Laddie Turns Twelve

Laddie turned twelve this month and when Sadie found out she was insistent we have a party for him.

Well, I've promised Laddie that I would never make him wear a party hat. Although there is a picture floating around out there of him wearing an afro wig- maybe Aunt Schleck can find it as I lost it when the old computer crashed. Well, I never promised him he wouldn't have to wear an afro.

Turns out, the big draw of a party was to give him treats- they love giving him treats- and to blow out candles and sing. Of course.

So we did.

Doesn't this bowl of chicken scraps and dog treats look delicious?

It was great fun to make.

Then they practiced for the big blow.

Which is on video somewhere on Will's iPod. Which I have no access to at this moment. And rather than putting off a blog post (again!) I just decided you could see it later.

Or never.

And Laddie loved this treat. And the bone from the butcher we gave him as a present.

He deserves them, since he is the world's sweetest doggy.

And then Sadie asked me if we ever had another dog if he would be as good as Laddie.

And I thought, maybe, but probably not.

Happy 12th birthday, Rusty-Old-Lad-Dog.

Paper Bags

Once again our Sesame Street books from the 70s have given us a completely low-tech craft. We all made these growing up and it appears that it is just as thrilling in 2011 as it was in 1977.

Paper bag masks.

Paper bags, yarn, markers, glue, why do these kinds of things make me so happy? Add in a pompom or pipe cleaner and I'm in heaven.

I guess I can still remember how things like pompoms and pipe cleaners only made an appearance every so often, so it always made things more fun.

And you should have seen these two when the pipe cleaners hit the table.

Silas was a robot.

Sadie was a fancy lady with a hat and antennae. All fancy ladies have antennae, don't they?

I got this pose.

Silas's robot eye hole was bothering him, so we cut it bigger.

So then he looked like a television from the 70s, which I found extremely amusing.

All this reminds me to pull out the pipe cleaners more often.

We only have so long that they will the highlight of their day. And mine.

First Day

Sadie had her first day of preschool last Thursday, and her second today.

I tried to take pictures but this is what I got when I tried to get her to pose:

So that went well.

Maybe for her first day of kindergarten I can get a picture of her behind a door or something.

It took her about a half an hour when we first arrived to be comfortable with me leaving. She was so excited to be there but she has been having a bit of separation anxiety in the last few months.

I told her that I was pretty sure that when I returned in a few hours she wouldn't be happy to see me as she would be having so much fun and wouldn't want to leave.

I was right. Although I happened to arrive at the precise moment that she managed to lock herself in the bathroom. Of course the door isn't supposed to be closed all the way but being my child she managed to not only close it but lock it.

We talked her through the unlocking of the lock and she ran into my arms. All I could think was that the fun she had probably had for the past 3 hours was now going to be negated by the bathroom fiasco and she would never want to return.

But no, she hugged me for a minute, stopped crying, blamed ME for the door locking (!), and ran back into the classroom to read a book.

And this is how I found her, happy as a clam on Miss Lindsey.

And while I'm glad that the experience didn't ruin preschool forever, it would be nice not to be the scapegoat on this one. I'm sure I'll get blamed for enough things in the next 18 years or so.

I guess that's what we mothers do, huh?

Take one for the team, smooth over the rough spots, carry the load and all that fun stuff.

But look at her and Miss Lindsey. She's in heaven:

I guess I'll have to take the fall this time, since she now says I wish I could go to preschool EVERY day!

And that's what we mothers want, as many experiences as possible to be filled with joy and fun and laughter. And not traumatizing bathroom lockage and fears.

Glad I could help, Sadiecakes.

Cabin 9

We went camping at Silver Falls the last couple of days. Or maybe I should say "cabinning," although spell-check has informed me that it is not a word. Too bad.

And let me tell you, cabinning is awesome.

Just a little two room cabin. But real-ish beds, heat for the cold mornings and electric lights and outlets really jazz up the camping experience.

Some of you might argue that this is not really a camping experience, and I would probably agree. But then I would ask you why you are groaning in pain and you will tell me about that freaking inescapable ROCK that was under your back all night in your tent.

And I will remember all of my "real" camping nights in my life and go and give my cabin a great, big hug.

See, no frills:

But awesome.

And those waterfalls are pretty cool too.

You even go behind some of them.

And here are our shoes.

Do you hear that? That is the sound of my 16 year-old self screaming in agony that I am wearing Birkenstock sandals with socks.

And to her I say, Woman, but they are just so darn comfortable. You'll forgive me in 21 years.

And Sadie's favorite part. Toasting marshmallows for s'mores.

And, of course, eating them.

Then she would say, Mama, I have a headache and a tummy ache and might throw up. Which is usually the sign of enough s'more. N'more, if you will.

But then 2 minutes later she was back in action. And she was very proud of her toasting technique with this one below.

I have no pictures of when Silas decided to terrify us all by hiding in the bushes and not answering when we were screaming his name.

Turns out, he was pooping. He hides and doesn't like to answer when he's pooping.

Thank god the kid has blond hair and I spotted him standing there watching us all go cracker-cakes. Stinker.

I don't think I can ever go camping again unless he's on a leash. Oh, that's not legal?

OK, maybe we can go when he's 37 years old and won't wander off. My heart can't take that again.

Barring runaway toddlers, it was great to be out-of-doors. Cooking over the fire, washing dishes under cold spigots, going for moonlit walks, sleeping in a real-ish bed, remembering how dirty it is possible to get.

I can't wait to do it again with the kids in 35 years.

4 O'Clock Wake up

Due to a cascading series of events my two children and I were awake at 3:30 in the morning a few nights ago.

These events included crying, having to pee, being hungry and wanting to play on the iPod.

Finally at 4:30 I figured, What the hell, this isn't working, and we got up.

My no TV in the morning ban was lifted for some PBS Kids at 7am.

I deserved it.

They may not have, but sometimes TV is more for you than them.

This led to lunch at 10:30.

And led to this child being so tired at quiet time that she purposely lay down to take a nap by herself.

This has never happened. Ever.

And this one slept for 3 hours. Another record.

I suppose this was like a fun mini-party to my kids: Up in the dark, illegal TV, maybe even a cookie.

Because last night it was 4am and Sadie woke up to pee. Then she said, Well, Mama, we might as well get up!

Nice try, I said. But no thanks.

So...

I have baby feet on my lap. Cranky baby feet. So getting up to get pictures posted is out of the question.

But I did take some today and will get them posted tomorrow. Promise.

I will tell you that Silas turned two. Well, you know that. But he also turned TWO.

Today we had two year-old meltdowns because (and these are only the ones I can remember):

He wanted to get in the car seat by himself.

He pulled the petals off his flower.

I had an apple.

The (mysteriously) wrong cup of water was handed to him when he asked for water.

Sadie tried to give him the toy he wanted.

He wanted pudding. (which he was getting)

The pudding had to be put in a bowl.

10 minutes later, when he was calm enough to want pudding again I set him up with his bowl:

Suction of bowl failed, spoonful of pudding fell on foot. Insanity ensued.

So bedtime was at 6:40 today. He needed it.

Hoo Hoo

Silas is cautious of anything that may be hot, which he calls hoo hoo.

When you give him something warm he says, "Hoo hoo?"

Then he'll feel it and answer himself, "No, no hoo hoo!"

And if it is hot he says, "Uh-huh, hoo hoo! Hoo-ooo hoo-ooo!"

YiYi Turns Dee!

Well, he's grown another year older on me. Stinker.

And while we have spent the past week telling him he will be "Two years old, SySy!" he looks solemnly back at us and says, No, Dee! YiYi Dee!

Which, it would appear, is what he thinks two is.

After all, he counts like this: Da, Dee, Da, Dee, DA! or Dee, Da, Dee, Da, DEE!

But every year is better than the last, so I'm not really complaining about another birthday.

You just want to absorb it all and not forget a thing. Which is impossible, you know?

When he woke up this morning he opened some presents.

Yes, for those of you who were offended by his green toenails, that is a doll. He was adamant that there be a doll whose eyes close to go NighNigh. Get over it, he has trucks coming out his ears.

Sadie's showing him the ropes with the baby bathtub.

Then we headed out for the first day of the County Fair. Wasn't it nice of them to hold it on his birthday?

He is just 36 inches and 2 years old today, of course, which is the minimum for riding the rides at the fair.

At first we thought he would be scared of the rides. But he had DeeDee there to be his partner, and all was well.

Then we saw Sadie's friend Laila and they all had a blast. What's with the alligators-wearing-hats -and-collars ride? I have no idea. But it was fun.

They took a trip in a rocket ship.

There, DeeDee, I've spotted the planet Qualasar. We shall land at once!

Playing in a bunch of corn. Do not underestimate the power of a box of dried corn. This kept them busy for half an hour.

Then it was home for cake later.

This is Silas wondering why the heck we are thrusting candles at him and singing.

Notice that I made a Pineapple Upside-Down cake, my first ever. Sy isn't a huge cake guy but this is gooey and fruity and I thought it might pass muster.

And I will pass along some hard-won advice. Do not decide to bake the cake in your springform cake pan. Even if the directions say to use a deep pan and you don't have one.

Just use the regular cake pan.

Promise me.

Well, unless you want the brown sugar and butter topping to drip out into the oven, causing a black mess and filling your house with smoke.

Then you should definitely go with the springform pan.

He blew out all his candles by himself!

And the cake was a hit.
With everyone.

Now it's onto his third year. Wow.

And, hey, Silas, I have something to say to you:

Thank you for being my baby YiYi, little guy.

You are so sweet and soft and squishy and have the cutest grin known to man.

Well, you're sweet when you're not yelling MeowMeow and attacking the cats with anything you have in hand.

And when you're not beating Sadie like a tiny blond-haired windmill.

But you are always soft and squishy and you do truly have the cutest grin known to man.

And the other stuff is par for the course for a two year-old, I've found.

Happy birthday, Sweet Boy.

Love, Mama

The Last Few Weeks

We have been gallivanting around the northeast for a couple of weeks.

The kids got to play where I played as a kid, swim where I swam, catch frogs and salamanders like I used to, see their cousins, play in New York City park sprinklers, see the best collection of dinosaur fossils ever, get lots and lots of attention and just have fun.

Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip. I only brought my iPod, so the pictures that look like they were taken in 1972? Yeah, those are mine. I depended on the kindness of the camera-toting grandparents and they didn't let me down.

Sadie at my rock. OK, so it's not really my rock. But it has always felt like it is.

Walking to the pond on our road.

Hanging at the beach.

Playing in Otter Pond.

Frogs, salamanders, we even caught minnows. Which reminds me, try not to stress a minnow out too much, it appears to make them catatonic.

Sitting with my "Baby Mermaid."

Cranberry Pond.

Pony rides. Silas objected to his, so Sadie got two.

Petting a Meow Meow.

Wearing the popular new dresses for Sadie and her cat, Frisky.

Silas destroying Grammy's dollhouse furniture. Everything he touched turned to something that resembled a jumble of matchsticks.

At the swings by the clubhouse.

Going to the children's museum.

Your local news team. Don't believe a word they say.

Climbing the curvy tower. Or whatever it's called.

The carousel! Sadie loves her a carousel.

Silas loved the carousel, too. For a minute. Then he got a puke face and clung to Grammy until the ride ended.

Picking wild blueberries.

We ignored the fact that there was a bear sighting right around there that morning. It wasn't right there. And we needed them for the next day's pancakes.

But we picked fast and brought a whistle, too.

My Mama didn't raise no fool.

Sitting in the clubhouse. Where I spent many an hour in these same chairs from the 1970s hanging around with friends and reading random books.

At the Museum of Natural History.

Sitting on a scapula, or something like that, of an Apatosaurus.

The playground in Brooklyn.

First real Italian ices. Scooped into those paper cups that get soggy so fast but are perfect for squeezing so you don't miss a drop.

And, as long as we're sharing all this I should tell you that I may never be invited back to Uncle E's house. When I heard the ice cream truck I got so excited for Sadie to go see it and get ice cream that I decided to ignore the fact that she was naked in the sprinkler in the backyard.

There was no time! I mean, seriously, remember that we have a lame ice cream minivan. And we've only ever seen that thing twice.

It was worth it.

Uncle E and Sophia. Look at that cuteness.

Cousins Nicholas, Sadie, Sophia and Auntie M.

Me and my bro. Tell me he couldn't pretend my kids are his.

It's good to be home but we miss you all.

I promise to try to refrain from front yard nudity if you invite us back.

Notice I said try.