This morning Victor asked Ethan when he was going to stop going to school because he missed him (his words, roughly). (Ethan replied that he had to go to school.)

Adorable! (And well expressed.) Victor’s had some trouble adjusting to the lack of his best-friend and playmate this year. He’s getting there, but he’s so used to playing with Ethan and watching Ethan play and having Ethan around that it’s been quite a change for him. I love that he told Ethan himself.

Ethan just left for his first day of Grade 1. I’ve been stressing badly the past week and this morning was strangely stress-free. I think because I’ve already tied up all the loose ends I could and prepared well and yesterday’s practice lunch went so well that today is sure to not be eaten at all.

So now it’s Victor and myself and Victor had a little breakdown this morning over breakfast, not wanting Ethan to go to school. It was sweet in a whiny, annoying kinda way.

With all this time available to myself, now, I’ll be able to catch up on the stuff I’ve let slide the past month – Ethan’s birthday letter, garden blog posts, reorganizing the office, cleaning the kitchen, preparing for winter. It’s going to be nice to get things done!

(oh I hope today goes well! K and I both have a good feeling about this year and I’m scared we’ll be proven so very wrong.)

One of the boys favourite recipes (and ours, too). Who knew it had such sleep inducing properties? It never has before…

Knitting is such a joy to me. At times challenging, even despairing sometimes, but always a joy. Any creative endeavor has it’s ups and downs in activity and August tends to be the start of my most inspired knitting. I’d started the blue scarf just before we left for Maine, intending to finish it quickly and enjoy it thoroughly this fall. It’s been shoved aside by the Haruni shawl which I started on the 10th. The scarf was enjoyable, but the shawl grabbed me by the collar and demanded my attention. I haven’t rushed at knitting it, just put in time when I had a bit of time to spare.

I finished it last night. It’s not blocked, nor the ends woven in (two, so no big job), but I just love the finished product.

Unblocked, so it’s small and lumpy, but the rough shape is there and I can see how lovely it’s going to be once it’s blocked (tonight). It’s 14″ down the center and 19″ across the tips. It should grow by a good 25-40% once blocked. I could block it straight across the top but I like the curved look and it’ll be wrapped around my neck anyways.

I’ll be using it as a scarf this fall/winter. I tend to wear v-neck shirts and my favourite winter sweater/coat is a v-neck as well and scarves don’t cover my exposed skin very well. This, worn with the point in the front and wrapped like a scarf, will do just that.

I think it’s beautiful, and I love that I can create such beautiful things.

ps. Victor: “It look just like a sea creature!”

Edit: Blocking now. 22″ down the center and 28″ across the top tips. It’ll relax a bit once it’s off the pins, but not by much. It’s a tad smaller than the designer’s finished product, but lace is very individual (plus I used smaller needles). Right now our office smells like wet dog and every one of those little loops around the edge has a pin in it (that’s a lot of pins!). Good thing I’m so pleased with the results

That was our wake up this morning, screamed at the top of little V lungs from outside our door. He’s been throwing up all morning – unable to keep even water down for more than half an hour. Now, magically, at 2pm he’s miraculously, wonderfully better. He ate goldfish and they’ve stayed put for over an hour! He’s been drinking water like a camel and still his “tummy feel gooD”.

Little kids are such weirdos.

It has become increasingly apparent that Victor (and I) have “the other kind of vomit” (from down below). He’s got diaper rash that would frighten even the most stalwart. His skin is raw and seeping. Poor little dude.

We’re convinced that it’s from the McDonald’s Playland that we stopped at on Sunday. Timeline works out from there and Gods *know* those things are nothing if not contaminated. We’ve always avoided them for that reason. At least the boys enjoyed contracting this bug(s).

All vacations should be like the one we just had. A week with beautiful weather; cooperative, happy children; and loads of fun. No injuries (minor pavement skidmarks excluded), no emotional meltdowns, no vomiting.

We spent the week at a campground called Stadig that was fabulous. Cheap, super friendly and helpful, great playground for the kids. We had some noisy neighbours who stayed up late into the night talking (loudly) but it didn’t bother the boys much and I had earplugs. We put the boys on either side of us (Ken and I in the middle) and that worked really well and they slept fantastically.

We tried to keep the boys sleeping schedule as it normally is (tried to) and so we were up pretty early each morning (a challenge because the campground has quiet time til 9am). That worked to our advantage a few times when we went out for breakfast and got into popular places before the morning rush.

Saturday: Our trip “started” with lots of car packing and cramming stuff into the back. I think next time we’ll have a different grill (we have a little Weber Q which we love and is very portable but a tad big for these trips) since ours is slowly dying, so we’ll have more room for other things.

Sunday: We left early in the morning, stopping at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (a big success with the boys and donut balls, a big failure for me and their terrible coffee). We drove and drove and drove. Google claimed 6hrs from here to there, we made it in 8 (we do this, I don’t know where the time goes).

Monday: BEACH! We were staying in Wells, ME, so we went to the Wells beach. They have a fantastic trolley system in Wells that’s super cheap so we used that quite a lot. The weather was very sunny and hot and the beach was very crowded but we had a great time. The boys splashed in the waves, tried going a bit deeper and decided they weren’t ready for that yet. We collected shells and played in the sand and the shallow waves.

Tuesday: we drove south to York’s Wild Kingdom (animals!). A really cute little zoo that seems to take pretty good care of it’s animals. They had a really nice variety (lions, tigers, bears, elephants, camels, sadly no giraffes as Victor wanted to see).

They got to feed the deer, of course.

They got to feed the ducks.

They got to try chocolate covered frozen bananas on a stick (and Mommy got to finish them).

Afterward we drove around a bit further north to see what we could see there. Found a cute little toy shop and got some wooden cars and trains for the boys to play with in the tent.

Wednesday: E’s birthday!! Donuts for breakfast. Kennebunk beach, we were assured, was a 15min walk from where the Wells trolley stopped. We walked, occasionally carrying the boys and our stuff (I carried Victor most of the way), about 3 miles to the beach, and then found the one we wanted (has a playground) was “just around the hook” (turned out to be around the 2nd hook) – another 2mi of walking. Thankfully the first stretch of beach was a treasure trove of shells, so Victor was kept very amused collecting them. Ethan had his heart set on the playground and was very happy to see it when we got there. The beach was nice, the water was chilly but very doable, the waves were great. Sadly the sun was *hot* and when we ended up missing the Kennebunk trolley we had to wait an hour in the hot sun for the next (Ken burned the top of his feet, I burned my calves). We wished we’d spent more time in the water, Ken and I both. Gramps and Nana came to Wells in the afternoon and we had a nice dinner with the boys entertained by arcade games while we talked.

Thursday: We, and Gramps (Nana had a book report to do), took the Downeaster train into Boston (train!)

went to the New England Aquarium (fish! penguins! sharks!)

walked through town,

fighting the crowds to find a McDonalds (nuggets!).

Then.it.rained. The kind of rain that hits SW Ontario in August. Torrential. Awesome. (Well, I love that kind of rain, others of my party don’t so much.) We had extra time since the aquarium didn’t take as long as we’d expected. We struggled though town with a bad map to find the subway (subway!!) and took it to the Science Museum (contraptions! dinosaurs! cool stuff!) We’d have loved to spend more time there – it’s definitely a whole day kinda place and we’re intending to go back in a few years – but we had a train to catch. By then the rain was truly pouring down and the roads rivers (!) were a challenge to ford. We were soaked to the skin but made it to the subway, then the train station, in time. Donuts for the boys for dinner and partly dried clothes thanks to the bathroom hand dryers meant they were more comfortable and rode back to Wells very well behaved (aquarium giftshop toys help, naturally). Thankfully my cameras were not damaged from the rain. We’d brought Ethan’s meds for this day and decided to try without them and it worked out really well – he was great.

Friday: Success from the past few days of going places had us trying to find the Children’s Museum in Dover NH. Took a while and we got lost, but we found it and what a cute little place! Small, but with lots for kids to do. We spent a few hours there then dragged the boys outside with the promise of another playground and then lunch. It was late when we got back, but we had a light dinner at Gramps/Nana’s cabin, then the adults sat outside chatting while the boys sat in the cabin and watched the 1-hr special Phineas and Ferb (the timing of that night was impecable). It was a late night, but a good one.

Saturday: Our last day on vacation meant we had to spend it at the beach. Gramps brought bubbles (which were enjoyed by a lot of children and we were later thanked by one mother for entertaining her kids for a while and giving her and her husband a few moments to chat). We also brought kites.

We also searched for crabs among the rocks,

played in the sand, dug holes,

and Ken and I had a chance to brave the colder water and splash in the waves on our own. We all got sunburns (we didn’t bother with sunscreen because we’d tried it another day and it was useless, stupid stuff! good brand, even!). We packed up much of the camp and had another nice dinner with Gramps/Nana.

Sunday: Drove home. Made better time, somewhat. Had the chance to stop and have lunch with Jim (Ken’s college buddy) and John, his partner. They found us a McDonalds with a playland so the boys were very happy to stay there forever and we had a nice long chat. We got home late afternoon, unpacked, bathed (!), and wound down. The garden missed me a lot (loads of tomatoes! Deer ate the morning glory leaves (stupid, hope they get sick) and the parsnip leaves (I’ll leave them be for now), biiig zucchini!). The weather is going to be hot this week, which sucks, but it’s nice to be home. Ethan was our biggest surprise as we weren’t sure he’d improved at all since last summer (the past month has been tough) and yet, on this trip, he’s like a different boy – he’s really much better at controlling himself.

All in all, we had a fantastic, wonderful time.

This past weekend we went up to NY to spend with family. Weather was hoT but we managed. Victor, skin sensitive that he is, got a horrible heat rash and his lower back and scalp are covered in itchy, bumpy welts – they’re getting better, though, and should be gone in a few days.

I’m craving lace. I don’t know if it’s a time of year thing or that I’m floundering in what to knit right now (working on a few baby hats for a shower, but my interest is waning. have a few projects for me but they aren’t inspiring me either). I do have a lace stole that’s been on a far-back-burner for a long time, that I could pick up again…. maybe. This shawl is inspiring me right now…

Garden is doing great, though we desperately need rain. Deer didn’t eat too much of it (instead, feasted on the hostas again leaving little else but stems). I need to harvest the rest of the beets and turnips and replant them, but soooo hotttT.

Whine.

Wonderful summer storm we’re having right now. Torrential. Just the way I like it.

Things are a bit better. Ken’s still working almost constantly, but it’s the ‘almost’ that makes things bearable.

I finished up (mostly) a couple projects that were hanging over my head, so that feels good (and uncluttered). I made the boys an indoor hopscotch mat (Backyardigans, woo!) that was the original cause of the carpet meltage so the 1st square isn’t there and I’ll need to pick up more fabric transfer sheets to finish up. They like it, despite the number ‘3′ square being upside-down. I also (almost) finished some placemats for the table. I wanted the boys to learn where utensils go and remember having something like that when I was a child. Couldn’t find what I wanted so I made them with some poster board and self-adhesive laminate sheets (which I ran out of, so I only got 2 mats covered). I tried finding digital utensils but nothing worked well so I traced around some of our own. Not the most perfect, but definitely recognizable as *our* utensils. It’s worked beautifully and the boys actually kept their plates in front of them after they finished eating lunch today (instead of pushing their plates away, which they used to do, to my annoyance). They work will dry-erase markers as draw mat’s too, so we may have a dual-purpose item.

We dropped Victor’s nap this week. I may have to murder him.

When it rains, it pours, right? I wish I were a stronger person and that when things start to pile on me I could just shrug and keep on keepin’ on. The thing is, I’m not. I’m really very weak.

Ken’s on a project deadline, so every night is up late and working. The weekend is laptop and “play quietly and don’t pester Daddy”. Next weekend looks much the same, possibly the weekend after that (and, really, no end in sight) despite it being Father’s Day and our Anniversary. I told him that if that happens I want to stay home on Independence day weekend, as a family, and not travel up north like we’d assumed we were doing.

This weekend I started off wanting to get some of the office rearranged and quickly changed my purpose to “get a quiet space for Ken to work”. I did, and though the office isn’t done the desk/printer are better situated and cleared off, and there’s a nice spot for me to sit and read at night while he works.

The rest of the rain is dealing with Victor being 3.5yrs old and thus a little jerk much of the time. Ethan will be done with school in a week and a half and lately when Ethan and Victor play together they quickly regress into behaviour that we struggle with. We’re also struggling to figure out how to help Ethan understand and control his emotions. We’re struggling with money (who isn’t?) especially since Ken hasn’t seen a raise in 2yrs and we found out there’ll be one – at the end of this year. Ken’s struggling with having to work where he is, unhappy. I’m struggling with identity and loneliness (and weight… and depression).

So we’re struggling. I know things will improve, it’s just the slogging until that happens.

Victor had his last appt to check that his leg healed well (it did – almost no sign it was ever broken). He was “the perfect child” the whole time. You know that child – when you’re out and you see someone else’s kid who’s *so* well behaved and *so* charming. That was Victor today. He did as he was told. He stayed put without me having to ask it of him. He put things back right when I asked him (in front of the dr. who was very impressed by that). He was adorable and chatty and very nicely thanked the lady for the lollipop at the end of the visit.

Lately he tends to swing between completely adorable, chatty, telling stories and letting us know that we’re his “brest friends!”, to tantrumy, demanding, ignoring, impulse-impaired 3yr old. It’s a wild ride.

Regarding Ethan’s brain, it’s brilliant. Tonight, at dinner, Ken asked Ethan to listen to the letters he was going to say and see if he could figure out the word. He then said “H-O-M-E”. Ethan almost immediately said “I don’t know”, but we pushed and I asked him to say the sounds those letters make. “Home” he said. Ken tried again. “C-H-I-C-K-E-N” I protested that it was “a bit challenging” and Ken agreed, but we waited and after a moment Ethan said “Chicken! Like Chicken Little!” Ken reversed tactics and asked Ethan to spell out the word “Large”. “L-A-R-G” We corrected him, though I pointed out that the silent ‘e’ in “Large” doesn’t follow the rules we’ve been teaching Ethan (that silent ‘e’ makes the previous vowel say it’s name). All in all we’ve confirmed that he can read in his head, and that he’s stunningly ahead of his age/peer group. I had him read some lists of the standard sight words for each grade (the Dolch lists) and he was getting ansy at the grade 3 level (bored, really – he wasn’t in the mood to read word lists) but could do them. For completing his first year of school we’re planning on taking him to his first theater movie (Toy Story 3) an giving him a gift card or cash for a book shopping-spree.

We’re keeping a closer eye on Ethan’s weight, because of his meds, and Victor’s overall size just because he’s huge and that’s amusing.

It’s been a bit over 6wks since we weighed them last, and Ethan’s weight has gone from 35.2lbs to 35.5lbs – not much, but at least it’s up and not down. He’s also been working on his height, since he’s grown an inch since then and is now 43″ tall (at what point do I start referring to his height in feet? 3′ 7″). His weight is now under the 5th percentile, but only by about half a pound so we’re not too worried (he’s always been down around the 5th-10th percentiles).

In the past 6wks Victor’s weight has gone from 37.7lbs to 38.4lbs, and his height is up to 40″ (3′4″) now (up 1.25″ from December!). He’s solidly at the 90th percentile for height and 95th for weight. I always figured on a few more years before Victor was bigger than Ethan – and it will be – but that was based on height. I didn’t realize the impact those extra pounds of muscle would have on the balance of power. They’re evenly matched now – Ethan’s extra height making up for Victor’s extra weight – but who knows how long that’ll last. Hopefully long enough for Ethan to get better at being a nice brother.

It was quite warm yesterday and last night – we were able to leave the windows open all night (and wake up at the ungodly-bird-hour). Today promises to be ungodly hot so we’re outside, Victor and I, until the sun gets too strong/hot. I’ve set up a chair in the front lawn where I can watch Victor wander about the yard, exploring and being a (semi-destructive) goof. There’s a lovely breeze blowing, the daffodils are bloomed around the tree, the weeping cherry in back is bursting with tiny pink flowers and the waterfall is trickling away up the hill and the birds are twittering and calling.

The soil temp is up to 60F so I’m starting hardening my tomatoes/peppers/eggplants – they’ll go in the ground next week. It’s a tad early, but they need it.

Victor just helped me remember what dandelion flowers smell like, and how much I used to enjoy that smell as a child. Such a lovely morning…

For those who’re just here for the boys, the V-Bunny wishes you a Happy Easter!

For those at all interested in the garden, we’ve already got lots growing:

First Daffodil’s about to open.

Rhubarb’s doing well (we’ll be able to harvest this year, finally!).

And seedlings I planted a few weeks ago are sprouting up (these are beets, but we also have spinach, lettuce, radish, daikon and turnips coming up, with chives growing like weeds).

We’ve had a productive weekend, too, despite set backs. I planted more seeds, though one herb bed wasn’t finished because we ran out of galvanized nails to attach the trim to make the bed – that’ll happen later this week, I think. I planted eating and pickling cucumbers, ripped out half the peppermint and oregano beds and seeded spearmint and chamomile in their place (the plants, themselves, were split up and tossed onto the hill in front of the house with the expectation that they’ll root themselves down and spread and choke out all the weeds). Mother of Thyme and Rosemary went into another bed, and once we have the nails we’ll have Cilantro and Sage in the other (the old Pumpkin bed). I also planted Dragon Tongue beans (for drying) and He Shi Ko bunching onions. This means all I’m waiting on are the squash, melons, and seedlings (pepper, tomato, eggplant, celeriac, luffa, leek), flowers and some live plants (blackberry, currant, butterfly bush and bleeding heart) that haven’t arrived yet.

I’m humming and hawing about hardening the peppers/tomatoes/eggplant because I worry about the temp dropping back too much – I’ll start them this week in small increments and keep a close eye on how they do. For now, though, we have this:

I widened and straightened the pathway/house-side bed, which helped a lot. We’ll be putting up the arbour and flower boxes soon, I hope, and the tomato and cucumber trellis/support system. We’ll add in the potato tires this weekend, I think – just store bought potatoes, this year, since it’s our first time. Right now I view it all as a somewhat clean slate, with seeds emerging and potential poised to burst forth.

The garden now has beets and turnips planted. The chives are coming up, as well as the wild onion we found alongside the house last year. Peppermint and oregano are both growing (they’ll be a pain to split up and I’m going to have to dig the whole bed out instead of just pulling plants). Lilac buds are swelling, cherry blossom buds are about to burst, rhubarb is poking, crocus are in full bloom, daffodils are growing well.

The warm weather we’ve had has changed my planting plans a bit. I’ll be starting the onions directly outdoors, instead of doing seedlings (which is a relief since I’d been planning on ~50 seedlings of red and of yellow and then scattering the green onions). I’m not starting the brussels sprouts or luffa indoors, either (well, maybe the luffa).

The garden is going to have some big changes this year.

We’re planning on an arbour and some flower boxes at the “entrance”, there’ll be tire-towers of potatoes (1 or two, I haven’t decided), permanent trellis/supports for tomatoes, cucumbers and peas. Teepee supports for bush beans. New shrubs in the form of red currant, raspberry, butterfly bush and bleeding hearts.

More flowers. Better pathway distinction.

I love what we have, but I’m so excited at what we have planned!

So is Farmer Victor.