She Claps!

Ben is FOUR! (How did this happen?)

We had a party today after the Nap. As requested, there were balloons. And hats. Presents, naturally. Singing, blowing of candles (one single blow this year--yippee!), and the most awesome yellow digger cake you ever saw. It did not look like this:

This is the inspiration, however. Ben saw this cake in Family Fun magazine and HAD to have it. No matter how gently I would try to lead him toward something a bit more baker-friendly, his mind was made up. The baking part wasn't that tough, really (even though Family Fun tells you to use a frozen pound cake and some twinkies to put it together!) It was the decorating and assembling that was tricky.

Due to ongoing intestinal "issues", the boys are both on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. The SCD is also a popular alternative treatment for autism, so a two-fer for us. The diet is all about healing the gut, whereby any stray molecule of an illegal food could screw up the delicate balance of good/bad bacteria in your intestines and you're back at square one, so you must, according to Elaine Gottschall, the diet's author, follow the diet with "fanatical adherence". There are no complex carbs allowed on this diet. The idea is a bit daunting at first. So that's no sugar, no grains, no starch. We are already also dairy-free. Holy Moly! Now, go forth and make cake--ha!

But, I did it! It's banana cake with honey frosting. The wheels, dozer, and excavator claw are made from pumpkin muffins. I decorated with raisins and fruit leather. Wheeeeeee! It's not exactly magazine quality stuff, but the man of the hour was satisfied. Along with his partner in crime, who has requested both a dump truck and a crane truck for his birthday. Um, yeah. We'll see about that.

Other highlights included trucks, trains, and cars, naturally, with a little bit of wistful storytelling of May 9th, 2004. I knew it would go by fast, but wow. This blog helps keep me ever-mindful to soak it all up. Every insane little minute.

And my favorite part of today wasn't captured on film, but I will record it here since I bet it's the last birthday he lets me do it. I rocked my baby to sleep in our rocker with his head on my chest. Sigh.

Eye Color Update!

So, here we are at six months. Back in November, I speculated what color these peepers would end up looking like. I was surprised that they were not the deep brown her brothers' were at that age. I mused on the possibility of them staying blue, and even found a study that said it was possible, even if neither parent had blue eyes. But, hooray! They're greenish! Just like her mama--see?

Now we get to wait for her hair to grow. :)

Time in a bottle

I am having so much fun being a mama. Cliche or not, this time in my life is just so rewarding. It can seem horribly stressful and oh-so-dramatically frustrating to have 3 under 4 years old, but Man, when it's good, it's goooood! So, here's a snapshot of how I'd like to remember this time. Idyllic, ain't it?

"Long Live Play"

I stole this title from our good friend, and my former early childhood colleague, Kiersten (aka Kiki). She left a comment on my other blog referring to this photo of Will. You can go read it here.

She didn't know the story, per se, but she knows me and how I roll, so (did you catch that hip phrase "how I roll"? I am so cool.) she understood the significance of the photo and that there was probably a story behind it.

It's a short story, with a smallish plot, but it has a happy ending. It goes like this:
Will likes to use blocks, beads, cars, green beans, etc. to line up and make trains. Here he is playing with the blocks from our Music Blocks machine.
While making trains and crashing them, and making them again, Will made a marvelous discovery--he could make a square. Very very exciting news that caused him to jump up and shout "h'ray!" and also, inadvertently, knock awry his creation.

This made Will a bit sad and he commented, "My 'quare is gone!" With a bit of encouragement, he spent several concentrated moments on the task of reconstruction.

Until, success! A more cautiously reserved "h'ray!" was expressed and properly caught on 'film'. This was a very proud moment, indeed. And one of a million moments that I am so privileged to witness as a stay-at-home-mama. So blessed am I.

ADDENDUM:

Oops! Got all misty-eyed there and lost the initial intent of this post.

So, you see, I did not ever sit Will down and introduce the concept of 'a square'. He's two. He's spent the better part of his life figuring out the world and how to communicate about it. Descriptors like colors and shapes tend to be a big part of that.

Being a human being, Will was born with the drive to connect with others. It starts with baby goo-goo eyes, watching our every move. Then the coos and cries and body language that develop while learning to interpret how best to get needs met. Smiles, giggles, and squeals bring delightful results, while cries, grunts, and wails prompt the offering of comfort. Being surrounded by speech, Will observed and imitated. He started with labels for objects. Added labels for actions. And on and on.

And he did this, learning how to talk thing, all without anyone showing him how. It is fairly well accepted that babies learn this very complex idea of language all on their own. Nobody teaches a baby how to do that. Is it too far-reaching to expect that learning adjectives (shapes, colors, etc.), in order to describe something to another person (mama, perhaps), is just another natural occurrence? I don't think so.

But the story above is about more than the fact that Will can name a shape. If I were more in 'teacher mode' I could spout off the developmental milestones, cognitive objectives, and geometric principles displayed. I'd wow you with my professional jargon and maybe throw in a few educator acronyms for good measure.

Basically, though, it boils down to this: play is how we learn. Just how babies 'play' with language (volume and pitch of cries, babbling, facial expressions) in order to master it, kids 'play' with concepts (um, let's say geometry) to gain mastery.

In fact, play is how I learn best. I got a new camera for my birthday last year. How did I learn how to take nice pictures? No, it wasn't the instruction manual. Nope, didn't take a class. I played around with it. Tried different settings. Did something cool. Couldn't figure out which buttons made it do that (My 'quare is gone!) So, I messed around with it some more until I figured it out.

And isn't this how we all learn new things--cooking a new recipe, trying a new software program, sampling a new craft? Can you think of a better way to pick up a new instrument? a sport?

Me neither.

So, Long Live Play! H'ray!

This is how she rolls...

A quick little movie of our newly mobile baby. And narrated with my incredibly high-pitched "motherese".

Rats. Now I can't leave her on the couch or bed feeling reasonably sure she won't roll off.
They just keep growing, these babies. Harumph.