15 months

Fifteen months means

sleeping better (not every night but most)
sudden onset of snits- including a big bottom lip (is that biological or what?!?!) and throwing oneself to the ground

at least 11 teeth
still little on the "charts" <5th -75th="" circumference="" for="" head="" p="" weight="">because he's so little it means he gets to wear all his cute little clothes for much longer!

hugging Mum lots
signing for a number of things but mostly using that "eah" sound
loves his baths- started "swimming" in the tub

Oh, and climbing. lots and lots of climbing- always wanting to be bigger!!!

at Nasja's birthday party

Winter Wonders

We have had a few days of warmer weather and the snow around our house has mostly melted. I think I prefer the fresh snow to the mostly melted kind! We have had marvelously wintery days around here. The fog descends and we get spectacular ice forming on everything. It only happened once last year (i thought it might happen all the time) and so this year I rushed out to take photos of it!

On these branches you can see the ice formed on only one side.

This is a bough of Douglas Fir!

 It can be treacherously icy around here and it is essential to have "yak traks" or similar grips on your boots for those icy days. I am still liking the 4 seasons "thing" but I am very much looking forward to spring and getting outside and mucking about in my garden. This year I hope that Timo will be past the "insatiable desire to put everything in his mouth" stage by the time i need to start digging!

No excuses!

Time to post something. Anything....
Things are fine around here. We have had a busy 2013 already with both Martin and I traveling away from home. Martin went to California for some continuing education and I went to BC to do a few days of ABM work with kids. It was nice to get away and have many moments of quiet- there is a lot of talking with a 6 and 8 year old around! When Martin was I away I was keenly aware of the different dynamic of single parenting. It forces me to be more organized as I have to do it all. I sailed a pretty tight ship and the older kids were good natured and helpful. We had fun together. Timo was his usual self- pretty easy going but always a going concern.
We didn't manage to write and send off a Christmas letter this year. Perhaps we will have to choose another holiday to send greetings to our friends. We have friends who send out family greetings on St Patrick's Day- perhaps we could do the same :) .
Now that I have broken the blogging ice I can post about other things!!

13 months

What 13 months means

lots of cruising around on furniture
Taking 2-4 steps- (12 have been counted on occasion...) it is still so much more efficient to crawl
climbing stairs- if someone has forgotten to close the gate
practicing "uh oh" just like his cousin
eating every kind of food
signing for Pat-a-cake song
overcoming bad cold/cough- incredible snot sneezes
going to bed without nursing for both naps and bed-time
delighting in doing things that he knows are "wicked"!
delighting in being called a scamp and a scallywag.
more clingy to Mum
7 teeth
darling giggles.

sleeeeeep

Sleep seems to be something that I only get in short chunks these days. I suppose if I started sleeping when Timo goes to sleep (7:30 PM or so) I would get a good stretch until about midnight. After midnight though Timo likes to sleep only for a few/couple hours at a time. Clearly things need to change regarding this but since waking up always happens when I have the least reserves to deal with it I am finding that just getting up and comforting him/nursing him is my only option. However, I have just cancelled 3 of my days of childcare in the Bay Area because Martin and I have a plan to send Timo home with Martin 3 days before I get back to Spokane. That will mean 2 nights of me, alone, sleeping. The thought it just glorious. And also terrifying. How will it all work out? When I get back will there be 3 adults and one 13 month old with sleep deprivation instead of one mum? Here's hoping I can pump enough milk to leave for the brave back at home.
I must sign off now, I have to get pumping before Timo wakes up....

betwixt seasons

As I told you before we have had our first snow. It seemed impossible that it could happen as the days had been so warm and the leaves were still on most of the trees. Just like last winter the tendency around here is to snow, thaw and freeze. It did a bunch of that but now it has melted (apart from the snowballs in the backyard) and now most of the trees have given up their leaves and we get to see the cover of unraked leaves that has been languishing under the snow (not so nice...).

Even with the snow I am glad to say that my garden is still producing veggies for us and I got to pick carrots and kale from under the snow drifts!! I had to wear gardening gloves so that my fingers didn't freeze in the snow. Seems kinda miraculous that I can still be eating out of my garden!! Yippeeee!
Here are some pictures from about a month ago. I love how these plants change their colours in a rainbow fashion.

house of sick

On Sunday someone asked me how my household was doing and I said that remarkably everyone was very well and we had had very few fall illnesses. I should have been knocking on wood or crossing my fingers or something because that night started a range of delights! Mimi was sick (stomach) (what she always gets) and that meant a VERY interrupted night for us. She stayed in bed/at home for 2 days. Ami has a very bad cough (the one he always seems to get) and I am sporting a rather horrendous sore throat (also the one I always get). Timo has been cranky and he is either getting a new tooth or he has some ache that he can't tell us about.
This too shall pass.