otis’s nightstand

It turns out that Otis loves to tidy things up. Not that he’s always cleaning, mind you, but he’ll get into a mood where things have to be arranged just so. He loves to keep a well-organized stack of books by his bed – listed alphabetically, because arranging by color “would just take too long.” Nerds rule.

By the way, he’s (re)reading The Secret Seven series, which is British, so he’s learning all about afternoon tea and funny English-isms. He’s quite envious of the variety and quantity of treats that English kids get to eat for snack.

our evil plan

Our kids each have their own room, but I’ve always liked the idea of them sharing a room. I like to imagine their bond growing tighter day by day as they read to each other with flashlights and fall asleep holding hands, hearts full with the special bond that can only be shared by siblings. Let’s just say I’ve spent a fair amount of time internet shopping for bunk beds with a ridiculous grin on my face.

So this past weekend, after we installed a new bed in Bee’s room in preparation for her move to a big-girl bed, F and I decided to try an experiment. We started declaring in loud voices:
“Wow, did you see that there’s another bed in Bee’s room? It’s almost like having a BUNK bed!”
“Geez, it’s like a slumber party in there ALL THE TIME!”
“Hey Otis, did you try out that new bed? What? You think it’s more comfortable than your bed? Hmm, that’s interesting.”

When the kids finally asked us if they could actually sleep in the same room together, we hemmed and hawed and said, “What? In the same room? Gosh, I don’t know… we’ll think about it.”

We did a happy dance and congratulated ourselves for outsmarting a 6 and 3 year old.

The kids love it so far, and they’re learning to accommodate each other, which was what I was hoping would happen. It’s not a long term solution, since her room is not big enough to fit all that furniture, but I’ll enjoy it while I can.

secret kids’ club

Hey, lookit what we’ve got in our backyard now!

This weird little corner of our yard has stayed resistant to our efforts at planning over the years, and after talking and talking about it, a playhouse/fort has finally been erected. As I watched F make repeated trips to the lumber yard and make frustrated efforts at enlisting Otis’s help, I was the naysayer that I always am, asking things like , “Are you sure you want to spend so much time on this?” followed by “Don’t let this project take over your life! The kids might just play with it for a few months!” But when this thing was finally up, I had to admit that it was pretty awesome. And sturdy as all get-out.

Then Otis fell off it and gave himself a black eye when he fell on some rocks and then I had to explain myself to his new kindergarten teacher. So everything close to it has been cleared away and many, many bags of mulch later, it’s approved for kids. And still totally awesome.

But this is just the basic structure. We’ve been talking about all the things we want to do to it. F installed a pulley and put up a little ledge and built a movable bench underneath, but this is just the beginning. Here’s a few more ideas:
- a climbing wall on the back. F built the wall solid and high so that he could attach climbing holds.
- a set of swinging doors on the bottom level
- painting either the inside of the second floor or the outside of the first floor with chalkboard paint

And this is where we need your help. Tell us what we should do to make this place so awesome that the kids will stay outside and play for hours while the adults are inside, peacefully enjoying their morning coffee and paper. We initially thought that the little kids would play down below in the “playhouse” and that the big kids would be up in the “fort” but of course the little ones climb up there whenever possible. I think some kind of roof would be a good idea because the kids would enjoy a “secret” space, especially when friends are over. Plus it gets quite warm up there. We want this to be a special place for the kids. F even built the second floor with a slightly bigger footprint so that Otis could sleep out there with a friend. So help us out with your suggestions! We’d love to hear them. Especially while the weather’s still good here.

a table for bee

Remember our beloved chalkboard table that I made for Otis? Well, it’s a goner. We had to get rid of it some time ago when Ms. Bee, who might more aptly be known as The Silent Menace, became more mobile and extremely interested in anything that belonged to Otis. We had to get him a grown-up table, and we still hear shrieks of agony as her tiny, groping hands continue to clutch at the edges and manage to snag something precious. Lately, though, Bee has started to show an interest in pencils and art making herself, so it seems only fair that she have her own Bee-sized table.

Before we gave the old table away, I removed the legs that I had purchased from Ikea. I had been saving a large end of a butcher block counter from a recent kitchen renovation at a relative’s house, and it made a perfect kid-sized table. We just put the old legs on the butcher block, and now we have a nice, hefty table that can withstand a lot of abuse. I love how Ikea components can be so flexible. In recent times, Otis has been enjoying these small construction projects (he loved taking the table legs off), so I thought he would enjoy doing this with me. I drilled some holes in it, and gave the screwdriver to Otis. But one screw later, Otis lost interest and the following conversation ensued:

O: You can do the rest!

me: Oh really? I thought you wanted to help me make this table.

O: I do. But I don’t want to do this work. I’ll be the manager.

F and I exchange glances.

me: The manager? Uh, what does a manager do?

O: Oh, a manager says, “Good job!”

me: Hmm. And what does a manager say if a person doesn’t do a good job?

O: They say, “Do it again! And again! And again!”

Does this kid have potential or what? Right after we finished the table and brought it in, Bee climbed right up there and made herself at home and promptly made pencil marks all over it:

Today, I just covered it with grey chalkboard paint, so we once again have a kid-sized chalkboard table. Later on, I may reattach the magnetic strip and paper holder, and we’ll have a complete reincarnation!

happy birthday fifth aunt grandma k

It is our beloved Fifth Aunt Grandma K’s birthday, and she has conveniently taken herself out of town so as to avoid any birthday fuss. Which gave us total access to her house and yard so that we could build her a vegetable planter as a surprise present. We arrived at her house ready to build the planter in one spot, only to discover that she had already planted flowers there! So we moved the operation downhill, and are keeping our fingers crossed that it’s not the location where she planned to install a fish pond. We used these easy-to-follow instructions from Sunset Magazine, which we also used to build a sandbox and planter in our own backyard.

Otis was excited to use real tools for once, not just his toy tools.

He’s supervising the work here, and I don’t think he likes what he sees.

The muscles of this operation, cheerful before they start digging up that dry, clay-y soil. (Of course Otis is cheerful. He gave two good digs and then cheerfully left the project behind to hunt for salamanders!)

Hey, I guess that makes me the brains of this operation!

No, no, the real brains of this operation is that little monkey on my back.

It was a lot of work and took us all weekend, but it was a fun thing for us to do together as a family. And we can’t wait for Fifth Aunt Grandma K to come home and find her surprise!

fall

Fall is finally arriving in the Bay Area. It is getting darker earlier and light later, which always makes me a little sad even though I love sweater weather. It has been so fun to watch the growing season evolve in our backyard as the weather has warmed and cooled. I have always dreamed of having all edible plants in my backyard, and we’ve slowly been making that happen. Being criminally indecisive means that fruit trees and herbs have been moved around, but most have been agreeable and are establishing themselves well. Progress has been slow, but it’s helped to do this in phases as we watch the garden change. I’m already dreaming about the alpine strawberry and raspberries that I’ll plant next spring.

All summer long, our kid-sized friends have been helping us pick cherry tomatoes and strawberries. And Otis helped harvest the almonds from our tree earlier this week. I used to buy green almonds and send them to a Persian friend of mine who has a Proustian relationship with them, but I find them too astringent that way so we waited patiently until they split and dried. The squirrels stole some, and many of the hulls only gave us small, dried up, inedible almonds, but Otis was pleased with our meager yield of 3 almonds. They tasted incredibly fresh and flavorful. Now we are eagerly watching the figs ripen on our tree and waiting for the day that we can pick the taste our first home-grown Brown Turkey. Any day now…

ps – Otis has been quite desperate to learn how to wink

recent home projects

The to-do list, she is getting shorter. Here are some of the home projects we’ve been working on in recent weeks.

We bought this chair off craigslist for $20. It was an unfinished project that had been sitting in some guy’s family room for ages. It appeared for some time that the chair would suffer the same fate in our house, since I had originally intended to upholster some cushions as a present for F’s present. Last September. Or was it our anniversary? Last May? Well, it is finally finished, although now we’ve moved it into the baby’s room, and the fabric doesn’t exactly scream BABY or NURSERY to me. Oh well. We still need to refinish the wood, but at least it’s usable now, and that gives us ages more procrastination time.

Why does a person need to sew a laundry hamper, exactly? Hmm, it may be one of the great mysteries of the universe. But I did, and here it is. It velcros onto a wheeeled frame from Ikea (the Antonius, in case you were wondering), which is handy, since it feels like I do laundry just about every other day – Otis is just so dirty and by the end of the day, there’s usually the clothes he went to school in, and then the set they changed him into as well.

Remember how I mentioned I was hauling rocks in the backyard a while ago? Did you think I was kidding? Heck no, I really was hauling rocks, making a second makeshift vegetable plot to go with the more permanent one that F built for me last year, since I had all that excess pregnancy energy to burn. And the vegetables have really taken off! The tender ones like the mache have had to struggle a little more (since they require that a person be vigilant, and, you know, water them like every day or two) but the broccoli is absolutely ginormous! We’ve also planted radicchio, tomatoes, peas, corn, spinach, scallions and squash. I know virtually nothing about vegetable gardening – I’ve probably planted things too close together and have moved things repeatedly, but it’s been really fun to watch the progress.

Even more exciting, after more than two years in the house, we finally bit the bullet and hired some guys to come and do some of the big work in the backyard. They’re doing pathways, a patio, irrigation, the whole nine yards. It’s why you can see the mess all around the vegetable plot. It’s supremely satisfying to walk to the backyard at the end of the day, see the progress and know that it was accomplished by somebody else. It’s now a race to see whether they finish the yard first or I go into labor.

how to: kids’ art table

With the purchase of our latest Craigslist find and the reorganization of my studio, Otis suddenly found himself without a place to draw. He still had his little chalkboard table, but because it was round with a hole in the center, it was not a good space for drawing with pen and paper. So we came up with our own little Ikea hack: a multi-purpose art table. For some reason, I prefer tables to easels for drawing, probably because easels make me think of paint and paint makes me think of Oh My Lord, There’s No Way Kids And Paint Mix In This House!

Here’s the list of supplies we used. Most of it was purchased at either Ikea or at the hardware store.

index curtain rod
index wall hardware
vika olegby table legs
vika persbo table top
magnetic bar (ours was black and named something different, which I can’t find on their website)

paint
unsanded grout
chalk
craft magnets
glue (I used a hot glue gun)
markers
roll of paper (we used Ikea’s Mala)

We used the Vika Persbo table top, but only because we already had it. I was using it as an ironing board, but since it didn’t fit into my new studio, I was looking for a new use for it. It’s quite large, which is good for us because kids can eat at the table when we have friends over rather than worrying about our new table. Any of the Vika table tops that are paintable can be used, and they’re pretty inexpensive. Of course you can also do this to any finished table as well.

Prime, paint and finish the table top according to these directions from Martha and crew. I gave my tabletop two good coats of paint, and chose a dark grey to go with our cabinets.

Turn the table over and install the index wall hardware, centered, along one short edge of the table, making sure that there is enough room between the hardware for your roll of paper. For our particular setup, we also had to make sure that the wall hardware didn’t get in the way of the table leg hardware. Thus I attached the wall hardware after the leg hardware, but before the leg itself. It might make more sense if you look closely at the following pictures.

Hang your roll of paper on the curtain rod and install in the hardware.

Turn the table over and install the magnetic bar, centering it on the table. Make sure it is tight enough to hold your paper down and to use as a tearing edge, but not too tight so that you can’t slide your paper through easily.

Glue craft magnets onto the caps of markers (I used a hot glue gun) so that the markers are attached to the magnetic bar, ready to be used.

Here you can see Otis using his new table (looking like he draws a lot more than he really does). He also occasionally attacks it with chalk:

Pretty simple. The most time-consuming part of the whole project was waiting for the paint to dry. Then you can hang your kids’ finished artwork up on your homasote bulletin board!

*****

edited to add: Many people have emailed to ask me about those multi-colored stools by the table.  We bought those stools, which stack in a cone shape, at a Design Within Reach sample sale.  They were rejects that nobody wanted, and ultimately, they never sold them in their stores.  They are manufactured by Soft Line, a Danish furniture company that makes a few pieces sold by DWR, but it looks like they do not currently make these stools.  Sorry not to be able to offer any good news!

famous last words

“A sandbox for Otis? Oh, that’s easy project No, no, it won’t take long at all. Of course it’s not too much work!”

While our home received a total makeover, inside and out, the backyard remained pretty neglected, alternately buried under a thicket of weeds, or totally barren and dry. It’s taken us this long to start thinking about sprucing things and making it liveable back there. The studio was the first step. Next on our list was a sandbox and raised planter bed. I had this idea, see, that we would build two big 8′x4′ redwood frames – one for a sandbox, and one for vegetables. Then, when the sandbox was no longer being used, the sand could be taken out, and voila, more room for vegetables. I was pretty pleased with our clever, dual-function idea.

The boxes were constructed using these instructions. The raised bed we made 12″ tall. The sandbox we made 18″ deep so that we could bury it 6″ into the ground – that way, we could have at least 12″ of sand for Otis to play with. So the frames were constructed, stained and ready to go. Our across the street neighbor, Jonathan, even volunteered to help us dig the hole to bury the sandbox (not knowing what he was getting himself into). F and Jonathan started digging, and that’s when the trouble started. Here is what they found:

•  a concrete foundation reinforced with steel wire, with a corner post for a former structure still embedded
• a whole pane of shattered glass, still intact, along with all the shards from a giant glass jug
• large clumps of some mysterious, metallic paint which has made the dirt irridescent (it looks vaguely radioactive and is at the very least disturbing to look at)
• variously pieces of marine steel, from the WWII landing craft engines that the former owner was rebuilding in the yard
• an enormous redwood root that they eventually had to just chop off a section of and dig out as best they could

Here’s F holding the monstrosity (notice how he’s so covered with dirt that it looks like he’s dressed as a coal miner for Halloween):

Here I am, using it as a settee:

So a job that F initially thought would take a couple of hours took two strong (albeit approaching middle age) men most of a Saturday. But happily, Otis has been utterly thrilled with his sandbox, and has been playing in it a lot. (Although I will complain that every time he gets in there, he starts exclaiming, “Dirty! My feet are dirty!  Wash them!”) Now F’s in the process of digging out another huge section of the redwood root so we can get some vegetables into our planter.

I have to tell you that this backyard is totally defeating me. Every time we dig somewhere, we seem to find yet another unpleasant surprise (oh, a poured concrete former fish pond? a steel winch anchor? a brick path 4″ below ground level? pshaw.) Progress is so slow, and we still have no room to sit down and enjoy a meal or a drink. And there is just so much work to do yet before we even have a proper patio or real paths to walk on. And my dream of one day having an edible garden, with all kinds of fruit trees, bushes and vines, herbs and other edibles just feels really far away. Anyone have any advice for us?

hello

Hello, fog and cold mornings.
Hello, socks and the occasional sweater.
Hello, strangers looking just so darned American, with your culturally identifiable bodies, hair and clothes.

We are slowly getting over our jetlag and becoming re-acclimated to the routine of our quiet lives. Otis has been happily reacquainting himself with all his toys, and continuing to jibber on in Chinese all day long. His language skills grew impressively during our Asian sojourn, and Chinese has become totally natural to him. So natural that he seems to speak English with a Chinese accent. In fact, coming back here has affirmed what I have been suspecting for some time now: Otis has forgotten most of his English. Weird, isn’t it?

The vastly improved Chinese is fantastic, really just what we had been hoping for, but…… of course there’s a BUT! BUT I think Otis is feeling a little stunned. He’s grown suddenly shy around strangers who approach him speaking English. And more importantly, he’s been having trouble communicating with F. The morning of their reunion, he was so happy to see F, jumping on him, giggling and jabbering on and on. But he started to pause more as he realized that his father couldn’t understand what he was saying. And he had to pause to listen to this strange language that his father was speaking to him. A few days later, he seems to understand most of what F is saying to him, but he just can’t respond yet. I know he’ll regain his English (and yipes, lose his Chinese) faster than we think, but it’s been a frustrating reunion for both father and son.

Otis has been suffering from his usual post-homecoming sleep issues, and we’ve been working on getting him back to his reliable old sleep habits. Actually, F’s been doing much of the heavy lifting in this department, since my stiffly frozen heart seems to have defrosted somewhat since the initial hardcore sleep training we did oh so long ago. And although not understanding Chinese may make it somewhat easier for F to ignore Otis’s endless requests in order to put off sleeptime, it’s also been extremely frustrating for him to realize that he could have reduced much of the crying by merely understanding Otis’s demand for his stuffed tiger.

Soon soon soon, I know.

I know I owe many of you emails and phone calls (those of you that make your presence known, that is. I keep discovering the identity of more and more of secret readers out there. You know, you can’t hide forever!) and of course, I owe ALL of you collages. I know! What are you, monsters? My child has LOST the ability to speak the English language and all you can think about is paper, glue and scissors?

Well, actually, all I can think about is the very exciting fact that this week and next, we are installing our exciting little prefab studio in the backyard! I came home to see a backyard totally cleared of weedy jungle and debris, ready for landscaping. I’ve been dreaming about this forever, and ALL I can think about is patios, garden design, outdoor furniture and how to decorate my studio. Check out this craziness that I’m going to buy next time I find a $4120 bill on the street. Now imagine it tucked under the gracefully drooping branches of mature fruit trees. OK, now imagine me napping in there.  Perfect, no? I’ll keep you updated, of course.