Spring (April-May) 2015

Summer, finally!

Designated wagon puller

It's finally green and lush and summery here.  The garden is planted with new asparagus bare roots, blueberry starts, sungold cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and some colorful things Ro picked out.  We are raising tadpoles in the kitchen.  The school year has ended, summer research has started, and life is just a little bit slower than it was.

New photos (Easter through now in bottom half of the album).

We are expecting #2 any time in the next two weeks, so here are a few updates before we disappear into the land of sleepless nights.  (And hello to grandparents!)

Mother's day snuggle 

Popular seat!

Another great lap

Ro is at a remarkable age.  I've always thought 5 was a great age from my babysitting days (Ro turns 5.5 today) and oh how right that was.  From the parental point of view, his growing independence is amazing.  He wakes up and putters around until 7:30 when he gets one of us up.  He picks out his own clothes and dresses himself, entertains himself building things or flying an RC helicopter around the house, bikes around the cul-de-sac, and runs back and forth to the neighbor's house to play with T&J after school.  One particularly remarkable morning in April I stumbled downstairs at 8:30 to find he had already made some art on his easel, tried to make himself toast and thrown away the burned product, and unloaded the dishwasher (nothing broken)!  It hasn't happened again, but that's okay.  He also continues to exhibit surprising self-restraint.  On Easter he proposed that the right amount of chocolate bunny to eat each day might be about a half inch, and he actually stuck to that until the bunny was gone.  

We've started reading chapter books (currently Dinotopia and Harry Potter).  Harry Potter is definitely a little scary and advanced, but he seemed to be taking it in stride.  That was until Harry started breaking the rules.  Never mind Voldemort sucking the blood out of unicorns...it was Harry leaving Gryffindor after the night curfew that made Ro cry because it was all too much!  HP is currently on hold, and Dinotopia is at a much better level.  Ronan still likes to hear poems after lights out.  Current favorites: Why English is Hard to Learn (Anon.), Little Seth has Garlic Breath (Silverstein), Wayne the Stegosaurus (Nesbitt), and Ticklish Tom (Silverstein).  He is also obsessed with hearing (and singing) La Bamba.

Browsing Dinotopia with T and Gandalf

Babysitter Sara

Ro Quotes: 

SK [babysitter]: It looks like we are out of ice cream sandwiches for dessert
R: Well Sara, I think we have to consider the breakfast options

A: Not a lot of 5 year olds have swords, you know
R: Yeah, well it’s a relief that this one is only plastic

R: Uh, mom.  Do you really think you should wear a black shirt with a burgundy skirt?
A: Well, what do you think about that?
R: It kind of clashes.
A: What do you think would be a better color with this skirt?
R: Well, maybe gray.  Yeah, or maybe pink.

A: Star Wars is kind of a grownup movie, so it might be a little too scary

R: But why would they make a movie with bad guys and superheroes for grownups?
A: You know, grownups like that kind of stuff too
R: Really?  I thought they just liked boring stuff like newspapers and such.

R: What I really like about living here is we have a nice house and we also have a good network.

A: And after spears, people developed bows and arrows.
R: And after that they developed quiches.  So they didn’t have to hunt as often!

Subscript to school self-portrait (at right)
R: What's important to know about me is that I do not have a bunk-bed but I'm going to build my bed into one.  I do not really like fighting but I do like the fighting where it's kind of like kick-boxing.  I don't like other people being the boss of me.  I love running around, and especially galloping, and skipping too.  And also I wish I had a tail because then I would wind it up and squish it and launch myself upwards like Tigger does.

The long winter meant lots of pillow forts!