Maggie's Song

After a wonderful playful day of walking around San Diego Zoo which I will post about at a later date, we all stopped for dinner before our one hundred mile drive back home. While we were waiting for our dinner to come to the table, Maggie made up this song.

Slippery Fish, Slippery Fish, Slippery Fish, Swimming in the water,
Slippery Fish , Slippery Fish, Slippery Fish, Swimming in the water.
Gulp, gulp -- gulp, gulp.
Oh No!
A Shark ate the Fish.

Slippery Shark, Slippery Shark, Slippery Shark, swimming in the water,
Slippery Shark, Slippery Shark, Slippery Shark, swimming in the water.
Gulp, gulp -- gulp, gulp.
Oh No!
Octopus ate the Shark.

Slippery Octopus, Slippery Octopus, Slippery Octopus, swimming in the water,
Slippery Octopus, Slippery Octopus, Slippery Octopus, swimming in the water.
Gulp, gulp -- gulp, gulp.
Oh no!
Dolphin ate the Octopus.

I cannot begin to tell you all how cute this was. You could see her mind ticking away thinking of what to "sing" next. I'm going to be checking with her pre-school to see if this resembles anything she learned there, but as far as Eric and I could tell this was a "Maggie Original". She even had little hand movements to go along with it.

Flights Booked for England

Call me crazy, but I have recently booked flights for England. I will be flying out in the height of the summer travel season with an almost one year old and a four year old, on my own. Thankfully I will have Eric with me for the trip back, the most gruelling of the two trans-Atlantic flights.

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I have been feeling the need to spend some time in England with family and friends to reconnect at a level which goes beyond, "hey how are you?" and "What's the weather like?" I will be in England from the 31st July to the 18th August, a little over two weeks. While I'm there a great Aunt will be turning 85 and a surprise birthday party is being held in her honor. It will be a family reunions of sorts. I am quite excited about this opportunity as I will get to meet some family members that I haven't seen since I was a small child. There will be children running around for Maggie and Ryan to interact with which I imagine will be a bit of a cultural immersion experience for them. I get really excited when I think about this.

Then I start to think about the reality of being away from my home comforts. Two weeks in a different time zone, with two young children and away from my home comforts may quickly begin to feel like an eternity. I am very glad and excited to be giving my parents and children some unparalleled time together, time which I hope will become encased childhood memories of laughter and smiles. I'm wondering though. How realistic am I being? Do I have flighty dreams of fancy or can a good time be had by all? The stakes feel pretty high to me. High expectation often lead to disappointments. Is is worth the gamble? Absolutely. If only one day out of the 18 something days I'm in England, it will be worth it.

The Forty-Two Dollar Tank Top

It's been a crazy week and today was no exception. While Eric worked on putting an office in our garage I took the kids off to "Fashion Island" in Newport Beach. Though I don't exactly have the purse strings (or much in the way of fashion sense) to shop at Fashion Island it is a wonderful place to take the kids. Maggie particularly enjoys the Koy fish at the Koy pond and the variety of water displays not to mention the carousel.

To spare you the details of what it takes to get a seven month old and a three and half year old on any kind of outing, I'll give you one little highlight. The Forty-Two Dollar Tank Top.

The Forty-To Dollar Tank Top was a bright sunshine yellow and oh so soft. It had delicate black edging and a wonderful picture of a tall and slinky Siamese looking cat sitting with his nose in the air. Bordered around the picture were the printed words, "I'm trouble" or something to that effect. Maggie picked it off the racks and instantly fell in love with it. The fact that Maggie showed an interest in it was quite surprising as she's not your girly girl and is usually easily amused with her own repertoire of imaginary animals.

I casually checked out the price tag. Yes, someone out there came out with the brilliant and profitable idea of charging forty-two dollars for a yellow tank top that would only fit a very slender three footer whose favorite pastime is imitating animals, blowing bubbles and eating pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I admired the tee-shirt with Maggie and lightly discussed the wonderful color yellow and the adorable picture of the cat. Maggie requests a "try on " and I decline. There's an outburst of protest from Maggie.

Maggie must have really loved the tank top. She let me and the whole store know it too.

Maggie: No. I don't want to give it back to you.
Me: Why Maggie?
Maggie: Because I want to try it on. I don't want you to put it back.
Me: Maggie that's a lovely tank top but we're not buying it. It's forty- two dollars. We can buy five tank tops for this yellow one.
Maggie:(pause and thoughtful expression) But I want to try it on.
Me: Maggie, I can see you like that tank top very much but it's time to put it back.
Maggie: No I don't want to (who then sits on it, falling into the even more expensive rack of dresses behind her).

Thankfully, I manage to keep my resolve. Ryan obligingly sat in his peanut shell sling, checking out the bright lights of the store, while I persuaded Maggie to hand over the tank top by suggesting we take a look at the bunny-rabits in the next store -- but not before she apologized for behavior to the store's owner. When I saw Maggie approach the lady and give a sincere apology for screaming in her store I felt a valuable lesson had been learned by both of us. I reaped the reward of remaining calm and not being affected by the other customers (aka other parents)and Maggie learned how a forty-two-dollar tank top is just not worth the drama.

cbest

i've just committed to taking the cbest exam in april. it's scary and exciting at the same time. i don't know for sure that i want to teach but decided a step in that direction doesn't hurt anyone and it might even be very beneficial. i've got to gem up on my high-school math and refine my exam taking skills. right now, i'm ready for bed -- i'll take on the algebra another night.

i've been cooking

yes folks, i've been cooking. breakfast and dinner for seven days in a row -- quite a milestone by my usual standard.

breakfast has been varried, fresh fruit smoothies, eggs in all sorts of fashion (egg in a hole, scrambled, boiled) and oatmeal. i've also tried a couple of firsts with dinner. i've deveined shrimp, poached sole, cooked veggie lassagna from scratch, made beef tacos, taco salad, baked trout (not my best dish), cat in the hat mac n' cheese, a garden veggie dip and home made baby food.

i've had a lot of fun trying new recipies and building on my cooking skills. eric's a big fan of my pancakes and beef tacos. maggie LOVED the poached sole (as did i) and ryan has been a keen observer in all the prep and taken well to eating solid foods, though i am yet to offer him some of the good homemade stuff. that'll be next week.

though the cooking has been fun, the cleaning has been less so. i'm starting to evaluate recipies based on the number of dishes is takes to use -- the sole dish used two saucepans, one deep skillet, one casserole dish plus the dinner plates. not to mention the utensils and stove top that also need to be cleaned up afterwards;-)

from shopping for the fresh ingredients at the market, managing maggie and ryan, answering the phone and all that jazz it has felt downright overwhelming at times, but -- it has been very rewarding for the family time it has given. i had no idea what we were all missing. i just hope i can keep up with the momentum.

where does the time go?

goodness knows what happened to the month of feb, but here we are -- half way through march already. when the times passes so quickly in the mayhem of my busy life i am often reminded of a time when i was about eight or nine years old. a teacher in training came to visit our classroom and asked the class what was our favorite thing to do during the summer. one student said they liked to stay up late, passed their bedtime, another student said the summer months were too long. the teacher smiled and may have even given out a little laugh announcing that when we were older, "big people", there would be a time when we'd be glad for an early night and that the summer months of school vacation would not feel so long.

i remember thinking about this comment very seriously. i considered how my parents would literally fall asleep with the dinner tray on their lap, right in front of the television, and how tired they often appeared to be (which is no wonder when my father often worked a 70 hr week and my mother 35 hr week). now, a mother of two little ones i can totally appreciate what the teacher was saying. hopefully, i am far from falling asleep in front of the tv with a dinner tray on my lap but i have been known to nod off half way through a movie. i hasten to add this has happened as i've been snuggled up on the couch next to by warm bodied husband.

yesterday i watched my daughter, who is will be turning four in three months, fall asleep on the futon in her brother's room as he fell asleep in my arms. i doubt there will be such a moment again so it is nice to document a part of of here to help seal the memory of it. i studied maggie's face as her eyes slowly opened and closed before she drifted off to nah-nah land. i could see the baby face in her that i fell in love with when she was a newborn and i could see the young girl she was turning into, a juxtaposition of sorts. there was something timeless and magical about it. beautiful skin, gentle yet definite features. i looked at my son too. he was drifting off, partially latched on, curled up around my body and so, so big. big and long. it was harder to identify the features of his face, the features that will help identify him in baby photos when he's become a man. his skin and body are still so soft and gentle. i felt mixed emotions looking at him. a little sadness as i knew his newness was rapidly fading with time and a great amount of adoration for who he is (a very gentle soul) and a pinch of anticipation for who will turn into.

i sat for a long time holding ryan and watching maggie. there was a ton of things waiting for me to do outside the bedroom door but i wanted to live in the moment and soak it all up. i guess i decided that all those "things" waiting for me could keep on waiting. i was enjoying my time; sitting back and admiring.

the innocence of early childhood

i'm always regaling any willing listener of stories about maggie and ryan. i thought i'd post this one on here as it is one which has always received a laugh and shows (to me at least) how sweet and innocent maggie is.

a couple of weeks ago i was trying to get a few extra morning minutes in bed. i knew the minute my feet touched the floor i would not get a chance to rest untill the kids had gone to bed. i started to run through the mental check list of "things-to-do". catch up on laundry, pump milk for ryan's rice cereal, make breakfast (egg-in-a-hole sounded good), drop maggie off at pre-school, run to the market for basics, pick up food for cats, call health insurance, pay bills, contact school prof, sign up for cbest, sort through mount everest pile of mail covering my dinning table, research this, research that.....

maggie had been up running around in her chirpy self for ten minutes or so and i was grateful that eric was being good entertainment for her. then i heard her announce that she need to "go potty". i heard the usual banging around of step stools and potty seats before she called for me. "mommy!". not the; "look mommy, i'm so proud of me" mommy call, but the "mommy i'm really hurting" call. selfishly, i did not move a muscle and considered that eric could handle what ever the problem was. it didn't sound that bad. maggie called again and again, each time her intonation more intense. out of bed i jumped, quickly forgetting the long list of things i hoped to get through that day and how tired i already felt.

i found maggie sitting on the potty struggling to push out "poop". eric had done a good job of trying to relax her but only mommy would do. a stranger looking at her would be able to tell how uncomfortable she was feeling. i sat with maggie on the cold tiled floor for twenty minutes, possible more. she held on to me wih a death grip trying to push out her poop and i did my best to sound calm and reassuring. "mommy it hurts", "mommy don't leave me", "mommy, i can't", "no, i don't want you to look". "i can't do it mommy". "mommy it hurts".

and then the poop came out. i paused, my eyes on maggie ready to take her lead. would she be afraid, did she tear, was there blood, did she eat something indegestible, is she still hurting, did it all come out? i really needn't have been so concerned. maggie stood up proudly, turned around on her little step stool --nickers and pants around her ankles and peered into the toliet bowel. "look mommy. look! it's brown! oh it's so big! oh mommy it's so beautiful! mommy look!"