Kids At Work

Almost Six

Lucy turns six years old in a little over two weeks. Can it be??

A Dog

Today Jasper got a wooden dog that he named Alex. Alex has a colorful tail and a bell around his neck. Alex is taking a nap with Jasper right now. I think Jasper loves Alex, completely. I knew he would. The sun is shining here. Lucy is at a birthday party. We all had a full, rich week of connecting the dots of each of our lives. I don't have lots more to say right now because I really want to go talk to Rob, but I wanted to say hello, and all is well.

Pleasure and Pain

Our weekend has had some very lovely interludes: lazy mornings, cuddles and stories with the kids, a wonderful family splash in a salt water pool, reading time for me, sleeping in for Rob, lots of sweetness in between. But it has also been fraught with accidents. Troubling ones. The first is photo-documented below. Friday evening, we had a candlelight dinner with the kids. Lighting the candle is a "sure-fire" way to get the kids to come to the dinner table without coersion. But this time, in the after-dinner malay, Jasper told us he was going to blow out the candles on the table. Rob and I both heard him and were absent-mindedly going about house tidying up and getting things moving towards bedtime. Next thing we hear Jasper's blood-curdling screams at the table. Rob runs over and picks him up - his face is covered with candle wax, including his (closed) right eye. We take him to the bathroom and douse his face with water. We decide that I'll call 911 for a little check-in. The ambulance arrives literally one or two minutes later. And by the time they arrive, it is clear that Jasper is fine, miraculously. No visible burns at all. The medics were incredibly sweet and the kids really enjoyed the whole experience as you can see. The weekend has continued to be accident-prone, including a massive red wine spill on our white carpet. Whole bottle smashed into a million bits sort of thing. So this evening, we are almost happy to have the not-so-restful weekend behind us. Or maybe we actually need a do-over.

Lucy and Hats

You may have noticed on the blog here that Lucy and Jasper like to wear hats. In fact, I would say more often than not, Lucy has on a hat even when she's inside and it isn't required. Often a knit hat, but sometimes a fancy hat or a sun hat, or (my personal favorite) a Little House on the Prairie-style bonnet. (Lucy scored that bonnet from her friend Sophia whose Mom gave it to Lucy BEFORE Sophia had caught the bonnet bug herself by reading the Little House books. Fortunately, everything was made right when Sophia's grandma bought her another bonnet.) But anyway, the day Lucy doesn't feel perfectly comfortable throwing on the bonnet and going to the grocery store will be a sad day indeed.
In addition to wearing hats, Lucy also likes to make hats and made the crown you see on Rob here just for him one day. Then the next day she set to making three more crowns for the rest of the family - I think that project got stalled by a cantankerous crown that refused to fit properly. But anyway, as far as I can tell, Lucy digs outrageous fashion. Eye-catching is more important to her than harmonious; fancy prized over subtle; if her display can actually make the observers (or wearer) slightly uncomfortable or off-balance, all the better. Although, being vast, she does tend towards symetrical. But generally not one for the status quo, this one. She's been inquiring of me about pictures of people in magazines. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is not exactly my area of expertise, but we do our best to explore this topic together. After our discussion, she declared that, when it comes to fashion, she is equally interested in designing clothes, choosing outfits, taking photographs and being the model for the photographs. When I pointed out that usually a person picks out one of those areas to focus on and does it very well, she says, yes, but I am very good at all of those things; I don't know which I'll choose. And then she usually ties on her silk wings and goes out to swing or walk on the top of our fence like a balance beam, talking to herself all the while.