We made it a family day for a Sunday Drive to Bellingham and environs. We spent a beautiful day soaking in the autumn sun and bucolic views of Marietta, Everson, and Sudden Valley. Visiting with dear friends (their chickens!) and some of the nicest farmers around. I try to go every year with Katie and her girls to the organic heirloom edible squash farm at 6992 Nooksak Road in Everson. It’s a hidden gem for sure! Lake had a blast this year petting the kitty and the dog, admiring the shaggy steer, choosing a complimentary pumpkin (“that’s Lake’s pumpkin) and getting little red wagon rides from the Farmer Compton.

Lake said, “so many trees” as we walked through the forest of Whatcom County…

After a lovely and contemplative walk around Geneva Lake of the Stimpton Family Nature Preserve, Lake investigates the flora with botanist Katie. As dusk was falling we said goodbye to our friends and a quick hello to our cousins who live nearby. As we were having tea and catching up on life we noticed the coaster on the coffee table: I Heart ❤️ B’ham. It’s true. As my undergrad alma mater and host to lovely people and scenery, I do “heart B’ham!” After today we may have a few additional devotees!

The second half of the week for Mami heralds commuting to Harborview Medical Center on First Hill by bicycle and the UW Health Sciences’ shuttle. On Fridays Lake and Luisa make the commute too by shuttle at midday. We celebrate Aloha Friday (“hello la Friday” per Lake) all together with my coworker and friend Clarence, aka “Uncle Clarence.”

It’s fun for Lake to walk to the shuttle and ride the bus to “going to see Mama” like a big person. Karla is one of the extremely nice shuttle bus drivers who is often picking Lake and Luisa up. This morning she complimented me on the progress of Lake’s language skills. He purportedly tells Karla he is “riding the bus with his seatbelt for safety” as Luisa dutifully buckles him in. She tells me he is talking in full sentences and it takes him a while to get it all out, as he deliberately enunciates each and every word.

A perfect Aloha Friday, I’m glad I spent it with you keeping up our traditions. Hello la! Aloha!

Lake, Luisa and I were walking home from dinner after dusk. Michael was working late at the hospital. Lake was riding up in my shoulders. Such beautiful clear evenings! Lake spotted a big bright celestial body in the night sky to the south. He got very excited and burst into song. He really exalted:

Twinkle twinkle little Dar

How I wonder what you are.

Up a up a world so far

Like a diamond in the sky…

A perfect day! I’m glad I spent it with you!

It is clearly the harvest season and every one is pumpkin patching for photo ops, sun, fun or food. We were generously invited to visit with Karen and Mark Rupert of Newfoundland Club of Seattle fame. Not only do they have four gigantic dogs but also four gigantic apple trees and an invitation to pick to our hearts’ content. I couldn’t have been happier! Unlimited pounds of big dog love and apples! Lake was slowly warming and thrilling to the big dog prospects. As we all munched on our fresh picked apples during the drive home Lake said, “want a Newfoundland at our home.” That’s a strong endorsement! We hope to share more Newfoundland adventures with you again soon!

A perfect day… I’m glad I spent it with you! (Shown above: Michael and Langley!)

We’re celebrating three years of marriage today! Three full years with many changes and adventures. We manifested Lake and that is the true miracle. We are continuing to learn, grow, forgive, and love one another. Seattle keeps changing and so do we. The restaurant where we had our first date, Rain Sushi, is no longer in existence. It later morphed into a Japanese restaurant which we occasioned to frequent for nostalgia. We thought of going there tonight, however it’s been newly minted Kokkaku, a steak house, and with, Michael vegetarian, it wasn’t the right fit. So we went out to the lovely Nishino in Madison Park while the good angel Tom Yuoderian and Lake played at home. Feeling blessed with a perfect anniversary day! I’m glad to spending life with you my dear husband and friend, Michael! And Lake is the all-out bonus!

Bedtimes with Lake have generally always been special bonding time together between us. First with cuddling and breastfeeding, and then beginning last month (September 6th officially marked end of breastfeeding era) exclusively with cuddling and lullabies. He would invariably request Baby Boats. I grew up on Baby Boats and it turned out Baby Boats is most certainly his jam, too. Sometimes he would sprinkle in requests for: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Dar,” but it was often a red herring for his true special request of the one and only Baby Boats.

This weekend we’ve had a complete upset. His new favorite is the ABC song! Newly minted “Lake Bake” is coming in a close second. Lake Bake is a song I made up Friday night. It is set to the tune of Frère Jacques and goes like this:

I love my Lake Bake

I love my Lake Bake

Yes, I do.

Yes, I do.

I love Lake Bake so very much.

I love Lake Bake so very much

Ding Ding Dong

Ding Ding Dong

He loves it. Tonight as he went to sleep I heard strains of him singing “…Din Din Dong.” I had just completed singing five ABCs, and about 12 rounds of Lake Bake, tucked him in and then left the room (…with “Big Door Open,” meaning the door is open wide, versus “Door Closed” or “Little Door Open”, ie open just a crack).

Also between Friday evening and Sunday evening his grasp of the alphabet expanded notably. Saturday was ABCC CCC. Today was nearly doubling his vocabulary at ABCDE8. He’s running strong!

Lake is pictured here running Saturday evening at Discovery Park (Christened “Big Daddy Tom Park”).

My grandmother Ruth Mary taught me many things. Darning was one of those tangible and special gifts that happens to be unique and practical too.

There was an evolution to our apprenticeship. First she would be seen in the background darning. Then I would ask her to darn my things. Then she taught me. Then she would ask me to thread the needle. Then I’m alone darning. Then Lake is there… and then once again I’m darning and Lake is hanging around watching. Along with her style and love of a good bargain hunt, I have inherited my grandmother’s sewing basket, needles, and thimbles. Also I’ve inherited many of her cashmere sweaters and fur jackets that actually require the loving upkeep of darning and sewing maintenance. As I explained to Lake this morning: you really need to love an item to mend it. Especially in our high turnover planned obsolescence consumer culture. Then through the handcrafted repair process it becomes even more special and unique. Therein melds communion with my grandmother over experiencing this shared moment across time.

A perfect day… I’m glad I spent it with you… darning!

Lake loves his stuffed animal friends! He sleeps with them at night and plays with them during the day. He’ll often be found carrying one or two with him in the morning and evening. He doesn’t really play favorites. He’s equally supportive of all shapes and sizes. In response to “how did you sleep?” He’ll now sweetly say “good”. Same goes for the bears last night. “How did the bears sleep?” “Good.” Today when asked about the special parts of his day he replied “swimming with the bears. And swimming with the tigers. Tom Sees.” What else was special? “Swimming with the giraffes. Baby giraffe. Mama giraffe. Baby’s giraffe. Daddy Giraffe. Tom sees!” And what else was special today? “Swimming with the monkeys!” Yes, Tom sees that too! On further inquiry this all occurred in his bedroom. So imaginative!

Lately we’ve been spending a lot of time naked or at least “no pants” for the case of toilet training. We’ve been having various degrees of success. At first he seemed to like going in the toilet. We would sing The Wheels on the Bus, and make up different verses. Now he has developed various forms of resistance and evasion, from passive (would rather wait until he can go in his diaper), to fully on crying “no!” and making his body too stiff to sit, to bargaining “Mommy first.” Though he rarely holds up his end of the bargain. So sneaky!? Michael is having the best success with him lately. He has a more pragmatic straightforward approach that rings authentic with Lake. And so the training continues!

Wish us luck!

Lake sings Old MacDonald Had a Farm a lot! He sings different variations on the theme usually with Old Madonna or Old MacDonda having the farm. While we were at the zoo this weekend he belted out a bunch of novel verses. Old MacDonda had a Mr. Cat. …had a Bear…had a Lion. …had a wolf… had a hippopotamus. Old Madonna is one brave farmer I was sure to point out. He loves to sing and he loves the animals. (Mr. Cat may be his best friend.)… and in theory he loves to pet the goats.

A perfect early autumn day at the zoo. I’m glad I spent it with you, my love!

Lake was having a blast today playing house with Mr. Cat. He used all the large throw pillows to make a “bed” with “covers”. When I came in to his room he was lying on the floor naked under the pillow “covers” with Mr. Cat also under a pillow. Lake told me he was reading Mr. Cat a book. Indeed he was reading to him out of a German book. He was having so much fun he didn’t even want to go to the Greenlake park or to his friend Otis’ birthday party. Which, of course, we did attend and he did have a blast there too, as well.

When we returned home (by bicycle and trailer, Lake singing the entire ride) he was overdue to sleep. This he wanted to do with Mr. Cat. And on the floor. Where he had his pretend pillow bed. A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you.