Wishing for Spring

We've been pretending it is Spring around here, but really it is too cold for that. Crocuses, daffodils, snowdrops and the like are up. Early cherries are starting to bloom. I wanted a good little folding table and chairs in Zane's size for art on rainy days, and I found the perfect one! Most tables have a soft top or are expensive wood, but this one is actually made to be an art table. It has crayon/pencil trays, clips to hold paper on, a white board, and a chalk board. Best of all, it wipes off totally clean with water and a rag. Zane loves it! We tried it for meals, but for some reason that was vetoed.

Here he is being a bit silly during some art time. I decided to experiment with talk bubbles to translate some of his mumbling.


We have been doing a lot of art lately, and one day when I went to wake him up from nap he kept his eyes closed and said, "I want to keep drawing. Drawing a picture." Do you want to keep your eyes closed to finish drawing? Nod. "I need pink."

It's not rainy every day this winter, so Zane has been getting out on his yellow balance bike most days. He can really zoom now! In the fall I was back-breakingly bending over to keep him upright. A trip around the block was excruciating. Now he zips around on his own! Seattle is hilly, so for half the trip he zooms downhill with his feet just tapping the sidewalk lightly. One time I saw him actually lift both feet and try to coast! For the second half he pushes himself up no problem, and doesn't ask for help. I'm really pleased. It is so much more fun to get him out for exercise when I don't have to do most of it.

For some reason Zane has been talking about what is real and what is not. I think he may be confusing it with "alive", but we're working on that. It's pretty fun to hear him start listing things. "You're real. Daddy's real. Jo Jo is real. My mouth is real. The door is not real."

He still has some baby talk that I hate to correct because I love it. Sometimes his words are just better.
Fire extinguisher = fire squisher
Blueberries = bluebelellies
Remote control = moku

My trip to Maine ended up being very successful. Zane and Michael were totally fine together. While Zane did ask for me and talk about me, he had no trouble with me being gone. He's so calm and flexible! I had a great time, too, with lots of sleep and uninterrupted adult conversation and food. I visited with my Grandma every day and felt really recharged. I brought back a huge puzzle from my Mom that Zane's cousins Ian and Julian used to love. It was a hit with us, too!

Unfortunately, Zane peed on it the first day we had it out, but it seems to have survived. I've been doing a very casual approach to potty training. It's kind of like pre-training. Every morning that I can, Zane is sans diaper for a few hours to air out. Then as part of the getting dressed routine we do at least one minute of toilet time. Zane gets to put a star on a chart just for sitting there. That part is working out pretty well, but unfortunately we have had no actual success. Just getting used to toilet sitting. Sometime in warmer weather when I have a holiday weekend I'll have to ply him with drinks, put on no diapers, and make frequent trips to the toilet to try to get some success. I know he is getting ready because he will ask for a fresh diaper at night if he has peed in his night diaper (while I know this is a bedtime stall, it is also true that the diaper is wet). He will also pause in the day and then say "I peed." He will also ask whether or not he has a diaper on when he pees or is about to pee. So, the awareness is building, which is all I ask for right now.

One problem we have been having, though, is with chronic constipation for Zane. It's getting really bad with some nights of pain. Poor guy. He eats lots of fruit and gets plenty of exercise, but his liquid intake is not great, and he is mostly off vegetables. I've been working on that, and we are hoping things will be better.

We are heading to Hawaii soon! I can't wait! I'm starting to worry that I am looking forward to it too much and I will be disappointed somehow. What a worry wart. There is some bad weather there this week, but hopefully it will literally blow over by the time we get there. I want to take Zane on the Sugar Cane train, a mini-submarine trip, and to the aquarium. Other than that it will be sand, surf, and sun!

Since I seem to be a blogger slacker, there will probably not be another post until we come back.

Aloha!

Same Ol' Same 'Ol

Life has lately been moving along sedately with no new amazements or terrible tragedies. Pretty comfy, really! We've made some more trips out to the aquarium, science center, zoo, and local parks. I'm trying to get us outside a lot before the rain starts.

We started art classes at the local community center. I had visions of sitting with Zane in a delightfully chaotic craft room while we gleefully slapped around paint or clay together. Instead we are in a room where we really can't make much of a mess, and Zane gets antsy the minute he sees that we are in the classroom (where we took "dance" last year). All he wants to do is leave to go to the playroom he knows is next door. The class is an hour of difficulty with some fleeting art pleasures. I don't want to force him to sit and do art, but I don't want to allow him to just play with Legos while he's there, either. I have to do a lot of re-direction to get him back on task. It's pretty tiring, but I'm going to stick out the series and hope it gets easier.

Fall has really begun now, and we are back to long sleeve shirts, footie PJs, and fuzzy socks. Soon the flannel sheets come out. I always enjoy the beginning of Fall since a change is always nice, but I know I'll be sick of it in a couple of months. This year Zane is more interested in the world, though, so it may all be interesting. We've been reading books on planting tulips, Halloween, and pumpkins. We put up a few decorations and bought one small pumpkin. I'm hoping to get us out to a farm before those close up for the season.

Enjoy your Fall, and may you have a few more warm, sunny days!

Antiquities & Modernities

Yesterday was pretty exciting.

Early on in the day Michael and I went to the SAM to catch the Roman Art from the Louvre exhibit before it leaves at the end of the week. It was a wonderful exhibit, filled with sculptures, reliefs, and mosaics which I usually only see in books. I especially liked getting a very close-up view of the intricate mosaics. And of course I always love the jewelry! Even though we got there at 11:30am on a Wednesday, the place was packed. Way to go Seattle!

I haven't been in the SAM since it was renovated, and it was pretty spiffy. It had a much more modern feel than I remember. I really liked the sculpture Mann und Maus; an enormous matte black mouse sits on a sleeping man.

After a thrilling afternoon of coding and composting, Michael and I headed out again to go to Corteo, the latest Cirque du Soleil event to visit Seattle. Sometimes traffic to the East Side and parking at the show can be awful, but we got there with plenty of time to spare -- until I realized I had just left my wallet at the restaurant where we ate dinner. Duh! After rushing back to get it, we made it into the tent with 2 minutes to spare.

As usual, it was an awesome show. This year there were no bizarre costumes or makeup, and the acts revolved around ordinary things such as chandeliers, big bouncy beds, and large silver hoops. I actually was refreshed by the change, but some people probably missed it. The lady in the picture below was a mini-lady, and she was harnessed to a set of enormous helium balloons which made her almost weightless. She crowd surfed the audience as they helped her launch herself around the room with dainty boosts to her feet. I want one of those contraptions!

Welding

This weekend I took an 8 hour ornamental welding class with Mimi Riley. It was really fun! I'm amazed at how (relatively) simple it is. It would be expensive to get set up and do at home, but maybe someday!

I had several ideas of projects I wanted to make in the class, but I didn't end up having enough time to finish the one I chose. I decided to make a table top music stand that could also double as a cookbook stand. Here's all I ended up doing, and a Paint Shop Pro sketch of what I intended to do.
I play banjo and flute, thus the two instruments. The little song snippet is Give me the roses while I live:

Wonderful things of folks are said when they have passed away
Roses adorn the narrow bed over the sleeping clay

    Give me the roses while I live trying to cheer me on
    Useless are flowers that you give after the soul is gone

Let us not wait to do good deeds till they have passed away
Now is the time to sow good seeds while here on earth we stay

Kind words are useless when folks lie cold in a narrow bed
Don't wait till death to speak kind words, now should the words be said
-- traditional

I think I'll go ahead and buy some metal rods and bits to saw and bend the remainder of my shapes, and then rent a welder to finish the job some weekend. It looks like I could rent the welder for about $35, but then I'd need wire, a helmet, a work surface ...

The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins

One of my favorite Suess books is The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. I used to read it over and over and over. I loved looking at each new hat and figuring out just how it had gotten more fantastic.

It's really too bad we're not much of a hat wearing society anymore.

That could change, you know, if we put our heads together. Nyuk nyuk.

A gal I know is a modern day milliner selling her hats on etsy. Check them out! The hats would make Bartholomew Cubbins proud, and they won't break the bank. Very reasonable indeed, for one of a kind works of art!

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam!

Last night Michael and I went to see Monty Python's Spamalot at The Paramount. It was awesome! You can see some clips here. My favorite numbers were He Is Not Dead Yet and The Song That Goes Like This. The best scene among many great scenes was the castle of the Taunting French Guards. Getting to go see shows like this makes me love living in a city, even though I miss Camden.

And speaking of Camden, I was surprised to see a picture of the Camden Opera House pop up on Boing Boing today!

Disapprove-O-Lantern

It's been a long time since I've carved a pumpkin. This year I decided to carve the scariest thing I know: Rabbit Disapproval. It was a beautiful day today, and I sat outside and enjoyed the texture and color of the pumpkin excavation experience.



I took the Disapproving Rabbits logo, and applied it to my pumpkin.
Some artful carving, and I have disapproval.
I'm thinking I could add some LED lights for eyes to add a sinister look. (DRAMATIZATION)

Glitter is NOT Litter

My husband says "Glitter is litter" but boy is he wrong. Most of my friends know he is wrong. I have glitter ground into my wallet and my car's stick shift from wearing it to gigs. My friend Laurie has it permanenetly ground into her guitar for the same reason.

Now, via Boing Boing, I found out people make triptychs with the stuff! Holy Guacamole! These are artists after my own heart. Extreme Craft has an entry called Sparkling Wit. Here's an example of Claire Joyce's work: