Never mind Slugs...

Since I've been somewhat neurotic about the slugs in our garden, they have done little damage thus far to my tiny plants.  They got some, but so did the weather. Survival of the fittest, right?

Today, however, I noticed that one of my fledgling broccoli plants that had been growing quite well, was drooping quite a bit.  Culprit?  Ants!  I noticed that they'd eaten some radishes too, but whatever, radishes grow quick and (truth be told) they're not my favorite.  Broccoli, on the other hand, I only have a couple plants!  Not fair!  I'm after the ants now.  (For the record, the slugs aren't off the hook.)

So, this is my call for help.  Anyone know of a trick to get rid of them that doesn't involve anything that wouldn't be good for the plants or people who'll be eating them?

On a happy note, I did notice a bumblebee flying around today.  I was worried that the blossoms that have appeared thus far (blueberries, raspberries, and zucchini) wouldn't get pollinated.  Go, little bee, go!  Hopefully he has friends helping him out.

Independent Streak

Craig and I have agreed that Graeme is different these days.  He's becoming independent, or trying to set himself apart.  I know this is a good stage for kids that leads to their being successful, confident children.  I'd rather not, however, have to clean up milk dumped on the floor or deal with a tantrum because someone won't put on pants.  Everyday.

Thus far, he's been quite the agreeable, charming child.  Now, he's still that (of course), but he's realized he gets reactions from people by doing silly things.  And it seems like he wants to 1) make people laugh, and 2) live life on his own terms.  (Who doesn't, right?)  For Graeme, his terms (so far) seem to be:

• be naked, even if it is still cool and rainy outside
• sleep outside
• eat outside
• full access to any cupboard, drawer, or counter top
• free range or in and out privileges at the dinner table (like, I'll sit here if I feel like it, but I'd like to eat on the go.  Preferably outside.)
• play with food and liquid in any way (spitting, for example, which I loathe)

You might think this isn't a big deal, which in the grand scheme of terrible, horrible, very bad things that children do, you're right.  He's still adorable - with (as friends have said) a combo of eyes and voice that make you want to give him whatever he wants.  (May have to watch out for that later.)  That's why it is so notable now.  We've been lucky that all of this has been minimal to this point.  

Last night, for example, Graeme was yelling, "Mummy and Dad!" from their room - door closed -  for a while.  Both Craig and I were trying to ignore him to see if he would just go to sleep.  (Gavin sleeping all the while.)  Eventually, the door opens and he makes his way down the stairs.  The dialog preceded as follows: 

Graeme (making his crooked smile and furrowed brow face): Can you help me with my diaper?

- as he walks into the room with no clothes, diaper in hand - 

Craig and Myself (trying not to laugh): Sure, buddy.  How come you're naked?  Did you pee in your bed at all?

Graeme: Yeah... I used my blanket as a towel.

Us:  Did you poop at all? 

Graeme: A little bit.  (furrowed brow, side talking face again)

- at this point Craig and I are freaking out a bit, as this hasn't happened before either - 

Luckily, we took him upstairs and everything was fine.  (Dodged a bullet.)  So we put some jammies back on and snuggled him up.  He slept fine for the rest of the night. Thank goodness.

Call Me Clever

For the last week, I've had three tomato plants that need potting.  My plan was to go buy three fetching pots that would brighten my yard while creating a cozy home for my plants.  (These are plants I purchased rather than starting myself.)  But, pots are pricey.  And, really, I don't need anymore pots for my kiddos to run into with their bikes.

My solution?  Walking around my house today thinking: "What could I use for pots for these guys?"  In my laundry room, the solution jumped out at me from the corner.  Burlap sacks!  Yeah, that would work!  When I bought these sacks on Craiglist last year, I had grand art projects plans.  Alas, that never materialized, but even so, they have come in handy here and there.  First, I used a swatch to wrap a Christmas ornament at an ornament party - the first ornament chosen, mind you.  Then, I used some for the coconuts on Gavin and Graeme's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree.  Now, they will serve my garden.  Hopefully well.

They look cute anyway!  And, as I was planting the tomatoes, I ran out of soil.  "Time to run and get more soil," I thought.  Then, "Oh, hey, let's check out the rest of the compost!  Maybe that would do the trick!"

Bingo!  I dug out the left over compost from the bin I'd used before and everything looked pretty good.  It was still probably a little wet for what it should be, but it was dark and full of fat, pink worms!  (And it didn't smell like crap, which was a good sign.)  So, that's in my tomatoes, and spread around the rest of my garden.

Round Two: better.

We'll see how the vegetables turn out!

(Harvest note: we've had a few tiny, but yummy radishes.)

Graeme's Napping Style

It was a gorgeous day here today, and Graeme decided that he wasn't napping in his room.  We'd been out and about all day today biking and visiting friends.  Right when we got home (past Graeme's normal nap time), he went to his room and grabbed his pillow, blanket, and Pengie.  Then he dragged them through the kitchen, heading to the deck.  I intercepted him at least to give him a picnic blanket to sit on.  Hopefully a little less dirt in the lovies.

I gave him a little snack, and then he snuggled in and fell asleep.  I was totally jealous (because I try to snooze on the deck when the kids are not paying attention to me... or vice versa), but completely in love.  He was so sweet!  Gavin and I biked in the backyard, made a bunch of noise, and Graeme just slept away.  (For the worriers, he'd covered himself and it was a little overcast for most of the time he was out there.  So no sunscreen necessary.)  I made Craig wake him up when he got home.

Sweet Gavin Note

Gavin says, "Mummy, I wrote you a note!"

Discovery Park Adventure

Monday I ventured to Discovery Park with the boys.  When I lived in Seattle, I used to run here often.  It is a totally different experience with two small boys with short legs.  They did great - and actually, it was their first official "hike" with just me.  No bikes.  I want to be sure that our boys know that hiking is fun too.  A bike is not always necessary.

After a play at the playground, we started off with Graeme skipping up the trail, and Gavin complaining that his legs were tired.  (Might be a long - or very short - day! I thought.)  After a bit, I gave Gavin the camera to take pictures as he walked along and that seemed to perk him up a bit.  But, I'll spare you those pictures.

We finally made it to the look out over the water.  Then the boys played in the sand - happy with two simple cups and two plastic spoons.  Oh, and a tiny bulldozer.  I could actually relax for a moment.  Until I started to think about how to get them back to the car.  (Luckily, I brought cookies.)  

Writing letters in the sand, of course!

Me: Hey, look at the view!  Ferries, container ship!

Them: A, B, C, oh look! An ant!

We did, eventually, make it back to the car with much talk about chocolate chip cookies.  And we saw a wild bunny along the way.  Overall, the boys had fun and Graeme was asleep within five minutes of getting into the car.

Too soon?

Gavin got mad at me today because I wouldn't let him check his email.  Apparently it is: "gavinwholikestoplaywithletters.com"

(Gee, ya think we say, "I just need to check my email..." No!  Of course not, I'm always 100% present when I'm with my children!)

When is too soon for a kid to have his own email or blog?  He could keep everyone entertained writing his ABCs everyday.  Upper case and lower case - to keep it exciting!

Actually, here is a picture of his newly minted font tonight:

 Oh, and the boys got haircuts today... this is Gavin's, but Graeme below was a few days before - so he's still shaggy.

Graeme's bravely just had a splinter removed - actually two - with no fussing whatsoever.  Pretty good.  He's shows off his new tough guy bandage.  (Yes, he is wearing his snow suit... it's still pretty chilly here.  Imagine that.)  And then snuggles with puppy later.

(For the record, I wanted to throw in some pictures of Graeme, so I don't write about Gavin all the time.)

Morning Mischief

Since the boys were playing well with each other this morning, I took the chance to go out in the cool mist and hunt for slugs.  It was great fun actually, but the boys weren't buying it, so they stayed inside.  Since I've bravely (or naively) transplanted some warm weather plants and flowers - just a few to see if they could survive, I had to remove the covers that they sleep in over night.  It was, after all, almost freezing here a few nights ago.

Total jackpot!  I think the slugs like the shelter too, because they were snuggled in tight.  And, there was apparently a slug baby boom, because I captured tons of tiny ones.  Of course, since I'm a wonderful mum, I put them in a plastic container and let the boys check them out.  And then went back outside to hunt for more.   It's more than slightly addicting.

I'm hoping that work now will pay off later in fewer chomps on my lettuce.  Which looks like this now:

It is trying so hard to grow.  Still pretty and fun to encourage.  There are a couple little carrot sprouts in there too.  Anyway, I think I lost track of time a bit while slug hunting.  I could hear the boys, but it had become quieter than normal after a while.  Soon I here Graeme's voice from somewhere other than downstairs.  I look up at he's at the kitchen sliding door yelling at me: "Picnic!  Picnic!"

Worth some investigation.

For the record, they both had had a light breakfast, so could have legitimately been hungry.  I set down my cache and went upstairs to find this:

Quite clever actually.  They'd found the picnic blanket and pretzels from the downstairs storage room.  And then foraged the rest in the kitchen.  I let them have their picnic with a little portion control.  It made for a very fun morning.