Josh part 2

Practicing his hand stand with a wall climb:


On the beam circuit, going sideways, and being held up by the kid next to him (and if you were able to see the video, you know that kid doesn't succeed in slowing Josh down for much longer):


Beam #2 of this circuit: crawling downhill:


Beam #3, going backward (Ascher "mysteriously" now missing):

And finally, the high beam:

Josh's gymnastics class

Here is a short video of Josh in gymnastics class. This was shot while he was on the "beam" circuit (though he is best at bars). It's funniest (to me) when he gets to the third beam and, tired of being slowed down by the kid in front of him, just knocks him off and keeps going. Perhaps not the best behavior, but funny (and that kid causes a lot of problems in class so he's not exactly a hapless victim). I'll post some pictures too later, but am trying to get these videos up tonight.

Lucas' gymnastics class

And here's Lucas, climbing the rock wall (which he can do all by himself!)--his favorite thing. And then learning to dive off after--a new trick. Lucas LOVES gymnastics class.

Sorry that the video is sideways. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to turn it once it's shot that way, and I keep forgetting not to shoot that way in the first place. Hopefully it's cute enough to justify the neck craning.

Spring has sprung in Portland

So says our gorgeous tree and that beautiful blue sky. We've waited a long gray winter for this!


This picture of Josh under the tree reminded me of something:


Which was this picture of Josh under that tree, two years ago, in the same shirt! He really loves that shirt.

(you can double-click on the photos to open a larger version and see Josh closer-up for comparison purposes!)

Look at little 2 (almost 3) year old Josh in April 2007. That round baby face is just killing me.

Some random pictures

I've got a few random photos that don't have much of a story, just the boys enjoying their daily activities.

Here's Josh playing baseball with Dad at the school playground down the street:


Lucas on the big boy swing:


Josh at the skate park (where he dreams to run the walls and ramps like the big kids but is too scared to hardly even just move forward. But the big kids think he's cute and try to teach him anyway):



Lucas watching Brobee on his very favorite TV show in the world, Yo Gabba Gabba. It's the only show he'll stop and sit and watch, and he gets up to move for all the dances. He just loves it.

Josh showing off his block tower:

Happy Easter

The day before Easter, we went to the Rabbit Romp at the Zoo. Josh remembered this from last year, and was really looking forward to seeing the Easter bunny there and giving him or her a high five (because he remembers doing that last year). Fortunately, in only an hour at the Romp, we hit all the Easter highlights and had an extended trip through the Great Northwest area all by ourselves (everyone else was at the bunny areas).

Here are the boys in the farm area, trying out the tractor (and perhaps fighting for position):



Then onto the egg hunt grounds, where we found our first easter bunny, and Josh gave her the daffodil he had brought from home and carried around carefully all morning:



Next, Peter Rabbit:

Just as with Santa, Lucas was having none of it with the scary spectacle of grown men in disguise:

Easter Part 2

After the Zoo (and naps), it was time to color eggs (or time to lay eggs, as Josh kept saying: "can we lay the eggs now?") My artists at work:






Our finished products, waiting for the Easter bunny to come and hide:



The post-Easter bunny, pre-egg hunt spread:
Josh read the card himself, and since he can't read yet he made up the words based on what he thought the Easter bunny would write to him: "Dear Josh, thanks for the flower, I brought you some treats and a batman toy, thanks again for the flower. Love, The Easter Bunny." I have to say, it was pretty close to the actual card contents.



One of the Easter Bunny's more clever hiding spots (for young boys, anyway):

Easter Part 3

Starting the egg hunt (which, to be honest, he started even before he got to his basket, but we made him go get his basket and slow down so Lucas could have a fighting chance too):



Lucas found one! In the end, Lucas found several, he did pretty well for being under 2.



Of course he much preferred getting to open them and eat the contents, leaving the searching to Josh:



Josh found the last egg!



Over-smiling, but I'll take it:

We went to church after the egg hunt, and tried out a new church with our friend Michele and her son Hayden, who is Lucas' age. Josh was invited to ring the church bells to open the services, so he got to pull on the big rope coming down from the rafters and ring the bells, which was very fun! The only downside was that Lucas occasionally slipped away during the services thereafter, back to the rope to try to ring them again, so I had to be ever vigilant.

This church also has a children's portion midway through, where the children are invited to the front to talk about the sermon in language kids can understand. The first question was what Easter means. Josh went first (not shy at all despite this being the first time we'd ever been there). He answered that it meant the Easter bunny would come. I turned red (though the pastor was totally cool about it). The discussion moved on to Jesus and beating death and celebration, and then I noticed Josh was sitting there with his hand raised. The pastor called on him, and Josh volunteered, "Easter also means the Easter bunny hides treats around your house." Redder still. But I was really proud of him for wanting to participate, and hey, he's only 4, he doesn't understand religion yet. Easter does mean the Easter bunny to him.

We had a great day. Hope you did too. Happy Easter!

The Redwood Forest

After Lucas and I flew back from CA (which would have been preferable to the drive back, if not for the flight delay that led Lucas to lay face down in the middle of the airport hallway at about 10:30 pm in sheer exhaustion, as we were still waiting to leave San Jose, and then got us home after 1 am), John and Josh drove back, taking the scenic route this time.

From John's parents home in Menlo Park (just south of San Francisco), they drove through the city, over the Golden Gate bridge, up the coast (on a beautiful, clear day), and into the Redwood Forest. They took the detour onto the Avenue of Giants, and saw the large and amazing trees first hand. Unfortunately, they were not able to find any banana slugs. It had been Josh's great pleasure to tell me how he was going to lick a banana slug on his trip and then try to kiss me when he returned, just to utterly horrify me. But, no luck.

Apparently, they did see a dead mouse in the forest, because upon his return, Josh's teacher told me that whenever anyone asked about his trip (friends, teachers, parents of friends), Josh would exclaim, I saw a dead mouse!! Everyone must think we vacationed in a landfill, or back alley, or something. You'd never know the amazing things he saw from the report of a 4-year-old boy.

No pictures of the mouse corpse. Here are the giant redwoods.

The Drive-Through Tree

There are four drive-through trees in the Redwood Forest. John and Josh drove through one of them. I think this is Chandelier tree.

Approaching the giant tree:



Preparing to drive though. Considering the size of a car, the scale of this tree trunk is just amazing.



The view from inside the tree:



and through the window, a rare view of the inside of a very, very old tree:



Josh gets a closer look:

Hoops at John's elementary school

During our visit to California this weekend, we got out a few times to enjoy the gorgeous weather and play some basketball, which is Josh's latest infatuation. After playing at the local park and watching Josh (not to mention poor Lucas) battle the wind to (try to) reach the regulation-height hoops, we drove by John's elementary school, St. Raymond's, and found lower hoops. These photos are all on the basketball and parking area, but the lawn surrounding the school is beautifully landscaped, and the sky was clear blue. It was really nice. Coming back to rainy Portland was not easy.

Josh sinks one while Lucas cues up:



Posing for mom:



Lucas' dunk (with a small assist from Dad):



John and I loved this, he just started carrying the ball on his hip like such a natural:



Working up a sweat:

Happy St. Patrick's Day

My nieces (and, in the background, my sisters), celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Virginia. This is a screencap from the local news, on which they were featured (and during which my sister's "festive" hat was ridiculed by the anchor, to our great amusement).

I'm glad they were on the ball. I completely forgot about St. Patrick's Day and dropped both my boys off at school dressed in not so much as a single stripe of green, surrounded by all their green-clad friends. I drew shamrocks on their arms so they wouldn't feel left out (and got chastised by one of Josh's 5-year-old classmates for using the dry erase marker). I felt like a bad mom, but you can't win them all. We did have a green dinner though (pesto pasta, Lucas' favorite meal).

Close ups

I think the angle and lighting of this picture make Lucas look so old, like a little boy instead of like the baby we still think he is (possibly because he still only weighs 23 lbs, so tiny!). But he will be two soon, and he just moved into a new classroom at school, which has brought along with it lots of new things. Lucas is drinking from a cup without a lid now; he is trying to use the potty (and successfully peed on it, if not in it, Monday morning at home); he asks for a tissue when he needs to blow his nose (whereas Josh runs the other way when he sees me grab one); and he is starting to use more words too. And he is taller. And runs a lot faster.



Josh, meanwhile, is preparing for kindergarten. Amazing. I can't believe he'll be in real school next year. We've been to two kindergarten round-ups, and we're torn between the two. I can't believe the number of schools some of our friends have toured. I'm torn between thinking I'd be completely overwhelmed if I were considering any more possibilities than the two we are already debating, and feeling like maybe I should have looked around more to know what other options are available. But John reminds me that one of the reasons we chose our house was the school district assignments for our neighborhood, which has one of Portland's best elementary schools. So Josh should be in good hands even with only the two options we have for him come fall.

Learning to build BIG towers

With his own curiosity and some guidance from Josh, Lucas has been building large towers with his blocks (recognize these, Dante? they are a big hit!). In this series I captured this morning, he builds a tower taller than he is.

Here he stopped and waited long enough for me to leave the room, get my camera, return, and take his picture. Amazing, given his competing urges to build taller and/or knock it down in delight. But he waited for me instead. And he is smiling with pride in his accomplishment thus far.



Adding the "l" block, which makes the tower about exactly as tall as Lucas.



And now one more, which requires tippy-toes:



He actually had to turn this one and try again, but I only posted one of these, so the block is a bit turned in the next photo.

The finished tower:



The good news is, as much as he loves building and stacking, he is equally pleased when it all comes crashing down (and sometimes helps speed that process along), so this has been a fun activity for all of us.