We have 2+ quarts of homegrown peas in the freezer. I think maybe I'll get another quart from the plants before they call it quits. Time to start thinking of what goes in the pea-space in the garden...

Caitlyn really likes the ABC song, although she has her own version of it. "Little Tiny ABCs" goes something like: "A B C D E F G, um, uh, um, Next time won't you sing at me." If Ian or I sing it with her, she dips in and out of it, dropping out around M N O P and coming back strong for W X Y Z.

I can't decide if it's funny or sad. I mean, it's seriously cool that King County Metro, Seattle City Light, and Seattle Parks and Recreation have started renting goats to clean up overgrown hillsides. It almost makes me wish we had some overgrown space around here so the goats would come to visit - Caitlyn would love it.

But, it's not like goats are a new technology. They've been eating aggressive plants, and winning, for, well, for as long as there have been goats. It's us silly humans that gave up on goats in favor of machinery and chemicals. Never mind that goats are cleaner, faster, cheaper, more successful and produce a useful by-product. No, we had to say "Never mind!" to something that was working and go with something else, all because it was New! Mechanized! Scientific! Innovative!

Not that I'm against those things. It just seems to me that the best solution to a problem ought to be the one that gets used. So, yay, goats. It's nice to come full circle. It's too bad we ever had to go around. (Although perhaps we had to go around to see the value of what we had... Nothing like experience, I suppose.)

As one of the neighbor kids said, "Caitlyn talks a lot."

• "liddy" (for little)
• "apricoter" (for helicopter)
• "wa-koff" (for washcloth)
• "cee-ning" (for ceiling)
• "bono-ateet" (for bon appetit)
• "mines" (logical, since "yours" ends in an "s")

She's also discovered the first person pronoun, although she's not terribly consistent with it. "I'm ready to be awake," is just as common as "Caitlyn get a book."

And we have begun trying to differentiate between "want" and "need":

"Need more Mama cereal."
"You don't need it, you want it."
"I want more Mama cereal."
"How do you ask?"
"More Mama cereal, peas."

Caitlyn sings her version of "Rock-a-bye Baby":

"Rocka my baby
Inna treetop.
Whena wind blows
The baby will FAAAALLLLL!"

(The last line is accompanied by hurling whatever stuffed animal is handy at the floor. )

Caitlyn's favorite things:

• going outside
• doggies and elephants (pronounced "elFant!")
• noodles
• tractors
• stories
• rocks, especially shiny rocks
• swinging ("More finging! More finging!")
• water