Biking

Paul and Will have gone biking just about everyday this week. Paul told me that he asks Will to help on the uphill portions and Will pedals away to help them get up the hill. I still think that most of the time if you were to see them out biking Will is just along for the ride.

Paseo

Afterschool today Will told me that when he grows up and has a baby that he will have his baby in Francine's class while he goes to work. I asked him where he will work and he said that he will work at his dad's office but, "I don't know how to get there." I told him that his dad can probably show him how to get to the office but he could do other kinds of work too. After further thought Will said that maybe he would like to be a "restaurant operator" and then after a few minutes of reflecting on all the food that he likes he announced that he would like to be a "Cuban restaurant operator".

Tag-along

Paul and Will were so excited when the snow broke after this weekend and they were able to go biking for the first time. Will seems to have grown out of his tricycle but we aren't quite sure we are ready for him to have his own bike on all the steep hills in our neighborhood. So Paul hooked him onto his own bike with the Trek Mountain Train. Pretty cool!

Will sees his dad off every morning as he starts his bike commute to work. We often are side by side with his bike as he heads down to the Burke Gilman and we veer off to the freeway towards school. How thrilling to finally catch a ride on his dad's bike! The two of them rode all around the neighborhood tonight as a practice run and they are planning where they will go on their first bike trip...

70's and Sunny

It was an incredibly warm day today-- 78 degrees to be exact-- which meant that just about everyone in Seattle was out and about. It was actually rather funny how all the neighbors were just hanging out in their yards today. There were snacks and drinks carried around from house to house and if one of us had stoked up the grill I'm sure we would have had the makings of a block party.

We decided to replace our garden wall with masonry stones.


Will helped as much as he could but most of the time he was hanging out with our neighbors. Everytime we called for him he would run over and say, "I'm with my NEIGHBORS!" He was over at Wayne and David's house for awhile and then he sat outside with Anita while she had a garage sale. He made the mistake of greeting our neighbor cat, Miho, who went ballistic when he smelled Mandarin. Will came running back to tell us that the cat was shrieking over there and had grown several times in size.

Sledding at Snoqualmie

Paul took the day off so we could head up to the mountains for a sledding adventure. The roads were dry and the pass was quiet except for some controlled avalanche blasts-- yikes!

Will was content being pulled along on his sled for about ten minutes and then he announced, "I'm finished!" and he found a fun slope to climb and slide down on his slippery snowpants. Next year I think he'll be ready for a real sled!

Will seemed intent on re-enacting everything from his book about snow. He wanted to experience snowmen, snowshoes, snowballs, skis with poles, sledding, and at the very end.... hot cocoa! Given his gluten/dairy free status this was rather tricky but I was able to make him a version of cocoa with rice milk, organic cocoa powder, and agave nectar. It was actually quite rich!

Tugboat

We went down to CWB again today for some tugboat exploration.

Jelly Face

Whirligig

Every April an organization sets up their huge inflatable jumpy houses and slides at the Seattle Center. This is the first year we've made it out for the fun and Will truly loves it. Here he is with his friend Lane.

Trout

I remember in PNG the kids would always clamour for different animal parts at mealtimes. Paul and I were never too sure if chicken feet, waddles, heads, and other parts were actually delicious or if it was the sheer novelty and humor in eating chicken toes that the kids enjoyed.

But today we saw a little bit of PNG in Will as he found a whole trout at the grocery store and insisted that he wanted to eat the eyes. Paul brought it home and showed him how to prepare it, grill it and then eventually eat it avoiding bones and skin. Will did, in fact, try the eye but he said it was not very delicious.

Paul and I realized tonight how much more valuable this experience is for Will to eat things in their whole form and/or to see where his food comes from. I don't think I'll ever forget my own food experiences eating freshly caught eels (from a night excursion to trap them), eating tiny anchovies I had only just seen fly over the wooden dugout canoe moments before, watching pigs slaughtered and roasted, watching a cow cut up in a river and mumu'd, and a whole host of other things. At least for now the best we can do for Will is to show him that not all fish comes gutted, cleaned, fileted and wrapped in plastic.

photos to come

Shaving

Pink Robe

My grandma and mom are longstanding collectors of robes and slippers. I've finally succombed to my heritage this Christmas and had Santa bring me a fluffy pink robe. Of course now I see their lure... the warmth, comfort and overall fluffiness. All this and more is also attractive to one very large cat who can sense warmth and fluffiness from great distances. If we are ever looking for Mandarin all we need to do these days is to locate the pink robe.

Scolded

Today Will came storming into the kitchen saying to me, "I don't think you understand: you have made a terrible mess out here in the garden!"

Have We Overdone It?

So tonight Will was cuddling Mandarin and he said under his breath, "You're going to die in five years." We did talk about "lifetimes" and that Mandarin's lifetime is shorter than a human being. He might live for another five or so years, maybe until twenty years old. It is hysterical to me that Will tried to inform him of this tonight.

I wouldn't say that he's obsessed or anything but he definitely seems to be working this out. He told me in the car one day awhile back that when Mandarin dies and goes back to the store he wants to get a dog. So there is a problem here in that he thinks that all things come from and go to a store. I'd like to see how Paul, Mr. Philosopher, handles this one.