To Calvin, who is 3 years old today

Oh my, how the time has flown.  It would be a cliche for us to say that we remember your birth day like it was yesterday, and the truth is, we don't really.  We don't remember the sleepless nights really (perhaps because you were a pretty good sleeper all along), and we don't really remember the time of ten diaper changes a day (that is conveniently blocked from minds).  We do, though, remember those early days filled with pride and joy; days that were bright and sunny and cooled by a soft whispering breeze; the days started us off as a family and filled our lives with a love we'd had no previous capacity for understanding.  Three years ago.

Today our days themselves might be just the same–bright sun and a cool breeze–but quiet and soft are rarely part of our descriptive vocabulary anymore.  Over the past year your loves have not changed–you still love animals, books, nature, and your blanket–but the volume with which you express your love has definitely increased.  So, by the way, has your vocabulary.  Sitting at the breakfast table the other day, finding that we were short of kiwi for the morning, you expressed your disappointment eloquently with "that really irks me," and your myriad of words has never ceased to amaze your devoted public.  You have made friends all over our little village, from Miss Terry at the bakery, who gives you your twisted pretzel before library every week, to Mr. George at the camera shop, who develops our plethora of pictures, and even the ladies at the grocery store in our neighborhood.  You are a kind and friendly child, and have a fine grasp of manners that endears you to all you encounter, or at least to most.

It is hard for us to know what achievements of yours stand out anymore.  You know your alphabet and can count to eighteen (except that you miss fifteen almost without fail).  You can recognize and spell your own name successfully and have started tentatively to read along with us, and although you have yet to show interest in drawing the letters themselves you love drawing just about everything else.  You have a way with puzzles, and are very good at sorting anything and everythign within reach.  You are a wonderful help around the house.  You still have your own daily chores, such as feeding all the pets and setting the table, and you also assist with general household chores, like collecting the garbage, sorting the laundry to be washed, folding the laundry that was dried, vacuuming up after meals, watering plants, both inside and out, and helping with general straightening.  We each have our favorite times with you–daddy when you play the piano with him (you can now play twinkle twinkle with the aid of color coded music!) and me when you help me cook or bake by measuring ingredients and counting amounts. 

Though you are clearly a 3 year old, prone to your own bouts of willfulness and resistance, you are a profound little thinker and can usually talk your way through (though not out of) a difficult situation, come to your own conclusions, and, even though you don't get your own way, come to terms with the end result.  We love to watch your mind work this way–the thoughtful look you get on your face, the determined set of your mouth, and the hard look of concentration in your eyes.  This is also the look you get when you try new things, like reading, biking, or gardening (making sure you pull only weeds), and it is a strong contrast to the look of pure gaiety and youth that you wear when you play with your your favorite toys, or watch a rabbit or bird in our yard, or simply run around the center of the house singing at the top of your lungs.  Imagination, concentration, growth, and learning, these are the key ingredients to the joy in our lives today, and you are the source of them all.  We have loved watching you grow and change over the past year, and we look forward to the many challenges and opportunities that will come our way during the next.  Thank you for being who you are, for the joy you bring to our lives, and for the way you push us to become the people we have always wanted to be.

We love you, mom and dad

In a foot note for the blog, I will tell you that we celebrated his birthday with a family party on Saturday night, punctuated by presents (a Calvin sized broom, cool flashlights, balls, new favorite books, and a play grill),homemade pizza, and fresh strawberry shortcake.  We celebrated on Sunday by going out for ice cream.  Then today, on his real birthday, we celebrated one last time with grilled steak and shrimp (his actual dinner request!), cupcakes from our local bakery, and a walk to the mailbox to pick up birthday cards (which did not disappoint!).  We also grabbed some family photos.  We really wanted just one, but how many do you think it took to get there?  See for yourselves.  The full pared down collection can be seen in the Happy Birthday Calvin photo album.

Time. It got away from us.

We realize that we have neglected our blogging duties for some time now. We usually aim for at least one post each week, but the past two weeks really knocked us for a loop around here, in ways we hadn't even imagined. For one thing, we thought that hiring someone else, someone who came highly recommended, to wash and re-stain the deck would be a grand time saving idea, but that plan didn't take into account the fact that they might set our house on fire, resulting in a visit from the fire department and a week's worth of stress and worry while they hurried to fix the thankfully small area of damage (which, also thankfully, remained mostly outside).  Of course this is exactly what happened.  And it wouldn't have been nearly as worrisome or stressful if said accident had not occured the weekend before we were to host, and I do mean host, a wedding for a close friend. What goes into hosting a wedding? Well, while the contractors worked all week to fix the house and deck, I was busy cooking reception foods (including bliny toppings, borsch, and chocolate covered pretzels), and on Friday we hosted a small pizza party while we finished the food preparations (including assembling fruit kabobs, cubing cheeses, and making 250+ blinys, which kept us up until 3am); We housed six people, including the bride and groom, so on Saturday we ferried people around, making it to the 11am wedding, then home to pick up the food for the 1pm reception, after which we packed it all up again to head back home; On Saturday evening we had all the guests over for a second reception, this time a BBQ at our house, followed by movie watching and euchre tournaments; And Sunday consisted of an afternoon of Guitar Hero play, and ended in a final airport trip.  Even when you are tired it is very hard to say goodbye.  So.  What did you all do with your Memorial Day weekend?

More pictures, of course, in the May 2009 album.

Like father like son

First it was the haircut, now it's the shoes.  With the warm weather creeping in on us we decided it was high time that we looked into getting Calvin a pair of summer shoes, and it didn't take him long to pick out two favorite pair from the aisles and aisles of choices (well, okay, just aisle of choices - there aren't that many kids' shoes).  The first pair (pictured) he thought looked just like daddy's, the second pair just like mommy's.  This is an equal opportunity shoe family.  Of course, daddy's shoes don't sport the stylish velcro.

Some days are like that

Some days just plain go well. Today we slept through the alarm and woke up incredibly late–fifteen minutes before Jon should have left for work and Calvin and myself for music class–but instead of stressing about it we embraced the little sleep-in and moved somewhat slowly and sleepily into the demands of the day. We opted to skip class just today in favor of a lazy rainy-day morning at home before venturing out to do our weekly shopping, including a stop at the children's resale shop. Now how often do you think I find exactly what I am looking for in a store like that?  Rarely (though I usually find plenty of other things to buy, of course), but today we found exactly, and I mean exactly, what we needed which was some really awesome new rain gear.  After resale it was on to the grocery store, and what could be exciting about that?  Well, because the store is under construction they are rewarding anyone and everyone who comes through the door just for showing up still, and that scored us some major awesome deals, including new bread pans (in exactly the size we've been looking for) and a mixing bowl, all at 50% off.  As we were preparing to check out Calvin asked for a sushi lunch, and how could I say no?  It is one of our favorite treats.  And after that and a romp in the rain (so I could snap some pictures of the aforementioned awesome new rain gear) Calvin settled back for his afternoon nap while I played in the kitchen (mmmm bread making).  And as if all that wasn't pleasing enough, I also got a card in the mail today (I love getting good mail), finished a good book, and made one heck of a yummy dinner if I do say so myself (and Jon, Calvin, and my dad, who joined us, agreed - see the To Your Health section for the recipe). Yep. Today was just one of those days, in the best way possible.

Junk foods

It's been almost a week and I feel I must say something, but there really isn't much to say.  We're battling a mixture of excitement and disappointment over our most recent snow storm; we love snow, but now that we've had a taste of spring the frigid weather is harder to take.  But life goes on - swim lessons, music class, church, work, play, sleep.  I don't mean for that to sound like boredom, because every day has its unique excitement stemming directly from life with an active toddler.  I realize that soon I will have to forego that moniker for the far less cuddly and far less mom-needy term "little boy" and as each day passes he loses a little more of his baby face and gains another inch of childish wisdom.  While playing a choosing game with Jon last weekend he was offered an imaginary choice between sausage and doughnuts, to which he replied "oh, daddy, doughnuts are junk food."  Right you are, little boy, right you are (though that doesn't stop Jon and myself from enjoying such delicacies from the Dexter Bakery once a week - yum).  His favorite new activity?  Milking the cow from his barn then using his tractor and train to deliver the milk to his farm house.  Hopefully I'll catch that on digi-film some time this week.  Today, though, how about this one?

*This is an unedited picture.  He really is that color.