a quick note of important things

Life has been running along at a quick clip here.

Like light speed kind of quick.

Did you know my baby is turning 1 on Wednesday?

Yeah. I know. No idea how that happened.

***

I made reservations this morning for our vacation. Guthrie's spring break is perfectly timed for our need to get away from job/house/life so, we're getting away. We've rented a cabin up on, well, it's near the town of Ellison Bay in Wisconsin, but the house is actually on Hedgehog Harbor.

With a name like that how could it not be awesome?

We still have awhile till we go, but I am so ready. I could leave tomorrow. And come back in May!

****
Laithe is so busy. SO busy. I'm a firm believer in letting my kids have full access to their environment. Within the restrictions of safety of course. We have gates at the bottom and top of the stairs and in front of the laundry/cat box room. I have a latch on one cabinet where we keep cleaning supplies and light bulbs, etc. Free range is how I like my kids. I find I worry about them less in new environments because I've seen how they deal with their own. So, when I was fixing lunch and Laithe grabbed the full box of Crispex (everyone under the age of 5's favorite snack here) and proceeded to dump I had to remind myself that this is him learning. My friend Jun had a rule in her house - the $5 rule. If it was less than $5 she didn't care what her boys did to it. I was there when she didn't care about a full box of Cheerios all over the couch and it was impressive. And I learned a lot. They played and ate and played and ate. And then they vacuumed. I'm not saying it's ok to be wasteful, but sometimes we need to change our notion of waste and our notions of the price of experience. I don't bat an eye at a $20 toy they might play with a few times yet I freak out over a $2.50 box of cereal? Really?

Yeah. So he's into everything. And I remind myself of the above philosophy daily - hourly? There seems to be so much I forgot about having a toddler. About how one day it's ok to lay your crafting on the piano to clear off the table during dinner and then next it's not because someone grew. About how loading and unloading the dishwasher becomes an exercise in patience and grace - or time management. When your alarm goes off at 6:30 know that I'm doing dishes because no one else is awake.

*****
I can feel spring coming on - regardless of the two small winter storms we've had in the past week. All it takes is one 60 degree day and we're all - HOW LONG WILL THE LONGEST WINTER EVER LAST?!
It makes me want to work on our house again. We need to wait to paint until the ground settles. Anyone else have more settling cracks than last year? The potholes have been particularly bad so I guess the City has it much worse. I've seen some cool ideas floating around the internets that I want to figure out how to incorporate into our home.

I cannot wait to get into the backyard. The past two summers I've either been in my first trimester or wearing a newborn on my back and it's not been so conducive to heavy gardening. This also means that when Laithe goes to his 1 year well child he'll get his first vaccination: the DTaP with its tetanus fighting powers. I'm not particularly sold on the D or the P parts of the vaccine especially the pertussis (guilt-inducing commercials be damned) because it's not particularly effective. Rather, I feel my unvaccinated child when faced with pertussis germs (as we all have been in this community) has probably an 85% chance of not getting sick. Roughly. Because that's such an easy estimate to make. The vaccine is only 60-80% effective - much lower than other vaccinations - so I'm confused as to how this is effective. I don't think that the math works by adding all the percentages together and that's now immune he is. Anyways. I'm preaching. And most of that is in response to the aforementioned commercial. Such poor taste. Should be banned.

***
I set Guthrie up with a child's needle, some yarn and fabric in an embroidery hoop and let her go to town. She'd picked out the needle the other day at the fabric store and was excited to use it. I wasn't sure she was enjoying herself, but then I overheard her tell Laithe, "See Laithe? I'm sewing. All by myself."

Later on she told him that when he was four she would show him how to sew if he was interested. She's a good big sister.

Here is her finished product. I'm not sure why she drew on it with highlighter. Mixed media I think. ***

Laithe learned - or taught himself whatever - how to walk backwards today. It is extremely entertaining for all parties involved. How does one learn how to do that?

***

Well. Then. This was a lengthy post about random things was it not?

Hope your week is full of joy!