in 20 minutes it will be monday at 3pm in china
if anyone's out there reading, please keep this family in your heart, prayers, etc. they are about to meet their son. much love, friends...
heavenly day
yesterday we went to bagby hot springs in the mt. hood national forest. we tried to go there once before when adah was about two, but there was so much snow we couldn't get up the mountain road, and we've been wanting to go back ever since. yesterday was the perfect day to go. it been all springy and gorgeous here in portland, and for once we had enough foresight to check the road conditions before beginning the hour and a half drive. we have anne to thank for that, because she's safety conscious and i'm not.
adah has this buddy named opal at school who she gets along with superbly well, and her parents were kind enough to loan us their kid for the day. this meant that anne actually got to sit in the front seat like a real adult, and we got to listen to the two of them wonder the cutest frickin things for a couple of hours. i seriously couldn't stop smiling. they also sang, counted cherry blossomtrees in a deranged order, promptly forgot which number they had reached, and then would laugh and begin again. the day was full of ease and camaraderie, and i couldn't help but wonder if this is what it would be like if bug had a sibling. but don't worry-- this delusional thinking didn't last for
long. i am at last happy about and accepting of being a mama of one, as long as we continue the fun tradition of borrowing other people's children. anyone else up for grabs?
the girls handled the three mile hike by chasing each other along the trail, investigating under bridges, playing hide and seek, climbing on root monsters, and searching for treasures. the journey to the hot springs was as relaxing and as much fun as being in the tubs. here's what a couple of happy, worn out girls look like on the way home from a wonderful day:
we have a lot to learn from the littles
oh, the wisdom that comes from the mouths of little people. i think we could all benefit from listening to them some more.
it's been a very joyful but busy weekend. yesterday we were gone for most of the day and we spent this morning getting out the birthday invitations, making paper mache bowls, playing inside a bit, and bike riding. in between the two birthday parties we were going to, i had my own little agenda which involved stopping at the bank, delivering a pie, getting gas in the car, picking up my holds at the library, and visiting a park in a little 1-hour sliver of time (a ridiculous expectation for an almost 4-year old who likes to investigate everything.) as we were leaving the library, adah kept circling around and around a huge tree root, and i was encouraging her to hurry so we could get to the playground. her response? "mom, this is my playground."
a striking reminder.
thanks again, kiddo, for helping me embrace time more slowly.
this is our new roommate, people
i stole his facebook status:
Dinner- stuffed humboldt fog blue figs and dates wrapped in bacon, fresh mixed greens with organic braeburn apples, croutons made from fresh sourdough, quiche filled with caramelized onions and fingerling potatoes, topped with homemade queso fresco & fresh spinach, also some braised farm-raised duck in port and cherries and Oregon mushrooms. and to finish is crepes and banana fosters, with homemade creme fraiche.
happy belated valentine's day!
our child LOVES holidays, even the minor ones. she's been making valentines for weeks, and i got to re-live my love for gluing crumpled pieces of tissue paper onto construction paper. it was joyous. here is my favorite creation that she made:
a valentine ghost. she is putting some finishing touches on its head. on sunday morning it was love notes and mix tapes in bed. we also had lots of leftover pink cookies from this gathering:
anne and i were both pretty sick over the weekend, but managed to take turns sleeping and playing with kiddo. one of adah's accomplishments was riding her bike all the way to walgreens, where the coveted tylenol lives, and i was quite pleased to find our pool (that blew away or was stolen) a few months ago in someone's yard. i groggily dragged it back home and put a hole in its side, making it very much not worth the effort.
look who else came to visit: kai, my other favorite kid on the planet. we went to the grand lodge soaking pool on sunday, and he asked me to do some editing of what he called his "man boobs."
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hope you and your loved ones loved each other well, and not just on sunday...
last week, after several richter-scale tantrums right in close proximity of one another (including one in the middle of the night), all google signs were leading to explosive child syndrome. any minute we thought we were going to find an 8x10 picture of our child in the DSM- IV. we talked about this dilemma with our friends and family as if it was going on for years, instead of bug just going through a rough patch. then we decided to keep a little tantrum log and it turns out our kid doesn't quite fit the explosive behavioral patterns that ross greene describes:
"The child may exhibit three types of behavior during the tantrum. First, the child may be verbally abusive, screaming and using profanity, such as "I hate you, you bitch!" Second, the child may throw, smash or otherwise destroy items, such as toys, furniture, phones,or books. Last, the child may be physically abusive, attacking family members, friends or schoolmates with feet, fists or weapons. A child may exhibit one or all of these types of behavior during a tantrum."
seeing as our kid doesn't call us bitches, destroy things, or attack people, we're thinking she's more along the lines of "intense" and "spirited." phew.
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