Domesticity and a Little Crunch

For some reason I have a whole bunch of pictures of Zane being domestic this week. I think it is the gloomy weather keeping us inside. Above we have Zane hosting a tea party using parts from Grandma Gibson's golden samovar; guests include two monsters and the Rabbit of Caerbannog (partially hidden).

He likes to use the "blue soap" in the kitchen. I figure it's a great way to keep things like the floor clean (although his tray gets washed after).

We've also been getting domestic with some garden chores. The leaves are coming down and Zane has actually been a help with raking and sweeping. He needs to come to grips with the untidiness of nature, though. One windy day he ran a far distance up the sidewalk shouting "No! No!" while chasing individual leaves that were blowing away. We planted a bunch of crocus and snowdrop bulbs in a part of the lawn that stays pretty short late in the spring. Even though we read a book on bulbs, I'm sure Zane has no idea what we were doing. The digging was fun, though! I hope he remembers in the spring so I can remind him that he helped with the flowers.

Since Halloween Zane has asked to go Trick-or-Treating several times. That sure was a big hit of a holiday! We're still working our way through his chocolate bag, so that helps keep it in mind. I'm really looking forward to how much he'll enjoy Christmas this year.

I finally caught sight of Zane's first two-year molar. He says it doesn't hurt, and in fact informed me that he doesn't want new molars. I let him know they come anyway, and then he can eat more stuff! I am finally sure that he really has been doing some growing lately. I've had to put away some pants and un-hem others. I recently raided a stash of donated clothes and was able to pull out more pants that now fit him, although that means a new round of hemming. Zane has a checkup on Monday, and we've been reading books on doctor visits to try to make this one go better than the last several. For some reason Zane is scared of being measured, although I'm not sure why. Maybe if Grandma comes, too, it will help.

My Mom will be here tomorrow night! Yay! I can't wait for Zane and her to re-meet, and I can't wait to visit with her myself.

Today on the way to swimming Zane and I were rear-ended at a stop light. It was quite a jolt, but the damage to the car is extremely minimal. Zane and I seem to be fine. Mostly it's a pain in the butt for me in terms of documentation and claims and getting my car checked out. Just this morning I was telling Zane about car crashes because of an article in the newspaper. And then about 20 seconds before our accident he asked to stand up to see something and I was explaining to him why we need to sit tight in our seats with our seat belts. And then BAM! Very startling. Zane was not scared, but did seem a little bit wide-eyed about it all. We talked about it and how the man was not bad, it was just an accident, and when you make a mistake what is most important is what you do afterwards. He said he wanted to go home instead of swimming, but we went ahead anyway and had a wonderful time. Hopefully I don't wake up sore tomorrow.

I will leave you all with the wonders of modern science. A vacuum cleaner a toddler can use! Now Zane can start earning an allowance.

Tiny Showers

Yesterday we had a brief shower after weeks of dry weather. A hummingbird had a shower and a bath on some leaves, and a baby chickadee got wet for the first time.

Scratch 'N' Sniff Edition

Oh if only there were eSmells! My garden is not an abundant one, but it has some nice old friends in it that are thriving now. The most spectacular is my jasmine vine which is packed with more blossoms this year than I've ever seen. The smell wafts around the yard and in through the back doors upstairs and downstairs. My resident hummingbirds love to sip from the jasmine, although it seems like a lot of work to eat from so many little blossoms. I also have a star jasmine which is getting ready to bloom.

I also have a nice honeysuckle around the side yard, and sweet peas on the back porch. Ahhh, summer!It occured to me the other day that my night blooming cereus should be blooming this year just about the time The Bean is born!

Lilacs, Kicks, and Nesting

My lilac finally bloomed this year! I'm so happy, as I really love lilacs. When I moved into this house there was a beautiful old lilac hanging over the back fence from the neighbor's yard. It was neglected, but I tried to keep "my" part trimmed and pruned. The house is a rental, and tenants often make a stab at gardening and then let the yard languish. One new set of tenants got all gung-ho and decided they were going to put a compost heap in where the lilac was. They asked me if I minded if they cut it down. I truthfully said I'd really miss it. They slowly hacked it apart with what looked like an electric carving knife. Then they left it half dead and never put in the compost heap. Big surprise. Morning glory vines re-colonized the place. It made me sick at heart! Three years ago I put in my own baby lilac and finally got some blooms this year! I feel like my yard is complete again. Ahhhh.

A couple of people have said they were eagerly awaiting my next update! Wow, I didn't really know if anyone was out there! I do belly updates every three weeks, so look for an update on Wednesday!

I've been slowly organizing and cleaning spaces to make room for The Bean and his stuff. I was finally able to make a visible contribution to his room. I cleaned out a bureau, lined the drawers, put some little clothes and blankets in it, and topped it all off with some stuffed animals. He has three bunnies, a wombat, a small rhino, and a wooden crocodile waiting for him.

The Bean has been kicking a lot. The other night I was sleeping on my side, and Bijou was snuggled next to me partially propped up on my belly. Then The Bean woke up and gave her a good kick. She moved away, like what the heck was that! I figure this is only the first instance of the boy bothering her. Bijou's probably got a lot of future annoyance coming her way. She'll probably love all the blankies and sleeping places, though.

Haiku

Hail on black bamboo
Hummingbird flits through the leaves
Flash of ruby throat

Rabbit Proof Fence

I am very proud of this week's construction project. Our back fence had been slowly collapsing, and we had three small exits to the yard blocked with plastic kiddie gates to keep JoJo from escaping. The plastic was pretty ugly. I spent Monday evening and all of today shoring up the fence and replacing a cross-piece timber, constructing two wood and wire mini-fences, and one complete swinging double gate. The gate and the mini fences had to be tall enough to keep JoJo in, but short enough to allow our aging Squeaky (aka Bijou) to jump over them. I'm pretty impressed with myself! The gate actually works, and I never had to do any part of it over! I've never made a gate before, so I'm quite pleased.

After I finished the project and cleaned up, I watered the lawn to hose down all the treated wood sawdust so it wouldn't be on grass that JoJo eats. She took a trip outside and was somewhat confused by the rain on a sunny afternoon.


I'm really pleased with the new Blogger video uploader! The videos are much clearer than ones uploaded to YouTube.

On a completely different note ... Bijou has this peculiar habit of always leaving a few bits of kibble in her dish. Unless she is really hungry, there will always be at least a couple of pieces left. We figure she must believe they are necessary for more food to appear. We call them Seed Crunchies. I noticed a stellar example today when I had the camera out.

An Iced Bun and Pretty Flowers

When I say "iced bun", you may think of this:

but you'd be wrong. It's starting to get hot in Seattle, and since rabbits don't cool down well on their own, we ice our bun. As you can see, Jo-Jo loves it.

Our other girl, Bijou, stays cool in the shade in the backyard.

















Meanwhile, my garden is loving the sunshine and is blooming! Amaryllis, peonies, jasmine, delphiniums, and dianthus.