Spring into Summer

Well, blog posts come rarely these days. There are so many notable moments in our lives now that to try to encompass them seems ridiculous, so I will just share a bit as it comes to mind now.

Our neighbors loaned us a children’s Noah’s Ark play set with ark, animals, and people. Brown and I were looking through the animals and he was naming them as I pulled them out. Giraffe, lion, cow, etc.

I next pulled out Noah, robe, white beard.

Brown looked at him, cocked his head over to the side. Then his eyes brightened as he said “Santa Claus!”

Suppressing laughter, I just said ok, and moved on to the next animal. I would like to wax eloquent about how confusing fairy tales and bible stories are to children who can only think in concrete terms, but I will save that.

Brown's speech therapy is going well, too well. They forgot to tell us where the off switch is. He loves asking "what that?" or "who gave me that?" or "what doing daddy?" Its hard to believe he was ever nonverbal.

Joseay is a trip. Not sure how to describe her current phase. Willful, curious, loud, messy, still nearly bald, hilarous, ticklish, all that. Come visit for a first hand look and then let us know your opinion.

This weekend, we were moving sand for the sandbox and I was using the wheelbarrow and Brown of course wanted to help.

He came over, slipped under one of the handles and was holding both handles in front of me as we walked sand around the garden. His interest just lasted a few seconds really but there I was, working in the yard with my son working and playing in the sun, sweaty, healthy fun. I looked over at Miss farmer Chris who was hoeing in the garden (yes, that minivan driving, signal living mom of two now wields a hoe so watch it) and thought, does it get any better than this? Speaking of garden and my wife, we had our first produce from the garden last night in the form of a basil/cilantro pasta dish.

Not sure where this life is taking us, but we are enjoying a generous season in many ways at the moment and are so grateful.

Grandma

My Dad's mom died earlier this month. She recently had broken a vertebrae in her back and had been going through rehab in the hospital, then a rehab unit and then finally had made it to an assisted living sort of place where she could have her own stuff in her room - her own bed, dresser etc. Not home, but fairly close. It was run by her church and had worship services and bible study for her and I believe she was beginning to settle in. She died apparently peacefully in her sleep at 92. She had a long, blessed life and for that we are thankful. Brown had become fond of visiting with her on a regular basis and still mentions her name at random times. He got to visit her the day before she died as Chris took Joseay and Brown by to see her at lunch. Of course the workers loved seeing the kids and brought them some ice cream which you can see Brown devouring in this picture. This is the last picture we have of grandma. I am glad that she knew my kids and obviously loved their visits and seeing them grow and develop. She knew Joseay was a girl, but would frequently say things like: "oh isn't he cute." Joseay still could use some hair...

Snow Day 2011

The Chaffin family has had a wonderful morning. Up early, Brown doesn't understand that when school and work are canceled, that means to be lazy for a while. But it is 3pm as I write this, and though we have been out in the snow, eaten several times, bathed the kids, everyone is still in pajamas so I guess we qualify for lazy.

Joseay likes touching the snow. Her face kind of squeezes up when her hand pushes through the surface of the snow. But this 6 or 8 inches or whatever we have on the ground out there, comes up past her knees. That translates to about two foot for an equivalent amount for an adult. So my point is, a toddler, with a true “toddler”gait does not handle the snow so well. So her time outside has been fairly brief.

Brown came out and played for a while, but his gloves just don't quite stay on and his hands got cold really quickly. Add that to the fact that he just likes eating the snow and he got chilly quickly. His first words when we looked out the window early this morning were “want to eat that snow.” But we did get in some sled rides in our backyard along with some snowball fighting which consisted of him coming and throwing loose snow at my knees. But it was really fun none the less.

We continue to be blessed with happy kids, happy times and lots of love. Brown is talking much more now and can communicate his needs more easily which I think had led to a lot less frustration for him as well as us. He is developing friends in that he looks forward to seeing them when they get together at various times. He and Joseay love to play with each other which has been nice. We had cinnamon rolls this morning and while Chris and I were lingering at the table eating, both of the kids were playing in Joseay's room. When they were both laughing, Chris looked at me and said, “See, everyone told us the kids would get to this point.” Fun times in St. Elmo!

Bottles begone

As our kids grow up, we mark the passing time in different ways. Sometimes, its the fact that we are now all sleeping through the night. Other times, we realize that we can sit and talk to each other and the kids are playing happily by themselves. Recently, however, we marked a pretty big milestone which is marked by the picture below.


To those who has spent countless hours taking apart, cleaning, and putting back together baby bottles, you will recognize that this picture closes a book on those days for us. 2 out of the last 3 years we have been covered in bottles. An though we are not trying to hurry through these precious baby/toddler years, this picture is beautiful to me.

J-Walking

Joseay is quite the walker these days. It is so stinking cute because she is so little, and I'm just not used to seeing someone that little walking around. They told us at the pediatrician appt last week that she is in the 25th percentile in size for her age.
I wanted to get some video of her walking around yesterday while she was following Brown and Curt around the house. Brown is finally starting to figure out that he can use his big brother status to his advantage if he can get Joseay to do what he wants. Took him long enough...

Happy 1st Birthday, Joseay!

Well, what to say on your daughter's first birthday? "What a long strange trip is has been?" Perhaps, though this is probably true for most kids. It is almost hard to remember those months of sleepless nights, of screaming days. Almost.


So as you can see, we did get a cake for her to celebrate, and had not planned on her having a taste, but as we (I use that term we loosely as the pictures are all my wife) were trying to get everything arranged for the picture, we neglected to see the obvious: there is a bright shiny cake with a candle within Joseay's reach. No need to explain what happened next except to say no one was burned despite the fact that the picture appears to show me holding her hand in the fire. Icing was the only casualty.
If you haven't seen her in a while, I guess I should mention she is walking when she feels like it. She has had the balance for about a month but no real desire. And I am not sure when to mark the day of her first steps being taken. She has for weeks been taking one step and then falling forward. Technically maybe a step. But not really. Then she started this thing where she would move one foot and just sort of pivot. Does this count? Questionable. But just about 3-4 days ago, she started walking. Easily taking 10-15 steps and going where she wants. Fun to watch!

But unfortunately she has been sick the last couple of days (105, snotty, cough, fussy, etc) so her walking time has been limited, but that should change this weekend. We hope to post some walking pictures soon. Yes, Brown is well. He has been sick with the same thing this week but continues to grow in many ways. His language has improved drastically with new words and combinations popping up all the time. His favorite phrase now is "mommy, look!" It is super cute now and we must have heard it 50 times already. Wonder how cute it will be after the 50,000th time?
We have tried to keep him from having an overwhelming taste for sugar and it may be working. In the picture above, he has cake in his green bowl which he has been crazy excited about for weeks now that he understands what cake is (thanks so much school!). But after about half of a tiny piece today, he started asking for yoghurt and cereal. Brown did get a similar cake on his first birthday (http://brown-chaffin.blogspot.com/2008/12/firsts.html) but I think Joseay was much more cooperative with smiling. Maybe it was because his hat didn't have the pink balls hanging all over it. Its tough being the oldest.

Soccer camp has begun!