Willa the Dragonfly

It has been a magical day for Willa. She discovered Tootsie Rolls.

Moved by spirits

Our church celebrated la dia de los muertos (for a primer on "The Day of the Dead" click here) on Sunday. After the mariachi band played*, and during "quiet reflection and prayer" Willa decided to show delayed gratitude for the music by yelling "YAY" and clapping. An 18 month old's "YAY" resounds exceptionally well in a 150 year old sanctuary.

*I love attending a church that lets me type "after the mariachi band played"...

Thanks to Amy in Motown for inspiring me to remember to share this here. See the story of her three year old singing angel here.

happily married 730 days

"I think it was just as sunny as it is today, but not as chilly."

"I don't think you would have felt any cold, no matter what the temperature on that day."

He's right.

Happy second anniversary, Jim.

me -> you, always

The Family bed

This morning I finished brushing my teeth and looked into the bedroom. Jim in his spot, Willa in mine, the dogs curled up at the foot of the bed. Willa's sick and they are all at home. I am at work.
I kissed her on her head, her whispy hair tickling my lips, "bye Willa, feel better and go easy on daddy." She smiled at me, said "Moma," and patted the bed next to her.
This patting is how we invite the dogs up.
So, so difficult to put on my big girl shoes and leave them all there.

Mom and Dad run away from home

We are back from a long weekend away. On Sunday Jim and I left Willa safely and happily with my parents and headed around Lake Erie to Cleveland. Some highlights:

• walking along and across the river with no plan
• sitting in the 80 degree sun
• a quick trip out of our hotel to see the sun set that landed us in Jacob's Field with thousands of Indians fans who saw their team lose the League Championship (we only stayed for the first 3 outs)
• eating room service pizza in bed because we stayed at the stadium too long and every kitchen in downtown Cleveland closes at 9 pm on Sundays
• seeing the original lyrics to "In My Life" handwritten by John Lennon at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• not needing the backup CDs in the car on the drive in case Jim and I grew tired of talking
• picking Willa back up at my parents - she never cried, and after an hour of watching the Detroit Zoo's polar bear for an hour with Grandma, has a new fuzzy bear to snuggle
• Best thing? Reconnecting with Jim as a partner outside of our roles as parents. This guy I've said "forever" to? So wonderfully perfect for me.

Karma bites

Willa learned a lesson in what goes around comes around. Her daycare report from Friday:
"Willa tried to take a phone from one of her friends. She got bit on her left hand."

I love a rainy night

Last night we were at a visitation for Jim's sister's husband's mom. We were all standing around the outside of the Howard City church watching the skies saying things like, "looks like it went right past us." Inside, I was thinking where one would hide from a tornado in Howard City.

Hours later, Jim and I were enjoying some quiet reading time. I heard Willa starting to stir and cry just a little. I went to her crib, and she was sitting up, watching the lightening through the window. Her brow was almost touching her nose, she was so concerned. "Woah." I laid her down and said it was a thunderstorm and she was okay. "Woah, mama, woah." Seconds later she was back to sleep, snuggling her stuffed bunny.

... not as fluffy as normal

I walked in to Willa's room and the afternoon care provider jumped up to get a paper. She did this the day before and I had to sign for the knowledge that Willa bit one of her friends:
Willa was playing with a ball. Her friend tried to take it. Willa bit her friend. I told her that biting friends isn't nice.
Uh-oh, I thought.
Instead, this is what I got.
"Willa did something funny today."
I eye my daughter suspiciously, she's in her backup outfit. Did she paint herself? Pour milk all over her front?
"She took off her own diaper. I went to pick her up and her bottom was really wet, and not as fluffy as normal. And then I noticed that one leg was a lot thicker than the other. She took off her diaper and stuffed it down the leg of her pants."
I am still trying to figure out the logistics of this. She was in a one piece romper that snaps around the legs (my delicate way to avoid the word crotch- oops). So... how did she undo her own diaper and then stuff it down a leg? The world may never know.

bent limbs on the family tree

My dad's dad's dad had the largest rhubarb farm in Wayne County. This I knew, but when he was talking about it Saturday he started a sentence off when "when we lost the farm..." There's a story to be told.

My mom's mom's dad was a bootlegger and ran homebrewed beer in the car with my young grandmother sitting on the seat on top of it. His wife died very young, and the paperwork says her bowels were punctured by a chicken bone.

Jim-ness

This fella is 40 today.

Jim, full of kindness and laughs and integrity and creativity.

Jim got an "A" in his first Master's class, and does more dishes than he should.

Awesome dad, Jim. Bather of dogs, fixer of lamps, reader of everything, Jim.

My life is enriched by his partner-hood. I love him, Jim.

Happy Birthday.

1 year old

Happy 1st Birthday, Blanco de Sinki.

Sinkis in the Morning

6:30 am Willa starts stirring

6:40 am Jim gets up, brings Willa into our bed

6:42 am Willa turns toward me and kisses me on the lips

6:42.5 am Willa won't go back to sleep unless her lips are on my lips. And she's still coughing.

6:43 am Feeling grossed out that my sick daughter won't stop kissing me on the mouth, try to roll over, blocked by dog.

6:44 am Grateful that Willa is distracted from my lips and is now picking her nose. I doze.

7:02 am Alarm sounds

7:50 am All of us are still in bed playing and giggling, wishing it was a Saturday morning

Gettin' a jump start on the terrible twos

Well, it's happened. Against our wishes, Willa went and became an illogical toddler.
Last night we were having a pretzel snack. When I handed her one from the bag she looked at it and yelled "NO." She has never yelled "no" at me before. Greta and Arlo, hot on her heels, after her cheese? They get a stream of "NOs" followed by a hug with the cheese dangling in their face and a giggle. My "NO" was in direct response to the pretzel - the last one in the bag - being broken.
I've heard about this, but thought they were the child rearing equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle - just a little caution mythology, a little hyperbole about "those crazy kids."
Turns out those kids really are crazy.

My work review was 3 hours today. I am exhausted, but pleased. I am a good little worker bee, and have the paper to prove it.

Like standing naked in a mirror

Performance Evaluation tomorrow at work. Though I do my job, and do it well, I'm nervous. I've been here for 3.5 years, but this is the first review with a different boss.

Movin' to the country?

We were discussing how this has been the season of farm animals for Willa. Visits to the State Fair, the petting area of the GR zoo and Binder Park, and now the Post Family Farm have put Willa face to face with more farm animals than cats or dogs. Do you have a goat? 'cause we'll come over to your house, put a quarter into the food dispenser and feed it while petting it. Jim said she's going to want all these farm animals.

On the way home from the last outing (which was billed as a family trip to the pumpkin patch) Jim started musing about opening something similar but better ourselves. I think he wants a pony for his birthday.

Hmmm... look for Camp Sinki sometime soon. You'll find pumpkins, and concerts, and Sunday brunch, and a roadside produce stand, and a summer camp. And goats. In the interest of full disclosure, this is a Binder Park goat (last weekend) not a Post Family Farm goat (this past weekend).

This is what 18 months looks like

Today Willa is a year and a half old.

Can't enjoy cider in shorts

It's October. It's 80 degrees.
I'm enjoying the extended garden season. Our late start watermellon might have a chance. Our beans are awesome.
We have strawberries.
I'm pretty sure we're doomed as far as the whole global warming thing goes.

It's not easy being green

We're still getting over a round of stomach flu and poor Willa's had a cold on top of it. With me not feeling very lively, I've been relying on a lot of quiet, sitting still activities: coloring, books, and dvds we borrowed from friends of the Muppet Show.

Willa is suddenly obsessed with Kermit the Frog. He's on the screen and she's riveted and squealing. He's off the screen and she's calling for her, "er's da frggg? (that's "Where's the Frog" for those of you who don't speak toddler).

She woke up at 5 this morning coughing so much I got her and we sat on the couch for a little while. Suddenly she was wide awake and pointing at the tv asking for da frggg.
"He's sleeping."
"Frggg nite-nite?"
"Yes."
She snuggled in and dozed off.

News from the East

My cell phone rang last Friday as I was leaving the office. I could tell by the way he said "hi" that there was news.

"How are you?"
"Well... not so great"
"Aw, geez, I'm sorry."
"... they want me to start on Tuesday!!!"
He got me. For a teeny tenth of a second.

Remember that job that you were pretty sure was killing anything good about you? The one that made your brain turn to mush, and more painfully pulverized your heart too? My brother has been teaching at a charter school that did not seem to have their students at the top of the priority list. There were 35 kids in his class this year. All boys. 6th grade boys. And a whole list of bad bad things that add up to this not being a place for any student or teacher, especially one fresh out of school himself with all these ideals...

Yesterday my brother probably sat his 1st graders down and started to learn their names and they might have talked about the calendar and addition. There will be challenges, but there will be support. And he is happy.

We were both crying as he gave me details on Friday. Sweet freedom. Sweet renewed purpose.

Completely unrelated, I forgot to mention and a comment reminded me. The red jumper Willa's wearing in the previous photos? I made that. Me and my sewing machine and several swear words. I made it for MaKenna, and now Willa's enjoy the hand-me-down.

frying pan... fire

Willa does not have croup, and her coughing has been less violent since Saturday. I suspect it was a cold with a side order of stomach bug...
We went to Battle Creek for Jim's work on Saturday, and tagged on a trip to Binder Park. It was a great trip, and the park/zoo is pretty cool. Willa got a cracker to feed the giraffe. I guess I should have explained to her that it wasn't for her, because when that 16 inch black slimy tongue reached out and took it from her hand, she had a melt down.
While at the zoo Jim started feeling bad, and blamed it on a bad choice of Burger King's breakfast. On the way home, I got to hear my husband toss his cookies for the first time. At 2:30 Sunday morning I started. The stomach flu hit us, and then kicked us, and then spit in our faces. I was out of bed for a total of 20 minutes yesterday.
Today everyone is back to day care/work, but still feeling kind of dazed and sore.