Polywog

Some of you may not fully appreciate Avery-Antics. Here are some photos I took while washing breakfast dishes this morning. I wish I had a picture of her finger painting in applesauce while standing on the kitchen table, but that time I decided it was better to intervene than to photogragh.

Still settled but not settled. Sorry my posts have been sparse. I thought that waiting to post until we were REALLY settled would get us settled sooner. Rather, we've just let down our loyal reader(s?). Our deepest apologies. We're in the middle of having our SECOND real estate offer fall through (how does standing water in the crawlspace in the dry-season sound?). This house I REALLY REALLY wanted, so I'm sad. I keep telling myself that in the end we'll be really glad we didn't get this one, but it isn't feeling that way right now. Our apartment is quite adequate, though it can't be entirely adequate without doggy-Lance who is staying in Gresham with Elizabeth and Larry because we couldn't find a single doggie friendly apartment in all of Corvallis. I'm also waiting to hear from a thus far silent downstairs neighbor who may or may not think that the (unending) pitter patter of little feet is endearing. Still, I've been working hard to keep things as stable and relaxed for the kids as possible, but that's about as silly as denying the passing of time on our blog. Dylan misses his friends in Portland and keeps suggesting that we live in our apartment FOREVER or in his words "AS LONG AS WE LIVE" to avoid moving again. Poor tyke.

I just got back from 5 days in Gresham dog sitting Doggy-Lance. That's a concept. Elizabeth and Larry were vacationing, so I held down the fort (or rathe tore it down). I'll be up there again with Lance and doggy-cousin Max in a few weeks for an extended stay. I still get a little wiggly in the knees imagining myself with two kids and two dogs tethered to me at the top of a very tall hill, where stands a very un-childproofed house...but I think we'll all survive...and sooner or later we'll have a house at last. Remind me to mention later how MUCH Avery aparently missed doggie Lance. She hurdled past Max (who is hard to hurdle past) to reach Lance and hang from his dog-tags in former Avery style.

On the upside, Greg's job is still worth it all. Corvallis is still just the place where we want to be. And Dylan seems to get just as excited about Pizza on the Roof (at American Dream) as he used to get about CHA CHA CHA. The other upside is the SKUUT. Believe me, I was a skeptic. But this is the coolest kids ride-on ever. It seems as simple as a bicycle with no pedals, but he seat is lower, its extremely light weight, and the handlebars turn, but not so far that they can bend back on themselves. The kids starts (as early as 2) by walking around with the skuut between their legs. As they get better, they glide between steps. Soon they are steering down hills as though they've ridden a bicycle forever. It's absolutely amazing, and if I'm right Dylan will be on a regular bike with no training wheels before most kids even consider it. Besides that, its just darn fun. The ladybug puddle boots make it even more fun. I never thought I'd say it, but Dylan is a daredevil on 2 wheels.

Enough for fueling the capitalist engine of toddlerhood.
Miss you all! Be back soon(er). I promise.

Me: Why is Avery Crying? Did she fall down?
Dylan: She did fall down, but I didn't push her or anything. She just fell down because her feet are so small.


Dylan: Why is that a paper mill?
Me: That is a factory that makes paper. They call it a paper mill.
Dylan: Why do we need paper?
Me: We use paper for lots of things. Paper to write on. Paper for packaging. Paper for receipts. Paper for coloring....
Dylan: We use paper for making hamburgers.
Me: I don't think hamburgers have paper in them.
Dylan: No silly. We use paper to start the grill. We use the grill to make hamburgers.

We've landed in Corvallis but we're far from settled. We thought we were well on our way to buying a house in Corvallis before we left Portland. Ah, but No. The deal fell through at the last minute due to a number of issues stacking up against the house. I think it was all for the best, but now we're in temporary limbo in a smallish apartment with most of our stuff in storage. Elizabeth and Larry were kind enough to let Lance visit while we find a house, because Corvallis apartments seem to accomodate kids OR dogs OR cats, but not all three. Oh, and who ever had the crazy idea that dogs UNDER 50lbs are less of a problem than bigger dogs? I thought better of telling the apartment managers that they really should be worried about Bruin (is Craig reading this?), but then REALLY!

In any case, finally being in Corvallis has been a big reminder of why we wanted to come back. It's a fabulous town, full of fabulous people, and lots of great things to do. Oh, and I won't miss the crowds or the traffic of Portland. But I already miss my friends terribly. Dylan's having a hard time accepting that his buddies aren't nearby. I hope he makes some good friends quickly. He keeps asking to see Lena and Ethan especially. He's convinced himself that they may want to move to Corvallis. When I told him they probably wouldn't, he suggested "we should at least ASK...they may say yes".

Now that we have a temporary roof, we're getting serious about house hunting again. I have a good feeling about this round. It's alot easier being in town. Greg's first day with students is Tuesday. I think that's the same day he's going to use a sledge hammer to break a cinder block laying on the chest of the physics teacher who will be lying on a bed of nails. Did we mention that Corvallis High School is a special place? I wish my physics teacher had done that. And to have my biology teacher wield the hammer. Wow!

On one last note, we are taking all suggestions for keeping a 14 month old tethered to the floor. Avery spends most of her at-home hours pushing chairs, benches, stools, or boxes around the floor so that she can scale kitchen counters, tables, window sills, or book cases. I have to admit I'm a little proud of her. But I do hope she make it unscathed to the next challenge.