Hanging out with dad & friends

Soren's been a pretty happy chap lately. He regretfully says "bye-bye" to Jeff in the mornings when he leaves for work, and reaches frantically for him when we see him at the end of the day.

I love the vulnerable and sleepy expression on his face here! By the way, Soren's vocabulary consists of about 20 spoken words now (current favorites are BIKE and BANANA) as well as 25+ signs. He only has to see a sign a couple of times to start using it, if it's something he's very interested in. Right now, the neighbors' ducks across the street get a sign when they quack, airplanes when they fly overhead, and recently he picked up HORSE after the farm tour on Sunday (sorry, no pix of this event--I just couldn't juggle my big camera and him).

(Which leads me to mention I'm wanting to get a small point-and-shoot digital camera to carry in my purse or diaper bag. I'm leaning toward a Canon ELPH Powershot. Any favorites out there to recommend?)
Pix from recent playdates with Django (above) and Tayla (below). Soren's saying to Tayla, "That carrot looks pretty good. Can I have it to add to the carrot stick I already have stuffed in my cheeks?"
Fall is here! Enjoy it.

Strum sticks and more

I feel inspired to blog before bed because I just watched a movie about blogging--and French cooking. Yes, Julie & Julia (that would be Julia Child). It was my first movie at a movie theatre (our beloved Rose Theatre) since before Soren was born!! Ack, I couldn't believe it had been that long.

Went with two other mama friends (thanks, hubbies, for making it happen!) and I won the Monday night door prize of a gift certificate so I can come back and see another movie (sooner than 12 months from now, I hope) AND a pound of butter. Just watch the movie and you'll see why. Why didn't the main character gain any weight after cooking Julia Child's recipes for one whole year?!
So, things have been moving along at The Roost. Soren's diet now includes nuts (almonds and pecans were the first) and if ham is on the dinner menu, he won't eat anything else. The Nest has a roof, just in time. And we just enjoyed a three-day weekend with fall weather making a wet and windy entrance. But we got in a bike ride today as a family (Soren in a seat behind mine) and we got out to the Andy Mackie Music Festival on Saturday (as we did one year ago with newborn Soren--it was my first outing downtown as a postpartum mama and Soren blogged about it then). We enjoyed my dad's company, as he came over for a day visit. He shared these photos--thanks!

Andy is famous for giving harmonicas away to children and teaching them how to play them. He also sells and gives away simple strumstick kits. My dad has made one. Soren enjoyed strumming all of the ones on display.

And then he brought the harmonica Andy had given him last year and surprised him by playing it pretty darn well. He sounds like a blues musician, I kid you not. We have recordings! The second picture is of Andy kneeling on the makeshift stage to admire Soren's playing. He says he'll see Soren up on stage with him if he can just live a few more years. If you want to know more about the Harmonica Man's truly heart-warming story, watch this 2:30 minute video that was aired on CBS on May 2 of this year.
A few more pix of our cutie, with someone else's dog and with our nearly 3-y-o friend Evie. They happened to be color-coordinated!
Well, THEY SAY parenting gets easier after the first year, and we, in our tired haze, choose to believe that. Who knew one little person could take so much adult time and energy?? Do we hear affirmation?

Roof is up

The Nest has walls and a roof, as of last Friday. The above photo (taken Aug. 24) shows the framed-up walls. You can now see the dimensions of the two-car garage at right compared to the office/guestroom at left.
Soren was very interested in the truck with a crane that arrived on Aug. 25 to deliver the roof trusses.
I think he was particularly intrigued by the carpenters walking the walls. That evening, when the workers had departed and we went down to the site to explore, he wanted to climb the ladder they'd left behind!
It took only one day for all the trusses to be installed. This was later in the day on the 25th. It's the view of the new building from our upper lawn at the level of Roosevelt Street (we have a very sloping, terraced lot). We didn't want the garage to block the view of the bay from the street, and as you can see, it doesn't.
View from Adams Street, looking back at our house. The barn gate will eventually be replaced by a different fence/gate arrangement, once we figure out how the two buildings tie together.
The greatest change in view is that coming up Adams Street, although you don't see our garage until you pass a huge bush in our neighbor's yard. (This is the little house we rented while we were building The Roost. It will actually have more privacy once this project is completed, and we get some nice siding and landscaping up.
View from our third floor.
Soren checking out The Nest on his first birthday, wearing Daddy's baseball cap.
The plywood sheathing was up by the end of the day Aug. 27. The garage is going to have a huge double door.
We'll close with a shot of Carpenter Wade on the roof on a lovely, sunny Port Townsend day.

Soren's first wedding

Soren's a party animal! This we know after he accompanied us to his first wedding yesterday. The above picture of him nursing during the ceremony is misleading (I was trying to keep him quiet during the vows!)--for four hours straight, he wanted to be right at the center of it all.
He seemed to "get" the ceremonial aspects of the wedding, following the lead of the people around him. Here he is clapping as the bride and groom exit the outdoor chapel.
Soren would not be deterred from going where he wanted to go. He is a stubborn little chap when held back from his intended course--even when that's "backstage" where the wedding party was waiting in the wings. To avoid the screams that would result in denial of his free passage, I just followed him back there and we grinned at the bride, Lorenna (in beautiful red Chinese shift), as her sister Wendy prepares to walk out.
Many congratulations to our friends, Lorenna and Michael, who tied the knot yesterday in a lovely ceremony at Hillcrest Park in Mount Vernon, Wash. There was lots of upbeat music for dancing. I'm sorry I don't have a shot (but the professional photographer surely does) of Soren dancing his little heart out during the reception. Again, he was the center of attention as he found a clear space on the floor and rocked out to Elvis. He lifts his feet in turn, jiggles his butt, turns in circles, and best of all, shakes his head back and forth like he's saying "no," but it makes him look blissed out!
OK, finishing up with some posed shots of the Anacortes High School graduates at the event. Above, this was not the most flattering shot of the two babies, but I do believe it's the first picture of Soren with his finger in his nose, and that was worth sharing!

In the bottom photo, we have Dan, Sunny, Lorenna, Michael (yes, the bride and groom went to high school together, although they didn't reconnect until a dozen years later), Shane and Deena. And of course, Shelly and Soren. Sorry, no pictures of Jeff this time. Thanks, sweetie, for being behind the camera!

Walls are going up

The Nest is going vertical with the framing of the walls. These photos were taken yesterday (Friday), and by the end of the day, all the walls were up except the one that will contain the double-wide garage door. We haven't ordered that yet. Yes, we plan to paint it yellow, like all the other doors on our house!
You can see from this perspective (I'm standing in the farthest corner of the garage away from the house) how The Nest will relate to The Roost.

Be sure to check out Soren's birthday party pix on his blog!

We're building a garage/office, aka The Nest

Where our cars once parked on the slope below The Roost, The Nest is taking shape.
In the site plan for our house construction (six years ago!), we planned a two-car garage in this spot. The photo above shows the two extra feet into the lot-line setback that we were allowed to build after we applied for a "variance" to our city's building code. The white line is our property line; the parallel yellow lines endpointed with white rocks show the required 10' setback (at left) and the adjusted 8' setback (at right), where the wall of the garage will be aligned. Our application received no comments and was approved. (Yes, some of our landscaping is in the right-of-way; this is very common around town, on streets like ours with no sidewalks.)
Two weeks ago, on Aug. 5, we broke ground.
In an hour, all the bamboo had been ripped up. We repotted some for ourselves and gave a lot away. It had been a gift to us originally, and provided a great visual screen for a number of years.
Looking down from the third-floor window of The Roost, the footprint starts to take shape with the first footing frames.
Here the frames for the footings are largely in place, ready for the concrete pour.
Soren tries to join in the fun with his beach shovel and rake. Duke, our contractor (shown here), said he'd hire Soren if he got himself a pair of Carhartts. Do they make them in baby sizes??
Soren was in heaven running the backhoe...
...with supervision, of course! And after the crew had knocked off for the day.
Footings have been poured, pea gravel is filling the garage footprint in preparation for the slab pour.
Yesterday the slab was poured. We used a terracotta tint in the concrete, like we did in building The Roost. The basement floor and an outdoor patio are both this color. It's cheery!

And here's an opportune time to point out the additional structure on the left (east) side of the two-car garage. We went back and forth on this, and finally decided to include a 320-s.f. office/guest bedroom (aka The Nest) as part of the construction project. It will be about the size of a standard 2-bed hotel room, with a shower and kitchenette. When I more fully return to writing, it will be a place for me to retreat and work in peace. In between times, it will serve as guest quarters for our family and others. In fact, both our families are contributing financially to make this project happen.
So there's the slab, getting hand-polished. The Nest will have a wood truss floor over a crawl space.
Watching from our deck, Soren thinks this is all very interesting!

He's walking!!

OK, these are not the best action photos, but Soren is not only standing, he's pushing that chair around and then toddling across the vast expanses between furniture outposts. With no support except from that of his two little footsies on the floor.

This started right around his 11-mo. birthday. On that day, I recorded in his baby book that he took a record eight steps unassisted, and from then on, he's been steadily lengthening and quickening his strides. My parents have been visiting for five days and they commented that, in this short time, they've noticed his arms moving closer to his body as they are less needed for balance.

Soren continues to be a thoughtful child, and not as reckless as I've seen some nearly-one-year-olds. He loves to climb the stairs, but we don't have to be fanatical about keeping the gate locked at the bottom of the flight. Of course, he can't turn around and go down quite yet, so the gate at the top of the adjacent descending flight is more important.
I'll sign off with this grin from our little bugaboo (who cut teeth #7 & 8 two weekends ago, the two on either side of the two front bottom teeth visible here). And I'll apologize for the dry spell in posts.

I have been CRAZY BUSY finalizing the one freelance magazine article I committed to this year (a feature for WoodenBoat magazine--I just couldn't turn down the assignment when I was asked!). The deadline is Monday and it's looking like I'll make it. Of course, then I've got to get cracking on another consulting project, but come late August I'll be off the hook for outside jobs for a month or two. Whew. When I'm "working," it's like juggling two full-time jobs, because I'm running after Soren at least 40 hours/week.