Quail Day- Who’s My Pretty Baby?

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Cole | 5 Comments

Shortly before Christmas I received the loveliest of gifts from my husband….a few hours alone with a camera, some pretty pink tutus and the baby! I photographed Zuzu endlessly as a baby. I really didn’t want The Quail to ever end up feeling that- “I’m not the only child slight”. You know the trap- after the first baby the baby book isn’t finished, they only wear hand-me-downs, there is never a photograph of them alone. Not that the Quail is really ever in danger of any of those- except maybe being forced into my favorite of the baby clothes Zuzu wore for my own sentimental sake. One of the gifts we received for her from dear Lisa and her family was a little pink tutu for her 6-9 month tiny self. At the time Zuzu was heavily into tutus and ballerinas (still is!) and I dreamed of indulging in a sisterly photo shoot of them dressed up together. That is yet to come, but in the meantime I was able to get a few hundred of our sweet baby in all her sweet-pink and loveliness and will be sharing them over the next few weeks. Here is the start!

Happy Birthday Auntie Deb!

Posted on January 6, 2010 by Cole | Leave a comment

Here’s to a fabulous year of new beginnings!

Zuzu Day- Momma, but I don’t know how to read…

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Cole | Leave a comment

…is a refrain oft heard around our house these days. When Zuzu was a baby I was a tad obsessed over the need to establish a reading routine so that books would be an important part of her little world. When she was barely days old I would set her in the swing and swiftly read 3 night-time themed books to her each evening; dutifully showing her the pictures. She didn’t yawn in response, or kick and giggle, or really show any apparent response. Then as the days progressed I switched to a routine of reading chapter children books to her while she nursed. I liked the Norman Rockwellish image of reading to her about Peter Rabbit or Paddington bear. Again- really not much of a response that was obvious- until she reached the point where she would grab the book from my hands and attempt to nurse it rather than me. This grew frustrating and as she hit that 5-6 month mark where I could no longer read, talk on the phone or watch TV while nursing because she became more engaged in it than the task at hand I gave up actively establishing a reading routine at bedtime. We did still have tons of board books around though and the first book she memorized was Sandra Boynton’s Moo, Baa, La, La, La which had lovingly been provided as part of a welcome package of favorite baby toys by Celina and Lisa’s families from St. Louis. At an early age that could still be recorded in months, rather than years when you recited, “The cow says….” she would happily cluck off the animal sound portions till she could “read” the entire book her ownself. This expanded to Barnyard Dance, and on and so-forth as she slowly established her favorite selection of little board book stories. Between the second and third year when her daycare became more of a preschool structure she began her role as teacher, imitating Miss Chrystal at school and lining either us or her animals and babydolls up for her reading to us as the teacher. The first book she did it with was a darling book that we had ordered from the Scholastic Books program at school that had obviously been read at group time the day it came in. That night when I tried to read it to her she was insistent on taking it from me and assuming the teacher role yet again as she sad there jammy-clad instructing us on the book she named “Foxes” for the little fox family on the cover.

We eventually did establish a bedtime routine of 3 books while nursing and then off to sleep. And after the Quail joined us we continued in a less structured fashion of storytime as she would bring books over to where we sat with her baby sister and read them to her. But something changed in the last month or so. She began responding to the request that she “read” a book with an upset tone and even a few tears because she has realized she doesn’t know how. No longer willing to run through the motions we have began to attempt to instruct her in a somewhat bumbling effort. We are slowly returning to a nighttime routine of books before bed and books together upon awakening.

So in addition to being surrounded by books, (yes I still obsessively by them from thrift stores, Ross stores and anywhere I see them for less than a $5 bill.); we are now surrounded by letters. We use Starfall.com, the Leapfrog refrigerator letter and now word building products and her favorite shows to watch include the likes of Super Why, Wordgirl and Word World. I remember one day at the grocery store months ago when she suddenly gazed up at the Pharmacy sign and declared with delight, “Momma there’s an A!” as the letters of the alphabet came slowly into focus for her. I also remember nights on end of asking her the colors of the toys in her bath and the slow switch from sly, grinning guesses to accurate naming of the dolphin and ducky family hues.

And it appears we are entering a whole new realm of independence as entire words begin to come into focus for her in the same fashion. Each night as we put dinner together she uses her alphabet magnets and asks Lovey to help her spell words. She has mastered the art of sounding out C-A-T and tells us she has no desire to spell DOG. But would like to know how to spell, happy, hiccup, rocket, Annie, June, playground and spider. So we meet her requests unquestioningly and come up with pitiful English language lessons of the likes of, ” Well happy is one of those special words that has 2 consonants in it”. We can only hope she doesn’t repeat our haphazard lessons as insistently to her teachers as she sometimes is with us as she reminds us to use our happy manners because they will make us happy.

I think maybe she makes us happy.

Momma Monday- New Beginnings

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Cole | 1 Comment

Ever since I was a small one I’ve loved the new year. The opportunity for a fresh start to become the person you want to be. Why the atmosphere is so much different around it rather than other times of the year I don’t know. But there is something about the brisk, chilly air; the clear, pure blues and sharply outlined lightness of clouds in a January sky that inspire me. You turn the page of a new calendar and turn a new dawn and voila! The world waits to see what you will do. Now that we live in the south there is also the delight of knowing that spring is not far away. That in just a month or so small buds will unfurl and bright color will start to dot the garden. Even now if you walk through the cultured nearby botanical gardens and know which turns to take you can find the smiling full blooms of the sasanqua camellias. Their lovely shape, fullness and variety of colors make me smile to know that they are standing silently by just waiting for me to happen upon them.

The last few years we have stumbled into a few other welcomings of the new year as well. Co-workers of Lovey’s have an annual New Year’s Eve bash that begins at their home where everyone, note particularly the small ones are invited to play together and have their early meal. It is a pot-luck event where some of my favorite local family cooks are included and the food is wonderful- from the anti-pasto plate and smoked salmon, to the variety of breadmakers finest fare to the soups and salads. It’s become a neighborhood gathering that we feel fortunate to be included in since we actually live a few miles from the neighborhood. After the children are settled in with their steaming bowls of pasta and busy reconnecting with the others and the older children have been assigned to sitter duties; the grown-ups amble over to another lovely home lit with luminaries and twinkling lights where there is wine, port, fine appetizers and even finer company. We went last year when I was humongously pregnant with The Quail and I swear it was the best time we had as a couple in ages. Even our tired selves were so invigorated by the festive atmosphere that we managed to stay out to ring in the New Year. After the reception we all headed back to the original home to check on our brood and settle in with a hearty, international meal and wait for the clock to strike twelve! Last year one of the families from Poland introduced the children to the folktale of The Stone Soup told with actual vegetable assignments for them over an open fire and stirred and simmered until after midnight for one last hearty meal before heading home. This year our Zuzu curled up on a wrought-iron bed and snored in the new year while The Quail wore her tiara and chortled it in along with the grown-ups. I hear there was also an additional home offering dessert but we didn’t make it over to that one.

On New Year’s day we have also had the good fortune to have our family included in another friend’s southern tradition of welcoming in the new year and inviting good luck into the year by feasting on hoppin’ john, rice, pork and collard greens. This is yet another group of fabulously talented cooks and we are so very blessed to be included in their festivities as well. Last year we had a little ceremonial embracing of what we hoped to invite into our lives and what we hoped to let go of. We shared them with the group and then blessed them to the earth. I thought we might do this again and so I had my items prepared for the event. Since we didn’t have a chance to do this instead I offer them out to cyberspace in hopes of sealing my success and inner peace!

This year I hope to embrace:

1. Moderation in my daily life

2. Connection- with friends, family, myself and community

3. Health- for me, my home and my family

4. Creative Inspiration and embracement of my expression of it

I hope to let go of these:

1. Clutter

2. Worry or rumination over negative energies and concerns

3. Anger or negative reaction as opposed to thoughtful action in response to something upsetting/bothersome

4. Emotional eating and nibbling out of anxiety

I’ll be working on goals for the year as well- both revising my earlier family goals post and setting some loose goals for myself in books I hope to read this year, music I hope to listen to, movies I hope to watch and activities I hope to take part in. These are things that I don’t always find I make time for much anymore. Mostly I hear children’s music, read children’s books and watch children’s shows. And while I’m happy to do those things with the children- I think I need to add some grown up versions back into my life so I don’t burn out or begin to resent Barney, Tinkie-Winkie, Wordgirl, Elmo, Kipper and Angelina. I also know that my children seeing me do these things for myself will set a good example for how they should naturally treat themselves as they grow up.

Speaking of which- time to go roast the chicken!