Made for Walkin'

And that's just what she'll do...

No Elliot isn't walking just yet. This week she graduated from cruising around furniture, to using everything as a vehicle for transportation. She pushes chairs around the kitchen, a giant bouncy ball around the backyard, and the play shopping cart around our living room!

She'll turn 9 months old on the 30th. I'm willing to bet a new pair of Roobeez that she'll be walking before she's 10 months!

Down with Long-Ears

We have a real problem with bunnies in our backyard.

There appears to be a family beneath our garden shed. Given that female bunnies can raise 6 litters in a single season, we are getting a bit over run. Our neighbor claims to have caught more than 22...

A mouth ago, I was exceedingly proud of my bunny protection methods. Our garden fence is a 20' by 30' fortress of chicken wire. So far, nothing has attacked my adolescent veggies. The beans are climbing up Joe's homemade tee pees, the peppers and tomatoes and potatoes are blooming, the cabbages look like some exotic tropical plant (I've never planted them before, so they're exotic for me!).

I put a flower bed in around the outside of the garden. My thinking was to pretty up the pragmatic vegetable part with a mess of extravagant blooms.

To keep the bunnies away from the Ben & Jerry's of the bunny world, my petunias, painted daisies, black-eyed Susans, and all the rest, I picked up a bottle of Repels All. It's apparently all natural, featuring a lovely bouquet of fox pee and rotten eggs.

It certainly repelled us, when I accidentally sprayed it up wind!

It really does work on the bunnies. They won't eat anything that has been sprayed adequately. Unfortunately, as plants grow, the new foliage and flowers are not protected.

Those naughty little bunnies will eat EVERYTHING that hasn't been sprayed down to teeny little nubs that can't possibly grow back. The result is a less than impressive flower bed. I am enjoying the purple, orange, and gold blossoms from the same two-inches of petunias that I sprayed shortly after removing them from their little plastic 6-packs.

I must admit, it's an improvement over last year's annuals, which were completely devoured.

I'm just going to have to spray the Repels All more frequently, start trapping the bunnies, or become accustomed to the minimalist look in my flower beds.

Yes, that is the coop coming together at the back of the garden!

Lost!

In the spirit of sharing the less Rockwellian moments of my life at home, here is an unforgettable mommy moment.

Yesterday, we were getting ready to splash around in the kiddie pool. Some days, even getting out to my own backyard requires a ton of shuffling. I periodically placed Baby-Speed-Crawler on the floor to free up a hand for the other jobs that needed to get done, like smearing sunscreen on a wiggly three-year-old and filing up the water bottle.

I usually picked Baby-I'm-Too-Strong-For-My-Own-Good back up within a few seconds so she didn't become Kamikaze Baby and launch herself down the stairs of our split level.

So I had just made a neat pile of the towels, sunscreen, water bottle, and a magazine (what an optimist I am!). I had turned around to grab Stealth-Baby... and she was gone. She wasn't on the floor by my feet, where I expected her to be. She wasn't (phew) at the bottom of the stairs. She wasn't in the dining room, where Big Sister was drawing on her easel....

Panic!

I hollered at Big Sister Maya, "Where is the baby?" I could feel the terrified edge in my voice. If I couldn't hear her crying and she wasn't in sight, what had happened?

Maya looked at me with an expression of playful wonder.... "Mama, she's right there."

She pointed to me.

And there Baby was, in my left arm, propped on my hip, watching me curiously. When our eyes met, she cooed and grinned.

Poor Overlooked-Second-Baby; this kind of thing never happened with Baby-Watched-Like-A-Hawk-First-Born.

It probably never happens to anyone else! I'm thinking about getting my head looked at! Perhaps I should check myself in to some spa-like facility that will evaluate my mental clarity for a good month or two!

On the upside, I am now so strong and balanced that I can pack stuff up for 15 minutes, one handed, while carrying a 20+lb baby in one arm without even realizing it!

Adventure Day - Up a Notch!

Thanks to the handy website TwinCitiesMom.com, we discovered the perfect Adventure Day park today. For one thing, the North Mississippi Regional Park is easy to get to, which is critical for us.

Even on a good day, with a happy baby and an excited preschooler who can help pack her own stuff, it takes us about 45 minutes to get out the door for an adventure. After gathering all of the extra clothes, snacks, and miscellany, we have to track down the sunscreen, maneuver everyone into the car, put the cat back inside... Then find my cell phone, re-read the directions, check to make sure the front door is locked.... Phew. Maya needed a snack before we left the driveway!

Actually, I did too!

It was sooo worth it. Our morning started at the park's nature center. Sandy was working the front desk, and was more than happy to give Maya a personal tour of the Habitat Puzzle and other preschool games that filled the center. Sandy then showed Maya the special room full of animals... Grandma and Nana would have been shouting nearly as loud as Maya was, but maybe not with the same tone... It was full of snakes, giant African millipedes, salamanders, and turtles.

Maya kept running around saying, "Have you never seen one of THESE before!?"

Elliot loved the center mostly because it served as a useful runway for the stroller. She pushed it all over!


Then we were off on our hike. We have gotten much better at this part of Adventure Day. Here is what I've learned:

1. Don't bring the double stroller, or Maya will refuse to walk.

2. Prepare to ditch the stroller (don't leave the wallet or keys in there!), or wear the baby plus a backpack. I try to encourage Maya to take the rougher diversions (when it looks safe). She has gotten much more adventurous, and much more interested in inspecting the biggest trees, strangest mushrooms, and funny animal tracks.

3. Don't have an agenda. We only made it about half a mile, but we saw EVERYTHING along that half mile. She loved it... next time I might bring some reading material!

The best thing about this park is it's dual purpose. We fully explored and delighted in the natural world for more than an hour and a half. Then, when that lost her interest, we jagged a half mile in the other direction, donned our swimsuits, put Elliot in her stroller for a nap (perfect timing!), and played in the COOLEST wading pool ever.

Next time, we'll pack a lunch and bring some friends. What a great find!

Summer in the City

I miss the lake. My lake. I grew up 20 minutes from the family lake cabin, where we spent every possible minute each summer. Sure I live in Minnesota, but even among these 10,000, there is no lake like home.

Besides, I am not interested in being the lone body guard for both of my girls at any packed metro-area lake or pool, so I haven't really sought out the local beaches.

This afternoon we set up the kiddie pool and the sprinkler, donned our swim suits, and soaked up the true joys of being home in the summer. Child rearing responsibilities or not, it's heavenly!

Elliot continues to prove herself fearless. She is undaunted by stairs, beds, or the cat door. She is furious when she isn't allowed to explore the bathroom. Today we discovered, that she is perfectly willing to crawl around in water, even as it sloshes around her shoulders and requires her to point her nose to the clouds to keep from getting submerged. Don't worry, I didn't give her any freedom to explore, but even with my hand under her tummy, it was shocking to see such an utter lack of instinct (or perhaps just complete trust in me, I'll giver her some credit).

She's Got Style

Maya got dressed, fixed her hair, and applied blush and lip gloss All By Her Self today. She didn't do a bad job of it either!


When exactly do clothes stop being a fun costume and start being boring? I'm going to start getting myself dressed using Maya's technique: scour my closet for the most fun, colorful things I can find, layer them over each other, add bangles, and then, like Maya, head off to do my new Barbie aerobics tape (which we got from a neighbor, and in case anyone is wondering, it will disappear over the weekend! We are trying to avoid Barbie as long as possible!)

If I did that, I really wouldn't fit in with the swarm of khaki capri pants and black t-shirts that adorn the other moms at Maya's camp!

Maya at class... she follows this high school girl around the whole time!

Elliot LOVES her alone time. I'd better go play with her.

Leaps & Bounds

Only 1 month after Maya decided the big girl potty was the true mark of a 3-year-old, she's off to school.

Well, not school, really, it's just summer camp. Still, I found it more difficult to leave her in that crowded room of preschoolers at our local park than when I left her at four-months-old to head in to work. Instead of a calm, controlled home environment with one adult that I knew and trusted, I handed her over to a fleet of high school volunteers in a room crawling with kids, most of whom had been to camp before or were under the protection of an older sibling.

Elliot will be so lucky!

Maya was shy, but excited when I left. I introduced her to the one reliable adult in the room, Lisa, and then she ran off to play blocks with some bigger girls. She is probably less torn up than I am, since she had a playground full of kids, crafts, storytime, and a number game to play.

As I marched Elliot home from the park (my house is sooo quiet now that she's sleeping), I thought about all of the empty-nester moms I know. They keep shrugging off the big changes in their life, as their babies trot off across the globe on adventures that no amount of mothering can prepare them for.... and any amount of mothering is usually eschewed anyway.

Here I am, teary that my baby is a big 3-year-old now, off on her own adventure for the very first time, and I fully expect to be just as discombobulated when she runs off on new adventures when she's 18 and 20 and 29...

I do feel a little silly, making a big deal out of a 2 hour day camp, but why should I? Why should the mom of a college student? Kids are such an intimate and intense part of our lives; we are so biologically designed to guard and care for them. No one expects us to shut all of that down, simply because our kids gets their own life (even if it's just for two hours!)

It is absolutely natural to feel a bit lost, a bit haunted, complete with the phantom sounds of chalk on an easel, when she reaches new milestones and stretches a bit further away from me. Right? I know it's healthy, and tomorrow, I swear I will use my free hours on something beyond contemplating the nature of my freedom, but today I can't help but feel a bit like a fish out of water.

More Than We Can Chew?

Well, I think I'll need a pressure cooker by August. And if anyone knows of a good book on how to can vegetables, please send it my way.

Our garden has been in since Memorial Day, when Joe doggedly completed the fence. For some reason, every year I'm pleasantly surprised when all of those little seeds pop up as potential feasts. Maybe it's something about the mystery of life, that those specks can contain an entire living thing... or maybe it's just my own skepticism about how accurately I followed the planting instructions.

Whatever the reason, Maya and I have been circling the garden fence daily, enthusiastically monitoring our growing things. Now that everything has proven its will to thrive in spite of a cold soggy spring, tiny feet, and sloppy rows, I'm beginning to wonder if I haven't over done it just a bit.

Our garden is about 20 feet by 35 feet. I divided it into 12 beds with walk ways between them, with each bed measuring about 3 by 10 feet. We planted 5 types of tomatoes, 3 types of peppers, 4 types of green beans, 2 types of cabbage, 2 types of lettuce, beets, carrots, radishes, parsnips (although they aren't up yet and may not make it!), 2 types of cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, and 2 types of potatoes. We also have rhubarb, asparagus, basil, oregano, lavender, parsley, thyme, sage, and savory.

Keep in mind that this farm-in-the-city is a 15 minute drive from downtown Minneapolis, not on a hobby farm in the ex-urbs.

Every year my enthusiasm during the planting stage wanes as the weeds encroach. Now I look at that massive garden and my two busy girls and say a quiet good bye to any nap-time lull I thought I would get this summer.

Not true, not true. The beauty of having a giant backyard in the summer is that all of the neighbor kids want to play over here. Maya is thoroughly entertained by the antics of three 8-year-old boys and their pre-teen sister who loves to make Elliot giggle. As soon as this rain lets up, I'll have just enough time to pull weeds and train the pole beans up the crazy-looking tee pees Joe built while the big kids distract my girls.

**Coop update! Joe (with a little of my help) built the floor of the coop this weekend. Slooowly, this project is going forward. We're headed to South Dakota for the first couple of weeks in July, so we don't plan to adopt our chickens until we return. We'll keep you posted!

Memory Zen

I woke up cranky this morning! I was disgusted that after spending a good portion of the wee hours trying to teach herself to walk, Elliot woke up radiant and ready to play at 6 AM. Joe was at the center of my crankiness (although he accepted his half of the midnight duties with equal... um... zest and pride for our little over achiever), because it was his turn for the early shift and he was in some sort of coma.

I was mad at the nanny for not clocking in early...

I was really just tired... but, ooh, I was mad.

While Elliot cruised around her high chair, stopping periodically by the foot rest to grab the cheerios I stashed there, I slammed around the kitchen making coffee and contemplating the likelihood that I'll sleep more than 6 hours at a crack within this decade.

Just like Little Critter, I was so mad.

Without anyone to be mad at, I was subconsciously preparing to be crabby all day. I snapped at Maya when she wanted to select a different television show for her morning entertainment. I snapped at Joe when he assured me he'd get up early with her tomorrow. I think I even had a sarcastic comment for Elliot when she got tired of chasing the cheerios around her high chair and squawked to be free!

As I stormed about, I realized that Elliot, the little angel, only wakes up this early a couple times a week. Maya's routine was a 5:30 wake up call. All of those mornings, or most of them, I woke up with Maya regardless or how many times she had been up the night before. Yet as crabby as I was this morning, I only vaguely remember being upset now and then that I would never sleep again.

My memory of the sleep deprivation during Maya's babyhood, and of my own crabbiness about it, has almost completely faded. I very clearly remember watching the Morning Show, sipping coffee, and chasing Maya as she crawled gleefully to the stairs or the fireplace or the outlets as needed. I don't remember, but must have had, days of crabbiness at Joe, at the world in general... at Maya? over the unfairness of it all.

This morning, I decided that since most of us don't remember much about the mediocre crabby days, I wasn't going to have one. If I'm going to forget it anyway, I might as well get over it now.

(This doesn't ring true for all of the other little things about my daily life that I'll forget, like the joyful but horrifying tenor of Elliot's baby voice as she babbles at 3:30 in the morning - but it does hold real possibilities for so many other stupid things I stress over daily but won't remember by next week. I need to relax!)

My theory worked, or maybe it was the pot of coffee. Anyway, today will not be forgotten as a middling crabby day. It will be remembered (by two of us anyway) as the day Unk rode on the Teacup Ride and visited the zoo.


It will be remembered as a great day!

Three Years Ago...

Just three year ago today, I wasn't a mother.


I spent the entire day in a quiet house, with my feet up, reading a good book. At one point I took a very slow, very quiet walk around the local park. I did not stop at the swings. I did not inquire about anyone else's need to use the restrooms.

I took a nap, all by myself. I probably watched crappy daytime television - a program of my own choosing - before drifting off. I woke up gradually, on my own time. Without anyone needing my immediate attention.

Joe returned, after a long day sitting for an exam, bearing a bucket of KFC. We devoured our junk food not at the family table amid stern statements such as "don't bang on that" but in front of the television watching The Aviator.

Three hours after the movie was done, Maya Elizabeth was born.

Most women love to tell their birth stories, or at least the stats (24 hours! Sorry mom), but rarely do we share those last moments before the chaos. I'm happy to look back on my last childless day and know that I spent it fully and completely relaxed, doing exactly what I wished as the mood struck.

It may not sound like much fun to you, (in fact, I know many who would complain about having nothing to do on such a day) but as I listen to Elliot's dramatic demands for a power cord to chew on and Maya's polite request to please eat my "chop stick" (meaning lip gloss), a quiet, unassuming day of freedom sounds like nirvana.