Etcetera

I have three products to promote to the few that read our humble blog;). I kind of feel like Oprah...doesn't she do this...except that my impact on the market for these products is likely to be minuscule. Regardless, I feel I must share.

With winter dry skin made worse by heating our house with wood (and slobber for some), the boys and I have been covering our bodies with this oil after baths. It is amazing - a mix of almond, lemon and rosemary oils. I am beginning to think I will no longer use lotion. Chapped cheeks and hands be gone!

I am referring to the soup mix here. There are all of 5 ingredients in this soup - lentils, split peas, barley, and alphabet pasta. All I have to do is boil it with water and veggie broth cubes and it is so yummy. Even Heath devoured it. Heath has also begun to pick up and eat bits of rice and other mild tasting bits of whatever we are eating!

Finally, we bought these wonderful wool pants at the suggestion of Janet and have gotten our moneys worth many times over. Not only are they incredibly warm, but they serve as a water repellent diaper cover when lanolized. Interested persons can find them here.

They are also exceptionally flattering to the infant physique...oh my goodness!!!

One other funny note about Alder - he has learned how to procrastinate. When looking in I Spy books for a difficult to find object, he will turn the page, hold his palms open and say "we can find it tomorrow."

Days In

With all the snow we have gotten recently, we have tried several ways to deal with cabin fever, and wanted to capture a few... in no particular order...

Cars and trucks have not yet gotten old. Especially when there are so many pieces of furniture to pretend they are about to drive off of (as if a cliff, or... a boat dock), to their ruin. Alder likes to suspend a car, or a string of train cars, teetering on the edge of something and act panicky and dramatic, in that shouting, yet soft, make believe voice, "Oooooh noooooo, dare bout to faw doooooowwwnn." In more constructive times of play we like to take the cars our of the container, (when the container is not a barge in the ocean) and sort them based on different characteristics; all these are red, all these have stripes, all these have numbers, and this one is not similar to any of the others... BTW Alder has gotten into this thing where he likes to keep a winter hat on in the house, and usually wears adult sizes cocked to one side and/or, really elongated.

Eating. Here lettuce, carrots and nuts, and as if it were honey-dipped goldfish. Anything with vinegar, and Alder is pretty crazy about it.
Eating. Here, imaginary veggie dogs.
Replacing all the interior doors in the house. One more snow and they should all be painted too.
Cars and trucks never get old for Heath either.
Random stackings.

We talk about the birds at the feeder. Alder is starting to learn some birds! We like to see the flicker and red-bellied woodpeckers tackle the suet, and watch the wrens and sparrows jump underneath to grab scraps. And the occasional yellow-rumped and pine warblers add a dash of color, even in their fall plumage.
As Alder tries to lace up the boots, he is repeating, "Dis is my work".
When the roads were cleared, and we couldn't take it anymore, we ventured out out the bookstore.
This has become quite the focal activity. Alder and Heath just basically digging into some assemblage of baby toys, trains/tractors/cars/trucks, blocks, little toy people, farm animals. We help out on building some things and then they just go from there. We should also add here, that it is more amazing everyday how much they can already play together. It is clear, watching them, that they have something we don't have. Though with an age gap of nearly 2 years (infant and toddler), they undoubtedly communicate. Not only while playing, but also across the back seat in the car. They hand each other toys, make each other laugh ... Today in the car Alder "read" (from memory) Heath a book over and over, and they both LOVED it, squealing and laughing for a half hour.

Alder does like to have control over what Heath has to play with though, so we can see where this might be going.
...wood... For those that don't know, wood is our primary source of heat, and these days, that stove is basically a giant mouth to feed. And, a hungry one... that can be a picky eater when cold, and that does not like wet food. So keeping wood covered in the yard to keep it dry, keeping dry wood pulled up to the doors for convenience, and keeping kindling on hand is a job. A woodburning stove is warm and cozy and cheap heat, but it takes work and time. There ain't no switch-flippin' to get warm. But we like it or we wouldn't do it. Alder has taken to helping out some with gathering and stacking. His backhoe and dump truck like to ride in the wheelbarrow, and they especially like to "... faw dooooownnn!"

And we have spent lots of time enjoying the OUT-OF-doors of course. Lots. Here is a quick snowman on the back deck.

Take Two

Another weekend of the white stuff. Saturday sort of had us stuck inside again, but Sunday was beautiful. So, we ventured out for some cabin fever cure . First we hit up a bagel shop, or "bagel store", as we are often corrected.

Alder chowing down on a bagel, and Heath, on a work glove.

Then we headed across the street to a local park that is VERY popular when snow is thick and school is out. We tried sledding with Alder when Grandad was here, two snows ago, to no avail. Alder wanted NOTHING to do with it. This time was different. We bummed sleds from other kids to satiate Alder's pleas to do it again and again. Unfortunately no pic of that: Dad was helping with the sleds and Mom was otherwise occupied with about 24 pounds of strapped-on dead weight. But, we will certainly need to pick up a sled sometime soon, as Alder proved an ability to hold on tight and a love for the speed. That might even be today, only three days later, as we are at home again, with about three new inches in the past two hours. (I, Dad, am starting to think of lots of synonyms and descriptors for snow, but I will just call it snow here.)

Here's a not-so-good shot of the sledding spot. (camera phone for all these) Alder is actually walking back to the car, but in the background there is a small crowd people looking down a huge hill at all the fun. I wish this pic could offer the sounds of squeals and near collisions and laughter as well.

And Heath... taking it all in, sleeping off his work glove.

RE: the snow

We got a significant snow last weekend, the second of the winter, following the first one by about a month. About 10 - 12 inches at our house. This one was a little monumental, as it was the first snow that Alder has enjoyed, of I think four that he has seen. Usually he is pretty miserable when out in it, be it due to the cold, the wind, the pain of hands getting wet and cold when gloves won't stay on, and/or the fact that he is practically incapable of anything other than standing and walking due to a massive wad of clothing.

This time for some reason, he embraced it. It certainly wasn't b/c it wasn't cold. Maybe it was that the snow was dryer, and not so painful. Maybe it was that he has gotten use to cumbersome thick winter clothing (something I (dad) am not fond of either). Maybe it was that we made sure the thumb was functionally snug in the thumbwhole of the mitten, with a rubberband around each wrist. For whatever reason, in one month, from one snowstorm to the next, Alder decided to love it.

It came down all day Saturday, and during a slack period we went out to play and just look around and be.This is right about when Mom saw those cheeks and demanded we come in.Heath stayed cozy inside, with a "What? You want me to go out there?" look.

The next day, clear, a bit warmer and lovely, we spent even more time out, and we all even went for a long walk. We literally had to coax Alder in with promises of warm quesadillas and hot cocoa. And Mom and Dad and Heath were pleased with the convenience of it all. Mom got to work and knit a bit inside, while Heath napped in peace. Dad got to shovel out our cars and firewood, while Alder played with the backhoe and dump trucks. Lots of fun... but not so much that we are wanting more this weekend. May the forecast be wrong....Including this shot mainly to point out the six little mounds of snow behind Alder. There within are broccoli, kale and chard, muscling through this winter. If they hang in there, they shall surely be beautiful come Spring. So far they have withstood may nights in the teens and single digits.