Truman at Two

Just a quick shot of Truman on his actual birthday. Jason took the day off and they walked down to the Sound to throw rocks and look for fish. Cowboy boots and all.

Valentine, I've got my ~eye~ on you

Truman helped me make these little monster cards for his buddies at daycare. And he made a few extras for his favorite ladies (you know who you are, raise the roof - Rosie, Mags, and Z!). I found the idea on makeandtakes, which is a craft blog I just discovered.

The Great Toddler Round Up of 2012 - told in country song lyrics

Bubba shot the jukebox last night, said it played a sad song he didn't like

Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses

I've got friends in low places

You gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, know when to run

This girl's ready to paint the town

Love got me in here and love got me out

Rollin down the backwoods, Tennessee byway, one arm on the wheel

She's gone country, back to her roots

Song, song of the south, sweet potato pie and it hit my mouth

We got a little crazy but we never got caught

Roll on highway, roll on along, roll on daddy till you get back home

It's 5 o'clock somewhere

In John Deere Green, on a hot summer night

Country boys and girls gettin' down on the farm

I'm stuck in Folsom Prison, and time keeps draggin' on

Two of a kind

Give in to our demands, or these grapes get it!

Superbowl Sunday

During the 2nd quarter of the Super Bowl, I dragged Jason away from the tv (mean wife, I know) and we went for a quick trip to the beach. We needed to walk off the nachos we ate for dinner and I was tired of policing the commercial breaks. We were home by the 3rd quarter, and in the span of an hour, we watched a pod of orcas swim by and then two seals came right up close to the beach (probably hiding from the orcas). Truman has a new word in his vocabulary. Whale. (Not Madonna).

Some good linkages

It is slightly stressful at our house because our trusty old car is falling apart and the wonderful people at Les Schwab almost killed us after they fixed our brakes, and we probably need to buy a new car and . . .

 . . . I am spending more time than usual on the interwebs trying to avoid thinking about our family budget. Here are a few things I am reading/wasting time on:

I made this recipe for apple pancakes this morning. I don't have a cast iron pan (booo), but they did not stick at all in my glass pie pan. Easy and delicious.

I discovered this hilarious blog.

I was astounded to read in the Seattle Times that it is OKAY to watch porn on library computers. In front of other patrons. Including CHILDREN.

I am enjoying my friend Anna's new blog: http://dogandbird.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

Sneak peak of the toddler round-up

More pictures of the buckaroos coming soon . . .

Two years old

The birthday boy in all of his glory! I wish I had time to write a nostalgic post about the last two years, but Truman will be up soon, making breakfast demands and asking me to play cars.

The picture where he is scratching his butt  . . . Could he look more like Jason? I think I have a picture like that of Jason somewhere . . . scratching his ass in only his ski boots. (Har har, love you honey!)

It is amazing to watch your own flesh and blood grow from a screaming, hungry infant into a screaming hungry toddler. Happy birthday to my favorite buckaroo!

Craigslist Update

I know the four readers of this blog are dying to know what happened with the guy who was unhappy with the knife I sold him on Craigslist.

He finally wrote me back. He suggested three charities I might give the money to. All interesting groups that do work in Africa. I hate to make a measly $15 donation . . . so now this damn knife is going to cost me something. All well, I still love CL and I am betting Africa needs the money more than me.

And if you don't know about The Best of Craigslist, you should check it out: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/

Why children need nature

I spend a lot of time at work researching and writing about why children benefit from a connection to the natural world. The evidence is overwhelming: When children spend time outside they benefit academically, socially, physically, and mentally. One of the best books on this subject is Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv.

 

An excerpt from his book:

He was right. Americans around my age, baby boomers or older, enjoyed a kind of free, natural play that seems, in the era of kid pagers, instant messaging, and Nintendo, like a quaint artifact.

Within the space of a few decades, the way children understand and experience nature has changed radically. The polarity of the relationship has reversed. Today, kids are aware of the global threats to the environment—but their physical contact, their intimacy with nature, is fading. That's exactly the opposite of how it was when I was a child.
 
As a boy, I was unaware that my woods were ecologically connected with any other forests. Nobody in the 1950s talked about acid rain or holes in the ozone layer or global warming. But I knew my woods and my fields; I knew every bend in the creek and dip in the beaten dirt paths. I wandered those woods even in my dreams. A kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rain forest—but not about the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude, or lay in a field listening to the wind and watching the clouds move.

There is also a lot of great research about how our culture has evolved in such a way that children are no longer allowed to roam. Like in this case:



But when I am outside with Truman, digging in the dirt, walking on a trail, or just trying to burn off some energy (his, not mine), I don’t think about these things. I just feel more relaxed. More at ease. There is nothing to break, nothing to clean, no screens to stare at. There is something about being in the trees or on the beach, with no other people, that always reminds me that I am a human being (and not a human doing). So today, after a long walk in the forest near our home, I am grateful for natural spaces and time spent outside.

Rachael Carson says it much nicer than me:

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature ‑ the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.