A Bird In the Hand

We are in the midst of a perfect week here weather-wise, so today, Ted picked up Joe on the bike and Julie picked up Clara Jane on foot. The Birds stopped in the Starfoxes on the way back home and got an iced tea lemonade to share. They held hands except for when they were passing the drink. Sweet times. They saw plenty of birds on the way home which prompted Julie to say, "I've got a Bird right here!" Clara replied, "I'm a Bird, but I don't fly. I'm just called Bird. I'm a Bird, but I don't fly because I have hands, not wings, and I wear clothes. Wild animals don't wear clothes."

Impetigo Is For the Birds

Birdie Brigade, the source of Our Birdie's incessantly running left nostril has been deemed impetigo, one of the illnesses that seems to be coincide with the advent of spring in your preschool hot zones.  She had a sore in the corner of her mouth (that actually cleared up) that was all part and parcel of the same. Strep was on a tear in the preschool rooms and we were reminded that impetigo is a close cousin.  Birdie is on penicillin for it and after just the first dose even seemed so much better--her nose has stopped running, she's less cranky, and she just looks better, you know? Ted took her to the doctor this morning, but the old split-the-day trick where whichever parent was home in the morning goes to work in the afternoon while the other parent does the reverse did not work since both Julie and Ted needed to be at work in the afternoon.  So we did the oh-didn't-you-know?-it's-bring-your-child-to-work day! trick. Ted dropped Clara off with Julie around two-thirty, and Clara spent an hour and a half quietly looking at books, coloring in her new Princess Sofia coloring book, examining the rocks from Orient Point on Julie's desk, eating a chocolate chip cookie and, as it turns out, three wint-o-green Lifesavers--at one time.  She said they were "spicy." Clara was not a fan of the commute home.  Julie really couldn't blame her; it is a total drag. Julie thinks it was mostly the commute that caused Clara to start bellowing about five blocks from White House what turned out to be "I'm going to cough all over the floor," by which she meant vomit. Julie figured this out after pulling over, throwing on her hazard lights, getting out of the car, and opening the back door nearest Biride.  Julie somehow realized that Clara didn't have the word vomit and was trying to communicate with the words she did have.  Clara did, in fact, cough all over the floor, only it was really into Julie's water cup because Julie figured out the code in time.  Julie was car sick not infrequently as a child and today's commute was rather stop and go, so it could have been just that. Or the antibiotic.  Or the three wint-o-green Lifesaves.  But at any rate, Our Birdie appears to be on the mend.

Joe Looses His First Tooth!

But the biggest news of the weekend is not the catastrophe of the dropped paint, the triumph of the lemonade stand, or the triumph over the stump. The biggest news of the weekend is that Our Hero lost his first tooth! And we don't have it. It came out when he was playing football with Eli in Eli's backyard after dinner. He left it on the field of glory, Fans. He left it on the field of glory.

The tooth fairy has tucked a $5 spot under Joe's pillow. Now that might seem spendy, Fans, and we are with you. But here's the deal: a week or so ago, Joe got an Avengers-branded watch with his own money, after having seen it in Target weeks earlier and apparently having tucked away in his secret heart. And in his zeal to get it out of the package, he was hacking away at the packaging--and hacked right through the flexible plastic band. Oh Fans. Oh Fans. The heartbreak. Accidents happen. But Ted noted that this was not the first time that Our Hero had damaged something because of overly enthusiastic package hacking and the Avenger watch hacking became a Teachable Moment.

They can be such a drag, Fans, right? Especially when what follows in their wake is the carefully taping of an Avengers watch band with black electrical tape multiple times a day for many days after the Teachable Moment.

So tonight, Julie said that she thought the Tooth Fairy should leave $5 for Joe so he could get a new watch, under the managing-expectations-guise of it being the first tooth which scores one a bit more than those that follow.  And so Our Hero is sleeping right now on a fiver. We can't wait to see him in the morning.

While the Lemonade Stand Was Being Made. . .

Perhaps more impressive than the lemonade stand is the stump from a dead lilac that Julie and Ted (mostly Ted) managed to pry out of the ground from the area pictured above.  It was right about where the large green hosta in the front of a row of three coming down the slope now is.  At the same time that the slickest lemonade stand ever was being built, Julie was out back tearing out purple loosestrife and ditch lilies in the same picture above, from the lilac in the picture on the right, on over to the fence, and then transplanting most of what you see there now. When she started, she thought she's leave the stump, but in attacking the loosestrife, she dug up a lot of the dirt around it anyway and one thing led to another, and now we have a big stump on the patio to get rid of, but also a beautiful new slope! We'r getting there, Fans.

So now you know how we spent most of this Memorial Day weekend--that is, covered in sawdust, paint, or dirt. But it was fun, as was winding the weekend down with Joe and Clara's friends Eli and Emma and their parents, Molly and Joe.  Who would have thought two weeks ago that Memorial Day would bring out the bathing suits and wading pool?

Joe's Lemonade Stand

What you see here, Fans, is a pretty slick lemonade stand, staffed by Our Very Enthusiastic Hero and his Erstwhile Sidekick Birdie. Of late, the bambini have been watching a Curious George DVD some evenings before dinner, and there is maybe an episode in there in which George makes juice? Possible to sell? At a stand? We can't say for sure because the Curious George DVD is enough to make one long for a certain tree house down a sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country so this reporter at least has come to all but tune it out. But we can say that after watching Curious George, Joe is always writing down juice recipes (that seem to always contain the juice of one radish--secret ingredient) and in the past week, he has made at least three booklets about how to make lemonade. So: a lemonade stand.

Long time Fans may recall that Ted is himself a long time This Old House Fan.  That's a mercy, as is the fact that he is a trained engineer. He is also very kind. That doesn't make lemonade, but it does make for the sort of dad who goes to the interwebs and finds instructions for making a five-piece lemonade stand that slides together and then apart so that it might be stored flat and makes a dream come true, Fans.

Now, there was a hiccup along the way to realizing the dream.  Joe, in consultation with Julie, had selected two citrus shades for the lemon stand: a bright orange whose name we do not recall, and a pale green whose name we do (Honeydew Melon) because Joe took the shaking of that quart a little too far and dropped it on the driveway.  Now we can say, "Accidents happen," but it will perhaps not surprise you to know, Fans, that something different was said in the moment.  At least the paint that was dropped was the green, and the green was pale. It sort of looks like leaves on the driveway.

By Saturday's end, the stand was ready, and so was Joe. Excitement was high. Scattered thunderstorms were predicted with 60% probability, but they never materialized.  What did materialize was a lot of foot traffic on 39th which is a main drag through the neighborhood. (As soon as the new sidewalks go in next month, we are talking prime lemonade stand real estate on our leaf-dappled driveway.). Our Hero sold lemonade in a cup for 25 cents; cans of soda or bottles of water or Gatorade for 50 cents; and snacks packs of things like Nutter Butter cookies for 50 cents. The available sodas were Sun Drop, Sunkist, A&W root beer, and when the pickings got slim, Dr. Pepper 10 and coconut LaCroix.  Fans, Our Hero took in about $16 over the course of about six hours! You should have seen him out there calling out hello to people and asking if they wanted any lemonade and reading his book during the lulls.  He drank and ate a fair amount of his inventory, but hey, that's your prerogative when business is booming and you're the boss.

 

Birdie's Spring Conference

In other news, the last gasp of winter (also know as spring up here) brought spring conferences at KinderCare.  At Birdie's, we learned that she continues to be very social.  She plays with everyone in the room and usually wants to play with someone else rather than be by herself.  Our sense of the mix in Clara's room right now is that there is a clique of girls.  Ms. Lindsay confirmed this, unfortunately, but she also said that Clara is very kind and is one who doesn't exclude others which made us very proud.  Ms. Lindsay also said that Clara is adventurous and always tries everything; she still likes the "dramatic play" area best, but within each unit they do in the room, Clara tries all the activities multiple times.  She is now writing not just her first name, but her last as well with the tricky s at its end.  So she is all set to be moving on to pre-K at summer's end.  (She is also, as seen here, old enough to sit up on top of the counter top like Big Brother Joe.  Keen-eyed observers will note that it looks like she's recovering from a nose bleed.  She is not; rather, she is recovering from a nasty cold that we think might have caused an infection in her nose because it will not stop running on just the one side and that one side is--clearly--a mess.  So Our Poor Runny-Nosed Birdie is going to the doctor tomorrow.)

Tooth Watch, Day 17

Joe would tell you that it is "hanging on by a thread."  Turns out, it can take sort of a while for a tooth to fall out.  The other day, Joe said that what he needed to do was "eat hard things, like carrots, apples. . ."  This, apparently, per Joe's buddy Karlis.

Making Ready For Summer

Lunch on the veranda.

Fans! We know. Nearly two weeks without an update? What happened is that it got well and truly warm here in the Land of Long Winters, and we decided to get after the deck (in desperate need of restraining and repainting) and the gardens (which have three invasive plants invading). So we've been making ready for summer! Last Saturday, it was warm and the deck was far enough along that we could move the outside dining table back on to it. So we ate lunch outside. It was one of those blue-sky days. Joe said the he wished he could touch the sky. Then he said, "We could ask a bird to take us."  Our Birdie immediately echoed him, "Yeah, we could ask a bird to take us." Isn't that terrific?

This Saturday, yesterday, was warm enough to eat outside as well.  We fell to talking about what we liked about Raleigh House.  (This time last year, Fans, we'd just wrapped our one-day-only garage sale in preparation for moving.  Can you believe that?!)  Joe said--and we do not make this up--"the dust in the light when I came home from swimming."  He meant seeing the dust moats he used to see in the sunlight in the living room when he came home from swimming lessons.  We also covered what we like about White House.  Joe said, "It's got a great set-up for Christmas."  True.  But again, we do not make this stuff up.

When Berenicey gets too hot, she moves into the shade on the side of the deck closest to the house.

The deck to the left as you walk out the back door.  (Grandma Connie may notice that the large pots she gave us some years back have been painted gray.)

The deck to the right as you walk out the back door.  (Keen-eyed observers may notice that the deck furniture was rearranged after lunch.)

Lunch With Joe

As those of Our Devoted Readers who have dined with the bambini may know, Our Birdie eats rather slowly and deliberately.  Julie learned today that Birdie is going to be in for a rude awakening in a little over a year when she heads to kindergarten.

Not long after the school year began, Joe asked Julie if she would come and eat lunch with him in the cafeteria.  Julie said that if it was alright with Mrs. D, she would for sure before the end of the year.  Parents can in fact join their children for lunch in the cafeteria, and so today, Julie surprised Joe as he was walking into the cafeteria and thus saw how lunch time goes down.

It's LOUD.  Wow.  Topics of discussion included favorite animals (Julie was made to guess them by Campbell, Audrey, Nora, Aaron, and another girl and boy whose names she doesn't remember, but their favorite animals were dinosaur and shark, respectively), second favorite animals, favorite berries, how many whistles call in Mrs. D's class from the playground (two), and the fact that Campbell's little sister calls an iPhone an Elmo Phone.  This last was widely considered hilarious by all who heard it under the age of seven.

Fans, it's also short.  You get 20 minutes to eat with, mercifully, a warning when five minutes are left.  Julie also learned that most--maybe all--of the kids who bring lunch from home also bring a drink.  Joe seems to be the only kid in that contingent who buys milk.  About half the kids brought their lunch from home today; and the other half bought it.  Birdie is probably for sure going to have to bring her lunch--and with a drink--so she can bypass the line because she is going to have to book it to a table and get to the business of eating because you really have to pound your food.  It's sort of stressful.

Joe held Julie's hand though.  And bought her a chocolate milk.  The lunch tables were sort of turned.

Mother's Day Love

On Mother's Day, the bambini presented Julie with Heart Palace.  It was Joe's brainchild.  He had asked Ted to save the box in which one of the new deck chairs arrived, and then enlisted Ted's help in cutting out three windows and a door--with a handle!  (This feature was highlighted.)  The flaps at the top became a retractable sky light.  It's pretty posh--sort of a pied a terre.  It is in the garage, which seems to run counter to the old location, location, location mantra, but then, it's quiet out there.  Ted and Clara both helped decorate the palace with hearts (of course).  Initially, the Heart Palace said "No girls allowed" on its side, but Joe saw the wisdom in crossing it out when Julie pointed out that Heart Palace's intended resident was, in fact, a girl.  ("Oh yeah!")

But Julie's Mother's Day feteing really began on Friday, the moment she arrived home, when the bambini presented her with the Mother's Day projects they'd made in school.  The projects are pictured below.  Clara would have you know that she wrote all the words on hers "without the dots"--meaning she did not follow dots to make the letters.  Her lower case ds look like lower case bs (lower case gs are similarly troublesome) and she's used "kid writing" (as did Joe) so translations are provided below the pictures.  But no love is lost in them, Fans.  Julie's heart nearly burst when she saw that both bambini had written to her things she says to both of them--that she loves them to infinity and back, and that they are always in her heart.  True and true.  And she does like salad, and yellow, and going to the beach, and visiting her friends.  So she felt well and truly seen, and loved.

Happy Mother's Day

Things I Know About Mom
1. My mom's favorite food is. . .salad
2. My mom's favorite color is. . .yellow
3. My mom always says. . .we go to the beach
4. My mom likes to. . .read books with me
5. I know my mom loves me because. . .she is always in my heart

"It's like a bouquet."

My mom's name is. . .Julie
I love my mom because. . .she is nice
My mom and I like to. . .play tag
My mom's favorite thing to do is. . .visit her friends
My mom is special because. . .she loves me to infinity and back (Joe was very proud to have denoted infinity with the symbol)

Tooth Watch, Day 2

The big news around the White House is that Our Hero has a loose tooth.  It's legit, Fans! He's laid claim to one before but that's only because plenty of teeth in the heads of his fellow kindergarteners have fallen out, and their names posted on the classroom wall as a result.  It's the a bottom, middle front tooth--the one on the left as you look at him.  He discovered it Friday morning when he took a bite of bagel* and, as Our Hero put it, "it hurted him."  We shall keep you posted as to developments.

*Currently pronounced like a Minnesotan: "bag-ul."  What?  The boy also often calls dinner, supper.  We're thinking of having bay-guls for dinner.

Of Mail and Mothers

On Monday, Julie posted a package to Grandma Connie for Mother's Day. She did this early in the morning, before the post office was open, using one of those post-it-yourself machines in the post office's lobby.  Our Fans who have used them before will know that you put in the zip code of your mail's destination, and the machine spits out a label with the town, state, and zip code on it, which you are meant to affix to your package (obviously) and complete with the rest of the mailing address (again, obviously).

Perhaps you already see where this is going, Fans.

Julie got her label, slapped it on the box, handed it to someone called forth from the back by a buzzer (the package drop door was stuck), tossed her receipt in a garbage can in the lobby, and went on her way. When she set down her bag at work, her eye fell on the Sharpie marker she'd put in it to finish addressing Grandma Connie's package, and realized that she hadn't finished addressing Grandma Connie's package. The one with the one-of-a-kind and irreplaceable plate with Clara's handprint turned into a bird in its center. (Fans who've been to the Raleigh House or the White House will recognize in this description the plates Julie has been making since the bambini were wee bambini, and some Fans might know that Grandma Connie has a weekends for all things ceramic.)

Julie wasn't feeling well (she perhaps ought to have stayed at home that day), and she was posting all sorts of things--a pair of pants going back to Gap, photo mailers to the great aunts and Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles, thank you notes for birthday gifts given to Clara. . .She was distracted, in other words, but still.  For the love of all things holy, Fans.

People like to rail against the US Postal Service. Julie has never been one of those people.  She, in fact, has always been a huge, huge US Postal Service Fan. You pay practically nothing and they ferry letters from home to home, post cards to campers, magazines! Birthday cards! Holiday cards! Valentines! Wedding invitations, birth announcements. . .and that's just the fun stuff. And, she's lived on walking delivery routes the past two years. In Minnesota, how many days is walking to deliver the mail a
pleasant task? She's got nothin' but respect for the USPS.  So she was hoping karma would mean her package would somehow make it to Grandma Connie.

To help karma out though, she called the post office.  They did not pick up.  (We can only assume they were too busy delivering mail.)  So she went by the post office on her way home, made like a suspicious person and dug through the trash for the receipt she'd tossed--which she found!--with the tracking number on it and then explained to the postal workers the whole mess she'd made in her distracted haste. She admitted to the absence of a return address. Return addresses?! Who needs 'em when you've got the sticker with the tracking number????? They kindly told her that her package had "left for downtown" at 1pm, but they would try "to catch it." They made no promises! Well, sure. But that's o-kay! They didn't laugh (in her face anyway). But when Julie didn't hear anything by the close of business the next day, she called Grandma Connie and said, "So! Funny story. . ."

Grandma Connie laughed, and told Julie to text her the tracking number.  Grandma Connie figured it couldn't hurt to go down to the Lake Forest post office the next day to see what she could find out, which she did.

Fans, that was when Mae (May?), of the Lake Forest post office, told Grandma Connie that the package was in Elk Grove Village, and would be delivered to the Lake Forest post office later that day--!!!!! (Mae delivered a lecture about the dangers of trying to do things while distracted and although it seems to us that circumstances were largely making that point better than Mae ever could, and that Mae's lecture was somewhat misdirected--Grandma Connie but an innocent, intended package recipient--we still mostly understand why Mae felt compelled to preach from the post office soap box.) Grandma Connie left Mae with her phone numbers and address (Mae made a copy of Grandma Connie's driver's license), and then left to do a few other things, intending to come back a bit later, but while she was out and about, Mae called Grandma Connie to say the package had arrived and was being dispatched to Grandma Connie's house--which it then was--!!!!!  Can you believe that, Fans?!?! It reached Grandma Connie sans full mailing address!!!!! At her full mailing address!!!!!

And then very next day, two be-stickered packages with books and tee-shirts and sticky hands arrived for the bambini, having a been posted by Grandma Connie and Grandpa--cleverly with the requisite full mailing address--likely the same day Julie failed to do the same on her package.

And on Friday, another box from Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles arrived, this time for Julie, and containing a musical Mother's Day card (swiftly appropriated by the bambini) and some of her favorite fancy, overpriced-but-so-great! lotion--or body creme, as fancy, overpriced-but-so-great! lotion tends to go by.

Mail! The US Postal Service! Ceramics! Body creme! Mothers. Lovely things, all.  (Also return addresses.  Not to mentioning mailing addresses.)

Clara's shiner is from when she fell out of bed in the middle of the night a week or so ago.  (Too many princesses in the bed?)

Joe can read the notes that come with packages all by himself now.

Sticky hand.

Birdie, Live at the Chipotle

Birdie Brigade, we have told you before of Birdie's tendency to sing instead of talk, to dance instead of walk. Life is a musical, and she is, if not the star, then at least a member of the chorus.  Of course, her favorite soundtrack to all things right now is one of three songs in particular from Frozen: Let It Go, Do You Want To Build a Snowman, and Love Is an Open Door.  Brigade, she knows all the words to all these songs. (Sometimes, Let It Go is requested by the lyrics "snow glows white on the mountain tonight.") One of her most favorite things to do is to swirl in circles and make wide arcs outside as she sings Let It Go. Julie was amused last weekend when out with Clara at the paint-your-own ceramics place, Paint Your Plate, Clara suddenly stopped, paint brush in midair, like an animal that's caught the scent of something, and Julie realized it was because the gaggle of girls in the back at a birthday party were singing Let It Go. It seemed clear that Clara  died bating if she should go join in. Surely these were her people!

Later that day, we were at a real musical, Shrek The Musical, at the Minneapolis Children's Theater courtesy of Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles. It was terrific, as their productions always are, and after the show, we went to Chipotle for dinner. Clara staged her own show--limited engagement, you know--after she'd eaten, which you can see here. There wasn't wild applause at its conclusion, but the audience was all smiles.