Last days of summer

Wow, to think that summer is coming to an end.  It has been a full one: trip to California to spend a week with Grandma Carmen and her broken wrist, saying goodbye to Tango, week in Black Butte with my family and our friends, a weekend in Anacortes for the Clark family campout, and a weekend in Eugene with my dad and Sandy.  This doesn't even include the weekly trips to the zoo, playdates, trips to the park, afternoons at the Woodlawn Swap n Play, trips to OMSI, and countless hours of playing with "the guys".  I'd say this summer has had its ups and downs, and while it has been fabulous to spend so much time with my boy, I am ready to wrap it up.

We reintroduced Trey to the bike trailer in Black Butte.  He loved it, so I was excited to get back out again.  We went out to Marine Drive to ride on the path that goes along the Columbia River.  I have wanted to do this for a long time.  Needless to say, 10 minutes in Trey started to whine "Mama, hold you" from the trailer and would not stop, so we cut the trip short.  Total bummer.

I dug out my old Fisher Price toys and was SO EXCITED to have Trey play with them.  I totally scored a great deal to get some "vintage Fisher Price Little People" off of Craigslist (I had NO IDEA how expensive they were to get, especially on eBay), so now Trey has an assortment of Little People to use when he plays with my toys from the 70's.  AWESOME.

Randy and Trey went with me to see Dr. Theopolis at Kenton Park.  I was really looking forward to this summer concert in the park.  I have wanted to go for the past two summers, but when you had a child who would go to sleep at 6:00pm it was difficult.  This year we went to see a band that I used to see when I was young and single and took a picnic and some drinks.  Trey wanted to get up front and danced his little heart away.  It was such a great summer night!

Cheers!

Trey dancing

Randy and I got a babysitter for my birthday and went out to dinner with my dad, Sandy, Julie, Tim, and some friends.  We went to check out Oven and Shaker down in the Pearl and it was delish!  Great drinks, great salad, and great pizza!  Not to mention some really great friends who came out to celebrate with me even though it was 100 freaking degrees outside.

 Family photo with Trey at 26 months

Check out this blog entry to see us in the same spot when Trey was only 2 months.

(You'll have to scroll down a little bit in the entry.)

 Family along with Papa and Sanny

Every year the Clark family gets together for their annual campout.  We went in 2010 when Trey was only 8 weeks old, and we went last year when I had to drive home because Trey freaked out in the tent.      This year the campout was in Anacortes so we could be close to Randy's Grandma Alice.  It is so cool that so many Clarks come together each year to spend time together.   It was also my kind of camping: hang out at the campground during the day; go crash at Grandma Alice's at night.  Perfect!  Grandma Alice and I had some good talks after Trey went to bed, and I learned more about the Clark family.  I love being with her, and she really makes me miss my Grandma Eklund.  

Papa Doug and Trey chasing the ball 

August 18, 2012

Our five year anniversary

Who could ask for a better place to celebrate five years of marriage 

than being in nature with my husband and my son?  

Eating around the campfire.  

In the back row is Uncle Dave and Uncle Rick.

In the front row is Grandma Carmen, Papa Doug, 

Trey, and Uncle Duane (Papa Doug's identical twin) 

8 years together, 5 years of marriage, and 2 years of parenthood

So far so good!

Trey "hiking" with Papa Doug and Daddy 

Post haystacks walk

Trey couldn't get enough of these rocks or his cousins Caleb and Amy 

Trey giving his "cheesy" smile and Amy looking cute as ever 

And if you missed it from my previous post, here is a picture of everyone together.  

This past weekend we went down to my dad and Sandy's so I could get my hair cut and Randy could go fishing.  Trey loves his time with Papa and Sanny.  

Trey on the trampoline

In the background is my Grandma Eklund's old car.  

I totally remember riding in the back seat of that thing chewing her spearmint gum.   

Sandy put Trey down for his nap, so I got to enjoy over three hours of quiet time on the deck watching the river.  Randy and I got married in front of that tree five years ago.  I enjoyed reading my books and drinking some wine while Trey slept.  Pretty awesome afternoon if you ask me.

Randy has introduced Trey to his skateboard.  It may now be one of Trey's favorite things to do.

Today I went to OMSI with Kathleen and her boys.  I'm going to miss these mid-week get togethers with my friends and their kids.

Trey and Garland

Trey couldn't get enough of Garland.  It was pretty cute. 

It is nearly impossible to get a shot of these three boys together.  

None of them are looking (okay, Maclyn is), but at least they are all sitting still.  

This afternoon I took Trey to the park.  He still had his helmet on from earlier skateboarding with Randy.   We walked to the park together, but he wouldn't take his helmet off.  I was sort of embarrassed and wanted to tell everyone we passed, "His idea.  Not mine."

So these two people may have appeared in my blog before (but not in a photo).  They ride their motorized wheelchairs around the park and don't wear any pants.  Today the woman had a dress on, but the man just had his underwear on with a pillow over his  lap.  They also have two tiny dogs who they let run around off leash.  As I came around the corner, I saw them sitting at this picnic table with their dogs ON THE TABLE.  And I also heard the man call the woman "Sis".  This whole scenario is so bothersome on so many levels.

Trey loves water.  He discovered today that if he puts his hand on the handprint, the water will start.  Pure joy for my boy.

Before 

After

I think my favorite parts of summer have been watching Trey's language explode, spending so much time with him and getting to know him even better, and having some quality time with my friends.  My least favorite parts have been dealing with Trey's naps, listening to him whine, and having to say goodbye to Tango.  I've learned some things about myself as a parent, and I have no doubt that I will continue to learn more as Trey grows.  I am so grateful for the time I have spent with my boy this summer, and I know I will miss it when I return to work full time next week.  Love you, sweet boy! 

A tiny taste of the Clark reunion 2012

Last weekend we went to Anacortes, Washington for the Clark family campout.  Here is a group photo of everyone who was there.  I will post with more photos and stories from the past few weeks soon.

One great grandma + five brothers and sisters + four spouses + four sons and daughters + two spouses + five great grandkids = A LOT OF CLARKS!!!

My reading list

I have read some great novels this summer.  One of my favorites was Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True, a story about two twins, one of whom is schizophrenic.  I've had it on my bookshelf for a very long time, and I was always turned off by it due to its length (almost 1000 pages).  I'm so glad I tackled it this summer, and I really enjoyed it.  I also really liked Joshua Henkin's The World Without You which was about a family getting together to mourn their son/brother who died in Iraq.  It sounds depressing, but it was really good and a very character driven story which I always love.  

This is my stack of books that I'm working on.  I think you will get the idea:

Child of Mine by Ellyn Satter is about food.  I am having a hell of a time feeding Trey this summer.  During the school year he eats great at daycare, so I don't really worry about it.  Since he's been home with me more than normal this summer, I am trying very hard not to make his diet consist of snacks and mac and cheese, but it is really hard when he won't eat.  Satter says that the parent decides what and when the child eats, and the child decides how much.  Trey has that down really well.  

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood and 1-2-3 Magic are about behavior for toddlers (and up).  My pediatrician recommended the 1-2-3 Magic book and I have only read a little bit.  One tidbit that I have already related to is that the number one mistake parents make is that they think of their child as a little adult and proceed to treat them that way when they are having behavior issues.  I certainly don't think my two year old is a little adult, but I can definitely see myself falling into this trap in the future.  I also liked what they said about how one problem parents have with discipline is too much language and too much emotion.  The authors recommend taking both of those things away when disciplining your child to make things more effective.  This is another thing I can see myself becoming victim to as Trey gets older.  

The next two books have to do with sleep, of course.  I have read parts of Weissbluth and Ferber's books from the very beginning, and I go back to them again and again as I need them.  My goal for the rest of the summer is to stop talking about Trey's sleep, so I won't belabor the issue much here, but let's just say his napping has NOT improved over the summer, and it has been very unpleasant.  The week daycare was closed (that was two weeks ago) was probably the worst week I have had all summer.  As much as I love spending time with Trey, his napping problems (or I guess they are really MY napping problems) are causing me to look forward to going back to work in a big way.  This, of course, makes me feel sad and bad because what kind of mother wants to go to work to have time away from her child?  (A normal one is what I honestly think.)  While I use these sleep books as a resource and they give me great information, what they really do is make me feel like a shitty parent.

The bottom two books on my stack are much more enjoyable.  The Mama's Boy Myth is really interesting and the premise is that sons who have close relationships with their mothers have stronger relationships in their adult lives.  She writes about how men need to be able to emotionally connect and communicate in order to be successful in the work place and how mothers are the ones who often teach them these skills.  She also writes about how boys who have strong relationships with their mothers are more secure and confident which causes them to be more academically engaged and less aggressive and violent with their peers.  As someone who has been accused of coddling her son and someone who loves the closeness that Trey and I currently share, I am eating this book up.  Love it.  Also, at the very bottom is the novel I just finished called Newlyweds.  I enjoyed this book a lot and am still thinking about the characters as if they truly exist.  This is my favorite kind of book.

Since leaving Annie Bloom's, I have to work harder at finding things to read.  One website I really like is supported by independent booksellers.  I go to their Indie Next List regularly to find new things to read.  I also read the newsletters that I get from Goodreads and Barnes and Noble (gasp - I won't link you to that), and I check Powell's frequently to see what is being highlighted as well as who is coming for author's events.  Reading is one of my favorite things to do, and, on that note, it's time to go to bed and read.  

Friends

So I don't think this will come to a surprise to many of you, especially if you are reading my blog and you know me, but my friends are really important to me.  I like to think this is one of the many traits I have inherited from my mother.  I love keeping in touch with friends and still have many close friends from high school and college that I talk to on a regular basis.  I love Facebook because it helps me to know what is going on with folks when life gets too hectic to meet for coffee or drinks as often as I'd like.  One lesson I hope to pass on to Trey is how valuable good friends are and how they really create the support system that a person needs to lead a happy and fulfilling life (especially if he is an only child).  Right now almost all of his friends are my friends' kids, and that is certainly not a bad thing.  I hope that as he grows older he chooses wisely, as I read in one of Malcolm Gladwell's essays that as children grow their peers have a bigger influence on them than their parents.

Trey and I have been going to swimming lessons with Mindy and Camille.  One day as we walked out of the locker room on our way to the park, they grabbed hands.  Mindy and I nearly melted with the cuteness of it.  Trey and Camille have been spending time together since they were 3-4 months old, but this summer feels like the first time that they have realized that they are friends and like each other.

The sweetest thing ever

I was really hoping to spend more time with Kathleen and her boys, Garland and Maclyn, this summer, but somehow our schedules have made that difficult.  It is a real bummer because summer is almost over, and I'm not sure Trey (26 months) and Maclyn (22 months) have learned yet that they are going to be really good friends.

For some reason I can not get these three boys to look at the camera at the same time.  Here is Maclyn, blond as ever, smiling for the camera.

Playing on the teeter totters at Peninsula Park

Getting wet, of course

Kathleen and Maclyn

This may be Trey and Maclyn's first official one-on-one interaction.  YAY!

One day after swimming, Mindy and I realized that Trey and Camille were dressed as twins.  This made their holding hands pictures even cuter!

Last weekend Sarah Long came up from Eugene with her kids, Anna and Curtis.  I went and hung out with them at Sarah Kopplin's house (I still can't figure out why I call Sarah Long by her maiden name and Sarah Kopplin by her married name - maybe it is because so many people in Portland who know Sarah Kopplin know her by her married name???) before we went out to dinner.  I love how Trey is getting older and starting to interact more with the kids.

Trey and Curtis at Hopworks 

Sarah Kopplin, Sarah Long, Curtis (4), Trey (2), me,
Anna (7), Kai (4), and Zander (7)

Hands down, one of my favorite things about summer is getting to spend more time with my friends.   While I'm starting to look forward to the routine and structure of the school year, I will definitely miss my summer playdates. 

Class of '92, the True Blue!

After our two trips (California and Black Butte), it feels like the last few weeks have been "real" summer.  We have had such great weather, so we have been outside a lot which is great for my boy.  We have finally started our daycare routine of Trey going to daycare on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I think it is great for him to keep some of his routine, and it is nice for me to have some time to myself.  I have tried to stay productive while he's at daycare with a dash of social outings.  So far I have worked on organizing the basement, filing and shredding paperwork, and done several errands i.e. oil change.  I am realizing that I don't have many daycare days left, and I haven't been nearly as productive as I'd hoped.  Oh well.  The downside of daycare is that Trey seems to be going through a separation/clinginess phase and he isn't loving daycare as much as he did before.  I think this is impacting his clinginess to me when we are home and some bedtime problems...or maybe it's just his age.  Who knows.

Here are some pics and stories from the past two weeks.  Enjoy!

Trey cooking me some dinner while Randy gets the grill prepped.  The cutest thing is that he likes to "cheers" and drink from the fake mustard and ketchup bottles.  

Trey's favorite thing at the zoo is the elephants. He talks about them the whole way to the zoo, and then he talks about them the whole time we are there until we see them.  Then, of course, as soon as we get to the elephants, he couldn't care less and wants to go do something else (lately the drums).  I think this was the closest Trey has ever been to an elephant, and all he wanted to do was leave.

Oh, and lately Trey has been in a stage where he resists changing out of his pjs.  I can get the pants off easily when I change his diaper, but the shirt is a different story.  I can't believe I let him wear this Cookie Monster shirt to the zoo.  I found it quite embarrassing.

Petting the goats for the first time.  Now, unfortunately, we have to stop at the petting zoo every time we go (not my favorite thing to do).

A few weeks ago, our friend Kris's friend Tommy came into town for a visit.  We always have a good time when he is here, and this trip was no exception.  Kris signed us up for the Urban Beer Hunt which was a sort of scavenger hunt around downtown and NW Portland.  Clues were texted to our phone and then we had to go all around town taking pictures of us at the places or doing the tasks.  John figured out that we traveled over 6 miles around town.  There are several pics which I posted on Facebook, but these are some of my favorites:  (the people are John, Kris, Tommy, Randy, and me)

Pre-Urban Beer Hunt

We started with brunch at Cafe Nell.  

Then I drove Trey to Julie's for the Urban Beer Hunt 

(want to make sure no one thinks we dragged Trey around with us all over town.  

We aren't THAT bad.)

Here are some of the tasks we had to complete:

Find the statue that Bud Clark posed with for the Expose Yourself to Art campaign (or something like that) and take a picture.

Go to the bar that had something to do with a happy bullpen and take a picture with us drinking the beer without using our hands.

Unscramble some letters to find the name of a bar (Slabtown) and then drink some beer that is given to you by someone else (Randy spilled beer all down my front).

Find the sign at Pioneer Square that points in all different directions and then do the same thing.

After the Beer Hunt (in which we COULD have placed in the top ten if we could have found a Portland police officer and had them pose with us doing a fake sobriety test - unbelievably we could not find a cop along our entire 6+ mile trek), we went back to Kris and John's for a barbecue and beer croquet.  Randy and I decided to spend the night with Trey so that we could a) not drive home and b) have brunch with our friends in the morning.

Beer croquet.  There were a lot of rules.  One of which was you could not put down your beer OR your mallet at any time.  Also, if you were distracted and caused delay of game you had to drink.  I told the group that I may need an exception if I had to parent, but Trey was a trooper and we had a great time.

Making sure I didn't get penalized (have to drink) for putting down my beer or mallet AND I was able to hold Trey at the same time.  By the way, he's getting heavy.

Bloody Mary bar (aka the real reason we wanted to stay for brunch)

Trey really loved John's guitar.  Once he discovered it, it was difficult to get him away from it.

One benefit of summer is that every day is a little different.  We have been doing a lot of fun things and it is great to have some down time.

Another trip to the zoo, this time with Randy.  Trey has a thing for these drums.  He likes to play them, but he seems equally content just to sit here with them.

Trey's first train ride

He loved every minute of it.

Here's a photo of our tomato garden.  My experiment of planting them a little late to hopefully miss the last cold spell we always seem to have in May has failed miserably, and we don't have a lot of fruit on the plants.  Next year I vow to not make the same mistake.  

Pretty flowers on our delicata squash plant 

My cute nephew who just turned 10 months old 

Trey is a terrible napper for me, so one day last week I took the opportunity to walk to the library to pick up my hold (great book called Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger) so he could fall asleep in the stroller.  It worked much better than listening to him scream in his crib, but he didn't sleep for very long.  Someday this nap bullshit will change.  Someday.

I stopped in Peninsula Park to sit in the shade and read while Trey napped.   

Yes, ANOTHER trip to the zoo.  Here are Trey and Camille checking out the awesome seals.

Trey playing the drums 

This is a random picture, but it is a classic one of Trey.  He loves to play with his "guys" (Sesame Street figures) and we have done it so much that now Trey talks for the characters and has them go in the little rooms of the Sesame Street house.  I love sitting and listening to him have one guy say "Hi Ernie" and then Ernie says hi back.  He also does a great Cookie Monster voice.  So fun.

So the event of the summer was my 20 year high school reunion.  I have spent the last 8 months or so planning it with six other people.  It has been SO MUCH FUN and I am so glad that I was part of the committee.  Getting together about once a month with the girls to "plan" was really fabulous.  Our "meetings" also consisted of a fair amount of gabbing, gossiping, catching up, and wine drinking.  All in all, I think we put on a really great event, and we have been getting a lot of great feedback.  We had the main event at Oswego Hills Winery on Friday night.  It was a long day and a late night for me, and I wouldn't change a thing.  Saturday we did a happy hour at Stickmen Brewery which is on Oswego Lake and sitting out on the patio with old friends looking out at the lake was perfect.  I could have done without the 99 degree weather which didn't mix well with my state of being from the day/night before, but it was fun to see people again and hang out with Randy, Nyree, and Jason.  Sunday we had a family picnic at Waluga Park.  I was hoping to take Trey and Randy with me, but Trey really needed to come home and nap.  Probably worked out for the best.  

Jon and Luke recreated our sign from our senior year.  I am pretty sure the original sign hung in our senior commons all year.  

The entrance to our event

The check in table 

Desserts and Pacer blue and yellow flowers, of course

The patio with our centerpieces 

 Me and Nikki

Hanging out on the patio

For the life of me I can't figure out who I am talking to.

It was really great to see everyone, but I think the person I was the most excited to see was Luke.  I haven't seen him in years, and it was so awesome that he and his family travelled from Florida for the event.  Here Luke is with me, Nyree, Kelly, and Kerri...four of my closest friends from high school.

Near the end of the night (can you tell?) 

in the photo booth with Nyree, Kelly, and Kerri.  

I have known Nyree since 9th grade, Kelly since 7th, and Kerri since 1st.  

I cannot tell you how blessed I am to still have these three women in my life. 

Our awesome class

August 5th (today) is my dad's birthday, so we went to breakfast at Julie's house.  I was so lucky that my dad and Sandy came up for the weekend to watch Trey most of the day on Friday while I set up for the reunion and then several hours on Saturday while Randy and I were at happy hour and then at a friend's house.

Dad and Sandy with the two boys 

My goal was to get Trey out of his Blue's Clues shirt (so ghetto) 

and his rain boots (so inappropriate for the hot weather) 

before we went to the picnic.

Luckily he got in the wading pool (and fell over) so he got soaked.  This was the perfect chance for me to change him before the picnic, but of course he never made it to the event.

I think my dad had a lot of fun spending so much time with Trey this weekend.  I know Trey did because as soon as he woke this morning he started asking for Grandpa.

This afternoon we went to Blue Lake Park with Julie and Tim so the boys could play in the water fountain.  Here is Trey cooling off.

 Julie, Grady, and Trey

Love this picture of my boy...contemplative and wet

We stripped him for the ride home, and then he spilled his drink on the car seat, so here he is hot and wet trying to keep the sun out of his eyes and his legs off his drink.

I feel like I have had a lot of deep parenting thoughts over the past few weeks, but after this long, hot, and fabulous reunion weekend I cannot think of a one.  Trey and I will be alone this next week because his daycare is closed, so I imagine I will have plenty to say as it goes along.  My hopes for the week are that my nap boot camp actually happens and I don't wimp out, and that Trey actually eats something for me.  It's going to be a long week for him if he doesn't nap and continues on his mommy hunger strike.  Wish me luck!