The Platinum Child

End of the Summer Fun

2010-08-18T20:25:00.009-05:00

It's been a long, wonderful summer. Well, now I can say it's been wonderful, now that I finally have a job. But that's another story, let's have some pictures!

This was Father's Day. I made him migas, and they were pretty good, except the bacon I used was a little too fatty. Anyway, I love Clark's expression, appraising the meal.

The weekend before the Fourth of July was our obligatory berrypicking jaunt. It was splendid. Clark really got in to it this year, as he'd figured out that these things were good, and for the taking.

Really good.

Well, it was an early morning.

Ok, now for the naked pictures. There are lots of them, since Clark pretty much ran naked all summer.

Cooking naked! Actually, this was the first (of many, many, ongoing) instance of his demanding to cook with Daddy. I mean, demanding. So he got up to participate. Since then, we've gotten him a better spot to help us "cook," one far away from the knives and stove. He absolutely loves it.

Got this at a friend's birthday party

And a quiet moment. Dustin's been pulling up Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner cartoons on the internet and Clark can't get enough. I mean, it's good for maybe an hour's worth of entertainment. Here, they chilled out after being in the yard all afternoon.

Clark got to see his girlfriends Taylor and Eleanor a couple of times,

And once or twice we got out to the Botanic Gardens to see what was blooming. He did this on his own, I swear it.

Ahh, baby in the perennials.

And now...our trip to New Hampshire. Alexa was in town, so we all flocked to see her at Dad and Mary's place on the lake. It was a truly wonderful visit. Here's the afternoon Clark learned to say "Grandma."

And checking out the jet ski with Uncle BJ. They went out together later on, with lifejackets!

Chillin' with Gramps, in the best seat in the house.

In Newburyport, possibly the cutest little town in New England.

Buckles are always a favorite with him. I love this shot for the faraway look. We all needed the vacation!

This was possibly my favorite memory of the week. We just caught the reaction, the last time it had its effect.

And finally, the Reynolds family, all together (except for Tom and Dustin, of course) in a very rare group photo op. There were many more great memories, and Alexa catalogued them much more thoroughly than I did at her blog, alexadelbosc.com.

Well, that was a quick trip through what was, in retrospect, a rather difficult summer for me. The job search was becoming extremely disheartening, and with the school year only a few weeks from starting, I was getting less and less sure of finding anything. At the last possible moment I got a call and was hired, to teach 5th and 7th grade math in a charter school. I cannot express my gratitude and heart-palpitatingly anxious relief at having come so close to literally not having a job, and suddenly having a week's time to prepare for teaching. Overwhelmed doesn't quite cover it. But again, I am grateful. And come Monday, I will be a teacher.

Backyard Project

2010-06-21T21:36:00.005-05:00

So, here's the old pampas grass. Ten feet tall, and your eye doesn't even want to rest on it. You sort of want to look anywhere else. Plus it made Dustin break out in hives, and it was so overgrown he had to cut it out with an axe.

Having spent most of the spring clearing the spot, it was looking pretty ugly. There's a reason the previous owners planted the biggest screening grasses they could find--the pump sticks way out above the barrier surrounding it. It's the big white thing on the left, behind some plants waiting to go in the ground. This picture sort of shows how deep I dug the bed out, over on the right there. I eventually dug down 12-15 inches to amend the soil, and then built it up a bit to create a mound. The earth was packed so hard it came out a boulder at a time. We took a sledgehammer to the clods and I picked through endless rocks of dirt, extracting nut sage roots and pampas grass rhizomes. It was torture and it took five days of work.

But look at the end result! I go out there every few hours just to look at it.

I really did do most of the work. Here's my proof. I also amended it with landscape mix, topsoil, leaf and lawn mulch from the back corner of the yard, and our own compost. I defy those plants not to grow, with all the goodness they're sitting in.

Most of it is native or adapted, but I had to splurge on the rose (just south of the sunny grass) and the butterfly bush (flowering purple at the top), which is also hiding the pump for us. It'll all thrive on drought conditions and fill out nicely. Oh, I should mention that Dustin rigged an ingenious irrigation system that's so easy I'm guaranteed not to mess it up. So this bed will last us a long, long time.

That is, if Clark will leave the mulch alone. He was pretty big on throwing that stuff around. But you know what, our home is your playground, Clark--play.

Ta-da! TELL me that doesn't look 100% better. Go ahead, tell me, I dare you. :)

Lynette's Birthday Weekend

2010-06-21T20:57:00.002-05:00

The very next weekend, we celebrated Lynette's birthday in Dallas. Much of the time we just stayed close to the pool. I'm not sure why everyone's frowning here, unless it's the 100 degree heat.

This is pretty much how Clark spends his time these days. Naked from the waist down. Potty training is messy work and swim trunks/diapers/shorts do not last long. Oh, and he peed on at least one unsuspecting swimmer. Lots of chlorine in that pool. (By the way--note the bare space in front of that pump in the back. That's where it used to be covered by scratchy pampas grass, and was finally cleared this spring. More on that later)

Lynette made a run to the store for a volleyball net, put to good use by all these rowdy people. Where do they get all this energy?? I played for about ten minutes. They were all sore the next day.

Clark was a big helper. He retrieved the ball every time it went out, to the applause and cheers of the players. Fun kid!

Taking a break from the heat, Mema played some hymns in the living room. Clark joined her, so she played him "Jesus Loves Me." How I wish I had some video of this, it was precious.

And the main event: we surprised Lynette with a trip to Texas Motor Speedway to drive a race car! Her last "landmark birthday" was spent skydiving, so we had to top that somehow. Karen made a picnic big enough to keep us all fed for days and we had a fantastic time.

I made a joke here about the fact that she was signing away her life, and a snarky trash-talker nearby corrected me: she actually signed away her rights to sue, and the rights of all her heirs to sue. Thanks big guy.

Loved this mister. It made every tiny hair on Clark's face frost up. Anyway, this is the last shot I got, but she had so much fun she missed the checkered flag and kept right on going. That's when you know you're in the zone!

Our final day together was spent brunching at Karen and Kelly's. Their lovely garden was the perfect setting for the unbelievably lavish brunch we were served.

Happy birthday Nette!!

Pepaw Phillips' 80th Birthday

2010-06-21T20:07:00.006-05:00

For this trip to Amarillo, we drove out at 7pm, Clark's bedtime. He slept like an angel:

For 30 minutes. Then he was up, playing, for the next four hours. Around midnight hit the wall, sobbing "mmMammmaa" repeatedly. That is, until a truck passed us, and he broke into his chant to wail "dootDOOT!!!", in the same wobbly tone, to announce the presence of a large vehicle in our midst. Poor kid, he was so tired.

Anyway, we had a great weekend. Spent a morning with Lynette at the park, feeding ducks,

And Scotty rolled in acid-green duck poop. Good times!

Right. So, here's the beautiful reception organized by Dustin's aunt Leron in honor of Pepaw's birthday. And my gorgeous sister-in-law Ashley, who never runs out of patience for her nephew.

Clark can be...pushy at times. In fact, he's learned the word "push," and tries it on me all the time. And here he's trying it on his cousin, Rossie, whose mom set up a video for them to watch on the camera. He's got to be in charge of it.

Cousin Matalee, Cousin Julie's boyfriend Tommy (I guess Julie was behind her sister there), and us. It was a great party, but the hotel atrium was HOT. So our main objective here was to beat the heat, cousin style.

And the four generations of Phillips men. We took another one after Clark was born. I love this!

Happy 80th birthday Pepaw!!

In Which Clark Portrays a Cloud

2010-05-15T08:50:00.000-05:00

Last night, Clark performed in the Fort Worth Montessori School Spring Concert! Okay, most of the performing was done by the older kids. The primary classes (age 3-6) formed the rainbow across the risers and the toddler class were the clouds on either side.

They were, needless to say, absolutely charming.

They sang songs about colors, recited poems (remember Roy G. Biv?), and otherwise inspired a crowd of normally loving parents and relatives to foam at the mouth. We sat toward the back and were uncomfortably close to a cockfight over camcorder tripod positioning. "Oh, I didn't even see you there." "Yeah, well, I've been here since they opened the doors." "Well, sorry, man, I didn't realize." "No, it's fine, the shot's better over here anyway." "[totally insincere] Well I can move..." "No, no, don't bother, I'm better here."

Really guys?

Anyway, they opened the curtains and everyone pretty much went nuts. I couldn't really see Clark well enough from where we were sitting, but we'd all received an email that day instructing is not to wave at our kids and creep up the aisle to take pictures, because then our kids would see us, and who knows how they'd react, and they'd all worked really hard to prep them for standing still for twenty minutes onstage, which is a really big deal for a two-year-old if you think about it, and could we please just remain in our seats for the concert?

Reader, I lost control. Before I knew quite how it had happened, I was in the aisle, mere steps away from the stage. This is what happened.

He looked straight at me. In fact, he looked over at me throughout the program, but evidently I was nowhere near as interesting as the goings on around him. Big lights, big lady out front waving her arms, big crowds of kids waving their arms around and singing softly and out of tune. Momma, in comparison, is chopped liver.

Regretfully, that was the last picture I took without the flash, with disastrous result. Red-eye so bad that even iPhoto couldn't fix it. So if any of you pros out there can fix the following shots, please let me know.

So: on to the videos. This one is not really indicative of how much of the evening went. At times, Clark was a little squirrelly, looking around, standing up, kicking the little girl in front of him....

Most of the time, though, he was too busy watching the show.

Here's half his class, holding down the right side of the rainbow. Let me take this moment to say that we bought his little white polo on the way to the show, since we were requested to put him in white, and who among parents of toddlers dresses their child in white? By the time we got home, it had a grease stain on the back.

I've entitled this video, "Hey, Ladies":

He may not know the words, folks, but he knows when to clap!

Now, toward the end, it was getting close to his bedtime. So he signed "sleepy." And then proceeded to give interpretive dance, and then closed with his favorite and mine, pointing at the ceiling. What is up there, anyway??

Yay!! Congratulations Clark, on your debut as a cloud. You'll make a showman yet!

Mother's Day Double Whammy: Parte Deux

2010-05-15T08:46:00.006-05:00

This year for Mother's Day, Mom was able to join us again! Although I think this may be the last, since her church is growing and she'll want to be there for services next year.

Anyway, while we had her, Gram was a delight. She played with Clark until they wore each other out, and then they had naps together. She kept him busy, mostly by taking pictures of his activities, while Dustin and I got some much-needed yardwork done. And that, pretty much, is how we spent the weekend.

Dustin chopped down two HUGE, ugly photinias on the side of the house, and we planted some junipers instead. Of course, Clark was on hand to assist.

Done! In record time, thanks to Mom's kid-wrangling.

I confess, I'm including this shot of digging out pampas grass roots (a beastly end to a horrific chore) solely to show off my yard-work muscles.

But it wasn't all work. We ate a lot of good food. A LOT. And Mom washed all the dishes! Yeah Mom!!!! One afternoon as we ate lunch on the patio, a pair of butterflies dive bombed us mercilessly. I've never thought of butterflies as pests before. But we did get one to light on Dustin's arm for Clark to see.

Dustin and Clark got in the pool, which took some time to adjust to, since it's still pretty cold.

Once I saw that picture, I thought of another one, taken last May....

Our widdle bitty!! He's so grown up. And here are a few more grownups:

We were dressed for church. This is how Clark dressed for church--in his new duds (thanks Mema for the clothes, they are just what we needed!) plus my hat, which is is favorite to run around the house in. The total effect is what Dustin likes to call 'thuggish.' Ice, Ice Baby!

And here he is in Gram's hat.

Gram Time!

Ah yes. Did you note the over-long bangs in the previous pictures? Her last night here, Mom corralled the kid and cut his hair.

Thanks to her quick work (and a sucker, our only surefire way to keep him busy for such things), he was done in a flash. High five!

Awww....

We loved having Gram with us, though the visit was short. Clark was so helpful, moving her suitcase out to the door for her. We love you Gram, happy Mother's Day!

Mostly Hats.

2010-04-24T16:05:00.005-05:00

The other day I finally got Dustin to sync his phone to my laptop so I could get his photos. What I found were some of the best memories of Clark's second year thus far, and most of them involved hats.

Clark is a lover of hats. And shoes. But he can't resist a good hat, and I've seen him in the biggest, floppiest, floweryest ladies' hat in the collection at his Montessori school. Hoodies, like this one below, also get called "Aats." This is from the park near our home, his very first slide experience, last October. He loves slides too.

Sometime in November.

And at Christmas, in front of my Mom's house in NY. Hi Mom! Dustin's showing him that the snow is fun to poke, and to eat. Clark's not sure.

While we're on the subject, I just had to show you this one, in which Clark decides that Gracie and Dylan's 'crib' works for him too.

My uncle Steve took Dustin and Clark to a nearby aviation museum to enjoy a model train show. Or as I liked to think of it, the men got out of the house for an afternoon to breathe some air.

In the cockpit of some bomber,

And (posed) sitting on a bomb. Clark, when you are old enough to know better, I hope you judge your father for this and not your mother.

Back to hats. This round of gratuitous cuteness comes to us courtesy of the Blizzard of 2010, which drove us from our home in February by cutting off our power for 36 hours. We spent much of the morning at IHOP: in which Clark resembles my stepbrother BJ, whom he actually does kind of resemble physically, oddly enough. I just meant that he loves to drink the cream cups.

And lemons,

Can't get enough.

Just for the sake of documentation, here was our backyard that day. We didn't stay around to frolic and take lots of precious snow pictures because there was no hot water or heater to come inside to.

At some point, Dustin took this shot at Karen and Kelly's. He thinks Clark looks like a crazed addict in this picture. I like to think that he's pretending to be the Count from Sesame Street.

Ah yes. This was as a result of raiding uncle Kelly's gym bag. I call this the Red Dawn look, after Patrick Swayze's cult classic. You can just make out his miniature rifle (technically a lighter), held in the exact position one might see in an apocalyptic Cold War-era survival film, as he tore about the house defending us from the commies. Other shots showed this rifle posture better, but this one captured the earnestness with which he fulfilled his duty.

Now for some Clint Eastwood. I may have shared this one from a birthday party we went to in March, but I just can't help myself.

Back to everyday life around the house. Any old thing can be a hat, you know.

Especially a discarded flower pot!

How 'bout these lobster hands he found??

And finally, he found my hat somehow and wore it around for about a week. That's a lanyard with a detaching clip at the end, another favorite. Lookin' stylish my friend, lookin' stylish.

Easter Weekend -- Tour Dallas!

2010-04-04T20:13:00.009-05:00

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Eaaaarly Saturday morning, Dustin, Clark and I went out with Lynette, Karen and Kelly to ride in the annual Tour Dallas bike tour! We got all geared up and gadgeted out for this ride and it was a real pleasure.

We trained for, oh, about a week beforehand. Clark LOVES the rush of wind in his face, but he HATES having his helmet strapped on. Once it's on, he kind of forgets about it, but oh man, putting it on.

Alright folks, what's the hold-up here?

Hates it.

Dawn at City Hall, the starting point and the scene of the post-Tour pizza party. Pizza at 9am!

I forgot one thing--right before the starting whistle, I remembered that my brakes were really loose, and we didn't have an allen wrench. Luckily there are mechanics to be found. This one took pity on me, according to Dustin, because I was pretty (and therefore couldn't possibly realize the mortal danger I was in). He replaced my entire break system for me, for nothing at all. I must have been in some pretty serious danger....

Ho hum. By this time, he'd been up so long, he was getting sleepy again.

We're off! We were toward the back of the slow movers, as we'd planned to be, but that major repair job did keep us a bit longer than we'd anticipated.

The only real climbs were up and down the bridge out of downtown. They weren't too tough, even for me, but I did have to get down and walk my bike up that last one. See how Clark fared here....

At the far end of the viaduct, Clark had just fallen asleep when we stopped to take some pictures. Poor guy. He didn't appreciate that very much.

But he soon got over it. There were lots of families along the same spot, taking advantage of the view and the rest stop. They must all have moved on while we were doing this.

I like this shot not for its picturesque inclusion of the skyline on a clear day, but to illustrate exactly how far behind we were. From left, that's Lynette, Karen, Kelly in white, and Dustin/Clark. Alllllll the way in to Dallas, the rest of the bridge is clear of other riders. As I huffed past the crew at the far end, the very last of 4,000 touring cyclists, I heard them radioing back to command to let them know their sector was clear. I let out quite a whoop of victory. Holding up the rear!

Back in the city, I thought I'd have to stop at City Hall and let them finish the 8 miles without me, but I went ahead and passed the pizza party. What's a few more miles? Luckily, they all turned out to be completely and entirely flat. Thank you, Texas!

I love this one. All these shots were taken from my bike, of course, while in motion. I am not coordinated enough to expect to be able to pull this off. But this particular shot was taken over my shoulder, Annie Oakley style. See me at the bottom? That look on Dustin's face matched his words: please don't get in a wreck, Mari. He had as little belief in my coordination as I did. Thankfully we were both wrong, and I stayed upright.

At the big after-party, there were balloons and jugglers and people dressed up for Renaissance Fair (including, oddly, the Pope) and samples of power bars and facepainting. We waited in line for ten or so minutes so that Clark could try it. He was not a fan. We moved on.

Well. Later that same day, after lots of carbs and resting and showering and sitting around, we decided we were up for some Easter egg fun. We got out the dye kit and some lemon juice,

And watched our eggs dye. This was good fun.

Our eggs were not as bright as the vinegar-processed ones from my childhood, but they smelled a lot better.

Clark's never seen stickers before, but he picked up on the idea right away, and proceeded to decorate the hard-boiled eggs for us. Then our hands, arms, fingers, and faces. He did love playing with those eggs, but they sort of took a beating in the process. By the time he was done sorting them and moving them in and out of the basket, they were pretty smushed. Didn't keep him from eating one for an afternoon snack later. Yum!

Happy Easter!

Spring

2010-04-02T14:29:00.003-05:00

Last week we received some fun Easter gifts for Clark! The first was a bunny who sings "Jesus Loves Me." Mema, he loves that bunny! He hugs it to him and sways around. It's the best thing to distract him during diaper changes, which are still a bit of a struggle. He loves his book, too, and dances to it:

Nette sent him some tools for the garden! He loves using our tools and now he has his own.

We've been outside every afternoon this week, digging weeds, making mud, and watering things. Lots of things. He has caught on to the idea, and asks for "babaa!" (water) from the hose, filling bowls, pitchers, buckets, and his watering can with water. Which he generally pours straight down his front.

Which is what happened to his pants and his diaper in the rest of these photos: instantly soaked through.

He's helping me water our seedlings too. I told him that if he expects to eat from the garden he'd better be ready to work. Since his age-appropriate work is to play, he was on board with that.

And finally, gardening in the buff, as nature intended. He just makes so much mud with all this water that there's practically no reason to clothe him at all. From the time he wakes up in the morning, to long past dinner and bedtime, if he's inside the house, he wants to go "outs!"

Happy Easter everybody!!

Holidays 2009

2010-03-23T20:40:00.007-05:00

Alright, I have been a very poor blogger over the last several months. However, all technology-related issues have been resolved, and I should be more or less able to keep things up to date from now on. Now, how to go back and share the many goings on since November? Here is my attempt to cover vast swaths of time and occasion in a few skimpy posts. Today's entry will cover everything we did over Thanksgiving and Christmas!

But first, we went one weekend in November to attend the passing of Dustin's great-grandmother, Marsha Gann. We were able to say goodbye and to be with her family for several days in Arkansas. For Clark, of course, time went on, and he was just beginning to walk.

We spent some time cruising the mall in Ft. Smith,

And Santa was there! So we waited in line,

And finally got to see The Big Man. Armed with a baggie of cracker-shaped bribes, we were taking our spot, when Santa warned me that kids under two have about a 5% success rate sitting on Santa's lap. Well let me tell you: Clark is one in twenty!

The Arkansas Contingent:

The matriarch:

A week or two later, back in Texas, we took home the trophy.

Clark eagerly watched Dad fitting out the tree. That's coming in here??

My Christmas moment with the baby.

Ok, flash forward to the week before Christmas. We spent some time with Mom in New York, and went in to the city one afternoon. I love taking Clark in to New York City! The trains, the smells, the people, the walking...

There were lots of people out, despite the cold, but no one was particularly keen on meandering from place to place. We hurried up and down Times Square, pretty much just to be there and get these pictures.

Then we hurried over to Rockefeller Center, looked up as we walked past 30 Rock, and hurried past the Christmas Tree there. This was taken from the far end of the plaza, the first place we had an opportunity to break free from the human current and take a picture. Clark, or Blanket as we called him, was asleep throughout.

To recuperate, we hurried in to the nearest coffee shop and carbed up. Luckily there was a table in the front window, from which Clark proceeded to charm all passersby.

On a more relaxed day, we enjoyed the 15 inches of snow at Gram's House in Long Island. My dear friend Michelle met us there, and her friend took some beautiful photographs for us.

My lovely and accomplished mother roasted a gorgeous turkey, and the Christmas Dinner she laid before us was, in words of hers which I love to use, "a feast!"

Clark (who now is able to say "hat," sort of, and still can't resist any hat he sees) with Michelle's rose-bedecked cloche hat on.

Michelle and I sharing a chair, and supposed to be posing for a nice picture. I am sternly reprimanding Clark's off-camera hijinks. I'm actually quite proud of this picture, though Dustin hates it, because it evidences my evolving "mom look."

Ok, that's better. And pretty much what we looked like in ninth grade. Well, a little smoother.

Alright, I include this shot to commemorate our awful traveling experience flying home. We got to the airport around noon on Dec 23rd, and thanks to back to back ice storms in Chicago and then in Dallas, arrived home 36 hours later, and picked up our luggage from DFW around noon on Christmas Day. Along the way we saw ALL of Chicago O'Hare, contracted viral infections, stayed overnight in a hotel in Chicago with only our carryon luggage (luckily there was a Target in walking distance), and looked and felt like this for much of the experience:

Later on Christmas Day, we visited more family and ate more food. We were all zombies for a few days after that, but it was enough to be together and safely home. Here we are at Karen & Kelly's for Slaton Family Christmas....

Oh, it was a good-old fashioned fun time. It turns out that Clark loves playing Yahtzee from someone's lap, particularly when everyone yells at once, which he happily joins with claps and cheers. He also loves homemade Chex Mix--I thought he was going to turn into a bagel chip after a few days. And here he's playing cars with his dad, a gift from his Grandpa Phillips, who we got to see for a few days over Thanksgiving.

He LOVES this toy. The pegs go everywhere, of course, and the hammer is used on many, many other surfaces now, but it's a favorite.

Like mother, like son, like grandson. The three of them were sacked out on the floor watching White Christmas together. Priceless!

Pepa is always the Technology Captain, as he gets more gadgets every year than anyone else, and he's always got room on his lap for Clark to investigate the technology with him.

I think we all needed to get out of the house. Went to go get dinner, and we can't go anywhere together without taking a group picture. I mean that literally--the Slatons do not let a meal or an occasion go by without photographic documentation. You could practically line up these pictures and watch the seasons go by and haircuts and fashion change.

Ah well. So many more things happened and stories needed to be told than I had space for here, for example we really did spend time in Amarillo with the Phillips families but I somehow managed not to get a single usable shot! And I had to get caught up somehow. I mean, it's almost April. The holidays went by in a rush, as usual, but not without many blessings and memories. This summer I look forward to bringing Clark up to Grandma and Gramps Reynolds' lake house and spending time relaxing, after all this running around! Although after the last time, I'm not at all sure I'll be flying again. We may be driving to New Hampshire this summer....

A Windy Day at the Park

2010-03-19T08:28:00.004-05:00

Last week, on a very windy but otherwise glorious afternoon, Clark and I took Scotty to the park. Walking in from the parking lot, Scotty looks like he's about to be swept right off his feet!

Clark found lots to do, play with, and investigate. I tried to get him to throw the tennis ball for Scotty, but he does little more than spike it to the ground, and wasn't much interested in that game. There's time for that later.

So he found a good stick and beat the bounds with it.

He was full of exclamation at every little thing. These acorns (does anyone know what kind of oak puts them out? They're about two inches long and the caps are very bushy) were extremely amusing to him. Unfortunately they were too big to fit more than one in each hand, so he couldn't hoard them up.

At the other end of the park is a fun playground. Every time we go, Clark is attracted to the merry-go-round, particularly when there are bigger kids playing on it. So we got on this time and tried it out. He fared well, enjoyed the ride,

But preferred to crawl round the circle himself. Note the piece of barkdust clenched in his fist; I call him a magpie now, for always having something small and fascinating in his grip.

And our walk back to the car. I love this park.

Clark at 16 Months

2010-02-03T15:39:00.004-06:00

First, let me start by saying how dreadfully sorry I am for neglecting this blog for almost two months. I can't believe it's been so long! The pressure of sifting through the 500-odd photos from the holidays and compressing them into a few neat stories, combined with two separate bouts of family germ-sharing, a ramped-up job search on my part, the USB connector for my camera being lost (thereby keeping any new photos clamped safely inside the camera), and now the power cord on the laptop being corroded to the point of uselessness (due, no doubt, to Clark's sucking on the MagSafe end), have all conspired to keep me from my journalistic duties.

The last two items are still in effect, so I am unable to share any pictures of the baby at the moment. Although I'd hesitate to post a picture of his left eye, aka "the Pinkeye Booger Bandit," as the more delicate of my readers may take offense. Let me instead draw a verbal portait: Clark at 16 Months.

Though not quite running yet, Clark has adopted an alarming rate of speed while walking, most particularly in his new Pediped shoes, without which he never likes to be. He will point them out, in fact, and demand his "Shuss!" until we velcro them on him. He prefers them to all other footwear, including bare or stocking feet ("Sshok"). I don't let him wear them out in the backyard, however; we wear his old sneakers for that.

He'll walk around the yard for an hour or so in the afternoons when it isn't raining, tearing around with his walking stick, listening for the neighbor dogs ("Oofff!"), stretching out flat at the pool's edge to poke floating leaves or pick out dead crepe myrtle berries, creeping between the air unit and its fence, grasping the scratchy pampas grass, crouching under the spreading photinia shrubs, climbing in the raised tomato beds, and breaking (and eating) turned-up dirt clods. I have tried unsuccessfully to get those bits of bracken and mud from his fists, or to bring him in before he was ready, to my own peril.

He has begun to have so much capacity for learning that I can't keep him quite as occupied inside the house anymore--he gets bored. He's never been interested in watching TV, so I can't even put in a kids' video for longer than five minutes before he's pushed enough buttons on the DVD player to shut it off, or played with the remote and opened up all kinds of sound and picture menus. He is unable to keep away from the old stereo, whose tape decks and disc-changer open at the touch of a button, even without the power on, and whose volume knob always seems to be set at a ridiculously high decible when next we go to use it. The computer's USB ports and the printer cable are an endlessly fascinating puzzle. And the other day, Dustin caught him trying my keys, one by one, in the front door lock. He was not quite tall enough to get the right key all the way in to the lock, but he knew where it went. Pictures of this to come later.

A few weeks ago Clark started bringing us books to read to him. The first one was a board book with the text of the song "The Wheels On the Bus," which I sang to him while holding him in my lap and turning the pages. It was like magic. He squirmed off my lap, only to bring it back a minute later, saying "Book! Book!" Not his first time to say the word, but the first to use it as a command. He now repeats the process, over and over again, allowing us maybe a page or two of the last book before getting down and making a new selection. His favorites now are Alphabet and Tails, both full of fuzzy, fun textures and pop-ups. Of course, he's already relieved the books of all their moving paper parts. I've kept as many as I could find around the house, in hopes of someday gluing them back in. We'll see about that.

Now, as to his temperament: somewhere in the process of splitting out four new molars over the last month, my sweet happy baby has turned a corner. I liken it to adolescence; he's developing faster in some ways than in others, and doesn't have all the tools he needs to understand what's going on or how to communicate about it to others. Suffice it to say we have reached a tantrum phase. Now, I've heard it said that were adults to go through the process of teething, we would find the pain agonizing and completely unbearable. We'd all be on Vicodin. Babies, on the other hand, get sporadic treatments of extremely low-dose painkiller and some frozen beans to gum on. So I make allowance for quite a bit of the storming, thrashing, back-bending and leg-buckling that goes on. Particularly in light of the fact that yesterday, when we took him in to the doctor for the pinkeye, he was also diagnosed with ear infection. How was he supposed to tell us this? He doesn't have words for this yet, of course, and he had no fever, flushed cheeks, or ear-tugging, so we were unaware of the discomfort he was in. No wonder he gets frustrated and breaks down easily. So go ahead Clark, tantrum it out. I hear ya.

These are some of the first of many growing pains that we have to look forward to. But I thank God for the sweet, happy little guy that he is most of the time. He claps and says "Yayy!" when he's done something good. He uses "Up!" to be picked up, pulled into a lap, plugged into the highchair, and even to get down from the highchair. He drags the floor, hanging from our legs, most often when we're trying to get out the door in the mornings, but sometimes by surprise just to hug us. He lays his head on our shoulders and wraps an arm around our necks when sleepy. He even says "Ni-nigh" when he knows it's time to go to bed. Moments like those are so tender and beautiful, everything else washes out and any fight over diaper changing, which invariably makes me swear off having more children, seems less frustrating. In fact, it makes me think how much this family needs a little sister...but that's for another time.

Until then, our Clark is the center of our universe, and the reason for everything we do all day, and the best moments of our days are spent with him. In big goofy group hugs. This morning, in fact, I was hugging Dustin goodbye, and Clark wrapped himself around our legs and laughed up at us. This being too much to resist, we scooped him up and hugged a little longer, before the day began.

Happy Birthday to Taylor! (and other events last weekend)

2009-12-14T15:50:00.012-06:00

Isn't this about the cutest birthday girl you've ever seen? Oh she's just precious. Taylor (and her mother, Katie) had been sick the weekend of her birthday party so they relocated it to the 12th, which is actually her birthday. What is it with these babies getting sick on their birthdays??

There were lots of babies in attendance and we had so much fun playing. Clark actually had a little too much fun playing with Taylor's toys--he felt he had to personally approve each one for her.

As you see here.

Here's a closeup of that outfit. Cute, huh? Vest and pants courtesy Tonya. Thanks T!

So, in other news, he's a big fan of the refrigerator (it was a warm day).
(ps, Alexa, that syrup bottle is the one you and Tom opened on your last morning here. The one by Clark's head is the one we already had open. We don't eat just a whole lot of syrup around here, as you can see.)

Clark ordering pizza online. Just kidding. But only just. He's almost got the printer cord plugged properly into the USB port on the computer. Scary smart, man!

He can't resist a large, plaything-shaped structure. In this case, a dresser in the midst of assembly.

Note, in the background, Clark is checking the cardboard for authenticity.

And early the next morning, still working, this time on the next dresser. Dustin surprised me with them Saturday for my Christmas gift. I had been pining for real dressers (we'd been using plastic bins), and Dustin took Clark for a little father-son time Saturday morning. To IKEA, a solid hour away. I had no idea. Clark reportedly liked the $1.99 breakfast. And yes, I LOVE my Christmas present! Thanks honeeeee!

I hope this video works out...he's been walking so well the last few days I wanted to catch him at it. Here he is, touring the house on cleaning day:

Christmas is Coming....

2009-12-06T15:07:00.002-06:00

This week was Clark's first snow day! We were in a hurry to get out the door, and to my regret, I didn't get any pictures of it. But this was of Daddy getting him suited up. Love that hat!

Clark pulled it off instantly. But actually, he gets a big goofy grin on his face each time we put it on him, so I think he likes it.
This afternoon we picked out our Christmas tree!

Daddy got it ready on the porch. It is now waiting to be decorated...I am falling down on the job. Gotta go!

I have now skipped over the week of Thanksgiving. This is only because I have, oh, about a hundred pictures to go through from the week (thanks to Ann!!). I actually forgot to bring my camera on the trip, but that was due to the haste with which we left the house, but that's a story for another post. Love to all!

Visit from MeMa and PePa; "I can do it by myself, Mom."

2009-12-03T19:47:00.006-06:00

Early last month, Dustin's MeMa and PePa came for a visit one evening. MeMa made us her famous tacos, which I had only heard legend of before. They also brought Clark his first wood puzzle, which he loves. He uses the big-handled pieces as little "coasters" to glide around the house on as he crawls. Yes, he's still crawling most of the time. We don't mind. But we'll hold his hands for him any old time he feels like walking!

MeMa was wiping his face after his dinner. He's not a big fan of this and pulled a face, which set her off in giggles of delight!

It was so nice out that evening, we sat outside for our taco dinner. They were everything they were cracked cracked up to be!

Clark got changed for bed, and then drove their cooler around the kitchen for a minute or two. It was actually full at this point, and heavy--he's a strong little guy.

We love you!

Now, Clark is starting to want to do things for himself, and it's usually messy/hilarious. Here he's brushing his teeth--with my toothbrush.

And then with his. He loves the bubblegum flavored non-fluoride baby toothpaste. He actually like having his teeth brushed, and we do it as often as we remember to. Which is not often enough. But he has eight teeth now, as of this week!

And now he tries to feed himself too. Mostly this involves dipping the spoon into the food and moving it to his mouth, which doesn't actually get the job done, but it's a good first step. I have to have him a spoon to work with while I'm feeding him now or we fight over the one I'm using.

And then sometimes, of course, he just goes straight to the old tried and true.

FIRST STEPS!

2009-11-07T15:45:00.001-06:00

Clark is walking!!!! And we were both here to see it! There were high fives and family hugs and sloppy kisses all around, a few minutes ago, when Clark took his very first steps. He had just pulled something off a high shelf with such a clatter that I flew into to room to make sure he was ok. Daddy was in there with him already, and of course he was fine. But I watched him for a minute, and he watched me, and I had a feeling--so I crouched down, as I have many times over the past few weeks, and held my arms out and called him. He grinned, threw his arms open wide, and walked five steps until he fell into my arms!

After we threw a happy little party for him, we decided to catch it on film. Here are his sixth, seventh, eighth, and so on. The fun stuff's all in the first minute, but I kept filming just in case. He gets a bit overwhelmed toward the end, understandably.

Now, I'm sure you've noticed there are four or five other posts on the blog today as well. That's because I sat down last night and got busy, catching up several weeks' worth of happenings. I had spaced out their posting dates to last through the beginning of next week, you know, to make it more interesting. But today's events necessitated a hurryup in proceedings.

Tomorrow would have been his first birthday. He was due November 8, 2008, and we'd be having a birthday party today. I think seeing him walk for the first time, at 13 1/2 months, was a great way to celebrate. Love to you all!

Fall Afternoon

2009-11-07T15:29:00.000-06:00

Friday evening we sat outside and had some fall afternoon fun. We watched cars go by, chatted with the neighbors, inspected leaves, and decided that the grass was really pretty prickly.

And Clark stood for about 1.5 seconds, a record for him. He's still so wobbly on his feet, but we just know he'll walk on his own soon!

This is where we decided that the grass was a little too rough. You can see him trying to hold his legs up above the level of the sharp blades. Nice core work, Clark!

Clark at Play, and at Rest

2009-11-07T14:45:00.000-06:00

Part of his necessary pattern-building growth comes in the form of games. We are big on patty-cake, especially while waiting for food to be prepared. We have routines for everything, from waking up in the morning to going to bed at night, and that makes everyone a lot happier.

Our new favorite game is peekaboo. It took him quite a few tries to see the funniness of this game, but now he'll ask for it, and it even helps distract him during the struggle to change his diaper, which is a major hurdle these days. He'll even play it all by himself.

What's funny is that he doesn't really realize that his eyes should be covered. To him, the game is "put the thing on the head and then pull it off so Momma will grin and say Peekaboo!" Hence the costume on the head, the sock on the head, the candy bar on the head. Half the time I'm looking him in the eye, saying "wheeeere's Clark?"

More good fun. He and Daddy were playing ball. Clark astounds me with how well he understands actions and games and play, even so young. We also caught some video of him swaying and bopping to music, a very recent development, but it was very dark, so we'll have to try again later.

Now for Clark at Rest. He has been sleeping just fine (and waking at 5:30 or 6, precious darling child), thankfully. However, due to the current round of teething, he's been a drooly, snotty mess. The result of this, at nighttime, is snoring, and BOY can this kid snore. You can just hear it on this video. Unfortunately, he startles a bit after I open the door, necessitating a fast retreat.

All that hard work sure makes a guy sleep hard!

Clark at Work

2009-11-07T14:22:00.000-06:00

Clark is hard at work. He is learning how to be a big boy! Part of that work is play, of course, and we will see some of that in the next post. But I thought I'd give you a bit of a progress report, so to speak.

He still gets one bottle per day, at bedtime, though we are reducing the volume nightly and working on weaning him from it. Other than that, he's all sippy-cups, with the occasional open cup, though that's definitely a work in progress. Here's a nice compromise:

He loves the straw. Most of his straw-based experiences have been very exciting (Orange Julius, Smoothie King, though very small sips), so he's a big fan. He's squinting at the redeye reduction light, not at me. Thanks Josh and Doug for the super-fun Chicago cup!

Clark's school sent these home a day or two after we'd had to keep him home with a fever (he's since cut his seventh tooth; we just discovered it tonight.) The school director wanted to reassure us he was feeling fine and back to his cheery self.

This picture is funny to me. It was before he had his hair cut, so it's in his eyes, and he's got all kinds of crazy stuff going on. Toy in mouth, socks pulled half off, he's off-balance in a pose that tells me he half-slid, half-rolled off that beanbag chair. Probably reaching for a toy on the shelf without paying attention to the fact that the rest of his body wasn't coming along for the ride. Goofy boy.

He runs cars up and down this windowsill. It's one of his favorite places to play, and I often peek in from the front walk to catch him playing. I mean, working. He's hard at work at school, loves being there. He gets a big grin on his face when we walk up in the morning. That could have something to do with the fact that there are always three or four young women at the front to take the older kids out of their cars (curbside service--you get what you pay for at these posh schools!). They all know him and call his name in the morning, smiling at him, I mean, he doesn't stand a chance. It's like a personal pep rally to start your day!

And now for the homework. I am dreading the day he starts walking, because I'm afraid he'll do it for his teachers first. I've already told them: just lie to me. Wait for me to come in all flushed and excited, announcing his first steps. And act like you're surprised.

So, we do a lot of practice at home. He's sooooo close. These (ahem) action shots were from a few days ago, with Daddy on the assist.
He loves the fridge. Mostly because it's home to magnets, yet another game. He knows that they click and which side sticks to the fridge, and even that they also stick to the dishwasher, where we occasionally find some.

Often he'll wrangle one of us by a pant leg and sort of cruise along that way. It's very cute, but when he's clinging on because he's hungry and I'm shuffling about the kitchen trying to assemble his dinner, it's a tiny bit less cute. And you can see him doing this big goose-stepping thing. He doesn't have much balance yet, and will trundle along with our fingers in his fists, flailing one leg after the other in the air like the Rockettes. Here he's trying out the feel of the wood. Is this good for stepping on? Why not? Oh, you mean all my weight's back here on my left foot? Huh...

I see us doing this for many years to come. And I remember clinging like this to my Dad. And sometimes getting picked up for a ride on top of his feet. Ahh, good times!

First Haircut

2009-11-07T13:25:00.000-06:00

My sweet boy. I've been getting subtle and not-subtle-at-all comments about Clark's hair being too long. He's my little hippie baby, folks, leave him alone! After the caregivers at Montessori school said something, though, I decided to just give those sweet bangs a little trim. They were pretty far into his eyes. By the way: in this shot, to me, he looks exactly like Dustin's cousin Matalee's baby pictures.

Anyway, that was taken several weeks ago. He sits like that all the time, right knee up, left foot behind. It's the way he used to crawl (right foot flat-footed, left knee to the floor), and still sometimes does when he's tired.

So, again a couple of weeks ago (I wish I had more time to do this now!), Dustin had the bright idea of cutting his hair while he was eating dinner and totally preoccupied. I got my shiniest scissors.

What are you doing, Momma?

Hmph.

Better make this quick....

Holding still is not a priority for him. I had to cut it short. Sorry for that one!

And an "after" picture. Can't tell, can ya? I couldn't bear to take much off. I didn't even keep the hair, it was just a pile of fluff. Now, three or four years from now, when we finally cut those curls off, you can believe that I'll be keeping that.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-06T19:40:00.003-06:00

First of all, I'm sharing this lovely moment from a few weeks ago. The night we carved his pumpkin, we also made a pumpkin pie. The next morning, when Mr. 6am was awake, we did him a favor and introduced him to it. He did not think it was such a favor. Honestly, I was almost a little hurt. Not want my pumpkin pie?

The demise of the pumpkin, only a week after it was carved. So sad. And yeah, that's sporing mold.

This is late in the afternoon of Halloween. We'd had plenty of candy for our trick-or-treaters, but somehow not all of it made it till that night. Daddy had something to do with that. Let's see, before those trick-or-treaters get here, what's in the bucket?

Momma! I swear, I wasn't going to eat the candy! Look, I'm dropping it now, ok?

Ok, I don't care if he gets into the candy. He can't even open them, though not for lack of trying. He worked that Snickers bar for a while. And he spent quite some time taking candy out and putting it back in. Big game for him.

Why won't he smile like this for the portraits?

Aww. He was showing me his candy bar. Lately, everything goes on his head. It's part of another game. More on that later.

See, sock on head.

Aaaannd...the Halloween costume on the head. Happy Halloween!

Oh Jack 'O Lantern, Oh Jack 'O Lantern!

2009-10-27T09:45:00.006-05:00

So last weekend we carved Clark's first pumpkin. It was an all-family affair. We drew the design, cut off the top, and let Clark explore the inside.

I took him a while to warm up to the idea. But he did try to pick it up by himself. This kid!!

When he repeatedly pokes at something like that or flaps his hand at it, he's expressing discomfort or dislike. He doesn't quite know what to do with this new experience. But eventually, he gets a hand all the way in and tries out the squishy pumpkin guts...

...and of course, they immediately go in his mouth. Looks like he didn't care for the taste.

But that stringy stuff sure was fun!

Here Scotty, you gotta try this!

Momma did some scooping,

We put the guts into a bowl for Clark to pull right back out again,

And then--it was empty! Where did all that fun stuff go?

About that time, Clark got majorly sleepy and had to go to bed. So Daddy finished carving the face and we took our pumpkin outside, lit its candle, and sang it a little song. "Oh Jack 'O Lantern, Oh Jack 'O Lantern!" (to the tune of Oh Christmastree!). We carved it to match Clark's teeth.

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair....

2009-10-19T20:21:00.007-05:00

...Don't miss it, don't even be late!

It's dollars to doughnuts that our State Fair

Is the best State Fair in our State!"

--from State Fair, by Rodgers and Hammerstein

A week or so ago, while Dustin's Dad and sister Ash were in town, we caught the very last day of the fair. Now, the State Fair of Texas is the largest in the nation, of course, and in many ways, a complete representation of American culture. Where else would you pay $10 to park on someone's lawn, $15 each to get in the gate, and further untold sums to get all the fried food and ferris wheeling you can stand? Oh, that's right, pretty much any fair or festival in the

United States. It's a pandemic. We paid a day's salary to walk through a crushing crowd for a day and still consume more calories than we burned.

But, it's a tradition, one that I'd escaped for many years since moving here in 1998, and now that there's a child in the family, we are obligated to have all the fun we can possibly wring out of events such as this. So here we are, having fun!

We are entering the petting zoo. That red cup in Dustin's hand is animal feed, which someone handed us on their way out, full and unused. It had cost them $5.

It was quite the menagerie. Lots of run-of-the-mill barnyard animals, including a longhorn

steer, which Marcus declined to have Clark's picture taken with (you Texas/Oklahoma college sports fans will know why.) Along with those were alpaca, some mountain goat with four large horns (bizarre), and a whole range of other animals that Clark was not interested in touching.

Frankly, he was far more interested in the animal feed.

Wait, you want me to do what??

He wanted nooothing to do with this guy.

And though he's not really doing anything cute or funny in this video, I'm including it to give you an idea of the crowd in that claustrophobic animal tent.

Wall to wall. We couldn't wait to get out of there. Which is why you see us here, striding along

in the open air. We went the long way around the Cotton Bowl to the next activity we wanted to see, just to get out from the madding crowd.

The next activity turned out to be this: viewing the butter sculpture. It's a saloon scene in a display window, complete with barroom brawl leavings. In butter.

Aren't we cute?

We saw the Midway, the Kidway, lots of displays and exhibits, shows and people. The people watching was pretty exciting. But best of all was the food. We had to try the Green Goblin, a chile relleno filled with guacamole rather than cheese and battered and deep fried. On a stick. It was pretty darn good. We shared a funnel cake, my favorite. And I sampled some of Ashley's fried queso--not my favorite. Alas, we did not stand in the traffic-impeding lines to get the fried peaches 'n cream, nor the fried butter, which were the winners for taste and creativity, respectively. You haven't been to the State Fair unless you've had something totally inappropriate battered and deep fried. By the late afternoon, we were all tired, and were grateful to sit down and watch the bird show. You know, where they dive bomb little children with low-flying raptors, and they scream with abject terror and delight. Clark was too wiped out to care, and was asleep soon afterwards.

Refreshed, he enjoyed the rest of that breezy, beautiful day. It really was the perfect day to be out at the Fair, which is usually unbearably sticky and hot. Which must explain why the whole state of Texas was there that day. Here, we're in the neighborhoods surrounding the fairgrounds, hoping our car is still on that guy's lawn.

But before we left, we had to get Big Tex in a frame. He is the welcoming effigy that represents the hospitality of the Fair to all Texans, born and naturalized. Come, come to the fair and drop a paycheck! Marcus was telling us as we passed the creepy statue that November is typically a tough month for rent, mostly, as the news report went, because of the State Fair in October.

But you know, I think we'll keep going. It is, after all, tradition, right?

The Rolling Disaster Circus

2009-10-11T13:43:00.002-05:00

This has just been a challenging weekend so far. Actually, the weekend started out great--I spent Friday evening roasting veggies and prepping them for Clark to eat, putting back quite a few meals' worth. I love doing that. Then yesterday, I had the massage and facial that family members gave me for my birthday. Oh yeah! When I came home, Dustin had done some of the laundry already. This was shaping up to be a great day.

Then we headed off to see Karen and Kelly. They watched Clark for us while we tootled around town for a bit, then came back and enjoyed a nice quiet evening with them. That's when the normalcy ended.

Clark woke up around midnight, having rolled off the pallet we made for him on the floor next to our bed. Well, he didn't actually wake up; not until we put him back on the pallet and the door next to him creaked. Lesson learned: let sleeping babies lie, even if they're lying on the carpet. Actually, the lesson here is to bring the pack'n'play with us wherever we go. Anyway, that began almost two hours of playtime! We tried giving him another bottle. That just produced a dirty diaper. Luckily we had a spare night diaper with us (the big, super-stuffed microfiber diaper he sleeps in for 12 hours each night). Then he pooped in the spare. I remembered I had an emergency backup disposable in the car, so at 1:30 we were figuring out what to do with two dirty diapers and and chirpy baby. Finally, around 2, we'd gotten another bottle into him and got him settled back into the pallet. We passed out on the floor in the living room, happy to give him the room to himself, lest we make another unnecessary noise.

I will save you the rest of the sorry story, but by ten the next morning, he had pooped another two times and Scotty had thrown up four times, each time finding a new spot on Karen and Kelly's carpet to christen. By this time, we were out of diapers and Karen and Kelly were just about out of towels, so we gave up and drove home. So much for a relaxing getaway! We always enjoy seeing Dustin's aunt and uncle, and I know they aren't fussed (as Alexa and the Aussies say), but man, that's a rough day. They took pity on us and sent us packing with lots of yummy leftovers. Thanks guys!

Sister the Cow, and Other Stories

2009-10-03T20:33:00.005-05:00

I love Clark's school. The other day they had a visitor come by...Sister the Cow! The littl'uns enjoyed the sights and smells (though not the feel) of a real, live dairy cow. Sister made all her cow noises for them and even submitted to being milked so the anklebiters could see where it all comes from. Clark, I am told, was still mightily sleepy during this event and so couldn't be bothered to be enthused about it.

Just kinda squinting at her, isn't he? He gives us this look frequently. I really think he doubts our sanity sometimes. Anyway, here are some of his buddies, babies from his room who are walkers already. They crowded up to the gate to waive bye-bye to Sister. I hope these are good kids, because they are Clark's superiors by several months and I know he looks up to them. Walking, waving bye-bye, who knows what else he'll pick up from them.

And there, behind the exceptionally cheery toddler, is Sister. I find it ironic and sad that kids are now introduced to livestock in such a way. And these kids are lucky to have the opportunity! We should all go back to the land and raise our living from the earth. The Omnivore's Dilemma: I have drunk the coolaid.

So, the other stories I promised. As Halloween is approaching, I have one or two things up my sleeve. The inevitable Superman outfit is modeled here. This particular costume was given to Clark by his grandmother Lynette this time last year, and though it's sized "Newborn," it would have fit four of him last year. It's just a bit too short (and shaped like a sack at the bottom) so he's sporting the jeans. Plus he was not interested in holding still for long, so I snapped what I could and we moved on.

Alright, I know he won't thank me for stuff like this later, but come on. We were in the middle of making cute smiley faces at each other and he goes and does this.

He is still a major fan of the tongue roll as expression of dissatisfaction. When I got the roll-and-spit-bubbles routine, I knew we were just about done. But then he flashed me this one:

Oh yes, and the shirt he's wearing is his current Halloween costume. It features a glow-in-the-dark ribcage and spine with a collection of candy corn clunking around at the bottom. I really don't like candy corn, and he's never had candy in his life, but it was still too cute to pass up.

Finally, I'd forgotten to mention his latest stats. At his 12-month shots appointment, Clark weighed 21lbs, 12oz (75th percentile) and was 29in tall (90th)! Where has all this height come from? What's more, those percentiles are for all babies, not just preemies, which has been his standard of measurement until now. I can't believe how tall he is. And to look at him, he's all arms and legs suddenly. Today he was inexplicably cranky and I thought to myself, well I would be cranky too if I were growing so fast.

A Special Little-Kid Birthday Party!

2009-09-28T19:34:00.003-05:00

Last week, on Clark's actual birthday, he had some special visitors. Since it wasn't safe for them to come to his party, Taylor and Eleanor came by to celebrate!

Clark and Taylor worked on smashing some cheerios,

With Scotty in attendance. Nursemaid Scotty has quickly adapted to Hoover Scotty.

Eleanor was a very good girl and did not get into any trouble. I mean, is that outfit not the cutest??

See, those big babies are over there making messes and I'm being good!

Eventually Taylor and Clark found the piñata. The tissue paper became so interesting we had to find it a new home. For some reason, Clark was totally not interested in posing for the camera as he usually does. I couldn't get a single shot of his face. Not that I'm lacking for pictures of Clark, though, right?
Oh yeah, Katie and Kara were there too. Eleanor's over there making big growly noises (you can just see her mouth wide open) so we all paid her some attention. Ladies, sorry it took me so long to get these pictures up--we had a great time that day. Thank you so much for coming over, and for celebrating Clark's birthday with us!!

Birthday Portraits

2009-09-22T07:50:00.002-05:00

Hey all, just wanted to share some of the beautiful portraits Josh took of Clark for his birthday. These and the black and whites are just gorgeous, but I'm having trouble uploading the b&w's to print or to post them. Those sneaky guys at the camera shop where we had the film developed seem to have protected them somehow to limit their use. Anyway, till I find a way around that, please enjoy these digital color shots!

First Birthday Party

2009-09-21T19:25:00.006-05:00

Saturday we held a party for Clark's first birthday. I am almost unable to write those words. My son is already a year old. Alright, I can't do the rest of this post if I don't hold it together here. Here's the big decor scheme:

And the gorgeous cake made for us by James Jesse (no doubt with LOTS of help from his wife, Mary (shout out!!)). Nutella frosting. Nuff said.

Now, Clark was not feeling at all well that day. That's an entirely different story. He's feeling much better now, but that morning, he'd woken up with a fever and was very lethargic. Didn't have much of an appetite or much to say to his family when they arrived. We'd called off the actual party and asked all our friends with babies and kids to stay away, since he was still sick and we didn't know what with. But it was nice to have the family over. Lynette and Kelly got him eating some grapes finally around one o'clock, the first he'd really eaten all day.

Parked next to a smorgasbord of junk food, he could barely get excited enough to bang his usual fist on his tray. Poor kid, he just still wasn't feeling himself. We tried to keep the hoopla brief and low-key, but ya gotta do the birthday cake. He can't turn one without smearing his face with cake.

No pressure.

When I bought this candle, I could barely stand up under the significance. The only person there who could share the moment with me was the cashier, so I had to have the moment to myself. Dustin did the honors of blowing it out for him. Next year I'm sure he'll blow it out on his own, spraying everything with spit bubbles. Well, he does that now anyway, so maybe he could've done it on his own this year.

I love it when the cameras come out.

So does Clark! He got to hamming before too long. He can't resist a good photo op.

Now, I've never figured out how to edit these video clips to rotate to vertical, but somehow I can't ever manage to remember that while I'm filming. Argh! So this video is sideways. Note the attention drawn away from the cake to watch all the people taking his picture.

He really did get into the whole cake idea once the frosting hit him. He didn't put it away like I thought he might have, but we've kept him some cake for when he's back to normal.

Wait, you mean there's more of this stuff? I feel better Mama, I promise.

On to the presents. We chilled out in the big chair and made Dustin do the fetching. This is his job at Christmastime--we call him Santa's little helper. It's been his job ever since he could walk, bringing everyone their gifts to open. He's good at it.

I'm being sneaky with these picture selections. The book above is from my aunt Leslie ("badauntie") and the bath toys below are from cousin Erin, both on the East Coast. Thanks gals!

Jon came right on time, just when we were wrapping up the presents, and brought the luchador. Ok, I think that's what it's called, somebody correct me. It means 'wrestler', and it's a piñata.

So anyway, about this time Clark got hopped up on a sugar rush and decided he really felt fine, totally fine, besides were all these toys for him? Cause if they were, then he wasn't really sick at all. Can I play for a while please?

Again, this video is sideways. ARRRRGH!

I believe the background noise is a toy dumptruck that grumbles like there's a real diesel engine in it. You can just make out Dustin threatening to remove the batteries....

Thanks to all our loving family, near and far, for being with us in person and in spirit for Clark's first birthday! It was bittersweet, not being able to have all Clark's friends there with us (and therefore half of our friends). I mean, what's a kid's party with no kids? No fun at all, that's what. Clark bravely soldiered on in his teeming pile of new playthings for a good hour and a half before slowly crashing down from his sugar rush. And then Ashley watched him for us for a few hours (Thanks again Ash!!) while we went out to eat, totally exhausted ourselves.

And now, on the eve of his actual birthday, I am happy and thankful for my little one's life. Those were some scary days last year and I couldn't be more relieved and grateful for how healthy and happy Clark is. Thanks be to God!

Peekaboo

2009-09-16T13:12:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. Seems like we're so busy these days, with school having started for all of us. I am stalled a bit with my job, waiting on background checks and fingerprinting and so on, but I should be ready to start on Monday. Clark is just loving school. When I drop him off in the morning, he takes off with nary a backward glance, and I get a smile and a hug when I pick him up in the afternoon. It sure makes me feel confident about the choice to put him in this school. And of course Dustin's teaching two nights per week now, so we are all busier now.

Caught the boy making a big discovery the other day. If I hide inside the curtain, no one can see me....

But here I am! See, Mama, I never went anywhere. Where did you go?

Nursemaid Scotty is never far away, of course. In fact, this area of the floor is Scotty's new headquarters. Why, you may ask? Because it's under the high chair. Clark is all but refusing to be spoon fed, and insists on being able to feed himself finger-foods. We usually do a little of each at each meal. Which means that food goes everywhere, even if Clark weren't actively dropping it over the side. Which is his new favorite game.

Our next post will be a very special one. This Saturday is Clark's first birthday party and we are expecting a big crowd. I am so happy and excited to be able to celebrate this with our friends and family. Don't get me started here, I am all melty and mushy just thinking about how grateful I am for those who love us, and for this beautiful and happy boy.

A Big, Big Day

2009-09-04T20:00:00.005-05:00

This was Clark's last week at swim lessons. Tammy informed us Tuesday that we'd be moving on to "clothes." So Wednesday, we put him in fully clothed, cloth diaper and all. This took two days of getting used to. On Wednesday, he was giving Tammy some dirty looks. Possibly because she said he should be wearing a different shirt. Something burnt orange....

Doing the float is more difficult, of course, in clothes, but not apparently just because of the weight. During his training, he's become used to her hands guiding him to turn or reassuring him. Now, though he does it on his own, he's still used to feeling her touch, and all of a sudden he's got the touch of clothing all over him. It's confusing.

Today was his graduation day! I had him in a winter sleeper and shoes, the heaviest outfit I could find. This shot is right before he came up after going in face first. Just a little unsettling.

But of course he came up fine. He's very strong, very resilient. He sure doesn't enjoy being dunked though. Short video of my tiny champ.

Hey buddy, good job!

Here's the other news for the day: I had an interview today at a middle school for a tutor position with the AVID program. AVID works with average students who would be the first in their families to attend college, but need some focused assistance. The middle school is, believe it or not, in the same neighborhood as Clark's Montessori school, under fifteen minutes from home. This is the only interview I'd been called for. I liked the front office staff and AVID director. The interview with the principal was short, the shortest I think I've ever had. But then, he seemed preoccupied and busy. So busy he skipped right over the formalities and told me where to go for paperwork and fingerprinting.

I start next week!

This time last year...

2009-09-01T19:41:00.004-05:00

...we were in Amarillo, making a final visit over Labor Day, two months before the baby was due. Two whole months to go, and look at the size of that belly! This was my first trip to the legendary Big Texan, home of the Free 72oz Steak. It's featured in just about everything on Amarillo, in addition to many road trip or diner shows. Only in the US. That's Dustin's dad Marcus on the left and his Memaw, who some of you may remember as "The Real McCoy," on the right. Ashley's taking the picture.

Love my husband. We didn't get the 72oz steak, which you have to finish along with two sides and a roll within one hour to get it free, but between Clark and I we probably could have.

After eating what I remember as being a particularly large chicken fried steak, I sat back and relaxed. Who am I kidding, the heartburn was already setting in at this point. But that nice man sang us "Yellow Rose of Texas," which I've never actually heard sung before.
Memaw is such a hoot. She shot down several bottles and raccoons at the restaurant's old-time arcade,

And apparently so did I. Remember, the child in there is under five pounds at this point, more like three and a half. That's almost all me! I was really shocked when I saw these pictures--I don't remember being this big at all. And a week later, my water broke and we were in the hospital, so these are some of the last of me up and around.

I just couldn't resist slipping this one in there. Memaw holding her very first great-grandchild. Thanks, Ash, for digging up these old pictures for me! Good times.

Altogether, A Very Eventful Week

2009-08-29T23:42:00.001-05:00

Dustin took this week off work too, since it's the quietest time of his year, and we have crammed it full. At least it feels that way. Wednesday we all went to the zoo. This is Clark's reaction to the lion huffing at us. I guess Clark thought he was the only one around who huffs a lot.

We rubbed the elephant for good luck,

and then he decided he'd had enough of the paparazzi.

This one's for Dustin's dad....

Took this video a few days ago. A truly odd thing he's been doing lately--it started when he'd cry so hard his tongue would sort of rattle between his gums. Pull your tongue back to your back teeth and then roll it, that's sort of what he'd do. Now that he's realized he can roll his tongue, it's not just for crying anymore. But he still does it while crying. Hey, I'll take that over shrieking any day.

The swim update. This week we moved to an indoor, but alas, not air conditioned pool. His float is right on, as you'll see in the video--he actually floated for about 30 seconds the previous day before she scooped him up. And Friday she started the "survival" exercises with him, lowering him into the water headfirst to help him learn to get up to the surface if he should fall in. It's actually really hard to watch, and I have some video, but it's upsetting. He's face-down in the water, working out which way to roll toward the sky, for six seconds. It was hard for me even to write that, so I don't think I'll post that video. Anyway, this one's better, a little tense, with a big finish.

Love to you all! More next week ;)

Helpin' Daddy

2009-08-29T22:53:00.000-05:00

by Clark Phillips.

All this week, and the whole week before that, okay only part of the week, I have been helping Daddy. Daddy likes to build things and do big projects around the house, and I always get to help. Last week, when he was covering up my big interesting kitchen floor with smooth boards, I held his mallet for him.

See what I mean? Those boards and lines and little circles, all those interesting patterns on the floor, different things to feel--he just went and covered 'em all up. Boring, huh?

This is how we started out yesterday. Daddy got up under the stovetop and did something with wires. I didn't think he needed my assistance with that, so I stayed in the pack 'n play.

This part was loud! I let him use the mallet 'cuz the floor was done already. I don't know what the sink did to Daddy, but it sure must have been bad. Before I knew what all the racket was for, it was gone!

Well, not exactly gone. But it looks funny there, doesn't it? I don't think that's where sinks are supposed to go. I spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon checking it out to be sure. Oh, and see all that nasty yellow-green stuff sitting on top of the cabinets? That's about to be gone, too. Watch close....

Ta-da! I took my afternoon nap and when I woke up, Daddy had made them change colors. Although I think the new color must be hard to find, because only half of it was there. And for some reason Daddy acted like he wished it was still green.

He borrowed my baby gates too. I am telling you, Daddy could not get anything done around here if it weren't for me! I am his very best helper.

See? Here we are, playing on the floor together!

Soon you'll see all the great work we got done together. Ok, the kitchen's a little more boring now, less funky stuff to see, but grownups are funny that way. Oh well!

First Week of School

2009-08-29T13:38:00.002-05:00

Hey! Clark started "school" this week at Fort Worth Montessori School. He loves the other babies and early toddlers in his class, gets lots of great attention from his teachers, and comes home happy and worn out. On his first full day we brought him together. I was a bit worked up. Mostly just excited for him. He'd visited the school and his classroom several times already, so for him it was no big deal. He got right down to work playing.

He's had a great week. Getting used to a slightly different nap schedule has been a challenge, but the teachers and the director are very helpful and supportive. He's having such a great time, and he's in good hands. I don't worry. In fact, they send me pictures sometimes. Today he went out in the stroller and enjoyed the cool day!

Oh, and when I picked him up today, I was chatting with one of the teachers about his eager snacking habits (I can not keep the food coming fast enough for Clark--he's a VERY big eater!) and she mentioned that he'd signed "more" for her. What??!? I've been using that sign for four months and he's never signed it to me. I actually teared up a bit when she told me. His first week in school, and I'm already missing milestones. I realize that's part of the process, but darnit, did it have to come so soon??

Happy first week of school, Clark!

More fun times in Amarillo

2009-08-27T22:08:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to lie, I like this picture because I look good in it. And that baby's cute too...

Bob and Ann, otherwise known as Mema and Pepa, came up from Lubbock to see us late last week and we hit the mall. As you may remember, it was tax-free weekend. And boy, oh boy, did we make sure our part was done to sustain the economy. Mema was showing Clark a picture of him she keeps in her wallet. He was pretty fascinated by it. I think he knows himself in pictures now, he loves to see them. Anyway, I love this shot of him considering his Mema. Do I know you? I swear I've seen you before. And how do you have a picture of me??

The next morning, we fortified at the old Pancake Station in Amarillo. Lynette said she used to meet her grandfather there for a cup of coffee. Good memories :)
And good coffee. Lots of it. Dustin can always get Mema laughing, which I love.

And weighing in with a funny recollection is Pepa. Or, as we sometimes call him, Mufasa: king of the big cats.
And then, believe it or not, we hit the mall. Again. Clark just didn't find enough cute stuff the day before. But then he crashed, and lucky for him that Jason was around to whisper him to sleep. Way to go Jas!
On the way home, we got stuck in the airport for a while, so there was time to play. LOVE this one!
He's so funny.

Let's see, how do I get out of this? If I push on it, will it--yep. Got it loose. Now I can crawl around the airplane again, allRIGHT!!!

I have now held infant poop in my hand.

2009-08-27T19:17:00.003-05:00

That's right, caught it freshly squeezed. Sorry--Clark isn't all "sweetness and light," as they say. And by the end of this story, you members of the Scotty Lovers' Club might be even more grossed out.

We took a dip in the pool this evening, right before bottle and bed, because Mr. Fussy wasn't quite happy with anything else. Whatever was bothering him instantly went away when we hit the water, though, to my relief. And, of course, we usually let him swim naked at home--hey, it's our pool, right?

Well, just as I was getting ready to pull him out, he let out a few bubbles. No big deal. But then came the main event. Being alone, since Dustin has started teaching this week, I had no choice but to carry it to the trash, baby under the other arm. Yuck. On our way back to the pool to rinse off--the damage had already been done--I detected some grunting noises that definitely meant an encore. So, feeling much like a crazed father delivering his baby in the back seat of his car, I let Clark do his thing. On the side of the pool. Don't worry, I hosed it down with 409. You can still come swim at my house with confidence. And when Dustin gets home tonight, he'll be shocking the daylights out of the pool. Anyway, toweling Clark off, I turned my back for a hot second and Scotty had taken care of half the mess for me. Thanks Scotty!

For those of you who don't care to read any more stories about poop, I am sorry to say, it is part of our lives now. Part of our daily routine, the rhythm of life around here. And as soon as he's capable of taking care of that particular function on his own, I imagine we'll be looking at the next round. In the meantime, I'll be blogging, in the hopes of getting some, ahem, relief.

Morning with Nette

2009-08-21T11:16:00.006-05:00

Ok! Back to our visit to Amarillo last week. After spending some time with Marcus and Ashley, and going round to Dustin's grandparents, we went over to Lynette's house. She was grandbaby-play-ready!

Dustin busied himself with breakfast: omelettes a la Julia Child. We played.

Nette and Clark danced around the living room together. Nette offered to lead, since Clark hadn't really ever done that before. He loves getting danced around, just loves it. And necklaces too, loves necklaces.

And then they had some snuggle time. Clark is totally fascinated with other people's teeth. I guess he needs to know that they are, as Anne Lamott says, Okay, that the big awful white boulders sprouting in his own mouth are normal. He has five now, by the way, and those top teeth are huge and far apart. We'll be calling him Bucky when they're in all the way.

After his nap, we took Clark around in Poppy, Lynette's Mini Cooper. This was his first experience in a convertible, as well as his first time riding forward (instead of facing backward.) Normally he loves the wind in his face, but I think the combination of new experiences involved in sitting in the back seat of a convertible were a little much for him. That or he just hated the hat. That may have been it. Anyway, he tolerated us for almost an hour of running around before he decided he was ready to move on.

Woohoo!
After all the excitement we had to chill out for a little bit.

Visit to Marcus and Ashley's

2009-08-20T20:24:00.019-05:00

Yesterday we flew in to Amarillo to visit Dustin's dad's family and his mom's family. Here's our obligatory pose in front of his grandfather's church directory, posted in the Amarillo airport.

Dustin took Clark onto the trampoline. I was not around when this happened.

A new toy. And in honor of Marcus and Dustin, a Cowboys outfit.

Trouble!

Memaw Phillips. She took Clark on her knee and played horsey. Seventy seven years old!

Lunch at Kabuki. This is another Amarillo tradition for us, Marcus takes us to this Japanese steakhouse every time. It is an awesome experience. Of course, this isn't Clark's first hibachi grill--but then, he was little last time.

He enjoyed the show. Almost as much as he enjoyed his lunch, which unfortunately for him was not what we were eating. Just baby food.

The reaction to the flaming onion tower....

and to the ginger-garlic sauce Dustin gave him. Oh well. Maybe next trip.

Just for fun

2009-08-20T08:59:00.004-05:00

This was taken last weekend....

Nursing Strike

2009-08-18T21:03:00.003-05:00

It's been a bad couple of days around here. Clark has been very, very fussy and needing to be held--but then wanting to flail and be put down. He's acting as if he wants to nurse, and then turns away wailing, as if I'd just closed up shop on him. But I keep offering, which is what the experts say to do. They also say that a strike like this is not self-weaning; that's gradual and gentle. We woke up Monday morning to this. He wouldn't eat his lunch, can't be distracted by anything but the most novel of experiences, and, I'm sure, is completely confused himself about all this. He seems to be pretty miserable, poor guy.

It's most likely due either to an ear infection, which I doubt, because he has no fever whatsoever and sleeps just as soundly as ever, right through the night; or, to teething. He's working on his fourth tooth now. The third appeared last week with barely a whimper. If the fourth is what's causing him so much discomfort now, I shudder to think what the next dozen or so will be like.

Days like this really call to mind exactly how sweet-natured and confident Clark is most of the time. And I am thankful for that! If every so often he goes through a big developmental shift or growth spurt and it makes him a little cranky for a few days, no problem. I'll take that any day. He is a pleasure and a joy, even when I am at the end of my emotional capability and my arms feel like jelly from trying to soothe him. Thank God for such tired arms and heart.

AND we had some fantastic news today: Clark's Montessori school, in which he was enrolled for January because I missed enrolling him for the fall, called and said they'd had an opening come up! I piled us into the car and went straight over to claim our spot. I am SO happy this happened today, I needed some good news! Now he won't have to mark time in a mediocre daycare and then make a disorienting transition four months from now. When we get back from Amarillo next week, we'll ease him little by little into spending the day at his new school. Yay!!!

The scary box in the corner

2009-08-16T19:40:00.001-05:00

Now, you know that I dislike watching a whole lot of TV. We don't even have cable anymore, which is really a big relief, I mean I'd blow three hours on Food Network alone like nuthin'. Not to mention HGTV, CNN, MSNBC, Bravo, History Channel, Discover, and all those movie channels, and I wish we'd had some BBC. Especially when sleep was fragmented around the clock it was more than I could do to turn off the stream of 2-D stimulant. My eyeballs would dry out. I just feel like I've lost some of my cognitive ability during the time I sit there and veg out.

But it's part of our lives. We watch it in the evenings when we're too tired to do much else. And we do a lot of Redbox. We're grownups, we can handle it. But....Clark hangs out in the living room with us for an hour or so before his bottle, and occasionally drops the dog bone he's been chewing on to watch the pretty moving pictures with us. I do not like this.

My sister, who lives in Australia, has rather acclimated to a more socially conservative view. Well, Dustin calls her a raving Socialist, and that's partly true, but in many ways the culture in Australia is much more conservative than here. People do not drink on the street, for example, there are maybe three sugar cereals compared to our dozens, and people are not putting their kids in front of the TV like we do. Sure, they gave us the Wiggles, but that fact notwithstanding, I feel as if the Aussies have one over on us when it comes to making appropriate choices for their communities and society at large.

For example, their TV advertising is regulated much more closely than ours. Marketing toward children is much more restricted, hence the lower availability of kids' sugar cereals, etc. The Federal Trade Commission abdicated its responsibility here in the 70's when a large court case was brought by parents who, get this, were worried about their kids getting cavities. The slick defense attorneys won by glorifying the American ideal of personal choice--our most indelible right, whatever Jefferson might have said about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And besides, the lobbyists argued, isn't it the parents' responsibility to tell their kids no?

A documentary made in the US included anecdotal evidence of the negative fallout of this case. There was a 5-year-old in a grocery store who picked up the Scooby-Doo crackers and said "I love these!" She was asked, "have you ever had them before?" "no." And then the 5-year-old who told her mother that SpongeBob macaroni and cheese tastes better than any other macaroni and cheese--again, even though she'd never had it. She just "knew." How the heck is a parent supposed to fight that kind of imprinting?

One way is to turn off the TV. It's sad that though forty years ago parents were concerned with their children's dental health, the implications today of TV's influence are far more consequential. A new study from the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston, referenced in Parents magazine, finds that "the more that kids are exposed to programming intended for adults, the more likely they are to become sexually active at an earlier age." For every hour of adult content that kids ages 6 to 8 watched over a 48-hour period, their chances of having sex as young adolescents increased by 33%. I am horrified to learn this. So little TV watching has so much of an effect.

Of course, Dustin and I are going to be big talkers with this boy, and will embarrass the snot out of him with sex talks and drug talks, as we would both rather be embarrassed ourselves than lose influence with him. And I know as Dustin reads this post, he'll be shaking his head at my inflammatory fear tactics. Ok, maybe I'm laying it on a little thick. But I really don't believe that the influence of TV and other media is negligible, particularly with the technology available now, let alone in eight or ten years. It's a tightrope that will require us to negotiate healthy boundaries for Clark and for ourselves, over and over again in the coming years. God grant us wisdom.

Swim Week 3--some improvement here

2009-08-14T19:04:00.008-05:00

This week we had a real breakthrough in Clark's swim survival lessons. He is now more comfortable with the whole procedure and cries very little. He still doesn't like being placed on his back in the water, but he is doing much better with his float and with keeping water out of his mouth. I think he's kind of hit a point where he'd rather just learn what he's in there to learn and be done with it.

We wait for our turn,

and stand around with Mama,

And look cute. It's his job.

In this video he says "Mama" briefly, and also shakes his head "No." Tammy asked if he knew the word, and he really doesn't, just shakes his head usually when he's tired. But it's funnier to say he's telling her No.

This is the roll she does with him. Scary, no? Most of the crying in these videos is of the other kids, either waiting their turn or getting ramped up in anticipation. I do not know how this woman deals with the stress.

And this one's toward the end of the lesson. She'd actually slipped him three or four inches under the water right before this, which I unfortunately didn't catch, but that's the next step for him. He has to learn to keep his eyes open and his mouth shut until he can get to the surface, and then stay there. At the very end of the video, she lets him free-float!

Next week we leave for Amarillo mid-week, so the lessons will be interrupted, but hopefully we will be done soon. Lots of things are about to change for us with the fall; I will hopefully be starting work part-time as a tutor for the Fort Worth schools and Clark will be in daycare three or four short days a week. Later in the fall I'm starting certification classes in anticipation of teaching in the spring. Lots to look forward to, but I will miss our slow, lazy days together, just Clark and me. Sigh.

New tricks

2009-08-14T14:19:00.004-05:00

Ahh, the joys of childrearing. I made him some bite-sized banana chunks and did something at the sink for a minute, and when I turned around, this is what he was doing.

Personality

2009-08-12T19:57:00.004-05:00

It is such a joy to begin to get to know my son. When Dustin and I were in counseling before our wedding, we were each asked to define "love" for ourselves (some of the very, very best advice I've ever received). I realized that for me, to know a person increasingly and to be known is the truest method and form of love. With Clark, although it took time to bond (I didn't even get to hold him in my arms until he was three days old!), I have always felt an unreserved and no-reason-necessary love, but now that I am getting to know him more, it just gets better and better.

It's started with these swim lessons. The instructor, who's used to casing out her babies quickly so she can best adapt her teaching style to them, picked him up at the beginning as being "persistent." I said, it's ok Tammy, you can call him a pain in the butt if you want to. She just laughed. He wasn't scared, he wasn't confused, he knew what he wanted (to play) and couldn't get away with it, so he'd get mad and scream. Thank God Tammy's so good with the screamers. Well, tonight, some of that persistence is paying off--his lesson went very well and he was able to float without her support, repeatedly, spitting water out instead of drinking it, and staying at the surface for air. He knows what he wants and will work for it, if Mom's not hunkered nearby; I hide several feet away now, and he does much better without me to cry at.

So I've had a glimpse of his personality through this experience. Last night I picked up a book that a friend lent me (ok, I'm not giving it back, the dog ate the cover--sorry, Tonya) called Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers. Its predecessor was really helpful to me when he was tiny, so as we lurch into toddlerhood, I am more than grateful to have a follow-up. It opens with a detailed questionnaire about your child's personality and behavior, categorizing these into five types: Angel, Textbook, Touchy, Spirited, and Grumpy. Though as a preemie he was a little longer about hitting his first milestones, he was pretty much a Textbook baby--liked routine, fairly predictable, not necessarily the easiest baby to deal with but pretty good-natured and happy. In answering some of the toddler questions, though, I was surprised to see a new pattern. I'll give you a few of them here:

When I leave the room, my toddler

A. shows concern initially, but resumes playing

B. may show concern but usually doesn't mind unless he's tired or sick

C. cries immediately and looks forlorn

D. hotfoots after me

E. cries loudly and lifts up his hands

A comment that best describes my toddler is

A. you hardly know there's a little one in the house

B. he's easy to handle, easy to predict

C. he's a very delicate child

D. he's into everything--I can't take my eyes off him when he's out of the playpen

E. he's very serious--he seems to hold back and ponder things a lot

My answers on both of these were evenly divided between B, Textbook, and D, Spirited. Yes, it's beginning to make sense to me now. All those descriptions of Dustin as a wild child...all the tantrums I know I threw when I was little...Clark is going to be a handful. He is an adventurer, determined, social once he's sized you up, curious about everything. He is going to need good boundaries and a strong routine to be happy and confident, as I know he will be. And outlets for all that energy and enthusiasm. Good thing we're starting with swim lessons, that's a great energy spender!

Here's a rare moment these days: Clark is actually sitting down long enough to read a book with me. Unless he's already mostly asleep, he won't read quietly, rather he'll slap at the pages, grab the cover, try to close the book and chew the spine. Spirited. And I honestly think the only reason he sat still that time is that he had his favorite chew-book to chew on (thanks Erin, the sea creatures are still his favorite for that).

He is such a pleasure to know. And as my dad says, more will be revealed.

Ridin' Around in my Automobile

2009-08-11T21:17:00.004-05:00

Playing bumper cars in his Jeep. Yes, that's our remote in his fist. Not one of the three we keep in his toy box that are no use anymore, the good one. He carries it aloft as a symbol of his newfound power, dashing at heretofore unknown speeds throughout his property.

More driving. He actually turns and looks over his shoulder as he's reversing. The screeching and warbling is directed at Lucy, just outside the screen on our coffee table, who is not impressed. Sorry this one's blurry, I have no idea what happened.

Nothing in the house below three feet high is safe anymore. Have Jeep, will ransack the abode for contraband play items. Trash can lid, toilet paper, dirty laundry, coasters....

Swim Week 2

2009-08-08T20:54:00.004-05:00

Clark's doing better in his lessons already, though he proves persistently frustrated by the swim teacher. Every time he hits the water, he knows he's not there to play, starts complaining loudly. He actually grumbles in his half-words about having to suffer the indignity of being asked to work in a swimming pool. Thursday, the day before this video, he cooperated so well in his exercises that the instructor actually said, "Wow, Clark, thanks for showing up!" I get the feeling she was a girls' soccer coach or something in the past. She learned that smack-talking somewhere.

No, she's great. I really appreciate her approach. She's saying, "wave for Mommy, buddy!" Anyway, he's a funny little guy--the other babies I see before and after him are kickers. They want to splash and kick and squirm. Not Clark. He flexes every muscle and digs his heels in for a fight. He tries to get his feet as far out of the water as he can, which only pushes his little hiney into the water and keeps him from floating properly. And he's still swallowing water about half the time, but he's getting better at spitting it out.

He's actually rolling all the way around, under the water, and keeping his mouth and eyes shut the whole time. He sticks his tongue out of his mouth to see what's going on in the water.

Daddy was there with us on Friday and put Clark together afterwards. It was a good lesson, although he always does better when I'm not sitting right next to the pool, taking pictures or trying to keep a straight face. So I'll go back to watching from afar next week.

Funny kid

2009-08-05T09:28:00.004-05:00

I am sitting here at the desk in our little office researching daycare centers for Little Bitty, and still fuming at myself over having let my favorite Montessori school fill up without registering Clark for the fall. OH! I am so upset over this. He's registered for January, thankfully, but this means I'm having to find him a care center for the interim, which I was hoping to avoid.

Anyway, as I'm getting some work done on that process, he's tootling around in his Jeep. He is a wild man in that thing, throws his arms up like a roller coaster ride and rushes around at our feet, giddy with speed. I usually shut the doors to the office while we're in here, so I can keep an eye on him, but thanks to Karen and Kelly we now have some fantastic rugs, and he can't really get around on them. So I leave him a little corridor of hardwoods to scoot on. Well, he seems to

have gotten a lot more proficient at handling this vehicle; he can back, turn, schooch out of

tight spots, and speed across rooms in no time. Just now he'd gone out of the office, through the kitchen, and through the narrow doors to the living room, which is out of my sight but well baby-proofed. I thought, well, we'll see how this goes. A moment later, he tore out of the living room, past my door, and back into the kitchen, flashing a grin of unguarded happiness at me as he went. I laughed aloud and dropped all work to share the moment.

Speaking of Karen and Kelly, they know I can't resist putting up pictures of their visits. We love it when they come over. Kelly helped Clark with some soft-cooked carrots,

And Karen kept us entertained.

Thanks for coming over guys!

Swim Lessons!

2009-07-31T21:07:00.006-05:00

Ok, technically, they're water survival lessons. The focus is to get Clark to learn how to float on his back and breathe if he falls into the pool without us. He's not big enough to get to the edge and climb out yet--that's the next round of lessons, starting at age 15 months. But he'll know how not to panic and be ok for the precious seconds it may take one of us to reach him if, may God forbid, we lose track of him and he decides to spend his freedom on a trip to the pool.

This first week has been spent teaching Clark breath control and, perhaps more importantly, that the pool water is not for drinking. He's what the instructor, Tammy, calls one of her "bathtub drinkers," tongue darting around as he bobs up and down in Tammy's arms. He thinks they're playing games. Well, that was the first day, and he's pretty clear now on the fact that they are not playing games anymore. Miss Tammy doesn't mess around.

In this video, taken today, Clark is learning to be in float position. She's not turning his face toward the water--he's doing that. He's trying to get away from the water, but it's always there. And if you are uncomfortable with babies screaming, please don't watch this.

This was actually the less screamy of the two videos I took of this excercise. And that wailing in the background is the baby who went right before Clark. It was his graduation day. He's cried every day this week. All three babies whose time slots are before Clark's, and the baby after, cry all the way through their lessons. I am telling you--this woman must be made of steel.

Clark watches the babies who go before him, staring unflinchingly at their screaming red faces, as if he were thinking, amateurs. This is the graduating kid's parents watching their winter-clothed, shoes-and-socks on baby fight his way out of the pool. Awe-inspiring, to be sure.

Once he was all suited up, there was little to do but wait. There's an old Gershwin song: "I'm bidin' my time....Oh, what a lucky guy I'm!"

A few stills of the scream session. This one just captures how mad he gets through the process of being stuck in a position he doesn't like with someone he doesn't know and having to actually learn something. And Mom sits on the side and watches it happen!

Here's that tongue in action. He's thinking about it...but you know Tammy ain't gonna let it happen.

Shortly after this pool water sampling effort, she switched tactics. Think you want water in your mouth? Oh, no you don't. This video is also not for the faint of heart. But it's going very well, he's doing exactly what he should be doing.

And afterwards, he's always a bit ambivalent about things. Eh, at least I'm out of that evil lady's clutches, he thinks.

Then mom whisks him away, rice cracker in hand, back home to get him ready for bed. The lesson is late in the day and we're both a little worn out when it's all over. Well, we have another three to six weeks of this, depending on how things go, so I'm sure we'll get used to it. Fridays are picture days, so we should be able to bring you some updates now and then. Thanks!

Crawling, in his own special way.

2009-07-23T21:11:00.005-05:00

Since he's really almost over it, I wanted to get Clark's funny half-crawl on film to share. It started with him sitting upright, feet crossed in front of him, and leaning forward to get somewhere. It seemed he just wanted to scootch forward while staying in a sitting position, because he'd keep one leg bent under him. Keeping that knee bent and rotated out, he'd pick up the other foot and paddle forward with it! Flat-footed, as if he were walking. It's goofy. You can just see it here:

He's crawling "normally" most of the time now, so I'm glad to have caught this. Thanks Lynette for the reminder!

Isn't Bath-Hair Irresistible?

2009-07-22T23:26:00.000-05:00

Checking himself out in the mirror,

Wondering what that silly mommy is doing,

Rolling his tongue around, one of his favorite pastimes.

Looks like Dustin, doesn't he? :)

Ten Months

2009-07-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today he's ten months old. Whew! what a crazy year so far. Hmm, guess I have to start planning that birthday party...honestly, I'm dreading it. I don't think any mother actually looks forward to her baby's first birthday.

Wardrobe Courtesy Mema Ann

Props Courtesy Aunt Carissa and Godmother Tara

Makeup and Styling by Mom

Josh, please come home and take some real portraits of this kid ;)

Taylor Time

2009-07-21T09:38:00.004-05:00

Taylor came over yesterday, since we hadn't seen her or her mom Katie in a few weeks, and we had a great visit. It was a rainy morning so we played indoors.

Isn't she a cutie? Don't know what that little boy is after in the corner there, goofy. Come play with your girlfriend!

Ah, there he is. All hands, as usual. You know, we got a comment from the nursery workers at church on Sunday that he was "grabbing" the other babies. He is curious about them, I'm sure, since he doesn't often see others like him, other than Taylor, and he grabs at her quite a bit. The nursery worker asked if we had him in daycare, and we don't, which seemed to have confirmed a suspicion of hers. So...Taylor and Eleanor, let's keep those playdates coming!

My favorite face of his. Actually, in this moment, it was kind of, "hey, who is this kid playing with my toy?!" Again, socialization needed here....

Katie came armed with Gerber Puffs, these tiny cereal bites that melt in your mouth. Taylor has popped out her first two teeth, and Clark has his, but they're still not really up to Cheerios yet. So these little puffs are a big hit. Taylor loves them so much, Katie and JT call them "baby crack." They don't leave home without them.

They can sort of get their hands into the little trapper bowl, but can't really grab the cereal yet. So they do a lot of pawing. We're both working on using index and thumb to grasp things and then successfully get them into the mouth--this is a big challenge for these little ham-hands. Usually the food ends up sticking to their hands somewhere and they have to use their other hand to find it, or the puffs just end up stuck to something else. Sticky little things.

Gratuitous cute photo.

Thanks for coming over, Katie and Taylor!

Saltaire

2009-07-15T19:51:00.009-05:00

Clark and I had a truly memorable week with my mom and family on Fire Island. Looking through these pictures bring such a warm smile to my heart--thank you Mom, and everyone, we can't wait to see you again!

Waiting at the ferry terminal with Aunt Leslie. Vacation-ready!

And straight to the ocean. Sorry, again, this video is sideways--got to get that figured out. Anyway, Clark LOVED the ocean, the noise, the salty wind, the light, the sand, the seashells, and most of all the water! Well, it's a bit cooler than the pool at home, and he didn't exactly want to jump in, but it was fun wading in the shallows. After a bit he started squelching the sand up between his toes, and I saw a lifetime of enjoyment begin.

These videos were taken by my cousin Erin, who you hear in the foreground. Thank you so much, Erin, for catching these moments. I love them.

One of the best parts of the week, for me, was reconnecting with my best friend from school years, Michelle. She emailed me out of the blue last year and it turns out she lives in Brooklyn, doing makeup for celebrities, tv and magazine shoots in the city. And, as the recipient of many a makeup job over our adolescence together, I can vouch for her skill. I could not have been more thrilled, after losing touch over the last 11 or 12 years, to learn how well she is doing and to get to have her with us for a few days in Saltaire!

And when I say a few days, I really mean about 30 hours. During which we spent maybe 8 hours sleeping, the rest--talking. Nonstop. The rest of my family were incredibly gracious, allowing me to essentially disappear with Michelle as we remembered our first ten years together and caught up on the intervening time. I want you to understand--we literally talked for 22 hours. It was awesome.

These dinner pictures were taken during the one night when all were together--my uncle Steve, cousin Erin and her beau Andris, who were leaving in the morning; my uncle Greg, aunt Lynn and cousin Kristen, who had arrived that day; Michelle, Leslie, Mom, and myself. That was a full night at the little house! But so fantastically worthwhile to have that much family under one roof. Here are the siblings, minus one (my uncle John): Leslie, Greg, and Christina.

The "kids' table": Michelle, me, Andris, Erin, and Kristen.

After long walks, talking late into the night in the laundry room (because that's the only room in the house where someone wasn't trying to sleep) and many, many mosquito bites, Michelle had to catch the evening ferry the next day to get back to the city and another job. I felt like we'd never changed. Thank you, Michelle, for taking time out to meet me on Fire Island.

Speaking of long walks, unless you're at the beach or reading a book, there's absolutely nothing else to do in Saltaire. So we walked. And walked, and walked. The town is closed to vehicles, and is almost entirely boardwalks (as in the photo above), perfectly suited for rattling down the island with Clark in the stroller when it's time for a nap. And nap he did.

Once we'd tried the ocean side, we went to the bay side where the little bitties play in the shallow water. Remarkably, Clark was not into this at all. So we made the best of it,

tried again, just to be sure he'd gotten the experience,

and came on shore for a recovery snack and cuddles with Gram.

Waiting for the ferry to take us all back to real life. And a gloomy morning it was. Lynn got Clark to dance with her while we waited. He would walk and dance with her anytime she wanted!

And we did manage to get a picture of all of us who were still there at the end of the week--Leslie, Clark, myself, Kristen, Lynn, Greg, and mom. Mom--thank you for sharing your one week of peaceful seclusion with all you crazy family. I know you spent a lot of time and effort wrangling us into that house, and I truly appreciate it!

And of course, Clark can't wait to come back. May we have many more years at the little rectory at Saltaire!

Flight to Gram's House

2009-07-09T16:05:00.005-05:00

We are in New Yawk, baby! Gram invited us up to spend the week with her at the beach at Saltaire, a great little summer town on Fire Island. Her diocese makes available to anyone who will hold services at its church there the rectory, which is a one hundred year old beach house on the shady boardwalks of the quiet, family-filled town. We were there last year, Clark as a ride-along passenger. Now that he's on the outside, he gets to experience the beach for the first time!

Here he is, the jet-setting little fellow. This is actually his second flight, but since he slept through both laps of the Amarillo flights last Thanksgiving, I wasn't sure how he'd do as a wiggly 20-pounder. He sat on my lap for the first leg, napping for maybe 30 minutes of a two-hour flight, and generally being his pleasant self. All his takeoffs and landings were quite fluid; he even watched out the window for several, never expressing concern for the extreme sights or sensations of leaving the ground in a hurry. That's my boy!

After a great stopover in Chicago, there was room enough to take his car seat on board and load him in next to me. He slept better that time, and we were in New York before we knew it.

Gram was waiting for us on the ground and got started on her baby time right away.

Today we headed in to the city to do a little walking. Clark was so excited to see New York City that he tried to drive the train himself.

Sheridan Square, in the West Village. We hung out at Starbucks for a few minutes to get Clark situated and then started walking. This stroller, by the way, has been extremely useful. I carry him in the sling a lot (he wanted nothing to do with it when he was itty-bitty, but now that he can sit up and see out of it, he's all about it), and having the stroller to switch out with was a big break. Besides, it was nice to have something to carry our bags around in.

The Village is full of narrow streets and beautiful old houses. The gardens everywhere here are just lovely, but this particular courtyard was worth crossing the street for. Oh, if we all could live down here. You know, Eleanor Roosevelt lived here during most of her husband's twelve years in office. Girl, I would too.

Steve was able to come out and meet us for lunch at A.O.C., a very cute French restaurant with a garden in back. I couldn't pass up a mesclun salad with foie gras and duck--I mean, where would I get that in Fort Worth?--and Mom let me try some of her French onion soup. Dustin, you would have loved it.

Leslie, Mom, and I in front of the shop where my cousin Kristen works. She was out that day, but we still found one or two things to love. We were sorry to miss meeting her, though we'll see her next week on the island.

Sorry the picture's sideways, I'll try to fix it later. He was just too cute to be true in another little shop. Am I in love with my child? You bet I am.

Clark did so well all the long day of walking and shopping and eating (really some of my favorite things to do with Mom and Leslie) that no one was surprised when he passed out with barely a whimper on the train home. What a sweet guy.

Tomorrow we take the ferry out to Fire Island. I can't wait!

Fourth of July and First Shiner

2009-07-05T12:58:00.005-05:00

We had a great time yesterday for the Fourth! There was much grillin and chillin. Here's the pool scene:

Some cute girl babies and hot mamas,

And my kid, who for some reason won't ham for the camera when he's in the pool. Maybe it's because that hat is so big, he has no idea there's a camera around. That's the only possible explanation. But Cody and Tara spent much of the day holding my baby for me, which I ALWAYS appreciate!

Taylor took a break from swimming to bounce around a bit, and Katie enjoyed a break too.

Dustin in his stationary position in front of the grill. Check out that flame action!

Jon and his cute baby girl Eleanor. Jon was taking a break from painting their new house--congrats Jon and Kara!!

Taylor was trying to focus on her carrots but couldn't shake that kid off her. Clark can not get enough of Taylor. He pats on her, feels her hair, holds her fingers, squeals at her. Sometimes he gets too rough I think, and upsets her, but mostly they do well together. On this occasion, though, he was too distracting and had to be removed from the situation.

And the shiner. This actually happened this morning, after all the partygoers had gone home. We sat outside to enjoy the cool rainy morning and Clark was playing on his dad's lap when he suddenly flopped backwards, hitting his face on the edge of the table. It was awful to watch, and of course he cried, and we wrapped a bit of ice up for it. After a little TLC from mommy he fell asleep and took a good nap. This is how he looked when he woke up:

Cheery and chipper as ever. The bruise sprouting from the side of his mouth is where he conked his face on the table, right under the cheekbone; the black eye is secondary. What's ironic is we're already checked in (online) to an urgent care clinic and are waiting a callback to come in, for something completely different (we think there's some infection in his diaper area). We had given him Tylenol and been waiting an hour when he hit the table. It's been about five hours since they opened, but I don't even really expect to be seen today; we could hardly have picked a worse day of the year to try to get in to an emergency room. Clark seems happy and comfortable, though, with no fever, dizziness or vomiting, so we're ok for now. Sorry this video is sideways!

Around the house

2009-07-01T14:59:00.008-05:00

It's been quite a week, lots of milestones happening. Although I don't have any pictures to demonstrate them! But there are some real cuties so here they are.

A little physical comedy for your viewing pleasure. Hint: just from looking at the still you'll be able to guess the finale!

This is old, maybe two or three weeks. But I don't think I've posted it yet, and it is a complete snapshot of what he's doing these days. Which is getting into everything.

That Jeep is definitely an accomplice to his getting into things. This was earlier in the week, when I'd brought in a load of clean laundry. He drove right up to the basket, went shopping for a dish towel and a t-shirt, and drove on with his selections. The look is almost, "what? You don't need these, do you? They're mine now."

Unaided by vehicles, he's still a dynamo of demolition. He found the bookshelf, and had begun repeatedly pulling down the red dictionary you see at the end of the stack, until one day he went for the gold and tore into the shelf with fury. It was a thing to behold. I've since relocated some yearbooks to pack out the bottom shelf, tight enough to keep them in place. For now.

Lucy actually didn't mind this at all. She let him go on, tugging with both hands, having an absolute ball. I was waiting for the lash out (she still has claws) and waited only long enough to get this shot before removing the kitty from her nap spot.

This is Daddy's idea of "getting ready for bed." Chasing around the house, horseplaying. Good times. He was all riled up by the time the bottle was ready. Just like I like 'em.

And this one is my favorite. This afternoon we were squeezing lemons for tomorrow's Fourth of July pool party lemonade, and Clark crept up on Daddy. He likes the apron ties--they are a very common stop on his daily rounds of the kitchen, hanging on the wall by the door. So he rolled into Dustin's ankles and went for the gold.

Ok, I promised milestones. He cut his second tooth a week ago, keeping Bottom Lefty company in a happy little pair. He's started tons of new foods--spinach, onions, leeks, hummus, salmon, ginger, flax seed, hard boiled egg yolks, ham, butternut squash, and, of course, blueberries! I'm trying to get him down to two naps a day instead of three, and we're successful about half the time. Which I'm great with. And finally--he's crawling! Kind of. Really he sits up, leans forward to put hands on the floor, and kicks forward with one foot. He "walks" flat-footed with that foot and hikes the other leg, bent, forward into sitting position again. It's pretty funny to watch, actually, and don't you feel sorry for my gimpy son--he's fast. He'll come find me from the other room on that bent knee.

So there you have it, Clark at 9 1/2 months. Tomorrow is the Fourth, and we're having over our friends, their babies, their dogs, and lots of fun, so there ought to be some great pictures! Love you!!!

Blueberry Clark, Revised....

2009-06-28T12:37:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we took Clark on his very first berrypicking adventure. Being his mother's son, he naturally enjoyed the bucolic experience. We were up before dawn and drove, with Jill, Cody, Tara, and Jon, out to East Texas. We were there at 7am when the gates opened!

We started with the blackberries, since we thought they'd be ripe and they were picked over last year. We came away with two pounds!! I love berry picking.

Clark helped me in the blackberry canes, and then switched to Daddy when we got to the blueberries.

I got busy with my bucket and Clark learned about blueberry bushes. They are fun to tug on, shake, and jostle. And talk to. He did a lot of talking to the bushes....

Of course, he did some picking himself. You can just see the berry in his right hand.

It's hot out here Mama!

It was definitely hot, even at eight when we'd finished picking. So he took a moment to check out the grass in the shade.

I asked if he would mind counting my berries for me. It took him a while, but he went through all five pounds. Without eating one!

So once we'd checked out, we rested for a moment under a huge old magnolia and ate slices of blueberry crumble pie and drank blueberry lemonade. Clark was chillin on his own for a bit,

But then had to sit up at the table with us big'uns. Our big bags of berries in hand, we drove along home. This is a family tradition for us now--every year, we'll come back to Blueberry Hill Farms and get our year's worth of berries!

Alright, I should've waited on this post until I'd gotten some of the berries in him. I stewed them up with applesauce and a bit of orange juice. I truly enjoy making new and different foods for him and seeing how much he enjoys them. We got our new food processor the other day and have spent the weekend making all kinds of fun foods! Butternut squash, spinach, pears and apples, hummus, potato and leek soup, ham and beans. I can't wait to try them on him! But here's the berry picker this afternoon:

Mommy, please don't take that avocado away from me!

2009-06-25T13:18:00.003-05:00

This was the face he made when I set the bowl down for a moment and got up for something. Accompanied by screaming and thumping of hands on the high-chair tray.

I had decided it might be time again to try avocado. My goal in each food I offer him is to get him closer to eating what we eat all the time, so he can start eating normal meals with us. And we eat lots of avocado. So this time, I was sneaky: I warmed a tablespoon of chicken puree and some milk, and mashed half an avocado into it. He could hardly refuse. Though you can't really cook avocado very well (with the exception of some awesome enchiladas, I've never seen them cooked), blending them with warm ingredients helped take some of the allergenic sting out of the raw vegetable proteins. Oh, and I mixed in some rice cereal to beef up the texture a bit. And, of course, he loved it. Until I took it away.

Tomato: with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Passionate Gardeners....

2009-06-24T08:51:00.006-05:00

Alright, in response to yesterday's post I'm getting some fantastic gardening advice from tomato lovers the world over. I know that in Texas at least, the cultivation of a fine tomato is a high art, and there are very firmly held opinions on their growth. But I didn't know I had such aficionados in my own family! I am so thrilled to have these tidbits of advice (and funny anecdotes) that I am sharing them with you here.

From my aunt Carissa in Dallas, who is a constant source of good solid advice to me:

"Bill LOVES tomatoes and had a long battle with backyard critters who
also like tomatoes. The squirrels like unripe tomatoes as much as they
like peaches.

"The birds...like to wait until the tomato is just one day from perfectly ripe and they peck out a spot guaranteed to rot the tomato and ruin it. He has tried to trap the critters and relocate them (3 rats and a squirrel), he has tried to trick them -- red christmas balls fool the birds into pecking the ornaments instead of the ripe fruit), scare them (the owl sitting on our porch right now was not much help.) And the last attempt was a mini-electric fence. Our dog found it very effective (poor dear made a loud yelp -- but to her credit she only touched it with her nose once and learned not to sniff it again.)

"The last summer we had a wonderful crop of, maybe 20 tomatoes. We got to only 2 that the critters had not stolen or ruined.

"Now, I don't like to brag, but I did have one tactic that I used one summer that was moderately effective even if it was a pain. I took lots of lunch-size paper bags and carefully bagged up each small green tomato, secured with a twist tie before the baby tomatoes got tempting.
Of course, you have to check them each day to make sure they do not have rot or something. But, the animals cannot see or smell them and we got ripe tomatoes that year.

"Your squirrels already know about your peaches -- won't be long before they discover tomatoes. GOOD LUCK with your tomatoes. Let us know how you fare."

And this from my sister Alexa, who is fast becoming the gardener of the family. She certainly got all the genes. Here's her experience in Victoria, in the southernmost part of Australia:

"You've already got the makings of a bit of an edible garden don't you! No idea how to keep away squirrels, here it's birds (parrots!) and especially possums and about the only thing that guarantees you a crop is throwing a big net over the whole thing. Are those bell peppers Dustin's growing? Tell him mine rotted so if he succeeds I'm officially jealous.

"I laughed when I saw you're growing Better Boy, that's the one I tried last year. I hope it likes your climate better than mine because I wasn't impressed, I didn't get many fruit, they were tiny (like 3 inches) and the skins were THICK. But don't be discouraged, different varieties work completely differently in different climates, plus I grew mine in pots that were too small so they dried out almost every day in the heat of the summer. Would you like me to ask my garden forum what varieties would be good for a hot, humid climate? I can imagine the Queenslanders would know some good ones.

"In the meantime, give Dustin a big pat on the back from me, those tomatoes looking positively glowing with health. By the way, keep an eye on the flowers, sometimes they drop off without making fruit if it's very humid. If that happens try gently tapping the flowers to make sure the pollen inside them doesn't stick to the sides."

Well, now at least I have an idea what we're up against. Sad to think that our only defense against predatory varmints is to physically bag up the crop in nets or sacks. I'm not sure if Dustin's zeal for his tomatoes will go that far--but judging by his reaction during the last hailstorm, during which he stood at the door and watched in anguish as his pets were pummeled because we could not find tarps to throw over them, I imagine he'll make a go of it.

Oh, and the peppers are "Hot Peppers" according to the tag. No idea what that means, but they look a bit like large habaneros, only still green. I doubt they'll be quite that hot. But when we chop 'em down late in the summer they should be quite tasty with our tomatoes.

2009-06-23T15:37:00.001-05:00

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden

2009-06-23T10:01:00.007-05:00

Following my sister's lead, I want to share our garden with you. This morning while Clark napped, I toured the backyard. As Alexa said, "take a walk with me through my little garden...."

Dustin's pepper plant is full of blossoms and has three large peppers growing already. It's not actually taller than the house, but it's grown so fast, it seems that way.

Just behind the pepper, you can see the purple heart and three-foot-tall lilies that grow next to our air conditioning unit. These lilies are beautiful but will be transported to a better location for next season. I think they're getting too much sun, to have grown as tall as they did before flowering. Besides, they're practically behind the AC unit.

All around the little pond grow canna lilies, which reach up into the crepe myrtle above with their lush green stalks and orange-juice blooms.

Along the neighbor's fence, which hides four relatively mild boxers, I found a morning glory vine. This grows in several places in our front and back yards, most notably in the shrubs, but here it's quite welcome.

In the back corner of the yard is our compost bin, which smells rich and warm and earthy. There was a frenzy of grubs feasting on the inside of blackened banana peel in the bottom corner of this picture when I came out earlier to bring last night's veggies. They were gone by this time, and I wish I couldn't see them in my mind anymore either. It was rather disturbing.

More compost. It's just a fun thing to take pictures of. Everyone should do this! Get rid of your garbage disposal and make beautiful, rich compost!

There's a lovely shrubby kind of thing that grows over the pit and neighboring grass clipping pile. We've not yet identified it, but it has provided us with many vases of flowers for the table.

Dustin's uncle Kelly, who has given me several botany lessons regarding my new garden, was effusive about the blooming of our Rose of Sharon bushes. He wanted to know what color they'd be. Here they are, a pale pink,

With a reddish center. And they bloom and bloom and bloom--lovely.

The other back corner of the yard holds a peach tree. We were terribly excited at the thought of fresh peaches from our own yard! However, the local squirrels seem to be wise to this, and have made off with the unripe crop. I actually witnessed one a few weeks ago running along the fence with a hard green peach. Only a handful are left.

They don't have anything to do with the grapes, though, for some reason.

Now, Dustin's tomatoes are a huge source of pride, as well as worry. He babies them. They were scrappy little things, 97 cent seedlings, and in two weeks of mulching, doting, and twice daily watering, they have tripled their foliage. He has eradicated spider mites, making the yellowing leaves grow full and green again. I told him that the only reason he's had such success with them so far is due not to any particular skill on his part, but that he spends so much time with them. I really believe he whispers to them. Of the two varieties we have, the Sugary cherry tomatoes are the first to bloom.

A view down the central stalk. Remember the pungent smell of warm tomato leaves? The soft spiny fuzz on the stems?

The Better Boy varieties will make big beefy tomatoes. We can not wait.

The pool is ringed with crepe myrtles, a native Texas shrub that wants to be a bush but is usually trained upward as a tree. Some get to be quite large, as in this 12-footer, which has bloomed white. The smaller ones have yet to bloom, so we'll have to wait to find out what color they are!

The palms and pampas grass forming the backdrop of the pool also hide the pumps and filter. The grass in particular, five large plantings of it, is very invasive. We cut it down two months ago to bare nakedness and it's back already. Plans are afoot for its removal and replacement, but that will have to wait until next season. In the meantime, we enjoy the beauty of the landscaping we inherited from the previous owners, continuing to maintain and make it our own over time.

The words of my title come from a favorite hymn that I learned in childhood, which I sing with Clark in the mornings.

Morning has broken

like the first morning,

Blackbird has spoken

like the first bird.

Praise for the singing,

Praise for the morning,

Praise for them springing

fresh from the Word.

Sweet the rain's new fall

sunlit from heaven,

like the first dew fall

on the first grass.

Praise for the sweetness

of the wet garden,

sprung in completeness

where His feet pass.

Mine is the sunlight!

Mine is the morning,

born of the one light

Eden saw play.

Praise with elation,

Praise every morning

God's re-creation

of the new day!

by Eleanor Farjeon

Skype

2009-06-23T09:54:00.003-05:00

Thank God for internet video calling. Ever since we signed up on Skype, we have had the capability to talk to Alexa in Australia! This was a nice convenience when Clark was tiny and not very interesting to watch. But once we'd had her and Tom up to visit, and she got to know Clark in person, it became essential to us to be able to have them talk face to face. He's grown so much already since February when she was here (I cannot believe it's been that long). It's extremely important to me that he grows up knowing her, even though it will be years at a time between our visits. Skype makes that possible for us.

Dustin got some shots of our last visit. Alexa was making faces for Clark's benefit:

And then he realized he was being photographed. Once that happens, there are no more candids. But I like the picture.

We love you Alexa and Tom! Cheers!