5 Minutes For Mom is hosting a Summer Fun Photo Contest. Grand prize? 500 bucks! My entry is M doing the classic summer kid pastime – climbing a tree. Wish me luck!
magpie
Mushy-mama
I can’t even begin to describe how much I love her (and her new “say cheese!” face):
Wearing a dress my mother made (and hand-smocked) for me 29 years ago.
Dear Maggie
As I stare down the barrel of your second birthday, there have been many times lately that I wanted to capture the seesaw of pure joy and angry frustration that you are these days. This won’t do justice to the real-life you but here is some of what you’ve been up to lately:
You are a climber. You climb the outside of your crib, the footboard of the guest bed, anything at the playground, and all the furniture.
You wail at the top of your lungs over major injustices such as putting your food in the microwave to heat up.
If we are in the car for more then 10 minutes you will take off your shoes.
You love to laugh when other people are laughing. When you hear a laugh-track on TV or the radio you unleash a belly-laugh, too.
You are generous with hugs and kisses. You run full-throttle at daddy and me to give us big hugs. You love giving kisses, especially on our noses.
You love to draw and color.
You know all the colors in your rainbow book.
You love making animal sounds.
You can kind-of sing the ABC’s. You know the first 7 letters for sure; from then on it’s hit and miss.
You love singing your own little songs when in your carseat.
You are obsessed with the “Cool Tricks” segment on Yo Gabba Gabba.
When we ask you to shake your dupa you spread your legs wide and shake your hips Elvis-style.
You are 100% a water-baby. You are attracted to water like nothing else. There have been several times this summer when watering the tomatoes ends with a drenched, fully clothed Magpie. We just installed a hand-held shower in the bathtub so you can take showers and you love it!
You have perfected the skill of going limp during a tantrum.
You love to try new foods and will taste just about anything we put in front of you.
Your concept of sharing is that if you want something all you have to do is shout “Share!” then you are free to grab it.
You like to kiss my and daddy’s “ouchies” to make them “all better!”
You can melt my heart when you say “tank too, mama!” after I hand you something as simple as a spoon.
Tomato Bandit
The first year in our previous house I tried to grow tomatoes; it was a sad attempt in a very shady lot and by the October frost we had a harvest of 2 mealy fruits. When we moved to this house in December one of my first habits was watching the sun patterns to see if I could try my farming skills out here. Luckily we have great sun in our back yard and I started dreaming of my bountiful harvest of juicy homegrown tomatoes. Our neighbors have a Black Walnut tree on the property line so I opted for using planters on the porch and in early May I purchased 5 beautiful plants from the Farmer’s Market.
Now, they are about 5 feet tall and going like gangbusters and we will soon have dozens of Sun Sugar cherries, Vintage Wine heirlooms, Yellow Pear heirlooms, Dr. Wyche Yellow heirlooms, and Sun Gold cherry tomatoes.
That is if the tomato bandit that is my child leaves any of them on the plant long enough to ripen. When we play outside I’m in constant vigil near the three pots as my 3-foot high tomato snatcher goes in for any fruit that is even remotely turned color. She pops them in her mouth then spits out the not yet ripened prize. If we win our tomato battles we will soon have a great harvest.
Long weekend “staycation”
I hate that word – “staycation”, but with new jobs and a lack of vacation time we aren’t going anywhere this summer. With the long weekend we had a great time hanging around our house and hitting a couple of local attractions.
On Friday we went to a picnic at my boss’s house (she’s a good friend, too). Saturday we hit this really cool free tour of the Veterans Memorial Bridge and Subway and the awesome Westside Market. On Sunday we headed east to Chagrin Falls for lunch and sites in this quaint little town. In between we hung out in the back yard with Maggie’s new climber and wading pool – we didn’t neglect the “family nap” either.
We had a great time!
Boob Tube
A few questions for the Noggin Network* (with apologies to any reader who doesn’t have toddlers).
Little Bear
Why is Little Bear naked while Father Bear and Mother Bear are always decked out in elaborate three-piece suits and full gowns?
What’s up with Uncle Rusty? First, shouldn’t his name be “Uncle Bear” …how come he gets a proper name but no one else does? Also, is he a swinger or something? Why, when the other adult bears are in full, formal attire does he get to run around in bib overalls with no shirt and a kerchief around his neck? Does he have a swingers party to attend later?
Since when does a bear need a fishing pole to catch a fish?
Emily is a bit of a controlling brat.
Where did Mitzi come from? A monkey in the middle of the woods frolicking with bears and owls and ducks? A cat is enough of a stretch, but a monkey – get real!
Max & Ruby
What parent in thier right mind would leave their child with Ruby? Even if she is Max’s sister, she’s not all there. Max hides behind a potted plant during hide and seek and Ruby can’t find him; she lets him take ice cream in the bathtub several times, creating a mess each time; she allows a toddler who only speaks a few words to go to the grocery store BY HIMSELF; she ignores him while she invites her own friends over to play, and she’s not bright enough to tell when Max has swapped out his monster toys for her dolls. I don’t know about you, but those are all qualities I look for in a baby-sitter. Besides, just where is their mother? The only adult ever around is their grandmother. If I had a daughter like Ruby I guess I would be hiding away somewhere boozing up, too.
Lazy Town
Um, WTF????
Oobi
Other than the annoying voices I kind of like this one
The Upside Down Show
For the love of god, please film some more episodes! If I have to hear the “very hairy” song again or hear about the “shirsday smarty” one more time my ears are going to explode. And why do David and Shane always have to be doing something FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME?
I think I need a hobby.
*disclaimer – M really doesn’t watch that much TV, mostly just Sesame Street while we are preparing dinner. Noggin does however make it’s way on the tube a couple of times a week when we are in need of some downtime.
Spring Sprung
Um…Hi!
Please forgive my lack of posting this week. It is finally not gray and cold outside and we spent the majority of our free time during the last week frolicking in the out-of-doors. It’s been a looooong winter and it’s been a blast watching M re-discover what awaits her outside. She has already de-flowered all of the crocus in the yard, which is really my fault since I picked one to show it to her up close. We found a small, child-sized rake in the garage of the new house and she busies herself “helping” clean out the flower beds. And the girl loves to dig in the dirt. She makes a bee-line for a patch of garden bed next to the garage as soon as she’s outside and settles down to dig, dig, dig.
As for walking, we have been taking daily family walks in the neighborhood. We usually do this sans-stroller as M prefers to run free for the mile or so we walk. The upside is that she gets totally worn out and sleeps like a champ for 12+ hours every night and her naps are up to 1 ½ – 3 hours. The down side is that it can take forever and we end up carrying her a small part of the way. Either way it means I have to do a little less time on the treadmill in the dark, boring basement. Now that the weather has broken I hope to get outside for some post-bedtime walks just to break things up a little.
Finally, this weekend I had an uncontrollable urge to be a 1950s housewife, apparently. I really wanted to bake some bread so I whipped up a nice loaf of cinnamon-swirl bread along with some standard white bread. Both were made with ½ white flour and ½ whole wheat flour since I ran out of the white – oops! The house smelled heavenly and the bread is fantastic. Then, I had planned to do a lemon-garlic roast chicken but the nice weather (70 degrees!) was calling so I went to the park with the fam instead. Oh well, I will roast the chicken later this week – I guess my quest to be the perfect homemaker fell a little short. The fine patina of dog hair that covers everything in the house will also attest to this failure.
Rotten Raisins
What did you do this weekend? Celebrate Easter?…Maybe enjoyed some family time? Me – I fed my child rotten raisins. Apparently you should store raisins in the refrigerator. I need to jot that in my instruction book.
This weekend we were running a bit low on pantry staples and we were out of most of M’s usual snacks. No worries, though as there was a canister of raisins at the back of the cupboard. She had a few for her morning snack, which was less then her usual handful after handful. After a lunch of cheese, mandarin oranges, bread and milk she was off to her crib to take a nap. Which meant it was time for my weekend nap, too. Apparently at some point M got fussy so Mark went in and settled her on his chest while he laid on the chaise lounge in her bedroom. Cut to me waking up from REM sleep to the shouts of “Honey!” I jump up trying to figure it out; since I didn’t know Mark was in M’s room, I run around trying to find him. I finally open the bedroom door and am hit with the unmistakeable smell of vomit and the sight of Mark laying there, covered in cheese, mandarin oranges, bread, milk and bile and he’s holding M up above him. The poor guy got it all…not a drop was to be found outside of his shirt. I couldn’t help but laugh.
M has never been a puker. Even as an infant she rarely spit up. In her 18 months I think she has only puked 3 times. So we were worried. But M was fine and dandy. No fever, playing as normal, has an appetite, etc. So a few hours later we decide to go check out a possible new car (the VW Passat Wagon, if you are wondering). We get to within a few blocks of the dealership and M coughs in the backseat. Just as I think to myself, “gesh I hope she doesn’t blow again” I turn to see chunks tumbling from her mouth. Make that vomit count 4.
After we clean her up and turn to head home, I realize that as we were getting ready to leave the house M ate the remaining 3 raisins out of the the snack bowl from the morning. When we got home I checked the raisin canister – written distinctly on the side is “Keep Refrigerated”. I opened the lid and took a whiff to find the distinct smell of fermentation.
Don’t worry, I’ll be at the awards ceremony to pick up my mother of the year award. What should I wear for the red carpet?
Also – anyone have any tips to get the vomit smell out of car seat straps?
Ka-Ka-Ka-Katy 