My Firstborn

This kid. I tell ya what.

Books and food, food and books-- that's about all he lives for right now.

He absolutely devours books and documentaries about science.  Mostly oceanology, marine biology, aerospace, and astronomy.  Also, Calvin and Hobbes.  And every school reader I have on hand has been read multiple times.

We joke that some day he'll jump out of a plane into the ocean, wearing a diving suit, of course.

Hm... I wonder if that's been done?

I'm quite thankful that he can read so well (and, um, shocked, a little), because he's so much more self-entertaining now.  He's also starting to become quite a know-it-all.

Having a school-age child is a new frontier for me, for sure.  When I think of the concept of "mothering", I always picture babies and toddlers and pre-schoolers.  Even though I know it, somehow it just doesn't enter into my mental picture that these little guys grow up.  Quite rapidly, though it doesn't seem like it while in the midst of the baby/toddler/pre-schooler time.

All of a sudden, Jonah is moving out of being a "little kid" and becoming, well, a "big kid", I guess.  His budding logic skills make him a dogged negotiator (and make me... crazy).  His persistence is exhausting.  His capabilities are fast expanding, but never quite meet up to his enthusiasm and ideas.  There is just so much he wants to do!  And it's all beckoning to him through all these books, and here he is, stuck in the "longest" part of his life, waiting to begin.  It's hard, being 6.

I try to explain to him that this is the part of his life where he gets to learn all that he's going to need to know when he becomes a deep sea diver/airplane pilot/ship captain/whateverelseitistoday, and of course, I provide examples.  That he can't move on to all these projects he plans until he learns the basic skills and and learns to work hard cheerfully at everything he's given to do.  I've also found myself using his ambitions somewhat advantageously.  In the past he has expressed a desire to wear glasses because Mommy and Daddy both do, and of course, I hope he doesn't have to, so I've been very careful in my treatment of that topic.  The other day, he told me he was worried that if he wears glasses, he won't be able to wear goggles when he goes diving in the ocean.  Of course, there are ways to get around this, but I didn't tell him that!  No, rather, I pointed out that this is why he needs to make sure to rest his eyes when he's reading a lot.  Ah, motivation!  Guess what he always remembers to do now? [I read a study about a doctor who once helped school children avoid myopia by having them read an eyechart at a certain distance a couple times every day.  Just that regular rest of the eyes helped keep them from needing glasses.  It's been hard to remember to have Jonah do this, though.]

He absorbs every bit of information and sometimes regurgitates it in hilarious ways.  Yesterday, he had some sort of military situation going on with his toys on the floor.  He told me he had defeated the Moabites, and was currently fighting the Canaanites and would soon move on to the Ammonites.  He made it clear that the "nite" on the end is "knight" in his mind.  Canaan-knights-- Knights of Canaan.

And then there's the food.  We rode out a loooong picky phase, and I'm sure that was mainly rooted in slowed growth.  Now, he eats everything in sight.  In fact, I get really tired of answering the "when are we gonna eat?" questions that come every ten minutes all day, whether we've just eaten or not.  I get growth spurts, but this is ridiculous.  He just wants to eat nonstop.  Food is served here no less than five times per day, and yet he's always afraid he's going to starve.  I know boredom plays into this, so I've adopted the habit of handing out a job at every request for food, legitimate or not.  "Here, kid, work up a real appetite."
 

Wouldn't want him to grow too fast, now would we?

Do You Get Tired of Hearing About Spring?

If so, um, too bad.  It's my favorite topic right now.  It's been so wet and cold for so long now that I just can't get enough of the sun now.

To the point of pain, actually.  Ah, sunburn, my old friend.

We've just been hammered lately by severe thunderstorms, including one on Sunday that may be the most violent I've ever seen.  It was actually a little frightening.  Many of my perennials were laid completely flat by the wind.  One elderberry was just giant, and is now laying all over the ground and I need to find some way to prop it up.  

Some of the plants, like the little tomatoes that I put out a few weeks ago, are on the verge of drowning from all the rain. Others, like those hostas in that photo, are loving the rain to the point of becoming dinosaur food.  I've never seen that plant get that big!

So the hostas like it, but I'm starting to feel a little rot starting to set in.  I'm thankful for the few days of sunshine to dry me out!

Today the ground is finally dried out a little, just enough to put some plants in the ground, so that's how we spent the morning.

And now... nap time.  Then back to work.

Raw

[Here I have for you a few snapshots, unedited, from our day]

Evan has an adorable obsession with his tongue.  

(See how many you can spot in this post!)

 Big brother story time!

The mohawk lives on!

So very... six.

Look!  Two babies!

And two (more) tongues...

Cheese

Cold? No, actually, why do you ask?

New Bits

A couple of years ago, I planted 10 Purple Passion asparagus plants.  Then last year, I planted 10 Mary Washingtons.  I sat on my hands all last summer and watched them grow and fern out and forced myself not to pick any.  (Okay, okay.  I admit it.  I did pick one or two very fat spears to munch right then and there.  I couldn't help myself.)  This spring however, I finally get what I've been waiting for!  The purple asparagus are beautiful and plump and this is their third spring, so we get to start eating some!

As much as I lovelovelove fresh asparagus (and raw!  I never knew how good they are raw!), I discovered a joy of asparagus that may perhaps surpass the flavor-- it's something to pick in the spring before anything else is ready!  While I'm still waiting for my carrots and beans and peas and (especially!) tomatoes, I get to harvest asparagus.  And I don't even have to do anything with it.  It just comes up from the ground and I go out and pick it.  No more planting and waiting.  It's just there.

If you don't have an asparagus patch, get you one!  The work of getting it put in is SO worth it!

Another new thing that I'm excited about is rhubarb.

You would think that living in Michigan, these asparagus and rhubarb would be without needing so much as a mention.  But I haven't had any until now!  And I've been waiting over the last two years, making myself not pick it until it's mature enough.  This spring is sweet!

This beautiful, bright red rhubarb is a plant that I brought from Oregon, where I dug it from the garden of a friend of my Mom.  I just adore the deep color!  And the stalks are huge!  There aren't very many of them this year, so we don't get a big harvest, but it's enough for a few yummy desserts.  The stalks are so huge that it only took two to get enough for my recipe.   I made a pan of my favorite rhubarb bars last night and I can't stay out of it.

Evidently, the red stalks looked so inviting to Jonah that he kept asking me to let him eat one.  I told him he would not want to eat a whole stalk, but he really thought he would. (It's not good for you raw, anyway.)  So when I picked it, I cut a little piece for him to try and his face went into quite a pucker.  I can remember chewing on stalks of it when I was a kid-- it was a sign of toughness or something.

Last year when my Mom was here, she suggested that we border my flower beds with a twig fence.  I thought it was a lovely idea, but there was no way to do it in July with the ground rock hard, and no long, flexible sticks available, anyway.

So this spring, I saved out a big pile of apple shoots that Nathan pruned from the trees.  I've been working on this fence.  I still have a ways to go, but so far I'm really liking the look of it. It's just rustic and cute, even though I messed up the pattern in a few places.

And the other day, I was surprised to notice that my fence is growing leaves!  I'm not sure if that means it rooted, or it's just got enough life left in it for a little growth that will probably go away when it gets hot (I'm guessing the latter).

Nathan dug up several bagfuls of Lilly of the Valley from a friend's house for me to plant in my shady bed at the end of the kitchen.  Lovely stuff, thought I'm skeptical that it will be very happy in my clay-heavy soil.  Time will tell.

I had a very hard time planting it (and should probably have quit, really) because my back has been hurting so bad.  I spent the rest of the day hobbling around, barely able to walk, and had a long soak in the tub after Evan went to bed.  It's not strained muscles --I'm quite accustomed to garden work-- it's this danged pregnant pelvis of mine.  Today, I'm only marginally functional, and it's been that way off and on for weeks.

I'm trying not to despair, but it's hard when I'm facing spending the next 4 1/2 months (the best and busiest of the year) like this.  I had this problem while pregnant with Evan, and here we go again.  I refer to it as "PP#D" -- Pregnancy Pelvic #$*#% Dysfunction.  It's just so frustrating when I have lots to do, and for a limited time only, the energy to do it with, but I can hardly move around.  I will shamefacedly admit that I have avoided going back to the chiropractor right now because I thought it wasn't helping, opting instead for stretching and yoga.  But now I know that while the chiropractic adjustments may not get rid of the pain completely, it does certainly keep it from becoming debilitating.  I'm on the cancellation list at my wonderful chiropractor's office and I can just hope and pray that someone will feel well enough not to need an appointment so that I can have it.

We're still dealing with Evan's digestive issues, but I think I've finally noticed some improvement over the last few days.  Maybe we're on the tail end of this, now.

Lately, he's been squealing and shrieking when he wants more food during a meal.  I started showing him the sign for "more" and saying "more" and then giving him another bite.  He has skipped right over trying to use the sign, and instead says "muh!"  It's completely adorable, and he says it very politely.  Yesterday morning, he was crying on the floor while I got his breakfast ready.  I said, "Evan, are you hungry?  Do you want to eat?" and he immediately stopped crying and started saying, "Muh!  Muh!  Muh!"  Then this morning I laid him in his bed for a nap, but he decided he wasn't ready and sat up and held out his arms to me and said "Muh!"  So I guess "more" is now the word he thinks he should use to get what he wants.

He also says "Mamamamama" and "Dadadada", shakes his head when he doesn't want something, and gives a very appreciative "Num!" when he gets bites of food.  Ahhh, communication!

And I now hear him communicating from his bed that he would like to come back downstairs after his nap, thankyousomuch, so I will end this rambly post and go see to it.

Springish

It's chilly and windy and cold and rainy here, but spring seems to be proceeding apace, nonetheless.  I'm anxiously awaiting some warm (hot!) weather, but trying to enjoy the spring anyway.  I just can't get over the green!  Green everywhere!  Dazzling!  It always stuns me after months of bleakness.

 

I braved the wind and chill today to work outside while it wasn't raining, pulling weeds and planting plants.  

I wonder if some wacky psychiatrist would say that a person's love of gardening comes from a deep-seated, unconscious desire to be in control of life and death?

Hm.

Anyway.  The ground is soft and soaked, and the weeds come out easily.  That doesn't happen often with the hard clay I've got around here.  I took the opportunity to get some deep-rooted dandelions out of my newest flower bed which I have just started filling with pretty-pretties.  I looked at this pile of dandelions --crisp and juicy and fresh-looking, and um, muddy-- and I just couldn't waste them.  But I really don't want to eat them, either.  Not really my favorite wild food, but they sure are nutritious, especially first thing in the spring, and good for digestive and liver troubles.  So I brought them all in and have been soaking and swishing them in sinkfulls of cold water, trying to get them clean enough for a nice, strong, tincture.

Now, to procure a big bottle of vodka, of which I am forever running out (and not because I drink it.  I can think of many more enjoyable things to drink...).

I also went out and picked a bunch of fresh oregano for my spaghetti sauce, some chocolate mint to flavor my red raspberry leaf pregnancy tea, and a little bowlful of violet greens (and a few flowers, too) to sweeten our salad.

I told you, I just love all the green.

Oh, and the LILACS!  There simply are no words.

I adore them.   I fill my kitchen with them and they fill my kitchen with their fantastic scent.  There is nothing like it.  And they're such a short-lived treat.  I could just stand out their under the lilac bushes all day.

Excuse the blur here, but I just had to share this.  Our new layer chicks arrived in the mail today, and my nice brooder box out in the barn is currently occupied by the mama ducks who took it over for nesting.

So the chicks are in the house, peeping their heads off constantly.

Evan, amazingly, has NOT tried to explore the peeping box yet, but Jonah was very sweetly showing him the new babies and helping him touch them without squashing their fragile, little bodies.

Very cute.

Sigh.  It's spring.  It's wonderful.