love is patient.: Springtime

It's not officially summer for a few more weeks, so we'll entitle this post: SPRINGTIME.

Flowers are blooming. Bees are buzzing. The sun is shining. Babies are getting into everything and crying every time the Mommy walks in the opposite direction. 4 year olds are discovering new-found independence that requires them to NEED to do everything MYSELF except when they don't want to, which is whenever anything real actually needs to get accomplished. Mommies are wondering if it's okay to hide in the closet with a book and some cookies for the rest of the day just to get some alone time.

Ryan and his dad built us a rockstar garden bed. We've planted strawberries (Nora's request), lettuce, peppers, zucchini, cucumber (not doing so hot), watermelon (pretty sure it's going to die), and tomatoes (getting gigantic)

But really, it's not so bad. Sometimes this whole chapter of my life is downright idyllic. (Sometimes it's downright bananas, and you'd think they had created a game called "Let's See How Many Bodily Fluids Mom Will Clean Up Before She Cries.") Joseph seems to be doing something new every day. He walks holding onto our fingers and behind a walker, and is getting braver by the minute, so he may be really walking soon. In the last month, it's become clear he understands nearly everything we're saying. He raises his arms to do "soooo big," waves his hands to the wipers' swish-swish-swish during Wheels on the Bus, waves, claps every time we say "yay" or get excited, even if we're not talking to him, and signs "more" during mealtime (though he often prefers screaming to let us know his tray is clear and he wants more). He likes to read books; well, mostly he likes to turn the pages. We are fairly certain he can say "Dada" and "Zeh-zeh" (Zadie), and he says "doot!" every time he sees something he wants to eat or drink. He also likes to play this game:

Me: Joe-Joe, say "mama." Watch! Mmmmmmmaaaaaaammmmmmmmaaaaaaa.
Joseph: Dada.
Me: Nooooooooo! Mama!! Not Dada!
Joseph: laughs hysterically.
Me: Say "mama."
Joseph: laughs.
Me: Maaaaammaaaaaaaaa.
Joseph: Dada.

So he may never say mama, because I'm pretty sure he just thinks it's a joke. It's nice to be appreciated, isn't it?

10 months. He looks 5. (In fairness,
I stood him up and then had about five seconds to get a picture before he fell down.)

Just a little bedtime teeth brushing. (You can hardly see his scar!)

The Captain Joes. (When we sat him on Papa Joe's lap to help drive the boat, he totally acted like he knew exactly what to do...grabbed the steering wheel and smiled the whole way home!)

Waterbug. :)

In the preschool world, Nora is all of the sudden twelve years old. She played soccer this spring. Because it's the Midwest, in the 8 Saturdays of soccer, we had every possibility of weather: snow, pouring rain, heat, cold, wind, and everything in between. She literally wore her winter coat under her jersey with gloves and a hat one game, and the very next week was sweating in shorts and a tshirt. But this girl is tough. She played hard every game and loved every minute. and never once complained about the weather.

Warming up before the game. She was on Team Raspberry.

She also had her first dance recital in May, and did awesome. She knew every move and didn't care one bit about being on stage with everyone watching.