A few updates on the blog's star attractions.
Jack is settling in to school, after what may have been some anxiety about starting ELA mornings with a new teacher. Once the switch into the full schedule happened, we saw a definite decrease in his tendency to drive us completely crazy. This past week, he's been back to the sweet boy we love so much (and missed!) with an occasional bit of 6 year old attitude thrown in. He is progressing at warp speed in his academics, in that first grade way, with noticeable improvements in his letter formation, reading, and math skills in just this first month. Today he was doing two digit addition and subtraction, mentally. That's my boy.
His news-du-jour is the newest addition to our family -- small pet version 2.0, a young grey and white rat named Lightning. Hampy the Hamster has not reappeared after his great escape on day 13 in our home. We are imagining him happily living in the wild (and hoping that we will not discover his remains inside). Sigh. In the hopes that we are just not hamster people,we are boldly trying again. Lightning (named for the shape of the markings on her back) is a little sweetie so far and Jack seems thrilled with her.
Fingers crossed.
Ivy continues to be the most entertaining little thing around. Constantly making up stories and scenarios and roles for us to play, she borders on manic as she orders us through the motions of pretend-life, at high speed. Tonight she was the mama, and I was the baby, and we drove back and forth to swimming lessons, her in a swimsuit pulled on over her dress, a headband on over her ponytail, a scarf around her neck and pretend earrings-- "because I'm a mama!" Her imagination is a known quantity around our house. At dinner we were exploring a 1937 Oxford dictionary the kids found (which Ivy had been using as both a story book and a menu) and Nat read the definition of "macabre": gruesomely imaginative. Jack pipes up-- "like Ivy!"
That's my girl. Macabre.
She is intense and intensely funny, which is good as she demands our attention at every moment these days. She is loving preschool, complaining frequently that it is "too short" and referring to her friends in conversation. Her language is more precise every day; I am trying to just soak up all the syntactic imperfections I can because I will miss it when she no longer says "Dem were playing" or "When I was a grown up". I love her so much.
Pictures, now.
Last weekend-- a trip to Ingenuity Festival. While we continue to be underwhelmed with the Festival (we miss the Bridge location!), we did have a nice day exploring the Port Authority warehouses, a venue we don't frequently get to see. Jack had a visit to Fun N Stuff with auntie Bec, so we started the day with an only child.
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| Can you find Ivy's art? hint: it's directly above her name in this caption... |
After Bec dropped our boy off to join us, we decided to take in some of the City Hop, too. Always one of my favorite days of the year, the City Hop draws people into all the neighborhoods of Cleveland with free trolley rides and spontaneous events at every stop. Sadly, this year we suffered from a moment of really bad timing-- one stop into our tour (after a nice 20 minute tour of the Asian Town Center), we had an overfull trolley arrive, just as it began to rain, and our little no-nap girl hit the wall. Ah well. We shall try again next year, and at least we were a part of it, for a little while.
Sunday of the Weekend of All Festivals brought another of my faves-- Woofstock at the Holden Arboretum. We headed out first thing, and were greeted by a chilly and perfect fall day, full of dogs and dog people and even little helium balloon dogs for the kids. A good time was had by all.
After a nice lasagna dinner for Virginia's 90th birthday, we were all too tired to squeeze in a visit to the Chalk Fest before Nat and I headed out to see Ani DiFranco at The House of Blues. A wonderful date night! Wings at the Greenhouse tavern, a sunset over the city, and a fun, intimate concert that took be back to my college days (kind of. The angry-punk-feminist heroine of college girls everywhere is now settled down with two kids and seemed really... well... happy. I liked her happy. it was just kind of weird...)
Then we went to school and week went by. Seriously. That's about all I can say about it. How can that be? Life just... happened. I did have a great choir rehearsal, complete with an ever entertaining drive home with Fiona. And Wednesday I took the kids exploring at Acacia Reservation, a defunct country club bought by the Metroparks. We played hide and seek in the long grass. That's something to remember.
Friday night: our traditional trip to Legacy Village with our friends. Chipotle and Frozen Yogurt and our four running around like banshees in the cool evening air. Perfect.
Saturday morning Ivy and I walked in the CureSearch walk for childhood cancer, to support our friends who are battling their little one's brain tumour. Becca is doing well, her spunky and beautiful self, and it was wonderful to see her and her family out enjoying a splendid fall morning with 40+ friends there to cheer her on. All clad in purple, we dominated the day, the highest fund-raising team with a total of $10,600 raised. Hope, in the form of a purple dress and a sunny blue sky.
That evening, we celebrated Greg's birthday with a Knight party at a nearby park, where children wielded blow up swords and waged epic battles among the ramparts of a fabulous play structure. We are so lucky to be friends with this family. And not just because they throw a mean birthday party!
My mom took the kids for an overnight and Nat and I had a great coffee date at Moca, a small independent place we discovered on the near-west side, where we sat by these two wonderful gay men and their little dog Griffin. They were so engaging Nat and I almost forgot to talk to each other!
We spent the rest of the evening quietly at home, Nat setting up his new phone, me moving things down to my new office. Very slowly. Because it takes time to look through EVERY photo album and blank book as you move it. Good lord I keep a lot of stuff.
Today, forecast rain showers held off again and we had a picnic at Rocky River Beach before starting our quest for small pet 2.0.
It is hard to keep up with a life so full of good things. May the days ahead continue to bless us all so well. Relish the autumn sun, everyone.
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