Singing and Talking

Alder is really into singing these days. I think this has a lot to do with his school life where they sing a good bit. We were told that at first (back in January when he started) he was a bit hesitant to join the group music lessons, but now he loves them. I was actually told yesterday that he was singing at nap time as everyone was trying to go to sleep. They had a hard time telling him to be quiet because it was so cute....at least that is what they told me....

This is one of his favorite songs.
The words are: "Roll, roll, pat, pat, pat, is the way we roll our mat!"
You can tell that he likes the attention, huh.....

New room!!...and a garden update

Talking with my mom and sister in law, Lindsay, over the Christmas break, I got the crazy idea for Jason to paint a headboard for Alder's new 'big boy' bed - 'a wooden fence with critters' is what I suggested. Jason is super creative and enjoys painting, yet does not often have the time or reason to put his skills to good use. He agreed and has been working intermittently on this project for a few weeks, and it is now complete!

Here is a brief overview of the process. He started by drawing out all the parts on paper:

He then used carbon paper to transfer the images to the wall:

Then came the paint:...and here is the completed masterpiece. A black rat snake and eastern bluebird eyeing each other amidst native wildflowers and butterflies.

..and my favorite part of this whole deal is getting to read bedtime books while lying down!! Ignore the huge belly, please...

So, now that this project is done, Alder has officially moved into his new room. This past weekend was our transition weekend and we were relieved and excited that there was little to no transition at all - he never seemed upset or concerned about the switch. We have been mentioning this move to him for a couple of months and his smooth transition was his way of saying - what took you so long! For his nap on Sunday, he did play in the bed for almost an hour before actually falling asleep, but amazingly he never got out!

We got the Capel rug and train table on Craigslist for a fraction of the price of new ones. We still need to buy him a dresser, and possibly some curtains, but here is the whole hodge-podge room currently:

Here is Alder during his nap on Sunday. Notice the books thrown on the floor during his hour of 'play time'

Ok, now to the garden update. Jason made a new bed on the south-facing side of our house. It is perfect because there is ample shade from mature oaks all summer and lots of sun and thermal mass in the winter. We are hoping for greens all year. For now, we have peas, radishes, kale, and spinach. The peas will grow up the trellis that you can see propped against the house - this was made from bamboo that he found along the railroad tracks near our neighborhood.

The first radish harvest - I am not very fond of radishes, but Alder and Jason like them...

And here is the same bed from last year. Both beds were given large doses of compost from the local grocery store (Ukrops) several months ago and what's growing now seems to like this and the copious rain we've been getting lately. Chard, broccoli (actually left over from last fall that never flowered and is now providing modest amounts), lettuce, and more peas to climb the wire trellis.

The straw is proving very helpful with keeping the soil moist between rains and the weeds at bay.
Here is a sweet boy. Happy Spring Everyone!!!

General update after a long pause...

Wow...it has certainly been awhile. I guess our only excuse is that life has been hectic. Here is a little update on the madness...

Alder had a week out of 'school' for spring break, which unfortunately did not line up with vacation or breaks from work for us. Thankfully, Grammy and Pa Pa came up for a couple of days to help out and we juggled the other days. Thanks for the do-rag! Just like PaPa wears!

It was nice to spend some extra time together at home. One day, Alder and I went to the botanical gardens and another day he and Jason went to the children's museum. I am SOOO excited for this semester to be over come early May (just a few more weeks!!) so that I will have more time to be at home and with Alder before baby #2 arrives. No offense baby #2, we are very excited for your arrival, but some prior re-centering is needed! Speaking of the baby to come....s/he is growing fast (sorry no internet prego pics to come!) and is very active. Sometimes I wonder if s/he is already trying to compete with the crazy monkey climbing and pushing on my belly as he squeals and asks me to read/sing him the wheels on the bus book for the 5th time in a row....

A couple of weekends back the weather was spectacular and spring-like. More recently, though everything is in bloom, it has been chilly and rainy. Anyway, we took advantage of the weather to go for a 4.5 mile walk at a nearby park. I have been so much less active with this pregnancy and it felt nice to get my blood flowing for such a long walk, we kept a pretty good pace for most of it and Alder was content in the stroller the whole time. We kept stopping to pick up neat objects (smooth and rough rocks, grapevine, flowers, fresh new leaves, a toad!) Here is a picture of the collection. Yes, we put the toad back where we found it before walking on.

Alder's vocabulary has really taken off in recent weeks. He is not only a parrot that repeats anything we say, but he surprises us often by independently putting words together in short sentences too! I had always heard that boys often do not talk until much later than girls and sometimes not well until they are almost 3, so I was expecting this for Alder. For whatever reason, he is quite vocal and despite the need to decode some poorly pronounced words, he is really pretty easy to understand.

We have been working on his colors and for awhile I thought he might be color blind because he was just NOT getting it. All of the sudden last week though, it seemed to click. He gets the basic colors right most of the time. Except for pink...for some reason this one is tough for him. Sorry Marilynn!

For those of you that may be excited to hear the details of vocalizations around our house/life, here are a few examples:

'I want _____'
'Alder's turn'
'Up in mommy's lap'
'Daddy's at work' or 'Daddy's at home'
Whenever we leave in the morning to go to school/work, we give Alder a treat to give to Tsuga and we typically break it in half so he gets two peices. If we forget, Alder tells us to 'break in half'
Also, in general, Alder has learned that Tsuga has to do something FOR the treat, and so he commands Tsuga to "sit" and "lay down" before giving it up.
When we are done eating, he goes around the table and says 'mommy all done', 'daddy all done', 'Alder all done'.
We will be driving down the road and he will say 'red truck' or 'big white truck' or 'yellow car'
My favorite is when he compares a 'BIG something' with a 'little something' His voice is very deep and low when he says 'big' and high pitched and thin when he says 'little'. Very cute.
He reports when things are "stuck" or "broke". Last night he couldn't climb out of his bean bag and yelled "Alder stuck" over and over. We left him there awhile to enjoy that.
He goes nuts anytime a train or train track is around and likes to talk about how it is over the road when we are downtown. We often get to see one on the way in to school.
We ask him what we need to do before we read books and after his 'night night' shoes are on and he replies 'tee-tee in potty' and 'brush my teeth'.
Tons and tons more...

Ok, that's it for now...have a great day and thanks for reading!