Here's a recent photo of Little Miss M at a lake on Sauvie Island.

A dog in the chicken yard

The other day our neighbor's dog ran into the backyard and began chasing Abigail around. All the chickens were squawking and flying as high as they could, I was yelling, the neighbor was yelling, the dog was barking - I'm sure it was very entertaining to all the neighbors, most of whom seemed to be outside in their backyards. Luckily the dog gave up before he caught a chicken. I'm not sure if he was really set on a chicken dinner or if he was just curious and having fun, but it was a close call. I reinforced the fence and we haven't had any incidents since.

Mina do it

Melina is getting more and more independent and willful. We're definitely well into the Twos. Lately she has begun openly defying me on such issues as "can I walk on the neighbor's front porch," (not when the neighbor is home), "can I run over the kitty with my shopping cart," and "can I cross the street without holding your hand." When we get to this stage I usually get down on her level and speak to her firmly, and when she repeats the behavior I either take her home or take away the shopping cart (or put the cat out). I wonder if I should be using timeouts or some other disciplinary tool. I don't really believe in "punishment" because I think it ends up backfiring later, but on the other hand I can't let her get away with murder, either. I feel like I need to learn more about this.

There's also the question of what to do when she won't share, or when she gets in a tussle with one of her small friends. Apparently in Japan they have the philosophy that the parent never intervenes in these little dramas unless there's a question of safety. I kind of like that - let the kids work out their own problems - but if other parents don't share that philosophy then you can get into trouble. I know that two-year-olds just aren't into sharing, and that's that. I'll be glad when we're out of this stage. (Not that Melina NEVER shares; sometimes she willingly hands over crackers or toys - but she definitely has a strong sense of property rights!).

A trip to Foster City

I went down to Foster City, California, this week for work. I have to say it was a pretty boring trip. Usually we all go out somewhere interesting for dinner, but this time the energy never manifested and we settled for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the hotel bar. The committee meeting I staffed was kind of boring, too. But Melina and Jeff had fun while I was gone, and Melina got to see lots of planes at the airport. The big ones are called "Mama planes." I guess that means the little ones are baby planes. I was glad to come home.

Our first farm box

We received our first farm box (well, bag) today from Sungold Farm. As I mentioned before, Molly & I are splitting a share. We loaded the girls into Molly's red Radio Flyer wagon and wheeled them over to the park, where the farmer was delivering. Today's delivery included Hood strawberries (the best tasting of all), fava beans (which I plan to grill on Sunday), sugar snap peas, snow peas, rhubarb (which I traded with Molly for more fava beans), flowers, and bok choi. I stir fried the bok choi with garlic & sesame oil, and it was delicious. I can already tell this is going to lead to more vegetable consumption chez Melina.

Speaking of Melina, when we got the park she insisted on going down the Scary Slide several times. It's a very tall, old-fashioned, twisty slide that I'm sure many children have fallen from throughout the ages. Melina loves it. She is fearless, and she loves slides. The other day she figured out how to go down a baby slide backwards, sitting up. She also recently enjoyed coasting down the neighbor's driveway backwards on her trike. I fear.... I fear.