Althea, Bryan, Andrew, and Sylvia
Into my will
Let there pour strength,
Into my feeling
Let there flow warmth,
Into my thinking
Let there shine light,
That I may nurture this child
With enlightened purpose,
Caring with heart’s love
And bringing wisdom
Into all things.
~Joan Salter, The Incarnating Child
I just ran across this on a new blog that caught my eye. Lovely sentiment.
March 10: Daylight Savings Time sure does weird things to my kid’s sleep! Sylvia is just peeping now, and it is 8:20am! She normally wakes up before 7am. She got a new molar over the last week, and it was pretty uncomfortable for her. There were several nights when she was up seven or more times between 10:30 and 6am. Urgh. She also had a low fever and some nose runniness for five or six days.
Seems like her tooth and/or her malady have gotten better. She’s been a delight to be around the past couple days. She is doing so many baby signs. I’m going to try to take a video of her to share.
Andrew is currently watching videos of baby animals nursing on YouTube while I type. He’s tucked between my arms. On Sunday, he and I had a date with “just Andrew and Mommy. No Daddy or Sylvia.” He wasn’t too interested in such an arrangement (he very much prefers time with Daddy!), but we had a great time. We went to a bike shop and tried out bikes. Then we got him a bigger bike helmet. Finally, we went to Andrew’s first movie in a theater. We saw The Tale of Desperaux, and Andrew loved it. He sat on my lap, with his soft cheek pressed against mine. I imagine that he’ll go to lots of movies in his life, and I’m glad I could be his date for his very first one.
March 7: Right around this time of year I get a ache in my heart for green. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that St. Patrick’s Day is my favorite (aside from Christmas) holiday. You pour on the green and rainbows and silliness just when I need it most.
It’s been above freezing and/or raining for the last couple days, and the thick piles of snow are shrinking. As I walked Andrew to preschool yesterday, the water pouring down the street into the storm drains sounded like a mountain stream burbling, gurgling and splashing. The kids and I pulled our stroller up from the basement yesterday, and we inaugurated the season of going for walks by heading straight to Java Cat for a cake batter gelato.
It’s still going to be a few weeks until there’s much hope of bulbs emerging from the frozen ground (see pics from Jessica’s garden on March 31 last year), and I need flowers now.
So last week the kids and I went to Jung’s Garden Center to see out hope. We came back home with a pot of hyacinths, just coming out of the dirt. It’s been wonderful to watch them come alive and bloom on my kitchen table.
And the smell…oh the sent of spring! It’s enough to make me wiggle like my dearly departed dog, April would when she saw someone she loved. Head to toe glee. Bryan got me some perfume for Valentine’s Day this year. It’s call Shedonism by Origins, and to me, it smells like spring. I’ve been putting it on before bed every night to give me good dreams.
Since computer smell-o-vision hasn’t been developed yet, you’ll have to use your imagination, but I hope these photos helps bring thoughts of spring a bit closer to you too. Here’s a high resolution version of the above photo for you to use on your desktop or anywhere it might make you happy.
March 5: Here are a few things that make me happy:
Sylvie took a long, long nap this morning (2 hours, baby!!). That also makes me really happy. She’s making stirring noises right now. Here I come, my love!
So now tell me, what are some of your favorite things?
March 4: Sylvie came down with a fever. She was cranky yesterday…I thought teething. But last night she was up a lot, and this morning she was warm. So I took her temperature, and it was a bit over 100 degrees. I’m bracing for another stuffy nose cold. We’ve been disease-free for nearly a month. One glorious month of not wiping noses or rocking sick kids through the night. Now, I’m ready to dive back in. I’m ready. I’m ready.
While Miss Sylvia takes a much-needed nap (good gracious was she in an angry mood), Andrew has been writing in a workbook. He’s so excited to trace words and do mazes and read a little.
On one page of the writing workbook, there was a picture of a skunk. Andrew didn’t know how to spell skunk, so he went into this room, and he found his animal bingo game. He brought it out to the living room, and pulled out the chips until he found the skunk. Then he carefully copied down the word “skunk” into his workbook with a pink marker. That kid never ceases to amaze.
Last night I did a seasonal decoration change. All the snowmen and polar bears and snowflakes have returned to the basement. In their place, I have my almost-spring decorations…St. Patrick’s Day, picture frames, and colorful boxes.
I’ve got really old pictures in some of the frames, and I think I’m going to try to pick some more recent pics to replace them.
Hark! I hear a cardinal singing his spring song! That’s a sound that brings a smile to my face.
Have a great day!
March 4: I just uploaded a couple weeks worth of pictures. For your viewing pleasure, these photos include:
March 3: We’re back home after a nice, long weekend at Jack’s. Our group was diminished this year. Maretta and Kyle were supposed to join us, but Kyle broke his leg a couple weeks ago. Poor guy slipped on the ice and broke his leg. He had surgery last Wednesday. So we missed Merry and Kyle, but we all had a nice time.
Pictures are in the gallery.
Terry, Tom, Michael, Lisa, and I drove out on Thursday night. On Friday, we drove to McGregor, Iowa to have lunch and do a little shopping at some sweet shops they have there. Paper Moon is a great store…be sure to stop by it if you’re ever in the area.
Bryan drove out on Saturday morning, just in time for breakfast. We headed up to the woods on Jack’s land and burned one of the many brush piles that Jack has created while doing land restoration work. Andrew had fun sliding down a hill on his bottom…over and over and over! Later in the day, Andrew and Bryan had a great time playing outdoors. When Andrew came in, his cheeks were so red, it looked like he had applied rouge 🙂
We enjoyed celebrating Sylvia’s first birthday (Feb. 11) yet again with a delicious cake. She likes people singing to her!
Over the course of the weekend, we played several games of Trivial Pursuit. When we played with a more recent set of cards, some of the “youngsters” shone…particularly Bryan and Michael. Thanks to Bryan’s great contributions, the Jack/Bryan/Tom team won on Saturday evening.
Overall, it was a great weekend. The kids had a nice time, I had a nice time. I’m already looking forward to going back this summer!
March 2: It’s cold outside! Playing outdoors is less than fun when it’s below freezing, so we decided to have a little silly fun today. I got a pudding cup and some brushes, got the kids undressed, and they painted the tub. It was Sylvia’s first time “painting.” She now thinks that paint is delicious! Cute and silly photos are in the gallery. We ended our painting session with a bath to wash off all the pudding and then another bubble bath with me blowing bubbles at the kids just for fun!
I wonder if the sap is stirring yet,
If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate,
If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun
And crocus fires are kindling one by one:
Sing robin, sing:
I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring.
~ Christina Rossetti
Feb. 24: Sylvia had her 12 month check-up yesterday. She’s growing well, this young girl. On the way to the doctor’s Andrew and I brainstormed what kinds of things the doctor would do to Sylvia. We also contemplated what would happen if I was part-way through reading Andrew a story when the nurse had questions to ask me. Turns out that this was a good thing to have discussed ahead of time as I think it helped avert a very fussy boy.
As usual (thank goodness) this was a very boring visit. I don’t think I’ve had a question for the doctor since Sylvia was born. That’s not to say that I don’t obsessively look parenting topics up online, but since the day she was born (wait, since the day of my first prenatal appointment) I’ve felt a little like a lousy parent because I haven’t had any questions to ask. It’s not that I feel like I know everything (far from it!!). Other than having her ear infections, there hasn’t been anything amiss with my little miss, and her pediatrician had about zero helpful input on her lack-of-napping situation.
So he asks questions and I give blithe answers and we both nod and smile. And I find myself kind of wishing that doctors made house calls so I hadn’t had to bundle the kids up and expose them to doctor’s-office-germs. However, I am glad that we have modern medicine:)
Anyway, the take-home vitals from our visit were that she now weighs 19 lbs, 11.5 oz, and she is 29.5″ tall. That puts her in the 24th and 59th percentiles respectively. She’s long and lean, this girl!