ChattaBaby

Poor girl

As usual, Sarah is sick again. The illness is minor, but I know the coughing will last for days and days. And it's not fair for me to say that the coughing is going to drive me crazy, because at least I'm not the one doing the coughing. She should (and does) have my sympathy. Barry was commenting today on her nose-wiping resourcefulness. All winter she used her sleeve, and now that she doesn't have long sleeves she goes ahead and pulls up her shirt. And if Barry or I are anywhere near, she will of course go for our shirt first. I now this is where I'm supposed to step up and push the tissues, but she is so fast and it doesn't really bother me all that much. Is that gross?
On another note, Sarah and I went out to water our rather crispy garden today, and we picked our first green bean! We didn't get to eat it, though, because it fell out of the doll stroller somewhere on the way up the stairs back to our front yard. Four babies and a purple rabbit must accompany us every time we go down to the garden. And I have to carry the stroller more than half the way over the rough terrain. Which is why I let the garden get so crispy. I really need to involve Barry's soaker hose he serendipitously bought on accident.

Happy Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, Sarah and I planted our garden today, although it didn't turn out quite like I expected. For weeks now Sarah and I have been growing cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans and carrots in plastic cups on the window sill. They were growing so well in those cups that we already have three green beans and all the cups were threatening to topple. So, with massive help from Barry, we filled our plot with garden soil and mulch and dug holes for our plants. I had so many carrot plants in each cup that I tried to break them up to spread them out in the garden. Sarah was watching my process and proceeded to rip her plants in half, placing roots and leaves in separate holes. Now all our big, luscious plants seem to be on their deathbed. They are so wilted and wouldn't even be standing up at all if I hadn't shoved their little stalks awkwardly through a piece of lattice. Maybe we should hurry up and eat our three green beans.

It's looking a little gray around here

I know there need to be pictures up here, and it will happen ... someday. We've been in Nana and Grandpa world lately, and it is great.

The good life

You know life is good when you're in the bathroom and realize you've run out of toilet paper, but all you have to do is holler for your little 3-year-old to get you more, and she's so excited to help that she brings you three rolls. Thanks, Sarah.

A sigh of relief

I've been nervous about Sarah's gym class not because of the danger (although that's a good possibility), but because I'm afraid she is starting to hate it. For the past two weeks, every time I try to get her to practice something, she'll try once or twice and then flip out and say she's not good at gym. And then she'll talk about the girl with long yellow hair in class who is. One time she threw herself down flat on the carpet and wouldn't budge. This is supposed to be fun! I keep telling her she is good and that she should just do whatever parts she wants. But she is three years old, and already her mind is made up. I was so nervous in class today that I couldn't even talk to the other moms. I had to make myself totally available in case Sarah needed to look over and wave hi, which she did only twice the whole hour. I watched as the kids screamed and ran in a circle, while Sarah and another little girl just stood immobile. I watched as Sarah plodded down the wedges instead of doing her forward rolls. I watched as other kids broke in line if Sarah left too big a gap in front of her, but then I laughed out loud when she totally cut right to the front. (C'mon, she deserved it). And I watched her sit and listen to her coaches plan out the obstacle course, and then execute it. And my eyes welled up when I saw her figure out how to lift her legs and swing over a foam noodle. She got to high-five her coach and everything. I wish she would understand that, no, after only three weeks of class she is not going to be perfect, but that it's not about that anyway.
I know I shouldn't make a big deal out of all this because with time I, too, will relax, and there's still plenty of semester left.

Happy Easter

It's been awhile, I know. I've been sitting here trying to figure out why I can't post any more. The reason? I can't keep up. Sarah has reached a point where she makes the most interesting observations and says the most hilarious things, but they happen all day long and there's never one thing to draft a post off of. That and I think my mind's getting lazy. Oh yeah, and that I now subscribe to Vanity Fair, and it takes about a month for me to even read the whole magazine. And I do read the whole magazine. Barry's probably cursing it because pretty much every time I finish an article, I tell him it was so amazing he just HAS to read it. Yeah, and how many times does he tell me to read ESPN? (Although I did the other day ... it was an article about high schoolers way down in sugar cane fields in Florida and why they are all super fast and become professional football players. I didn't finish it, though, so I don't have the answer, although it seemed to involve rabbits or something. I'll keep you posted.) I love, love, love to read, and it is so much easier to make time for reading than to make time for writing.
But after tomorrow I'll have something more to say because Sarah goes to gym class in the morning, and it has my stomach in knots.