Baby Blogging

I’ve avoided baby blogging because it seems quite indulgent. But our family has so many little ones all of a sudden that it’s difficult to avoid the subject. In our immediate family we have seven kids ranging from a few months (the twins) to a four and a half year old. This creates many opportunities for feeding small bits of food, changing diapers, rocking babies and acting silly. Now that we are back on the island there seems to be lots of things to do. Our twenty month old grandson has been visiting us each morning and has been keeping us busy. He likes to go outside and so do we. For the record, here are some of our favorite things to do:
...Hug the old maple tree.
...Visit the garden and look for snakes. Then sniff the rosemary, lemon mint and fennel. Watch out for bees and don’t eat the rhubarb.
...Sit on the bench and eat an apple and spit the peelings over the bank.
...Walk down the steps to the beach and listen to the waves lap against the rocks and see if we can spot a seagull, an eagle, a cormorant or a kingfisher.
...Pick up twigs and branches and carry them to the burn pile.
...Swing on the rope swing.
...Fill the weed wagon up with firewood.
...Dig weeds.
...Ride in the weed wagon.
...Sit on the tractor.
...Sit in the car and honk the horn.
...Blow dandelion seeds.
...Do impressions of a crow.
...Have a snack.
...Watch trucks drive by.
...Stomp water puddles.
...Sweep the deck.
...Tell Daphne the dog to “stop it!”
...Run.
...Sing the walking song (a selection from the musical Spamalot).
...Go inside and have lunch.
There are many good inside activities too. But not as good as the outside ones. It’s raining today so we’ll beat on pots, play with blocks, put ping pong balls in a jar, read books and mow the rug with a tiny John Deere. The weather is supposed to get better. Hurry.