The Talens' Tales

So, you now know of of Joash's love of pineapple. However at one point last night, I didn't know if that love would continue. Joash pointed to me and said, "Help," and then pointed to his mouth where his tounge was pushing up a little piece of pineapple. I checked it out and discovered this little piece of pineapple was wedge between two of his teeth. Well, now what do we do? I went to get some floss and his tooth brush. Have you ever tried to floss a not quite two year-olds teeth? It does not work. He kept wanting to feel what was going on with his tounge, which made it rather impossible to see the teeth, let alone get the piece of floss where it needed to go. Wilbert tried to get Joash to say "Ahh" and we wished we had something to use as a tounge depressor. I think we worked on it for over 15 minutes. Finally, I mangaed to grab that slobbery peice of pineapple and pull it out. Phew...that was a lot of work, but Joash continued to happily eat after that....

Wilbert and I enjoy pineapple on our pizza. I know, some people find that really gross, but we both find it really yummy. And we have passed on our love of pineapple on pizza to Joash. We are also a family who as a Saturday pizza tradition. I know, some people will say this is not healthy, yada, yada. I love it because it is one day where I don't have to think about supper. We have pizza on Saturday's and that is that. Plus, it is one supper that Joash actually eats. I make homemade pizza with dough that I make in the bread maker and fresh yummy toppings. I make a half for Wilbert (with bacon) and a half for me (without bacon) with a slice from my half for Joash (right now just cheese, pineapple ande sometimes little bits of meat. Joash is starting to like helping make the pizza. He likes to help shake the seasonings on the edge of the crust. He likes to poke the dough and push the sauce a bit with his finger. But his favourite part is helping with  eating the pineapple. ...

M(om): Joash, can you believe it? In one month, you will be two years old! J(oash): I don't know why you make such a big deal of it, Mom. It seems like it has taken forever for me to be almost two. But, it is good, I guess. M: So what is new in your life? J: Well, I have two new teeth! M: That is pretty exciting. Anything else? J: I like to do what you and Dad are doing. Like cleaning, or cooking or working in the garden. I try to use tools sometime too, but I am not very good at it yet. M: How is your talking going? J: Really well, I think. You seem to understand me most of the time. M: I do, though you get "on" and "off" and "up" and "down" mixed up a lot. And you refer to yourself as "you" rather than "me." J: Is that why you look at me funny when I say, "Carry you?" M: Yes. J: I also always want to wear my tractor shirt. Mom, can I please wear my tractor shirt today? M: No, Joash. ...

So, there is bit of renovation going on in the barn. Some walls have come out and new stalls for cows are being added. This all meant that cement needed to be poured.  So, we went to go and check out the cement truck. Joash was pretty excited for several reason. First of all it is a big truck, so that is fun. Second of all, it looks like a cow.  And thirdly, Joash even got to go for a short ride in the driveway before the cement truck let. You can see his head peaking over the top of the window. It was a fun day to see a cement truck!

“You were made for the River.” That is what everyone tells Gabriel Clark as he is growing up. But after witnessing a terrible event on the river as a child, Gabriel finds it hard to take the plunge. Will he be able to take the step of faith and find what he was created to be? The River by Michael Neale follows the life of Gabriel as he grows from a frightened and withdrawn boy in to a confident young man. Growing up in single parent home in Kansas, Gabriel always feels the call of the river, but it too afraid to go. But, with the encouragement of his friends, and the words his father left behind in a journal, Gabriel begins to see who he really is meant to be. This was a pretty good book. My biggest complaint would be that it left me wanting more. Not because the writing was so captivating, but because there were questions I wanted answered about what happened in Gabriel’s life. I could assume things, but I would have liked the satisfaction of knowing for sure what happene...

Sometimes Joash doesn't like to have dirty hands. He will play in the sand in his sandbox and on the beach without a problem, but the dirt from the garden must feel different. So often while we are in the garden, he will hold out his hand to me and say, "Dirt, hand." So, I have been telling him to wipe his hands off in the grass in an effort to show him that he can clean his own hands. Well, today I told him that once and he went and wiped his hands in the grass. Then, little while later I heard him say, "Dirt, mouth." I turned to look at him and there he was almost doing a head stand trying to wipe his mouth in the grass. I guess it proves he does listen to me sometimes.

The truth is, not  a lot. We have been getting back into our fall routine with Coffee Break for the first time this week, so that was fun. We have also been harvesting stuff from the garden, including this whopper of a potato.  I am pretty sure this is enough potato to feed us all for one meal, so that is fun. Joash likes to dig  watch me dig potatoes. He has has yet to touch one straight from the ground yet, but he is good moral support. We have also been looking at a lot of tractor magazines. Wilbert went through a whole stack he had and found a few old ones for Joash to enjoy. I will admit, I am getting sick of looking at the same magazines all the time, so new for the stash where a welcomed break. It would be one thing if I could actually read the articles, but Joash insists on turning the pages so quickly, repeated pointing at the same ,"Tractor, tractor, tractor," that I don't even get a chance to get started. Oh, well. So far most of his phases like this h...

Starting over. A new life. Better than before. Those were and are the hopes and dreams of so many immigrants throughout the history of the United States. But, so often, these dreams were not realized. And in some cases, the new world brought even more horror. And the worst horror of all is that it is still happening today. Band of  Sisters  by Cathy Gohlke is the powerful and riveting tale of Maureen O’Reilly and her sister Katie Rose. Running from a shameful and difficult life in Ireland, with both of her parents dead, Maureen is looking to start a new life in America. All she wants is to find a respectable job and take care of herself and her sister. Another young man from her home town, Joshua Keeton sails to America on the same ship as Maureen and her sister. He offers to help and watch out for the girls, but Maureen wants nothing to do with him. She soon regrets that decision as she and Katie Rose struggle to make it through Ellis Island. Maureen falls into a tra...

I am starting to be convinced that there must be something to the saying "Farming is in his blood." I have used that phrase myself in reference to my husband, and now I see it being true of my son. Certainly we have given him tractors to play with, and a barn with animals. We go to the farm to visit Dad while he is the barn. But, I don't feel like I have forced farming on him in any way.  Yesterday, Wilbert came home with a farming magazine, which Joash immediately gravitated to. So, he and Wilbert paged through it after lunch and Joash quickly found his favorite page.                               "This one, right here."  "See, isn't this a nice round bale wrapper?" "I love this round bale wrapper!" I took about 15 pictures of him with this magazine and he had his eyes closed on ALL of them. And he really only cares about this one page with the pictures of the round...

As a Christian, it is a great comfort to know that all things happen for a reason and that God has a plan through it all. This lesson is very clean in The Reason by William Sirls. The Reason is full of a mish-mash of characters whose lives become interconnected through the book. A blind pastor and his wife take in a single mom and her son, who is diagnosed with leukemia. The doctors in the pediatric ward treating the boy, Alex, become close to this family as well. A stranger named Kenneth meets all of these characters and strange things start to happen in their lives, things that can only be described as miracles. Through all of these events, the characters learn the reason for many of the things that have happened in their lives. I must admit, I did not like this book at all. I finished it only because I felt I had too. I found it very cheesy and predictable. While the characters ask good questions, the answers that seem to convince them are less the token answers given. ...

The bath time sagas continue at our home. I have a feeling that this might be a continuous trend for a long while, since Joash has never liked his bath. In the hospital after he was born, the nurse was getting ready to demonstrate how to give Joash a bath and she said, "All babies loves baths." Then Joash proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs for the duration of his bath. Afterwards, the nurse said she had never had a baby that cried like that for his bath. Once we got him home, things did not improve. He cried and cried for his bath time. We became quite pro at doing baths quickly. Things did settle down once he could be in the baby tub and when he discovered splashing. Then he would only stand in the tub. As long as he was standing, he was fine. He would drive a car around the edge of the tub, fill up a cup and dump it out, all while standing. But as soon as you tried to get him to sit or lie down to get cleaned, he screamed. Then we went to the beach this summe...