more noah-isms

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"thank you. than-kyou. you said, 'Q'!"

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"in. in. 'in' starts with 'N!'"

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upon checking out a dead snake in the street.
me: what did the snake feel like?
noah: what?
me: how did it feel? slimy? rough?
noah: it felt...sad.
me: it felt sad? (trying not to laugh.)
noah: sad like, 'waaa-waaa-waaa!' (pretend cry.)

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for some reason we are sitting on the kitchen floor, and i am feeding noah and isla bites of applesauce.
me: you guys are like baby birds! or like owl babies.
noah: you are the mama owl.
me: who will you be?
noah: i'll be the biggest one.
me: which one was that? sarah, or percy, or bill?
noah: sarah.
me: which one will isla be?
noah: bill.
me: then we need someone else to be percy. how about isla's dolly stella?
noah: okay! (runs to get stella. brings her back triumphantly. sets her down next to us.)
me: here, babies, eat your applesauce! (i feed them bites of applesauce. they eat.)
me: noah, would you like to have another sister or brother someday? do you want to have more than two kids in our house?
noah: yeah! i want to have three little sisters!
me: wow, really? would you be a good big brother to all of those little sisters? would you help them?
noah: i would give them each a car. isla could have a car, another baby could have a car, and the last little baby could have a truck.

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planning isla's birthday celebration.
noah: isla should have a clean party, because i already had a messy party.

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at 8:30am saturday.
noah: is it tomorrow yet?

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we are walking down our street.
noah: what does that sign say?
me: no parking.
noah: it doesn't say 'no parking.' it says 'no parking this side.'

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at the kitchen table, after noah asked for some food and was served.
noah: no, i don't want it.
noah: 'honey, you asked for it!'

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listening to a piano concerto on NPR.
me: what's this fancy music?
noah: it's not fancy music, it's old-fashioned music.

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on fiddling with the underside of the vacuum and finding a roller part that flips up.
noah: look--it's dolly wheels for a vacuum!

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after putting the board book "baby faces" on his new tractor trailer truck.
noah: look--i made a book truck. a library truck. a bookmobile!

first first day

today was noah's first day of preschool! i can't believe what a big boy he is becoming. he was very excited for school today--packed up his backpack and hopped in the bike trailer, saying, "mama, ride!" when i dropped him off he checked out a few rooms and settled on... you guessed it, the cars and trucks area. he kept asking if certain toys were the preschool's, meaning, am i really allowed to play with all this stuff? he is in awe of how often they say yes at loving space.

check it out here. the website is lovely and does a nice job of explaining their educational philosophy, which they've taken from a variety of sources. basically, it's this: Together we celebrate what childhood should be: a time to explore the world unhurried, surrounded by friends and encouraging grown ups in an environment filled with endless supplies and opportunities for creative play. it's much more play than school, but i do not doubt that lots of learning will happen there as well. and another plus: it's in our neighborhood! i'm looking forward to the walks there and back as times to process what noah has been busy with at school.

when we signed noah up, we were asked what our hopes and fears are for noah as he begins school.

i fear that he will be hurt, or that he will hurt others. i fear that he will learn things that he's not ready to learn (or that i'm not ready for him to learn). i fear that he will lose his gentleness, that he will become a rough, wild boy, a member of a pack. i fear that he will no longer need me.

i hope that he will laugh heartily. i hope he will make friends, and feel welcomed, and feel ownership, and feel safe. i hope he will be challenged--to get messy, to play in ways outside his comfort, to express his feelings, to protect his needs, to share. i hope he will learn positive ways to resolve conflicts and to work cooperatively. i hope he will grow confident, strong and capable. i hope that he will have lots and lots of fun.

isla right now

* says "uh-oh," "ma-mum," and "up." "uh-oh" usually accompanies the throwing down of her pacifier or a snack she's done with.
* signs "milk" and "more," but only when she feels like it.
* scoots all over the place, on her bum with one leg in front. is beginning to pull herself up on furniture.
* follows me and/0r noah around the house. is literally underfoot most of the time. (i have to be careful not to step on her!)

* mastered the "snack trap" in a matter of seconds. munches thousands of veggie booty puffs via said snack trap.
* goes through about five outfits a day.
* is very interested in books. turns pages and says, "oh!" (the cutest thing ever.)
* loves the coffee grinder. bops and claps when we grind coffee.

* loves the beach, and water of all kinds. crawls right up to the sprayers at the spray park.
* loves beach sand, sandbox sand, and dirt of all kinds. also leaves, sticks, grass, rocks.
* loves the bath and focuses on trying to drink bath water.

* has seven teeth, one of which still looks a bit like a fang.
* eats everything she can get her tiny hands on. except shredded spoonfuls cereal. these she does not like.
* loves her new sippy cup, and drinks with gusto. then coughs.
* has probably eaten about a thousand blueberries this week alone.

* loves to unpack the diaper bag, the laundry basket, noah's shoe box, the book shelf, etc.
* does not want to sleep anymore. especially if noah is not in the room.
* loves balls. taps them together, rolls them to noah.
* loves her daddy and claps and waves when he comes home.

happy half year

isla has been on the outside now for half of a year. what a happy half year! it's impossible to remember what life was like without her. she is a happy, easygoing little girl with the brightest blue eyes, the faintest red hair and great big squishy cheeks, belly and thighs. really, she is a little person all of a sudden. she listens, she jokes, she steals, she yelps, she licks, she laughs, she snuggles, she toots... she is big and strong, still topping the growth charts and doing all the things a person of her size is meant to do. how lucky we are!

this weekend she began to sleep with her brother instead of her parents. what a big change! so far the transition has gone fairly well. she still wakes plenty in the night to nurse, but i just go to her and nurse her in her room, and lay her back down. she and noah don't seem to wake one another very easily, which is a relief. and noah loves having sleepovers every night! he is so sweet to her, and says, "good night, isla," or "it's okay, baby isla" if she cries. it's fun to imagine them giggling together in the dark as they get older.

happy half birthday, little girl!

my little boy

lately noah asks what things are "about." for example, driving home from grandma and grandpa's house the weekend of the waldorf fair, he said, "what's waldorf school about, mama?" good question.
today i said "hmm..." as i walked around the house looking for something. "what's 'hmm' about, mama?" noah asked.
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recently while noah wasn't napping in his crib at naptime, i was talking on the phone in the kitchen. i hung up, and then heard noah ask from his room, "what was it, mama?" which means, who was on the phone? he said it a few times and i finally went in to set him free and fill him in on all my telephone business. he is so involved! it's hilarious. every time i hang up the phone: "what was it?" "what he/she said?"
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he recently made a train from kitchen chairs, with a laundry basket caboose. he sat up front to drive, and i rode in the caboose. "are you the engineer?" i asked. "yes," he said. "and you are the caboose-neer."
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noah is such a big boy all of a sudden. i can't believe his third birthday is nearly upon us. often aaron and i refer to him as a little boy, and he always corrects us by saying, "not a little boy; only a big boy!" (except in the case of him hiding, in which he says, "mama, mama, say, 'where is my little boy?'")

he suddenly knows how to dress and undress himself (thanks, aunt irene!); he is semi-interested in the potty; he is very excited about the prospect of having a big-boy bed (particularly a bunk bed); he is anxious for isla to grow big so he can play with her; he loves swings and slides; he is very adept with small things and loves to "hitch" cars and trucks to one another; he sings lovely songs; he eats a ton of food; he has officially had his first temper tantrum (over a plastic firetruck at a consignment shop); he understands and upholds deals; he sleeps 11 or 12 hours a night; he loves sending and receiving mail (like his mama); he likes to say prayers (though he varies who he prays to); he loves to read and choose new books at the library; he gets very excited about the new practice of "friday night movie night"...
and is overall a very sweet, very fun and wonderful boy. we are so lucky to be his parents!

learning how to drive a train with daddy at the railway museum

driving a train at the railway museum

excited about the cool scenery and steam train

the homemade train, with laundry basket caboose

aaron and noah made a zocalo (a town square)

the zocalo, up close

at the train station in fairhaven

a basket-hat and two gift bag-shoes

an apple and cheese sailboat snack

autumn

isla was born in the summer.

today it is october, and it is autumn. a whole new season.

it feels like a new season in our lives, in the best way. it is our new little girl, of course, but also a slowing down, a meeting of ourselves again.

aaron and i are getting to know one another again. we are making plans: for more time together, for adventure, for learning, for creativity, for beautifying our home.

noah spends so much time reading and learns new things every day. among them, kissing with his lips, not his cheek, and making a "kissing sound" for accompaniment. he kisses isla now many times a day, and is gentler with her. he sings. he eats broccoli. he has great sympathy for those who are hurt or sick. he loves band-aids still.

noah and aaron are two peas in a pod. they have been having many adventures together while mama and isla nurse, rest or nest.

isla smiles now, and smirks. her eyes are often wide (and are a deep blue). her hair is redder. she grunts. she enjoys diaper-free time. she is likely twelve pounds already, busting out of her tiny newborn clothes. she is a very calm and sweet little girl.

today is cool and rainy. the house is messy. isla is sleeping on my belly in the moby wrap, noah is not napping in his room. it's time to make chocolate chip cookies.

my big boy

lately i've started thinking about how different life is going to be around here very soon. honestly, this has only just hit me in the past few days. i should have been preparing mentally and emotionally for the greeting of this new baby for months now, but i think i've been so distracted with other things that it really hadn't even occurred to me until now.

just last night noah was in bed with me, wiggling and chatting it up, while i tried to fall asleep and aaron read in the living room. at first i felt annoyed; i was SO tired after a busy day and just wanted to sleep. but then i really listened to his little voice and eventually ended up in tears. he is so funny and sweet! and it is crazy how his mind works. i was mostly quiet and he was talking to himself, reminiscing about the day and reviewing things that he's learned recently. he talked about our housewarming party (i.e. the cupcakes we had, all the friends who came, playing with jessa in the yard), he talked about the new baby who will come soon (how she will nurse from mama, how mama will hold her in the sling and noah will kiss her), he talked about the fair we just went to, and ice cream, and grandpa and his new room. and he practiced his consonants! he said "c-c-c-c-corn!" just like grandma has been teaching him. he cracked me up, so that i wasn't tired anymore and just wanted to enjoy my little boy, while i still can single-mindedly.

suddenly my very first teeny tiny baby has turned into a big boy! he is so competent and hilarious verbally and physically, and every day he learns new things and makes me laugh. he is incredibly independent but still cuddly and loving. he loves to climb, has figured out how to open the fence gates on his own, is very interested in boo-boos and broken bones, has opinions on all the choices we make, loves to play crazily with aaron, and knows a ton about the world.

one of the funnest things about noah right now is his sense of humor. he has a handful of "jokes" that he loves to share with people, and which only make sense if you know their background stories.

joke #1: "tow truck at a coffee shop"
a while back while driving noah and i saw a tow truck parked at a drive-thru coffee kiosk. he thought it was hilarious.

joke #2: "tractor in the watermelons"
recently we saw a little skid steer loader as part of a display in front of a grocery store, its bucket full of watermelons. this was also hilarious.

joke #3: "not barbara the mailman--mike the mailman!"
one day not long ago at our old house, our landlady barbara came to the front porch to pick up her mail. noah assumed, i think, that it was mike the mailman there to deliver our mail. but he saw barbara instead and joked, "barbara the mailman!" then he told the truth and said, "not barbara the mailman, mike the mailman!"

joke #4: "not a poo, a rock!"
a while back aaron was changing noah's diaper in the grass outside a vineyard near here. aaron was shocked at what he thought was a very large and solid piece of poo. upon further inspection, he discovered that it was in fact a rock that had somehow snuck its way into noah's diaper. and astute noah pointed out that it was, "not a poo, a rock!"

i'm sure there are more jokes, though i can't think of them right now. i really think this little boy understands irony. it's awesome.

i know it's a little silly to mourn the growing up of my little boy, when he's still only two. it just seems like it's gone so fast! i want him always small and sweet and innocent and able to fit on my lap. but i also love to watch him change and grow and discover the world... so i guess i need to take joy in his growth and discoveries, and help provide an environment of joy for him too. (maybe it's just these crazy hormones coursing through my body that make me cry on an hourly basis!) but it must be true that there is something very special about a mother's relationship to her firstborn. we have made so many discoveries together. now we will have to gently let go of one another a bit, and share that joy and those discoveries with our new little baby.

noah is going to teach her so much!