Meet Theo

Out with the old, in with the new

It's 2012 today. I am always grateful for the symbolic blank page of a fresh, untraveled year!

It's been quite a while since Ive written, so I'll catch you up by sharing a few of my favorite shots Jon has taken of Theo this past year. You'll see the many faces of our son as he secures his foothold in three-year-old life as a preschooler with an outside-the-home community of peers.

It's been a big year of reconfiguring and reimagining for all of us. Jon moved out into his own home in September of 2010 and our divorce went through in September of 2011. As of late summer 2011, Jon became a licensed and practicing naturopathic physician and acupuncturist.

Much like when we were a one-home family, Theo remains the sun around which our lives as collaborative co-parents orbit.

Because we are now a farther-reaching kind of family, one in which I can not speak for both parents with any assurance of accuracy, it is time for a different kind of blog. And so, this will be our final collaboration of image and word of its kind.

Instead, I'll be blogging about my life through the lens of my most beloved, new title, "Theo's Mom" at my brand-spanking-new blog (currently also a blank page) at http://mommydevotionals.wordpress.com/.

Thank you for traveling with us these years. May you fill your 2012 with all that you love most!

Working up an appetite with the ABCs

 

Wrestles with Cousins

Beloved cousins Zake and Isaiah initiate Theo into the ways of boys in the wild, wild (Pacific North)west.

 

Dances with Princesses

Princesses Grace and Sierra Green give Theo a lesson in being a prince on a magical day of royal interludes.  

Shall We Dance?

Spring in Review

"Because I think Mommy LOVES Poems!"

 -- A poem for Mommy from Theo on Mother's Day (by the grace of Savannah)

I love Mommy more than pink and red

I love Mommy more than the swimming pool

I love Mommy more than waffles

I love Mommy more than Cat in the Hat

I love Mommy more than Gordon, because he's the best!

I love Mommy more than Blankie

(let's talk about favorite things some more!)

* * * * *

Photos by Daddy, who is starting a photo business. Ask him about it!

The art and instinct of arrangement

Theo is an arranger. He spends hours per day deciding which trains should attach to the various tenders and coaches, which route they should travel, and how they should navigate the roadblocks and missing or broken tracks he sets out for them. When it came to flower arranging, he already had a transferrable skill set to bring to the adventure of distilling his backyard to a few bouquets. 

When he and Savannah came in with armfuls of flowers, Theo was giddy about his bounty. As he made decisions about vases and composition, I watched him land in a word and concept that he was clearly hardwired to receive: arrangement.

When we aquire a word that speaks to something true in us, I imagine that something happens inside us akin to a light coming on in a room we didn't know existed. My son who sees the problems and perfection inherent in patterns now has a word––arrangement––to accompany him on his quest for order. And, with this word as his hinge, his indoor and outdoor world have come together in a single, coherent conversation of beauty, agreement, relationship. (Plus, now he has a really good excuse to use scissors and give presents--two of his favorite activities.)

Thanks to Savannah for the arranging project, the genius of her love and care, and the smiles she puts on Theo's face and captures on film!

Everything's coming up trains!

"Did we (trains) mention (trains) that Theo likes trains? Just a little (trains) bit?

"My ideas are in my tummy and that's what makes it very hard to keep the trains on the track."

This is my "smiling with trains" face!

Thank you, Savannah, for taking these train-ificent photos of me!

Leopards & Lorikeets