Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh, argh, I seem to never be getting to this post! Nothing really major has been going on, I seem to always be working on chores until I just want to watch some TV and go to bed.

Well, last month we were playing in the snow. This month has been a pretty decent month of spring with sunny days sprinkled into the rainy ones. A few weeks ago it was even warm enough that Zane and I took a bike ride down to the beach. There were tons of other little kids there playing in the sand, and a good time was had by all. You could almost hear everyone's skin sucking in the vitamin D. The sun is also staying with us longer each day! Our winter is almost over. Some spring flowers are coming up! Unfortunately, a squirrel ate a bunch of the bulbs Zane and I planted last fall, and Zane and I are officially mad about that.

Story telling has been happening a lot. I tell Zane stories at night after lights out, and in the last couple of weeks Zane has started to tell me stories! I really enjoy them. In one the story evolved as he scribbled on a magnadoodle: "This is a bush. A mouse is under the bush. It's raining. A pony comes and gives the mouse a ride. The pony licks the mouse dry." In another he was looking at a model of Buckminster Fuller's dymaxion bus, and he told me it was an underground bus for people in an underground city! I have no idea where he got that from, but I was thoroughly entertained!

I've been working on and off on potty training. He's getting more used to the idea of sitting on it, but we haven't lucked out on pee happening at the right moment yet. Because of the Presidents Day holiday coming up we'll be home for the next 5 days, so I think I'll try a more concerted effort. We have a chart on the door that Zane gets to put stars on for each attempt. Let's try to fill that up!

We've been in a bit of an art mode lately. Zane's coloring has developed a little more purpose than just scribbles. Now if I draw a line, or put on a sticker, or give him paper with a picture on it, he specifically colors on the objects or lines. He's pretty precise! He's also into big circles and zigzags, and he pretends he is writing his name. He can occasionally recognize some letters, too, so I sometimes work on that. I recently got a small folding table and chairs just his size, so now he can do his projects in comfort instead of on the kitchen floor as we used to.

I'll be taking a trip to Maine all by myself soon. I'm going back just for a quick 4 day trip to see my Grandma who has taken a spill. In order to do a quick trip I need to do red-eye flights and travel light, so Zane will be home with Michael. It will be an adventure for all of us! I'll miss Zane but get a bit of a break, too. Zane and Michael will get intense time together which will hopefully be good! To make myself feel better (and hopefully Zane, too), I made a series of little paper boxes with a little goodie inside for each morning I am gone. Then I made a chart which Zane can put an airplane sticker on each night. I'll probably call a lot, too!






After a pretty disease free fall and winter, we've had a spot of trouble lately. First, I developed a case of mite bites that thankfully no one else in the family got. I got some medicine to clear that up, and lots of overdue in-depth cleaning has happened around the couch where JoJo hangs out, as we suspect that's where they came from. Unfortunately, two weeks later I still have an itchy rash not from the bites themselves but from my allergic reaction to the bites. I think I need to go back to the doctor to see about this. Then some sort of major crud has been going around Seattle and affecting people differently. I got completely exhausted with a headache and fever for several days and pretty tired for more days beyond that. I even took two sick days and took Zane to daycare for one of them. Then Zane got a fever for several days with some very nasty chest congestion. He's been pretty miserable and unable to rest properly due to coughing. I think he was finally a tiny bit better today, so hopefully we are on the mend.

Well, that's the catch up! I'll try not to take so long with the next post.

Hoser

Zane did end up getting a yucky cold. That plus cutting his fourth tooth made for last week's nasty (non) sleeping. I ended up staying home from work for one day and getting him much better. He's got a burbly cough and a little snot, and now so do Michael and I. Naps are *much* better, though. Today was the champion of nap days with three long naps (totaling over 4 hours!) and early to bed. A sleep book I've been reading has convinced me to try to get Zane in bed earlier than his usual 9:30 or 10. I have noticed that he actually seems to sleep longer the earlier he goes to bed, so this might just work. Today I did our routine one hour earlier, and he was in bed at 8:30! And now I have time to blog.

We've been having a pretty sad wet Spring, but a few warm days have cropped up. Last Monday we got some surprise sunshine, and Zane and I headed to the backyard with Michael and the buns. I turned a hose on just a bit and Zane had a great time playing with it and getting muddy. This was really his first chance to get dirty outside like a kid should. The picture on the right shows the aftermath.



On Monday I also finally put up a swing for Zane that I got from a neighbor down the street whose boy is now too big for it. I've had it lying around for over a month, and of course it only took about 5 minutes to put it up. Oh well, we really haven't had nice weather to use it before now. I think we'll still go to playgrounds to swing because that's an adventure.

Today was another warm day. I've been looking forward to hot weather so that Zane can get outside for some naked baby time in a pool. He loves water and bath time so much I figured this would be super fun for him. This morning we went out and got an inflatable pool and some sunblock. I was so excited to try it out! But, it ended up being a bit of a bust. The water was cold, and Zane has only experienced nice warm bathwater. He whined and didn't want to be in it, even though I only filled the pool with an inch of water here and there (the ground is lumpy, so it just made puddles in the pool). I guess next time I need to wait for a hot day and put water in the pool ahead of time so that the sun can warm it up.

Today during Zane's nice long afternoon nap I did some kitchen cleaning. There were some pretty yucky areas around the bottom of some appliances. It was fine for us, but Zane puts his fingers in everything and it needed to be cleaned. I got the bottom of the 'frige cleaned off for our new science alphabet magnets! I'm very excited about them. Not the best for actually learning the alphabet (we'll get the classic ones for those), but really cool for the geek factor. I haven't figured out what each letter represents. E.g., J has jade and Jupiter on it, and E has evolution, electricity, Einstein and Earth, but Z is zeros and what, bacon? Hmmm.

Whither Spring?

Sigh. One of the reasons I don't miss Maine is that Spring comes to Seattle so much earlier. We've had crocuses, daffodils, snowdrops, and primroses for a month or more. But dang it's still cold! I want warm sunshine! And Bijou and JoJo agree:
We should all be out in the yard basking in the sunshine and enjoying the first outside (non-alcoholic) beer of the year. But no, we're snuggled up to heaters and still sleeping on flannel sheets. Cold rain, cold rain, cold rain, and sometimes slush from the sky. Most years I have to really restrain myself from putting my houseplants out before April 1st. This year I think I might even need to wait a few weeks longer. Well, hopefully we'll be repaid by an absolutely fabulous summer.

Whine whine whine

New Growth

We had a fabulous weekend of sunshine and highs in the 80s or lower 90s. Or so I hear. I worked all weekend, and when I finally got outside after work, the days were a little overcast or simply getting dark. Today is overcast but still warm, so maybe Seattle has finally warmed up from its cold spring. All of a sudden the clover flowers are blooming, much to JoJo's joy. I brought a handful home for her today on my way back from the gym, and she gobbled them up.

The Wollemi pine I got almost a year ago has burst out with a nice layer of new growth. I like the way the tender little needles are all stuck together at the ends. The little pine is definitely bigger than last year, but it's looking a little scraggly just now. Maybe I'll wait to do a full photo on its adoption day in June.

This morning Michael and I saw our first begging baby bird. We call these "dumb birds" because at first glance they look adult sized, but they're all scruffy, wobbly, and look around with a dazed expression. Here's a short video of a house sparrow getting fed by his dad from the bird feeder:


This year we haven't had as many baby birds around as usual. Unfortunately, no one moved into my Nest Cam nest box. I'm very bummed. Last year some Bewick's wrens moved in, but this year, nada. Also, we used to have several families of sparrows or finches nesting in the eaves of our house. They had pecked through then screening on the vent holes under the eaves and were actually inside the attic, though just inside the eaves. I used to enjoy their loud begging in the morning, though it woke up Michael. This winter a rat moved into our attic, and we had all the holes plugged. No more rats, but no more baby birds. Oh well, it's better for the house this way.

I have today off, but a bazillion things to do. I hope I can enjoy the outdoors a bit!

Death Wish and Spring

Apparently, I am either cursed or I have a death wish. Yesterday I:

• Woke up with a knot in my back, a stiff neck, and a headache.
• As I trotted up the stairs, I tripped and sprained my big toe. Owchie.
• As I hobbled up the stairs, I stubbed my sprained toe.
• Sitting safely (I thought) on the couch, I whacked my hand into the coffee table while playing Super Mario Galaxy on my new Wii. Video games *do* cause violence.
• While making dinner, I burned the same whacked hand *twice* with steam.

Now because of my swollen black and blue toe, I can't go to my aerobics class or my bhangra dance class tonight, which is probably just as well, for my own safety.

On a nicer note, after the coldest spring in Seattle since the 50s, Spring has finally arrived! Saturday was about 70 and blazingly sunny. I sat in my new blue Ecuadorean hammock and reveled in the sun and warmth. It was cool again Sunday, but today is clearing off again. I'm really ready for this! I've been checking my NestCam, but so far no activity.

Signs of Spring

Not much has been happening in life lately, so I really haven't had anything to post about. But SPRING is coming, and that's got me excited. One of the reasons I love living in Seattle is that the signs of Spring start so early.

My blue stars and some protected daffodils have been blooming for weeks. Snowdrops are just showing themselves, and many bulbs have been poking themselves through the soil.

This morning the resident flicker started hammering on our metal chimney like he does every year. For the next month or so we'll be awakened by his jack hammering every morning.

The Bewick's wrens have been inspecting their old nest box. Last year there was a bit of contention between the chickadees and the wrens for the nest box, so this year I added an extra one. It's in a very sheltered spot and kind of hidden, so I've hung some suet there to attract birds to the area.

I ordered a small video camera to put in the original nest box. I'm pretty excited! It's not wireless, though, so I've got to figure out how to get the input all the way into my computer. I might need a wireless transmitter/receiver adapter, if it's not too expensive. The camera was a deal at $60 from Cooper Seeds.

We've had a long cold winter of pretty consistent gray days and temps staying in the upper 30s and lower 40s. Nothing terrible, but I'm looking forward to some warm sunshine.