She's a busy girl

Recently, Naomi has taken to using a stock answer that she's heard other people use. I'll give you a couple examples:

Mama: Naomi, would you like to listen to this CD?
Naomi: No.
Mama: Why not?
Naomi: I'm busy.

OR:

Mama: Naomi, why don't you want to eat this?
Naomi: I'm busy.

Umm, yeah, busy avoiding eating the rest of your lunch! "I'm busy," is now her answer for any "Why not?" question. It can be terribly amusing, especially since two-year-olds have so many pressing responsibilities.

Still quite warm

The warm Seattle days continue, although today is only supposed to be in the mid-80s, apparently, instead of the low 90s. Fine with us. Poor Michael got to work today to discover that, after the weekend of being off, the AC in his building wasn't coming back on. So he spent at least the first 2 hours of work in a 90-degree office. Sweating, of course. I advised him to come back home, but he had just received an email that the AC was on again, so he was hoping it would cool down.

We're enjoying our porch on days like today. There's a nice breeze out there and the sun is shining on the back and side of the house for the morning and much of the day. The girls spent a fair amount of time out there, swinging, playing, eating lunch, and having a good time. We're still thinking of going to the lake this afternoon, since it's a good opportunity for everyone to get cool.

It's a bit warm

Today was in the high 80s and low 90s in Seattle. That was pretty warm. We took the opportunity to head over to Matthew's Beach, a beach on Lake Washington that the girls and I have gone to a couple of times in the past week, usually on weekday afternoons. Of course, today was a hot, sunny Saturday, so the place was packed. Naomi, seated in the back, was obviously struck by the difference in number of people from the other times we'd been there: "Oh my gosh," she said from her car seat as we pulled into the parking lot, "look at all the people!"

Hannah LOVES the beach. Today she was in the water up to her chin, jumping over the wavelets that came in. We did have to insist that she get out when her lips turned blue -- 90 degrees or not outside, Lake Washington doesn't get very warm this early in the summer. However, she and Naomi had a very fun time working on sand castles after their time in the water. Naomi really likes the beach, once she gets past the noise. The other people (especially kids) yelling and the waves coming in are overwhelming for her, but once she settled down she enjoyed herself thoroughly.

We're glad it's a 10 minute drive away, especially on days like today.

Weddings

The flower girl dresses have arrived! There is great excitement about them. They look darling in them and are both most impressed that they look like brides in them.

Also, the shower last night involved rose petals, so today we're doing flower girl practice. The girls are putting the petals in their Easter baskets and practicing walking around, scattering rose petals wherever they go. Of course, then they have to pick them all back up again so they can do it again.

Ballet class

Hannah is conducting a ballet class consisting of herself and Naomi. She's paging through a library book we got ("I go to Ballet Class" or something like that) and having both of them imitate the pictures. I really can't begin to tell you just how cute those two are as they do their class. Some of us are a bit more graceful than others, and some of us do little galloping circles instead of following the teacher's instructions to "turn on the tips of your toes!"

Camping Stories

Two other fathers and I took our kids camping this weekend. Here's a quick assortment of camping stories. Hannah and I had a great time, as did the other dads and kids.

On Friday afternoon, Hannah and I drove up to the area where the campsite was, and did a nearby hike. There were several creeks and footbridges. There were some bugs, too. At one point, I muttered, "Go away, mosquitoes - I'm not your lunch." Hannah thought this was hilarious, and every meal had variations: "Go away, bugs, I'm not your breakfast!" "Go away, bugs, I'm not your dinner!" Hannah was very impressed with s'mores, and had several. When she was almost done, she said, "I think I need just ... ummm ... three more." Who can blame her?

She was my big helper on this trip: she helped me put the rain fly on the tent and take it off, carried tools here and there, carried her luggage from the van to the camp, watched the roasting s'mores, and generally did whatever I asked her to do. She was very proud of herself, especially when she helped take down part of our tent on the last day without my even asking.

We went for a late evening hike on Saturday night. Hannah saw a big black slug, coming out for the evening ... and then another, and then another. "This place is awash in slugs!", she says. This was pretty much true. Later that night, I was trying to climb into the tent oh-so-quietly, and I reached down to slip off my show and put my hand right on a slug. Yuck! I almost yelled, and then dropped the slug. I had to hunt for it with a flashlight and then send it flying out of the tent.

Hannah and I went to a Junior Ranger talk, and she can now name the five kinds of Pacific Salmon. She asked lots of questions, too, and has added Junior Ranger to her list of things that she wants to be when she grows up. I think this may have been the highlight of her trip. We played a lifecycle game, where everyone was assigned a card as part of the salmon lifecycle: salmon, or predator, or body of water, etc. My brother-in-law was assigned "Fry", a tiny stage of life for salmon. I was assigned "Great Blue Heron": the major predator for Fry. Excellent ... nothing like having your brother-in-law as your key prey.

There's more, of course, but that will do for now.

Camping

Hannah and Michael went camping over the weekend -- two nights this year, instead of just one! Very exciting. Happily, the weather was good most of the weekend, and the few sprinkles happened when they were in the woods, so they didn't really get wet. They have lots of exciting stories of their weekend, and Hannah came home and taught us the 5 kinds of Pacific salmon (learned at a ranger talk): Chum, Sockeye, King, Silver, and Pink.

Naomi and I fended for ourselves. This meant that we went to the beach on Friday (it was 87 degrees!), and Naomi very much enjoyed that. We spent the day profitably visiting a certain aunt and similarly-aged cousin of Naomi's Saturday, as well as going to Mass and the parish appreciation dinner Saturday evening. We woke up late on Sunday and went out to breakfast, then to lunch with said aunt and cousin, and Hannah and Michael were home just after lunchtime.

Hannah keeps hinting that maybe I should go next time. "Tell me about when you went camping, Mama." "Did you like car camping, Mama?" "How much did you like camping?" "Maybe we should take you camping sometime."

I have nothing against camping; I have had many enjoyable camping experiences. None of them occurred, though, when I was in my last trimester of pregnancy, and it's going to take a lot more than a bit of hiking and wildlife to get me to leave my comfy bed and body pillow for even one night. Maybe next year. I'm sure there are many women who camp while in late pregnancy. I salute them, but I'm not about to join their ranks!

Whoohoo!

We've had some warmer weather the last few days, and have been able to go outside without jackets and rain boots. This morning we took a neighborhood walk with the girls in sandals -- with socks (Seattle-style) -- and no jackets, although they did have long sleeves on. We will probably be able to wear short sleeves this afternoon.

Learn new things at the aquarium

Like: Naomi is scared of the wave pools. She does NOT like the waves coming in. At all.

Like: Hannah listens carefully enough to the descriptions of the trainers feeding the sea otters to tell me a story she made up on the way home all about a baby sea otter rescued from the oil spill.

And then you can learn new things at home. At dinner we were discussing the trip to the aquarium, telling Michael all about it. I started subbing "fur seal" and "otter" into a song about belugas that the girls like. Hannah picked up on it and substituted into a song of her own. Then Naomi decided to get involved and came up with "Fur seals are watching over me tonight." The actual song is "Angels are watching over me tonight." I thought that was pretty clever for a girl her age to get the joke and expand on it!

Markers

are so much more fun than pens. Did you know that? Perhaps it's their permanence or the fun, scrunchy noise they make when they draw. Or maybe it's because some of us who happen to be two can sense that Mom hides and protects the markers. Perhaps that's because of their permanence.

Number sense

This morning, Hannah entered 3 on the abacus. Then she said, "And now there are 97 on the other side."

Rhododendrons

should not be still blooming at this time of year. However, since ours still is, I took some pictures the other day. It's quite impressive, so I thought I'd share:





Bees have been all over this plant -- when it's been warm enough, of course. It's made for some very good observation opportunities for us.

Overheard

Yesterday, as Michael was overseeing finger painting (for which he gets a lot of folks out of purgatory, since finger painting is something he really doesn't like...and the kids both used the occasion to have fits -- over different things, at different times, but both having something to do with the finger painting), I overheard this exchange:

Naomi: Look, Dada! (She holds up her hand, which she's covered entirely -- front, back, sides -- in finger paint.)
Michael: Naomi, that's crazy!
Hannah: Dada, we need to work on encouraging Naomi, not telling her she's crazy.

Of course, lately I've been exhorting Hannah to encourage Naomi, not tell her she can't do things, not tell her that her idea is ridiculous, not tell her that her bear drawing doesn't look like a bear, not tell her that she has no idea what the heck she's doing. I'm not sure my exhortations are affecting Hannah's behavior at all, but apparently she at least hears me and internalizes it enough to rebuke Michael. Very comforting.

Adding insult to injury

We now all have a summer cold. Naomi seems to have the worst of it so far. I really shouldn't complain, because we've all been remarkably healthy so far in 2008. Ah, well, rain gear and tissues will be our companions for the next few days. Hopefully warmer weather will come soon!

Summer Gear

What's our most used and important summer gear so far this year? Sadly enough, boots and rain coats. We've been making it a point to be sure to be outside daily, but more often than not lately that means putting on our rain gear, because even if it's not raining when we set out, it starts while we're gone. Usually it's not too difficult to work in outside time in the summer, but when it's 55 and drizzling, it's a bit difficult to get the motivation to get out there.

Poor Michael

is now suffering from Naomi's obsession with biting. The other night he had a dream that worms were biting him.

A challenge

When you've been practicing karate for a while, you find that sometimes it's good to liven up your practice (at home) with a bit of a challenge so that you don't get complacent.

For instance, you can practice your kata, but if you can practice your kata with a 2-year-old crawling between your legs, you know you're getting somewhere!

Naomi's sleep routine

includes some rather odd things. Okay, so the book and the prayers and the singing aren't really that odd. But the songs that she loves and insists upon are. Before naps and bedtime, we sing Su La Li (a nice melody of nonsense words), Hush Little Baby (okay, so that's a lullaby), O Christmas Tree, and Little Drummer Boy (generally referred to as RumPaPumPum by Naomi). For some reason, this combination of lullabies and Christmas music does the trick for her and she goes right to sleep.

Budding interests

Hannah likes to read the house numbers as we're walking along or driving around. She has discovered that she is very fond of numbers. She will often, after a time of quiet reflection, say things like, "3 and 3 makes 6," or, "How many 10s in 20, Mama?" She asks for word problems and then does them in her head. Things along the lines of, "If there were 3 karate students and each did 2 punches, how many punches would that be?" She gets the answer right, too.

I recently introduced her to the game Memory, and she latched on right away. The game I originally had her playing was on the computer, but when I showed her how to play with cards at the table, she was most impressed. Of course, it takes a bit longer to set up, because all the cards have to be turned so that the pictures on the back are right-side-up, but I have a feeling that as soon as she figures out that Memory can be played with someone (right now she plays by herself), the popularity of CandyLand is going to plummet.

She's more and more interested in the natural world, too. Today on our walk, she pointed to a tree and said, "That's a birch." She was right, too, it is a birch. She also identified a maple tree. I was more impressed with those than with the identification of a cherry tree -- it has little green cherries on it, so it's a dead giveaway. But still, even with the cherry tree, she was paying a lot of attention to the local flora. She can easily recognize strawberry plants, too, by their leaves.

Hannah is soaking up knowledge as fast as she can. It's really quite amazing to see.

NOW we're in more trouble

Naomi's claims about being a victim of biting continue. The cat at a friend's house recently was accused. It being a living thing with teeth, this was more believable than some of Naomi's recent accusations. However, the cat hadn't bitten her.

Then, the other day, we were out looking at the bees collecting nectar and pollen from our rhododendron (photos to follow -- the thing is huge and in full bloom at the moment. I'm pretty sure we could support several hives of bees on that rhododendron alone!) and Hannah said, "Careful not to get too close, Naomi, or the bee will sting you."

Imagine Naomi's delight at finding that you could get stung by something! Well, then she claimed the bee stung her and so did an ant that she saw for about 5 seconds on our way back in the house. She hasn't made any further claims about stinging, but I'm just waiting.

Michael's party

I recently read about someone who'd given a potluck and asked guests to bring a dish with bacon. When I was sending out the evites for Michael's birthday, I realized that would be a great party theme for him.

So yesterday was Bacon-Fest 2008 for Michael's 30th birthday. We had bacon. Bacon dip, bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with blue cheese, bacon pizza, baked beans (with bacon, of course), and chocolate chip/cranberry/bacon cookies. Yes, cookies. With bacon. We also had chocolate mousse, which didn't include any bacon, and turned out to be delicious. Someone also brought a baconless dish, which also disappeared completely...the ever-delicious and famous tomato/mozzarella/basil combo on bread.

I believe that we have had enough bacon for a little while.