Alder's body, big room switch, and SPRING!

Before I get started on the topics of the post...I will mention that the boys are getting along pretty well these days. Heath is doing whatever Alder is doing and Alder does not seem to mind for the most part. When either of them is tired, interactions quickly spiral into taunts and tears, bit otherwise we have been enjoying seeing them enjoy each other.

Alder has recently enjoyed talking about and exploring his body and this is both interesting and hilarious. While we have always told him about body parts and processes, he seems to now be much more interested. He likes to talk about what happens when he eats his food (i.e., it goes down my esophagus and into stomach and then into intestines and out as poop). He has also been feeling his bones in certain parts of his body - knee, elbow, skull, hip. These discoveries are fun to see - "Hey, what's this? Is it a bone?" pointing to his hip jutting out of his ever- skinnier torso. Recently, while sitting next to the bath with him, he made some exceptionally funny observations. "Mom, why do my testicles not have any bones?" Taken a bit off guard, I tried not to laugh and responded by telling him that he did not need to use his testicles for walking or moving or lifting. Then I explained that muscles attach to bones to help us to do these things. He continued to explore 'down there' and think hard about this and then asked "Mom, what are these balls in my testicles?" I replied that those are his testicles. I am just glad he did not then ask what they are for.... and then he told me that he wanted to try and "pop them out"...oh dear.

Another funny discovery the other day was when he was eating breakfast and called Jason from across the house to come here in a somewhat urgent manner. When Jason arrived, Alder exclaimed that he had "found his handle" and was reaching far up under his ribcage. Here is photo taken later to demonstrate. Quite funny.

Another exciting event in our house this weekend is that we decided to get the boys sleeping together. Heath has been occasionally sleeping in Alder's bed for several weeks, some nights with lots of success and better/longer sleep than in the crib, and other times it has been not so great. Banging into the sides of the crib at night has begun to be a problem and cause waking so the big bed now means they only bump into each other and this (so far) has not caused any problem. Often times they have actually traded pillows and sides of the bed by morning. Now for the bad...Heath is certainly the ring leader of mischief we are seeing. One night Heath must not have been as tired as usual and he decided to get up, turn on the light and play with trains. Alder was sitting on the edge of the bed half participating and smiling when I came in.

So, today we put Heath's crib in the attic, and moved "Alder's bed" and all clothing into "Heath's room" and this is now the "boys room". All toys (including many that have had their home in the front of the house) are now in Alder's old room which is now the "playroom". The boys are very excited about this new set up and I am stoked to have fewer toys under foot in the family room. We will see how the sleeping goes this week.....

"Heath's old room":

Boys new room:

New "playroom"

Oh yeah and I should mention that we have been really enjoying the spring weather and spending lots of time outside. flowers are beginning to bloom and birds are starting to be more active. We went to a spot on the river near downtown where great blue herons are beginning to build nests. It is pretty cool to be right downtown and be able to see an active rookery like this.

To get to the spot where the action is, you have to climb down and walk along a pipe. Pretty nice white water rapids behind us and the capital building and lots of tall buildings are just a few blocks the other direction.

Also, I have been banding white-throated sparrows for work one day a week and Alder and Jason joined me last week. Unbeknowst to us, Alder had the flu that day, but after a dose or two of tamiflu he was perfectly back to normal. Regardless, he was quite interested to help and touch the birds and let them sit in his hands before flying off. We are looking forward to including the boys in these activities more and more as they get older.

Here we are spreading seed in Potter traps. They come in to feed and set off the trap door.

In case you are interested, this species does not breed around here, but will move north in early May to breed all across Canada. They are quite abundant here and throughout the southeast throughout the winter months and can often be heard singing before they depart..."Oh sam peabody peabody peabody..." is the pneumonic. Learn more and listen here