playing catch-up

wow. it's been a while. whiles of words and developments well beyond my expectations. alasdair's language + vocabulary is blowing up, as they say. and i'm discounting the fact that most of his words are only understood by ben and i---they are words, still. for example, this morning when he woke up he played, got of the bed and pointed to the bedside table... "wah-ta." so i offered him a sip. he nodded his head and smiled. a 'no, thank you' in his way. there are lots of words that he repeats consistently: bird, dog, book, water, koia (our new dog), danger, thank you. his newest: bear. it's amazing to watch him communicate---and especially amazing to communicate with him, with words. utterances. body language.
all of this new communication is coming at a much needed time, too. we are weaning. he is weaning. i am weaning. not sure how you say it, we, i suppose. i think he's ready, and i'm definitely ready. so, about five days ago i began a process of offering more solids, in place of nursing times. whereas i used to nurse first, then offer food, it's now going the other way---and he's great. he only really begs for 'mee-mee' when he's tired, though i'm doing my best to offer different sleep associations. it worked great for nap about 20 minutes ago! also, we're night-weaning, which has been a much smoother transition that i anticipated. it's crazy to think that we tried the same night-weaning method when he was 11 months, and it was unbearable. now, at 14 (nearly) months, things are so different. i'm happy that we paid close attention to his cues and waited until now.
hmmmm... so much has happened around here. ben has screened in half of the front porch. it looks amazing, and we can now utilize that space like it's another room. he sealed every bit of it, keeping the bugs out. it gets a nice breeze. rugs are down, alasdair's toys are out there. it's lovely. we eat meals outside now.
we've also painted two out of the four white rooms. the bathroom, mustard yellow, and alasdair's room, olive green. onto our room next: burnt orange, then the hallway: yet to be decided.
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the first silk screen

i've been wanting to learn how to silk screen for some time now. well, camp has finally provided an ideal opportunity. here's the first... of many, i hope.

birds, worn by my lovely model, alasdair:

her name...

is: sekoia.
i call her koia.
a love, she is.
here are she and ben on her first day home. i told you he fell in love... immediately, as did she.

that's a good girl, girl

... crazy. wild. crazy. twas yesterday. and, in the end, alasdair and I (yes, he was an accomplice), brought home a very lovely lady friend---a sister for morley, puppy for alasdair, white love for ben and good friend of mine. we have yet to name her, though we're searching, so if you're inspired--let us know. she is a great pyrenees, 2 years old, rescued from the pound.
the "crazy" story, in short:
(phase one) a and I went down the the pc market yesterday. while cruising the streets, I saw many many dogs, but one dog caught my eye. beautiful. brindled. big. after three attempts to let his owners know how wonderful I thought he was, I tried once more. "I really like your dog." the guy turned, caught that I was talking to them, finally. we chatted about the breed (pyrenees, something and golden retriever mix). of course his name was marley (our sweet boy of many years is morley). I loved him so because I know how ben adored his old dog, pushkin, and I've been slowly searching for another dog that somewhat resembles push. anyway. after some talk, I asked where I might find a dog just like that. turns out that the owner works at the pound, and though there wasn't a 'marley' there, there was a beautiful white great pyrenees, whom she had named summer.
(phase two) a lady at a booth was selling beautiful, artistic, great photo frames. I ogled over them for a bit, then realized the friend I was with is friends of the artist---a girl whom I had met at the fourth of july celebration. a girl by the name of summer. turns out that summer cannot meet the demand from retailers + others wanting to buy her frames. I asked to work with her. she told me to email. could blossom into something great. remember, her name is summer.
... the great pyrenees (was) summer, too.
(phase three) and not a very important phase, but worth mentioning: twice, later in the day, puppies were passing. they stopped nearby and I commented. both were from the pound in pc (furburbia, where our girl is from), adopted this past week. I had only heard of this 'furburbia' place one time prior to yesterday... and suddenly, everyone was all about furburbia.
(phase four, finale) after the market I decided to go and visit great white summer. ben wasn't able to join us. a and I went. she was beautiful and calm. so calm. and sweet with alasdair, and while we were visiting in the dog room it occurred to me that the night previous I had a dream about valcor---from neverending story. valcor was so huge and walking along a path, near water, in the distance. that was it. she was coming home.
and she did.
without ben knowing.


... and, he is in love. as we all are.

photos from the beginning

alasdair, my pie. it feels like yesterday that you were nestled on my chest, curled and content as we slept in spurts. fortunately you still like to sleep close. I remember the near terror as we walked out of the birthing center, waved a hand goodbye to teresa, placed you in the back seat... only hours after your transition out of your water world and into our arms. a week of elated bliss ensued, then followed by a dramatic drop in confidence. but we made it through and through and through. survived with family and hikes and the like. today you're more inquisitive than before, an observationalist, a social butterfly, a sharing wee one---many things, developing only more and more. i love you, sweet man. we love you.

I had to 're-cap'...
look at that little monkey. only an hour old, and growing.



the first camping trip + hike at 6 weeks in Stanley, Idaho. Fortunately we ran into a friend of Ben's who was caretaking some property and so we were able to stay in a cabin. turns out we were ill-equipped for a night of camping with a 6-week-old in cold weather.

our mini santa. the morning of departure from boise, headed to our new home in park city to live at camp. he was two months here, and loving life.

a stoked mini at 5 1/2 months. too much. one of my favorite photos. the christmas card.

pretty frightening of mama, but so cute of the wee one.

bathtime. alasdair's favorite time.. aside from what's below.

... good papa lovin. so sweet.

and gearing up for a sledding adventure in may.


which brings us back around to date... and his sweetness, at a year old. crazy. so happy. almost too damn cute.

refreshed

four nights ago, Ben and I decided to 'activate' a new sleeping method... no night-time nursing. we were nervous. a bit. well, it has gone over brilliantly. last night was the fourth night and I'll say this: I was up at 6 am this morning simply because I got almost a full six-hour stretch. incredible! on top of Alasdair adjusting really well to it, Ben suggested that I sleep in the other room for the past two nights so that the boy wouldn't smell me and fight for comfort food. ah... what a lovely man I have. hopefully we'll continue on this track and all get back to a full eight hours at some point.
as I write this, he awakes. as said, I am refreshed.
happy fourth.

photo party.

oh, my... alasdair is ONE and many days. holy. crazy. it's been a week of reminiscing for sure. we threw a party for him last sunday, two days before the actual big day. lots of friends and babies were over and I failed to take photos. what? yes, I know. so I'm depending on those lovely friends to send photos and when they do, I'll post them. today's 'photo party' starts with some shots taken by uncle jason and cousin madailein in boise. a alone and with stella... so sweet. the crying bit: at the birthday party. worn out. but then the cake came and he perked up enough to snack. i waited and waited on the cake in the face shot, but he failed to deliver... so picky and particular with each bite. a quality he must have taken from his father. uncle jason and aunt jeri sent him a killer radio flyer for his birthday. as soon as i put it together... well, just look at the photos. STOKED! so cute.