I want the technology

Alex is one determined baby. He truly has no fear, hurtling himself over the edge of the bed or the sofa. His goal? There are several. The cordless phone, my pager, a lamp cord, and the Holy Grail, the TV remote. We could always count on Jonathan pulling back at the last minute, but Alex will go right over any obstacle in his way. Add to that his commado crawl, scooting along on his elbows and tummy, and he's a little baby ninja. This past week, he's started pulling up to stand at the edge of the table. We're running out of places to hide our things.

Where Alex uses blunt force, Jonathan prefers diplomacy. We had a wonderful time at the block party yesterday and we could really see how preschool has helped Jonathan's socialization. He ran around, one of the smallest in the pack of kids, and had a terrific time. He's smitten with next door neighbor Olivia, so when she handed him a small glow in the dark bracelet, it instantly became one of his great treasures. He even fell asleep last night with the rocket ship light off, the better to bask in the bracelet's glow.

Tonight, he fished it out from the covers as we were having our evening snuggle. He placed it on top of my head and said "Look Mommy! You're a princess!" I was about to melt into a maternal puddle and reached over to give him an extra hug. Then he finished the reference to Little Bear: "Give me some cake!"

Swag Love

I went to medical school for the toys. Not the opthalmoscope, or those nifty life saving stents - oh no! I wanted the cool pens shaped like bones and the little stuffed animals emblazoned with drug names.

Not really. But you'd think that was the case, the way I'm given these things everywhere I go. Back in the day, I generally chucked them into the trashcan on my way out of the meeting. Now, however, with Jonathan so enamoured of presents, and so easily pleased, I've finally found a use for all the little tchotckes.

It started when his grandpa brought along the Actos toys on a recent visit. Actos is a diabetes drug; it may perhaps increase your risk of heart attack, so it needs a REALLY cute set of mascots. Jonathan became the proud owner of a full set of beanbag toys, and because they came from his Harabojee, he insisted on sleeping with them. I was tucking him in and he fished one out from under the covers. It was a somewhat sickly shade of green. Jonathan asked "What's HIS name?" and my creative juices got stuck. I said "Honey, that's a pancreas" without thinking.

Of course, there was nothing to do after that but name them all. In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought, and soon, Jonathan was snuggling up to Pancreas, Kidney, Liver, Adipose, and Triglyceride. He had all the names down within a week, and they held pride of place in his bed for at least a month. Periodically he likes to quiz me. He knows the Kidney is my favorite.

Last night I went to a hospital presentation. Jonathan asked me for "Two presents, please!" so I was happy to see the gift bags lined up. Of course, the presentation was about breast MRI, so the swag was rather girly. No matter. A tiny mesh makeup case became an excellent holder for two Matchbox cars. The keychain was neat, even if it did have a pink purse charm attached. And Jonathan loved walking around with the bag slung across his chest, newsboy style - who cared if it was lime green and had flowers silkscreened across it?

Global Warming, Yay!

So this never made it into Al Gore's documentary. Here it is, the first weekend in October and we WENT SWIMMING in Lake Michigan! We met up with Beth and Tyler to take the kids to the Harvest Festival. Jonathan allowed the face painter to paint a purple ghost on him. But he was a little too timid to allow his face or hand to be painted. Instead, he offered up his shin. It was a nice canvas, but after it was done, he was so enthralled, he spent much of the morning walking doubled over so he could see it. He did manage to look up to see the little ponies and goats. He transferred over most of a bale of hay, one handful at a time through the fence. The pony got bored long before he did.

It was so hot we were choosing the shady side of the street as we walked, so we reconvened at Silver Beach after lunch and a trip home for swimsuits. It was so strange to be walking out to our car, beach towels over our shoulders, while the leaves blew around our ankles! Lots of other people had the same idea and the beach was crowded. We wove our way through the snow fences and found a spot of sand. Chris set up the umbrella to keep the babies in the shade and Jonathan jumped right into the water. It was a little cold, but it was mostly the psychological effect of swimming in October that kept me wading for twenty minutes or so. I finally ducked under and it felt just fine.

The next morning it was still eighty degrees, but we felt compelled to do something fall-related. So we took the boys apple picking. The Nye's farm is enormous and has many, many varieties of apple. The trees were still pretty full, although a lot of the lower hanging fruit was gone. Chris set up a ladder and picked, handing down the apples one at a time. I had Alex in one arm but could take the apples and pass them on to Jonathan, who carefully laid them in the basket. We got a whole bushel of Ida Reds, Winesaps and Golden Delicious varieties. I've already made a big pot of very tasty applesauce, and Chris has an apple pie on his horizon. I also stocked the freezer with quarts of tomato sauce, since ten pounds of tomatoes are currently selling for eight dollars. The sauce is flecked through with fistfuls of fresh herbs from our garden - the basil plant was taller than Jonathan before we started picking. We are really enjoying this time in the Fruit Basket of the Midwest. In a couple of years we'll be able to harvest avocados!

Any requests?

Where does Jonathan come up with these?
"Let's count the steps in Spanish! Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, diez, cinco, ocho!"
"I don't want a donut! I want an apple! I like to eat the skin."
"Is the tractor a dangerous toy for Alex?"
"Spill some milk in my cup, Mommy. I love it! It makes my tummy happy."
"Uh oh, where's ocho?" (He seems to think it doubles as a proper noun.)
"Let's go downtown and buy some fudge."
"Are you going to wear the fancy shoes, Mommy? Let me try them on you!"
And, every day, several times a day: "Let's go into the sunroom and read Big Max! Is he a great detective?" I never thought I'd miss the days of Little Bear.