Screaming and Running

It's been a while since the bambini dissolved at night into a good round of screaming and running about so what better way to cap off Birdie's birthday weekend?  As a result of such behavior, neither bambino was bathed last night, and no stories were read, though teeth were brushed.    The bambini were put to bed a tiny bit early.  Imagine the door closing, a beat, and then the commencement again of the yelling (but not the running at least).

The Piggybanks

The last time Grandpa Charles and Grandma Connie visited, they brought Joe a piggy bank.  It was translucent blue plastic.  It proved so popular, they got an identical one in pink for Clara and shipped it up to us.  The piggies lived on the top shelf of one of the downstairs bookcases.  The keen-eyed among you, Dear Readers, will have no doubt noted the use of the past tense verb in that last sentence.  That is because a little over a week ago, Joe decided to bring his pig down, but it had so many coins in it, it had gotten rather heavy, and it slipped from his hands and shattered.  Coins rolled everywhere.  Joe SCREAMED.  Birdie promptly and very sweetly squatted down and shuffled about like a little crab trying to pick up coins, but it was some minutes before Joe could talk.  Julie called Grandpa Charles later that night to report the accident and ask if he would round up another a bring it with him to Clara's birthday weekend festivities.  Julie learned from Grandma Connie that Grandpa Charles called her to say that "there'd been a disaster in Minneapolis."  Grandma Connie said her heart dropped, and while this was no doubt not what she had in mind, to Joe's way of thinking, disaster probably wasn't overstating it.

Joe's scheckels had been living in a plastic Ziploc container, but Grandpa Charles came through!  He and Grandma Connie also brought a Ziploc bag of change.  We now know for certain that there is nothing like a pile of change and two piggy banks to keep our bambini busy.  Here they are this morning on the porch socking what remained after yesterday's deposits into their piggies.

We should add that Joe informs us that when his is full, he intends to buy himself an angry bird.  We should also like to add that he has never seen the angry birds game before in his life, and probably doesn't even know it is a game, and that all we can figure is one of his classmates brought one of thsoe stuffed angry birds that are now as ubiquitous as the game was in for show 'n' share and Joe took a shine to it.

Birdie's Birthday Party | Good Times

Birdie Brigade, another birthday party at Raleigh House is history.  The day was overcast, and it rained for nearly all of it, so we were forced inside, but good times were had nevertheless.  While Clara napped, Ted went to Target to pick up the cake and snacks while Julie, Joe, and Grandma Connie did some decorating.  Joe painted some water color paintings of Thomas which Grandma Connie helped him hang on the window, and we hung some paper lanterns and a happy birthday swag.

Clara had no more woken up and gotten changed into her party clothes and had her party ponies done, when our guests started arriving.  Clara seemed a bit shy of all the people and initially, stuck close to the three she knows best, but by and by, she was right in the thick of her very own party.  It closed down just before bath time, so Clara opened most of her presents this morning, and we've been playing with them most of the rest of the day.

Happy Second Birthday Clara Jane!

Our Birdie turned two today.  The whole family serenaded her with Happy Birthday first thing this morning, which she and Joe both seemed to love.  This afternoon, she visited Dr. Harrington for her two-year well-child exam.  Birdie weighed in at 30 pounds (86%), measured 35 3/4" (93%), and save a slight cold and a little eczema, was found to be doing just beautifully. (So she got two shots.  Isn't that always the way?)

Birdie took this picture herself at the doctor's office.  (That may go without saying.)

After our visit to Dr. Harrington, we went back to school where Clara's teachers hosted a quiz pitting their two-year-olds against those two-year-olds' parents.  The two-year-olds who are about to graduate from the "twos" room to the first of the three pre-school rooms dominated everyone, but we got to see Clara find the C with which her name begins on the floor with no hesitation whatsoever.  Finding the letter with which one's name begins is, apparently, is how every group time starts.  We learned that Clara always gets up from her chair and then sits down on the floor to find her letter before getting up and heading back to her chair.  After the quiz, we collected Joe and headed home for a birthday dinner of hamburgers and potato chips and, of course, birthday cake.  We also opened presents.  Joe was very excited to open presents and didn't seem to care that they weren't for him.  He did seem to care that Clara understood she should want to open her presents after eating her cake.

So Birdie is two.  She seems awfully big.  She's tall for her age, and she's got quite the mop of hair now.  She's older than Joe was when she was born (which makes Joe seem terribly big as well).  She knows an awful lot, too.  When she was out of the bath and into her pajamas and thus, ready for books, it was a little early, and Julie was in the midst arranging flowers.  So Birdie got the shape sorter cube out.  Brigade, she is the master of the shape sorter cube.  You should see her go!  She can get most of them in the right holes on the first try, even the tricker ones like the crescent that one has to turn just so to get to go in, as opposed to a square which has four sides that are all the same.  She flips that cube around all boom-boom-boom.

After the shape sorter had been tamed (three times) by Our Clever Birdie, it was time to read books.  One of the books Julie selected was Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus because Clara always laughs at the bit where the pigeon completely loses it about not being allowed to drive the bus.  Brigade, she repeated every sentence of the book after Julie as Julie went along.  !!!!!  Of course, not every word was clear as a bell, but that's exactly what Birdie was doing.

So that's a snapshot of the day, and of Birdie at two. . .Two.  That's something else again, and so is she.

Apple Tree

Our apple tree seems to bloom every other year, and it just so happens it has bloomed the years Joe and Clara were born (see previous posts of a pregnant Julie in front of said blooming tree).  This being an even year for the kids' birthdays we were due for another bloom, and they came out about a week ago.  Unfortunately ever since it bloomed it has been cold and cloudy - not prime time for a family portrait.  So this morning with clear skies, we took a minute to snap some picture before heading off to school. "Cheese Apple Tree!"

The Biking Bambini

It was a beautiful evening here in the Twin Cities, so the bambini were able to ride their bikes before dinner.  Julie was ring master; Ted was chef.  One of the best things about spring in Minnesota (or any northern climate really, probably) is one sees one's neighbors again all of a sudden.  So it was that while Julie was out with the bambini they saw Joe's friend Darby!  Darby has a princess bike, and a purple helmet, so she was all set to join the biking party.  Fans, there was one spectacular crash when Darby stopped short and Joe couldn't brake in time, but otherwise, you should have seen Our Hero!  He gets better and better at this bike thing every time he's on it.  He brakes (perhaps a little too much if you want to know the truth; he seems to be sort of taken with the power to make himself stop), he can brake left and right as needed in most instances, he understands how to use momentum to get him over bumps in the road and up hills, he can glide or pedal through a turn. . .It's something.  And so far as the crash goes, well, as you know Fans if you've ridden a bike, that's just all part of riding a bike, right?  And how fun to meet friends along the way on an early spring evening!

Julie and the bambini were just about to turn for home when Joe announced that he really had to go potty.  Had he been allowed, he'd no doubt have anointed yet another tree a potty tree.  He is a huge fan of a potty tree and his equipment that allows for their easy of use.  As Julie fears he'll come to think of the potty tree as an option rather than an emergency last resort, he was not permitted to use a potty tree.  That's how the biking party ended up taking a scenic tour (like so many pinballs) of Darby's house and its bathroom.  Naturally, since Joe used the potty, Clara had to use the potty, too.  (Joe used the big potty and Clara used the little potty, if you must know.)

Eventually, the biking party resumed.  Darby and her mom peeled off at the appropriate corner, and Julie and the bambini continued on their way.  Here they are approaching the house.  (See if you can note the distraction!)

The Weekend | Sunday

But then you have days like today.  It wasn't devoid of tantrums and tears, but nor was it devoid of those moments when you think your heart just might burst because how can it hold all the love?

Julie and the bambini had play date plans, so Ted made plans to play golf.  But the play date plans fell through, and though it wasn't raining, it was still chilly, and besides, after the scene at the library, Julie wasn't keen on going anywhere where she'd have to run zone defense for an extended period of time.

Luckily, there is always laundry to be done and the basement has been an absolute disaster for weeks now.  So, after the usual big weekend breakfast, Julie and the bambini trooped downstairs.  We Raleigh House Ekkers do not wear shoes in the house, save when in the basement, and then, we usually wear Crocs (Joe makes a distinction between shoes and Crocs, being hazy on this whole proper noun bit) which the bambini love so right off the bat, this day was starting off better than yesterday.  Julie and the bambini pattered around in the basement for a good long while.  Julie finished one load of laundry, did another from start to finish, and began a third.  She bundled cardboard for recycling.  She appropriated another plastic bin for holiday decorations and accoutrements and put away all the Easter baskets and eggs.  She quietly took out the cardboard, the trash, and the other recyclables.  The bambini tore into all the toys down there and redecorated by moving around their little chairs, and the step stool that used to be by Joe's bed.

After a snack of pistachios, the trio braved Whole Foods where everyone comported themselves with aplomb save Clara's angst at not being able to pitch things from upper basket height into the lower, grocery cart level (the Whole Foods list tends to include things like zucchini and salmon that can't tolerate plunges like that), and Joe's angst at not being permitted to put a bag of some sort of puffed item with a panda bear on front into the cart.  Julie was thinking, "Y'all this is nothing.  Y'all need to crank it up to library levels if you think I am going to even begin to be fazed."  This whole outting also went off so well no doubt because it was as Julie and the bambini were leaving the house that Joe woke up to the fact that he was still in his pajamas, and that it was, yes, a pajama day!  Julie had decided this before first entering their room this morning, because very day is better when you're in your pajamas.

And then there was this: at lunch, Julie reached over and ran her hand down the back of Clara's head, resting her cupped palm at its base for a moment, which is when Clara reached over and took Julie's other hand, and brought it up to her cheek, and leaned her face over to touch Julie's.  Oh, Brigade.  She may be a shrieker, but what a love.  What a love.

Ted was home by then and he and Joe snuggled in bed with some of the pre-readers, the iPad, and the paper, while Julie headed out to do a few errands and meet a friend for a snack.  By the time she got home, they'd been to the grocery store for what remained in order to make Clara's birthday cake Thursday and made meatballs for dinner.  The bambini were playing in their room while Ted finished making dinner.

Joe pitched a fit when clean-up didn't go down just how he wanted it to, and then, both bambini got bonks before their bath because they were being silly in the bathroom, and then Julie stopped reading books because Joe was silly, which made Clara be silly, and even though Joe stopped, Clara is too little to know how to stop on a dime when her mother looks like she wants to yell in the library, which is how it came to be that Julie picked up Clara and marched out the door with her on a twilight pajama walk.

Pajama walks are nice and Julie intends to increase their frequency as soon as the weather gets warmer. Julie and Clara found and discussed some (yellow) daffodils, and some (red) tulips, and the (white) house on the corner with the (blue) door and shutters (that already sold!), and the house across form it which is situated just perfectly on the lot in Julie's opinion, but also in desperate need of some paint on the trim and some landscaping help, also in Julie's opinion.  They also saw a (gray) car.  Birdie is big into cars right now.  Birdie chattered back and Julie the whole time.  So it was that they were in perfect agreement that perhaps they'd not read books all together for a while as it seemed too often, story time was halted for silliness.

And then when they got home (and found Joe perched at the front door, peering through on of the lowermost panes), Julie put Clara right down in her crib, where Birdie promptly and soundly fell asleep, as did Joe, about 20 minutes later when he was put to bed for the night, too.

The Weekend | Saturday

Late afternoon yesterday found Julie, Joe, and Clara at the library to collect some books for the bambini that we'd requested from other branches.  Before entering, Julie reviewed what we don't do in the library--i.e. no screaming and no running.  Joe added no hopping and no skipping.  Indeed.  Well. No one ran, and no one hopped or skipped.

But screaming abounded.  Everything began well enough.  Joe (and thus Clara) rounded up a "DVD book" (otherwise know as a book on CD) as well as some other books, before Clara settled into the puzzle table, and Joe wandered off to the computer in the kids' section.  Joe tired of that soon enough, came over to where Clara and Julie were sitting, and decided to help Clara with a puzzle of a elephant on which she was working.  It was a little too advanced for her, but we believe we have written her before about Birdie's outsized ambitions and the necessity of assisting with deference and caution.  Joe, however, is nearly four which is not the most deferential of ages.  It is instead the age of bursting out with all of accumulated store of knowledge at every possible opportunity.  Joe could do the puzzle, Clara was messing it all up, clearly Mommy wasn't going to step in here, so what was the boy to do except reach out and start rearranging the pieces Clara had carefully laid in the frame?  You could almost hear all of this go through his head.  So it was that Julie came to be whispering furiously to Joe something like, "Joe!  Joe!  JOSEPH!  Put that down!  Put that down right  now!  Putthatdownrightnow!  NOW!" as Clara screamed and Joe protested (loudly) that Clara wasn't doing it right.

Not long after, a librarian announced that the library would be closing in five minutes.  Julie told the puzzle masters they needed to pack it in, which after the obligatory protesting, they did.  But of course, there was the gauntlet of the kids' book bins to pass.  If there is anything Julie is indulgent of, it's the request for a book.  But if there is anything that makes her want to scream (in the library or elsewhere), it's not being listened to when she is speaking.  (She realizes she is not unique in this regard.  No doubt parents the world over, of children of all ages, sometimes want to scream so they might be heard.)   Neither Joe nor Clara had donned their listening ears, so no one cared when Julie said that the library was closing, and therefore they had to get the books that were on hold, and check out those as well as the ones we were carrying--and we could not select anymore books.  Well, Clara heard that and cared very much about that news.  She pitched herself right down on the floor, and cranked it on up.  Julie picked Birdie up, and managed to carry her, and the books to the shelves where they keep the books that were on hold. Joe trailed behind.

Naturally, the books that were on hold were on the topmost shelf next to some CDs and naturally, since Julie was retrieving the books one-handed, the CDs fell, and had to be returned to their cases before our parade of craziness could make its way to the check out counter.

As the crazy parade had headed in to the library, Julie spied a book she'd been wanting to read on the speedy read $4 rental table* and scooped it up.  But the presence of this book in the pile meant that the self-checkout was not an option.  Joe was much distressed about this and managed to whine loudly enough to be heard over Clara's din (oh, she was still screaming, Birdie Brigade), "But I want to use the other one!"

By the time it was all said and done, Julie did, too, and wasn't so sure the $4 book was worth it.  She managed to get all the books and the DVD books on to the counter with her library card and a $10 bill.  The librarian scanned Julie's card, looked up and said, "You have an 80 cent fine."  Julie informed her that she was aware of that, yes, and moved the $10 bill meaningfully toward the librarian who took it. . .and returned $9.20.  Did we mention that the librarian has touched all of the books, including THE ONE THAT COSTS $4?!?! Maybe the librarian was distracted by Clara's screaming because Clara was, still, screaming.  Meanwhile, Joe has wandered off and is standing by the door making to put his hand between it and the jamb.  Why?  Why?  You'll recall that he didn't wear his listening ears, so he couldn't here Julie when she called--loudly--to him.  People are streaming out of the door of course because the library is closing, including a woman who paused and looked about, before finding Julie, who said apologetically, "He's mine!  I know!"  That's when the woman shook her head with disdain before taking her leave.  Really.  Really.

Clara's still intermittently screaming.  The unobservant librarian is still moving slower than molasses in January, but she has now seen the $4 book and, chuckling about that's why there was a $10 bill on the counter, has rung the book up so to speak, and completed the check-out transaction.

Now Fans, you might be thinking "Well, they're leaving.  At least nothing else can go wrong."  But that's where you'd be wrong.  As the crazy parade made its way out of the building, Julie, its Grand Marshall, stopped the procession in the vestibule and asked the bambini to sit down on the bench.  She did this so that she could get the tower of books situated in her bag, and to tell the bambini that all the behavior she'd just seen was plain awful.  Plain awful!  Not that anyone was listening to her  That's when another woman walked by, paused, and said to Joe and Clara, "God bless you both."  Julie apparently needed no additional blessings in her life.

More trials of the everyday stripe that you just brush off when they aren't being heaped upon all of these slings and arrows awaited at the car.  It's Julie's practice when she's running the zone defense, to open Joe's door and ask him to climb inside before heading around to the other side of the car to get Clara situated.  Then, she goes back to the other side to buckle Joe in.  While she was over with Clara, the woman parked next to Julie asked if she could close Joe's door.  Of course Julie said of course.  But then she had to wait for the woman to get her (one) child into her car seat (in the middle of the backseat), and then get a CD out and put it in the car's player, and then get her keys out, and then leave.  But!  Julie did not look at her with disdain!  Admittedly, she may have looked judgmental as she looked straight down at the pavement, but she was doing her best.  Because Julie believes that most of the time, most people are trying their best.  Julie certainly was, and believes that even Joe and Clara were, so Can-I-Shut-Your-Door? Woman probably was, too.

The crazy parade made it home.  That's where Joe, in his zeal to be first in the door (always), opened the door from the top step into his sister, beside him on the top step, knocking her backward down the steps into Julie who managed a clumsy catch as she continued to scream (it's true), "Joe!  JOE!  JOE!!!!!  STOP!!!!!"  No words.  Which is pretty much what Julie said to Ted when he walked out of the bathroom moments later having showered in advance of date night: "I can't speak."

Some days you feel like screaming in the library.  Or your front stoop.

*Behind the Beautiful Forevers, for the curious bibliophiles among our Fans.

It's 9:25pm. . .

And Our Hero is still awake.  Julie just went in to the bambini's room to whisper "I love you Joseph Trump Ekkers," and "I love you Clara Jane Ekkers," before heading upstairs to bed, and Joe popped right up as she entered and (sleepily) said, "Mommy, is it wake up time?"  When Julie told him no, he asked why, and Julie tried not to laugh and explained that to wake up, one first had to sleep.  Joe said o-kay.

Birdie, meanwhile, was lying in her crib, asleep, in her pajamas, but sockless.  There was nothing else in her crib.  That's because everything was on the floor.  Everything included Pink Dog, Pink Bear, Baby Doll 1, Baby Doll 2, Pillow Pet Gorilla, Georgia the Giraffe, My Cat, and two blankets.  Julie also noted that the blinds were askew.  Clearly, Birdie had been busy.

The bambini were on a bit of a tear when we arrived home after joining Marco for his birthday dinner at Yum!  The tear began when Joe made to exit Yum! without a parent and then really got going when he all but laughed when he was given a talking to about making to run out of places without a responsible minded adult in tow.  Conditions were, thus, ripe for all sort of pre-bath shenanigans to ensue, but they did not and here's why: because Julie and Ted decided they weren't up for shenanigans.  So it was that the bambini were told that bathing is a privilege, in which they would not be partaking tonight.  Joe wailed until he was told that if he didn't cut that right out and pull himself together, Julie would not be reading books this evening.  (He stopped wailing immediately.)

But the bambini were not done.  No pre-bath shenanigans?  Story time shenanigans it is!  Except Julie was having none of that either.  Julie does, as our Loyal Readers know, love reading bedtime stories, but not with Loopy Loo McGoo and Loopy Loo McGee.  After Julie had told Joe for the second time to sit on his bottom and find a position in which he could be mostly still, and he started thumping his leg like a jackrabbit or something, while grinning, Julie snapped The Very Busy Spider shut and said enough.

So the bambini were put to bed and told that no one would be coming in if they pitched their "friends" on the floor, or their blankets, or if they got an owie because they smacked their heads or arms or legs or whatever on the wall or bed or crib or whatever because they were acting like goofs.  They were on their own!

And so were Ted and Julie who retired to the porch for twilight cocktails.  They came back in an hour later at 8:32pm, and this is what they heard.*

Kind of hard to say who had the last laugh, huh, Fans?

*At the Zoo is still at the top of the Raleigh House Billboard chart.

The Runaway Bunny, But Not Just Yet

At Joe's music class this past Saturday, the book selection was The Runaway Bunny. Besides creating a renewed interest in hopping like a bunny, this selection prompted a renewed interest in the book at home. For the past three nights, we have read both The Runaway Bunny and The Runaway Dinner. Joe quite deliberately picked out this pairing, though book books had been out of rotation for some time (though The Runaway Bunny, sadly, was never really in rotation). Toward the end of The Runaway Bunny, the bunny announces that if his mother will become the wind and blow the sailboat he becomes wherever she wants him to go, then he will fly away on a flying trapeze. The mother bunny tells him that if he goes flying away on a flying trapeze, she will become a tightrope walker and walk across the air to him. When we looked at the illustration of this scene, Joe excitedly told Julie, "I want to go up high and you to catch me. I must get bigger." He must, but hopefully not just yet.

Birdie Adjusts

Rain, rain, go away. . .

Something is not right here with my diaper.

I gots to pull this up! I keep telling them. . .

UP!!!!!

That's better. Can't hide these thighs.

Just a Couple of Cats

Of late, it is not uncommon for Joe to inform us that he is some sort of animal. On Friday night, he was a platypus. He constructed himself a habitat on the chair, but then must have decided he needed more room, because he decamped to the sofa, where he had a mud area (the--brown--pillows), and a river (his Grandma Jane's blue blanket).

Saturday morning, he announced he would be constructing a kitty cat cage, and set off to do it. When it was complete, he asked Julie to play kitty cats while Ted was making pancakes. Joe pointed out all of the cages features to Julie. For example, the gap in the red and yellow blocks in the foreground in the picture just below is where the food "can come in." Now Fans, you might have thought kitty cats ate Fancy Feast, and to be fair, many do. But did you know that kitty cats also eat raspberries? And that, in a pinch, puzzle pieces can serve as raspberries?

Kitty cats do, of course, need some toys to bat about, and a perch on which to snooze. This last was insisted upon by Julie, and that's when Joe told her she could snuggle in under the hippo blanket if she wanted and Fans, that is just what Mama Kitty wanted to do. Joe kindly gathered up the raspberries and tossed them at her. But there is no rest for the wicked. Kitties, as it turns out, have to be up and at 'em! Wouldn't you know it? All of the kitties were sick! They had to put on their coats (blankets--very confusing for the still literal minded Birdie which is why Julie is holding Birdie's actual coat in the picture below) and head off to the doctor's office (sofa--again, Birdie had a look on her face that said, "Um, it's the sofa, Dum Dum? I know what Dr. Harrington's office looks like, and this ain't it.").

There the kitties sat until Dr. Ted dispensed kisses to make all the kitties better in time for pancakes. (Julie was sort of hoping for bed rest as--we think it safe to say--is evident in the picture.)

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

On Saturday, Ted and Joe met up with Graham and his Dad at a Minnesota - Northwestern baseball game at the HHH Metrodome. It was a chance to take the boys to a big league stadium but in a low stress and inexpensive way. $4 tickets and about 100 people in the crowd was just about our speed. We took some seats behind home plate, actually we took a whole section for ourselves. The boys got to meet the UM mascot, "Goldie", stand for the national anthem, and sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame (finally, all that practice pays off!). The highlight for Joe was probably getting to go out to the concourse and buy M&Ms as a treat. We left after 7 uneventful innings (we learned later the Gophers won in the bottom of the 9th with a 2-run walk off hit) and headed home to mow the lawn - another national past time.

Birdie and Water, A Love Affair

Lately, water, as a drink, has been all the rage around here, especially with Clara. When she finishes her juice at breakfast, she wants water. When she finishes her milk at lunch and dinner, she wants water. She wants water at other, random times. Joe, naturally, would often like water, too, if Birdie is going to be having water.

Yesterday, Julie had to stay at work late for an event, so Ted ran the dinnertime circus solo. We have, we know, Dear Readers, mentioned before that if it is possible for all present members of Raleigh House to occupy either the bathroom or the kitchen (easily the two smallest rooms in the house), then that is what will happen. It is clear that to Joe, Clara, and Berenice's way of thinking, nothing--nothing!--could be more fun that cramming in to these spaces all together. One thing Joe and Clara like to do when flittering about the kitchen while dinner is being made, is open the drawer where all their cups and bowls live (plates and utensils live someplace else!; small space living: it's am-azing!) and remove as many as they can before the chef flips out a little bit about not being able to move as he or she, say scrambles eggs and makes jamberry toast and slices up some bananas. This is no doubt how Joe and Clara came to select their own cups for dinner yesterday evening: they have their cups; great!

When dinner was ready, Ted noticed Clara had water in her cup. He asked Joe why Clara had water in her cup. Joe said, "I don't know," as Clara began chirping, "Nice," (like the French city, Fans).

That's right. She'd taken her cup, and helped herself to some water from Nice's (Berenice's, that is) water bowl.

We should also perhaps mention that Joe's teacher, Ms. Vanessa, remarked to Ted when he was picking up Joe, "I heard Clara had quite a day yesterday!" Ted had no idea what she meant. Apparently our Birdie decided to take a little bird bath. In the potty. She stuck her head in it. !!!!!

They Say It's Your Birthday

Today is Aunt Kate's birthday! As it happens, Happy Birthday is one of our favorite tunes around here, and last night, we read Spot's Birthday Party. So, the stars aligned for us to capture this birthday greeting. Happy birthday, Aunt Kate! We love you! (And Spot.)

Siblings Are Good*

It's good to have a sibling. Julie does not have one, but has long suspected that it is good to have a sibling precisely because she does not, and always wished she did. It's true that they seem to be exasperating now and again, but it is also true that they seem to be pretty fabulous more often than not.

Joe seems to be taken with his little sister. Who else would scream with him and at him before drifting off to sleep? We here at Joe and Clara Jane think we can all agree that's a pretty small group. And then there's this hilarious game: telling Clara, "No, I say it!" which prompts her to repeat, "No, I say it!", which prompts Joe to repeat the same, and so on, ad infinitum, or until one or the other is laughing too hard to continue saying anything at all.

Clara, for her part, is clearly taken with her big brother. She is usually rousted form the bath before Joe, who then lingers for a bit, so she arrives for bedtime stories on the couch in advance of him. Last night, she sought out her Bright Baby First Words book, which opens with a picture of a girl "like Clara," and a boy, "like Joe." Clara pulled it down off the shelf, opened right to that page, and said "Clara and Joe, Clara and Joe, Clara and Joe." Joe took rather a long time getting into his pajamas last night, and eventually, Birdie broke down in tears until Julie hit upon a jumble of words that Clara understood and thus found soothing: Joe is coming. Clara and Julie repeated "Joe is coming" like a mantra to see us through the difficult and fraught minutes until Joe appeared in his pajamas.

Clara and Joe, Joe and Clara.

[Post-post addition: Here is something else that a sibling will do: climb out of bed and pick up a small bear your sister has tossed on the floor twice, and which your mother had said she would not be picking up off of the floor again and which, moreover, your mother has said will not be joining your sister in slumberland tomorrow night given that there are already seven furry friends in her crib and thus barely any room for her, and that goes for you, too, apparently, since you've added Kitty to your menagerie tonight, and your undressing Kitty was what caused Clara to take off her socks and not be able to get them back on, in addition to wanting (another) "bear."]

*Incidentally, today is National Sibling Day. Did you know, Fans?

Orange

Shortly before this picture was taken, Clara was trying to cram these combs (which the Easter Bunny brought) into one of the decidedly smaller pockets of her fleece. Shortly before that, she'd appeared in the midst of the four foot square area of floor in the kitchen that every member of Raleigh House likes to occupy at the same time, usually while dinner is being made, holding the orange comb aloft and announcing, "Orange!" Indeed! Orange is the latest color that Birdie has down cold. Last week, when Julie was getting the pink cereal bowl out of the cupboard, Birdie said, plain as day and clear as a bell, " I want orange."

Incidentally, here's what else was in the magpie's pocket: a compact mirror, three chap sticks (caps removed), three chap stick caps (loose, obviously), and a wad of paper.

Holding Hands

When Birdie holds Julie's hand, Birdie more clasps Julie's index finger in her whole little hand. This used to be how Joe held Julie's hand, too. But twice now, in as many weeks, Julie has noticed Joe quite deliberately rearranging their hands so that all of his fingers are clasping all of her fingers, all big boy like. The second time was not long after this picture was taken on Sunday, which put Julie in mind of it. (Ted reports though that his hand is still too big for Joe told hold all of it.)

Birdie's Nest

After Birdie is put into her crib at night, she takes all her stuffed animal friends, one by one, and puts them (sometimes flings them) into a big pile. Which end is inconsistent. Usually it's the opposite end from where the majority of them are resting when she arrives on the scene. She piles them all up, and then tried to wrap her arms around all of them at once, and ends up ensconced in the middle of them.

Rockin' 'N' Rollin'

On Saturday afternoon, Julie and Clara went to go to Paint Your Plate to make another plate* and a vase for Grandma Connie for Mother's Day to compliment the one Joe made not so long ago. They'd no sooner left than Joe apparently decided to take a nap. He was in the midst of some fit when they left and so frankly, no one was surprised that he felt like he needed a breather because they were all thinking the same thing. Our Hero's hair is a little long right now, and he was in one of those faux-retro tee-shirts, and between those things, and the tousled bedding sprinkled with assorted stuffed animal friends, he was having a decidedly partied-too-hard rock-'n'-roller moment. And then, he woke up, and a groupie was there, and the paparazzi. . .

*Longtime Fans may recall that we have been making plates with the bambini's handprints on them. Birdie's handprints are turned into birds. Joe has also now painted two all by himself. One is predominately brown, an effect created by layering of multiple paint colors. The other features a dinosaur, eating a tree, under a sun, in the sky.

Easter 2012

Fans. The Easter Bunny came to Raleigh House! We didn't see him, because he has to hop super, super fast to get to all the houses where the families celebrate Easter, but he came. Cleverly, he placed the eggs and baskets inside since Easter morning was rather chilly. He also quite cleverly placed placed many of the eggs in plain view and at heights that both bambini could reach so the thrill of the hunt was less in the discovery and more in the gathering. Clara likely did not remember last year's Easter egg hunt, but she caught on quickly enough. Joe filled up his basket and then happily announced he was done, and the innocence of his pronouncement was quite charming. The bambini had the most fun opening the eggs rather than hunting them down. This year, the Easter Bunny brought eggs filled again with Band-Aids, stickers, and fruit snacks, but there were also some eggs filled with beaded necklaces, chocolate eggs, and little chickadees. The Easter Bunny could probably have filled every egg and the baskets with fruit snacks and call it an Easter, though over time, the necklaces have proved a popular trinket. And so. Another Easter is in the basket.

Joe, Tonight

On the porch, at dusk.

PARTY!

One of Clara's favorite books right now is Go, Dog. Go! In the weeks just before Clara was born, Joe requested this book nearly every night.* Julie likes to imagine that Clara heard it from the inside, and when she first heard it on the outside thought, "Finally!"

The last few pages of Go, Dog. Go! find the dogs, having motored caravan-style in their cars to the big tree, climbing a tall ladder to its top. The text reads: "Up the tree! Up the tree! Up they go to the top of the tree. Why? Will they work there? Will they play there? What is up there on top of that tree?" Reader, it's "A dog party! A big dog party!" You learn this when you turn the page. (Oh, P.D. Eastman knows how to build suspense, make no mistake.) The best thing about reading Go, Dog. Go! with Clara right now, is that Clara crows out "PARTY!" when the page is turned. There isn't anything about this that isn't completely fabulous.

Julie hopes every night that Clara will pick Go, Dog. Go!

*In this picture, it's on the shelf, bottom, second book in from the left. Apparently, the night this picture was taken (in April, perhaps two weeks before Clara was born), it was a Green Eggs and Ham night.

All Together Now

Here's another thing that happened while we were on hiatus: Clara began going to bed at the Big Girl time of 7:30pm. This later bedtime prompted us to attempt to make more formal the practice of Joe and Clara being read to together. A part of Julie has been looking forward to reading to the bambini together, so that they can have shared reading memories, too, but another part of her is sad to say goodbye to the days of snuggling in with each of them and their still somewhat respective books.

But, Clara has always had a preference for a story over a picture or concept book, and Joe would often hang out by (and, literally, hang on to) the chair while Julie was reading to Clara anyway. Sometimes, he likes to tuck in along the side. It would be cozy, if two of the three of us--and one in particular--didn't wiggle and shift about so much.

So, rather than Julie be driven slowly bonkers by Joe attempting to clamber up the side of the chair only to flop back down on to the floor in a completely distracting fashion, or jiggle one or more of any of his appendages while snuggled in the chair, Julie decided to decamp to the couch. She also asked Joe if he thought he might like to read books with Clara and Mommy before bed. Our Hero was on board.

The first night on which Joe joined the Birds for books, however, revealed that Julie had made a critical error in that she did not elucidate that reading books with Clara and Mommy would be instead of Mommy reading books with just Clara, and--most important to Our Hero--just Joe. Julie had to admit to herself that she understood, and so, now, she reads books to Joe and Clara, and then after Clara goes to bed about 7:20pm, Julie and Joe read usually two more books.

All's well that ends well.

The first night, after it had gone down. Exhausting.

Brought To You By the Letters J and C

In Joe's room at school, the kids have to sign in each day on sheets by the door. In this way, all the kids in that room get to practice writing their names every day. Joe graduated from dotted letters to follow to making them on his own, but we noticed that the capital J was often hooked to the right in stead of the left, and the lowercase e was sort of a crumple. (The lowercase o was lookin' good though. It's true, it's a circle, but we hasten to add that there is some proportion work going on, and Our Hero was doing well in that department.) So last week, we had a chat about the capital J and which direction is hooks. We also talked about how the lowercase e a straight line across with a C around it. Now, Joe is rockin' the sign-in sheet.* Tonight at dinner, Joe announced that he had made a good J today and, indeed, he had.**

In other letter-related news, last week, in Clara's room, letters were a focus:

"'Letters' our focus today. We spread out 52 letters [!!!!!] on the carpet. Each child had to come forward and pick out the matching letter that starts with their name.

Clara was very confident when she picked 2 'C' out of the carpet.

I had made a sheet that had mostly 'B' and a few C on the paper. Clara was able to locate all the 'C.'"

Go, Birdie! The next day, they worked on the first letter of each child's last name: "In Clara's case, it was not easy with this activity. . . .Hard to say her last name." Of course, there is also the confusion of the Birdie nickname with which to contend. It's a different name, and not exactly a first name, definitely not a last name, and begins with another letter altogether. But, she is piecing it altogether. The other morning, Julie was pattering (cleaning, probably) downstairs, while Clara was in the kitchen pattering (making a mess, probably), when Julie heard Clara sing--clear as a bell! clear as a bell!--the ABCs up to H. (After that, the letters were less recognizable.) W-O-W.

*Special to Aunt Kate: When you get your birthday card, check out the Joe! He did that all by himself!

**Our stringer photographer has fallen down on the job for several days now. She keeps forgetting to bring her phone in to take a picture of a sheet. We don't know what to do with her. Might be time for a chat.

Ponies

Also while we were on hiatus, Clara began rocking the double pony. She was sporting them when Julie picked Birdie up on Friday which was, incidentally, the day Julie had managed to stop by the Target and find the hair elastics for the tot set. Not a moment too soon as Birdie has requested "ponies"* every day now save this morning when we were behind schedule and so Julie pretty much didn't even allow for ponies to be mentioned. (Guiding Birdie's wisps into respectable ponies while she turns this way and that way takes a few minutes.)

*What she says sounds like "my my ponies," which, translated, might be "I want ponies."

Star of the Month | I Wanna Be Just Like You

While we were on hiatus, Joe was selected as the Star of the Month in his classroom. Being Star of the Month means that pictures of him are arrayed outside of the room along with his answers to questions like "What is you favorite color?" (For the record, Our Hero said orange. We strongly suspect this is because it is a well-known fact that his good buddy Marco's favorite color is orange.) We were mystified by his answer to "What is your favorite book?" (Star Wars--?????) for two reasons: one, we have no Star Wars book (save the Star Wars Spaceships board book he's not seen in about a year), and two, his was in the midst of a long stretch of nightly readings at In the Night Kitchen because "it's my favorite."

Another question asked of Star of the Month selectees is what they would like to be when they grow up. Fans, Our Hero's future career: dad. He's got a pretty great one, so it only stands to reason that to his way of thinking, this is what cool big boys do with themselves when they are done with their formal education and ready to strike out on their own. This idea has clearly been percolating for a while in Our Hero's mind because the one evening, some weeks ago, on the way home from school, as well as one morning, also some weeks ago, on the way to school, Joe asked Julie when he would be a dad. (Julie told him when he was much older.)

Musical Easter Cards

The bambini received Easter cards last night from their Grandparents Trump. They played music when opened. Whoa. Holy buckets. For a bit, Clara was inadvertently restarting the little ditty her card played, but she got the hang of it soon enough. Joe caught on straight off. For a while though, the Easter card cacophony was in seeming surround sound. You can hear them in this clip, but the really good stuff comes at about 45 seconds. It is at this point that Joe plays his card, and you can hear Clara saying "No song!" which is what she says when she is rejecting whatever you have dialed up to sing to her. She will often wave her hand, as she is doing here, but if she is not amenable to your selection, and can reach your face, she will put her hand in front of your mouth. (Clearly she is under the impression that she lives with a pack of dolts.) After Joe's song has played, Clara is ready to put her card in the envelope on the table (which actually belonged to Aunt Kate's birthday card), and you can hear Joe try to help a sister out. Then, Birdie gets it, and breaks it down a bit before leaving off to color.