Hard work

While I finished planting tomatoes and additional squash and pumpkin today, Timothy did a lot of work of his own.


Surveying his domain, Timothy is mulling over what needs to be done next.

With a change of hats, he does some cruising around, very intent on crossing and recrossing the yard. And plowing the already planted garden....
Not quite sure what was so important that I needed to interrupt the loading of the dump truck, but obliging nevertheless.

Poor little guy worked so hard all day and then I had to go and bring him to the doctor's. Good news--he's healthy as can be and growing like crazy. He's evened out a little. Now, no longer inches about the 100th percentile, he is 95 for height and 90 for weight. Well, his head is still off the charts, but not so markedly as last time! Bad news--he needed three band aids to cover all of his wounds which is tough on several counts. Holding him down was quite traumatic for both of us; the needles really hurt; and boy, he does NOT like band aids. He was more ticked off about the snoopy bandage on his finger than anything.

So, tomorrow, more work, but hopefully no pain.

Firsts

It feels like months since I've last written on here--funny how much can be fit into three weeks. I've been working like crazy to get our garden planted, and in the process, got caught up in a lot of other dirt patches. We now have a little herb garden, a garden with our regular veggies like beans, peas, onions, tomatoes (the list is far too long to be all inclusive!), a separate garden with rhubarb, asparagus, corn, squash and 500 baby Christmas trees, another patch with sunflowers and zinnias, and then my three flower garden spots. All need to be mulched, all need to be weeded. It is a huge undertaking, but I am absolutely loving it!



Another hefty undertaking was preparing for this past weekend when we had several birthday celebrations for our little 1 year old! This cake was one of two--this was the pretty one, although both tasted quite scrumptious. I'm kicking myself for forgetting to take a picture of the cake from the previous weekend when my brother graduated from UVM--it might have been the best cake I've ever made--Lime and Coconut. Very, very tasty.



Timothy has certainly had a number of firsts in the last few days. This was his first ice cream--he really had no idea what to make of it and kept making these funny faces where he'd scrunch up his whole face and kind of laugh. He had no clue that he was supposed to lick the ice cream, and kept putting his hand in it.


This was Timmy's first birthday present--a radio flyer wooden wagon that he is absolutely in love with. It didn't take him long to figure out how to take the sides off and crawl in, but now he can get in even with the wagon intact. He stands in it and rocks his whole body, trying to get the thing to move forward. This was during Timothy's party--it was a beautiful day. This was the first time I really noticed Timothy actually playing with another baby. Oskar and he were digging in the dirt together for a long time--I'd love to know what each is thinking here.
Timmy's eating his first icing right here. Again, I'm not sure he knew what to do with the piece of cake that was sitting in front of him, but he was very intent for a while. He didn't eat a whole lot, which was probably better for all of us, but he did seem to enjoy what he had.


I'll try to not let so much time go by before writing again. I didn't think anyone would really notice, but I've been getting nudges, so here we go.

Oh, another first--Timothy and I met up with my friend Chris today and he played for a while at a playground. He went down the slide, swung in the swing, played on the see-saw. He was in heaven. He'd get a look of minor fear on his face at the top of the slide, and then all of a sudden it would turn to glee and as soon as he'd get to the bottom, he'd turn around and try to climb back up to do it again. It was harder for me to trust he was steady enough than it was for him, I'll tell you that. He had a blast. I can't believe how big he's gotten and how much changes in just one year. Just amazing.

Aero

Timmy and I went on a trip to the racetrack in Louden today. No, not to test our luck nor to try to race other wagoners, but rather to check out the alternative energy car that my brother helped design and build. Lame sister that I can be at times, I neglected to get any pictures of the car itself (that won 2nd place for design!), but I did manage to get some cute shots of the boys.



Notice Timmy's stance in this shot... he is pushing with all of his might and Megan has to give some resistance to keep Oskar and Timmy from going too fast. Axel is in the process of running back and forth to the grass and filling the wagon with lovely dandelions.



And check out Timmy's face in this last picture--he's giving me this look of 'how could you put me in here, Mom?" He much preferred pushing to riding.

It was a great day--really cool to watch a bunch of student-made cars cruising around a track and see how much work went into the whole thing.

Pretzel Morning

My fellow baker and blogger and stay at home mom friend suggested a pretzel bake-off for today. I've been really enjoying trying new recipes in the last many months, and it is particularly fun to experiment with goodies that you don't typically think to make at home.

I was a little worried at first because the dough didn't seem to rise much the first time around. For its second rise, however, I set it in a warm oven and it got to the desired doubled size. I managed to shape almost all of the pretzels during Timmy's nap, but anyone who knows him knows he doesn't sleep much, so he supervised for the last four.



We made 4 salty, 4 cheesy and 4 with cinnamon sugar. Sweet is definitely my preference, but all are tasty! I was a little surprised at how the crust turned out given their lovely golden color--they were chewy, not at all crusty. This is due to the baking soda in the boiling water, apparently.



Everyone seemed to enjoy! I think we'll have to make these again.