2.12 or, Happy 3rd Birthday, Miriam!

Dear Miriam,

You turned three years old this month.  You picked out a small cake at the grocery store, and had lots of fun blowing out candles.  Dad and Corbin gave you a another set of dinosaurs, which you love.  It included a person and a woolly mammoth, which I think is totally ridiculous, given the several hundred million years in between us and dinosaurs, but of course you don't care.  Grandma and Grandpa gave you a new t-shirt, which you wanted to wear the next morning.  Grandma and Grandpa Thorne sent you several new books, which you enjoy.

You still don't care about potty training.  Sigh.

It was my birthday this month, too, and Uncle Alex and Aunt Lena came up to celebrate.  It's always nice to see them--that's definitely one of the very best things about living here.  I got some books, which is always great, and new serger machine from everyone in the family.  I'm very excited to try it out.  It has several options which my old machine did not, like 4 thread serging and free-arm serging.  I keep thinking that if you continue in your love of dinosaurs, I'll eventually have to replace the dinosaur dress that Aunt Tabetha gave to you, and then I'll be really glad of the serger.

Speaking of dinosaurs, it seems that brontosaurus exists again, and there are actually three known species of it.  Which is exciting, because now I can feel scientifically valid about buying you things that are labelled "brontosaurus" instead of "apatosaurus."  Science really does make life easier sometimes.

You had the easiest check up of your life.  You didn't have any shots.  You didn't have to do any blood work.  You weigh 25 pounds, and you're short.  You're in the 5th percentile of girls your age for height and weight, which is holding pretty consistent.  Being short doesn't stop you from wanting to climb all over everything, of course.

This was a fun month out in the front yard.  The monarch butterflies discovered our milkweed plants.  We had so many caterpillars that we had to buy more plants.  They start off as tiny and they eat the flowers and buds.  Then they grow bigger and eat the leaves.  Then they get enormous and eat the stems.  So our milkweed plants went from looking pretty and flowery, to looking green and leafy, to looking like little dying stick plants.  Fortunately, they bounced back really well, once the caterpillars had all crawled away.  We managed to spot one chrysalis.  We cut the leaf down and brought it inside.  When it hatched, you got to watch the whole process, until it finally flew away.  Hopefully, we'll be able to watch more monarchs in the future.

It's hard to believe you're already three.  You are becoming more and more vocal about your wishes and thoughts.  You like to disagree with everything we say, no matter what it is.  You are not a biddable child, by any means, but you are fun and sweet and smart and I love you very, very much.

Love,
Mom

 My birthday:

 Monarchs:

Miriam's laundry service:

Your birthday!

You and all your dinos:

6.1 or, Fish Nut

Dear Corbin,

This month, we had this conversation.

You: Can I have a granola bar?
Me: Yes.
You: Sometimes I need help tearing them.  But not this time.
Me: Okay, good to know.
You: Did you just call me fish nut?
Me: ...No, I said, "Good to know," fish nut.  What is a fish nut?
You: It's a fish with a nut up its butt.


We got a report card for you, from Mrs. Hedley.  She seems to think that you love doing school work, which makes me laugh, thinking of all the times that you pout over your homework.  You don't get any grades right now; you get an assessment on whether or not you are on track to meet academic standards by the end of the year.  It's actually very similar to the ways that you were tracked in Montessori, so it makes sense to us, although I gather there has been confusion among other parents who don't know how to interpret it.  Mrs. Hedley thinks that you're doing fine, so that's nice.

You got yet another birthday present this month.  Grandma had told you that she would buy you a scooter when you were ready for one.  You and Miriam and I were out playing one afternoon, and both of you wanted to ride the tricycle.  I suggested that maybe it was time to get you the scooter, and then Miriam could ride the trike.  You thought that was a good plan, so we picked one up at Target that weekend.  It was even on sale--it was good timing.  Dad put it together for you and gave you a strict lecture about always wearing shoes.  Then he tried it without shoes and promptly injured his foot on the break lever.  You have escaped injury so far, thank goodness.

It was mine and Miriam's birthdays this month.  You and Dad bought Miriam another set of dinosaurs, which also came with a volcano (appropriate), a human (inappropriate but understandable), and a woolly mammoth (what?).  She loves them, of course, but we had to expand our dinosaur toy storage to a larger bin.  I got a new serger machine, which is great.  I'm looking forward to having the time to explore all of the options that it has, that my old machine did not.

The interesting thing that happened this month is that our milkweed plants started sprouting monarch caterpillars.  There were so many that they ate our two milkweed plants down to little twigs and then went crawling off around the yard.  So I went to the nursery and bought more milkweed plants.  I had to make sure that I didn't bring home any extra caterpillars with the new plants.  We managed to keep the caterpillars alive, but we only saw one make a chrysalis.  We brought it into the house to keep it safe, and you and Miriam and Grandma got to watch it hatch out and eventually fly away.

This all happened at the same time that they sent home the sign up sheet for science fair projects, so we signed up to do a research project about the life cycle of monarchs.  Low hanging fruit, maybe, but every mad scientist has to start somewhere, right?

I hope that you always find ways to support the nature around you.  Every species on earth has an impact on their environment, but only humans impact the earth globally and on a huge scale.  Just like we can nurture our friends and family, we can nurture our environments, too.  Earth is the only planet we have right now.  We should try to make sure that we all die because of an unavoidable asteroid impact, and not because we just all wanted to take long showers.

Love,
Mom

 

 

2.11 or, Strange Animals

Dear Miriam,

Your three year old molars are growing in, which doesn't seem to bother you at all.  It also has not resulted in you eating any more.  You have a terrible habit of telling us that you want something to eat, and then not eating it.  Keep that up for much longer and your grandparents who grew up poor are  either going to start lecturing you or refusing to serve you.

We went clothes shopping this month, because we had a coupon for Kohl's.  I told you and Corbin that we were not there to buy toys, and then we walked in and their Kohl's Cares toy was the T-Rex from Toy Story.  So, you got yet another dinosaur.  Corbin found a pirate sword on sale for less than the T-Rex, so you both ended up spoiled again.  We managed to find some nice skinny shorts for you in the girl section, and a dinosaur shirt and dinosaur pajamas in the boy section.  I suppose I should warn you that I have no problems shopping in the boy section for you, or the men's section for myself.  I spent a long time wearing boy jeans and I still wear men's shoes.  If you continue with your love of dinosaurs and dragons and things like that, and if you keep being as skinny as you are, you might as well get used to buying whatever clothes you find that fit you, that you like, no matter where in the store you find them.

It was Corbin's birthday this month.  You had fun celebrating with him, playing with the kids, and eating cake and cupcakes.  You wanted to play with all of his presents, of course, but we managed to hold you off until he was ready to share.  You are a typical set of siblings; you always want what the other one has.  I find myself planning on buying things in pairs, just to head off some of the arguing.  There are many times that you play together happily, too, of course.  I hope those times increase as you get older.

One thing you are not very interested in is potty training.  I'm not sure if it's because you don't care yet, or because you don't like being interrupted to go sit on the potty.  I realized the other day that at your age, Corbin had started preschool and was mostly potty trained already.  I joked with Grandma the other day that we should just make you run around outside without diapers on until you get the idea.  But I worry that you'll start begging for treats when you pee in the right spot, like the dogs do.  You spend enough time pretending to be a puppy as it is.

You continue to sing all the time.  Grandpa sings a lot of songs with you.  Sometimes Corbin will sing with you.  You'll sing to yourself while you play.  Once, you were in the car with Grandma and Grandpa, and you were singing away in your car seat.  Neither Grandpa or Grandma could figure out what song it was.  Then you stopped singing and said, "Did you like that song I just made up?"

Your new way to avoid naps and bedtime is to ask for all of your stuffed animals to be in bed with you.  One afternoon, I lined them all around you, and told you it was a stuffed animal nest.  Another afternoon, you piled them all up on one side of the crib and napped on the other side.  Then another day, you piled them all up on one side and laid on top of them.  You're funny with your quilt, too.  When I look in on you in the mornings, you often have your legs sticking out from under your quilt, with the top of your body all covered up.  Sometimes, you have just your neck wrapped up and the rest of the quilt off to the side of you.  You're strange and funny.  Which means you fit right in, in this family.

Love,
Mom

5.12 or, Happy 6th Birthday!

Dear Corbin,

You turned six this month!  We had your check up at the doctor's office.  It started off well--they said you didn't need any booster shots.  Then they crashed the whole thing by doing a blood draw instead. So that was not fun.  They did tell us that you officially weigh 40 pounds, which means you can use the big seat belts in the car, with your car seat, instead of the car seat harness.  You like that very much, because you can lean around in your seat now, and put the windows up and down, and pick things up that are next to your seat.  So now you feel like a big kid.

It was Valentine's Day this month, of course.  This year, that meant a million Valentines and candies from school, and some martial arts.  The MA school that Evan goes to hosted a kid's party, and you went as Evan's guest.  You got to do obstacle courses, and kick things, and eat pizza, and watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (which, let me tell you, is nowhere near as good as TMNT 1, and now derives most of its entertainment value from the hair styles featured).

We went to Carter's birthday party, which was fun.  It was very nice to see them again, and you had a good time.  The party was an indoor playground with all kinds of inflatable bouncy things to play on.  Then of course there was pizza and cake.  It was all very loud, and gave me a headache, but you and Miriam got to have balloons, so you both thought it was fabulous.

You had two birthday parties, one for friends and one for family.  On Saturday the 21st, we baked cupcakes and decorated them.  Then Evan and Lili, and Carter, and Thalia came over.  We walked down to the park and played for a while.  Then we came back to the house and had cupcakes, and healthy snacks, too.  You all played for a long time, which was lots of fun.

On Sunday the 22nd, your actual birthday, we hosted Uncle Alex and Aunt Lena, and Cousin Sue and her husband Bruce.  We baked a whole second cake, and you got to open presents from people.  It was very nice.  You got lots of books, a cool Transformer, and an RC car.  Your birthday actually went on for weeks, because you got your last birthday present from Aunt Tabetha around my birthday, which was funny.

What are you like, now that you're six?  Some things haven't changed: you still like to draw, you still like dragons, you still like to attack anything that you can imagine is a bad guy, you still pick inappropriate times to demonstrate your affection (like trying to kiss me a million times while I'm trying to eat).  You're getting better at games, now, although I still say, "Look at the whole board," a lot.  You still like to play video games, and you still get frustrated when I make you stop and either do something else or get ready for bed.

Your biggest challenge right now is learning how to stay cool, and take yourself out of a situation.  You haven't gotten the idea yet that your input is not always necessary, and that arguing does not always help the situation.  I know it's hard: it takes patience and the willingness to feel like you didn't win.  And I know it's really hard right now when you're young, and you feel like you lose the argument all the time.  But I hope that as you grow into a man who does get to win, you also grow into the knowledge that there are things that are more important than winning an argument.  It's easy to win the battle, and lose the war.  Look at the whole board.

Love,
Mom


At the martial arts party:

We made a pirate ship:

Fun with Carter on your birthday:

Birthday cupcakes!

Cousin Sue and Bruce here for dinner:

You're six!

The Second Honeymoon

Our 10th wedding anniversary was in October, 2014.  We decided to celebrate with a trip up the coast to Humboldt Redwood State Park.

You should go there.  It's very awesome.  Here are some photos, which will give you a very small idea of just how amazing it is.


The view out our hotel window, at the Historic Benbow Inn:

Driving in the cloud layer:

Note the trucks for scale:

Big trees:

I'm in this picture.

 

2.10 or, Have T-Rex, Will Travel

Dear Miriam,

Aunt Alice and Aunt Cele came for a visit, which I think was more lovely for us than for them, since they were coming from snowy Michigan and then it rained almost the whole time they were here.  They did take you for a couple of walks around the neighborhood.  Once they found a neighbor giving away plants, so you all brought home a bunch of succulents for the backyard.  They also brought some Christmas presents, so we got to have a third Christmas.  Aunt Alice gave Corbin a little monster that makes funny noises, which you promptly adopted as yours instead.  She said, "I didn't know she liked monsters!" which we thought was funny.

You got new car seats this month, not because you hit any growth milestone but because we got sick of switching the seats out of the big van.  They have built in cup holders, which you like to prop your feet in.  Unless there is music playing, in which case you'll often tell me, "My feet are dancing!" as you kick them in the air.

You became part of a clinical trial this month, for a researcher here at my work.  They needed blood samples from healthy children to help develop a test for appendicitis.  I had to convince Corbin, but I just signed you up without asking you, which wasn't very democratic of me, I suppose.  It was twice as traumatic for you: they had to try on both arms because you're so skinny.  But the second one worked, and you got your reward, a $25 gift card.  I thought you would have to share one with Corbin, but instead you got your own.  So the next Saturday, we went to the toy store, and you got to pick out a toy to buy.  You actually got two, but you stayed within your budget.  You found a little plush dragon toy, and then you found a huge T-Rex that you love.  It's become the Mommy T-Rex to your other dinosaurs.  You even brought her with you to Target the other day.

You actually had two doctor visits this month, because you came down with roseola virus.  Corbin had the same thing, when he was younger, but we took you in anyway.  It was funny, actually, because we found our pediatrician again.  We had seen her in Torrance, and then she moved to a Long Beach clinic location, and now we're in Long Beach, too.  It was a nice discovery when I saw her name pop up on their website.  She was happy to see us, too, and happy to tell me that you were perfectly healthy and didn't need any medication.  Roseola goes away on its own, so you spent most of a week being kind of lethargic and not sleeping well, and then you were fine.

You and I went to the hardware store one Saturday and bought almost everything on our list, including two fruit trees.  We had gone to dinner at a neighbor's house, Dave and Elena.  Their daughter, Thalia, is six and in Kindergarten at Los Cerritos.  They sent us home with a couple of lemons from their lemon tree, and Dad decided that we should have some fruit trees, too.  So you helped me choose a lemon tree and an orange tree, and some planters which will eventually have milkweed in them.  We had to replant some of the backyard to make space for the new trees, but I think they'll work out nicely.  And hopefully we'll have some fruit in the future.

Dad and I took little second honeymoon trip this month.  We drove up to the Humboldt Redwood State Park and did some hiking in the redwood forests.  It was great--it was nice to be in nature and smell the woods and spend some time away.  You didn't seem to miss us as much as Corbin did; at least you wanted to talk to us on the phone.  Your bedtime routine suffered a little bit, since Grandpa isn't as strict as I am about making you fall asleep without someone else in your room.  But otherwise, you seemed to survive our absence just fine.  When you're older, we're definitely going to take you up there.  It's an amazing part of the country, and a unique part of the world.  The world has been changed by human activity for a very, very long time.  It's valuable to have a view of somewhere that those changes have been held at bay.  When you have been in a truly old forest, you have a much better understanding of why "the forest" was such a different concept for people thousands of years ago.  But mostly it's just good to get out of the city, and out of the office.  Although, if you keep on with this love of dinosaurs, your "office" will probably be some dig in Patagonia, and your vacations will be to big cities, instead.  As long as one of those cities is where Dad and I live, I'll be okay with that.

Love,
Mom

5.11 or, Blood for Dragons

Dear Corbin,

Aunt Cele and Aunt Alice came to visit.  It's always wonderful to have them here to spend time with us.  You love having some extra adults to play with you.  During a walk around the neighborhood, they found one of our neighbors giving away succulent plants, so you did some gardening to plant those in our yard.  Aunt Alice showed you new games on her phone and tablet.  They also brought Christmas presents, so we got to have a third Christmas.  Hopefully we'll make it to Michigan again this year.  It would be lovely to see my cousins and their kids, too.

You participated in a clinical trial this month.  One of the researchers at my work is developing a blood test for appendicitis, and needed healthy kids to give blood to get a baseline for the test.  We talked about how it would help sick people, versus it would hurt to get blood drawn, but that you'd get a reward, too.  You waffled back and forth, even after you were in the clinic, but then you decided that you wanted to go ahead and do it.  One of the nurses let you watch a video on her phone, but when they stuck the needle in your arm, you yelled!  Then you held very still and just cried a little until they were done.  And then you got your very own reward, a $25 gift card, which surprised me.  I thought you would share one with Miriam.  So the next weekend, we went to the toy store and you picked out a toy to buy with your reward money.  First, you wanted a little dragon toy that made noise and shot arrows.  But then you found the giant dragon toy, almost as tall as you are, and that's what you ended up buying.  Giant Dragon went to school with you the next Monday, and he's been known to be a little startling in the dark when I'm walking past the living room at night.

Night time has become a little sad for you lately, because you want company all night.  One night we had this conversation.
You: "I want someone to sleep with me."
Me: "Do you want Velveteen Rabbit?"
You: "No. I want a girl to sleep with me all night in my bed.  Like you or Grandma."
Me:  "When you're older and have a big bed, then maybe a girl will sleep with you in your bed."
You:  "Grandma and Grandpa get to sleep in the same bed.  You and Dad get to sleep in the same bed.  Nobody sleeps with me in my bed."

So you and Grandma came up with the plan that when Miriam is older, we'll get you bunk beds.  You can sleep in the top bunk and have company all night.  I have tried to point out that sometimes it's nice to be able to sleep alone, but so far you're not buying it.

Dad and I went on a little second honeymoon in the middle of the month.  We drove up to Humboldt Redwood State Park and did two days of hiking in the redwoods.  It was lovely to see that part of the country, and to be in nature, and to have some time off.  You were very disappointed that we didn't take you with us, of course.  When you get a little older, we'll definitely go back, but you'll need to be able to handle walking for at least an hour at a time.  It's amazing to see the old growth forests, though, and I want you to be able to experience that.  I think it's valuable for lots of reasons.  In Europe, you can experience human history going back thousands of years.  In the redwoods, you experience Earth history that goes back thousands of years, and you gain an understanding of why "the forest" was such an intimidating concept for Europeans in the Middle Ages and earlier.

We had a parent teacher conference with Mrs. Hedley this month.  You had not been in her class for long enough to get a regular report card, but she wanted to update us on your progress.  You are doing quite well, by all her measures.  Your school behavior is good, and she doesn't have any worries about your academics, so that was all very nice to hear.  You still don't like doing homework, but we've switched to doing it in the mornings, and that's seemed to make it flow much better.  Dad was saying that he wishes he were able to do it with you, because he feels like he's not very involved with your schooling.  I think you'll have more fun doing other projects with him, instead of homework, but we'll see what happens as you get into higher grades.  Right now, it's just nice to know that you're doing well.

Earlier in the month, we had dinner at a neighbor's house.  Dave and Elena have a daughter, Thalia, who is also in kindergarten.  They live about three houses down from us.  It was nice to get to know them.  They sent us home with some lemons from their lemon tree, and Dad decided that we should have some fruit trees, too.  So Miriam and I bought a lemon tree and an orange tree on Saturday, and we spent time moving some plants around and planting the trees.  Then you had fun watering them all.  So now we'll hopefully have some fruit in the future.  Which will be great for avoiding scurvy during the zombie apocalypse.

Love,
Mom

2.9 or, We Three Dinosaurs

Dear Miriam,

You had a lovely Christmas season, if the constant singing of Christmas carols was any indication.  The day after Thanksgiving, you started watching the Mickey Christmas special on VHS, and it was all Christmas, all the time, from there on out.  You sang Christmas carols constantly.  If you didn't know the words, you hummed loudly.  You sang them two at a time, singing the lyrics of Jingle Bells to the tune of Deck the Halls.  You were in full Festive Music Mode.  It was adorable.

Corbin had an after-school holiday craft fair on a Friday afternoon, from which we brought back a candy cane.  We were supposed to decorate it as a mouse, but you both just wanted to eat it.  So I opened it up, but when I tried to break off a piece, it shattered all over the kitchen floor.  You each had a tiny little bite, but it was clearly unsatisfactory.  The next morning, your very first words to me were, "Let's go to the store and buy candy canes!"  Which we did, and you were very happy.

Then the next morning, you very first words to me were, "I want to eat a candy cane!"

Grandma got out all of the Christmas story books, and they all ended up in your room.  So your bedtime reading for the month was The Night Before Christmas, and The Twelve Days of Christmas, and The Sweet Smells of Christmas.  Thank goodness for The Biggest Snowball, which had no mention of Christmas whatsoever.

We managed to some regular decorating before our holiday decorating.  We hung pictures in the living room, and in your room, and in Corbin's room.  You now have on your walls: a Michael Parkes poster; a print of Winged Figure, by Abbot Handerson Thayer; and a painting of Einstein, painted by your Aunt Erin.

Then Grandma started getting out the Christmas decorations.  You and Corbin helped, which is how we ended up with dinosaurs at the stable with Mary and Joseph.  You helped put lights up on the front porch, and of course you helped decorate the Christmas tree.  First you helped by hanging a million ornaments on only one branch.  Then you helped by taking the ornaments off of the tree just to watch Corbin get frustrated at your clear violation of Christmas Tree Decoration Procedures.

Christmas Eve was not what we'd hoped.  I got home from work a little early and we went to a Mass that was supposed to be the Family Mass.  Grandma had gone to a couple of Sunday Masses, and we thought it would be okay.  It ended up being the longest, strangest, most boring Christmas Mass I've ever been to.  After over an hour of children's pageant, Jerry Lee Lewis style renditions of Rudolph and Frosty, and a reading of the Begats (Honestly, the Begats! On Christmas! The most boring readings in the entire New Testament! Crazy!), we just left.  Dad and I had already taken you and Corbin outside, where we discovered most of the other families had gone because the Mass was taking so long, and Grandma decided that she didn't even care about Communion any more.  So we just went home and put you to bed.

Christmas Day was lots of fun.  We opened presents, of course.  You're still don't quite get unwrapping presents, but one we got some unwrapped for you, you enjoyed things.  It was a very dragony Christmas.  You got a dragon ornament from Grandma, and a dragon with a warrior woman rider from me and Dad.  You got a dinosaur puzzle from Santa, and lots of books and movies from the Thornes and Spencers.  Grandma Thorne sent a card with snowman stickers, and you thought that was a lot of fun.  You also got a beautiful doll from Aunt Lena.  She sewed the face and did the hair, and Maria made two outfits for her.  You like to make me change her clothes, and she sleeps in the doll bed that my Aunt Annie made for my doll, when I was little.

We finally got some rain, too, which was a lovely gift.  We lined up all of our buckets under the patio roof, and collected a barrel full of rain water.  It was supposed to get used on the plants, of course, but for the couple of weeks before we got a dedicated barrel, you had a lot of fun playing in it.  Every time we saw you going out into the backyard, we knew it was only a matter of time before you came in with your sleeves and pants cuffs dripping wet.  At least it's easier to dry t-shirts than snow pants.

Love,
Mom

Water collection:

Christmas Decorations, Miriam Style:

Opening presents: