Shortly after Layne and Gary departed, we experienced the moment we've been waiting for for months...James finally stringing words together in a sentence. He woke up one morning and said, "Ava's sleeping" and then didn't stop narrating for the rest of the day. His next phrase was "Light on!" and then "Light off!". Man were we excited. But then he just kept on saying it, and saying it, and saying it -- in a way that only a toddler can -- until we realized that he was actually asking to turn the light on and off. And for the rest of the day and EVERY DAY SINCE he has filled every moment of silence with the request to play with light switches. It's like we have our own seizure-inducing toddler-powered strobe light. Add in some house music and James's pacifiers and we'd have our very own rave!
High on the success of Ava's biking skills, we decided to join 23,000 Portlanders in the Portland City Parkways with Ava on her own bike instead of in the bike trailer. A few rainy blocks into the 9-mile route, we realized we had overestimated our daughter's cycling prowess and underestimated James's need for a friend in the trailer. With James screaming and Ava refusing to leave her bike locked up on the route, we loaded Ava into the trailer and Brian pedaled home with her bike in one hand and the two kids in tow. After drying off we lit a fire and drank some tea while watching the rains pour down. Much more our speed.
