First Mother's Day and gardening

Happy Mother's Day!

 I had a wonderful first Mother's Day. Jonathan took me out to breakfast, and we took my mom out to lunch. Jonathan's mom came in the evening for a quick visit. The weather was gorgeous. The best part was that Quinn peed and pooped in his potty, and for the first time, seemed to grasp the purpose of the potty. He hates diapers and is always trying to pull them off. This week he has been diaper free almost all the time we've been at home, and we have had only three accidents! He has pooped and peed in the potty all week! He clearly signals when he is done by raising up his arms, and we make a game out of flushing the stuff down the "big potty" and waving bye-bye to it. :) Elimination communication is not about potty training early, but about communicating and understanding a baby's elimination needs. I'm so excited that I've finally figured out what he needs and when. He seems so much happier now that he hangs out naked most of the time!

The view from our deck - bird feeders and herbs.

In the last two weeks, we finally got our garden set up and have done some landscaping. We built cedar raised beds, put in two mulch "islands", and planted lots of veggies and herbs. We are attempting to grow tomatoes, zucchini, squash, cucumber, eggplant, green peppers, watermelon, strawberries, sugar snap peas, green beans, basil, sage, thyme, oregano, and rosemary. We love gardening so far and hope that we will get something other than dirty hands out of it.

One of our raised bed veggie gardens.

The semester ended last week - what a relief! Jonathan got rave evaluations from his students (not surprising!). I am so glad to be done with online tutoring. I was grateful for the opportunity to work from home, but online tutoring does not allow any of the great connection moments that tutoring in person allows, which is what makes tutoring enjoyable.

This boy LOVES yogurt! Unsweetened Greek all the way.

I know this blog is usually a quick run-down of what we've been up to, and that is usually because I don't have a lot of time to do more. But I want to say a few words about what Mother's Day meant to me. I know some people think it's a goofy, commercial holiday. We should celebrate mothers every day. I agree to some extent. But I also think it is beautifully human to set aside specific time to celebrate one another, and I really enjoyed being celebrated and recognized for the hard work of being a new mom. Even though these past several months have been really difficult - Quinn is a super intense little fellow - it is the best time of my life and the most rewarding. Being a mother means sacrifice, 24-hour nurturing, exhaustion, and close connections. I am so grateful that I get to spend every day with this little person. I get to see all the firsts, the growth that happens in small increments. Quinn is intensely passionate about everything. He is the happiest happy baby and the angriest angry baby. He is always trying to get to the next milestone, much to my chagrin. I would love it if he would slow down a bit, but that is not his style. He is ready for the world! He has been pulling himself up these past two weeks and insists on standing all the time. He wants to explore everything, interact with everyone. I'm so in love with him!

The Cisco Men

Quinn with Grandad who came for a visit

More yogurt please!