New ambitions

Saturday we went to the Sheep Shearing festival at Kelsey Creek Farm, which is a farm about 20 minutes from here. It's in what used to be a real dairy farm and is now a park with trails and a playground. The farm is fun to visit at any time, since it has all kinds of great farm animals that you can go look at, but for Sheep Shearing, it's especially awesome.

This was our first visit to Sheep Shearing, and it was the two girls and me, since Michael was doing tons of chores at the old house. The girls are getting very bored of tons of chores at the old house, since that's something I've been doing with them at least once a week -- sometimes far more -- lately. So we chose something a bit more fun.

We spent most of our time there watching the sheep herding demonstrations. They were done by Border Collies and their owners. It was fascinating for all of us, especially since there was a roped-off, but not fenced-off area for the sheep. Most of the time they stayed inside the ropes, but a couple of times they ventured out into the watching crowd. One time, they came out quite near where we were and stood in front of us, waiting to decide what to do. We had gotten up and I had picked up Naomi, and she said, "I want to pet the sheep." Umm, not great timing. The sheep did eventually go back into the roped-off area and get gathered up appropriately.

Hannah was completely impressed with the herding demonstrations. She also really liked watching a sheep get sheared. (I have to admit, I was impressed by the sheep. The guy shearing it was holding it on its back on the ground, rotating it around, etc, to get the wool off, and it didn't struggle at all. Shoot, I have more trouble washing my kids' hair in the tub than he had with that sheep!) As we were departing the sheep shearing, Hannah disclosed her new life's ambition: "Mom, when I'm grown up, I'm going to marry a farmer so that we can have sheep and sheep herding dogs."

New fun

We've moved into the new house now, although there are boxes everywhere, as well as furniture that hasn't been correctly placed (the queen-sized mattress and box spring leaning against the wall in the living room is one example), and so many things to put away where they belong that I don't have any fear of being bored by lack of things to do any time in the next...well, 100 years or so.

Okay, so it's not going to take 100 years. We're having couples over tonight, though, and we still have a queen-sized...yeah, I already mentioned that.

Hannah and Naomi are settling in well. They're sleeping well, eating well, playing well, and jumping well. The new staircase affords great jumping opportunities. Unfortunately, Mom is a kill-joy, and (as I'm right now calling out to them) will only let them jump from the bottom step. However, this is a game that has myriad variations. You can jump together or separately, you can jump one first and then the other first, you can throw your baby down and jump after him or her (I, personally, will not be joining any of these games, least of all *that* particular one!), you can take turns wherein the person taking the turn gets a certain number of jumps, then you switch. It's all very exciting and new. And good exercise on a rainy afternoon, might I add.

More reading

Hannah has recently begun copying down books. She chooses a book she likes and writes it out on paper, either in a notebook or on random pieces of paper that she finds. It has the interesting effect of her putting the words of the story (which she's memorized) together with the words on the page, so she's beginning to do some more reading. She doesn't realize or admit that's what she's doing, but she'll say things like, "Mom, 'ch' makes a ch sound, like in Chester," or, "T-H-E spells the," or "This part says, please go now."

A fix

When you take your little book junkies to the library, you must expect to spend the rest of the day helping them get their fix of new books. That's all they want -- books.

What we're up to this morning

Hannah and Naomi are busily reenacting the ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream that Hannah and I saw yesterday. Much to Naomi's chagrin, she didn't get to go. However, NOW she gets to be a little fairy in the Bernstein Home Production, which is arguably much better than having to sit through the whole thing when you're two.

Hannah, surprise surprise, gets to be the fairy queen Titania. She told Naomi she was putting on her crown, so Naomi wants a crown, too.

The only fly in this ointment is that Hannah wants to have the lights off, and Naomi doesn't like having the lights off, so we're currently trying to work out a compromise.

Moving

Well, yesterday's high was near 80 degrees, so boy were Michael and I happy that someone *else* was moving our stuff. All afternoon we sat outside the new house (or picked dandelions, or chased children -- all outside) and directed the moving traffic. It was beautiful, and the girls enjoyed their first barefoot runs through the grass on the back lawn of the new house. The cherry trees there are beginning to bloom, too...The gardening bug is returning with a vengeance to both Michael and I.

We're still sleeping for a few nights at the old house as the finishing touches get put on the stairs, but we're very close to done. The next few days will be chores, packing the kitchen, and sundry errands so that we're moved in soon. We're looking forward to more spring days like that!

Today, of course, was chilly and rainy again, but since we'd planned inside days, it wasn't a big deal. Hannah and I went to see the ballet this afternoon (Midsummer Night's Dream), and Naomi and Michael had time together. We're hoping for an early bedtime, since yesterday's exertions were somewhat wearing on the whole crew!

The movers are here

and causing quite a bit of excitement. They're actually moving most of the stuff today, but we'll be staying at the old house for 2-3 more nights since the stairs are still getting varnished and painted. And boy, does that stuff STINK!

However, we're all very pleased at the prospect of actually doing this thing -- moving out! Especially since it's an absolutely gorgeous spring day here and we've been able to be out in the garden for a lot of the morning. Last Saturday it was raining, so we feel very much blessed.

Reading

Happily for Michael and I, who are both very much addicted to reading (in a good way, if one can be addicted in a good way), both Hannah and Naomi love to have us read to them.

Hannah has recently begun trying to figure out how to read, too. She doesn't have a lot of confidence in herself, although she does sound words out quite well if she doesn't get impatient. The other day at the vitamin store, she said, "Rhino Calciums."

"Hey, Hannah, you read that!" I said.

"No, I didn't sound it out or anything," she replied, apparently convinced that a lot of struggle is necessary for reading. I explained that knowing what something says, even if you don't sound it out, is what reading is.

Naomi has begun reading some of her favorite books to some of her favorite stuffed animals. She does a pretty good job, too, especially with the books that we read over and over to her, of course. It's pretty cute to see her sitting with her animal either next to her or in her lap, paging through a book and "reading" it. I did explain this morning, as she read to her rabbit in bed, that she might read a bit better without her pacifier in her mouth. Which she took in good part, removing the pacifier for the duration of the book.

Let's pretend

Hannah often has us "being" other people or animals, so she often starts with, "Let's pretend..." and there follows a description of who each person will be in the pretend world, and often a description of the time of year (it's usually right before Christmas) and the things we'll need to do.

One of today's pretends was a bit different. "Let's pretend jelly beans are good for us!"

The right uniform for the right job

Michael got home from karate just a while ago. Then Naomi started fussing. So he headed in to put her back to sleep...in his gi. Complete with his orange belt.

Count her in

Naomi has recently become very interested in always being included. When I'm listing any group of people who might be involved in any activity, her constant refrain is, "MIMI TOO!!!" Hannah didn't go through this particular phase, but I suspect it's a younger sibling thing, since Hannah gets to do all sorts of fun things that Naomi's not big enough to do. Hannah never had that sort of comparison going on.

The problem is that she not only vocally express her interest in joining activities but she also physically expresses her interest in joining activities. She is often successful, but she has enough spills that her parents are kept on their toes. I'm sure this is pretty normal younger sibling behavior, and explains where gray hairs come from.

Helping in the kitchen

is a favorite pastime of both Hannah and Naomi. They want to stand on chairs or stools or any surface that gets them face-to-face with the food (younger members of the help party fall *off* said surfaces every so often) and help! Yesterday they had a ball because Michael made biscuits for breakfast, chocolate chip scones for tea, and chicken for dinner. He tried to encourage them to come see me (reading in the living room) while he was making the chicken: "Hey girls, don't you want Mama to read to you?!?!?!?!"

His enthusiasm was not fooling anyone. He was cooking and they were going to help. Normally Michael loves the help, but with raw chicken, it's not so fun to have extra hands involved. He remembered the hand-in-the-herb-paste-on-the-raw-lamb incident from Easter and was hoping that the girls would be lured away by the 10 books that haven't yet been packed. Nothing doing.

Happily, nobody extra got chickeny hands yesterday, and they got to help Dada with a whole bunch of cooking and baking. This sort of kitchen help wins out over pretty much any other activity...so far. Once it gets nice enough to go outside, we'll have to see who wins.

Pathetic or easily pleased?

A few weeks ago, I "discovered" -- via the vacuum cleaner -- that someone who shall remain nameless put some whole crayons under the guest room bed. (No, it wasn't Michael.) The vacuum cleaner did not appreciate making this discovery, and my trusty sidekick went on partial strike. Oh, some of the stuff would come off the floor, sure, but it wasn't the usual spanking clean look that I've come to expect from my vacuum.

I've been dreading the fix process. But we're moving, and a whole lot of vacuuming has to be done during the move, and I wasn't going to do it with my poor limping vacuum cleaner. So I took it in this morning, and the guy fixed it in 15 minutes for $20.

WHAT was that?!? I couldn't believe how easy it was. I came home right away and began vacuuming. I didn't finish the whole house -- the girls wanted lunch -- but I'm going to do the rest of it after naps. And I like to think that I'm easily pleased that a quick fix to my vacuum can make my day like that. But others may have different opinions. :)

Mimi

is what Naomi has called herself for a long time. Of course, it's what we call her a lot of the time, too. We do call her Naomi, though, so she knows it's her name, but this week is the first time we've heard her refer to herself as Naomi.

Bird identification

We put a birdfeeder up outside our kitchen window a couple years ago. We have several different types of seed or suet out so that we attract a variety of birds. When the next-door neighbor's cat (an outdoor cat who regularly patrolled our yard) died around the same time, we noticed a great increase in bird visitors. It's fascinating for all of us.

I especially like the woodpeckers. We see several different kinds, and I have to say, they're gorgeous. The girls especially like the junkos and the chickadees, which they can both identify.

We have a particular song sparrow who seems to know when we're having breakfast, because he (or she, I guess -- hard to tell!) comes to sit on the tree outside our window and sing away as we eat. I began saying, when I saw him, "There's our friend the song sparrow!" Hannah has taken up the refrain.

We don't particularly appreciate, though, the starlings. They're nonnative and take nesting boxes and areas that the native birds need. Besides that, they're ugly and eat tons of suet. Hannah recently saw one on our suet feeder and said, "There's our pest, the starling!"

Well on the way

Hannah is becoming a book junkie. She loves books. Both Michael and I are the same way, so it's not terribly surprising. I'm pleased that she likes reading so much (although she's not actually reading to herself just yet), and glad she's enjoying a bunch of the books that I loved growing up. Michael's getting to read some of them, too, since he reads to her before bed. They're working their way through Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, and both of them are really into them. It's hard to say who's more interested in what will happen next.

Quiet time is made very easy by Hannah's love of books. We get books on tape from the library or loaned to us from friends and Hannah is allowed to listen to one tape of approximately one hour each quiet time. She'll listen to the same book over and over before we have to return it. Currently, she's reading The Borrowers Afield, by Mary Norton, the second in the series. She's always very pleased when a book she especially likes has sequels. This is her first time through this particular book, though, and I notice that quiet time pop outs are much decreased when she's on her first or second time through a book.

Our home used to be populated with Hannah's imaginary friends from her books. Then she began to think that perhaps too many of her imaginary friends were trying to live in our house, so they started to build houses nearby. However, their houses are *under* the street, since there's not enough room for them above ground, and people would be bumping into them all the time, since they didn't know that the imaginary houses were there. There's quite a neighborhood.

Apparently, these friends are moving to our new neighborhood, too. They're moving this week, since they're actually picking up their houses and taking them down to the new place. I imagine this takes even longer than packing and moving just the stuff inside the house, but I am glad to hear that Hannah's imaginary friends will be around to entertain and delight us all when we move.

Humility is also

finding out the day after you send the email announcing your move *this* Saturday that your stairs won't be done this week after all, due to several unforeseen and unavoidable problems (like severe back injuries and layoffs in the team doing the work), and that you're going to have to change the move to the *following* weekend.

It's all right, though, I'm sure it will work out for the best. Much better to have a finished staircase with a move...

Humility is

someone coming to view your house when you started packing last weekend. Technically, the listing is suspended, but we decided to let these nice people, whose realtor asked our realtor so politely, to see the house. After 8 weeks of keeping it absolutely spotless for numerous viewings, I was somewhat horrified at the condition in which this viewer would see it. At least it wasn't dirty, just boxes and stacks of things around...

I suppose I should just be glad it wasn't an April Fool's joke.

I must admit, I will be very glad when we move so that I don't have to be on the front lines of home viewing any more. And I think Hannah feels the same way. The other day, she said to me,"I'll be glad when we move so we don't have to clean everything so much before we go anywhere."