Homestead Mom

New Blog

2010-04-27T10:50:00.003-04:00

I've migrated to another blog. It is under construction, like every other aspect of my life, so don't judge to hastily. It will be pretty soon enough. I have been waiting to post to it, and announce it, until it was done, but that is a tiny bit laughable.

Come on over!

[ I am no longer linking to the new blog. Email me at norabelle at gmail.com for the new addy.]

Gratitude Friday

2010-04-16T23:34:00.001-04:00

I am so very grateful that a little rain, a low point in the yard, scrap wood and a vivid imagination makes for an hour of wet, happy, creative, amusing play.

My daughter is Wendy walking the plank, and her brother is Peter Pan about to swoop in to save her. With much splashing and planning and discussion and compromising.

It is my parenting coming to fruition, all the seventeen million reminders, playful parenting, modeling behavior, teaching respect and cooperation, frugality, and joy.
It is nice to see.

Is It April ALREADY?

2010-04-13T21:23:00.002-04:00

This post is so clearly brought to you by the sandbox I built and installed last summer. It is about 30 feet from the new French doors, and has captivated the kids this year. I may find time to make it prettier shortly, but who really cares? Now that the weather is warm again, the yard is their amusement park and they can spend hours out there playing on the swing set, hammock, sandbox, deck, and gravel pit. They paint on the easel in the grass, kick the balls that decorate the yard, and seem to be teaching themselves how to play leap frog with the most hysterical outcome. Lots of pouncing, squashing, and reconnoitering before the next physical fiasco.

I'm not sure I'm doing this whole parenting thing right, but the kids? They take up all my time. Perhaps if I ignored them more, or if they liked to play by themselves more I'd get more done, but most of the time I am attending to them all day and then Homestead Mama comes home after an 11-hour work day about 10 minutes before their bedtime and reads to them, we put them through the 20 minute bed time ritual and then go downstairs, collapse on the couch together, talk about the day or how we really should submit our taxes soon and then watch a DVR show and go to sleep. It isn't glamorous, but it does work for us.

Here's what I have been doing of late:

:: Tending to a friend's chicks and planning our own coop and flock. We are set to order a bunch of Sussex, Black Australorps, Barred Plymouth Rock, and Silver Wyandottes. With a couple Ameracaunas for H-Mama, as she wants the colored eggs. All hens, save for one rooster for Monito. He wants to name it Big Shot after his favorite character in our current favorite book.

:: Easter! And the requisite lengths of rope in the baskets. What? You didn't get your kids rope for Easter? Silly readers. It is the new tape. It ties in (hardy har har) with the pirate theme we are sporting in this house. A lovely relaxing hour can be had by a mom sitting and being tied up.

:: Training the boy to not say "You IDIOTS!" to his sister when he gets frustrated. Thanks a lot, Cruella DeVille. He only uses it in the plural, because Cruella hurls the insult at the Badden Brothers. The boy hasn't figured out that his sister is a singular, and this makes is just funny enough that I can't take him seriously. I take him more seriously when he says "You ASSHOLES!" at his blocks or Playmobil vehicles. He learned that from, um, Homestead Mama! Yes! That's it! Bad, Homestead Mama.

:: Enjoying the new game my kids have developed, Shoe Fighting. It happens in the car since we have a micro-minivan instead of the cavernous Odyssey. When they get a little nutty they have begun pummeling one another. It is like thumb-wrestling, but with feet, and kicking. So much fun! I was parked next to an Odyssey at the grocery store the other day and once I had strapped my kids in I leaned into the wide open side door while the mom-owner was returning her cart to the kiosk. Oh my goodness, we could have comfortably slept our whole family in there. I stood half in, half out of the vehicle, mouth agape, as I mentally ticked off all the things I could fit in there. A whole additional child + car seat! All our vacation packing! A stroller AND some bikes! I was ready to sign on to a 13 mpg car right then and there. Sigh. Mommy porn, for sure. I should note that except for not being a cavernous minivan, our Mazda 5 is awesome and I have NO regrets. If we do have a third kid, though, watch out!

::Pequita has reached a phase where she mimics a lot. Me, H-Mama, her brother. This means that much of the time she is either swearing (us) or reduced to almost-three-year-old behavior (her brother). Good times! Tantrums, misbehavior, whining, she does it all with a 7-second delay after her brother. Because is isn't enough to live through the first time! She is potty trained during the day, and we still diaper her during nap times and night just to catch any accidents. Today, she opted to stay in her diaper after naps until she pooped in her diaper, something we are working with her brother on. She stalked in to the room I was in and demanded, "You will change my diaper NOW." I snickered quietly, and tried to make it a learning experience. Mistake. She got increasingly upset and really just wanted the stinky dipe off right away. I hope the experiment is over, and she won't do it again. Her stress levels are such that when it happens, it is like a 4-alarm fire. She cannot understand her brother who still resists the change and would prefer to wear his poop around with him for comfort for many long minutes (hours) after the fact.

:: Watching the wildlife return to our yard. Birds are flocking to the feeders and nesting bags we put out (mesh bags full of yarn & fabric scraps for the birds to use as nesting material.) Recently a ring-necked pheasant traipsed around our yard for a while, much to our amazement and joy. The next day, we encountered his body on the road near the house. Someone had hit him but good with their car. I stopped the car and let the kids see him. Pequita remarked that her "heart was very sad". Mine too, little girl.

::

:: Cooking up a storm. I'm using up the fruit and meat in our freezer as fast as I can. Sunday, rhubarb chutney with fresh ham. Behold the glory of chutney spices!

Recently, several no-knead bread options, Mongolian beef, gingerbread and pies galore. We have a half side of grass fed beef in the freezer, and are about to pick up a half lamb, and a whole young pig, all non-certified organic and really yummy. We need to clear out as much as we can before the influx occurs. On the list of things to tackle soon: Greek yogurt, hot dog buns from scratch, cole slaw (to use up the last of our stored cabbage), and sausage and pate with all our meat.

::Yard work! Clearing fall brush away, landscaping when I can fit it in, raking, seeding, digging. We'll have to start mowing this week, which takes about 2 hours at a time since we have 1.5 acres of tended yard. Plus an extra hour if we mow the path through the meadow. We need a goat, but won't get one until AFTER we have a small barn for it. Can't wait for the goat's milk, goat cheese, and free brush removal.

:: Double-digging my garden patch. Last year, my six 4' x 4' raised beds were more to keep the kids and dogs off my planting area. This year, I'll move them to the edge of the garden and they will become our dedicated strawberry and asparagus beds and I'll leave our regular garden plots on the bare ground. This patch took about an hour to dig; three more to go this year. I'll expand more next year; this year, three 4' x 12' beds will have to suffice.

:: Sitting watching the sky at sunset, sunrise, and any time in between.

:: Many cookouts and campfires. Homestead Mama likes to be active, so will putter in the yard and then burn her gleanings. The kids love to cook their dinner over the campfire. Up next: foil meals. Wrapping a potato, some meat and veggies up in a piece of tin foil and setting it in the coals to cook.

:: Seed starting for the aforementioned garden. I still have to plan out my layout, companion plantings, and buy starters for whatever doesn't sprout. This year, we saved our Easter egg shells and started sunflowers and pumpkins in the shells.

:: Many walks on the property. The children have A LOT OF ENERGY and need to let off steam in a large area where the creation of another game along the lines of "Shoe Fighting" can be avoided. We go out into the field and pick weeds, look for birds nesting, track deer, play with our ever-present dogs, and throw things. It is really fun, always different, and makes me love our investment in 10 acres.

:: Playground and friend play dates. At least 4 times a week. The kids are so different from last year. Pequita was already a master at climbing and physical activities. This year, she can (be still my heart) make it up to the tiny, bendy branches in the climbing trees before I even know she's gone. Monito is finally, for the first time, in charge of his body in a way that clearly brings him great satisfaction. He runs, jumps, climbs, and vaults with reckless abandon and much success, something that has eluded him until now. He's seen his sister's mastery for a long time and now it is his turn, which is an obvious thrill. Both kids interact in a whole new way with other little kids. Pequita has made new friends on the playground, and will hold hands and prance off with sweet little girls to find privacy and giggle and play. Monito seems to prefer boys he already knows, but the fact that he wants to interact with anyone other than Mommy is huge. He loves his friends Nate and Desmond because they will rough house with him, and chase, run, sword fight and frolic with him. He woke from his nap today saying that he dreamed of having a tea party with green balloons and cookies and all his buddies were in attendance and then they played pirates until dark, when they lit a bonfire and cooked things all by themselves. This is such a huge developmental leap for him - it is both thrilling and heart breaking for me. My babies are really growing up. Yay! (Sob.)

:: Organizing. Purging. Yippee! Homestead Mama made me promise not to ever throw any of her stuff away without asking her first. Sadly (for her), she works an hour away and I am home with the clutter of a lifetime of collecting. I have been taking bag after bag of lovely goods to the thrift store and getting my tax deductible receipt for our donation. In the long run, she'll be happy. In the short run, she is thrilled at how the house is looking. Somewhere in between she'll figure out what is happening, but I'm hoping for the best. I made a play kitchen for the kids using some cube shelves from the local unfinished furniture store and a couple things from Lowes. They love it, and by winter they'll probably want to be inside long enough to use it a lot. I still have to cut a door for the 'fridge', but I have a big day of sawing planned for the near future.

:: Pirates! Did I mention the pirates? Pequita loves her face paints still, and chooses black and pink. This equals 'Ballerina Pirate' for her. Monito chooses more traditional colors, but they are still actively dressing up and whacking.

:: Pequita is undertaking the effort of reading. I have been resisting the urge to push them, drill letters, numbers, words. I have been tortured in a small way by the kids who can write their names already, or write many words by the time they are 3. My mother was an amazing, patient, skilled teacher of Kindergarten through 3rd grade for over 30 years and suggested that I wait, not push them, and let them lead. All along I've been teaching in the abstract; I read books constantly while tracing words with my finger, spell and sound out words in a general way that they haven't seemed to notice. Both kids can count up to 30 or more with a minimum of 'five-teens' and can sing the alphabet and recognize a few letters. Lately, Pequita has been identifying letters, asking how to spell things, and wanting to "read" to herself and her brother. Yahoo! I feel like the genie is out of the bottle. We are hot and heavy into Pequita-led school now, and she loves it. Her brother is watching and picking things up even as he ignores her. I'm about start having a letter per day that we focus on, which should make a proper game out of it all. Pequita now stops me as I read so that she can 'read' to us; many times her version of the story is much more fun that what was on the page. In the car there is always a big stack of books between their car seats in back. She selects a books, asks Monito what page he wants to read and then narrates the pictures to him. It is a perfectly cooperative experience that they both love.

:: ASL. Monito asked for Signing Time, a DVD series we haven't seen in a long time. I started checking them out of the library again and we all hunker down to learn how to sign. The kids really like it, and practice all the time. We are all getting better; Monito takes particular interest and pride in his signing. I can't recommend this series highly enough. It is wonderfully done, fun to watch, and easy to learn from. The songs are catchy enough that I don't mind catching myself singing them in the shower.

(this moment) (now with pictures)

2010-04-02T22:27:00.000-04:00

Research

2010-04-02T13:38:00.001-04:00

My dad set up a quick 10-day trip to London for him and my mother. They are staying in a B&B in Lyme Regis for a few days, then off to a flat in London proper for the rest of the time. The flat is kept by a friend of theirs from church. I've included their view from the B&B. I'm not jealous. I prefer to think of their trip as research for when they accompany us on our next trip over, during which they will offer support and childcare so Homestead Mama and I can spend our evenings sipping wine in cafes instead of doing childcare duty in the hotel room.

A girl can dream, at least.

This Moment

2010-04-02T07:12:00.000-04:00

I was awakened by rustlings across the bed at about 6 this morning. Pequita had peed through her sleeping diaper and Homestead Mama was changing her. Then they settled back down together, Pequita cradled in the crook of a warm arm, nursing and aiming my reading flashlight while H-Mama reads an Easter book to her in a breathy whisper. Monito was spread-eagled between us* dozing; in the time it has taken me to type this into my blackberry, he has migrated over to nurse with the other two and a new book has been started. Flashlight ownership will come into play shortly and bargaining for turns will begin.

I suppose this could count as my gratitude Friday post, eh? I'm grateful that I get to doze and rest in the morning, even though I miss nursing. I know the kids love this stolen time - many mornings Mama has left before they wake up, and she doesn't get home until their bedtime.

Our day will be filled with errands, hours at the park in the 70 degree sun, naps, and then an afternoon where I work hard to keep my head from exploding as I try to put the house to rights as the children try to play. We are hosting an Easter egg hunt and pot luck brunch on Sunday morning; since it will be cold on that day I'll have to really clean the indoors.

*the twin bed that now flanks our queen is working great. So much space! Some day the kids will start spending their whole nights in the nursery and H-Mama will go back to our perfectly-sized queen. Probably when the kids get married.

Amish Horse Auction

2010-03-27T09:29:00.001-04:00

Over the past weekend, we went to an Amish horse auction. It was our first time, but we'll definitely go back. When we do, I will make a bigger effort to get our daughter to dress less like a princess and emphasize the dignified darker colors. Blending in is ok as a survival tool.

There were many things for sale that we may have enjoyed biddng on but the kids refused to participate in quilt browsing, preferring to frolic with the myriad rabbits, pygmy goats, chooks, or horses - Oh! the horses! Each one had to be cart-driven by one of the hosting Amish men to show off their chops. This fellow seemed to be the local Amish favorite, causing a wave of twitters amongst the young Amish girls I stood next to. He was a handsome fellow, almost making the dutch boy haircut work for him.

It definitely speaks to who I am that I simply couldn't get past the sad fact of all that black suiting made of polyester double-knit. Gack! There is nothing less comfortable, less attractive, and scratchy. It can make you sweat on a 30 degree day, but it does indeed wear like iron. The poor Amish elders must miss the days of wool and cotton.

There was much physical investment that helped the naps and later bedtimes. Bale jumping, ring around the rosy, and running amongst the barns.

We passed the parking lot on the way back to our car.

Very nice, but I love my Mazda.

Sylvia Plath channeling June Cleaver

2010-03-26T23:24:00.001-04:00

Having just posted about how fabulous my evening went, I was going through the post-mortem of the day with Homestead Mama. I described having a hard time keeping my temper this morning and was ready to beat myself up until I realized that it isn't the kids or my mood - it is the multi-tasking that is killing me.

At 9:17 this morning I realized that I was in various stages of doing all the following AT THE SAME TIME:

-feeding the kids
-feeding the dogs
-packing the diaper bag for the day, including hydration, snacks and lunch; diapers, spare clothes, toys, wallet, phone
-washing my hair (in the kitchen sink)
-dressing myself
-calling 3 doctor's office to get 2009 yearly out-of-pocket expenses mailed to me since I need them for taxes and can't keep track of it myself over the course of a year
-dressing Monito (this involves laps in between bits of clothing)
-dressing Pequita (this involves NO HELP, but close monitoring to ensure warm clothes and a minimal of filmy princess garments)
-making/drinking Earl Grey (I lose my tea mug 47 times a morning; this evening I finally found it on a low shelf next to the potty in the bathroom)
-cleaning the breakfast mess up in kitchen
-planning the grocery list in case I made it to the store (requires computer)
-breaking up a (few) fights between kids
-called insurance company to argue an ultrasound not being covered
-gathering library books to be returned (forgot a DVD in player)
-getting kids dressed in coats, mittens, hats (fuck winter! I'm ready for no layers!)
-rushing to get returnable bottles packed in car to cash in at grocery store
-re-dressing kids as dramatic play caused them to undress to the skin to play "Beach"
-creating new ritual of holding hands in circle and taking deep breaths with children to keep from doing bodily harm; evolved into Ring around the rosy (Thank you, Larry Cohen!***)

We made it to the library and home for naps by 12:30, and were up, fed and perky with the house vacuumed and rugs out freshening in the cold winter sun by the time the 10 year old for whom I do after school care got off the bus at 4pm. Nothing to show for the day, but holy moly, I feel like I need a medal. Seriously, I may have to institute a job-review chat once a month with the wife just for the external validation.

***Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen is the single-most useful book I've read about parenting. I cannot recommend it enough.

(this moment)

2010-03-26T22:34:00.000-04:00

Inspired by SouleMama.

They're Here!

2010-03-26T22:26:00.000-04:00

The babies are here. Not the chicks I'd have expected; we are waiting until it is warmer and we have a coop-like structure built. No, the snakes have hatched. We'll have reptiles sunning themselves on our rocks for weeks now whenever the sun is out. I keep meaning to turn the ugly garage cinder block foundation into a lovely painted, raised-bed flower bed but can't because I'm not sure the snakes will keep breeding there if I do. That and a total dearth of extra time and energy, but who's counting.

June Cleaver Moment

2010-03-26T21:27:00.000-04:00

Most days the children miss their Mama. She works at a demanding job she loves that is an hour away; most nights she doesn't get home until 6:30pm and their bedtime is 7pm. She loves her job and is really good at it. She stands out in a sea of coworkers who are waiting to retire as she works to help a population of people who don't much want to even help themselves. Her job allows me to stay home with my kids, something I've always wanted to do. I only resent it on REALLY tough days, when I'd rather have her with us than helping other people.

We talk about her a lot during the day. The kids call her several times a week to cry about an imagined slight, an actual cut, describe a new milestone, tell her they love her, or ask if she'll bring home ice cream. I facilitate as much contact as possible but do shoulder much of the child rearing.

My first attempt at teaching them about days of the week ended up with us having 'week days' and 'Mama Days', a.k.a. Friday night and the weekend. Anticipation of time with Mama is high, and in the most recent developmental spurt, during which our eldest was heartbroken at her Mama spending so much time away from her, we threw the bedtime schedule to the wind and instituted "Mama Friday Nights". Friday is library day and we check out a DVD of a current favorite (right now 101 Dalmatians and The Jungle Book are in heavy rotation) along with our books for the week and a book on CD for Mama to listen to during her commute. By dusk on Friday I have the kids bathed, jammied, fed and ready for loving. Mama gets home as early as she is able and retires into the family bed with both kids and a sweet treat to watch their movie, snuggle and nurse to their hearts content. It is the sweetest time for all of them, and I am not remembered until hugs are required right before they are sent to sleep in the nursery 90 minutes later.

Many weeks by Friday night I am haggard, hair sticking out, nerves frazzled, kids watching Little Bear on TV and me scrabbling to feed us all. Today, though, was one of those magic times where I was able to present my beloved with a vacuumed and swept home, aired out with frigid-but-fresh air and Nag Champa incense, clean kids, dogs fed, harmony abounding and good food cooling on the counter. I made a meal from Epicurious, Spicy Beef Cobbler. Of course, I used our free-range beef, put in black beans, used whole wheat flour and halved the cayenne so the kids would eat it. HUGE HIT!

So I get to feel like a proper stay-at-home success story. Lord knows H-Mama doesn't expect it, but I like to feel like a successful professional mom who has it all well in hand.

Barbasol

2010-03-21T00:33:00.001-04:00

I discovered today that my pillow wafts the scent of shaving cream.

Every morning that my father is visiting he and my son shave each other; being a trusting man, he willingly hands over the razor to my not-quite-three year old and coaches his razor around the terrain of his face. My dad said that he feels as though he goes through a can of shaving cream per visit, as there are days when Monito shaves two or three times. So now I will fall asleep with my pillow whispering to me about love and connections and family, trust and bonding and manly rituals.

Sweet dreams indeed.

Standoff

2010-03-21T00:09:00.001-04:00

We returned from our outing this morning to witness this entertaining sight. Dad and I may have encouraged the dogs to keep the raccoon treed until the second car with the kids arrived so they could see our dogs in action and admire the raccoon, but we did hold the dogs back when the raccoon descended.

Gratitude Friday

2010-03-19T23:21:00.000-04:00

My parents are in town this weekend. I am grateful that they are expecting to move here - to the house we own across the street! - next summer.

I am grateful for my my clean car; I took a nap with the kids and my mother washed, vacuumed and detailed the whole thing. I don't know what the kids will snack on now that the stray Cheerios and Goldfish have been removed from between their carseats. Look - you can see the carpet!

I am grateful for spring! We spent the whole day outside - playground in the morning and a hike at a nearby wildflower preserve in the afternoon. Warm sun, sweet smelling air, and grandparents. Nothing better, save for weekends when Homestead Mama can join too.

I am grateful to be able to tell my parents all the time that I love them, that I see now, as a parent myself, how hard it was to raise three kids close in age and do such a good job of it. I am grateful I had kids in time for them to have a chance to know and adore their grandparents.

Signs of Spring

2010-03-19T22:52:00.000-04:00

Wonderful people all over the blogosphere are posting myriad pictures of lovely spring images, snowdrops, buds, seed trays covered in tiny sprouts, kids in short sleeved shirts.

What does spring mean to me? The snakes are back! They slip out of the cracks in our garage foundation in order to sun themselves on nearby rocks. In a few weeks we'll have many baby snakes to keep the adults company. It could be worse.

I love spring!

9mm Bouquet

2010-03-11T11:38:00.001-05:00

Pequita: Mommy, I love Monito best of all, that's why we get married. I wear a beautiful white gown and have flowers and a spahkly wing.

Monito: Ok, Pequita, you my best fwiend. But I want a shooter gun with my dwess, not flowers.

Milestone # 6,492

2010-02-28T23:21:00.002-05:00

Banana splits. They will definitely be coming back for a second round.

Grandpa is Game

2010-02-28T23:12:00.001-05:00

Boy, is grandpa game. We have very specific rules about playing with swords or "shooter-guns", the theoretical weapon Monito barely knows about. No pain is involved, no actual body-whacking is usually involved. Then grandpa comes to visit and allows a full-on pirate play bonanza. There was dressing up, there was Argh-ing, there were weapon malfunctioning as they were beaten into a pile of plastic, foam and coats-of-arms.

Grandpa spent most of the time on the floor, which gave Monito a clear sense of advantage. He was merciless.

There was about 20 minutes of play before they retired to the couch to watch Peter Pan and admire the sword-fighting skills of Captain Hook and Pan.

There was a little love expressed, too. This boy LOVES his grandpa. It has taken a full week to deprogram the fighting free-for-all skills. We now have Homestead Rules and Grandpa Rules for duels. We can't wait for the next altercation.

2010-02-27T17:28:00.001-05:00

My days are filled with the regular kamikaze, full-on, balls-to-the-wall, trial by fire, never-a-dull-moment stuff that dreams are made of. We are playing in the snow, baking up a storm, Playmobil-ing with a vengeance, and watching movies that I remember loving as a young child. (Disney's The Sword in the Stone right now; it is good for the bairn to know about Merlin and be able to pronounce Archimedes, even if they think he is an owl.)

However, Homestead Mama is away at work from dawn until about 10 minutes before the children's bedtime on the days we are lucky; 2 out of 5 days for the past few weeks she's missed them entirely. We've been stuck at home for the past two days as we got almost 2 feet of snow and the roads were sketchy. After yelling at my son this morning then bursting into tears, I figured out that I may need a teensy little recharge.

I left the kids with their Mama and went to the library with a decaf latte in my hand. I am sitting now eating Tom Yum soup and reading books alone in a quiet restaurant. After this, I shall go to the bookstore and sit reading glossy knitting and decor books until I am purged of all thoughts of drudgery and the routinization of my life. I'm not sure if I'll go back for bedtime - poor Monito is a tad Mommy-focused these days (=past 32 months) and he cries so when I'm not there.

I'll bring home some Panang curry for my wife, though. Its the least I can do.

Hopefully tomorrow will be brighter. Monday I go to get my thyroid levels checked, and join the nearby gym. Bugger this winter blues crap!

(Almost) Valentine's Day

2010-02-13T17:17:00.000-05:00

The boy and I woke early.

Read: Monito woke at 7 am, and performed his version of laying perfectly still. This entails lots of jiggling, sighing, standing up to adjust his pillow and flopping back down. When he isn't bashing his huge hard noggin into me like a billy goat [damn all those farm books we read]* he is the snuggliest child ever. When we wake up next to each other he presses his forehead to mine, rubs our noses together and presses his hot little palm against my cheek while crooning through his spit-covered pacifier, "Mommy, are you awake yet?" He really does try to allow us to keep sleeping, but I was downstairs by 7:14 nonetheless.

Luckily, we had a box from my parents full of Valentine's Day gifts for the kids. I let Monito open his up as I made tea. My mother is an amazing gift shopper. She totally hit the nail on the head with the puzzle she gave to my boy who is not into puzzles. It is a huge puzzle - 2' x 3' - made of cardboard so thick that in 15 minutes of play the boy had been unable to bend or crack any of the pieces. It has pieces inside other pieces, so I could put together the main puzzle and then he could find the places for the little pieces. There are also game cards with questions about all the little pieces in riddle so he has to think about habitats, habits and functions in order to guess which animal/object the riddle is asking about. Amazing! His older sister, who is already doing 100+ piece puzzles by herself, was also amused. Win/ win, Mom! Of course, after a short stint as a puzzle it became fodder for the CRANE! This is the fate of all things in our house.

*I just had a most enlightening moment checking punctuation. I am only a geek of a medium order, but have good company. Hi, Noona! Hi, Jill!

Sweet Dreams

2010-02-10T15:08:00.001-05:00

Immediately upon waking I usually get the dream check in from the kids. Today, Monito sat straight up and said, "My have good nap. I dweamed about carousels, spinning wheels and doctors offices."

Pequita is more excited about her growth right now ever since I told her we heal and grow while we sleep. She stood up with her arms outstretched and said "Look. At. My. Body. I'm huger!"

Me? I didn't sleep but got a lot of blogs read and rested. I love nap time and my Blackberry equally.

The Heart

2010-02-09T23:26:00.001-05:00

Pequita is going through a shift right now. She is now in a retreat position and freaked out by all the new things she has already mastered. She is suddenly asking to be dressed instead of shoving us away when we try to help. She is shy again around non-family members. After a prolonged session of unexplained wailing and flailing last night, I got her to settle down by arranging for her to spend some time piggybacking in the Ergo carrier on H-Mama's back because she needed the closeness. H-Mama was home from work sick Monday and the first thing that Peuqita did was ask for more Ergo time with her. Clearly, my daughter is in a down cycle.

She very much wants to be independent and not have to listen to us or do what we say. She has taken to freezing her body,expression, and actions - except for a barely perceptible arched eyebrow - when she is grabbed by the desire to defy us. As always (at least once I've figured out what's going on) I've been introducing the language she will need to get herself out of these predicaments, which is conveniently the verbal flag *I* need to stop treating her like the kid she was last week. All week we've been talking about independence, having the space she needs to make her own choices in her own time, and the best way to get what she wants. (Screaming unintelligibly? Not so productive. Reasoning with Mommy? Two thumnbs up!) We are definitely on the path; a few minutes into the latest screaming sobfest today I discerned that the sound that I *thought* was her soul dying was her repeating, "My need to be indepeeeeeeendeeeeeent." I'm taking that as progress.

This morning, Pequita had several meltdowns. The last one evolved as she staggered up the stairs on our way to naps, all the way through getting her book selected and her sleep diaper put on, and into bed. The actual nap happened as always, with me sandwiched between her and Monito. Three books, some discussion about what was going to happen after naps, and they are out like lights.

Pequita awoke with a start ninety minutes later to find me reading, and whispered, "Mommy. I am happier now. My heart is not angry now and my body is not angry. I love you SO MUCH my heart is full of love."

Wonderful, right? Except maybe one day we can skip the screaming part! She does hear through her fugue states, though, as proven after her brief cry when she didn't get to select the music for the player in the nursery tonight. I took her aside so H-Mama could keep getting Monito tucked in and gave her a drink of water. Once she had regained her composure she repeated back to me what I croon to her when I hold her through these upsetting episodes, "Mommy, it is really HARD being three.".

Amen, sister.

Argh!

2010-02-06T08:56:00.001-05:00

When awakened by the snuggliest, dearest, cheek caressing, finger-lacing hand-holding boy at 6:20 am, there is really only one thing to do. Snuggle on the couch in the half-light of morning, each clutching our favorite things - a foam sword and a mug of steaming half-caf - tangled up together and allow ourselves to be transported to Neverland. My boy, who now denounces his real name for a pirate name for a portion of each day, loves Peter Pan as much as I did as a child. Pequita also loves to join in the magical play, but is distracted easily. Monito sleeps with his sword. The favorite curse in our house at the moment is "You codfish!"

My kids are hitting the really fun play stage and I adore it. However, to keep us humble it happens to occur concurrently with the super-moody tantrum-heavy phase that hits in the late-twos, early-threes. Two steps forward, one step back.

This Week, 2008

2010-02-04T12:28:00.001-05:00

A short two years ago. Just look at them. I am already wistful for years past, which seems hard since they are still little kids.

Three Short Years

2010-02-04T12:18:00.003-05:00

This month in 2007.

That big blurry thing at the bottom? My 6-month pregnant belly full of Monito.

Watch Out, Coco Chanel

2010-02-04T10:11:00.003-05:00

I may have written once or twice about Pequita's love of clothing and changing outfits. She still changes several times a day, and has made the major concession of layering underneath her filmy princess dresses and ballet outfits. After all, I have reasoned with her, even Cinderella wore warm clothes in winter. She now regularly disappears upstairs only to reappear in a weather appropriate new outfit, with at least two top layers and two bottom layers under her princess dress or ballet garb. How a three year old gets two pairs of leggings on without any bunching (a cardinal sin) is beyond me.

Here are some of the many faces of Pequita. She came up with all of these on her own; she (usually) exhibits innate good sense about color matching and has quite a flair for pattern mixing.

The Christmas face paints are still in heavy rotation. She asked to be the ocean, and this is what I managed. She was pleased. Our pillowcases are being washed a lot, as we don't always manage to get her washed off before bed. Below, her unicorn costume. Everyone knows they are usually purple with pink faces and horns. She loves her hair this way, and all her dolls also have ponytails that stick straight up in the air. The more hair accoutrements required for a 'do the better.

Hot Wax

2010-02-03T21:44:00.002-05:00

Mid-winter kid crafts are plentiful, and we've been doing a lot of baking, play doh making and building, and snow painting. Based purely on delicious smell, I bought some beeswax at our food coop on a whim several weeks ago. What could be better than hot wax and toddlers?

I was inspired by bees wax hearts here and also here. When I found silicone heart-shaped ice cube molds in the $1 bin at Target I committed.

We melted the wax in an extra pan in a boiling water bath. The kids broke up the big chunks into small bits and dropped them in the pan, and they each got a turn stirring the molten wax under my CLOSE supervision.

Then they lost interest and ran off to play with their glass gems on the carpet in the living room. I finished the melting and the string cutting and the wax pouring in relative peace, which is good since I was more worried about sharing the ladling of hot wax with the kids than any other part of the process. I poured the wax into the molds, and quickly inserted the string loops. They hardened very quickly.

After the kids went to bed, I strung them on red wool. I hung a couple strands in our kitchen above my sink, and they smell divine. We have a few packages to send out to grandma and some lucky cousins - the kids are quite proud of how their hearts turned out. Monito loves the smell so much that he can't help tasting them each time he gets his hands on them. He is always a bit disappointed that the bees wax doesn't taste like it smells. (I'm sending Grandma the hearts with the teeth marks. It will make the strand all the more special.)

Ambitious

2010-01-14T08:49:00.001-05:00

To do list for today:

a. (Dress 3 people, feed dogs, medicate dog, shovel off car, get out of snow covered driveway)

1. Diner for french toast

2. Consignment store - empty trunk of all toys to sell

3. Recycle drop off (overflowing bucket somehow)

4. Buy dog food

5. Library: kids play on computers while I sell my soul in overdue fees

-----HOME FOR NAPS BY NOON!--------

6. Strip beds. Start laundry

7. Pick up veggie CSA share down the road

8. Target for new twin sheets

9. Plug kids into TV while I start to clean

9-A. Tubbies, if any time

------BEDTIME!-------------

10. Begin second shift, as Homestead Mama working til 9pm. Do more cleaning to get ready for parents arriving tonight.

Sounds completely manageable.

I need to alter list to reflect first item: Figure out how to stop Pequita from making Chewbacca sounds as she tosses a tantrum about mean pirates. (I've no clue, as usual)

Wonderland

2010-01-13T18:30:00.004-05:00

The kids have embraced winter. Snow angels, sledding for the first (and second, third, fourth and fifth) time, shoveling snow in a productive and actually helpful way, bushwacking, vaulting off the deck into the drifts of snow, all followed by hot chocolate at home or the cafe. We are having a great winter!

Snow Shoes!

2010-01-13T18:16:00.004-05:00

Homestead Mama has a full-blown fantasy of snowshoeing this weekend while my parents are here. She has a set for all of us, and has restrung the bindings on them. The kids have been trooping after her as she stamped down a path around the property begging to join her.

Yesterday I took the kids to EMS to buy them their own toddler-sized showshoes. They had a blast; shortly after arriving, Monito pronounced the store "the best place ever, Mommy!" I believe it had something to do with the kayaks suspended from the ceiling, the vast array of sharp pokey things like ski poles and knives, and the ramp just perfectly sized for toddler-jumping-off in the boot department.

We left the store with a pair of pink and a pair of blue snow shoes rated for 40 - 80 lbs. I was worried the kids would have a hard time with them and they'd have to be returned. Both kids clutched them all the way home in the car, and insisted on going for a little jaunt immediately upon being freed from their car seats. I had no reason to worry - they zipped around like pros in the snow. Homestead Mama is onto something, for sure.

One thing that parenting is giving me is a true sense of amazement at what tiny little people are capable of. I wouldn't have imagined a 2 year old doing half of what Monito does, and Pequita blows my mind on a regular basis.

New Years Eve

2010-01-13T18:12:00.004-05:00

He played with his little buddies for a couple hours. He didn't mind boiling them at the end of it all, and he kept pace with me eating the meal of lobster in garlic saffron cream sauce over linguine. He's my boy.

Wool Longies, Just in Time

2010-01-13T18:08:00.006-05:00

I believe that in the winter, one wears layers. When outside, we have thick down coats on, woolens wrapped around all our exposed skin, and warm sturdy boots. Inside, we aim for 3 layers on top and two on the bottom. I keep the thermostat at a frugal 65 degrees day and night. We have friends who keep their houses 80 degrees and their kids play all day in t-shirts and thin pants, which boggles me a bit. It would feel lovely on our skin, but offends my sense of season.

I was recently shopping for woolen long underwear for the kids since the winter is sustaining the cold temperatures and snow that I so love. $70 for a set of long johns - and I'd need at least three sets - quickly set me on to a new path and I decided to sew my own. I bought a bunch of wool and cashmere adult sweaters at the local thrift store and felted them in the washer, folded them and then waited for the trifecta of enough time, energy and inspiration to strike at the same minute. It took about a month.

You can find other folk's tutorials here and here. I just winged it after perusing those posts. My kids are big enough that pants to fit them used both entire sleeves and most of the chest of the sweaters; this gives the pants a slightly "built-in panty" look, like I did a far sight more sewing than I actually did. Pequita's pants were made from a matronly vintage pink boiled wool cardi, Monito's from a women's merino sweater that hadn't been in fashion since I was 11 years old, dancing with a sweaty Kelsey Mason to a young new band called The Police. The sleeves were so long that when he wears his pants, they fold up almost his entire lower leg; these are like having on leg warmers over pants.
Both kids loved them. Cozy, stretchy, and made just for them. (I am really lucky that they get a thrill out of that, enjoying the process of making as I do.)

In the above photo, I asked them to smile at the camera so I could take their picture. Pequita opted to have me record her for all eternity earnestly singing her favorite song, Ariel's aria from the Little Mermaid. Monito? He's my little ham.

We ran errands all morning, ending up at Jillian's Drawers, an amazing cloth diapering/natural toys web business that has a home base in my town. They sell the special pacifier that Monito requires, and the kids love their selection of toys. Pequita was playing with the wooden toy kitchen while I chatted with the lovely owner and then I saw it, the expression of surprise and panic on her face that could mean only one thing: accident. Her play lately has been increasingly focused; she gets very deeply engrossed in her imaginings. It has caused a few accidents as she misses her body's cues that were before huge red flags for her. So there we were, on the store's carpet (of course) with no extra pants or socks, soaked from the waist down. The owner couldn't have been kinder, and whipped out some absorbent cloths for me to remedy the situation. I squeeze-dried the wool pants for a minute and they were fine, dry enough to comfortably wear out into the cold. I LOVE these new pants! I'm delightfully motivated to transform the rest of the stack of sweaters into pants. That might mean a continued diminished blogging level, but I'll do my best to balance all my creative endeavors.

Oy

2010-01-03T18:35:00.001-05:00

My 2 year old son just marched into the room with a 3' pool noodle and the cardboard tube from a roll of wrapping paper.

"This is me shooter gun and this is me sword. I'm going to FIGHT you."

Then he gave me a kiss and went off to fight the swings in the dining room.

I'm just sitting here shaking my head in wonder.

.:.

Homestead Mama is due back tomorrow after 5 days upstate. It has gone surprisingly smoothly. It has bee frigid, snowy and absolutely beautiful outside; not the best weather for playing outside with toddlers. They can handle snow and cold, but add -15 degree wind chill and they are a little cranky.

We spent lots of time in the house, baking cookies and gingerbread. They have painted many pictures at the easel. Pequita is enchanted by the Barbie Holiday watercolor book she got in her stocking (gack) and Monito is totally in love with 'surprise' pictures. I draw a garbage truck or digger on white paper with leftover clear wax crayons from Easter egg dying kits. He then paints over the whole sheet in great sweeping colors bringing to life the mystery picture below. So easy, such a crowd pleaser.

We have spent an embarrassing amount of time in bed, rolling around and tickling, playing airplane, and reading all our myriad stories. They are willing to wallow with me for an hour or more after waking in the morning or from naps. I KNOW this will end soon, so I am reveling in it.

We have had tubbies whenever the mood strikes us, not just. Before bed. Morning tubby has become a favorite, and a couple days ago they mostly spent the whole morning between waking and nap time in the tub, with brief interludes of eating naked in front of the fire. They spend a lot of time in the summer naked, and clearly miss it. Monito is potty training himself reliably as long as he is naked, so this served double duty.

Without the safety net of my wife coming home from work in the cards, it has been fairly refreshing to just get in my groove and deal with being the only mom here 24/7. We've fared well, I think, with a few play dates, a few forays out into the cold but mostly remaining home bound.

I had plans of completing many renovation projects to wow and amaze H-Mama when she returns. Instead, she is going to be amazed by how calm, tidy, and peaceful the house is when she finally gets back.

Contact

2010-01-01T13:05:00.001-05:00

Every day at naptime my son drifts off with my hand clutched in his, our fingers laced, pressed against his cheek.

My daughter isn't settled until her cold feet are pressed against my warm skin somewhere on my body.
I love naptime.

2009 year in review

2009-12-30T22:46:00.001-05:00

I have a lovely photo mosaic to post soon, but in a nutshell? 2009 is the year of the beloved wife, the children that I love and who challenge me beyond my wildest imagination, and the year of the miscarriage. I slipped another one in there while I was busy not blogging; nothing says Christmas like diminished embryonic growth.

I really am blessed beyond my wildest imaginations. We'll see what happens next. I'm 40, not as adventurous as I used to be and feeling a little beaten down. The wife is out of town for a week tending to her newly widowed father, the children, somehow sensing my mood/ needs went to sleep by 8:30 (for the first time in months) and the new year is ringing in all askew. However, I am an eternal optimist - go figure - and it can only go up from here.

Solo

2009-12-30T00:28:00.002-05:00

I really want to write a lovely, long, witty post about the first Christmas that the kids have been aware of. It was mostly a very fun day. I am just so overwhelmed and tired. Monday - yesterday! - Homestead Mama's stepmother died as suddenly as one can when one is on the lung transplant list. H-Mama is leaving tomorrow for about a week to stay with her dad 3 hours away, help him through this and start getting things sorted out. I'll stay here at home with the kids and muddle through. I have been thinking up fun activities to entertain them with like night weaning. H-Mama has been the hold out on this, and I not producing much anymore so this seems a PERFECT time to acclimate them to nursing down and upon waking, but not at all during the night. Sounds like fun, eh? Boy, do I know how to have a good time.

I would normally go visit my parents, or friends in Canada with all my free time. However, we have pets that will tie me to the house. (And I haven't managed to renew our passports yet and get them for the kids. Do straight, married parents both have to be present at the post office to get passports for their kids? Talk about a deterrent to foreign travel.)

So maybe I'll have time to blog. Check back soon!

Wordless Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T23:57:00.004-05:00

Here Comes the Sun

2009-12-29T23:25:00.005-05:00

I am not a morning person. Children have been a rough adjustment for me, as the little buggers tend to wake up early. Even as one of the luckiest parents I know (Monito sleeps until 7ish, Pequita would sleep in until 9 every morning if I let her) I still struggle with mornings.

I now have a wonderful assist in the process of facing the day. Light from the new doors floods up the stairs and welcomes me each day.

The kids love it too - their inner artists are reveling in the perfect light.
Their attention was split before Christmas on their masterpiece and the contractors outside building the deck. They love Roy; Pequita was having an episode (our new, less judgmental word for tantrum) at one point (well, actually at about 5 points) and she sobbed Ruh! Me want Ruh! (Both my kids are having trouble with the 'oy' dipthong. It is quite endearing.)

And the dogs? They like the new platform that we had built for them. They sit out there surveying all their land, watching for prey and postal carriers.

Life is good.

Les Portes Francais

2009-12-18T19:04:00.004-05:00

We have intended to have French Doors in our kitchen for, oh, about a decade. And in the last week we went from a wall cluttered with a bookshelf and napkin storage to a large blank wall

to a reminder of how much we love our insulation* (R-7.5 per inch, folks!)

to a big hole in the wall on a 20 degree day

to French Doors installed

The contractor will be back next week to finish the insulating, trim, handle set installation, etc. Also, they'll be building a deck right outside that is the length of the house and projects 8' out onto the grassy patio we had created this past summer. Already the house is lighter, more open and so lovely. As always, each thing we get done inspires more work, but in the good way.

Yes, that is my sewing machine on the kitchen island. I've been Christmas-ing the only way I know how.

*We used sprayed-in rigid foam insulation. It expands to fill every nook and cranny and dries hard which offers the house a lot of structural integrity as well as insulating the crap out of a 150 year old dwelling. I have NO regrets with this product. Our house has drafts but NONE of them are from the walls. (As pretty as it is, our field stone foundation is something that I'd get redone if we win the lottery.)

Ballet

2009-12-16T16:55:00.001-05:00

Each night now we read holiday and winter stories at bedtime; in top rotation is a picture book of the Nutcracker ballet story. Pequita's excitement about ballet is ramping up, and we scarcely pass a full length mirror without her busting a move, be it plie', arabesque, or pointed toe leg lift.

I told her that we'll spend Christmas 2010 in Boston at Grandma & Grandpa's house, and that we will all get dressed up and go to see the Boston Ballet dance the Nutcracker. Squeeeeeee! Not only has she planned out her own outfit to the last detail (purple, puffed sleeves, shiny bodice, tulle petticoat, tiny gold not-too-fancy crown) but she has assigned us all colors for our outfits. I am orange (what else?) H-Mama will be in red, and Monito gets a nice backhoe-themed oufit. Not sure how to pull that off as a seamstress.

Big Girl

2009-12-16T16:25:00.001-05:00

Pequita woke from her on-the-road car nap and said:

"Mom, back in the old days, I wasn't very tired much. Now, I'm very tired a lot."

Aren't we all, little girl! I told her that its because she used to go to sleep by 7:30 and now she is up until about 10 every night.

"Oh. That's because I'm a big girl now."

I guess she is, if she can refer to the 'old days'.

Saratoga Springs

2009-12-14T14:41:00.001-05:00

Homestead Mama is spending her days at a professionally invigorating conference, networking, teaching and learning. I am spending my days hanging out with my parents and kids, taking in the best of what Saratoga has to offer. Coffeehouse breakfasts, walks along a snowy main street liberally coated with holiday decorations and lights, a well-funded and beautifully decorated library, and after naps (with Grandma! Whee!) swimming in the hotel pool.

I am immensely grateful for this window in time to enjoy the bounty of my life.

Needle Felting

2009-12-10T00:34:00.001-05:00

I put some finishing touches on the felted balls with a little needle felting. It is a fairly precise activity; I was watching Fringe, and have the two thumb piercings to prove it. I am totally pleased with the results, and will definitely make more.

We'll see if my skills are as good as I think they are - the red guy is not Santa, but is a Tomten or gnome. Could you tell?

Warmth

2009-12-09T09:59:00.002-05:00

I was quite taken with this article. Maybe my wild kids are just COLD, and when they are warmed up they will sit all day peacefully reading books and tracing their hands! The article is definitely on the edge of Waldorf-y preaching, but the concepts are sensible. We keep our house at a toasty 65 degrees day and night, so are big into the layering concept. Except for Pequita who has up to seven wardrobe changes a day, many of which are from one filmy fairy princess dress to another. It is like living with Celine Dion except I am the lackey who trails after the diva picking up the discarded clothes. Next thing I'll be blogging about will be Pequita's request for an all-white nursery with white flowers and 27 new bottles of mineral water imported from France at all times.

I just bought a set of silk long johns for us all, and will have a go at making us woolen ones with my serger, as the cost of outfitting pottty training kids in woolens ($40 per shirt? $50 per pair pants? are they kidding?) is a smidge prohibitive for kids who grow a size every few months.

Anyone who has merino wool or cashmere sweaters with holes, stains, shrunken, or that they just don't like is invited to send them on to me for repurposing. I can offer you a barter - have you seen my felted balls?

Warm Hands, Warm Hearts

2009-12-09T09:10:00.005-05:00

Having looked all over for simple wool mittens, I realized that duh, I'm a knitter. On to Ravelry for the classic mitten pattern, and voila*.

Mittens for the kids in the only superwash (machine washable wool) I had on hand. I originally bought the yarn to make a vest for a boyfriend, which indicates how long it has been in my stash. Pequita LOVES them.
They were worsted weight yarn, so a little light for sledding or playing in the snow. Modification is my middle name. So happy was I with the classic mitten pattern, I started knitting a pair of thrummed mittens by making one size up (to accommodate all the fluff inside!) and tufts of roving I had on hand for wool felting. I just HAD to enliven them by striping the wool, which resulted in a teensy bit of irregularity as I figured out tuft size, frequency, etc. The second one will be better! I would be a better knitter if I actually made a prototype to practice patterns and skills, but it isn't in my nature. Hopefully the kids won't notice the little differences.

Here is the first thrummed mitten of the season, awaiting a thumb. They would knit up a lot faster if I could skip the self-admiration after each and every row. This one is awaiting a thumb still, but Pequita was willing to model it.

And this is how it looks inside-out:

They are the perfect play weight, and with the extra wool should keep out wind and keep fingers warm for a long time. I'll let you know!

Enjoying the quick project as much as I do, and wishing to make a few pairs for Homestead Mama and myself, off we went to the local yarn store. Mmmmmmm, Cascade Superwash. Santa knows what I like!

Now if I can just spend the time to figure out how to update my Ravelry account to show some of this activity.

*Elmer's Glue & glitter ornaments. Easy, satisfying for kids and SPARKLY! Draw a shape with the glue & let the kids sprinkle on the glitter. I'd have shown you the green sparkly garbage truck Monito made, but it is already hanging on the tree.

To Blog or To Make Holiday Gifts?

2009-12-09T00:18:00.001-05:00

Clearly, gifts have been winning.

Wet felted balls batch #1. Homestead Mama's hand for relative size. Monito refuses to let them out of his site, let alone to be shipped off to other kids. I may have to rethink letting the kids participate in our gift-giving to others.

I've finished a thrummed mitten, too. I'll do a mitten rundown tomorrow.

Let Go

2009-12-07T13:53:00.001-05:00

I'm not good at letting go of control. I find it challenging to wait and be patient.
Anyone care to join me in a deep cleansing breath?

Gingerbread Houses

2009-12-06T21:18:00.003-05:00

We did our annual trek to the mega grocery store today to participate in the gingerbread house building class. For $10, the kids each get a base house and all the royal icing and candy they need to decorate it, and I don't have to clean up or to chisel the icing off my kitchen afterward.

We had some friends join us this year and it was a huge success. Monito really shone, wielding the icing bag like a culinary school graduate. I barely had to help him - he actually had some good design ideas. I built him a chimney, and he let me ice & decorate his ice cream cone tree because I was itching to do one of my own, but other than that he worked until his supplies dried up. Pequita, on the other hand, could barely take time off from her candy consumption to bother sticking some to her house.
This gave Auntie Kiko free reign, and together they did a lovely job. We now have 2 hardening houses covered in contraband drying in the pantry behind the baby gate. We'll pick at them for a few days and then they will disappear.

________________________

By the way - the two sites below are chock full of holiday (and year-round) crafty goodness for those of you so inclined.

The Crafty Crow
Gingerbread Snowflakes

Oh Tannenbaum

2009-12-05T20:22:00.004-05:00

Homestead Mama and I always pick a day that it is snowing to go fetch our Christmas tree. This has meant that we've cut it close to the actual holiday some years as we are waiting for Mother Nature to provide the atmosphere necessary for proper festive tree selection. Only one Christmas during our nine years together have we had non-snow; it was a short selection process in the pouring rain. We used a lot of BIG ornaments on the side that only had a few branches.

We revel in the quiet sound of snow falling on the hike in. It is usually so pleasant that we hike further into the snowy meadow than is necessary just to prolong the experience. We embrace the ritual, the peace and quiet, the hauling of bulky down-jacketed 40 lb kids in Ergo carriers on our backs. It is a pleasant bonus that we can get a 7' tree for $20 when down the road a couple miles you can pay $40 for the same tree and get a smog-filled tractor ride down a crowded field to pick your Christmas tree out of a pile of pre-cut trees, all the while assaulted by Happy! Holiday! Music! spewing from speaker wired into the fields.

We always look for a few perfect trees, and every year this requires some discussion. I tend towards a Charlie Brown sparseness, the better to showcase a select few precious ornaments. Homestead Mama prefers a tree so dense that light doesn't show through the branches, and likes to pile on every ornament she has ever bought. Once we've found two or three that ride the line of compromise, we check for bird nests. Did you know that it is good luck for the coming year if your Christmas tree has a bird's nest in it? With a little effort, we get lucky almost every year. Not so this year in our perfect trees; we found a nest in a neighboring tree that was too big by at least 10 feet and plucked it out, decided that would bring at least a little luck for 2010. We got the old man who owns the tree farm to snap our photo again like we do every year. In jockeying the kids, the camera, the saw and my mittens I set down our nest and left it at the tree farm. I almost sent Homestead Mama back for it - its only 5 miles away. In the end, she set the tree up in the stand while I monitored the kids in the bathtub. When we came out, H-Mama was beaming and asked us to look into a particularly dense section of the tree, low down near the base.

Lo and behold, there was a perfect, tiny little nest. It must have been extremely well-built, as we were not at all gentle in the cutting, dragging, loading and unloading of the presumed nest-less tree. I guess we are due for a little luck next year after all.

Blogger Hate

2009-12-05T13:57:00.001-05:00

Well, if I perform a mass-upload of pics on the desktop every few days to make blogging every day easier from my Netbook, the posts, um, post back under the date of upload/ draft save. Grrrr.

Today's post is back there under 12/3. Bugger Blogger.

This Week In History

2009-12-04T21:16:00.005-05:00

2005 BK (Before Kids) Martha's Vineyard

2006 Pequita, 2 months old

2007 Pequita conquers the kitchen island; Monito looks on with concern

2008 Gingerbread House-raising with Auntie Kiko
This is such a super event we are doing it again on Sunday

Bounty

2009-12-03T22:03:00.007-05:00

One week's fruit share in 2009

(not including the 2 other grape clusters and
4 plums the kids ate on the way home)

We belong to both a veggie and fruit CSA here in town every summer. It supplies us with a week's worth of fruit for eating; many weeks I bought extra fruit from the CSA wholesale to preserve and also because my kids can consume massive quatities of fresh fruit. It is all coming to fruition now, as the snowflakes are falling (as I write this - yay!) Sour cherries, peaches, pears, apples, all by the 5-gallon bucket or bushel crate. I was a tad busy in the evenings.

A couple days ago, I served the kids canned peaches that I put by this summer.
They were complaining about all the apples I was serving them, and I made a huge flourishing presentation of peaches in (very light) syrup over Greek yogurt. They were properly awed, and we got to discuss how these canned peaches happened, where they came from, how much fun it is to have yummy summer food on our table when it is too cold for it to grow outside. I am pleased that they seem to understand the food cycles of our household, and realized I need to start planning our own garden layout for next spring. Hopefully, we can do more seed starts ourselves and buy fewer young plants. I expect to remain a member of the two CSAs until our own gardens supply us with enough food.

The kids and I make our weekly trip to the farm to pick up our fruit and veggies an event. We see our friends there, pick flowers and tomatoes and herbs and fruit in the u-pick fields, we play with (chase) the chickens and guinea hens, and Monito caresses the tractors (only after greeting them by name. "Hello, Green Tractor. Hello, Big Yellow Tractor with Dragging Thingy" Mommy needs to learn the names of more farm equipment, clearly.) I consider it early homeschooling about food, science, nature and the seasons that we get to do out in the sun.

With This Ring

2009-12-03T21:57:00.011-05:00

New York just voted down my right to marry in my own state. I got my rings back from being resized at the jewelers that same day. It is all bittersweet, and I'm trying to be zen about it; goodness knows I am entirely surrounded by people who are as upset by the injustice as I am. My marriage in Massachusetts is still recognized by my state, but sheesh, that feels a little hollow.

So here are our beautiful rings. The kids love to fondle them and talk about how sparkly they are and love to ask what they are for, knowing that the answer never changes. "Our wedding rings mean that Mommy and Mama will love each other for ever, and our family will always be here for you." This always dissolves them into snuggly puddles. Me too, frankly.

Homestead Mama's beloved Grandma Lillian was from Little Rock, Arkansas. She had a long and slightly daring career as a gymnastic dancer in New York City in a time when that was quite risque. She was very clear about the fact that she WAS NOT a stripper - she had some sexy pictures taken of herself that she said were posted outside the club to lure people in, but when she danced she was more modestly covered.

Lillian, 1926

Her best friend for decades was Harvey a female impersonator - one can only presume that he was gay since he tended to 'impersonate' even in his off-stage hours. There is an amazing photographic history of both of them, and we are still wading through it. When I met Grandma Lillian for the first time, she said, "Well, thank goodness Homestead Mama finally brought home a blonde." When Lillian died earlier this year, Homestead Mama brought home a car full of things deemed not valuable by other family members. Lots of things the kids would like - many boxes of note cards with envelopes to practice playing postal carrier, music boxes, old perfume bottles, and box after box of costume jewelry. I went through it all looking for safety hazards and junky things to toss. On a safety pin amongst a bunch of plastic and corroded metal rings was a dull metal band. It was unassuming and delicate, and so fine and tiny that it didn't even go all the way down my pinky. Upon closer investigation I noticed an inscription that required a magnifying glass. Expecting it to read: "Made by Avon 1953" I was surprised to see initials, the date 1914, and Plat 800/Irid 200. Hmmm. Hello, Google - platinum used to be mixed with iridium around the turn of the century. And with one fell swoop, H-Mama was the owner of the only family heirloom she'll probably ever get. She was thrilled that we hadn't given the kids - or worse, tossed out - her grandmother's wedding ring worth hundreds of dollars and a million more in sentimental value. We bought her a second ring - a little bling - from a local lesbian-owned jewelry store. They are balanced perfectly, completely suitable for my tough-on-the-outside, Martha Stewart-loving, hard-labor loving wife.

My maternal grandmother, Phyllis, was widowed in her 60s and her friends convinced her to have the diamonds from her engagement ring turned into a less-intimidating-to-potential-suitors cocktail ring. (At least this is how I remember the story. My mom will correct me in the comments if I am mistaken.) When Phyllis died, my mom inherited the ring.

Grandma Sharon with ring in her glory with Monito, October 2007
(oh my god the PUDGE on him!)

I have coveted it and loved it ever since - it is uncommon, a little fancy but far from gaudy. My mother intended to leave it to me in her will, but was gracious enough to let me use it for my own wedding after an exhaustive and unsuccessful search on my part for the perfect ring. With it, she had made a simple band to match the curves of the original ring.

Homestead Mama and I have something old, something new, some history and a fresh beginning on our fingers. We couldn't be happier. Unless, of course, we were recognized as actually married by our country.

Correspondence

2009-12-03T21:39:00.002-05:00

Monito just demanded that I send his 8 month old cousin a letter. This is what he dictated:

Dear Baby Lindy,

You are too little to eat tapioca with me.

You can play with my water bottles, though. I want to roll them to you.

I love you,

Monito

Uncle Tim

2009-12-03T11:42:00.007-05:00

Our friend Tim lives in Switzerland. Every time he makes the trek to the U.S. to visit with his family in the midwest, he plans a stopover for a week or so in Boston to visit my family and his friends who still live there.

Tim was my brother's best friend; he and Jason met in 1979 when we moved to Switzerland. Digital Equipment Company moved us over there, and Tim's family was there courtesy of Caterpillar Equipment. I don't think Jason and Tim ever went a year without seeing each other, even when living on different continents. They were roommates in Boston when they were old enough to live on their own. Tim was with Jason when he died in 1993. Tim is a beloved member of our family.

Homestead Mama and I went back to Boston in early November to spend time with Tim on his latest visit. It is always a treat - he's a smart funny renaissance man, fluent in at least 2 languages, unassuming, wry, and handsome. He spent a year biking from Geneva to China and back. He works in finance now because that is what you do when you live in Geneva, but he can sew a pair of jeans, brew a good beer, make a snowboard from scratch and crack up a room with one quiet comment.

He is wonderful with kids, getting down on their level, accompanying them on their play tangents, and taking them very seriously which they can sense and they clearly love. Some day we'll travel to see him and do with my kids some of the things I loved doing in Geneva. We'll buy glaces along the sidewalks of Lac Leman and walk in the spray of the Jet D'Eau.

We'll drive up to the top of the Saleve and watch the hang gliders jump off the cliff. We'll drive 2 hours out of the city and be in the alps. I'd move back to Switzerland in a heartbeat if offered the chance. Next best thing? Having Tim settled there and waiting for us to visit.

90 Minutes

2009-12-03T10:43:00.005-05:00

How did you spend the first 90 of your day?

I got to sleep in a bit today - until 9:10! This is no small favor, as anyone who knows me is aware how very much of a night person I am. Homestead Mama frequently takes the early shift with the kids which usually means that she gets them in dry diapers/ panties and kisses me goodbye, but today she ended up going in to work a little late so she could get the garbage out, feed the dogs, and tidy up a bit since she knew I stayed up until after midnight painting people and watching bad TV. The kids helped her with all these tasks, so it took her almost 2 hours. Having missed the early playgroup meet-ups by getting up so late, I embraced the staying home concept. The kids love to meet and play with their friends; they also love to have Mommy on the living room floor in a pig pile, leading the marching band, or getting down the good paints from the top shelf. What everyone says about how beneficial it is when you are living in the moment, following your kids lead, giving them your complete and utter attention? Very true. Hard to maintain, but that's what meditation is for.

We started out explaining what Pequita had painted on her brother's face while Mommy was in the bathroom (a lion). She paints their faces every day at least once. Yesterday she accompanied me on all our errands with a huge black and purple blotch on her cheek looking for all the world as though I had been beating some compliance into her. She proudly told anyone who asked that it was the Evil Queen from Snow White. A little nonrepresentational, but she got the colors right.

I was treated to a ballet recital by the ballerina in our house while I brushed my teeth. She then taught her brother how to twirl and plie, which is going to be the impetus I needed to order myself a new charging cord for my video camera. My kids dancing together is something that I would love to watch on DVD as an old lady sitting in my quiet house when the kids are grown.

We followed that by playing trumpet on our left over cooked shell noodles from last night. (The stuffed shells with organic pork meat sauce was a HUGE hit with all of us. A good thing, since I made two gigantic pans.)Yankee Doodle Dandy, tooted deep with a whole noodle and ever-shriller as the noodles mysteriously got shorter and shorter in the kids mouths. Pequita bounced on her riding bouncy ball in time to the song. Then I got them dressed while singing This Old Man. The kids got to alternate picking the number verse I sang; Pequita worked her way through 1 - 10, but Monito only ever chose 2. Each time I sang, "He played knick knack on his shoe" there was much cracking up. I think he likes the way showing me 2 feels in his fingers - he uses his index and thumb (a.k.a. Pointer and Thumbkins in our house.)

They spotted the dice jar on a shelf and we spent 20 minutes playing with that. Every time I go to the thrift store, consignment store, or salvation army I buy up all the dice games I can. Boggle is a great one. I then repurpose the boxes and other playing bits elsewhere in our lives and toss the dice into a big jar. We make up our own games, spell our names and whatever words the kids want, and then sort them back into the jar by color, size, letter, whatever. It always changes, which keeps it fun for all of us. I also have a massive jar of Scrabble tiles for the same purpose. The nice stiff game boards make great dance floors or car ramps when Mod Podged with pretty paper or painted over by toddlers.

I didn't post the picture with their names spelled out even though it was the better photo. For now, I am going to keep the anonymity up on the blog. It is annoying to have to write fake names, but as a lesbian family with cute kids in a fairly identifiable town, I just feel safer. I'm actually working on another blog idea, one that would end up being more craft oriented and less of a family/ baby book and would use our real names. Because I need MORE time on my computer. Sigh.

Peg People

2009-12-02T21:40:00.004-05:00

I have been feeling badly about not blogging more, both because it is my record of what's happening in my life and also because my friends IRL are calling, emailing, asking if I'm ok or if I've fallen into a funk that I need help getting out of. (I must say, I have encountered no funk that toddlers cannot roust me out of. Best medicine ever.)

I haven't been sitting on my thumbs. I have been investing my evenings in crafting the likes of which I haven't mustered since before the second kid was born. I will be posting some pictures over the next few days so you can comment and lavish me with positive reinforcement.

Christmas is heading our way rather fast. I've done all the online shopping I had to do, and come the 25th the kids will be jumping on an indoor 40 " trampoline and riding around the yard on a pedal-powered green front-end loader. Happy happy, joy joy. I've been making a bunch of other smaller things to fill in holes in our toy arsenal. From my favorite wooden acorn source, I ordered a bunch of plain wood people shapes. I've made some into gnomes, left some plain, and am painting the rest into various little personalities. As always, the prototypes are a bit rough and take a lot longer than future versions. I am, for the most part, having a blast doing this. I LOVE painting the people, and suspect that investing in paint brushes that didn't come in a kids' water color box would improve my accuracy.

Mermaid, pirates, wolf and Little Red Riding Hood.

Assorted playmates.

Christmas avatars for each of us to display on our holiday table.

The two tall guys need no introduction, but the little guy is for Monito. He is entering superhero admiration, so one for himself seems appropriate.

I have a whole box of blanks still to work on, although I am about to stop for the holidays.

Thankful

2009-11-29T19:40:00.007-05:00

Having missed November and NaBloPoMo, not to mention much of October, I've decided to aim for a personal DecNaBloPoMo.

I am JUST feeling recovered from Thanksgiving. (I am praying that if we grow our own family that it will not be as nuts as it is when we have other kids visit. It can't be. Whimper.) We hosted my sister, her wife, their two kids 3+ and 8 months, and my brother-in-law for the extended long weekend. We added our fabulous neighbors for actual Thanksgiving dinner, as well as a few brunches. (We needed help consuming all the salty smoked fish imported from the City for the holiday.)

Nephew C will be 4 in March, and has a more/ differently developed style of play than my kids. They were eager to jump on his bandwagon once they figured out it meant digging for fossils in the yard, fighting off savage pirates from the relative safety of the swing set tower (with many friendly whale sightings, a.k.a. our dogs ranging around the yard, um, ocean) and much chasing. Pequita and Monito really got into their baby cousin R. At 8 months, she is just starting to pull herself up to stand and is a bundle of adorable fun.

I am grateful for a quiet house again, but boy, all my dreams of having cousins close in age to frolic with my kids is coming true and is just amazing. Our kids are going to grow up with a close-knit group to bask in, rely on, and play with.

Monito, embracing his 'shooter gun'. He learned about them from cousin C in August, and has been waiting until C arrived to play it again. (We are in the halcyon age where I can say things like, "Oh, sweetie, we don't play with guns unless C is here. You'll have to wait until Thanksgiving to shoot," and he COMPLIES.)

Baby love.

We did a bit of trekking on the 10 acres in the meadow on the path we keep mowed. Some of us were hunting dinosaurs, some were hunting for the best stick to use as a gun, and some of us were reeling with the cute quotient radiating from the kids.

We let all the kids sleep in the nursery together, and bedtime went well, all things considered. Cousin C and Monito mostly dropped off on command, and Pequita wasn't awake any later than her usual 9:45ish. We watch less TV when C is here so it was especially important for Monito to watch Pop! before bed. Cousin C taught them both to make nests out of their beanbag and pregnancy pillows upon which to hatch baby dinosaurs.

My family is no slouch at cooking. Sister-in-law S is a vegetarian, so we had an entirely veg meal except for the turkey. My sister whipped up baked squash stuffed with vegetarian sausage, sweet potatoes made with coconut milk (my new favorite food) and Homestead Mama created ginger peas. I was responsible for the turkey, which is why I awoke from napping with the kids having not basted it or checked it for its final 3 hours - BIG turkey no-no. It was ok, actually delicious, and the gravy, ever elusive for me, was finally sublime. With almost no pictures of adults, and none of the amazing, gorgeous, 26-lb turkey, I offer a picture of the Thanksgiving craft we employed to keep the kids entertained so we could finish eating. I drew a big tree and hung it on the wall, and wrote things the kids were thankful for on hastily-made leaf-cut post-it notes. They loved sticking them on the tree. Monito colored a little, too.

The day after, I made homemade noodles and the kids cut out shapes with small cookie cutters that we then added to the big turkey soup. We do this a lot throughout the year, and it is always fun.

I really quite love my life. It is harried, nutty, over-full, cluttered, loud, dirty, lonely, stressful, and never easy. It is also rich, full, cozy, warm, lively, smiling, and active. I actually couldn't ask for anything more.

Halloween

2009-11-11T21:51:00.003-05:00

Halloween was a raging success this year. We started working on the fear issues months ahead of time, visiting Lowe's no fewer than 5 times a week to deprogram both kids out of residual holiday terror from last year, but particularly Monito, with the scary battery op witch who cackles, stirs her cauldron of spells, and - most notably - blinks her leering red eyes when the motion sensor detects small children nearby. We started out with them in the cart squeezing shut their eyes while I raced by at top speed, ignoring the Walmart-like greeter Lowe's now sports by the doors. We graduated to the same thing but on foot, and the kids would peek at the witch from the safety of the paint aisle, 40 feet away. By the time Halloween was upon us, they were both sauntering by her and pulling up her skirt saying, "Look, Mommy - she doesn't even have legs. She's PLASTIC, not real." I was so proud.

We did buy a couple of used costumes, but mostly they outfitted themselves from our dress up box. We did two events this year, the local grocery store's trick-or-treating on Thursday, and then for the first time we actually walked around in the dark going door-to-door asking for candy.

Monito, their buddy Captain America, and Pequita, all ready to go. With a little coaching about what constitutes a good house to approach (decorations, porch light on) the kids took off. Captain America was a trooper, methodical and diligent in his careful collection of treats. Monito couldn't get past the CANDY! in his PUMPKIN! and had to stop and eat piece after piece. Pequita was clearly more interested in the thrill of the hunt, and raced from house to house screaming LIGHT ON! LIGHT ON! as she speed walked the neighborhood. Clearly, we'll be graduating to the bigger hunting grounds next year, the Mecca of all things Halloween, Fall Creek. It is 10 square blocks or so of densely populated neighborhoods, where nearly everyone participates. These are the people who have to shell out the big bucks so they don't run out of treats on the toddlers by 8 pm when the serious trick-or-treaters start their rounds.

Our first year in our house, four miles out of town, no sidewalks, rural but still populated, we were visited by only one family. A woman saw all our hopeful decorations, artfully carved pumpkins, lights blazing and stopped her minivan full of kids to come to our door. As they each took a couple pieces of our mounded bowl of candy, she explained that we wouldn't get anyone at our house; all the families from three towns head down to Fall Creek where the candy is dense and easy to get. I was crushed. Luckily, I had lots of candy in which to drown my disappointment. She was right, too - we have never had any other trick-or-treaters since. We are raising a generation of soft kids. I remember ranging far and wide for our candy as a kid. We had to pass by swamps, fields, deserted houses and dark forests between houses, which really made it more fun and scary.

My kids had a few pieces of candy on the actual holiday, then traveled with their Mama on Sunday. Monday was candy day; right before naps, I handed them each their loaded plastic pumpkin full of candy and told them that they could eat all they wanted. Oh, the rustling, the deciding, the laying out of options and game plans. That was all Pequita. Monito just started eating and kept going until I said stop. My boy, he can concentrate like the dickens. After that, I told them that in the night, the Great Pumpkin was going to come and trade in all their left over candy for a toy, and in their bloated, sugar-sick state they seemed a little glad to hear it. The next morning found a few Little Critter Pets (or whatever they are called) and a stuffed Max and Ruby doll in place of candy, and everyone seems to be happy with the holiday.

Autumn Special Deals

2009-11-11T12:22:00.001-05:00

I see signs for sales a lot these days, sandwiched as we are in between Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the crippled economy and the low dollar. I was, nonetheless, surprised to see a specials board in the waiting room at the RE's office. Fall IVF Specials! Act Now and Save! Looking for that perfect holiday gift?

It is slightly more tastefully phrased than that (is that even possible?) but still an odd concept. If you are in the market and without insurance, you, too, can be the proud owner of 2 cycles for $6k, 4 cycles for $9k or 6 cycles for $13.5k. At these prices, how can you resist?

Oy.

Time Out of Mind

2009-11-10T09:49:00.002-05:00

This morning, we've had a few regular individual time outs each. We moved on to concurrent time outs, each kid sent to their own couch. We have culminated with the 'Go to your ROOM' time out where one kid is on the bed and the other on the chaise lounge, with books, and the door closed so Mommy doesn't have to experience the full blast of the screaming. Wow.

I'm stopping the bill paying and photo downloading to go to the NVC page RIGHT NOW and print out some helpful phrases for me to post around the house so I remember to breathe before I act. Seems so simple, yet so elusive.

Angelic looking, aren't they?

Craft Rock

2009-10-31T09:00:00.002-04:00

The blog Magpie and Cake is in my feeder, but I haven't checked it in a long while. When the backlog of posts gets too cumbersome I can't open it on my phone, so blogs languish until I have time to look on the desktop. They posted this lovely song/video and we all love it. Pequita loves the scissor work, Monito loves the painting, and I love the folkie music / craft mashup. Just a treat. Go see it!

TV Show Help

2009-10-25T15:22:00.001-04:00

I was a kid in the 70s. Does anyone remember watching a show on TV which was someone reading a book out loud while an artist drew illustrations from the book with gorgeous oil pastels? Do you remember the name of that show?

First Frost? Time for Jack O'Lanterns

2009-10-25T11:22:00.004-04:00

Carving pumpkins has taken on a new element this year: power tools.

Monito tried using his toy chainsaw, but it wasn't cutting it. I got out the drill and largest bits and they each drilled many holes in the little pumpkins. They started out as jack o'lanterns, became jack o'lanterns with chicken pox and then became mob hit jack o'lanterns riddled with drill holes. The poor tall one, sporting the single hole to the forehead I fondly think of as execution jack o'lantern. SO MUCH FUN.

Once a few were carved up, we had our traditional popcorn feast while we admire the glowing faces. It was a little short this year due to icy wind storm weather, so we quickly sang the pumpkins on a fence song and zipped inside to watch some Snow White songs on YouTube before bed. After one night of having to explain about how the Evil Queen is not real, we now stick to dwarfs and the Betty Boop-like Snow White only. Hi ho!

Pequita is Now Three

2009-10-24T21:42:00.006-04:00

And she still rocks. I can't believe I didn't post about her fairy princess themed birthday on the 11th.

We invited 25 people or so, which clearly put it in the realm of adult party, since the kids are usually totally happy with one or two friends. I took the lazy way out and had Homestead Mama grill hotdogs and hamburgers. We also used the opportunity to get a pepperoni log out of the freezer and consumed by people other than me. Auntie Kiko was a big fan. There was milling about and eating for 90 minutes, and then we tried to host an activity - this was the first time we've done anything but open play. I've been wanting to try a treasure hunt since reading about it on Kate's blog, but worried it would be too much for the kids. It was a HUGE hit, and totally within the kid's abilities. I was so busy with party prep and house cleaning and epic cake baking that I really rushed the treasure hunt prep, but basically I had Grandpa print out several pictures that I'd taken of memorable landmarks in our yard. I sent Grandma outside the morning of the party to hang each one in the appropriate place attached to a balloon for easy discovery by 3 year olds. I brought them all outside and squatted down with a ballooned picture of the swing set and said that fairies had brought special treats for each child, but we were going to have to find them because the fairies were tricksters. The kids were pretty jazzed up; my kids had home court advantage and led the merry band off to the swing set. Very quickly the kids got into it and a couple front runners emerged. Jonas, in the pink, partnered with Pequita and the two of them tore it up. We hid five clues, so the kids ran all over an acre of yard visiting the fire pit, hammock, raised bed garden and ending up back at the front door where the fairies had left a basket of gift bags for them all. One sweet 3-year old said that he was coming back the next day to do this again, so I'm taking that as an unbridled success. Best of all is that they are clearly ready for organized thinking activity, which means I'm unpacking all the games I've been collecting since before they were born. My sister had a pirate treasure hunt in her tiny house in Boston a few months ago, and since they didn't have all the acreage to run on the kids had to do a physical activity at each clue location, like jump up and down 40 times or do a somersault. I can see adding letter and number components too, as the kids start digging mental Olympics. I think that increasing the number of clues and adding physical or artsy activities at each checkpoint would keep this game going in high joy mode. We'll definitely be making more clue cards and bringing this indoors over the winter.

The bags were a big hit. I prefer to sugar up my kids as little as possible, and also like to give away things we like to play with. This means that I always end up adding a craft or twelve to my pre-birthday to-do list. Each kid received an elf and a wand that Grandma and I made the night before (yay, glue gun!) a book of tattoos, a sticker activity sheet, and a pumpkin shaped bottle of bubbles. Many of the components were from the dollar store; I bought plain wooden wands in April and set them aside for Pequita's birthday; a little shiny ribbon and a gem and they were transformed. The wooden elf forms are from my favorite wood piece supply store and a simple bit of felt and more glue gun = very sweet toy in seconds. Proper elf capes & hats should be hand sewn, but whatever.
We then retired back inside for chocolate castle cake. Sadly, the tin foil makes it hard to see the glory of the cake, but it was a hit. I had much bigger and better construction with multiple colors in mind, but by 11:30 the night before the party, I decided it was done with just a crumb coat of chocolate butter cream. (Hint: you can't tell its a crumb coat if you have chocolate on chocolate. Also, toddlers don't care.) It was a recipe out of a Moosewood cookbook, of all places, and it was fantastic. Those vegetarians sure like their sweets. As always, once the birthday kid blows out their candles and makes a wish, I relight them for each kid who wants to have a go. They love this, and it makes everyone happy.

We spent three days opening presents one or two at a time, so the birthday lasted all weekend. Sigh. I love parties.

No Posts

2009-10-24T21:29:00.001-04:00

It is funny how my counter hits go way up when I don't post. It is because Kiko keeps checking 29 times a day to see how we're doing.

'Puter

2009-10-24T00:23:00.003-04:00

My laptop broke. It is dead. It is an ex-laptop. (Does anyone remember the Dead Parrot skit?)

I haven't been doing a lot of blogging lately because the fairly new, fairly awesome desktop computer I have is upstairs in the office. And I have, you know, the two kids. If I pause in the office on the way downstairs in the mornings to do work or to blow a couple minutes reading a crafty blog about things I don't have time to make, they are hanging on my arm telling me how they're huuuuuuungry, or have to pee, or how they want to watch Max & Ruby doooooownstairs. Demanding little cusses. So down we all go, me having gotten one bill paid online if I'm lucky and NO CUTE PICTURES of the kids uploaded for you to admire.

I get them set up in front of the TV (judge all you want. It is a tool and I embrace it now. They got almost none before the age of two and a limited amount now) hit play on the DVR with the only current acceptable choice - Max & Ruby - and grab coffee and zip back upstairs. Gone are the days of Curious George love, Elmo appreciation, Barney curiosity. Only the cute little parentless bunnies will do now. I have a total of 4.8 minutes between segments before Pequita bellows, "Mooooooom, ADS!" like the commercials are going to jump out of the TV and force her to do something awful. Which is actually what happened, because she started to cut her dolls hair after seeing it done in an ad. So I run downstairs, fast forward through the ads, and come back upstairs to keep doing what I was doing. This happens over and over. Today, I ordered 3 Max & Ruby DVDs because I can't stand this anymore.

While Pequita can be counted on to sit on the couch and dress/undress/dress/undress her beloved Barbies while watching TV, some days Monito is feeling frisky and ventures off the couch. In the last week I've gone downstairs after my 4.8 minutes of televised babysitting to find him eating a stick of butter, playing with the jewel cases of my cds with all 800 cds splayed around him on the floor (note to self: investigate that iPod thing), trying to get himself a snack in the pantry by scaling a wall of shelves, and decorating a card to send to Grandpa with glitter glue in the living room. On the carpet.

Today at about 9:22 am I was just transferring money from one account to another so the mortgage payment on our rental house will be covered and both kids stomp upstairs, Pequita bearing a UPS box. Seems Monito had wanted to release his balloon into the air outside so it could fly to Grandpa's house. He let himself out the front door to do this, Pequita followed to monitor the launching. The UPS guy strolled up, gave them the package - I wonder if one of the kids signed for it? - and they brought it right up to me only because they couldn't get the tape off to open it themselves on the front lawn. Pequita took a few long minutes to relate this while Monito just jumped up and down in excitement about the package. She was very clear about the fact that she definitely THANKED the strange man who approached them with presents. When I stopped hyperventilating, we opened the box and played with the amazingly fun little wooden bits and pieces that will end up in their Christmas loot once I finish crafting it all. So I gave them cookies and play doh and parked them next to me on the upstairs side of the baby gate and ordered myself THIS for Christmas. It ain't fancy or expensive, but I can keep it downstairs and keep my kids from being abducted while I pay the cable bill. Homestead Mama will be thrilled to know that she doesn't have to buy me any more presents for the holidays.

I must point out, since many of you may not know me in real life, that NO ONE would accuse me of being a negligent or neglectful parent. I don't let the kids roam around dangerously unattended. Monito is in a developmental spurt that is changing the synaptic firings in is massive noggin (family trait, poor boy) and all the things I have been able to count on for the last 6 months or so have been rendered null and void. I am a tiny bit slow to accept this fact, but boy I'm on it now. And my new blogging tool, I mean netbook, will arrive in a few days and all will be right with the world.

I do have much to blog about, I'm just usually too tired to write it down after the kids go to bed and I've scraped the day off my kitchen table and picked the Hot Wheels out from between my toes. And really, the kids are cuter than ever.

It's What's For Dinner

2009-10-16T09:06:00.003-04:00

Most fun. Found here.

Snow Day

2009-10-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

Lots of excited screaming and running in circles at the sight of the first snow of the season. We slipped on rain boots over footed pajamas and frolicked outside for just a few minutes, coming in with bowls of snow to eat in front of the fire. When Pequita was an infant, she would cry for snow in a bowl, whacking her bowl and signing more when it emptied. Not much has changed.

I love the Northeast.

Gnocchi

2009-10-15T13:00:00.001-04:00

I am SO SURE that 'one serving' = the whole small pack of gnocchi that I'm not even going to check the wrapper.

Cold weather makes my head spin a bit, my friends.

Pequita

2009-10-12T11:37:00.001-04:00

My girl was three yesterday, on National Coming Out day. She is a force to be reckoned with. I love her with an undiluted passion. I am grateful every day for her.

Autumn

2009-10-09T14:44:00.000-04:00

I love this weather.

My parents are on their way. They'll be here for Pequta's birthday on Sunday.

Diaper Training

2009-10-05T22:15:00.002-04:00

This is what diaper training a boy looks like in our house. Easy access all the way. Who knew that when he snuck off to pee on his own (Yay!) the skirt would act as a funnel, stopping all the pee and sending it down the front of the toilet onto the floor. And that this drama would be reenacted with every shirt Monito owns? Gack. Back to peeing sitting down, if possible. And some clear caulk around the base of the toilet so the smell of urine isn't the FIRST thing one is hit with as they walk in the door. I'd rather it be carcass-covered dog; at least that is temporary.

Warmth

2009-10-05T22:07:00.002-04:00

It finally got cold enough for me to turn on the heat in our house. We heat the whole 2000 sf with a propane Jotul heater in the living room that looks just like a wood-burning stove, realistic logs and all; we have a slightly smaller back-up stove just like it on the second floor landing in the office but it never cycles on as the downstairs one is super efficient and heat rises.

I was preparing to lay down on the floor and reach up under the stove to light the pilot and get it started when a twitch caught my eye. This little beauty was curled up next to the hearth stone and the wall. Palpitations, and some startle and then I recovered and said, too loudly, "oh, how LUCKY we are to have a visit from this nice snake! Homestead Mama, could you get her OUTSIDE before I start the stove? She won't like the heat. Bay-bees, come seeeee the cute harmless snake! Want to pet it?" And then I panted away my adrenaline while the kids scared the snake with loving touches and it bit H-Mama a few times in irritation. (Tiny teeth, no harm done.)

I'm not afraid of them, but I don't want to be eye to eye with a snake unless I PLANNED it that way.

We carried on with our stove-lighting ritual of cookies and hot chocolate while it blazed it's glory into the night. I love my house, fauna and all.

Autumn = Gingerbread

2009-10-05T22:05:00.003-04:00

I don't do things by halves. This is a double recipe, with royal icing piped on for definition. Delicious. Monito's new best love, extra spicy gingerbread cookies. He likes the hammers best, Pequita loves the princess ones of course.

Fall Hiking

2009-10-05T21:35:00.003-04:00

When in doubt, go outside.

The kids are as invigorated by the weather change as I am. We are hiking a couple times a week, along the lake front where we can find driftwood and fish carcasses to talk about, in the woods where there are mushrooms and fairy houses to see, in our back 40 (or 10, which it actually is) where we track the bird nests which are full or empty depending on the season, the snake migrations and collect deer bones.

Last week we went to a nearby state park and walked part of the way around a large lake. It was a treat for us all, and the kids played with the mushrooms and gave me heart attacks as they wended their way on the path bordered by a steep drop off into the lake with a fair bit of skill. A picnic at our halfway point and then we retraced our steps. I used to feel it was very important to make it all the way around a path/ lake/ circuit so we had Accomplished Something, but when I listened to the needs of the kids we toned it down and did some delicious backtracking. They don't understand the accomplishment of 'finishing'. They revel in welcoming old friends, like the rotting log they just climbed on, the giant mushroom they buried in leaves and now uncover, sloshing through the same river they've already sloshed through. If I follow their lead there are so few complaints, so many joys, such easy learning and being.

I don't know as much as I think I do.

Not so much joy here as panic as Pequita almost dropped my beloved and god-awfully expensive digital camera. Her first photo shoot - not bad framing for a kid who'll be three this Sunday, eh?

Bedtime

2009-10-05T20:15:00.001-04:00

The kids are so rambunctious with each other right now that I am regularly pulling one off the other, separating them and sending them to separate couches/ benches/ car seats/ laps/ corners of the yard. Pequita likes to scream at the lightest of touches from her brother, trying to illicit a response from us. I am now garnering disapproving glares from the old ladies in the park when my response to her cries is, "Are you BLEEDING, honey?". Monito is more naughty at this point, and coupled with his orneriness is SUCH A TREAT.

The kids eat dinner and start to get increasingly nutsy and physical. It is a time of night that almost always results in tears and screaming. They are so tired and don't handle this transition well. No more. I have figured out that as they are crying as I get them into their jammies if I play a story on You Tube they willingly accept whatever bedtime prep I must inflict on them with an eerie calm and glassy stare. Brown Bear, Brown Bear followed by the Sound of Music hits the Antwerp train station, followed by the Pants-Free subway ride (more for Mama and I) finishing with So Long Farewell from the Sound of Music. All the while they are lolling on the beanbags in the office, which is on the landing/ hallway upstairs.

They are then pliable and snugly and go happily into our bed for stories, nursing with H-Mama and clutching - with no nursing - my dried up, less-full nye-nyes.

They willingly shift into their own bed and are off to sleep with ease.

It works for us.

Nothing is Sacred

2009-10-02T10:11:00.001-04:00

I just heard, "Mom! Me need 'nother bag!".

Oh oh.

I went in the living room to check it out. My industrious daughter had retrieved the adult scissors and was cutting her Barbie's hair. She had filled the ziplock bag with clippings, and wanted more storage. How long until it is her own head, I wonder? They see me cut my own hair all the time.

Om

2009-09-22T16:20:00.006-04:00

Yoga was awesome again this morning. I want to do it every day. Hmm - some crazy people do. Even 6 am hot Bikram yoga, like I said I might start doing.

Come to find out, the very same muscles that enable me to toss a 40-lb kid above my head repeatedly and wear both of them at the same time on my back & shoulders while I prance about town have rendered me almost unable to clasp my hands together and lift my arms behind me like this:
Clearly I will need remedial help in the shoulder-stretching department. I would rather look like yoga chick up there than this:

I have no idea how to make my arms loosen up. I'll have to ask my instructor to suggest some poses that I can breathe into in between scraping Play-Doh out of my hair and removing the tractor toy from my thigh. My kids never let me entirely forget they are RIGHT THERE WITH ME in yoga class. Today they convinced all the other toddlers to share their foam yoga blocks and build a barn for Pequita's pink plastic unicorn with the sparkly mane and tail. It was the hit of the yoga studio, as its feet and horn light up when you press a button on it. The other moms near me just breathed into our respective downward dogs and smiled.

I really liked ignoring the kids to the song Navah Shivayah from this album which was played at one point. The heavy drumming makes it easy to drown out all but the most persistent calls for 'Mommy!' I may buy it for motivation to yogify in my own home. The kids liked it as well, and took time out from their play to dance a bit when it came on. A little more yoga and meditation exposure and maybe we'll all be more calm. And perhaps we'll cobble together a 'spiritual practice' that works for us after all; the children already have a favorite Hindu deity, but that is a no-brainer. Ganesha is part elephant, after all.

Triumph

2009-09-21T14:43:00.001-04:00

My children are drawn to Triumphs, just like their mum. They wanted to ride in it. Maybe once their college is paid for I'll get the MG of my dreams.

Why oh Why?

2009-09-21T12:07:00.001-04:00

Pequita, She Who Must Be Watched as each feat of physical prowess is executed, chatters and sings constantly. I thought this was the most frustrating toddler affectation. I was wrong.
My boy has sadly begun the journey of Why, Mommy?

Where going, Mommy?
Why Buttermilk Park, Mommy?
Why hike, Mommy?
Stella come, Mommy?
Why no Stella, Mommy?
Why colds, Mommy?
Why snot and sneezing, Mommy?
Why germs, Mommy?
Why be quiet, Mommy?
Why irritable, Mommy?
Why headache, Mommy?
Why thumping head on car window, Mommy?

I believe it might be a long year.

Partners

2009-09-21T12:04:00.001-04:00

Sadly, they are partners in CRIME. Illicit use of adult scissors.

Pregnancy

2009-09-16T11:30:00.004-04:00

Pequita spends a great deal of her time being pregnant, in labor and nursing her new babies. Then they get a taste of real world living and spend hours in time outs for rule infractions.

Yesterday we found a lovely hard plastic unicorn whose hooves and horn light up and make a magic sound when you push a button. I actually bought it to try to help her fend off the wicked witches, monsters and other scary beings that are constantly following her around trying to get in her house/room/car.

Today, the unicorn was in utero for a long time, which can't have been comfortable as it is quite pokey with the hooves and horn and all.

Then, there was an extended labor due to the aforementioned pokey issues.

And the happy Mommy immediately after birth, nursing her new child.

She's a loving kid.

Supervision

2009-09-16T09:47:00.006-04:00

The brief interlude of unsupervised children roaming the house is over.

In the beginning, they were potatoes and unable to do anything but poop and cry, and oh! how they worked to perfect their few skills.

Then came the crawling/walking time and gates were closed, rooms were shut off, stairs were guarded, and all small objects were put away.

Recently, we've had a little plateau of development during which we could mostly trust that the established patterns would be followed, there was a lot of ritualization in their daily play and I could do things like stay upstairs for a few minutes while the kids roamed the house because I knew that Monito would be downstairs making a mess with the glass gems and Pequita would be studiously working on her three favorite puzzles.

That is all over. The recent sleep disruptions, shifts in nursing, and massive growth have heralded another new stage and I now cannot trust them at all. They are developing a true ability for subterfuge and sneaky behavior. They like to be read stories about naughty kids, dolls spend most of the day in time outs, and I find the kids hunkered down in cozy secret spots they've carved out in the bottom of a cupboard, created out of a pile of previously clean, folded laundry or covered a corner up with a blanket and made into a fort. I peek in expecting the usual excitement at my presence and get a hand waving in my face and a kid yelling, "No, Mom. Pivacy! Pivacy!" as they try to hide the real or perceived contraband from discovery.

The cookie jar has been breached enough times that it is on an upper shelf in the pantry.

Baby gates are back in regular use so we at least know what part of the house they are in. This morning I came downstairs to this sight.

Monito wanted to watch the Teletubbie DVD, and had found it and was reaching for the DVD player. He had already tried to use the dollhouse as a stool, and the sound of it tumbling over was what brought me downstairs. This is one reason we invested in a massive TV cabinet; I don't like to have a big black TV eye watching us all the time, but also to block it from young kids.

Moment later, I heard him running back and forth repeatedly from living room to kitchen. This always bodes poorly. I peeked in on him and found every single cloth rag in a pile on a mess he made. I cracked up, because he had spilled a tablespoon of milk.

I can invoke the drill sergeant, and I am teaching them to march behind me in line because it amuses me and they think it is fun. Next we'll start sounding off, but that will be another day.

Yoga

2009-09-15T21:15:00.003-04:00

I got an email a few weeks ago about a family yoga class starting up and JUMPED at the chance. I joined the YMCA a couple years ago and ended up canceling the membership because the kids wouldn't tolerate the FREE DAYCARE that came with it. I am always trying to find some time for my own thoughts, self-care and brain- and body-improving activities in amongst our busy days of being a family.

We had our first Mom & Tot yoga class this morning. We were actually on time at 9 am downtown; the kids enjoyed their goldfish crackers for breakfast in the car. I had them both dressed in leggings and a t-shirt and at the last minute Pequita disappeared upstairs on some imperative errand. She reappeared having yanked on a purple gymnastics singlet on over her big shirt and leggings and declared it her 'yoga suit'. Oh-kay. Cute as a badly-dressed button.

The kids experienced a bit of trepidation as is there style with new things these days, but our instructor Amy has a young kid of her own and was really warm and friendly. We spent an hour in a safe warm room full of 9 moms and 13 kids from 3 weeks old to 4 years. Amy stressed that the kids will follow along if they want to, and the adults should just to do the yoga. I was able to do about 75% of the class, which was a huge and pleasant surprise. Pequita did several of the poses next to me on her own purple mat; Monito sat on me for many poses but chose not to use his own mat at all except for building a mammoth building with the foam yoga blocks. Nothing like using Mom as a slide while she's in a downward facing dog for exercise. I did the plank pose with 80 lbs of toddler on me. I want a prize, because I held the pose for 8 breaths like that. My prize seems to be that I kept up fairly well and was still pretty limber and strong despite not setting foot in a gym for years.

I was so grateful for the safe, chaotic, toddler-friendly yoga space that I gushed a bit to the instructor and her husband, a fellow instructor, before leaving. It was the attachment-parenting exercise class. I will sign up for every series they offer. I may get fit yet.

Can't get enough

2009-09-15T18:18:00.000-04:00

My new love. Kids don't really like it, little heathens. More for me!

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Mom

2009-09-13T17:42:00.002-04:00

Sometime in the last two days I have become known as 'Mom'. I started out as Mimi, and that morphed into Mommy. Both kids call me Mom now and I don't register it yet - they end up calling out their mutated version of my given name to get my attention after I've ignored their cries for Mom several times.

I am just not ready for this. It feels like any minute I'm going to start hearing the withering, "Oh, Mom!" with enough attitude to curdle my soul.

Pippi

2009-09-12T09:55:00.003-04:00

Pequita and Monito are both in love with "Old Pippi", which means the original Swedish TV series instead of the new Hollywood abomination. We tell Pippi stories and I've learned all 12 verses of the theme song, which I belt out in the car on a regular basis.

I wanted to sew a quilt with patches of Pippi on it for them and can't find any of the fabric in this country, even though I can see things made from it. Then I found the Swedish licensed products - a veritable wealth of all things Pippi. No importing info to America. How annoying that I have a hard time NOT buying my children things with [shudder] Spongebob on them but can't find Pippi who is immeasurably less annoying.

Radiator Love

2009-09-07T10:01:00.001-04:00

If I had radiators, I'd have wool covers. These are too gorgeous.
http://www.cookiemag.com/magazine/blogs/nesting/2009/09/as-seen-on-lotta-bruhn.html

Making Do

2009-09-04T10:53:00.001-04:00

The dog ate my shoe laces. Really. I needed to wear my modified shoes (I have a fused ankle) because we'll be walking all day at the STATE FAIR. The kids are so excited. We are bringing our fab neighbors and Auntie Kiko with us.

No shoelaces to be found in the house so I pilfered the toy chest and came up with a good solution. The strings from the lacing game the kids have are the perfect length. And so jazzy with all the color!

Good News

2009-09-03T10:15:00.002-04:00

My hcg levels are down from last week's 300ish to 16. *That* is why I've been feeling more sane and stable. Phew! No more methotrexate!

Alone in a Crowd

2009-09-02T20:54:00.001-04:00

I have come out for drinks with my friends - Homestead Mama is sitting in the nursery protecting the kids from 'horns' while they fall asleep. I arrived first and am sitting alone in a nice bar sipping malbec with great music playing and am so profoundly sad. I think that since I'm not meditating much (at all) or in therapy or wallowing in free time, anything I haven't worked through wells up in times where I have extra psychic space. Good, I guess. But sad. I'll have a wonderful time once my friends are here - they are amazing women. But I'm sure the funky lights look lovely reflected in my shining eyes.

Apple Picking

2009-09-02T16:03:00.001-04:00

More like apple grazing. We arrived at the orchard hungry, ate our weight in apples, blackberries & raspberries and had nothing in our bags to pay for 2 hours later when we left the orchard except for 6 arguably ripe, partially squashed berries that Monito thoughtfully insisted on bringing home for Mama. We shall serve them to her with cream and a flourish befitting the effort it took for him not to eat them himself.

On a side note, I can't believe I'm still hauling both kids around on my back. They are about 80 lbs combined. In a do-over, we might have chosen a more petite donor. Whoof!

Gewels

2009-09-01T14:56:00.002-04:00

Pequita's 'gewels'. The 'J' sound is elusive for both kids. We drink a lot of guice, too.

Pippi

2009-09-01T09:23:00.001-04:00

She was asking for Pippi Longstocking hair. I had pipe cleaners. No brainer. She is most impressed with the ability to bend them straight for Pequita hair OR Pippify herself with a simple bend.

Goldfinger

2009-08-31T00:16:00.002-04:00

I was resting on the couch while the rest of the family was upstairs napping today. Goldfinger was on, and I was waking up for the Pussy Galore scenes and drowsing off for the rest of the movie. And then I was jolted awake by the sound of screeching metal on the TV. Other parents of young kids will attest to the fact that it is impossible to pass a backhoe, garbage truck, field of cows or any other number of items that are high on the toddler hit parade without needing to point and yell, "Look honey!". It is most embarrassing when you are out in public without your kids and are caught grinning madly and waving at the beer-bellied fellow in the cab of the front end loader for no apparent reason.

Well, the screech in the movie was the scene where Odd Job, Mr. Goldfinger's assistant, drives a car into a metal scrap yard and it is picked up by a massive claw, swung over acres of junked cars into a compactor and then crushed into a small metal cube the size of a dishwasher. It is then picked up by a giant magnet, swung back over the acre of cars, and placed gently into the back of a pickup and driven away by Odd Job.

I recognized the gold standard of toddler joy and recorded the movie. When Monito and Pequita woke up I fast forwarded to the scene and then showed them the clip. Monito clapped and screamed MORE! We watched the scene four times with no less excitement. I got good at stopping the DVR right before Odd Job shoves a body into the car's trunk - I was pretty sure that would be hard to explain. As 007 says, he had a 'pressing engagement'.

Baby Got Back

2009-08-30T21:26:00.002-04:00

I had a funny post all written about Monito's diaper-free exploits and potty training and figuring out what the social rules are about a few things when I realized that RIGHT THERE is the line I won't cross on a public blog. Nice to know I have a line!

I have started editing out nudity in pics of the kids and intend to go back through all the archives (sigh) and pull any naked pics after a particularly unsettling episode of Law & Order. Yeah, laugh away, but it emphasized something that I've felt nervous about all along. But stories related with no photo op can apparently render me squeamish too. Hmm. Watch out, all you folks who read the blog and also visit in real life. I've got some funny gross stories that will have you in stitches.

The Hunger

2009-08-30T21:10:00.002-04:00

Monito is growing. He is already huge, but he eats everything in front of him and asks for more. Homestead Mama was taking the kids upstairs for naps today and Monito was trailing her up the stairs. He kept seeing things in the kitchen and saying, "Mommy! No eat all goldfish crackers! No eat all neckarines! No eat all miwk! No eat all oatmeal!". Each statement delivered with earnestness. I'd like to point out that while I may sneak ice cream when they have gone to bed I really haven't given him reason to worry I'm going to empty the kitchen like a scourge of locusts. He really is just saying goodbye to his favorite foods while he sleeps. And clearly planning what he wants for dinner when he wakes up.

I made one of my favorite meals from childhood tonight and the kids gobbled it up. My mom, from Michigan, called it 'Mince'. Fry chopped onions up in a large pan, toss in ground bison meat (this was hamburger when I was a kid, but we only eat bison these days) and cook through. Stir in diced carrots, peas and corn or some medley of your kids fave veggies. Serve over mashed potatoes. We had a side of cooked beets tossed in balsamic vinegar and fresh thyme. Kids cleaned their plates, as did we.

Homestead Mama and I realized that we have totally slacked on an important lesson - our kids do not know how to make a moat out of mashed potatoes and then let rivers of gravy wind down to their food. We will soon have a roast turkey with gravy and remedy this flaw in their gastronomic education. Smocks and drop cloths all around, I expect. Night where we have sanctioned food play get a little raucous but are some of the jolliest.

Sneaky

2009-08-28T20:19:00.002-04:00

I was busy upstairs this morning dismantling the dog crate that remained set up in our dressing room solely for the kids to play in. (We had taken the door off, so its not like we ever locked them in there.) As always, the kids were playing near me, Monito at my feet and Pequita in the office. I heard my bedroom door shut and Monito ran to it and knocked - his sister said 'come in!' He left my room. Soon I hear lots of giggling and laughing.

One of my basic rules is that if I can hear both kids and there is no screaming, they are probably ok. Parents know - when there is silence bad things are happening. So I'm feeling confident that things are fine and I finish collapsing the kennel. I head out into the other room where, lo and behold, both kids are eating a tollhouse cookie at 8 am. Suppressing my first 6 instinctive responses, I say "Mmmm, those look good." They nod vigorously and keep chewing. Pequita gets her sly look and tells me, "Mommy. Pequita go downtairs (sic) and climb up and get own cookie. Den I came uptairs (sic) and eat cookie. Bubba see my cookie and he go get Bubba *own* cookie.". Grin. I asked, how did my bedroom door get closed? My daughter said, "I closed door so Mommy not see me eat cookie."

There you have it. Subterfuge and deception at less thaan 3 years old. Her brother was all too happy to go along. What in the world am I up against?

Fuschia - the New Black

2009-08-27T10:41:00.000-04:00

My unbelievably satisfying new shirt, pink and fuschia stripes. And to think, I used to wear almost all black and grey.

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