It has been a season of making things for us in 2020 thus far. For the grownup Spearpeople it's mostly making a mess! We have begun a long-awaited house renovation, which will ultimately include a refurbished kitchen, a powder room and coat closet downstairs, and some much needed storage space in the attic. For Sylvan, who is a good sport in the midst of the house chaos, the making has been everything from custom valentines for friends to a yarn coaster he crafted, with a little help, on the loom that Santa brought him for Christmas. His creative mind is always making up new stories, too (see variety of costume pics here...) Mixed into these big projects we've had two lovely visits, with Jim's folks (who we hosted in Alexandria at George Washington's town house!) and a visit to Richmond to see Courtney's mom and family there. All in all off to a good start for the year!
It's hard to believe that our kiddo is 5 years old! It was a fun birthday season, including a birthday party at Sylvan's favorite waterfront park (where they got to launch boats (sticks) into the river and poke around in the mud), and a special birthday dinner with Nana and our neighbor Ms. Mae. We've also had lots of family time this fall, with visits from GMer (Jim's mom) and Nana (Courtney's mom) and trips to Texas for a Cook family wedding and Charlotte for Thanksgiving. Sylvan LOVES spending time with his cousins, so his cup is full.
Looking back on the past five years, it's fun to think about how Sylvan has grown and changed and what has stayed with him. He's still an imp and a ham, so it's almost impossible to get a good family picture (see Spearman family pic here for a case in point...). He is constantly making up jokes which aren't quite jokes yet. Though he isn't reading yet he's very interested in how to spell things and thinking about words that rhyme. He asks lots of questions, and his imagination is immense! He is constantly thinking of new Lego creations and there's not a scrap of paper or piece of string that doesn't have a new and unexplored future use. He is strong willed and stubborn, which we hope will translate to being principled and forthright as he matures. He's a cuddle bug and gives great hugs, and still prefers to sleep in our room rather than on his own. We are secretly grateful that he still wants us nearby. What a blessing Sylvan is in our lives!
Now that it's finally beginning to feel like fall, seems an appropriate time to post about the second half of our hot, hot summer. Specifically, we had a wonderful trip to Quebec! We drove from DC to this most welcoming province in Canada (only a few hours further than our regular trips to North Carolina), and we took our bikes.
We spent the first night in a perfect modern and cozy cabin in an International Dark Sky Reserve called Mont-Megantic. We could see the Milky Way and more stars than we could count, but Sylvan was more entranced by the stream behind our cabin, where he did his first rock hopping. We spent the second two nights in Quebec City, where we explored the industrial waterfront, the Old City (including a ride up the funicular), Montmorency Falls, and the Aquarium du Quebec. The last 3 nights of our trip were in Montreal, where we biked along more of the St. Lawrence River waterfront and Montreal's Old City, saw the Expo 67 site and Habitat 67 (an architectural pilgrimage!), and generally enjoyed the city's great public spaces and lovely weather. The Montreal Archaeology and History Complex was particularly interesting, where you can literally see the origins of the city under your feet. Our last stop was the New York Botanic Garden on our way home, where we saw the Roberto Burle Marx exhibition (a landscape architectural pilgrimage!)
For the most part, Sylvan thought all of it was fantastic. He was repeatedly tickled by the French-speaking locals, who always replied enthusiastically to his "Bonjour, Bonjour, Bonjour!" It was great exposure for him to be in a place where English is not the first language (though it is very common and easy to navigate). In general Sylvan loves a good adventure, and this certainly was. And now we are a month back into preschool at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, which Sylvan still loves. With his last year before kindergarten underway and a 5th birthday on the horizon he is living large and keeping us on our toes!
After a slow start to the year and a busy spring, the Spearpeople are enjoying an excellent summer! It started Memorial Day weekend with a fun D.C. visit from Jim's parents, taking in Smithsonian offerings, good food, and generally hanging out.
From there we carried on into June with a Cook family gathering on "our" turf - a camping weekend in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. A carload and an RV-load of Cooks made the overland trek from Texas, and Richmond family joined us as well. We camped it up in high style, with 3 tents, an RV, and a cozy room at the Big Meadows Lodge for Mom. A good time was had by all, despite somewhat soggy weather.
We spent the week of July 4th at the Spearman's mountain hideaway in western North Carolina, an annual tradition that we've really come to treasure. Sylvan showed his hiking chops on two challenging woodland walks to waterfalls that were worth the effort - combined almost 10 miles of hiking! We also canoed, biked along Railroad Grade Road, and enjoyed having no defined schedule.
This past weekend we continued the family festivities with a trip to the Chambers (Jim's family) Lake Gaston house for another annual tradition, gathering with extended family for boating, dock lounging, and time with cousins all around. Sylvan's social cup has been filled!
All of these activities and gatherings have been fantastic, but the true highlight of the summer was getting to meet Ricochet, the love of his young life, in "person." Richochet is a very special therapy dog from San Diego who surfs with people who have experienced trauma or disabilities. She is featured in Sylvan's FAVORITE movie, Superpower Dogs, which he has seen 3 times (and counting) at the IMAX theater. If you get a chance to see the film you really must, it's truly special, and now nothing can compete with the way this sweet Golden Retriever has taken hold of Sylvan's heart. We can hardly get him to take off his pink vest (fleece lined, no less), which matches Ricochet's in the movie. He is constantly playing out storylines with her and her trainer Judy, which emerge from his vivid imagination. Suffice it to say this kid needs a dog... But momma says no way no how, not with 2 cats! So the dream lives on for now.
Happy New Year! It's a little late to be saying it, but we feel like this year is just getting started in some ways. Due to the government shutdown Courtney was furloughed and Sylvan was home, since his school is also federal. For most of January the days were filled with play dates, craft projects, a few long naps, and a little more screen time than usual. We also had a good snow storm and a fantastic, seasonally cold weekend in western North Carolina with the Spearman clan, where we bundled up to see some breathtaking waterfalls. Everyone adjusted pretty well overall to furloughed life (particularly to the looser morning schedule), but we were also very glad to be getting back to normal last Monday. We feel very fortunate that our hardships were not greater during this crazy month.
Leading up to the shutdown we had a wonderful holiday season. It started with an epic Thanksgiving road trip (18 hours each way) to and from Texas via Richmond, with cousin Elliot and Courtney's sibling Jess. Everyone lived to tell the tale of that trip - we were even still speaking(!) - so we consider it a great success if not an annual occurrence. We spent Christmas in Charlotte with Jim's family, including a fun evening at the holiday bedazzled Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden and some bonus time with Jim's sister Suzanne's family. New Years Eve was spent at home with Jess and Elliot and some great food. All in all a great way to end the year!
It's official! Sylvan is four years old and a certified BIG KID. This year was the first time he really got excited for his birthday - and had specific ideas about it - so we had a party with a few school friends and family (Mer and Gpa were in town) at the carousel on the National Mall. So much fun!
Sylvan has had several first experiences in the past few months - first visit to an aquarium (where we saw some awesome seals and sharks and got to "pet" a ray), first trip to the bowling alley (where they have now have cool barriers to prevent gutter balls...), first fishing trip (in Arlington, with friends Callie and Eric Olson), and first real Halloween trick-or-treating (Sylvan decided he wanted to be a diver). He has also started swim lessons. He is less enthusiastic about this but is nevertheless making great strides.
In general we've been in awe of his development. He's a very verbal kid and has an impish sense of humor, which makes for fun and interesting dinner conversation and lots and lots of questions. He loves to draw, color, and paint, and seemingly overnight his scribbles have morphed into somewhat recognizable shapes and forms. He can draw a pretty good straight line! He's a sensitive kid and absorbs EVERYTHING he hears, so we are working hard to include him in relevant conversations and help him navigate the crazy world around him. Long before Sylvan entered our lives we avoided social media and watched very little TV, a strategy which has served us well with him, too. His favorite things to watch are a Canadian show from the 1990s called Mighty Machines (picture all manner of heavy duty vehicles at work, sharing their daily routines through voice-overs and the occasional song), and the Great British Baking Show, which has become a family fun activity on Friday nights.
Sylvan has loved pickles since he could eat solid food, so when it came time to think about a summer garden project, it seemed logical to grow cucumbers to make our own! I must admit, it's been an incredibly gratifying activity. Turns out cucumber seeds are easy to grow and the vines we planted have been prolific. We've made more pickles than we can eat - both bread & butter and slightly sour crunchy dills - and given them away like they are going out of style. We've dubbed them Sylvan Chips and Spearpeople Spears. If you pass through town (or live nearby) stop by for some pickles!
The Spearpeople had a great summer! Lots of time with family and friends in fun, beautiful places. We spent a week in Ashe County, NC, at Jim's parents' cabin around the 4th of July, then hit the beach with Jess and Elliot. In August we gathered with the rest of the Cook clan in Snowmass, CO, after passing through Denver to see old friends there. Summer rounded out with the annual Spearman/ Chambers gathering at Lake Gaston on the VA-NC border, and a visit from Nana for Labor Day weekend. Highlights were Sylvan's first ride on a gondola (which he was sort of obsessed about), growing cucumbers (see "Pickles" entry to follow), and getting a big boy bed (which he loves and will sleep in all night - huzzah!).
And the excitement continues! Sylvan started a new school on Tuesday, SEEC - Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center. We've been on the lottery wait list since he was a baby, so we are super psyched to finally be there. The program is run by the Smithsonian, so they use the museums to supplement classroom topics and have an outing pretty much every day. And to top it off, Sylvan got glasses this week. He needs a little help with close-up vision, just like mom and dad, so we are all four-eyes now.
A lot has happened since our last post! It's been a very good, very busy year so far. Some fun first time experiences - ice skating and strawberry picking - and nice trips and visits with family in Texas and North Carolina. We spent a fun, cold weekend at Colonial Williamsburg with Jim's sister and her family in January and are currently on a more exotic trip to eastern Washington for the marriage celebration of dear friends from graduate school. It's been fun to hear Sylvan tell friends and teachers at school that he's going to Washington STATE. Thankfully he's a good traveler so the 5 hour flight and drive from Seattle through the mountains is an adventure, not a curse.
Developmentally we are plowing through the milestones! After months of gentle suggestion Sylvan volunteered to give his pacifiers to a friend's new baby, who somehow hadn't found any that she liked so well as Sylvan's. And similarly, after more than a year of suggesting, cajoling, and dabbling, he made a clean break from pull-ups and diapers, with only a single accident in the last six weeks. The big lesson for us is that this boy is immune to the arts of persuasion and bribery when it comes to big decisions. He'll make a move when he's good and ready! Now if only he would decide he wants to sleep in his own bed...
We continue to marvel at Sylvan's creativity and imagination. He's very good at entertaining himself, and the stories and scenarios he invents are pretty fantastic. They often relate to something he's recently learned at school or experienced with us (for example, he recently built a series of piers out of Legos after a visit to DC's new Wharf development), but the characters take it to another level. His current imaginary friend is his "ice friend," which we think is derived from one of the fairies in Fantasia (yes, the old Disney film from the 1950s). He still loves ANY sort of vehicle and especially fire and emergency ones, so his stories often involve complex mixes of his parents or his "babies" participating in a daring rescue or preparing for one - he's big on fire safety. He's recently started talking about what he wants to be when he grows up - current plan is Daddy Dentist, but we'll keep you posted!
