funny guy

We were eating pizza in one of my favorite pizza restaurants, when Jonah snuck up behind me, made a fart noise with his mouth and yelled at the top of his lungs: "Mommy farted!!!"

The pronouncement echoed loud and clear through the restaurant, which was fortunately half empty. Tim and I roared with laughter. Jonah - what a funny, funny guy. Not yet two, but so cheeky already.

the boys then and the boys now

Here are the boys that went camping together this last weekend before they were toddlers.

And here they are now.

first time camping

Just got back from our first camping trip with Jonah. This one was in honor of Father's Day.

Three couples with one little boys each went. Yes, that's right. Three toddler boys in tents. We had a great time though the weather was cold and off-and-on rainy. The boys really enjoyed themselves.

We had a couple of scares when Jonah refused to go to sleep in the tent, saying things like: "All done forest. Go home." But eventually he got to sleep and slept more soundly than at home.

The highlight was the adult badminton game (no score kept) with the boys running in our midst like crazy. The two older boys loved playing with their construction equipment and would occasionally get into a tiff over diggers and such. But not too bad.

Lenore and Ted, the parents of Espen, who is only three weeks younger than Jonah, made the most fabulous dinner over fire: grilled salmon and veggies. Wow! I told them they won first prize for most gourmet meal I've ever had camping. Beat canned chicken soup, that's for sure!

You can see pics from our trip here.

shameless plug

I just participated in the 50 Voices of Equality campaign, "a public education campaign by the Basic Rights Education Fund (BREF). BREF's mission is to build community through education and advocacy and to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Oregon."

As a volunteer I interviewed prominent Oregonians dedicated to working against discrimination. After the interviews, I wrote copy for the campaign's website.

I interviewed Oregon Senator Frank Morse and activist Lew Frederick. I will be interviewing State Representative Judy Uherbelau later this month. So, go to 50voicesforequality.com, click on meet the 50 voices, and you will see the pieces I did.

a budding gentleman

The other day I sneezed and Jonah, completely on his own, brought me a package of tissues, saying: "Here, mommy."

What a little gentleman!

the terrible twos are here!

Because Jonah is such a genius and so advanced for his age (tongue in cheek, I hope you know), Tim and I are convinced that he has hit the terrible twos early. Why do we think so? He is so determined that any little thing he is not allowed and wants to do or vice versa - anything he doesn't want to do, but we make him do, sets him off. He screams, cries, kicks -you name it- to assert his will. Like whatever is happening is the biggest trategy or attrocity ever known to - well, our little man. It's quite a challenging stage, because it's very easy for the adult in the interaction to get angry and frustrated as well, which only escalates the situation.

Let's hope this phase passes quickly!

checking in

I have been so swamped lately that I've hardly had time to blog. Between work, the university course I'm taking, and parenting, there has been very little time to spare. On top of all that, I am hosting the Erase Racism Carnival at my other blog, White Anti-Racist Parent, this month. It's been taking me quite a few hours to put that together. When it's up, I'll let you know, so you can peruse the contributions from all the brilliant bloggers that sent in their writing.

At the end of May, Jonah's Montana grandparents paid us a visit. It was wonderful to see them, as always. The highlight for all of us, I think, was seeing Jonah "swim" in a pool for the first time. He swam on the backs of several whales that day - daddy whale, grandpa whale, and uncle whale. So much fun! Pics here.

I also enjoyed the Portland Underground tour that we took to learn about the disturbing history of women and single men getting "shanghi'd", or basically kidnapped and enslaved, for labor (or prostitution) and profit. Portland was the number one U.S. city for this in the mid to late 1800's and early 1900's, with anywhere between 1,500 and 3,000 men being kidnapped each month to be imprisoned underground in dark holding cells, then sold to sea captains to work on ships for no pay, and shipped who knows where. Scary stuff! The underground in Portland's old part of downtown is so complex, that one could easily get lost. It's also one of the most haunted places in North America.

As you can see, the granparents' visit was quite an adventure.