Gus in September

Okay, I might not be able to quit the monthly updates on Gus...

Do NOT let this boy in your car.



You will never hear the end of it. "Driving" continues to be a favorite hobby and he does not forget a car.

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"It's my skateboard," he tells me.


He sees "skateboards" every where.

Luckily we have decent medical insurance.

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He's loving our "preschool." Here we were testing whether things would float or sink.

And later while he was having free play he plopped a train car into the water in his activity table. "It floats!"

The other day I realized that I have semi-complete conversations with him all the time without even thinking about it. When did that start happening?

He's already figured out that mom usually knows where he's left stuff. He came in with his rainboot today, "Mama, where's the other one?"

Our little mirror reflects back our phrases, quirks, and sin to us. "Mama grab my water for me?" "Shoot!" he says with venom (and we're lucky that's the worst thing he's picked up).

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Lately he's been trying to figure out emotions more. When I put my head in my hands he asks "sad?" "No, baby, mama's happy." "Tired?" "Yeah, I'm always tired..."

Cars were honking at each other as we drove and he wanted to know why. "They're upset," I told him. "Crying?" "No they're frustrated. Angry."

And still when he's not sure what's going on with his mercurial mother he brings up "cow's udder? Mama hurt?"

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He says "muse-get" for "music." I love it.

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About a week ago I finally ordered his fall shoes. When he got up from his nap, I told him, "Mama ordered you some new shoes on the computer! They should be here in a few days, and the delivery man will bring them to us in his big truck and ring the doorbell and make Kona bark. And he'll leave a box on our doorstep with your shoes!" He considered all of this. "Ding dong! Kona bark? Man? Shoes?" And since then he's asked every couple of days about his "man shoes," which makes me giggle.

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He also loves his stool. "I need my stool" is a common refrain any time he wants to do something he can't reach.

Les Deux

The CoHo Preschool

I've started a little "homeschool preschool" "curriculum" with Gus as of last week. It's an experiment and I'm very much playing it by ear, but I wanted to make sure that I'm exposing him to new experiences even in the midst of caring for a new baby. I'm a fan of unstructured play, but I also want to give him tools to learn to his potential.

And now I'm done trying to justify myself to the various educational philosophies swimming in my head.

Anyway.

Last week we were learning about cows and we made this ridiculous looking thing:

As I drew the face I realized that my cow was starting to look like a dog and I tried to fix it, but only made it worse. I'd also had the brilliant idea to make an udder using a latex glove so that Gus could "milk" the cow. As I'm putting all of this together and it's just becoming more and more demented looking, I got the giggles. Soon I was hysterically laughing, shrieking really, and tears were rolling down my face. (I don't get out much these days.)

Completely scared the heck out of my kids.

Lucia was looking at me with great big saucer eyes and Gus almost started crying and he refused to tape the pieces of the cow together. Now every time we walk in the play room and see the cow, he says "Cow's udder! Mama sad! Mama hurt!"

The CoHo Preschool - now traumatizing enrolling!

Luci at Two Months

Just before she was six weeks, I caught a smile. They started off small, sweet little grins after she'd been fed and changed and all was right with the world.


One night her brother couldn't sleep and came to our bed. The scuffle woke her and when I turned to check on her in the dim light I saw the hugest smile on her face. Now she flashes her big grins and coos back when talk to her.


Her new trick this last month was grabbing. We're still working on letting go.

She's kind of a mama's girl. I guess most babies are at this age, but Gus had a lot more daddy time, so it wasn't as pronounced.

She's already changed so much, and I hardly recognize the pictures of the little newborn we brought home just over eight weeks ago.


If she'd been our first baby, I'd be one of those smug parents who thinks this parenting thing is easy. She's a chubby little cherub who sleeps well, eats well, grows like a weed, and generally lights up the place without needing much.

On the quilt her great-grandma made in the dress I bought for her baptism which she'll probably grow out of before said baptism in six weeks or so...

Hidden Villa

Gus Turns Two!

Excuse me while I have a moment because this boy that I birthed...he is now two.

I taught the two year old Sunday school class, and I know what happens now. We've jumped on a train with a one-way ticket to Kidsville. The place where chubby cheeked toddlers turn into preschoolers. Kids come into the class only kind of talking, not knowing how to sit down in a circle...and they leave carrying on conversations about what they like and don't like and reminding you when story time starts...and let me tell you. It's a slippery slope. The kids I taught are now in SCHOOL. Because I BLINKED.

So I thought the first birthday was just a special case, but maybe it will always be tough for me. Watching my little man make his way into the big world where I can protect him less and less.

And I have to keep reminding myself that this guy here, he's got two parents who love and pray for him to find his way. And that's a lot.

I think this is a good time to end the monthly updates. From now on I'll just post when he does something I want to remember (as if I don't want to remember it all).

So here's what he's been up to lately...

"Gus help!" is what he says when he wants to do something himself (it is the antithesis of "Mama help!"). And lately there are more and more things he wants to do himself. And there are more and more things he can do himself. He gets himself set up in his chair for meals now. And if there's something on the bar counter that he wants, he goes to the bathroom and gets his step stool from the sink, drags it out to the kitchen and climbs up.

He laughs when we laugh and pronounces things funny. Including himself. "I'm funny me," he told us recently.


His Aunt Michelle came to visit the week before his birthday and taught him to say "delicious" about his food. So now he takes his first bite and declares "delicious!"

His favorite activity of all time is sitting in the driver's seat of a car. "Daddy car? Okay!" he asks incessantly. He could play there for hours, turning on the hazard lights, blasting the heater, starting and stopping the windshield wipers.

One of my favorite things he's started doing is being interested in other people. "Who this?" he asks when he doesn't know another person's name. He remembers his little friends and sometimes asks about them. If one kid showed an interest in a particular type of toy, he'll remember that the next time he sees that toy. I hope he continues to be interested in others.

The morning of his birthday I said "Gus, it's your birthday today!" And he responded "Cake?"

Happy second birthday to our cheeky possum.