Come, Mommy » milestones

The Times, They Are A Changing…

lieslf — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:27:20 +0000

A funny thing happened to Liam over the last three weeks. One day he was in summer camp…

…petting the lion cub…

…playing with Galapagos tortoises…

…and then, the next week, he was at Work Day at his school, helping set up the classroom and picking out a desk…

…and finally came the first day of school, during which each new 1st-Grade child was introduced the the school community and welcomed into the grade school with a bouquet of wildflowers presented by our 7th Grade Lead Class. This is the Waldorf School Flower Ceremony, which is performed the first day of each school year at each Waldorf school around the world. The wildflowers were grown over the summer in our school garden by the Lead Class, and they are used for this ceremony because they symbolise the unbridled spirit of young children. It was a beautiful day, perfect for celebrating a beautiful group of children.

Welcome to Grade School, Liam. May the years ahead hold many adventures, big and small. We love you and sre so proud of you.

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, and Kieran

A Milestone and A Playdate

lieslf — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:52:40 +0000

I was outside tonight watering the roses. Through the window I could hear the rumbling of our clothes dryer. There’s nothing unusual about that sound, especially in a household with small children, of course, but it turns out that this load of laundry was indeed just a bit special. We were drying, for the last time ever, a load of diapers.

Three weeks ago we started potty training with Kieran. The first couple of days we weren’t sure he was going to take to it at all, but once he had a couple of successful visits to the bathroom, the lightbulb went off in his head illuminating for him the idea that using the bathroom is ever so much easier than waiting for Daddy or Mommy to change his diaper. And it’s been smooth sailing ever since. We had him in diapers at night initally, but he’s been so dry in the morning that we’re switching to training pants for now, and I don’t think he’s going to need those for much longer.

We are so proud of him, and so happy to have our diaper bag toting days behind us! And Kieran is loving his new freedom. The only downside is that now he wants to visit the bathroom any time we go to a new place just to check it out, silly guy. Sometimes when children reach a new milestone it’s a bittersweet moment, but not this time. This one has everyone here doing the Happy Dance!

In other news, today was an extra fun day for the boys and me. Despite getting a late start out of the house, we managed to make it down to South Jersey to visit Suzanne, Sean, and Allie of Mimilou fame. We hit some road construction going down and back but actually even that worked out well since spotting graders and excavators kept the boys busy and minimized the number of times the famous, “Mommy, are we there yet?” question was asked.

It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen our friends – Kieran was still crawling then, and it was lovely to see them all again. The kids picked up where they left off last time, and even in the heat, the boys enjoyed a walk to the park and playing spies on the climbing equipment with Sean and Allie. Allie was also very sweet to Kieran by taking on the role of his little Mommy and carefully shepherding him up a ladder, and then pushing him on the swings. Wjile the kids were playing, Suzanne and I got to catch up, which was wonderful. All the way home the boys kept asking when we could go back and play some more. Thanks for the fun playdate, guys! We definitely need to get together soon, perhaps to do some apple picking.

So that’s the latest news hot off the Menagerie House presses. It’s a good to be ending the summer with fun and friends, and we’re planning to make the most of our remaining weeks of summer break.

June Is A Busy Month!

lieslf — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 02:24:52 +0000

At least in this family it is. There’s all the end-of-school chaos, and then we have several birthdays in the family this month so there’s something going on just about every day this month here. The boys and I have spent the week enjoying the first few days of summer vacation – they’ve done a lot of playing with their trains, and I’ve been trying to catch up on all kinds of projects around the house that have been left half-done during the school year. I’m hoping this summer I can actually do my Spring cleaning and reorganize the closets and the pantry. That’s the plan anyway-we’ll see what actually transpires in the end.

Anyway, this is the post from last week with Liam’s last day of school and my birthday, along with a few snapshots of things that have been going on this week here at the Menagerie House. Last week on Liam’s last day of school, we had a sweet little festival to mark the end of kindergarten. We arrived at school and went out into the play yard. As the children romped and played, the parents worked on a craft project-a little butterfly puppet-that was meant to be a toy for younger siblings to take home at the end of the day. After the puppets had been finished, we formed a big ring together and had circle time for everyone. We then went inside to share a snack together. At the end of snack, the older kindergarteners-the ones who will be going on to 1st Grade in the fall-presented a puppet show as a gift to their parents and siblings.

The children had been working on this for several weeks. They made the puppets and the set. It was a story of a little boy and girl and the various adventures they had as they played through the year. There were a number of animal characters, including a little bird who always chirped exciting suggestions to the children when they needed a new idea for a game to play. Of course they had a loving mother and father who supported them in their adventures, and they always returned home a bit wiser and more worldly at the end of each day. The children worked so well together handling the puppets that I found myself getting lost in the story instead of just focusing on Liam – it is really amazing what children can do when they have the right support around them. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience by the time the show ended.

At the end of the show it was time to leave, but Liam took a moment to give his teacher a gift he had made for her. Kevin cut a squirrel figure out of some poplar wood, and then Liam spent quite a bit of time sanding the little fellow down to silky smoothness. He then decorated him with Stockmar beeswax crayons all over the surface of the wood. The little creature is an “oven squirrel” – holding him by the tail, one can use the groove behind his neck to pull out hot oven racks, while groove over the paws can be used to push them back in. Liam made a squirrel for his teacher and one for each of the two assistants, so he really did a lot of work putting these gifts together, and I think the teachers thought the squirrels were very sweet.

A freshly sanded squirrel…

…and here is the very colorful finished product. The beeswax crayons make the squirrel smell like honey!

After Liam handed out his gifts, it was time to leave. I will miss this kindergarten scene in the morning next year, and I’m looking forward to doing all over again with Kieran in two years’ time.

After going out to lunch with friends, we went home and had a birthday party. The boys treated me very well with strawberry shortcake, ice cream, and homemade birthday cards. I really couldn’t ask for anything sweeter or more fun. Here are a few shots:

My boys!

(Aren’t all three of them adorable?)

Cutting the cake…

Mooching for crumbs…

And here’s Kieran mugging for the camera. I love his curls. I told him the other day he is so not allowed to get a hair cut!

So it was a fun day – the last day of school and my birthday all at once. Since then we’ve been trying to get into some sort of a routine for the summer. We haven’t quite figured out our schedule yet, but we’ll get there. We’ve been to the park several times, watched a couple of movies, played in the sprinkler, played hopscotch in the driveway, and gone for bike rides around the block. Typical summer stuff!

Kevin and I planted some snapdragons and marigolds in a small bed under our dogwood out in front of the house….

I think this bed will be really nice once the plants mature and fill things in a bit more.

The butterfly garden Kevin put in last summer is doing very well, particularly the echinaceas.

Back inside the house, my orchids are blooming really well this summer. The flowers are beautiful, and they stay around for weeks.

I love the deep purple of this bloom…

I just love these plants!

Moving right along to other lovely things, I present…

…Liam and Casey. Every boy needs a dog, and these two are best of friends.

Then, finally, to finish out the week, this afternoon was Liam’s first piano recital. He started taking lessons after Christmas, and today the teacher had her students present a little recital for parents. The children write their own songs and learn to play piano by playing their songs, so we were treated to a number of wonderfully named pieces. There was “The Little Frog”, “Princess and The Pea”, “Flying to the Moon”, and Liam’s final piece was entitled “The Cat Knocked A Marker Into The Piano.” The children played really well, and they seemed to really love sharing the pieces they had written with us.

Liam’s turn to perform.

Listening to his classmate play.

After all the children had performed their pieces, they finished with a parade of puppets.

Marching with their puppets…

Taking a bow at the end of the show.

After the performance was over, we went outside for refreshments. The children ran and played under the trees while the parents talked. It was a good show, and a good day.

It’s been a week of milestones here-the end of kindergarten, and a first piano recital. No wonder everyone looked a bit tired tonight. Now we are looking forward to a summer of swimming lessons, playing outside, catching fireflies, and listening to the crickets at night.

Life is good!

Kiri’s Third Birthday Party

lieslf — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:45:47 +0000

(I started this post last Saturday night, but only now have found the time to finish it. Enjoy!)

The big event was this afternoon, and we had a good time. During the last couple of weeks Kieran has had us a bit confused by saying he only wants Daddy, Mommy, Liam, and Casey at his birthday party. When I would suggest that we invite friends of his, he would refuse any company at all. So finally we asked him if instead of a party he would like to have a play-date with ice cream and cake. That solution was happily accepted, and so we had our “play-date”today.

We spent the morning running errands, and by the time we got home, our birthday boy needed lunch and a nap. After lunch he napped for a bit,but soon he was up and ready for his birthday playdate!

A quick game of tackle proved quite effective in waking the sleepyheads, and they went on to play with their guests.

We had a beautiful day and pretty soon we had eight children on top of the dome, enjoying the sunshine.

The dome was a present from Gran-Gran for Liam’s birthday. Kevin put it together on a mild January weekend, but now that Spring is here it is getting a lot of use. Thank you, Gran-Gran!)

Then we came on inside to open presents – additions to his GeoTrax Town!

Liam was right there making sure that everyone knows that the GeoTrax town is a joint ownership venture between him and Kieran.

Kiri also got a bunch of his favorite paints and crayons, and my friend Lisa knit him the sweetest doggie puppet you could imagine. The doggie has been named “Squiggles”,and he lives in a shoebox doghouse made for Kiri by Lisa’s children, Isaac, and Violet.

It was a fun day….

…but all that present-opening was just too tiring for certain big dogs.

You’ll be relieved to know, I’m sure, that the mention of the phrase “Birthday Cake and Ice Cream!” somehow enabled Casey to make it to his feet again.

Kiri was SO EXCITED by his cake – “Look,Mommy! Daddy! A Fire Truck With a fire dog driver! Wowoee-kazowee!”

It was a chocolate-chip cake with vanilla butter cream frosting, and several lucky children discovered that the fire engines tires were made from chocolate doughnuts!

(No, my cake making skills have not improved that drastically – it was done by a local bakery known for fun birthday cakes.)

It was a happy day for one sweet little boy:)

Happy Birthday, Kieran, and always remember that Daddy and Mommy love you from the Earth to the stars and back again!

And thank you to my readers for sharing this big day with our family!

Brotherly Logic

lieslf — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:21:17 +0000

(This conversation is from last week – I just didn’t get a chance to post it…)

Me: “Kiri, how old are you now?”

Kiri: “I is two but after my birthday party I will be 6!”

Liam: “No, silly, today is your birthday and you are 3!”

Kiri: “But I want to be 6 and go to kindergarten like Liam!”

Liam: “Kiri, 3 is way fun and you don’t want to miss it. You’ll get to go to nursery school – that’s like Kindergarten but only three days a week and without all the work. Trust me on this!”

Kiri: “Why?”

Liam: “Because I taught you how to write a letter to Santa that got you everything on your list. I know stuff!”

**********

As promised, 3 is treating Kieran quite well, although his party is not until Saturday, and I’m clinging to the notion that he’s still 2 until his party….I’m such a doting Mommy!

“Somebody Wanted Something”

lieslf — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:44:26 +0000

The Menagerie House is about to be swamped by the tidal wave of excitement known as Liam’s 6th Birthday Party. It’s on for next Saturday (fortunately it was not this weekend since not only are both boys recovering from colds, but we have had this messy Ida/Nor’Easter combo storm raining and blowing on us since Wednesday!). Before that happens, I need to report on the latest Kieran milestone – his first haircut!

Up until last weekend, he had the typical curly toddler hair that many boys his age sport; I was fond of it, and had the decision been left to me alone, those curls would still be there. But Kiri, like many younger brothers, wants to do everything his big brother does and so has been begging us to let him get his hair cut at The Fun Place With Car And Airplane Chairs for months now.

Last weekend Kevin took the boys to the mall for lunch and playtime at the children’s area. I was home nursing my third and final round of bronchitis this Fall, drinking tea with honey, and reading the newspaper. A text message popped up in my cell phone:

The text message read, “Somebody wanted something.” And then I knew there would be another picture coming along in a minute…..

And this is what it was.

For a moment I was sad because I really loved those baby curls. But then I looked more closely at the picture and saw a beautiful little boy, so proud of himself for accomplishing such a big boy thing. And then my heart melted.

Milestones are beautiful things.

More Deja Vu

lieslf — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:38:52 +0000

Kieran is just a month shy of 2.5. I remember this stage with Liam, and what I remember about it how just as I was mourning the loss of my wee baby, I discovered the joy and fun of raising a little boy. From then on, as each of my boys passes on to a new stage of childhood, I find myself saying, “This is the best stage yet. It’s just so sweet and fun.” I say that every time, and every time I’m sure I’ve found The Most Fun Stage of Childhood. And every time I am proven wrong. So I enjoy each stage as it happens, but I’m also wondering what fun things are just around the corner. (I have been told by more experienced parents that this fun-funner-funnest ever deal changes as children approach adolescence; I am quite happy to live on in ignorant bliss until then.)

I know we’re not meant to compare our children as they pass through all their developmental stages, and Kieran and Liam are such different children that any comparing I could do would be much more of an exercise in contrasting than finding similarities anyway. That said, though, there is one thing that jumps out and begs to be noticed about both boys. That thing is their expressive language skills. Both of them are fascinated by words and love to add tools to their vocabulary toolbox.

This is a good thing because we rarely need to wonder what it is that each boy wants and needs. This is also a bad thing because we rarely need to wonder….yeah, you got it. The air gets a bit verbose around The Menagerie House sometimes. Personally I find this helpful because with two language fiends running around underfoot all day, I rarely lack for blogging fodder. (I do lack for blogging time, but that goes with the territory of early parenthood/modern life/whatever, I think.)

Today was a bit of a milestone for Kieran in the self-awareness department. Over a session of block building, he was talking to me about things that had happened to him. I was idly listening, surprised at the detail with which he remembered these fun-but-everyday events. There was the bank teller who gave him a lollipop, the produce clerk at the grocery store who had given him a banana, the policeman who let him pet his police dog, and the dump truck that had taken him away from his Mommy and made him cry.

As the last story came out of his mouth, I found myself thinking, “What, what, what? WHAT? When did this happen? Where was I?” Being a properly anxious 21st-Century parent I was sure he’d been kidnapped. A second later I realized this couldn’t be true because, well, I’d have noticed if he went missing. Then I wondered if some of the workers who had been on the street this week had offered to give him a tour of a dump truck. I could easily imagine him having been out on a trike ride with Liam and Kevin, and then after accepting such an offer bursting out in tears if the worker had tried to pick him up to show him the cab of the truck. That was surely a reassuring explanation for such a story, but clearly I needed more information. I got ready to ask some hard questions.

Me : “That must have been scary! Did the man pick you up?”

Kiri: “No. Man?? Hhhhmmm? No man.”

Me: “Oh, I meant the truck’s driver, sweetie. Did he pick you up to show you inside the truck?”

Kiri (obviously frightened by the memory): “No! No driver! Truck picked I up! With his hands!”

Me: “Oh, my! Well, did Daddy help you down?”

Kiri: “Oh, no. Daddy not there. Dump truck took me away from MOMMY!”

Me (wondering how he could have gotten into a dump truck in the 0.5 seconds I look away from him when he’s near a street): “Well, um, um, I found you again, right?”

Kieran (with obvious relief): “Well, yes. And me hugged you. Then we had noopie! And then we had muffins for bweakfast!”

Suddenly things became clear in an instant. He had had a nightmare about a toy dump truck coming to life and stealing him away from Kevin and me. And he is too young to understand what dreams are, so as far as he is concerned, the story is true, and the events unfolded as he described. It was an amazing moment of insight into the mind of a small child. I have often wondered what goes on in those sweet little heads, and for a moment I was allowed to find out.

I have not been able to explain dreams to him. I think he’s too young, and discussing the truck memory clearly upsets him. Someday he will understand what dreams and nightmares are, and when he wakes up crying in the middle of the night. we will be able to make things right for him by reminding him of this story. And see? There’s another developmental stage to look forward to.