Countdown

We are counting down the hours until Thomas arrives home from Burning Man tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, we have had a very fun week with Bubba Joe. He is the best dad ever for coming to help me out while Thomas has been gone, and special thanks to Pam for loaning him out for the week!

We started out the week with big fun in the backyard on the trampoline and swings.


Oh, and also big fun in the high chair, from which Imogen has recently figured out how to escape (she also got out of Mama's bed this morning by herself, which I was not present to witness - luckily it's only 6 inches off the carpeted floor, and there was no crying involved).


On Thursday, our one very warm afternoon this week, we headed to the little beach near us on the Columbia River with Nona and Papa Mr. Vic Victor. Elliot is no stranger to this beach and had a grand time digging in the sand and running around.


It was Imogen's first time at the beach, and she got herself good and sandy (including the inside of her mouth - remind me when this phase ends?).



And here is the little beach bunny snuggling with Nona and Bubba Joe.


We had an adventure at the zoo on Friday, and then we had a nice dinner picnic yesterday with some good pals. Here is Elliot giving Imogen yet more underdogs on the swings.



We'll be sad to see Bubba Joe head back to Colorado tomorrow (you'd think we'd be sick of him by now, wouldn't you?). But Papa's arrival home will be a good trade. I think Thomas will be glad to be home, too. Apparently there was a giant dust storm on the playa yesterday, just before the burning of the Man. Hurry home, Papa! There's no dust here, and we miss you!

Waxing Nostalgic

My stinker of a husband has not sent us a message from Burning Man yet, so I have no tales to tell you of his adventures (there had better be a problem with the wireless on the playa, or he has no excuse for ignoring those of us who got left behind!). So I thought I'd share with you some pictures from my adventures at Burning Man in 2001 and 2002.

First up, here I am with my campies from Black Rock Spatial Delivery, a bike messenger service on the playa, in 2001. These photos were taken by the wonderful folks from Supersnail.


My favorite part of Burning Man is the amazing art installations, often of humongous scale. In 2001, my first year going to the event, we arrived in the wee hours of the morning. We were greeted by this incredible, gigantic sculpture being assembled. It is called "Flock", created by Michael Christian.


I also fell in love with the work of the Sunbrothers, who create solar-powered art. This piece is called "Genetically Engineered Corn". The corn cobs lit up in all sorts of colors at night.


And this is the "Bone Tree" by Dana Albany.


Another of my favorite parts of Burning Man is the super fly art cars. Here are a pair of cars, including one that shot flames from the back while playing organ music, Satan's Calliope by Lucy Hosking.


And here is some incredible art from 2002. This is one of my favorite of the smaller-scale installations, "Sunflowers" by Stuart Pawsey.


Here is one of my favorite sculptures, Hippocampus by Mardi Storm, rising out of the playa.


And here is a closeup of my favorite art car of all time, the Ark of the Nereids by Pepe Ozan.


And finally, here is my faraway hubby, aka Ranger @pparatus, admiring the playa in all its glory in 2002.


We love you and miss you, Papa! Send us a message from the desert!

Who Needs Burning Man, Anyway?

Who needs Burning Man when you've got Aunt Tess, Nona, and Papa Mr. Vic Victor? And Elliot and Imogen, of course. I didn't want to go to that stinkin' festival in the desert, anyway.

Ok, so maybe I'm the fox with sour grapes, but at least my grapes are little cutie pies. And we had a really fun first weekend without Papa (so there!).

First off, here we are bidding Papa adieu as he headed for Burning Man. Elliot is of course running around somewhere off camera, probably examining the wheels on one vehicle or another.


Special thanks to Nona and Papa Mr. Vic Victor both for babysitting on Saturday night so Tess and I could go to my friend Tina's wedding (congrats, girl!) and for lending me their camera so I wouldn't be without one. Here are a few pictures of the antics the kids and grandparents were involved in on Saturday night while I was out.


On Sunday, we spent the morning with Aunt Tess at Peninsula Park - the park that has everything (play structure, baseball diamonds, rose garden, gazebo, and fountain!). The swings were a big hit. Here is Tess giving Elliot a much-requested underdog.


Elliot was a great big brother and gave Imogen some underdogs of her very own.



Then we went over to check out the cool fountain (even though the stinkers don't allow wading) and the gorgeous (and fragrant!) rose garden.

We miss you already, Aunt Tess! Tomorrow Bubba Joe arrives to keep us company for the rest of the week, so stay tuned for more adventures.

Invisible Marauder

You know how cats (and especially kittens) are prone to suddenly freaking out and running around all crazy like they're possessed? My Gran used to call this phenomenon "the invisible marauder". Having kittens in the house again, I've been reminded about this hilarious and often destructive tendency of felines.

But Imogen can give the invisible marauder a run for his (or her) money. She loves to get into everything and make trouble. Here she is sitting in a basket.


And here she is wrecking havoc on the tupperware drawer. Her favorite activity these days is taking things out of places and putting them back in again (at least she has the cleaning up after herself gene).


Imogen also loves Elliot's school. I let her crawl about at drop-off time, before things get wild. She usually makes a beeline for the baby dolls (again, she's such a girl!). She also has a fondness for the kid-size chair. In a rare moment of sibling peace, here are Elliot and Imogen cuddling in the little chair at fun school (note baby doll) .

Thomas headed out to Burning Man today. Since they now have a wireless cloud at the event and Thomas has his computer and an air-conditioned trailer to stay in, I've made him promise to send me pictures and updates so I'll have something to post on the blog for the next week and a half (he stole my camera and camcorder). So stay tuned! And don't worry about me and the kiddos. We'll have the company of Aunt Tess this weekend and Bubba Joe all next week, so we are in good hands! Even though we'll miss that Papa.

If I Were A Soothsayer

If I were a soothsayer, or an oracle, a fortune teller or a witch, what would I make of these things that happened this week? Signs? You decide.

1. Remember the coyote I told you about who lives around the corner from our house? I finally saw her this week. The kids and I were driving home from school, and she loped across the street about 20 feet in front of my car. I pulled over to see where she went, and she stopped and turned around on the neighbor's lawn, staring us down. Elliot was completely unimpressed by the cool factor of a wild predator checking us out in our own neighborhood, but I could have sat there watching her all day. She continued on into the hedges as we pulled away (again, no camera on my phone - I have got to update my technology).

2. I almost killed a dog. Again, I was driving the kids home from school, and a cattle dog walked right onto Lombard into 50MPH traffic in front of my car. I was about 30 feet back and slammed on my brakes, hoping the people behind me were paying attention. Even so, my car stopped so close to the dog (who happened to look a heck of a lot like our old dog, Oscar) that I couldn't see it over the hood of my car. Luckily, everyone behind me saw the dog, too, and we all stopped with no rear-ending and no dog-smooshing. The dog continued across the street undeterred and never even looked in my direction.

3. I found my first gray hair. Make that two. They have sprouted right at the front of my hairline, right in the middle of my forehead. Actually, I've always thought I'd make a sexy long, gray-haired woman, but still. I'm only 36. I guess now I have to stop giving Thomas a hard time about his increasingly salt-and-pepper locks (though they only serve to make him look more lawyerly, the stinker).

4. Elliot found a dead bird next to our car. Actually, this occurance isn't that unusual. Rufus has taken to channeling our dear departed cat, Zillah's, huntress energy of late and can bring down the occasional bird or a good-sized rat.

In other news, Imogen turned 11 months old today.


Miss Idgie is still sporting only two teeth, but she's making up for it in spades by growing still more wild and crazy hair. She's cruising plenty but not yet walking (Elliot was walking by 11 months, but he never had any interest in crawling, at which Imogen is a wiz). She's eating all sorts of lovely mashed foods but still gags and sputters on anything vaguely solid, say, a grain of rice. Her sweetest trick these days is babbling, babbling, babbling. She's definitely talking to us now, making all sorts of sounds that are coming pretty close to being words. What will the first one be? Mama? Papa? Elliot? My money is on "kitty".

So here's the best part of the month - the sibling comparison photos. Here are Elliot and Imogen in almost the same pose at 11 months old.



And here is darling Miss Idgie loving on two of her favorite things - a kitty and Mama (well, my shoes anyway - she's such a girl, I swear).



Ok, fingers crossed for no more black cats (or dogs, for that matter) in my path or crows showing up on my doorstep. Or I may have to offer up one of the moles tunneling through our backyard and have its entrails read. Sheesh.

Celebrate Mitch Day

Today is Mitch Day. It's the 9th anniversary of my brother-in-law, Michell's death. Every year on August 11th, we remember Mitch by doing three things he would have done. 1. Do a random act of kindness. 2. Play a practical joke on someone. 3. Make some art or do something creative. I encourage you to do one or all of these things today. Here is a picture of Thomas with his three siblings - Kate, Mitchell, and Michael.


I didn't get to know Mitch as well as I would have liked to, since I really only met him a handful of times before he died. But what I remember about him was his kindness, and his crazy sense of humor. Today I'd like to share with you a poem I wrote in honor of Mitch after he died in 1999.


Birds of Passage

i.

You tell me there's a stunned bird
on the sidewalk by the high rise
people stepping aside
as if it is nothing
but a lost tourist
you are on the 18th floor
maybe thinking
of the brother you lost
how he visits
your sister's rooms
his voice on the wind
you don't know
what kind of bird
some sort of hawk
don't know
if it flew into a window
fell many stories
is this how we are
with our grief
not knowing
building from sky
the police have closed
a lane of traffic
enough before rush hour
that it doesn't make
the news
we hope the phone
will never ring again
to tell us anyone we love
has died
by the end of the day
the bird is gone
and I want to know
where they've taken it
if wherever it is
will ever be safe enough

ii.

several states away
the smoke of your brother
pauses in the air
another hawk flattens
against a window
it is the house next door
to your brother's birthplace
no barriers
only reservation stillness
so much sky to choose from
who is he looking for
forgetting how to pass
through walls
we open and close our palms
blow out candles
burn sage
in the corners of rooms
the sky must be falling
stars smack into our windows
storm clouds spill under
our doors and the birds
double back on the wind
flying feet-forward
to land on our shoulders
whisper into our days
we want to tell you something
but we keep losing our way

iii.

four months to the day
and another
relative dies
we expect a hawk
to land on our windowsill
knocking
it is said
that when someone
we love has died
in twelve days
will come a sign
of safe passage
now all of us are looking
out our windows
through our dreams
into faces of people
we walk past
waiting for the message
hoping they will step
out of a crowd
calling our names

Brittney Corrigan, copyright 1999. All rights reserved.


And I'll leave you today with these pictures of Elliot at the "33rd beach" on the Columbia River last week, when Nona and Papa Mr. Vic Victor took him on an adventure one afternoon.




Now go play that practical joke.

Weekend Update

We're having a lovely weekend here at the McElroy household. Yesterday, Elliot spent the better part of the afternoon running about in Papa's t-shirt.


There was even lawn mowing involved.



We then went to a fantastic birthday party for Elliot's pal Jasper, aka Huggy the Bunny. Huggy only wears orange, so we all dressed accordingly. Here is Imogen wearing her appropriately orange shirt (with a bunny on it, bonus!) and snuggling with Sally.


Here are all of Elliot's pals lined up eating cake.


While this was going on, Elliot was completely devouring two GF/CF cupcakes that I had brought along for him. These pictures remind me of a child's first birthday party, stripped down and smeared with cake. Everyone should enjoy a good cupcake in his underwear once in awhile, I say!



And here is the birthday boy himself, with a nice cup of orange Jell-O.


Thanks for inviting us to your party, Huggy! We had a great time!

Pass It On

I've learned two useful things the second time around about having a baby.

1. The amount of gear and other "stuff" you actually need when you have a baby is minimal. If you're breastfeeding, you really only need clothes, a car seat, and a few first aid and hygiene items. (Though I definitely put my Ergo baby carrier in the "need" category!)

2. Nothing beats hand-me-downs.

With Elliot, we bought a bunch of brand-new gear and received a lot of gifts. If I had it to do over again, the only thing I'd buy new (unless I could get it from a trusted friend) is a car seat. We had all sorts of gear and gadgets that didn't get much use, though some (like the bouncy seat and stroller) were nice to have around.

However, most of Elliot's clothes were bought from second-hand and consignment shops (though it's much harder to find used clothes for older boys - they wear them out!). It's pretty nice to spend $50 and walk out of a store with a bag full of an entire season's wardrobe instead of one fancy pair of overalls with a matching shirt. It's an even better feeling to pass things on to someone else when you're done with them.

This week, Thomas got an email from a friend with new baby twins thanking us for the co-sleeper. This is the same co-sleeper that belonged to my nephew Grayson when he was born in 1998. Then it was Elliot's in 2003. Then it was Jacob's in 2004. Then it was Japhy's in 2007. And now it's on to family number five. Elliot's clothes have a similar story. Most of them were used to begin with. Then they were loaned to Jacob, who is a year younger than Elliot. When they came back from Jacob they went to Finn, my cousin's youngest. Now, as they come back from Finn, they are passed on to Japhy, and I'm sure they'll be passed on from him to someone else.

Imogen is now the proud recipient of girl clothes hand-me-downs from at least four different families, going from birth all the way up to size 4T. Here is the bounty, stored in the back of her closet.


The clothes are all cute, and nice, and worn for only a few months. And as she is outgrowing them, they are being passed on to our friends' daughter Asa, who was born this past spring. And if there is anything I'm lacking, I head for a consignment shop or our bi-annual Pass It On children's sale.

It's nice to know that your child's unneeded items are going to someone who will love and use them. This past week, we gave some of the larger gear that Imogen is done with (infant car seat, bouncy chair, swing) to friends (to remain unnamed!) who hope to be pregnant soon. Who needs Babies R Us and Gap Kids when you've got good friends with children older than your own?

I'll leave you with this picture of little miss hand-me-down recipient hanging out in her playpen (soon to be passed on to someone else!) with the kittens.


Pass it on!