"Oh yeah!"

This morning when Gran asked: "Rowan, would you like to bake some cookies?" he replied with the biggest, clearest and most enthusiastic "Oh yeah!" I have ever heard.

So, they have been baking together for over a month now and Rowan really knows what he is doing. Today, however, was the first time that the baking process was interrupted by a little hand to dough to mouth action. That's right! Rowan likes eating the dough raw. "Yum-yum!"

Gran managed to get Rowan to place most of the dough on the cookie sheet and into the oven they went. After a while, while we were all sitting in the living room Rowan suddenly perked up with a sniff-sniff and: "Cookie!" He then ran to the kitchen and when he saw those yum chocolate chip cookies lying there on the stove he exclaimed with much excitement and awe: "Wow!"

Is there anything more prescious than the delight that children take in the simple pleasures in life?

Rowan the Tomato Minder

Our small vegie patch has become a tomato jungle. The peas have come and gone, mostly into Rowan's mouth.
And now Rowan has been very patiently watching the tomatoes grow.
He wanders around to the tomato patch on his own and by the time I get there he is very gently reaching in and touching each tomato. He seems to be counting them or maybe just touching them to check them. Each tomato gets a gentle poke. The ones closer to the edge of the patch get cupped in his hand. All this is very gentle and reverent. He never tugs at them or pokes them too hard.
I'm interested to see what happens when they ripen and he sees he can eat them right off the bush.

Rowan has developed two new interactive games. Both of the games are entertaining and very very funny.

The first game involves Rowan giving us instruction to pretend-sleep by him pretending to sleep. As soon as everyone in the room is snoring away with their eyes closed Rowan will walk up to each one and shout at the top of his voice: "Wake!" We wake with a start and Rowan is ever so pleased with the results of his actions. Then the game starts all over again. The sweetest and funniest part though is watching Rowan pretending to sleep by pulling up one of his shoulders, leaning his head on it and snoring with his eyes closed and pouting his lips. It makes the rest of us giggle and as we try not to giggle while pretend-sleeping it gets to be even funnier. Rowan still takes it quite seriously though.

The other game is a derivation of the first. This game requires pretend-crying instead of sleeping and usually ends with us saying and thinking: "Aah! What a beautiful child this is." Rowan starts the pretend-crying and waits for us to cry. Then he walks up to each person and gently places his hand on his/her shoulder as he says: "No more crying." in the gentlest and sweetest voice. It is just too cute for words.

I am looking forward to all the other games the mind of this little buy will conjure up.

oops, brain to keyboard interface failure

Lately I have been allowing myself to just step back and watch Rowan doing whatever he might be doing at that moment in time. It has now become one of my favourite pastimes because this little guy seems to be impressing me every step of the way. The instances that captivate me most are usually the simplest moments. He might just be sitting on the sofa with his head resting on one hand - looking all grown up. It could be the way he lifts his eyebrows in that certain way when he finds something interesting. Today I watched him draw. There was an intensity and concentration in his manner that I have never seen before. After I took this photo he turned, looked at me and smiled the biggest smile. Pure joy!

Great news everyone! Slightly old news but still fantastic.

Rowan has never really referred to me as Mommy before. He has up until recently only called me "Eway!" or something like that so I am glad to share with you the fact that he now refers to me as "Moggy." Not quite "mommy" yet, but it will do just fine for me. Yay!

Our visit to the state park this morning was a wonderful way to start our day. We enjoyed a walk through the woods. Rowan found himself some sticks and made a point of stopping and poking at a tree or two along the way. We also spotted some interesting wild flowers and roots from old trees that seem to stitch stretches of pathway together. As soon as we set foot on the path leading through the woods, Rowan noticed the canopy of bright green leaves and branches overarching the trail and seemed rather impressed by it all. Our short journey ended with some quiet time at the pond. A frog was seen. Sticks were thrown into the water. All in all a good outing.

Then, in the afternoon, we had some fun with play dough. I think he thinks his Mom looks silly.