Winter at the Gyrestead (and River's Obsessions)

 So, late January. The time of year that makes me question my sanity for deciding that yes, I really did want to settle down in Pittsburgh and brave these long, dark winters for approximately ever. We're doing pretty well, though, considering.

We've had a little extra cash flow that means wonderful things like replacing our broken hot water heater, working on building an actual living room (so exciting!) and even caving in to get a second vehicle. I don't love driving so much, but I do love the fact that I can take the kids out while James works and still get back to the Gyrestead in time for dinner. I hate to admit it, but driving is actually going a long way towards keeping the winter crazy at bay.

The kids are well, and also big. Violet is walking and climbing like a maniac, and starting to really communicate a lot. Recently she has liked to pick a baby book off the shelf and bring it over to one of us to read, and you better believe I am thrilled about that. She also waves, hugs, and shakes her head "no." It's all pretty adorable, if you can believe it.

River really seems to be growing recently, too, in ways that are kind of hard to pinpoint. For one thing, he's started in on the "why" questions, and while I'm sure I will eat my words eventually, so far it's been really fun. The conversational possibilities have exploded.

He's three and a half, now, and we've really started to observe the way his interests fluctuate and flow. I wanted to make a little list of his obsessions here, for posterity, and so I can remember as many of them as possible.

It started with normal baby stuff, like toddling and following us around. When he was learning to talk he made a meowing sound for our cat, Henry, and pretty soon he was using it to refer to any animal (even a fish). He was also amazing at pointing out cars and buses, including by their sounds as they passed outside our house. Around two years old he started the "what" phase. Pretty much every other thing out of his mouth was "Dis a what?" He lived to go to the playground.

Then around two and a half, the winter when Violet was born, it was video. (I was incredibly low on attention, then we were incredibly busy, and at the same time he discovered kids cartoons - Dora, Diego, and the Backyardigans, nature videos - he asked for David Attenborough by name, and movies...it was a marriage made in heaven.

We were a bit concerned for a while, but as unschool theory predicted, he eventually got enough and moved on to other things. In the spring it was lots and lots of pretend, first with animal themes (especially dinosaurs), and then around his third birthday it was cars, cars, cars. Specifically, "cars with eyes", the characters from the Pixar movie. Since then, we've been through cake decorating (he found some videos on YouTube while we were looking up fire trucks...and yes, we've definitely tried the real thing), trains, venus' fly traps, counting and numbers, and cranes (that kid builds a mean lego crane, and overall his building ability really blows me away).

For Christmas he got a Leapster game system with a Kai-Lan math game, and that has been pretty popular, as has pretend about "nice" and "scary" animals, and huge, ambitious cities based on a play mat he likes to combine with extensive train track constructions, car parades, and lego buildings. He's recently started to take more of an interest in letters, too, so we'll see if that leads anywhere.

There's been other stuff, too, that has never quite qualified as an obsession but that he comes back to again and again...play-doh and drawing come to mind, as do building with blocks and legos, kitchen and outdoor play, music, dancing, pillow fights and other "bed games", and books (mostly nonfiction). It's so interesting to watch him learn and grow.