A Moment of Realization

While we were in Sanibel, I had a moment of realization. The kitchen has mugs that show maritime signal flags. Bridges asked me if I wanted "my mug" in the morning (I tend to become attached to particular mugs). I looked up at "Yankee- Dragging Anchor." All of a sudden I remembered just how tired I was at our last visit in February (in the midst of Clara's seven months of ear infections), and really how tired I've been during previous visits to Sanibel.

We were married in Sanibel six years ago on November 30th. The following year I was pregnant, and every visit afterward we've been in the midst of raising small kid(s). We've had some pretty rough spells of sleeping, particulary last winter and spring with Clara's ear infections, followed directly by Lee's months of night terrors. It's really only been the last four months or so that I've really started catching up on sleep from the past several years.

Not only that, I have started sleeping the sleep of the dead the last six months or so. There are many nights that I don't even wake up if one of the girls wakes up. I sleep so deeply that when I wake up in the night I often don't know where I am or what day it is. I honestly don't remember sleeping like this during my adult life. It's absolutely wonderful.

So I looked at the available mugs, and picked "Bravo - Dangerous Cargo" since the little ones are still quite a bit of work. I think next year I might move to "Juliet - On Fire."

Sanibel

We went to Sanibel for the week of Thanksgiving. It was a fabulous week. Not a cloud in the sky most of the time, and though the weather was a bit cool it was much warmer than the 18 degrees we left behind at home.

Our first morning (notice the moon).

Bridges has been going to Sanibel his entire life. We now rent the unit below my in-laws and it works out quite well. His sister always comes at the same time and stays with them on the second floor, and we have two bedrooms downstairs.

We had quite an active week. Rollerblading, kayaking, biking, and swimming figured prominently in our adventures. Bridges played tennis with his dad a few times.

Kayaking through the mangrove forest

All four of us on bikes

Lee had a fabulous time looking for shells and swimming (outfitted with a new swim mask, she started touching bottom in eight feet of water and swimming underwater).

An advertisement for Sanibel

Clara enjoyed both of those activities in limited amounts, but stuck with her current dedication to books. She became very attached to a small version of Maurice Sendak's Nutshell Library, and carted it around most places, asking people to read the same four books over and over again. We started letting her bring the books on the beach, because otherwise she would want to go inside. So she would sit there happily for a long time, just looking at pictures.

What 2-year-old wants to play in the sand?

A bug we made out of pen shells

Having fun with limited toys....

All of us but Bridges

My Aunt Marge visited for Thanksgiving and stayed the night. At 87 she is going strong.

Winking

Lee’s been working on winking for most of a year now. She’s better with her left eye


than her right.



Clara is just starting.

The Kleenex

Thanks, Clara.

Face Painting

Lee wanted to face paint herself and Clara the other day. I think she did a pretty good job.

Can You Say Changeable?

Yesterday Lee pulled a dress out of the closet, exclaiming "Mommy, I want to wear this dress! It's so beautiful, and I haven't worn it in such a long time!"

I didn't remind her that this was the same dress about which she said "That dress is so ugly. I don't like that dress. I'm never going to wear it again!" a few weeks ago.

This happens again and again with various things, and it's not so much the change in as the definitiveness of the opinion that strikes me each time. I guess this is why the experts say to keep offering them different types of food, and to make no assumptions about what they like or don't like.

The Fall

Yesterday I took quite a fall. My friend's hose was leaking a fine mist on her slate steps, and when I came into her house I let her know and she turned off the water. I completely forgot that it would be frozen into a sheet of ice when I left an hour later. Down I went, Clara on my hip. My back hit one stair on the way down, and my right elbow on another. Clara was hysterical but we finally determined that she must not have hit her head - she just landed on her back on the slate at the bottom. I was so shocked I couldn't get up for several minutes, and when I did I was convinced I'd broken my elbow. The girls were of course extremely upset.

But we got home to Bridges and he took care of things. He calmed down the girls and bandaged and iced me. My elbow was immediately black and blue, and I'd torn off the skin even through a heavy coat and two layers of clothes. But the shooting pains up and down my arm finally subsided, and I can move it. The scrape on my back is about six inches long, and I'm really sore on that side, even to move my left arm around much.

But the sweetest thing was how the girls cuddled with me afterward. One on each side, just lying down and giving me kisses and making me feel so loved. I guess for them to see their mommy vulnerable is pretty darn scary.

It also made me realize just how bouncy little kids are. They fall like that all the time, cry a few minutes, and it's all over. I'm going to be sore for a while.

The Heating Vent (2008)

Now that the heat is coming on, Lee is back on the heating vent every morning. Only now she has to share it with Clara. Sometimes this works out well, as in the picture below (check out the hair!):



But sometimes there’s jostling for position, and Lee has more than once told Clara to go find her own heating vent. Of course this is the only one worth being on as it’s in the dining room in the center of all the action.

Fingernails and all

I'm trying something new. I've scanned one of Lee's recent pictures. Here it is:


Notice the seasonal border of pumpkins. She made a lot of things with pumpkins during October. The way she draws the human figure has evolved over time. I love how in this picture the attention to detail (each fingernail is indicated, as well as the shoulder joints, ribs, lungs, and heart) contrasts with blatant omissions (no feet).

Lee's Views on Dogs

Lee is afraid of dogs. This started when she was about 18 months old and was knocked over by the tail of a golden retriever the size of a large pony. Her fear has gone up and down since then, but she's never gotten to the point of really enjoying dogs.

Today she asked me "Mommy, do they have a dog next door?" When I said asked her why she was asking, she said "I need to know for safety reasons. When you and Daddy die and Clara and I are here alone, I'll need to know if there's a dog next door." Ok, this was disturbing on more than one level, but let's just leave it at the dog for now.

This afternoon we ran into Muffin, a little lap dog that lives next door. Lee got very nervous about her. Later I said "Lee, how can you be scared of a dog that is so much smaller than you?" She responded "Mommy, I don't like her because she's jumpy. I like that she's teeny, and I like that she's very very soft, but I don't like that she's so jumpy!"

A bit further on our walk she was talking about going to school, and she said that next year when she was five she was going to be much braver. "And Mommy, when I'm grown up, I could even get a dog." Wow, that's brave.

Ouch!

Clara bit me the other day. She wasn't throwing a fit. She wasn't upset. She just leaned forward and lay into my arm. Hard enough that the blood welled to the surface and today, three days later, I still have a dark bruise on my arm.

Lee asked me if I was angry with her, and I said "why no."

Her asking that made me think of this show I heard on NPR the other day about revenge and forgiveness. The speaker was a biologist and he said that the prevailing view is that people are programmed for revenge, but that forgiveness is something difficult and unnatural, especially if we think of it in the geopolitical realm. However, he claimed that our brains are actually wired for both. We actually forgive lots of little transgressions every single day, and he gave the example of forgiving his son when he wrote on the wall. Forgiveness is what enables us to get along. You're more inclined to forgive your relations, or anyone who offers some value to you.

Prunes! Cookie!

Most kids have a limited number of food choices at this age, but Clara, while she'll eat other things if the fancy strikes her, only requests two types of food.

Morning, noon, dinnertime, and in between, when I offer Clara food she will say "Prunes!" She's allowed only two prunes a day, which she eats at breakfast. So the rest of the day I say "No more prunes. You had your prunes already." At that point, she invariably gives me a big grin, and says "Cookie!"

Great-Gramps

Lee and Bridges went to San Antonio, TX to visit Lee's great-grandfather on his 99th birthday. Bridges' sister Laura was there as well.



Next year the plan is for the entire extended Smith family to go on a cruise out of Galveston for his 100th birthday.

Clara and I had four days to ourselves. She really seemed to miss Lee, and I at times found myself at a loss keeping her entertained, but it was nice to have the time together just the two of us.

Too Many Rules

Sometimes Lee says things and I just don't know where they're coming from. Today on the way home from school, she said "Mommy, there are too many rules at school." So I asked her if she had gotten upset, or if there was one rule in particular that she didn't like, and she said no, no, there are just too many rules at school.

The reason this seems so odd is that Lee loves rules. She's a firstborn. I've never been told of her misbehaving at school, and she's generally very well-behaved at home as well. She loves to tell Clara the rules.

So I'm just not sure what this is all about. Stay tuned...

Insatiable Appetites

My kids are both exhibiting insatiable appetites, and no, not for food. Clara cannot get enough of books lately. She surrounds herself with books and flips through them, and she's always asking someone to read her a book. You can read her ten books in a row and she'll still want more. Or, she'll ask for the same book many times in a row (One Was Johnny and Curious George are current favorites).

Lee, on the other hand, has no interest in reading at the moment. What she wants to do is play games. Games, games, and more games. We play Dominoes, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Cuckoo Zoo, and Wig Out. Again and again and again. She also plays Sets on the NY Times web site every day. She does really well - easily solving the Basic level games, and usually finding five out of six of the sets on the Advanced level games.

The Vote

Today, on this historic election day, Lee had the opportunity to vote for a choice of snack at her preschool. She voted for cereal bars, but graham crackers won. I asked her if she was disappointed by having to eat graham crackers, and she said "Well, Mommy, I don't like graham crackers, so they gave me something else."

So, perhaps not the lesson in voting I thought it would be.