Madmartigan, 3 Years Old | I want to rock and roll all nite and party every day

About Mads, 3 Years & 1 Month Old

• Mads is basically potty-trained. Accidents are few and far between (he still wears a pull-up diaper at night, but I'm looking into training pants options). After a couple months of pretty strong resistance, I'm surprised and, frankly, baffled at how suddenly this happened. One day, Mads just decided to start using the potty. No, really, that is exactly how it happened. (Letting him be naked 85% of his time at home helped a lot.)
• Mads can name the street we live on.
• Mads is in the 59th percentile of height for his age and 34th percentile for weight. Long, lean, and mean. 
• I catch Mads rearranging the dining room chairs and ask, "What are you doing?" He responds, "I'm making a house. I'm making a naked house." (He happens to be naked at this moment. Potty training!)
• Mads sings and hums to himself constantly. He is content playing independently, and he has a very active imagination.
• Mads was diagnosed with walking pneumonia at the end of August, but it cleared up after a few days on an antibiotic.
• Building towers with his blocks in his bedroom one morning, he starts complaining about Lunchbox snuffling around and getting too close. I hear him grumble under his breath, "stupid dog," and have no idea where he heard such a thing. We never call the dog stupid.
• Mads calls prune juice "black juice" or "butt juice."
• Wolfman says to Mads (who is naked and covered in green marker), "I'm going to have to give you a bath. You look like a dryad." Mads repeats, "I look like a dryer."
• Mads and Ella have taken to drawing all over themselves with marker in order to "be KISS."
• Some nights, after bedtime, I watch through the baby monitor and see Mads climbing out of his bed, then returning with books. He doesn't have enough light to really look at books, but still flips through the pages.
• Mads says, "Oh my gosh."
• Twice Mads has fallen asleep in the living room on his own, unexpectedly.
• Mads says, "Sorry about that."
• Favorite shows/movies: Scooby Doo and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery, Batman: The Animated Series, Minions
• Favorite books: Happy Halloween Curious George, Room on the Broom

"Rock & Roll All Nite," KISS

365 | hearts rolling in, taken back on the tide; we're balanced together, ocean upon the sky

Monday 18 July 2016 | My mother briefly had this boyfriend I hated whose birthday was exactly a week after hers, the 18th of July. I loathed him, and I resent the fact that I think about him on this day every year. Here is a photo of a caterpillar species destroying my tomato plants.

Friday 22 July 2016 | Literally drove out to Franklin Street to fill out a job application in person. Dressed up all funky/professional, sweated, presented myself well despite the sweat (I thought). Never even got a call for an interview. This is the thing about looking for jobs I find just soul crushing--the massive amounts of impersonal rejection.  

Saturday 23 July 2016 | I can't paint my nails because dirt.

Sunday 24 July 2016 | Shirtless Summer Bubba Babies.

Wednesday 27 July 2016 | In the evenings, I've been sitting with Mads on the back deck and we both paint. Neither of us have the skills (he: yet, me: never) to paint much more than brush strokes, but I've found smearing these colors on paper to be incredibly therapeutic and meditative.

Friday 29 July 2016 | What I really wanted to ask at the end of this interview was, "Is this place haunted?" I thought better of it, though.

Thursday 4 August 2016 | Morning.

Thursday 4 August 2016 |  Afternoon.

Saturday 6 August 2016 | No summer is complete without a day by the lake.

Wednesday 10 August 2016 | The view on our open-air rickety birthday train ride. Mads spent much of the ride telling me, "Mommy, I don't want to do this again." Today is my father-in-law's birthday, and I wish we could spend the day with him.

Friday 12 August 2016 | Took Mads on a long walk as the sun was setting, and I admit I was downright spooked by the time I'd made it back to the car. I've read too many stories--I'm both drawn to and frightened by deep, dark woods. (And these ones are not even particularly deep or dark.)

Tuesday 16 August 2016 | It is Sierra's birthday, but that didn't keep Ella's dollies from misbehaving.

Friday 19 August 2016 | This guy appeared early in the morning, stuck to the outside of Martigan's window. We see toads (of varying sizes) out in the yard all summer, and I catch and cup them between my hands to show a delighted but wary Mads. I've never before seen a little green frog like this one on our property. It seemed a good omen, and frog medicine has much to do with healing and rebirth, which I've needed more than I've let myself admit.

Sunday 21 August 2016 | Mads loves to point out the moon, particularly when it appears in the daylight.

Thursday 25 August 2016 | Right on time, our yearly garden spider has appeared at our door step, signaling the coming of Autumn.

Friday 26 August 2016 | Baby avocado, growing up so fast, getting leggy.

Sunday 28 August 2016 | Lazy Daze festival.

"Dog & Butterfly," Heart