Winter weather

After a long stretch of beautiful autumn weather, where day after day we've enjoyed sunny skies and temperatures in the fifties, winter has paid a visit to Grand Junction. It was cold and cloudy on Saturday, and on Saturday evening it started to snow. On Sunday morning we woke up to about 3 inches of snow. We got flurries on and off throughout the day but nothing really accumulated.

We thought we would all bundle up and go across the street to the park and play in the snow. That's what Chris and I thought, but Cailan was not into the idea. He had been excited to see the snow at first, but when we started trying to get him dressed he got upset. "Nooo, I don't want to wear my snow boots!" It's funny because I remember Quinn at about that age saying almost the same thing: "No, I don't want to wear my snow suit!"

We compromised on his Keens, which are high topped and kind of sturdy leather, but then we hit another stumbling block on the coat. He didn't want to wear his new winter coat, but I put in on him anyway. He refused to put the hood up or put on the mittens. Finally, we went outside, where Chris was clearing the driveway and the cars. Normally I'd say he was shoveling the driveway but we haven't bought a snow shovel yet. He was using a sturdy broom and actually, the snow was dry enough that that was working pretty well.

Once we got outside, Cailan didn't want to walk on the snow. "Want Mommy to pick me up!" So I carried him around, and we looked at the snow on the trees and the bushes and watched some other kids playing in the snow. We talked about how all his ramphorhyncuses (maple leaves in the front yard he was playing with - I guess they kind of look like flying dinosaurs) were hiding under the snow. The wind was pretty hard, so I took him into the back yard which is more sheltered, but he still wouldn't get down on the snow. Then he started crying "My hands are cold! My hands are cold!"

So we went inside and sat on the couch and talked about how next time we go out to play in the snow he can wear his blue jacket and his orca mittens, as we snuggled under a fleece blanket and tried to warm his hands up.

I'm squishy

Cailan had a pancake today with some syrup in a tiny bowl to dip his pancake strips in. When he was done he said "I'm done eating. I need a mopper. I'm all squishy."

Chris and I both asked, "You're squishy?"

Cailan said, "What am I from the syrup?"

I replied, "Oh, you're STICKY! I'll get a washcloth."

It was interesting, I've never seen him not able to find the right word before.

Ooon at a time

We use the phrase “one at a time” at our house a lot. In particular, Chris uses it in a funny voice “ooon at a timmmme” when Cailan is shoving grapes or goldfish crackers or macaronis into his mouth by the fistful. Cailan even imitates it right back, in the same silly voice.

Last night, we went out for dinner, in between dropping of the Subaru at the dealer to get the power steering pump replaced and going to the mall to look for a winter coat for Cailan. We ate at Thai Chili, ordering the usual Pad Tofu Basil for me, Pad Prik Tofu for Chris, and side of rice noodles for Cailan. Cailan was very careful and deliberate about eating his noodles one at a time.

But he wasn’t just eating them one at a time. He would pick each one up, stretch it out, and give it a dinosaur name before finally shoving it into his mouth. At the beginning of the noodle bowl, he was saying actual dinosaur names, like pterodactyl and stegosaurus and gallimimus. But before long, he was making up dinosaur names, as he’s been doing a lot lately, by combining the beginnings, middles, and ends of other dinosaur names.

psiscotangas
ikephodon
hypsilostega
erestocarcharius
camputritiosaurus
haptotronops
estemenosuchus

Happy Birthday, Cailan!

Happy birthday, my sweet little man!

Here we are the Wednesday before his birthday, making cookies for Cailan to take to school. We made letter cookies, just like last year. Chris and Bobbie mixed up the dough in the morning so it could chill for several hours. We started making them right after dinner but it was still 9:30 before Cailan went to bed. The first of many late nights. After school on Thursday, I asked Cailan what letter he got. "I had a C and an O, and if you spell them that makes CO!"


This picture is from Friday night, Cailan's birthday. We had butterfly noodles (his favorite) with asparagus for dinner. The cake is a Moo-less Chocolate Pie, made from silken tofu and melted chocolate chips on a graham cracker crust. Cailan made a good attempt at blowing out the candles, but he needed some help to actually get them extinguished.


He enjoyed his cake very much!


After cake, it was time to open presents. Cailan got an Automoblox truck from Grandpa and Grandma Bonnie. He liked it a lot, but I think the adults liked it even more. We all loved the super-smooth wood of the truck body, the easy-rolling rubber wheels, and it is so much fun to take apart and put back together.


He got a Puff the Magic Dragon book from SCAQ. It has gorgeous illustrations - I really like the colors in it. We need to find a calm moment to look at the book and listen to the CD, but that certainly didn't happen amidst the present mayhem.


Grandma Bobbie gave him an illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. It was amazing to watch him leaf through the book for the first time and read the names of 20 or 30 different dinosaurs; I was totally impressed that he was able to recognize the names in a new context. She also gave him a magnetic dinosaur scene (by far the biggest hit of the evening) and a Tyrranosaurus rex floor puzzle.




The last present, from Chris and I, was a glider bike. Cailan has such short legs that it was hard to get the seat low enough for him to straddle the bike, but he has learned to push it around the living room. The picture is blurry because he's moving so fast! Or maybe it's blurry because it was almost 11 p.m. and Chris and I were about to fall asleep, but Cailan was still going strong.