June Garden Picts

I love, love, love my garden in June. This year I have more flowers. I kinda like them there.

Left: strawberries. Center: snap peas, herbs, zinnias, petunias. Right: curcurbits, nasturtiums. Far right: peach tree. Far back: rhubarb, hard white wheat, corn, marigolds, bush beans, and swiss chard. Front: blueberries

A closer look at the herbs and flowers in the middle bed.

Points of interest this season: I grew snap peas in the second bed and they are using the chicken wire fencing as a trellis. Can you see how high they've grown already?! I love to plant peas as early as possible and I always think I'll get around to trellising them properly before it's too late. It's too late.

Robert's "birthday hole" was filled in. You can see it next to the three blueberry bush planters. I filled it in after an episode of disobedience regarding mud and Sunday attire/behavior, but I filled it in after the kids had gone to bed. When Robert discovered the change a couple days later, he thought the rain that night had magically swelled up the dirt to fill in the hole. He was thrilled! Terrible mom that I am, I have done nothing to dispel that belief. 

In other news, James has decided he likes to take pictures. His favorite subject last night:

I wonder how many flashbulb shadows/after images Matthew had floating around after this photo shoot. He certainly enjoyed James' attention.

I showed Matthew how to use my fingers to stand up from a sitting position. A couple days of practice later and he's eager to go finger walking. He's not very coordinated yet, and all the exercise gets him panting and drooly, but he's determined to get around! This evening, he steered himself towards the couch to play with James. Then he stopped and stared at a toy he wanted to pick up. He leaned and leaned and leaned until he was straight as a board leaning right over it. Couldn't figure out how to get to it from there. I bent him in the middle and sat him down right by it and Matthew burst into tears. Toys are fun, but mobility is far more important. Once he gets strong enough to hold himself well on two legs, I'll let the little kids take over all the finger walking. My aching back!

Fishing for Mom

I've been wanting to blog about this unique behavior for some time. Bobby and I call it "fishing for Mom." When Matthew starts getting tired or hungry, he looks for me. He scans the people around him until he sees me. Then he'll make a little giggle or squeal or some sort of cute noise to get my attention. It's always a cute one. That's why this works. When I'm making eye contact, he'll smile and giggle and coo, never dropping eye contact. No distraction. No grumpiness, just happy noises with a little urgency in them. All that charming conversation just lures me closer and I can't help but pick him up. It didn't take him long to realize this was a very effective way to get scooped up by his mom. Cracks me up.

Who, me?!

Letterboxing and Guinea Pigging

This week, the kids and I decided to participate in the Urbana Park District's Wild About Parks Quest. It's a letterboxing treasure hunt sort of quest. Alice and Robert love a good mystery, so it didn't take much convincing. James kept asking about when we would find his part of the treasure. Matthew, well, slept through most of it.

We found four hidden boxes in about an hour and left our mark(s).

Alice signed up for a research experiment that's examining the connection between fitness and cognitive performance in kids. She went through her first series of tests on Saturday...FOUR hours of them. Holy cow. Most were cognitive tests and one was a fitness test where she got to jog on a treadmill until she just couldn't run any further. She had a blast! This girl loves tests. Loves worksheets. Loves feedback from adults that she's doing well or exceeding their expectations. It was like a party for this girl. Kinda reminds me of me. I did not get any pictures of her running on the treadmill, but she looked a bit like this with all the VO2 max measuring equipment on her face:

This summer is different

Matthew is just starting to get a regular 2-naps-a-day kind of schedule. It means he's asleep in the morning, wakes up when all the other kids are in "quiet time", then starts another nap just as the kids get out of quiet time. Not my favorite schedule, but somewhat predictable, so I'm content to work with it.

Things are different this summer. Very different. Jarringly different.

For today's quiet time, Alice and Robert played out front together. We've experimented with it this week and found it a viable quiet time option. When James woke up, he ran outside to join them. The neighbor kids came out for a while, too. So far, I can trust Alice and Robert to play out front without my constant supervision. They even keep James out of trouble.

Do you know what that MEANS?! That means I'm in a quiet house with a napping baby. It's a new era for me...er, uh, a lot like when I only had Alice. But not. I have four kids now, so this trust and peace means a whole lot more to me than it did back then.

Things have changed. My kids are getting older.

Another "aha" moment came this morning when we were at the park with some friends from church. Alice didn't really have anyone to play with. Robert is usually glued to her hip, but this park had a sand pile and a little stream that pulled him away from her imagination games. He just wanted to dig and splash and scoop and climb, no narrative required. Alice wandered around a bit, quietly playing her own imagination game. I felt sad for her. This summer, suddenly, she's not the same kind of girl she was last summer. I can't count on the same old activities to keep everyone happy. Will she even want to attend this regular park day anymore?

It occurred to me that Alice is getting older. Things have changed.

Then, towards the end of our time at the park, Robert was ready to play with her again and she somehow managed to get a whole cluster of preschoolers to play "bird family". She was the mommy bird and they were all babies of various ages, flying around and in and out of the play birdhouse at this park. They were having fun, but Alice didn't mind when it was time to go.

I wish...I don't know...I'm happy and excited to see her change like this. She's becoming something new, something more like her true self, I guess. Slowly. Quietly. She's so graceful. Every once in a while I just stop and look at who she is and...I dunno...it just makes me want to hug her tight.

Massew so sweet!

We all love our Matthew. Alice and Robert play dress-up with him:

Hey Barney fam, recognize the headband and glasses?

Action shot!

And the big boys feed him strawberries from the garden:

 

James tells me just about every day, "Massew so sweet!" and he knocks the poor babe over with all his enthusiastic hugging, kissing, and "sharing" (a.k.a. shoving a toy in Matthew's face).

In other news, I've had a lot more energy. We've had unseasonably cool weather, which extends my time outdoors. The yard and garden look great! The kids celebrated their first official day of summer by playing outside all day. Alice can be an excellent leader and friend to the boys when she feels like it :) The kids helped me make pot stickers for dinner (Alice taught me how to fold them, Lara! And we still love your recipe the best.), then we biked to Larson Park after dinner and played there as a family for a little while. I just want to enjoy outside as much as possible before the heat and humidity settle in.

Speaking of bike rides, Robert has quite the range. In the last week, we've traveled 7 miles by bike and he hasn't complained once. Alice is also getting more confident with directions and riding in the road. She led our party home from the park tonight with ease. James and Matthew rode like royalty in my bike trailer/stroller. James was singing some sort of song about the ride, "Biiiiiiiiiiiiig bumps, here they come. Gooooooo stop sign." He's also managed to lose his new summer sandals somewhere :(