Dem Fine Women

Well, I couldn't just settle on one or two pictures of my sisters and sister-in-law with Josiah . . . so I went whole hog. These, too, are from July up at Lorien.

Oh Hannah, I can only aspire to your coolness.

You too, E.

Kristen is sort of an honorary sister. She and Sharon road-tripped down from the U.P. to meet Josiah!

Auntie Lisa, I hope you impart at least a hint of your refined accent to my children.

Hair-pulling comes with the territory! Thankfully Hannah has plenty of it. She can bear to lose a little.

I love these ones! Nice photography skills, Han. It helps to start with two beauties as subjects, though. :)

Beauty, eh? (Josiah's doing his pirate eye!)

"Enough with the kisses!"

What a life!

Back in July we spent a week near Alpena, MI at Lorien on Long Lake with my extended family. Besides the long drive (Josiah hated being strapped into his car seat and constrained for so long), Josiah had a blast. He got to take a bath in the sink . . .

Lay out in the shade at the beach . . . 

Go around mostly naked much of the time (Michigan had a heat wave!) . . .

Hang out in bed . . .

And sleep in with Daddy (I don't know if you can see it, but he's smiling in his sleep here) . . .

Am I part of the nomadic horde?

A little break from the picture posts of Josiah for a moment of more intellectual depth . . .

I've been reading E. M. Forster's Howards End in the precious few free naptimes I have before school starts. In a 20th century English novel class in college I read A Passage to India, but before this summer I hadn't pursued anything else by Forster. I breezed through A Room with a View and am now enjoying the personalities and philosophic musings in Howards End. The following quote struck me in particular:

"The feudal ownership of land did bring dignity, whereas the modern ownership of movables is reducing us again to a nomadic horde. We are reverting to the civilization of luggage, and historians of the future will note how the middle classes accreted possessions without taking root in the earth, and may find in this the secret of their imaginative poverty."

Interesting that Forster made this observation at the beginning of the 20th century--and here we are in the 21st with a more mobile society than perhaps he even imagined. (I believe statistically Americans move once every seven years.) I agree with Forster that our tendency to cling to our movable baggage, though often motivated by sentiment, becomes sometimes a bit absurd. I've been plagued by the reluctance to purge, and so we store in closets and attics and boxes and under beds all manner of things: childhood drawings, broken toys, disheveled books, outdated clothes, seldom-used tools, and, of course, the luggage itself that we need to pack everything in when we next move! Yes, a good bit of this is worth keeping. But am I accumulating stuff and fostering an unhealthy sense of transience with a focus on luggage rather than on place? I'd probably do well to mull over the idea of place vs. possessions a bit more . . . .

This idea reminds me of something college friends and I might have discussed in Dr. Edwards' classes or the ISI "Fugitives" book club I was a part of during my time at Grove City. And I've certainly hauled my fair share of luggage--mainly books and notebooks full of notes--from those days!

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Lisa

See these people?

Yeah, too cool for school. 

And Josiah's related to them! He met his Uncle Andrew (not to be confused with grey-haired, ring-bearing, magic-dabbling Uncle Andrew of The Magician's Nephew) and Aunt Lisa in Michigan, and he was quite pleased to add another two names to his fan club list.

Chores

Yesterday Mama decided to start Josiah early on his childhood chore career. First on the list: laundry.

Josiah was not a fan.

New Toys

Josiah has started taking an active interest in toys--mostly because they're bright and colorful and he wants to get them in his mouth. One of Jeremy's co-workers knit this stuffed bee for him. When Jeremy buzzes and flies it near him, his eyes get big and he waves his hands in excitement. I'm not sure how it tastes, but he loves to get it in his mouth! Here it looks like he opted for the finger, though. (He's moving from stuffing his whole fist--or both fists--in his mouth to getting just a finger or two in.)

Grandma Neuman brought this toy from Alaska. Just a few days later, Josiah and Crinkly Lion are well-bonded spit brothers!

Meeting Great-grandpa Bob

During our visit to Michigan, we introduced Josiah to his Great-grandpa Bob. (Interestingly, I'm Grandpa Bob's ninth grandchild, and Josiah is his ninth great-grandchild.) Though two more great-grandchildren are due to arrive in the next few months, Josiah is currently the youngest of the bunch.

Stranglehold. :)

Four generations!

Now my dad's the grandpa!

We took Grandpa Bob out to Macaroni Grill for dinner and then visited for a while at his house afterwards. On our way home, we went to Ritter's for their wonderful frozen custard (after Josiah had his dessert in the car).

A typical Josiah picture--arms flailing too fast for the camera to catch. This kid has to be on the move constantly!

Josiah in June

My parents and youngest sister, Rachel, came to visit for about 10 days in late June. Josiah enjoyed all the extra attention! Grandpa graciously accommodated Josiah's constant desire to be on the move . . . whether pedaling his legs in the air or being carried around to look at everything.

Josiah was glad to be reunited with Grandma, too!

Aunt Rachel got plenty of smiles from the little guy and did a good job entertaining him, changing his diaper, and generally being a fun aunt.

Josiah still loves the bath!

Our smiley boy!