Location, location, location

Oh, is running my rail yard through the kitchen while you try to cook dinner a problem?

I always joke that although we are blessed with a lot of space in our house, somehow everyone ends up within an arms length of me at all times. Guess this makes up for all those (happily) solitary days as an only child.

Train-induced euphoria

Dylan climbed the fence to get a better look at the trains rolling by in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. You can't see the ear to ear grin that lit up his face when the engineer blew the horn and waved.

Service with a smile

Business idea: The Frohawk Waffle Haus. Delicious breakfast fare, served with a smile.

Would sir prefer the clown shoes?

See Dylan's blue Crocs? A month plus of speech therapy and his first sartorial declaration is that he wanted "this ones." Fashion-wise, I may have preferred him mute.

Who's bad?

Even before Trayvon Martin's death, I wouldn't put Dylan in clothes that played into negative stereotypes of African American males as trouble or somehow bad.




Which means this pre-loved shirt we received, though apparently part of one of the most beloved Japanese cartoon shows ever, will be donated.

Extreme? Maybe. Ridiculous? No more ridiculous than Geraldo saying Trayvon's hoodie got him killed - a statement for which he later apologized directly to Trayvon's parents.

NPR's Michel Martin wrote a great piece that captures the fear many parents of color feel for their  sons as they reach the teen years: Trayvon was scared too.

Man of few words

Dylan's two year doctor appointment went well: he's above average for size (88th percentile) but being referred for some speech help to get his word count up.

He's good with "B" and "S" words (Ha!) but isn't stringing enough of them together. Luckily, he's good at pointing and showing what he wants and all his caregivers are good at reading him.

Plus, I'm great at reading people's non-verbal cues, so I can infer more from an eyebrow slant than some people can from an entire conversation. Which means that while I rock at charades, I probably am not helping him stretch verbally, even though we talk and read with him a lot and verbal communication is kind of the lingua franca at our house.

But we'll go get some tips from the speech and language pros so that he can start sparring verbally with his sister, instead of just screeching in frustration or whacking her when she's bugging him.

If he turns out to be a great orator, this will make a funny story some day. Kind of like actor James Earl Jones: he has one of the most recognizable and enthralling voices of a generation but he overcame a severe stutter. Fascinating story.

Birthday boy

Two years ago today, this little dumpling popped into our life. Happy birthday to the cutest little boy in my life.

Makings of a fashionista?

This morning I found this on Ava's bed.

She laid out her own clothes to wear today!

I asked if this was what she wanted today and she said, "Yes! A dress. A pink dress!" Of course. If her dad had laid it out, it would be jeans and a t-shirt. Yesterday she asked to wear one of my necklaces with her dress. A different pink one. I think we officially have a future fashionista on our hands.

Post-birthday superstar!

This little girl is a hoot! Here she is modeling some of her birthday finery. The glasses are her own special addition. Gift she squealed the loudest about? The stuffed pink pony. What occupied her attention the longest after the gifts were unwrapped? The tangle of colorful ribbons. Of course.