Snake Friend

BryAnn knit Linus this great snake.  The package was waiting for us on our porch when we got home from the thrift store on Friday.  We took the box to the backyard and opened it to find the snake.  It made me think of those trick cans of nuts where a snake pops out when you pull off the lid.  As Linus carried the large snake around the yard he proclaimed it a "wonderful snake."  We had purchased this great wheelbarrow at the thrift store and Linus proceeded to push the snake around in it.  

He also carries it around the house, like into the bathroom when he brushed his teeth one night.  It cracks me up because of the size difference between Linus and the snake.  The snake has become one of Linus' bed companions.  

He is also having fun with the wheelbarrow. Without being asked to do so, he loaded up my pile of weeds, wheeled them over to the compost bin, slid the lid back enough and put all the weeds in.  He didn't say anything about having done the work, but when I realized what he had done, I praised him. 

Planting Time

The word on the street here is that one can plant things after Mother's Day, but wait to put tomatoes out until after Memorial Day.  Last Saturday Linus and I planted geraniums for the front porch steps and then put some seeds in the bed out front.  We planted zinnias together. Then the neighbor boy, three-year old Alejandro, came over and joined us in planting bachelor button seeds.  Here is a photo of Matthew helping the boys plant the Denver daisy seeds.  Denver is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year and Denver Daisy seeds are free all around town.  The citizenry has been instructed to plant them in our front yards for the Democratic Convention folks to see when they descend upon us in August.  

Alejandro will be moving very soon, which is actually a good thing.  His mother hollers at him all of the time and it stresses me out.  I do wish I could rescue the kid. I can easily see myself rescuing kids like they are cats at the Humane Society.  My mother hollered at us a lot when we were growing up and I'm very happy that I don't have it in me to yell at Linus.

Linus Sings

At dinner last night Linus said he wanted Junie to come over and play.  He said he would feed her yogurt, o's, and cheese.

At the zoo today we encountered numerous peacocks strutting their stuff for the peahens.  Linus wanted to hug them, of course.  I had to keep a close eye on him so he wouldn't interfere with their rituals.  Their tails were open wide and we were very close to them.  At one point Linus was walking along a wall and from down below a peacock brushed its feathers against him.  He talked about it on the way home, as that was a highlight for him.  I could hardly pull him out of the zoo and we'd been there for three hours.  

When Linus has a crabby fit I usually ask him if he needs to go to his room and take a break.  When we got back from the zoo he was tired and crabby.  He announced, "Go in room. Take a break."  Then I heard his door shut.  He came back out after a few minutes and we had a pleasant lunch together.  It is gratifying to know that he is learning how to manage his feelings.

Gardening and Cake

We celebrated Matthew's birthday this weekend. During the day on Friday Linus and I made his cake.  It was a yellow cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting.  I used a cake recipe out of my high altitude cookbook, but it still turned out a bit weird. It tasted fine, considering it wasn't chocolate, but it is rather dense.  Although Linus wasn't eating much yet, he still wanted to lick the frosting off the beater. I obliged him.  I think that is a child's inalienable right.

We spent yesterday morning doing yard work.  I planted my numerous hens and chicks that Matthew and Linus got for me over a month ago at the Cactus and Succulent Society plant sale.  I get such a kick out of hens and chicks and now I have eight specimens and 6 different varieties.  Linus and Matthew planted a pot together and then Linus watered my plants in.  Linus refers to them as "hens chicks" and "Mama's hens chicks."

My favorite part of the weekend was hearing Linus sing happy birthday.  He says it more than sings it and just repeats the "happy birthday to you" line and instead of saying, "To Matthew," he would make like he was blowing out candles.  Very cute.  He sang it while we iced the cake and then again when we did the cake with Matthew.  I had us sing to Matthew a few times so I could hear Linus sing.  It always cracked me up.

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Jean and Jon, Matthew's parents, visited last Thursday - Monday.  Part of the time Linus was his charming, delightful self, which rapidly declined into him being sick and crabby.  Nevertheless, we had a nice visit with them, as well as Martha and Bill.  We ate lots of good food between the restaurants we visited and the home cooked meals by Martha and myself.  Friday I spent the day as a volunteer Guild Master for the Denver Public Schools Shakespeare Festival.  This event is amazing!  Four thousand students participated.  I had a blast helping out.  While I was there, the rest of our group attended the plant sale at the Garden and Linus took them to the playground to show them one of his favorite places to play.  We went to the zoo on Sunday, but Linus was progressively feeling worse and just wanted me to carry him everywhere.  Then that evening he threw up at the dinner table and that began the onslaught of digestive system ailments that have plagued him all week.

He still isn't back to 100%, but he'll get there in a few more days (I hope).  I have cabin fever. I did take him for a walk in the stroller this morning and we saw lots of flowers blooming in people's yards and met another neighbor.  

Here is Linus with Grandpa at the Garden. The other picture is from the Shakespeare Festival.  It shows a little bit of the contingent from the Denver School of the Arts.  I critiqued about 50 of their 60 performances that day.

On the Mend

Linus is feeling better today.  He still had a bout of diarrhea and has only eaten a waffle and a piece of toast, but he is smiling and talking once again.  We colored, painted, and even got out the Play-do.  When I went to do the laundry he said, "Mama no do laundry. Matthew do laundry."  Gotta love it!  Even so, when he went down for his nap I threw in a load.

Today he drew pictures of a plover, hornbill, killdeer, and woodpecker.  I keep meaning to send a letter to the author of his bird song books to tell him he has a 2-year old fan.  I'm also going to include a photo of Linus reading them.  

Here is Linus reading with Grandma Jean.

Sickness Reigns

Linus is still feeling rather poorly.  He doesn't want to play and I'm getting bored. I'm tired of being trapped in the house. I'm also worried that he isn't getting any better.

Here is a picture of him on the couch today with his lovey, lovey bunny, and bink.  I was sweeping and he asked for a towel and pillow. When I asked if he felt sick he said in a quiet voice, "Yes."  So I put a towel down on the couch and got him comfortable. Then I sat by him and cross stitched while we watched Reading Rainbow.  He doesn't delight in anything, which is really worrying me.

Still Sick

Linus continues to be sick.  Between the vomit, diarrhea, and his crabbiness, I'm beginning to lose my mind. I took him in to the doctor yesterday and after a thorough examination, he was deemed to be plagued with a virus.  

I'm killing time before going to bed, waiting for our bed quilt to dry.  The most recent gastric event leaked through all of our bedding.  

Dishwasher Boy

After the plumber was finished here I called Matthew at work to give him an update.  I told him that now that we could run water down the drains, I needed to catch up on all the dishes.  While I continued talking on the phone, Linus pushed the chair up to the kitchen sink and started pushing dishes in.  He stuck with the task for quite a while as I dried and assisted here and there.

Linus is using more complete sentences now.  They are typically instructions such as he gave Matthew in the middle of the night as the two of them were stumbling around in the dark to get Linus a drink of water.  Linus said, "Matthew, go take shower please."  Matthew told him it was time to sleep, that it was still dark and not time to get up.

He still had a fever this morning, but ate about half a container of cottage cheese, painted, and got in a food fight with me. We were tossing around the stuffed food Lyz made him for his birthday and arrived today.  They make him giggle and giggle.

(He is dressed the way he is because after he used the potty, he wouldn't let me put his pants back on.)

Linus in Sickness and in Health

The first picture is of Linus passed out on my chair after breakfast this morning. He came down with a runny nose yesterday so I thought he was catching my dreadful cold.  Instead, he threw up two times.  He had a fever in the night and slept between us.  When he is sick I like to have him next to me so I can minister to his needs that much quicker.  He kept waking up, sitting bolt upright, and asking for water.  He still has a fever and red cheeks, but rallied for a few hours after his nap on my chair.  It is rough keeping everything together with a sick kid, but I do like that it makes him clingier. I like snuggling with him.

He became very, very upset after throwing up and cried so hard.  He was upset for having puke on his throw rug and his clothes, plus he was so sick.  I distracted him with books for much of the afternoon.

The second picture is from a week ago.  I was hosing off the patio and then let him have the hose for his own fun.  He had a blast and was giggling so hard.  I think the sound of his laughter was resounding through the neighborhood.  I was struck by the fact that it was April and warm enough to play in water outside.

Learning to Use Scissors

We were downstairs with the plumbers and then Linus decided to go into my craft room and play with my sharp scissors.  I got out some slightly safer scissors and gave him his first lesson. Part way into the lesson I thought I'd try to use Photo Booth on my computer to capture it all for posterity.

Keep in mind this is raw material without the best camera angles. We were listening to music on the computer, so it sounds pretty loud in the video.  And you might catch some plumber noises in the background.  Real life!  I had to cut it down to a few minutes because I couldn't get all 10 minutes of it to load. 

Art

Grandma and Grandpa sent Linus a box of ten bottles of paint and a whole bunch of fat paint brushes.  He has lots of fun with them and we go through quite a bit of paper.  I had the foresight to give him a bunch of blank note cards to paint on so I could use them as thank you notes for his birthday gifts.  His favorite thing to do with paint is mix the colors up in the palette, also known as a pie tin.  He thought it was neat when he made the color brown.  For the most part he keeps the paint where it should be, but now and then I notice some in his bangs later on.  

No bath for Linus tonight and no showers for us.  The biggie is that we can't flush the toilet.  The plumber thinks tree roots have busted our line.  Tomorrow we'll get it scoped and find out what it will cost to fix. I can live without the running water for a day I guess, but I'm rather distressed about what this is going to cost.  Linus was fascinated by the plumber and his assistant and kept asking about what they were doing and what the tools were.  I had to ask what the one machine was and now we know what a plumbing auger looks like.  Linus refused to go down for his nap until he had seen them drive away for the day.

Playground Skills

Between March and April, Linus developed some new skills at the playground in City Park.  He has become very independent and wants to do most everything on his own, as long as I am closely watching him.  He can now climb up to the top of the big slide by himself and has become confident enough to go down without me catching him at the bottom. He does still ask me to stand at the bottom.  After watching Lucero swing on her tummy, he tried it out and likes to do it each time for a few minutes before asking me to boost him up and push him.  

It isn't unusual for him to find a new playmate each time we visit.  Usually a three-year old girl will attach herself to him and tell him how to play whatever it is she wants to play.  He goes along willingly.  About two weeks ago a boy threw sand at Linus and it got into his eyes and made him cry.  The boy's grandmother made him apologize and then she told us he didn't mean to do it. Yes, he did!  It was an intentional act.  Linus recovered quickly, but brought it up a number of times over the next few days. 

One of the other activities he enjoys at the park is running after the geese to try to get one to let him hug it.  He wants to hold and hug every critter on the planet, which is very endearing.

So Big

When I look at where his 2-year line is on his growth chart, I think of how big Linus is.  Matthew and I were reminiscing last night how much he has grown. I remembered how little he was lying next to me in the hospital bed the day after he was born.  Matthew recalled washing Linus' hair within the first few hours of his life.  Compared to other kids though, he isn't all that big.  At his doctor appointment we found out that he weighs 26 pounds and is 34.5 inches tall. That puts him in the 30th percentile for weight and 60th for height. His head is still big; he is in the 85th percentile for that.  All those brains!

The doctor was pleased to hear that Linus has good eating and sleeping habits.  Me, too!  For the most part he eats whatever we eat.  He is back on a yogurt kick again.  He had three yogurts the other day.  

Something else to catch you up on the time when I wasn't able to blog:  Linus said I love you to me about two weeks ago.  I was weeding in the back yard and he was playing. He hurt himself and came over for a hug.  As he hugged me back he said, "I love you."  This was the first time he has said it with all three words and unprompted.  It was a beautiful moment.

This picture probably captures his first fake smile. I asked him to smile for the picture, which I never do, and this is what I got.

Bird Friends

Linus and I have been enjoying lunch time picnics in the back yard. He sits on my lap and we munch away while watching the birds and squirrels.  We created a bird bath the other day. We put a plant saucer on a log with some rocks in it.  After Linus was done splashing in it and we'd moved on to starting some zinnia seeds, a bird landed there and took a drink. Yesterday we got to see a robin take a bath. That was fun to see.  Today Linus made a whippoorwill sound at the birds.  After breakfast he made a loud bird call and told me he was being an ibis.  

Matthew's aunt Tanya was in town last weekend and we got to show her Denver Botanic Gardens, our house, and go out for Vietnamese food.  She was completely smitten with Linus, which is great feedback for us.  It is always good to get an outside opinion of Linus since we are utterly and completely biased.  

Here is Linus helping me clean up the back yard last week.

Butterfly Pavilion

Anna Louiza and I took the kids to the Butterfly Pavilion today.  I got to hold Rosie, a friendly tarantula, and the volunteer had it walk on the back of Linus' hand.  She wouldn't let him hold it because kids that age sometimes squeeze the critters.  I haven't the faintest idea where I pulled my courage from today, because before today I would not have held a tarantula.  It was obviously safe to do and I didn't want to teach Linus to fear spiders, so with little thought I just did it.  Wow!  It wasn't creepy at all.

We also got to touch a sea urchin and Linus told a bigger kid that the sea anemone was tickling the clown fish. She looked at him blankly, but I was impressed.  Linus had fun playing in the puddles of water in the butterfly area and he and Lucero ran around with butterflies flying above their heads.

On the potty training front:  this morning Linus asked me to help him sit on the toilet.  I got him out of his sleeper and diaper and held him on the seat.  He didn't go, but talked with me and seemed comfortable about being there.  Anna Louiza says I should go ahead with potty training instead of being so nonchalant.  He doesn't know how to take his pants down, so I don't think that he's ready for a full-scale training effort.  Maybe I'll let him run around the back yard this summer bare-bottomed and he'll figure it all out.

Potty Chair

As Linus' friends have each turned two, their mothers have started potty training with them. Well, they are all girls and girls generally potty train earlier, so I had no inclination to start the process with Linus yet.  He, on the other hand, saw Lucero's potty chair, as well as her sitting on it, and decided he needed one. I told him we would get him one.  About a week past and I still hadn't picked one up. Then Friday we were playing with Chase at her house and Langley said she had one she was willing to give us since Chase didn't like it. It was too unstable for her.  When she brought it out to the backyard where we were having a picnic lunch and the kids were playing with bubbles and croquet mallets, Linus was thrilled and claimed it as his very own. 

When we got it home, he insisted on carrying it himself up the two small flights of steps outside, over the threshold, and into the spot on the bathroom floor that he claimed for himself by plopping it down. Then he sat down on it quite proudly.

We are taking a noncommittal attitude toward this because I think it is early yet for him and I don't want to make a big deal of it until he is ready.  He mostly ignored the potty chair until yesterday morning. He was in bed with us after we all woke up and suddenly he said he needed to pee. He slid down off of our bed and ran into the bathroom. We could hear him sit down in there and then he came back and told us he was all done.  Did he pee in his diaper just then? We don't know.  

Matthew came up with a solution for the problem of the chair tipping forward when Linus sits on it: a brick inside the base.  Works great!

(The shirt he is wearing has an owl on it and says "I'm a hoot!"  Yeah, no kidding!)

2nd Birthday Party

I sent out homemade invitations to Linus' birthday party.  Since we were still unpacking and settling into the house, I made simple ones with a bright blue and green palette and pasted a plaid bird on the front of each one.  We had four children attend the big event: Chase, Lucero, Lena, and Lena's four-year old brother Gabriel.  I was relieved that the weather was pleasant so the children could play outside with balloons, a crawl-through tube thing, and a giraffe tent I picked up on sale a number of months ago.

We gave each child a bird water whistle.  With water inside of it, blowing can produce a warble instead of just a loud whistle sound.  The whistles were a hit, especially when Matthew put down a big bowl of water so the kids could refill their whistles themselves. Water and noise makers! What fun!

I made Linus a pistachio cake with a light green cream cheese frosting.  I really surprised him with the Playmobil bird feeder set on top of the cake.  I was most pleased with myself for thinking to use cookie sprinkles as a stand-in for bird seed.  He got a kick out of that.

Linus liked all of the neat presents he received from his friends. Lena and Gabriel gave him a remote control train. Chase gave him an unfinished wood bird house, paint for painting the bird house, a little notebook for his bird watching notations, and a bird checklist.  Lucero gave him a real china tea set in a wicker basket.  He especially likes to serve us tea in the dainty cups.

Then the kids went home, we tucked Linus in for a nap, and I sank down into the couch next to Matthew and proclaimed that we'd properly feted his birthday.

Easter 2008

When Linus woke up Easter morning we sent him out to look at his basket in the living room. When he realized the bunny inside was chocolate, he got really excited.  He also found a plush duck that quacks when one pushes its tummy and some chocolate chicks. He kept offering us bites of the chocolate bunny.  He insisted we take bites, even when we told him it was for him.

We got moving pretty quickly because neighbor kids were going to be coming over at 10:30 for an Easter egg hunt. We were unpacked enough for me to be able to serve coffee, tea, and biscotti to the parents and yogurt to the kids.  Linus' friends Charlotte, Lucero, and Chase attended the event.  

Only Charlotte had previous egg hunt experience (from day care), but the other kids caught on quickly and ran around finding eggs in our new back yard.  Linus took longer to get into it because he was trying to figure out why or how we had plastic eggs back there.  The kids enjoyed opening the eggs and finding the stickers and little rubber chicks and bunnies I had put in them.

I'm Back!

As of about 10 minutes ago, the DSL is working. Thanks to a nice guy who works for the local phone company making the correction even though he wasn't supposed to do the work.  He went to school at Whitewater.  Wisconsin connections do matter!

More very soon, with picture updates of the last month of Linus' life that you've missed.