plastic + high fructose corn syrup + syrup on my 'dines

In the bathtub a sea of plastic fish, buckets, boats, monkeys, everything plastic. Should my son be floating in all of this plastic? I think not. It all slowly drifts into two separate, but distinct areas of the tub, am thinking of the place in the ocean where all of the post-butyrate injection molded plastic detritus of consumerism ends up and then on to the stomachs of seabirds. uck.

And the potty beans? The gmo-corn high fructose corn syrup, artificial color, artificial flavor, Jelly Belly nastiness that were supposed to facilitate potty training? I will find a better carrot. My bad.

On the culinary front: Oliver asked me tonite if we could 'please put some syrup on his 'dines' (maple syrup + sardines, yes. Anthony Bourdain would be oh so proud). How could I refuse? 

And he is most often lately, in the early evening, seen dining in the buff. The food must just taste better...

  

Mallard Strawberry Ice Cream, The #1 Cure for Spicy Throat.

Pardon the plug. We have eaten a lot of Mallard ice cream. We really like it. Especially when our throats are spicy, and Oliver likes to go there with Laura, and with mom after music, and with dad, and you get the picture...

O. tasted peppermint yesterday, but he always gets strawberry.

Swinging in the swing next to him at the park today, he looked, suddenly, like this little adult.

'Spicy on the back of my throat.' + Robin Hill

Just as I thought we had escaped cold and flu season unscathed, along comes the bug. Berto has had the ubiquitous runny nose and mild, raspy, cough for a few days. This morning he told me that he had  'a spicy on the back of his throat.' The wind chill has been outrageous and temperatures in the high 20's, low 30's, but the sun is stunning and the skies a piercing bright blue. At times like these, I am grateful for his imagination as we can still manage to spend hours inside where it is a balmy 76 degrees with a big fire and puzzles, endless art projects, online video footage of any type of farm implement (today the cotton harvester was a hit), clay creations, books, and he has his (construction) Project Zone, a huge clay pot filled with soil and all of his small digging toys, plus and assortment of improvised 'attachments'.

Robin Hill

There are so many robins on Sehome hill at the moment. Oliver and I watched three of them canvassing the side yard for whatever they were scavenging and yesterday it seemed as though every time I looked, a bird was perched on a post in the yard...where we are planning on putting in grapes and berries and where fruit trees are already located. 

On a midday jaunt around the neighborhood yesterday, we chased robins up the street/hill, and saw (not kidding) more than 8 - 10 robins in a parking strip darting this way and that. 

Stellar jay(s) are putting a nest in one of the trio of pines closest to the parking area. An ADU (accessory dwelling unit)! 

Also of note the decapitated one-winged thing Poor Wendy (the cat) left me on the back porch in protest of my having allowed the canned cat food supply to cease to exist.

Those Rocky Canadians

We had some winter wonderland here two days ago. The day after I noticed the first helleborous orientalis Lenten Rose poking a tight, determined-looking bud out of the muck the snow started falling in the morning and didn't stop until when? The bamboo in the backyard bent over in a deep arc connecting to the ground almost at the house and I was instantly reminded why I so loved it in the first place. It made great tunnels, but we proceeded to knock avalanches of snow out of the long canes and leaves, filling the back of our jackets, so it would stand again. People in shock. Snow? The light was so intense, the sky so clear you could see all of the foothills in all directions. Everything from the Canadian rockies to the foothills in front of our Baker view was in full panorama and splendor.

We are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the newest member of the Sehome tribe, the new Norman baby. Our thoughts are with Emma, Chad, and Parker on this journey.

Rebecca's 35th Birthday yesterday, Friday, same day as my parents anniversary, never again to forget that one. And the quote of the day was from Rowan at Deception Pass, 'I LOVE the sun!'

O. and I visited The Great Mandini on Wednesday morning to see if she could find our lost ears. That Mandy! Always a great cut, a cool vibe, a good food tip. And then there is the music, fake fur, Balloon Suckers, a deer tattoo. How could you go wrong? And the resemblance of O. to Mandy's daughter Freda is, well...I showed Oliver Freda's picture from her blog and asked him who it was and he looked at me, smiled, and said 'Berti!'

Beyond that, we are thinking about preschool this fall. Exciting. Excited. 

Oliver is apparantly training for Cirque du Soleil, jumping off of almost anything onto (hopefully) pillows, sofa cushions, occasionally heads. Very physical. Very 'Whee!' 

And he sings. Mostly when he is quiet, working on something by himself. Picture the Grinch with his heart growing 3 sizes that day and there am I. Though he seems to have given up on the music class, maybe just a little hiatus?

Very social. With me, with dadoo on the road in Oregon, with his buddies, the waitress, the 'Beader' (beaver hand puppet), 'hamingo the flamingo, Grandma Patty and Grandpa Gar, and long monologues with Rebecca on the phone from in his 'kitchen'.

All for now...

Mt   

Little Milestones

One of the great things about hanging out with a toddler are the humorous and creative word pronunciations that change as language develops. Grateful for his progress, it is still bittersweet when the fun word is suddenly replaced by the accurate pronunciation. This past week we mourned the passing of 'acarium' and 'Keg' (Joe's boss Craig). The very hardest one to say goodbye to thus far though has been 'yowie' (yellow)... : (

Our thanks to craigslist. We sold a crib to a Seattle couple expecting twins. Oliver is celebrating his new bed today.

Quick trip to Monterey last week with Joe who was attending the EcoFarm Conference. Barefoot in the sand and wading in the tide pools, one sunset, weather not great. Squeezed in two trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a truly wonderful place. An entire new wing called the Splash Zone was added since our visit last year. Tons of interactive exhibits, more touch pools, and penguins!

Found some more fun at the new Monterey County Youth Museum. Grinning kiddos running around exploring a treehouse, a farmers market with a John Deere tractor and garden, a place for the kids to stomp in a barrel of faux grapes (not as gross as it sounds), an ambulance and hospital, a theatre with stage, costumes, camera, and screen, a miniature golf course with cart, a 2-story playhouse, a 'construction' site, an ocean area with a boat and soft piers for climbing, and this great contraption they could stand in and use a pulley system to lift a hoop and surround themselves with a gigantic soap bubble. Whoa! 

Despite all of this fun kidstuff, I still think the biggest travel highlights for Oliver are the airports. He's totally into airport security. The conveyer belts, the x-ray machines, escalators, moving sidewalks, the baggage claim, and the jets. We had to pull up the Bombardier website so he could learn more about the Q400 we took to and from Bellingham and he hasn't stopped talking about it, tells everyone. 

Joe took some great pics, so we'll just have to wait patiently until he gets a chance to do his magic and give them to me to post.

A GREAT DAY...

Wow...Barack Hussein Obama. How intelligent. How poised. How right. Courageous to assume this role of leading us forward. What a great day to be an American...

We don't do the cable tv thing and I was unsuccessful accessing any of the live feeds online. As luck would have it, the Mount Baker Theatre opened its doors at 8am this morning to view the inauguration on the big screen. O's awesome caregiver Laura, Oliver, myself shared this amazing moment with a packed house of rapt Bellingham folk. He clapped and cheered and somehow managed to watch the entire presentation. I hope he will always remember it.

Cheers to hope!    

It's not the cake, it's the candles...

So here is an image from the last of Oliver's three birthday celebrations taken by Joe in late July at a cabin on San Juan Island we shared with Oliver's Aunt Jekka and Uncle Alex.