Life in the Boonies

We are crabbing again at the dock house. As Nat crack open the crab and broke it in halves, Frank said “he’s not doing so good” referring to the crab. Frank loves to go out on the boat with Nat. When he comes back he tells me “no crabs. just rock and females” in a very matter of fact tone.

We got naps x 2 and that led to s’mores. Timmy is completely a mess and when Nat said “how am I going to clean you up?” Timmy answered “with a graham cracker.”

The boys continue to wake up at 6 while Nat and I tries to possum. I probably wrote about those wonderful big hugs from Timmy. I asked for one in the morning while still in bed and he said “I give you a big hug if you wake up now.” I actually did. Anything for one of those hugs. But in the process of getting one we bonked heads. No more hugs for me. Not from Timmy anyways. Frank is starting to give me big hugs when I ask. His is very firm and he squeezes me hard. And a big kiss usually follows. Sometimes one on each cheek and even one on my forehead. Like the way I kiss him at bedtime I guess.

We rolled some of the logs out to the wood pile and Frank took many loads of leaves and sticks with his dump trunk to the fire pit. We burned off pile the night before so he gathered up a new pile. Then it started to smoke. I guess the fire was not completely out even after 12 hours. WOW! We fussed at it but it continued to smoke. Finally we poured water on it and little shoots of dust and air bursts out as the water hits the hot spots. Frank thought it was so cool and called it a volcano.

This morning we tried to keep the boys in the tent. Nat even locked our door. But Timmy started to cry cuz he crashed or something. So I went to possum in the tent. Timmy pulls his pj pants all the way up to expose his legs and then tell me he is princess. “What kind?” I ask. He thinks about it and replies “pj princess.” Then he got up and pulled my hand telling me “come upstairs to dance with me.”

Last night Nat tells the boys we will go to Roche Harbor for ice cream. First thing in the morning Timmy says “Mommy, can I have some ice cream?” Not til after lunch. “I don’t like food. I just like ice cream.” “But I want ice cream cuz I like ice cream.” “I already had dinner.” None of those response (while cute) got him ice cream at 7am. So we are having lunch and Timmy puts a french fry in his mouth with the two ends sticking out. “Look mom, I’m a walrus.” Sometimes he is calling me “mom” and Nat “dad”

Frank and Timmy attends summer camp at the coop for the first time. I worked on the first day but the next morning it was going to be just the boys. Unexpectedly, Frank tells me he doesn’t want Timmy to go. I guess Timmy has only been there when I worked during the school year so Frank didn’t think he was staying this time. He insisted I take him home. Timmy didn’t do too well without me. Maybe he thought I was staying too. He had an accident in the playground right before I came for pickup. Miss Susan assured me he had a great time all morning. He observed lots and didn’t participate in the crafts. When we got home and I asked Frank what he did at camp, he told me the crafts he made, a new song he learned, the usual run down. When I asked Timmy, he said “I cried and I cried and then I peed and then you came.” I would feel terrible if that was true. Frank assured me Timmy did not cry at all. I asked Timmy if he was “sad and missed me” he said “yeah” and smiled. He did respond positively to going the next day so it must have been fun. The third day they were all in the playground eating popsicles when I arrived. Frank continues to not want Timmy at camp. Maybe he sees it as his school still and that his territory is being invaded. He loves the idea of going to Whitney next year so I keep telling him that soon the preschool will be Timmy’s school. Didn’t help much. Fun times none the less.

Frank is getting pretty good at paddling in the kayak, especially when there are no wind or waves. Grandma or I just sits and he paddles.

Back in June Frank caught his first fish at the Fishing Derby. He is enjoying being by the water, on the boat, etc.

Sport camps : First we did baseball and Frank hated it. He stood out in the field and gave me dirty looks. The second day he was crying in the field and Gabby from his preschool had to comfort him and hold his hand to walk from station to station in the field. Then we pulled out with the agreement that we try soccer. He got anxious as usual before soccer but had a good time on the field. The coaches got him running and laughing. He continued to refuse to go each morning but after getting out there on the field he had a great time. We did all five days and promised to not sign up for any more sports.

Vacation Bible School : Frank and his new friend (our neighbor) Steven went to VBS at First Baptist. He was scared but having Steven there really helped. Then there were some preschool friends there too. After 2 nights of 5-8:30pm we decided to stay home for dinner and show up at 6 instead. By the 4th day Frank was singing the songs and telling us what they were learning. He still didn’t want to go on the last day. We kept Timmy up and all went to pick Frank up on the last day. He actually did have a great time even if he won’t admit to it. Maybe next year we’ll try again =).

Frank now likes eggs. He used to only eat the white part of my egg but now he will eat one himself. He also enjoys it scrambled.

The latest development is Frank can button and unbutton his own shirt. It takes him awhile and he is extremely proud when he is finished.

June went by without any updates. Oh well, maybe I’ll find some of those notes around the house later. July is half gone and so I better write some stuff down.

Timmy talks and talks in full sentences and paragraphs. He can’t quite get the ‘l’ sound so he says “yayoo” for yellow, “goriga” for gorilla, auntie roroa or Laura. He says “peeje” for pretty. “fremp” for shrimp. “tore” for store. He says hand and pants in a funny way that I can’t even imitate. Timmy says “Come here, I show you”, and “do it like this, not like that, like this”. He is getting bossy and set in his ways. But he is able to communicate mostly what he wants. He is also learning from Frank so when he gets mad he says loudly “aap it” for stop it repeatedly. He is also making up words especially with the oppy sounds. “floppy doo doo” has been around for awhile. Now also boppy in front of other words in a playful way. He also learned to say “one, two, three, bellybutton go” from Frank. Sometimes when you ask him why he just says “because I like to”.

He loves to line his cars in a row, parked. We gave him some chocolate milk for the first time and he called it “m&m milk”. He wants to do everything himself. Now he can take his shirt off too so bath time two boys stripe themselves before I even get the water running. He is going up and down the stairs alternating legs.

He does alot of pretend play. The bench at the dock house is his boat. We all sit in there while he drives. Sometimes it is a car. He talks to inanimate object. One time at the beach he kept picking up rocks and holding up to his face to tell them, “Hi, are you baby rock? I find your mommy. I throw you in the water.” And proceed to throw it in and do it again. I have some footage on video.

He still loves Yaya but will ask to sleep with various other friends. So far he has gone from kitcat, crab, turtle, cat in the hat, blue bear, flounder (which we lost at the library one time and everytime we talk about the library he says we need to go find flounder. And we did so now he has it again). Those are all stuffed animals but he also asks about other things. “Can I sleep with this?” “No, it’s not soft” “It is soft” I wonder where he learned to be a contrarian. Actually for awhile he kept saying “I’m contrarian, Frank is princess”.

We are crabbing this week and Timmy found 2 little dead crabs with his net. He placed them on the dock and said “mommy, come, i show you” “What are they doing?” I ask. He replied “they are talking to each other.”

The has two new molars on the bottom. So bottom baby teeth is complete. Not much fussing.

Timmy gives the best hugs with those little yet strong arms. I got one this morning and a tackle kiss that squished me to the ground. Sure was nice.

Black Ice - A drug dealer is dead, a cop is found dead with suicide note, another cop turns up dead. They are all related somehow but the police chief doesn’t want Harry Bosch to dig any deeper. Eventually the case takes him to Mexicali and Calixico.

Lost Light - Film studio is robbed of 2 million dollars and people are murdered. Harry Bosch looks into all the people involved. After solving the case he also discovers he has a daughter that Eleanor Wish, his ex-wife, is keeping in Las Vegas.