friday cute shot

at dinner tonight

"This is impossible. Impossible means 'yummy'."

"There's no more chicken. [Sad face.] I always get the worst of it."

my rad husband

. . . built a sandbox for Lucy in one of our raised garden beds that is mostly unused because it's so shady. Shaggy has been doing so much cool stuff lately I feel like "my rad husband" might have to be a new blog feature.

friday cute shot

lulu and ox

rockin' out with the band

While Austin and Sam were here, there were a couple of basement jam sessions, and Lucy and Oscar and I sat in on one of them. Everyone was switching up instruments, so Lucy tried out the harmonium and the ukelele. (I preferred the camera, but Lucy made sure I had a turn with tambourine and ukelele as well.)

When her Daddy handed her the microphone, she really found her sweet spot, and once he hooked it up to the amp she was hooked as well. She improved lyrics to an impromptu "Sweet Jane" for over two and a half minutes.


Scat Singing to Sweet Jane from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.


I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, Lucy has always been a passionate performer.

And speaking of musical things, here is a video of Oscar giggling. He loves belly kisses.


Figgles from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.

four months

Dear Oscar,

For awhile there in the space where July becomes August we were three months, three years, and three decades.  Then the 13th rolled around and you were four months, and now I'm almost three decades and change.

You are still laid back, increasingly interested in your sister, increasingly laughing at us from across the room, increasingly chewing and chewing on your hand. I'm waiting for some teeth to pop up any minute now, but so far you just keep chewing.

You're happy to lay on the floor with a toy, or sit in your bouncy chair as long as it's facing us, near wherever the action is.

You have a halo of hair that sticks up when its just been washed and looks red in the sunlight. You talk a lot with modulated squeaks and screeches.

You have a sideways smile and a twinkly grin. You make us laugh.

Today we discovered another friend is pregnant, with another boy: your arrival into this world was apparently quite inspiring, and we'll be ushering in a new wave of boys nine months after you were born.

You are the vanguard. Long live the baby boys!

Love,
Your Mama

friday cute shot

"it's similar to a cough . . . "

A Bow and a Cough Mixed Together from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.

"Do you know what this is?"
"A cough?"
"It's similar to a cough . . . but it's a cough and a bow mixed together. See? I'll show you. You put your feet in the front, then your arms straight back. Then you cough. Like this."

heard on the street

"Do you know what's a special thing that wipes snot? Clothes! And then you can wash them."

                                                             -Lucy, sneezing and being pragmatic

earthquakes, caves, and bears

A couple of weeks ago Lucy got her first library card, and now she likes to request books on certain topics from the library. It started with a book on skeletons that I found at Value Village, and after she learned about bones she wanted to learn about muscles, so we got some books on muscles. Then some mosquitoes bit me one summer evening and she wanted to learn about mosquitoes. So we got Tito y El Mosquito, Mr. Mosquito Put on his Tuxedo, and Mosquito Bite. After the first two, I felt a lot more sympathetic toward mosquitoes, though even less inclined to look at them up close.

I usually cross-reference the library and Amazon.com to find good children's books on the topics, and go for a mix of fiction and non-fiction. It is random and fun to have Lucy defining themes for the week or month, as some melange of topics captures her imagination.

Her last request was for books about "earthquakes, caves, and bears."

She pulled a tiny book of shapes from our bookshelf last night, one that we pulled out of the basement last week for Oscar to look at. Lucy said it was a book about earthquakes, and so we took turns "reading" each page like it said something about earthquakes. On the first page was a square. It said "square". Lucy said that it said, "The earthquake makes the earth shake!"

For the next page, a circle, I said that the sun came out when the earthquake was over. Lucy told me the earthquake was not over yet.

When we got to the octagon, illustrated by a stop sign, Lucy said, "The ground shakes so hard that all the letters fall off the signs."

This morning when she woke up, we had this conversation:

Mama: "How did you sleep last night?"

Lucy: "I had some good dreams and some bad dreams."

Mama: "What were they about?"

Lucy: "The bad dream was that there was a bear and he wanted to eat me.But then I made friends with him.The good dream was that I had dinner with the bear."

Problem solved.

friday cute shot

faces of oscar

friday cute shot

to be fair, we both drink the beer

Mama, up from the basement on a work break: "Hi Lucy. What are you doing?"
Lucy: "My name is Mary."
Mama: "Hi Mary, what are you doing?"
Lucy: "I'm just counting dimes. My mama is at the store."
Mama: "What is your mama buying at the store?"
Lucy: "She is getting orange juice, and party hats, and fridge milk, and vanilla ice cream. After that she will go to the library, then she will come home and go to work. Then my daddy will go to the store.
Mama: "What will your daddy get at the store?"
Lucy: "He has to get beer."

goodbye july, goodbye unsupervised couch time

Oscar can roll over! He did it once a week ago, then four times yesterday evening, and he didn't like the outcome (ending up on his stomach) any more than Lucy did at that age.


Oscar Rolls Over from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.