Anniversary (and conversations about peeing)

In the summer of 1999 I proposed to Jenny in the Portland Rose Garden. Since then, we’ve tried to make it up there for a picnic each August in celebration of our anniversary. We used to just grab some food and a blanket and make our way to the grassy concert area, and if we were lucky, there would be a band playing. If there was no band, at least we had the view. And we always set the timer on the camera and took a picture of ourselves to commemorate the moment.

This yearly picnic is now a family event. Of course, with the kids, it takes us 10 minutes to get everything out of the car. Yesterday we piled stuff into the stroller and realized how far away the ramps down to the garden really are. So instead, we carried kids and supplies down the stairs. Lots of work, but it was worth it! There was a band playing yesterday – and they handed out plastic kazoos! Before we made our little mess with crackers, cheese and meats from the Italian grocery store downtown, we snapped a photo where 75% of us were smiling. It was a great night!

Man, Oliver has a lot of songs. He picks them up from school and TV and anywhere else. He is always singing and playing his instruments, both real (kazoo, guitar, harmonica, flute, xylophone) and imagined (drums, Lego saxophone and Lego trombone).

The potty training remains a work in progress, but things are moving along. We’re working on terms for bodily functions so he’s all the more ready to let us know what’s happening.

A CONVERSATION ABOUT HOW BOYS CAN PEE

Oliver is sitting in the bathtub with his hand between his legs.

DAD: Oliver, what are you doing? Are you holding your penis?

OLIVER: Yes, I am peeing with it.

Oliver sits up and directs a stream back and forth across his bathtub.

DAD: Oh! Is that fun?

OLIVER: Yes!

DAD: I know that’s fun, but you have to get out of the bath now.

Protest ensues as Oliver is taken out of the tub and dried with a towel.

OLIVER: But I want to…! No-o-o-o!!!

DAD: It’s fun to hold your penis and pee, Oliver. But you have to do that in the toilet. Or outside. Sometimes boys can pee outside.

OLIVER: Outside?

DAD: Yes, in the grass.

OLIVER: Like Abbie?

(Abbie is our dog)

DAD: Well….

OLIVER: I can pee and poop in people’s grass and you will pick it up with a bag. I will hold my penis and pee in their yard!

DAD: Um… no.

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BABY ZAEDA HANGING OUT

Zaeda is full of smiles and giggles. But she also needs lots of holding and feeding. She’s gotten delightfully chubby, as you can see.

At the zoo last weekend with Joseph. He and I took both kids.

Oliver watched us clean Zaeda's nails with a file and said that he had to do the same for his mommy.