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.