I have to admit that it has been a challenge for me to keep the boys (and myself) sufficiently occupied this summer. Paul is working six days a week, leaving before 7:00 a.m. while the boys and I are usually still asleep, and coming home close to 7:00 p.m. Fortunately he comes home for lunch every day, which is the only thing I missed about his old job before he started with Dawson.
However, despite a few tedious days here and there, I think we’re doing a pretty good job of warding off the cabin fever.
First off, I wish I could say that this is a daily occurrence:
It’s not even a weekly occurrence. Or bi-weekly.
I think there are about 20 hours of daylight in Juneau right now. I’m just guessing based on the amount of sunlight coming through our windows when I wake up to fetch one boy or another (usually Rhett) out of his bed around 4:00 a.m. and the time the sun seems to have finally set around 11:00 p.m.
This is not conducive to naptime or bedtime in our house.
Granted, bedtime for our boys has always been later than is traditional for most families I know. Still, when it’s sunny and bright at 9:00 p.m. it’s pretty hard to convince a 2-and-a-half-year-old that it’s time to put on pajamas and brush his teeth.
We haven’t had a single scheduled nap take place in our house this summer, but on occasion I will get lucky and Benjamin will konk out on his bed or on the couch later in the afternoon. Most days, though, Benjamin won’t take a nap so we have many hours to fill.
The library has been great for us this summer! The people at the Juneau Public Library were nice enough to issue me a permanent resident library card when usually they give people who come for the summer a 90-day card which grants access to fewer resources. I should have started keeping track of all the books we’ve read this summer because there have been a ton! Benjamin has been a lover of books for a long time, and it has been really sweet to see Rhett start to discover books as fun things to look at. So we go to the library about once a week and bring home as many books as I can carry (including a few for me). Benjamin loves it because the branches that we go to have stuffed animals and puzzles for toddlers, and the main branch in downtown Juneau is above a parking garage so we get to ride the elevator up to it.
When we can’t/don’t go to the library but have to get out of the house we often head to good ol’ Fred Meyer and look for a race car cart to wander through the store in, or to Costco where they’re giving out samples just about every day. And, mercifully, Juneau has a JoAnn craft store! I just finished sewing a little tote bag and I’m working my way through some gift projects.
But back to the boys.
Benjamin and Rhett are pretty good buddies, as brothers should be, although if you could see Rhett’s head/face at any given time you’d get a glimpse of how much he gets knocked around by his big brother. His new means of mobility is also contributing to some bumps and bruises. Rhett has decided to become a climber, too. He recently figured out how to climb on the windowsill (which is pretty low to the ground), and any day now he’s going to make it out the other side.
Speaking of windows…
Aren’t these boys so sweet looking out their bedroom window for their dad to come home from work? This is an every-day thing.
A few weeks ago I was washing dishes or something while Benjamin was playing in his room. There was a backhoe loader working on the road right outside the house and Benjamin was watching it. As I’m cleaning I start to hear Benjamin yelling out the window.
“Hey! Marshmallow boy! Hey marshmallow boy! HEY! MARSHMALLOW BOY!!”
I went back there to check. Was he yelling to an empty street? Was he shouting to a noisily working tractor? No. There was a presumably nice man out there, the backhoe operator, working on the road while the loader stood still and quiet. And there’s Benjamin, yelling at him.
“HEY MARSHMALLOW BOY!!!”
Where on earth did he get the name marshmallow boy?
I didn’t know whether to be ashamed or amused. At first I was horrified and embarrassed. I rather too sharply told Benjamin to stop yelling out the window, but when he looked so ashamed and dejected at my reproof I realized that he wasn’t yelling at that man at all, just at some imaginary game he was thinking about while watching the tractor outside. So I just asked him to say “marshmallow boy” a little more quietly and not shout it toward the nice man outside, which he did.
I realized a few days later that marshmallow boy is a phrase he picked up as only a two-year-old can from an obscure line in a movie, his (current) favorite movie, Monsters, Inc.
When they’re not looking/shouting out the window, the boys love to play with the vacuum! And with the three of us cooped up in a single-wide trailer away from everyone we know and without a car of our own, am I going to tell them not to play with the vacuum? Sometimes. But not as often as I probably should. (If only they knew what to do with it when they spilled Cheerios on the carpet for the hundredth time!)
And speaking of making messes (can you tell I’m trying to tie everything together here? Just work with me), Benjamin loves to help in the kitchen! He loved to help in the kitchen in Bellingham also, but now I have a new appreciation for letting him help (which I’m usually reluctant to do) since we have about two square feet of food preparation space in our current kitchen.
A few weeks ago Benjamin and I were making pizza for dinner and I opened a #10 can of tomato sauce, leaving it on the counter while I prepped the other stuff. I turned around to find Benjamin dipping his hands into the tomato sauce and licking it off like candy. Finding it hard to object to him eating tomato sauce when some nights he struggles to eat much at all, I opted to get him a bowl and spoon and spare the rest of the can his germs.
Another time I left a bowl with a cup of flour in it on the counter overnight. I had started making something that I didn’t have all the ingredients for, so I left it for the next day, ignoring the hunch that this might happen:
He had shoveled in so much flour that it started turning into a gluey mess in his mouth and he could hardly make a sound. A nice drink of water washed it all down nicely.
Shortly after our arrival in Juneau Benjamin and I started making some alphabet pictures to pass the time and brighten up the walls in his bedroom. I also thought it was about time for Benjamin to get some experience with glue sticks, scissors, and the like. Benjamin picks out the colors for the letters and backgrounds, and helps me choose a word to represent pictorially alongside each letter. I’ve tried to use some words that have a sort of significance for Benjamin, but others are just the first things that came to mind. So far these are what we have:
A couple of things to note about the letters: Believe it or not, Benjamin insisted on doing “M is for Mermaid” despite my strong urging that we do “M is for Mickey Mouse.” Also, there’s a little friend in our jungle. Can you see him? My favorite letter-picture for a long time was “D is for Duck,” but I’m pretty pleased with how N, O, and P have turned out.
Another pastime recently has been “water games” out on the (filthy, cigarette-butt-strewn, paint-pealing, broom-resistant) deck. We turn on the hose and fill up an assortment of water vessels, and the boys splash away!
Early last week (the second to last in July) Rhett’s first tooth finally came through! It seems we have another excellent teether on our hands: Rhett also has another bottom tooth and at least two on top coming through the gums any day now, and he hasn’t shown any terrible teething symptoms other than a little drool. We definitely count ourselves blessed to now have two kids who pop out teeth without so much as shedding a tear (although they both took their time to do it).
All in all, we’ve had a good time in Juneau. As tedious as some days may seem, I wouldn’t trade being home with these boys for anything. They are so sweet and teach me so much every day! I’ve never had a more humbling challenge in my life than motherhood, but the challenge has definitely been worth the rewards that have come to me, often undeserved, in the past three years.
This summer has made me appreciate many things I once took for granted, and we’re excited to get back to Bellingham soon!
New front entry, skylight, concrete, landscaping, flagpole, memorial garden, plaza, bike racks, metal siding, asphalt... 
An eagles’ nest up in a tree
Way-to-go Love!
Bald eagles are everywhere up here. I'm starting to take them for granted.
Fourth of July fireworks, Alaskian style!
Alaska Marine Lines, (actually a local Whatcom County, WA headquatered company,) is huge here is Alaska. Nearly everything that is shipped to Alaska goes through them. We ship construction items on their barges every week of the year.
Vicky and the boys celebrating 50 years for Alaska! Wave those flags boys!!
