Football and Cousin Rooney

I first attempted to upload this video a while ago. It looks like it finally worked. Felix introduced cousin Rooney to a game he and I have played. It's a lot cuter when Rooney plays in my place:

Hello Grandma

We've been pretty busy lately; consequently, blogging has had to take a back seat.  Unfortunately, by the time I get to it I've forgotten much of the detail of what I wanted to post.  Memories slip through the pores of my mind like nutrients through the intestinal walls.  Isn't that pretty?  You can use that.  Well, let's see what I can do.
As do most people I know, we celebrated Easter by having our child hunt around the house for a basket full of goodies. You'll notice he's wearing one Batman slipper- he couldn't find the other one. And rather than put on socks or something else, he wore his single slipper the entire morning.
As most know, we have chickens.  As the eggs vary in color from each chicken, each chicken gave us unique and interesting eggs upon coloring.  Also, the eggs held the dye so well the coloring turned out really deep.  Here you see Felix showing off some of his handiwork.  In years past our Tru liked bedazzling the colored eggs with various embellishments, but with the eggs as colorful as they were this year, he opted to leave them as is.
The Tuesday after Easter, Renae took Felix and some friends to Northwest Trek.  The park is discussed in a post from a couple of years ago.  I really don't know too much about what happened as I wasn't there, but I do know that one of Felix's best pals, Charlie, went along.  Evidently, they saw some eagles.
The biggest news, however, was that Tru's grandma Peggie bought a house and moved up here from Los Angeles.  Uncle Casey drove up with grandma and how many pictures did I manage to take of my brother whom I haven't seen in years?  I won't bore you with the answer.  In the lead up to grandma's arrival, Felix helped fix up the property by pulling weeds and pruning trees in the yard.  Upon her arrival, he was very eager to introduce her to her new house, showing her all the neat little things (the laundry chute, the multiple attic accesses, the hidden room under the porch) he had discovered in the weeks prior.
Last, though not least, another one Tru's best pals, cousin Rooney, came over for a day.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and the boys helped us wash cars with their water guns.

Felix Turns 5

Saturday, March 13th, we celebrated Felix's 5th birthday; he had it themed as super heroes. In the morning we had his friends from school come by for a party and book exchange (which I didn't understand and it led to a kind of embarrassing moment). Renae, who is very clever, came up with this great idea for party favors: the day prior, she created this super hero comic book in Word (I think) with Mad Libs type blanks in the text and balloons. During the party, and while dressed as a super hero herself, Renae had all 17 super hero clad kids captivated with what might become of the words they were shouting out to her. Afterward, I typed those words into the computer in the bedroom, and printed them each a super hero comic book that illustrated their efforts.  I'm really blown away at these ideas Renae comes up with, she doesn't give herself enough credit.
After that, we had about an hour to prepare for the family and friends-of-family party. It was a lot of fun, and Felix got all kinds of great stuff. Tru's aunt Chelsea's boyfriend, Rudy, brought these two incredible Spiderman and Batman pinatas.
For me it is a little sad, as a friend of mine had said, "Five is a big deal, he's like a "kid" now". When I've lamented this, I've had several people remark that it's making me feel old, but that's not it at all. I'm just not ready for him to be five, to be a kid. I so enjoyed his toddlerhood, I don't want it to be over.  Look at me blubbering on.
Felix was writing his Thank You's, when he thought he would include "jokes" in some of them. In one he wrote out his name with a picture of a little person where the E should be. He explained that that was him, and that he had jumped up and knocked the E out. Sure enough, at the top of the card was a lone E, displaced by a wily Felix. He thought he was so funny.

Simulpost: Felix and the Chicks (with bonus material)

I am putting together our first ever simulpost; an event in which one post appears simultaneously on two blogs.  This idea was given to me from my memory of a "simulcast" of some bygone Olympics on different channels.  Actually, I don't really remember if that did, in fact, happen. Anyway this post will appear on Our Felix, and Los Pollos Dinamicos.

So what occasion is so big it justifies two blogs? We got two more chicks; a Barred Plymouth Rock (the black chick), and a Rhode Island Red (the red chick). Currently we are keeping the chicks in a large box in the dining room. We will keep them here for about another week before we move them into the garage. Because of the rat problem we had in the past, I built a tractor to cover the chicks' box at night when we move them to the garage. It's really just a precaution. When the chicks are a little older, we'll be able to take them out in the yard under the protection of the tractor. I'll include a picture of it in a future post.
Felix adores the chicks and has been spending a lot of time holding them or watching them.  We will know when Felix has picked up one of the chicks because the chick remaining in the box will cheep until her friend gets returned.

I don't know how Pip, Stripe, and Horace feel about the little additions, I haven't asked them.  I suppose "deal with it" is what I'd tell them if they had an issue with it.  Though my three girls are good layers, we seem to be averaging about 17 eggs a week.  We got lucky in a way in that each of them lay different color eggshells; we easily track how well each is producing.  My understanding with the two breeds we just picked up, they will produce brown eggshells, I imagine similar to Stripe.  I notice some variation in shading in each of our layer's eggs, I'm thinking that will probably make it unlikely that we will be able to distinguish the eggs.
As for names for our babies, we haven't decided yet for certain.  The Rhode Island Red, Felix considers his.  He has gone between Cheepy and Strong Chicken and may settle on both to make a very long name.  The Barred Rock is a breed I wanted to get last year but it wasn't available at that time.  I don't have any ideas though Felix had referred to her as Speedy at one time.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Felix and I had a morning alone together, so we took a trip to Volunteer Park in Seattle.  We climbed to the top of a water tower built in 1906 and then finished up with lunch at Five Guys.

Something Until a Real Post

Whoa, it's been awhile, huh? Okay, so let's see if I can recall what has been going on. I suppose I should mention Christmas as it is a major holiday... well there it is.
My birthday also passed. We were invited by some friends to spend that weekend at Fort Flagler, a state park on the Olympic Peninsula. It was very similar to our beloved Fort Worden, including early 20th century munitions bunkers. I would say the bunkers were probably the highlight for Felix. Our friend Mike and I took Felix and his buddy Finn on a healthy walk down to the bunkers. It was a little piece of heaven for Felix as he enlisted us into playing some kind of shoot-each-other-with-guns game while running through the several story, concrete structure. In actuality it made me a little nervous; there are many sections where there are unguarded drops of at least ten feet, and in other sections scant protection from twenty foot falls. In those areas Mike and I hovered over the kids.
The house previously owned by our late, dear neighbor, Dusty, was bought and the new owner is making some much needed renovations. He had the house raised and had a new foundation poured. He is planning a fairly large addition, we'll see. This doesn't really mean much to Felix but I had a picture of him with the raised house.
Cousin Rooney, however, means quite a bit to him. I threw in a gratuitous picture.
Felix now tells us of a couple of individuals: Mr. Banana Peel and Strong Chicken. I don't hear as much about Strong Chicken, only in vague references, but Mr. Banana Peel is quite a character. It would not be out of the ordinary for Mr. Banana Peel to be sitting on the car's side mirror, hanging out while we are driving, making faces or throwing things at passing cars. He may also be inclined to crawl atop your head and poop. What is really funny about this is how Felix laughs so hard when he is telling us. He gets this cute, high pitch chuckle as he finds himself hysterical at the scenarios he imagines for this Banana fellow.

Felix the Con Man

If you've read the previous post you will know that Felix and I alternate telling each other stories at bedtime. Tru loves when I tell him stories; he prefers it to being read to.  He will mention it on mornings in anticipation of the story that night- he just loves it. Which is great, I don't consider myself a very good story-teller but it pleases me that he is so pleased by it. An occasion where I really got to experience his delight was several weeks ago when I surprised him by resurrecting the character Mechanico, a character we came up with months prior. Just as it was looking grim for the protagonist, in sprang Mechanico. Felix, lying in his bed in the dim light, raised both arms triumphantly. But, as I am not a very good story-teller, I do struggle to come up with stories that won't seem like I'm being lazy.
Anyway, the point here is that Felix loves when I tell the stories, though he is not real keen on telling them himself. It is not unusual for him to tell me that it is my turn though he knows that it is not. Felix saw a problem; "I don't want to tell a story, but I have to tell a story in order for dad to tell his story the next night. How can I get around this?", he may have thought.
But then he had the answer! "Dad, how about we not tell stories every night?" He asked me last Tuesday morning, a day that would be his day to tell a story. I was really surprised because of how much he liked my stories. Upon seeing my surprise he elaborates, "How about you tell stories some nights, not every night, just some nights?"
"You will still tell stories, right?"
"Yes, but you will tell stories some nights"
"Are you sure?", I ask.
"Yeah", he says confidently.
Come bedtime he springs his trap, "Dad, I want you to tell a story tonight because it's some night".

Story Time

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the Pacific Science Center, which is right next to the Space Needle. The picture above is Felix taking a picture of the Space Needle. He was a little cranky that day but the picture was from a happier moment.
Anyway, every night, as we've done for years, Renae and I read to Felix. He goes through phases of things that interest him- space, dinosaurs, fiction stories, etc. currently he is interested in a nature encyclopedia. Over several nights he will ask me to read the same page due to finding a particular piece of information very interesting. About a week ago it was bogs and marshes because of the venus flytraps catching bugs. This week it's been termite towers and the fact that some termite soldiers will explode to block an entrance of the tower. He has also been fascinated with a passage in a dinosaur book that describes a twelve year old English girl finding a complete Icthysaurus fossil 200 years ago.
What is new, however, is that Felix and I alternate each night telling a story we've made up. Felix is also particular about the process; a story can not begin without the story teller asking the other what they would like in the story. With Felix, his requirements for my story have lately been a combination of these things: the moon, the Earth, a family, a little boy, light sabers, rock monsters, lava monsters, and his favorite- a spider-like robot named Mechanico. He also has a name for the little boy: Powerlane. I have no idea where he got that from. With those limitations every other night, it can become difficult keeping the stories fresh. But I imagine when he wants to hear something different, he'll ask for something different. A couple years ago I read that kids will watch shows, listen to songs, read books, over and over because they are saturating; they are still getting information from it.
What also seems to be relatively new is that Felix adores me. Yes, he has always loved me and wanted to play with me, but I could not compare to mom. Now, however, he opts to stay with me when mom goes somewhere, he asks for me in the mornings, on my days off we share bowls of cereal (he loves this), and from the moment I get home from work (excluding a break for dinner) we play until bedtime. There are times where it gets a little tiring, devoting my waking, non-work, hours to his attention, but it's so worth it.

Spiderman on Sugar!

Of course, Dana beat me to blogging. As is often the case, while Dad was busy blogging about life with Felix, I was in the midst of living in the moment with Felix. (Doh!) Felix wasn’t about to let me work on the computer, even if it was to tell loved-ones about him. Instead, when he saw that I too had pulled out the laptop, he quickly got between the computer and me and asked to play the writing game (Word). Among the various consonant laden illegible jumbles there were two very distinctly recognizable phrases “Cat and Hat” and “Dad and Mom”. To be fair, we switched roles halfway through the blogging competition. By then Felix was sick of mom and wanted only to engage dad in play. Dad, meanwhile was heavily invested in one of his many blog-rewrites so I had to wait to post my blog after his.

Felix is pictured here with his biggest admirer, Cinderella-April (you can almost see the hearts in her eyes) at the Active Moms And Tots Halloween Party that Grandma Peggie took him to. This was the year of true involvement in Halloween for Felix. He carved several pumpkins, almost totally by himself. He insisted on decorating (cobwebs everywhere) and had no fear of his own costume. He rearranged our garden graveyard many times, no longer too freaked by the zombie decorations. He had all the appropriate terms down, sometimes saying all parts of the script at once, “Trick or Treat. Happy Halloween. Thank you. Your Welcome.” I even heard him say to his best bud Charlie while waiting for a door to open, “Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.” On Halloween night , he elected to go see a well-decorated house even though it was starting to sprinkle and when the rain came down heavier he chose to return home satisfied that he had collected enough.

When we got home he quickly removed his shoes and dumped his bag and said, “Now I get to eat my candy, right?” He has determined that peanut butter cups and tootsie rolls are his favorite candy, while Oreos still top his favorite ‘sugar food’ list. This morning's daylight savings extra hour was spent watching the scariest of Halloween scenes: Felix high on candy! He was drooling, running in circles, saying crazy things and generally acting like there is an impending crash involving tantrums and tears. (This is as far as I get in my blog as he has declared he’s going potty and my duty (pun intended) is to check to make sure he wiped properly.) Ah, the joys of motherhood.

Halloween V

I have just been informed that Renae and I will be having dueling blog posts as we both tripped over each getting to our laptops to blog about our Tru's Spiderman Halloween.
The days leading up to Halloween were wrought with worry as Felix was grappling with a cold and the threat of rain from the always looming rain clouds. Though even through the illness, Tru continued to show his excitement by decorating the porch with spiderwebs and spiders, and carving four of his own pumpkins.
Then, with the 31st upon us, Felix had conquered his cold and we spent the day in downtown Renton trick-or-treating the shops with friends Charlie and Clara, and enjoying a little carnival type thing with his friend April.
Our plan was to have Renae stay home to hand out candy while Felix trick-or-treated our neighborhood. But when Charlie and Clara stopped by for dinner they convinced us to join them in visiting cousin Rooney and trick-or-treating his neighborhood. The four friends, Felix, Rooney, Charlie, and Clara, had so much fun discerning the participating houses and eagerly running up to the doors. It was neat to see the camaraderie between these four in their mission to collect goodies. After about an hour, Felix wanted to get back to our neighborhood and hit some of those houses. We said goodbye to our friends and headed back home where Renae took him around.
The weather had been good all day, even a little warmer than past Halloweens; warm enough that our pumpkins were showing signs of mold days before they had in previous years. Though, as Renae and Felix were out, we got a bit of a downpour. I hurriedly blew out all the candles in the pumpkins, turned out our lights, and got in the car to drive around looking for them. I did find them when they were almost home, and by that time the rain had really subsided and they were fine. We can't complain, originally the forecast was for rain beginning at four o'clock, a little bit of a shower later in the evening was fine.
The next morning, Tru ate a bowl of cereal and then rushed over to his candy. He culled out the ones he didn't like and gobbled up a few of those he did like. Subsequently, we got to see, up close and personal, a sugar rush. Felix was literally running in circles in the family room, singing and saying non-sequiturs.

Cousin Ailbe and The Ways of the Ninja

On Monday, October 19th, Felix welcomed his new cousin, Ailbe Pippen Wade, into the world. His Aunt Susan delivered earlier that morning, and Tru met her that afternoon. Initially, he was very interested in seeing her as he sat right next to me as I held Ailbe. But he was apprehensive about touching her. Eventually cousin Rooney showed up with Grandma Peggy and Aunt Annie, and they kept each other distracted. But finally, one of my siblings has a daughter.
Also, as you see to the right, Felix's latest school picture is out. Renae scanned that picture and posted it on Facebook. That is where I took it from and may explain why, though I indicated 'medium', the picture is so small on Blogspot.

So, as Renae tells me, there are occasions where Felix accompanies his good friend, Charlie, to karate lessons. I think Rooney goes as well. I can only guess that that is where he learned his skills, though I'm quite sure they don't use sticks. Anyway, we painted the kitchen last week which is a remarkable accomplishment as that task was begun seven years ago. When we put on the addition to the house the kitchen was to be painted then but it was only primed. So for seven years we've had nothing but primer on most of the kitchen walls. With everything out of the kitchen and the walls dry, Tru took the opportunity to use the empty space as a stage and demonstrated Ninjaesque prowess.
There is also a heartbreaking story about rejection that Renae should really be relaying but I'll tell you what I know. Renae was volunteering at the school and had to look on as some older kids coldly rejected Felix's efforts to play with them which caused him a good deal of pain. When Renae told me about it, I had just gotten home from work. I was angry that someone would hurt my son like that, but they're just kids and they aren't tactful. Though he was home now and the moment had passed, I just wanted to hold him. It must have been awful for Renae who had to witness it. I love you, buddy.

Point Defiance

Last weekend we went to the beautiful Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. As far as content, I prefer Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, but the view overlooking Commencement Bay upon entering Point Defiance Zoo is truly stunning. An exhibit Felix particularly enjoyed was that of the walrus. As you can see in the picture above, there is a giant window into the walrus tank. We watched four walruses cycle through the tank, they would swim far enough away we couldn't them on the other side of the tank, then they would rapidly approach through the mock rock formations and glide across our view up against the window. It was cute to hear the assembled kids ooh and aah as the walrus passed.

The other day, I busted out some of my old vinyl records. At first, Felix objected because he wanted to watch TV. More specifically he wanted to watch Pokemon. He found some old videos of Natalie's and Megan's in the attic. Now he's hooked. It looks like we will go through Pokemon all over again, though this time I will know more than my kid. Anyway, he soon started to enjoy the music, particularly Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' "Love Your Wife". So much did he enjoy it that he began to dance! Not bobbing up and down in the same place, but big swooping movements, it almost looked like interpretive dance. By the end of the song I had gotten the camera. He told me he really liked that last song and when the next song came on he began to dance again. Though he liked the song, he didn't like it as much as the other one and consequently tamed down his dancing. To that song is the dance that I captured.

And then, last Friday (I guess that would have been prior to the zoo), Trumie wanted a bowl of cereal, so he scaled the cabinets to get it. I was so amazed I ran and got the camera and then took him off the counter so that he would do it again. He was not happy with that. He threw a bit of a fit and felt it wasn't worth doing again. I apologized, explained what I was trying to do, and told him that I was wrong for doing what I did without consulting him. I really did feel like a jerk. Anyway, that seemed to console him enough. I should include this: when he first tried, he had his socks on. I saw him unsuccessfully attempt the climb and thought "there's no way". He figured his socks weren't giving him the traction he needed, so he took them off. I still doubted him. What a jerk I am.

The Trouble With Pickles

While visiting his good friend Charlie, Felix and his good friend came up with a story about a pickle. Charlie's old man, Daryl, provided much of the animation and expertise. Pickle Story 2 was narrated by our Truman.

Felix has begun full days at school. We were a little anxious about how he would take it, but, as Renae tells me, it was like he was just at school the day before. He seemed more at ease about it than Renae... until Renae experienced the six and half hours of time to herself. I have noticed a huge increase in something called "bon-bons" on the expense reports I make her submit. I kid, Renae works very hard in that time.
This past weekend we attended a picnic at Felix's school. The school has an impressive garden that Renae and Felix helped establish last year. Here you see Felix picking an ear of corn.We were able to harvest over 40 ears, which I think is pretty good seeing as that our garden yielded one ear. He also demonstrated his bar agility skills as he traversed from one end of the bar to the other using only his hands. He was very proud of that. This is something that he would not have even tried not too long ago. I was very happy for him.
After the picnic we headed over to a barbeque at, Felix's friend, Finn's house, where Finn's old man, Mike, had just completed an elevated deck with a fantastic view over Puget Sound (and surrounding neighbor's yards). It really is very cool, and as night fell, Kendra busted out some safe n' sane sparklers:

Felix's First Real Haircut

Usually, cutting Felix's hair has fallen to me... because I'm cheap. In actuality, it's because Felix wouldn't allow anyone else to cut his hair, though there are two exceptions: about nine months ago, our friend, Kelly, took her son and Felix for haircuts at one of those places that specializes in children with the barber chairs that look like trains, and before that, by his aunt Rachael. Both haircuts were terrible, sorry Rachael. So I continued to do a mediocre job until Renae said that she wanted him to have a "good" haircut for school (which begins next week). So after a little bit of "I don't want a haircut", I asked him again last Friday and he agreed. We walked down to our neighborhood barber (where I go) and Kelly (not the one named earlier) gave him his first "good" haircut.
Several weeks ago, Seattle made the national news with record high temperatures. On July 29th we hit 105 degrees, which I understand is the record now. The next week was a succession of 90+ degree days; which was great because the following week was my vacation and we were going three hours drive North to Vancouver, Canada to spend several days at the beach. Day one of my vacation we saw the bottom drop out; temperatures in the low to mid sixties the entire week. Not only that, after I can't remember how many weeks without rain, we got storms. The next week, the week I returned to work, we saw the return of beautiful weather as temperatures got to the mid-eighties and low nineties. It was perfect.
Anyway, our vacation became mostly a staycation, though we did still head up to Canada for some of it. We went to Vancouver's version of Seattle's Pacific Science Center (our membership got us in), and a visit to Stanley Park. We also trekked up to Capilano Suspension Bridge, which Renae and I took the girls to probably over a decade ago. Back then, the day we went was pouring rain and a crew was filming a scene for the TV show Sliders, staring Mr. Rebecca Romjin. Renae was nearly petrified crossing the bridge, she tightly gripped the rope railing while baby shuffling across the expanse. Jerry O'Connell and another actor from the series were behind Renae, amused by her terror. To walk across the Capilano Suspension Bridge was free back then. It is not free anymore, in fact it is now $30 a person. $90 to walk across a bridge Renae wanted nothing to do with anyway? Forget it.
As for Tru... he seems to be really excited about discovering that some numbers added to either the same number or a different number, makes an entirely different number. "Daddy, daddy, three plus two makes five!"
Yesterday, Natalie was over spending time with Felix and asked him if he wanted to watch anything, he answered "anything you want, kid".

Jobs, Chores & Under-employment

It has been too, too long since I posted. It is hard enough to get time to work on the computer and keep my business going, but time to post all of the many changes and events in our lives is too much to ask. However, I'm recovering from eye surgery and found it affords me just enough visibility to see what I'm typing, but not enough to work with numbers and be a functional bookkeeper, thus, you get an updated post!

We've had a busy summer, Felix and I. My work has slowed enough so that we are spending a great deal more time together. While dad has been working away we've taken off to Ocean Shores to help celebrate Grandma of the Century winning Postmaster of the Year. We also spent a good deal of time in Puyallup jumping on the trampoline, heading over to NW Trek and viewing lots of baby animals this year. We've made the most of the $3 theater nearby and we've hung out at the water park, the lake, and the river. Felix is learning to ride his new bike and plays often with his new Lego sets. We've had play dates and baking days. We have been to carnivals and Seafair. Enjoy this picture of our jedi at the Torchlight Parade.

In the spirit of Maria Montessori we've been working on more independence from our little man. I've been encouraging him to learn how to handle all of his personal hygiene in the bathroom in anticipation of full-day preschool in the fall. We're still working on that. I've also put my foot down and refused to assist him in dressing anymore. He didn't approve of that change and so tried out a new term he must have picked up, "Mom, you're fired." Apparently, he sees my job as helping him get dressed and if I'm not willing to do that than I might as well leave. Hmmph. If only that qualified me for unemployment.

Anyway, he's also taken on some chores around the house. We decided them together and they are:
sweeping (spreading the dirt around)
mopping (sloshing water around)
raking the leaves (like when do we ever do that?)
feeding the dogs (well, almost regularly)

He does, however, take full responsibility with the chickens. He spends a great deal of time in the coup, harrassing, I mean taking care of our pullets. He follows them around the yard for free range time and can gather them up when it is time to put them back. He's diligent about watching his hands afterwards. He really cares for those little gals.

In Utero

I came across this picture on my computer and realized that we never posted it on the blog. This image of our then yet to be named, Trumie, is from 12/8/04.

Felix and the Dark Side

Quite a bit has happened since the last post so where to begin? Let's start with Star Wars. I don't recall if I've mentioned before that Felix has discovered Star Wars and after several viewings of each of the movies, he has identified himself with Anikan Skywalker. His fondness for Anikan came despite Felix knowing that Anikan becomes Darth Vader (sorry if I ruined the movie for anyone). Though, in the end I suppose, after killing millions of people, causing untold suffering, Darth Vader, with his dying breath, made peace with his son. So he was a good guy after all. Anyway, my point is... what I'm getting to is that Felix found some of Renae's makeup, took it to the bathroom, and applied it to his jaw, chin and above his lips. Very pleased with his appearance he turned to Renae and told her "I look just like Anikan Skywalker". I am now editing this in: With Renae's help, it has occurred to me that it may not be apparent why Felix thought he looked like Anikan. You might remember that, after pod racing, the bottom half of Anikan's face got dirty where the top half was protected by goggles. That's what Felix was referring to.
As most of you already know, we have chickens; and to help Felix better understand chickens Renae picked up a book about them from the library. The other night while reading that book to Felix, we came across a page with a picture of a hen with three chicks under her wing and three chicks in various places on the page. As I was reading that page Felix interrupts me to say "Two threes is six" And then more confidently, as he became sure he was right, he adds "Three plus three is six". I thought that was pretty cool seeing as we haven't gone over anything like that with him. And as we are on the topic of chickens, follow this link to a pretty funny video of Felix trying to catch a chick: Okay, I can't get the "insert link" to work, so just cut and paste this link into your browser:
http://thedynamicchickens.blogspot.com
Last week Renae went garage-saling (a verb in the 'burb) and came across a boss Spiderman bike with training wheels, and just days before that Felix was asking for a bike. Anyways, I wasn't there when he first got to ride it but Renae did take several short videos and I was able to see him progress from being very tentative to very comfortable. As he excitedly told me when he got home, he was very pleased at how much faster he could go on this bike compared to his trike.
One last thing I almost forgot; Felix had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. We were afraid that he would accidentally roll out of bed onto his hard wood floor. He asked us for a bed frame the other day and now he has one. He is very happy with it, and has managed to sleep the whole night in his bed a few times since we put it in.

Folklife and Chickens

We had a beautiful Memorial Day weekend here in Seattle, and after spending Saturday gardening and preparing for the arrival of chickens , we spent Sunday at the Seattle Folklife Festival. Natalie met us down there and we also kind of celebrated her 21st birthday which was the following day, so we couldn't celebrate with booze.
It is now June 2nd, I have been trying to get this post out for over a week, and much has happened in that time... well, some stuff has happened in that time. First, though, I'll finish up with Folklife Festival- Right as we walked in, Renae spotted a stand where kids (I suppose adults too) could build little wooden boats. For $2 you got some basic supplies like a rudimentary keel, some dowels, nails, string, cork, and some other things I can't remember. Anyway, Felix loved it and was so proud of the boat he built. He drilled the hole for the mast, attached a plastic sail, nailed a couple of corks that he said were seats, and nailed nails around the edge of the deck and wrapped a string around them to define the edge. As proud as he was you would think we'd have a better picture of it... but we don't.
The boat was really the highlight for him, but he did get some time in on the drums. A close second was the fountain, though he would not get wet. There is a steep concrete ramp that slopes down to the fountain that Felix kept running down; it scared me every time he did. I tried to place myself in his path to slow him down or stop him if he tripped, but he kept going around me.
So the big news is that our chickens have arrived. You can see them by following the "Los Pollos" link to the right. He is still unsure about holding them, but he will pet them. He has thought up several names though can't seem to settle on one he likes enough. But I will cease with the chicken talk as it all can be found by following the link.
One last thing I thought was very funny: Renae and Felix were lying in bed the other morning when Felix turned onto his belly and asked Renae to rub his back, as she did Felix groaned out "oooohhh yeah ooohhh". He then asked her to scratch his back, "oh yeah, yeah, that feels good".

Mr. Greenish Thumb

Not unlike getting chickens, putting in a vegetable garden was something we talked about for years and are now finally getting around to doing. I built a 32 square foot raised bed a foot high, and borrowed a truck to haul in a cubic yard of a topsoil and compost mixture.
Felix and Renae got it started a couple weeks ago by planting about a dozen beans or so in an egg carton. Felix was careful to remember to water his little seedlings most days as they sprouted on our window sill, some days he needed a reminder. He used a squirt bottle that he would often turn on the dogs. Last night he saw to a successful transplant of most of those bean sprouts. Last week we planted many of the plants that are in there now. Felix was initially eager to help but lost interest pretty quick. His favorite part was turning on the water. This week though, he was much more engaged. Perhaps because they were his babies. We also got him his own little shovel- sometimes that's all it takes.
Look at him; so self satisfied as he surveys his work.