Soren turns four -- Grrr!

Can you believe it? Soren is 4!

Today (Sunday) was his birthday party, a memorable event shared with his best friend (and agemate) Tayla. Here they are blowing out the candles on their cupcakes. We hand-cranked ice cream, too, in what is becoming Soren's birthday tradition.

"Carnival of the Animals" was the party theme, so there was face-painting (Soren wanted to be a puppy)...

...and a pinata shaped like a monkey.

As always, the tire swing at our neighborhood park was a hit. Someone called this bunch "Soren and his girls." Much fun was had by all.

Then home for a good scrub in the bath.

We were lucky to have Grandpa and Grandma make the trip from E. Wash. to be with us today. A new puzzle and a new coloring book were among Soren's many gifts from the people who love him most.

"Now I can fight dragons more better," he said matter-of-factly, upon opening this present from his parents -- a knight's breastplate to go with his armor collection.

So now that he's 4, what's in store?

Thirty-six Thanksgiving pix

I'm sharing 36 pix from our Thanksgiving celebration at my grandpa's house on Vashon Island.

Guaranteed to make you nostalgic for the time when your fingers were small enough for the black olives to fit on!

Click here to view the Picasa album.

Happy extended holiday season!!

Third birthday party at the park

Chetzemoka Park was, for the third year in a row, the setting for Soren's third birthday this past Saturday (Aug. 27). Only this time around, it was not a joint party with two of his best friends and close age-mates -- the scheduling just didn't work out. Instead, we invited the other kids who will be in Soren's two-morning-a-week preschool class (ack, which starts next month!). Five of the seven other families were able to attend and it was a great bonding time.
Here are the six kiddos, sweet as can be. One of the missing students is another girl, but there will be six boys and two girls, due to the odd boy-bump in this town. Hmmm, Soren's prospects for girlfriends at age 16 are looking slim...
We plopped the two younger siblings into this photo.
This little girl LOVES birthdays, and so Soren was her hero for the day. She wanted to sit next to him for the potluck lunch, and they cutely fed each other carrot sticks.
As you may have heard, we've had an unusually cold and cloudy summer, so it was a relief to have typical August weather. The shade felt nice.
Soren's new trick on the park's huge tire swing is standing up, which none of the other kids wanted to try...
Our special birthday treat was hand-cranked vanilla ice cream. Most of the kids took a turn at the crank. Papaw Bill supervised. It was great to have him and Nannie Annie over for the weekend. (A week before, Soren had seen his other grandparents at the Centralia Old-time Music Campout--third year in a row for us to attend, their first. Alas, each of us forgot to bring a camera, so no pix!)
I dished out the finished product to some eager ice-cream eaters.
Soren roars his approval! That's chocolate zucchini cake also in the bowl.
The perfect birthday ended on North Beach at sunset, with two very proud (and tired) parents. Thanks to all who called, sent cards, or judicious presents. Here's to the start of Soren's fourth year on this earth!

"Almost Two"

"Almost two" is the correct answer for anyone asking Soren how old he is, and he can say it himself. His birthday is coming right up on Aug. 27, but we threw him -- and two of his closest friends -- a birthday party yesterday.
The triple-birthday celebration at a nearby park was a reprise. Soren's one-year party was shared with the same friends: Tayla, who is 11 days older than him (pictured above, at right), and Noah, who is 11 days younger (in the middle). (Soren blogged about this last year--check out how much younger the kiddos look!) The cooperative family effort was another stunning success. No one had to knock themselves out, and no one's home was left smeared with sticky vanilla ice cream... Thanks, mamas Sarah and Shannon. I'm guessing we team up again next year!
The setting was lovely Chetzemoka Park on a surprisingly sunny afternoon rescued from a grey and blustery morning.
We brought our hand-crank ice-cream maker, and Jeff got it started--with his mother Gloria looking on and Soren sneaking ice cubes. We were grateful Jeff's parents were able to make the trip over the mountains this weekend to be with us.
While the ice cream froze, the kids played--sometimes with their mommies, as Tayla did with Shannon on the tire swing.
You can see why they call her Tayla-bug--she's as cute as a bug!
Soren was happy following the twisty-slide train. Grandma Gloria watches from below, and that's River leading the way.
Whee! Soren follows new friend Max down the slide.
Birthday boy Noah was a slider, too. We had to tear him away for the group photo.
Soren's proud grandparents, Gloria and Jim. The carrot cake she made was a hit.
And what could be better than cake topped with homemade ice cream? Noah and Mama Sarah kept close tabs on the finished product.
This year, Soren was not denied any sweets (it seems like forever ago we were keeping wheat out of his diet). He opened wide for this bite of ice cream.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm.
Torin and Max were special playmates for Soren yesterday. Thanks to them for coming, and thanks to all of our friends who joined us in celebrating the lives of these three very special youngsters.
And as more than one parent pointed out, Jeff and I deserve kudos for making it to Year 2 as well! Ditto to Shannon and Brandon and Sarah and Craig!!

Action videos: Naked noodles

It's time to see the little guy in action again. We haven't posted a video in a long while. Check out these two from earlier this month.

You've got to have the sound turned up these days, because Soren's talking!

First, we have Soren slurping spaghetti ribbon noodles. Note that I have removed his shirt -- indeed, all his clothes -- to avoid the tomato sauce stains that would be sure to accrue. He calls "noodles" "NOO-eees," and his other utterance is to repeat that his "Nannie" made the noodles (and sent them home with us after a visit the day before). Oh, he does repeat "Num!" at the end. It's 42 heartwarming seconds long.



Second, we have Soren in another stage of undress making a stack of old VHS tapes that is taller than he is. In the process of re-arranging our basement into the beginnings of a playroom/music room, we had to unpack and repack the lower drawer of this wardrobe where Jeff stubbornly keeps a hundred or more tapes of his all-time favorite movies ("When Harry Met Sally") and TV series ("Red Dwarf"). Ann and Bill were helping, so you hear their voices. Can you make out Soren's one-word reply to his grandma's question? All in 17 precious seconds.

Giving thanks

This Thanksgiving 2009, Soren is thankful for... a grandfather who will read him stories.
...a grandmother who will play with him at his new sand table (literally hours of entertainment with shovel and buckets here!).
...these same grandparents who will drive all the way across the state to spend this special holiday with us, and take us out to eat so we don't have to cook a complicated meal when it's Soren we really want to spend our time with.
...caring parents who love him very much, and who will chase after him in shifts when he tires of sitting in the high chair at the dining table.
...and delicious butternut squash bisque, the highlight of his Thanksgiving buffet!

Hope all of you enjoyed the holiday. We are thankful for you!

Autumn's bounty

The growing season has been productive here in the Pacific Northwest. Not that we grew much in our own garden, but we are loyal customers at the Port Townsend Farmers Market (sic: the apostrophe is officially missing from the name; a cowardly decision if you ask me). Two weekends ago, when Sierra was visiting, we were charmed to find Midori Farm selling the biggest leeks any of us had ever seen.
We bought two and let Soren run around with one. He literally stopped traffic in the corridor as two other shoppers joined me in whipping out their cameras and trying to capture his glee. P.S. Thanks to Kathie M. for the new knitted hat!
Later, Soren marveled at these stalks of chard that are still growing in our raised beds. We added them to a risotto we made incorporating as many local ingredients as we could: foraged chanterelle and cauliflower shrooms, pastured-pig ham from Walker Mountain Meadows Farm just to the south of us, Walla Walla sweet onions. Yum! (I just finished reading The Omnivore's Dilemma and never want to eat factory-farmed meat again...)
And I'll sign off with this picture of Soren having a ball during our county's Farm Tour in September. This was the precise moment I decided I needed a new point-and-shoot digital camera, one that fits into my fanny pack. (I'm still looking.) Again, Soren's photogenics kicked in once he was hoisted up to the wheel of this stationary old tractor at Red Dog Farm. I gave a camera-wielding out-of-state tourist my email address and he sent this adorable thumnail, but by the time I (busy mom that I am) emailed back to ask for a high-resolution version, he said he had deleted the original files. Aaaackk!! Why would anyone do this when computer memory is so cheap??? Oh, well. The moment was captured in digital minature, so at least I can share it here with you.
By the way, we signed up for a Winter CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) "share" from the above-pictured Red Dog Farm and are really looking forward to it starting around Thanksgiving. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about how we cook up all the yummy produce we receive in our weekly box.

Happy eating to you all, and make the Earth happy in your eating, too.

Pea-shooter

I've always smiled at the bumper sticker that promotes "Whirled Peas" instead of "World Peace." Now that I am teaching an infant to eat peas, I can guess that a mother thought up the phrase.

Soren is still eating solid foods "recreationally" (is how I think of it), but does enjoy his dinnertime meal, which is when I bring out the peas. Last, or else he won't eat anything else beforehand.

The last weekend in June, Soren discovered he could feed himself from the little pieces of food on his tray. Before that, he was just moving them around. Perhaps this revelation coincided with the perfection of his pincer grip; I'm not sure. So many developmental changes are happening for Soren right now, it's impossible to keep track of them all.

So enjoy this 21-second video clip of Soren in pea heaven, shot July 9. I watched it a couple of times before I noticed that the first pea he eats is breathed out as he goes for pea #2. Watch carefully and you'll see it land at far right. Ha!

Some of Soren's firsts

First 8-Hour Sleep: Yippeee!!! Last night Soren slept 8 hours without waking for the first time in his life -- which is fairly dramatic even though he is only 10.5 months old, because guess who else has also not gotten to sleep a solid 8 hours in that same time period...?

One week ago we had to transition him from his baby hammock to a crib (OK, a pack 'n' play) because he was wanting to roll over and sleep on his side or belly, and that just doesn't work so well on a concave surface. That newness, coupled with his great mental and physical excitement over learning to walk (see below) meant he was not sleeping soundly at all. A helpful discussion at a mom's support group convinced me we had to make a change in our nighttime routine, and to make a long saga short, last night was the first night I refused to nurse him back to sleep at his first waking, 1.5 hours after he first went to bed. Boy, he was not happy about this turn of events, and wailed and arched his back and scratched my face -- but I held firm and just held and rocked him back to sleep. It took two tries of laying him down in his crib (he woke up the first time, and we had to repeat the whole process), but then he amazed us and slept without a peep from 10:45 p.m. to 6:45 a.m. OK, I didn't sleep soundly the whole time, because I would wake up and wonder why he wasn't waking, but I restrained myself from checking on him. So we'll see what tonight brings... I'm not counting on another 8 hours, but anything more than the 2-4 hour stretches he's been sleeping would be much appreciated!

First Potty: I mentioned in an earlier post that we've started incorporating the practices of "Elimination Communication" (a.k.a. Diaper-Free). If you want to know more, here's a helpful link. Again, to make a long saga short, after some early success in teaching Soren to pee standing up in the "bathtub urinal" (!), we ordered a Baby Bjorn Little Potty chair and a separate toilet-seat reducer of the same brand. The day after the potty chair arrived, he sat and peed in it (see photos here), and the day after that, he sat and pooped in it (this was when he was 9.5 months old). I was super excited about that, but alas, that feat has not been repeated. However, Soren is getting diligent about pooping standing up and then not sitting down until I have changed him, which helps keep the mess to a minimum. Just this week, he peed while sitting on the toilet seat reducer for the first time. The whole experience has put me much more in tune with his elimination schedule and needs, and while Soren still wears diapers most of the day, I am using about half as many disposables as I did before we started "EC." We use more cloth, since it allows him to feel wet, and he also gets quite a bit of bare-bum time, outdoors and on our tile floor. As you can see below, Soren is just as excited about moving toward diaper freedom as I am. (Yes, there's pee in that potty!)
First Strawberry: OK, strawberries are potential allergens, but as Soren has shown no food sensitivities to date, we couldn't come up with a compelling reason not to share the jeweled bounty of our June-bearing strawberry patch. They're heaven bundled into a berry. Soren loves them.

First Steps: Soren's birthday present to me on June 22 was to take his first steps unassisted: about three tottering paces from Jeff's arms to a chair. He occasionally practices steps here and there, but mostly is getting faster and faster at sidestepping as he "cruises" around our house. First he had to hold on to built-in furniture, then he progressed to movable furniture that might slide around, and now he just supports himself on the walls or cabinets, so he can go all the way around a room. Yep, he's pretty pleased with himself.
Too much to tell here: there's also Soren's First Stair Climb, First High Five, First Bubble Blowing...