Myles Says

We had a fabulous weekend, with the highlight being Finn's 2nd birthday party. It was not lost on me that this is the first birthday party of Finn's or Kaleb's I've been able to attend, aside from Kaleb's first (which was at my mom's house)...and so we are once again so grateful that my sister's family is close by. Myles is too! Both Seth and I got a great run in on the Creeper, I was just feet from a beautiful pair of white tailed deer. The weather was incredible.

This is a quick post to share some of what Myles has said recently:

He calls the tag on clothes a "name tag" as in "where's the name tag on this shirt?"
He calls a belt a "seat belt" as in "I want to wear papi's seat belt on my pants!"
He has even taken to calling his friend from church, whose name is Ivy, "poison Ivy" because that's the only context in which he's ever heard us say the word Ivy.

More later...

Seth the Superhero

So the title of this post isn't actually referencing the above photograph of our beloved superstar, as handsome as he is with a handlebar mustache. It refers to the FIRST PLACE (yes, I'm shouting now) award he received in today's Asheville Pizza Brew superstar 5k, which he managed to complete in a dizzying 17:20. For this feat, he received a 5X7 tile that we must find a way to incorporate into the decor of our house. Seth's only flaw in this race is that he failed to dress like a superhero. I did, however, manage to see the fastest costumed superhero in the race, who wore a zip up red face mask with golden lightning bolts coming out of the side and a blue cape. He ran with a kid whose body was painted red. As I've mentioned before, never a dull moment in Ashvegas. It's a good thing Seth doesn't keep up with this blog any more, or I might get an exasperated talking-to for bragging about his race. But he deserves it. The man can fly.

Myles had an excellent Halloween, nevermind the rain. We found the closest thing to a purple monster costume that we could find, and lucky us, it was on consignment. He refused the hood, and could barely put one foot in front of the other as we trick-or-treated down Montford, so wide were his eyes with every costumed kid we passed.

Myles Says: A new addition to our blog posts, one I believe will be used with great frequency in the coming months. A few days ago I asked Myles, "What do you think we should get Finn for his birthday?" Myles: "How 'bout a cake?" Later, he was pantless (potty training demands it!) and pulling his t-shirt down in the front, and back between his legs. Mama: "What are you doing, Myles?" Myles: "I'm patting my butt." Mama: "Why?" Myles: "Because I love my butt."

And with that, I'll sign off for the night happily, as it looks like that health care bill will pass momentarily...

Sweet October

Ah, the month of all things pumpkin. The leaves are at peak, and it's a beautiful time to live in the mountains of western NC. Our lives are full and abundant--in the past month we've made a visit to Hickory Nut Gap farm for our pumpkins and apples, we've spent time with my family and marked the first anniversary of my dad's death, we've enjoyed just about every second of building this new church community, and we've enjoyed the company of friends, especially those new little ones recently born into the world.

I think I was a little hesitant to write on the anniversary of my dad's death...feeling this need to honor him and write something profound, but living in the reality of being a mom to a toddler who is ever-busy. Suffice it to say I just miss him, plain and simple. This Sunday is All Saints Day and we have invited folks to bring in photographs of loved ones and light a candle in memory of them. My dad's picture will be on the altar. I remember last year at this time going to church and not even being able to speak his name during this ritual. This year will be different. The grief shifts, and there's a little more breathing room. The good memories flood in more quickly sometimes than the ache.

Mylestones: Myles was well on his way to potty-time last week, going to his morning out program in "biggie boy" underwear (with Thomas the train on them, of course) and staying dry. This week he decided he's not interested any more. So it's back to diapers. We do have very creative bath times, in which a drama with 2-3 dinosaurs always ensues, with dialogue and at least one rescue scene. Myles also enjoys playing doctor with his "sick" stuffed animals...one of them is always wanting a pacifier and Myles has to remind them that in our house, the pacifier is just for sleeping. He's quite the authority on that one. Tonight we were able to get him to wear his Halloween costume for the night with friends, and that was huge! Several weeks ago we checked out a Halloween book at the library and in it there was a purple monster costume. Myles pointed at it and said, "I want THAT. THAT, mama." So we looked all over for a purple monster costume, but the best we could find is a second-hand pull over blue monster costume. However, it has purple dots and purple horns on the hood, so that seemed to be good enough for Myles. I'll be honest and say that the last month has been really really hard with Myles. Lots of tantrums. Tough times. We are trying to bolster our parenting techniques and switch things up when necessary. We changed our whole morning routine last week and so far it seems to be working.

Seth's enjoying his class and just turned in his midterm. He's running a lot and took 3rd place in a half marathon a few weeks ago (perhaps first in his age group, but we didn't stay for the awards). He's in great shape! I'm running too and it feels really good to be in shape. I'm not close to the shape I used to be in in high school, but who is? All I know is that I'm in the best shape I've been in for a decade, and that's pretty good.

We love having my sister's family so close by. We see them about once a month and Myles absolutely loves going to cousin Kaleb's house.

Well, must sign off for now. Enjoy all things pumpkin this month...pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin beer, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin chili, even enjoyed some pumpkin pizza with my beloved friend Karson a few weeks ago. I love October!

Blue Ridge Relay Weekend

On 9/9/09, my friend Kelly birthed twins into the world (naturally!) just six minutes apart. Her older daughter, Cora, celebrated her second birthday on Saturday along with Maya...they are both friends from the babysitting coop. As evidenced by the above photo, the kids are old enough to get the "cake" part, so much so that Myles refused to eat dinner until after his cake, in order to make sure there was room. It was a sweet party. Another friend from the babysitting coop is due on Tuesday, and she was at the party in all the glory of end-of-the-third-trimester belly. Myles spent a good bit of time staring at Maya's chickens, but also enjoyed the sand box and even the "dangerous" swinging hammock.

Backing up, Seth left on Friday morning with his Blue Ridge Relay team for Boone. For those of you who don't remember from last year, the relay is a team run from Boone to Asheville. Each team member runs three legs. Seth's legs this year were as follows:
1:30 PM, 5.5 miles
12:30 AM, 4.5 miles
9:30 AM, 6.5 miles (uphill climb of 1400 feet)
He did fabulous, averaging between 6:20 - 7:30/mile pace. Seth's brother Greg joined the team for the second year in a row, and performed equally amazing legs. They returned to the house at 5:00 PM after pizza and beer, totally exhausted. After taking Myles to his friends' birthday party, we went out for Jamaican at our neighborhood restaurant, 9 mile (which always brings me back to growing up in a suburb of Detroit...not the Jamaican part, the 9 mile part).

Today was church, church, and more church. Church is an incredible blessing, my life's calling, and also a lot of work, much if it unnoticed and unpaid (not that I'm complaining!). This morning we cleaned out three classrooms we will be using in the coming months, and primed for painting. We came home for a brief respite then went back for the 5 PM service, after which Sara invited us over for some excellent food. (Hello lentil enchilada...)

Our weekend in a nutshell.

Backing up even further: on Labor Day, people of faith supporting comprehensive health insurance reform gathered for a service. We heard from "witnesses" who testified about their experience in the system, including our neighbor Carolyn who was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer at age 45 (kids were ages 3 and 6 at the time). Carolyn had health insurance, but her husband lost his job in the economic downturn, and so they did the Cobra thing for 18 months, which oddly enough required all 4 of them to be on Cobra, not just Carolyn. So they dipped into their college fund for their kids, their retirement savings, pretty much depleting all that they had worked so hard to save. After Cobra ran out, Carolyn was able to get on a NC insurance plan designed specifically for people like her with the dreaded "pre-existing condition." Problem is, it didn't pay for what her doctor said she needed. Carolyn is a white, middle class, educated woman with all the privileges that come with that background. And if it can happen to her, I know it could happen to any of us. So we tuned in for the President's speech on Wednesday and then began (again) calling our members of Congress and writing them letters the next day.

Mylestones: We've entered the "why" era, which begets wonderful conversations like this one.
Myles: Where's Juniper?
Mama: Outside
Myles: Why, Mama?
Mama: Well, what do you think?
Myles: Making poo poos and pee pees?
Mama: Yep.
Myles: But why?
Mama: Well, doggies can't make pee pees and poo poos on the potty. They don't know how to use the potty.
Myles: Why not diapers for Juniper?
Mama: Excellent question, my love.
Totally logical thinking, right? It's amazing what these kids come up with. We got Myles a little play guitar with plastic strings, and the other day coming home from his morning out program he sang a little medly that moved quite fluidly from "Wheels on the Bus" to "1, 2 Buckle My Shoe" and finished up with a rousing chorus of "Jesus Loves Me." I love being serenaded on the way home! We've also been renting the "old school" Sesame Street videos for Myles, which start with a creepy disclaimer that they are made for adults and may not meet the needs of today's preschooler. Good enough for us, right? Anyhow, the seventies footage of kids (playing unaccompanied on a construction site, for example) brings a flood of warm memories. On the potty training front, we've been working hard. Myles has been peeing regularly both on his potty, and the big tiolet. I think we're getting closer, though now when I volunteer to let him run around the house without a diaper on, he suddenly quits squirming and requests a diaper.

That's about it from us for now. Will try to update a little more frequently, but no promises, as life is so busy and being outside this time of year is so wonderful, why spend any more time in front of the computer screen than you have to?

Much love to all of you out there in the world!

Oh August...

I have no idea what's going on in this photo, but Seth's commentary is "in China, Myles can make a dollar go a long way." Enjoy the hair, we shaved it off last week (pictures coming). Myles absolutely hated the hair cut, but afterward was kind of fascinated by the whole thing. We've been giving lots of praise for the hair cut (which will hopefully save us from having to go through this for months), telling him how handsome he looks. And he does. What a beautiful kid.

Mylestones: This week, Myles has been asking me to hold his hand walking up and down the steps (although he's been able to do this by himself for a long time). I can only conclude that he just wants to hold my hand for the pure pleasure of it, which pleases me to no end. He has also been doing a great job "reading." When I pause in a sentence he can fill in the word from memory, or (even more impressive) based on context or the picture. I can tell he really gets what's going on in the stories. He's really into Mother Goose lately, which Seth bought for him when I was away. Unfortunately, some of the rhymes include whipping children and men putting their wives in pumpkins in order to "keep them." Ugg. And of course he adores it, though we skip over some of the above mentioned lines. Myles insists on having coffee or hot tea each morning, and he gets a little packet of kids tea from the cupboard. I wind up making him hot tea and he has about two sips...it's the novelty of pretending he's drinking "hot coffee" which he also makes for me (pretend) and offers to me to sip on. It's so delicious! Today he was a big helper with the vacuum...getting it out of the closet when I asked for it, unwinding the cord, then helping to wind it back up and putting the vacuum back.

I'm a little too exhausted to give much more of an update. Suffice it to say we've been busy! We had a veterans service event for church, went to Abingdon to see my sister's family, and Seth begins his new class next week. I'm starting to long for fall...a few cool, crisp days (though I admit, we've had a cushy, mild summer). More soon!

Grandma, Myles, and an Apple Pie

From Wednesday through Saturday I was in New Orleans at the Lutheran Youth Gathering. Over 35,000 youth and adults descended upon the city for a half week of community service, collective worship in the superdome, workshops and the interaction center (which included a zip line as well as exhibits like the one I worked at for the Lutheran Peace fellowship--a time line of historic nonviolent movements for social change and a prayer-peace flag making station). While I was away, my mom came to spend some quality time with Myles (and Seth). She sent an email my way tonight that had me laughing out loud, so I thought I'd share. My mom was making an apple pie because my dad's birthday was on Saturday, and she always made an apple pie for him on his birthday. Here's her account:

Making an apple pie while two-and-a-half year old Myles is playing

1. Grandma begins to roll out the dough for the pie crust, which she had prepared the day before while Myles was napping--a very wise decision!

2. Myles is in the pantry pointing out the cereal he would like, even though he has just finished a big breakfast a half hour earlier. Grandma washes off her hands and fixes Myles his cereal, which he eats with two spoons, one for each hand of course.

3. Grandma begins to cut up the apples. Myles is in the broom closet trying to get the big brooom down, which he does. Juniper's ball has gone under the sofa, and Myles needs to help Juniper by sweeping the broom under the sofa, as he had watched Grandma do the day before! The boy has a great memory! Grandma washes her hands and tries to help because the long broom is banging against the wall and almost topples a plant. Myles tells Grandma that he can do it by himself!

4. Grandma begins cutting apples again while Myles plays in the tupperware. It's fun to push the tupperware backwards from the top shelf down to the bottom shelf, but then the drawer won't roll in and the cabinet door won't close. Grandma washes her hands and comes to the rescue for which she receives a bear hug an kiss from Myles:)

5. Oops, not again Juniper! Repeat of number three above!

6. Myles decides to play with his new Memory game. All of the cards are dumped on the floor. By placing a card under each foot and sliding across the floor, Myles has come up with a new, creative way to play the game. Grandma continues to slice the apples.

7. Myles is too quiet. Grandma stops slicing and washes her hands. Myles is discovered in the dog shower. Thankfully, he hasn't turned on the water yet.

8. Repeat of number three above!! Grandma hides the dumb ball:(

9. Myles would like some juice. It MUST be served in the cup with the straw. Grandma stops the pie making, washes her hands, and pours the juice from the sippy cup to the cup with the straw. Myles is happy, and Grandma gets another bear hug and kiss:)

10. Grandma, wondering if the pie will ever be completed, resumes working. Suddenly Grandma hears, "Help me." Guessing Myles is in the broom closet again, Grandma finishes the apple she's working on when she hears, "Help me" again. Grandma washes her hands and finds Myles sitting on the tall desk chair in the office. He has taken out Poppy's drawer and all of Poppy's tubes of art paint, which were in the drawer, are lined up on the desk. Grandma is soooo thankful that she went to help Myles get down before any paint tubes were opened!

11. Grandma finishes slicing apples and begins to make the crumb topping for the pie. Myles comes to the kitchen and shows her his hur thumb nail. Grandma kisses it and takes advantage of another bear hug and kiss:)

12. Grandma continues to mix the topping when she hears Myles saying he wants Cheerios. Upon checking the pantry, there is Myles standing on the top of the oatmeal box with both feet, while hanging on to the shelf with one hand and pointing to the Cheerios with the other!! Whew! Now Grandma understands why the childproof door knob is on the pantry door. Grandma gets Myles some Cheerios. Oh, and he needs more juice in the cup with the straw.

13. Grandma gets the pie in the oven while Myles snacks. She praises the Lord for completing the pie before lunch time, while wondering how many ingredients she accidentally omitted!

July Madness

Big news first: Seth is going back to school!! He has been accepted to Western Carolina's Masters of Public Affairs (MPA) program for professionals. Evening classes will be offered at UNCA, a mile from our house. Seth is also receiving partial scholarship which truly makes this step possible for us right now. Pursuing his MPA is not so much about a career change, but broadening Seth's skill set and expertise. While he loves design and will probably have his finger in the design pie throughout his career, the MPA will also equip him to do more management, such as managing a Parks Department. The great thing about doing masters work (we think) while working is that Seth will choose research projects and write about the things that he's already curious about after working with the Asheville Parks Dept for five years (how do other cities handle x, y, and z, for example). Congratulations Seth! Will keep you posted on the classes he's taking as that time rolls around. We are grateful to have the GRE behind us...

In other news, the summer has reached a frenzied pitch in our household. We just returned from the beach, where we had a fabulous, quick time of retreat. My beloved friend Erin came to visit for the weekend and introduced Myles to his first board game, Memory (at this age, we just turn the cards face up and find "matches"), named his duck "Pato" (getting some Spanish language acquisition in there!), and just treated us to a great weekend. Tomorrow I am headed to New Orleans for another contract project with the Lutheran Peace Fellowship. My mom is coming to be with Myles and Seth to help out with child care while I'm away. I will return on Saturday, my dad's birthday. Sunday is our July worship service (thankfully Sara's preaching). I have a week to catch my breath before heading to Atlanta for a New Church Start Institute training for a few days. Being away from Myles is really hard for me. I'm trying to take a deep breath, offer thanks for Seth and my mom, and see what new things I might learn in my time away that make these trips worth the trouble.

In the mean time, we're thinking about our friends Karson and Jason as Karson continues on with her chemo. We're thinking about health care reform, which we hope will be comprehensive and include a public health option. And we're loving being so close to my sister, who popped by on Saturday with her family for a quick visit. As Karson and Jason often affirm, life is good.