"One ought every day, at least, ...

...to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, speak a few reasonable words." ---Goethe.

William Samuel Parrott, Mount Hood, 1875/1895.

If no reasonable words passed my lips ("Talmage! Leave Sydney alone!!!"), today, at least, I made sure we saw some fine art. Jo and I took the kids to the Portland Art Museum for a kid-style tour.

Jolynn, you may or may not know, used to teach at a ritzy pre-school in New York. So ritzy they were not pipe cleaners, they were chenille stems. Jolynn is great to go to museums with because she knows all the tricks from her pre-school days. She brought a bag with objects in it that she pulled out one at a time. T and J were supposed to find the object represented in any of the works of art. For example, when she pulled out the small dog, they found a dog in the room. This took a small degree of hinting ("do you see any dogs [pointing to display case housing said dog] here?") and/or modeling ("oh, look! I see a rectangle right here.").

While Talmage and Joseph were receiving their advanced art lessons, the little kids gazed at the spotlights, high in the ceiling; Isaac flashed his wide grin and Sydney ooh'd really, really LOUDLY at the Native American baskets.

The above pic is kiefed from the PAM website and I hope I don't get in trouble for posting it here. It was one of my favorites.

(If you'd like the unedited version of what it's like to take a 2 and 3 year-old to the art museum, contact me).

Mad Libs on Our Lips

Talmage and I have discovered the magic of making up stories. Before naps and bedtime, we lie down, side-by-side in his bed and by the soft-yellow light from the wall-mounted moon, we spin our tale. This is a very magical moment. Nothing fancy with the actual story; but the emotional closeness, at least to me, is palpable. I pause at various junctures in the story and he supplies the noun, destination, etc. One of our first stories went like this:

Me: Once upon a time, there was a ...
T: race car.
Me: The car was driving down the road and met all his friends, like ...
T: Sally-car, Lightning McQueen, the Digger and Dumptruck.
Me: And they asked the race car where he was going. The race car said, I am going to ...
T: the Playground.
Me: The Playground. And did you know, the playground was on the moon? It was! "Can we come, too?" asked his friends. "Sure," said the race car. Come in my rocketship. etc.

The words swirl around us and spin their own webs in our heads as we both get droopy-eyed.

Yesterday, upon him waking from his afternoon nap:
Me: Did you sleep like a rock?
T: I slept like a rocketship.

Ah. Magic.

Some Dec and Jan 2008

Happy Birthday, Sydney!

Her one year check-up clocked her in at 18.8 pounds. Briton weighed 19 pounds at 12 months old – so I guess she takes after him in that department. She’s eating really well now: oatmeal/ten grain, Costco samples, pizza, crayons, Karren’s filet mignon (she's got 12 teeth - 4 of them are molars), green beans, broccoli, pretzels. She really digs Yo-baby yogurt and Godiva chocolates. She still pretty much refuses a bottle but is taking a lot more fluids by sippy cup and straw. "Fluids" does not include milk. She doesn't seem to like it all that much - which is too bad, since we are down to twice a day nursing. In about a week we’ll cut out the night-time nursing session. Keep your fingers crossed.

She does this “ooooh” sound that is delightful. Sometimes when I neglect her, after awhile I’ll wonder how she’s entertaining herself. When I spy on her, sometimes I’ll find her in the book corner, absorbed in turning page after page and “oooh-ing” at each picture.

She crawls fast. Super fast. It seems like every other kid at church who is younger than she is, is already walking. But Syd prefers the crawl mode for now. Or the carry mode. I carry her a lot. She is cuddly. My heart melts when she relaxes her head against my shoulder. She loves music and being danced. She shakes and clicks together any shakeable and clickable object. Her verbal skills, besides fussing, include babababa-ing, mamamama-ing, and a sound that I swear means, “What’s that?” It’s a sweet “Whattsat?”

Sydney has beautiful eyes. She does this thing when you’re holding her, where she grabs your chin with her fist and turns your face so that you are staring straight at her. Then she grins and laughs. If you turn your head away again, she will immediately grab your chin and turn your head back to face her. Repeat. She also pat-pats your arm or shoulder when you hold her; her face absolutely lights up when she’s excited; she enjoys pushing the shopping cart around; she sucks her two left main fingers; she locks her legs together, at the ankles, with incredible force.

She is very playful. She’s been interested in putting toys into buckets. She is not interested in stacking blocks. She gets by with a one-hour nap at noon. But she also goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. Practically every night. Without a fuss. That is waaaaay cool. She sleeps until 6 a.m., because she is in the habit of having her early-morning nursing session. But then she’ll sleep again for another hour. We love you so much! You bring light to our lives.

(Written on February 17th)