Just Because It's Sunny, Doesn't Mean It's Warm

Easter this year was very hard. The week leading up to Easter was difficult, exhausting, draining, and painful. It was reminiscent of the suffering that Jesus Himself endured that week. Easter Sunday is supposed to be a joyful time of celebration, but we didn't feel like celebrating. Honestly, had it not been Easter Sunday, we would have stayed home from church because we just didn't have it in us. We were tired, worn, and broken.

But the truth of the matter is that tired, worn, and broken people are exactly why Jesus came to earth in the first place. So we took ourselves to church with gratitude for His sacrifice and with hope in His victory.

It was quite a task to get everyone dressed, primped, and beautified in time arrive at church 30 minutes early. Not our usual 10 minutes late, but EARLY. The minute we walked in the door, the BabyGirl spotted her best friend and kindred spirit, Addy. Addy was also wearing a purple dress and they made an adorable pair. Anytime the BabyGirl and Addy are together, a massive hugfest ensues. They embraced each other tightly and everyone around ooo-ed and ahh-ed. It was very sweet.

Since we went through the ordeal of getting all dressed up, gosh darn it i wanted some pictures to commemorate. And not just ordinary sitting-on-the-same-old-couch pictures. I wanted great pictures! Clearly, the place to take great Easter pictures is outside. Growing up, we always took pictures in our elaborate handmade Easter dresses standing in front of blooming azaleas, tulip trees, or daffodils.

Well, we don't have blooming azaleas here in the frozen tundra. But on that particular day we had abundant sunshine! With glorious sunlight, how can you go wrong? I herded all the younglings outside for some wonderful family photos. Once we got outside, the reality became obvious: it was freezing cold.

Bright Eyes was the first one to voice her opinion. She's never had an Easter before, so she wasn't aware of my childhood photo-taking traditions.

What's wrong with you people??? It's freezing out here!!!

What bothered the BabyGirl was the frigid wind. She complained, "I need a hat!!! My hair is blowing everywhere!!! I don't want my hair blowing!!!"

We all tromped back inside for warmer clothes, and then went out to try again.

It was short-lived, however. Eventually we had to face the facts and take pictures in the same place we always take pictures. The only spot in our entire house that has decent light is the living room couch.

Much better.

 

 

For Easter dinner, we were invited out into the country to visit the Griffiths. We had such a wonderful time! They have a beautiful home on 40 acres with a picturesque view in every direction. Their middle-school aged daughter Selena was so sweet and patient with the BabyGirl, helping her to feel comfortable in a new environment. Because we had such stimulating conversation, we stayed well past the girls' bedtime, a costly sacrifice that we don't make for just anyone. Our time together with them was so rejuvenating after our draining week.

 

My main disappointment was that i didn't get to do as much teaching with the BabyGirl during Holy Week as i wanted to. We weren't able to properly focus on Jesus' death and resurrection because of other issues going on. Yet somehow, she managed to absorb a lot and i'm so thankful! During the church service, in that quiet moment when the singing has finished and everyone just sat down, she exclaimed excitedly, "We're here because Jesus' boo-boos are all better!" And later at home she said to The Professor, "Silly Jesus! He needs to put His cross away when He is done with it!"

 

The next day we had some Christian music playing on Pandora. I don't even remember which song it was, but there was a line that said, "He is risen." The BabyGirl was so energetic, "They said 'He is risen' just like Jesus is risen!"

 

He is risen indeed!

 

 

Anticipatory Helping

(This is a story from February that i never found the time to finish. Now that spring might actually happen, I am trying to wrap up all my winter posts!)


The adjustment to life with a new baby sister was a difficult one for the BabyGirl. She loved her sister, you better believe it, but all of a sudden life was different. It was uncertain and unpredictable. These bleary-eyed zombies who had replaced Mama and Daddy didn't act right. They hardly ever smiled, they didn't play as much, and they constantly demanded silence.

The BabyGirl's confusion intensified when The Professor first went back to work and left me to keep the two girls alive all on my own. In those early months, it took FOREVER to put Bright Eyes down for a nap. During the seemingly interminable process, the BabyGirl would stand in the corner and bawl her eyes out. Because of her loud crying, it then took double-forever to get Bright Eyes to sleep. I employed my most creative age-appropriate logic to inform her that as soon as Bright Eyes went to sleep, she would have me all to herself! We could snuggle and laugh and read books and play dolls just the two of us. But the louder that she was during the put-down process, the longer it would take, and the longer until i could devote myself to her.

She could not grasp the concept.

Eventually though, life settled down and the uncertainty abated. Or at least it settled down a little. She understood our new rhythm and no longer cried during Bright Eyes' sleeping procedures.

And then, one magical day, she was a step ahead of me.

I was changing Bright Eyes' diaper in preparation for a nap. The BabyGirl was perched in her spot, standing on the arm of a chair next to the changing table so she could interact with Bright Eyes. In my head i thought about asking the BabyGirl to grab the Woombie from Bright Eyes' crib. I decided against it because it sounded so lazy of me; for crying out loud it was four steps to the left.

Well that BabyGirl hopped down from the arm of the chair, got the woombie, and proudly presented it to me at the changing table! IT WAS LIKE SHE READ MY MIND. Since i never verbalized my request to her, it was kinda creepy that she did it immediately.

I gushed with thanks to her because i truly was impressed. Then she abruptly ran out of the rooom. I thought it was odd, but whatever. I continued woombying up Bright Eyes. A moment later the BabyGirl returned, lugging one of her little chairs. Ugh, i thought. We're having such a happy time, i don't want to get onto her for that right now.

She had recently realized that if you want something that is out of your reach, simply use a chair! Need something from the very back of the kitchen counter? Bring a chair over! Want something from on top of the dresser? Get a chair!

There were chairs in every room of the house. She was constantly taking those things into the kitchen to reach all kinds of dangerous things. Her favorite was to take a chair into the bathroom to turn on the bathroom sink and play in the water for 30 minutes while i was occupied with Bright Eyes. I was SO OVER IT with her chairs. All of a sudden the only safe place to hide things i didn't want her to have was on top of the fridge. You can only fit so many things on top of the fridge, and i had exceeded capacity.

It was our daily struggle; her bringing the chairs out of the living room and me taking them back.

So when i saw her schlepping a chair into Bright Eyes' room at the exact minute i needed stillness and silence for the naptime protocol, i was annoyed. But i held back for a minute to see what would develop before i laid down the law on the chair.

She placed the chair in front of the light switch. Then she stood on it with her hand hovering over the switch. She was at the ready for my command. She said to me, "I'll turn the light out for you, Mama!"

Once again, i was amazed. She knew the naptime sequence by heart, and was helping me before i could even ask! She anticipated my next move and started working to meet my needs without me having to request it.

It was so beautiful. My sweet girl had come such a long way from the days when she had stood in the corner and cried her eyes out. She studied my every move for months until she figured things out, and now here she is confidently participating. It reminded me of Jesus saying, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business." The BabyGirl knew my business, and was actively involved.

Anticipatory helping is a very valuable gift. It requires insight into a person's needs, and a well-timed intervention. It involves an understanding of the situation.

During the past few weeks, we have been blessed by a wonderful act of anticipatory helping by The Professor's dad, aka The Judge.

You see, our tiny little rental house comes with two driveways and 17 miles of sidewalks. Seriously, i think that we have more square footage of concrete outside our house than we have flooring inside it. When we first looked at this house, it was summer. It did not occur to us at the time what all that concrete signified: HOURS OF SHOVELLING IN THE WINTER.

We did not own a snow blower when we moved here from the Big City. We did at least own a shovel, but through some mix-up it got left behind (and subsequently stolen). During that first winter here, we could barely afford toilet paper, let alone a snow blower. We bought the cheapest, humblest snow blower that money could buy. In its defense, it is better than shovelling by hand. But it is no match for the 17 miles of sidewalks. On an average snowfall, it takes four hours to clear one driveway and all the sidewalks (we gave up on driveway #2). It is a huge time commitment for the poor Professor, with many late nights and early mornings out in the snow.

In a huge act of love and generosity, The Judge gave us a wonderful gift! He arranged for a snow removal company to come clear our snow. He did all the research, got estimates, selected a company, and paid for it all behind our backs. We were not involved at all. A big winter storm was headed our way with a forecasted 12 inches of snow. The Judge called and said that he had handled everything! All we had to do was sit back and wait for the snow man to come!

Because of The Judge's generosity, we were able to have the best snow day of our lives. We made some beautiful family memories that i will carry with me always. Relieved of the burden of snow removal, we were able to have a completely carefree day playing in the snow and enjoying ourselves. The BabyGirl in particular had the time of her life! We tromped and sledded and made snowmen to our hearts' content! The BabyGirl thinks that the best thing to do with snow is to eat it, so she chowed down. It was so much fun.

Without The Judge's gift, our day would have been much different. The BabyGirl would have been elated to find that Daddy was not going to work! And then she would have been crushed to discover that he had to spend the equivalent of a work day outside clearing snow. When he finally finished, she would have said, "Now can we go play in the snow???" But he would be sick and tired of snow, having just spent six hours fighting to subdue it.

Another benefit of all that free time was that The Professor was able to help our elderly backyard neighbor with her sidewalks. It was the gift that kept on giving!

We are SO THANKFUL to The Judge for giving us a wonderful day together as a family! Well, Bright Eyes might not be quite so thankful. She did not enjoy being stuffed into her bunny suit and dragged out into the cold:

However, the rest of us enjoyed it enough to make up for her!

 



 

  

Bible Sisters Inspire Confidence

Last night we had dinner at "Chick-a-way" as a special treat. We're technically not supposed to eat Chick-a-way, but every now and then we cave in. The BabyGirl of course LOVES the play place. And with 8 inches of snow of the ground, what kid wouldn't???

The trouble is that as much as she loves it, she is too timid and cautious to climb up through the tunnels. Honestly i don't blame her, it is very high up and you cannot see most of it from the ground, so you wouldn't know until you were up there what it is like or where it goes. She is definitely a girl who likes to study a thing and think about it before proceeding. To a little girl, those stairs going up to a hidden tunnel that becomes a slide look a whole lot like the treacherous stairs that Gollum leads Frodo and Sam up in The Return of the King. She has no proof that there is not an enormous, deadly spider lurking inside. So she stays on the ground, running around and enjoying the general excitement and hullabaloo typical of an indoor play place. Nonetheless, she is missing out on a major part of the experience.

Currently she also LOVES other girls. She gets soooo excited to see girls when we are out and about at the grocery, Walmart, restaurants, or wherever. Other girls are her favorite.

While we were eating our dinner at Chick-a-way, before going to the play place, i saw a family with three beautiful brown-haired stairstep girls come in. They sat several booths away, out of view of the BabyGirl. I knew she was going to go nuts over those girls. You know how sometimes you can just tell by the look of a family that they are quality people? This family had that look. I am not sure exactly how old the girls were, from my estimate maybe 8, 6, and 4.

Once we finished eating, The Professor and the BabyGirl took off for the playplace. Not long after, the brown-haired stairstep sisters went in also. Bright Eyes and i stayed at our table. I did not have a full view of the playplace; i could only see a small portion. They played in there for what seemed like forever to a person holding a wiggly, squiggly, bouncy, squeeling baby.

When The Professor and the BabyGirl emerged triumphantly, The Professor announced, "The BabyGirl climbed up to the top! And went down the slide! She did it and it was so much fun!" Her proud, beaming face confirmed his assertions.

I wondered what in the world had motivated her to take the plunge and go for it??? The Professor told me the story:

She did in fact notice the Stairstep Sisters and began playing with them. She told them, "I'm chasing you!" and they had fun pretending to be chased. Then they bounded up the stairs and she stopped dead in her tracks like they had just run into a pit of molten lava. The oldest sister noticed that the BabyGirl was not following. She said sweetly, "Don't you want to chase us?"

Then the three sisters took the BabyGirl under their wing. They led her up the steep stairs and guided her through the tunnels. They played with her up there in the highest heights and looked after her. Then they helped her onto the slide, where she zoomed down and was scooped up into The Professor's safe arms.

The Professor overheard the sister's names during the course of all the playing: Esther, Abigail, and Naomi. I knew there was a reason that i liked those girls! The BabyGirl fit right in. If her hair was a little less auburn and a little more brown, she could have passed as their fourth sister. They certainly treated her as such! I'm so greatful to them for their compassion. They took the time to notice a shy 2-year-old in a crowd of running kids, and it blessed her tremendously. They embodied all kinds of Bible verses that they may or may not have even learned yet. And they definitely exhibited the same strength of character as their namesakes.

May God bless the Bible Sisters, and continue the good work that He has done in their hearts!
 

Playtime Whodunit Solved!

We have a mystery on our hands. One minute Bright Eyes was lying on her playmat, minding her own business:

 

 

And the next minute she wasn't!

 

 

 

Who can guess what happened?

 

Laura is right, big sister was the perpetrator! Big surprise, i know. The thing i find funny about it was that she did it right under my nose! I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and reading something while the girls were playing nicely on the floor. I remember overhearing the BabyGirl saying, "Excuse me! Excuse me, Bright Eyes!"

 

I am clearly not a multitasker, because the information did not penetrate deep enough into my consciousness to cause me to look up from what i was doing. By the time i did look up, the BabyGirl had moved on to play somewhere else, and poor Bright Eyes was left all alone on the hard kitchen floor with no sister in sight.

 

However, the BabyGirl's motives were true. At church they cover the nursery floor with interlocking foam mats like these, only bigger and multi-colored. When church is over, everyone pitches in to take the squares apart and stack them up. The little kids love to help. That is why the BabyGirl has been pre-programmed to take the squares apart. Hopefully next time she will learn to wait until Bright Eyes is finished using them!

 



She DID NOT WANT To Have Her Picture Taken

The BabyGirl and now Bright Eyes as well have both been so blessed by many wonderful gifts from friends and family members. I think the BabyGirl was a year old before i had to buy her any clothes. Gammer and Granny in particular have kept our girls very well dressed, and we are so thankful. It was especially helpful last fall, when money was so tight. The BabyGirl would not have had any clothes had we not received so many generous and loving gifts.

Early in the BabyGirl's life, i made a special effort to take pictures of her in the outfits that Gammer and Granny sent. They live far away and do not have opportunity to see how cute she is in their clothes. Well then i really dropped the ball while i was pregnant, and have been trying to get in the habit again. Except, now the BabyGirl has a mind of her own. She does not always want her picture taken:

It was really very tragic, because she liked that dress so much and really enjoyed wearing it. My photo efforts simply caught her at a bad time. We had gone to McDonald's with the Three Brothers after church. An hour of running around in the play place was a little more excitement than she could handle. She was none too thrilled when it was time to leave, and she was none too thrilled that it was naptime as soon as we got home. So we tried again:

Nope, still doesn't like it. Therefore i am instituting a new method. I'll take a picture of the clothes themselves so that we can all remember who sent them. And if i get a picture of the clothes actually being worn, the it's a huge bonus! But if not, oh well, c'est la vie. Here's our first batch:

 

Cute clothes from Granny! The gray shirt on the right, the one that says "Star," is her current favorite. She wears it every day. Fortunately, i got a picture! This is a bonus feature because she's wearing a shirt from Granny while opening a present from Aunt Kay:

 

 

Tune in next time for First Christmas Bib, and if we're lucky we'll also have some Christmas Minions!

 

Posthumous Blogging: Who Wears the Crown?

Here is a story from sometime in July:

The BabyGirl's night-night song is "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus." We have sung that song for her bedtime since she was about 4 months old. She knows it by heart. My dad even commented that she knows verses that he and my mom don't even know.

Back in April, the BabyGirl and i made a trip to visit my parents. She has a very difficult time sleeping in new environments. One night while we were there, i put her down for bed and then my mom and i needed to run out to the grocery. My dad was on BabyGirl duty. I told him that if she woke up, he should hold her with her head on his shoulder and sing Tis So Sweet.

Well sure enough, she woke up. He followed instructions and held her while singing her song. He tried to put her back in bed; it was a no-go. Like trying to put a cat in the bathtub, she resisted gravity. He sang it again; she still wouldn't go down. At this point he was bored of that song and decided to sing something else. She jerked her head up from his shoulder and glared at him with a look that said, "You are breaking protocol and i won't stand for it." He quickly resumed singing Tis So Sweet, and she rested her head back on his shoulder.

By the time she was two years and a few months old, however, she also got bored of Tis So Sweet. One day during naptime i decided to sing "What Wondrous Love Is This." She loved it! She's got quite a knack for picking up new songs. After two naptimes' worth of singing it, she knew most of the words to the first verse. (Even though she has no idea what a "soul" is.) Then she turned her attention to one of the other verses:

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down
When I was sinking down, sinking down
When I ws sinking down, beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul.
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.

When i got to the part about the crown, she lifted her head from my shoulder and said enthusiastically, "A crown like a princess wears!" She was so pleased to have picked up on a word she knew.

I said, "You're right; a princess does wear a crown! And Jesus has a crown also."

Whoa, whoa, wait a second there Mama. She looked at me with pity for my ignorance. You see, she knows A LOT about Jesus. She has her Jesus Storybook Bible practically memorized. There was a stretch of time when she refused to get out of bed in the morning until she'd read her Bible (pretty convicting for me, actually). She flips through the pages and names each character: that's Daniel! that's Zaccheus! that's Saul!

But her favorite picture by far is Jesus with the children. She frequently requests it. "Want to see Jesus and boy and girl!" After multiple experiences of flipping through the entire Bible to find that page (well okay, flipping through the gospels. It's obviously not in the Old Testament), we finally committed it to memory. Page 225.

Incidentally, she also knows a good deal about princesses, thanks to my sister's gift of the book The Princess Primer. It is filled with all sorts of useful information, from styles of ballgowns to how to tell a good prince from a bad prince to the proper way to curtsy.

As she looked at me, i could see her mentally filing through all the pictures of Jesus in her Bible and comparing them to the pictures in the princess book:

With her analysis complete, she felt qualified to inform me: "No Mama, Jesus has no crown."

There was no arguing with her. She had evidence.

One day we will spend a little more time reading Revelation, where Jesus kicks butt and takes names. But for now, she sees Jesus as a familiar friend who invites you to sit on His lap and play.

I think that's exactly how it should be.
 

Posthumous Blogging: Election Day

When Emily Dickinson died, her sister found hundreds of poems in her room. When JRR Tolkein died, his son published the Unfinished Tales. When i die, there will be drafts of half-written blog posts queued up in my post list.

It's hard to write a story to completion these days. Someone mentioned National Novel Writing Month and i thought, "Man, a whole novel! I can't even write a whole blog post!" So under the inspiration of NaNoWriMo, I'm attempting to publish several of my half-written stories. This means that the first 75% will be well-written, but the last 25% will be mediocre. The conclusion of a story is the most important part, but most of the time i can't remember where i was going with some of these posts. We'll start with one a little more recent: Tuesday, November 6. Also known as Election Day.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
On Monday morning I was laying on the couch surrounded by crumped tissues, cough drops, and peppermint tea when the doorbell rang. I was reluctant to answer the door due to my extremely haggard and dishevelled appearance. However, Bright Eyes had just fallen asleep and i was not interested in hearing the doorbell ring a second time.

A very nice looking woman in a cute green scarf introduced herself. She was a representative of my policital party who had come to remind me to vote. Vote, oh my gosh! I had totally forgotten!

She looked at me like an alien from another galaxy. We live in a swing state. It is not possible to forget the election, even if you wanted to. This election is so ever-present that is makes even young children cry.

It wasn't that i had forgotten that there is an election. I had not forgotten that Tuesday was voting day. I just didn't realize that Tuesday was taking place TOMORROW. My life was a blur of countless days of fevers, coughing, sneezing and runny noses. During the nights i collapsed into bed for a few minutes of tossing, turning, coughing and sinus pressure before having to get back up to intervene with either a sick\crying girl or a hungry\crying baby.

If the green scarf lady had not come, it is very likely i would not have voted. And for once my vote might actually count! In the Big City, my vote never mattered. I diligently voted anyway, but nobody i voted for ever won.

When Tuesday, which was tomorrow, arrived i stubbornly got all of our cranky, snot-nosed selves ready go vote. I told the BabyGirl how wonderful voting is and that many people in the world are not able to vote and we're so excited to go vote.

She of course had no idea what voting is, but i made it sound like a lot of fun so she was willing to give it a shot.

It was cold. It was raining. We drove to the polling place and started the Unloading Sequence: remove Bright Eyes from carseat, insert Bright Eyes into baby wearing apparatus, release BabyGirl from carseat, wait TEN YEARS for her to climb out of the car, shut the door, "hold my hand," "No! Want to walk MYSELF!" "We are in a parking lot and you must hold my hand," "Fine," look left then right then left again, okay safe to cross.

We marched up to the nice old lady at the table and proudly presented my license. She looked through the book. She looked through the book again. She couldn't find me.

I am a registered voter. I have voted at that location before. It is the location printed on my voter registration card. She said they were the location for such-and-such street through 22nd street. I live on 22nd street.

She looked again, i was not in there.

Meanwhile the other white-haired ladies working the election were talking amongst themselves about the BabyGirl's beautiful auburn hair.

She asked, "Do you live on the east side of 22nd?"

Yes i do.

"Ooooohhhh. Well in that case you don't vote here."

I looked at her with the defeat. Does she know how difficult it is to do to the Unloading Sequence in the cold rain? Is she really cold-hearted enough to make me put these younglings back in the car and go somewhere else to do it all over again? She looked at me with apathy. The other ladies, however, mumbled "What a shame! You have little ones!" One of them even offered to babysit while i ran over to the other place real quick. I almost took her up on it, except there must be a clause somewhere in the Election Official job description about not chasing 2-year-olds around the voting area while working.

We turned around to leave, and on the way out the door the BabyGirl spotted a voter holding a cute baby boy. "Baby!!! There's a baby, mama!"

There was an elderly man with a walker waiting at the door for his ride to pick him up. He struck up a one-sided conversation with the BabyGirl. How old are you? You sure are cute. Oh look, you are a big sister! I bet you are a big help to your mama, aren't you?

She just looked at him with big eyes until we were halfway across the parking lot. Then she stopped in her tracks to turn around and yell back, "Hi man! I'm two and a half! We're voting! See you later!"

By this time the lady with the baby had finished voting and was putting him in the car. The BabyGirl yelled to him too, "Bye bye, Baby!!! Bye! BYYYYEEEE!"

Then, while standing in the cold rain, i put The Girl Who Hates Her Carseat into the car and listened to her crying while i strapped in The Girl Who Moves Slower Than Molasses.

We went to voting location #2 and did the Unloading Sequence all over again. The white-haired ladies at this poll loved us too. They gave the BabyGirl an "I voted" sticker. Then they gave one to me, which i handed to her. She told the ladies, "Wait! My Daddy needs a sticker! I need another sticker for my Daddy!"

When i completed my ballot, i got up to take it across the room to the ballot-eating machine. All of a sudden, the BabyGirl wasn't with me anymore. She had wedged herself into the six inch space between two voting booths in order to invade the personal space of a little boy who was there with his grandmother. She is so exuberant about other kids right now, but unforunately it is a little overwhelming for the poor soul that she latches onto. She was trying to strike up a conversation and the little boy was doing his best to avoid eye contact.

I hauled her out the door and we triumphantly headed home. We voted! Going to the polls is half of the fun. The other half is camping out in front of the tv to watch the results come in. Ordinarily we would not be afforded this pleasure; we would have to keep checking the internet to find out how it was going. But thanks to Audrey's digital converter box and The Judge's outdoor antenna, we are people who watch tv! So exciting. We are not even politically inclined, but we had a good time. Except it was kind of anti-climatic that at the point when i had to leave to do Bright Eyes' dreamfeed, there were several states that were "too close to call." And when i got done with the dreamfeed, Obama had won. I thought it was going to drag on through half the night, but then all of a sudden it was over.

It's crazy to think that at the next Presidential election, I won't have to bring the BabyGirl with me to vote because she'll be in first grade!

Halloween Narrative

We had a blast trick-or-treating with the BabyGirl this year! She provided the most hilarious commentary on the other kids' costumes.

During the morning, i explained to her the basic protocol: "After dinner you will put on your costume and we'll go outside. We'll walk around to all the houses and ring the doorbell. Then people will open the door and you'll say, 'Trick or treat!' and . . ."

As i was speaking, she looked at me with an expression of extreme skepticism. Her face said, "What kind of crazy ideas has this woman come up with this time?"

I continued: ". . . they'll give you candy!"

Whoa, wait a minute. "CANDY?!?!?" That sure wiped the skepticism off her face.

"Oh yes, my friend. Candy."

She ran to her room and got her shoes. "Let's go now!"

Since she hadn't been paying attention for all the words that preceeded "candy," she hadn't heard that these events were to take place after dinner. This was a big hardship; she wanted to get the candy right now.

We did, however, go ahead and put on her daytime costume. She was a beautiful fairy princess. Mimi got her the pinkest, ruffliest, shimmeriest dress you could imagine and a pair of pink wings to go with it. She twirled and sashayed and pranced around the house displaying her elegance. She absolutely loved that dress! Unfortunately, she refused to allow me to take her picture, so you are going to have to take my word for it that she was very pretty.

Finally Daddy came home from work and we ate dinner and the long-awaited moment had come. She put on her nighttime costume of a tiger. It was cold out, and the princess dress was not warm enough. She would have had to wear her coat over the dress, in which case no one would see it. So she was a big fluffy tiger:

Bright Eyes got schlepped along for the ride. The only reason she is even halfway giving a smile is because at this point she had no idea what was going on:

We stepped outside right as a big clump of kids walked by. The BabyGirl was really excited now. "Girls!!!"

The trick-or-treating on our street is very profitable. Everyone else besides us is retired seniors who love having cute little kids come to their doors. The BabyGirl was a big hit! For the first few houses she was unsure of what was happening, but then she got the hang of it.

There was a boy with his dad who happened to be going at the same pace as us. We were about 30 seconds ahead of them, such that as we turned around to leave a house, they were walking up. This happened for many consecutive houses. The trouble, though, was that the boy's costume made the BabyGirl VERY nervous. I don't know if i can describe it very well. He was wearing all black, and his shirt had a green LED light-up outline of a body. His face was covered also and had the outline of big creepy eyes. Kind of like the standard alien face but not exactly.

The 4 of us were walking on the sidewalk when the boy and his dad passed us. They were understandably walking faster than us. I was in front with The Professor behind holding the BabyGirl's hand. She said, "Get here by me, Mama." She wanted Daddy on one side and Mama on the other to protect her from the alien boy. She kept a very close eye on the boy so she could monitor his movements. He was already at the door of the next house when we walked up. She made it very clear that we would wait for him to move along before we got any closer.

While we were standing a safe distance waiting for him to leave, she began to (very loudly) narrate what he was doing. "That guy is at the door."

"That guy is pressing the button."

"That guy is standing."

"That guy is getting candy."

The boy's dad was standing right next to us and had a good laugh over the BabyGirl's play-by-play. Eventually she said, "What's that guy called?"

Honestly i didn't know what to call his costume. I didn't know if it was a bona-fide character that i wasn't familiar with, or if it was just something he had made up. The boy's dad said, "Glow man." (Note: it was not the same as this. The concept was similar, but the shape was different.)

She resumed her narration. "Glow man is [with concern] walking THIS WAY!" Eek!

We asked her if she wanted to wait a minute to let Glow man get farther ahead. She wholeheartedly said yes. Later we were in proximity again and she said, "I will turn my head. I will not look at him." We affirmed her in her wise choice.

She got very excited when she saw costumes that she recognized. Cat in the hat! Coke can! We had gotten a late start, so we were out after the other small children had gone home and it was mostly older kids.

Then tragically, after we hit the last house and turned to go home, the BabyGirl tripped and fell. She dropped her bucket and candy scattered everywhere. It was so sad! She scraped her hands pretty good. Fortunately we successfully gathered up all the bounty. The Professor carried her home and we all celebrated the fun time we had together.
 

Baby Train

Fact #1: The BabyGirl loves library books.
Fact #2: The BabyGirl loves her little chairs.
Fact #3: The BabyGirl loves her sister.

And when she can combine those three loves, the results are extremely cute.

The BabyGirl was given this table\chairs set for her 2nd birthday. She spent a great deal of time arranging the chairs. Lining them up, putting them in a circle, putting them back-to-back, etc. She played with those chairs quite a bit.

 

 

When i saw a book at the library about a cat who makes something clever out of his chairs, i knew she would enjoy it.

 



 

Spoiler alert: they make a train! Of course the BabyGirl wanted to make a train also. She made a train over and over again. She made a train for The Professor and i to sit on. She made a train for her stuffed animals. And one evening while Bright Eyes was hanging out in the kitchen while i prepared dinner, she made a train for Bright Eyes! It was so thoughtful. The chairs are in the living room, you see. But Bright Eyes was in the kitchen. Since Bright Eyes can't go to the chairs (she can't walk), she brought the chairs to Bright Eyes. She built the train so that Bright Eyes was right smack in the middle.

 

 

In the book they say, "Ding, ding! Choo, choo!"

 

(You probably want to read this book yourself now, so here it is: http://www.amazon.com/Meeow-Little-Chairs-Sebastien-Braun/dp/190625088X)

 





Moments to Remember: What Can I Do For You?

This story is for the benefit of my 80-year-old self:

Last night i was sitting at the kitchen table. The Professor was sitting next to me and the BabyGirl was in his lap. I was talking with him about something i had worked hard on that didn't work out. I was very discouraged and frustrated. The BabyGirl, although not a part of our conversation, was listening intently. While she listened, she had a look of concern on her face.

At a pause in the conversation, she said worriedly, "You are hurting, Mama?"

I said, "No dear, i'm not hurting, i'm just sad."

Her look of concern intensified. She said, "I'll give you a smoochie." Then she leaned over and smooched my cheek. She smiled and said, "You're all better?"

I said, "Oh yes, i'm all better now."

Apparently i wasn't convincing enough. She hooked her arm around mine, laid her head on my shoulder and said, "What [can] I do for you, Mama?"

It was a very special moment that i want to remember always.
 

Attempts to Take Two-Month Pictures Were Largely Unsuccessful

Bright Eyes is two months old! I did my darnedest to take her two month pictures while the BabyGirl was napping. You are about to see why. Taking pictures of Bright Eyes is quite a challenge when the BabyGirl is around. Unfortunately, Bright Eyes was uncooperative with my photo shoot during the BabyGirl's nap. Therefore her two month pictures include the BabyGirl. Usually you have to take 100 shots of a baby in order to get one decent picture. In this case, 100 shots resulted in 0 decent pictures. Here are the outtakes:

 

 Wait, my eye itches

 Bright Eyes not looking

 BabyGirl not looking

 Seriously, Mama? Lay off with the pictures

 

 Getting silly

 

 Finally, a cute one! BabyGirl is washing Bright Eyes' feet

 

The BabyGirl with her two babies

 

Proof That the BabyGirl Is a Girl (As If There Was Any Doubt)

The Professor and the BabyGirl were in the car running errands together.

Professor: We're going to Walmar to buy _________.

BabyGirl: Wanna go to Garget (Target).

Professor: I'm sorry, but we can't go to Target. We're going to Walmart.

BabyGirl: Wanna go to Garget.

Professor: We're going to Walmart, sweetie.

BabyGirl: WAAAAA!! DON'T WANNA GO TO WALMART; WANNA GO TO GARGET!!!!!


And honestly, can you blame her? Who wouldn't rather go to Garget?
 

Happy ThirtyTWO!

Two weekends ago we celebrated The Professor's birthday. He is now thirty-two. The BabyGirl believes that he is just two, but we've been trying to convince her that he is actually thirty-two. She mostly doesn't buy it, but occasionally she'll say "firty-TWOOOO!!!" She herself turned two back in April, and at the time we worked so exuberantly to teach her that when people ask, "How old are you?" the answer is "TWOOO!!!" The trouble is, now she thinks that two is the answer when asking about everyone, not just herself.

Having a brand-new baby limited us somewhat in our celebrations; we weren't able to do anything super exciting. On The Professor's birthday eve we drove across town to the Dead Marshes Mall (it only has about 2 stores left and everything else is vacant—very creepy) to eat dinner at Chick-fil-A. You'd think that after so many years of living without Chick-fil-A that we would take advantage of this one and go there more often, but we don't. So it was a special treat.

Happy birthday, Professor!

There's a VIDEO in the kids' meal?!?

 

 

We both love Chick-fil-A lemonade!

Except it's incredibly sweet and potent and i forgot to ask them to dilute it. 

For a toddler, it's basically like crack. 

It was Bright Eyes' very first time at Chick-fil-A in her whole baby life!

You can see that it was quite an experience for her.

 

Another noteworthy thing about this birthday for The Professor was that it marked the half-life of his car. He has now had it for half of his life! He loves that car and it has treated him very well the past 16 years. They had a long-distance relationship for a long time while we lived in the Big City, but now are happily reunited.

The BabyGirl, Bright Eyes, and i are all extremely thankful for The Professor and so honored to have him in our lives. We love you, Professor!
 

Hug Ambush!

When i first started hanging out with The Professor's extended family, i was taken off guard by how huggy they are. My family is not very physically affectionate, so i wasn't used to so much hugging. Especially when the whole clan converges in Zion, the last human city. There's exponentially more hugging then.

Even just on a day-to-day basis, this is the hugging pattern of a trip to The Professor's dad's house:

• Hug each person present as soon as you arrive.
• When someone leaves, they hug each person present. Let's say that they are just running out to Pizza Hut to pick up dinner and will be back in 10 minutes. Hugging is still required.
• Hug each person present when you are going to bed.
• Hug each person present when you wake up in the morning.

A weekend stay with The Professor's family usually provides a net quota of hugs that exceeds the amount of hugging most people get in several months. Now that i've gotten used to this way of life, i love it and think it's great! Bring on the hugs!

The BabyGirl, true to her heritage, is quite a hugger. She hugs early and often. And during this turbulent time in her life of having a new baby, her hugging needs have increased.

Today was The Professor's first official full day back at work since BG2 was born. He's had a few unofficial half-days, but today was the real deal. I was terrified, truth be told. BG2 is a very difficult baby and the BabyGirl has been a nutcase recently, so they are each quite a handful on their own. Fortunately, a friend called in the morning to say that she was going to come over and bring us lunch!

This friend was accompanied by B, her 3-year-old daughter, so the BabyGirl and i were both thrilled to have a playmate. Neither one of us have had much social interaction the past few weeks and we were kind of people-starved.

When our friends arrived, the BabyGirl and B ran off to the living room to play while Sarah and i sat in the kitchen. We were chatting away when the BabyGirl and B came back into the kitchen. B was preoccupied with a toy she was holding as the BabyGirl was attempting to give her a hug. It's fairly awkward to hug someone who doesn't know that they are being hugged. The BabyGirl would get right up in B's personal space, and at the moment that she reached her arms out, B would back away. The BabyGirl, undeterred by B's resistance, started over. This process repeated several times until both girls were somewhat frustrated, the BabyGirl because her hug was being thwarted and B because she didn't want to hug.

As soon as I noticed that the BabyGirl was unsuccessfully trying to force a hug on B, i instructed the BabyGirl to first request B's permission to hug. She eagerly asked, "Wanna hug???" and B ever so slightly shook her head no. It was almost imperceptible. The BabyGirl asked again and B did the same thing. Her refusal was not emphatic enough to have much of an impact on the BabyGirl, so she continued her attempts. I had to tell her to leave the poor girl alone, she does not want to be hugged right now.

They went back into the living room, where the BabyGirl hung back a little and waited for B to resume playing. Then she came at B from behind and gave her a Surprise Hug Attack! Haha, gotcha! During the course of their playing, the BabyGirl sneaked in a few more of these ambush hugs.

It was funny in that each girl received an admonition from their mother. Sarah told B, "Just let her hug you!" and i told the BabyGirl, "Stop hugging her against her will!" I think they both listened to the opposite mother.

After a while Sarah and B took their leave. As soon as they were out the door i heard B say to Sarah, "That was fun!" Sarah, surprised, asked, "Did you like it when the BabyGirl hugged you?" B smiled and nodded.

The BabyGirl is slowly winning people over to the ways of hugging, just like i was won over by The Professor's family!
 

BabyGirl Meets Baby Sister

Big Belly Entertainments

The poor BabyGirl has been living a pretty lack-luster life these past few weeks. We don't play outside because she runs away faster than i can chase her. We don't go to the park because of the heat and the previously mentioned running away. We don't go to the library because of the running. Do they have track and field for 2 year olds? Because that might be one thing we could actually do.

Mostly we sit on the couch and read books. I feel bad for the poor girl. It's no way for a toddler to spend the summer. Nonetheless, we have had some good times. With a little creativity, we have managed to provide her with at least a small amount of cheer. Here are some things we've done:

We painted our toenails! Oh how i have longed for this day. Being a VERY girly-girl, i knew she would love it. I was biding my time until the right moment. It wasn't my best paint job, due to one set of nails being very squirmy and the other set being extremely difficult to reach.

We made a cardboard BabyGirl. The colors are not very bright, but i hope you can see it a little bit. She thought it was great. For some reason, she kept calling it "Space Monkey." We could never figure out why. But for a day or two, Space Monkey was her dynamic duo and they did everything together. For example: she was walking towards her room and said, "Wait! Need to bring Space Monkey!" Unfortunately the novelty was short-lived, possibly due to the difficulty of portability of the Space Monkey. So now for poor Space Monkey is shoved in the corner.

We FINALLY unpacked all of her books! She had way more books than space to put them, so many of them remained boxed up until we bought a bookcase. It was like Christmas, both for us and her. Even The Professor and i had forgotten that we had certain books. The bookcase is in BG2's room, so the BabyGirl carried her folding chair in there and spent about 3 days reading loads of new books. Then she wised up to the fact that just because the bookshelf is in that room, doesn't mean that the books have to stay there! So now she simply carts the books here and there and everywhere to read them wherever is convenient for her.

We started watching YouTube videos. This was a big strategical error on our part. The BabyGirl was sick with a bad cold, and we needed a low-energy source of entertainment. Now she's addicted to youtube and wants to watch it all the time. This particular video was her favorite for a while. It has about 94 million views, and i'm pretty sure that at least 4 million of those are the BabyGirl. It's fairly cute, so it doesn't get annoying immediately like most kid videos. You can watch it for at least two dozen times before you're totally over it. The Professor's favorite part is "Waddle, waddle," and he enjoys singing it to me as i walk around. The other day when the BabyGirl and i were at the grocery, she gave me a mischievous smirk and asked, "Got any grapes?"

The only time that the BabyGirl gets any real excitement is when the Three Brothers are involved. Her best buds are three boys ages 4, 2, and 10 months. She LOVES hanging out with these guys. About a month ago we all went down to the Children's Museum together. Recently they took her with them to a local park that has a kid's farm. Yesterday she stayed at their house while The Professor and i toured one of the hospitals in town, and they gave her a rose! She's two years old and already boys are giving her flowers. I was at least 21 before a boy gave me roses.

I appreciate the BabyGirl's patience in bearing with us through this low-key summer. Not that she has any choice in the matter =]. Hopefully next year we can make it up to her!

 

Big Girl Bed

Someone slept in her new bed last night!

And this is what her room looked like when we got her up in the morning:

First Date

The Professor and i went on a date last night! It was our first date in a looooonnnng time. Before we moved, our dear friend Sue was our babysitter. But you know how it is when you're starting out in a new town. It takes a while to trust anyone enough to let them babysit your precious BabyGirl.

Our friends Matt and Carrie heard that we hadn't been on a date since we moved to the Kingdom of the Cornstalks and were apalled. Even though they have three kids of their own, they demanded to babysit one night so that we could go out.

On the morning of the designated day, i started preparing the BabyGirl. "Guess what, BabyGirl? Mama is going on a Daddy Date!! Miss Carrie is going to come play with you! It will be so much fun! You're such a lucky girl to have Miss Carrie come play!"

The BabyGirl looked at me with wide eyes and said, "[Gulp] Scary???"

That's when i realized that "Miss Carrie" could sound a lot like "Scary." So we switched to calling her by her last name, as the BabyGirl is going through a major scary phase right now.

A second reason why The Professor and i hadn't been on a date in a long time was lack of funds. Fortunately, now we had an Outback gift card and a $20 off coupon to Applebee's.

At this point, let it be known that i don't like Applebee's. It's not a place that i would ever want to go, especially for such a special occasion as Our First Date in a Long Time. But we had recently been to Outback and i wasn't in the mood for it again so soon. Therefore, Applebee's it was. I decided to just focus on the excitement of an evening out and overlook the fact that it had to take place at a lousy restaurant.

What was lacking in the quality of the meal we made up for in conversaton. I love talking with The Professor! He's a pretty smart guy. I would submit that few can rival him in critical thinking. His well-trained mind, cultivated by years of grueling study, can quickly dissect any topic. We talked about this:

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/christian-teens-say-gay-activist-made-girls-cry.html

and this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/fashion/at-family-meals-children-encouraged-to-take-part-in-the-conversation.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1335657810-KkHcbHXo6A6hDQZDF3h5Iw

At the end of our dinner when the waitress brought the check, The Professor handed her our $20 voucher plus a credit card to cover the rest.

A minute later she was back. "Um, i hate to tell you this," she said, holding out our voucher, "but this is for Chili's."

I busted out laughing.

The ONLY reason we stepped foot in that establishment was because of the voucher. The Professor was the one who had acquired it. He had kept up with it until the proper time. He was the one who told me that it was for Applebee's. Not that i love Chili's, but i would certainly prefer it over Applebee's. He felt so bad.

Even if we did have to throw away money on sorry food with 3000 mg of sodium, i'm still thankful for some quality time with The Professor!

And apparently Miss Carrie wasn't so scary after all. This morning when the BabyGirl woke up, one of the first things she said was, "Carrie come back!"