Location: In the kitchen.
The players: Julie, Chris, Sylvan.
Julie (to Chris): “[The Hooligans' Mother], the other day, told me that [the Smaller Hooligan] wanted Twinkies for his birthday because Hostess is filing for bankruptcy….
Sylvan (interrupting): “What’s a Twinkie?”
Julie and Chris (simultaneously, with fists raised triumphantly): “Yes!”
Cheerios, yes. Twinkies, not so much.
Miss T was diagnosed with moderate to severe renal failure last week. The doc gave her days to weeks if we don’t give her subcutaneous fluids, weeks to months if we do. We’re trying the fluids, because, while I’m not sure I’ll be able to poke the needle through her apparently tough skin, I can’t imagine not doing everything I can do to make her more comfortable. That is also why Tephra is eating upwards of a dozen cat treats a day. And it shows. While she weighed 4.6 pounds at the vet last week (!), her ribs are a little less prominent this week. I also picked up some kitty food that contains smoked salmon. She noticed. She asked me why it didn’t show up a decade earlier.
Tonight, I took a bath to take the edge off my body’s revolt against 20 hours of rehearsal this week. Tephra watched the bath fill from the edge of the sink. Then she jumped down and stood up on her back legs to peer into the bath, but she’s too short. So, from a stool I placed near the tub, she looked down at the water, then reached down into the water as if she were trolling for goldfish. Then, while I hoped I wouldn’t have to fish out 5 pounds of clawed mischief, she precariously bent over the edge so she could drink the bath water.
Can’t take the kitten out of this one.
From last March: I'm a little scared that your bustle's going to devour me.
We went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Elena showed me some circuit pieces while Sylvan actually created some complete circuits.
At OMSI, Sylvan strutted his stuff in front of a carnival mirror. Just imagine Sylvan at 16, folks.
We met the Muppets in Portland. Can you find both kids?
We went sledding. And we caught serious AIR!
Getting ready to go to the pool two nights ago:
Elena: Mom, are you wearing a top?
Julie (holding up her bikini bathing suit top): Yeah, here it is.
Elena: No, that’s just nipples!
Yes, there is normally a photo in this space. No, there is not a photo in this space today. The reason you can't see the photo here is because I like being married.
Elena playing a giant drum with Eugene Taiko on Friday night.
I was making dinner in the kitchen, and Elena was looking at a book at the dining room table. She had been pretty quiet for a while, which is sometimes a sign that I’m going to have to clean up a big mess later, so I went in to check on her. She was out cold. I’m surprised she didn’t fall off of the chair.
Notice that she got to the last page of the book before "resting her eyes."
This, of course, is better than the other thing that sometimes happens when a three-year-old forgets to take a nap – a nice little meltdown about an hour before her usual bedtime. Not that my three-year-old would ever do that, but I’ve heard it happens.
It’s almost Christmas in Oregon, which means it’s time to go cut a Christmas tree!
It hasn’t snowed in the mountains for weeks, but it has been nice and cold, so I figured there would still be some snow for sledding. We decided to gather some friends and make a day of it.
We cut the tree first, while we had lots of energy. Since there was only about six inches of packed snow on the ground, we were able to walk into the woods after the tree in our regular snow boots. Much easier than snowshoes!
Shoveling it (in).
It took us a little while to find a tree that was short enough and full enough to make a good Christmas tree. Wild-grown trees are necessarily a little Charlie Brown-ish, but they always look great with lots of lights and ornaments on them.
The kids practiced their saw safety:
Like this?
Big brother shows how it's done.
Cries of “Timber!” rang through the woods, and we heaved and pulled the monstrous beast back to the van.
And then it was time for:
Sledding!
Sledding!
The kids loved the hard, fast snow. They are fearless. I, on the other hand, got jounced around hard enough that two runs was enough for me. I was happy to be the designated photographer.
After a peaceful ride home (Sylvan read aloud to himself from chapter books during the whole ride there and back), we took a quick break to go down the street and watch a little Thomas the Tank Engine with Señor Cupcake…
Señor Cupcake's mom says that Elena can come hang out with him any time. That sounded good to Elena.
… followed by putting up the tree!
No ornaments yet. Just a really soft tree skirt to rub our faces on. Did we mention that it was really soft?
“Louis liked Boston the minute he saw it from the sky.” – E.B. White, The Trumpet of the Swan, chapter 14.
OK, not exactly what the author intended, but it's pretty nice this way too.