Teddy, Teddy Two Two

Teddy turned two a couple weeks ago. I was dreaming up a little birthday party with lots of trains, cars, trucks, and tractors... but I didn't pull that off, despite putting together a killer Pinterest board. Next year?

His birthday is July 5th and we were at the lake over his birthday. We were lucky to have his best friend and cousin, little Clara there to celebrate. The two had a wonderful time together all weekend in the water and out of the water. I made the easiest birthday cake I've ever made and we sang to him several times. He loves the happy birthday song and kept wanting it over and over. The cake was chocolate, with chocolate frosting and crushed up Oreos. (Cal and Clark loved crushing the Oreos.) I stuck some toy construction equipment on it and BAM! Construction Site cake. He loved it, but not as much as Clara loved it. For some reason he's not keen on getting his hands dirty, but Clara loves to.

Here is a list of  some of our favorite Teddy-words.

Our Favorite Teddy -isms: 

Happ-ER-dee (Happy Birthday)

BAH-gidge (garbage truck)

GAH-gee (doggie)

CUH-k (Clark)

Daddy

Mommy

Biggy (Gammy)

Bugga (Grandma)

Poppy

Papa

AH-duh, AH-duh (all done)

bases (while running in circles)

Bah-bah-BAH (bottle)

WAH-chis (watch this)

BUG uh zur (bulldozer)

Toss (Thomas the train) 

Em ee LEE (Emily the engine)

WOO WOO (ambulance and/or fire truck) 

UH cuh cur (excavator) 

AH-guh NEW-ooz (all gone noodles) 

HEP-eeze (help please)

HUD (hug)

DEN tuhl (gentle)

Why why wess (Wild, Wild West) 

E-I-E-I-O (anytime there's a barn or farm animals or hay bales, etc)

Ta-da! The birthday boy

Dirt pile cake

Model lips

Eating with construction equipment

Sure Mom, I'll just sit here and look at the water...

I'll get a LITTLE closer...

Yeah, this is better.

Kayak get-away

5th of July boy

Beach bums

What a blessing little Theodore John is! I can't imagine life without him.

My Lake Muse: The Idaho in Me

I used to write poetry. Some of it was marginally good. Some dear souls have told me it was better than marginally good, but I have my doubts. I haven't written much poetry the past few years. I've written some to the boys on their birthdays that I will share with them one day, and I used to write a poem each year on my birthday, but that's about it. I miss it. (I did write and share this poem about not writing poetry a couple years ago.)

Today we returned from our Independence Day week at Smith Mountain Lake. There's just something about a lake that brings out whatever is left of the poet in me. One morning I woke before my loud, vacationing monsters and had my coffee in solitary silence as the lake woke up. I was thinking about Idaho, because most of my childhood Fourths of July were spent on Coeur d'Alene Lake at my grandparents' house. The smells and sounds and sights of the two most influential-to-me Idaho places came back to me there on the front porch overlooking the lake. And I managed to not only write them down, but to revise them, and keep the folded-up piece of paper safely stowed in my suitcase until we got home.

The Idaho in Me

When I’m dead and

gone

I want someone who loved me

to read this and

feel

the thick chill of spring mornings

on West Hatter Creek

as the day crept

silently across the gravel,

the packed dirt.

As sunshine summoned mist,

that army of tiny, connected apparitions,

up and up

from their night on the rocks,

on the patchy grass,

the weeds.

From the stately purple Irises

guarding the

wet black

mailbox.

I want someone I love to

hear

the similar but different

hum of summer mornings

on Bloomsburg Bay

as sun polished the

glass of the

uninterrupted lake.

As beach waves

nibbled

impatiently

at the pebbly sand.

As motor boats drew

small, disheveled sleepers like me

back to yesterday’s games

of tag and make-believe

under secrets of the

cherry tree leaves.

These are my quiet

mornings of the

Idaho

in me

and I want

you

to know them too.

My boating boys this weekend