Asher 1 yr.

Want to write a few notes about Asher at this age...will update when I have more time, just don't want to forget this right now.

-Asher says his name.  We always say 'Aaaa-sher' with a higher tone on the Aaaa, and a lower tone on the sher, maybe something close to 'Laaaa-ssie!'  So now Asher loves to say, 'Aaaaa-bah' with the same rhythm and intonation exactly.  Very cute.  He'll lay in his crib and say it, and also occasionally during the day.  He also has sounds for 'Owen' but I haven't listened closely enough to know exactly what they are.  He'll still say something for all done, also some animal noises, and mama, dada.  And a bunch of other unintelligible babble!  I think he says 'no-no'.  That would make sense considering how much he hears it from me toward either him or Owen.

tidbits

Me: [stepping into Owen's room] Owen, it's time to settle down right now and go to sleep.  You are very tired and if you want to have fun with Daddy tonight, you need to get some sleep or else we'll have to have an early bedtime.
Owen:  I don't like to sleep anymore.  I want to stay awake all the time.  I don't want to sleep, I just keep my eyes open all the time long.
Me:  I understand that, but I can tell you are tired.  Time to lay down and get some rest.
Owen:  [looks me in the eyes]  No.  I don't take orders.
Me:  [silence. dazed silence.  remembers uttering those exact words a few times in a row a few days back after getting a few too many marching orders from a 3 year old]
Me:  [deciding to fight or flight]  Well, sir, yes you do.  You see, mommy and daddy are all grown up and we have been kids before and we know all about how to grow up.  We know what is best for you and we get to obey God's rules and teach you to obey our rules and God's rules too.  So tell me Owen, who is in charge in this house?
Owen:  [a bit sassily]  Mommy and Daddy!
Me:  ...and who gets to obey?
Owen:  Me. [pause] And Asher.
Me:  [thinking myself the poster-mommy of authoritative yet calm]  Owen, I love you.  I want you to be healthy.  Time to lay down quietly and sleep or rest.
Owen:  I don't take orders, Mommy!

Well, I am not the poster-mommy.  I won't detail all of the ensuing events.  What I ended up 'winning' was 5-10 minutes of him lying quietly with eyes closed on the bed, and then if he couldn't sleep he could just stay quietly in his room.  Didn't get a nap, and boy did it show at bedtime.  Anyway, the crux of the matter was the absolute self-control it took to not explode in laughter and give up my position entirely when he came out with his response to my directive.  Granted, all of this may sound pretty harsh, but if you were in my shoes, you'd see all of what goes on around here and realize there is some law and order needed...usually firmer than what I give, actually :} 
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Owen LOVES the They Might Be Giants DVD for kids with songs about science that Aunt Pam and Uncle Ethan sent for Christmas.  He particularly loves Solid, Liquid, Gas, a song about the phases of matter.  'Mommy, I want solid liquid!!!' is frequently heard around here.  I also find him humming the tune under his breath.  He's apparently started to grasp onto the details of the song.  Today I was saying at one point that I was getting really warm, while changing the sheets in our room upstairs.  Owen says, 'Mommy, if you get warm enough I'm going to drink you all up!  You'll turn into a liquid.'
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We brought home our CSA veggies today in the big yellow Farmer Dave's bin.  I was carrying Asher and the crate (don't ask me how...mommy super-power) and Owen ran up ahead of me and said, 'I'll be that gentle-man and open the door!'  I was very impressed.  Daddy must be doing some good training behind the scenes.  Then, later in the day Owen saw a package that had been delivered to the front stoop.  I told him he could go out and get it.  I hear the front door close behind him, then a muffled, 'Mommy, I need you to be that gentle-man!' and I step to the door to see his arms all full of package.  Very cute.
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Turn away, those who dislike potty stories.  Totally out of the blue, Owen went to the potty by himself today (we've been working on this...he'd been very demanding of me standing by his side each and every time, which was getting older than old), and came back BEAMING with his chest puffed out and yelled, 'Mommy I went to the potty all by mySELF and I went potty like a big DADDY!'  After a high five, I queried the details, then got a demonstration 10 minutes later after a bladder refill.  'See mommy, I stand on my stool and then if I stick my tummy out really far the pee pees go in the potty!'  Well, actually first they land on the back of the toilet seat and then aim is readjusted so they hit the mark.  But I have to say it was pretty impressive for a self-taught 3 year old.  Reuel says he had nothing to do with actively teaching him that.  Owen is quite, quite proud of himself on this one.

Fish

Lest I forget, a note about our new pet.  Last week a horrified look passed over Owen's countenance shortly before announcing, 'Mommy, I was supposed to get a fish when I was 3, actually!!!!!  I didn't get a fish!!'  It's true.  He had been promised a fish.  But my Dad's illness, resulting travel, etc. kind of got in the way of that little plan :{  It was cute and awful to see him so horrified to discover that the promised fish had not been forthcoming.  So, quick-to-regain-trust mommy took him to the store that day and came home with $28 worth of fish bowl, food, water conditioner and betta fish.  I am impressed that we made it home with the fish alive.  Owen held him in the backseat while we drove home, and I had to rescue the little guy when I looked back and saw his plastic home precariously balanced on the side of the carseat, ready to spill out its contents through the hole in the lid.  Owen picked his name, which was inspired as he gazed at fishie before his rescue.  He chose 'Dancywooder.'  I made him repeat this to me about 15 times to make sure I heard it right.  That's indeed it!  Now that I've pondered the etymology of this name, I realize that he probably first had the thought 'dancy-water', and then modified it to dancywooder because he is at a stage where he thinks it's absolutely hilarious to say words in a silly way and purse up his lips and make faces while he does it.  In any case, I think it's quite a creative name, and kind of cute.  Now the challenge is remembering to feed Dancywooder, and when we do feed him, restraining ourselves from feeding him way too much.  We happen to have a book called, 'A Fish Out of Water' all about a boy who feeds his fish too much and the ensuing chaos, so that has helped. :)  Dancywooder looks a lot like this:

Asher's 1!

Owen:  Mommy, is toDAAAY Asher's birthday?
Me:  Yes, today is finally his birthday party day. (This was a long-anticipated event, but not necessarily by Asher :)
Owen:  YAAAY!!!!  [pause for thought]  Mommy, is Asher going to be 1?
Me:  Mmm-hmm.
Owen:  Then Asher will be 2 and 3 and big like me!!  Mommy, is Asher not a little baby much anymore?
Me:  Not much, he's almost walking, and he can say some words and understand us and eat normal food.  Babies don't do those things, do they?
Owen:  [with genuine sadness]  Mommy, I want Asher to still be a cute baby.  I love my baby.
Me:  I know how you feel.

We had a few friends over to celebrate...invited a crowd, but we found out right from the start that summer birthdays are bummers for kids.  Most everyone was on vacation!  But it was a nice size group in the end, probably better than a too-big group for a 1 year old.  Have to give a well-deserved shout-out to Laura List, who showed up just a few days after having her tonsils out!  We felt quite honored because I'm pretty sure she probably wasn't feeling her greatest.  But she didn't let on!

Here's a little movie of singing and Asher's first cake (shortly after shutting of the camera...of course...he picked it up with 2 hands and really went after it.  It was all eaten up, every last molecule of sucrose except those left on his face, in short order).  http://vimeo.com/13774820

And some pictures...

distraction

Kids in bed.  Reuel at a work dinner.  Me needing desperately to get my house in a bit of order and plan Asher's birthday party.  So what do I do?  Pick up a parenting book.  It is stressing me out so much because the experience of reading it is like, 'Exactly what you do every day is exactly what to not do as a parent, and every concerning thing you see in your child every day are exactly all the bad, overall life-ruining things that will result.  And here's our method that we claim will work, but is practically extremely difficult to implement, not to mention possibly quite desctructive if implemented *slightly* off of our exact description.'  So, I am running away from my problem and doing something more immediately enjoyable and less stressful.  I guess that means my parents didn't discipline me very well.  :)


Asher's top ten list of totally awesome things to do:
1.  Eat tidbits out of the trash can. 
2.  Try to put my hands in the toilet.  Preferably before it's been flushed while cramming myself in between the user and the fixture.
3.  Make a beeline and crawl FAST and wedge myself inside every time the refrigerator is opened.  Throw a major fit when I am removed and the door is closed.
4.  See #3, change 'wedge inside refrigerator' to 'crawl on top of open dishwasher door'.
5.  Throw toys.  All toys make great balls and it is absolutely hilarious when I throw them.
6.  Eat all things that are not polyurethane or wood off of the floor.  Unless the polyurethane is chipped, in which case I guess I'd eat that too.
7.  Climb on top of things.  All things.  Use anyone or anything sitting on the floor as a stepladder.  Laugh while diving off head first and getting caught by mom...totally freaks her out.
8.  Spit out all the healthy foods I used to love raspberry-style.  Or, pick them up, sniff and then smear them all over my face without getting any in my mouth.  Scream for fruit.
9.  Drag around a stuffed animal with me while I crawl.  At all times.  Unless I put it down so that I can eat something off the floor.
10.  Shake my head side to side when something is funny!

Here's a little movie from yesterday:  http://vimeo.com/13561169

Today we went to the pick your own farm and blueberries were ripe.  Next week is the last week for raspberries so we'll have to make another trip!  This year there are big signs posted everywhere...'Pick Your Own fruit is on the honor system!  You may sample one or two pieces of fruit, but 99% of what you pick should be paid for!'  Now, this is a hard rule for a grown-up, I must say, when there are gorgeous heavy-laden clustered ripe blueberries in front of your eyes everywhere you look.  But for a 1 and 3 year old...forget it!  I did my best.  Luckily Asher, who has the biggest blueberry appetite, was content with the high-quality windfall berries for the most part (mixed with a good intake of bark mulch and grass), but at one point I confess he did set himself right in front of a protruding low branch and proceed to steadily clean it of all its berries.  I figured that if I had not let him do it, they would have gotten a lot less of my money because we would have had to leave a lot earlier with a lot less produce.  Asher had his first experience of meeting a goat, and he thought it was a hoot.  He is a giggler...he was laughing when the goat came over to him.  So cute.

Age compare

Keep meaning to do a picture compare at almost 1 yr...

Cape Cod

Well, it has been a long time since I've thought about blogging...too busy spending time with family and having fun at the beach.  That's a *way* better use of time than the computer.  I think I checked my email twice in a week...ahhhh.  We had a fairly rough return to normal today after pulling in to the house this afternoon...I think it was a case of all-tired-out-from-too-much-fun.  But we had a concurrent case of vacation-totally-worth-any-readjustment-pains, so it's all good.  We went to Dennisport in Cape Cod for a week, stayed in a comfortable and cute shingled Cape cottage with my mom, aunt and sister.  There were a few trips...a bay-side beach, bumper boats, mini golf, and of course Cape Cod staples...fried seafood and ice cream...but mostly we enjoyed the pools and beach.  Much fun!  Here are some photo memories (we brought out the camera only a few times so we missed a lot of photo opps; too busy enjoying ourselves):

Didja hear the news?  It's cute week on the Cape!

This couch is inCREdible.  Who needs beach?

Dude.  Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

Yup.  Older babe alert.  I'm all over it.

Seriously, watch me make my move.  Mom has no clue.

Hey, how's it going.  Having fun on the beach?  So what size swim diaper do you wear?

I hear sand is a great exfoliator.  Here, let me show you.  (Score!!  I bet Owen I'd get her and he totally owes me!!)

I cannot even believe it...he's not even 1 year old yet.  I'll never live this down.

Well, girls are interesting and all, but this sand...all I have to say is yum.  I seriously can NOT stop eating it.

In your face!!  I got the real hottie, Aunt Debbie!

Care to join me for some outdoor dining on the patio?

Bit of the front yard...can't see here but the Cape is gorgeous with gardens.  The hydrangeas are HUGE.  I'd never seen such hydrangea bushes growing everywhere, as high as your shoulder, and apparently not too hard to grow.

Just above the steps to the beach...

A summer night in New England is about as pleasant as it gets.

3 year olds get sillier by the day!

Summer just 2 hours from home!!!

The house we stayed in!

My Dad rented the house for us, and intended to join us.  I missed him.  Thanks Dad, it was exactly the week you wanted for all of us.  XO