Graham's 2nd Birthday

Graham woke up to a room full of yellow and black balloons and me in a construction hat bearing the number 2 and his picture. He opened presents from us in the morning. He got a new easel, smock, tempera paints and paintcups and brushes; 2 wooden construction truck puzzles which quickly frustrated him and needed to be held together with rubber bands so he could actually play with the trucks; a set of bug parts to "play bugs"; and a wooden beading snake.

After his nap Grandpa Chuck and Anneva came over and we had cake, chocolate with green icing and mounds of chocolate cake "dirt" on top, with bulldozers pushing it around and two huge sparklers for candles. He tried so hard to blow them out! It was adorable.

Then we all went to the State Fair for the night, wearing our Graham construction hats! We checked out the Birthing Barn, which was really interesting. It appears that the pigs are confined however, during labor. This was really upsetting to me. Having gone through it now myself, I can't imagine not moving around. It seemed immoral to me. But it was hard to ignore Graham's excitement when he said, "Look Momma! Baby pigs, nursin!" He also saw and pet many other baby animals, so that was neat. He just about debilled a baby duck though.

He feasted on absolute junk, which I never allow, so it was quite a birthday treat. He had cheese curds, lemonade and Sweet Martha's cookies for dinner! We rode the giant slide, the Sky Ride and the Ferris Wheel, the last of which combined with all the junk he'd eaten and the late hour to absolutely freak him out. It wasn't his first Ferris Wheel ride, but he wound up wanting to get off pretty badly. Then my dad won him a football shooting hoops on the Midway, and we went to see the horse barn on the way out.

Graham didn't pass out on the way home, but we all expected him to. It was a big day!

We love you sweet boy.

At the cabin with Jacki and Krystle

sleepy, in the rain, wicked pissed, shaving

Summer is bad for blogging.

So my son is a toddler. I don't mean this in the sense that he is a walker, well now he's a jumper and furniture-flier-offer. I mean it in the sense that we have EPISODES. Lots of them. A recent day:

Graham finds a red permanent marker while Dad is in the bathroom and manages to hit 5 doors, the hallway, the floor, two couches (cushions and arms mind you), the wood coffee table and his entire face. Mom yells. A lot. The rest of the day Graham says, "Only paper, momma. Only paper." Three hours later he would appear to be asleep in his room. All is quiet. Then there is a loud shriek. We rush in to find Graham standing in the crib, palms outspread and terrified. "Momma I peed!" But what it is is poop. G likes to keep his hands in his diaper, but didn't anticipate that if he pooped he'd have *that* to contend with. I imagine in his anxiety about what to do he frantically wiped his hands on everything. It appeared that way.

Since then, two more instances of pee or poop in the bed, the produt of having totally removed his diaper in the night. It's such fun.

I routinely am told, "Be quiet Momma! Too LOUD!!!" but also occasionally get to hear the heart-melting, "So proud of you momma." He wakes in the middle of the night to belt out, "Bob the Builder! Can we fix it? Bob the Buillder! Yes we can!" and a very breakneck version of "Rock-A-Bye Baby."

WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK

In celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, Graham and I joined friends Melissa and Twila, along with about 30 other moms in our community to participate in a global display of breastfeeding normalcy spanning 25 countries over a 24 hour period.

You can read more about the event HERE.

The goals of the event were:

To gather the most number of mothers in Synchronized Breastfeeding Worldwide, that is, participants will breastfeed at exactly the same LOCAL TIME in their Time Zone. Like the celebration of New Year, with every hour in succession for a 24-hour period, countries in one time zone will be breastfeeding simultaneously. See enclosed list of countries in each Time Zone.

To make a permanent and on-going roster of the national records of each nation on simultaneous breastfeeding in a single site and in multiple sites, urging each nation to surpass its own record every succeeding year.

To establish cooperation between nations, each nation competing with its own record. The Organizers will keep a roster of achievements of every nation,

(a) its record for single site.
(b) its record for multiple sites,
(c) the national record for breastfeeding mothers per million population as the true measure of their effort and achievement,
(d) the overall record for each Time Zone, and
(e) above all, overall worldwide record for each year. Each nation will follow a standard set of Event Guidelines.

To nurture a fellowship among breastfeeding mothers in their locality and country that may facilitate the formation of mother support groups.

To establish simultaneous breastfeeding as a form of universal prayer for peace and thanksgiving for the gift of motherhood and breastfeeding.