rudderless

Sixteen Months

Dear sweet Rosy-

Happy belated sixteen month birthday! Don’t think I forgot it for one second. I have just been distracted by the crafting and Halloweening and the teething. Oh, the teething. We’re revisiting the stage of eating everything. Marbles, tiny dolls covered in Elmer’s glue, rock after rock. Only one explanation. I’m trying to savor the huggy, clinging moments that come with feeling not so good. You are my baby, after all.

This has been the month of WORDS! Word explosion! Every day brings a dozen or so new words- doctor, chicken, stars, pink, yogurt. Two-word sentences. “Mama pee!” being my recent favorite. Sophie was an early talker. You are proving to be just as verbose and observant as she was and continues to be.

You learned to run this month. True get-off-the-ground running. It’s FAST and absolutely darling. In Atlanta you fell in love with a tiny push bike and set to work running after Sophie’s bike, stubbing every toe on your foot as you aimed the thing into her path. We’ve spent the last few weeks trying to find another toy that could inspire such action in our driveway. Nothing has worked. Not the baby stroller, not the shopping cart, not the bike leant by friends. Maybe you were inspired to run because there was room to run! Whatever set you off, it was so much fun to watch.

Another big change this month- pretend play! Already- who knew? Much of it comes from watching Sophie, but you stirs pots of pretend food, open the doctor kit and shove the thermometer in Bunny’s mouth. You spend a large part of the day hauling Baby (my grandmother’s Cabbage Patch kid) around and wrapping her in blankets, lying on the floor with her, pushing her in the shopping cart with her faithful companion, Duck. My favorite game is when you carry around a bar of soap and gently dab it, then touch someone and smile. Oh the mischief- good clean mischief.

Your favorite food is meat, which you call chicken. Sausage chicken. Hamburger chicken. Scrambled eggs had a two-week renaissance. Yogurt is high on the list. Any “gummi,” which is a catch-all for any sweets and marshmallows (a favorite). Apples still rule the day. Your favorite book is More, More, More Said the Baby, and anything about ducks, or dogs. You’ve learned to climb on the couch and stick your little legs straight out and say, “A show?” Horrible, eh? The only show you’ll watch is Signing Time, but it’s clear that it brings you great pleasure to copy Sophie’s morning routine. This month, for the first time, instead of crying out at night, you say, “Mommy? Mommy? Mama! Mama!” Heartbreaking and awesome all at once.

Every day you are more to us. More opinions, more thoughts, more fun. More Rosy. Tonight you were looking at the mirror and started saying, “It’s Rosy! Hi Rosy! That’s Rosy! and you leaned in real close and kissed that face. I kiss you all day long, every time I get the chance to scoop you up. But never could my kisses add up to say how much I love Rosy. We are all in love with our Rose. Thank you for a great month, sweet Ladybug.

Happy Halloween!
love, mama

More Making Stuff

Our first project of the day was this little mummy/zombie/ghost family inspired by, again, Zach Aboard. What would I do without them for crafty ideas? We glued old canvas pieces to some leftover dolls from Casey’s Wood (and some that we’d painted a while back). Sophie made a bride and groom and like all good decorations, they’ve quickly become her favorite toys.

We finished up with our papermaking too and thought we’d put up a few photos to inspire.

I used this tutorial (minus the starch) and used a sponge here and there to sop up particularly wet bits. Sophie was the official sponge squeezer. We found that it’s a fairly forgiving and flexible process- if you mess up transferring a piece to the felt, throw the whole thing back in! When it dries it looks and feels very much like a recycled cardboard container- fun for mounting photos, making gift tags, etc.

The girls went to town playing with the tub of pulp once we were done. They squeezed balls out of it and made tiny sheets of their own filtered goop. It’s a tactile good time. And I’m proud to say with the exception of the thrifted picture frame, everything we used was recycled! Next stop, homemade bubble bath.

Craftiness

We crafted today.
Wet-felted soap in the morning.
Papermaking in the afternoon.
When Sophie has a question like, “How do you make paper?” it’s easy to see the course our day is going to take. We raided the recycling bin and made three blender loads of “puuulp” (as she pronounces it!). One empty picture frame from the thrift store, and some old window screen later, and voila! Paper! Moral of the story- it takes a LOT of recycled paper to make a wee three sheets of new paper. Wow.

The world is truly our oyster with a few craft supplies and an internet full of tutorials, with video, for basically anything handmade. What a different education they will have with the internet at hand.

The felt soaps were inspired by Zach Aboard and were a test run for some we want to make using our friend’s handmade soaps. It was a fun process and the girls loved playing with the “rainbow wool.” I love the one that looks like a rock. It may just join our nature table instead of the vanity.

We carved a few pumpkins yesterday and after struggling with the owl/pig pumpkin, we learned that less is truly more. We may have to make a family of the round eyed ones.

In other news, Sophie took her first pony ride. It was thrilling, as was the butterfly garden and the city of playhouses that reside on The Little Farm, in Miami. It was well worth the trip, though I look forward to a Halloween pumpkin-picking that doesn’t feel like the middle of August.

Rosy’s Words

Because I know this stage is fleeting, here’s the list, which grows exponentially every day.
More
Thank You
Please
Milk
Choooos (cheerios)
Shoes
socks
Bum
Spoony (spoon)
Moony (moon)
Bana (banana)
Booby
cereal
Car
Duck
Chicken
Dog
Cat
Meowmeow
Swing
Baby
Drink
Juice
Cacker (cracker)
Bath
Soap
PeePee
Day
Night
Down
Sit Down
Stand Up
Mama
Mommy!
Daddy!
Goonie!
Baby
Blue
Happy
Uh-oh
a Show (pointing to the TV)
BINK! (pacifier)
Bird
Sky
Bubbles
Stro-wer (stroller)
Bike
Stuck
Outside
all done
stop
No no no no non
Go go go
Bobby (body)
Nose
rock
scratch
toes
sophie
rosy
Growing up so very fast.

Mac & Cheese

When we eat something particularly good, John asks me to write it down. Five stars. Make a note.
I bookmark the recipe page. I copy it into my recipe folder onto the computer. It rarely comes up again.
No longer, I say.
From now on the “write it down” things are going into our Recipe list on the toolbar above.

Here’s the first. A Southern mac and cheese straight out of a Paula Deen kitchen. It surfaced for the first time in our lives at my grandmother’s memorial service a few years ago. It’s taken on a life of its own, different versions showing up at the family table every Christmas. It’s good. Really good.

RUBY LANDRUM’S MAC AND CHEESE

1 Box elbow macaroni, (16 oz.)
1 Can mushrooms, chopped
1 Can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 Cup mayo
¼ Cup chopped bell papper
¼ Cup chopped pimento
¼ Cup chopped onion
1 Pound cheddar cheese, sharp, mild or combo
1 Box of Sociables or blue cheese crackers, crushed (Cheez-its are also awesome!)
2 Tablespoons or a whole stick of butter.

Cook macaroni until barely tender.
Mix soup, mayo, bell pepper, onion and mushrooms thoroughly.
Drain macaroni and stir in grated cheese.
Pour soup mixture over macaroni and cheese and mix thoroughly. Place in baking dish.
Melt butter in small pan and add crushed crackers.
Sprinkle crackers over top of casserole. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-030 minutes.

Back to Work

So I’ve gone back to work.
Not really, but a few months ago we started organizing our week to include a couple of friends coming in to babysit for a few hours, one or two days a week so that we could work on boat stuff together. Before babies, our life together was a bit defined by our boatwork. Each of our weekends was a different task- buying, cutting, installing plywood for the nav station; painting the topsides; installing the radar tower. We spent every weekend leading up to Sophie’s birth working on our steel boat, cleaning up, hatching plans. Once she was born, everything changed. John has essentially flown solo on the new boat until very recently. Being back aboard and seeing it progress week-to-week feels so familiar, and so good.

It also does a mama good to make a quick getaway. It recharges the batteries and makes my world feel just a tiny bit bigger than the limits of our neighborhood. It took me a long time to be able to let go and accept the help (and I’m sure I’m not the only one in that situation). The girls enjoy being with other people, having new adventures. John and I have never been “going out” people. We don’t need a restaurant, or even a drink, to get back to feeling like a couple. Just a wrench or two, maybe some epoxy paint, gasket material. We’re all set.

Learning all the darn time

Some things we learned today-

Sophie learned that she is an animal. Just like dogs and cats. She is a human.
It’s a big leap, I tell you. We also talked a lot about cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals (our cold-blooded caterpillar died in the chilly night).

I learned that she can sit through an 80-minute film version of the World of Beatrix Potter ballet. 80 minutes of people dancing in costumes and NOT ONE WORD. Even I was bored stiff, but she . . . narrated every second for over an hour. Testament to the powers of imagination.

Speaking of which, Rosy can pretend! She pretends to serve “cococococo.” and she washes her new bike with pretend water, and sound effects.

She’s also linking two words together. “I swing.” “Mine bike.”

I learned the difference between a heron, an ibis, and a snowy egret today at the Wild Bird Center. Guess which one has yellow feet?

Sisters

Have I mentioned that they are really and truly sisters? They are everything I wanted them to be- buddies, friends, inspiring to each other, life’s biggest frustration at times. And this is just the beginning. It was a big leap from one to two children. A huge leap that challenged us in ways we weren’t prepared to imagine. But oh wow was it worth i, to see them chasing each other through the house. To hear Sophie climb the stairs after Rosy’s nap to say, “Oh hi, Rosy. I’m here, Rosy!” To see Rosy lay her head on Sophie’s chest every night for a “Hught.”

Today Sophie said something to the effect of, “Oh, Little Sisters. They do everything everyone else does.”

Yep.
She also played an imaginary game with her duck, who was in the hospital with a case of swine flu.
Nothing gets past Sophie, not one thing.

Rosy climbed onto the toilet today and stood up. Fun times. Sophie still needs a stool to get onto the toilet. Rosy? Not so much. See what I mean about inspiring?

I also don’t want to forget the way Sophie says, “I need something to distract me” when we ride in the car.
Because whining sisters aren’t enough.

Zoo

Sophie says funny stuff all day long, and as soon as she says it and I say to myself, “I’ll write that down,” I forget it. Tonight I remembered.

me- “Daddy’s being silly.”
sophie- “He’s like JoePop. That’s all he knows how to be. He just knows how to be silly.”

When we were with my folks last week. dinner was being discussed and Sophie chimed in, “I think you feel like take-out.”

And our personal favorite, while watching Wall-E: “Mommy, it’s so beautiful in space.”

I remember when she was born, I looked at her thought, what a perfect stranger. She’s me, and she’s John, but I will never know exactly what she’s thinking. I can’t climb inside her mind and listen to her thoughts. I know her so well. How kind and compassionate she is. How easily frustrated. How sensitive and how smart. But I’ll never completely know her.

That’s what keeps things so interesting.

We Were Away

And we had a great time.
In short, we visited my dear sweet grandmother and rocked in her chair.
We went to Alabama and ate Great-Uncle Pitt’s scrambled eggs.
And chased Dharma Luna on our bikes.
We played in the driveway.
And drank in the driveway.
Rosy perfected the words car, bike, and pumpkin.
There was even some “practice” trick-or-treating.
And an airport window or two.

All the pictures on Flickr.
And more stories soon.