The Farm Report

  • Shep…via iPhone

    Shep…via iPhone

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    Sometimes I forget that life can be simple.

    I spent most of the weekend trying to get our family out on bikes together. On Saturday we loaded up, but we forgot to pump up my tires, so I ran home to get the pump, and by the time I got back to the park, Tom discovered he had packed the wrong tires for the trailer.

    Today we tried it again, and although we had all the right stuff, by the time we got unpacked we discovered that Ellery still doesn’t sit well in the trailer without performing some extreme yoga move and then it promptly began to rain.

    I still vow to get us all out biking together, because it is super-fun and good exercise and a great example for the kids, but I probably should sit back every now and then a let a more simple day happen. By afternoon, I got the message.

    Tom took Shep to the hardware store and Neko, Ellery and I stayed home and played with Playmobil. And while Tom finished up dinner, I shuffled Neko and Shep outside to help me gather leaves for the composter. We all wore our big boots in the scorching heat and ran around the yard and picked up leaves and laughed and giggled and that was my favorite moment of the day.

  • I…did…a real thing!

    I…did…a real thing!

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    Every now and then I get a real job and I have to actually make something that doesn’t involve a client under the age of five. And it’s kind of nice to stretch my brain in that direction a bit.

    Nope, it’s not rocket science, but it never spit up on me or threw a temper tantrum. Not even once.

  • Happy birthday, Nancy.

    Okay, it’s not really Nancy’s birthday today. Her birthday is on Sunday, but her husband had a small surprise birthday thing for her tonight, which was super-fun.

    I mention this particular birthday, because Nancy has managed to make it to the age of 40 with her sanity intact, even though she has a four-year-old and two-year-old triplets. She has handled the whole situation with grace and patience, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her lose her cool. And the kids are pretty fabulous, which speaks volumes of her. She even manages to plant flowers and crazy things like that that take time and planning, which I can’t even seem to get the hang of with my three kids.

    Of course, I was juggling Ellery during the party, so I didn’t have a chance to take a single photo, but the room was full of good people and lots of well wishes, and I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate four decades in this world. Happy birthday, Nancy.

  • Warning: Bugs!

    Warning: Bugs!

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    I feel as though I should issue warnings before these insect posts, since Akiko probably just passed out cold at the sight of this cicada.

    But I had to mention it. When Tom found this cicada, it was like Christmas just went and arrived in August, because Neko was beside herself with excitement.

  • Field Trip – 8/1

    Field Trip – 8/1

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    A repeat field trip, we headed to the Big City and the city’s biggest sandbox. It’s always a hit, as most kids love to dig and dig. I’m always amazed at bath time how much sand they’ve managed to sneak home in their clothes and, ahem, other places.

    Neko and Irene were actually playing and building together. As a mom, particularly as a mom of Neko, I am always super-excited when I see her playing cooperatively with others. It makes me think we may survive pre-school after all.

    Thanks to Kate for snapping some photos. Shep, I’m sorry that I have no photos of you, but you insisted on spending much of this 95 degree day in my sweaty lap.

  • 3 drawings

    3 drawings

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    This is a picture of Neko and I outside catching fireflies. You can tell it is us, beause we are clearly labeled and you can tell we are girls because we both have vaginas. This has been a big thing in her drawings lately…everyone has been drawn down to the, um, details.

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    This is also a picture of Neko and I, but this is the first time she has ever represented noses this way. I can’t decide if she saw someone else do it or figured it out on her own.

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    This is Neko on her new skateboard. She is wearing her helmet, which she has drawn, including the buckle.

  • Go. Buy. Now.

    Go. Buy. Now.

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    I would tell every mother that I know that they should go out to the bookstore and buy this book immediately, but then you would all laugh and go, “Bookstore? I haven’t been to one of those since I had kids. Unless it had a train table, and then I was stuck reading Go Dog, Go.”

    So instead, I will say to stop what you’re doing for just two minutes and order this book from Amazon. It is so great to hear other mothers admit to what we’re all thinking on that awful Tuesday afternoon that seems like it will never end.

  • Animal picnic

    Animal picnic

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    I know that I’m starting to get used to this motherhood gig, because when I arrived home at 10pm, I discovered that Neko had been playing with all the Playmobil stuff and instead of freaking out because she’d mixed up the zoo set with the nursery set and then mixed those up with the flower shop, I said, “Hey, that’s a pretty cool animal picnic.”

    And then I rushed to put all the sets back into proper order, because motherhood only gets you so far.

  • Broken bones forthcoming

    Broken bones forthcoming

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    It’s becoming clear to me that in ten years Tom will be rockin’ out with the kids and I’m going to be the embarrassing mom who uses all the wrong lingo and is about a decade or two behind on music.

    Today Tom took Neko to get her first skateboard. In a week or two they will be taking a lesson together, and in a few years I am certain that Tom will have fabricated some massive skate park out of plywood in our back yard.

    Perhaps I will make them listen to James Taylor as I drive them to the emergency room.

  • Multi-tasking

    Multi-tasking

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    We’re already doing cry-it-out, part two (I gave up until we had Ellery in her new room…cry-it-out two feet from your bed is a stupid idea). And since we’re complete gluttons for punishment, we’ve decided to tackle potty-training Shep while we’re at it.

    A few weeks ago I bought some underwear in preparation, since he’s been using the potty with some success. This week I ran it through the wash, and casually showed it to him when it came out of the dryer. He loved it and demanded to put it on. And when we’ve been home for the past few days, he’s been wearing underwear. We’ve been having success, but lots of accidents, too.

    I’m having an internal struggle about what to do. I don’t want to push him, but he does seem genuinely interested. I’ve been having flashbacks of potty training Neko in the winter, peeling off layers of wet jeans and socks and shoes. A pair of shorts and sandals I can wash in the sink is so much easier. But then, selfishly, diapers are so much more convenient. I had forgotten the whole process, the asking if you need to go every 30 minutes. And the accident after accident. And oh, lordy, I’d forgotten how many pairs of underwear you can run through in one day.

    So, I dunno. We’ll see how we are in a few days. We might be so tired from all the sleep training that we won’t have the energy to do laundry and everyone is going to be naked and then we’ll have to potty train.