ABC's and weaning??

this weekend we went camping at Gooseberry Falls - AMAZING! it is beautiful, even tho it is a hot tourist spot. there are miles and miles of trails and this year we got to do a bit of hiking (with zoom on foot and in the backpack). he loved being outside, sleeping in a tent, and playing with the other children in our group. we got a group campsite, which is such a nice way to camp with other families. instead of walking around the campground visiting each other, we lived together all weekend.
couple of milestones:
while putting dinner together one evening i watched zoom across the picnic table, singing to himself. as i listened carefully i realized he was singing his ABC's and didn't even miss a letter. another mom could see his hands, a juice box in each, dancing them along the picnic table. precious!!
our campsite was divided into two areas. the tables, campfire and activity area was set below a large clearing where most of us pitched our tents. between the two areas was a full staircase, with short, deep steps. zoom loved practicing climbing those steps and by the end of the weekend he could climb up and down them without using his hands!!
i wonder if he is starting to wean. for the past four or five days he has consistently been biting me just minutes after starting to nurse. if he bites - we are done for that session, and he doesn't even complain when i tell him no more. it makes me kind of sad. i love that time with him and i'd love to keep giving him the nutritional goodness he gets from breast milk, but i knew it would happen at some point.

delights of spring

it has been raining all day and it makes me homesick for the northwest. amazing, but true! there are some of us that are comforted by the sound of rain on the ground. the air smells fresh and cool. the sky is a calming grey. everything green shines just a little brighter. perfect droplets of rain collect in the creveces of leaves. it is beautiful!

peeing in the woods

we spent the weekend in the boundary waters and used only 5 diapers!!
so i forgot to mention that we are doing a really easy intro into potty training. we are caring for a boy who just learned to pee on the toilet while he has been with us, so zoom totally got into it. he was all about taking turns on the toilet and that got me thinking that i could have him running around in boxer briefs - what could be cuter than little buns in tight undies!!??
i'd say it is going well. he still pees in his undies, but most of the time he tells me as he is peeing or just afterwards. clearly it would be favorable if he were to let me know BEFORE he starts peeing, but hey, we'll get there. if i am on it, i'll ask him if he needs to go and he'll usually pee.
so i was thrilled to use only five diapers while away from home for the weekend. he peed on the toilet, hovering over a public toilet, and the favorite - in the bushes! "more bushes" he would say just after emptying himself.
yippie! less diapers for me!

the price of coorespondence

i had no idea that postage was going up. 41 cents now to send a letter in the states. wow. i showed up at the post office today to mail a package and was shocked! i guess i'm not paying as much attention to the news as i thought. how could i have missed that?
back in my day...... i think it used to be 24 cents. is that right?? could it have doubled already in my lifetime?
well, if i had saved my boxes of letters from pen pals and friends around the country i could tell you for sure. i used to write to so many friends. it was so fun to get a letter in the mail. i think i kept some of those letters until i moved to the midwest. i do hold on to things....
after resisting email so much i realize now how very convenient it is. with a kidlet, will i ever be a letter-writer again?? i swore i would not stop sending personal letters, but it has sure been a while since one has left my home.

Funder and Yitening

last night we had the third storm of the season. i love severe storms - probably because i didn't grow up in a climate where they did much more than litter your yard with evergreen boughs. this thunder and lightening biz is great! i love how powerful it is. the strong breeze whipping the rain around. zoom gets a kick out of it too.....and maybe is a little frightened, but he covers that pretty well (i just feel the squeeze around my neck tighten a bit).
the first time i heard a real tornado siren (not just the weekly reminders of what the warning sounds like) i guess i didn't really take it seriously. i was working at a garden center and just couldn't go inside. the sky was a tapestry of reds and oranges, blues and purples - i couldn't stop watching. the best thing about the lack of elevation change in the midwest is that you can see forever! the sky was huge! my co-worker scolded me and gave me a long lecture about how serious these storms can be. i know they are, maybe it is one of those things you have to see to believe.

i'm pretty sure spring is here

1. we nearly spend the majority of the day outside
   
2. zoom crashes at naptime and at the end of the day
3. i have chaco feet
4. the lawn turned green overnight
   
5. what coat?
6. the perennial garden is emerging
   
7. painted nails
   
8. windows stay open all night
9. we are eating most of our meals on the patio - for the next couple weeks until the mosquitos arrive
10. more laundry - snow keeps everything so clean!