Our Happy Kids

Paige gains more control of her hands every day. She's reaching for objects and holding them now. We play a lot of "pick up" with her.

Avery spent the day in his pajamas today. He helped his dad edge the driveway this morning. He also enjoyed climbing in a tree in our front yard.

Our Little Artist

Avery enjoyed "painting" butterfly cookies for Gram Fiddle's birthday. The recipe was from my Sesame Street Library books making it even more exciting for him!

The first drawing is a box truck. Do you see the orange sun above it? Its a lovely circle with rays!! The second picture is of the letter A and H. And the last picture... train tracks of course! He drew about eight different colored tracks on this drawing. Do you know why there are so many, he asked. The answer he had... because there are so many branch lines. Yeah, we read lots of Thomas the Train! His drawings are really starting to resemble objects.

Buttercups

I was pushing Avery on the swing this morning, and he spied a yellow flower growing on the ground.



"Daddy?" he said. He can't say anything to anyone without confirming he has their undivided attention by saying their name and waiting for them to reply.



"Yes, Child?" I replied. I reply this way to acknowledge this little quirk of his.



"Your know what you do with buttercups?" he asked.



"What?"



"You hold them up to somebody's chin and if it's yellow, that means they like butter," he replied.



"Really?"



"Yup. That's what you do," he confirmed.



It's in these little conversations that you realize what it is to be a father, and at the same time, what it is to be a child. My mind was filled with memories of chasing my late-day shadow across the lawn, picking buttercups from underneath the pine trees and holding them up to someone's chin and asking, "do you like butter?" It's amazing in one way, but not surprising in the least in another, that these little things, like what to do with buttercups, gets passed from one generation of children to the next. I remember what it was like to be a child every time I talk to Avery--and that, I guess, is one of the gifts you enjoy when you are a father.

Big Girl

Avery now likes to pose with Paige and request that we take their photo... this was the result of one of those requests.  Paige adores him!

Paige and I have both had a cold last week.  Friday she started in with a fever... and I knew just where that would lead...  a Sunday morning visit to the pediatrician confirmed her first ear infection.  Avery suffered many an ear infection during his first year as well, they get that from me unfortunately.  Paige has her big brother beat by a good 3 months however, his first ear infection was at 6 mos and she's only 3!  On top of the ear infection, she had a reaction to the antibiotics and developed a lovely rash.  After another Dr visit, we now have a new medication that we hope gives her some relief soon.  The big girl weighs in at a healthy 16.25 lbs at only 3 months, oh my!!  She's still just being nursed and the Drs are not concerned with her chunkiness.  Hopefully she's feeling better very soon!

Project Deck Sealing: Complete

We spent the weekend washing then sealing the back deck.  We waited the recommended year for the pressure treated wood to do its thing before sealing it.  First, we sanded off the grade marks, then washed the deck with deck wash.  Then we used a clear water-based sealer, (Cabot SPF Deck and Fence). We should have taken some "before" pictures, but imagine a plain old, fading-to-gray pressure treated deck.  At some point this summer, we'll have to do the same to the small deck and stairs that go into the mudroom.

Cobscook Bay State Park Camping Trip

We all have the week off and we spent four days on a camping trip at Cobscook Bay State Park. Our campsite (Site 103) was definitely the most private site we've ever camped at. Really--nearly all of the sites in the park are very private--many set back way off the road and many with water views. Ours was right on the bay where we could watch the extremely high tides come in and out.

At high tide, our little bay was filled to the brim, but when the tide went out, only a wide mud-flat remained, which by the way, you can't walk across. We saw some people digging clams, and there were signs that told us that the clam limit was one peck.

Despite it being a holiday week, the park was nearly deserted and at times, we felt like we had the place to ourselves. The entire park was well-kept, the layout of campsites was well-thought-out and many of the sites (including ours) included a covered-picnic table.

We took a side trip to Eastport on Tuesday. Neither Jen nor I could remember ever having been there before. It was pretty foggy, and we found out that Eastport was... well, it was Eastport. At least we can now say we've been there. We did take some pictures of a very cool fisherman statue and and a fogged-in ship that was tied up at the pier.

On Wednesday, we took a trip to Quoddy Head to see West Quoddy Head Light and to do some hiking on the trails at Quoddy Head State Park. Avery had never seen a lighthouse, although he claimed to "know all about them." I guess it's a treat to see the easternmost lighthouse in the U.S. as your first lighthouse. It took a while for Avery to warm up the foghorn, though. He kept his ears covered for quite awhile. We looked around the visitor's center inside the old light keeper's house and walked around the fogged-in lighthouse.

From the lighthouse, we followed a trail along the cliffs. Avery is definitely ready to do some more hiking. We took a trip into Lubec for lunch and to explore the village.

It was a fun trip. We've added the park to our list of places to return. It's a bit of a drive, but well worth it. You can check out the rest of our photos here.