I'm Baaack

Well, I've taken a little break from blogging, as you can see. Sorry for the absence, in case you've been checking and wondering, "What the heck is taking so long for her to post an update?" The days have been chugging along, and I have new reason to take full advantage of them, since I'm going back to teaching full-time next year. I was missing the classroom, but tried to take another year off through an academic leave to pursue a master's in reading. Unfortunately, too few people applied for the cohort program I applied for, and it didn't go through. So, I'll be sad not to be home with the boys again next year, (except for those moments when Logan's once again testing boundaries, along with my sanity, and Auden is desperately struggling against a diaper change or blowing the spittiest raspberries imaginable right after he's had a mouth full of baby food) but we're excited that they'll be with Miss Dawn next year part-time and with a woman in the neighborhood for the other part. Logan will also get to do preschool at Dawn's, so I'm excited to see what he'll be learning next year.

We've been working out in the yard and garden whenever we can--a significant challenge it's been to find time to do that, since the weather's been so dodgy lately. Yesterday, we put in our 15 tomato plants. After last year's bumper crop, we vowed not to plant as many, but somehow we've done it again. (Sound familiar, Grandma Kop?) And this year, we added potatoes (yukon gold and sweet potatoes), sweet peas (which the rabbits have already decimated--time to plant another round and fence it in.), heirloom lettuce, butternut squash, banana peppers, and an heirloom variety of pumpkin. We'll see how it all comes out...Hopefully better than our yard, which looks great in strips. In case you didn't know, zebra stripes look really amazing on a lawn. Want to know how you can have some of your own? Borrow your neighbor's spreader and drop fertilizer on your yard, then take the turns a little wider than you should. Voila! We're thinking we might go for plaid next year...

As you know, Logan turned three last month, and so far, I'm thinking three is more trying than two. We've been dealing with serious melt-downs pretty frequently now. He's super crabby in the afternoon when he would usually nap. And you kind of have to pick your poison: If he does nap, your afternoon is a bit more peaceful, but you can bet that he will be awake until a little after 9PM when you want to be relaxing on the couch. Yesterday, we were supposed to play with a friend in Aurora, but he had fallen asleep in the car. When he woke up, he refused to get out of the car, despite the bribes I offered and the sweet pleadings of the girls he was supposed to play with. We ended up packing up and going home. And I enrolled him in swim lessons, but he screamed his head off the entire time because he didn't trust the instructors. Yes, threes have been tough so far. Thankfully, he's usually an angel when I'm not around...

Auden is really moving now. He crawls like a champ, but it's too funny because he goes like sixty while his head is down, trying to improve his aerodynamics or something. It's really amazing he doesn't bump into things more often. Logan and he love to have crawling races down the hall. It's so fun to hear the peals of laughter issuing from them both. And he's continuing to move on up--he'll walk a bit with you when you're holding on to his hands. Really clumsy steps, almost a march, but he's learning... And everything goes in the mouth. I'm forever searching the floor for stray bits of whatever snack Logan was eating or toy with small pieces he was playing with. Auden will crawl up to it, see if you're looking, and with a mischievous grin, he'll pop it in his mouth. Yes, he might hesitate a bit if you say "no," but you can bet his mouth is where it will end up. And it's really not fun to do the mouth sweep now that he has his four and a half very sharp new teeth, which he'll use to chomp down on your finger. My shoulder is his favorite chew toy these days, so he's been spending a lot more time on the floor, practicing his crawling skills. We're wondering how long before he's walking...