Was Freud on to something?

Wikipedia: Freud theorized that children who experience conflicts during potty training (basically learning to hold it) may develop "anal" personality traits, namely those associated with a child's efforts at excretory control: orderliness, stubbornness, a compulsion for control.

A little man with a guitar

My idea of a perfect Saturday

After trip to the 'hood Farmers' Market and a few accidental cracked eggs from Urban Patchwork, Cruz and I made some fresh buttermilk and bluberry tart, with the help of a special friend.

I'm not sure what brought more pleasure: the delicious and refreshing fruit tart or the look of joy on Cruz' face as he made his own little pie and ate it!

Building Cruz' world, block by block

As I mother, I want to be able to provide the best for Cruz. Does that mean spending $24.95 (GASP!) on these Melissa & Doug cardboard blocks? I mean, these are top of the line learning toys. How adorable are they?! He loves stacking stuff, and come on, who am I to deny him the opportunity to learn and create art [...out of cardboard]???

I grappled internally on this purchase and in the end could not pull the trigger. While I want to give Cruz the world of opportunities, I also don't want to spoil him with materials posessions. I had to ask myself: How do I balance the opportunities we can afford to present to him without the toys I can't afford? The answer: I think WAY too much about stuff.

It turns out he's the one who's taught me about simplicity, enterprise and raw creatvity. A few boxes and some packing tape later....Cruz was on his way to becoming American's next top physicist, engineer or architect.

Super-Granola-Austin-Mom

So our friend Kristy had her twin boys (Wes and Miles, above) a few months ago. I called her super mom for being by herself - no nanny - with two infants all day long, puming, feeding, pumping, changing diapers, etc. and still sane. She called herself "Super-Granola-Austin-Mom" for finally being able to tandem breast feed one day. Then she realized she hadn't bathed them in two days, one had oily hair and the other smelled like poop. I told her that basically solidifed her status as the super-granola-mom.

BTW, the Garden-themed shower we had was amazing! Here is a photo recap:

Summer Reading List

How is it that as the days got longer this summer, I had less time to do the things I wanted to do, like keep up with this blog! (I literally just "shushed" Dax so I could concentrate on writing a recap from the past few months.)

In a nutshell, this summer has been all about transitions for Cruz, from starting his new journey at The Joyful Garden, to mastering the art of survival through five grueling weeks of swim lessons. I am both amazed and guilt-ridden (since I make these decisions for him) at his ability to adapt and grow in these situations. Every day I feel like we're going through a different science experiment: Cruz is the subject as I toss variables his way. We always eagerly await to see what will happen next. He can now swim and float to save his life and feed Lizzie and let her go potty with little help from his Momma.

Most notably, Cruz has gone through an amazing "language explosion," as he began to express himself verbally just weeks after joining his friends at school. Beyond mimickry, he continues to apply his new language to new contexts daily, always looking for a way to relate to whatever it is that he's doing: "Momma's water" or "Cruz's turn" to take a sip.

With this, his love of books continues to grow and as he finishes our sentences when we read: "I love you like plants love....GROWING!" His summer reading list is long and varied, from books on buses, trucks and diggers to classic bedtime stories like Goodnight Gorilla and Goodnight Moon. Here he is with a book from his Aunt Pam101:



Let's hope this is a habit he keeps for good, unlike his Momma who only likes to read on vacation!

Tomatoes are in!

After a long weekend and grandma's, Cruz came home to check on his garden and found 3 ripe grape tomatoes ready for the taking. After we picked them off the vine, it was so awesome to see his excitement as he ran around the yard, clutching to his new treasures. We finally got him to put them into an old plastic plant pot so he wouldn't squeeze them to death. He would not let go!!!

After another 10 minutes of running around with the tomatoes in the pot, we took him inside and he washed and dried them himself. When we told him he could eat them, he ran to his little toddler table and waited patiently as we sliced the tiny tomatoes. I was so surprised and delighted to see that he ate every last morsel. He normally hates the texture and taste of tomatoes (store bought) but I think he really enjoyed these.

I wish I had taken photos - it is truly too cute for words to describe.

Songs of Spring

We started Music Together class this week at Heartsong, and Cruz - as always - is enjoying every minute.

When we got home from class, we were reading some books and happened upon some of his old music books from past sessions. I sang to him as we looked at the pictures and he immediately recognized instruments in the book that he had at home.



Speaking of songs, a little cardinal was outside my "office" window today tweeting and enjoying the seeds I left out. The feeder is supposed to be up in the tree but it fell and broke...

They grow like weeds

Cruz is officially running around the house. The other day, he even said "taco." I know he makes his Daddy proud.

We had him help in the kitchen this weekend with a weekend staple: breakfast tacos.