Six Years

This past Saturday was also Ted and Julie's wedding anniversary. That's right, Fans. It's been six years. Haven't they gone by in a blink? To celebrate this year, Julie found a sitter and Ted found a restaurant and we went out like fancy pants grown ups! Ted also got Julie some earrings with birds on them since this is the year Our Bird came to us. He got them at a store Julie mentioned but once liking! That Ted. . .But enough about all that. You're in this for news of the Bird herself, and her erstwhile, older sidekick. That was all prelude to the point of this post which is headed your way!

So Julie asked Ms. Che to sit. Ms. Che is one of the teachers in Clara's room, who also cared for Joe when he was in that room. When we arrived home after dinner, we chatted for a few minutes with Ms. Che who was telling us how much fun she had seeing the kids in their homes. She was amazed how talkative Joe is, and noted that he put the dogs right in their place when they were trying to lick her. Then we compared notes on Clara. Ms. Che reports that Our Bird motors everywhere around the room with John, and if something falls on the floor while the bigger kids in the room are eating, she is on it like white on rice. She's got definite ideas about which toys she likes, and is apparently a big fan of the "sensory bottle" [read: clear plastic water bottle filled with different stuff] with tissue paper inside it. If a "friend" takes her toy of the moment, Clara will, in Ms. Che's words, "look at the 'friend' who took it like 'Oh no you didn't,'" and go over and take it back and then take herself someplace else with it. Then we talked all about how Clara seems to want to twirl her hair. She tries hard (as you can see in the picture here), but since she obviously doesn't have enough hair to do this, she is all about other people's hair. So it was the perfect end to a perfect sixth wedding anniversary, comparing notes on Our Hero and Baby Bird.

Happy Birthday Graham!

This past Saturday was also Graham's THIRD birthday! He had a birthday bash at the Kenwood Gym (imagine a Little Gym, or a Gymboree, but with serious gymnastics classes for the older set). Joe talked about the party pretty much all day long. We arrived, and Our Hero was, at first, stymied. A six year old's birthday was wrapping up at a table in the back and he wanted to make a beeline for that table. He didn't know what all this talk of parachutes and trampolines and "playing" was all about, but he was pretty sure that wasn't the party because he was also pretty sure that a birthday party was supposed to have birthday cake, and that birthday cake can usually be found under the balloons. He allowed himself to be guided on the fringes of the playing, but he could not be coaxed on to the trampoline. (Here, we pause to tell our readers that this trampoline was a long rectangle, at the end of which was a deep mat, and the kids went hopping down the trampoline and into the mat. The Birthday Boy is a champ at this activity, and had the smile to prove it.) Joe was first to the table once the interlopers had vacated with their misleading balloons, and helped set the napkins out. After he ate, he turned to Julie and said "I want to play?" We just had it all backwards you see. (Clara just took this all in. She is reserving judgment for now as to what exactly constitutes a birthday. She is pretty sure it is both cake and playing, but uncertain if the order is as critical as her older brother would have her believe.)

Oh, and for the rest of the weekend, Joe noted to us that Graham was at the Kenwood Gym. Apparently, Graham now lives at the Kenwood Gym.

*Special thanks to Mr. Pat for the photo of Clara. Yeah, he's got like a fancy lens that makes the background all blurry and professional like.

Kitchen in the Kitchen

Saturday mornings, after the whirlwind that is getting everyone breakfasted, groomed as appropriate, dressed if necessary, and the week's menu planned and the grocery lists made, the boys head out while the girls stay in. The boys go to Joe's Little Gym class and usually do some or all of the shopping, and Julie and Clara begin the week's cleaning. Clara never lasts too long before it's time to nurse her and put her down for her nap and then Julie tries to finish the rest as fast as she an and start lunch so we can all eat together before the boys get home. This past Saturday, the bambini slept a little late so Clara's schedule was running behind by about half an hour. The kitchen is usually the first room Julie cleans so Julie dragged Clara's little kitchen into the big kitchen so they could both be in their kitchens! Clara made all her kitchen's bells and whistles go, and tried really hard to hoist herself up on it before moving on to trying really hard to hoist herself up on the lowest drawer of the four alongside the sink. She got into the drawer, too, which is where some of the tupperware has lived since Joe was about the age she is now. She got up on her hands and knees a lot, but would flop back down before propelling herself forward. She was so tired after all that, she took a three hour nap!

It's the Bee's Knees!

It's true, Fans. You've seen a very similar picture before with different commentary. But the string photographer promptly got sick after taking these pictures, and so neglected to tell the reporter what the story was. These photos were meant to accompany our report that for the past two weeks or so, the B. Bird has been trying to figure out how her knees fit into this whole crawling bit. She is hampered at home by the fact that we do not have carpet. But we have had reports from school that she will get up on all fours and rock back and forth like a horse. She is a very persistent lady so maybe it won't be too long before she's really flying around the floors here!

Chatting

As we've reported, one can now actually chat with Joe. Here's part of the conversation we had on the way home from school yesterday. You need to know two things to get your bearings: 1. this month's theme in Joe's room is food so they have been sampling various kinds of fruit and 2. while we were waiting at a light, a school bus pulled up on our left in the left-hand turn lane immediately preceding this exchange.

Julie: "Did you try grapefruit today?"

Joe: "Yeah."

Julie: "What color was it?"

Joe: "I think it's red and yellow." [Beat.] "We don't eat the yellow part! Only the red part!"

Julie: "Was it sour?"

Joe: "Yeah."

[Later.]

Julie and Ted: "It's a school bus!"

Joe: "A school bus!"

Joe [momentarily]: "Come! Come! Come on school bus. Follow me! The light is green! [Go, Dogs, Go! reference]"

Ted and Julie [overlapping]: "The bus is turning left. It can't follow us."

Joe: "It's going to Dr. Harrington?" [because to go to Dr. Harrington, one turns left at the next light from the road we were on]

[Clara cries.]

Joe: "It's o-kay, Sweetheart. It's o-kay, Sweetheart. We be home soon. Almost there. Yeah." [verbatim what Julie will say on any given night when Clara begins to cry on the way home]

Scene.