chicks ahoy

What is it about having chickens that makes you want more chickens? It's bizarre, and it made us think that picking up a free rooster on craigslist was a good idea since it would be an easy path to getting more chickens. Ellis's school was also interested in hatching some eggs and so we decided it would be fun to send some eggs there. The teacher and children carefully turned them everyday, and Ellis came home with lots of information about eggs.

Finally, on the 23rd day, 7 of the 12 chickens hatched. After 24 hours at school and the near death of one of the chicks, Ellis's teacher was too nervous to keep them there anymore. And so home they came.

Sadly, two more chicks died over the next 48 hours, but Ellis took it in stride. All the chicks are black, like the rooster, which is too bad because Rhode Island Red chicks seem cuter. But such is chicken genetics, I suppose. Ellis doesn't really care for holding the chicks (too wiggly, too sharp of toenails) and Maddox wants to, well, love them and squeeze them and name them George. Trey and I fear we're going to have to take turns guarding them at night so that Maddox doesn't wake up, slip downstairs, and kiss/eat them.

warm spring, spring colds

We're mostly sick around this house this week. Poor Maddox also got his first ear infection and what a doozie...double ear infection and one ruptured ear drum! So he's on antibiotics, but still sleeping pretty terribly. And that means Trey and I are exhausted and sick as well. Fun!

Maddox still had his evaluation with the speech pathologist, which went well. He played and was social and they said he's language delays will likely resolve themselves and suggested a few exercises to help him develop his sounds. A speech therapist will come and visit a couple times a month if we want it to make sure he keeps making progress.

We did a bit of work around the yard, just the first bit of spring clean up. The amount of thawed chicken and dog poop is as disgusting as it sounds. Trey also uncovered several toys including one (now ruined) board game that somehow escaped into the snow this winter. How does this stuff happen? It's nice we can all be outside for longer periods of time now. Ellis reported being threatened by the rooster yesterday, but there were not witnesses. This is a child that gets scared by Finding Nemo, though, so it's not clear how aggressive the rooster actually was. I'm hoping this was an inflated report and/or the result of unusual spring feistiness. Otherwise, it may chicken and dumplings around here before long.

home sweet homediddly-dum-doodily

Some of you know that Maddox is a bit behind with his talking. As she's said at the previous visits, the doctor told me at his 2 year check-up that she thinks it's nothing to worry about and he'll be talking soon. But she also said that, since this is an important time for language development, it was worth getting his hearing checked again (VT checks all infants' hearing at birth) and talking to some of the early intervention folks about whether he'd benefit from some early speech therapy or something. So today we get an evaluation visit and, I know this stuff is supposed to have washed out by the second kid, but I have this tiny irrational part of me that is convinced that they're coming to check out the messiness of my house and my failings as a parent. And ultimately, they'll hand me some report that includes (á la Marge Simpson) comments such as "Toilet paper hung in sloppy, underhand manner."

winter break

It's a quirk of the Vermont school calendar that there is both a winter break (late February) and a spring break (End of April). I suppose it's because school doesn't let out until close to the end of June. Or maybe because people really like time off to ski; I don't know. At any rate, Ellis's winter break coincided with Trey's trip to San Diego for work. Grandma Lisé to the rescue!

So the week was filled with the typical kid activities of science museums, outside play and indoor crafts. Mom was scheduled to arrive mid-day on Friday. Unfortunately, our mild winter ended mid-day Friday with a snow storm (though not a large one by VT standards). Following several delays and a bus ride from New Hampshire, she finally made it to Burlington at 3:00 am on Saturday.

On Monday we visited the Montshire Museum and the King Arthur Flour Store. We picked up some St. Patrick's Day cookie cutters and promptly made use of them.

Grandma also helped with some painting projects including updating an old desk for the guest room (pictures later) and working with Ellis to decorate a cookie jar and a new utensil holder (my previous glass crock was lost in a tragic Bluesy accident).

Luckily, the now made getting kicked outdoors more of a treat than a punishment. Maddox typically loves being outside, but this was his first chance to really play in the snow. He loved it and wanted to be out longer than Ellis each time. He was even willing to give in and submit to wearing mittens so he could really get busy. And Ellis's number one Christmas gift request (well, tied with jumping monster trucks) get a real workout. Check out those perfectly spherical snow balls!

Trey returned late Wednesday night so we had one evening with just the kids and me. I guess Ellis wasn't feeling too confident in my abilities as the sole responsible adult. We were sitting on the floor during the 30 minutes between his bedtime and Maddox's bedtime and he was getting a little nervous about all the noises in the quite house.

Ellis: Mom, what was that sound?

Me (half-listening): I think probably just the boiler or something.

Ellis (very alarmed now): You think?! You don't know? What was it?