Have you been waiting to hear how Wren’s dance recital went this spring? Well, it was a disaster. I ruminate on the whole experience today over at Moonfrye. Check out my piece, “A Dance Lesson for Mama.”
Moonfrye is Soleil Moon Frye’s site. You know, Punky Brewster… eeeeeeeeeeek!
Lovelies, big things are happening in our nest this week. Enter carrots and panties! Wren is so excited that she tells random people in the store or while walking down the sidewalk, “Phoebe Jane is eating solid foods now!” quickly followed by, “and I’m wearing panties!” I kind of feel for the unassuming middle-aged man in the grocery store, carefully choosing his shredded cheese. All of a sudden there is an ebullient little girl at his heels squealing, “I’m wearing panties now!!!!” I just smile and keep walking. Oh, wait, is that my child…
I’m always thrilled when a baby begins the journey into solid foods, one of life’s greatest adventures and joys. Phoebe seems to have taken to it really well, slurping up carrots and pears with gusto. Our doctor thought this might help her sleep a longer stretch at night. Ha ha ha. So far this has not proven to have helped one lick (oh man, that was a pretty bad pun), but it’s so fun to have such a sweet spirit with us at the dinner table anyway. Big adventures, lovelies! Happy weekend.
You think you’re protecting your child from the pop culture wasteland by not watching TV or subscribing to trashy magazines. But I guess you just can’t protect them from everything. Case in point: Wren is really into pulling her shirt down and making a flashy, strapless “dress,” walking around with a glass of “beer” (apple juice) and saying she’s “going to a fancy party, see ya later.” Wait a second here little lady, I never even get invited to fancy parties or have anything that remotely resembles this “dress,” ouch!
Watch out world, we’ve got ourselves a true party animal.
Happy March, lovelies. The strangest winter in northern Michigan continues its stretch of dreary, Slurpee-like conditions. Boo! But I have been determined to make an ice garland for our porch since last winter when I saw Two Chicks and a Hen’s ice garland and wanted to do something similar. I finally seized the day earlier this week when it was warm enough to be outside for a while with my two little birdies and make it AND cold enough overnight for the pieces to freeze. Yessss! But. Quickly the needle rose from 22 to 40 and the ice began to melt again before we could hang it up. Enter my parental improv skills! Because really, without improvisation, my parenting would be pretty lacking. It mostly consists of sugar bribes, empty threats, lots of creative messes and snuggles. With some Montessori-based living skills thrown in. Side note: my kid can cut with scissors and sharpen her own pencils, but I’m still negotiating getting those %$%^@!# poopy diapers off with a bucket of Halloween (!) candy. Sigh.
Oh yeah, the ice garland.
So we filled a bunch of muffin tins with water and practiced color mixing with drops of food coloring, took a bunch of fishing line and some (lead-free) weights to keep the line in the muffin holes and left them to freeze.
But when I lifted the lines to hang up, the ice chunks slid down, and they came crashing off. Wren looked at me and my inner voice said “shit!” but my outer voice said, “Let’s put the colored ice in jars and see how beautiful the colors are that you made!” Score.
And she sprinkled them with glitter too because, well, she’s REALLY into glitter right now. But there was quite a bit of colored liquid left in the tins… so we painted the snow!
And then Wren wanted to make a cho-cho train with the pieces… you go, girl!
And in the end, we had a few still stuck on a string we could hang up “for the cardinals” who like to find shelter in this bush.
In the end there was no real blog-worthy ice garland, but there were lessons learned in the power of attitude, enjoying the moment and the importance of improvisation. And beauty in the unknown, as you pour out the hopeful remains. It’s all gone today, washed away with more schlippity schlop out there, but we got to talk again about melting and freezing and there were lots of whys and wheres and whats and sparkles in her eyes with a new understanding of permanence as she tried to reassure me, “well, they’ll probably be back tomorrow, Mama. It’s OK!”
Who
That’s right, Wren. Two going on fourteen. Many people (including strangers who interact with us for less than two minutes in the grocery store) have said to us, “wow, you’re in for it.” I’m not sure exactly what that means, but we’re hoping that she’s just getting some of her teenage behavior out of the way now. Hey you, I can hear you laughing at me. Stop that! Oof. Ahem.
Does this ring true for your two year old girl too? Thoughts, anyone? Are we really “in for it?”
Wren loves it that I’m under-the-weather with mastitis because she is VERY into playing doctor. Ever since she attended a lot of my OB appointments when I was pregnant with Phoebe, she has shown a daily interest in all things medical-related. She takes her doctor work very seriously. I’m thinking we ought to eat out more often at the hospital cafeteria a few blocks away! Man, does she love the cafeteria and walking through the hospital corridors…they actually have a decent salad bar, but when’s the last time you tried to negotiate a salad bar with a toddler and infant in tow? Yeah.
It’s interesting to me how as a well-meaning parent I carefully chose toys for Wren (ergonomic, organic, well-designed, wood, educational, blah blah…) and then instead she grabs a little suitcase and fills it with random things, calls it a “doctor bag” and proceeds to give check-ups. That being said, my Mom gave her a pretend doctor kit with some tools and a jacket for Christmas and she knew what it was right away. And was over-the-moon excited about it. Need a check-up? Come by anytime, the doctor will surely see you.
Our sweet Phoebe Jane is now two weeks old. She’s doing really well and we’re all (slowly) adjusting to our new life of FOUR. Four piles of clean–but wrinkled–clothes. Four mouths to feed. Four people to keep happy, healthy, rested and entertained. But other parts of life are more exponential: there are a lot more than four “beautiful” messes around the house, sets of dirty dishes, leaves left to rake and rotting pumpkins to do something with, phone calls and e-mails to return and thank-you notes to write (sorry!). Like a friend and I were discussing today, it’s not that things really get that much easier as you adjust to life with a new baby, but you eventually adjust to a new version of “normal.” Eventually…
In this transition time, we’ve been blessed with lots of wonderful meals. Really, this is a huge help because the witching hour of 6 rolls around and just when you think you’ve got everything under control, the baby spits up all over you and her, your two year old is melting down because her blood sugar is low and you won’t let her watch another minute of Dora (is it just me, or is Dora incredibly annoying?) and she wants to nurse TOO and just then, your tired and hungry husband walks in from a long day of work to this scene. Oof. Thank goodness there is a meal in the oven that a thoughtful friend made or else the wheels really would fly off! All FOUR.
But looking at that sweet baby puts it all into perspective, one mountain of clothes at a time. And lots of deep breathing and strong coffee…
I’m excited to share that I’m a guest blogger again today for Soleil Moon Frye’s site, Moonfrye. Still pinching myself because Punky was one of my childhood heroes and here I am, sharing my thoughts about being a new parent on her site. Really?! Check it out here. I wrote a piece about never saying never… ever had a similar experience? Yeah, I thought so.
I’ve been reading a lot lately about ideas for welcoming a new baby into your family and thinking about how to best prepare Wren for her new little birdie friend. There is a great discussion on preparing siblings for the birth of a new baby with lots of different ideas over at Design Mom that have inspired some of my thoughts. One simple thing someone shared was to have a small gift for the sibling FROM the baby and I thought this was a great idea. So I went downtown today to one of my favorite shops and found a cuddly, sweet little bear for Wren that will be given to her when she visits us in the hospital. Soon!
Have any traditions in your nest when you welcome a new baby home, lovelies?
It’s been a very LONG week full of very LONG days, with the little birdie overflowing with tantrums and with me, not having much energy or patience to deal with them. I am trying to be grateful. For where we are. Here. Right now. But it is hard…
Breaking news! Since I wrote the beginning of this post, I have taken the little birdie to the pediatrician after she very clearly complained of her ear hurting (“Mama, my ear hurts.”) Diagnosis? Ear infection! Ah-haaaaaa. I’ve never been so glad to hear that my child is sick. Isn’t that a terrible thing to say (err, write?) Of course, I’m not really grateful that she’s sick, but I’m grateful that we have an explanation for her (crazy!) behavior this week. And I’m so very grateful that she can clearly communicate most things to me.
Oh, little birdie, I am so grateful for you. Get better soon.
