Asbestos Report

I got all the lab tests and paperwork back from the asbestos removal folks. If you'll recall, they ran a negative pressure HEPA filter for all three hours they worked on the floor. I didn't know they would send the filter to a lab for analysis afterward. Guess what?! Ripping up five layers of flooring (one middle layer containing asbestos in the backing) generated 6 dangerous (it's only cancer-causing in a certain fiber size range) asbestos particles that were captured by the HEPA filter.

Six.

So, one part of me is like, "Sheesh! Six is no big deal! I could totally remove the asbestos-containing vinyl in my bathrooms at pretty low risk to myself."

And the other part of me is like, "Whoa. Just one of those could have given me lung cancer."

The beginning of the serviceberry harvest!

Sometimes you feel like a nut.

He asked me to take this picture. I promise he did.

This little stinker stole my seat (15th percentile for length at 18-month visit), but I gave him leeway 'cuz he's had a fever and hacking cough for four days and this is the first day he's acted 90% normal.

Ta da!

Cabinets are in. Appliances are in their proper places. Still missing the countertops, sink, and any kind of lighting, but it's good enough that we're moving our kitchen stuff back into the kitchen :) Huzzah.

Further Insight into Buddy

Now that school is out and I'm with these kiddos almost 24/7, I'm learning a lot more about Robert. For one, he's crazy fast/abstract with mental math. This morning, he was helping me with dishes for a little extra money. We agreed that this particular pile of dishes was worth $0.80. He worked and worked, then said, "I think I'm more than half way...probably three fourths or three and a half fourths. How much money is that?"

I responded, "Well, one fourth of $0.80 is $0.20, so how much is three and a half fourths?"

He grins and looks away to start calculating. I have to turn away so he doesn't see how freakishly interested I am in hearing his response.

"It's, um, $0.70!"

Totally right. I think I shrieked.

The next thing I've learned about Robert is he shares some mild OCD tendencies from my own childhood. We were walking to the car from an appointment and he was taking a really strange route, and pausing, and doing something funny with his feet. This wasn't the first time. He's been doing these funny hand taps and turns and steps for a week or so now. Anyway, we finally got to the car and while the other kids were busy buckling and such, I kinda asked Robert in a quiet, casual way what he was doing back there on the sidewalk. He got a little embarrassed smile and said, "I don't want to tell you because it's not a good reason." I assured him that I was just curious and there was no good or bad about it. He relaxed a little and confessed that sometimes there are things on the sidewalk that he wants to walk around, not over. Later, he expounded that he gets kinda excited/antsy when he gets the urge to walk around something (instead of over) and he can't do it for some reason. He also feels the need to touch things symmetrically. If he bumps into me with his right elbow, he'll turn around so he can bump me in the exact spot with his left elbow. And when he steps on a sidewalk crack with one foot, he feels compelled to step on the same crack with his other foot so it's balanced.

That was totally me as a kid. I don't remember the symmetrical touch dominating my life, but it was a strong tendency I held even through middle school. It bothers me much less these days, I promise.

Let's see how this develops over the next few years :)

Whoosh

It didn't strike me until we were biking home from the last day of school this afternoon:

"Wait. That was kindergarten?!"

It flew by. Deceptively so. There was a momentary twinge of regret. Or was it sadness? I'm not upset that he is growing up, just a little disappointed that I couldn't savor it as thoroughly as I might have liked.

Fourth grade and first grade, here we come!

Adventures in kitchen-free cooking

I made a pineapple upside-down cake in my electric skillet today...not pretty. Hope the kids don't find it too ugly to eat tomorrow. Last day of school!!

Ugh.

Piano Lessons

Robert has started piano lessons. He's only had two lessons so far. I watch with baited breath. I wonder when he will start to resist practicing. I wonder if he'll fall in love with it and do it forever. I wonder about any natural talent and how to help him develop a good relationship with music education in the long term regardless of natural talent.

I wonder about this because I had a rocky experience with music lessons that kinda fell apart in 4th or 5th grade and only as an adult have I returned to piano playing as a source of fun, of challenge, and of calm. Well, it's more fun now that I've stopped forcing myself to learn only church hymns. I finally realized that the church hymns were holding me back. I know that hymns are infinitely more practical than practicing Chopin or movie soundtracks or Phantom of the Opera, but I don't enjoy them as much. So, for now, I work on pieces that bring me joy in other ways :)

My favorite part of Robert's experience so far is hearing him sing the notes as he plays them. He also likes to explain his theories/understanding of how a principle works once the teacher has shown him something new. He's constantly thinking about how and why something is the way it is. He often wants to voice his theories. And once he's comfortable with you, he'll voice pretty much every theory that pops into his head :)

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I find that kind of personality SO rewarding to interact with. I love to know that I'm one of the trusted few. I love how his theories bring up all kinds of fascinating questions and topics to explore. I like to see his eyes lose focus and his words trail off as he starts imagining what something would be like if this or that was tweaked just a little bit...

He gets me thinking about stuff in new ways.

6 cubic yards

Knowing I would be putting in a few more garden beds this year, I ordered a whopping 6 cubic yards of hardwood mulch. It arrived Wednesday. In the past, the most mulch or compost I've ever attempted to move on my own was only 4 cubic yards. It took every last bit of energy I had, too. So, imagine my terrific surprise, when I dispatched with this 6 cubic yards with relative ease in a matter of 3 days!!

At first, I thought maybe it was because I had been working out regularly and therefore built up more strength and endurance.

Then I realized that I've either been first-trimester pregnant or caring for a 6-month-old infant (who nurses 8 times a day and doesn't sleep through the night yet) for the last four springs.

Yup, that'll suck the energy right out of ya'!

Like a parasite.

I say that out of love, y'know, since this motherhood thing is kinda my favorite job ever.

Nice to know it wasn't a permanent change, though :)

Robert and Alice expending a little of their own boundless supply of energy.

Strawberries!

I may never get to eat more than a handful of strawberries from my own garden any year until the kids move away.

So dang cute. Sheesh. Matthew won't let me pick berries for him anymore unless they're beyond his reach.

The berries are especially good this year. Better than I've ever had from my garden. Even the yellowish ones that are big and just barely starting to get a little reddish have this bright, sweet, berry flavor. Unbelieveable. It's been perfect spring weather for growing fat, juicy, sweet strawberries...and berry-loving kiddos.

Stitches

It's funny. I always thought Robert would be the first of my kids to need stitches. Well, James beat him to it today. He was helping me in the garden and took a nasty spill right on the metal border that keeps the grass at bay. Split his knee right open. Didn't bleed much. He didn't cry all that much, either, but one look and I knew a band-aid wouldn't quite do the job this time:

BEFORE

AFTER

The folks at the ER were freakishly accommodating and professional. They went to GREAT lengths to minimize James' pain and make him more comfortable. They asked if we would like a child specialist to help us. That was a real plus. This woman was a nurse who also had games, toys, and coloring pages. She immediately won James' trust (which is really, really hard for strangers to do!). She had accurate and honest and clear answers to his questions that expertly avoided specific trigger words (shot, hurt, pain, needle, stitches...she called them band-aid strings). Anyway, he did have to get several shots to numb the area for stitches, but I won't be surprised if all he remembers from the experience is watching PBS cartoons and playing puzzles on this nurse's iPad.

We weren't home more than 10 minutes before he was playing on the floor as usual and bleeding all over everything. See? He's not in much pain. I had to wrap his knee with an ACE bandage just to remind him to give the knee a break. We go to the pediatrician in a week or so to have the stitches--er, uh, band-aid strings--removed.

Tile tile tile!

This is Day 2 of the tile installation job. Tomorrow they will grout and finish. I thought I'd illustrate the flooring process in photos :)

Here's the kitchen floor after they took out the cabinets and table.

This is the floor after 5 layers of vinyl and underlayment were removed, leaving only a stained subfloor. Apparently, the first installers had used roofing tar paper as a moisture barrier?!?!

This is what it looked like at the end of Tiling Day 1: carpet cut away from the sliding glass door, cement board laid, and the first few rows of tile.

With only a little bit of tile in place, I started to wonder if I/we had made the best choice. It appeared the exact same color as our dirty beige carpet. Gasp!

Now that I see it on a larger scale, it looks better...more neutral...more orderly...warmer hues...than I had perceived with only a few tiles on the floor. Whew!

 

James watching the guys work. He's so interested in the process that he actually stops moving and talking for 10 minutes at a time.

Loving Spring

Asbestos folks are coming out tomorrow. They say it's a 1-day job.

I just got off the phone with the flooring folks who will be putting tile into our new kitchen. They will install next week! Next week! Then there's a rush to get the cabinets, lighting, and plumbing set up and another loooooooong wait for the counter tops to be made and installed (3 weeks). Then we're pretty much, almost kinda, 90% done. Wow.

With that news, and a solid workout done this morning, and both kids unconscious in their beds for quiet time, I'm in a stinking good mood.

So, I thought I'd share some other things that make me happy :)

Being outside in the green

I said, "Hey James, let me get a picture of you in the grass." He falls to the ground and pulls this "tricky move."

He sees me pointing the camera at him. He pauses, furrows his brow, and *click* it's all over.

Popsicle mouths

Blue eyes, blue lips.

Sandals and riding bikes

Delicate rock collections

Robert probably made this while he was supposed to be getting dressed or something. Absolutely beautiful. Too bad James swiped it all off just a few minutes later :( Sharing a room can be such a drag sometimes.

Baby peaches in my own backyard

I love seeing the baby peach burst through the spent flower. There's something so metaphysical about it...the flower has its moment, then withers away just as the fruit is born...different phases in my life...growth can mean change.

Bubble forts

Bobby helped the kids with this one. They still don't quite understand how it works, but it's a lot of fun.