adventures with two-year olds

Greetings, all. We just had a week long "vacation at home" here. When we were trying to decide on our summer plans, the thought of taking a road trip or camping for several days seemed like a bit much at this stage. The boys are not in beds yet, so we need two pack-n-plays to go anywhere, plus the boys are into everything right now. I think we made the right decision. We did lots of fun things in town, and then came home to nap and sleep for the night. We spent a couple of lazy entire mornings in the park and kiddie pool with Grandma and Zo*e. We went out for breakfast a couple of times.



We went to Still*water's Tedd*y Bear Park.



















We did go on an overnight trip, to Family Camp with the church where Jo*el plays the piano. It was a lot of fun, but intense. The boys ran around full stop, played with people, and explored, and they were very happy.





They are very into everything right now, and need pretty close supervision in a new place. O has a tendency to want to take every single thing he finds apart, including his crib-tented Pack-N-Play, in which he’s supposed to be sleeping.



At the lodge, we had to pull him out from under the mat that serves as a bottom no less than five times in two hours. The next morning, he pulled the room thermometer off the wall and tried to pull out the inside of the baseboard heaters. He attempted to unscrew light bulbs. He tried to stick pens into outlets. With all his strength, and this boy is built like a brick and persistent as can be. I know that God made him this way for a reason, and I only hope to live long enough to find out what that is, because it's giving us some gray hairs! Omie and Opa - consider yourself warned!

Oliv*er, scanning his environment for something to "take it apaaaaart!"



Here is O trying to ring the church camp bell:








Ever since we've come back, the boys have been lining up couch pillows to make a "dock".





Try as he might, Oli*ver couldn't move this tree.



Pretending to be snakes.



No*ah was especially interested in the music playing outside, and has been talking about the banjo ever since.





The boys had their first canoe ride, but the canoe never actually left the shore.



Don't they look grown-up here, eating with everyone and not even using a booster chair?

We've decided that Oli*ver seems to need a bit less sleep than his brother, which would be fine, except they share a room, and No*ah never gets quite enough. That, and they feed off of each other so much at this age - they often start screaming and jumping in their cribs as soon as the door closes, and they get all worked up for no good purpose. They're keeping each other up later and later, and we think it's time that they be separated, at least for a while. We hope to have this accomplished within a few weeks. Olive*er will be in the the little room upstairs next to Meagan's space (we need to make a door for it), and No*ah will remain where he is. They'll have more plays space downstairs this way too. I will miss hearing their conversations on the monitor, but I worry more and more what they'll get into after bedtime, and I think making the transition to beds would be near impossible with the 2 of them in the same room, at least right now. They nap apart already, so I think they'll be OK.



Yesterday, N let out a blood-curdling scream at the table, then looked a me and said "Noa*h! We don't talk that way at the table!" To his credit, there was no repeat performance, so I suppose I ought to count that as an attempt to regulate his own behavior. That about describes life around here right now - they so want to listen most of the time, but they are also so very full of plans and ideas, and it's a little like they have an angel on each shoulder. Often our best bet is to get them out of the house and somewhere where there isn't quite so much trouble to get into, usually outdoors.



No*ah is going through another bunny obsession, and hops up there several times a day just to visit and stroke the "soft blue part". Some kids suck their thumbs or use pacifiers, but N makes the "bunny face" to fall asleep. He chews his lower lip like a bunny, something we accidentally taught him when he was less than a year old because we didn't know what sound a bunny makes.

Last Sunday we all got dressed up to go Je*n and Dav*e's church for the dedication of Zo*e. My camera battery died on the way over there, but I did get some very cute pictures first.

The Twin Diet

A couple of people have asked me lately how I've managed to stay a bit thinner since having my boys. I'll tell you my secret. It's a little known diet called the "Twin Diet". It especially works well with twin toddlers:

Step 1: start to get self something to eat.
Step 2: pull toddler off of cabinet in living room.
Step 3: walk back over to kitchen counter.
Step 4: pull toddler 1 off of toddler 2. Dry tears, execute consequence, realize that if world peace needs to begin in your living room, it doesn't look good.
Step 5: walk partway back to counter.
Step 6: wipe puddle off of floor, change toddler 1's underpants.
Step 7: look longingly at counter.
Step 8: read story to toddler 2, who is attempting a sit-down strike in your lap. hope he doesn't need to pee too,
Step 9: think to self, "wow, I'm hungry".
Step 10: stop toddler 1 from stabbing at a houseplant with pencil found under the couch.
Step 11: wonder if there might be any food under the couch.
Step 12: tell dog to stay the heck off the counter, even if there is food on the edge of it.
step 13: push food further back on the counter as you pass it, one toddler on your hip and the other one crying and pulling on the back of your increasingly loose shorts.
Step 14: move onto something else, forget about eating altogether.
Step 15: appreciate light-headed feeling, as it's a better-than-nothing stand in for actual patience.
Step 16: repeat

Net result: 6 pounds lost in last 3 months, down about 25 or 30 from pre-pregnancy weight...

summertime

(Note: Hen update below this post!)

The very first day the neighborhood kiddie pool was open, we went. And the next day, and the day after that. When they're not in the pool, they're imitating fish or asking to go to the pool. I think these boys are going to like actually swimming when they get that far! We have two kiddie pools and a lake beach within walking distance, and meet up with friends 2 or 3 times a week to either go to the playground or the pool. These days, I even get to sit on a bench and chat with the other moms. I know, it's rough...

We got a bit of sad news this past week when we learned we're going to lose our giant backyard elm tree to Dutch Elm Disease. It will cost a pretty penny to remove, and it's loss will change the landscape of our yard and surrounding yards dramatically.

It's the largest elm in the immediate neighborhood by far, and it's a good 25 or more years older than our 1926 house. We'll plant another tree or two right away, and hope that we have at least some shade again in a few years. It's so sad that the city is losing all these trees to this disease, but also a reminder that planting pretty much only one species over an entire city is a terrible idea. At least we are slowly rebuilding the arbor the Midwest is known for and replacing the mono-culture with a diverse, and therefore less vulnerable, assortment of trees.

We recently had a nice family meal together at a local cafe, celebrating all the fathers and one father-to-be. We end up at this hippyish place kind of by accident, as the place we'd intended to meet at was closed, but the outdoor patio worked really well for our group. I've actually been coming to this particular cafe on and off for about 15 years! In all that time, the menu has remained pretty much the same.

Somehow, Oliv*er always ends up trying on Uncle Scot*t's hat.

I love the picture above, because it depicts the wonderful chaos that our family gatherings are becoming. Emi*ly's holding Zo*e so that Jenni*fer can eat, Jennif*er is going to get some forgotten item, and I'm not even at the same table as everyone else. Everyone stayed happy, and everyone eventually got to eat. That's all that matters, right?

I don't exactly understand why, but whenever we take the boys to a restaurant, they eat like they have hollow legs. Should I be taking this personally? I'm going to choose not to, because they eat very well in general, and if they'd just keep their rear ends in their seats and quit trying to touch toes under the table, mealtimes would be golden.

It was a very busy weekend. Jo*el hosted a very nice piano duet recital that involved 17 of his students. He and a friend who plays the clarinet played five preludes at the end. The parents got together and gave him a huge gift certificate to a local cafe and a bunch of babysitting money - very thoughtful, I'd say. After the recital, we went out for dinner while Meag*an babysat. Yesterday morning, the boys and I went walking around the grounds of Theodore Wi*rth Park in the early AM to kill some time while Jo*el rehearsed at church a few blocks away. It was our anniversary, so it was an odd coincidence to be there exactly seven years after our wedding took place there, yet without Jo*el. The garbage truck came to pick up the garbage from somebody else's big event, and the boys enjoyed watching that. Someday they'll understand the significance of that place for us, but yesterday it was all about the "Beep! Beep! Beep!" of the garbage truck backing up. After our walk, the boys and I met Jo*el at the church, I dropped the boys off at the nursery, and attended services. Afterwards, we went to the all church picnic, where the boys again filled their hollow legs.

Introducing the Ladies

They're here! The coop is finished (thanks mostly to Jo*el's Dad and a whole lot of reusable stuff we found in the rafters of our garage), and we are the proud owners of 4 pullets (young hens).



This is our henhouse. It wasn't quite finished in this picture. It sits in the garage, and has an old kitchen cabinet mounted on each side for a nesting box. The whole bottom is accessible, making it very easy to clean. It is pretty funny to sit in the garage and hear the hens clucking as the boys play on their train table. We did that this evening, and every few minutes, both boys would run over and look at the the hens and say "Hello, ladies!"

This is the inside. The box you see there is the framed opening to the outside run. The big red hen, one of the four we picked up on Sunday, had some possibly serious issues with her feet, so we actually brought her back and exchanged her for a different bird today.

This is the run. It is made from a dog kennel. The birds are learning to get in and out, and are doing a pretty good job of it so far. Next summer, we'd like to add a couple of panels to the run to expand it and raise a couple of chicks. We'll probably put a nicer roof on it then too, and enclose it in lattice so we don't have to look at the kennel walls. We'll leave a cutout for viewing, though, because watching them is a lot of fun.



This is Marcy. She is a Silver-Laced Wyandotte we picked up today to replace the red hen. Marcy is our oldest bird at 17 weeks, and she could lay as soon as a few weeks from now.



This is Fanny, our Buff Orpington. She's a sweet, docile bird who is probably going to be on the bottom of the pecking order. These birds are slow to mature, but lay well in cold weather, and Fanny will probably be our biggest bird at about 10 pounds.





That leaves Clara (in front, a Barred Plymouth Rock), and Susan (in the back). Susan is an Ameracauna. These are also sometimes called "Easter Eggers" because these hens lay green or blue tinted eggs. Susan loves to sit on the high branch, and would have flown right out of the coop had there not been a tarp. I'm thinking we'll clip both her wings instead of just one. Clara is very friendly and tame. She sat on Mea*gan's hand for a long time today and this morning she sat on my foot and ate right out of my hand. She and Fanny were hatched at the same time and were in the same pen. They're the youngest, at almost 11 weeks old, so it will be a while before they lay.

The boys are very excited! "Soooo cute!", they say. N is a little more cautious so far, but very interested. Ivy is very interested too, but she's been pretty good so far. We aren't letting her in the backyard by herself, but she can't get to them regardless. We have chicken wire dug into the ground all around the run.

O has no hesitation in petting a hen. He's Mr. Fearless in everything these days, it seems. He slides down the slide at the playground, then stands up and jumps straight off the end.

Taking care of the Ladies has been pretty simple so far. Every morning, I need to replace the water and add a scoop of feed as I let the Ladies into the run. Every evening, they go back into the hen house and I latch the door. Once or twice a week, depending on how much rain we've had, I will replace the straw and make sure the coop is clean. They get compost scraps, scratch, and grit in addition to their feed. It's no harder than taking care of a cat or parakeet, and we'll soon have our own fresh eggs, laid about 25 feet from the stove they'll be cooked on. Ste*ve and Kath*y get first dibs on extra eggs, of course.

Tonight after the boys went to bed, I made a summer potato salad with green beans and walnuts, and Mea*gan, Jo*el and I sat in lawn chairs next to the coop, watching the Ladies do their thing and listening to their companionable clucking. I think we're going to like having a backyard flock.

Here are some images of full-grown hens in the breeds we have:

An Amerecauna hen (like Susan)


Blue Amerecauna eggs


A Barred Plymouth Rock (like Clara)


a Buff Orpington hen (like Fanny)


A Silver Wyandotte hen (like Marcy)

Chickens in the city, part II

(NOTE: there is also a new N and O post below this one)

We are making progress on our henhouse project. The permit has been filed with the city, and Ste*ve has the hole into the garage almost cut and ready for framing, and we have the area cleared on the outside of the garage and plotted on the inside. Probably at least 2 of our hens will be winter-hardy Buff Orpingtons like the ones above.



We had to move the whole project to a different area of our yard because of a neighbor who had some ( rather paranoid) concerns, but it actually worked out for the best and resulted in a lovely new garden area, though we had just made a garden along the kennel before having to move it.





The boys still have some garden space though.



We moved the kennel back to make room for the perennials displaced by the coop, and one thing led to another…

BEFORE: This is after we moved the dog kennel straight back behind the fence, but before we put in the new garden beds. The dirt was totally dead from being under the kennel all this time, but we added a ton of compost and water, and it seems pretty good now.







AFTER:


We also put up some bamboo screening.



So now our perennial beds are nicely thinned and pruned, and we have everything edged in the extra bricks I had. While we were at it, we did the South side of the house too.



J busted all the sod, which was a huge help, and I did all the edging and dividing/planting. (I keep telling J we make a nice gardening team, but I’m not sure he wants to hear it. ) Meagan and I have carrots, beets, kale, chard, tomatoes, peas, arugala, and peppers in, plus a heap of lettuce and herbs. St*eve is coming by this weekend to make some more progress on the coop, and I’m hoping that we’ll be making a trip out to the Anoka Farm Store to pick up 4 young hens in a few weeks. Maybe next summer we'll add a couple of chicks. the boys will be at an even better age to enjoy it, and we'll have more chicken experience then. Wait till I tell my neighbor we're thinking of getting a goat to mow the lawn!*

*Not really! I think a few hens should nicely balance the gender distribution in my favor, and we'll leave it at that.