Ellery adores Chris.
I’m not sure if she senses he was around from the moment of her birth (literally), but she has this unabashed love for him. When he walks in the house, she starts giggling and clapping.
I’m sure her next love will be someone a little more in her age bracket. And other brackets. But for the time being? I approve.
We made a trek to the museum at the Other Big City, since it’s pouring buckets and we needed to change things up a bit. I took some kind of ho-hum photos with my fling camera, but the one I liked best of the batch was this one that Neko took after art-directing Shep and Chris into posing in front of the sun.
I’m not really sure I totally understand this drawing. Neko was Star of the Day in preschool, so her name badge figured prominently into the whole thing. I think it involves some sort of contest between the dinosaurs and the thing at the top is a trophy of some sort.
Even though I don’t get it, I’m really enjoying seeing all the thought that’s going into her pictures these days. She’s not just drawings things…she’s drawing IDEAS. Plus, she pointed out that she made the spikes on the stegosaurus’ back out of R’s, which I think is brilliant.
Today was one of those days where both Tom and I looked at the clock, realized it was just slightly past 7am, and thought there was no possible way we could make it until bedtime.
We haven’t been sleeping well. If it’s not one of the kids up all night, the dogs graciously step it with various urination or vomiting issues. I have exotic fantasies that involves sleeping more than three hours in a row.
Anyway, at about 8am, Tom said, “We’re not going to make it if we do it this way. You and Ellery should bug out.” And he was right. Sometimes when the five of us are all cranky and grouchy, and we spend the whole day together, we just get each other crankier and grouchier. Sometimes it’s best to diffuse the amount of cranky in one room.
So I took off with Ellery, and ran a full day of meandering errands. Tom stayed home with Neko and Shep. And at the end of the day I still had my sanity, a bunch of groceries and some books about how to totally organize your house, which I will put to good use in the year 2013.
I know, I know, I was just there, but when Shep looked up at me with his little saucer eyes and said, “I want to go to IKEA,” what was I supposed to do? Say no? And crush his little home organizing spirit? I think not.
Before Tom could protest too loudly, we were out the door for our first family trip to IKEA.
Which, for the record, would have gone swimmingly, if everything had gone according to plan. We got there without waiting a moment in traffic and sailed right into a parking spot. As I patted myself on the back, we began to unload. Ellery? Check. Shep? Check. Neko? Ch…wait. There’s Neko, but something is missing.
Yes, somehow Neko walked out of the house without her shoes. I have no idea how this slipped by us, but it happened. So we packed back in the car and hit a Payless where we scored these little gems, strictly because they were the cheapest shoes in her size.
By the time we got back, they weren’t letting anyone into the parking lot, so we went to eat pancakes. After pancakes we managed to park, but we clearly lost our minds in the interim, because not only did we go home with hot pink polka dot flip-flops, but we also managed to acquire a large, stuffed whale which is nearly as big as Neko.
I have now discovered a new law of physics. (Akiko, I’ll need to discuss with Paul how I should go about getting published.) When shopping with children at IKEA, the mass that you will contain in neat little swedish totes and shelves is directly equivalent to the mass of brightly colored objects your children will con you into buying in exchange for not completely imploding in all other areas of the store. Thus, even though you think you arrive home more organized and with more things neatly tucked away, the sum total of progress made in the battle of you vs. stuff is, in fact, zero.
Like clockwork, I can count on the newspaper arriving at my door. Literally, on the mat in front of our door.
This is not because we have an outstanding paper delivery person. No, that guy throws the paper at the end of our driveway, which, if you know us, is quite a distance from our house.
But without fail, my dad scoops up his paper and ours, and like Santa Claus, makes a stealth delivery to our front door. I never asked him to do it. He just does it because he’s just a good, kind Papa Joe kinda guy.
There seemed like no better way to break in the new IKEA than with a Godmother/daughters outing. Over swedish meatballs and other delicious goodies, we agreed that it was completely surreal to have an IKEA here. Where I can go back. Days in a row. Like I can get something, and decide it’s not the right thing and return it. Or decide I like it so much I need another, and go back!
Amazing.
The time went too quickly, and then they were all like, “People, we are closing. Locking up the doors. Putting the umlauts to bed.” Much too soon, it was over. But my head is already spinning with all the places in my house that I’ve been putting off decorating.
And when Crate & Barrel and the Container Store arrive on the scene? You may never see me again.
This afternoon we headed to our very favorite outdoor education park. We love this place, and visited so much last summer that the naturalists knew us by name.
As we walked in today, naturalist Kathy shouted, “We’ve missed you!” Nancy and I were the only people there, so our seven kids had the run of the place. They ran and played for about an hour, and then settled in for the afternoon class. This week? Maple syrup. Looks like Neko actually will get to learn about this topic after all!
Kathy tailored the whole class to pre-schoolers. The kids got to taste sap (which we discovered tastes and looks almost exactly like water), and then tap a tree stump, including drilling the hole and hammering in the tap. After that hard work? Pancakes! With maple syrup, of course.
After our pancakes, Kathy led us out to a tree they had actually tapped, and the kids watched the sap drip into the bucket.
Totally. Great. Day.
About every two months, Tom takes the kids for the day, and I go to the Big City to do a little self-care.
Usually I make time to see a friend or two, but today was packed from start to finish. Ever since the braces went on, I’ve declared 2008 the Year of Maintenance. It’s obviously not going to be about glamour, so I might as well check some things off my list. By 2009? Watch out. I’m gonna be hott.
In the last few months I made my way to the ophthalmologist, which is kind of like returning to the church after a long absence. You have to confess your indiscretions, like wearing two-week disposables for months on end and wearing glasses that sit at a 45 degree angle on my face. So eye care? Check.
I started the day with a haircut, which diverted from my typical bob and moved into what I’m calling my Joan Jett phase. I feel a bit like I’m part of an 80s hair band, but I think I’m digging it.
Then off to my primary care physician, who I hadn’t seen for a check-up since, well, a long time. I did little things like get a mole removed, request a referral for that full-body dermatology check-up, and whole bunch of other little crap I’d been putting off for ages. I left rather wide-eyed young doctor in my wake, but with plenty of stuff checked off my list.
