The great thing about living down the driveway from your parents is that you never know when they knock on your door if they’ll be bringing you your newspaper or a piece of fungus bigger than your head.
Some days, apparently, you get both.
-
-
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
This year, the pumpkin patch has been a success. Although we realize we should have started about one month earlier, we still seem to have a pretty big yield, and will have plenty for picking on Farm Day.
Our Pumpkin Assistants are always willing to some check out the Pumpkin Progress whenever the need arises. Today, one was dressed like a butterfly.
-
Refrigerator art
Today we went to a kids event at the art museum. They read stories about fish and crocodiles, but I’m not really sure what they were about since I was trying to keep Shep from tearing the room to pieces. After the story time, we adjourned to the art activities.
A year ago, we never could have done this. With Shep strapped into the stroller with a sucker for a bribe, Neko set to work on her project. She listened and followed directions. When I said to not use too much glue, she restrained herself. Other than having me hand her pieces in order of size and telling her, in general, what goes where, she did this all herself. Even down to the fact that she was mad there were no materials provided to make a mouth, so I had to scrounge up a pencil so she could draw one on.
I placed it proudly on the refrigerator for Tom to see when he got home. Of course, once Neko discovered it on the frig, she freaked out and demanded it come down so she could play with it. I hope that these exhibitions occur with more frequency, and that the artist might let us show her work for a longer duration.
-
Deep breath
Things have been stressful lately. Between all the stuff going on and my elevated hormonal state, I just keep bursting into tears at random moments.
During a bad moment in the day, I escaped to the bedroom to pull myself together. I don’t like losing it in front of the kids. They’ll discover this world has its rough spots soon enough, but for now, I like to keep them thinking the worst thing in the world is being denied a second pack of fruit snacks or having to leave the park early.
“What’s wrong, mom?” Neko tiptoed into the bedroom.
“I’m just having a bad day,” I replied.
I heard her little feet pad out of the room and then back in. “I brought you Cinderelly. She will make you feel better.” She climbed into bed and gave me several big hugs, and then she snuggled down under the covers. “I will be your cuddlebuddy.”
And those are the moments when you remember why you had children, and think that, just maybe, you’re doing a pretty okay job after all.
-
Fall
Today a bleary, overcast morning gave way to a perfect fall afternoon. Shep conked out for an early nap, and Neko and I had some rare one-on-one time. We played on the patio, built sand castles, and ran around. It was one of those afternoons that reminds me why we live in the country. There are some things you just can’t do in the suburbs.
-
Overdue
There just hasn’t been any free time this week. Too much work. Two cranky kids. Not enough sleep. Zero inspiration. One very messy house. Three tons of dirty laundry.
I vow to update soon.
-
The Fly Boat
Recently Neko has really been into the show “The Wonder Pets” which is all about these baby animals who live at a school and after hours they become superpets and hop in their “flyboat” and save other baby animals. It’s a total rip-off of the Little Einsteins animation, and all the characters talk in annoying baby voices. It drives me crazy, but she really loves it. It’s also done in operetta format, so suddenly Neko has begun singing her dialog.
Right before bed (which is when all the best ideas seem to emerge), she decided that the laundry basket would make an excellent flyboat, knowing in her three-year-old head that I’m a sucker for anything that involves expressing her creativity. After we finished her creation, Tom was good enough to take her for a spin.
-
Oh, baby.
We had our 18 week ultrasound today. We left Shep with the family, but Neko got to come with us. We only told her about the baby this morning, so she was revved up and excited to go. I think she was more excited about seeing the baby with “the big machine that can see into Mom’s belly” than anything else, but that’s a start, right?
Everything checks out—10 fingers, 10 toes. And once Neko gets over the excitement of the ultrasound machine, we’re sure she’ll start getting excited about her new baby sister.
-
When the mom is away…
While I was off negotiating with a car dealership, Tom took over the kiddos. When I arrived home and asked what they did that day, he replied, “Oh, I let the kids paint themselves.”
Being the responsible parent that I am, my first words, of course, were, “Well, I certainly hope you took photos.”
-
From one farm to another
We met Kate and the kids at a park/farm today. Neko finally rode the pony by herself, but only because Irene went first. Good to see she’s got a little bit of fear in her. We saw animals, ground corn, watered the garden, and took a tractor ride all before we hit the playground. Good fun for nearly two hours.
Kate and I both lamented the fact that we never get to take good pictures when we have both kids because we’re usually wrangling one or the other. Photos are shaky and poorly composed, at best. You’d think Shep wasn’t even there, based on his absence in the documentation. He was running too fast in the opposite direction for me to catch physically, much less photographically.
My favorite photo of the day was taken by Neko (the second photo).