Happy birthday John!

He's one cool cat these days.

 Just born!

A year ago!

Poem of last week

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

- Emily Dickinson

Spring is a good time for finding poems!

March weekend

Just your normal outside time in March:


These videos have basically no sound, I was spying on the boys from the bedroom window.


This was totally spontaneous - Oscar asked to water the Toba tree, so I turned on the hose. My attention then wandered, and when I looked back at the boys, there they were, naked in the tub. And very happy!

Oscar made a rocketship with a timer inside, that he was very proud of.

 John is a sweet cuddly boy.

These are the crocuses right outside the front door - I didn't even plant them! The rabbits haven't touched them, probably because they're so close to the house. They are huge.

John's knowledge

All dogs are Addie.
All snacks are cookie.
All foods are apple.
All drinks are water.
Heaven help you if you actually give him water, then he turns into a goblin.

An Oscar update

Oscar got a progress report from his school back in January. He likes practicing life skills like zippers and buttons, he has made many friends, and he doesn't listen to adults. No surprises there! He got "needs improvement" for listening and for accepting consequences.

We visited his school a few weeks ago for an observation. It was weird and cultish! The room was so quiet. We were expected to sit and watch and not interact with anyone, and after half an hour we just got up and left! That was all! Later his teacher emailed us to see if we had any questions, and we had none except is Oscar always like that? And of course he isn't. But boy was he excited to see us! We could not possibly be impartial observers when Oscar was asking us to look at his drawing all the time.

We also have a lot more pictures of him at work:

This week is spring break. The head of the school keeps saying helpful things like "enjoy this time off with your kids!" "I hope your family can do something fun during spring break!" But Oscar will be joining John at Becky's, and Eric and I will go to work, same as always.

On a brighter note, the giant crocuses are blooming in the front yard, and when I pulled the leaves out of the gardens today I found so many secret guys about to bloom (and safe from the rabbits!). I hope this doesn't mean a freeze is imminent, now that they're all uncovered.

Readers!

John loves being read to before bed now. And he's learning so many words - he's making fewer goblin noises now that he can say a few things.

Two nights ago he said all his numbers with Eric, and last night he read all of the "First Words" book. "Banana" is particularly good...

We are mammals.

Here is Eric, pre- and post-thesis beard.

He looks much more normal now that prelims are over! Sadly we are still too sick to have our celebratory dinner tonight, but Eric is playing lots of video games again so he doesn't seem to mind too much. Oscar and I picked out a bouquet for him (mostly because it's fun to have flowers) and Oscar insisted on the rainbow daisy mix. So our dining room table looks a little fluorescent.

I have also heard that the picture of my haircut does not properly highlight its true glory. These pictures don't really either, but just know that it is glorious.

Otherwise there's not too much to catch up on. The children discovered that the new dishwasher is magnetic, and Oscar loves making the longest word and asking us to pronounce it.

This is Mo-cat on a very cold day.

 I started reading to one boy and suddenly my lap was very full! John loves being read to now, especially before bed. He used to get bored and slide away very quickly, but now he settles right in and says "Buk! Buk!" once a book is over.

What else... in January we were visited by a fancy bird and a fancy bird. The second fancy bird made us vegan chocolate cake! The dust buster is still a huge hit, and we are always thankful that the battery only lasts about 20 minutes. The boys fight over whose turn it is to use it! And we have become dumpling masters. We made vegetarian gyoza for lunar new year and now our freezer is well-stocked.

Finally, Oscar is king of rules. Here are the rules he has made for playing swords with Eric:
Blue coin: freezes opponent, must use on back.
Red coin: unfreezes.
Green coin: spin and attack.
Rainbow coin: make an "x-er" with both swords.
Orange coin: link arms.
Purple coin: attack each other's feet furiously.
Silver coin: go invisible.
Black coin: un-invisible.
Clock coin: everyone dies.
If you die, drop your sword. If you drop your sword, you die.

Fortunately this means playing swords with Oscar consists of listening to him name different coins that he has acquired. There is very little sword-on-sword action.