Autumn 2014

This Autumn marked a huge milestone in our lives, as Josef began attending a nursery school program at the Corvallis Waldorf School, 4 hours a day, 3 days a week. I guess he had the jitters, because he threw up the morning of his first day of class! Poor little fella…  But after that, things went without a hitch.  Oma and Opa got us a nice bike trailer for Josef’s birthday, so I ride him to school in the mornings, rain or shine. It took a week or two, but I eventually found the most pleasant, traffic-free, route to school. I enjoy those bike rides so much that I now find myself looking forward to Tuesday morning each week! It’s quite a nice way to start the day. Josef is, as ever, a perfectly agreeable little companion, sitting quietly in the trailer with his hands folded in his lap and watching the world pass by. He rarely speaks, nor do I, and we pass the ride in amicable silence for the most part.

The first few drop-offs were a little fraught, as I could sense his concern at being left behind. But I trusted he was in good hands and tried to extract myself as quickly as possible. It felt so counter to parental instincts to leave my distraught child behind in a strange place, but as the teachers knew all too well, my being there was actually making things worse. As soon as I was gone he got busy exploring all the new toys and hiding places and had a wonderful day. (It’s interesting how many things I’ve discovered are like this–instinctive parental concerns ultimately being unhelpful. So confusing..). The next day I found Josef had already learned the reassuring mantra, “Papa’s coming back!”

Within two weeks he was an old hand, running into the room to begin play without giving his ol’ dad a second glance. It’s such a magical and inviting environment in his tiny classroom. There are only seven two- and three-year-olds, so they are a tight-knit bunch. On Tuesdays they bake honey rolls, Wednesday they do art projects, and Thursdays they play with a variety of tactile delights. They play outside every day, learn songs, and have circle time. Auntie Sarah teaches 4th Grade, so we are now in the habit of arriving a bit early, coming to her back door and getting a special morning greeting from her and sometimes her ducks.

It was during this season that Josef’s language skills absolutely exploded. I went away for a week in October and I was shocked to come home and see how much his abilities had grown. He went from 2 or 3 word sentences to 9 or 10 words over night. Rachael and I marveled at his speech daily, and nearly every night involved a recap of “today Josef said..!” I had never truly appreciated it before, but I now realize what an absolute miracle it is to behold a human acquire language. I really think man’s ability to talk ranks right up there against any of the other miraculous animal abilities that so impress and humble us. Throw a two-year-old’s linguistics up agaist a bat’s echolocation, a tern’s 40,000 mile migration, a spider’s web, or a shark sniffing 1 ppb of blood, and I think the toddler gives them a good run for it. I feel wonder and awe every day.

He knows his name is Josef, but without fail he always refers to himself as “Baby Josef.” It used to just be Baby (pronounced BeeBee), but now he tacks it on his name and slides them all into one word: Baaybyosef. He knows the names of all his loved ones and will frequently talk about them, even the distant ones like Uncle James or Grammanette. He is developing a wry little sense of humor, often saying something that clearly isn’t true and looking at you with a sly grin and twinkle in his eye. He loves reading books and is always requesting a story. Once he developed the motor skills to turn the pages himself he could sometimes be found sitting quietly by himself reading a book.

He is always asking to help in the kitchen, wanting to stir things, dump them out, even cut things with a knife (with a little assist of course). He is developing a sense of imagination and make-believe, and it’s fun to watch him pretend.  One of his favorite things to do is “be doggies” in his room; I’ve been teaching him some dog tricks.  His sleeping habits have finally settled in to some kind of decent rhythm, thanks in great part to a little owl we got that glows green when it’s OK for him to wake up. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to begin to feel like I can count on having an uninterrupted night sleep!

Around the homestead, I had some fun pressing all the apples from our tree into cider, which is now bottled up in the basement fermenting.  Hopefully it will make for a refreshing libation come summertime.  I also gave the lawn a serious working over–thatching, reseeding, etc…–in the hopes of a nice lush carpet of green for Josef to play on in the spring.

language exploision, complexity
“baby josef”
started sweet peas, bike rides, make beleiev, little doggies. books