beadypea

Consarn that rock and roll music!

I'm having a problem lately that has its roots in two other problems:

1. Maggie generally discovers her new favorite songs on commercial radio.

2. I have not really heard a song lyric since about 1996. I'm all about a catchy tune, but generally can only sing along to the chorus of any song from this milennium. The rest I fill in with a combination of whistling, humming, and "dee dee dee"-ing.¹

So, Maggie and I will hear a song in the car, and she'll say, "Hey Mom! Add this one to my list!" And then I go to Spotify, find the song, and drag it to Maggie's play list.

Then while I'm at it, I try to expand her horizons a bit, and I say things like, "Hey, I remember 'Hollaback Girl'! It has a marching band AND a spelling lesson! I'm Mom of the Year!"

Then the next time we're in the car, I plug my phone into the speakers, only to discover that all the songs are FULL OF SWEARS:

Radio: Dee dee dee s**t! Fa la la b***h!²
Maggie: Oooooooooooo!
Lily: What?
My brain: S**T!! OK, Mom, keep it cool.
My face: Whoopsy-daisy! Let's try the next one!

So the result is that I have to go in and remove the songs, and Maggie is left with little more than Taylor Swift. And I need to work on my censorship skills.

 

 

¹Related tidbit: I am a voracious reader who almost immediately forgets the plot of any book I've read. I've found this trait oh-so-useful as an English major and a book club member!

²These words apparently don't always merit the "Explicit" label.

 

Happy birthday Lily!

Dear Lily,

On Friday, your fifth birthday, you had an extensive conversation with a stranger in the grocery store parking lot about your birthday party menu and planned activities, what you thought your gifts would be, and where I had stashed them. This kind of encounter is typical for you, and afterward I gave you my regular spiel about how we have to be careful with strangers and with how much information we share. "But Mom," you said, "I was a stranger when I was born!"

You are still the girl who waited until she was 19 months old to walk, however--as brave as you are with new people, you are still cautious about certain new experiences. We took our first family trip to Disney World in October, and you spent much of your time fretting in the lines: "Does this ride go fast? Are there seatbelts? If there are seatbelts, it means the ride is fast...is this ride dark? Dark like pitch black, or just a little dark? Are we going to get wet? Will there be freaky puppets?" and on and on. I just know I'll be riding an elevator one day and see your signature on the inspection certificate! You made me a nervous wreck, little girl, particularly when Daddy and I downplayed the speed and darkness of Space Mountain to get you to ride. I could hear you behind me screaming and screaming, and I thought the ride would never end. When the ride stopped, you were a little shaky and teary, but you yelled, "That was AWESOME!" After high fives all around, I said, "Lily, I was so worried! You were screaming so much!" You laughed and said, "Mom, I was just screamin' to scare the crap outta you."

Coincidentally (or maybe not), your favorite TV commercials lately are for insurance companies. One night at dinner you told me, "Mom, we need to go to Geico after this."

"Why?"
"Because 15 minutes could save you more on car insurance."
"Why on earth do you need car insurance?"
"No Mom, you need car insurance!"

You think I should get Progressive's Snapshot to "help me drive better," and you have tried to convince a store cashier to "fall in love with Progressive's claim service."

Girl can't get enough tomatoes.

You love a good playground, but overall you are fairly indoorsy. You love to draw and do crafts. Like me, you like to have a few projects going at once! You are a good helper, but quick to pitch a screamy fit if you get a request that threatens to derail you from your plans. Oh my girl, can you outgrow that this year? PLEASE?

I know it's frustrating being your age. You're big enough for lame stuff like dressing yourself and wiping bathroom counters, but not big enough for us to turn you loose on the neighbors like we can Maggie. You talk longingly of all the things you'll do when you're a "teenage-ah," and you often say, "I wish we could just be born big already, like my size." I still have a little PTSD from birthing you and your giant noggin at 7 pounds 3 ounces, thankyouverymuch!

You are excited to start Kindergarten in the fall. Every couple of weeks you ask, "Do I start my new school today?" and "Is it time for me to start Girl Scouts?" Soon, girlie. I can't wait to be done paying for daycare see how you like big-kid school. I imagine you will continue to be a brilliant handful!

As a little sister, you get your fair share of bossing, and you seek opportunities to boss someone else for a change. When you tell stories about school, you have taken to calling your classmates, "my students." When you and Maggie play, you do your best to bend the rules to your advantage. Earlier this week you were following Maggie around the house, moaning like a zombie. As the game picked up speed, Maggie protested, "Hey! Zombies don't run!" You informed her, "I'm an exercisin' zombie. Muuuuuh." And the game resumed at top speed.

With your Papa, ready for your Valentine's date

Oh Lily, I'm so lucky to have met such a silly-sweet little stranger five years ago. I can't wait to see what surprises are in store for the coming year!

Love,

Mom

Shirt for my swinging girl

Last summer, I dragged Mel into a fabric store and something caught his eye for a change:

We had become accustomed to watching for Lily's little blonde head to peek up over the fence when we picked her up at daycare. She was somewhat of a swing monopolizer:

Mel took the girls to the park for some offsite swinging today, so I had a bit of uninterrupted sewing time. Even without the distractions, I somehow managed to sew the sleeves to one another before finally finishing a new shirt for Lily:

It works for swinging, too!

Pattern: Oliver + S After-School Shirt

The Queen of Rs

A couple of weeks ago at around 9:15 p.m., Lily (almost an hour after her bedtime) came storming into our room and announced,

"Rough, ribbit, rabbit, rough, ribbit, rabbit! It's not bedtime yet! I-have-to-make-a-list-of-R-words-so-I-can-be-the-Queen-of-Rs-rough-ribbit-rabbit-where's some paper?"

Homework is rare in a daycare four-year-old class, so this was serious! I limited her to twenty words (starting with rough, ribbit and rabbit) to ease her mind enough to get back to sleep, but with Maggie's help the next morning, we came up with about 70.

Incidentally, R is the one letter sound Lily hasn't mastered, particularly when it's in the middle or end of a word (i.e, paahk the caaah in Haavahd yaaahd). Of course I hope she doesn't get too far into elementary school before she figures it out, but I'll miss it just the same. The following phrases just won't be the same:

"I'm allergic to mustard."
"I'm not allergic to honey mustard."
"Word Girl"
"Fruity water"
"Did you fart?"

For those of you on the edge of your seats, I'm happy to report that Lily was indeed crowned Queen of Rs! (The only other girl in her class was home with a stomach virus, though I don't think Lily is capable of that level of sabotage. Yet.)

Maggie is seven! (And almost a third!)

Good grief, I'm so behind on Maggie's birthday letter! I actually wrote this back in August, but was too lazy to go through pictures until now. I like to think that at this age she's not changing so fast, but I was amazed at how much I had to amend her letter (see strikethroughs and italics). Here it is! 

 

Dear Maggie,

You are seven years and a few weeks months old! It's so hard to believe that my tiny doughy raven-haired baby is now a lanky blonde second grader. About the only thing that's the same about you is the toothlessness teething! You lost a bunch of teeth this year, but have managed to avoid the "All I want for Christmas..." conundrum. Your two front teeth are growing in nicely.

You had an excellent first grade year, capped off with winning the Best All-Around Student award for your class. Daddy and I were so proud! You still love to learn about animals most of all, and you've added two frogs to your menagerie.

 

Maggie in her reading nook!

You are an active kid, and you'd much rather be outside playing than just about anything else. I have no idea how you fuel all that activity--you've become an even pickier eater. I sometimes wonder if you're photosynthetic. Until recently you had little interest in curling up with a book, but an abridged version of Moby Dick, of all things, sparked your interest in reading, and now you're plowing through chapter books. Second grade has also sparked a love of double-digit subtraction in you!

 

photo by Christa Syrett

You were lucky enough to spend five weeks on vacation this summer, spending time with all your grandparents. If you're at all like me, some of your fondest memories will be of this time you've spent with grandmas, grandpas, cousins, aunts and uncles. (And with your little sister, though it might take you longer to appreciate that!)

You and Lily play fairly amazingly well together except when we're in the car or when you have friends your age over. You've been teaching her all the important stuff: the lyrics to "Call Me Maybe," and how to spell "butt" and "up" ("you pee," get it?)

photo by Christa Syrett

You continue your assimilation into Southern girlhood. You have developed a taste for sweet tea, and you've adopted the "fixin' to" verb tense. You also frequently drop an "of"(e.g., "Get out my room, Lily!") and talk about plural cents in the singular (i.e., "It costs 30 cent.") We live in Gamecock country and you struggle with your preference for the Clemson Tigers. Once after a particularly rough day you asked me, "Mom, is there someplace where everyone is a Clemson fan?" We determined that Clemson is probably that place.

I told you last week a couple of weeks ago a while back that if you just became a Badger fan, you wouldn't need to decide between Clemson and Carolina. You looked appalled, then rolled your eyes and said, "Whatever." (Yeah, you've picked that up in second grade too. Charming.)

Then you said, "I like the Carolina Panthers, too."

I replied, "Oh, well that's a professional team...wait a second, do you like the Panthers better than the Packers?"

You gave me a sly grin.

I had a stroke and nearly crashed the car.

You sighed and said, "Mom, you're so weird."

Aw, I love you anyway!

Love, Mom

Fall table!

In the spring, I made my all-time best antique store purchase, a lovely little table topped with white and red enamelware. It makes a perfect little snack and homework spot for the kids. I've been planning on making some placemats and napkins using Aneela Hoey's Little Apples line, and finally got around to it in response to a Fall tablescape contest on Sew, Mama, Sew, a website I frequent. There are fabulous prizes!

I made two quilted placemats and two rickrack bordered napkins (subconsciously inspired by these on the Purl Bee blog!) All are reversible. I was inspired by the lovely fall day and the appearance of McIntosh apples (my favorites, and only available for a minute in SC) at my local farmer's market to haul the table outside for photos.

A closer look.

And the other one.

And the reverse!

2nd grader!

Today was Maggie's first day of second grade. We nearly had a knock-down drag-out in Kohl's (probably the first of many) on Sunday over this [hideous] shirt, but Maggie prevailed. She felt like a million bucks in it, and she adores her neon pink shoes, too!

Maggie had a pretty good day, aside from some unwelcome advances from a boy in her class (i.e., pigtails-in-inkwell kind of stuff, but it really bothered her). I was absolutely no help, as I cried as hard as she did when she told me about it. But my sunny girl was soon telling us about all the other cool stuff that happened today. She'll soon be back in her smart, confident stride.

Memory lane time...

Maggie and Lily on Maggie's first day of first grade, and the night before her last day of first grade (I couldn't let her wear that skirt on the last day--the length had become a little indecent!)

 

First and last day of kindergarten! Oh, how my babies have grown!

Next year we'll have two in big-kid school...I should probably start stocking up on tissues now...

S'more time!

Hey, it must be time for the semiannual family backyard s'mores party! The kids have been bugging us for a few weeks to use the firebowl, and a fire is never complete without sweet, sweet napalm bombs on crackers! Wish you could be a mosquito on the wall and hear the family fun? Here's a rundown:

1. Ehhhhhhh! I don't like black marshmallows! I want mine brown!

2. Ehhhhhhh! I don't like the brown ones either. I want mine white! And cold!

3. Ehhhhhhh! Why isn't my chocolate melting?

4. Ehhhhhhh! Petey ate mine!

5. Ehhhhhhh! Mom, hold the box of crackers and the bag of marshmallows and this chocolate, and have my cracker and chocolate ready, and cook my marshmallow, and don't let Petey get it!

6. Ehhhhhhh! This is sticky!

7. Meh. You want mine? I don't really like these.

8. Bleh. I'm just gonna eat the chocolate.

9. Heh. These taste better when we make them in the microwave.

10. Eh. Can we go in and watch a cartoon?

Lately...

Supermoon!

I finished this quilt I had started at a December quilting class.

Other side

Lily had her first dance recital...look at her go!

Maggie is exploring her personal style...

...and as a Crafter in Training, she is embroidering (!) a gift for her teacher.

An action-packed May already, and still more to come!

I can't believe I just had to interpret Southernese for my SC born and bred daughter! We were leaving a store, and Maggie said about the cashier, "Was that lady a fortune teller?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because she said, [spooky voice] 'You'll have a great night...'"

"'Y'all,' Maggie. She said, 'Y'all'."