Okay, so there are some nice things about living in the South. One is that you get to go to the beach in March. The water's icy, but the sand is pleasantly warm, the air smells incredible and the sun and blue sky make you forget there ever was a winter where the kids were sick every other week for five months.
Today was really El's first time on the beach. Last time she went was at age 2 weeks or something; she was an infant barely peeking out of the sling. So today was big. For Av, too - first beach trip of the new year, not to mention Nanny is here visiting which makes it extra special - she was so excited to go she was beside herself.
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Kindergarten is Great! Well, Except For...
...."it's boring most of the time, and we have to sit and listen to the teacher talk, and I already know the stuff they're teaching me, except for Spanish, which is kind-of hard but not really, and also I'm really tired and I don't want to go to school today so can we just go home?
Camping Night In The Backyard
We've got hot dogs, we've got graham crackers, we've got chocolate and marshmallows We've got a cool tent bought on the cheap, courtesy of more experienced camping friends. We've got air mattresses, a radio, and an old pine stump that needed another good burn anyway. It all went well until the toddler spilled a drink on the laptop, finally killing it for good, and until Av decided that the great outdoors was just too creepy at night and went upstairs to her own bed. Yay for practicing camping in the backyard. We'll practice some more, and hopefully at some point it'll get less creepy.
Language Explosion, pt.2
Can't keep up. She's now at the stage where she imitates everything anyone says, so it's hard to tell sometimes which words are actually "real" words and which are just parroted syllables. But some of the ones I have "proof" of are:
Pumpkin ("punk - ken!")
Nurse!
Thank you ("bink yoo")
You're Welcome ("Erwelk")
Dress
School ("Gooo!")
Knee
Bandaid ("Bend-end")
Pumpkin ("punk - ken!")
Nurse!
Thank you ("bink yoo")
You're Welcome ("Erwelk")
Dress
School ("Gooo!")
Knee
Bandaid ("Bend-end")
Saturday, February 15, 2014
It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses A Toothbrush
Eight-year-old sleepovers, at your house. Parents' nightmare? Nay, I say. A chance to experience other people's children, with all their wonderful peculiarities. One of my daughter's BFFs is with us tonight, and it's been one of the most fun evenings I've had in a long time. Maybe you're coming to conclusions about my marriage I would rather you not, but if so, cut me a break. I'm in my mid forties and I've been married for a decade and a half. Novelty rules.
Tonight, it comes in the form of M., a child I've known pretty much since she was in the womb, and yet every time I see her, she blows my mind. Case in point: in the van, riding home from a traumatic (for me) visit to the grocery store, in which I'd felt the need to apologize repeatedly to the blank-faced check out girl when my 4-year-old sat in the cart between the sushi and the toilet paper sobbing hysterically because she didn't get to be the one to put the green juice on the scanner, M. provided the elaborate (and successful) distraction of a made-up universe combining features of the outside world flying by on Military Cutoff road with her own visionary elements, like trees that grow toys and sidewalks that sprout tin soldiers. My children eagerly joined in, carried on the tide, and the 4-year-old's distress was utterly forgotten, without me having to lift a finger to do any parenting. Sweet.
Later, at the rez, there was a dance party, including hat-wearing balloons in honor of my eldest's "actual" birthday (the party's next week). M. staged a wedding, between herself and her stovepipe-sporting balloon groom. The script went like this:
"Will you marry me? Here's a ring." (a black balloon, that had earlier represented an evil plague in a completely different vignette)
"Why, yes, darling, I will."
"Blah, blah, blah, we're married....okay, I'm dumping you, me and my ring are going to live happily ever after." (I'm not kidding: this is word-for-word.)
Me: Well, congratulations, I hope you two will be very happy.
M: [cracks up]
Later, again: "Story time" aka "We're being as cute and funny as possible so you won't make us go to sleep"
Av: Once upon a time there was a fart, named Fartle. And he had a friend who was a burp, and her name was Burpette.
M.: You should change his name to Fartio, so they can be like Romeo and Juliet.
Me: [No verbal response. Stunned.]
Later still: "Okay, girls, let's brush teeth!" (this is me).
"Where's my toothbrush?"
"Same place it always is."
"I want to draw with crayons before bed."
"No, it's getting late."
"Well, where's my toothpaste?"
"I don't know, ask your father."
"Why can't I draw?"
"We've covered this. It's late."
"Why isn't Elena in bed?"
"I don't know, ask your father."
"Are we going to make more green goo tomorrow?"
"I don't know, ask your - "
M : "Can I borrow some liquid saline?"
[Record needle slides off noisily.] "Uhm....liquid saline?"
"Yeah."
Okay.
We slow it down. We put on tea tree oil lotion and Burt's Bees lip stuff and we have foot rubs, and we start the humidifier, and we talk about all the nice stuff moms do to help us when we have stuffy noses at night...we find our stuffed animals and we snuggle in together, and we set boundaries about who can wake up who and when and under what circumstances. We make decisions about the lighting.
Conversation between me and the husband, after I "put the kids to bed":
Him: "So they're down?"
Me: "Sure, sure. I just explained it to them - you can get up in the morning if it's after seven, but no waking the adults until after seven-thirty. I made them repeat it several times, I'm sure they got it."
Him: [pregnant pause] "If the water swallows you and you drown, it proves you're not a witch. This has that sort of logic to it."
Me: "I'm not gonna bother lifting my middle finger. Please, just go ahead and picture it."
She's sweet, and she's different, and she's one of my daughter's oldest friends, whom she's going to miss so deeply when she moves across the country next month. I will miss her indelible contribution to my family dynamic on the occasions I get to experience her uniqueness. And I'll miss my friend, too - her mother. It won't be as easy to get together, but I have a feeling we'll still get the opportunity once in a while. I hope so.
Tonight, it comes in the form of M., a child I've known pretty much since she was in the womb, and yet every time I see her, she blows my mind. Case in point: in the van, riding home from a traumatic (for me) visit to the grocery store, in which I'd felt the need to apologize repeatedly to the blank-faced check out girl when my 4-year-old sat in the cart between the sushi and the toilet paper sobbing hysterically because she didn't get to be the one to put the green juice on the scanner, M. provided the elaborate (and successful) distraction of a made-up universe combining features of the outside world flying by on Military Cutoff road with her own visionary elements, like trees that grow toys and sidewalks that sprout tin soldiers. My children eagerly joined in, carried on the tide, and the 4-year-old's distress was utterly forgotten, without me having to lift a finger to do any parenting. Sweet.
Later, at the rez, there was a dance party, including hat-wearing balloons in honor of my eldest's "actual" birthday (the party's next week). M. staged a wedding, between herself and her stovepipe-sporting balloon groom. The script went like this:
"Will you marry me? Here's a ring." (a black balloon, that had earlier represented an evil plague in a completely different vignette)
"Why, yes, darling, I will."
"Blah, blah, blah, we're married....okay, I'm dumping you, me and my ring are going to live happily ever after." (I'm not kidding: this is word-for-word.)
Me: Well, congratulations, I hope you two will be very happy.
M: [cracks up]
Later, again: "Story time" aka "We're being as cute and funny as possible so you won't make us go to sleep"
Av: Once upon a time there was a fart, named Fartle. And he had a friend who was a burp, and her name was Burpette.
M.: You should change his name to Fartio, so they can be like Romeo and Juliet.
Me: [No verbal response. Stunned.]
Later still: "Okay, girls, let's brush teeth!" (this is me).
"Where's my toothbrush?"
"Same place it always is."
"I want to draw with crayons before bed."
"No, it's getting late."
"Well, where's my toothpaste?"
"I don't know, ask your father."
"Why can't I draw?"
"We've covered this. It's late."
"Why isn't Elena in bed?"
"I don't know, ask your father."
"Are we going to make more green goo tomorrow?"
"I don't know, ask your - "
M : "Can I borrow some liquid saline?"
[Record needle slides off noisily.] "Uhm....liquid saline?"
"Yeah."
Okay.
We slow it down. We put on tea tree oil lotion and Burt's Bees lip stuff and we have foot rubs, and we start the humidifier, and we talk about all the nice stuff moms do to help us when we have stuffy noses at night...we find our stuffed animals and we snuggle in together, and we set boundaries about who can wake up who and when and under what circumstances. We make decisions about the lighting.
Conversation between me and the husband, after I "put the kids to bed":
Him: "So they're down?"
Me: "Sure, sure. I just explained it to them - you can get up in the morning if it's after seven, but no waking the adults until after seven-thirty. I made them repeat it several times, I'm sure they got it."
Him: [pregnant pause] "If the water swallows you and you drown, it proves you're not a witch. This has that sort of logic to it."
Me: "I'm not gonna bother lifting my middle finger. Please, just go ahead and picture it."
She's sweet, and she's different, and she's one of my daughter's oldest friends, whom she's going to miss so deeply when she moves across the country next month. I will miss her indelible contribution to my family dynamic on the occasions I get to experience her uniqueness. And I'll miss my friend, too - her mother. It won't be as easy to get together, but I have a feeling we'll still get the opportunity once in a while. I hope so.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Recent Quotes and Recent Pictures
Avery: "Why do strong scents of stink make you want to cough?"
Elena: "Hip hip....todaaaaay!!!!" Later: "Hip hip.....tomorrow!!!!"
Elena: "Hip hip....todaaaaay!!!!" Later: "Hip hip.....tomorrow!!!!"
 |
| Avery's 1st grade roller coaster! |
 |
| All the friends together at Avery's 7th |
 |
| Strike a pose |
 |
| Karate kid |
 |
| Karate kid with awesome karate teacher! |
 |
| Cool girl at Ashboro Zoo |
 |
| Checking out the sleeping lions |
 |
| Add caption |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)