Friday, September 05, 2008
"Look at me!"
What is it about being naked that 3 year-olds find so invigorating. It can't be the "forbidden-ness" of it because Emma really doesn't know about the social mores concerning her naked butt. First, she wanted to change into her bathing suit on the front porch. Daddy tells her "No." "Why not?" "Well, it's bad manners to get naked on the front porch." Then she comes in and strips down. As soon as she's buck naked she's bouncing into the next room, "Look at me!" It makes her happy as a lark to be naked. Seriously, where does that come from?
Written at 7:41 PM by Highlandgal.
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Blub, blub, blub
Yesterday on the way home from Mary's Emma wanted to play a game. I was supposed to Dorothy, Elmo's goldfish. She'd be a little girl and she wanted to show me how to drink water. She'd say, "Dorothy, this is how I drink water," and then she'd take a swig from her water bottle (You'd have to see a segment of Elmo's World to get this). I was instructed to say "Blub, blub, blub." That was my only line.

"Dorothy, this is how I drink my water." She drinks.

Me, looking in the rearview, "Blub, blub, blub."

"Dorothy, do you need anything?"

"Blub, blub."

"would you like some food?"

Shaking my head "yes" "Blub, blub, blub, blub, blub."

She mimics putting food in my bowl. Then we do a few more sequences of her showing me how she drinks and her feeding me. As we're getting closer to home I'm trying to think of how to wrap this up.

"Dorothy, is there anything you need?"

I mimic laying my head down on my hands. "Blub, blub, blub."

"Do you want to take a nap?"

I nod yes, "Blub, blub."

"Do you want to lay down in bed?"

I nod no, "Blub, blub, blub, blub."

"Do you want to lay down on the couch?"

I nod no, "Blub, blub, blub."

"Do you want to lay down on the sleeping bag?"

I nod no, "Blub, blub, blub, blub."

"Do you want to lay down on the floor?"

I nod no, "Blub, blub, blub."

"Dorothy! Where do you want to lay down?"

We're pulling into the driveway so I finally break character, "My fish bowl?"

She skips three beats...

"Oh...well that makes sense."
Written at 12:13 PM by Highlandgal.
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Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Welcome new blogger
I just added Little Bits and Pieces of Life to my blogroll. Sue is an online friend who I've actually met. She's a very resourceful mother of two boys and is an old fart like me. Us old mommies have to stick together ;) Check her out.
Written at 6:24 PM by Highlandgal.
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Must see TV
Oh, hell yeah, I'll be watching Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention tonight. I have been aghast at the evisceration this woman has endured in the press. The blog world and the mainstream media share a big fat black eye over the travesty that they were passing off as reporting this weekend. So many printed lies and have been retracted already that I can't even count them. Unfortunately, people don't remember the corrections; the original lie sticks and it becomes the accepted meme.

I'm not going to debate her merits as a candidate in this post. I read her bio on Wikipedia on Friday and since then have spent countless hours reading the words of her critics and cheerleaders. My first impression was, "Wow." But then I quickly realized that all her bona fides weren't going to matter nearly as much as how she conducts herself between now and election day. So tonight will be the first real test.

One thing that has been reinforced to me this weekend is if you want to know the truth of the thing, watch it with your own eyes.

P. S. I can't wait to see Guiliani too. He's one ball-buster of a speaker. I'd lay odds on him having a few choice words...
Written at 5:57 PM by Highlandgal.
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Tuesday, September 02, 2008
First day of preschool!
A few days ago Emma gave us our first hint of worry when she declared she didn't want
to go to school. That was the first we'd heard of that. She had been gung-ho for school for as long as we'd been talking about it. Her declaration of opposition put us on the defensive. We kept trying to remind her gently that school was coming. We'd tell her she'd get to play, sing songs, color, read books, have all sorts of fun.

This morning it was time to go. She didn't put up a fuss, not one peep of protest. She was a bit subdued, but otherwise fine. When we arrived at the church where the preschool meets Emma held my hand going inside. We met Ms. Sylvia at the door. One other girl was already there and one boy was coming in behind us. I could see Emma kind of crawl into her shell. New kids always freak her out. She's usually not at all outgoing and very shy of kids she doesn't know.

I gave her a kiss and hug and told her goodbye. She didn't cling or cry or anything. I was the one overwhelmed with nervousness at it all. I tried my best to hide it from her.

It seemed like a long three hour wait.

M was the one who picked her up. I told him he had to report every detail; leave nothing out. When he arrived they were playing on the playground. When she walked up to him, before he even got a word out, Emma said, "Daddy, I really like school." Ms. Sylvia told M that Emma "handled it like a pro."

On the way to Mary's M asked Emma if she learned any names of her new friends. She told him she didn't know any. Later on he asked her again, just to be sure. She fussed at him, "I told you I don't know any names. Don't ask me that anymore!" Apparently she also whined a bit about not wanting to go to Mary's, but by the time she arrived she was fine. This new schedule will take a little getting used to.

Later I saw Ms. Sylvia and she said the only other thing that she thought was funny/cute was when they went to the bathroom Emma acted like she couldn't wash her own hands. We do usually help her with that. She played the "helpless" card on each teacher once.

She came home with a butterfly colored in and a schedule for the month. The theme this month is Butterflies, Bees and Bugs. Yay! Oh, and I need to sign up to contribute snack for one day this month. Joy!

I tried to take a quick first-day-of-school picture.


She wanted me to take another one, but she couldn't take her eyes off of Sesame Street long enough to look at the camera.

Written at 5:35 PM by Highlandgal.
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Jr. NRA member candidate
Popi brought over his newest toy to play with on Sunday. He and M spent a while target shooting. For the first time ever Emma observed. They found her a safe observation deck behind them. She's not usually a fan of loud noises so those ear protectors must have been doing a good job.


Safety first, ya'll.


Here she's playing with spent shells.



A Sarah Palin in the making ;)
Written at 5:24 PM by Highlandgal.
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Sunday, August 31, 2008
Is this a good investment?
This is the question I was asking myself as I was standing in line waiting to spend $13.00 on a ride-all-night bracelet for Emma.

Written at 2:33 PM by Highlandgal.
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Friday Night Fair - Come Hell or High Water
We missed the first two nights of the fair because of rain and, by golly, we weren't going to miss any more. We brought along jackets and umbrellas just to be prepared. We started with a fair food supper. Emma had a hot dog, I had a steak sandwich and M had an italian sausage. Then we made Emma go with us to see the exhibits indoors. She was agitating to hit the rides, but we knew if we didn't get the exhibits out of the way there'd be no dragging her back there later.

Here she is checking out the children's art...


Checking out the weird and disturbing world of taxidermy.


Come on...the rides! The rides!


At last! This was the first and last time she rode the dragon. They closed it for repairs after this ride and it never reopened.


Shortly afterward we ran into Mary's granddaughter and her parents. She and Emma spent most of the rest of the evening riding together. They'd run from one ride to the other hand-in-hand. We'd follow behind at a respectful distance, letting them run the show. Incidentally, it was my three year-old dragging the seven year-old around.


I don't think we could even count how often they rode the hearts.


Eventually it did start to rain. Since there was no lightning they kept the rides going. Emma's riding companion had to leave because they weren't equipped to ride in the rain. Daddy stepped in for a little while.


The we had the good fortune to run into my SIL and Emma's cousin. The cousin had been expecting to meet a friend at the fair and he didn't show. M took advantage of her freed up schedule and bought her bracelet so she could ride with Emma. We got another hour out of that. M thought it was money well spent.



We headed home around 10:00 p.m., hoping to preserve some energy for the next day.
Written at 2:08 PM by Highlandgal.
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Sunset
This is aimed over the fair parking area in the next field.

Written at 2:07 PM by Highlandgal.
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Saturday night at the fair - last chance!
Noni and Popi came! Yay! We had a thunder shower in the afternoon so the table were wet. Everyone stood around and ate their supper. Shortly after supper Noni bought Emma a bracelet to ride all night and Emma was off. It wasn't too long before she hooked up with Mary's granddaughter again and they spent most of the night riding together. At one point I peeled off with Noni and Popi and we went to look at the exhibits. We had a rain shower about midway through the evening and took the opportunity to grab some fair food and picnic on the bleachers in the show barn. Fair food consumed by our crew: Italian sausage, hot dog, BBQ sandwich, two tubs of french fries, two steak sandwiches, one apple dumpling and two funnel cakes, one with powdered sugar and one with maple drizzle. Mmmmm.

We stuck it out until 10:30 p.m. for the fireworks. Emma is like the energizer bunny when it comes to rides. She's get off of one ride and nearly sprint to the next one, dragging poor L. behind her. I'm telling you, Emma is a force to be reckoned with. She's a...uh...natural leader.

After the fireworks Emma rode the carousel once more and then we headed home. All the adults were dead on their feet. I think everyone slept like the dead last night.


Emma and Popi "standing" in line for the swings.


Ooooh...Aaaaah...fireworks!

Written at 1:48 PM by Highlandgal.
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Guess the fungi!
Translation: What the hell is this? Because I have no clue.

But it does kind of look like a Little Debbie Sno Puff. Wouldn't it be cool if those were found in nature? I would so totally be into nature hikes then.


Written at 1:28 PM by Highlandgal.
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