Saturday, June 07, 2014

2.2 or, M

Dear Miriam,

You spent this month getting ready for your big camping trip by not eating.  I'm not sure if you've got some molars coming in and causing trouble, or if you're just on some kind of non-growth-spurt timing.  You existed this month on blueberries, peanut butter toast, and every now and then you'd eat a giant plate of whatever we were having for dinner.  That was always a pleasant surprise.  The strangest part was that you seemed to get heavier throughout the month.  Perhaps your body has discovered some kind of mutant way to get calories from watching Pooh videos.

You still love Pooh a lot.  I moved the Pooh story books from Corbin's room into your room, and now you like to read those at night.  The next time we move, it might be time to box up all the board books, now that you're getting into the longer picture books.  It will be hard to give those away.  Your clothes are easy for me to go through, and get rid of what you've outgrown.  But it's hard to imagine that we've outgrown Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs or Goodnight Gorilla.  I did realize that you don't have any of the non-fiction books in your room that Corbin does, so we might have to find you some.  I would just put the Charlie Brown encyclopedias in your room, but Grandma said she would rather have ones that were more fun.  We'll see what we can find.

Your hair has grown long enough that you've started shoving it out of your eyes.  So we started making you wear barrettes or bobby pins. Sometimes you leave them in very nicely, and sometimes we end up with them in our pockets.  I'm looking forward to when it's long enough to do pony tails.  It's still curly, so I think you'll look awfully cute.

We spent Mother's Day weekend up at Lake Arrowhead.  My work had put together a small conference, and I got offered a spot when someone had to cancel.  I didn't actually do any work; we spent our time playing at the lake shore and swimming in the pool.  You didn't have your swimming suit on when we walked down to the lake, but that didn't stop you (or Corbin) from wading in.  You weren't too wet, until you lost your balance and sat down.  Then we had to send Dad back to the room to get towels and dry clothes.  We did put your suit on before we went to the pool, of course.  You had fun jumping off of the steps in your swim ring and making me float you back over so you could do it again.  After a while, we got cold and went to sit in the hot tub.  I let you sit on the very top step, just to get you warmed up.  When I made you get out and go back to the room for a nap, you were not at all pleased.  I think you convinced several college students to never have children.  The worst part of the weekend was when you got car sick coming down the twisty mountain roads.  I made the mistake of letting you have a drink of juice, and then had to clean it all off your car seat.  I told your dad it was one more reason I didn't want to live on a mountain.

It was Grandma's birthday this month, so we got to open presents and have cake.  After our birthdays last month, you went around telling everyone Happy Birthday! all the time.  You still seem a little confused about the whole blowing out candles thing, too.  Then Corbin tried to show you how to lick the frosting off the bottom of the candle, but you ended up taking a bite of the wax instead.  That did not impress you, but you were happy when you got your piece of cake.

Having your portraits taken again also did not impress you.  Dad and I decided that next time, we're just going to put you in a Cure t-shirt.  Now go look up The Cure.  You're welcome.

Love,
Mom






Self portrait with Mom:


Muddy girl:


You told me, "I'm ice skating on the fly swatters!"


Right before you took a bite of the candle:


Checking out the RV before our test drive:


Packing up to go:


Off to adventure!


5.3 or, (Pre)School's Out Forever


Dear Corbin,

May was your last month of preschool...ever!  For your whole life!  You're registered for Kindergarten!  You're going to be in real school!  Exclamation point!

I keep trying not to be the parent who always writes things like: I can't believe you're already that old, it seems like yesterday you were a little baby, how did the time go so fast?  But then we hit something that makes me feel that way so strongly that it's almost impossible not to type one of those sentences.

I think it might have been more important to you that preschool is over if you hadn't left the next morning to go camping for a month in the new RV.  I was not at all surprised when your grandparents Lam bought an RV.  I had wondered, when they sold their camper before moving to CA, if they would regret that decision.  I had wondered if my father would actually be able to stomach paying money to rent an RV for the trip.  Between those two things, the fact that they bought one was practically a foregone conclusion.  So they spent the month getting the new RV outfitted and making camping reservations at their intended stopping points along the route to Madison.  You thought the test drive that we took in it was pretty fun, except for the fact that we wouldn't let you ride on the top bunk.

The four of us took a little weekend trip up to Lake Arrowhead over Mother's Day weekend.  My work had organized a conference for some of the researchers, and I got offered a spot after someone cancelled.  It was a nice place to visit.  The drive there was long and full of traffic, and then drive back started out with Miriam getting car sick because of the mountain roads, but we had a fun time playing on the lake shore and swimming in the pool.  It's still very strange to drive for 4 hours and only be 100 miles away, and still in the same state.

It was Grandma's birthday at the end of the month.  You and I had picked up a gluten free cake mix at the grocery store, so we baked a little cake.  I did the frosting and you did the sprinkles and put the candles on.  We gave her a garden flag with Lake Michigan lighthouses on it, and a set of little bunny garden statues.  Hopefully we'll find a new house soon and be able to decorate a new yard.

We accepted an offer on the Minneapolis house.  Hopefully all the inspections will go well and we'll be able to sell it.  It would be a relief to have the financial burden gone, and to feel like we can really move forward when we find a new place that we like.  I'm trying hard to think optimistically, and be patient with the looking.  So far, I'm distracting myself by getting your portraits taken and buying more books.  A new book can solve almost every problem.

Love,
Mom






Checking out the RV before our test drive:


Grandma's birthday is so exciting!


Packing up to leave:


Ready for adventure!