarily altogether all well. Her little nose still looked rather a state, and she's been valiantly fighting a bit of a cold all week. Also, she looked a little crestfallen, because she was: she'd no sooner made to sit down at the little table in the waiting room with all the books then her name was called. When Julie said it was time to head back, Clara immediately pitched herself on the floor and began sobbing at the unfairness of it all.

But she'd perked up by the weigh-in. Since the last official weigh in at 15 months, Birdie has gained three pounds and grown two inches. she is now 26 pounds 7 ounces (78%) and 33 inches (84%). She impressed by pointing to various body parts as they were discussed and putting the "hat" on Dr. Harrington's are-there-puppies-in-your-ears?-looky-scope.

At these well-child appointments, Dr. Harrington always leaves time for one to ask big, open-ended, meaning-of-parenting type questions. (One can always ask them of course, but at a sick visit, one isn't usually given the entree as one is at the well-child visits.) We didn't have any, really, but Julie sort of fumbled her way toward "You know, just, like, is she, doing everything she's supposed to do, or are we missing something important?" As you might suspect, Birdie Brigade, Birdie is doing all she is supposed to do.

Later, it occurred to Julie that really, she was asking "How do you not miss things?" Things fly by so fast, especially with the whirling dervish that is a three-year-old whirling in the background, of which you are also trying to catch a glimpse as he whirls. When Dr. Harington asked if Clara had any words, Julie said yes and rattled them off: moon, more, book, Mommy, Daddy, Joe, puppy. But then later, on the way to collect Joe, Clara saw a bus a crowed, "Bus!" and Julie realized she'd neglected to report all the other words Clara not only knows, but can say: bus, car, airplane, baby, ball, banana, apple, duck, help please, get down, all done. . .mine! So maybe we are not missing so much, except the moment to catch our breath and realize the moments as they are happening.

PJ for CJ

Tonight Clara got into her new fleece footed pajamas, and if she anything like her mother, she will appreciate the head to toe thermal goodness. We had a different pair earlier in the week, but when we went to put her in them, they were so tight we couldn't zip her up! So here she is in her new digs (along with the blue puppy and Mortimer the Moose that she grabbed on her way to read books). You can also see how her little nose got all scruffed up when she fell at school - it's a rough and tumble world out there fans.

I made a zoo!

Tonight after dinner, Joe decided to make himself a zoo. First he gathered up all his stuffed animals and dropped them on the floor, then he collected various object with which to make a fence. We gather there was a school activity recently or he has come to the same opinion as his parents, which is that our house is a bit of a zoo.

Deer

Tonight, on the way home, we saw a deer. After we passed, it dashed to the other side of the road. We were talking about it, and speculated that it must be headed home, too, for dinner. Joe agreed, and then added that it would have to take a bath, and go to sleep, and read books with its Mama.

Moon River

Brigade, Our Birdie was apparently standing on the little sofa in the little library in her room today, and attempted to take flight, and thus has a rather large goose egg in the making on her forehead, and a rug burn on her nose! One of her cheeks is all a-flame, historically a telltale sign of a tooth coming in, so by the time she'd supped and bathed, she was clearly over the day. She suffered one book, and then got down from the chair, looked at Julie, and bawled. Julie took this to mean Birdie wanted to turn in. So Birdie was taken to her nest. Julie even skipped the singing.

When Joe was Clara's age, Julie used to sing to him when she trimmed his nails as a distraction. The standard nail trimming tune is now ABCD (as Joe first called the ABCs--does his still. . .?), but the original nail trimming ditty was The Beatles' Eight Days A Week, for no other reason than it popped into Julie's head one day and seemed fitting.

Clara has a soothing song, too: Moon River. It's almost always broken out at bed time, when Clara is all discombobulated. But tonight, Clara was all, "Huckleberry friend, let's skip it," and drifted off, to sleep.

The Garden Gnome, In Her Glory

Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011 is in the bag (the pumpkin?), and it was about as grand as you can get. As we headed out of the house at dusk, Clara spied the crescent moon, pointed up at it, and said "Moo!" Then, the bambini piled into the wagon and we began our abbreviated and selective tour of the neighborhood, the scent of woodsmoke in the air. Our first stop was Celebrity Babysitters Sara and Emily's house where Emily, dressed as a cat, was dolling out (full-sized!) candy bars. Clara motored up to the doors by herself, hot on Joe's heels, like this wasn't her first time at all. Of course, trick-or-treating is all about gathering things into a bucket and as our Devoted Readers know, Our Birdie, is all about gathering things into a bucket. We hit the twins house on the corner, Graham's old house, Darby's house, and a few others along the way that looked inviting. Between houses, in the wagon, Clara kept poking her little hand into her pumpkin, popping out with something, and then plunging her hand back into the pumpkin to pull out something else.

Once home, Joe said we had to get ready for our trick-or-treaters and ran off to et his pumpkin. Fans, he was all set to offer his candy to our trick-or-treaters! Presumably the confusion stemmed from the fact that many people distributed their candy in the same vessel in which Joe was collecting his candy: your classic orange plastic jack-o-lantern. Once that confusion was cleared up, Joe asked if he could have a treat. We told him he could have as many as he wanted so he and Julie settled in on the porch to wait for trick-or-treaters while Ted gave Clara a quick bath. He began with M&Ms. From there, he moved onto an (organic--we kid you not, Dear Readers) sour apple lollipop. Our Hero maintained he liked it, and Julie thought, "Better you than me, Pal-o."