Preschool and Hives

Big day today! First day of preschool. I think Gavin had fun - he says so - but he did have a "Hey, Mummy's not here!" freak out moment. Or at least one. I was assuming that part would be a little hard since it is the first time he's been taken somewhere and left with people he doesn't know. Our only babysitters answer to the name "Grandma", so it's understandable to be a little distressed. But they do fun things and there's only 5-6 other kids, so he should warm up to it after a couple times. Here's a picture:

I asked him what he did at preschool and he said very matter of factly, "I didn't push any of the kids. Mummy would be mad, mad, mad." And then later when we asked again he said, "And I pushed all the kids." I'm not really sure which to believe. I did warn the teachers that he was in a pushing stage though...

Gavin right now is in his bedroom, not sleeping even though it is almost 9pm, saying, "Mummy, please get me out of here. Mummy, I put these in the bathroom. Mummy, I open the door for you..." He's learning all the techniques. Of course, I'm writing here rather than going to help him.

Hopefully he won't wake up Graeme, who is asleep right next door and has been for almost two hours. He needs his sleep as he's just recovered from an ear infection, and today, is covered with blotchy hives. It's actually quite funny because the rash doesn't bother him, and he's just as smiley and happy as ever. Only he looks like a baby leper. Turns out, he's allergic to penecillin like I am. At least his ear infection cleared up before we had to stop the meds. I didn't take a picture of the rash, but here's a recent one of him. (11mo.)


When we walked into the doctor's this afternoon, we passed a red Audi and Gavin goes (without prior prompting from me), "That is an Audi!" This weekend Grandma Karen gave him a car that's an Audi and he recognized the emblem. Crazy. Then when we left he said, "That is a pretty sweet Audi." I had to agree.

Football, Yoga, and the Boys

Ok, just to start, the Raiders can't win in the last couple minutes of the game. That's a total bummer. I'm writing a little and then watching the game, because Craig is watching it. Or, at least I thought he was watching it. He's snoring now. This may be the first and only time I'm more interested in sports! Yeah! Touchdown. Ok, things are as they should be in football land.

On another note, I took a great yoga class today from one of the teachers that does the teacher training (at Yoga Tree in Fremont, if anyone's interested). So, I've decided to sign up! Yeah! I'm excited to do something different that will help my brain out of the Mummy Madness and also help me improve my health and fitness... and presumably that of others once I start teaching.

One thing I noticed in class though - and this will seem a bit "Captian Obvious" - was how the core really effects the alignment of the rest of your body, and possibly how you feel overall on any given day. If you engage your core, your posture automatically corrects itself. More incentive for me to focus on core exercises since that's my weakest link! My little "Ah Ha!" moment for the day.

Quick update on the boys: Gavin starts his preschool tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. He seems excited (it's only 9-11:30, so not all day), and keeps telling me that they have a firetruck, and a tow truck, and Thomas, and the crane (Frankie, for those interested). I'm interested to see how he does with everything. I'll write more tomorrow. Graeme is our little mountain climber. He heads straight for the stairs wherever he is - up, up, up. Every once in a while, he'll sense me behind him and turn around like, "Hey, what are you doing back there?" Still working on walking, and getting braver everyday.

My Little Monkey (#1)

I finally was able to make pickles and pickled beans today! Yeah! Thankfully, Craig's mum was here. She helped with the whole process, and played with the kids to keep them out of the kitchen. We got four jars of beans and four jars of pickles (though I did buy some pickles). We'll see how they turn out, and how they compare to the others I did in August.

While we were working away in the kitchen, we let Gavin play downstairs by himself for a while... which I do sometimes, because he's pretty good. Today, however, I went down to check on him and he wasn't playing cars like he normally is... he wasn't in the laundry room... not in the bathroom... so, I looked in the guestroom (which is currently inhabited by Craig mum and Michael), and there is Gavin. With a cute little smile he says, "He's up on the china shelf!" (From another Richard Scarry book.) He had climbed onto the bed, over the headboard, and onto the window sill - and it's a smaller window, so he had to crouch too! Little monkey! I coaxed him down with snacks.

(And for the worry warts, the window is only about 2 feet off the ground. So, had he fallen out, he would've just said, "Hey, I'm outside!" and then run to play.)

Sexy Coffee Anyone?

OK, so, something else is on my mind and, since I have no other forum really, here's what is bugging me today. Why is it that that all the little drive-thru coffee huts around here have started advertising baristas in bikinis and sexy outfits, or show those flashy little stripper/mudflap signs in their window? My heart sinks into my stomach when I see that. Really? That's necessary?

I'm assuming that they wear the cosutmes, though I never would go to a place with such advertising, and I get why they do it. Of course it gets attention. It is just extremely sad to see. Take an already low paid job (presumably) where you have to sit in a box all day and add having to sell yourself too. Why not just make good coffee and be a little more creative to get the word out?

Not much else to say about that, I suppose. Is it similar in other areas? Have you all noticed it too? Maybe not such a big deal, but it bugs me nonetheless.

Loot and Spiders

We did get more rain this weekend than we have in a long time. Tomatoes did pretty well. They still fell over, but not as bad as they probably would have. Today, though, I figured it was time to cinch my hoodie tight and crawl into my bean mess to pick some beans. There were tons! I got a whole basket full, even skipping some in order to avoid a very large spider waiting hopefully in the center of his web. (I was hoping that he was the only such spider.) Anyway, here's a picture of my loot today. The beans fill up the basket, then everything else went crazy too. Amazing how water helps the whole process. I even have enough to share with my neighbor Deb, who usually brings over all sorts of goodies to us - from cookies to crab!


I cut some flowers too, which I'm sure are allowing an army of tiny spiders to infiltrate my house, meet friends, and make babies while I'm down here writing. Let's hope they're nice. (Can you tell I love spiders?)

Anyway, it looks like I'll be trying to pickle beans and cukes again. I tried this once with a "hot" method where you boil the finished jars and now I'll try a "cold" method where you don't. We can compare and see how different they are (if they turn out, that is). Gardening certainly is fun, and I have to say I'll be sad when the season is over. Although, I realized that the way to usher in Fall without too much grumbling is to go shopping and check out all the new sweaters and coats! That is totally shallow, I realize, but hey, it made me feel better.

Time for Rain?

We've had the best summer up here since I moved to Seattle. It's been great and totally fun with the boys! Of course, as I write that, I realize that it's also the first summer where I have neither work nor school to spoil the sunshine. That could definitely cloud my perspective. And for those of you who may see that last bit as gloating, remember that my eternal companions are a toddler who often thinks he's a puppy dog and a baby/toddler who must orally sample every substance known to man. Today the best sample was some very old styrofoam found in the sand at Alki Beach.

In any case, it is supposed to rain this weekend. Since it hasn't rained in a while, I actually looked at our little garden and thought ahead to tie things up so they don't break with the weight of the rain. The tomatoes are most at risk, so I now have an intricate labyrinth of ties from one tomato stake to another, then to the posts on the deck. Pretty safe, I think, aside from the slight hazard of mild decapitation.

It seems I'm so pleased with that last phrase that I can't think of what else to write. Might be time for bed.

Learning from Richard Scarry

One of the fun parts of growing vegetables, for me, is learning how the plants actually grow. Vine, bush, or whatever. We planted some corn, which is now growing quite well (although somewhat strangled by beans). The other day Craig asked me if the corn was going to have more than one ear per stalk. My response was, "I don't know. I assume three ears, since that's what corn looks like in Gavin's Richard Scarry books." It's always good to get your cultural knowledge from children's books. [And, just FYI, learning experience for growing beans: don't do it in an enclosed bed where you will then need to 1) crawl inside the bush mass to pick beans, and 2) dress in long pants and sleeves so you don't get a rash from the leaves. ]


Gavin loves the Richard Scarry books (thank you, Carol). His favorite story these days is about Pierre the Paris Policeman who captures a robber. Now when he's taking something from the kitchen (a bag of pretzels or the salt shaker, for example), he runs around the kitchen yelling, "Stop that robber! Stop that robber!" He's also started quoting Officer Monty of Monaco who says to "always walk on the sidewalk". I keep reminding Gavin that he also says, "Never push or hit. No one likes a bully." But so far, Gavin's not really taken that advice to heart.

As a result, Graeme is getting quite good balance. He mostly gets a kick out of Gavin's attention, and I'm sure he's just giggling because he knows he'll be fairly equal in size pretty soon.