When I was a kid,

I love to watch nature shows. My favorite were the shows that showed, for example, hyenas ripping appart the bloody carcass of a zebra, or crocodiles hunting water buffalo, or sharks devouring seals in a slavering mass of teeth, gums and blood. In short, the violence of carnivorous feasting delighted me.

I was reminded of this while watching Noel attack a pancake with ferocity on Saturday morning. Hyenas and zebras indeed.

Ninjas

I don't talk about Pippi much anymore. I feel kind of weird talking about someone who can read every word I write. And she is just so much more than she's ever been in her life--bigger, more imaginative, more stubborn, more talented, more tenacious, more tender, more capable. There simply isn't time to perfectly portray this incredible girl and convey the way I feel about her. Today, I gift you with a wee example of her vivid imagination.

Halloween costumes are on our minds this time of year. We're getting catalogs in the mail nearly every day, and we want to look great for this special day of the year where we can be whoever we want to be and have an excuse to visit all of our neighbors.

Pippi and Bardo sit side by side at least once a day on the couch with a catalog dreaming of what they'll be. For a few days, Pippi was set on the Hannah Montana costume. The Warlock and I silently groaned and vowed that we would go to a costume store and do a bait and switch. Hannah Montana costumes are BORING (but they do contain a wig, and Pippi LOVES wigs). So you can imagine our relief when she began to talk ninja. But she did not only dream and talk, the girl began to act.

She emerged from her room cloaked in a snowflake polar fleece blanket. A handkerchief veiled her face except for the bright blue eyes. She wore her jazz pants over her pink leotard and for a minute wore her jazz boots until she realized she needed to go outside. She traded her jazz boots for her pink cowboy-turned-ninja boots, grabbed her belt and made sure that it fit loosely so it could fit her weapons. She ran outside, Bardo trailing behind, searching for those special sticks that would be her swords and daggers.

They played ninja for hours. When they brought sticks indoors, I reminded them, "No sticks in the house." Bardo replied, wide-eyed and offended, "But these are thwords and daggers."...as if that was going to make it okay...

Today Pippi got home from church and decided to improve on her costume design. She set to work putting together her Little Red Riding Hood Ninja costume made out of a red sheet. She showed me her moves, the ninja walk, the ninja sword and dagger swings and spins. "Ninjas move kind of like a hop and kind of like a skip. It's a combination." She leaped around, trying not to make a sound. When she couldn't perfect the art of silent motion, she explained, "Ninjas make that noise on purpose. It just sounds like animals." When we went on a walk she found a new stick, exclaiming, "I'm so happy I found this. It's perfect for my sword collection." And did I take a picture? Nope. What kind of a mother am I anyway?

Shopping Cart Acrobatics

Today I went to Target. I allowed my eyes to leave the shopping cart for a brief moment to help Bardo choose some new shirts. I know he's only three, but he has strong opinions. I turned around to find Noel holding onto the shopping cart handle, standing on her feet in the seat with her mouth wide open (that's how she smiles when she's truly pleased with her situation). I hope you'll excuse me, but I didn't take time to snap a picture.

First Day

We had a peaceful morning after a night of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth (me) concerning the preparation of this all important bike (...two new tires, two new tubes, a defective bike pump...). The Warlock took ten minutes to humble me and save me from despair by using our car tire pump.
Will there ever be a year that I don't feel like crying when I send this girl off to the first day of school?

My marathon training starts tomorrow

So I've created my very own blog. This will help me avoid cluttering up the Witch's blog any more than I usually do.

I have little hope that anybody will be interested. But I know that a few of you are quite bright and experienced about running and such (I'm thinking primarily of the Witch's sister and her other sister's husband, although others are knowledgeable as well). They should feel free to come over and tell me when I'm being an idiot.

blackenedtoenails.blogspot.com

The Laugh

Noel's been laughing for awhile now, but today, after a full day of complete fussiness and no long naps, I was surprised to hear her laugh as I walked the dog through the playground at our favorite nearby park.

I couldn't figure it out until she sunk her short little tooth into my finger. Yes, that's right, Noel got her first tooth today. I'll take pictures as soon as it grows taller and you can see it.

Crawling

Noel decided to celebrate our arrival home from vacation by crawling
her first crawls. She will entertain herself for quite a long time
using her new found mobility. She's always been a good baby, but now
she's truly content.

Whenever I go near water with my children I feel like I have to be "on my game." As a young mother with just 2 children close to the same age to place into the bath, I allowed my children to linger in the bath until their feet and their fingers looked like prunes. I'd quickly clean the bathroom, soak my feet in the tub, sing songs to my little ones, read a book---sometimes for an hour. Two children later, I can't believe I ever had time to use in this way.

Bath times at our house now are much more business-like. Pippi takes care of herself, mostly (I still have to wash that thick mop of hair for her at least once a week.). I throw Noel and Bardo into the tub, quickly clean them up, go over the bath time alphabet toys with Bardo, clean up the toys, and invite them to exit the tub.

At our community swimming pool, I follow Bardo in his life vest from the baby pool to the slow water slide and back again. Bardo's quite leery of the water. He refuses to go in water that's over his head, even with a life vest. He swims in the 24" deep water of the baby pool, his head covered in water for several seconds at a time. He's a champion bubble blower. He also enjoys squirting people with water, and today he told me he wanted to get the lifeguards. Bardo will not run on the pool deck. The lifeguard blew a whistle at him once, I told him why, and he is very very conscientious about always walking. When we went to the beach, he caught himself running, grabbed my hand and asked if they had whistles at the beach. Bardo wants to be in control.

So you can imagine Bardo's initial sheer terror of the vast ocean. He clung very tightly to the Warlock's neck while in the water, and was very very happy to be placed on the soft white sand. "Is it sugar?" he asked as he watched his baby sister grab a handful to put in her mouth. The first evening at the beach Bardo happily played in the sand. I wondered if he'd ever get wet. Eventually the Warlock took him out into the water again, and little by little he became hooked. That water felt good and when he got out, the sand stuck to him, so he had to run back to the water to clean off.

I observed his introduction to the ocean a few steps away, as a lifeguard. My eyes were glued on him, watching him, not really feeling worried, but not taking any chances. He didn't really want me there as he tested his limits. At first he'd just wash his hands in the water. And little by little he'd creep further and further in. He learned to anticipate the waves and stand up at just the right time to make sure his head stayed above the water. After awhile he started to feel confident that he could carry on a conversation while playing in the water. A few times, caught up in his talking, the ocean would check him, covering his head with water. He scrambled away from the water. I reached to him, to make sure he was all right, but Bardo would have none of that. He could handle this. He would handle this. He did handle it.

Vacation - the entire family this time.

I am very rested and happy, despite the red-headed handful that is Bardo.

Vacation!

Making sandcastles:

The sand was so nice and sugarlike that Noel had to have a taste:

Yuck!

Two somebodys spent way too much time in the water and got sunburned:

And one somebody decided that he'd rather stay on shore: