All the news that's fit to click

Tonight before bed Edith said she preferred that we play bride & bridesmaid rather than read books. She has been listening to Beverly Cleary's Ramona Forever on CD each night after lights out for the last month or so, specifically chapters 7-9 about Aunt Beatrice's wedding. Recently she came across the filmy green wrap that came with a bridesmaid dress I once wore, perfect for a veil. So we played wedding.

Edith put on some old flats that I'd bequeathed her, then told me that because they were so big on her, she would not pretend they were too tight and drop them into a plant before we marched down the aisle, as Ramona and Beezus do.

I asked who I was marrying, and she told me I was marrying a peacock. (I know I'll have to be firm with him if we want the relationship to flourish.) She handed me a Mardi Gras mask decorated with peacock feathers, and I put it on over my veil.

Right before we were about to march down the aisle, she told me she just had to check the news on her computer before the wedding began. She pulled out a wooden box that once held dishtowels and that opens and shuts on a hinge in the manner of a laptop. She opened it and began typing.

"Because long ago they didn't have radio to listen to the news on," she explained. "So people had to read the news on their computers." She typed a bit more, told me she'd read the news and just had to click on a pumpkin (a picture on the inside of the box), and we'd be good to go.

I asked whether the news was good.

"Yes. The news was that last night there was a deer who escaped from a dog that was chasing it. So that was good."

Then I married the peacock.

***

Edith is now aware of this blog, because every now and then I'll want to share a photo or video with her. As soon as I call up the blog, though, she cries, "Let's see what I'm reading!" and wants to scroll through the book covers at length. Poring over the covers is more compelling than ever getting to the photos or videos.

***

On waking up this morning: "I think I know why our house is yellow. Some lumbermen cut down some trees. Then they painted them yellow. Then they built our house with them."

***

Yesterday afternoon, after suffering a painful episode in the wee hours the night before: "I have a guess why they call it a 'charley horse.' Just a guess. Maybe a man named Charley was riding a horse and the horse started going really fast on gravel and bumped his leg up and down, and it really hurt."

***

We were reading Fancy Nancy. Nancy has lots of accessories.

"I have lots of accessories, too. But when they're all over the floor, they're acmessories."

***

We've recently let Edith have some limited access to the camera. Selections follow from her first collection, "The View from Forty Inches":

In motion

Some recent video clips. "In motion" is a good general description of Alice these days. She has become all grab, all wiggle, all twisting and writhing and lunging. She can cross the carpet by throwing her torso forward repeatedly. Oof.

She did pause in her exertions the other day when I tried a board book on her, one of those books with life-sized photos of babies in it. She was so struck by the baby on the cover that she stared, smiled, patted it, and twisted the book back and forth to look at it for a good five minutes. There was no question she was registering the image for what it was and trying to figure it out. I was even more impressed when she spotted the tiny photo of a baby in the publisher's logo in the upper corner of the cover. Her eyes kept darting back and forth from the large baby to the tiny baby, as she touched each one in turn. At one point I tried to turn to the interior pages, but she kept trying to get back to the cover, which it seemed was enough sensory input for one day.

Big sister is in motion much of the time, too...especially in the wee hours when she tries to wedge between me and Tom in bed. Both girls have given up good sleep recently, alas. It's getting old, but Tom and I have yet to figure out a viable solution. The more experienced parents of multiple kids to whom I've talked recently about sleep have opted for the path of least resistance and generally put up with various children in their bed throughout the night.

But the videos are of daytime fun, not nighttime wakefulness. Enjoy.

Fourth of July. Mor-mor recited this poem to Edith a couple of times the night before (I've recited it a few times in the past), and when she popped behind this tree at the Carrboro family parade, she was inspired to recite it, too.

Some of the first syllabic babbling

Wood sprite

Toothy grin

Latebreaking news: We have language/music comprehension! In her most exciting new development, Alice will begin to clap when someone starts singing her the daycare song, "Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands." And sometimes she'll do it if you simply ask her to clap her hands. She looks quite pleased with herself. Of course she has communicated needs, wants, and feelings prior to this, but it's amazing to see her first voluntary compliance with a spoken/sung request:

How you know

How you know your kid is over the fever that had her tossing and turning all night:

She jumps out of bed smiling in the morning, heads for the bathroom, and begins a cheery monologue: "I need to pee-pee. People usually need to pee-pee in the morning, because they saved up all their pee-pee all night. Hear that sound? See? I really needed to pee-pee. Then I'll flush, and the pee-pee will go away to the wastewater treatment plant, where they'll clean it, and it will come back to us, and we can drink it."

How you know you're mother to an infant:

You're walking through the clothing store, and you misread "babydoll tees" as "babydrool tees" and think, "Ooh, that's smart--they've invented a fabric that is drool repellent." And this seems like a perfectly logical section of the women's clothing department.

Seven months old, take two

Alice marked 7 months today with a bagel. (Also with a veggie pancake, lentils and rice, tofu, chicken and squash, and breastmilk. The girl can eat.)


Back on a cold December day in 2005, Edith also marked 7 months with a bagel (though we were poorer photographers then).


Both children are/were good sitters at 7 months. Edith had hair; Alice has teeth. Toothless Edith just played with the bagel as a toy; Alice consumed a large chunk of it. Hair, teeth and photographer's skills aside, their pictures at this age don't look much alike to me. Anyone else?

All-American summer

Picking blueberries with Julia

Assessing their bounty

Taste testing

Going to the ballpark

Third-row seats

Alice's first professional ballgame

Edith's first cotton candy (courtesy Grandpa)

Mor-mor and Grandpa

Having fun with grandparents

Corn

Visiting the cornfield

Eating the corn

Waterplay

Making waves

"Whew, that was fun..."

Enjoying a new summer dress



Fresh-cut flowers