Jeffery

 

Declan and Jeffery (and Grandma) at Lewis' Orchard in New Era, MI

Dex & Happy

Happy is Katie's stuffed dog. She (Katie, not Happy) left her (Happy, not Katie) at our house accidentally this afternoon. We'll be returning Happy to Katie on Thursday, but in the meantime, Declan is making sure Happy feels, well, happy. 

Cherry Pickin'

We went to Baugher's outside Westminster to pick cherries with Katie. This is Katie and Declan:

 

Notice the left arm, free from splint! And Katie and Declan drawing on the chalk board.

 

The Cherries (10 quarts approx - I put up 11 pints yesterday!).

 

And Katie, proudly displaying her cherry-stained cheeks:

 

5th Metacarpal

 

Dex broke his hand back on memorial day - he fell down in the park at Iain's Birthday party. Anyway, as the cast is coming off tomorrow, it's high time we post a pic of one of the three (really!) casts he's had. (the other two got wet).

It's a Boy's Life

 

The Subjunctive!

This morning, as we were playing with our very cool new 'aqualand' toy, Declan declared "If I were a duck, I could swim in this." The correct use of the subjunctive form of the verb ('were' instead of 'was' for antecedent conditions known to be false - what we in philosophy call 'counterfactuals') means that his grasp of English grammar surpasses most of my undergraduate students!

A linguist in the making...

You all know that Dex has a great linguistic ability, but now he's proving Chomsky right (at least the U-shaped curve bit about language development). This evening at dinner, while I was reading "Bus Route to Boston," Declan corrected (he's taken to correcting me when I misread one of his favorite stories) 'cannoli' to 'cannolis' in the sentence "then, of course, we ordered four cannoli." Try explaining the fact that when English speakers adopt words from a different language, we maintain the original plural conjugation to a three-year old!
He did correctly note shortly thereafter that Moma Olga "did have something different like Spanish or something." (she, in fact, speaks Russian)

Spring Break - Chicoteague

 

Feeder ponies! (as opposed to 'wild ponies').

 

On top of the lighthouse (whose 198 steps Declan climbed by himself!)

 

With Grandma on the Beach

 

With Daddy on the boardwalk...