Names

Naomi continues to demand precision in what we call her. Most times we call her anything besides "Naomi," she says, "I'm Naomi." Michael will often say, "Can I call you Mimi?" To which she answers, "You may call me Naomi."

Yard Work, Tom Sawyer style

Michael, in his bid for "Best Tom Sawyer Moment of 2008" has enlisted the kids' help in his gardening chores this morning. A certain niece and nephew are over and Michael took all the kids outside. "Here's how this works: I'm going to pop the weeds out, and you get to pick them up and put them in that box. And some of you can find the next weed for me to do." Immediately there was a scramble to get the first weed, followed by high-volume negotiations on who got to do the next one. The nephew, sensing that this may be a lucrative passtime, asked, "Uncle Michael, will you pay us for helping you?" Michael, without missing a beat, replied, "No, but I will say thank you very much." That answer did not in the least dampen the spirits of his helpers, who continued to vie for the coveted role of putter-in-box of the weeds.

Notable quotables

We were walking in the park that's nearby our house and has lots of hiking trails. "I'm going to hide, Mama, I'm going to hide," said one small 2-year-old. "No, Naomi, this isn't a good time to hide," I said, picturing myself searching frantically in the many acres of forest for a hiding 2-year-old. She kept repeating herself, though, until I finally realized that she was actually saying, "I'm going to HIKE." Oh, okay, yeah, that's fine.

"Here's where we had a picnic," said Hannah, pointing to the part of Green Lake park that we'd had a picnic at least a year ago. But when asked about who the saint of the day was, she looked incredulously at me and said, "How do you expect me to remember all of these things?!?"

Comparisons

Hannah (as she's looking through the Pottery Barn Kids catalog): I like girls' rooms better than boys' rooms. Girls' rooms are much prettier. [She pauses to muse for a few minutes.] But I guess boys have to have rooms. [More looking at the catalog.] I mean, look at this [she holds up a page with a boy's room on it] compared to [flips back to a girl's room] this. [She is clearly satisfied that she's made her point.]

More reviews of cherry pie

The kids didn't get a chance to try the cherry pie last night, since Michael baked it after they were in bed. So we had some after dinner tonight, and they got a chance to taste it. Naomi ate a few bites and didn't really appreciate the cherry filling. She did, however, like the plain crust. Hannah liked it all and generously offered to finish up Naomi's. I told her it was the best cherry pie I'd ever had, and she said, "Were the other ones from the store?" I told her they were. "Well, that's why," she said, matter-of-factly, "Homemade is always better."

Cherry pie

Michael, having picked a ton of pie cherries from our trees, both the one at the new house and the one at the old house, decided to do something with the bounty. Last night, he made cherry pie from scratch, including the crust. Let me tell you, it was awesome. Cherry pie is fine, I like it and all, but this was DELICIOUS! I had no idea that fresh cherries would make such a difference. I think all of Michael's hard work paid off.

Shakespeare

in the park was a hit with our whole family. We went to see 12th Night. Hannah loved it and wanted the entire story RETOLD to her immediately after the play ended. She stood for most of it, convinced that she'd get a better view while standing. She ended up sitting down for the last 30 minutes or so (it was 2 1/2 hours!) so that she could eat the dinner I'd packed for her, but other than that, she wanted the best view. I was wondering whether she'd mind that she couldn't necessarily get all of the language, but she remained absolutely entranced throughout.

Naomi enjoyed it, once she figured out that the characters weren't going to be anywhere near her. Also, she was completely intrigued with characters going "offstage," especially since offstage was off to the side in the park or in a tent that had been set up to the other side. "Not want them to hide right now." Well, sweetie, we don't have a lot of control over when they hide and when they don't. She did end up drawing with markers during the last bit, since she was getting a bit bored.

Michael and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was an absolutely beautiful summer day for it -- sunny, but not too hot, and we had a spot in the dappled shade. Aaahhh.

At the end, the players always ask for donations and fan out through the audience to collect. I gave Hannah some money to donate, but she was too shy, so she gave it to Naomi, who happily walked up to the woman who was nearby, said, "Excuse me," and handed her the money with a beatific smile on her face. I don't think they normally get 2 year olds donating. The woman was a bit surprised.

Cherries

We've been getting cherries from the 4 trees that we bought with the new house. And they are GOOD. And cherries are unusually expensive this year, so we're saving lots of money by eating our very own. Michael picked a whole bunch of sweet cherries last weekend and this weekend he's been working on the sour cherries. There's only one tree of sour cherries, but there are 3 sweet. It's a good ratio. Hannah is very excited to make a cherry pie. Cobbler might be more my speed at this point, but we'll see.

This morning when he asked the girls if they wanted to help him pick cherries, Naomi replied, "Not like cherries, Dada." This isn't strictly true. Sometimes she likes them and other times not. In any case, we weren't planning on feeding her sour cherries, anyway.

"Naomi, you don't have to eat them, we're just going to pick them," was the reasonable response.

"Not WANT to eat them, Dada."

"You don't have to eat them."

"Oh. OKAY! WANT TO PICK CHERRIES!!!!!!"

Swimming

There was great excitement this morning when I announced that after breakfast we'd go to the pool. We were going to the same pool we visited on my birthday, but for the morning "leisure pool" time, from 7:30-9. Of course, we didn't get there until 8:10, but that was okay.

Naomi is officially unafraid in the water, which makes it all the more scary for me, of course. Hannah is rapidly regaining the confidence she had last year, using a kickboard with her face in the water today. Neither of them felt that they needed me anywhere near them, especially since we and a couple friends who joined us were the ONLY people in the shallow end.

Naomi has decided to hold off whining when she hears that we're going swimming until she determines whether it's for a swimming lesson or just for swimming...of course, she really enjoyed her swimming lesson the other day, but it's now part of the routine to whine about it. ONE of us is REALLY hoping that this part of the routine falls away VERY quickly.

Wishing the time away

Today we went to drop off Hannah's registration for the Northwest Girlchoir class. The conversation in the car afterwards was interesting:

H: I wish it was fall.
Mama: Why?
H: So I could start my choir classes
N: I want to go to Northwest Girlchoir!
Mama: You have to be a bit older, Naomi.
N: I'm older!
Mama: You have to be older than that.
N: I AM older! I'm older!
Mama: You have to be 4, so it's really not too long of a wait.
N: I AM 4!

Good grief, the time passes quickly enough, as far as I'm concerned!

It's a pleasure

Hannah has recently picked up this phrase and uses it to great effect: "It's a pleasure being a big girl." or "It's a pleasure having you as a mom." or "It's a pleasure going to swimming lessons." It's really quite cute.

Oh, and "charming" is her new favorite adjective, too. Recently she climbed the tree at our old house in Bothell and shouted from her perch, "The view from up here is charming!" The neighbor who had come over to chat with me was most impressed. Also, cherries and vanilla yogurt are "charming."

More names

Michael: What's Dada's full name?
Naomi: Dada Michael Bernstein

Names

Michael: What's your name, Naomi?
Naomi: Naomi Bernstein
Michael: What's your full name?
Naomi: Naomi Rose Bernstein
M: What's Dada's full name?
N: Dada Rose Bernstein
M: What's Mama's full name?
N: Mama Rose Bernstein

Sleepy

I don't know what it is, but the kids have been sleeping in lately. Naomi hasn't gotten up before 8 a.m. since last Saturday. Yesterday, she slept until 9 a.m. Hannah's been getting up between 7:15 and 8:15. It's very strange, since I'm used to them being up and raring to go between 6 and 7. Michael hasn't seen the kids before going to work this week, which is highly unusual. He's working from home this morning, and wanted to have breakfast with the kids, but I'm not sure he's going to be able to wait that long, as they're still asleep at 8.

Maybe it's the busy summer days.

Update on the baby

Swimming Lessons again

Today was swimming lesson day. Yesterday we went to the pool to make sure Naomi was comfortable in the water, and she had a great time. So did Hannah. So today, when it was announced that we were going to swimming lessons, Hannah was very excited. Naomi immediately started crying and spent the whole morning either crying or whining or fussing and NOT listening or doing her usual things. It was most unpleasant.

However, in a burst of Heaven-sent inspiration, I thought of telling her we'd ask Miss Connie if I could get in with her. That comforted her a bit, although she still informed me about 4,000 times between breakfast and arriving at Miss Connie's pool that she didn't LIKE swimming lessons -- despite last week's claim to love them.

Miss Connie was fine with me getting in, and we all had a fine time. Once I got Naomi to stop weeping copiously (which began once we arrived at the pool), she enjoyed herself thoroughly, and even consented to go to Miss Connie part of the time. Hannah did a great job and floated on her back all by herself today. She was very good about demonstrating to Naomi about going under water and blowing bubbles. I'm somewhat hopeful that next week we might be able to accomplish our swimming lesson without the weeping. We'll see.

A wild success

We're back from the reception, the kids are in bed, and we had a great time. The wedding was lovely, the girls did a beautiful (and meticulous) job with the rose petals and enjoyed their flower girl finery, we all danced at the reception, and we're generally tired and happy from a good day.

On the way home from the reception, Naomi said, "Mrs. Heidi [the bride] is happy!" She is definitely right about that.

Wedding prep

Today we went to the reception hall to help with set-up. Not everyone who has an almost-5-year-old and a 2-year-old would think that she could be helpful at a reception hall set-up for 2 1/2 hours. However, Hannah and Naomi behaved beautifully, spending the first hour or so coloring and the rest of the time watching napkin folding (which is what I spent most of my time doing) and helping to put the napkins out on the tables. They both enjoyed themselves thoroughly and were not really interested in leaving, but naptime calls, so we headed home.

The only part that Naomi didn't really enjoy was that there were a lot of heretofore unknown men helping out. Tim (the groom) has 5 brothers, so they were all there, plus several of Heidi and Tim's male friends. There were female friends, too, but Naomi is okay with women she doesn't know. She also thought that Heidi's dad was fine -- once I explained that he was Heidi's dad. But she would scowl at any other male in her vicinity. And she has a most amusing scowl.

Hannah, at one point while she was going back and forth, setting out napkins, said, "I LOVE being a flower girl and getting to help set up!"

They both got a couple of pieces of watermelon for their efforts, and I think they felt well rewarded.

Sometimes small miracles happen

Naomi: Can I play with Play-doh, please, Mommy?
Me: Yes...wait, no thanks, we're going to be leaving in a few minutes [I brace myself, waiting for inevitable tantrum about Play-doh].
Naomi: Oh. Okay. [puts Play-doh away]

Swimming lessons

began a couple of weeks ago. Hannah is getting right back into things, enjoying being in the water, and remembering all the things she used to do in the pool. Naomi is not enjoying herself at all. The second lesson she cried almost the entire 30 minutes. The thing is, once she decides that she likes it (which I think it just a matter of time), she's going to be almost dangerous in the water. Right now, though, she's crying.

After the second lesson, during which she cried almost the whole time, I dried her off, dressed her, and she watched the next lesson for a little while as I got Hannah dressed. Then we thanked Miss Connie and got in the van. At which point Naomi enthusiastically said, "I loved my swimming lesson!"

Make believe

Naomi has recently gotten into pretending to be other things besides a little girl, and Hannah could not be more thrilled. They play all different things. Right now, Naomi is a penguin, and Hannah is helping her toboggan across the floor of the living room.

A common pretend game is also that we're Laura Ingalls Wilder's family. Michael and I are Pa and Ma, Mary is pretend, Hannah is Laura, Naomi is Carrie, and Grace is pretend. Lately, we've been mixing it up a bit, since Naomi likes to pretend to be a dog. If that's the case, then she's Jack, the brindle bulldog. Except that she likes to pretend to be a puppy, so she's Jack, the brindle bullpuppy. Hannah often calls her "bullpup" or "brindle" if she's being Jack. It's quite amusing.

Another recent development is that Naomi likes to pretend to be a train. Specifically, she likes to be Thomas, the baby choo-choo train. She then lets Michael know that he's the daddy train.

Hannah really loves that Naomi is playing pretend games with her, and both girls get very into their games.