Intoxicating Independence

DS woke at the ungodly hour of 6:15 this morning, and despite my attempts to coax him back to sleep he insisted that he was ready for the day, as announced by a large SPLAT that necessitated turning on the light, gathering diaper supplies, etc...by which time, he was thoroughly awake and so was I. *sigh* I got myself a cup of coffee and toted him out to the front room where he proceeded to happily entertain himself for 45 minutes before conking out again in the swing, just in time for his sister to wake up--which means a day of them being off-sync from each other looms. Oh joy.

But during that scoot-around time this morning, I enjoyed watching DS enjoy his new independence. He doesn't have forward motion down completely yet, but he has worked out his own system with sitting up and pushing himself up onto his toes, sort of leveraging himself forward. It's quite ingenious really...I'm betting it will delay the onset of "true" crawling because he seems quite content with his own style of forward movement. Watching him, it's like the whole world has opened up for his tactile discovery and enjoyment. It's so darn cute! He is delighted with himself for getting underneath the coffee table, and now that is his favorite place to play with whatever toy has captivated his attention. This morning it was the wipes container, and he spent a merry five minutes using it like a drum and pushing it around. You can almost see the thoughts and wheels turning in his head--hey, this is fun!

DD has her own brand of intoxicating independence moments. Lately it has been being able to put on her socks and underwear by herself, thank you very much! She is also intrigued with hand washing and indeed I have to be quite firm about the number of times and frequency of hand washing. (Tip for those who aren't there yet--the foam hand soaps are much, MUCH easier for beginning hand washers, and you don't have a huge puddle of soap to clean up or attempt to wash off their tiny hands either.) She also has to put on her own shoes and socks. Next is picking out her own clothes, I know, although for now the 'give her two options and let her pick' strategy is working.

I realize the whole goal of parenting is to encourage independence, so that eventually they don't need you any more and are ready to handle things by themselves. Nonetheless, it's quite fascinating, heartwarming, and a bit heartstring-tugging to see your children asserting their independence and mastery of new skills. Sort of a reminder that I'm working myself out of a job...which is entirely as it should be. *sniff*

A Mom's Perspective

There is a long list of things that used to gross me out before I was a parent. Now, they are just an everyday deal, a part of life. Here's a partial list, off the top of my head:

• snot on face/hands/clothes
• boogers on face/hands/clothes/every reachable-to-toddler-hands surface
• soppy baby cereal on face/hands/table/highchair
• half-eaten baby puffs or fruit or toast
• someone else's drink
• someone else drinking out of my drink
• baby poop in all its varieties (brocco-poopy, people...that's all I'm sayin')
• baby spit-up
• vomit

Oh don't get me wrong--I still don't like any of those things. But I deal with them in an off-hand manner that I know our non-parent friends find at best bemusing and at worst, well, gross! Half-eaten, soggy-with-saliva food gets handled and tossed bare-handed, with hand washing done after all clean-up activities are completed. My DD drinks out of my drink on a regular basis, now that I'm convinced she doesn't backwash as much since I don't see big chunks of whatever she's eating in my glass (I conveniently ignore the fact that I've made it a rule that she has to finish eating whatever she's gnawing on before being allowed to drink from my cup). DH & I joke about what kind of poop we are going to find in DS' diaper based on his newest food group. And I really do not know how we lived without baby wipes to clean up just about anything before.

I still strongly dislike projectile vomit, sour milk spit-up, or really vomit of any kind, to be honest. Likewise I have developed a strong loathing for cleaning up urine, although DS eating it or peeing on things doesn't distress me too much since I know urine is sterile coming out of the body, yada yada yada. There's the REAL benefit of my science education! *LOL* DD's accidents bother me because I know that she knows better and she chooses not to do so, in the cases of a deliberate accident (not enough attention, being naughty beforehand). So cleaning up that is more annoying than the times she is too busy playing to stop and use the potty. You know what I mean...they just KNOW the difference at some point.

Anyway, I clean all of that up without a second thought. It's a normal part of my life. I think this is the thing that is really impossible for the non-parent to understand. It's just so a part of your day that you don't bat an eyelash at it any more. I realize that some golden day in the distant future, I will not be dealing with these things on a regular basis, but then I will probably be worrying about broken limbs and blood and will be quite accustomed to bloody scrapes and cuts, etc. When the ever nebulous "they" talk about the joys of parenthood, I think this ought to be included in the Full Disclosure Form, don't you?

Misty Morning Musings

You can tell I've had my coffee this morning, with that whimsical alliteration! *LOL* I also have my lovely parrot Alex sitting on my arm assisting me with blogging this morning, so we'll see how long this lasts before my computer keyboard is under attack.

(now resuming this after extensive head rubbing for Alex, who decided she wanted some love and attention)

I think she's in a good mood because I pressure washed her cage yesterday, so it's nearly as clean as it was when I bought it (and her) ten years ago. (more lovings for Alex) The thing about bird poop is that the uric acid in it eats at paint, though, so it needs to be repainted with a good black powdercoat. Eventually I might do this--maybe next summer when I can pressure wash it again and let it thoroughly dry, then don my work respirator and do it myself. Yep, I'm too cheap frugal to pay someone else $200 (half the cost of the cage!!) when I can do it myself.

I keep looking out of my window at the mist and wondering if I will see the doe who visited us a few weeks ago on a similiar misty morning. And seeing the mist with all the shades of green has me keen to get out my Irish music and throw some on the CD player...not any of the jigs or reels, but something mournful or haunting, to suit the morning. Unfortunately, my DD is still asleep and I don't want to wake her up, as she had a fever and slight cold yesterday. Hopefully the mist and mood will hang around long enough for me to do so, as I don't listen to that music often enough.

I was thinking about my blog title and reminding myself that the genesis for this blogging gig was not entirely the randomness of life's events, but also the incredible thoughtlessness with which I (and I argue most other people) live their lives these days. Our pastor preached a sermon on Proverbs 15:16-17. "Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred."

Related story: we were members of a church in Arizona that supported an orphanage and school in Uganda. Not as in, we send $XXXX every so often (although we did that too), but as in, we actually went there (well a routine group of members did once a year) and we actually had the founder/principal/pastor come and visit us on a semi-regular basis. And those kids eat beans and rice for every meal. EVERY MEAL. And they are BLESSED to get it! The principal talked about how he tried to get some meat for the kids every now and then, but it was very expensive and when you are feeding 400 kids he just couldn't afford it. They cooked over an open pit fire (no kitchen to start, although they had built a 3-sided lean-to with a tarp roof by the time we moved), and the kids bunked, two kids per bunk bed, stacked 3 high, and crammed as many as they could into one building. The caretaker had to chain them and lock them in at night, because of the danger to the kids from witch doctors and other unscrupulous people who would prey on them. So the pastor's greatest fear was fire.

I mean, can you imagine your life in those circumstances? Can we really, and I mean really appreciate all the blessings we've got? These kids were so starved for adult role models, but they were kind to each other, they loved getting hugs from visitors, and their faces just lit up when they were given a small piece of hard candy and some paper and a new pencil. Totally, utterly humbling.

Which is why I am really doing what I can to contribute to Operation Christmas Child in our community. I have bought school supplies at rock bottom prices to provide pens for kids like those. I hope I can get over to our church this weekend to help wrap shoe boxes to hold the goodies for the kids. What a difference something so small can make to a child in such dire circumstances. So I challenge you--the next time you are out grocery shopping, get some paper or pencils for Operation Christmas Child. Drop them off at your local organization's drop-off point. You can find it right here: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/OCC_DropOff_Index.asp?zip=%20&radius=100&OCCPath=1

Make a difference.

Of Clutter and Bribery

Have you ever noticed that clutter is like a Tribble? You clutter up one surface, and it multiplies behind your back to cover surfaces all over your house. It's like you mentally give yourself and other family members subconscious permission to just leave crap lying everywhere when you just let one surface get out of control.

Take my dining table, for example. I put down a newspaper on it the other day (yes, it was the other day and not sometime last week!), and now, a scant few days later, here's a list of what's on it:

1. wicker basket used to serve food
2. DD's "Shopping" book and cardboard cut-outs from the book
3. DD's foam alphabet stickers (in the container, not stuck to the tablecloth)
4. an empty and clean cake plate and cover
5. empty IKEA wood picture frames
6. 12 framed flower pictures for hanging in the kitchen
7. a SECOND wicker basket used to serve food
8. trivet
9. salt & pepper shakers
10. FOUR newspapers
11. coupons
12. assorted bills & mail items
13. the digital camera
14. empty red plastic cup
15. water bottle
16. shopping list pad and pen
17. DD's NWF "Animal Baby" magazine from June (of course)
18. my Bible study binder
19. my laptop
20. Gerber puffs for DS, and the tray from his highchair

You'd have all that on your dining room table, wouldn't you? Of course you would...and so would any other reasonable person in America. That's my Delusion of the Day.

On a completely unrelated note, we have discovered that yes, bribery does work with potty training. DD had been completely refusing to do pooping on the potty, and while she was doing okay with peeing on the potty we were still having a bit too many accidents for my liking. So, I told her on Monday that if she went pee-pee AND poo-poo in the potty ALL WEEK, she could go to Barnes & Noble on Friday and pick out a brand new book! Well, that has done the trick like nothing else! I have also been a bit more vigilant about enforcing potty time, and she has done really, really well. I am not going to count my chickens before they hatch, but I would be oh-so-happy to buy a children's book on Friday.

And on the "Not as Easy as It Looks" front, DH got up with both kiddos this morning in a characteristic act of kindness so that I could sleep in, after a very disturbed night of sleep for us all. DD & DS were quite grumpy and woke several times last night, so I was ecstatic to sleep on, even if my dream involved an annoying return to graduate school and a reminder of how glad I am to be done with that phase of my life. Anyway, I was woken up precisely an hour later by DH storming in, DS in his arms, with an emphatic proclamation of, "I'm sorry but you're just going to have to get up now. I can't do this any more."

Apparently my DD had been diligently practicing using her potty, including using the toilet paper which is sitting on the table next to her potty (in the living room, natch). And DS had rolled/crawled over to check out this potty thing (unsurprisingly, he loves exploring now that he's mobile). So DH moved him, and went about doing something else (not quite clear on this bit), but he came back and found DS...eating bits of pee-soaked toilet paper. (Ewwww!) Yes, my son had crawled over to the potty, opened the lid, and helped himself to the toilet paper. DH was nearly apoplectic with a grinning DS in his arms.

Ahem. This would be why I empty her potty IMMEDIATELY after use. You see, I may appear to be ensconced in email, message boards, and blogs here in the mornings, but I really am paying attention to what my kiddos are getting into (most of the time). It's not as easy as it looks. I smothered my laughter and got up, much to my children's delight. What could be better than TWO tired parents to entertain/annoy? At least DH gets to go to the office 4 days a week. *LOL*

Random "First of the Day" Ramblings

I wonder if, upon being woken by one's DS at 6 am, one really would melt into the floor and die for lack of coffee? Note this is a strictly rhetorical question as I have a steaming hot cup of java right here with me.

The house is cool in the mornings now, and even though it's supposed to get up into the 80s F again today, it is quite pleasant (for now) to have to put on some slipper socks to feel comfortable. Of course, I'm still wearing shorts. It's an odd time of the year.

I have decided that it is OKAY to keep kiddos in PJs until at least mid-morning. With the cool mornings and hot afternoons, I really don't want to deal with repeats of yesterday, where DS didn't nap well in the morning because he was cold...or the other day, when he whined in the afternoon because he was too hot. I categorically refuse to put him in more than one set of clothes per day, unless blow-out diapers necessitate it...I have enough laundry! So he can stay in his warm PJs until the mercury rises a bit.

If one child wakes up early and will not be entertained in your room (*cough* DS *cough*), then you can bet that the other child will be woken up early and will insist on joining you in the living room. I can see an early lunch and early naps in my future today.

As an update for any who might be interested, I have almost reached the end of the 1 skein of fun fur yarn for my first attempt at a scarf, and suffice it to say, it is faaaaaaar too short as I cast on, oh, about 3 times the stitches that the pattern called for, because it didn't look wide enough to me. Ahem. Yes, a complete failure on the first go! I think I am going to unravel it all and start again. Now that I have a better sense of what I'm doing it will hopefully go a bit better this time. Yes, that's the ticket.

And, for reasons that utterly mystify me, I decided DD's room was not "done" enough and I made a ribbon chandelier to suspend from the ceiling around her plain vanilla light fixture. I like how it turned out, even if it's not precisely what I had envisioned when I planned the project. Suffice it to say, getting graceful swoops of ribbon between two wreath frames is harder than one imagines it is. But she's happy, I'm happy, and I'm going to do a modified version for DS's room--a hot air balloon. Eventually. When I, you know, get seized by that freak "MUST CRAFT" impulse. So, probably in a year or so.

Time for breakfast!

My June Cleaver Day

Yesterday was a very odd day for me. If DH had seen the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or "Stepford Wives" he would have been convinced I was a pod person yesterday or a Stepford wife, because he came home to a tidy kitchen (4 loads through the dishwasher!), dinner just coming out of the oven (homemade BBQ chicken pizzas, natch) and a fragrant aroma wafting through the house from the squash poundcake with caramel glaze (all homemade) that was sitting proudly on the cakestand on the dining table for dessert.

If that was it, I would not have felt like June Cleaver yesterday--maybe Rachael Ray or something, but I was actually out of the house multiple times yesterday with the children, including grocery shopping at Costco, Safeway, and a late trip to Fred Meyer in the afternoon after discovering our lone red onion had gone off. As if that weren't crazy enough, I also added to the insanity by going to Joann's to purchase the last few supplies for a craft idea for DD's room that I'd been thinking about for some time. And I used COUPONS at all places, and the kids behaved! Wahoo! DD did not attempt to tear up my coupons or list, I managed to keep them all out of DS's hands (and avoided them being drooled/chewed up).

I spent less than I saved, my children played together nicely and kept out of mischief while I was cooking and baking, and my DD even managed to crack open two eggs and help add them to the cake batter without getting any eggshells into the bowl. It was a miraculous day, which will go down in the record books in this house. Huzzah!

Strange Fall Mood--Apple Pie, Anyone?

So I had a brilliant birthday weekend, thanks to the presence of my parents (child minding!) and a sea kayaking afternoon with my brother on the Sound. DH is (rightly) concerned that now I might want to get a kayak for myself, and after hearing my brother's propaganda insight into the design qualities of his former employer's kayaks, I found myself conversing inexpertly in the subject at an impromptu Labor Day BBQ with our neighbors who have 3 kayaks. Suffice it to say, one kayaking experience does not a kayaker make.

Of course, in the aftermath of the Folks' visit I find my house awash in yet more clutter (and I didn't think it was possible...my parents the clutter experts showed me differently). I am digging out from that, and remain unconvinced that our house will ever be truly clutter-free. I have a ton of dirty laundry to do, and I have been grumbling about the things that they did which I found irritating. Regardless, DH & I agreed that everyone does things that irritate others, and the same goes in our direction. I'm sure my mom was aghast that I wasn't diligently cramming veggies at DS at every opportunity (you slacker mom, you!) and my dad was huffing about the general state of our cars and the corroded battery posts ("You're going to come out here one morning and all it's going to do is to go 'click' and you'll be stuck. Where's that battery post spray I bought you for cleaning them?" I bit my tongue to keep from mentioning that the only time I have dead battery problems with my car is when they visit and don't shut the doors properly and my battery runs down...but I digress.)

So my house is incredibly untidy, and to be fair, it wasn't perfectly tidy when they arrived, either. Somehow our furniture rearranging left us with a den/family room that feels like a TV set. We have a cozy, intimate seating area with our sofabed, coffee table, end table, and chair and ottoman, all arranged in front of the woodstove. Then there is the long wall opposite the chair, where we currently have DH's desk, a medium-sized bookcase, and my sewing table, with the walkway through to the hallway between all of these items and the perpendicular sofabed. So it really does feel like a TV set--we just need a camera poised where the bookcase stands, and it could be a sitcom. Hmmmmmm...not quite what we were going for. Further rearrangements will be forthcoming, I have no doubt. DH has happily termed it "Half a Room".

However, seeing the cozy domestic scene, I was inspired to finally empty our ash pot onto the compost heap, in anticipation of cozy fall days with tea, a book, and a warm fire. Mysteriously my children are absent from these cozy imagined scenes of domestic bliss, for surely when such days do arrive I will be greeted by a range of toys strewn all over, my DS howling from a close and unfortunate crawling encounter with a table leg or the hearth, and countless bits of snack spilled on the (thankfully wood) floor.

I even entertained myself today during naptime with visions of a fun fall party for the kids and some mom friends. I could cut out fun shapes in potato halves, cover the deck table with craft paper, and let the kids stamp their own artwork with washable tempura paint. They could also each make their own apple brown betties to take home, and while they painted the moms could enjoy some coffeecake, coffee and/or tea, and some adult conversation. Hmmmmmmm, maybe I will actually do that. I just need to finish digging us out of the dirty laundry, clutter, and dirty dishes. Hahahahaha!