Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Day of Beauty
Evelyn and I had our doubles day of beauty yesterday. Michelle really made it special for Bean and I was so grateful because Ev had been talking (an talking and talking) and wanting the whole she-bang- that's exactly what she got too. I can not tell you how delighted Evelyn was to be treated like a big person and pampered with hair and nails. I am really glad that I did this and we will definitely do it more. The only thing that I didn't get was a complete "after" shot - my only excuse is that yesterday was hectic with a capital H and we hardly ate a bite of food so.....
Monday, April 28, 2008
Clad in Plaid
I have had this dress for three years, waiting for Bean to grow into it. I love the colors and the fact that an Alaskan friend got it for her, just adds to it I think. The three of us were dressed up just to go out to lunch together. Bean loved being all dressed up with a hat on, I swear that child even walks different when she is wearing what she deems a Princess Dress.
In other news..... We are awaiting the arrival of a troop of friends. We have 8 folks and a baby heading our way. This is the Second Annual Gamers Week In Paradise, it's when our friends show up to see how they fare against our local bug population while doing things like playing Guitar Hero and Intergallactika (this is a role playing game similar to D&D that Leslie has come up with on his own and these guys have been playing it for years). I have been looking forward to this for some time and I expect that Ryan will keep me laughing so much that I will either pee my pants several times or have an anuerism. So yeah, we will have almost a week of eating, laughing, playing games and laying around at the beach. High five for good times.
In other news..... We are awaiting the arrival of a troop of friends. We have 8 folks and a baby heading our way. This is the Second Annual Gamers Week In Paradise, it's when our friends show up to see how they fare against our local bug population while doing things like playing Guitar Hero and Intergallactika (this is a role playing game similar to D&D that Leslie has come up with on his own and these guys have been playing it for years). I have been looking forward to this for some time and I expect that Ryan will keep me laughing so much that I will either pee my pants several times or have an anuerism. So yeah, we will have almost a week of eating, laughing, playing games and laying around at the beach. High five for good times.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Enough
Tonight as I was running through the bedtime routine with Ev, we got to the part where she puts her book back on the shelf and then climbs into my lap for some rocking and then, all of a sudden there was a difference in the routine.... Evelyn walked over and turned the light off and said "let's be quiet together", then she climbed up into my lap and , get this, she was quiet. Really quiet. We just sat there rocking in her dim room, we could hear Leslie downstairs moving around and the occasional bit of the jazz that he was listen to would drift up to us, and it was nice. No, it was amazing, it was wonderful.
Evelyn is so hard to love on most of the time. She just has to be moving or talking. And, well, we have some left over issues from her start in life, if the truth is to be known. I have been working on getting her to slow down and pay attention when her family wants to love on her. I don't force her. As she got older though and there are no bottles and she doesn't need hardly any lap time and she can pretty much handle the first aid required for her own boo boo's independently, I was loosing precious time to keep her connected and focused on any sort of cuddle time. So, I have been working on this thing where I say "ok, we are going to cuddle now, is there anyhting you would like to say first? and then we cuddle and if she tries to start yapping, I just quietly say "hey kiddo we are snuggling now, we can talk in two minutes". At first this was terrible for her, she just wanted to squirm away and she wanted to start acting silly or talk her fool head off. (Don't get me wrong, talking is fine but, we do enough of that throughout the day that I feel that learning to be quiet together is important too). Slowly but surely she has started enjoying that time and each night gets a bit longer and now, instead of asking for a book right away, she first establishes that we will be rocking.
Tonight was a real first and I can not describe how good it felt to have her there, all swaddled in pink, smelling like sunblock and bug spray, warm and breathing on my lap, quiet, for like a half an hour. Moments like that are the moments that carry you through life. At one point I was a bit weepy and I whispered " I love being like this with you" and she said " I know, me too Mama, it gets me in my eyes" and then she wiped a tiny tear away.
Here I am. 34. I will never be rich. I will never be stunningly beautiful. I will never drive a fancy car. I will never be famous. I will never have a maid.
But.
Holding my daughter in my arms tonight, listening to her breathe and hearing my husband rattling around the house- I realized something.
I have enough.
Evelyn is so hard to love on most of the time. She just has to be moving or talking. And, well, we have some left over issues from her start in life, if the truth is to be known. I have been working on getting her to slow down and pay attention when her family wants to love on her. I don't force her. As she got older though and there are no bottles and she doesn't need hardly any lap time and she can pretty much handle the first aid required for her own boo boo's independently, I was loosing precious time to keep her connected and focused on any sort of cuddle time. So, I have been working on this thing where I say "ok, we are going to cuddle now, is there anyhting you would like to say first? and then we cuddle and if she tries to start yapping, I just quietly say "hey kiddo we are snuggling now, we can talk in two minutes". At first this was terrible for her, she just wanted to squirm away and she wanted to start acting silly or talk her fool head off. (Don't get me wrong, talking is fine but, we do enough of that throughout the day that I feel that learning to be quiet together is important too). Slowly but surely she has started enjoying that time and each night gets a bit longer and now, instead of asking for a book right away, she first establishes that we will be rocking.
Tonight was a real first and I can not describe how good it felt to have her there, all swaddled in pink, smelling like sunblock and bug spray, warm and breathing on my lap, quiet, for like a half an hour. Moments like that are the moments that carry you through life. At one point I was a bit weepy and I whispered " I love being like this with you" and she said " I know, me too Mama, it gets me in my eyes" and then she wiped a tiny tear away.
Here I am. 34. I will never be rich. I will never be stunningly beautiful. I will never drive a fancy car. I will never be famous. I will never have a maid.
But.
Holding my daughter in my arms tonight, listening to her breathe and hearing my husband rattling around the house- I realized something.
I have enough.
Truth and Lies
Life with The Bean has been getting interesting. She has learned how to bend the truth a little (sometimes she just outright lies okay?) so our days are filled with tidbits of that kind of pure truth that kids manage to spew out from time to time. Often, these bits of truth are followed up by some sort of white lie, or the two happen in the same neighborhood. It is hard to nail her down for two reasons- 1) she has the world's greatest poker face- I mean she has no tells that I can detect- and 2) she will sometimes confess to something she did or didn't do, even with the most gentle questioning. (My sister has witnessed a scenario where Ev was being questioned about something and she was giving the true answer but on the second questioning from me, she changed her answer - to a self condemning response!)
Some truths:
"You are my Mama for all the times"
"I do not take care of bugs!!"
"I accidentally fell asleep"
"It's a hard trip to Grandma's"
"When I was alone in China..."
"Everyday is good for the beach"
Some non-truths:
"I don't know what's in my hair, I didn't put anything in it"
"I had a good nap. I sleeped alot"
"No, I didn't let Stella out"
"I don't know why Billy is wet"
"Mama, I won't get out of my bed when you shut my door"
We are trying to help her learn that telling lies is a very bad thing, it will take a bit of time. To me, it is so interesting to watch her stumble onto these very human foibles and to help her learn the right way to act. OK, plus, it is so funny to see her deny that she put anything in her hair when her entire head is soaked and sticky and slightly glittery.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
74 and Sunny
....means some time on the beach, complete with immersion fun, then off to a CG cook-out and let's not forget a boat ride! Evelyn had so much fun today- she ran about hollering and jumping into waves, giggling all the while. She was given as many cheddar cheese potato chips that she could stand and then she was allowed to drive a 47 foot motor life boat. Let's just say, when we got home, she had quite a long nap.
I now have my first sunburn of the year and the pain from this one will make me remember sunblock for about 3 months. At that point, I will get another sunburn and THAT lesson will take me into fall. Les just gives a big head smack/lecture and I swear to never do this again. I mean it didn't seem that hot....
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