Springtime, house hunting, and PLAYDOUGH!!

Not to rub it in, but it’s springtime in Oregon (here's Toby with his springtime ladybug pal). By the beginning of February, bulbs were sending up green shoots and birds were singing. By Valentine’s Day, there were daffodils, crocuses, and all manner of small trees flowering. We’ve even gotten to know some new local native flowers, Oregon Grape and Indian Plum. Now it’s on to MAGNOLIAS! Maybe I should stop complaining about being so far from the Midwest?

Since the last post, the big news in our house is playdough. Aunt Margo gave Toby an IOU for his 2^nd birthday, but thoughtfully postponed delivery until he was (mostly) interested in playing with it rather than eating it. When the box arrived a few weeks ago with a handmade ball in every color of the rainbow, full-on freakouts of happiness ensued. He stopped napping for days because all he wanted to do was play with it. Seriously. We started by making mosaics and decorating playdough Christmas trees. Sometimes he also likes to feed playdough caterpillars, but lately his favorite thing is cutting up playdough food with his wooden knife (grapefruit, sausages, chicken, and peapods) and feeding it to us. If it’s a big piece, we’re required to make gulp noises. But he’s also concerned that we KNOW how big it is: “Here’s a BIG piece of chicken, so you’ve got to choo, choo, choo wike a wittle twain.”

He even likes how it smells. Toby: “I think this playdough is good to sniff.” Me: “What does it smell like?” T: “Butterflies.”

His camera/camcorder savvy has also increased – at least half of the images in this post were requested specifically by Toby. He loves to take a picture or video and then immediately look at it. Many videos now end with him asking to watch it – and in this one you get to hear one of my favorite Toby mispronunciations, “vidywo!” Here he is using the garlic press…

And thank goodness we caught it, because a few days later he started saying it properly. Luckily we haven’t nearly plumbed the depths of his linguistic cuteness. “Washcloth” is “waff cloff,” and when I ask him if he knows how much I love him, he gives a number. Usually five. I tell him that's probably an underestimate.

Toby has been expanding artistically in media beyond playdough as well. I’d been afraid of markers, but since I discovered the washable Crayola ones really DO wipe off with water, there has been a lot of drawing with markers. He’s getting more interested in drawing specific shapes – he can do a fairly good circle and spiral, and even attempts stick figures! He recently drew something he said was a fish. It WAS kind of fish-shaped… although that’s probably a good default animal for any random scribble. More often, he tells us what to draw and then he colors on top of it. Anyway, we’re having fun with that.

Toby would like more independence with the markers, so he could draw on the walls and himself more, but for some reason his parents haven’t obliged. Legos are another matter, however – he spends more and more time doing his own thing with his building blocks.

Shortly after the last post, we told Toby about his little sister. First he looked under my shirt, and when he couldn’t see a baby he went back to playdough. A few picture books from the library helped, and now he talks about the baby in my belly, gives her pats, and debates whether he has a baby in his belly, too. He even offered her a carrot once. We’re currently focused mostly on giving him realistic expectations about what newborns are like and instilling a sense of affection/protectiveness so that the snuggles:pinches ratio is maximized. My own experience with big brothers suggests it may be a work in progress for ~20 years, so we’ll hope for the best and prepare for the, um, most character-building. Here I am at 23 weeks – and rest assured Toby is helping me see the beauty in my changing body. We were making bread in the bread machine last week; when the dough ball formed, he said, “It even made a dough ball, just like Mama’s belly!” Sigh.

For the grown-ups, the most exciting happening of the last few weeks has been tracking down a new place to live for our move to Salem. We wanted something that would feel more like home than our current digs, maybe even something we could love. We spent four days in Salem looking at places. The first day was mostly devoted to discovering we had set our rent ceiling too low, a.k.a. exploring which neighborhoods we should probably stay away from. I think the second day was when I discovered I REALLY wanted a house, not an apartment.

After we set our requirements (house, fenced yard, safe neighborhood, preferably three bedrooms) the search got simpler. We narrowed it down to a clear first and second choice, and those were the only two we applied for. Our application was accepted at our second choice, and then we had to waffle for a few days waiting for the application in front of us to be rejected at our first choice. It worked – we got the rental of our price-range dreams! It’s got too much carpet and too few windows, but also a fireplace in the living room and LOTS of space. Including a completely amazing yard Toby is going to love.

The outcome was gratifying, but the process taxed all three of us severely. Poor Toby had to come along for three of the four days, and the last two he was sick. To view the house we eventually got, I had to give him Tylenol before I strapped him in the carseat. :( On the upside, he probably got more sleep that way, which is the best way to heal, right?!? He ended up with croup. Between sleep lost over that, and sleep lost over housing anxiety, we had two rough weeks and all of our schedules got messed up.

In addition, Toby seems to be transitioning out of naps (it turns out it wasn't just a playdough-inspired fluke). He’s happier when he gets one, but it’s hard to get him to go down. And if he DOES take a nap, he isn’t tired at night. He gamely attempts to go to bed, but really isn’t sleepy until as late as 10:30 pm. That’s way past my bedtime, so we’re in a quandary. Mostly we’re just pushing through these next few weeks until we move again… hopefully we’ll have energy then to figure out the next stage in sleeping! It will definitely involve Toby getting a bigger bed, which should be fun. In the meantime, we sleep when and where we can…

We still made time to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a trip to the legendary local doughnut vendor, Voodoo Doughnuts. We bought four. Matt and Toby each ate perhaps a quarter of the fritter picture here, and felt sick. I ate the other 3.5 doughnuts, and felt great. Baby Girl and I maintain it’s all about training.

The next update will be posted from our new home, so lots of new stories and pictures to look forward to. We’d like to give a preliminary shout-out to Aunt Rachael, who is coming to help us pack, move, and unpack (i.e. saving our lives). Also, love and props to Uncle Craig, who is setting off at the end of this month to serve in Sierra Leone in an Ebola clinic, and Aunt Becky, who is supporting his decision (i.e. letting him go). We’re privileged to have family full of generous and compassionate people, making the world a better place and being the best role models imaginable.