Choo choo! A Really Useful Engine

You might've guessed it...Soren was a TRAIN ENGINEER for Halloween! And the driver of not just any engine, but James the splendid red steam engine from the Thomas the Tank Engine stories. Note the little brass bell, with a cord for Soren to pull. He rang it all through the downtown parade, and at every road crossing.

Dad was James' fireman (with one of those choo-choo wooden whistles in his pocket) and yours truly was a character named Sir Topham Hatt, the director of the railway. (In early editions, his name was the Fat Controller.) With a pillow for stuffing, I had the warmest costume for sure.

Thanks to our community theatre for the loan of the top hat, to Jeff for putting his woodshop skills to such creative use, to our neighbor Steve for taking these family shots, and to the Rev. W. Awdry for getting his railway stories into print in England in 1945. He was the inspiration for all this.

If our son has to be sucked into a branded toy line, we are grateful it is Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, which has a long and distinguished history. There's so much to learn about trains, and he is in love.

And if I had a nickel for every time we heard, "Oh, how cute/adorable!" on our trek downtown, we'd have enough change in our pockets for ice cream cones for everyone.

Better yet, Soren skipped his afternoon nap in all the excitement and now Jeff and I are all alone after he crashed at 6 p.m. (a very rare occurrence). We just opened a bottle of locally produced Finnriver hard cider and are about to watch a Canadian zombie humor-love story movie called Fido.

Again, Happy Halloween to all!

Bang, bang! Halloween project in the making

Soren's wearing his eye and ear protection in early October as he helps his dad with his Halloween project. What's he going to be? Can you guess by the end?

The acquisition of a little red wagon this summer led to the idea of pulling Soren in it for our annual downtown Halloween parade. But how to decorate the wagon?

Jeff, crafty fellow that he is, came up with the idea for a steam locomotive superstructure that could be bolted (and unbolted) to the wagon.

It's made of plywood, scrap wood, and milk cartons for the bendy bits (e.g., boiler), and painted with spray paint. It's taken many evenings and weekends this month to assemble, bit by bit. It even has a brass bell with a cord that Soren can pull and make it ring!

As a finishing touch, this locomotive will have a face--a la James, from Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. Here I am painting the wooden disk, which has a bulbous nose just like in the animated cartoon. The project has been a family affair.

So what is Soren's costume going to be? You'll have to wait until tomorrow (or the next day or so, whenever I get the photos downloaded) to see.

Hint: I borrowed a pair of overalls and a red bandanna for the special occasion.

Happy Halloween to all our fans!

Check-in from the potty

Hooray! Soren peed in the potty today for the first time in months. Don't know why, but we've been having a major "potty pause." Perhaps because our summer was CRAZY-BUSY. That's why this blog has languished. Apologies. Whenever I thought of updating it, something else took priority.

We did find lots of time to spend with friends over the summer. Soren knows sitting on the potty is more fun with company -- in this case, his friend Tayla (who is recently potty-trained; yay, Mama Shannon!). These pix were shot back in June, and as soon as Tayla noticed my camera she started to pose. Her sweet smile turned into a big grin for just the camera (below). Soren has fortunately not been conditioned to camera grins or grimaces. I prefer to "catch him in the act." Hee, hee.
I've been volunteering tons of my time and professional services on a new resource guide for families with young children in our county, as a project of and fundraiser for the cooperative playschool Soren attends. It's been quite the management and editing challenge, and of course it demanded much more time than I ever imagined it would. It is now in the proof and review stage, so I will soon be thrilled to see it go to print. We have dubbed it The Little Guide for Little People (and their Families). I'll tell you more when it's finally DONE.

We are looking forward to a visit from Soren's Grandpa Jim & Grandma Gloria this coming weekend. Sometime I will post pictures from our fabulous trip to visit them in Eastern Washington in September. Soon, I hope.

"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!!

Aug. 19: Shelly's first "show" opens!

If you're in PT this coming Thursday, you're invited to attend the 5:30-7:30 p.m. opening reception for my first "show" -- that is, the first photo exhibition in which not one, but two, of my photographs will be shown. These are them!

I've never entered an art or photo contest before, but was inspired to do so by one of my colleagues in the fabulous Work-At-Home Moms support group (see prior entry), who is busy getting her video installations shown at galleries around the region while mothering a four-year-old. (Yay, Jess!)

The call for entries of maritime scenes in the arts section of our local newspaper caught my attention, and while selecting three photos to enter (two were selected) was not difficult, I have to say that getting the digital files printed and framing them on the cheap turned out to be more work than I thought!

"On the Water: An Exhibition of Maritime Photography" will be on view through the Wooden Boat Festival in the upstairs of the new Northwest Maritime Center.

And if you can't make it in person, just enjoy "New Brunswick Lobsterman" (above -- see lots more photos of this day on the water from our 2006 travel blog, here) and "Frosty Stem, Point Hudson" (below).

Busy summer times

It's summer and we've been busy! I agonized over the decision to take the months of July and August OFF and not do any consulting work, but now that I'm halfway through this "trial," I see it was the right thing to do. I'm way more relaxed and Soren and I are spending much more time at the beach than would be possible if I was shoehorning client work into our days.

I really needed the lifeline of my professional career when Soren was an infant, but he slept a lot more then, and now I've grown more comfortable in my mothering role and found different outlets for creative expression. Plus, my teenaged babysitter support network unraveled when school let out, and it's a relief not to be piecing together childcare. Maybe I won't go back to "work" in September...we'll see!

This all means I haven't spent much time at the computer, and when I have, I've been cranking out Volume 4 of S'ing Around With Soren (photos from 1 to 1-1/2 years old). Until Aug. 14, you can view the entire book (all 80 pages!) here. (Although if you're on the recipient list--you know who you are--you might not want to spoil the surprise.) I suggest using "Full Screen" view. Yes, that's our Auntie Jill on the cover!

So here are some of my favorite photos from the month of June, to bring you somewhat up to date.
The first ice cream cone in Soren's short life, at a 2-year-old's birthday party. He liked licking the ice cream, but biting down on the crunchy cone was a surprise. He quit then.
Summer in the Northwest means wading in the water up to your ankles! Soren could splash around all day. And my feet eventually go numb, too.
The cutest "First Mate" ever!
Warmer water can be found in our wading pool in the backyard, shared here with Soren's good friend and age-mate Tayla.
Here they are at the sand-turned-water table. Check out the difference between the male and female thighs, even at this age!
Other friends: little Mila, daughter of my old friend Marinka, who lives in Seattle.
Making music at our piano with Satria, a Port Townsend chum.
Did you notice Soren's colorful hands in the previous picture? After reading a book where a little girl painted her toenails, I caught Soren doing this...
Not to worry, he takes frequent baths.
His wet hair makes some wild shapes.
In late June, both sets of grandparents visited together. Soren was thrilled to have Jim, Glory, Nannie and Papaw all at The Roost.
Jeff's parents brought a box of his old Tinker Toys, and the adults had as much fun as Soren with the initial creations. Here's a working swing for the Monkey King.
Speaking of working, Soren can't wait until he can mow the lawn by himself. Here he is on Nannie & Papaw's riding lawnmower in Anacortes.
He did help Papaw out a little.
And on those "June-uary" days, Soren is happy to don raingear and splash in the neighborhood puddles.

Hard to believe Soren will be two in less than a month! He is so accomplished in so many things. Wouldn't you agree?

Photoshopping Soren's class pic

So school ended last month and -- hey, Soren's in school already?!? Not to worry, we're not cramming his head full of math drills. It's only "playschool," where he interacts three hours once a week with other little people and gets messy with the featured art project. However, it is a program of Peninsula College, so that should look good on his resume... ;-)

Soren was the youngest kid in his class -- most of the ten other kids were two years old, with some threes -- and I'm afraid this immaturity shows in the class photo.

After the particularly wiggly photo shoot, I got involved in reviewing the digital pictures, and we were chagrined but not surprised to discover there was no frame in which each child's face was showing. We're not talking about kids not looking at the camera, we're talking about only seeing the back of their head because they were twisting around to complain to their mommy about sitting still for so long.

So I offered to try some Photoshopping magic, and here's what I did. I took one image where a good half of the kids were looking (not Soren, alas -- see front row, left)...
...and I layered another pretty good photo on top of it (where Soren is indeed facing the camera, but trying to spin out of my iron grip) and used the "erase" tool to make the lower layer visible. You'll have to believe me that the erased patches below contained other squirmy kids whose charming faces were not at their best.
Then the tricky part of smoothing and blurring the edges of the transitions and rebuilding some patches of clothing (thankfully solid-colored) where the two photos did not match up well. If only I had kept my right knee down in the first photo... It was hard work to recreate the jean bottom of the little boy behind me and to the viewer's left, as well as his mother's sleeve.
But when the final image (above) was printed as a 5x7, none of the other moms could find the Photoshopped areas, which means I succeeded!

Oh, how long did this take? You shouldn't ask. I told myself "one hour" when I sat down at the computer, but of course it took two. Soren, I'm not doing this every year!!