We've moved!

I'm happy to say that the hippies have moved out of the VW Microbus and into new, posh digs. Please change your bookmarks, bloglines, rss, atom, whatever, to reflect the following:

www.gingerleaffarm.com

If you click on over you'll see where you can get new feeds!

Cha-cha-cha changes!

Krystyn is a goddess. But then, you already knew that, right? This kick ass mama has designed me an amazing new website and we’re in the process of making it fly over the next week. If we’re lucky, things will only be freaky for a while. If we’re not, it could get to be crazy good fun. We’ll be transferring the archives over from the old site and spinning around on our office chairs singing, “Weeeeeeeee!” so bear with us, yo. The end result will be totally worth it. Pinky swear.

Sisters share an apple

'Member that?

Lily: 'Member that, Mommy?
Me: What, Lily?
Lily: 'Member when I was born?
Me: Oh, yes. I remember it well. Do you remember it?
Lily: Uh huh.
Me: Really? What do you remember?
Lily: We went to the store.
Me: Hmmm, and then what?
Lily: And then we went on the airplane.
Me: Huh? I don't remember that part.
Lily: I do. It was fun.
Me: Glad you enjoyed it!

Dry run

We took the girls to an egg hunt today at the home of a playgroup friend. Lily had a blast running around with her friends and discovering the little treasures all over the tri-tiered yard. With the swings, slides, kids, food, activity and her ever precious Daddy, Lily pretty much thought she was in heaven. Anya wasn’t quite sure what all the fuss was about and when plopped in the grass mere feet from an egg, just looked at me blankly and then giggled. Maybe next week when we bring the girls over to the big family get together, Lily will be a pro and Anya will at least try to crawl after an egg or two. And maybe, just maybe, Lily will wear an outfit that reflects the correct holiday. I'm not holding my breath on that one, though.

As always, you can check out the photo set on Flickr; just click on the photo below.

She sells seashells...

Yesterday when Mark and I went to go pick up Lily from Grandma’s house, we were greeted at the door by a trail of seashells winding all the way to the kitchen. My mom had given Lily a tiny set of tongs and with them she had plucked the shells from the muffin tin provided and lined them all up. She could identify all the different types and was so proud of her shell train, I though she just might burst.

My teen two-year-old

Lily loves phones and will walk around blabbering incoherently for hours if given the opportunity and a complete and utter lack of a live person on the other end. Mark’s mom will call and we’ll put Lily on the line and there she’ll sit, silent while Grandma does her best to get a response. Lil will smile but won’t utter a single sound.

Until today.

Mark handed her the phone and said, “Say Hi to Grandma!”
“HI!”

WHAAAAA?

We were shocked. And then she said MORE!

“I’m playing in my sand[box]!” A full sentence was uttered! There was even a bit more chatter but we missed it as Mark and I spent the entire conversation mouthing urgently to each other over Lily’s curly little head. We were stunned.

Maybe her new found love of gabbing on the phone has to do with the other shift that she been undergoing. Yesterday at playgroup (you remember playgroup, don’tcha?) she decided it would be delightful good fun to run off. As in, the other side of the building where I cannot find her and think my heart is going to explode in a blinding moment of panic. I even caught her making a subsequent break and told her to stop, but she kept on trucking. Her whole attitude lately has been that of a rebellious teenager. It’s like she’s realized she only has a few more months before she turns three and doesn’t want to miss out on the famed terrible twos.

And Anya? She’s decided that a moment without Mama is equivalent to the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. Mark made a comment about how great it must be to be loved and needed so deeply. Yeah, if only it wasn’t so exhausting. Ah well, I might as well enjoy her affections while I can. By my watch, I have less than two years before she turns into a teenager.

something to look forward to...

Tonight, 62 minutes after it turns tomorrow, the time and date will be oh one, oh two, oh three, oh four, oh five, oh six (aka 01:02:03 04/05/06).




Told you I'm a geek.

And so we shop

Lily has an older second cousin who is all about the girly stuff. Because of this little bit of good fortune, we’ve had to buy Lily about three items of clothing her entire life. Recently my cousin pulled out all the 3T’s from her daughters closet and set those aside for Lily. Through some random twist of fait, that bag made its way to Goodwill, effectively rendering my rapidly growing toddler naked. Naked is good in this Hippie house, but sometimes clothing is encouraged.

And can I just say? shopping for an almost three-year-old is a total kick in the pants. I hate shopping for myself, but Lily makes it a blast! I held up dresses and pants and little tops and asked, “This one or this one?” She would thoughtfully inspect each item and hem and haw and then finally say, “THIS one!” We even let her pick out a dress for Anya and now they have matching frocks for Easter (one in pink and one in purple). It was so much fun, I actually felt like a girl for a minute.

At playgroup today I was chatting to the other moms about how much fun we had when one said, “You know, ever since I became a mom to a daughter, pink just isn’t so evil anymore.”
“Seriously! Before Lily was born you’d never catch me anywhere near pink and now I not only put the girls in it but I even have a few items of my own. It’s crazy!”

We gazed at our dainty little pink clad girls as they ringed around the rosey and let the warm fuzzies wash over us. The moment kinda lost its gloss though when I had to yell, “Lily, stop beating on that little boy!”

She may be a girl, but she got game, yo.

Mommy Bloggers

They're saying nice things about me over at Mommy Bloggers. Go set them straight.

ac·ci·dent

I had a margarita with dinner and since I so rarely drink it made my cheeks flush red and my whole body hot. I felt a little silly as we approached the car and when I fell off the curb, it was pretty clear I needed to not drive. Mark took the keys and we headed for home. Traffic slowed down approaching our exit and we started talking about what would have traffic in such a snit at 8pm at night.
Mark: Maybe there’s an accident?
Me: Could be.
Lily: Accidents are funny!
Me: No, accidents are BAD.
Lily: Bad?
Me: Yep!
Lily: What you say, Mommy?
Me: An accident is where two cars… or more. Wait, there could be only one car. Does there have to be a car? I mean, if a plane crashes, they call that an accident. Ummm…
Mark: Having a little trouble there, hon?
Me: [giggling] Hey, I can do this!
Lily: Huh?
Me: Think damage and injury! YEAH! That’s an accident!

Lily: Mommy funny, Daddy.
Mark: Yeah. She’s a scream.

Domesticity report

Housekeeping: While the house isn’t a mess of peanut butter and feathers, it’s not what this panel would describe as “neat” or “tidy.” It is, indeed, average with piles of papers scattered about, kids toys on somewhat hazardous locations, and one rather scary clatter of dishes in the sink. C

Cooking: Out of a total of 21 possible meals a week, Elaine has cooked about seven of them. Points for creativity are awarded though for mircowaving a cake. Turns out that 10 minutes in a microwave safe bowl will produce a beautiful, evenly cooked, delightfully textured cake. The jury is still out on the question if it’s a good idea to have any cake available in this house. B-

Laundry: While the panel would be hesitant to claim Elaine could excel at any domestic task, she does seem to have a handle in this department. Five loads of clothing, sheets, towels and the like have been processed this week as well as the required diaper laundry (two loads). It should be noted, however, that Elaine will not iron a single thing and refuses to even purchase anything that claims to be “dry clean only.” A-

Child care: The baby has been screaming a great deal and the toddler is on a manipulative tear. It is hard to guess who can be blamed for such behavior as the panel acknowledges that children are crazy. Both girls have had one bath this week, are well fed (even if it’s mostly in restaurants) and show no signs of obvious injury or extreme illness (both children do have runny noses). While they are clearly not in any danger in the care of Elaine, the panel would be remiss in their duties if they gave an exceptional grade. B

Spousal care: Fortunately, the spouse in question is largely self sufficient. Elaine must be doing something right if she did, as she claims, receive a spontaneous text message reading, “I love you” today while at the park with the kids. The panel will point out that Elaine’s immediate reaction was to wonder what was broken or wanted. B+

Knitting: the panel is very proud of Elaine as this is a new area of study in which she seems to be excelling. This week showed the start and finish of her first hat, teaching her how to work with both circular and double pointed needles. The hat, made for the younger child, is cute and has surprisingly few mistakes in it. Samples of this work can be viewed here and here. For effort and willingness to learn a new skill, the panel is happy to award an A.

Disposition: This has clearly been a challenging week for Elaine as she has received very few sleep hours. The panel knows better and will, without picking apart the last weeks behavior, simply award an A and avoid the potential bodily harm a lesser grade might invoke. A

Ten-Months-Old

Dear Anya,
I’m having a little trouble with this whole double digit thing. How can you already be ten-months-old? As your first birthday rapidly approaches, I find myself slightly shell shocked, sitting with you asleep in my arms and trying desperately to figure out how you got so big. Already your body drapes across my lap when nursing, no longer the delicate little curl I one gathered into my arms; already you are taking bold chances towards walking and delighting yourself and you sister as you learn how to play. Last night I heard Lily ask your Dad, “What’s Anya doing, Dad?” and we both turned around to find you stuck in the middle of a step stool, belly draped across the step and head hanging down in the arch, reaching for a toy, determined to get it even if it meant landing on your noggin. You simply won’t slow down.



I’ve really been enjoying watching your discovery of the world and the way it moves around you. I can’t seem to tear my eyes from your face as you take in the frenetic movements of the ducks or the rush of the river or the bustle of the restaurant as it moves around you. You sink into the swirl of activity and analyze every bit of it and then turn to see what I think, asking your silent questions and smiling at my encouraging nods. Yes, it’s big and busy and noisy and silly and beautiful and stupid and strange and so many words you will learn as you grow. Some of it will forever be indescribable like the way your sister’s face can shift in such a subtle way that you shouldn’t know she’s thinking of something that scares her, even though you do. That gentle communication between sisters is building more and more every day and I feel so lucky and so jealous; conflicting emotions have just become the norm for me.




On Monday we went to the park and I didn’t want to put you down for fear you’d shovel sand into your mouth at breakneck speed. I finally gave up and set you with the other kids, giving you the opportunity to explore. You didn’t try to eat the sand once and that? That actually made me proud. You crawled around with a shovel in each hand, laughing and shrieking and waving your arms around with such joy, you made me laugh too. I love that you are so comfortable in your own skin and have the freedom to feel each emotion as it occurs. I don’t know when we learn to suppress or delay emotion but I sometimes wish I could just let it happen the way you and Lily do. It would be a mess, sure, but it would be honest. Sometimes I feel like the bit of honesty you and Lily offer throughout the day is the gift that keeps me sane when the news screams of all the crazy shit that won’t stop happening. I’m afraid that without you girls, I could get very jaded, very fast.



But there you sit, on the verge of finding your feet and taking exploration to a whole new level. By this time next month, I’ll likely be tearing my hair out at the park, chasing you and your sister in opposite directions. You follow her around as much as possible now, but I think you’re going to be running off after your own rainbows before I can say, “whoa there”. And that’s OK, kid. Do your own thing, even if it makes me a little crazy. After all, it’s not really about me (despite what I may lead you to believe).

And hey, if you want to eat the sand, just do it while Daddy’s watching you, OK? He’s much less excitable.

Kisses,
Mama

HIKE!

Before Mark and I had these silly urchins in our lives, we managed a small, informal hiking club. We'd get together once a week to hike a local park with friends from our theatre lives which gave us an excuse to have really cool hiking books from REI. We’ve gotten back to the trails sporadically, but not nearly as often as any of us would like. And with this extra baby weight just hanging around... well, it’s not going to loose itself, you know what I’m saying?

So I finally made the realization that if someone was expecting me to be there, I’d actually show up and emailed our playgroup friends. This is where we’ll be and this is when. Show up if you’d like, don’t if you can’t: but we’ll be there!

Today was our first hike and only one other family was able to make it on such short notice. Lily was the trail master and lead us all over the place, ending up at the dam where Van kicked his shoes into the rush of water; only one was able to be saved. Hey, his mom did say that after they left the park they were going to get him new shoes... I guess he wanted to make sure. And wouldn’t you know it, but naptime goes so much easier when the kid is worn out. BONUS!

Anyway, the weather is turning nice. Call some friends and get your ass out there. It’s totally worth it!

As always, you can find a few more photos over at Flickr.

You should see me when I need to pee

This morning I got up and made myself some breakfast and then scooted my booty out the door with Anya to attend a Pampered Chef Party (drastically different from a Pampered Chief party, lemme tell ya). While there I was appropriately dazzled by the fancy, yet functional cookware and even agreed to host a party of my very own. Seriously, I wanted to buy everything. I limited myself to $20, promising myself that when I threw a party I’d get to buy things at discount, therefore appeasing the prone-to-tantrums inner chief chef (or is that chef chief?).

The only thing I ate while there was a bit of fruit pizza and a couple of crackers smeared with hummus. While it was good, it wasn’t lunch and when I got home from my little event just after 2pm I was starving. Mark had attempted to get Lily to take a nap on the living room couch with him, but when I started rummaging around in the kitchen for sustenance, she decided she needed me. Desperately.

I took her off to her room and plopped her in bed, explained that I needed to go get something to eat and left her there to nap. She was not pleased with this plan. I had just managed to get some leftovers out of the fridge when she started wailing and it was at this moment that Mark handed me the baby and informed me he was going to go take a nap*.

Let’s recap:
Lily screaming in her room.
Anya squirming and demanding full attention.
Elaine so hungry she’s ready to do something evil.
Mark’s gonna take a nap.

It was at this point I thought he just might loose a testicle. The right one. NO! The left! He saw that his future wasn’t looking so bright and tried to take the baby back from me, while Lily continued to scream for him in her room. I actually body blocked him, told him to get out of my face before I did cause him to loose something precious and then… I’m pretty sure my head spun around on my neck, I spewed something icky and I started speaking in tongues.

THIS, dear Internet, is what happens if you mess with me while I’m trying to eat. So hand me the pasta, save the children and walk away, pretty boy; it’s in your own best interest.



*To be fair, the nap would have been with Lily, which would have kept her out of the way while I fed. I was more pissed off because that meant he wouldn’t take Anya with him and I needed just a few moments of peace to get some food in me. He’s not all bad, just tinged around the edges like bread left out too long: fuzzy, not nasty through-and-through.

I’m starting to think she’s a little odd

To be honest, I already thought she was a little odd. It’s just kinda fun to collect photographic proof of her oddness. I love her quirkiness, though. To me, it’s a sign that she is self confident and responsive to the inner creative voice that, while it may be talking smack, pushes her to think of the world as a canvas. Dressing herself is creative expression. Stacking coins is site specific art. Coming from an artistic background, I only see this “craziness” as proof that this child of mine has a strong inner voice.

Lake

We took a trip to the lake today so I could be less of a sloth and the kids could feed the ducks. My camera crapped out after a very short time, but I did catch the following fun shots:

do a favor

Mark taught Lily about favors.
“Lil, will you do me a favor?”
“Sure, Daddy!”
“Would you help me pick up the blocks before bedtime?”
“Yes!”

The other night I was getting Lily ready for bed and after I had read her a book (Go, Dog. Go!) and given kisses, I booked it out of there to get Anya to bed. Mark was on a gig, so I was single parenting bedtime. Just as I was getting Anya down I heard, “Mommy! Mommy!”
“What is it, Lil?”
“ummm…”
“Yes?”
“Do a favor?”
“What do you need, Love?”
Softly and with a tiny giggle, “Wiggle your toes.”

Tonight she asked Mark to flap his arms.

Hey, at least her stall tactics are amusing!

Laughing my ass off

blah blah blah

Driving to knitting last night, I got to thinking about some random thing and suddenly found myself on a whole ‘nother freeway. I was going to take the proper exit but it appears I am unable to use my brain properly since I had kids. But hey! I can knit! I finished project number two in record time and put it into the mail for Krystyn before I bothered to take photos (see? Not thinking!). I’m on my third project now, a silly scarf and hat combo for Lily in a funky pink/red/purple variegated eyelash yarn. I’ve redeemed myself and my love for scarves when my husband pointed out something the locals call June Gloom. Now it’s ok for me to make warm stuff, ‘cause it’ll be randomly cold in the middle of the year! Never been so happy about something with the word “gloom” in it before.

Moving on!

I got to see a fresh baby at knitting though as one of my favorite play group mama’s had her second child, a perfect little girl, just one week before. Mom looked AMAZING and happy and baby made my ovaries hurt, she’s so cute. We chatted and knitted and drank frothy coffee-like drinks and then I got to talk theatre with the café owner, as we had just seen the same play.

See why I haven’t written much lately? Nothing to say. I did get tagged by Sarah for a three’s meme, the little punk. Maybe I’ll do it, maybe I won’t. I’m not committing. Besides, what’s the likelihood that I could make my brain wrap around three of anything? I’m just thankful that Lily is taking a nap.