Children's Hospital

We love Children's Hospital here in Boston. Not that we like having to go there, because of course we'd rather not, but because every time we have been there it has been as positive an experience as we could wish for.

Today Clara had her tubes put in. We had to be there at 6:30 am for an 8 am surgery, which meant leaving the house before six. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything, and I was worried about the wait and how she would take it. She had a few spells of heart-wrenching crying after she dug around in my backpack and realized there were no snacks to be had, but other than that she was fine.

It was a strange experience to hold her while they gave her the anesthesia and watch her fall asleep. Less than twenty minutes later I was by her side again when she violently startled and woke up (the nurse thought she was going to fall off the bed). I gather that is normal, but it was a bit spooky. She had a tough time coming out of the anesthesia, crying and acting completely disoriented. We tried to get her to drink, but for a 1/2 hour she wanted nothing to do with any liquids. I finally got her to take some apple juice from a syringe and she sucked down a few ounces in that manner only to immediately throw it up all over both of us.

By the time I got her home, though, she seemed fine. She drank and ate and walked around acting pretty happy. This afternoon she napped and tonight she seemed back to normal.

The surgeon said she removed a lot of thick fluid from behind her ears, especially her left one. So I am glad we did the surgery. I imagine I am hearing new sounds and words from her already. She seems to actually be saying "Lee" tonight instead of "ee," and I swear she said "puzzle." Ok, maybe it was "bubble," but it was definitely a new word!

In some odd way it was nice to be back at Children's today. We haven't been there since our visits last summer (when Lee had her last urinary reflux test and Clara a cardiology checkup). I always leave feeling incredibly grateful that my kids have problems that are minor and/or fixable, because you see plenty of kids where that is not the case. When I mentioned this to one of the nurses today she said "I'm so glad you see that. Not everyone does."

Just a Bike Please

I have often struggled with the prevalence of pink, purple, and all things cute in the world of girls' fashion. Clothing itself isn't so bad. There are lots of options out there, and my girls wear dresses and pants and shirts that are feminine without being super girl-y. I must admit it is hard to avoid pink altogether, although honestly I don't object to pink itself. I just don't like all pink all the time.

Let me just, as an aside, mention that if my girls had long flowing hair they could wear boys clothes from head to toe and it would be fine. But since both of my girls display a remarkable lack of hair, if they are in anything that might even be construed as boyish they will get mistaken for boys. Which, for Clara at 18 months old is no big deal, but you start to feel bad when your 4-year-old asks "Why did that man call me a boy?"

But back to our shopping options. Outerwear and gear is where it gets tough. Take snow boots, for instance. There are girl boots and boy boots, and nothing that could possibly be mistaken as either. You might think you could buy a pair of navy or black boy boots that would be neutral, but you would be wrong because they have bulldozers all over them. Or the navy boots are splashed with orange flames (something about Navy+Orange just screams "I AM A BOY!!!)." The girl boots are purple with pink hearts, or pink with Hello Kitty on them, or some other pretty design.

Many things are like this. Bedding, coats, swimsuits, and shoes, just to name a few.

This weekend Bridges and I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking for a bike for Lee's birthday. Just a bike. Nothing fancy. You'd think that wouldn't be too hard. Now I must say that we were somewhat limited because we could only buy a bike with 12" rims since Lee is so tiny. But still, it shouldn't be that hard.

We were open to many colors: black, blue, orange, green, purple, red. Nearly anything except pink would have fit the bill. We could not find a plain simple bike. The boy bikes are just so boyish. The girl bikes are ridiculously frilly, and usually have white wheels (WHITE WHEELS?!?!).

This is what we ended up with:
It's not so bad, aside from the paw prints all over it and a cartoon of a kitty (because all girls love kitties) on the seat.

I'm honestly thinking of bringing it back for this but I just don't know. (BTW check out the girl version of the same Trek bike). I don't want to make my daughter feel ridiculous by making her ride a boy bike. But I also don't want to say "Here is a bike, and its defining characteristic is that it that is pretty. If you own this bike, you will be pretty. And that is what is most important."

No. Just a bike. Please.

Skyline Trail

Today we went to Blue Hills Reservation, which offers surprisingly rocky and steep hiking given its proximity to Boston. We weren't really sure how much we should tackle, considering that the the longest steep hike Lee had done previously was a scramble up to Eagle Cliff over Squam Lake last summer (about 1/2 mile).

We started on the Skyline Trail, which presents spectacular views of Boston in the distance, and is marked with blue blazes.


Lee took to it right away, leading the way and pointing out each blue blaze along the trail, all the while carrying on an endless monologue about blue blazes and not getting lost and finding your footing.

Here are two of my favorite quotes:

"I'm all sweaty. My head's sweaty, my hat's sweaty, my bones are sweaty, and my muscles are sweaty!"

"I don't need my hands right now going down this part, but they're right here attached to my body, just in case I need them later."

In the end, we hiked from the visitor center west to Eliot Tower, and then back down to Houghton's Pond, over 2 miles with almost 800 feet of elevation gain (much of it over extremely tough terrain). She was tired at the end, but she stuck it out. At the pond we were able to put our feet in the water and buy some slush puppies and lemonade. There was a nice little beach, and Lee and Clara played on the sand.



Lee did not want to leave, but when we told her we had to go because we felt that Clara (who enjoyed her ride in the backpack during the hike) had had enough sun, Lee said "Well, how about we just leave her under a bench somewhere, and then we can stay longer?"

Now that's sisterly love.

Say Cheese!

The days of Clara being natural in front of the camera may rapidly be coming to an end. She loves to imitate Lee...

Dinner with an Old Friend

Last night B and I had a babysitter come watch the girls and went back to Jamaica Plain, where I lived when we first met, where we lived when we were first married and where Lee was born. It was another gorgeous spring night (I will never again say Boston doesn't have beautiful springs after this past week). We strolled through the Arboretum.



Then we walked by our old house and went to an Indian restaurant for dinner (which was much better than either of us remembered). All of this stirred up lots of memories and we told stories and laughed and talked about old times. It was just like having dinner with an old friend. Funny how you rarely have conversations like that in the day-to-day of a marriage.

Easy Entertainment

What a fabulous weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we got to work on house projects (window washing, seeding the back yard, pruning, and other not-so-glamorous but oh-so-rewarding jobs). The girls had a great time. They spent the entire time outside playing and entertaining themselves with water, chalk, dirt, stones, and Teaberry Hedgehog (who has become a character in Lee's make-believe world).

I realize there will come a time when a weekend of chores will not be interesting at all for them, but we're really enjoying it while it lasts.

The Beach? Already?

We usually go to the beach for the first time on my birthday, when we drive up to the North Shore and freeze. The end of April here is no guarantee of temperatures much over 45, and we always forget that 45 on the beach with the wind feels sooo much colder than in our sheltered backyard. Sometimes we last 1/2 an hour (but on one particularly cold year only a few minutes) before driving to Woodman's for our yearly fried clam feast.

So it felt a bit like cheating to think about going to the beach on April 17th. But oh it was a beautiful morning, in the 30's when we woke up but warming up quickly. So we packed a lunch and spent the morning at our favorite beach, Wingaersheek in Gloucester. It was spectacular - 60 degrees with just a slight breeze and incredibly clear skies. Lee had a blast running around on the rocks, and she even changed into short sleeves and shorts.

There's something wonderful about living just 40 minutes from such a beautiful spot and actually taking advantage of it now and again.