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12.21.2008 The voo-doo doll. An outgrowth of unrequited love? This anecdote makes the case. Meet the players: Ferris: the overly rambunctious boy who, lacking a tad in sensitivity, thinks calling a girl "poopyface" on the playground is an acceptible way of showing his affection. It all began with reports of Ferris. Ferris stepped on her shoe in the hallway. Ferris knocked her dress-up hat off. Ferris took the toy she was playing with, and then instead of playing with it, kept showing her he had it over and over. Ferris sat next to her even though she wanted Kaitlynn to sit next to her. Ferris could apparently do no right. And at first, I was the confused parent who chalked Ferris up to the class' "problem child". Every class has one, after all. Yes, and so deep was my head buried in the sand, that I had the cherub's role all figured out too: she was just aghast that another child would intentionally be so disobedient. [ahem]. Until the cards. Yes, the cards woke me up. Each day her cubby was full of cards, each day I asked who they were for, and each day she made a very peculiar face before saying "They're for you, Mommy. Yes, they're for you." And then on about day ten of the cards, she said, "They're for you, Mommy. Weeeeeeeelll, actually, they're for Ferris. But I'm NOT giving them to him." And there the truth jumped up and slapped me. My daughter has a crush on Ferris. And when a truth reveals itself like that, it often has a domino effect; and so I was able to look at the previous weeks' activities with clarity and see that it was very likely that this crush was not one-sided. However, that clarity has not yet struck my little Angel. She has no schema for braid-pulling, and so doesn't begin to understand that Ferris' antics are likely not the mean instigation she interprets them to be. Enter Lucas onto the scene. Lucas is a sweet-tempered boy, more comfortable with the gentle play of the girls than the rowdy play of the boys, so it's no surprise that he is the one boy in the class whom Meridian has befriended. She was excited when she pulled his name from the hat for the class' secret santa gift exchange. She shopped with care for his present, making sure to get something she knows he likes. And as we prepared the gift, I suggested we make him a card. Mommy: What should we write in Lucas' card? "I'm glad you're my friend because ..." What do the two of you like to do together? Alright, ...so Meridian takes out her agression in play dough and art. Fair enough. But why Lucas' complicity? That became clear at the class Christmas party, when Lucas' dad said, "So, this is Meridian. Lucas can't stop talking about Meridian." To which, a flush-faced Lucas responded, "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddd!" The voo-doo doll, constructed of play dough. Accolades must be paid to Will Shakespeare for his insight. "Hell hath no fury..." And though not as shrewd an insight, "Poopyface" as a term of endearment must prove that, in fact, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. 12.20.2008 Meridian rediscovered the Strega Nona books at the library recently, and is all besotted with magic now. This morning I had a cold sore on my tongue and kept complaining that my tongue hurt. Meridian said she would make me a potion, and wandered downstairs to do just that. When I joined her downstairs half an hour later I discovered she had a different idea of "potion" than I did. My idea: empty cup with imaginary magical things (eye of newt, wing of bat) sprinkled into it, which I then pretend to drink. Her idea: get out the biggest bowl we own, fill it with 2 pounds of flour and various herbs and spices, then fill with water. Mommy must really drink this to be cured. When I only pretended to drink it, she protested, saying that "Book" said it won't work if I don't really drink it. All of it. After inquiring I learned that "Book" told her the recipe. And when I said that I wasn't going to drink it ALL, she proceeded to have a conversation with Book arguing over whether I did in fact have to drink it all to feel the effects of the magic. Book was firm. All of it. I sent her on an errand and dumped it down the sink while she was gone. Luckily, Book's magic doesn't extend to xray vision. Since then Book has become something of an imaginary friend. I'll overhear one-sided conversations that are pretty darned cute in their accurate one-sidedness: Meridian: Oh, nonono, Book. 12.09.2008 Several months ago, Meridian ate her first tootsie pop. I think she may well be the only person in the history of the world to lick her way to the center. When she got there, she asked "What's this pit in my lolli?" And off the cuff I told her it was the "lolli seed" and that it's made of chocolate. Then I said she could either eat it or we could plant it and grow a new lolli. She decided we should plant it, and so we did just that. A little blue pot with some soil, and the tootsie roll buried in the dirt. She dutifully watered it for weeks, and David and I sucked down more lollipops than I ever care to eat again, careful to leave them just one size bigger than the last. Each time, she'd notice her lolli had grown, and indeed changed colors! We told her that she could choose to eat it anywhere along the line, or that she could continue to let it grow. Well, her patience paid off when she discovered the 5 inch swirly lolli in her plant cup one morning. She jumped around the house, overjoyed, running upstairs to tell David, dragging him down to show him. Not surprisingly, she decided it was time to harvest the lolli.   11.30.2008 We hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed ours. It was just the three of us, and we ran into a hiccup early Thursday morning when I found that the turkey, which had been defrosting in our refrigerator for a full week was defiantly still partly frozen. After a few moments of panic and crestfallenness, I thought on my toes, and told Meridian that Thanksgiving is a two day holiday - the first day for baking and decorating the house (which I had in fact intended to do the day before Tday, but didn't actually accomplish), and the second day for cooking and eating the feast. There were a few minutes of resistance before she capitulated, and from there we had a blast. We baked cookies and breads, and made place cards and napkin holders. We constructed a Thankfulness Tree from a paper bag, and cut leaves from old wallpaper samples. The tree was taped to the wall, and the leaves went on a platter with a marker and tape. The idea was that throughout the day when we felt grateful for something, we'd write it onto the back of one of the leaves, and then hang it on the tree (note concealed). On Friday, we cooked the Thanksgiving feast and played board games. THen we ate an early dinner, and followed it with dessert and more board games. At the end of the day, we took down all the leaves and read them aloud, taking time to reflect on all the things our family is thankful for. I think we'll make this a yearly tradition. I'm going to save a few of the less traditional ones to add to the tree in coming years. I figure people will always write family, food, and home, so those will be added fresh each year, but it will be fun to be reminded of the momentary gratefulness from years past, from David's silly entries like "bacon" to Meridian's questionable ones like "soap". Before too many years, we'll have quite the leavy tree.  11.21.2008 Meridian has been enjoying The Cobble Street Cousins series. It's a series of early chapter books about three cousins who spend the summer living with their aunt while their parents tour with the ballet. They enjoy each other very much and spend the summer doing all sorts of pleasant things like hosting parties and setting up lemonade stands, etc. Meridian pretty much wants to BE a Cobble Street Cousin. Each thing they do, she wants to do. And that is how Meridian came to host her first party. A Cobble Street Thanksgiving Party. She set up little tables with doll blankets doubling as table cloths, place cards for each person, butter pats shaped like flowers, etc. She planned the menu: gingersnaps, turkey-shaped cupcakes, chocolate and peanut butter leaf treats, peach tarts, and cider. She helped with all the baking. She set the guest list. She planned the entertainment: singing Thanksgiving songs, and acting out shows for the grown ups. She planned the dresscode: party dresses, and even provided some from my closet for grown-ups who didn't come attired as planned. It was all her. I was nervous about how well her four year old guests would adhere to her plan. It was a little formal for them, and that showed itself. Although in the end, I think Meridian and her guests had a good time, the party bordered on unenjoyable for me since each time something didn't go according to Meridian's plan, she would loudly reprimand the offending party-guest. And I spent the party mostly asking her to stop harassing her guests. The party is best summed up in this exchange we had: Meridian: Mommy, what's that word again? I didn't get the chance to take any photos during the party, but these two cupcakes were left over so I snapped a pic of them. Meridian and I molded the heads out of caramel, the eyes are candy, and the gobbler is licorice. Only the feathers were inedible.  11.06.2008 My little girl is just so brave. She had her four year old wellness visit with the pediatrician today. When we got there, they told us she was due for six vaccinations! Yih! Six? So, I went through and quickly culled it down to three, eliminating the Hep A shot, the flu shot, and the chicken pox vaccine. That left the final boosters for DTAP, MMR, and Polio. Three needles. So, I didn't mention this to Meridian, vaguely answering her questions about what I was reading with, "Oh, just about the medicine the doctor's going to give you." That worked for some time. It got me through the time in the waiting room, through the weight and height, blood pressure, and eye and ear exams. But then you have that period after the doctor's left when you're waiting for the nurse to come in, and you've used up all your diversionary tactics, and the questions grow more probing. Meridian: When will the doctor give me my medicine. And she did! My brave kid sat there calmly, holding my hand, commenting on the color of the medicine in the syringes, and then watched as the nurse poked her. With her sharp intake of breath at the first poke, I'd forgotten our strategy, but she started quietly counting one-two-three, and watched as the needle came out. She politely turned down the offer of a band-aid, and watched as the second needle went in. Her voice wavered this time as she one-two-three'd. The lost heart a bit before the third needle and I held her hand and told her this would be the last one. She one-two-three'd as a silent tear brimmed on her eyelashes. The nurse was suitable impressed and went on and on about how brave she was, and offered her three stickers - one for each needle, and the pain was forgotten. I wondered whether the vaccines would make her tired as they always did when she was a baby. Sure enough, half way home she nodded off, face peaceful in sleep. And I sat at the red lights looking at her in the rearview mirror, watching my baby, my girl. So stoic, so curious, so brave. 11.05.2008 Oh Happy Day! I write this entry today not for you the readers but for Meridian, who will one day want to read this journal, want to know how I felt and what I thought on this historic day. Yesterday, America elected her first black President, Barack Obama. I'm proud to tell you, my little one, that we participated - you and me. Yes, we went to the polling place together, despite the warnings of long lines, and we waited our turn to cast our ballot. We brought a book (Peter and the Shadow Thieves), and we read several chapters until nearing the voting room, you became too curious for the book to maintain your attention. And so, I answered your questions: what are those machines, why do we have to wait in this long line (last names R-Z) instead of that short one (last names F-Q), what is a senator, etc. We stepped up to the voting machine on our turn, and you helped me cast the ballot, sticking the little electronic card that would record our vote into the machine, and then helping me press the screen to activate our choices. I whispered to answer your questions, careful not to disturb the other voters, careful not to be accused of electioneering. And then, after reviewing the ballot, I clicked the final Cast Ballot button, and our choice was recorded. You cheerfully marched over to the poll worker and turned in our card and were rewarded with an 'I voted' sticker. But as I explained to you in our long wait in line, voting is the easy part, ...the hard work in an election comes well before the vote. The hard work: to listen to the ideas of all the candidates, to learn what they stand for and to judge how capable you think they will be to carry out their ideas, and then to decide which candidate you think will do the best job for America. It was very rewarding this year to have a candidate I actually believed in, one who inspired me to believe in a greater America, one who maintained his integrity in the face of a sometimes nasty campaign, and most importantly perhaps, one who seemed to really understand the problems facing America and who had ideas on how to bring order to an unruly Washington. I was happy in my support for Barack Obama, so much so that for the first time ever, I donated to a political campaign. So much so, that for the first time ever I gave my time to volunteer for that campaign. You came with me, sweet girl. We canvassed in our own neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking people to support Obama, answering questions where we could. It was a small role in an enormous campaign, but we played our part. In the days before the election, you heard me excitedly talking about going to see Barack Obama speak, and asked if you could come too. And so you accompanied me to the Obama rally at the Virginia Beach ampitheater on the day before Halloween. You were excited, as was everyone there, as our line moved along at a snail's pace. You sat patiently through the introductions and speeches by Governor Tim Kaine, and the candidates for congress, and then as Obama took the stage you pronounced the event boring and said you were ready to go home. Yes, a rally was an ambitious attempt for a four-year-old attention span, so while you were no longer interested you were still there, playing with a doll house doll on your seat while Mommy jumped up and down with the crowd.  It was a delicate line to walk this year in terms of how to include you in the process without indoctrinating you. With all your curiosity and with your eager attention, it was hard sometimes to answer the probing questions you asked and to answer them in a way I felt was honest without being partisan. You see, I want for you to grow into a person who makes your own choices. I don't want you to vote Democrat or Republican because you grew up in a family that did. I want for you to be a careful study and a fair judge. To that end, this year I think there were times I succeeded and times I failed. If you're reading this as a mom, you'll understand just how hard it is to explain political ideas to a four year old. I saw the failure of my efforts one day during the campaign when after answering a question you'd asked about what Obama's ideas were, you then summarized McCain's ideas as "And McCain only wants to fight" - no, that wasn't the message I'd wanted to give, though I can see that you took that as the take-home message from my explanation about Obama being willing to sit down with foreign leaders to try to talk about things instead of deciding the only solution was to fight, without even trying to talk first. Yes, that was a failure. But to counter the failures, I hope there were equal numbers of successes. The fact that neither Democrat or Republican has become a part of your vocabulary I count as a success. In this bitterly partisan time where people often don't stop to analyze and evaluate a situation, but stop at the easier step of speaking their party's line, what I feel certain that our country doesn't need is more partisans, and so I eradicated party in my explanations to you. The fact that I gave real names and faces of people you love to represent McCain supporters I count as a success. For it's important that you understand that this is not a simple good versus evil proposition. We are not the good guys up against the evil darkness. America is and always has been a conversation between patriots, we are people arguing for the ideas that we think are best, but there are not clear cut right and wrong answers. The people who support our opponent care as much as we do, and though we think their ideas are flawed, we are so glad to live in a country where we get to voice our own ideas and where we continue to have the conversation over these ideas, always working for a better future for our children, for you. So, I count that as a success. And the fact that the country has elected her first black president, well I count that as a success for our country. To be sure, I didn't vote for Obama because he is black. I voted for him because his ideas were superior, because his temperment lends itself to leadership, and because the alternative (McCain/Palin) was unpalatable. But that in a country where only 45 years ago poll taxes were widely used to prevent black people from even voicing an opinion in the form of a vote, we have now elected our first black leader, well that's progress. That's a reason to hope. You see, we are becoming a better America, and you and me, we were a part of it. 11.01.2008 Meridian has celebrated 4 halloweens so far, and always been something completely harmless. She let me know early on that this year, this fearless year of four, she planned to be something scary. I checked back with her often to see if she'd changed her mind. Long time readers will recall her third halloween when at two years old some teenagers saw fit to scare the hell out of her for grins. I wasn't anxious for her to dress in a way that might invite such fright. Without betraying my hand, I tempted her with other costumes: mermaids, butterflies, a bat, a skunk. She was consistent. A monster. And so I searched for a furry, friendly monster costume a la Sesame Street. There were none to be found. When we made the trip to Party City to look for something suitable, I realized for the first time that she was "all in". I asked David to wait with her near the party supplies at the front (knowing I didn't need to add "so that she wouldn't have to see all the scary stuff in the back" - parents can talk in this way without words). But Meridian wasn't having it. She said, "But I want to go see that sppoky skeleton back there with all the blood on its head," and then I knew. Four was a whole new year. And so, we found her a fuzzy toddleresque Frankenstein costume, and bought some face paint. We commited to dress up as scary monsters with her: me as a witch and David as a skeleton. And Meridian was thrilled to see her spooky self in the mirror, thrilled to be painting us, and content in the fact that between the three of us, we could run off anyone who was too frightening. This was called for only once, when a scary skeleton (not nearly as scary as David) wandered to close. So, I put up my witch fingers and laughed my witch laugh (neee-heee-heee-hee), and then whispered to the teenager that I was pretending to scare her off because Meridian was afraid of her. She complied with my deceit, the homeowner thanked Meridian for scaring off that scary monster, and Meridian marveled through the next three houses that that skeleton had been afraid of us! "Why was she scared of me?!" Thanks to one teenager who was emptying early and filled Meridian's bucket nearly half-full (she'd clearly been told by her mom that she had to stay home to hand out candy, and wanted to finish the chore quickly to get out herself), Meridian's bucket was full after two culdesacs, and we walked home passing untold number of houses without stopping. Meridian was content that her bucket was full. We then sat on our porch handing out candy as trick-or-treaters arrived, and eating our way through Meridian's bucket. Each time Dave or I opened a candy, we'd let Meridian taste it and she'd pass judgement. She ruled as follows: good candy - lollipops, M&M's, sweeties, hershey kisses, twix, starbursts; We let her eat an enormous share of candy, much more than she's EVER been allowed to eat before, and then she had a bath and was off to bed, the best day ever now over. Pics in the 4yr Gallery 10.22.2008 Lately Meridian wants to be included in our work. When David's latest book arrived from the publisher, she announced that she too was going to write a book about Flash, and sat down in our office at her own little table and proceeded to do just that. Interestingly, for no reason than its randomness, she dedicated it to Cai's daddy, Ryan.  Likewise, she's interested in exploring what I do too. Her interpretation: I color on photos on the computer. And so, she selected from the outtakes from a recent session, and chose to color "gray" elements of these two. Here's her handiwork:   After that I showed her which tool in Photoshop to use to give people extra eyes and to erase their noses and make funny frightening faces. She loved that, but I doubt the bride we practiced on would much enjoy having the results shared here, so you'll have to use your imaginations. She's having fun exploring careers and skill sets, and in the last several weeks has announced her future as: a dancer, a painter, an astronaut, a jewelry-maker, a tailor, an author, a pastry chef, President, a roofer, a teacher, a photographer, and a salesperson. She is quite the entreprenuer, announcing several times a week some new endeavor that she wants to undertake, which always involved making signs and setting up a table outside to sell things (cookies, homemade jewelry, made-to-order clothes, etc.) David has been suckered into these outtings (for which there are pitifully and sadly never any customers), while I've so far been able to distract my way out of them. 10.15.2008 Sometimes Meridian demonstrates with no effort and perfect clarity that she is my child. Meridian: Don't you just love making lists? One day this week, I want to just spend all day making lists: grocery lists; a list of things we can do; a list of stuff I wanna buy; a list of my toys... Making lists is so much fun. 10.06.2008 Meridian: Do we have any fruit leather? Aha! Check! I'm so glad I asked for clarification before launching into the "we don't use that word" speech. 10.01.2008 I got this notice this morning from a home-schooling group I belong to, and I thought it sounds like a great activity for kids - both educational and environmentally conscious. I'll post the details from the email below. In the meantime, I threw up a quick identification chart with images that you can print to take with you when you're scouting. Happy acorn hunting!
09.29.2008 I was responding to a message board post about real and make believe, and thought this was the kind of thing worth saving here. I quiz Meridian on this from time to time just to satiate my own curiosity. She's 4 by a few months now, and her current positions are: mermaids - real Could a mommy want any better description? 09.28.2008 Meridian and David had most of the weekend to themselves as I worked most of it. They came up with a creative way to spend their time: they decided to make cheese and yogurt. My initial reaction was "Ick! None for me, thanks." I hid that from Meridian, of course, and encouraged her enthusiasm for the project. Meanwhile, I pictured milk curds discovered in one of Meridian's old sippy cups found under a sofa after a week or so, and dry heaved privately. David did his research though, and learned quite a bit about the process. Upon learning that a block of cheese would take several days, he decided to expand the project to include yogurt and cream cheese. Yogurt could be grown in as little as three hours, and cream cheese would be ready after 24 hours. And sure enough(!) a gallon of milk added to a cup of yogurt, (heated and cooled in various intervals), yielded a gallon of yogurt. Now, I'm never a fan of yogurt. I have too active an imagination, and convince myself that I can feel active cultures moving in my mouth. So, there was no way that I was going to be tasting this yogurt. BUT, I had to admit - it totally and completely looked and smelled exactly like store-bought yogurt. So, while not excited enough to taste-test, I was plenty excited enough to think aboue gifting it to friends, and making it on a regular basis to provide healthier yogurt choices for Meridian. Upon first taste, Meridian pronounced the yogurt "not good", calling upstairs to me to make sure I knew that "Our homemade yogurt tastes not good." But of course, that was because it was plain yogurt, and she generally gets Stonyfield's Banilla, which has vanilla, banana, and sugar added. She changed her mind as soon as similar modifications were made to their yogurt, and in the end she was quite impressed with their accomplishment, saying "Taste it, Mommy. Taste it. It tastes really quite good." The next morning, David woke up early to bake fresh bread for their cream cheese which would have been ready. This, a bit more complicated than the yogurt: you use a quart of the yogurt, add some salt, pour it into a white handkerchief and tie it closed, hang the handkerchief ball onto something so that it's suspended in the air and can drip into a bowl below, allow it to drip for 24 hours. When you unwrap it the next day, viola! It's cream cheese. Well technically, it's called labneh, and is a traditional food in the Middle East and South Asia. But it is so close to our cream cheese that Meridian couldn't distinguish it from regular cream cheese when she tasted it this morning on David's homemade bread. Even I tasted it, and had to admit it was totally great, despite being initially very apprehensive about eating "yogurt left out over night".  The hard cheese was the only one of the three projects that they've not yet mastered. They tried two batches so far, and haven't quite gotten it. So, they plan to tweak the recipe a bit in line with one they found elsewhere and give it another go. The teacher in me LOVES this project, and I'm thrilled with all the teaching points in it. Food and nutrition has very much been a topic on which we've used a spiral education approach - starting young with "make good choices", revisiting when she was old enough to understand by introducing the food groups and integrating that into making good choices, revisiting it later by planting a garden and discussing where food comes from and how it gets its nutrients, expanding on that by going fishing and seeing another source for where food comes from, and now expanding on that again by learning how one food source (milk) can be used to make a variety of foods and how the process affects which nutrients are in the food. If anyone is interested in trying any of these food experiments at home, you will find most of the information we used on this website. 08.23.2008 David was out of town this week, and while he was gone, Meridian and I decided to go to our favorite pizza restaurant, just the two of us. Over dinner, we were playing various little games back and forth and thinking of fun mind stretchers. So, I got it in my head to have her close her eyes and describe her mommy, as if she were describing me to someone who doesn't know me. Her description was heart-meltingly beautiful! I actually grabbed a crayon and wrote it down on the spot, so that I could preserve it perfectly. Meridian: She looks like she has brown hair. She smiles a lot. She loves her kid, and she likes to play with her. Could a mommy want any better description? 08.22.2008 Jokes with preschoolers are so funny because they mostly don't get it. Case in point: Mommy: Why is six afraid of seven? And some fun for your little ones. Here are some jokes that she really does get and loves: What did one octopus say to the other octopus? 08.02.2008
A friday a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take Meridian to Cape Henry to see the lighthouses. She was excited and asked all manner of questions before we arrived. She hoped to meet the lighhouse keeper, was excited to climb to the top, and wondered whether the light would be on. Sadly, she met the lighthouse keeper in a manner complete unbefitting to her vision: he was the one to measure her and tell her that she was too short to climb to the top. By a measley quarter inch too. She burst into tears, poor kid. I scooped her up and whispered reassurances and told her it was okay to feel sad about it. Everyone looked on in a mixture of empathy for the poor girl with the dashed hopes and anticipation for me to tell her to bring her temper tantrum to a close. I could tell people (there were maybe six others in the little shop with us) were a bit surprised to hear me tell her that it was okay for her to cry about it, that it was okay to be sad. People are so uncomfortable hearing children cry that we tend to want to silence it as soon as possible, forgetting that crying is a healthy and good release of emotion. Just as she has no notion of privacy while going to the bathroom with her friends in tow, she has no need of privacy for her emotions. They are raw and real, and overwhelming in the moment, and they are okay to feel. We had a similar experience recently at the post office. Meridian was beside herself because I'd declined to buy her a snack at the pharmacy, telling her she could eat any number of the snacks we had in the car. Beside herself. The whole way from the pharmacy to the post office. Arriving at the post office, I told her that I needed her to pull herself together. And she did, four about three minutes. And there we were in line, when she remembered the perceived injustice and melted all over again. I got down on her level and asked her to settle down. "I just can't," she said. And it was true. She was past the point of being able to collect herself. She was sunk into the abyss of self-pity and feeding on the perpetual negativity it provides. I told her that she needed to let it go. That the snack back at the store didn't happen, but that that was only 5 minutes of her day. That she could carry that all day and let it ruin the rest of her day, or she could let that go and get onto looking for other possibilities for joy. Like going ot the beach, etc. Then I told her to catch her breath, think about her feelings, wait until three minutes had passed on the clock and then tell me how she was feeling. She thought about that, but decided sobbing felt better. Just in front of us was a little girl (maybe 12 year old). She seemed amused with the situation, in a "I know just how you feel kind of way." We had this conversion while Meridian cried. Girl: We have two four year olds and a three year old at home. It strikes me as sad, but also kind of interesting, that we don't want our kids to emote in public. I must admit that when the girl told me about her brothers' punishment for expressing their feelings, I thought sarcastically to myself "I'm sure their future wives will thank you for that." As adults we all wish we were better in touch with our feelings, better able to express ourselves. But it seems logical that we have such difficulty if as children we're taught not to express our feelings, not to even explore them, but just to put them away because they are inconvenient for the other people at the post office or lighthouse. Meridian cried for several minutes at the lighthouse, and then succumbed to the lighhouse keeper's attempts to cheer her up. He offered her one of those smashed pennies that now has the lighhouses etched on the front and his signature on the back. She calls it her badge. So, she took her badge and we went to the Cape Henry beach and had a great rest of the afternoon swimming in the bay water. We even had some dolphins come to visit. They swam about 50 feet from where we were, right outside the roped off swim area. Some older kids were right there within stroking distance. Later I realized that the water there was not deep and we could have gone over. Oh well, chalk it up to a lesson learned for next time. 07.09.2008 Last night, Meridian selected Tikki Tikki Tembo as one of her bedtime books. This is one of my own childhood favorites, and one I hadn't read to her in months. So, as I'm about to read it I'm telling her how it was a favorite of mine when I was a little girl because I loved trying to remember his whole great long name. I asked her if she knew it, and was shocked to hear her rattle off, "Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari puchi-pip"! She left off the last part "peri pembo" and altered one syllable (ruchi became puchi), but MAN! She hasn't heard this story in at least a month, and even then it's not one that we read over and over, and she knew the whole name! I was impressed. Of course, I'd intended to share the accomplishment with David, but it slipped my mind. It came back to me for some reason over dinner tonight, and surreptitiously I tried to set it up for David to witness the feat. Mommy: Which books are you going to read with Papi for bedtime tonight? Irony while bragging. I love it. 06.30.2008 Meridian: Mommy, will you tell me a story? 06.18.2008 We're down to two baby robins. Boy have they developed though. They're eleven days old in these shots from yesterday:      Today they flew from the nest! We watched Mama Bird and Papi Bird coaching them, encouraging them, watching out for them as they took in the world from their new vantage points. We didn't get to actually see them in flight. Boy did we try. We watched them from the upstairs windows for about two hours this afternoon, but they just stayed perched on their respective spots while Mama and Papi flew around getting worms for them and keeping an eye out. Here was the best shot I could get of one of the babies today on our neighbor's porch. I had to take it from the upstairs window of our house so as not to spook the bird family.  06.17.2008 We had a great Father's Day. We let David sleep in, and then had a pancake breakfast with chocolate chips mixed in, per Meridian's request. Then we gave David his present and headed out to put it to good use:  The two of them had fun on what we hope will be the first of many father daughter fishing adventures. Meridian wanted to assist in each part, from baiting the hookright down to cleaning the fish. We went pier fishing down at the beach because Meridian had watched the fishermen there before, so it matched her schema for fishing. When we arrived, no one had had much luck all day. After snapping some pics, I left the two of them alone to fish while I got to enjoy some beach time. After about an hour, the two of them came running up. Meridian was filled to brimming with excitement over the "slobbery fish" she'd caught on her own pole! So I ran back up with them to check it out. It was a 10" flounder, but sadly you have to thrown flounder back if it's less than 26". Since they didn't have a pail of water ready in advance to throw caught fish into, the flounder had died in the time it take to come and share the joy with me, so rather than throwing a dead fish back, they cut it up to use for more bait. Later in the adventure, Meridian's pole went over into the water, when it caught yet another fish. Luckily, some more seasoned fishermen were able to fish it out of the water, and there were not tears to contend with. We ended up staying until well after bedtime, and decided to grab a pizza at a local place before heading home, sandy and satisfied. 06.12.2008 Oh the brutal honesty! Our dressing room conversation when I took Meridian swimsuit shopping with me: Meridian: I like that one, Mommy. You look pretty. Yeah, we better quit this game before I suffer an injury to my pride. 06.11.2008 Our robins are six days old now, and it seems like they've grown quite a bit. Their wings have developed and begun feathering. Their little fuzz is dwindling away. Their eyes are open. They have considerably more strength to lift their heads for worms. Even so, it's hard to imagine that they will be leaving the nest in roughly eight more days!     We're enjoying watching them, and we feel a bit as though we're members of the extended family. Mama and Papi bird are always around somewhere, hunting for worms or bathing in our vegetable garden. We watch them feed the babies, and we use the side entrance to give them their privacy. Observations:
06.10.2008 Meridian has been hankering for a pet for a while. We've talked about it on and off, and tossed around whether or not we really want the responsibility of a dog or cat. That coupled with my relatively new allergy to them led us to "no" each time. After a trip to the petshop though, I started to come around on the idea that a rat might be a good first pet for her (an idea David had long been championing). And so, as a fourth birthday gift to Meridian, we invited Ratsy into our family.  We'd hoped to get a tiny baby, but after calling every pet shop in our area, Ratsy was the youngest to be found. In preparation for owning a pet, we told Meridian that she would be the rat's mommy, and that she would have to care for her, name her, talk to her, sing to her, read to her, etc. We discussed how mommies and daddies have to pick the very best name in the world for their kids, so that she should make a list and then look it over each day until she settled on the perfect name for her rat. She asked David and I to contribute to the list as well, and alternately approved entries or eliminated them. The potential name list included: Ratty, Ratsy, Mousie, Cleo, Linda, Lisbet, Meh-Meh, Ug, and Ethel. Ratsy was both the early front-runner and the winner. In a stroke of genius at the pet store, I told Meridian that Ratsy was a German rat and only understands German. This was brilliant because: 1) it gives her someone else to speak German to, and 2) since most of the animal care will be overseen by David, it makes sense for her German to be the rat's primary language, and 3) I get to speak to Ratsy in German too, and this is one of the only times Meridian will "allow" me to speak German. So far, she's enjoying her pet. She's not terribly fond of the way it feels when Ratsy crawls on her bare skin, and she was very unhappy when Ratsy chewed a few holes in my bedsheet while Meridian played with her on the bed. But by and large, she's a girl in love, plastering the poor rat with endless, noisy kisses, trying to feed her little bits of everything, packing her into a travel cage to carry along on play dates. Ratsy is a smash hit birthday gift! 06.06.2008 Last year, we were so pleased to find a pair of nesting robins in the hanging plant on our porch. Sadly, we lost the two baby robins to a mean ol' neighborhood cat. Luckily, Mama and Papi bird are back this year. After an unsucessful clutch of four eggs, all but one of which were tossed from the nest, another robin pair laid four additional eggs in the nest. Today they hatched! (The old egg is still in there under them, but all four of the new eggs hatched.) To use Meridian's words, "They're just so sweeeeet!"      We plan to follow their progress over the next two weeks until they fly off. :) Check back for pics as they grow! 06.01.2008 Meridian's last day of school was this week, and now it's summer break. Long days at the water park and the pool and the bay and the beach. This summer will mark her first ever ice cream from the ice cream truck (much anticipated), her first time going down the BIG slide at the water park by herself (not at all aware of this pending accomplishment), her first away-from-home sleepover (she was ready way before mommy was), and many other fun things that neither of us knows to look forward to. Until then, we have some housekeeping to do here. Busy days of late have kept me from diligently updating here, but to reward you for checking back often, I've updated loads of picture fluff with more on the way (keep your eye out for a 4 Year Gallery soon.) At school, the movement education teacher hosted a field day, and it was a blast! Lots of pics in the 3.5 year gallery, but here's one of the teachers having a grand ol' time!  The class also took their first (and only) field trip of the year, to the library and the fire station. At the library, the kids got to go back into the faculty offices, and even into the room behind the book drop to see how the books come into the library and get sorted. Then the librarian read the kids a book, and gave them fire hats to prepare for the next stop. Meridian wore her fire hat backwards like a baseball cap. I told her it was backwards and she said she liked it better that way, so it could keep the sun out of her eyes. She's a practical kid, I'll tell ya that! We walked next door to the fire station, where we watched a fire safety video and saw a fireman get dressed in his suit. After that they let the kids climb into the fire truck and squirt the fire extinguisher. Meridian enjoyed really herself. And we had a picnic at the park with her class when it was over. Lastly, Meridian's made a few career choices. Most recently, she says it like this: When I grow up I will be a president of the United States and also a teacher, and on the weekends I will be a photographer who takes vacations. A bit ambitious, but all achievable. Anyway, she's honing the skills for the last job first. She snapped this pic of me after school on her last day.  05.31.2008 We celebrated Meridian's 4th birthday with a party today at Red Wing Park. We were joined by her friends: Cai, Millie, Landon, Blaise, Nicholas, Anna, Grace, Skyler, Gauge, and James, and her cousins Michael, Andrew, and Lauren. The party was very low-key and perfect. I had to laugh because David said early on (but after invitations were sent) something about whether I'd checked to see that the park wasn't hosting a big event that day. They usually host enormous events like the Pow-Wow, etc, so it wasn't an implausible problem. I promptly put on horse-blinders and insisted that the chances of that were so slim that there was no point in checking. So, I had to eat a large dose of crow when we arrived thirty minutes before the party to find several huge tents erected with large inflatables and a PA system going at full tilt. After a quick re-evaluation, we found a quiet corner of the park and managed to get in touch with all the attendees to ensure they all knew where to find us. A good time was had by all as we wore homemade balloon hats through the customary birthday rituals. Noteworthy:
After the party, we took our dirty selves to our favorite local restaurant (Neighbors) and ordered pizzas and salad. 05.26.2008
Her birthday party will be next weekend, so we don't lose all our invitees to out of town Memorial Day weekend plans. Today was a great day for just the three of us alone to celebrate. We did Meridian's favorite thing in all the world: went to the waterpark. Despite the icy cold water, we had a great time. It was a blast to be back in a familiar place and to know the lay of the land, and also to be surprised with some new additions, like the see-saw that sprays you when you ride it. We came home for a quiet dinner and some cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Meridian asked for a huge piece and then licked the icing off without taking so much as a bite of cake.  |
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