Updates

James looks enormous with his new haircut, and is sounding more and more like a little boy who will be ready for school in the near future. He's been assiduously practicing his States puzzle and telling anyone who will listen about the big map in his room, the names of the various states, what might be notable about each one, and whether or not they appear on a license plate. He spends lots of time make-believing in his room, whether that's setting up a house with George, practicing skating for hockey, playing football, racing cars, or driving some kind of large vehicle. (His bed.) He likes to have company while he does this, so he'll ask several times a day for someone to come up to his room and sit with him, even though you aren't supposed to actually DO anything while you're up there. (Don't worry--he gives you permission to bring a book.) He still looks forward all day long to certain treats, like getting a piece of parade candy after the end of a meal (he'll begin the process of choosing a dinner piece almost as soon as the lunch piece is consumed) and walking outside to the neighbor's house once it gets dark out to stand on their sidewalk and look at the "scary pumpkin" and the "scary cat." He remembered both of these Halloween decorations from last year when we moved into the house, and was super excited/terrified when they went up again last week. He seems to have pushed through a rough patch where he was refusing to eat whatever we served him and generally being awful, and is rather contentedly exploring the world of the Berenstein Bears thanks to the public library.

Owen is crashing into the world at full speed and has the bruises and tears to prove it. He crawls all over the house getting into whatever little worlds are open to him, standing up against everything and then shouting in protest or joy at whatever he discovers. He regularly stands up against the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs and shouts in protest until someone either takes him upstairs or lets him down, and he also loves to crawl into powder room and play peekaboo behind the door. He digs through whatever spices and kitchen cans are within his arm length every day, and tries to climb inside the dishwasher whenever its opened. He chases the vacuum, tries to crawl out onto the sidewalk, and enjoys taking showers. The child knows no fear. He is sweet and dear, though. He hasn't attached to a particular toy (thankfully) like his older brother, but a little giraffe which sings lullabies and a walker toy seem to be particular favorites. He absolutely loves making messes for the sake of messes. He routinely pulls down stacks of my books on himself, throws wooden blocks all around the house, and "skids" around on whatever of James' wheeled toys happen to be accessible.

J has been racing through hundreds of pages of library books for the last week, in addition to her other SuperMom responsibilities. She continues to experiment with new meals almost every day, and every bag of produce that enters the house she treats like an artist with a canvass. She's watching a kindergartner who attends the school across the street two days a week, teaches lessons in the afternoon, and directs a big block of flute choir rehearsals on Wednesdays. Every Sunday morning she pulls of an enormous production at church, and Sunday afternoons through Monday mornings are sacred time for both of us of sweatpants, coffee, and football. The sweatpants are soft and warm as autumn sets in, the coffee (a blend of Yirgacheffe and Tanzanian) is fresh and complex, and the football has been pretty great too.

I am immeasurably more relaxed and happier now that our plumbing is working again. I haven't missed teaching for a split second, and the bank account seems to be fine, at least through the first month of the experiment. This week I hardly have anything at all to do, and I intend to spend the time practicing articulation, listening to the repertoire (Dvorak Cello Concerto, Don Giovanni Overture, Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances) for next week, and plugging away at some reading projects. I finished my copy of Ovid and am trying to convince J to do a triclinium style dinner of Roman food. I've been working through the Apocrypha in Latin, am almost through the whole Iliad, and make periodic stabs at keeping up with Hebrew grammar. I've picked up so many other worthwhile bits in the last month too--how to work on our pipes, some review of old geometry principles, a book on the history of Rochester, one of the seminal texts of the feminist movement, Quantz, and tons of orchestral listening.

The days are delightfully full.