Authentic Edith

"Bismarck, there's no one outside! You're misunderhearing things!"

At dinner in a restaurant, Tom is flicking at Edith's arm with a little rubbery hand she got out of a 25-cent toy machine. "Daddy, that is not appropriate."

In a department store I point Edith toward a comforter, the same one that's on her bed. "I was a bit shocked to see my bed in there," she confides later.

On a walk in the rain with both Alice and Bismarck in tow, we spot an armchair someone has put out at the curb at the other end of the block. "Overwhelming or no, let's go check it out," resolves Edith.

"Look at our peonies!" cries Edith.
"Yes, they're starting to shed, aren't they?" say I.
"Or wilt would be a better word," suggests Edith.

The Misses Lank are at home

Edith and Alice are enjoying a part-time daycare schedule this summer, three days a week together at school, two days a week at home. So far it's a break in the routine that has been fun for everyone, as we've found all sorts of new things to do with our at-home time together. Among our recommendations:

• Turn a quick coffee stop at Whole Foods into a two-hour treasure hunt for gold coins hidden behind the crackers, a royal palace decorated with bird-shaped carvings, and anything else you identify on the "treasure map" pulled from the napkin holder
  

• Learn to use a radio dial, slowly turning to find stations, then rocking out with Mommy to whatever type of music comes out of the speaker

• Set up a playhouse rescued from the curb; wash it down, decorate, name it, declare it the temporary home of a princess somewhat down on her luck, and announce that your parents are the princess's maids

• Get some potting soil and seeds, and set out half a dozen container gardens; daily check the growth of quick-sprouting sunflower, basil, and zinnia seeds; smell the peppermint plant in anticipation of using it in recipes
  

• Cut the lawn--Mom with a lawn mower, you with a pair of scissors blade-by-blade (hey, if she finds it fun...)

• Trim the driveway hedge for Mama, determining the shoots that are impinging on the driveway and clipping accordingly (she did a great job!)

• Clip peonies for your mother and put them in a vase on the dining room table
  

• Check out local outdoor statuary for its chilling-out potential

• Get in touch with your inner cheetah
  

• ...Or pretend to be a burrito

• Find videos at the library about life in Ghana and Korea, two foreign countries from which you have friends; wear the Ghanaian outfit one of those friends gave you

• ...Or color coordinate your outfit with your crib toys and chill out together on a hot afternoon
  

• Go to the bank with Daddy and open a savings account in your own name; when Daddy explains that the bank will pay you for keeping your money there, ask what the rate of return is in bank lollipops

Visiting season

"Who's coming today?" Edith asked as we got into the car after church. She was disappointed to learn we weren't entertaining any guests this afternoon, telling us how much she has enjoyed having different visitors in the past week. Us, too. After a semester in the zone, we seem to have done a season's worth of visiting with friends in the span of ten days.

First, Helene and Desi's mom, Jenn, brought the kids up to Princeton to play on her last day of maternity leave. We took an updated photo of the relative size of the babies, for which Helene was determined to make a good showing:


The following day it was Alice's turn to play the small one next to 8-month-old Gabe, visiting from Boston with his brother, Toby (3), and parents, Jenn and Gregg. It was great to see them all, if too briefly.

The recumbent pose belied Gabe's skill as a master crawler

Jenn managed to catch on-the-go Toby long enough for a sweet smiley photo, even if we couldn't persuade him to open his eyes

Wednesday my graduate school friend was in town from Israel for one day and proved she knew how to relate to kids by showering praise and affection on Edith upfront, then leaving her alone to do her own thing, never asking her to perform. Which meant we didn't take pictures either.

Friday Edith's other favorite Bostonian, Rebecca, visited with her friend, Eric, and his adorable dog, Miles.

Saturday I gave a final exam and spent the day grading it, but Edith got to play with old buddy Harrison, in town from Texas for his mother's graduation ceremonies. I was sorry to miss them (and since it was Tom attending, not me, there are no pictures), but fortunately they will be back next weekend for Harrison's father's graduation ceremonies. I'll be participating in those, too. Before then, Tom will be commissioned as a deacon in the Methodist Church, the next-to-last stage before he is finally eligible for ordination in two years.

Between the blooms, the foliage, Edith's birthday (and the annual anniversary of our becoming parents), the professional milestones we seem to celebrate each year, and the friends who start visiting as soon as the summer season begins, May has quickly become a favorite month in our family.

Snake Charmer

(or, "Pink Nightmare")

Some of the charmer's latest questions:

"Why can't four year olds drive?"

"Why do they make dreams so boring?"

"How do you say camouflage in Spanish?"



And finally, the first photograph Edith has ever taken (photo cropped by me, hat placed by Edith):

"HRH the Princess Alice Receives Her Public"

Belated Mother's Day wishes

Birthday redux

One day in Algebra II in high school, my large country-bred algebra teacher teetered up to the overhead projector at the front of the room in her plain, cotton, teacherish dress...on little high heels that were all over silver sparkles. When a surprised student asked why the glittering feet, she smiled a broad smile and said, "'Cause it's mah birthday WEEK!"

Edith's birthday week was all-over-sparkles, too. It began the weekend before, when Mor-mor and Uncle Peter arrived in town to celebrate with us for several days.


Sunday we went to the diner for our usual Sunday brunch, and to our surprise, Carol the waitress was waiting for us with special decorated cupcakes she'd purchased at the grocery store and a princess birthday card with $5 for Edith! This was from a woman who spends all week as a driver's aide on a special ed schoolbus and no doubt has plenty of little kids in her life already.


Most of the week was cold and rainy, and Edith's birthday proper was no exception. She woke up in a delightful mood and spent the morning finding the various gifts hidden around the house.

This was the first year that Edith remembered it was her birthday as soon as she woke up.

Another sign she was four: She opened the cards first.

Squishy the Snake intimidated Edith at first, but this gift from Mor-mor turned out to be a favorite.

We lunched at Bon Appetit, the little gourmet grocery and cafe three blocks away, where Edith chose her first-ever chocolate bar from among the delicious array of options. Good thing she's not burdened by abundant choices but instead stops with the first satisfactory option she identifies. In this case, it was Lindt milk chocolate.

Caught in the act of sneezing, Alice nevertheless demonstrated her gourmet baby chicness in coordinated cardigan, pants, and beret, worthy of a French cafe lunch

In the afternoon I dredged up faint memories from elementary school Spanish class, and we made pinatas for Edith's birthday party, covering a couple of balloons with several layers of paper mache. Storebought pinatas are made of cardboard, and I've never seen a group of kids able to break one open, so I wanted to make something more amenable to rupture.


In the evening, Edith was excited to join the rest of her preschool class in their spring play, all about birds. Edith was a peacock--not a peahen, mind you, with their drab unimpressive feathers. Full turquoise and green splendor for her. Nevertheless, she didn't always strut her stuff: She had told me during early rehearsals that she found the Chicken Dance silly, and sure enough, when they came to that part of the show, Edith was the only child standing stock still, staring ahead calmly, just waiting for the silliness to be over.

Here's a clip of my favorite number in the show. I thought I'd started filming earlier, but the camera turned out not to be on, so this is just the end of the piece:

One of the pleasures of the show was seeing her former teacher, Ms. Chrissy, who was in attendance. Edith ran and threw herself into Ms. Chrissy's arms. Later I asked whether she had been confused by Ms. Chrissy's altered appearance, as I was at first. Edith assured me she hadn't been. "I knew it was Ms. Chrissy even though she was brown haired. I think she probably dyed it." You can't put one over on Edith.


Wednesday morning we said goodbye to Mor-mor at the crack of dawn, and then we brought our annual batch of carrot-zucchini muffins to school to share with Edith's class for a school birthday celebration.


Friday Edith had her annual physical, at which it was determined that she is 39.75" tall (50th percentile) and weighs 37 pounds (66th percentile). She also demonstrated that her eyesight was sound, that she knew the names of her family members, that she could draw a circle and a square and approximate a triangle ("the triangle is a five-year-old skill"), that she knew her colors, that she had favorite fruits and vegetables, and that she could jump on two feet and hop on one foot, though not on the other ("a four-and-a-half-year-old skill"--who comes up with this stuff, anyway?). We got a bit of lecture on the need for her to spend more time bicycling, a lecture we've gotten before and that I confess puzzles me. Why such an emphasis on biking in particular? But otherwise all was well. I was impressed that it was the first year the pediatrician directed most of her comments to Edith first, opening by asking if Edith had any questions about her health, to which Edith responded that she sometimes gets aches in her foot that wake her up at night (true). She was quite pleased to learn that there are no shots at the four-year-old visit, especially since reading friends' blogs had prepared us for a round of them (guess the vaccine schedules vary slightly by state).

Saturday was supposed to be as rainy as the rest of the week, but the weather gods smiled on us, and we were able to hold a lovely little birthday party for Edith and half a dozen of her friends in our yard and family room. It was our first "real" birthday party, geared toward Edith and her friends, rather than toward us and our friends with babies along for the ride. There were several obligatory spilled drinks, but somehow we missed the requisite birthday-kid meltdown or goody-bag fuss. Edith seemed to have fun all morning, and I think most of the other kids did, too. Not nearly as hard as we'd feared.

Pinata time...

...for the timid...

...the little...

...and the experienced. Even so, they didn't break it, and adults had to step in and dump out the goods!

Pin the head on the dinosaur

Arts and crafts

Fun for all ages
(Emily with paper cup)

Desi, Julia, and Edith with their baby sisters

Snack time