Day 54: Oh, to be 2

November 18, 2010

The sun showed itself this morning so Jacob and I motivated and went for a hike in Forest Park. We just took some roads that lead into the park to see what we would find. A lovely trailhead and tons of hiking trails! Sweet. 

What a gorgeous place. Wow. Don't get me wrong, I love the austerity and dryness of dessert life in Boulder, the mountain vistas and canyons. This is totally different and just incredible. The amount of moisture is ridiculous; woods like these are always dripping, the leaves always soggy. I'm still adjusting to what to wear, also. When the sun was out and it'd been raining in Boulder, that meant it wasn't all that cold. Here, it's another story. Bundle up, because 50 can feel pretty darn cold.

We hiked down Fire Lane 1 for awhile, a nice wide path. Soon we came to a few smaller trails that headed off into the jungly woods. We took Wildwood Trail. We meandered along a ridge, looking down into a lush valley. It reminded me of Hawaii except a lot colder. I also thought of my brother, Matt and sister, Julie, who would love this area for birding. We saw one little brown bird flit across the path but that was it today.

Jacob ran for some of the trail and rode in the backpack for some of it. Of course, he also enjoyed playing in the mud. I reminded him that we still have to find some rain boots for him. That way he could get even dirtier and it would be okay. I, also, must find some.

We stopped at some mossy picnic tables to have a little snack. Takes me back to hiking with my family when I was a child. We'd go for a nature hike at Kensington Metropark in Michigan then come back to the car for food. My granny would pack salami, cheese, crackers, nuts. It all tasted so good after being outside, hiking.

Such a great time had to end in a temper tantrum, though, because Jacob is, after all, two. He wanted me to carry him in my arms back to the car. When I told him I couldn't do that and that he'd have to ride in the backpack, that set him off. He yelled the whole way back, partly in the backpack, partly walking next to me. We got close to the car and he wanted to keep hiking. It was getting cold (soon to be raining) and it was time to go. Nothing to do but strap him down. Not my favourite thing to do but sometimes the only option. He yelled about hiking all the way back home. I just love those times. Makes me appreciate my mother because I know I gave her plenty of them. I was always amazed that she still was so kind to me after I was such a pill to her. Now I understand.

After a nice nap, we read some books in his room. He could do this for ages. I've sat in there with him for 45 minutes just reading one book after another. Today, we had to go to the grocery store. This caused another battle. He didn't want his diaper changed or his pee-soaked pants changed or his shoes on... I took him in his socks. We made it through the store fairly quickly. I was opening the umbrella when I hear Jacob say, "Wainbow!" Sure enough, there is a gorgeous, bright, huge rainbow arching over the sky in front of us. We both enjoyed that one. 

Fraser's off doing some team building tonight with his co-workers at a Nuggets/Trailblazers basketball game tonight, so I'm on my own. Just relaxing with my own self... aaahhhh...

Day 53

November 17, 2010

A very fall day today: cold, grey, windy and rainy. It definitely feels like November. But it makes me feel cozy. Minus the rain, it's just like autumn in Michigan which I always found to be a peaceful and comforting time. The quietness of a cloudy sky in the early darkening evenings made me feel like the earth was getting ready for a long restful period. 

We went to the gym this morning. I got to do some exercising which felt great. I must say, having spent a decent amount of time in ladies' locker rooms, there is a certain enjoyment I find in being naked with other women or people in general. But with women, there's a commonality about it when people are naked together, reminding us that we're all human animals. Our bodies all differ slightly which is interesting in itself, but once you start looking at bodies just as bodies, it makes me feel more connected to others. My body isn't perfect and no one else's is either. I find that people are more modest here at this gym than the one in Boulder. More people walked around naked at my old gym. I kind of miss that.


Jacob helped me mop the kitchen floor before he had his lunch of six and a half potstickers. The kid was hungry! Hopefully he now takes a nice, long nap.

Success - two and a half hours he slept! Bliss. Hung out at home and listened to the rain. It was coming down like crazy out there all afternoon. Incredible. And vacuumed the whole house this evening - don't feel the need to do that again for another two months. Big spaces take so much longer to clean!

Day 52: CHAP

November 16, 2010

We had another play group gathering today at a place downtown called CHAP (Children's Healing Art Project). It's a big space designed to let kids be free with art. There are tables with paints and collage materials set up, but there's also a play space with a house set up, some tunnels and other odd things (an old bathtub, some mannequins, toy cars, a mini kitchen). You are allowed (and even encouraged) to paint all these things in this area! Pretty neat. 

Jacob did a little bit of painting. He wasn't totally into it this morning. He wanted to play instead which was fine. He also did a little collaging. He said he had a fun time. 

Thankfully, the paint was dry on this punching bag when he hugged it.

 We had lunch with a few of the other moms at the Laughing Planet, a restaurant not far from CHAP. It has burritos, bowls, wraps, salads. Kind of healthy Mexican style stuff. Very tasty. I had a Cuban bowl with brown rice, black beans, plantains (yum!) and sweet potatoes. I added chicken. Jacob ate lots of black beans. Portland sure is fun and interesting when you're downtown. So much to look at and do (a.k.a. spend money on). Just people watching in a park is great fun.


Headed back over the hills for naps. It's a beautiful drive this way, though. The wet forests with bright patches of moss on the bridges and trees... very pleasant. 

Took a nice walk around the neighbourhood in the evening. I put Jacob in the stroller with a blanket and told him we were going on a walk in the cozy, dark evening. He liked it. We also checked the mail and he got two more presents! We waited until Daddy came home to open them. One is a really cool book from Gigi with a pop-up alphabet. We had to read it right away. And the other was the play food I'd ordered online.  
"Ooohh!" he said as he discovered what was inside. The look on his face was priceless. "Open. Open."
The first thing was breakfast foods: bacon, egg, hashbrown, a muffin (!) and strawberries. He was putting them in his dollhouse kitchen. It took him a little while to even notice that there was something else in the box. 

Vegetables that you can cut with your own knife! Oh, he was in heaven. We got those vegetables out and he cut them up and put them together for almost half an hour. Fraser was with him and they'd call out the names as he was cutting them:
F: "Avocado!"  
J: "Arrogado!"
F: "Tomato!"
J: "Mato!"
F: "Carrot!"
J: "Car- rot!"

We finally had to pull him away to have a few bites of dinner and a bath. 
Bathtime was funny tonight too. He was all hyped up, having a great time swimming around in there. 
"Don't splash too much, sweetie," I said. "It'll get all wet out here."
"Moldy," Jacob said. The boy does listen.
"Yep," I said, "it'll get moldy in here."
"Blackberries."
"You're right. Like the blackberries get moldy sometimes." 
Never underestimate what a kid is understanding. Or remembering. As Soundheim said, "Careful the things you say, children will listen."

Day 51: Jacob's birthday

November 15, 2010

My little baby's birthday. Number two. Wow. I still remember everything from his birth day like it was yesterday. My water breaking during James Bond, feeling excited going to the hospital, being exhausted during labour, and first seeing Jacob, seeing that he was a boy and being thrilled to meet him. My heart expanding beyond what I knew it could. And here we are, celebrating his life. He is an amazing little person who I love so much. This past year has been even more fun than the first. The first is all newness and babyhood and sleep deprivation and survival. The second has been more personality, wonder, curiosity, growth. He's so much fuller than after one year. It's so incredible to know someone so intimately from the moment they are born; from the moment they come into being, actually. I am so fortunate.

Fraser took the day off of work today, starting a new tradition in our family of taking the day off on our child's birthday. We decided to go to the zoo this morning. It was great to go as a family. Jacob had a great time running with Daddy ("Daddy, wrun"). Today, we saw mountain goats, bobcats, elephants, gibbons, sea lions, river and sea otters, a mother cougar and her two month old baby. At the chimp exhibit one of them was knocking on the door to the back rooms before she'd run up to the glass and smack it. It sure looked aggressive. I do like seeing animals in the zoo and I know zoos can do a lot of good with wildlife. It also does seem sad to see some of the animals because they look so bored and sad. Repeating the same patterns in the water or around their pen, swinging from the few faux branches and ropes in their cages. Especially the animals with such large natural ranges or the ones with social networks. Seems hardest on them.

After the zoo, naptime. For Jacob and me. Fraser slept in this morning. 
We did some skyping with Grammy, Aunt Julie and Grandpa after naptime. They gave Jacob a cool wooden train, a wooden car and bus and a paper great blue heron to hang up. He put the train right on his track. Of course, the packing peanuts that came with the presents were as much of a hit. 

We decided to take a birthday train ride downtown. The sun actually peeked out in the evening for a nice little sunset. Jacob loves riding the train and had a good time watching the sights and tunnels and people go by. We went to the Rock Bottom Brewery. We knew where to find it, knew it had good beer and food that Jacob would eat. Kids menus suck and I think we've decided to stop using them. It's the same four things every time: mac n' cheese, grilled cheese, chicken fingers, hamburger. Sometimes there's a variable fifth option: pb&j, quesadilla, buttered noodles. We picked mac n' cheese with a side of broccoli. He ended up eating lots of the broccoli but more of my mac n' cheese and chicken. Also my tomatoes and cucumbers from my salad and the apples from his plate. Now, for the best part. He got a make-your-own sundae for his birthday. They also had birthday beer but we thought he wouldn't enjoy that as much. The sundae came with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry, and.... you guessed it - sprinkles!!!! The only thing he ate were sprinkles. Ok, he took a couple bites of the cherry eventually. But he just dug into his little cup of sprinkles. He decorated his whipped cream a bit with them also. If any whipped cream got on his fingers, he'd make a grossed out face and have me wipe it off. Hilarious. He had no desire in anything other than sprinkles. It just made his day. 
Took the train back. He was great the whole way. What a trooper. We read a birthday card from Gigi (Great Gran) and looked at e-cards from Aunt Katie and Uncle Justin and Mimi and Pop and went to bed. A long but delightful day for everyone.

Day 50

November 14, 2010

Another morning to sleep in - oh, the joy! This time I actually got back to sleep and slept till 10 o' clock!! That has to be some sort of record. I impressed myself. Jacob and Fraser were having a nice morning together in front of another fire. Fraser had caved in and gone to the only restaurant we know of yet that's open early enough in the morning: IHOP. I had some leftovers (minus the pancakes). 


Got stuff ready for Jacob's little birthday party. It was very strange that it kept getting darker and feeling later and later, but knowing that we were having a gathering that started at this point in the day. The time change plus clouds is not the greatest combo. 

The party was definitely a bit.... different. Karen and Charlie came from down the street and our friends Janelle and Niul came also. Charlie was the only other kid but that was okay. He and Jacob had a nice time playing together and with Fraser. 


I was going to go for some chocolate brownies. Jacob really wanted sprinkles on whatever birthday cake he had. That was his one request when we asked him what he wanted for his birthday. Then I was at the store and saw a blueberry tart. I already had a $7 container of blueberries in my basket but traded it out for the $4 tart. Less work for me too than making brownies and not that I don't love eating brownies but I don't love where they end up when I eat them. 

So... I loaded the sprinkles on Jacob's tart. He loved it. He was so happy with the results. He wouldn't even look up at the camera to say cheese for the picture, he was so engrossed with sprinkles. And he ate the blueberries too.

Yum, yum!

Jacob and Charlie riding on Fraser. Jacob definitely got a bit jealous when Fraser spent some time with Charlie. It was pretty cute, actually, to see Jacob make a claim on his daddy.

Yay, Daddy! Giddy-up!

Day 49

November 13, 2010

I got to sleep in this morning. This really meant that I got up to get Jacob because I already had to go to the bathroom. He wanted to read in his bedroom together. After about 20 minutes or so of that, I convinced him that we should cuddle with Daddy in bed. Finally the boys got up so I could sleep. By this point, I was pretty awake but sometimes I can get back to sleep. Fading a bit when the garage door opens, then Shilo starts meowing about who knows what. I let her into the room. Usually she just sleeps on the bed. Fading again, more meowing. Grr! I kick her out but by this point, I'm really just thinking about things and not feeling sleepy. My body is now so acclimated to getting up early that it's hard to sleep in when given the opportunity. Not every time, but lots of times. I probably enjoy the break from child responsibilities more than the actual sleep. 

I came downstairs to find the boys cuddling in front of a nice fire. Ooohh... that's a perfect thing to do on a grey, rainy day. This is the first place we've ever lived with a fireplace and it's fun. Very cozy.  

Fraser still having a hard time with suburbia and the rain. Not sure how to help him out of all that. I think there has to be a change in mindset and that comes from within. Talking through it is helpful too. It bums me out that he's having a hard time getting past this. I get excited to do stuff together on the weekends but when they come, he's out of sorts most of the time. Sigh... time, I suppose. One of those patience things. 

Jacob took a three and a half hour nap!!!! Holy mackeral! Craziness. I don't remember the last time this has ever happened. Amazing. 

After this wonderful time period of rest we decided to go to Toys R' Us. I had decided to go and look and maybe get some things for Jacob there. First, it was dark and rainy, it took us a long time to find it due to poor maps and GPS directions, so the bad mood had already set in for Fraser. I was still fine at this point. We walk in to rows and rows of somewhat disorganized, plastic crap. Just shelves of toys, none of which looked very nice. It made Target's toy section look like Santa's workshop. Everything seemed so manufactured. Then there were the buckets of McDonald's play food as well as the cooking station so you could fry your own french fries at home. Hmmm.. one of the most disgusting places with some of the worst food and here it was in miniature for our kids to pretend to eat constantly. Disgusting. I wanted to leave. Fraser actually found a cool basketball hoop for Jacob and a remote control helicopter for himself. There's still a child in most of us.


We stopped for dinner at Juan Colorado, mostly for margaritas. Jacob had a virgin one: "ma ga ta" and a "dee-ya" (quesadilla).  The food was tasty and the service nice. It's also close to our house: convenient.

Day 48

November 12, 2010

Morning dilemma (that I only remembered last night). Reminded Fraser of my PT appointment at 9am; he forgot and is unavailable to watch Jacob. Plan B: the gym daycare but Jacob has a runny nose so that's out. Plan C: my neighbour Karen. I call and leave a message. Plan D: bring Jacob with me or cancel. We're hurriedly getting ready. Ten minutes until I'm bringing Jacob with me. He's having a fit because he wants me to go back upstairs, Karen calls, says she can watch him. Great. I calm him as quickly as possible and bring him over. Thank you, universe, for providing me with a good friend and helper mom two doors down!! Charlie is naked and thrilled to see Jacob. Perfect. I'm out. 

After PT, I go to get him. He's having a great time, and Karen says he was great. That's the best part of lots of kids; they kind of all just play together and take care of each other. Of course, the worst part about lots of kids is the grabbing, hitting, whining and tattling that also goes on in these same situations. Alas...

Had a bike ride in the chilly late morning. Jacob definitely loves his little bike. He loves going down hills. The bummer for me is that I'd occasionally like to walk a little further with the stroller, maybe get a little of that so-called exercise stuff. Also, he usually asks at some point for me to "cah-wee you" and the bike. I guess this is the exercise part. 

Jacob was also asking about his friend, Ander, from Boulder. He wanted to talk to him on the computer. So cute. 

New park this afternoon! Magnolia Park, I think. Very fun. Some very neat spinning things. Not merry-go-rounds, exactly, but pieces that you could hold onto and spin. Jacob was attracted to them immediately. Also, the very big, steep slides. Great. He did very well, though. The look on his face was one that started with a smile but ended up being totally freaked out. He'd get off, though, and be screaming and laughing and wanting to do it again. I told him he's gonna love roller coasters.

Whole Foods stop after the park. There's so much to distract me in these stores. I could be in there for hours walking aimlessly up and down aisles finding more things to buy. This time I found a delightful loose tea section. Yum! 


Nice evening with the boys tonight. Jacob brought up another old friend, Max. He was playing with a little orange super ball that he thinks was Max's. Very interesting what he remembers. I'd love to know what actually goes on in his brain.

Fraser surprised me by getting The Blind Side to watch tonight, even though he hates Sandra Bullock. He knows I've been wanting to see it for awhile. That's love for you.