Pledging Aweegance

It's been forever since we've had a blog update. So I thought I'd send along possibly the cutest flag pledge ever as a peace offering:

Fun at the Fair - now with VIDEO

Today was Noah's first fair experience. He had absolutely no idea what to expect. In fact, when we were talking about it, he thought we were talking about going on the ferry.

When we got there, he got excited. And pushy. And a bit weepy.

Especially when he saw the lines of equally excited (mostly older) kids at the rides. He wanted to ride all of them...even the ones with names like "tilt-a-hurl" or "instant fairground death."

This is when he found out he couldn't ride ALL of them RIGHT NOW.
















But after several earnest conversations, he realized he was cool with just watching. And, we finally did find a ride he (cautiously) enjoyed. Note that he was belted onto his carousel lion, and he INSISTED I hold on to him. Nervous smiles:



All told, he had an incredible time...from petting the baby pigs to doing some pigging out on his own: mango and cherry shave ice, and roasted corn. Yes, in that order.



















Jon

First Day

Well, he started school. Granted, it's pre-school--only two days a week for about three hours, but for Noah, this is it. He has a backpack, a teacher, recess, and snack. I dropped him off in the classroom, where he found the play dough and never looked back. I told him (very carefully) that I was leaving, he would be fine, yada, yada, yada . . . . Didn't phase him one bit. I don't even think he noticed me leave. I was proud of myself--I didn't cry.

I came home, cleaned, checked email, read, drank hot chocolate. It was awesome. I'm really rethinking the three-day-a-week plan.

When I drove through car line, I could see him light up and say "there's my MOM!" He bounded (safely) to the car and hopped in with his teacher in tow. She said he had a great day, and by his account on the way home, she was right. Highlights: Itchy Inchworm, recess (where apparently a boy pushed him, but he--virtuously--did not push back), snack (cheese, graham crackers, grapes--and Mrs. St. Clair wore GLOVES), instruments (yes, he played the drums), and sitting down when the other children did not (wide-eyed innocence).

So, it was a success. He's ready to go back. And I'm looking forward to my next hot chocolate.

Happy 4th Birthday Noah!

Well, my baby is growing up. He's four today. He'll start preschool next week (anyone remember Shirley Jackson's Charles?), he's asking to play soccer again, he's got a memory and directional sense that is better than mine, and he's impossibly cute (though we don't tell him that)! He really seems like he has the best of Jon and of me. I hope he stays that way. I can't believe he's been around for four years--it seems like forever and then it seems like just yesterday!

So, with age comes responsibility. Now that he's four, Noah has official "jobs" to do. We started a new chart last night, and he gets to put up chart pieces for remembering to make his bed and set the table. We're attempting these things just to see how he does with the responsibility. He's trying hard, and that's the main thing. He knows we make the bed in the morning, but I'm making him do more than watch me and throw a few animals back on. In fact, he's been known to remind Jon on Saturdays that they have to make his bed before he goes downstairs (and you know I was secretly snickering under my covers--Jon couldn't very well tell him no after that). But it's slacked off lately, so we're stepping back up. Setting the table is pretty new. He took it very seriously tonight, but we'll see what happens when the novelty wears off. Shouldn't take long!

To our followers...a word...

So, um.

It has come to our attention that the maintenance of this blog has been severely neglected in recent weeks. After an extensive internal review (Krista mentioning this to me politely, multiple times) we have issued a draft report that should address the issue -- hopefully to the satisfaction of all shareholders involved.

I will spare you some of the more exhaustive technical details, but a rough "blueprint" is as follows: Jon will write down more things, and post more pictures.

So...just to catch up:

We went hiking with my brother, illustrated in this completely UNPOSED shot:














Noah ate several mutant-sized raspberries:














And we went camping again, this time with friends from our church and my mom:
















(Noah and his binoculars, pronounced: (bi-NOK-ee-ers)

That's it for now, but hopefully more frequent updates to follow!

Picky Eater?

I always wonder if eating habits are acquired or genetic. If I were a picky eater, would Noah be predisposed to the same? I once (briefly) had a passing interest in a girl who didn't like fruit. She mentioned this as I was in line with her for a cherry milkshake at the snack shop. I almost fainted. It wasn't like "I don't like lychee." It was "I don't like FRUIT."

As you can imagine, that lone sentence utterly extinguished any embers of doomed romance. (I should add...doomed not just because of the fruit issue, but other...issues.)

Do children ever grow up just "not liking" such a broad category?

Not my child:

Noah + Mango pit = Love. And love can be messy. (click for an up-close view)

Onward...

Ok. So I guess I couldn't keep that glowing review of me up there INDEFINITELY for all the interwebs to see. But it was nice while it lasted.

Time now for some catching up though:

What an amazing camping trip we had with Noah! Amazing that our tent didn't leak more than it did, and amazing that Noah seemed oblivious to the fact that you aren't supposed to have fun when you're camping in the rain. Pictorial proof from our short trip to South Whidbey State Park bears conclusive witness:


There he is, cheerfully eating carrots while his Mom and Dad made glib observations like "Wow, look at the size of that SLUG!!"

Thankfully, the rain did stop for a bit...and we got a chance to look around. It really is a nice campground, and we all found ourselves enjoying the overall experience. And the sun DID come out finally --I kid you not--as we were loading our final bags into the Subaru for the trip home. Noah was looking forward to the ride on the ferry but this happened:


He slept through the ride, woke up as we were driving through Edmonds and demanded, sleepily, when we were going to get on the ferry. When we explained what happened, he didn't believe us at first, and then burst into tears that were, thankfully, short-lived.

Jon and Krista's must-have list for camping with a 3-year old in rainy weather:
1. Mostly waterproof tent
2. Marshmallows

We call them "the two essentials."