What's the Best Thing About Softball?

New clothes?

Grilled Cheese Pippi Style

I try to make healthy meals, I really do. I think the reason why I'm an ADD cook is because I'm trying to cook for two radically different palates (right now the Warlock works all the time, and Bardo will eat anything, so it Pippi and me). Today Pippi had grilled cheese with pickles for dinner, at her request. She ate half of her sandwich, and then she got into the refrigerator, took out the peach preserves, and smeared a thick layer on TOP of her sandwich. And she ate it up! And I just watched her, shocked that anyone would top something containing pickles with jam, and wondering how I would ever come up with a menu that would satisfy both of us.

How Will Your Kids Learn to Work Hard if They Don't Get a Little Dirty?

Today we were going to go hiking at the Watchung Reservation. Unfortunately, the closer we got to the trail head, the harder and harder it rained. So we decided to head for the playground instead and stay close to the cars so we could head home as soon as the kids got too cold.

Before Sarah and I even got the babies into backpacks, Matthew and Pippi were knee deep in a puddle in the middle of the lawn. They were making "soup" by throwing grass and seed pods into the puddle. I guess they were stirring with their feet. When they finished that, they started grabbing handfuls of mud so they could make a mud slide. Today was a happy day.

The 2007 Pictures I've Been Meaning to Post Forever

After wiggling her teeth for what seemed like forever, Pippi lost her first tooth at the end of January. She was so excited to see her brand new grin. Here's a close-up of her smile!


Bardo's smile is lookin' pretty good lately too. Especially when I wipe the drool off of his face.
Pippi figured out some things to do with Magnetos that I thought unique.



With just a slight push the structure she built collapsed down the hole in the iron stand. Pippi was delighted with herself.

Pippi loves taking pictures of herself...and me...and Bardo...and of the messy house.

Here's a cute picture of Pippi and Bardo together.

Bardo in the "Dog Phase"

At least that's what I would call it. Bardo's been camping out underneath the table between meals in the hopes that we will drop a new food to try. He even begs by screaming until we'll give him a taste. His favorite play areas seem to be the refrigerator and the garbage can. Don't worry Mom, the garbage can is tightly closed and bottom heavy so that it can't tip all over him.

When Bardo plays in the bath water he thinks he should drink the bath water. At least it's not the toilet. Although Aunt Kristy did catch him playing in there the morning she was here. Luckily she swiftly washed his hands before they made their way to his mouth.

One of the boys in the playground asked if Bardo could "shake hands" yet. I didn't quite know how to respond.

Bardo loves playgroup. He crawls after the other kids, watching what they are doing. He's especially interested in the two year-olds. He'll playfully stand on his knees and knock them over if he catches them sitting down.

Bardo, or course, chews on everything. His favorites are shoes and power cords. Yesterday I put him down for 30 seconds while I helped Pippi out of the bath. Before I knew it, he had sunk his teeth deep into the toilet paper roll and shredded the outer layers. I pulled him away and turned him around to look at him. He had a silly grin on his face, a toilet-papery silly grin, that is.

When Stacy was a baby, my sister handed her a teething ring saying, "Here's your chew toy." I was SO offended. "Baby's have teethers, not chew toys," I responded in my most annoyed voice. The Warlock thought this was so funny and said that I should lighten up. It's taken me 6 years, but that's some advice that I'll take.

My Neighborhood

Currently I'm living in the middle of a town in New Jersey. The Warlock commutes into the city every day to work to earn the big bucks. In our apartment complex, Pippi has plenty of friends to play with, and it seems to be one of the few places in New Jersey where the neighborhood kids play after school with parents supervising from the windows.

I live in the apartment closest to the playground, so when the weather is suitable for outdoor play, the neighborhood children knock at our door. My name is "Pippi's Mom." I'm surprisingly unoffended by this. I guess because I feel SO honored to be Pippi's mom. I get invited to their school activities (the science fair is in a week), and I am the playground mediator.

Today when we drove up, the kids were out playing, and there was some drama outside. "Pippi's mom, those boys were being mean. Don't let Pippi play with them. They were pretending to shoot guns. They are playing in the mud. And they found some chocolate milk and they drank it all up." Now what am I going to say to that? Pippi's already running towards them so she can show off her new doll that can convert from a mermaid into a fairy. Visions of the stories from the Obnoxious Warlock's childhood Barbie prison camps (including torture and execution) caused me to feel a pang panic. Pippi would be crushed if they took her doll or made fun of it or broke it. But I looked on and I almost laughed out loud at my panic when I saw our neighborhood boys caress the wings of the fairy and then gently close the wings to click on the mermaid fin. "Oh, that's cool. I saw this on TV." Yeah those mean mean boys, drinkin' up the chocolate milk, stirring the mud puddle, and admiring the dolls.

But there are adults that live here, too. My Italian-American friend down the street with 3 nice boys helps me keep track of Pippi when she's out of my line of sight. My next door neighbor is from India. Sometimes she'll hold Bardo for me while I haul in my groceries. There's my friend Dod, who's from Lebanon. She knows the meaning of hospitality. Whenever I go to retrieve Pippi from her house she tries to feed me. Then across the way, there's a couple from Pakistan, who told me the story of their arranged marriage. In this little apartment complex, in this little town, are people of ALL sorts. But they are like me, too. We all love our kids, we all love God (though we all worship differently), and we all want to help each other.

A Skiff of Snow

Today, I regret that I didn't take a picture. Everything was so beautiful today. Snow gently fell all day long in giant snowflakes. The ground looked like it was covered in small crystals. The snowflakes were so big you could almost see the unique shape of each one.

I envied Pippi as I sent her out the door to collect icicles with a neighbor boy. I told her to be sure to come in when she got cold. (We've had some traumatic rewarming experiences. One time she put her snow boots on without socks when I wasn't looking.) Charbelle got cold way before she did so he went inside but she entertained herself in the slush, where snow had fallen in a puddle. She came home with her snow pants and gloves and coat soaked. I must say that's not what I would have done out there. I might have rolled in the snow, collected enough to built a snow hill, and probably eaten it if I'd been five years old. As it was I had to be content to march in it for awhile (while Bardo rode in the backpack), and then re-enter my world of work--laundry, diaper changing, cleaning, meal preparation, rocking the baby to sleep.

Pretending

So I really need to know something. As a parent am I completely obligated to pretend? Must I pretend to have fun pretending? Because after a winter of pretending to be various characters from the life and storybooks of Pippi, my mind starts to tune out the sentences, "Mom let's play ... You're.... I'll be ....."

The most challenging characters for me to perform are those based on her friends. Ever since the Asplund family gave us their annual Christmas CD, Pippi has enjoyed pretending to be Eric and she wants me to be Eve. Last week when I outright refused to pretend to be one of the Asplunds EVER again she tried to trick me by asking me to play "polar bear family." After I agreed, she told me I was a polar bear named Eve and she would be polar bear Eric. I couldn't believe it, she was trying to trick me into playing the game she wanted me to play.

Finally, yesterday I was in the middle of something and Pippi kept begging me to play Asplund family when I said no, she tried to use the polar bear trick. I tried to convince her to do something else with me, in the end, I finally just, at my wits end, said I wasn't going to pretend ever again.

But today I gave in and played Candyland. How can I resist? I'm glad I did too. Pippi pretended to be Queen Frostine. She was pregnant with Princess Lolly. It just makes me laugh to see my daughter pretending to waddle around with a baby doll zipped up into her footy pajamas.