Friday, March 21, 2008

hop, hop, hopping....


I have good parenting days and bad ones. Today was both. The morning was spent running errands and I consider myself lucky that no one had a melt down including me. In and out of carseats and cars is bad enough but today there were high winds and I thought we all were going to end up under a house or on the yellow brick road whichever shoe fit.

While B took a nap Vivi and I colored some eggs because that is what you do this time of year. We used this new stuff (new to me) that is concentrated dye and you sponge it on instead of dipping the egg. The egg color turns out much more brilliant and the process poses less chance of a fatal egg dipping. You know when you hear that crack as the egg gets eased into the bath with a little too much vigor. V does everything with vigor so the new method is preferable. It is also very messy. I now have pink and purple fingers and Viv's whole hand looks a bit speckled. Oh well, the things we do for the sake of art.

When B woke from her nap she was a bit needy but soon was running about following YaYee or LaLee (her way of saying Vivi can vary according to the distance she is from you and what she is doing when talking). It is very cute. But then they spent an uncomfortable amount of time up in their room....quiet. Now there are two things that you love, LOVE and hate as a parent....the sound of silence because it is rare and the sound of laughter because it is affirmation that you must be doing something right, being rewarded with a moment so golden. Both also could mean that something dastardly is going on and I will not like what I find. Like when they were giggling at lunch while I was cleaning the kitchen and I come to find that food is being scattered about the room, all over the floor. (This is why I need an eat in kitchen.) So imagine my horror/delight to have V come and say "mama, come look...see what I did" wearing that grin like the cheshire cat looking so awfully proud of herself. After being assured that I will actually like it, I go up to their room. Vivi dances and twirls about the room and says "seeeee....i picked up."--emphasis on every word. And she did. I'm not sure what happened to all the stuff but I could see the floor. And the room felt big. I looked around and there is Beatrice propped up on pillows under her comforter reading a book. After I shut my mouth and pitched myself, I just stood there, grinning myself, taking in the moment and remembering that I do have good kids. It's not all just "no"s and negotiating (begging). My eyes got a little teary even. Sometimes the cuteness is overwhelming.


And short lived....V decided to try to make her own mac and cheese while I was feeding Phoebe and she first got powdered cheese stuff all over the kitchen and then got it all over her when she desperately tried to clean it up.

Phoebe is now sitting up on her own for fairly long stretches and she is gobbling up the banana and cereal mush that I feed her. She especially loves the yogurt and banana combo she got for dessert because she ate all the cereal and I'm too lazy to mix more up. She does it her own unique way, which is what I've come to expect of her. Yelling and sucking fingers in between bites, but staying fairly clean, considering. She will soon be a pro, though. It's like someone said "your six months old now, stop acting like a baby," and she understood. For the record, it wasn't me who told her that. I want my baby a little longer.

2 comments:

Susan said...

Those eggs are stunning! They remind me of some we made as kids, with markers and nail polish - except ours were toxic.

Bella said...

they look even better in real time and you almost can't tell which ones I did and which were Vivi's. I'm definitely doing it this way every year. It's NON-toxic food dye too.