Winter 2015

The winter break was rather rainy and cold–naturally–but Christmas and New Year’s day were bone dry.  Josef and I went exploring on Christmas morning and found a large frozen puddle by the cow barns, and spent a good amount of time skittering and breaking large chunks of ice.  On New Year’s Day we hiked up Bald Hill a bit and had a lovely picnic.  We also took a small vacation at a cabin in Sun River with some family friends and had lots of fun sledding around and soaking in the hot tub.  Josef was fascinated by the christmas light displays this year, and we found ourselves making daily cruises to look at the more elaborate productions in the neighborhood, such as the Santa Helicopter, the classic car, and of course “The Pastega.”

For Christmas Josef received a large amount of train paraphernalia, lots of pajamas and a cowboy costume.  Also, because he is such a music lover we got him a little Kindle, which he knows as his “record player.”  I deleted all the programs and disabled the wi-fi, and then built it a frame and affixed it to his bedroom wall.  It’s filled up with all the music he loves, plus some new things to explore, and has had the intended effect of encouraging him to spend alone time in his room.  It’s quite adorable to hear him go in there, throw on an album, and then sit quietly in his chair listening to music, tapping his foot.  His favorite albums lately are “Random Access Memories,” by Daft Punk, and “…To Be Continued” by Isaac Hayes.  It is a great relief that we share the same taste in music.  I could easily listen to that Daft Punk album a couple hundred times, and he seems intent on getting us there, as he requests it for every single ride home from school.

It seems like he has undergone another great leap forward over the break, as his language and motor skills both seem to have advanced all of a sudden.  He wants to do everything himself, which is a laborious process but thoroughly welcome.  He is able to go to the fridge and grab a snack, then drag his stepping stool over to the microwave and reheat something to eat.  He can handle the entire bathroom operation without any help from us, and the same goes for teeth brushing.  He is very active in helping out in the kitchen, and knows the process for making many things.  (I should point out–lest ye get the wrong impression–that these are things he can do, not necessarily does do all the time…;) )

Most joyously, he seems to have gotten over the hump (for now) with regards to the “too tight” saga, and is much more agreeable to getting dressed in the morning.  I found that his love of stories is such that I can get him in just about anything as long as I am spinning a tale for him.  Unfortunately since it’s always early in the morning and I’m operating at about 30% mental capacity I had to go with a story that would take the least amount of brainpower to actualize: The Star Wars Trilogy.  This of course resulted in immediate fascination, and now many of our conversations are between R2-D2 and C-3PO.  I managed to get up to the beginning of Empire before Gramheart unceremoniously revealed the truth about Luke and Vader, thus spoiling what is probably the greatest reveal in cinema history…  But as the winter progressed Josef finally began to dress himself.  It was endearing to watch him battle furiously to take a t-shirt off, and I was proud at the effort be would put in to master the task.

On the fatherly front, I began a part-time job preparing tax returns for an accountant here in Corvallis, and I loved it!  It was a welcome break to get out of my home office/study a couple time a week, meeting new people and developing new skills.  It makes me very excited for the new job to begin in the summer.  I also was able to tie a bow on the basement remodel project I began over Christmas break.  I installed some bamboo flooring, put up some walls and wiring, and created a cozy little adult lounge space where we can hang out with friends once Josef is in bed.  Since we moved here, we haven’t really been able to host much in the way of game nights or movie-watching so it’s been really great to reclaim that important element of our former lives!

We were intrigued by the yurts we saw during an impromptu visit to Champoeg State Park, and decided to book a night to see what it was like.  It seemed like a nice way to get a taste of camping during a rainy Oregon winter.  Josef and I went up for night in February and we had a blast!  He was very excited to have his own bunk, and we played lots of games and cooked up a fine feast to enjoy.  Our timing was perfect because the other yurts were full of families, and so Josef had lots of little playmates.  I sat on our stoop watching him run around trying to play with the other kids, most of whom were a bit older, until well past dark.  It was the first time I really witnessed him operating as “a little kid,” instead of “my little boy,” if that makes any sense.  He was wrapped up in the business of navigating the child’s world, and from my seat I could suddenly view the path ahead, leading deeper into the magical forests and fraught thickets of youth and farther away from the surety and certainty of his dad’s lap.  As he ran across the grass calling to me with glee, “Look Papa, I’m playing with the other children!” I felt a bittersweet lump in my throat.