Small moments of big changes

There are two little moments that happened in the past few days that I just have to write down and share:

Both times Ethan and I were in the thick of a solid playing groove when he paused, I mean literally stopped in his tracks with his legs spread in a strong stance and went  "uh.... uh....." and then exploded off to do something amazing.

The first time I had cut my finger and Jody asked Ethan if he could go get a band-aid for me from the bathroom and bring it down.  There he was, like a statue, " uh... uh..." and then off like a shot.  Not only did Ethan get the band-aid all by himself, but he unwrapped it, found the cut on my finger, and put the band-aid on the cut and then lovingly smoothed it out.  It was the first time he had done that all by himself... it was a quantum leap and it just melted my heart.

The next day, we had decided to go outside and play with the Ethan's pipe set, but we had been playing pretty hard and I needed to sit down for a few minutes.  As soon as I sat down, BOOM, there Ethan was in full pause "uh... uh.... (mental POW) I can get the keys and open up the storage closet and get the hose and take it the back yard so you can stay here and rest a little bit." 

And that was exactly what he did.  It was amazing!

Garden Harvest #1

Some of the tomato plants I had gotten from my friend Jon have had fruit for a while, but it is just in the past week or two that they have started to ripen.  I held off on picking the below tomato so it would ripen all the way, but this morning I discovered that a particular chipmunk that lives around our house had himself a solid meal of tomato.  (I also suspect he has been nibbling on my chard -- CURSE HIM!)

Also, one of the onions I planted as bulbs have been showing signs of rot (I think I watered them to much a few times and the pot did not dry out) so I have pulled another one that had lots of dried leaves.  It turns out it was just fine.  Below is that onion (with the green trimmed off) and some yellow tomatoes that Ethan picked himself.  He has been such a wonderful helper this year watering our plants and noticing when the plants undergo changes.

Hinman Cabin

We spent the night in an amazing Dartmouth cabin - this one even easier the the ones we tried out in the winter, because it was only 40 min from our house and had stove, lights, and awesome pond to play in.  Ethan LOVED pumping fresh water with our little filter and catching newts.  And being naked naked naked - a treat now that he is more self-conscious of his body and wanting privacy in public.  Sleep was poor with no big beds and everyone shifting on their creaky mattresses but we suffered for the adventure and enjoyed a huge family nap when we got back home.

First time in a canoe.  This one we called "Red Blood".  The aluminum canoe with the crack in it was dubbed Tin-Man.  The canoe ride was not as exciting as wading and newt-hunting for Ethan, so there was only one brief paddle.

Sam blessed us with a good long nap while we splashed and cooked noodles.  He very rarely naps when he is not in arms or in the baby carrier, so there won't be many more photos like this one.

 

Ethan swam into open water (with life vest) for the first time.  I was a water loving kid - I still am - and really look forward to sharing lots of time in the water with Ethan as he gains confidence and learns to love the smooth weightlessness of swimming. 

Newts!  Jeremy and I tried to catch them with buckets but Ethan taught us just to grab them with our bare hands.  He is clearly our fearless leader in many ways.  I used to collect these little guys as a kid in their bright-orange, land-loving, youthful forms.  Who knew they grew fins and starting swimming when they grew up?

A few fireworks were left in the cabin.  Scary excitement.  In a demonstration of our unsafe parenting, at one point Jeremy actually said, "Either sawing or fireworks, Ethan, not both!"

Ethan was so wired from the day that he couldn't focus on books at all.  I tried to persevere with Paul Bunyan and Punk Farm on Tour, but no one was buying it.

 

Sam relaxed while we unpacked back home.

Two Month Sam

 

A few photos from May and June