The Hair Cut Game

Joe and Julie have a new game they play after the read books and before Joe goes to bed. It's called Hair Cut, even though, confusingly, as you will see, the game entails a lot of pretend hair washing. Ted shot this video* yesterday, quite literally as the game had its genesis, and was in the midst of being refined. In particular, Julie had to explain to Joe that water shoots out of hoses, not fire. The way the game goes is this: Julie asks Joe if he knows what's in his hair. Joe says no. Julie says something outlandish like pickles. Joe collapses in giggles as Julie washes the pickles out. Then Joe asks Julie if she knows what's in her hair, and the whole thing repeats, back and forth. Tonight when they played, and Julie needed to buy some time to think of something wild that was in Joe's hair, she embellished the standard exchange with things like "It's unbelievable," and "You're not going to believe this, but. . ." and "This is incredible!" Now, Joe almost always says to Julie, with utmost seriousness, "This is unbelievable." Julie has to admit that the more unusual things are often found in her hair, made up by Joe. Tonight, for example, all three of the following things had to be washed out of Julie's hair: macaws**, leprechauns, and London Bridges. Last night, during the game's inception, Joe returned again and again to "blue sky." Blue sky being in Julie's hair was hilarious.

*Julie is practically whispering since Clara was sleeping, so you may have to turn the volume up. Joe will be loud because his default volume is such that you would assume everyone to whom he is speaking is deaf.

**Macaws are a kind of parrot. The only reason we know this is because they are often featured in the Bright Baby series picture books. Julie has always found this a completely ridiculous label and so always says, "This is a macaw, which is a kind of parrot, which is a kind of bird." Whoever heard of a macaw?! And then here our Hero whips out with macaws in Julie's hair!--!!!!!

Good Times With Pinks McGee

Brigade, Birdie has had a rough go of it lately! On the heels of strep throat, she caught a cold that is still with her, then, she got that nasty bonk on her chin, and then, today, she came down with pink eye! Nothing could keep Pinks McGee down for long though--literally: Birdie's nap lasted less than two hours. Then, she was ready to get back out there. Julie strapped her into the stroller and they took and a long walk around the neighborhood with a break at the playground. When the Birds arrived, there were a fair number of older boys playing (and walking up the slides after sliding down them). Brigade, you should have seen Our Bird! She marched right into the thick of it, and up the steps, and just stared at those boys until it was her turn, and then off she'd go! Here she is doing her thing not long after they'd left.

Keen-eyed observers (and especially those familiar with this particular playground) will note that that last video ended with Clara making her way up the open-with-no-railing-to-speak-of twirly steps, at the top of which is another open slide. She tried these steps just this past Saturday and asked to be lifted off about half way up. Brigade! This video was shot minutes after the one above. Look at her go! The video is rather lengthy, but stick with it to see her identify herself as Clara(2:46), Julie as Mommy (2:48), and cheering herself at the very end (3:39).

After the Rain, Here Comes the Sun

As you know, Dear Readers, we have been endeavoring to have more "family dinners" here at Raleigh House, despite the fact that Joe and Clara's mealtime is generally smoother all the way around if they eat by themselves without an audience. There are some nights, however, where family dinner is not only civilized, but downright charming.* Tonight was not one of those nights.

It's been a while since we've had a tantrum of the two-year-old variety, rather than the three-year-old variety. Both should be ignored, of course, but somehow, it is difficult to remember that fact when one has a pre-schooler bringing the relative youth of the toddler into sharper relief than would be the case if one was faced with just the wailing toddler in isolation, and vice versa. In other words, t is easy to think of Clara, "Oh but she is so little!" and of Joe, "Argh! He should know better!" But really, though Clara is quite little, she often does know better; and Joe, though he does, in fact, often know better, is of course still learning the ways of this complicated world. All of this usual madness was compounded tonight by the fact that Clara acquired rather an awful bonk yesterday**, and has picked up a cold right on the heels of the strep.

Look at that!--!!!!! She's can't be feeling terribly wonderful. In short, it can be difficult to shift gears in the moment, and from man to man, as we try to keep up on the field of play, but tonight, we managed, in relatively short order, to ignore the squall at our feet and, in relatively short order, it passed, and the sun came out in Clara again.

*See the recent post D is for Dork, Dorks, and Dorky.

**Clara was pushing a truck in the hallway, and when it got away from her, she went splat.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

The other night, just after Julie had deposited Clara in her crib, Clara grabbed Julie's index finger on her right hand, and started moving Julie's whole arm back and forth. Julie realized Clara was rowing, as she sang Row, Row, Row Your Boat (and yes, it was a pretty heart melting moment). Boat is not a go-to song for us, so we figure she has picked this tune up at school where it might be a standard part of the libretto in her new, big girl, twos room. In any case, the song (and its attendant motions) is climbing Birdie's Billboard chart.

At the Zoo

At the Zoo, the book, and thus, the song, has been enjoying a renaissance around Raleigh House. Simon and Garfunkel enthusiasts may recall that, toward the end of this lesser-known tune, there is the line "What a gas!" Clara gets into the act by crying out "Gas!" with much glee when we reach this page. Joe, for his part, is trying to nail the whole thing. In this clip, you can hear him practicing (while sitting on the toilet--which is why what you'll see is the bathroom shelf; it's more about what you hear of course).

Buh-dee

Birdie continues to use Daddy indiscriminately, though she does know the word Mommy and correctly applies it to Julie if one asks Birdie who Julie is, and points to Julie. She also, as Devoted Readers know, knows that she is Clara (and increasingly, she has moved from "Air-Ah!" to including a hard C at the beginning). She can also identify Joe, and Berenice (whom Clara calls Nice--like the French city, Boo, or Boo Boo).

Thursday night, she referred to herself as Birdie for the first time! We are keen to capture on video, and especially while she is still most charmingly pronouncing it as Buh-dee, with just a hint of an R somewhere in the middle there.

Planting Seeds

Yesterday, it was 70--or very nearly 70--degrees! So all four of us spent a considerable amount of time out in the gardens.* Much of what we did was drudgery: raking leaves out of the garden beds, raking leaves out of the garden beds, and raking leaves out of the garden beds. Of course, there's also the fun of bagging all the leaves up. We also had to lay fresh mulch down, and put the pansies in the front pot, both of which are actually fun, but come only after hours of messing around with the leaves. Joe was excited to plant a package of zinnia seeds that Ted had brought home. By day's end though, Joe was excitedly eating the newly sprouted chives, showing Clara how to graze on them, too, and both of them were entranced with all the spring and summer toys that had made their way down from the rafters of the garage throughout the day.

So we planted the seeds this afternoon right after Clara went down for her nap. Joe has been learning about plants at school, where they have also planted seeds of various stripes, so he was an old hand at this activity. Last year, his little gardening gloves swam on his hands. Not so this year! He can even get them situated such that the thumb goes in the proper opening. He's all spouted up!

*"Out in the gardens" sounds much more refined, and thus, more fun, than "doing yard work." Having said that, admittedly, today, Julie feels like she did yard work all day yesterday, instead of prattling about in her cutting garden or some such in a floppy straw hat with a basket.

Just a Morning at the Park

This morning, Graham and Connor came over with their mom, and their bikes, and Sara and Julie took all the kids to the park. Graham and Joe both now are riding bikes with training wheels. This was Joe's second time biking to the park on his, and he handled the curb cut outs are street crossings, and the hills, with much more confidence. The other thing that Joe approached with more confidence was the piece of equipment at the park that looks like oversized clock innards. He's tried climbing it before with help and has always turned back. Today though, he quietly tackled it by himself, the way he often will approach a challenge he's decided he's ready to meet. Julie was watching him out of the corner of his eye. She and Joe were both pretty proud when he reached the very top.

Now Birdie is nothing if not confident, perhaps overly so at times. In her mind, she must be at least four feet tall, because she thought nothing of lowering herself from a platform about five feet off the ground. Her feet were never going to touch the ground before she could let go of the platform with her hands, as Clara found out when she did let go and landed with a thud. This hard landing didn't stop her from making like she was going to try the same maneuver from an even greater height and squealing with delight as Julie rushed repeatedly to block her way. Eventually, she found her way to the tall open-top slide. Joe showed her what to do, and then off she delightedly went.

Lunch With Joe

Fans! Oh, Fans. Today, Julie went and had lunch with Joe, in his Pre-School B room, at KinderCare. Oh, Fans. It was sort of epic. Julie was told to arrive by 11:30am, as lunch is apparently typically served at 11:40am, and so, she did. The Pre-Bers were coming in from outside and, Julie doesn't want to brag, but Fans, it was kind of like she was Dora the Explorer or something. Everyone wanted to sit by her. She sat at the blue table* with, of course, Joe, as well as four other friends. Lunch was eggs and potatoes. Julie gathered that this was a choice lunch. The eggs and potatoes were accompanied with apple (red and green) slices, and milk (2%). Julie skipped the milk, but ate one helping of everything else. Joe had two helpings of everything, and Julie can report that he eats the inside of the apple slices, and then the skins.

Mr. Mark remarked to Julie that her presence had brought the noise and energy level down significantly. Julie thought he was being sarcastic.

He wasn't.**

Fans, it is impossible to capture the full flavor of the Pre-B lunchtime milieu here, but picture roughly 20 toddlers about 15 of whom are keeping up a steady stream of questions at TOP VOLUME, while eating, and, bear in mind that one need not be at the same table as the person to whom one is speaking. It would sound something like this:

"What's your name? Hey! Hey! Joe's mom! What's your name? There's another Ms. Julie here. Do you know my mom's name? Do you know my dad's name? Do you know my baby's name? Do you know my mom's name? Do you know my mom's name? Do you know my mom's name? My mom's name is. . .POTATO! Do you know my dad's name? Why aren't you drinking milk? Do you like noodles? Do you like apples? Do you like strawberries? Are you older than Mr. Mark? Are you older than Ms. Vanessa? What's your favorite color? My favorite color is yellow! My favorite color is yellow! My favorite color is yellow, too! I like yellow! Do you have cousins? EXCUSE ME! How many cousins do you have? Ms. Julie! Hey! Hey! How many cousins do you have? I have 40 cousins! I have 60 cousins!*** My mom's name is Potato. Do you know my dad's name?"

Interestingly, Joe said next to nothing, but then, of course, Julie is here to say that one could barely get a word in, and it is true that he is a very focused eater.

Joe knew Julie wasn't staying after lunch, and that he wasn't going with her, and he was o-kay with that until the very, very last moment, which is how Julie knew he'd be o-kay, and he was.

So. Fans. Lunch with Joe and his peeps was awesome. Julie ate everything, and was on her best behavior, so she hopes she gets invited back.

*The blue table is ringed in blue tape. There is also a red table, a yellow table, and a green table.

**Wow.

***Julie has like, 33 cousins. It was the number to beat.

D Is For Dork, Dorks, and Dorky

Tonight at Raleigh House, we had a freewheeling conversation at family dinner about words beginning with various letters as announced by Joe. (Longtime Fans will no doubt recall we are two dorks, endeavoring to raise another fine pair of dorks. This is the kind of thing dorks do at dinner.) It all began with Joe telling Ted that Joe and Mommy do not like unicycles. U is the letter of the week in Joe's classroom, and may have also been the letter of the day in phonics, though it was a bit unclear. So on the way home, Julie, Joe, and Clara were trying to think of words beginning with U:

Undershirt

Underwear

Under (duh)

Undercoat (Joe insists this is a word)

Umbrella (the classic)

Ukulele (the other classic)

Uncle (Like Uncle Scott! Hi, Uncle Scott!)

Uno

Unicycle

There may have been other words. Dinnertime saw us ruminating on U (again), I, N, B, D, F, S, and M. There may have been other letters, too, and those listed are no doubt out of order. Julie thought the best exchange came with M. Ted said Michigan, which led to Julie saying Michigander, which elicited an eye roll from Ted, and an indignant "It's fun to say!" from Julie, which prompted Ted to say "Montevideo!" Minnesota residents will recognize this as the name of a town in the southern part of the state, and fans of Minnesota Public Radio's weather reporting will recognize it as an oft-mentioned town when discussing temperature readings from around the state. This led to MINNESOTA-!!!!! (duh, again)--and all the other M states, of which there are a lot, though we said Mississippi River, rather than Mississippi, as those knowledgeable about the North Star State (or Indigo Girls lyrics) will know that the Mississippi River starts in Minnesota "at a place that you can walk across with five steps down." Our consideration of M closed with a discussion of the difference between monkeys and apes* in the wake of Joe's monkey contribution.

Fans, it was D for dorky, and M for marvelous.

*Monkeys have tails; apes do not. Did you know that, Fans?

Thunderstorm

Tonight in Minnesota, we are having our first thunderstorm of this early spring. Birdie was already sacked out in her nest, and Julie and Joe had just closed their second book and were chatting about what Joe had done today that was fun ("put a book on a bucket"--your guess as good as ours, Fans), when the first rumblings of thunder were heard. Julie loves a thunderstorm, especially if she is tucked up inside, and even more so if night has already fallen and she is tucked inside because it's all ever more cozy then. So she gasped in delight and said to Joe, "It's a thunderstorm! I love thunderstorms!" Joe quickly got into the spirit of things, exclaiming excitedly every time he saw the lightening. Ted came in from the kitchen. We'd not been sitting there very long when the wind blew the porch door open which made us all tromp out to the porch, which is when we realized that we should close the windows. Joe scampered back inside, but in a delighted way. After Ted came back in, he settled in on the couch, too, and turned off the light so we could better see the rain pouring down. Before too long, Joe said he was ready to go to bed, and off he went, on his "own two little feet" tonight.

Yesterday evening, Joe and Ted were tracing sailboats from Clara's old Black on White and White on Black very first board books, which led Ted to comment that there were a lot of things he'd been privileged to do growing up, that Joe probably wouldn't get to do for one reason or another. That's probably true, though who can say if sailing like it weren't no thing will be one of those things? (After all, Julie has just got to be able to use nautical terms in the proper setting one of these days!) But if it is true that circumstances may conspire to prevent us from giving our children all the experiences we had, or might want them to have, it is also true that they may operate to give them others that will prove to have more meaning than we might have imagined, or have hoped. It is also true that it seems all too often, you don't know when you are in the midst of making a memory you will remember always, and this seems especially true when it comes to those we make in childhood. Joe probably will not remember watching the beginnings of a thunderstorm when he was just a bit more than three and a half years old, but his life and Clara's will be filled with such things, some remarkable, and some remarkable only to them. Here Julie is thirty-five, and tonight, she made a memory, probably unremarkable to most, but one she thinks she'll keep for always.

Of Canada, Check Marks, Clara, and Quesadillas

Tonight, on the way home, we asked Joe what letter he'd discussed in phonics today. He said "C," to which we replied, "C for Clara!" Joe sighed in an "Oh man!" kind of way, and said, "I forgot that one!" Julie asked what word he had contributed to the list of C words, and Our Hero busted out with: "Canada!" Ha! Our neighbor's to the north, with which Joe has become recently acquainted if only on paper by studying the map on the kitchen wall.

This exchange was ever more charming in light of that fact that last week, Joe had gotten himself into a spot of trouble in phonics by, we regret to say, following right along when a friend was giving shots to the phonics teacher, Miss Julie--in other words, they were poking her with markers. Seriously? Seriously.

This incident was part of a larger stretch of days in which Our Hero found himself in rabble rousing with some of his buddies. Testing one's boundaries is healthy, or so we were reassured by the intrepid Mr. Mark, but normal though it may be, it is also all rather tiresome.

By week's end though, Our Hero was behaving more appropriately, as he would parrot Julie. Ms. Vanessa made him a book in which he got to place check marks if he had done well the various bits that made up the major activities of the day, and Our Hero very much liked checking the various boxes. We also began recording all of the books we were reading in the reading logs Ms. Julie had created in honor of March being national reading month. Our Hero enjoys reading the books, but was in for their logging only insofar as he understood it to be a necessary step on the way to receiving a prize (a token for ice cream at McDonald's). One also gets his or her log posted in the entrance of the KinderCare, and we are eagerly awaiting seeing the bambini's logs there.

And then there was this: at dinner, Clara was chirping for more quesadilla. The only quesadilla to be had was on her brother's plate and--quite all on his own!--Joe gave her one of his triangles of quesadilla. Oh Fans, you could just a big heart right around that Hallmark moment!

So we sense we are sailing into smooth waters, and we are much relieved.

Making Puddles

The other reason why Ted was keeping Joe occupied for much of Sunday is because Clara was keeping us collectively busy keeping up with her attempt at wearing underwear and using the potty rather than just sitting on it. That's right, Birdie Brigade: Sunday, we bit the bullet at offered Birdie the option of wearing underwear, with the understanding that when we wear underwear, we must keep it clean, and dry. Birdie took to wearing underwear like nobody's business (and, to saying "un-ner-wear"). Underwear is a classic fashion statement after all. Birdie also continued sitting on the potty, and using all of the attendant accoutrements, with aplomb. She was quite taken with her special potty toy, a house with all kinds of switches that are illustrative of opposites. She also created small puddles of pee with great aplomb and, seemed really not to mind at all until she tried to take off, and would slip and fall in the wake of making such fine puddles. She did, once, after sitting on the potty for a very long time, tinkle, as you might say. She seemed more uncomfortable, and sort of what-the. . .why-are-you-hugging-me, Mommy? about it. So many puddles later, we have decided that Birdie isn't, in fact, ready to sport the underwear in any place but her heart. For now. We save underwear for another day (though Birdie continues to enjoy sitting on the potty, house or no house).

Go fly a kite

It all started with a Moe story. We were sitting on the porch this afternoon when Joe asked for a Moe story. Ted looked out the window at the trees whipping around in the wind and told Joe about how Moe and Sara flew a kite. Pretty soon Joe was asking to go fly a kite. It was fortunate that Ted needed to take Joe with him on a couple errands and to otherwise occupy the little prince while the princess was napping. So we stopped at Target and found the kite section. Before Ted could tell Joe what the options were, Joe said he wanted the princess kite. Ted decided to list the other offerings and Joe quickly changed his mind to Spiderman (only briefly pausing to consider The Green Lantern).
We went to our park of the month - Wolfe Park and found a big open space. After a few tries we managed to get Spidey flying! Joe ran around in circles underneath it while Ted (novice kite flier) tried gallantly to keep it in the air. It was a strong gusty day, which actually isn't very good for kites because it is either pulling hard or crashing into the ground. Joe kept asking to hold the kite, and Ted was hesitant because he thought it would rip out of Joe's hands. But realizing that you haven't flown a kite unless you have held the thing yourself, he gave over the controls. Joe held on tight and we managed to get it to fly! Eagle eye observers will note that by this time a pole was broken (I mentioned the crashing, right?) so Joe was at a disadvantage. Soon after this photo we put Spidey to rest. The boy's bucket list shrank by one today.

Early pick up

After Clara's nap, we went over to school and picked up Joe. He first showed us all the funny things the leprecahn had done like put all the show-and-shares on top of a high cabinet and leave little green footprints all over the classroom. We then took ourselves over to the beloved Wolfe park where Ted had a surprise...ice cream! He ferried 3 ice cream sandwiches from home in a cooler bag, unfortunately they were "a little melty" but we ate them anyway! We then all played at the playground, Joe tried a tricky part for the first time all on his own - he was so proud of himself. Our time ended when Joe started the potty dance. No bathrooms available, so we used a potty tree as out of sight as possible. We felt that was a good time to exit gracefully from the park.
At home we played outside and then had dinner on the picnic table. That is two meals outside today - we love this summer weather in (official) winter!

Strep Day 2

Well, it's day two of father-daughterpalooza! We started our day with a trip into work where Clara had lots of people to fawn over her. Clara made a few calls while Ted talked to a few people and grabbed his laptop. From there it was off to Target where we got our weekly groceries, then the library for a few books (had to make it quick because Clara started running around to all the computers and banging on them). The last stop was Byerly's for a couple grocery items, but we also discovered it was "Five Buck Cluck" day on Friday, so we picked up a roast chicken to have for lunch (and for the kids dinner later). By the time we got home it was so warm Clara decided to take her coat for a walk in the stroller, and Ted decided they should have a picnic lunch. Then it was books and naptime! A good morning for us together. We are looking forward to after nap when we will go pick up Joe early so we can go to a park together before dinner!

Strep

Clara stayed home from school today after a throw up incident yesterday and a fever. So it became a father daughter day today, which started with a tricycle ride down to the Starbucks. Clara was good and tired when we got back (even though she doesn't even pedal), so she snuck in a nap with Berenice on the sofa. She had to be rustled though to go see Dr. H who revealed that the little bird had strep. Because one car is in repair shop, Ted and Clara walked/strolled down the street to the Walgreens to pick up her medicine. Good thing its a warm day! We got back in time for a PBJ sandwich (Clara's first and she loved it so much she asked for more!) and nap. She should sleep well.

Rainy Day

Today dawned gray and rainy. It was perfect sleeping-in weather (especially after springing forward), but unfortunately, it was, of course, Monday, and thus not a sleeping-in day (though no day is really a sleeping-in day with toddlers). Ted was up early since he left on a trip for work this morning, and Julie was up so that she was all ready to go before the bambini woke up. So it was that we all had breakfast together, which is highly unusually for a weekday morning. After Ted had left, Julie commented that everyone looked sort of sleepy, which prompted Joe to ask her if she took a nap at work. (You all know the unfortunate answer to that , Dear Readers.)

Rainy days don't get us down here at Raleigh House though, because a rainy day means we can breakout the Thomas umbrella! Here are the bambini headed into school this morning with Joe doing his very best to keep the umbrella over the wandering Clara. The parking spot by the door* was available, but we parked a bit away to allow for umbrella use.

Our first of three mornings and evenings without Ted couldn't really have gone any better. Clara screamed at Joe when they were getting dressed but Joe rose up to meet the bar! He didn't scream back and Julie gave him a power fist. Apart from that moment, the bambini were total rock stars this morning, putting on their gear with no horsing about, dawdling, screeching, or other assorted antics. Julie budgeted extra time for the usual shenanigans, but pulled away from the curb at 7:07am, eight minutes in advance of goal time!

Tonight has, similarly, been smooth sailing. It's true that Clara did stick her tooth brush in her hair and between her legs and thus had it taken from her, which caused some consternation; and it is true that Joe wanted to stand on the stool with her at the same time, and in his zeal to do so all but attempted to shove her off by virtue of aggressive encroachment, which caused Julie to remove said stool, which caused tears and protests of what Daddy does.

Daddy is not here though. We all miss him, and not just because he usually handles all things bathroom stool and bath time (though Julie would point out, as she did to Our Hero, to no avail, that she has often seen the bambini happily brushing away with their feet on the floor).

*Known among us Minnesota Ekkers as "the rock star spot."

Takeoff

Readers may recall a couple years ago when Ted found a little airplane tree swing on the side of the road. It has hung in our apple tree since then, and Joe has taken a few rides, though usually he was too timid to get in, and Clara took a couple as well. By now it was a little crooked and the kids are too big for it, though of course now is when Joe keeps asking to go for a plane ride. So Ted decommissioned the plane this weekend. Joe immediately wanted to play in it - and promptly got stuck. After this last ground flight, it was put to the curb with a free sign attached. Within an hour there was a couple pushing a stroller up the street who stopped and picked up that airplane. So there should be more airplane rides for a little person in store this season, but for us its the end of an era.

New Wheels

For the past year Joe has been riding a tricycle with a bum wheel while hitting his knees against the front fender. By bum wheel, we mean it would fall off at least once per outing. Joe never seemed to mind. He would just come to a grinding halt on one axel and wait to be repaired. How they let us have children I sometimes wonder.

Anyway, we knew come springtime we would need a new bike for Joe, so this weekend with temps in the 60s called for that new bike. He is still in learning mode, so we just got him the 12" frame bike at Target, which of course is decked out in a Cars theme. It was fun being in Target this morning with the kids, going to the shelf and picking up the bike and putting into the cart. He never had such a fruitful trip to Target before!

So this afternoon, Ted and Joe assembled bikes. There was also a new tricycle* for Clara that she got for Christmas and was ready for its maiden voyage.

Joe was very helpful taking off packaging pieces and handing said pieces to Ted who could sit in a chair most of the time - it's nice having a helper who gets joy in simply handing you things. After Joe's bike was assembled, we took it for a spin down the alley as seen in the picture. He took right to it, though the braking was a new concept, and he was looking at the peddles a lot, which made his steering a little questionable.

We waited for Clara to wake up before going on our first real family outing with the new bikes. Clara loved being pushed in her new pink bike, which allows the rider to not peddle when being pushed, and also comes with a handle for the parent - a clear need we realized after a year hunched over helping to push Joe along. Joe was a little dazed for the first leg of the journey - perhaps he was tired, or a little nervous about being on the open road, or was just testing out his brakes a lot. But at the end of the trip he was rockin' as they say.

So we look forward to a long bike riding season (with helmets from now on) with all of our wheels functioning.

* We at least knew we needed to retire the bum-wheeled bike. However, in assembling Clara's bike, it came with a spare part that was just what I needed to fix the old one. So now it works too!

Joe and Clara Screaming | The (Brief) Movie

Of late, from time to time, we have mentioned that Joe and Clara have been running around screaming like banshees, usually in advance of bath time. Here, Dearest Readers, is a slice of banshee pie. (Turn that volume up for the full, Raleigh House effect. It'll be like you're here.)

Wolf Park

Today was another beautiful day in the Great white North which is looking these days more like the Great Brown North. Almost all of the snow that fell a little over a week ago has melted away. So this morning found us at Wolf Park, which has three playgrounds for different age groups, including one with lots of rope webs on which to climb and things like weeble wobble discs bridging an expanse. Time was, Our Hero wanted nothing to do with this webby, webbling and wobbling playground.

Fans, today, he tore it up! He climbed like a spider, he stepped from disc to disc, and tried to climb through a kind of tunnel punctuated with gaps. Sadly, he did take a tumble from the gap-tunnel that brought him up short, and that was the end of all that. Still, it was so much fun for us to see him dive right into this whole mix of equipment and handle himself with such confidence! Graham and Connor were there, too, and Joe even hung around this part of the playground even after Graham had followed Connor back to the slides and swings. Julie was pretty surprised knowing how Joe much Joe likes hanging out with Graham. Clara did her best to tag along after Joe. She was too little for most all of it, but it didn't stop her from trying!

Craziness

Brigade, Birdie appears to have shook whatever was shaking up her insides. After she woke up from her nap, she played with her school bus, dancing around to The Wheels on the Bus, and helping Julie fold the laundry. She did not want snack.

The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish. . .

By the time the boys were home from the zoo, she was ready to get outside. (Also by then, she'd jazzed up her pajamas with some socks with hearts on them, a skirt, her fleece, and her sunglasses.)

The ensemble

She and Joe dashed about picking up sticks in the yard and then tucked into dinner. Birdie had:three bananas, applesauce, macaroni and cheese, and water. It all remained inside her.

But there's more. BRIGADE! BIRDIE POOPED ON THE POTTY!--!!!!! It's true that she probably didn't realize she was doing it, but it occurs to us that this is the presumed goal of putting one's bambini on the potty at regular intervals? Clara smelled like a zoo when she woke up from her nap, so Julie carried her into the potty straight away and got her situated on there though it was clear she'd already done some business in the diaper. That business smelled so Julie left Clara there and went to put the diaper Birdie had been wearing in the garbage that was headed outside soon. And when Julie came back, Clara said she was done, and as she got down, Julie saw that Clara had pooped in the bowl! Julie immediately began acting like a slightly crazy person, crowing about poop and how amazing it is when it's in the potty and this magnificent creature before here who had put it there. But since Clara is always a little groggy and a touch disgruntled when she wakes up, Julie toned it down a touch since Clara was looking at Julie like she was a crazy person for real.

Crazy, right, Brigade?!

Incognito Super Pooper Trooper

Barfing Birdie*

Alas, all this excitement caught up to us today. Shortly before we left for our usual round of errands in advance of music class, Clara lost her cookies (pancakes, really) all over Joe's bed. "Well," we thought, "such is what comes of tearing about like banshees after breakfast and flinging one's self up onto one's brother's bed like a rag doll." But then we'd no more piled into the car and set off than Birdie threw up again. So we turned for home and the Birds stayed home while the Boys went off to run errands, go to music class, and, as it turns out, go for a hot dog lunch followed by an outing to the zoo. This worked out rather well since it left the house quieter and calmer than it would have otherwise been, which made it easier to keep Birdie quiet and calm.

The Birds each changed clothes three times. It's a pajama day! They did lots of laundry (Berenice didn't help at all; humph).

They also read a lot of books--right on the floor at the threshold of the house because it's in the 60s today! (Ted took their picture when he came home to drop off the groceries before heading to music class.)

Birdie has now managed to keep down some crackers and a few sips of water. Julie poured them that way so Birdie wouldn't chug it, and it was really rather sad to see poor, obviously thirsty Birdie chirping for more "Wah-wa."

Obviously this is not the weekend we will be seeing if Birdie wants to rock the underwear that came home with the groceries. Poor Birdie.

*It had nice alliteration.

First Full Day in Twos

Thursday was a big day in other ways, too: Birdie was dropped off in her new room at school--and that was where she stayed all day. That's right, Birdie Brigade. Our Birdie has now officially graduated fro the "twos" room. Here what went down that day:

"Today I. . .discussed 'the sun.' It is a star made up of gas. Sun is closest star to the Earth and shares light with the moon. Dice game was great. Clara rolled the dice. Whichever color was on top, she had to find a toy of that color. Clara had no trouble with this activity. Read 'Sun, Stars, and Airport.'"

No wonder she was ravenous and completely zonked, right?!

Friday was Birdie's second full day in her new room. Fridays are show-'n'-share days in the twos, preschool, and pre-K rooms, so Birdie joined Big Brother Joe in taking an item to show and share. Birdie took the Little Peoples school bus. (Joe took a stuffed dog on a leash, also known as a length of ribbon.) It is worth noting that Clara also requested a do of some sort for the first time on Friday, so she sported a bow, which you can see here as she made the computer play music while Julie got dressed. (Oh she was hot stuff, all the way around.)

Birdie Takes Her Rightful Place at the Table

Keen-eyed observers may have noticed something odd (beyond the diaper over the pants) in the last picture. Keen-eyed observers will have been aided in assessing the photo for oddities beyond the obvious if they are familiar with the Raleigh Houser's usual places at the table (and also perhaps if they were once avid Encyclopedia Brown or Nancy Drew fans). Thursday night, not only did Clara want to sport a diaper over her pants, she also wanted to sit in a booster seat at the end of the table opposite Our Hero. She sat there for the whole meal, for which she was ravenous (minestrone soup followed the bread seen here)--and hasn't sat there for a meal since. You try and figure it out, Brigade.

Where did Ted and Julie sit? Well. Not at the heads of the table. Clearly, we run not one thing around here. We are but the help to the Lord and Lady of the manor.

Potty?

Since last Thursday, Our Birdie has been all about the potty. She asks to sit on it, and does the whole smash--except the smash--which to say she asks to go to the potty, toddles on in and situates the stool so she can climb up to the potty, lifts up the lid, waits for the potty seat to be placed on top, pulls her pants down, helps take her diaper off, helps herself to toilet paper, wipes herself, gets down, and flushes. What she does not do is what one is meant to do on the potty.

For a while now, Birdie has let us know when she's pooped and would thus like a new diaper. She quite likes all the business involved in the potty bit. Here she is Thursday night sporting her latest fashion forward design in which the diaper is donned over one's pants and another diaper underneath. Also, she's been having accidents (read: peeing on the floor) pretty routinely in between the time she's taken out of the bath tub and put into a new diaper. Then of course there was The Night Berenice Ate Clara's Poop when Birdie pooped on the floor. All of these things suggest that Birdie is eager to know what this whole potty thing is all about. On the other hand, she's only going on 23 months old! What?! The whole notion seems wacky given her age. We haven't noticed, either, if she can remain dry for any length of time.

So we called up our beloved Dr. Harrington, and ran the whole situation down for her. After reassuring Julie that she'd not given Clara a complex about pooping by putting Birdie in her crib after pooping on the floor so that Julie could clean it up, Dr. Harrington told Julie that we might consider giving it a go, so to speak, sometime soon--!!!!! Apparently, there are more than a few 23-month-old young ladies out there who decide to ditch the diapers. She suggested we start with putting Clara on the potty at regular times, and then take a weekend and try underwear. Dr. Harrington said if Birdie doesn't get it, to return to diapers and try again another time. She said we didn't have to be underwear-or-bust the way we were when we trained Joe because Clara is younger than Joe was when we trained him.

So we've been putting Birdie on the potty in the morning after she wakes up, before diaper changes, and before and after bath. So far, nothin' doin'. This makes sense to us since Joe was nothin' doin' on the potty until we put him in underwear and he peed in them and didn't like it, thus apparently looking in the sensation of having to go potty in his mind with something he did not want to give into unless on the potty.

We can hardly believe that Birdie might be capable of this cognitive leap, too, but she knows when she's pooped (which Joe never did and he's a potty rock star), Dr. Harrington has never steered us wrong, and it is true: Birdie doesn't tend to attempt what she cannot do. So we got some underwear and will keep you posted, Dear Readers, as to when we decide to try to cross this bridge.

Birdie Flies To Twos

On Monday, Birdie began her transition from her current toddler ("Tod A") room at KinderCare to the "twos" room. Transitions can be as short as a week, or as long as two. Our Birdie, short of a disaster in the next two days, will probably be fully transitioned by the end of this week. She is, by all accounts, taking this whole thing in stride. The theme in the twos room is the same as that in the toddlers' rooms: the sky. We were very proud to read on the report of Clara's daily doings, that yesterday, in the twos room, when the class was asked what we find in the sky, Our Birdie responded "airplane." Today she was apparently given two piles of legos, each comprised of a different amount of legos. Though she could not yet guess which pile would yield a taller tower, once the towers were built, she did know which was tallest. She also reportedly sat quite contentedly on her cot after waking up from her nap, which is apparently how they roll in the twos room (in the toddler rooms, they all spring up and wander around). At drop off, too, she's a rock star: we do hugs all around and then Clara's all "Check ya!" But then, Our Birdie has always been a very self-assured little thing.

Birthday Party!

On Sunday, Joe had the good fortune to be on the invite list for his friend Eli's birthday party. Better yet, it was held at The Little Gym, which longtime followers will know was where Joe spent almost a year exploring the wonders of gymnastics apparatus. Joe had plenty of fun joining in the games though was still reticent to try the high bar or balance beam. The highlight was the Airtrack, which you might recall was something that took Joe a long time to gather up the courage to try. So it was great to see him hop right on and have a grand time bouncing along. After the fun came cake - always welcome! And on the way out was a goody bag in which were some funny glasses that Joe called his "regular glasses" (which is how Ted distinguishes his glasses vs. sunglasses). Joe has now requested that all birthday parties be held at Little Gym - we will have to see about that.

R Is For Rockin'

Yesterday, in Joe's phonics class, they made a list of words that began with J. Joe, we are told, contributed the words Joe and Julie to the list. (The phonics teacher's name is Ms. Julie as well.) While he was eating dinner, Joe wanted to list words that began with J, and then other letters, too, including R. One of Joe's R words was rockin', which was pretty rockin'.

Wacky Friday

Here is an exchange Julie and Joe had on the way to school this morning:

Joe: "Hey!"

Julie: "What?"

Joe: "Did you see that airplane flying backward?!"

Julie: "No, I missed it!"

[beat]

Joe: "It must be wacky Friday!"

Oh my God, Fans. There is a plane that flies backward in Wacky Wednesday. Our Hero was totally making A JOKE!

I Told You So

In still other Birdie news, she is all about letting us know when she needs a new diaper, especially when she has pooped, but also sometimes when she has peed. She will point to her nether regions (usually her little bum) and say either "Poop? Poop?" or "I-per? I-per?" The other night, she said, "Poop? Poop?" just before Ted took her diaper off, and then he did, there was nothing there--until a few moments later when she pooped! She was probably thinking, "I told you so."

Birdie Sings!

As we have written here before, Our Birdie is rather musical. If you listen to her sing, you can often pick out what she's singing in her own way. She can "sing" bits of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as well as scraps of Take Me Out to the Ball Game and a song Julie learned at camp whose chorus is "Ba um ba um ba bubblegum!" Birdie's latest is Old MacDonald: sometimes she will sing "e-i-o" over and over. It's not quite right, but it's quite charming.

Juice For Birdie

We have been meaning to report that Birdie has begun to drink juice with her breakfast in the morning. Wednesday morning last week, she just up and asked for "jew." It was sometime when Joe was in his toddler room at KinderCare that he was introduced to the wonder that is juice, and we suspect that Clara was accorded the same introduction in her toddler room. Although she is about to move from her toddler room to her "twos" room, her request nevertheless caught us off guard. Thus, we did not have the apple juice with 40% less sugar (making it taste less like juice and more like cardboard water--whatever that is, but you get the idea) on hand. So it was that Clara's crossed the Rubicon from the land of milk and water, to the land of milk, water, and juice with watered down cranberry juice.

The Night Before Last at Raleigh House

The night before last, Julie picked the bambini up at the KinderCare and, as last night, Joe walked out in tears, and for just the same reason. As we drove off, Clara was also in tears, Julie thinks because she did not pretend that Clara had done her car seat buckle all by herself to the extent that the illusion was complete for Birdie. Thus, in Birdie's mind, she'd not done the buckle all by herself.

Instead of hanging her head against the steering wheel, Julie cranked the radio up and began flipping around for something to sing along with, loudly. She happened upon Buffalo Springfield's Somethings Happening Here and she thought, "How apropos! A good old sixties fight-the-man! song is just what we need here!" (Less apparent was just whom The Man was: young people were speakin' their minds, but it is also fair to say that Julie was getting resistance from behind in the backseat.) There's even some solid clapping in that song, as some of our Loyal Readers may be aware, and we Raleigh Housers love us a good clappy or snappy song. Sound effects, motions, and dance moves are strongly encouraged. Joe whimpered nearly all the way home, but Julie happened to glance in the rearview mirror as she and the bambini waited at the long light, which is how she was able to see the top of Clara's head. Brigade, she may as well have been head banging. Julie's whole heart smiled at the sight, and at imagining the days when Clara might dance in the car with her mother (you know, the days that will precede those when Julie's car dancing and singing will no doubt make Birdie roll her eyes and slink down in her seat).

Later that night, Julie and Joe were reading books: Where the Wild Things Are, How Rocket Learned to Read, and Madeline (board book form). First, Fans, Julie opened WTWTA to the title page, put her finger on "where," and moved it across the words, and Joe read them. Now, maybe he's got it memorized, but it was still pretty cool, and he was still pretty proud. He also read the author's name. He continued reading along until we got to the pages with more than a few words on them.

By the time Julie and Joe had finished the book, Joe was laying next to Julie, on his belly, half on top of her, so Julie pulled him all the way up and after a few moments said, "You're always in my heart, Pal-o." That's when Joe picked his head up and said, "You're always in my heart." Oh, Fans.

So it's true that the train sometimes runs off the track quick as you can blink, but there are other moments when you think, "How--how--is it possible that Birdie is big enough to rock her little heart out, and Joe, to tell Julie she's always in his, and mean it?" You blink, and it's here, and gone.

[Picture taken later that same night. Joe and Neaky, nose to nose.]

Tonight at Raleigh House

Fans, as we have reported here before, there are days when the train clickety-clacks along the track, and then there are days when the train runs off the tracks. Today, or tonight anyway, was one of those days when the train ran off the track.

Ted had a work-related dinner to attend tonight, so Julie picked the bambini up. Since we've been back, Joe has been reticent at drop-off in the mornings, and ornery at pick-up in the evenings. Today was no exception. So it was that he walked out of KinderCare in tears because Julie would not zip up his coat for him, put on his hat or mittens for him, or stand next to him exactly where he indicated while he did these things. Still, Julie took the bambini to Yum for dinner, where we found Elise and Charlotte, and their mom, about to have dinner as well!

Things chugged along in an unremarkable fashion until bath time, when Clara insisted on standing up in the tub, which left Julie to insist that bath time was over. A few tears ensued but only a few as Joe and Clara evidently felt it was time for a round of screaming and running about naked like mad banshees. And why not?! It had been some time since they had pulled this stunt. During this time, Clara also attempted--unsuccessfully--to eat Berenice's dog food.

Dearest Readers, near and far, your eye may have skipped over the word "naked" above, but it is a critical word as it will indicate to you that Clara was not wearing a diaper. So it was that Clara pooped on the floor (whilst whipping up some cupcakes in the cupcake kitchen). Joe kindly alerted Julie to the circumstances.

Julie scooped Clara up and deposited Birdie in her crib to keep her from inadvertently prancing through the poop. Birdie, of course, did not understand this reasoning, and screamed like she'd been tossed into a vat of hot oil.

This was when Berenice was busy eating Clara's poop.

This was the real low point. (This probably goes without saying. And here you thought the low point was probably when Clara tried to eat dog food.)

Although Julie knows that eating poop is just something dogs do, she still screamed, "No, Berenice, no!" Julie also knows that Joe, in particular, will imitate just about everything his mother or father does, and so he also screamed, "No, Berenice, no!" at Boo, who was probably mystified. After all, the poop was gone!

Julie didn't yell at Our Hero, but she did say, "Joseph Trump," rather sharply, which caused Joseph Trump to break out into tears, too, and little wonder as he'd just done what Julie had done.

So everyone felt awful. We are all in our pajamas now, two of us are asleep, another is soon to be, and we will try again tomorrow to get the trains back on schedule.

Full steam ahead.