Stormchaser

The week before our half-vacation, we finally had a good thunderstorm just before CJP's bedtime. The hour between her bedtime and his is "our special bonding time, Shannon, just the two of us." Cody had been anticipating The Storm for, well, hours. "Shay Shay? What do you think of those clouds? Do they look ominous to you, or just suspicious? I am pretty sure a storm will be here any minute. Let's keep an eye out." Which you can see him doing, below.

And how sweet is he, watching the first drops fall, in his Thomas jammies?

"New" Playground

Almost two years ago, Cody and I discovered this little playground, which is about a ten minute walk from our house. (It took a little longer today, when we set off after work, me lugging them in the wagon. What was I thinking? Isn't this why I own a freaking minivan?) We referred to it thereafter as the "New Playground," thereby distinguishing it from our other playgrounds, all of which are, of course, named. For those of you keeping score, there's "Tippy Playground," which is near the lake with the turtles, and "Pebble Playground," whose surface is covered by--you guessed it--tiny pebbles, and so on. Anyway. Today, we went to New Playground. He's just so much bigger than when I first brought him. I can't get over it.

I was first amazed by him scaling this thing--I don't even know what to call it. I used to lift him up and help him jump down. Today, he clambered up and onto the climber. But she did him one better. (Notice the discarded hat.)

The best was that on the return journey, Cordelia got a little slaphappy in the wagon. By which I mean, she was happily slapping her brother, who couldn't escape the moving vehicle, and who was quite aggrieved. There wasn't much I could do except make him walk, which hardly seemed fair, so I suggested he sing to her to distract her. (She loves to grunt sing along, in rather good rhythm.) Valiantly--and, as it turned out, successfully--he sang "Do, a deer, a female deer..." several times through, followed by "My Favorite Things," followed by "Sixteen Going on Seventeen." All the lyrics correct, and with a faint British accent.

There's nothing quite as adorable, yet vaguely unsettling, as hearing him bellow to his sister, "You wait, little girl, on an empty staaaage/for fate to turn the light on...Your life, little girl, is an empty paaaaage/That men will want to write on...toooo wriiiite onnnnnnnnn...."

"It's the form my grief has taken."

When we had to explain to Cody that, yet again, we had to evacuate the island because a big hurricane was on the way, he looked first concerned, then confused. He gazed up at the perfect, cloudless sky and said, "Where is the storm?" I went through the stages of grief right away. Well, really just the first two. By now I've mostly gotten past denial and anger, did minimal bargaining, and am firmly ensconced in depression. Jonathan, oddly, went straight to acceptance, but has since worked his way backward.

Cordelia dealt with her feelings in her own special way. (Can you discern Cody's influence here?)

For her, the grief was still too near.

Beautiful Birdie

With lots of love for Granny and Pop-Pop.

Bluegrass!

I don't know if any of you watched the PBS Capitol Fourth show/fireworks special, but we did...and recorded it...and two months later, are still watching it nearly every day. The kids--Cody in particular--are obsessed with Steve Martin and his band, who play bluegrass. Cody has every word of the fast, complicated "Me and Paul Revere" song memorized, as well as all of Steve Martin's mini-monologues. But mostly they just like to dance their frenzied little bluegrass dance together...

The best part is listening to Cody "harmonize" with the very last note of the song. I'll have to get it on video.

"I will bite my thumb at them"

So, Cordelia is a biter. It's how she gets out her frustration. For awhile I excused it because, as I told Cody, "She just doesn't have the words to express her feelings." Well, she really does. She just finds it more efficient and effective to express her displeasure with her teeth. So she's been introduced to mini time-outs. When Cody first got put into time out, he hated it. Hated it. Cried. Begged. Quickly apologized.

Here's Cordelia, after biting me, and being put in the chair for time out.

She rather enjoyed it.

"No sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir." And yours too, Mom. Any anyone else's who gets in my way.

Absentminded Responses

There are a lot of times I'm busy with something, and I kind of absentmindedly give Cody an "mmm-hmm" answer to something, and only later process what he said. The thing is, he is always saying something. Always. Every waking moment. And many sleeping ones, too. I just can't engage every conversation or comment or I will go crazy, and get nothing done. So anyway, a minute ago I found myself saying, "Mmm-hmm, that sounds great..." to whatever he said, to which I was apparently not even half paying attention. Because a moment later, when he stood before me, in all his birthday-suited glory, I said, "Wait, what did you just say?" And he replied, "I said I was just going to start getting naked, is that ok? You said yes."

Yes. Yes, I did.

He is now doing naked somersaults. In case you were wondering.

Sibling Scenes from the Week

Waxing the board together.

Not the teeth!! NOT THE TEETH!

Emerald Isle 2011, Family Photo Outtakes

They kind of all wound up being outtakes, actually.