15

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

"Where is the. . .?" Birdie Style

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

Sweaty!

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

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

Cupcake Snow Day

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

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

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

Leaf Stompers

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

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

Naturally, Clara needed to try, too.

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