the squibix family blog

The boys both picked out their fabric from the shelf of cotton and I made the simplest pillow/quilt combinations I could come up with. Lines and squares. I don't have a lot of solo sewing time these days, so I'm not really stretching myself creatively. You want a quilt? You can have lines or squares. You can have anything you want, as long as I can do it nearly in my sleep.

Dan did some fancy wood-working to produce the beds, which involved the scroll saw I annoyingly gave him for his birthday last year. ("Here's a saw, now make waldorf toys! I can't make them; you make them! happy birthday!")

We finished up the mattresses and mattress-holding-elements just a few hours before Zion's party. Dan didn't want to finish the frame until he saw the stuffed mattress, and I didn't want to make the mattress until I could see the frame. We've been married for seven years now, but one of these days we'll figure out how to work on something together. Then on Saturday afternoon when we were sewing and nailing AND hanging up party decorations I said to Dan, "We can really get stuff done if we leave it to the absolute last minute."

At any rate, the babies in this house are very well-cared-for. Sleep well sweet PowPows!

"I bited my tongue."

"Do you want me to pray for it?"

"It only hurts a little. You can make a decision when to pray for it."

"How about when you're all done pooping."

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(I don't have any big thoughts to write about this conversation, I just want to post it to the blog so I can save it for posterity. I don't know how this thing will go, this experiment in faith, trying to raise children with the knowledge of a powerful God while being a very flawed person myself who is sometimes very far from God's love and power. I have big hopes for Harvey, but I know that life is unpredictable, and whichever way this thing turns out I want to remember when he was nearly four he asked me for clarification about the immediate power of prayer while he was on the toilet.)

Was it less special because it's just down the road and we go there every week? No, that's just the way that Zion is. Every moment with him is a special joy. He delights in the mundane. He loves the chicken chores; he helps me clean up toys. He loves to see the same farm animals over and over again, to pet and pet and pet the baby goats.

(What he wants for his birthday, clearly, is his own set of goats. Oh my poor little Zion. If only I could give you what you wanted.)

This picture is a little dark, but I want to include it because it's the expression see on Zion's face every day. There's this mix of joy, wonder, and excitement that always beams out him. It must be the combination of his sparkling blue eyes, big rosy cheeks, and tiny crescent-shaped mouth. That Zion. To look at him is to see love. Which is how I always describe him in my own mind. Zion is love. To pray for him is to pray God's love for the whole world.

From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
-Psalm 50:2

My perfect angel baby boy. Happy birthday ZiZi.

(PS: I love Harvey too... he'll get his own special write-up for his birthday next month.)

Woodpecker Man
by Woodpecker
illustrated by woodpecker

Once upon a time there was a woodpecker.
He pecked the tree.
Then he couldn't peck it anymore.
He tried and he tried.
And then he could again!
The end.

I was frustrated that I couldn't carry both kids by myself, that trips to Whole Foods were consigned to a two-parent operation, or worse, this B.S.:

This is from an attempted trip to Whole Foods on 'earth day.' We got less than a quarter mile from our house when Harvey whined that he was tiiiiiired of pedaling, and the wagon rammed into my shin leaving a giant bruise. We aborted that mission and headed to Whole Foods in the car. Here are the little carbon suckers that day, acting like conscious consumption makes their poop not stink.

Well no more! Omitting the fact that this bike shipped from Utah fully assembled, our trips to Whole Foods are now carbon neutral.

The bike is made by Madsen cycles, a family operation for good and ill. (Good because the mom on the phone was very pleasant when I called to order my bike; ill because I never really got an order confirmation or a tracking number, and because the bike arrived a week later than they said it would.) It rides very well despite being too heavy to lift AT ALL even without children inside. But with 80lbs of kids in the back, it's still easier to pull than 20lbs of baby in the trailer. Two fewer friction-y wheels, I guess. Of course it's trickier to balance than with a trailer. I don't worry about balance when I'm riding, but when I stop at a light I use my strictest voice to command the children to keep their hands in the vehicle and not to sway AT ALL.

Although we've only had it for a few days now, we've already ridden to some pretty cool places. Whole Foods (of course) but also Lexington center and Chip in Farm twice, and the second time our bike generated so much attention from the farmer that we got to help feed a calf!

The most frequently asked question over the past few days has been: Did you just stick a big storage crate on the back of a bike? The answer is: wicked expensive No. The big blue crate is a custom-made plastic piece that is bolted onto a bike with a long tail and smaller back wheel. The plastic peaks up in the middle to fit the wheel. It's not like something you'd buy at The Container Store. It's sturdy as heck, with two rows of removable seats and four seat belts. I even took Dan for a ride in there and the thing didn't even creek.

The first day we got the bike Harvey didn't want to get out of the bucket, he kept asking me to ride up and down the street. Then when we got Zion in there too and took a spin around the block Harvey kept reaching over to hug him. Super adorable. Zion still throws a tantrum nearly every time we put his helmet on, but he has fun once we're going. And I have to remind myself, we'd have tantrums if we were driving in the car too. Biking is more enjoyable than driving a car.

Not to be outdone, Dan went to Bikes Not Bombs over the weekend and bought himself a new bicycle. Okay, it actually had nothing to do with being outdone, he didn't have a working bike to get him to and from his place of employment anymore. So while he picked out the cheapest model on the lot I watched the kids do some urb-ex and tried to keep them from eating trash bike parts off the ground.

You give them a couple days of lovely rides through the wooded countryside, and then all they want to do is play on a fire escape. Typical.