While the Father's Away...

In the absence of our husband/father, who's in New York City until July 8, Tor and I have been yukking it up both at home and in California. We're actually flying out to visit Lars on Wednesday, so I had to do a photo dump before they built up too much. (I learned that lesson after winter break.) 

Grandma and Grandpa sent a shipment of summer outfits for Tor, so now he's rocking the preppy-casual look like it's his job. Tiny flannels and Carhartts just don't scale down too well, but I assume that eventually he'll be a sartorial as well as physical copy of his DaDa.

Demonstrating his flair for accessorizing

 Tor is in a repeating phase that extends to activities as well as language. It's charming that he wants to help with chores, but hopefully he'll get better at them over time. Dendro gets pretty antsy watching each individual piece of food hit his bowl.

Not pictured: my foot covered with anticipatory Dendro drool

On our days together, Tor and I frequent the park by our house, which has a wading pool that provides hours of amusement. Tor prefers to stand at the edge and throw things into the AGUA! rather than to actually submerge any part of his body. He makes allowances for splashing on a case-by-case basis. That, plus a few laps on the jungle gym, usually exhaust him before lunchtime.

Studies in Somnolence 1

Studies in Somnolence 2: Sans pants

I only have one photo of our California trip so far, and am hoping our relatives will share theirs with me. (Andersen clan, you're on the hook.) Problem is, Opa wasn't wearing a shirt when I took the picture. Fortunately, I'm a wizard with Paint.

You're welcome, Mom

Tor was engagingly punchy after we got off the plane and back to our house, even in the 95-degree weather.

Acting out my recurring first-day-of-class nightmare vision

Last Saturday, we tooled around the house before having some buddies over for dinner. Tor discovered his remaining birthday party hats and insisted vehemently on figuring out the elastic for himself.

"Oh, can I help you with that, Tor?"

*RAGE BLACKOUT*

With elastic repositioned, recovery can begin

Graceful segue into xylophone concert by unicorn

With the Burnetts, Lindsay and Owen, Joe, Annia, and our friends Ben and Julia, we had a lazy afternoon. As lazy as you can be around kids ages 0, 1, and 2, that is.

"Guess I've got enough creeping Charlie to go around"

As the evening wound down, Madeline and Tor treated us to an impromptu jam session. M.J. discarded xylophone for drum early on, so with Tor's hand-clapping, the whole thing was heavy on percussion.

Flashes of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Sunday morning, Tor was still feeling energized from the previous night's activities. This produced less-than-ideal church behavior, but he made up for it by flirting with our new pastor at the coffee hour.

And he doesn't even drink coffee

You can lead a horse to the staircase...