Bloom and Sprout: September 2011

Say Cheese!

This guy has been teething madly this past week and now sports not one but THREE new molars and both eyeteeth.

We had a great time at the Fisherman's Terminal today. The boys both made wooden boats, perused the fishing boats, looked at some survival pods, and enjoyed several other booths. This was such a kid friendly festival with many free kids crafts like spin art, face painting, balloon making, wooden boat building, fish prints, shell painting, and pirate ship making. There were survival suit races, remote control boats, salmon dinner, a bouncy boat, and even Radio Disney!

RIP Swimmy

Will has lost many fish along the way but once we started a fish family he started to grow more attached. Earlier this summer we had a group of babies born to Mama #1 and then this past month we had babies born to Mama #2. Soon after that Dad died along with one of the babies. Will worked hard with his tiny handsaw to cut this grave marker and now part of our yard is now designated the Fish Graveyard. Swimmy is buried there along with one of his offspring. Will informs us that we will someday bury Mandarin there too.

Goofy Guy Turns 16 Months

Will and I just finished reading a Berenstein Bears book called Goofy Goony Guy which kind of reminded us of our own little goofy guy, Jasper.

He is a true sixteen month old now who has life by the horns as he runs (never walks) through it. We repeat a lot of things over and over whether it is walking up and down hills, stairs, ramps, or slides. He likes to practice over and over until he is satisfied with the result and he particularly likes to repetitively copy his brother. This morning Will accidentally knocked over his orange juice. We wiped it up and then when I turned towards Jasper he grinned at me, looked down at his milk and poured it out onto the table! Will has a very difficult job as the older brother because everything he does is good in Jasper's eyes. He has to stay in constant check!

This can be hard to do when you have a goofy goony brother like Jasper. Sometimes it is hard not to laugh at the things he does.

He still does the squiggle dance on the floor and he also loves to lift up people's shirts to tickle them. He knows when he gets a hold of something that we would prefer he not handle because he grins widely and holds tighter to it. His items of choice lately would be Will's Star Wars toothbrush or my knitting needles. He also enjoys crossing streets over and over or going up and down stairs one at a time. He often stops at the curb or at the stair landing to wait for a hand but not always. It is not unlikely to have a little guy race off across the street by himself so we have to keep a close eye on him.

We really don't have many words these days. Jasper is quite clear with his body language, sign language and bestial grunts. He generally gets across his needs and wants quite clearly.

But he is a boys boy for sure. He does innumerable physical feats almost like a gross motor explosion. His explosion into language is on the backburner it seems.

I say that but within the same vein I see aspects of tender sweetness that reminds me so much of Will. Jasper loves to help around the house. He picks things up and tries to assure that the floor is swept clean of everything even if it means putting said objects into any kind of receptacle he can find. I find things in laundry bins and garbage cans and baskets all over the house. While I fold the laundry into piles, Jasper is fervently picking up laundry out of the pile and stuffing it back into the laundry baskets. He loves to get out his dishes and prepare for a meal and he will also clear his dishes from the table. He enjoys wiping his face with a napkin and using a soft cloth to wipe up the table or the floor. We sweep, wash windows, and garden together. Jasper has really attached to the idea of taking large rocks from neighbors gardens and carrying them over to our garden. He likes to do Big.Heavy.Tasks.

He is doing wonderfully with the toilet. His signal lately has been to grab his crotch and make his "hmmm" sound. Our next step is to start up with the routines of using toilets on the go. As of now he only uses his potty chair reliably.

One years old is still the cutest age in my book and getting cuter everyday. It will be even better when he has some words to go along with the bright shiny happy personality that we see emerging.

First Day of School

Welcome to second grade! He would not let me take anymore photos in front of the building, going into class, etc. He is WAY too cool for this kind of stuff now. I got the evil eye when I started taking my camera out this morning!

Sealife Search in the San Juan Islands

Sea lions basking in the sun.

Sunset on our arrival that evening

Will loved the jets.

Will and I took a day trip by catamaran to the San Juan islands on the search for whales. Sadly it was only the third day ALL summer that the whales had traveled beyond the reach of the whale watching boats. We saw some transients as we passed through Deception Pass but missed out on the real hope of our trip-- to see some big pods of whales. We did see sea lions though and many different kinds of birds, including eagles.

We spent a few hours in Friday Harbor and enjoyed delicious homemade Lopez Island ice cream. All in all a great day spent together without our little tagalong brother, Jasper. We did miss him though and wondered throughout the day what he was up to!

Hurricane Ridge

We had a great end of summer camping trip up to Olympic National Park. This just reminds me that I need to prioritize a trip out here each summer. The camping is just beautiful and it is so quiet we can hear all the sounds of the forest instead of raucous campers.

We hiked around Hurricane Ridge which the boys loved. Both of them enjoyed the shale bits all over the trail. The only challenging part of this trip was keeping Jasper on the trail and off the tender vegetation. Once he was wandering and a grouchy lady came up behind him yelling, "Don't pick those flowers! Doesn't anyone read the signs around here? DONT WALK OFF THE TRAIL!" I could not believe how grouchy she was. She glared at me and I glared at her. Will and I just stood there dumbfounded that someone would actually yell at a baby to not pick flowers.

And the thing about it is that poor Jasper is so gentle with the flowers. He loves to poke his nose into them and sniff. He is so gentle and never picks them. But keeping him on trail is difficult since in fact, no, he cannot yet read the signs!