Spring 1

Moss growing in between bricks.

Spring here is lovely. Moss, the greenest emerald green grass and flowers...all so pretty.

Going on a Spring hike up Kamiak Butte

Lichen!

Flowers growing out of our neighbors stump.

Birch Fluffs (not technical term)

Magpie. BIG BIG birds.

We have tulips, daffodils, lilies, and many more types of flowers in our yard. 

I walked by this puddle underneath some sort of spruce tree every work day and just loved the pattern the needles made in the puddle. 

This moss tuft fell off of our roof.

The Bear riding his bike after dinner and the amazing, glow of the sunlit grass.

Moss growing on cinderblocks in the back yard.

Little white dangly flowers in the yard.

More glowing green grass.

Skinamarinky Dinky Dink

Here we are singing one of my favorite childhood songs:


skinamarinky dink from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Reading Conversations

I try my hardest to ask the Bear questions while we read books mostly because it's fun to hear what he thinks. Here we are reading a library book where they had children finish the sentence, "I wish that..."


reading conversations from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Play Sorting

The Bear loves organizing his toys by color. 

He also likes lining things up, like the plates below and placing similar items on top.

Fire Pit

There was a semblance of a firepit when we moved in; a hole in the background with some old ashes and charred wood. When my parents came to visit my Dad made it a real fire pit with a cinderblock border and fires were made! And the Bear Cub was in heaven.

Learning about a good fire poker.

Sawing a long piece of wood.

I came home to find a fire going and a Bear digging; pure heaven.

Fireless fire pit.

Bear Talk

One day I was looking at my phone and a picture of my friend Rachel was on the screen.
Bear: Who's that, Mama?
Me: Rachel.
Bear: That's not Rachel. (He has a teacher at school also named Rachel)
Me: Her name is Rachel too. There are many people in this world that have the same name. Do you know what Tuka's name is? It's Stanley...and you're Stanley too.
Bear: Big smile.

A week or so later he runs to me and exclaims,
"I'm Stanley, Tuka's Stanley. We match!"

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Our favorite argument (plus learning pronouns!):
We're at the breakfast or lunch or dinner table and he points to his plate.
Bear: Mine. (and then points to my plate) Yours.
Me: (I point to my plate) Mine. (and then point to his plate) Yours.
Bear: No, Mine. Yours.
Me: MINE. Yours.
Bear: (laughing now.) Mine! Yours!

______________________________

Bear pulls his diaper off and one of the tabs rips.
Bear: Dangit.
Me: Please don't say dangit.
Bear: Papa says dangit!
<BUSTED>

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Me: Goodnight, sweet boy!
Bear: Goodnight, sweet Mama!
Me: I love you!
Bear: I love you!
Me: Sweet dreams (smooch smooch smooch)
Bear: Sweet dreams (smooch smooch smooch)

_____________________________________

We have a traditional statue of the Buddha and also a belly laughing Buddha. One evening the Bear saw the belly laughing Buddha for the first time.
Bear: Who's that?
Me: Buddha.
Bear: Buddha?
Me: Yes.
He then grabs the belly laughing Buddha, runs to my bedroom grabs the traditional Buddha and puts them side by side.
Bear: (points at the belly laughing Buddha) Funny Buddha. (points at the traditional Buddha) Good Buddha.

________

One morning he is putting on his hat with a chin strap (above picture) and he is having trouble with the chin strap.
Bear: I need help with the beard, Mama!

_________________________________

Happy Father's Day!

I hope you all had a Happy Father's Day! We spent the weekend in Portland for my friend's wedding and visiting with old friends (we are fortunate to know so many people that live in Portland now!) 

Here are some pics of the Bear and his Pa:

Shoulder rides are a favorite.

Climbing trees. 

Close up.

You are a great Pa to our little Bear. He adores you. We love you. Happy day after Father's Day!

Check out past Dad's Day posts here and here...apparently I didn't do a papa day post for 2014 because we were amidst our cross country packing and moving chaos!

Tuka & Nana Come For a Visit

Tuka and Nana came for a visit at the end of February to experience some good ol' Idaho winter weather.

I have no idea what these two were doing but I'm pretty sure it was a good time.

 Grande and Pequeno, reunited:

My dad cleaned up and finished making the fire pit and made a fire! The Bear loved it.

Here they are talking about the fire. 

 They flew out early in the morning and the Bear enjoyed running around outside the airport.

Third Valentine's Day

This was the first Valentine's Day where he sort of knew what was going on. I was given a list of all the kids at daycare THE DAY BEFORE Valentine's Day. (Gaaah!) I wasn't going to send any cards (Bah Humbug!) but then I felt the pressure after I received the list. Thank goodness I hoard construction paper.

As he ran to the car holding his cards they all fell and streamed behind him. It was actually a lovely sight to see these pink and red hearts trailing behind him. 

I tried to get the Bear to draw on the paper so there would be a personal touch to them but he really wasn't into it. So I just did them myself by cutting two different sized hearts and pasting them together and then drawing a little heart outline with a black pen and writing in cursive, "All you need is love". They were the only homemade Valentine's! (Pat self on back)

Playing in the Sand after a Long Winter

I think this was one of the first days in late winter/early spring that we went to the park to play in the sand after a long winter.

This little town becomes so quiet in the winter. The park is empty, the trees are leafless, everything looks grey and you rarely see a person outside - unless it is snowing then you see the sledders.

During the warmer months the sand volleyball court is a favorite place to play. So, as soon as the weather felt warmer (30s, 40s?) we went to the park. I was freezing.

And then it got warmer (50s?)

And then I got reminded what having sand thrown on you feels like:

And then May 1st arrives and the Town comes alive again. You see people you haven't seen since October. It's amazing. Everything turns green that day too. 

Grocery Store Tips

1) When you make grocery store trips keep your child in the shopping cart.
2) Always buckle them into their seat in the cart.
3) Never make exceptions - always keep them sitting in the cart.

Those are my only tips...because if you let them out of the cart once they will (almost) never want to sit in the cart again and then they want to TOUCH everything, run down the aisles and tackle any large stuffed animals and you'll find them doing inappropriate things in the dairy aisle.*

*It's all an exaggeration. But grocery shopping is definitely more of a keep-you-on-your-toes-experience than when he was a wee child sitting in the cart.

I must also say that if I want to make a quick trip I tell him before we get into the store that he has to sit in the cart. That always works.

Aww

I wrote about this recordable book that Uncle Sean got the Bear for Christmas in this post. Here we are reading it and the Bear saying, "Aww!" after each page:


awww from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Gentle Truck Noise

Sorry I've been AWOL for 4 days straight. Mike was sick (ear infection) then I got it (not the ear infection part but the everything else part) and then we went up to visit the Grand Ps and the Bear caught some sort of bug that caused a 104 degree fever one night and then just extra fatigue and crabbiness for several days. We got back home last night and I noticed a funny rash on his torso - he said he felt funny but couldn't explain how. I hope it's not hand foot mouth virus. I hate that virus. Anyways, here is a short little video of him making his gentle truck noise. It's also a fart noise but he is using it here with his steam roller:


truck noise from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Have a great weekend!

Evening Walk (with the CAT!)

There was a white cat in our NC neighborhood who would walk with it's owners around the block. That's when I really wished Dickie the Cat was an outdoor cat. Well, she goes outside now (no fleas or ticks!) and she will walk with us! It's funny and a simple dream come true.

Here she is in action, plus a whiny/tired Bear cub:
walk with the cat from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Grandpa Pants

Just to be clear, Grandpa and Tuka do not wear their pants like this. I have no idea how "grandpa pants" got started. I'm going to say that Mike started it. :) The Bear loves pulling his pants as far up as they can go and saying, "Look! Grandpa pants!" It's pretty cute.

Here he is dancing in his "grandpa pants":

From One Instance to Another

Here is what living with a toddler is like - One moment, completely absorbed and in the zone:

And the next moment - destruction and chaos and frenzy: