Biggish changes around here. We have some new little ones living with us (more on that soon), I am going to start using Flickr to host my images, and I am, obviously, playing with the site design. I like this current one better than the old one but am not loving certain things like the fact that most of each post gets put under a fold and I can’t figure out how to get my own banner up…
What do you think? Better, worse? Close to great but still some work to do?
When L was littler I longed for the days she was old enough to just hang out with me at art museums and cafes and such. Those days are here and she is a great and thoughtful and fun companion on all sorts of adventures. But, now we are, honestly, slowed down by A who is not yet 2 years old. This week, however, L had no school and I had only my online class to teach (my other summer course doesn’t start until June) and so yesterday with A watched over by the babysitter, L and I headed out.
First to the art museum. We went through pretty fast but mostly because all but one of the exhibits were there the last time we visited. It was a nice quiet way to start our day. Especially because our next stop had the potential for chaos. At her recent dentist appointment, L had no cavities and so got choice of gift certificate. The one she picked was to an indoor “jumpy place.” Now, there are three things that L really truly loves. In order they are: dinosaurs, astronomy and jumpy things. By jumpy things I mean those big inflatable rooms people rent out for festivals or street fairs or other events when be-socked children jump and slide inside until either they are dragged out by their ankles against their will or sustain a minor head injury. Turns out there is a huge indoor jumpy place in town…who knew?
We were the only ones there. This place was a dressed up warehouse with 7 or so gigantic inflatable deals. None had been inflated outside and so they were all pretty clean. In fact the whole place was so clean I am pretty sure we were the first visitors ever. Her certificate gave her unlimited jumping time but she only lasted 40 minutes before she got hungry and tired. It was a great (free!) experience. Parents are allowed to jump, slide, etc along with their kids so I did even though that sort of thing makes me feel like a total goon even when no one can see me. I didn’t like how loud it was, however: each jumpy thing had its own little fan and generator and there was really loud early 80’s tunes blasting (including, and I am so not kidding, “Jump” by Van Halen. “Listen,” I told L, “They say we might as well jump!”).
Then we were off to a favorite diner for lunch. French fries and milk and a chocolate sundae and she was a happy, happy kid. And I was a pretty happy kid, too.
What teeny adventures have found you lately?
It is a good thing we have decided to stop at two children because a third one would make me an invalid. I was rarely sick before L was born; a cold here or there but nothing much. After she was born I got colds more frequently. In the almost year and a half since A was born I have gotten every cold going around and each one has wiped me out. I have been sick for over two weeks now, first with this awful stomach flu that was going around (I have never had the flu as an adult) and now with a lingering head cold. I blame it on fatigue, stress and also preschool germs.
Needless to say my house has been a bit messier than usual. And, that is pretty messy because I don’t go in much for housework. Our house isn’t dirty but messy if you know what I mean. Ever since moving out at 17 every place I have lived has been cluttered: piles of books, clothes, mail, etc. Add two kids under 5 and you add more laundry everywhere and scraps of paper, legos, apple cores, tiny socks and crayons littering the landscape.
Yesterday while L was at school and A was napping I was in on the computer getting some work done. I ventured out for something to drink and noticed a kid created trail snaking through the house. It was comprised of the following:
wooden cash register, several play dollars, empty plastic bowl, play chef’s hat, plastic cup with straw, notepad, pretend ice cream cone, cat puppet, blue lego, hairbrush, photograph, one of my shirts taken from my room and used to dust furniture, another play dollar, another plastic bowl, cloth napkin, play kitchen knife, doll stroller with doll riding up-side-down, kids shirt, 2 kids books, another lego, another cloth napkin, decorated toilet paper roll, magazine…
I stopped at this point because it was a tad depressing. This was just three rooms. I spend a lot of time picking all this stuff up but I mostly ignore it. Everything does have its place here but everything is also fair game for imaginative play. I much prefer them wearing cloth napkins on their heads as babushkas and dragging stuff into another room to build a submarine than having them obsess over some gimmicky, plasticky branded toy (and they have some of those, too, because, well, they do have grandparents).
My house is a mess and my kids are ragamuffins: mismatched clothes, messy hair, faces smeared in yogurt…but, on mornings like this, when we get up early enough to enjoy hours before it gets too hot to move (94 degrees yesterday), when I am ahead on reviews and the beginning of summer term went smoothly, when L and I finish a chapter book over tea and I get to listen to a bit of the morning news on the radio the mess and the piles don’t bother me much at all.
I admit I have very little energy to blog lately. This spring has not been as springy as I would’ve liked. But, the garden is (mostly) in, the days are (mostly) sunny and I am (just about) ready to start a new term. I have review books through June and recently did an author interview. I think I will be back in the swing of things soon. In the meantime here are some (but not all) of the things I have been reading and writing about.
Various short reviews in print and also online.
Belong to Me by Marissa de los Santos
The Truth about my Bat Mitzvah a children’s book by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Tub Toys a children’s picture book by Terry Miller Shannon and Timothy Warner
The Buddha’s Diamonds a children’s book by Carolyn Marsden and Thay Phap Niem
An early memory: I am about four years old so my sister is about two. We have the stomach flu and so does my mom but she is up and moving between our rooms cleaning us up and bringing us crackers and water and ginger ale. Then, in the hallway, she faints, face first onto the hardwood floor. Luckily she doesn’t smash her face or break or nose or drive her teeth through her lips. But, she does crack her chin open. My aunt is called to come tend to my sister and I and my dad takes my mom to the hospital. I either forget the next part or fell asleep and then what I remember is being tucked into my parents bed on one side of my mom with my sister on the other. I looked at my mom with the purple stitches and knots in her chin, the skin white and bloodless, and told her, “Mommy, I can see your bone.” Then someone, maybe all three of us, threw up all over the bed.
So, take away the stitches and send the dad away for a week to a conference in California and you have an idea of what was going on here.
More soon…
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