Purple for National Eating Disorder Awareness

My blog is wearing purple today - and I am also - as National Eating Disorder Awareness week comes to a close. Please send some prayers today for those living with an eating disorder, those who have family and friends with eating disorders, and those who have been lost.

Just kidding

Apparently I just have to write that I might be on hiatus and then I suddenly have a lot to say.

Last night was Ash Wednesday, so we were at church. Lauren found out that the pastors' kids were playing in the nursery during the service, so since I was singing in choir and Linds was going there anyway, I dropped her off there.

"Hey, Olivia is here."

"Of course she is."

"Mom, did you know that Pastor Patty is Olivia's mom?"

"Actually Olivia has two moms."

"Oh!" she said. "I have two dads."

"Um. No, you don't."

"Yeah," she said thoughtfully, "Alec is my dad, but God is also my father."

"Oh...huh. I guess I hadn't thought of that," I said.

***

Lindsay sang the Not Perfect song at Lauren.

"I'm not perfect," replied Lauren. "But you're not perfect either, Lindsay."

"I AM PERFECT," she shouted.

"No, you're not," Lauren sang.

"I AM PERFECT!!!"

"No, Lindsay, the only perfect person is Jesus." Lauren explained.

"AND LINDSAY!"

Extracurricular

I bought a book at the beginning of the school year with activities in it geared toward the first grader. As with so many things, I had good intentions. A way to feed Lauren's intellectual curiosity. The book had remained until yesterday on the shelf in the downstairs bathroom.

We were sitting together at the dining room table, she with pencil and homework package. Every week they receive this - a list of spelling words with spelling exercises and a few pages of to drill whatever math skill they're working on. I sat reviewing my philosophy essays, writing things like Anselm: God is something that which nothing greater can be conceived.

"What's in the 'Everything Your First Grader Should Know' book?"

"Lessons about different subjects."

"Can we do one?" She set down her pencil. "I only have one more sentence and one more page of math."

"Sure." I retrieved the book. "What subject? Oh, how about Art?"

"Really?! Art is in there? That's so cool!"

We read about color and looked at a painting by Monet next to another by Whistler, and at the end of the lesson, the assignment was to draw something twice - first in bright, vibrant colors and then in dark, somber colors.

She probably spent an hour working on these two. We talked about which one she liked better, though I think you can probably tell by the grinning sun...

Lindsay singing...

Show me the waaaaaaaay
Show me the waaaaaaaay
Show me the waaaaaaaay
The way to go home

I am the waaaaaaaaaay
I am the truuuuuuuuth
I am the looooooooove
The way to go home

Not lounging on a beach somewhere...

Just a quick post to let you know I am okay, just very busy with life outside the Internet...

I'll catch up when things wind down a little.

Valentine's Day

Paper moon, paper heart
Pink balloon, work of art
Al Capone, Bugs Moran
Valentine's Day

Bootleg gin, porkpie hat
Dew Drop Inn, dirty rat
Through the heart, Cupid's dart
Valentine's Day

lyrics by James Taylor

I found myself musing yesterday as Lauren went through her much coveted bag of little paper notes, lots of random plastic toys, and two heart-shaped lollipops about another mom desperate to stamp out this contraband - there is no candy allowed at school. As Lauren withdrew the two lollies from her bag, and asked if she and her sister could have them, like the sticky confection my own heart melted a little to see Lindsay tickled expression that her sister was giving her one of her special treats.

It puts me in an untenable situation as a parent, faced to decide between their health and their happiness, she once said.

I don't mean to say I think she is wrong. We all do our best to decide what's best for our kids. I think when it is only about health versus happiness, we have no trouble confiscating the offending thing. Right? Because that's a lot of the job - to make the difficult, often times unpopular decisions...

Looking up

I am so frustrated, people! It's Thursday and either I am still whiny or whiny yet again. Not sure which.

I went to church this morning because I was feeling bad that my kids trashed the sanctuary like rockstars yesterday. They found the number cards for the hymn board and scattered them. A basket of ribbons was sent flying into the air like confetti. And to top it off, they took all of the special hymnbooks out of the pews and scattered them. At 9 PM last night, the end of choir, it was all I could manage just to get the kids out of there, so on my way back from dropping Lauren off at school, I went to put away the hymnbooks.

There's something therapeutic about a repetitive task that has a beginning and end. Besides Linds, it was quiet and dark in the sanctuary. I was hoping to leave feeling accomplished, but I found I was just as irritated as when I arrived. What, did I need recognition for putting away the things my kids took out, I scolded myself.

Yeah, my gums are sore. Yeah, the humidity everyone is relishing is giving me a massive headache. But things are basically OK. All those things I whined about on Monday got done. There's, of course, a new list of things to do, but y'know there always is.

Whiny

I know I should say something apologetic about not blogging lately, about being busy. I haven't been that busy, there's just a lot going on I don't want to write about. It's not particularly important.

I'm sipping my third cup of coffee today. I don't know why my house was up at 5:30 AM, but it was and as a result I am too tired to deal with the list: garbage, compost, laundry, trip to the bank. And yet every time I turn around, it seems to get longer. My car has some sort of puffed rice snack all over it from Jack and Lauren in the 3rd seat. The snow melted and I parked the car deep in the driveway for the first time in weeks, and noted my yard was strewn with pink dryer lint. Oh. Yep, that is probably why he said 'You need to make sure you empty the trap more often'. It seemed to announce to my neighbors that I'm forgetful. As I went in the back door, after tripping over a hungry cat demanding to be fed, I wondered how long it had been since I'd swept the back hall. I opened the fridge to put away the milk after the last cup of coffee, and clean the fridge!

My tired sidekick is watching television. Occasionally she whines about water and/or bananas. Her hair is an impossible blonde tangle in the back of her head although I'm sure I've brushed it four times already.

Vacuum the car. Take out the garbage and compost. Go to the bank.

This isn't hard. Right?

Not hard.

*sigh*

For the time capsule

"Com'on Wa-Ren lets pway I spy. I say, 'I spy wid my widdle eye...somsing...bwue.' Wa-Ren! How come you not guessin'? I sayed 'I spy wid my widdle eye...' Wa-Ren!!! I SPY WID MY WIDDLE EYE!!!"

Secret mucus

Wow, that's even a double entendre.

Lindsay has been announcing all day, "Yellow cheese has a secret!" I'm telling the Internet - the secret is cheese. I have no idea what that means.

Lauren brought home a book today about the common cold. She did an impressive job reading about viruses and bacteria. One of the ways your body heals itself is by producing extra mucus. Lauren asked, "What's mucus?" "Snot." I replied. She looked utterly horrified and disgusted. I think if the next sentence in the book hadn't been about ushering germs out your nose via the extra mucus, she wouldn't have believed me.