Will the Spratlings ever finish their backyard?

We can't wait to be done with this yard. Literally CANNOT. We finally got some motivation to get going again after Trent seeded the weekend I was in Denver. Yesterday we *finally* finished moving the rock back into the perimeter of the yard and this next weekend we are giving away the remaining gravel. Since we have had a gravel mountain for the last nine months we are excited to have some extra space for Ethan to play in before we can start walking on the grass. Here are some pics of it coming in!

 This is about how much Ethan helped me. Just kidding. He probably helped for 5 more minutes than this ;).

 I spent HOURS picking up rocks and trying clean out all the dirt and debris that was in it. 

 The amount of time it took to take this picture is about how much Ethan helped me. Just kidding. He probably helped for 5 more minutes than that ;).

The grass is coming in!

And this pic is just for fun. 'Cause he is SO cute.

Pumpkin Patchin'

We went to the pumpkin patch on Tuesday. It was more fun in some ways this year because Ethan really understood what was going on. I love how he can have real conversations now. It melts my heart, every day.

On the hay ride out to the fields! Logan's napping under that gray carrier. We are with my friend Jen and her two kids. 

Picking out pumpkins.

 Can you tell how much he loves getting his picture taken? ;)

Becoming Mobile

Logan crawled for the first time on September 19th!!! He had been doing push-ups and the bear crawl position (with his bum in the air) for about three weeks. He had come really close to crawling all week but couldn't seem to figure out the alternating motion. He would move an arm and a leg and then fall or he would get to his hands and knees and then lunge forward, get to his hands and knees and then lunge forward. Whenever Trent comes home from work Logan claws and fights to get out of my arms into Trent's. When Trent came home on Thursday he picked up Logan and carried him around for a few minutes. He then set him down and walked over to the sink so that he could wash his hands. Logan, desperate to be with Trent, immediately started crawling the 10 feet or so across the kitchen floor to get to him! We had tried putting toys or food in front of him to entice him to move but I guess all he needed was Trent. He barely crawled the rest of the evening and not at all until the next evening when Trent came home again. He then crawled across the living room to get to Trent as he came through the front door! That kid LOVES his daddy.

Not even a week after he first crawled (six days) Logan pulled himself to standing on Ethan's mini trampoline! And after a few more days he was pulling himself to standing in his crib after he woke up! I think all that bear-crawling made his legs really strong. I am kind of praying that he doesn't start walking soon...

Language

Maybe it's because I am a linguist, but I just cannot get enough of watching (or maybe I should say listening to) Ethan's language develop. All little kids say cute, funny things that their parents are much more amused by  than anyone else would be. The same is true for our family. So, either humor me or skip this post ;).


A few months ago I asked Ethan a question. I can't remember what it was now, but I do remember that I expected him to say something in the negative. His response was:
     ETHAN: I amnt.
     ME: (totally confused) What did you say?
     ETHAN: I amnt.
     ME: (what is he saying?) You aren't?
     ETHAN: No, I AMNT!
     ME: (thinking I might be getting it) You are not?
     ETHAN: No, I AM NOT.
     ME: Laughter as I realize he had naturally drawn the conclusion that if you can use contractions for "are not" and "is not" than you must be able to do it for "am not". I LOVE it. Language acquisition is so fascinating!


I also just love to see Ethan's thought process. I am always trying to understand what is going on inside his little head. I know it must be working overtime. I really wish that I could listen to all his little thoughts :). That is one reason I love these next stories. They just let me know how he is thinking.


A month or so ago we were on a walk and Ethan was pointing out doors on houses. Here in Albuquerque there are a lot of additions built onto houses and often they have doors exiting from those additions so houses will then have two doors on the front. Ethan saw a house like this and said: Look, that house has two doors! He then continued to point out other doors that we were walking by:
     ETHAN: I wish I had that black door.
     ME: What would you do with it?
     ETHAN (stated as if it were obvious, which I guess it was): I would put it on my house. And I would open it. And go in the house.
Duh, mom!


Last night at about 7:30 PM Ethan and I were driving in the car on the way home from the doctor's (he has pink eye). Ethan had quite a few little conversations with himself and I was trying to stay quiet as I giggled up front so that he would keep talking. At first he was talking kind of nonsensically and then he started singing: "I'm squishing up my baby bumblebee won't my mommy be so proud of me, I'm squishing up my baby bumblebee-Eewwww! It's all over my sticker! (which he had just got from the doctor) *laugh* No, it's not!" Hahaha, I love how he responded to himself. As we had been leaving the doctor's he told me he was hungry and I told him that we would eat just as soon as we got home and that then it would be time for bed. After a few more minutes of quoting his current favorite book (Tough Boris, a pirate book: "He was tough, all pirates are tough. He was massive, all pirates are massive...") he starts talking to himself again. "It's bedtime! No, it's not! It's still light outside! Nope, it's sleepy time. But we will eat some dinner first. Okay, first I'll eat lunch and then I'll go to bed. Okay, then it will be night-night time. Okay (with a disappointed sighing sound to it)." Would you believe that he did voices and that one of them soundly suspiciously high pitched with intonation similar to mine? And that his voice had all the characters of a protesting teenager! It was too funny listening to him convince himself that he should go to bed. We must have conversations like this too often in our house ;).

Backyard livin'

We have loved having a backyard! Imagine how much more we will love it when we actually have grass to play in...

Anyway, here are some pics of us out back!

 Ethan loves to strip down and get wet or muddy. 

Just one weekend's worth of harvested food! Under those green chiles are a bunch of jalapenos too! 

We are loving  having our own garden!!

Backyard Playin'

We love being outside in the beautiful Albuquerque weather! Here we are enjoying our backyard!

Rainy Days

We have had rain like crazy this week! Albuquerque is high desert so we rarely have moisture. The last two years have created drought conditions here with their low level of rain fall. This year we were already having a better year for rain than the previous years, but this week it has rained almost all day every day! Normally we have really hard rain storms, or monsoons, for about 10-20 minutes. This week the rain has been slower and steadier. It has been really good for the drought. We have had lots of time to play in the rain this week!

When I was a kid I remember going out after a rain storm and having a Popsicle stick race with my family. I remember having so much fun doing it and I have been trying to find a time to do it here. The problem is that It rains SO HARD and then, because the city is set up to run water to the arroyos (canals), which then brings it to the river, the water is gone out of the road minutes after the rain stops. One day this week Trent got home while it was raining, but not down-pouring, so we had our race. We wrote each of our names on a Popsicle stick (unfortunately I only had three! So Logan just got to watch ;)) and raced them down the gutters on our street.

 Names on sticks.

 Starting out...

 Flowing down the road.

 Can you tell Ethan is excited? He was skip-jumping down the road.

 Cute husband smile! He never smiles for pictures, but this smile, I can tell, is for Logan. It is his smile he reserves for his babies ;).