Disneyland

There really is no place like it, and it was fun to see the kids experience it for the first time. Julie had to work, so it was just Ted managing the bambini. We started off getting a picture with Pluto. Joe loved it and was quick to get his autograph, Clara hung back and said she was scared, so Joe got her book signed. We then hit Its a small world, which the kids loved so much we did it again at the end of the day. 

From there it was to Mickey and Minnie's houses, where we secured more autographs and photos. After lunch we did Tomorrowland, saw a robot show, rode the monorail, and did the Buzz Lightyear Blaster ride after which Joe insisted his souvenir needed to be a blaster just like on the ride. Clara also took a cat nap in the stroller somewhere in there. We ended the day riding Dumbo:

And then we got spots on the curb for the parade. Clara was waving vigorously to all the characters especially the princesses.  We then caught the monorail to Downtown Disney where we had pizza dinner and got ear hats. 

We got back to the hotel to be greeted by Julie at 7:30, 12 hours after we left her.  So Ted is filing this report from the hotel bar while Julie puts down the little ones. 

It was a long day, but the kids were great.  Only one meltdown by Clara about an improperly procured paper towel and one freak out by Joe for 4 seconds when he couldn't find Ted in a crowded area. 

California Adventure

Day one of our California Adventure was a success!  We flew into John Wayne airport which is a lot easier than LAX, though we ended up hanging by the Duke for half an hour while Hertz "washed our car". 

But after getting everyone's blood sugar and blood pressure back to normal, we headed out to the beach - we will share more soon, but the kids loved it. 

And we capped off the night dining al fresco at a great neighborhood Mexican  restaurant.

Tomorrow Julie is at her conference while Ted braves Disneyland!

SLP vacation

We have been living like tourists in our home town of St Louis Park MN as the house hit the market Monday and we leave for vacation Wednesday so it was best for everyones sanity to be out of the house. Last night the kids bounced off the walls when they were supposed to be sleeping. There final resting spot gives you a sense for the antics.  Tonight they were better, perhaps helped by some time in the pool. 

Good news is we all but sold the house! Assuming final initials are collected we will be all done as we head off for vacation. We will send along some reports from the field!

BTW

Sleeping with socks on one's feet and hands is all the rage here among the tot set--though after Clara made her usual trip to the bathroom after five minutes in bed, she said she didn't want them on anymore.  (She washed her hands after using the potty, and Julie and Ted heard her singing the ABCs while she did it, just like Julie taught her.  She skips TUV still.  It's all almost too dear to bear.)

Raleigh House, In Her Glory

Our Hero, on the porch, before it was closed.  Who can believe we won't sit out there again?  We didn't even realize the last time for what it was.

It was another busy, busy day here at Raleigh House, Fans, but the good news is, as you can see from these pictures, we are 95% done and done.  What remains are a series of little, random things like putting away the soccer net since it looks junky from the street.  It probably wouldn't have happened if Sara and Derek hadn't had Joe and Clara over for their very first ever drop off play date.  (It was tough to top a scenic tour of the municipal dumps of the northwest suburbs of the Twin Cities metro, but somehow, they managed.)

Tomorrow, we'll finish up this and that, pack, and then blow Raleigh House some kisses in hopes she finds a new owner to love her as much as we did (preferably while we are away in California).

Charming 2 BR, 1 BATH house in sought-after Fern Hill neighborhood on double lot with two car garage, both rare for this area.  Tons of storage in renovated upstairs!  Three-season porch.  Fresh paint in many rooms.  Original kitchen cabinets and hardwood in most of home.  Mature trees and landscaping.  Meticulously cared for by devoted owners.  Not to be missed!

Living room minus all bookcases, toys, and cupcake kitchen.  (Pictures yet to be centered on walls on either side of window.)

No more coat rack.  (Vacuum awaiting ferry to repair shop.)  Dining room light is the one that was up when we moved in, saved by clever owners.  ;)

A fashion forward dad and daughter duo in the kitchen, featuring scoured kitchen cabinets and appliances.

Not much has changed here.  Imagine white sheets in the beds and matching blankets.

Upstairs, decluttered.  (This bookcase Cindy allowed us to keep.)

No one works at this pristine desk.  (Will Cindy make us move the AC?  Which implicitly acknowledges that one needs it upstairs?)

Don't you want to move right in to this cozy wozy basement?!?!

More outstanding basement.

Freshly painted fence (and storage units).  (Should have painted the fence eight years ago.)

Prettying Up the Joint

Fans, we have been busier than one-armed paper hangers--not hanging up wallpaper, but painting, cleaning, packing, and purging.  We also had a one-day-only! yard sale Friday which was epic, if we do say so ourselves.  And we are getting there.  The photographer comes at 11am on Tuesday, so our plan is to be show-ready Monday, when we will then leave and stay in a hotel before leaving for California Wednesday.  Right now, the upstairs and the porch are show-ready and thus, the bambini are no longer allowed in them as they leave a wake of happy destruction wherever they go.  The basement is also show-ready but only because everything had to be removed from it, so the the walls and floor could be painted since Minnesotans love, love, LOVE a basement for living in rather than storing things.  So one tries to pretty up the basement if one is selling one's house.  Whatever.  If Realtor Cindy says to do it, we're doing it.

So today, Julie and the bambini--but especially Joe--spent some quality time in the car.  They went to Joe's swimming class and Clara's Little Gym class, but the fun pretty much stopped there, though Julie tried her best.  They went to the bank (lollipops!), Target (Look!  It's Ms. Amanda!), Menard's ("We save big money!  We save big money!  When we shop Menard's!"), and--the piece de resistance: not one, but two transfer stations (town dumps).  Julie and Joe had to go to two dumps because the one 20 minutes away in a town called Brooklyn Center no longer accepts scrap wood.  Of course, because the scrap wood was conveniently piled on top of the scrap metal Julie and Joe were then dropping off first. But they saw someone tossing a TV so big it had to be lifted out of his F-150 with a fork lift.  Good times at the dump!  They also saw a mattress being lifted out of another pick-up with a fork lift, and then another one was in the offing!  Joe wanted to stay and watch, but there was a line of other folks waiting to get to the scrap metal bins so they couldn't stay for the show.  At the next dump--another 20 minutes away--Joe remarked to Julie that if they lived in the house across from the dump, they could just walk there.  Even though clearly (clearly) he was done riding in the car, he did agree with Julie that he didn't want to live across from a dump.

After that, the Js were off to the lamp repair store that's open, like, alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays, until 4:31pm.  Turns out, they "don't take in lamps anymore."  So they are paying the rent selling light bulbs which must be more lucrative than anyone ever even stopped to imagine.  The lamp-repair-turned-light-bulb-purveyor sent them to another lamp repair store, "Michael's".  It had a bowl with Jolly Ranchers on the counter and Michael is fixing our lamp.

There is light at the end of this tunnel.

Just Call Us the Jeffersons

Fans, we have more news.  While the bambini and Berenice were busy barfing, we bought a new house!

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

Fans, it's got two bathrooms, and a dishwasher.  Just call us the Jeffersons; we're movin' on up.  One of those bathrooms is on the same level on which Julie sleeps and even though she will continue to share it with the bambini, she is pretty excited about this development.  It's also got three bedrooms, instead of just two.  Big changes are in the offing, though this house is still in St. Louis Park, in a neighborhood called Minikahada Vista.  Our new house is about two blocks from Joe's kindergarten and three blocks from the KinderCare, a Starfoxes, and a Trader Joe's.  We can walk to all those places!  We Minnesota Ekkers love a walk!  We close July 1.

The bambini got right into this whole deal.  The day Clara was sick happened to be the day our realtor, Cindy was over for a chat.  The next day, on the way home from school, she asked if Cindy was going to be there when we got home.  Did you see that cat crawl out of that bag?  Our Hero did, too.  Julie said that she and Daddy had been looking for a new house, just like Ms. Sara and Mr. Derek had looked for a new house for Graham and Connor.  Fans, that was all it took.  Joe wanted to know if he would have his own room.  Once he knew that he would, he told Julie that he would like to paint the walls orange--and red and black and blue, because those are his favorite colors and there are four walls.  Julie said he could choose orange or blue, but that she and Daddy had executive veto power over the shade.  Without missing a beat--not one beat, Fans--he said that black was not a good choice because it absorbed all the light.  We can't make this stuff up.  Joe also wanted to know if our house would have an attic.  (The B. Bears have an attic, as do Grizzly Gran and Gramps.)  The new house has an attic.  Check.

For her part, Birdie wanted a big house.  White!  And she wanted a purple and pink room!  She wants to live in a castle basically.  It is not  castle, but it is bigger, and it is white.  Julie said purple or pink and again, Daddy and Mommy had executive veto power over the shade.

Julie has to go to California next week for work, and she is bringing her entourage.  (Except Berenice.  Berenice is going to camp.)  The house will be empty.  Everyone will have to do their barfing and pooping and what all someplace else.  So, we are seizing the opportunity and will try to put Raleigh House on the market this upcoming Monday or Tuesday.  Things are just a little crazy.

We have loved our little yellow Raleigh House.  Sitting on the porch watching night fall, storms roll through, and the leaves blowing in the wind; listening to the rain on the roof; having parties in the yard and dinner in the dining room. . .so many good times.  Our first home, the bambini's only home.  But it was time.  So we are so grateful that it is happening, and are excited to make a new house, a home.

Our Hero Visits His School To-Be

Joe had his kindergarten assessment this morning.  So far as Julie could tell, he did many of the things he did at the state-mandated early-childhood screening: cut a straight line; cut a wavy line; draw some shapes; identify some shapes, colors, letters, and numbers; count; read; chat; write one's name; draw one's self or a person at any rate.  Fans, Our Hero is not a artist.  Or, he is, but he offers one impressions suggesting realism, rather than realism itself.  To wit, when asked to draw himself today, Joe drew a circle on top of a square on top of a triangle.  When the teacher assessing him asked him what he'd drawn, he said, "Me!"  When prompted, he added some lines--legs and arms that for all the world, Fans, looked like chicken or bird feet.  Julie smiled when she saw it and even before the teacher told her what had gone down, Julie knew.  Oh, she knew.  Joe had done the whole thing in orange, his go to (first) favorite color.  An artist he is not, but a reader, he is: when asked to read five short sentences, Joe nailed every word except one: fast, and apparently, he knew how to start sounding it out.  He is also a strong cutter.  This we know, right, Fans?  Our Hero loves him a scissor.  Got a task requiring scissors?  He's on it.

While Joe was doing all of this, Julie was filling out a form that included questions like, "Describe your child."  One is given four lines in which to accomplish this task.  Four lines!

Pal-o, I said that you were "in your head" a lot, kind of bookish; that you were reserved, but not shy; that you liked to please people so you were sometimes more of a follower than a leader, and that this tendency sometimes got you into trouble but that you were learning to make your own choices; that you had a good heart; that you were kind.  I wish I had written that you also had such an imagination!  Just this morning, you asked me to get you down your keys--your keys that I made for you when you were itty bitty, real keys from my old dull set--and some for Clara, too, because y'all were going on a boat ride.  Y'all had dragged a bunch of this and that together with a tiny little pocket in the middle of it all for y'all--your boat--and you must have seen Daddy, at some point--at the lake house?--drive a boat?  Somehow, you knew you needed keys for some boats.  It was all so you--pretending to be in a boat--but with keys!  Four lines.  Pal-o, that's how many they give you, but you can't be contained in four lines.  You are amazing.

Vomiting: Trending High at Raleigh House

Fans, the good news is hat our Birdie has made a full recovery.  The bad news is that Our Hero has been felled by apparently the same bug that Birdie had.  Julie awoke to find him crouched next to the big bed, vomiting, at about 1am.  Reconstructive evidence suggests that he was a sort of Vomit Man Walking: he woke up feeling nauseous and, remembering that Birdie had been given a trash can, collected the bathroom trash can for himself.  But when the big moment came, he didn't make it: Our Hero's bed, blanket, Duckie and Barbar were covered in vomit (Panda had been tossed--or jumped--to safety on the floor; Neaky, Teddy, and Beary were also spared).  He then walked down the hall (vomit trail) to the kitchen where he got the collapsible stool out (self-evident) to reach the wipes to clean himself up (vomit handprints on the edge of the countertop).  Doesn't that all just squeeze your heart, Fans?  Little man tryin' to be so big!  The bed wasn't an option anymore obviously, so he made his way upstairs.  That's where he remains on another overcast and stormy morning.  He threw up two more times, both times in to the garbage can though we put a barf barrier up again.  He's still feverish, but hopefully he's largely past the worst of it.

In other, related, news, Berenice spent the night at the emergency vet on Friday evening because Friday marked the second day in a row in which she'd had diarrhea in the house and by Friday, she was vomiting as well.  She tried drinking some water Friday evening, barfed it all back up, with blood.  Thankfully, it was all nothing more serious than dehydration, but she stayed overnight hooked up to an IV and getting various diagnostic tests run to confirm that initial diagnosis.  She's back home now.  A bit perkier, but still taking it easy.  She gets to eat rice with hamburger or chicken mixed in it for a while so, you know, there's that.

So. knock wood, Julie and Ted remain healthy.  (Raleigh House smells amazing enough.)

Barfing Birdie Rides Again

Birdie, between episodes

Ah spring.  April showers, May flowers.  Stomach bugs.  Birdie came down with one last night.  When we found her, shortly after hearing high-pitched and fevered whimpering not long after midnight, she'd heaved up a puddle of vomit in the bed and two puddles of it on the floor.  It was only after Julie had helped her into fresh pajamas that she realized one difference between a little girl losing her cookies and a little boy doing the same, is that you'll probably need to give the little girl a bath because the little girl will probably have longer hair and it will have vomit all matted up in it.  It might even be in her ears.  By the time Julie had bathed Clara and Ted had sopped up all the puddles of vomit and gotten the first of the laundry to come going, Joe was awake, too.  Clara wanted Julie to hold her, so Julie curled up next to Clara on her little bed, Joe across the way; Ted went back upstairs.  It wasn't long before Joe padded out, glancing backward the whole way.  Julie thought he was going to the bathroom, but she found out not long after that he'd headed upstairs.  Clara threw up again, but into a ready trash can.  She kept saying she wanted to go upstairs and after a while, Julie decided, screw it: she did, too.  So she scooped up Baby Bird and one of the big fleece blankets to serve as a barf barrier, if you will, and up they went.  So there were five in the bed: the boys, and the girls, including Berenice.  Berenice ended up on the floor.  Ted ended up on the chaise lounge.  Julie ended up with about a foot of bed by its edge; Joe and Clara split the difference that remained.  Clara woke up to vomit some more all night long.  Some of it went into a garbage can; some of it was caught by the barf barrier.  Bless her little Birdie heart.

Everyone made it through today on well less than a full tank of gas.  Ted stayed home with Birdie after dashing to Target before seven for his computer.  Before he left, she was doing donkey kicks in defiance of her fever and the hours of off and on vomiting that had just passed.  That's when she cut her bottom lip with her own teeth and started bleeding everywhere.

Ted biked to Target with Birdie in the trailer.  She fell asleep.  Once they got home, they went for a walk with Clara on her push bike.  After lunch, Birdie disappeared.  Ted found her upstairs in the big bed under the sheet that serves as the Berenice barrier (!--we are all about a body fluids barrier here at Raleigh House even as circumstances dictate a robust tolerance for body fluids).

No one puts Birdie in a little bed.

There she stayed.  Who could resist that face and all of Birdie's charms?  She threw up during her nap, of course.  BUT, she has been barf and fever free ever since!

We think we might be on an upswing.  We're going to need to rest up for it though!

Bonus outtake: "Show us your teeth!"

You Say Shampoo. . .

Shampoo sounds an awful lot like shampoop.  Did you know that, Fans?  It's so clever and original, right?  We know you never thought of that one before, though you are wonderful in so many other ways.  Joe and Clara are planning to take their act on the road any day now.  The incessant repeating of shampoop was the start tonight of what has been a never-ending sally of some sort of another for Julie's attention.  (Ted is at a Twins game.)  Both Joe and Clara were out of bed to tell Julie, while she was showering, that the other had said a potty word.  Note, Fans, that each of them was out of bed.  Tattling.  Clara was first out of the box on this one, and humorously, kept saying, "Mommy?  Mommy?  Mommy?" as Julie said "Yes?  Yes?  Yes?" from behind the curtain.  It was like object permanence hadn't actually been achieved.  Most recently, Clara pattered up the steps to ask for Minne's bow--the one that is really meant for her that makes high pitched giggling noises and lights up.  It's perfect for bedtime!  Good times, soporific times.  When Julie carted her back to bed wordlessly, she found Joe between the fitted sheet and the mattress pad, a trick he learned from his erstwhile sidekick.  (Last night, he had his animals under there.)  The usual warning was issued in terse terms and voice.

Bucket dippers.  The both of them tonight.

You know what works well when one is trying not to lose that single marble she still has?  To go upstairs where the unseasonable 94-degree day has necessitated the sudden appearance of the (loud) air conditioner.  One can't hear the bambini's shenanigans over the din!  Now that is clever and original.

Until someone decides she needs Minnie's bow.

Mr. Mad Face (An Owl Lost, and Found)

Yesterday at pick-up, Joe carted out an owl made from a paper bag.*  A friend had ripped off one of its feathers so he was clutching both the feather and the owl.  It was windy and the bambini had no more stepped out the door then the owl flew off, into traffic headed toward the median divider.  Joe took one step and then stopped--which is when Julie's heart started beating again.  That's when Joe let out a wail in a pitch approaching something only dogs would be able to hear.  Operation Rescue Whoo Whoo was on.  Julie managed to keep one eye on the owl, caught by now (but for who knew who long!) in the bushes on the median divide, and get Ms. Nadine's attention inside as she repeated all the while, "Don't.  Move." to Joe and Clara.  Ms. Nadine came out and then it was just Julie versus the wind.

Fans, we are pleased to report that the owl, whose name, as it turns out, is Mr. Mad Face, was rescued.  (Julie told him to wipe that look off his face and stop flying into traffic.)  Joe was sort of shell-shocked by the whole incident.  It took him a while to recover.

Thank God it wasn't the feather that got blown away, right?  That thing would have been long gone.

*For our Fans out there who are also fans of Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby, remember Ramona the Brave in which Ramona's class makes owls like that and Ramona's is artistic and wonderful and Susan with the boiiing!!! curls copies it?  So great.

Mother's Day 2013

Julie's morning began when she heard Joe climbing the stairs.  (Joe climbs the stairs now without the feet-together pause on each tread, while Clara does not, so one can tell which of them is climbing the steps or, at least, which of them is in the lead.)  He climbed up into Ted's empty side of the bed with Neaky, Teddy, and Beary.  Clara wasn't far behind him with Minnie, Daisy, and Bubba.  They settled themselves in, but Joe didn't stay long.  (He likes to help Ted make breakfast.)  Birdie was without her pajama pants and the morning was a little chilly, and, she likes to burrow, so for all kinds of reasons probably, Clara curled herself into a ball by Julie's side underneath her arm and soon enough, she was softly snoring.  One of Rainer Maria Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus begins, "And it was almost a girl who, stepping from/this single harmony of song and lyre, /appeared to me through her diaphanous form /and made herself a bed inside my ear. /And slept in me."  That's what Julie was thinking of this morning when Clara was curled up next to her.

April 27, 2010

Enough highbrow schmaltz!

Julie was toasted with "Happy Mother's Day!" over a breakfast of french toast with berries, bacon, and sweet tea, and given new throw pillows and rugs for the porch from Ted.  Joe and Clara had each made Julie an art project at school which she had found taped to their cubbies at pick-up on Friday, and opened that night.  Joe's was bouquet in a vase, of which the stems of the flowers were the fingers of his handprint.  On the vase he'd finished the phrase "I love my Mommy because. . ." with "she takes me to plays," in his very own handwriting.  Clara had painted a picture.  She said it was eyes with sunglasses.  On the back, her teachers had pasted  picture of her making it, with a snippet of how she responded to what must have been the question, "Why do you love your Mommy?": "Her puts bows in my hair and eats potatoes."  (Julie is ever so glad that Clara's current confusion over gendered pronouns was captured because it an excellent marker of these days.)  Keen observers will note that Clara also reported that Julie's favorite food was potatoes on the Mad Libs-esque Mother's Day card that accompanied the painting.

After Julie had read the bambini stories tonight, Joe said that she wished every day was Mother's Day.  But like Ted said this morning, every day is, we just celebrate it once a year.

Joe and Clara, the two of you are my heart.  It's the joy and privilege of my life to be your mother.  (I didn't say the schmaltz was over, just the highbrow schmaltz!)

A First

Yesterday, Fans, we had one of those bound-to-happen-but-still-scary firsts: Julie and Joe got separated in a store.  Clara was given the same dress by two different people for her birthday so Julie wanted to go and swap one for some more pajamas and socks.  She was in the way back by the pajamas and while she was realizing that they make night gowns in Clara's size--which Birdie would love because they are, effectively, dresses--she was nearly simultaneously realizing that once she went night gown, she'd never be able to go back and since she did already have some summer pajamas for Birdie, she was realizing she should dismiss the night gowns.  It was in the middle of this rapid chain of realizations that she also realized that Joe was no longer flittering around her.  She quickly went to the front of the store where the majority of the toys to buy are kept and sure enough, there was Our Hero, having wandered very near the door in the way front, clutching some truck contraption.

Julie had found Joe by the time he realized they were separated, but she found him quite literally at that moment, so she watched as his face twisted up in fear, which is what her heart had been doing about a millisecond before that moment.  It was only a moment and then Joe had his face pressed so hard against Julie's legs that she couldn't crouch down to hold him properly, saying, "I couldn't find you."  Oh, Fans.

We had to go through the McDonald's drive thru for some shakes after all that.  Joe got vanilla.  Julie got strawberry, but decided to give it to Clara after Joe asked where Clara's shake was.  Since it was strawberry, it was pink, and although Julie and Joe weren't looking for a sign, it all seemed sort of perfect all the same.  After it was all decided, Joe said, "Yeah.  We'll share with Clara.  That's called loving someone."

Driving Home

It was warm enough to roll the car windows down on the way home from KinderCare tonight.  Joe told Julie she couldn't turn the radio on because he had the window down and was listening to the wind "gushing" past his window.  He then expounded on how the wind blows the leaves off of the trees, which prompted Clara to chirp, "Look how hard I can blow!"  (Joe made sure to show how he can blow harder than Clara.)

So they were sitting at the light (the one known as the long light), blowing away--all three of them actually, when the light turned green and Joe said, "Put it hyperdrive, Mommy!"  Awesome.  That's when Clara said, "Put it princess drive, Mommy!"  Either way, Fans, the sky's the limit.

Zen

This afternoon, Julie and Joe went on a date to see the theatrical adaptation of the book Zen Shorts.  (First, they went to the Starfoxes drive-thru and each got their own tall--decaf--mocha frappuccino.  It was date after all.)

In Zen Shorts, three siblings meet a giant panda named Stillwater after he wanders into their backyard to retrieve his red umbrella which has blown there.  Stillwater teaches them about the value of material things, the importance of perspective, and the significance of letting go of anger.  (Stillwater runs deep.)  Stillwater also waves showily to the audience and sounds like he's farting when he sneezes.  Amazingly, Julie later learned this last was not Joe's favorite part of the play.  Instead, what he liked was when someone tripped and fell and dropped some packages and then others who stopped to help tripped and fell, too.  Apparently this physical humor was funnier than farts.

After the show, the cast sats criss-cross-applesauce in the atrium, making a receiving line for the wee audience members, who could then go through and get their program signed.  There were no flies on Joe, Fans.  Each of the cast members had a few questions and they would ask one of each miniature patron while they signed programs.  Joe had brought along the panda bear Grandpa Charles had gotten for him at the San Diego Zoo.  The vast majority of the 10-person cast asked Joe the name of his panda bear.  Joe told every single on of them, straight up, "Panda Bear."  They took it in stride.  One of them was even like, "Well, yeah!"

Afterward, they went to Graham's house to hang out with Graham, and Sara.  By this time, the sun was out in earnest so most of the time was spent outside.  Fans, it was all very zen: there were Julie and Joe, outside, in the warm sunshine, under a bright blue sky, with close friends, being reminded of some of what's most valuable in this life, getting perspective, and letting go.  (If the boys had made farting noises, the afternoon really would have all come full circle.)

This post is for the giver of the panda bear, Grandpa Charles, who is having surgery tomorrow (for spinal stenosis), and Grandma Connie, who will be by his side.  Sending you love, and zen.

Ranger Joe, Meet Ms. Barrette

We thought certain of our Fans might be amused to see the manner in which the Ranger Joe cup unearthed at the Camel Hollow Road house has been repurposed.

On the Bucket Filling Train

"J for Joe!"  (And jaguar.)

In other bucket filling news, Julie has been trying to do more laundry throughout the week, and some weeks, trying to clean a good portion of the house on Friday nights, so that she can hang out properly with Clara on Saturday morning before Clara's Super Beats class at The Little Gym.  Julie had been thinking about how to engineer more play time with Clara, but got really serious about it after the week the boys left--and Clara raced for her little toy vacuum cleaner.  So lately on Saturday mornings, Julie and Clara have been doing puzzles.  The first week when they didn't vacuum and the like, they worked the Melissa and Doug alphabet train puzzle.  It features a long circus train in which each car has a letter on it containing an animal that start with that same letter.  After Clara had turned all the pieces right side up and found A, Julie asked what letter came next.  That's how it went, with intermittent alphabet singing, until they got to N.  Now, it's true, this reporter can't think of an animal right off the top of her head that begins with N.  But she bets that if she really put her mind to it, she could come up with one better than narwal, which is a fish, which starts with F, which is therefore very confusing to people still learning their letters and who might, perhaps, be running out of patience 14 letters in to this circus train of alphabet fun.  Really, Melissa?  Doug?  Narwal?  In Julie's opinion, they also dropped the ball when they chose skunk for S.  Isn't snake sort of the classic S animal?  (For our Fans out there who have already let their mind go to the always obvious problem of X, we will tell you that Melissa and Doug went with an animal ending in X: fox, with an underscored X.)  So Clara was sort of our of sorts when it came to the N.  But she made it past the N, and got all the animals on the train.

Almost there. . .

Choo-choo!

Can't Handle It

As Julie typed in the last post, Joe came up twice to hover less than two inches from her elbow and attempt conversation.  The second time, he said, "Mommy, I can't handle it.  I can't handle waiting."

So we're off the frappie hour.

Operation Bucket Filling

It hasn't been all frappie hours and strawberry rain boots around here though, Fans.  The first picture below was taken after Julie arrived home from her book club on Wednesday night.  If you're looking for Clara, we should tell you that she is the figure completely covered by the blanket on top of the mattress that is in the middle of the floor.  The night before, she slept on a mattress that she'd stripped bare but hadn't relocated to the floor.  She stays dry at night about 50% of the time, but that night, Julie lifted her up while Ted slid some GoodNites pads under her.  Naturally, the following night, on which this first picture was taken when she'd again stripped the mattress bare before relocating it, we took a chance, and awoke to a pee-soaked mattress.  Silver lining: we now know how to remove urine stains and smells from a mattress.*  The night after this picture was taken, Clara slept on the floor with nothing more than a blanket.  This after her mattress was removed in a huff and pitched on the porch just before the door was slammed, locked, and the key removed and placed on a high shelf.

As you may have sensed from the devolution described above, Clara spent a fair amount of time after being put down to bed this week acting like a ferrel animal.  Stripping off her underwear and pajama pants and running around in only her shirt (sleeves are still tricky for her)--around the bambini's room, in and out of it, around the down stairs--screaming, naturally.  A go-to behavior correction tactic for us is ignoring unwanted behaviors.  But this tactic has a lower rate of success when one has two children and one of them is doing something the other finds hilarious.  When ignoring the behavior fails to work, as it inevitably does, we yell.  This tactic, too, has a lower rate of success when one has two children who find this behavior hilarious as well, until one yells so loud one or both bambini start crying.

So.  Clearly it was time for a new tack.  We went back to basics, figuring that perhaps the bambini were acting out because they felt they weren't getting enough positive, focused, individual attention.  Of course there is a part of you that thinks, "MY WORLD AND EVERY WAKING MOMENT REVOLVES AROUND ONE OR BOTH OF THEM!!!!!  HOW CAN I POSSIBLY PAY ANY MORE ATTENTION TO THEM UNLESS I CEASE ALL ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING?!?!?!"  (You think these sort of thoughts in all caps.)  Here's what we've done: we are employing man-to-man defense once the bambini are out of the bathtub, we are both reading to them, and they are being read to separately once again.  So one parent helps one bambino into pajamas as needed and then that parent reads to and puts that bambino to bed.  Everyone's bucket gets filled better because the bambini are each getting focused attention, and we aren't correcting exponentially expanding misbehaviors.

Since we began Operation Bucket Filling, we have had two nights of progressively better behavior post-tuck in.  Hopefully sweet dreams are just around the corner.

*You combine 8 ounces of hydrogen peroxide with three tablespoons of baking soda and a drop of liquid dishwashing detergent in a spray bottle.  Then you douse the stain with the mixture within 20 minutes of mixing it up.  When it dries, the stain and smells are gone.  (What did people do before baking soda?)

Wednesday night

Friday night, night two of Operation Bucket Filling

Ferrel no more?

Monkeys only on the pajamas.

Of Frappie Hour and Strawberry Rain Boots

Fans, we write to you as we await the start of Frappie Hour at the Starfoxes, which the Starfoxes Powers That Be have thoughtfully scheduled to coincide with the end of Our Birdie's nap, thus providing the perfect diversion on yet another chilly, wet Saturday afternoon in Minnesota. . .in May.*  When we--the three of us who are awake--decided on this plan at about 2pm, Joe said, "I know a good activity: getting ready."  We admire the hustle.  He is currently attempting to hasten the awaking of his little sister by playing in the sink with water and plastic cups.  Even though what is involved is water and plastic cups, he is still managing to make a racket that can be heard all the way upstairs where this reporter sends these words out to you across the ether, Dearest Fans.  (With any luck, the sink will overflow!  Now that would be fun.)

No doubt when we make the trek to the neighborhood Starfoxes, we will do it in our rain boots.  Clara was sporting hers this morning when Julie took her to do the Whole Foods grocery run.  As it turned out, strawberries were on sale so there was a huge display of them right by the store's entrance.  Clara, breathless with excitement, bellowed, "Just like my strawberry rain boots!"

*We're not bitter.

Birdie, in her strawberry rain boots