Thursday, June 28, 2007
ava's skating coach is the hero of the summer. she rescued the blanket, put it in the front seat of her car, and now we can go get it first thing in the morning. she gave me explicit directions to the location of her car as well as a lot of advice regarding dealing with ages 2-6...
peter got a new blanket too.
so, i mobilized the troops, and we won the battle.
jeez. this is exhausting. particularly emotionally.
peter got a new blanket too.
so, i mobilized the troops, and we won the battle.
jeez. this is exhausting. particularly emotionally.
i left the blue blanket at the ice-skating rink.
i am going to cry. carter has not noticed, god bless him, because he was so tired all he could do was cry all the way home, which is why i left it there in the first place because he was a total mess and i was trying to get ava's skates off, her bag packed, sippies put away, all while he was running in place and crying over something, oh i know--he wanted to nurse--and we got out of there as fast as i could and yet i had this funny feeling...
35 minutes later, as we were 10 minutes from home, i remembered.
i put in a call to ava's coach, but it really is not her responsibility, and i put in a call to peter, hoping against all hope that he was going to take the long way home from plattsburgh and go through lake placid. it is not likely.
no one has returned my calls. i cannot believe how worked up i am, but i feel like there is a brick in my stomach.
how to disappoint your children 101.
i am going to cry. carter has not noticed, god bless him, because he was so tired all he could do was cry all the way home, which is why i left it there in the first place because he was a total mess and i was trying to get ava's skates off, her bag packed, sippies put away, all while he was running in place and crying over something, oh i know--he wanted to nurse--and we got out of there as fast as i could and yet i had this funny feeling...
35 minutes later, as we were 10 minutes from home, i remembered.
i put in a call to ava's coach, but it really is not her responsibility, and i put in a call to peter, hoping against all hope that he was going to take the long way home from plattsburgh and go through lake placid. it is not likely.
no one has returned my calls. i cannot believe how worked up i am, but i feel like there is a brick in my stomach.
how to disappoint your children 101.
Linus—oh, I mean, Carter—has attached himself to a blue blanket that Nana originally made for Helena, Ava’s doll. This has caused some issues with Ava, who rightfully claims ownership, but who has been remarkably tolerant because she knows just how much the color blue means to Carter. I was in the basement rooting around the other day, and was so relieved to find the super soft fuzzy blue receiving blankets that Grandma sent us when Carter was itty bitty. So now we have 3 blue blankets, which Carter is completely obsessed with. He lays them out on the floor and says “night night,” he drags them around outside, he even insisted on having Helena’s blanket in the car with him today. It was 86 degrees out and he carefully draped it over his lap, tucking it in and bundling himself up. He was drenched in sweat, but had a blissful smile on his face. Every time he goes to sleep he must have them, and they have to be draped wrinkle free on his pillow. When he cannot find one, he will run up to me, saying “bue bue bue bue? Bue…” and if I do not immediately respond, say if I am on the floor tying Ava’s shoe, he will bend over so that he is looking up at my downturned face, put his hands on my cheeks and turn my head to his and look me square in the eye and say “Bue. Bue. BUE!” I usually tell him where I think it is, and sometimes he returns triumphant, “BUE!!!!” and sometimes he returns with hands upturned and head shaking no..”bue…uh uh.”
The security blanket thing is new to me—Ava never had anything that resembled a “transitional object.” I guess she figured Mom was there, why transition? I can understand it of course—tons of children have them, but it is so endearing. And yet so time consuming. But more significant is the absolute obsession with the color blue. It has been going on for a while now, and he really is completely totally obsessed. He will walk up to perfect strangers, point to his blue shirt, blue pants and blue shoes and tell the listened that they are blue, each one. Ava loved red, and now pink, and I loved green, one of her friends loved purple at 18 months, still does, another yellow…I find it interesting the color preferences that are established so early and so vehemently. Why? Is there something about these colors that the individual children respond to? And Carter’s obsession is pretty unique. There are favorite colors, and then there is Carter’s love for blue. I am fairly certain that at least 2/3 of the day is spent thinking about blue. He will even stop a very interesting activity (ie nursing) to point to the sky and say “bue,” even if there is only a teeny tiny patch.
The other third of the day is spent trying to Be Just Like Ava. Everytime he does something the way she does it, even if it is sticking his tush in the air after going potty so mommy can clean him up, he will say “Ava ava ava ava” until I say, “that’s right Carter, now you are just like Ava!” – Everything she does, he wants to do. He wants to eat at the little table, not the big one. He wants to swim like her. He wants to dance like her. He totally adores her.
And of course, he still adores rocks. Really adores them. He will notice rocks smack dab off the bat, where I probably would never have even registered that there were decorative pebbles lining a path. He stops dead in his tracks to point out a big rock, and likes to carry them around. I suppose if kids have a favorite color, perhaps they also have a favorite element (in an ancient sense, not in a periodic table sort of a way). I am trying to remember Ava’s. Water was not always a favorite, though it is now. Rocks never did much for her, and fire also was interesting, but eh. Air? Seems a little tough to quantify, and if it were so, one would think she would like the windows open in the car. Noooooo. I guess it would have to be water. But not the way Carter loves rocks. Funny how their preferences seem almost completely innate.
The security blanket thing is new to me—Ava never had anything that resembled a “transitional object.” I guess she figured Mom was there, why transition? I can understand it of course—tons of children have them, but it is so endearing. And yet so time consuming. But more significant is the absolute obsession with the color blue. It has been going on for a while now, and he really is completely totally obsessed. He will walk up to perfect strangers, point to his blue shirt, blue pants and blue shoes and tell the listened that they are blue, each one. Ava loved red, and now pink, and I loved green, one of her friends loved purple at 18 months, still does, another yellow…I find it interesting the color preferences that are established so early and so vehemently. Why? Is there something about these colors that the individual children respond to? And Carter’s obsession is pretty unique. There are favorite colors, and then there is Carter’s love for blue. I am fairly certain that at least 2/3 of the day is spent thinking about blue. He will even stop a very interesting activity (ie nursing) to point to the sky and say “bue,” even if there is only a teeny tiny patch.
The other third of the day is spent trying to Be Just Like Ava. Everytime he does something the way she does it, even if it is sticking his tush in the air after going potty so mommy can clean him up, he will say “Ava ava ava ava” until I say, “that’s right Carter, now you are just like Ava!” – Everything she does, he wants to do. He wants to eat at the little table, not the big one. He wants to swim like her. He wants to dance like her. He totally adores her.
And of course, he still adores rocks. Really adores them. He will notice rocks smack dab off the bat, where I probably would never have even registered that there were decorative pebbles lining a path. He stops dead in his tracks to point out a big rock, and likes to carry them around. I suppose if kids have a favorite color, perhaps they also have a favorite element (in an ancient sense, not in a periodic table sort of a way). I am trying to remember Ava’s. Water was not always a favorite, though it is now. Rocks never did much for her, and fire also was interesting, but eh. Air? Seems a little tough to quantify, and if it were so, one would think she would like the windows open in the car. Noooooo. I guess it would have to be water. But not the way Carter loves rocks. Funny how their preferences seem almost completely innate.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Today we continued the hunt for toad food. I told Ava that if she stumbled across any small bugs, to let me know and we would try to capture them for the toad. This of course segued into a full-on bug search—under rocks, under logs, under the compost bin, under just about any large heavy object we could find. We managed to find a little millipede-y looking thing, 2 beetle-y/wormy shiny looking things and one errant ant. Since ants are so abundant in our sandy soil, we were eschewing them for more interesting and hopefully more tasty toad treats. We were pretty disappointed, and then I had a brainstorm. I told Ava that after we fed Maggie, Nana’s dog that we were babysitting, we could go to the hardware store and get some “live bait.” Now, I laugh at the live bait stores around here. They are so ubiquitous and so, I don’t know, typical—make that stereotypical, and it just makes me giggle. Not to mention that our town clerk’s office—the office where we had to go to get our marriage license—is a desk in the back of a tackle and bait shop. That’s right—to get our marriage license, we first had to walk past the refrigerator of nightcrawlers. But, finally, they were going to prove to be useful to me. Not that I was going to give our teeny tiny toad an earthworm that could eat him in one gulp, but I figured they had to have some small worms there too. The hardware store only had the mega-worms, so they directed us to the local outdoors shop and we snagged ourselves a tube of grubs (ahhhhhhhhh!), and a tub of nightcrawlers because Ava could not contain herself and literally held it to her chest and said “Mom, I REALLY want to keep these for a pet.” Oh, fine. So we got back to the car, did a little looking at one of the earthworms, to which Carter said “eeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh” which means big, and then we went to the strawberry patch.
Strawberry patch=bliss for the kids. It was so cute—they don’t use any chemicals, so you have to sort of peer through the tall grass to find the berries, and Carter would sit down in a patch and all you could see was his little head peeking up through the grass. It took him about 2 seconds to catch on, and he would often come over to me and show me his eeeeeyyuuuuuuuuuhhhhh berry and then ask me to take the leaves off so he could eat it. Ava spent most of the time chasing butterflies, and I picked 3 pounds of berries. Not a mother lode, but enough for us.
When we got back in the car, Ava asked to see her worms again. She then asked if she could play with one on the way home. I hedged, and then thought, what’s the harm? It is not like they (the kids) are squeaky clean, and we have 12 worms, and it certainly is not going to bite her, so ok.
Doooo deee doooo….driving down the road, half way home…la la la….
“Oh no! MOMMY!”
“What happened Ava?”
“It broke in half!”
Mom, unable to stop laughing, “OK, well, you are going to have to throw it out the window.” Ava started to laugh, fortunately. I rolled down the window and she flung it out. I then explained to her that earthworms are NOT like gummi worms, and she had to be gentle and kind. She sat in silence for a few minutes.
“Ava? Now how many worms do you have?”
“Ummmm…” (whispering to herself) “ummm one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve…” (now loudly) “ELEVEN!”
“Yes! That’s great Ava!”
Earthworms are not just for science anymore.
Yesterday, Carter was in the bathroom flushing the toilet. He takes pride in this step, and usually does it 4 or 5 times, waving goodbye to his now long gone creation each time. Sometimes he slams the seat down each time, then lifts it up again to see what happened. For some reason, Ava was interested in this, and she was in there chatting with him, while I was just outside the door sweeping or something. Flush…BANG! Flush…BANG! Flush…THUMP…AAHHHHHHhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Mommmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Before Ava emerged from the bathroom, I was already convulsing with the giggles, because I knew exactly what had happened, and when she did come out holding her head she was so worked up that all she could do was squeak out something that was totally incomprehensible to anyone but a dolphin, and I was trying not to laugh as she was really upset and probably in a lot of pain, but I could not help shaking as I hugged her to me. After she calmed down, I tried once again to ask her what had happened, but I could not get it out without snorting and giggling again, and when she looked at me in shock, I apologized, and tried to gather up a straight face. But I couldn’t and I started laughing again. And that is when she looked at me and burst into laughter through her tears. I was finally able to say, “Ava, I know that hurt, but that was a very funny way to get hurt. Not everyone can say that their brother hit them in the head with a toilet.”
And the giggles keep coming. After Carter woke up from his nap, I was sitting outside with him in the Adirondack chair rocker that has a drink holder in it, and Ava was standing in front of us, drinking her (decaf) tea from a travel mug that fit perfectly into the drink holder. Carter was grumpy as usual, and was nursing through his post-nap disappointment, and I said something to Ava along the lines of “Hey, wasn’t it funny when you did something something something…?” pretty much at the same time as she took a huge swig of tea. I have no idea what it was that was so funny, but it must have been, because when I triggered the memory in Ava’s mind, she screwed her face up as the laugh came through her, desperately trying not to spit out her tea, but then she exploded and tea spewed everywhere, all over me (and Carter). She looked at me in total horror, and then I started roaring, and she let loose. It was her first initiation into that particular phenomenon, and it was great.
Strawberry patch=bliss for the kids. It was so cute—they don’t use any chemicals, so you have to sort of peer through the tall grass to find the berries, and Carter would sit down in a patch and all you could see was his little head peeking up through the grass. It took him about 2 seconds to catch on, and he would often come over to me and show me his eeeeeyyuuuuuuuuuhhhhh berry and then ask me to take the leaves off so he could eat it. Ava spent most of the time chasing butterflies, and I picked 3 pounds of berries. Not a mother lode, but enough for us.
When we got back in the car, Ava asked to see her worms again. She then asked if she could play with one on the way home. I hedged, and then thought, what’s the harm? It is not like they (the kids) are squeaky clean, and we have 12 worms, and it certainly is not going to bite her, so ok.
Doooo deee doooo….driving down the road, half way home…la la la….
“Oh no! MOMMY!”
“What happened Ava?”
“It broke in half!”
Mom, unable to stop laughing, “OK, well, you are going to have to throw it out the window.” Ava started to laugh, fortunately. I rolled down the window and she flung it out. I then explained to her that earthworms are NOT like gummi worms, and she had to be gentle and kind. She sat in silence for a few minutes.
“Ava? Now how many worms do you have?”
“Ummmm…” (whispering to herself) “ummm one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve…” (now loudly) “ELEVEN!”
“Yes! That’s great Ava!”
Earthworms are not just for science anymore.
Yesterday, Carter was in the bathroom flushing the toilet. He takes pride in this step, and usually does it 4 or 5 times, waving goodbye to his now long gone creation each time. Sometimes he slams the seat down each time, then lifts it up again to see what happened. For some reason, Ava was interested in this, and she was in there chatting with him, while I was just outside the door sweeping or something. Flush…BANG! Flush…BANG! Flush…THUMP…AAHHHHHHhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Mommmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Before Ava emerged from the bathroom, I was already convulsing with the giggles, because I knew exactly what had happened, and when she did come out holding her head she was so worked up that all she could do was squeak out something that was totally incomprehensible to anyone but a dolphin, and I was trying not to laugh as she was really upset and probably in a lot of pain, but I could not help shaking as I hugged her to me. After she calmed down, I tried once again to ask her what had happened, but I could not get it out without snorting and giggling again, and when she looked at me in shock, I apologized, and tried to gather up a straight face. But I couldn’t and I started laughing again. And that is when she looked at me and burst into laughter through her tears. I was finally able to say, “Ava, I know that hurt, but that was a very funny way to get hurt. Not everyone can say that their brother hit them in the head with a toilet.”
And the giggles keep coming. After Carter woke up from his nap, I was sitting outside with him in the Adirondack chair rocker that has a drink holder in it, and Ava was standing in front of us, drinking her (decaf) tea from a travel mug that fit perfectly into the drink holder. Carter was grumpy as usual, and was nursing through his post-nap disappointment, and I said something to Ava along the lines of “Hey, wasn’t it funny when you did something something something…?” pretty much at the same time as she took a huge swig of tea. I have no idea what it was that was so funny, but it must have been, because when I triggered the memory in Ava’s mind, she screwed her face up as the laugh came through her, desperately trying not to spit out her tea, but then she exploded and tea spewed everywhere, all over me (and Carter). She looked at me in total horror, and then I started roaring, and she let loose. It was her first initiation into that particular phenomenon, and it was great.
Friday, June 22, 2007
did i mention we have a toad? it eats bugs. tonight, after the kids went to bed, i put on my jacket (it's chilly today), and headed for the door.
peter: where are you going?
erin: i have to catch some ants for the toad
peter: you have to catch ants?
erin: well, it has to eat, right?
peter: does it eat them?
erin: i think so. they are not there in the morning, and the toad is still alive...either that or they are escaping.
off i went, got the ants, fed and watered the toad, and put him back in their room.
peter (shaking his head): you are an incredible mother.
smile.
peter: where are you going?
erin: i have to catch some ants for the toad
peter: you have to catch ants?
erin: well, it has to eat, right?
peter: does it eat them?
erin: i think so. they are not there in the morning, and the toad is still alive...either that or they are escaping.
off i went, got the ants, fed and watered the toad, and put him back in their room.
peter (shaking his head): you are an incredible mother.
smile.
Ava got her first bike a few months ago, and was SO EXCITED, but then she fell on her elbow twice and has been frightened of it ever since. Then yesterday I had an idea. We loaded up with bike and trike, drove to the high school, and rolled over to the track, a perfect oval with looooong straight sides, requiring no elbow-crunching turns, and off she went. Lo and behold, bike riding is fun! She went ALL THE WAY AROUND and she nearly floated away on a cloud of excitement and pride. She ran over to me with arms in the air and a huge grin, screaming “I did it!!” – We then explored the sand pits for the long jump, and both kids had a great time trying to do it. Ava said “I love this run and jump game, mom!” The funny part about it was that she and Carter both ran full tilt to the sand, screeched to a halt, then jumped. They just could not figure out how to leap while running. They did not even realize that they were not doing what I was doing. Not that I was the best example. I don’t bounce.
Ava is a riot to talk to. I will start a story, and get to a part like: “And then we had to move, with a pregnant cat, to Pennsylvania, but first we had to go to South Carolina to stay at my grandmother’s house because our PA house was not ready,” and she will suddenly, very seriously and very intently interrupt, and say “oh, yes yes…I have been to South Carolina…it is so beautiful there. Really gorgeous.” Completely deadpan, completely 100% convincing.
I just stare at her when she does this. It is like talking to someone at a cocktail party.
Carter calls her Evi or Avi. It is very cute. Mama…Mommy. Dada…Daddy. Ava…Avi. Logical.
Ava is a riot to talk to. I will start a story, and get to a part like: “And then we had to move, with a pregnant cat, to Pennsylvania, but first we had to go to South Carolina to stay at my grandmother’s house because our PA house was not ready,” and she will suddenly, very seriously and very intently interrupt, and say “oh, yes yes…I have been to South Carolina…it is so beautiful there. Really gorgeous.” Completely deadpan, completely 100% convincing.
I just stare at her when she does this. It is like talking to someone at a cocktail party.
Carter calls her Evi or Avi. It is very cute. Mama…Mommy. Dada…Daddy. Ava…Avi. Logical.
Monday, June 18, 2007
"mommy, can you tell me a story about when you were a little girl and you were four and you lived in utah and you went to the store with the taffy machine and the restaurant with the hotdogs where they sang to you on your birthday and then you went on a trip to wyoming and california and then you went to disneyland and you visited cinderella's castle and she showed you her castle and you got to see her glass slippers and then you had dinner with her and then you met mickey..."
"minnie."
"...minnie mouse and she told you that she liked your sundress and you rode the teacups and then there was a big parade and you saw a man playing your favorite song on the piano and you got a red watch?"
"BLUE!"
"no, carter, it was not blue. mom said it was red."
"BLUE! BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!"
"no. red."
"BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUE!"
"mommy, can you tell me the story of when you were a little girl and you lived in north carolina and you had a cat named puffy and she had kittens in the tv box instead of the box that you had made for her and there were six kittens, and they were, they were, what color were they?
"BLUE!"
"nooooooooooo! caaaarterrrrrr! there is no such thing as a blue cat!"
"BLUE! BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!"
"mom! tell him they weren't blue"
"carter, i am pretty sure puffy's kittens were calico, grey, and black and white."
"BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUE!"
"oh, ok. maybe there was a blue one that i am forgetting."
"blue."
"hey carter, what color is that red truck?"
"BLUE!"
"minnie."
"...minnie mouse and she told you that she liked your sundress and you rode the teacups and then there was a big parade and you saw a man playing your favorite song on the piano and you got a red watch?"
"BLUE!"
"no, carter, it was not blue. mom said it was red."
"BLUE! BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!"
"no. red."
"BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUE!"
"mommy, can you tell me the story of when you were a little girl and you lived in north carolina and you had a cat named puffy and she had kittens in the tv box instead of the box that you had made for her and there were six kittens, and they were, they were, what color were they?
"BLUE!"
"nooooooooooo! caaaarterrrrrr! there is no such thing as a blue cat!"
"BLUE! BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!"
"mom! tell him they weren't blue"
"carter, i am pretty sure puffy's kittens were calico, grey, and black and white."
"BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUE!"
"oh, ok. maybe there was a blue one that i am forgetting."
"blue."
"hey carter, what color is that red truck?"
"BLUE!"
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
thomas the train has been recalled. for lead paint. lead F#*&ing paint. it is only some of the parts, but how do we know for sure? i cannot believe this, primarily because our thomas trains are a big favorite.
you know, i spend hours and hours of research and effort to try and make sure that my kids are safe, especially from lead--and then this happens. i know not to get ava plastic jewelry from the grocery store, but thomas the train? at 20$ a pop? do you think they could have afforded to institute some quality control?
of course this leads to the current can of worms about manufacturing in china, but what it boils down to is that i feel so unsafe. totally at the mercy of free trade...
anyway, new rules on toys in this house. handmade only. just kidding. but not that much.
you know, i spend hours and hours of research and effort to try and make sure that my kids are safe, especially from lead--and then this happens. i know not to get ava plastic jewelry from the grocery store, but thomas the train? at 20$ a pop? do you think they could have afforded to institute some quality control?
of course this leads to the current can of worms about manufacturing in china, but what it boils down to is that i feel so unsafe. totally at the mercy of free trade...
anyway, new rules on toys in this house. handmade only. just kidding. but not that much.
Monday, June 11, 2007
i know i have not written anything, i have been so incredibly busy it seems. who knows what i am doing, but by 8 pm, i am not able to remember anything that happened during the day.
carter now says "AVA!" or "AAAAAVVVVVVIIIIIEEEEEE" (he puts a nice little eeeeeee at the end--aveee), "DAD!" "DAAAAADDDDDIIIIIEEEEEEE!" "MOM!" "MAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" rarely is it every without the exclamation point, unless he is trying to pull heartstrings and he whimpers "daddy? daddy. daddy. daddy?" after said individual leaves for work.
and he has figured out that now that he can say her name, he can also tattle on her. apparently she bit him in a fit of frustration (he would not do what she wanted, so she bit him--always a good management tactic), and when i asked what happened, he said "ava..." and then he bit his arm. she looked completely shocked. i guess she figured i would not notice her dental fingerprint on his bicep.
he also has total surfer dude hair. curly, long and blond. very cute. very messy.
ava has changed dramatically. she no longer thinks big machines, planes and motorcycles are cool. i am not sure where she figured it all out, but she has decided what things are 'girl' things, and what things are 'boy' things, and she is absolutely determined not to be seen enjoying anything that might be a product of testosterone. she separates everything into the girl's and boy's sides/pieces/parts/places/etc. if it can be assigned a gender role, it is. even when we went for a walk on a dirt road, the left wheel track was for the boys (carter) and the right wheel track was for the girls (ava and myself). it is so interesting. and all she wants to wear are dresses and to look pretty. i remember thinking this way when i was in 1st grade, and i do wonder where little girls get it. it definitely is an aesthetic, and i am fairly sure the jury is still out on whether or not aesthetic preferences are innate. i am pretty confident that my ratty old clothes, lack of makeup, sporadic beautification efforts, and complete lack of anything girly or pink or shiny in my day to day existence has done nothing to foster her state of mind.
and it drives her absolutely nuts when carter likes the pink shiny things. "no carter! that is for GIRLS!" -- but he still is blissfully naive and thinks nothing of parading around the house with a victoria's secret shopping bag.
they play together now, and they laugh together. it is great. they play. together. with smiles and giggles. did i mention how pleased i am? they like each other. most of the time. they spent hours today making concoctions out of soapy water and buckets and dirt and sand and kitchen utensils. (ava is still very happy to get dirty).
carter now says "AVA!" or "AAAAAVVVVVVIIIIIEEEEEE" (he puts a nice little eeeeeee at the end--aveee), "DAD!" "DAAAAADDDDDIIIIIEEEEEEE!" "MOM!" "MAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" rarely is it every without the exclamation point, unless he is trying to pull heartstrings and he whimpers "daddy? daddy. daddy. daddy?" after said individual leaves for work.
and he has figured out that now that he can say her name, he can also tattle on her. apparently she bit him in a fit of frustration (he would not do what she wanted, so she bit him--always a good management tactic), and when i asked what happened, he said "ava..." and then he bit his arm. she looked completely shocked. i guess she figured i would not notice her dental fingerprint on his bicep.
he also has total surfer dude hair. curly, long and blond. very cute. very messy.
ava has changed dramatically. she no longer thinks big machines, planes and motorcycles are cool. i am not sure where she figured it all out, but she has decided what things are 'girl' things, and what things are 'boy' things, and she is absolutely determined not to be seen enjoying anything that might be a product of testosterone. she separates everything into the girl's and boy's sides/pieces/parts/places/etc. if it can be assigned a gender role, it is. even when we went for a walk on a dirt road, the left wheel track was for the boys (carter) and the right wheel track was for the girls (ava and myself). it is so interesting. and all she wants to wear are dresses and to look pretty. i remember thinking this way when i was in 1st grade, and i do wonder where little girls get it. it definitely is an aesthetic, and i am fairly sure the jury is still out on whether or not aesthetic preferences are innate. i am pretty confident that my ratty old clothes, lack of makeup, sporadic beautification efforts, and complete lack of anything girly or pink or shiny in my day to day existence has done nothing to foster her state of mind.
and it drives her absolutely nuts when carter likes the pink shiny things. "no carter! that is for GIRLS!" -- but he still is blissfully naive and thinks nothing of parading around the house with a victoria's secret shopping bag.
they play together now, and they laugh together. it is great. they play. together. with smiles and giggles. did i mention how pleased i am? they like each other. most of the time. they spent hours today making concoctions out of soapy water and buckets and dirt and sand and kitchen utensils. (ava is still very happy to get dirty).
Friday, June 01, 2007
The summer nature watch has begun:
1. Some animal ate up all of our crocus bulbs. Left us with perfect round holes, so we can replace them, I guess.
2. Red winged blackbirds (a pair) visited out birdfeeder. Very weird, since we are in the woods and they are marshy-type birds.
3. Caterpillars galore
4. A pair of juncos has taken over the robin’s nest from last year. Their eggs have hatched, and the family appears to be doing well. There is a robin couple, but we have not yet located their nest.
5. All of my seedlings have died, save for those that I gave up on and plunked outside in the cold rain and snow. They are thriving. So much for grow lights.
6. Carter’s potatoes are thriving. Give a kid a potato and a pot of dirt, and you have food for a year. (Tell that to the Irish).
7. The tadpoles are out, very interesting
8. My perennials have all come back up. SO AMAZING. I can’t grow a vegetable to save my life, but I sure as heck can get flowers.
9. Ava and Carter have decided that the kiddie pool is no fun unless you shovel hundreds of pounds of dirt into it. We now have our own little swamp, begging to be declared a wetland and thus protected from any further development.
10. The bugs are still vicious.
11. We found a spider with an egg sac (deep breath)
12. We found the exoskeleton of what I think was a cricket (deep breath)
13. We found some bizarre flowery-pine cone-y thing that we cannot identify
14. Rose and the chipmunks have declared full-on war.
15. Strawberry-picking soon…
Everything is green, sunny and warm. Life is looking pretty great. Muddy and sandy, but great.
1. Some animal ate up all of our crocus bulbs. Left us with perfect round holes, so we can replace them, I guess.
2. Red winged blackbirds (a pair) visited out birdfeeder. Very weird, since we are in the woods and they are marshy-type birds.
3. Caterpillars galore
4. A pair of juncos has taken over the robin’s nest from last year. Their eggs have hatched, and the family appears to be doing well. There is a robin couple, but we have not yet located their nest.
5. All of my seedlings have died, save for those that I gave up on and plunked outside in the cold rain and snow. They are thriving. So much for grow lights.
6. Carter’s potatoes are thriving. Give a kid a potato and a pot of dirt, and you have food for a year. (Tell that to the Irish).
7. The tadpoles are out, very interesting
8. My perennials have all come back up. SO AMAZING. I can’t grow a vegetable to save my life, but I sure as heck can get flowers.
9. Ava and Carter have decided that the kiddie pool is no fun unless you shovel hundreds of pounds of dirt into it. We now have our own little swamp, begging to be declared a wetland and thus protected from any further development.
10. The bugs are still vicious.
11. We found a spider with an egg sac (deep breath)
12. We found the exoskeleton of what I think was a cricket (deep breath)
13. We found some bizarre flowery-pine cone-y thing that we cannot identify
14. Rose and the chipmunks have declared full-on war.
15. Strawberry-picking soon…
Everything is green, sunny and warm. Life is looking pretty great. Muddy and sandy, but great.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)