Now we are three

A: How old are you Ronan?
R: [holding up chubby fingers that articulate only semi-independently] One...two...three!

Ronan is three.  We have been Ronan's parents for three years.  This seems right and good, and we have settled into our ways as a family that are trying and comforting, exhausting and replenishing.  The bonds we've formed are incredible to me.  When I have to spend an evening at work I itch to get home to see Ronan.  I feel pride when I think of him, not because I can claim responsibility, but because he is a part of me (that I love).  (For his part, he is proud of the crunching noises he makes when he eats things.  "Do you want to hear my crunch?" is a multi-weekly, if not daily, occurrence of late.)  It's hard not to sound trite with this kind of stuff because it's more universal than unique, but the process of growing up is still one amazing thing after another to me.

Ronan turning three is still a lover of words, but now he delights in finding word connections.  
A few days ago he met a grownup Paula and said:  "I know another Paula.  The other paula is polli-nation."  For the record, I was shocked that he knew the word pollination at all.  When I said something was fragile he mentioned that there was one of those in "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (which took me a minute to even figure out).  He is starting to tell stories and although they lack plot arcs, they have plot.  And it is charming to hear what he comes up with.  

       R: I'm gonna eat you, says the possum.  But first I'm gonna put spice on your toes.  
       Here comes the spice!

       R: Mama, come help me.  I'm trapped by a vole.  And it put me in its mouth.  
       And it said "ooh, yucky". But the sign says no fighting with voles here.  (11/18/12)

He likes to use overly adult words and phrases, with greatly exaggerated intonation.  It's hard to really believe that's how he talks, but he does.  The only example I have is not the best:
       A: Ro look, there are pretty decorations.
       R: Oh, what lovely things.  (11/23)

Ro is kind and gentle.  He likes to pretend he's my mom and take care of me, which either involves petting my head if I'm fine, or offering me one of his gummy vitamins if I have a headache.  He is concerned by any baby he hears crying, and he wants to know why.  He loves bandaids and coldees.

He frustrates easily like most toddlers, but so far can be won over by explanations or distraction much of the time.  About a week ago foot stomping entered the equation when he's upset, so who knows what else three has in store.

Since last month, Ro dressed up as a lion for halloween and a birthday party and any other excuse to wear a costume.  We had a visit from friends and now Tata and Boo are here.  We had a pancake breakfast birthday party and nobody got hurt and most of the pancakes got eaten.  We have had no snow, but many early wood stove fires crashed out on the floor mat.  This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for all the wonderful people in our lives, and for the quiet time with a book or sketch pad I occasionally now enjoy!

Awesome birthday construction cupcakes (not made by me!)

Pictures: (since last time) are here 

More quotes:

R: Carry me daddy!
D: Are you a little sleepy?
R: No, I'm just a lazy boy.  

11/3
[After many iterations of "do you want to hear my crunch"?]
R: I want you to invite me to hear your crunch

11/15
R: I have a letter.  It says "Dear Nana and Papa, I love Nana and Papa and Mama and Dada"

11/15

R: I want facepaint

A: What do you want to be?

R: A sick giraffe

11/21

A: Do you want to come to lab with me?

R: Yeah, cuz I want to see oxytocin

Three years after life changed so dramatically, it is hard to imagine it any other way.  

We love you Ro!

October

Playing the air trumpet

Another busy month!  A lot of science happened, we had visits from Grossvater & Oma and Nana & Papa, there was a birthday party, trail-making in the woods, Music Together classes, a conference for mama, and some of bedraggled late-night getting-it-all-done-time.  

Fall is in full swing with colors everywhere, leaves on the ground, and a hard frost.  We harvested the basil just in time (for pesto!).  Now the beds are empty and it's just a matter of time (days? months?) before snow.

Ronan went on his first field trip (in a bus!) to go apple picking in a nearby town.  Although I couldn't chaperone, I've heard there was enough cuteness to die for.

Not much else to say this month except has it really been a whole month already?  Aside from that, I'll let Ronan speak for himself.

Pictures are here


Quotes
9/30:
R: I'm your mom.  So I will take care of you.

~
R: We're building a tower.  But towers usually have a big one of these [reaches arms up] on top.  Like a steeple.  

10/3: 
[holding up phone toy]

Fall!!!!

- Hi papa, how are you doing?
- Um, sure!
- I have a beard
- and I'm sorting laundry
- Bye bye!

10/15:
R: Will you dilly dally with me daddy?

~
R: I'm gonna pet you.  I'm your friend the rooster.

~
R: Daddy, I'm getting smarter.

10/18:
R: [motioning to toys] This girl is carrying a boy.  Because he ask-ed her to carry him.  Yeah, because he was too tired to walk.  Because he didn't have a nap today.  So that's why she's carrying him.

~

Watch out...I pretend to bite

[the aftermath of that somewhat misconstrued nature video from last week]
R: These are my eggs inside a cave.  Try to steal them!
A: I got one
R: No!!  I'm a goose and these are for my babies
A: How about I take some for my babies
R: But we have the same babies.
A: And these eggs are for them?
R: Yes, and you're the mommy.  HONK HONK HONK.

10/21:
In a couple weeks, my daddy's beard is gonna turn gray.

~
D: What are you eating for dessert?
R: A frog?

Fun phrase: Tickle, pickle, pumpernickle.

Time Lapse

First

Second

Third

Holy cow!  I'd been meaning to head back to the woods by our old house for a while.  It's only now, though, seeing these pictures together that I realize how old Ronan is.  In my mind, he's actually much closer in age to the second picture...cheery and full of wonder for new things (and yet already his determined self).  Not that he isn't now, but at 2 and three quarters Ronan is into firetrucks and helicopters and Swiper the Fox.  His favorite books take longer and longer to read (like Thomas the Tank Engine, The Little Engine that Could, and The Cat in the Hat).  He's getting the past tense right (no more "I taked it"), and he's developed a real shy streak around new people even as he seems closer to his friends.  I've noticed, but it hasn't really sunk in.  

As autonomous as Ro is, compared to his friends he has no real desire to be independent.  He wants to do a few things himself (like that second car seat buckle that is "my job", and lord help you if you accidentally open his bandaid for him) but he also enjoys parental help -- getting carried up the stairs, having us put on his clothes, cutting his food in small pieces, and taking him to the potty.  Potty training is complete (except for sleeping), and was really pretty easy.

Just before the school year started, we all had a little camping trip to the field station (in Ro's words to go voleing).  I'm thrilled that camping with him is as much fun as it is.  Unfortunately we didn't find any voles, but my little field assistant is shaping up nicely!  Here is is inspecting a Sherman trap.

He seems to have completed the transition to his new preschool classroom and classmates quite well, but 9 days out of 10 he is not napping.  Catastrophe!  Most days he just falls asleep in the car as I drive home (or doesn't quite and has a meltdown later).  Today we headed across the street to our Music Together class on a napless day.  He sat in my lap for the first song, then turned to face me, hung his arms around me, and fell asleep on the spot!!  He slept through the entire class, including everyone singing (including his nap host), toddlers banging cymbals, a parachute game that incited some shrieking, and general glee.  When it ended I carried him to the car (still asleep), and he slept all the way home and into the house.  He still fell asleep a little earlier than usual.

Blue Hovse reunion

Last week we had a semi-planned, semi-impromptu greenhovse reunion in the blue house!  Hooray!   It was so fun to see everyone, and ya'll are welcome back any time, ok?

As might be inferred by the tardiness of this previously punctual update (and the lack of quotes below), this semester has hit me like a ton of bricks.  Fall is always like that -- research is in full swing from the summer, papers in the pipeline still need attention, and all of a sudden there are four lectures to prepare, hours of teaching, advising, and tons of students to meet with each week.  Add to that the department meetings, scheduled talks, and guest lectures and some days I don't check my email until 9:30pm when Ro is fast asleep.  Things will calm down, I'll relearn my "I can't do that right now" mantra, and too-busy will be the new normal.  But sometimes I'm not sure how it all happens.  Impressive, or insane?

New pictures starting here:  [picasa album]

RoQuotes:

9/11/12: [finds a mushroom on the ground] "Mama, is this a bolete?"

9/11/12: [talking about how we have to slow down for speed bumps]
R: Is that the word?
A: Is what a word?
R: I mean the seats word.  [referring to seat belts...we'd been talking laws earlier in the week]
A: You mean a law?
R: That word.  But I can go in the driver's seat when the car is parked.

9/23 [DS has been showing Ro the cello]
D: Let's go clean up the car.
R: No, I wanna play a Bach cello suite!

More "then and now" pictures (since it's now sort of easy to add them once again):

May 2011

Sept 2012

June 2011

Sept 2012

2 and 3/4

Slimy foam! (camping trip #1)

What a big month!

Ro started out by wearing underwear to school for the first time on July 24th, followed by a full week of potty stardom.  We then proceeded to shake things up so much that we all might have reverted to diapers!  

Since last month we went camping and to a folk festival with friends, visited friends in Boulder, spent a week and a half visiting friends and family in California, and returned home to go camping once more.   Although I was looking forward to some quiet time at home by the end, it feels a little lonely after so much good company.

Pictures from all these whacky escapades are on Picasa (scroll down for the recent trips).

After a few days of settling back in at home, Ro has started preschool.  He seems to like it alright (at least day 1) and now he's there with a full class of sooo many kids.  After hanging out with him after day 2 with no nap, I just hope napping gets a little more reliable.

Ro's latest joys are rhyming, playing the pretend violin, and being on stage (whatever platform is around) "just like at the music festival".  We had our first chat about sex and gender and he now knows I'm not a boy, and which of our cats is.  He talks a lot about the music class he went to with our friends in Colorado, swiper the Fox, batteries for his truck, and how he's just about to go to the house of all the distant people we've recently seen.  He's getting into logic and inferences big time ("That's Devin.  He has a beard, so he must be a man") and it's a short step from toddler logic to toddler lawyer!  ("R: I can't go to bed because I need some milk.  D: you can't have any more milk, you already brushed your teeth.  R: Well I can just have some milk and then brush them again")!

Ro Quotes:

July 26:

[At school, sees stethoscope lying in his lap]: I have a really big penis!

July 30:

At the aquarium

A: Today Ronan kept asking me if it's OK to fart in his underpants.

D: Well, it is.

Ro: [farts loudly]

R: What game is mama playing at lab?  There are hormones in the vole poop!

Aug 5:

[R, upon hearing A play an octave on the piano]: it rhymes!

Aug 19: [while camping]

R: do you know what God means?

A: No...

R: Can I tell you what it means?

A: Sure

R: God means you're in the forest

Aug 21: 

D: Roses are red, violets are blue…

R: Do you mean vioLIN ??

D: No, I said vioLET.

R: Your friend is ALLETTE!

D: Yep-- she's really nice, huh?

R: Yeah!  And you can also call her Lisa!

D: !!  [Ro met Lisa (Allette) for an hour or two a week earlier]

R and J [in cardboard clubhouse]: kitty cats, you can't come in here.  This is an adult machine.  It's only  for an-adults.  We are an-adults.

Aug 22:

A: What rhymes with cat?

R: Rat... Bat... Grat...

R: And monkey rhymes with skunky!

Summer is flying by!

Almost uploaded this yesterday over a cell-phone connection on vacation but enjoyed the last day of almost no net instead.  This month we had a fantastic visit from J&B, had a lovely visit with friends and their family in upstate NY, and a great visit to more family at a lake in Virginia.  That's a lot of wonderful visits!  Oh yeah, and we both worked.  More vacations ahead, starting with the Newport Folk Festival and camping with friends this weekend.  Who's afraid of a grant deadline in 7 days...not me!

Oh, and lots of new pictures on Picasa.

With extra folks around we were especially good at covering quotes since last month:

6/22:

Tata: Ronan, will you tell me a story?

Ro: Sorry, I ran out of those.

6/26: (with feeling, while making fork holes in the potato)

Take that sweet potato. 

6/30: 

Dada, I got some exercise up on mama.  Mama is an exercise machine.

Tata: Can I have a hug?

Ro: Sure, I haven't run out of those!

7/2:

I see the moon!  Did we drive to space?

Are we at baby Tiger's house yet?  [on the way to see Tigerlily and friends]

7/3:

[Anya (6) reads Ronan the book Ten Seeds]

R: I'm so impressed

7/5

A: Come here little strawberry.

R: I'm not a strawberry!  You can't pick me!

R: Ooh, the bedtime alarm is going off.  I want a light snack.

D: Would you like some space milk?

R: Yeah, and some astronaut water.  And a light snack.

7/6

R: Mama, sing the crying song.

A: It's alright to cry, crying gets the sad out of you.  Raindrops from the sky, they might make you feel better.

R: [sobs]

Mama, I changed your mind. (he means he changed his mind)

A: [sees chair] Uh oh, Ro must've had banana on his hands.

R: Sorry, I should go wash them [goes and washes hands!!]

July 11:

R: Dada, I'm being nice to you!

D: Yes, thank you!  I'm being nice to you too!

R: Yep!  And I appreciate that.

R: [crying for me to come back and sit with him while he falls asleep]

D: [comes back]

R: Why did you go away?!!

D: I had things I had to do.

R: What things did you have to do?

D: Well, I had to write some emails, and pay some bills, and clean the kitchen.

R: Why did you have to clean the kitchen?

D: Because Mama and I talked about it, and decided that she would cook dinner, and I would clean up afterwards.  Remember all those nice meals she cooks for us?  Well, now there are dirty dishes, and I have to clean them up; that's my job.

R (brightly):  Oh, well, that's nice!  And it makes sense, too!

D: Maybe later, in a couple of months, we'll switch-- then it will be my turn to cook, and she can clean.

R: Yeah, or maybe you can do both jobs.

Ronan, nearly asleep, rolls over.  quietly:  "Oh drat.  I poked my eye."

7/12:

[Arriving at school, today's toys are stethoscopes and other doctor stuff]

R: What is a telescope?

D: A telescope is a tube with lenses in it that lets you see far away.  Have you ever looked through a telescope?

R: Yes!

D: What did you see? 

R: Venus was going across the sun!

7/15:

A: Are you a doggy?

R: I don't think so, cuz I don't have a tail back there.  But I am a goose!

A: A silly goose

R: Quack quack

7/18:

R: My kitty cat (toy) is squished.  Kitty cat, are you okay?  Do you want to be up on me?  Kitty cat, my mommy says you can have some water.

R: I want to go to the lots and lots of tractors store.

R: Dada, if you were a screwdriver, are you a flathead one?

D: I think I'd be a phillips one.  Wait, no I'd be one of those 5 pointed ones that's hard to find and only opens iPhones.

7/20:
R: What game is mama playing in lab?  Hormones in vole poop!

7/21:

Starts chanting "meta-data meta-data" in back seat of car while his folks are discussing the data management plan for mama's grant.

Last post with pictures

(Pictures are too fidgety in blogger...from now on they'll just be in the Picasa album  except for maybe one shot).


Look what's happened in a year!  Ronan has turned from toddler to boy:

Late May 2011

Late May 2012

  

  

Highlights of this month...  


*Great visits!  Friends, grandparents, and more...  summer is travel season!                               

 

*The making of a garden...(or how to get your friends to work while on vacation)
Step 1) Fell tree
Step 2) Hand toddler a hose so he can wet the cardboard
Step 3) Watch as he discovers he can draw with it in jet mode

Step 4) Add some compost and plants
Step 5) Admire!

 

*The transit of venus!  The first and last chance Ro will have to see one, and see it he did!      

*More visits!  First BandD, then Oma and Grossvater, then Tata and Boo!  

  

Quotes (including some from last month):

5/7:

A: Did you get some red paint on your arm?

R: No, its blood and snot   (it wasn't!)

5/27

R: Mama, is it your birthday?

A: No, but it might be Gandalf's birthday

R: Yeah, but cats don't eat birthday cake

5/30

R: Mama, let me show you the shoes I want you to wear

A: I don't need shoes inside

R: No, we need to wear shoes because there are pretend ticks inside

6/1 (overheard on the monitor at bedtime)

It's time to ring the bell.  But I am a tired bell.  We need to find the wakeup bell!  And a fox came.  And it wasn't Swiper the fox, it was Gandy the fox.  And he was a nice fox.

6/2:

At the BBC brewery tour:

When I am a grown up I will like beer!

6/8 (and all the time):

*I think I need a light snack

*That's my job!

*It feels like I might need to cry

6/9: Backseat driving starting young

(As I start the car forward)

Ro: A red light! A red light!

A: The light just turned green sweetie

R: Yeah, but I saw a red light next to the green one.

R: Is that cat?

A: I don't see any cats

R: I was meaning is that a student whose name is Cat?

6/13:

Does the mechanic have four hands?

The mechanic has special hands

Hey, I'm a farmer, and I live in the dell

I'm the farmer in the dell.

6/16:

A: Do you want to pick strawberries?

R: Yeah, but only in a bus

A: Hmm, I don't have a bus

R: Well get one then!

A: Why don't you get a bus?

R: Um, I don't think I have time for that.

6/19

A: Should we save it for later?

R: We should save it in my mouth!

R [asks for oatmeal, eats oatmeal.  Starts crying on the last bite]

A: What's wrong sweetie?

R: It turns out I didn't want to eat some oatmeal.

6/21

R: Dada, can you make the veery sound?

D: [imitates a veery]

R: I see that you can't


6/23
A: Are you a doggy?
R: I don't think so, cuz I don't have a tail back there.  But I am a goose!
A: A silly goose?
R: Quack quack.

Happy June!