I just spent much of the last 24 hours tackling a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, my first puzzle above 30 pieces in about a decade. I’m not sure why, but I needed an analog diversion for a bit. And then it became a bit of an obsession, staying up far too late trying to piece together those toothy plants that sat right below the yellow submarine.
At around 2:30pm today, I snapped the last piece into place.
Cookies for Santa, apples for the reindeer. Strangely, preparations are complete and both parents are tucked into bed by 10:30pm. That’s some kind of record around these parts.
Off to sugarplums and whatnot…
We’re trying to point out to the kids how much we do around the house, and are trying to figure out ways to have them help out.
I mentioned to Neko that her friend Mary Beth is responsible for stocking each bathroom with toilet paper, which Neko agreed that she could also do. Of course, first she had to find a clipboard. And paper. And a pencil. And make a chart. And decorate with smiley face and star.
Sometime, nearly an hour later, all the bathrooms were finally stocked with toilet paper. Don’t even ask me how it went when I asked her to unload the dishwasher.
This is Pooka. He’s made out of a pom-pom, pipe cleaners, and a scrap from an old sock.
Shep came up with the concept all on his own and assembled all the parts this weekend. He hardly told us what he was doing, he was just working furiously on something. Tom helped hot glue a few pieces together, and I helped cut the sock to fit the pipe cleaner shape Shep had bent.
Then all of a sudden he appeared and it was done. And done really well. A little homage that fits in the palm of your hand.
I don’t know what to say about Shep lately—it’s like he’s moving at double-time. I can see him thinking, but instead of just pondering, it’s like whizzing and whirring in his head. Which is somewhat contradictory, as he’s a really laid back kid.
Tonight, as I was tucking him into bed, he said, “Odd numbers have middles.”
“What?” I replied.
“Odd numbers have middles. But the evens don’t. No middles.”
It had been a long day, and I’m not much of a math person. I had no idea what he was talking about. In my head, I was picturing the number itself. I was imagining the literal numbers, with no discernible visible middle. My mind was racing, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
“Explain it again,” I asked, my head hurting a bit.
He held up four fingers. “Four—two and two. See? No middle. Two—one and one. No middle. But five? Two and two and then three is its middle.”
And then he went on and on giving me the examples of numbers and their middles (or lack of a middle).
“How do you know this? Did you talk about this in school?” I ask.
“No,” he replied. “I’m just programmed.”
Can you hear the whizzing and whirring?
(I should include the fact that tonight, on top of all this thought-provoking thinking, he also clocked Neko for the first time in his life. So, um, there’s that, too. Can’t win ’em all, eh?)
I had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.
I forgot that I had a meeting with our accountant, forgot to gather the paperwork for the accountant, and had a dentist appointment. (“Come back next week to drill out and replace your sealants!”) Because of the accountant meeting I was late for a photo shoot, my camera fell on the concrete (it’s fine), scheduled a meeting I now need to reschedule, and missed out one of our last gorgeous fall days.
And the children? They are tired and crabby because everyone is waking up at 5am, but still going to bed too late. I will soon be starting my petition to remove Daylight Saving Time from the calendar.
And the house is messy and we’re completely behind on the laundry. AGAIN.
I think I’ll move to Australia. (Where I happen to know it is currently sunny and they no longer observe Daylight Saving Time.)
Since we moved into this house, all the kids’ clothes have been stored in our linen closet. This was a fantastic set-up. Think about when you have time to do laundry—when the kids are napping or sleeping. And then you have all this folded laundry, and a sleeping child where you need to put them away.
Which is why I removed all the shelves from our linen closet and installed hanging rods for clothes and baskets for socks and other things.
But now that the kids no longer nap, I can actually do laundry during waking hours. And I am growing weary of all the linens taking up our closet space and tripping over the vacuum cleaner every time I get something from the pantry.
So it’s time to move the kids’ clothes into their bedrooms. Thing is, when we built the house, we never put in closets. It was an added expense, and we weren’t ready to commit to where they were situated. We could build them now, but that’s a big investment, and I’m not sure the solution we pick now will be appropriate in their teen years. So in the meantime, we’ve picked up some Stuva from IKEA, and are creating a some space for clothes.
Just their height, this is a perfect system for the next space of time. Because in this house, you pick out your own clothes and get yourself dressed. Three kids is way too many to walk through that maneuver, especially in the wee hours of the morning. (But matching is clearly optional.)
As I assembled drawers, Neko demanded to help. And I’ll be, she put one together all by herself! I must get that kid woodworking bench up and running here soon…
I won’t lie—I am no fan of the cold.
And it’s getting cold. Tonight there was a whole slew of hail, and now the patio is all icy. Brrrr.
But I am a fan of cozy fires, big sweaters, naps under a blanket, and the magic of snow.
So I think it all evens out.
It happened all of a sudden. I swear, just within the last week.
She got older.
I can’t explain it. It just is.
Maybe it was the new hoodie, which she wore, hood up, like so many teenagers these days.
Or how she scooped out her pumpkin tonight, impossibly long arms at work. Sleeves pushed up, never asking for help.
Or maybe her posture made that slight shift. Made her a bit taller, a bit straighter, a bit more sure of herself.
And just like that, she’s not so little anymore.
Neko was home sick today. She and Ellery couldn’t decide if they wanted to play together or play seperately. I tried to convince Neko to plant herself on the couch under a blanket, which is nearly impossible when she never…
stops…
moving.
About mid-day, the mail truck arrived. With it was brought Ellery’s halloween costume! Hooray! A happy diversion!
Ellery squealed with delight. She pranced. She donned a crown. All was right with the world.
And then a chicken pooped ALL OVER the front of her dress.
Keep in mind, the chickens rarely poop on people, and when they do, it’s pretty minor. I’ve never seen such a chicken poop incident in all our chicken owning days.
I think things around here are keeping me more than on my toes. I think I might be levitating.
Clearly we all need to be getting a little more sleep. One 30 minute drive, and two of the five us were out cold.
There would have been two more, but some of us were being “responsible adults.”
