Can You Find Me. . .?

We have also again festooned the walls with the picture side of our baby sign language flash cards. Longtime Fans may recall we first did this around the time Joe was Clara's age. As we did then with Joe, we now ask Clara to find various things. Joe wants a piece of this action, but we rig it up a little harder for him, asking him to find us pictures of words that begin with a particular letter. He knows his letters pretty much cold, with two exceptions: he will sometimes mix up C (for Clara!) and S (for Sophie!), as well as D (for Daddy! and Darby!) and T (for Teddy!--the one in his classroom; he doesn't know that Ted is still Teddy sometimes to some). Finding letters and connecting them to words keeps Joe busy so Clara can just find the picture of the word, and right now, their respective versions of the Can You Find Me. . .? game is a bit of a challenge for both of them.

(The way Clara is pointing in this picture is how she points at something about fifty percent of the time--i.e. with her fingers gathered together and perched atop her thumb. It's like one half of one of the two ways of signing "more.")

These United States

We have been meaning to report that we have finally hung the map of the United States that Grandpa Charles and Grandma Connie gave Joe for his birthday. We tackled the big four first: Minnesota (where Joe lives; also: Mommy, Daddy, Clara, Berenice, Graham, and Marco), Pennsylvania (where Aunt Kate, Uncle Scott, and Cousin Nick live), Illinois (where Grandpa Charles and Grandma Connie live), and Arizona (where Grandpa Tom and Lynn live). We are now expanding into states built on more complex and thus, rockier, shoals of knowledge. For example, Julie just heard Ted showing Joe Texas again, where Mommy was born, and where she spent many summers with her grandparents. Joe said, "Grandparents?" Julie felt like this whole set of circumstances may have rocked his little mind! Mommy? Grandparents? Wha. . .? His finger has also wandered to Washington, which we explained was where Sanne and Todd, Elsa and Anja, and Carrie and Paul, and Wyatt and Gavin live. He asked if we could go there. We said one day! Julie has been thinking that when holiday cards arrive, if they are of the picture variety, we can tack them on to the states where their senders live.

(We should also add that this map is bordered by the mottos of each of the 50 states. So it is also a handy reference tool for the crossword puzzle set.)

In the Big Girl Room | For Good

Today, Clara spent the entire day in the Big Girl Toddler Room. Yesterday, she was there nearly the whole day and reportedly cried torrents when made to return to the Little Girl Infant Room. She'd just calmed down when one of her new teachers, Ms. Katie, came into her old room. Clara tried to follow her out and when she was stopped, cried torrents again. We aren't sure why she wasn't just allowed to stay, or to have followed Ms. Katie back, but at any rate, today, we said it was fine with us if Birdie wanted to stay all day, and she did, and so--she did. We are told that when she comes in, all her new friends come over and pat her on the back. The toddlers go outside every day, which Clara loves. Today, she saw Joe outside, and it must be said, she is quite taken with him.

When It Rains

Saturday afternoon found us at the park near the KinderCare. There is a river near this park, which a bridge spans. Ducks congregate under the bridge. Near the park, there is also a very large hill. After we'd looked at the ducks a bit, Ted asked Joe if he wanted to go up spook hill (just like the Berenstain Bears!) and he did, so we all traipsed over there and Julie spun both kids around at its foot. We'd just begun to play on the playground when a summer storm broke out. We dashed for the overhang of a pavilion to wait it out. While we were standing there, Joe asked, "Is this a toadstool?" Lovers of I Am A Bunny may recall that Nicholas the Bunny keeps dry under a toadstool in the summer when it rains. Very, very long time readers may recall that "toadstool" was the first two syllable word Julie recalls hearing Joe say. So this moment brought some raindrops to Julie's eyes.

Late Summer, Early Evening

Our tomatoes are in, and as Julie was putting Clara down, Ted gave Joe a bowl and headed out with him to harvest the ripened fruit. When Julie caught up with them, the syrupy gold of the air, and the color of the tomatoes in the bowl, and the sight of Our Hero happily at his task, put her in mind of the final lines of a Billy Collins poem she's long loved--referencing the dawn as it happens, but no matter:

"She will look at me with her thin arms extended,

offering a handful of birdsong and a small cup of light."