Friday, August 28, 2009

Food and Fish Stories

Today I am feeling: Like it should be Friday. And it IS Friday! This week got a little drab when on Monday I had one of those dark nights of the soul when I thought that my children would probably be better off being raised by hyenas than churlish, crabby, yelling me. I put the kids to bed, drooled and snotted on Mark’s shoulder for a while, and woke up feeling better. I decided that I needed to call a truce between Sam and I and work more on going with the three-year-old flow. Obviously if he’s going to stick his finger in a light socket that’s not ok, but pulling over the chair to play with the faucet at the sink? Probably ok, and not worth a fight.

We’re heading down to Portland today to visit my parents, and Sam is bringing 3 of the rather feeble tomatoes our plant on the porch spit out this week to show them. I think the entertainment and attention from other people will be good for him, and hopefully we’ll get to use the pool if the weather is nice.

Exercise: Well, I haven’t gone all Rocky this week like last week. Exercise has mostly involved walks of about 2 miles to and from the village playground, some of them rahter slow when Sam decides he’d like to walk as well. But, it’s exercise, and I’m getting it. We’ve also (I think) made the decision to move Sam to the M/W/F preschool class, so he’d be going 3 time a week instead of 2, and with slightly older kids, which I think he’ll like a lot. There’s a little family-owned gym with a babysitting service right across the street...

Caroline: We exchanged the baby swing in the living room for the exersaucer. She wasn’t really enjoying the swing anymore, and is much more interested in seeing what we’re doing. I had a little pang putting the swing away, as the next time we’ll see it will be when another little one joins us in who knows how long. Or when we move, which God willing will be the first of those two occurances.

Sam: We went to see Ponyo yesterday, and it was so incredible! The film actually kept Sam’s attention for its entire length, which is no small feat. The animation is so gorgeous and so detailed. Like, the two main characters are getting in a boat and a crab creeps up the wall behind them, or an octopus crawls into the house. Who else would have thought to include that? The best part, though was the story. In the American version, the boy would have found Ponyo and mad capers would have ensued while he attempted to hide her from his judgemental and bitter mother. Instead, he instantly explains to her that she is his pet turned into a human, and instead of freaking out she simply acknowledges that there are indeed strange things in the world, and they make dinner. Combine that with a lovely scene that positively depicts breastfeeding, and I was sold.

Projects: Feeding Sam. Seriously, the kid is an eating machine all of a sudden. Yesterday, he had a huge bowl of yogurt and granola, two peanut butter sandwiches, two apples, milk, a bunch of goldfish, a whole piece of pizza, and part of a chocolate shake. Is this a preview of teenhood? I made an effort this week to move him gently towards weaning by telling him that he can nurse when I see him in the morning, at rest time, and at night before bed. So, I’m thinking that he was nursing at other times because he was actually hungry. Go figure.

Milestone: A very nice neighbor brought over a bunch of plums from her tree, which I cooked and pureed for C. I wish I’d had the camera ready...”Heeey, these are pretty goo..*puckerface!* *puckerface!*”

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Blurg

So, it’s been way, way long since I’ve written anything in this big empty part of cyberspace. It’s not that I don’t have things to say...just the thought of stringing together coherent thoughts into a neat, paragraphed package at the end of the day sounds about as much fun as organizing my sock drawer. Blurging, however, sounds great! What is blurging? My husband assures me that it is an actual term used to describe a blog that is really just a set of short thoughts. And here, I will blatantly steal from the Freeway Diva and introduce a brand new format...the mommy blurg.

Today I am feeling: Like it should be Friday, unfortunately. I blame my new church job (more on that later), because after years and years of being conditioned to go to rehearsal at other church jobs on Thursday and then wake up on Friday morning, I am now going on Wednesday evenings.

Exercise: Feeling awesome! I managed two walks this week, and another is planned tomorrow morning. I finally figured out that the iPod is actually not for me...it’s for Sam. Sam listens to kid tunes with the occasional embarassingly loud question or comment, Caroline has her morning nap, and I zone out as I zoom around Green Lake. As soon as I feel like certain flubbery body parts won’t fall off when I do so, I might even try to jog!

Kid-ism of the day: I got to have coffee today with Laural and our friend Monica, and I got such a kick out of Alexa, who was very good at holding out her hand and saying, “NO, Sammy!” whenever Sam encroached on a toy. That girl knows how to stand up for herself.

Sam: was really fun today, when he wasn't being a pill. Pretty normal. We built a fort!

Caroline: now eats rice cereal, sweet potato, and pear, all blended and strained by moi. I forgot how much fun it is to feed a baby, and she really is fun. Sam was never super-enthusiastic about eating solids (although he’s a great eater now), so feeding him was always a little stressful and coercive. Caroline, though, opens her trusting little bird mouth every time, and chuckles when I airplane or swoosh, or whatever other ridiculous thing I feel like doing.

Projects: I’m currently looking for a sewing class to enroll in, a very generous b-day gift from my father-in-law. I have my grandmother Helen’s sewing machine on which she spent countless hours making costumes for us and I really want to know how to use it, especially now that I have a little girl. Cue Mark rolling his eyes at another project I’ve picked up to “save money,” and which actually involves me buying more stuff.

Milestone: So, Caroline started a few solid foods this week, and liked them so much that she is keeping them mostly locked tight in her little intestines. Not to go into total graphic mommy mode, but let’s just say that today I realized that changing her diaper will hereafter be a different and, dare I say, less pleasant olfactory experience. Gone forever is the mild, buttermilky solely breastmilk-induced contents. I never, ever thought that the smell of my child’s stool would qualify as a milestone, but there we are. And I’m sad about it, ok?

Final thought: I’ve gotten much better at typing with one hand,