vermont-part I

due to maddy-mom having to stay home and bring home the bacon, the kid and i headed to vermont for 8 days to visit a best friend from college. we talked and made a relaxed list of things we'd like to do during our stay, but mostly we knew our time was going to revolve around swimming, cooking together, and eating all things maple. despite my anxiety about air travel and adah's little bout of diarrhea that perhaps stemmed from too much fish oil and flax seed, we did just great. the only flaw from the airport/flying experience was when we were looking out the window at the planes before the flight, and she started to remove a booger that someone had smeared across the glass. i was on the phone proclaiming my love for anne and telling her that in case I died in a crash, I forgive her for everything (to which she replied, "right back atcha!" in a cute and sarcastic way). i had to hang up bluntly, which continued our tradition of me talking to anne on the phone at inopportune times, like when i am dropping groceries in a parking lot because i refuse to get a new bag if i forget my own, unloading a kid from the carseat, trying to diffuse a tantrum, or pay for something after waiting in a long line. i don't know why i answer my phone in situations like this, but i do. but only if it's anne. and then i am a cranky and terrible person. we do accept gift certificates for couples counseling, by the way. please make checks payable to mariah and we'll fill in the rest.

so we spent the flight reading and snacking, and mostly making elaborate play-doh structures. we had actual reserved seats, so we didn't have to do that thing you have to do when you're flying on southwest with a young child, which is roam the aisle of the plane, asking aloud, "who wouldn't hate us if we sat down next to you?" to people who are desperately trying not to make eye contact. having pre-arranged seats is pretty handy. when we get home i'll post some pictures of adah smearing play-doh all over her baby doll's face, in the sweet little window seat reserved specifically for her, our getting old kid.

recent questions

have you ever eated a popsicle in the tub? do you think when maddy gets home she'll fix the broken water fountain at the park? have you ever tried a macaroni and cheese crepe? is her coming over? are we going to ride the bike? is it not open today? what's this book about? can you pass the ________?

recently adah has developed the cutest inflection when asking questions, and i've decided that i'm going to have to start carrying around a pen and paper so i can remember more of her marvels. sometimes i don't know how to convey how exquisitely wonderful she is in words.

tonight, i came out to the dining room to find her on her knees on the kitchen table, carefully navigating a pasta spoon full of sesame noodles into her bowl. she had already dished up the other accompaniments as well (all except for the kale, sad fact) and was all set to go. it was a delightful meal of slurping and noodle tricks.

sweet, sweet summer (written by jo jo, zanna's mom)

Monday, July 21, 2008

is there anything cuter than kid toes? here, zanna's are seen in the background, with seaweed wrapped rice crackers in front. this is the everyday, for sure. all of these photos are courtesy of adah's mama, megan. we treated ourselves to a decadent (heart unhealthy) breakfast, then tried to balance it out by riding our bicycles to the park with the girls in tow (and eating the pictured seaweed wrapped rice crackers). here are some bits of our adventure.

megan and adah call these the stepping stones. they're a nice workout, even for a couple of monkeys.

next, climbing, climbing, climbing. really? slides in public parks that aren't recommended for small children? our children, as it happens, are too small to read such cautionary signs. the signs make for fun photos, though.

a breather, as they plan their next moves.

then, there was lots more playing, until zanna just had to rest. a lovely bike ride home, a bit of drama at goodbye, then naptime. i want summer to last forever.

(me too, megan adds!)

my $10 plastic surgery

this morning i went to see the plastic surgeon to have the skin cancer on my chest removed. as you may know from a former post, the last visit (with another physician) didn't go so well, and apparently this has become a well known fact in the kaiser world because, as was evidenced by some lighthearted pre-surgery commentary, there was a little note about this in my chart. i think it must have said something like, "this woman's crazy! beware!" because they were very careful, almost walking-on-pins-and-needles careful, and very gentle and good humored. so i am now officially cancer- free. i'll spare you a photograph of how they frankensteined me, but i have to say, the size of the incision was pretty overwhelming. the anesthesia hasn't worn off yet, and as i type this, adah is playing restaurant with a batch of salty homemade play doh, and i have potatoes boiling on the stove for a big batch of potato salad. she just handed me a bowl of what she said were pancakes with sprinkles, and when i asked about the ingredients she said they were made of cornmeal and syrup. i asked her when she learned to cook and she said, "when i was a little tiny baby! when things weren't too hot to touch!"

blueberries for sal

today we went back to sauvie's island, which i nostalgically find very reminiscent of ohio, to pick our second round of berries, and this time they were blue. adah immediately had a blueberries for sal moment when, right after we arrived, she just sat right down underneath a bush and began to eat them by the fistful. there was the perpetual "kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk" in our box, because no matter how many i picked, she'd eat them immediately. the "we have to save some for jam and pie" strategy didn't work, so i actually had to play a little hide and seek game with her so that i could go a few rows away to pick and actually accumulate some berries. that seemed to work well. when i came back she was just one bush over, picking those particular limbs to death. basically she has enough antioxidants in her system to light up the moon.

we spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with friends, baking 2 pies, and dealing with the flour factory on the floor. the pies turned out damn good, even though i was making the process more difficult for myself by analyzing various recipes from several of my favorite food blogs, and having a debate in my head about the use of shortening. we ate a whole pie after dinner and were joined by one of my former students and her dad, our exchange student dan, and his 2 taiwanese friends. i spent the rest of the night on the phone with an amtrak agent trying to order dan & co. a 15- day- unlimited stops- nationwide railway pass. the next time you are wanting to buy a 15- day- unlimited stops- nationwide railway pass, by the way, there will be lots of hidden fees, especially in the months of july and august, and it will basically cost you $700 to get to new york city and back in 2 full weeks. after the hidden fee shenanigans, we started looking into flights, and let's just say that it got rather complicated, due to washington dc having 3 airports (how far is each one?) and the fact that they wanted to do a multiple destinations trip without spending a lot of money. they're coming back tomorrow to finish up the process, but by that point, i think we'll have eaten all the pie.

family vacation

we just got back from helena, montana: home of the older brother, unlocked doors, hot spring filled swimming pools and deer moving across lawns during dinner. and did I mention? home of the best goodwills: for 25 bucks we got a pair of shoes, a cool motorcycle helmet, and a set of cast iron pans in an effort to rid our house of teflon. thank you darren, dad, and kai for being wonderful hosts. below is a synopsis of our trip written by kai, my 12 year old nephew. he is the coolest kid i've ever met, but don't tell any of my students. we love him dearly. and adah? she idolizes him completely.

My Family “Vacation” by Kai

When I came home from summer theater school last Wednesday afternoon, I opened the garage door to find that Adah, Aunts Megan and Anne, & my Grandma Mary had surprised me for a 5 day fun-filled vacation. I was excited. We surprisingly started the adventure off with a meal & a 13 hour session of sleep (for those who had been driving.) The next two days I had theater school from 9 to 5, and then we would pretty much eat deep fried mushrooms and sleep & also the occasional Adah going down “da shlide on her belly butinnn.” On Saturday we finally did something fun. Megan, Anne, Adah, my grandpa & I went to the farmers market to buy some cherries, soap, and a hot dog. Then Adah and I put on some butterfly tattoos & everyone else besides my dad , Megan, Adah and I were too lazy to get off their butts & go to the local hotsprings swimming pool. When we arrived we stayed in the normal pool and Adah played with her swim missles (who later had donut parties) for awhile. Then we decided Adah should go down the gargantuan water slide with someone, so I carried her up the 8 flights of stairs to the rapids at the beginning of the slide & I was surprised to find that she had the nerve to go down with Meg. Apparently she was a little traumatized at first, but by the time she got to the bottom she wanted to go again. The slide was a big thick tube that included many twists and turns for like 40 seconds and then went down into a crashing pool of water. We loved it for a few rides & then Adah began to lose interest. When we got home Adah sang the ABC's to herself & nodded off to sleep. Then, when the family fun meter began to drop, I suggested a game. They were too tired to be happy, but my sheer cuteness persuaded them to play along. The game I chose was CRANIUM FAMILY FUN, which included an hour of grandpa's extreme swearing. Then I suggested playing a few rounds of “WOULD YOU RATHER...” which is the best game ever, but turned absolutely disgusting. It was fun. At some point during the trip I talked with grandma, Anne, & Meg about my “mate,” a crush I have at school who happens to be taller than me. Grandma recommended that I learned how to do the jitterbug, because apparantly that's how you get girls. Then we watched BILLY ELLIOT and slept. And finally on Sunday we ate, went to the carousel, ate, saw a magic show, ate again, and now I'm typing this & listening to my family argue about stupid things and eat pecan turtles. So that's it, the 2008 July family visit. Good-bye!

My Motorcycle Diary

OK, this really isn't a post about adventures on my motorcycle, I just thought it would be a more exciting blog headline than my previous entry which Megan lovingly titled, "this just in from Anne." Anyway, I have been meaning to write this for a long time and it has been so hard to find the time and the quiet to actually sit down for a minute and tap this tidbit out. So what this entry is really about is Adah's most recent visit to see the doctor. I am certain that many people think this is routine business for parents, but my lil' one has character that sends her over the top.

Adah's history with the doctor started with Dr Vestergaard: a funny, charismatic doctor who could not charm our bug into believing that it was OK to poke, prod, peak in her ears, and do that crazy leg bending thing they do to check their hips. (It looks totally painful to me.) Anyway, Adah has not been vaccinated and does not have that particular phobia that my other children developed in the doctor's office. (What was I thinking?) However, at a few months old, the Dr. insisted on performing a lead baseline test which involved me holding my small cherub on my lap (Megan was in the waiting room pacing) while a lab tech inserted a needle in her vein to draw blood. It was awful to restrain her while they did this to my little bug and I had to curb my urge to bolt with her to safety. I think this was the beginning of her total fear of small rooms with people in lab coats. I also think that our little one may have picked up on her mama's disdain for doctors.

I had missed a couple of check ups and Megan told me that it was a horrible experience the last few times she took her in. When the time for her 18 month appointment came, Megan asked me if I could take her in and I consented. After all, how bad could it be? We arrived at the appointment with plenty of time for Adah to transition to the new surroundings and she was playing on the tumbling blocks when the nurse called her name. Off we went and Adah was hesitant and tentative walking down the corridor and was clinging to me and crying by the time we got into the exam room. It only got worse and we got her undressed to be weighed and measured. The nurse left and I had just enough time to sooth her before the Dr. came in. The rest of the appointment was questions and answers pretty much shouted at the top of our lungs. Our main concern was that Adah was not talking much, and the Dr. reassured me that kids develop at different paces. So I got her dressed and got her out of there and Adah gave one last defiant scream when she spotted the Dr. in the hall. Her reaction was so intense that we decided to try a strategy to lessen her fear and guide her to fearlessness. We got some books with kind doctors in them and read them over and over again. Adah understood that Cailou had successful appointments and that Babar's son had a boo boo that 'was not too serious'. I took her to my appointments with an occupational doctor when I injured my back so she could see that it was all good. Even so, when the time for the 24 month check up came, I strongly hinted that maybe it would be better if both moms were there, but the only appointment available was the same day Megan called and Megan couldn't go, so we were on our own. We did not have as much transition time as the previous visit, though Adah did not seem to be apprehensive at all, until the nurse called her name and we started down the corridor and the clinging and the crying began. We had to forget about getting her undressed, due to the convulsions and wild resistance. The nurse offered her sympathy and said that they sometimes get this way due to past experiences with vaccines. I offered in return that she has never had vaccines, and then I received the usual look of alarm and disdain and felt the nurse's mood shift. Fortunately, she exited and I was successful in calming Adah down just in time for the Dr.'s entrance. The crying and clinging turned into screaming and the Dr. was very uncomfortable, but was asking me how was Adah's verbal development coming along, at which moment, Adah stated very firmly and clearly, “Get Me Out Of Here Right Now!” which made me very proud of her for using her voice, very sad because I couldn't get her out just yet , but it was also totally hysterical because the timing was perfect! The Dr. rightly stated that her verbal development did not seem to be a worry anymore. We left the appointment and I let her play in Kaiser's plastic kingdom for awhile, hoping to end the event on a happy note. The nice thing about the kiddo is that she definitely forgives and forgets pretty quickly.

july 2, 2008.

summer is hard work and luxurious. by 9:00 a.m. this morning we nursed, read 6 books twice, helped my mom clean out the fridge (she's on a mission--separate story), washed the sheets and hung them out to dry, ate a few course breakfast, let the chickens out, cut flowers for a couple different rooms, watered the garden, made a fresh batch of carrot popsicles, filled a small tub of raspberries to bring to the la leche league nursing toddlers meeting, and both got dressed. the last item took the longest. it's not hard for me-- i tend to be seen in the exact same clothing for a couple days too long, but frankly, the act of getting a 2 year old dressed is probably the most trying part of the day, except for at 3:06, when she absolutely needs a nap but has many miles to go before she sleeps, thank you robert frost. "I DO IT MYSELF NOW" is the predominant theme, and it includes picking out inappropriate items (like turtlenecks and sweaters for 85 degree weather), and then trying to get them on "like zanna do." zanna is adah's BFF who lives down the street, from whom she learns lots of things. the other thing that prevented us from getting out the door was the cherries. to adah's disappointment, we could only reach 3 or 4 of them on tree limbs, and she insisted, no joke, that we should go to her muh's house (grandma's) RIGHT NOW for a ladder. thankfully, the art of distraction still works, and after asking if she wanted to go on our bike and bus adventure in her bathing suit, we were able to switch gears and actually leave the house. she was quite a sight wearing a bathing suit and alligator rain boots. we visited the la leche league folks, who at one point almost had me in tears of future grief as a couple of them recounted the loss of their breastfeeding relationships, because as we know, it's not just about the breast milk, even though it is liquid gold. it's about attachment, closeness, and purpose, and even though breastfeeding has brought me frustration sometimes, i can't imagine weaning her, like some people have suggested, even in jovial comments like, "is she still going to be nursing when she goes to kindergarten?" i'm not sure how long our nursing relationship will last, but hello international average of 4 years. i'm still very content with child-led weaning and our "don't offer, don't refuse" policy.

so speaking of child led weaning, a funny thing just happened... i was just writing the above sentiments as anne was helping the kiddo brush her teeth, when she came down to announce, "adah told me to tell you that she doesn't want milk tonight, only the kind she picked out at the store, but she would like a kiss, though." is this the beginning? so i went upstairs, we read "the napping room" and "the bear and his boy," sang our gratitude song together, talked about tomorrow's plans, and off she went into the land of nod.

can i just say how wonderful it's been to have such substantial time with adah lately? thank you former family farmers who (albeit by necessity) decided that kids need summer vacations. we've been having the best time, and it's so nice to not have to rush right out the door for work, spilling coffee on myself as i drive. recently i've gotten to leisurely wake up to her singing a mixture of ABC'S and "happy birthday," and we nurse and read until we feel like breakfast and go from there. we've been out and about picking berries, playing at parks, hanging out with friends, caking our hands with bread dough, making homemade popsicle concoctions, going to library story times, and swimming every single day. can't wait to get to vermont, where we're going to swim in real water for much of the day. one of the sad things about living in oregon is that local lakes and rivers are ridiculously freezing and i am totally wimpy in this regard. anyway, thank god for skinned- knee summers!