Sept 18: Our New Tree and Morning in Longmont

We spent a Sunday morning in Longmont, our former home and the current home of some of our favorite friends. After a few weeks of researching the perfect coniferous tree to plant in a narrow space on the front corner of our house, it came up listed in a nursery in Longmont. So we picked up a new tree, then had brunch and playtime in the park with Tobey, Jon, Anna and Noah.

The tree nursery is in a beautiful location, on country road through the high prairie, lined with farmland, segmented by meandering creeks and their accompanying cottonwoods, with views of snow-capped peaks just to the west. The boys had fun running in all that space and sunshine. They also had fun throwing rocks.






There is our pretty little tree, a dwarf Corkbark Blue Fir.


After a yummy brunch at Lucille's, a New Orleans-style local chain and one of the few places I can find grits here, we walked through downtown to the park. The kids stopped to "cook" along the way.


Longmont is pure Americana, with a beautiful, historic Old Town.


A nice little boy at the park let Isaac and Noah take over his cool diggers.


We adults lounged in the shady grass, except Adam, who stayed with Jonah on the slide to make sure he was safe. It's a beautiful park and so clean, when you're used to urban playgrounds.


When we got home, we planted the tree. Everyone in the family played a part - Adam did the heavy lifting and some highly efficient digging to move us along; Isaac and Jonah helped fill in dirt and compost and cover the top with mulch.


It was a gorgeous weekend day spent mostly outside, the way we like it.

Sept 7: First Day of School and Friends for Dinner

Isaac is now a pre-K student - known at his preschool as a Frog - which blows my mind. How can he be one year away from kindergarten?
But on the other hand, I think he will be ready. He loves facts and collecting knowledge, and he absorbs what he hears like a little sponge. He also loves to be given a task (from his teacher, not so much me) and get to work. His attention span has always been long and deep. I'm excited for all the things the Frogs will learn this year, because this class is sort of the masterpiece of Teacher Anne. She manages to teach all kinds of literacy and science, while keeping it play-based; she has the year meticulously organized by monthly themes and tied to the various educational standards, yet she keeps it fun and relaxed; and she even manages to differentiate - the kids who aren't ready to start reading and writing can keep working on pre-literacy skills, while the ones who are ready get all the practice and guidance they'd like.

Here are a few photos from Isaac's first day back.




We have a favorite friend, my fellow southerner here in Colorado, whose husband travels for work all the time, sometimes for weeks at a time. We invited her and her two kids over for dinner on this Wednesday night, and the little ones all had the best time. I made a pizza but never got around to the salad; she brought an heirloom melon from her CSA; it was great fun. We even got to eat at the dining room table for once.

At the end of the night, as Ali was trying to get the kids out to the car, they pulled all the cushions off the sofa and discovered what a fun trampoline it makes...

Notes from August and September

The most noticeable development of the last few months has been in Jonah's language. He continues to add on words, but he is also adding parts of speech practically every day. In July, Jonah started using "not" and "didn't."
- When we caught him standing innocently by the toilet: "Jonah no flush pah-pie (potty)."
- When he is done: "Jonah not want carrot."
By August, he was using "can't." This makes for some funny, defiant, almost-two-year-old statements. As well as some cute ones:
- After his timeout for hitting Isaac: "Now can play in tent!"
- Coming back outside: "Now can pick more currants." (They love to eat the currants off our bushes. All the kids do, while most adults find them too tart...)
- At the playground, after waiting to go down the slide: "Now can have it turn!"

AUG 4
Jonah tattled for the first time. Twice that day he ran into the room where I was and said: "I-dack tell go away!" Isaac told him to go away. Ahhhh...here we go.

AUG 12
I asked who wants pizza.
Isaac: "I do!"
Jonah: "Ever-boby want pee-pul!" (Everybody wants pizza!)

AUG 24
Lulu came over to play with Isaac today. She lives across the street with her two sisters, in a house with considerably more pink and frills than ours. When she showed us her pink nails and started talking about looking pretty, this was Isaac's response to his friend: "I have a dress that I wear for work." All the while, he was shaking his head side to side the way he does. "It looks really pretty."
Do we tell him...do we just let him figure things out, hopefully very gently...? I think Lulu knows the difference already. But she was kind enough to just change the subject.

AUG 31
Now Jonah has also continued giving himself commands, apparently the way we must do:
- "Jonah, don't throw rice cake!"
- Walking down our front steps past the garden: "Watch out that bee, DO-NAH."
- At the children's play creek at the Botanic Gardens: "Watch out that wa-wa-fall (waterfall), DO-NAH."

SEPT 2
Snuggling in bed with Isaac, his bare skinny back and shoulders so wiry-strong and so vulnerable against me. Before leaving, I told him I loved him and would always take care of him.
Isaac: "I'll take care of you too. I won't let anyone hurt you. If they try to hurt you, I'll hurt them." And he would attack them, he said.

SEPT 3
Jonah now says "might be..." all the time. When he hears the key in the lock: "Might be Dada!" When he hears feet charging down the hall: "Might be I-dack!" Or today's conversation -
Jonah: There Jonah tie-tow (Jonah's Tiger)! Might be...Idack...Tie-tow (Isaac's Tiger)...toooo!

SEPT 10 - Random Photos


Above, Isaac and me by the gorgeous amaranth we planted together as tiny seeds in the spring.

Below, the boys love rolling around in the grass. Jonah was his usual silly self.

Aug 24: More from our little pianist

Every now and then, I hear Isaac in the family room playing piano, and I have to catch my breath. Yes, sometimes he bangs with both fists, but sometimes it is really beautiful. He plays with both hands, and you can tell he feels it.
I want to find him a great piano teacher because he loves it so much, but also because he loves playing, I don't want to get him lessons...I'd hate to stifle his intuitive, joyful playing with rules, theory and required practice.

He was playing a particularly striking song on this day, achingly beautiful at times, but of course I didn't think to get the camera until the end. But you can still get a sense of it.



And a bit more after a short break: