May days

May has flown.


The past two weeks have been marked by sunshine and trips to the beach; by birthday parties and picnics in the backyard.  I've been busy with work-- both the usual insanity that is May, and a detour from the norm in the form of 3 days away from home at 6th grade camp. It was my first time away from Ivy overnight, and we all survived.  It also served to reinforce the fact that time away from my kids helps me to appreciate them all the more.  It's been a lovely weekend, and lovely to be back with my little family.

I should tell you just how much Ivy is talking these days -- she's such a parrot!  She uses 4-6 word sentences regularly, and comes out with such phrases as "That's surprising!" and "me sit on mommy's lap a time".  I love everything about her but in particular the way she still breaks her speech up into carefully articulated 1 and 2 word phrases, strung together with precision and the most lovely, sing song expression.  You should hear her ask a question, her little voice soaring into the upper reaches of her range...She sings, too, such classics as "The Ivy on the bus goes round and round.... (repeat 450 times)"  She is too funny for words and oh can she scream at her brother when she wants him to stop something.

For his part, Jack continues to be an attentive brother.  I love the way he wants Ivy to share in experiences, coming to get her to show her something, telling her about the way things are.  Today he talked confidently about Stonehenge and asteroids.  I love him, and I love that he loves documentaries.  My little scientists.  He's so gorgeous and so ornery and he is learning how to wheedle and negotiate to get what he wants.  Like more cookies. He's growing up so fast.


Here are some glimpses into our lives over these past few weeks...

I have no idea where these "mug shots" were taken.  What Nat does with these two all day is a mystery to me.  But they sure are cute.

 Note Jack's new favorite shirt.  I really regret buying him this shirt.  Because he loves it, too much...  I think it will grace most of our pictures this summer.  Sigh.

One place they go a lot-- the Science Center.  They love the ball crawl most of all

                                               It's a pretty city we live in.


There has been a lot of sand in our lives recently.  The children have been known to play happily in the sandbox for extended periods of time, by themselves or together, independently...  So this makes it OK that there is a lot of sand in our house recently, too.

Most of our backyard time has centered around our little stump table and chairs.  Its the "kids' table" but generally we all end up eating at it.  Who needs those 3 other tables we have in our yard?  Who needs comfortable seating?  Not us!

I challenge you to name something cuter than this little girl in a bubble bath.  Just try it.

Her hair.  Humidity is Ivy's friend.

Last week's party, baby Jeff's first-- held at a lovely little beach in Aurora.  I was under the weather and missed this perfection.  Luckily, my husband takes pictures.

 

Birthday party du jour, Ruthie's fourth, a fun event held right at our local playground.  Both kids had a great time making foam visors.  Ivy made two.  They also got their faces painted for the first time-- Ivy a butterfly and Jack, Spiderman. Very exciting.  Very smeary.

This morning's jaunt to Rocky River ( a weekly event, as of late...)  My mom brought little Pip who added an element of fun and sharp-little-puppy-teeth to the outing.  Everyone loves a puppy-- my mom could hardly get across the beach for everyone wanting to see the little boy.  We made friends with a 5 year old girl who played with Pip for a long while and then with Jack for even longer.  I love watching him interact with other kids; he is confident, a little bossy, and sure that the world is good and all people are friends.  I want him to never, never lose that.

Picnic time, this evening.  And big bubbles.    I am loving this three day weekend, the sunshine and the time stretching out before us.  I am loving the warmth and the smell of sunscreen on my children.  I am loving their "nakey feet" that are getting summer-tough, more every day.  I am loving the green grass and sidewalk chalk and grilled meat for dinner.  And to think it's only May!  Its going to be a good summer, indeed.

Beauty

Here are some pictures from our Mother's Day trip to Edgewater.  A splendid, windy morning, perfect for digging in the sand and flying a rainbow kite (reinforced with a little duct tape, they fly remarkably well...)

It's been a splendid weather week, all told.  We've eaten dinner outside as often as in, the lawn is lush and green, and the children are exhausted every night from their extended time on the playground at the preschool. 

Thinking of preschool-- next week is Jack's last week of pre-K.  Its stunning, really.  How this year has just slipped by and all of a sudden my boy isn't a preschooler any more.  

He's such a good boy.  He's had a good time at St. Paul's; he's grown up there, turned into this boy who is learning how to play  well with others and exploring the way the world works-- and learning to write and count and sing, too.  I hope he is ready for Kindergarten.  It is terrifying, you know, thinking about how we are sending him out into this big, wide world.  Preschool was safe, controlled, a small, manageable selection of like-minded people, all cooperatively helping to raise our children together.  The teaching is child-led, the curriculum, flexible.  Now he will head out on his own, into an unknown mix of kids; his learning will be held to the unyielding standards of the state.  We'll have to worry about how he measures up instead of appreciating him for where he is right now.  I feel like I've only just begun to be able to do the latter! 

On that note-- I think we need some more pictures.  It's hard to worry in the face of all this beauty.

Rainbows

It was a rainbow day.  A perfect day.  A perfect rainbow party for our little sunshine girl.

 (the layered rainbow jello jigglers may well have been my greatest accomplishment of the day....)

We had a great crowd of Ivy's fans in attendance, friends from the parent center and our college days, family and family friends who I've know for years, a total of 10 little ones running about, playing in the hammock and running with rainbow kites.

Did I mention it was perfect?

(Our yard cleans up pretty well.  I always love this view of the house.  Everything is very green this year...)

I could overwhelm you with pictures... instead I'll refer you (back) to facebook where you can view the lot of them.  Suffice it to say right now that it was a wonderful, memorable weekend, as evidenced by the fact that the house has not been cleaned a bit.  The rest of the weekend included musical theater, a trip to Edgewater, lunch out with my boy, a perfect Mother's Day brunch, steak for dinner, and lots of sunshine-- and I am very, very tired tonight.

Life is lovely.  More pictures of it tomorrow...

Walking

One of the things I love about our neighborhood is the walkability.  Name your amenity, and we can walk to it: the library, the grocery store, a seemingly infinite number of playgrounds, shops, restaurants. Winter hibernation gets us out of the habit and into our cars, unfortunately.  Last night, it was time to get back to walking.

We went to the grocery store, Jack and Ivy and Corydon and I, setting off with a stroller stocked with reusable bags, leashes, drinks, and poop bags, and came home with a stroller laden with cake mix and frosting and strawberries and milk...

The children never rode in the stroller.  They walked the whole way there, and back, and our errand turned to an adventure.  Perhaps it was the cool-crisp sunshine or the way the neighborhood gleamed, green and mowed-- but walking with my children last night was magical.



They wandered and explored and found sticks and pinecones and tiny things on the sidewalk.  For  a long portion of the adventure, they wore plastic bags as a skirt and a tail respectively.  Jack pretended to be a dragon and Ivy pretended to be a frog.  They ran races ahead of me and dawdled behind.  They blew the fluff off of dandelions and balanced on parking lot curbs. They danced and twirled and took forever and listened just perfectly.  Corydon only walked in front of the stroller about half a dozen times.  We took an hour and a half to buy two bags of groceries, and it was perfect.

I am happy for spring and the fact that we will be doing this more often.


This evening we welcomed the quick approach of summer with the iconic meal of burgers and brats at M & W's.  The evening was noteable for two reasons beyond the perfect weather and the extreme cuteness factor of our combined progeny.  One:  we had several extended periods of grown up conversation while all 4 children played.  Quietly.  Together.

Two:  This moment of conversation with my daughter--

Mommy: [sneezes]
Ivy:  Bessyou, mommy!
Mommy: Thank you, Ivy! You are so sweet!
beat
Ivy: No bessyou in MY nose!

Can I tell you how much I love that she calls a sneeze a "bessyou"???  It makes perfect sense, really.  I love this little girl.

Tomorrow is her party.


 We have been knee-deep in rainbows and cupcakes all evening and there is a great deal more to do in the morning, plus a "date" with my boy, before guests arrive at 4.  It promises to be a rich and full weekend... (translation:  don't expect a post from me before Monday...)  Enjoy yours!

Art Walk

Jack had his first art show this week.  It was a big event.

Imagine upwards of 40 children, ranging in age from one year to 7 or so, running rampant in a church basement, jumping around on a stage and dancing to the music in their heads-- and that was the pizza dinner beforehand.  Delightful madness.
As you can see above the show itself was quite the cultured affair.  It was so stinking adorable, and Jack was terrifically excited to show me around, for about 30 seconds.  We saw his two pieces (entitled "constellation" and "rocket"-- can you tell what he's into these days?) and then he was ready to head out to the playground. So much for mingling with other parents in the lovely roomful of preschool art.

 Instead, I mingled out on the playground while the Pre-K crew dashed and climbed and jumped and screamed during a good game of "Daddy Monster".  Many thanks to Saya's dad who took the fall and made those children very happy so the rest of us could stand around and chat.

Ivy had a fine time at the event, too.  She was right there with the kids climbing on the church basement stage, fearless and friendly and very excited to be able to reach the light switches (dinner at the preschool is often punctuated by flashing lights as one little sibling or another dsicovers the bank of switches at the back of the stage.)

And of course she is the master of the preschool playground.  She climbed up and down the play structure once for good measure and then retired to the little house.

This is her "Peek - a - booooooo" face. 

It was a beautiful evening out and a wonderful chance to do something special with my littles.  I was so proud of my big boy and his sense of ownership of this event, his comfort with his friends, his smiles and his (quite amazing!) jumps from the top of the rock wall. I was so proud of my little blondie, her confidence and ease and the way everyone knows her even though she's not actually a preschooler yet.  She's so ready to be, already!

As the sun grew golden we headed home and put two sweaty, rosy children in the tub. 

I think the day wore Jack out, just a little.

Sleep well, all....