Bats, Bats, Bats

This is the bat peeking over the top of the corner cabinet in the dining room.
Linus was laughing so hard at the shenanigans, his face turned pink.
Matthew used some of my quilt fabric to catch a couple of the bats.

Here is the bat that crawled out of the vent right in front of us.

The big news in our household is that we've been entertaining bat refugees.  We had work done on our chimney last Friday and the chimney guy ended up closing the exit for a colony of bats.  Starting that evening, we had bats flying around the dining and living rooms.  We gently and respectfully herded them out the front door.  By Sunday night, I was tired from canning all weekend and the bats weren't such a novelty any more. I just wanted to relax; but, we were on bat duty again.  Before it got dark Matthew and Linus put aluminum foil over the edges of the fireplace insert, the heating vents, and heat air intakes.  As dusk settled over us we sat in different parts of the room and waited silently.  Almost immediately we could hear a bat walking on metal.  Next think we knew, Linus and I saw a bat crawl out of the air intake we were watching.  That gave us some useful information to tell the bat expert.

To make a long, dramatic story much shorter and to the point, here is the summary:

*I called the Urban Wildlife Rescue who gave me advice over the phone.

*The chimney guy came back and took off everything on the top of the chimney so bats could get in and out freely.  Bat guy told me that they will all be gone to hibernate by the middle of October and then we can cover up the chimney again.

*We learned that bats here are larger than the ones in Wisconsin.  

*I think the bats were fortunate to have us to deal with because we advocated on their behalf and treated them as respectfully as we could.

*Linus knows a lot more about bats now and he even told the chimney guy, "Bats are nocturnal. Owls are nocturnal."  The chimney guy understood him completely and was very impressed.

*Linus told me he wants to be a chimney guy because he would drive a truck, have ladders, wear boots, and get to use tools.  This is the first time he told me he wanted to be someone.

Linus misses the bats.  He played a game earlier this week of pretending to catch bats. He'd run around the house with a quilt, pretend to drop the bat into a paper grocery bag, then had me open the front door and he'd let it go. Oh, he also had me pet these imaginary bats, which I only agreed to do if he understood they were pretend.  We've talked to him a number of times about not touching bats.

Brown Palace

We got to join Matthew in entertaining someone who was in town to speak for the lecture series at the Gardens.  We met up with him and his wife at the Brown Palace and went out to eat.  We made an attempt to dress up a bit.  I pulled out a button-down shirt that Linus hadn't worn before and he was excited to be like Matthew.  He was so pleased when I told him how handsome he looked.  He watched me get ready and when I put a necklace on he asked for a bracelet.  So he left the house with a turtle bracelet and my Carmex.  He told me I looked handsome.

The highlight of the night for Linus was the revolving door at the Brown Palace, which is a ritzy hotel downtown.  I admit that it was quite striking with its clean glass and shiny surfaces.  Linus went through it a number of times and figured out how to get it to turn on his own. His delight spread to the hotel staff and guests who watched him enjoy it so much.

Linus and the Ants

Grocery Shopping

I recently decided Linus was tall enough and had adequate self control to push his own kid-sized grocery cart at the store.  It went great!  He is careful to not run into people with the cart and asks before he puts something in it.  When the food is within his reach I ask him to pick out x many of it and he puts his counting skills to use.  When the food is too high for him to reach, I grab it and then ask whose cart it should go into.  He is very decisive and always knows immediately where it should go.  He also unloads all of his items onto the conveyor at the check out.  The staff have been amazed at his focus and maturity.  And his cuteness, too.  Fortunately, we shop at a smaller local natural foods store and they have the time and patience to let him unload his cart.

As you can see, on this day Linus brought Madeline to the store.  It was rainy and before we left he had me help him put on her raincoat.

Little People

This is the first plaything Linus has named. He named this Little People person Brandon.  Matthew and I were both struck with surprise when he referred to it with a name.  All of his other dolls or stuffed animals are called by what they are (Baby, Duck, Bear) or a name I've given them (Floppy Dog).  I got this vintage Little People bus with six vintage Little People off of eBay last summer.  They are only as vintage as I am really, as they are from the era of my childhood.

Linus likes imaginative play with the Little People, his plastic dinosaurs and animals, stuffed animals, cars, and dolls.  He drives the cars around a lot both in the house and on the patio. He has fun pretending to cook and cooking for real with me.  He is becoming interested in trains after getting a Thomas book from the library.  I also got him a Thomas memory/matching game at a thrift store and he memorized the names of all the characters after playing the game just a few times.  He likes to play the game with three boards and giving me one.  He'll pick up a card and instantly know whether it matches a spot on my board or one of his.  I still can't fathom how his brain processes all that information so quickly.

One thing Linus does not enjoy is the participatory part of story time at the library.  He listens when the librarian reads three stories, but has very little interest in the singing, finger play, dancing parts.  He no longer sings along with the ABC's and just watches everyone else do the actions to go along with songs.  For the umpteenth time, he has not danced the hokey pokey. Last Monday, after a three week break from story time, while I danced the hokey pokey with the group he sat on the floor and looked at a book.  I'm thinking about giving up on the story time, since we read all of the time at home and I don't need to do head, shoulders, knees and toes with a group of toddlers to enrich my life.  A friend suggested maybe he is beyond that and is bored. She suggested I sign him up for Lil' Kickers, a soccer program for toddlers.  That costs a pretty penny and the library is free.  

Berry Patch Farm

Langley and I took the kids berry picking yesterday.  Linus was good about putting his raspberries into the basket until he saw Chase eating all of hers. Then he started gobbling them up as fast as he could pick them. I managed to pick a pint before the kids lost interest and needed to go to the bathroom.  New to the farm this year is a potbellied pig named Bacon Bits. Linus liked petting her and a barn cat.  He wanted to pet a chicken, but I couldn't catch one.  I was able to catch a toad for the kids to see.  Linus was excited to hold it, but Chase was having none of that.  When we were done having our third drinks from the drinking fountain (so much more fun than drinking from the water bottle!), I tried getting the kids to head back around the barn to Langley.  When Chase wouldn't come, Linus took her hand and they walked back that way. Two-year-olds are so cute.

This morning Linus was asking about my raspberries. I told him I froze them to have in January when we are really missing fresh fruit. He wanted to eat them NOW.  I told him we'll go back to the farm next week for more.

By the way, Chase is super tall. She is wearing a size 4t and is only a month or so older than Linus.  Her mama is tall, too.

Sweet Tea

One afternoon last week we had tea time.  I made us raspberry leaf tea and we enjoyed it at Linus' little table.  He was more interested in pouring in lots of milk and honey and stirring it than he was in drinking it.  I've always put the milk and honey in for him in the kitchen, but this time decided to bring out the creamer, which he calls the milk dish.  All of the little tea spoons we inherited are getting some use.  Tea time is something very pleasant for us to share together.

Miscellaneous cute stories:

*We were lying on the bed together facing each other and he said, "We're both cute."

*I had him try on his winter coat from last year and he said, "This seems perfect on me."  A few days later he told Matthew, "That jacket is perfect on you."

*Sunday we went to a party to celebrate one of Matthew's colleagues getting tenure.  I met a lot of people there.  Back at home Linus started shaking hands with his stuffed animals and saying, "Nice to meet you."  

*At the library yesterday he selected a kids cookbook with no prompting from me. When I was done getting dressed this morning he told me he'd made pretend muffins using a recipe from the cookbook and would I like some.

Jam Surprise Muffins

Linus asked for us to bake.  He requested gingerbread cookies, which to him means any kind of cookie made with cookie cutters.  I suggested scones, which he readily agreed to, but we didn't have sour cream.  I quickly chose a recipe for Jam Surprise Muffins.  He didn't completely understand what the surprise was until he got to eat one.  After we mixed the batter, I put some in each muffin spot and he put in a dollop of raspberry jam.  He kept wanting to eat jam straight from the jar. Then I put more batter on top and we baked them.  We made both little and normal size ones.  When he bit into one of the little ones he exclaimed, "I found the jam!"  And I said, "Yes, that is the surprise!"

When we returned from the park yesterday afternoon he was rubbing his nose and crying, which led me to believe he was coming down with Matthew's cold.  He insisted I snuggle with him on the couch, which I did while Matthew made grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.  Next thing I knew, Linus was throwing up all over me.  Fortunately, most of the vomit was on me and very little got on the couch. I called for Matthew and while he was helping us out of our icky clothes and comforting Linus, the sandwiches became rather overdone.  And of course as soon as Linus was done crying, he asked for food.  

I feel like mother nature flipped over into fall the second we got out of the Labor Day weekend.  I'm loving most of it.  Matthew came home with a cold Tuesday, so the virus season has begun.  It has been cool at night and we've been closing up most of the windows.  We've been able to wear pants and long sleeves.  It has been cool enough for me to work in the garage at getting the last of the move finished off.  Except for the virus thing, I am reveling in this perfect weather.  I love to be able to wear long sleeves and snuggle under a cozy with Linus on the couch.  Summer days will sneak in again here and there, but we are definitely shifting gears.

Cotton Candy

We went to the zoo at the end of the day on Labor Day.  We got to ooh and ah over the new baby giraffe. It is just two weeks old and super cute.  Then Linus wet his pants while riding on Matthew's shoulders.  Oops!  Matthew changed Linus' clothes and then we went on to see the camels and bison.  (Linus now knows that another name for camel is dromedary.)  He wanted a treat and he got interested in cotton candy, which he has never had before.  He chose yellow.  He still has quite a bit of it left even now.  He didn't eat any yesterday and only took a few bites of it today.  

Saturday Linus and Matthew got to ride in an ice cream truck.  We decided we wanted to spend the exorbitant amount of money to buy ice cream because we hadn't taken advantage of the ice cream truck at all this summer.  They had to chase it down because it goes down our street so fast.  I had the money and was back at the house.  The driver had Linus and Matthew hop in and then he reversed back down our street.  

How Do You Measure Up?

Linus helped Matthew make a scarecrow this weekend.  It is a project for the corn maze the Gardens does each fall at the Chatfield site.  They shopped together for the supplies and when they got home Linus was excited to show me the boards they bought.  He said, "Look mama, wood!"

Linus had fun learning how to use the tape measure and proceeded to measure anything he could.  When he measured my foot I asked him how long it was.  He said, "Two feet."  When he measured his own head he said, "It's a good size." 

Linus' current look when he smiles for the camera includes him squinting his eyes.

Purple Park

One day last week we walked over to the purple playground in City Park.  It takes about 15 minutes to walk there.  We haven't been there since last summer.  The playground equipment was beyond Linus' abilities and I forgot about it.  I'm glad I remembered it because now Linus can enjoy many of the activities there.  I'm not sure what the real name of it is, but neighbors refer to it as Purple Park or Gorilla Park.  The predominate color is purple and there is a sculpture of a gorilla.  On a sad note, it is dedicated to a boy who died at the very young age of five.

Linus spent much of the time there pushing his dump truck around, sending it down the slide, and pushing it on various swings.  He has gotten very good at climbing and today he climbed all the way to the top of some rather tall equipment at Turtle Park.  It left me feeling a bit uneasy, but I spotted for him and he did it over and over again until he made it to the top without my help.  Even so, I was under him ready to catch him and worried about him hitting his head or teeth on the metal as he fell down.  Sometimes he gains confidence before I do.

Somewhere along the way I neglected to mention that Linus can say his ABC's and count to 13.  Neither of us knows how he learned the number 13.

Cute Guys

My guys are so cute.

We took my friends from out of town to the Botanic Gardens.  Between that and our keeping late hours all weekend, Linus was tuckered out.  

We just got back from a 4-hour visit to the zoo with Matthew's cousin and her kids. When we got in the door, Linus climbed up onto the couch and promptly fell to sleep.  Too bad I have to wake him up soon to head out to pick up our produce.

Veggie Heaven

Linus really has fun pulling out the veggies from our CSA farm bag each week.  You'd think it were Christmas.  He smells them as he takes them out and then he looks them over.  He tends to think carrots are cute.

Today I handed him a book to read and he told me, "I don't know the words in this book."  He's never said that before!

Nap Struggle

Linus continues to nap sporadically.  Some days he ends up passing out in weird places.  The other day he was overtired and crabby. I suggested he rest on the couch with a book. He said he wasn't tired.  Next thing I knew, he was asleep.

Gym

On Sunday we attended the fifth birthday party for Gabriel.  It was held at a gymnastics facility and was heaven for all of the little kids. They could run around, climb, jump, bounce, and swing to their heart's content.  The two-year-olds in the group were more timid about a number of the activities, but everyone found something fun to do and some pushed through their fears.

In the first picture Linus is sitting with Anna. She is four and a half years old and recently she has taken to Linus as though she were his big sister.  She made sure he had what he needed and put the straw into his juice box for him.  It is really cute to see.  Anna's mom is working on a teaching certificate, which brings my teachers as friends count up to four.  I think I identify with them in their approach to helping kids grow and learn.

In his goody bag from the party Linus found a pack of Smarties, his first ones, and he said they had good flavor.  He shared one with me and one with Matthew.

First Camping Trip

Our 24-hour camping trip was fun for all.  Linus helped us set up the tent and then he and I went down by the lake to see the four pelicans swimming near shore. We also got to get a good look at a pocket gopher that kept coming out of its hole to stuff food in its cheeks.  Linus called it a cute little critter.  Our campsite was near a small playground.  A big kid pushed him on the tire swing and once he was comfortable with her, he really got into the fun of it.  We had hobo dinners and then Matthew and Linus attended a mountain blue bird talk while I watched over the fire and relaxed.  We made s'mores of course.  Linus enjoyed them, but had little patience for roasting his marshmallows.  He pulled his out right away.  One good thing about this is that we didn't have to worry about him getting burned from melting marshmallows.

We got to bed rather late and it was like having a slumber party in our tent.  Linus slept in Matthew's old blue sleeping bag, which is better than either of our sleeping bags.  He thought it was cozy.

We got lightly rained on a few times and hid out in the car to stay dry.  When Matthew was out stashing the fire wood under the car to keep it dry, Linus sat in the driver seat and pretended to drive.  He said, "I'm driving.  Drive out of camp and go to coffee shop."  

We left earlier than we had planned on Saturday because Linus was tuckered out and at the crabby, weepy stage.  That was understandable since we were up way past his bedtime and each and every minute of the trip was a new experience for him.  I think it was overload for him.  He has good memories of the trip and talks about the tent.

Social Events

Saturday night through to Monday morning we hosted Luc from Montreal.  He works at the botanic garden there and is doing an employee swap with the garden here.  He'll be here for three weeks and we got to host him when he first got to Denver. He was a charming guest and Linus enjoyed playing with him.  The top picture shows him playing with Luc at a picnic at City Park for the final jazz concert of the summer.  (How could it already be the last one?!)

Tuesday night we attended a neighborhood ice cream social.  The free ice cream was a delightful treat and we all got to climb into a fire truck. Actually, Linus was in two trucks. One had the 100-foot ladder and he got to climb around in the back seat area.  The other truck was a regular fire truck and he had a blast "driving" it.  I was pretty excited to be in it, too. I don't remember ever having done that.  The firefighters were great with all of the kids.  

We are taking Linus on his very first camping trip tomorrow.  He keeps telling me he likes camping.  Little does he know how much fun he is going to have.  We are only going for one night because we want to see how it goes and because we have to be back for a birthday party.

Posts continue to be few and far between.  We've been busy and twice this week I fell asleep when Linus napped. Today he helped me can plum jam. He washed the plums and pulled off their stems. He also put the icky ones in the compost pile.  I ended up cranking out 24 jars of jam.  No wonder I'm tired out.

Armadillo

We got to pet a three-banded armadillo today! It was the cutest little creature.  For some reason a zookeeper brought it to the Botanic Gardens for a video conference.  Matthew told us we could come and touch it.  Linus didn't nap,so I loaded him up and we went for this amazing experience.  Linus has no clue that getting to pet an armadillo is unusual.  Which is a great perspective on life, thinking that such things are normal.  I, on the other hand, was totally jazzed up about it.  I wanted to bring it home with us.  It was so cute.

On Tuesday we received a huge amount of produce from our CSA farm and we got our first corn of the season.  Linus helped me shuck corn and then proceeded to eat his raw. Every single kernel of it.  I guess he just couldn't wait.

Here are some things he has said recently:

*"What mama thinking?"  I thought that was pretty advanced for a two-year-old to understand from the look on my face that I was contemplating something.  (I was thinking about freezing green beans at the time.)

*Lately he asks me, "Mama happy?"  I say yes and then he asks if Matthew is happy. I say yes.  Then Linus says he is happy and that everyone is happy.

*He has started using the word "actually" and he uses it correctly.  He also uses the word creature to describe animals sometimes, which he picked up from me.  

*He brought home a library book called Germs Are Not for Sharing.  After hearing it once or twice he started coughing into his sleeve instead of his hand.  He'll cough for real, point out to me that he is coughing into his sleeve, and then does a few fake coughs into his sleeve to punctuate the act.

*Every time he uses the potty one of us ends up saying, "Germs are not for sharing," to remind him to wash his hands.  One time Matthew was using the bathroom and as soon as Linus heard the toilet flush, he bellowed out, "Germs are not for sharing, Matthew!!!"  It was a riot.

*He was playing store with the real food in the cupboard and I wrote down some of what he said.  "I'm buying food for my family.  My family likes to eat couscous.  My family wants to eat more pinto beans. My family likes pasta.  I like buying pine nuts most."

*He was playing with a sticker of a camel.  He narrated the story like this: "Camel just standing there. Another camel will walk and bonk into it. They'll be friends."

*After every few bites of a sandwich he showed it to me and says it is a letter. One time a "b" and one time a "j."  Not really, but he has a good imagination.

*We were at a coffee shop that has a bunch of toys because it caters to parents of young kids.  Linus was playing with other kids and came over to tell me, "I like playing with dolls mostly.  I like playing with train mostly.  And playing bus."

Tonight he fell and split open his lip.  It was important to him that Matthew see it, but Matthew is working late.  I said Matthew would look in on him when he got home.  

First Coloring Book

Although his friends have coloring books, I have held off on buying one because I never ran across one that wasn't with licensed characters designed to make kids want more stuff. We were at the locally-owned children's bookstore to buy a couple of presents and I found a beginner's coloring book that has lessons that are more directed in the respect that they build on a two-year-olds ability to control a crayon.  

The book is published by Kumon and each page has a different theme.  The first two are shown above.  In the one on the left he was instructed to color in catsup on the omelette. In the one he is working on he was to draw spaghetti on the girl's plate.  He thought both activities were fun and returned to both of them several times over the next day or so.  After a few more pages of scribbling type activities it moves onto coloring a shape that is white in the middle of something. For example, there is a yellow lemon with a white triangle in the middle.  One is asked to color in the triangle.  

Before any of you think this is too academic for just coloring, I want to say that the approach is quite laid back and tells caregivers to let kids color the activities however they like and with whatever colors they choose.  Linus seems to like that there is an activity to do, rather than just color pictures.  He gets to contribute to the picture.  In the picture of the girl sitting at the dinner table with the spaghetti, Linus asked why she had a grownup glass.  He calls wine glasses that because whenever he wants a drink of my wine I tell him it is a grownup drink.  I couldn't think of a good answer other than that maybe she was drinking juice out of the glass for a special occasion. 

Playing Librarian

Here is Linus leading what he refers to as program.  He always has a very attentive audience.
I left the room for maybe five minutes and I came in to find Linus like this.  I really got a kick out of his balancing act, but I kept that response to myself, took a quick photo, and then told him it wasn't safe for him to be up there like that. He hasn't tried it again so perhaps he got it out of his system.  Notice that teddy bear, police duck, lovey, and bink were accomplices.  He's been big on carrying any number of toys around at all time.  He must be going through another emotional development phase; he wants bink and lovey with him at all times.  His friend Anna is the same way. She showed up to the library with her lovey, baby, and two Ziploc bags filled with little toys.

At dinner tonight Linus said, "I like dinner, mama.  Mama make a good dinner." We were dining on a new recipe I tried for new red potatoes and green beans with butter and garlic, leftover soba noodles with veggies, and leftover mac and cheese with broccoli and cauliflower in it.  It wasn't the best meal I've ever served, but it made Linus happy.  Matthew has done a good job of teaching and modeling Linus on thanking the cook.