Five on Four

Until they learn to read calendars, my kids are hopelessly confused as to when their birthdays happen.  We have them hoodwinked into thinking the day of their birth is whatever day we decide to have a party.   Elia used to tell people, "Last year, my birthday was April 2nd, this year it is April 12th,  and I don't know when it will be next year."  See?  Confused.

So the Deli turned 5 on the Fourth of July, even though technically his birthday is July 10th.   He doesn't know better, and he's pretty happy with the idea that we all gather to celebrate him with his very own red, white and blue cake.  Funny how every year his birthday is a red, white and blue theme...

His birthday was extra special this year because we had so many family members from out of town visiting, from my side and the husband's side.  Yes, we still have family here.  My two sisters' families have left, much to our sadness - there were lots of teary children saying good by and giving big hugs when the separate departures happened.  Now we have one week left with my brother's family and my mom.  We are all tired but happy to have so much time together.  

Deli had a good birthday, surrounded by loved ones.  Now that he's a big five year old, he's planning on learning his letters good, starting to read, putting his shoes on the right feet and maybe, just maybe, wearing underwear.  No promises, though.

Bathing Beauties

The first time one of the chicks flopped down in the sun and fluffed up their feathers I freaked out just a little bit.  I was pretty sure chickie was falling over dead with some type of bird illness which would then kill all the rest of us.  I briefly considered having everyone run inside to scrub their hands and maybe even change clothes, when the other ladies flopped into the sun as well.  They sat there making happy little chirpy noises and I realized all was well.  Laying out, I think that's what kids these days call it.  I call it the beginnings of crispy fried chicken.  Sort of a pre-fry, if you will.

We've been doing plenty of laying out as well.   Did you ever lay yourself down on the hot cement after jumping into a cold pool?  You swim until you're all shivery and blue in the lips, then you wrap yourself in a towel and lay down on that hot, dry pool surround, and soak up the heat radiating from the cement.  Just the thought of it makes me feel all warm and happy.  I taught the kids this special warm up trick, and they have been using it every chance they get.  

You'll be surprised to find out that we've been hitting the Y pool every chance we get.  

What a difference a year makes with children.  Last year Del wouldn't get in the pool, even if I was holding him.  If I decided to make him get in he would cry and shiver and in general be so miserable that I stopped making him.  Last year he spent all his time walking about the edges, occasionally dipping a toe in the water.  Last year Mikey's chin was j u s t out of the water in the shallow end.  Last year the girls were not allowed in the middle end without Mom.  

This year the Deli jumps into the water.  He revels in showing me how well he swims.  He calls it swimming, I call it drowning slowly.  This year Josie swims like a fish, Elia isn't afraid to get her head underwater, and Mikey is making strides with his doggy paddle.  

All a reminder that nothing stays the same.  Just when I despair that my children will never love the water like I did as a child, the calendar pages turn and they do!  Just when I think everything will stay the same nothing does. 

Also, baby in a box!

I knit the child-size ninja for Deli.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  One coming for Mikey soon...ish.

Oh NO!!

You guys!  I went out to check on the baby robins last night and they were all gone!  I knew something was up when mama didn't swoop at me like usual.  She normally stands guard and the minute you step out the back door she's like a hawk.  This time she stayed close by, but didn't attack when I peeked at the nest.  No babies in the nest, no babies on the ground.  It was so sad.  

You know who I blame?  No, not Mikey.  The dumb raccoon that comes in the night to dig in the compost.  Mama robin built her nest in a low bush right next to the fence, not the smartest, considering even Mikey could get a peek without having to climb.  That raccoon must have come in and found himself an unexpected smorgasbord.  

When Mike and the kids walked in the door last night I greeted them with the sad news.  Of course as soon as they realized I was talking about robins and not the beloved chickies, nobody cared anymore.  I was the saddest.  Dumb, callous kids.

The chickies are great.  They are starting to get feathers and are growing incredibly fast.  According to Elia, Harry is the pooper when people hold him.  I think Harry is also the most docile.  The other two are a little feistier.  I don't know if we told you, they are Australorp and Rhode Island Red mix.  Some people don't think I can kill my sweet little adorable fluffy chickies if they turn out to be boys, but I can.  It's just like with the kids.  You disappoint me, and I will end you.

~~~~~~

Speaking of sweet little adorable chickies, look who I've been waking up to lately.  This chick usually comes stumbling to our bed around 5am or so, and climbs on in.  I don't know how he makes it down the stairs and to our bedroom without hurting himself because he does it with his blanket over his head, like a little crocheted ghost.  During the week, the husband is up by 4 working in his teensy tiny corner office of the bedroom, so he greets the Deli and lets him clamber on up into bed with me.

See the blankie?  All the holes were finally too big to fix.
Grandma had to patch them with fabric.  It's well loved, that blankie.

I think I like sleeping with the little blond boy.  I think.  But do you see how much room he takes?  It's a Queen size bed, and I'm pretty sure he's taking up a Full sized space.  Not much left for Mama!  In theory, sleeping with your kiddos is great, but when you wake up huddled against the wall with a knee in your back, it's not so fun.  

The feathered chickies are good, my baby chickies are better.  Especially since they don't poop on me when I hold them.  

Idyll in the country

A few weeks ago we spent a lovely afternoon at our favorite watershed.  We go there quite a bit, it's perfect for any weather.  In the spring we watch the flowers bloom, in the summer we play in the creek and enjoy the swallows nesting in the gazebo by the creek.  In the fall the deer come out to fatten up before it gets too cold and in the winter we track the deer through the snow.  

We take pic nicks to the watershed, or we just take a ball and some gloves.  The girls have begun bringing books so they can read while we play (which reminds me, did anyone find a Westchester Public Library Garfield book?  Grrrrr)

On one lovely Sunday afternoon, the girls read books, Mike and Mikey threw the ball and I wandered around taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of the day.

What is this scene I see before me?  

Ah, a sweet little family on a hill, enjoying the last rays of the summer su-  wait a minute.  What is that little one on the left doing?

Is he?  

Is he doing what I think he's doing?  

Yup.  He was.

Now he is four

We had a birthday boy living in this house recently.
He turned a big four.

This boy had not one, not two, but three days where the mail arrived with cards, envelopes and packages with his name on them.
He happily tore open envelopes filled with crisp dollar bills and boxes full of treasure.
And what treasures they were!





Great Aunt Becky sent a superhero t-shirt with just enough room to grow.
Yes, he did wear it for three days straight. And that was only because I made take it off to wash.

Uncle Dave and Aunt Katie sent over a pirate outfit.
The sword and hook may or may not have made some other children in this family jealous. Who doesn't want a hook for a hand?
The outfit came complete with earring, eye patch, chain necklace and hat.
The only thing it didn't come with was a belt and scabbard for the sword.



But Del made do.

Arrrrrr.

It burns

You, dear reader are about to witness a moment in the life of the Del child.  Small though he may be, his mental gymnastics are boundless.

Del (lifting his dinner plate):  This is my body....

Mama looks on at the cuteness.

Del (lifting his cup):  This is my blood....

Del takes a drink while Mama continues to marvel at her sweet boy.  But suddenly!  That Sweet boy is clutching his neck and gasping and gagging and choking for air!

Mama:  Deli!  Are you ok?!  What's wrong?!!

Del (in a raspy, choked voice):  I........Am......  A....... Vampire!!!   (death rattle, he falls over dead)

 And scene.  

summer

Today is the first day of summer.  I love the first day of summer.  I get so excited thinking that today, today! is the longest day of the year.  Every year I tell the husband that we need to have a party.  We should grill, invite friends, have water balloon fights, drink summery cocktails and stay up late.  Every year he agrees and every year we get distracted and the party doesn't happen.  It isn't happening this year. 

Summer just feels so short in the Midwest.  Today is really the wrong day to write about a short summer, seeing as how today is muggy and hot.  It's gross and sticky in our house.  The humidity brings out all the smells that lie dormant in the floorboards and cracks.  All the crumbs that fall under the dining room table become meltier and stickier.  We have a/c, but we've had such a cool wet spring that I hesitate to turn it on.  We should enjoy the heat, right?  Why complain about something we spend 6 months a year longing for?

In an effort to truly enjoy this summer the kids and I wrote out a big, long list.  Under the heading of 

"Livo Summer 2011" we have about 8 feet of fun things to do.  Some are small - take walks - some are bigger - go to the Drive In - but all are achievable.  There was some guidance on my part.  Especially when Josie yelled out, "Go to Mexico!" .  Oh, I wish we could.  Wouldn't that be a great summer?  Even though we are making steady progress checking items off the list, I feel a sense of urgency.  Have fun!  Eat!  Pick fruit!  Play! Relax!  Hurry up and do it all! 

Last Friday we went as a family to pick strawberries (check that off the list).  We found an organic strawberry farm in Michigan City, and believe it or not, the price was right.  With this rainy, cold spring the farm was overrun with weeds and mosquitoes.  Picking was slim, the workers were disgruntled (you would be too, if all your customers were grumbling about the crop), but we had a nice time.  The kids started out strong, although they quickly succumbed to the heat, the mosquitoes, and the prickly weeds.  We cheered them on with a rousing rendition of  Great is Thy Faithfulness (you really should have Mikey sing it for you, too cute) followed by musical whiplash of Hey Good Lookin'.  Once the singing was over, the kids were done.

We had picked just enough for one batch of jam, a couple strawberry rhubarb tarts and some eating.  Del had worked hard to fill his own little quart of strawberries.  He refused to pour it into the big basket with the rest of ours.  He insisted that he would eat all those strawberries all by himself. 

     Of course he did.  He sat on our front steps and plowed through that box, humming to himself the whole time. He littered the front steps with strawberry tops and drops of red juice.                                                              

He ate summer. 

This is what I want to do this year.  Even if the house is sticky and stinky.  Even when we are tired and whiny. I want to enjoy every moment, even the hot and muggy ones.
                                                  I want to eat summer. 

why? how do you spend your days?

I couldn't figure out how to make this shorter, so only watch what you want.  There is no big pay off at  the end.

Guess that song

No really, guess.

Del, you're lucky he didn't have a Sharpie.

This was not my fault.





I was the one driving.
The Papi did this to Del.

It's like a frat house on wheels.

Minus the booze,
but there is a lot of belching and gas release on a regular basis.

I don't know what would have happened if there had been a marker in the glove box.

flutter by

For the Mikey/Elia birthday we bought butterfly nets with real! live! butterfly! larvae!
I thought this was a good idea, you know, science, learning, good for the brain, connect with nature and all that, but have you seen butterfly larvae? Yuck.

Double yuck when they are in their little plastic tub contentedly munching on the beeswax looking stuff on the bottom and dropping copious amounts of beeswax looking pellets of poo. Those spiny little worms (caterpillars, Mom, Elia inserts with an eye roll), started out teeny and grew disturbingly fast. All on my piano in the living room.

Nature is ugly.

But the butterfly larvae happily ate their stuff-in-a-jar, grew big and fat, and did just what they were supposed to do. They built crysalids, a fascinating process, and then they sat there. And sat there. And didn't move. And sat some more.

Really, it was only about 7 days, but that is a looooong time for a three year old.

We were rewarded though! Our patience, our willingness to beat back the shudders of revulsion and not drop the whole thing in a trash can just so I could get it out of the living room paid off! We had butterflies!

The literature warned us that not all the butterflies would emerge from their crisalids, but all of ours did! An example of fine parenting on our part, I like to believe. Did you know when they emerge that a red, blood like substance sometimes drips down the side of the netting? It's not blood, it's meconioum. Even in such beauty, nature is gross.

Our butterflies emerged! We gathered hyacinths in vases, we put paper towels drenched in a sugar water solution. We managed to keep all the butterflies alive until the outdoor temperatures hovered above fifty five. Well, we managed to keep almost all the butterflies alive.

When we unzipped the netting to release all our Painted Ladies, we found one floating in the water of one of the hyacinths. It must have been in there overnight. It wasn't fighting, it wasn't moving. Our first casualty.

I removed the flowers from the net and helped Del and Elia set them free while keeping a watchful eye on the Mikey, who sometimes likes to bat things out of the sky. I did not need our second casualty to result in the banishment of a brother. Josie fretted over her little dead butterfly the whole time, not able to watch the beauty of the others flying by. After the rest of us watched for a bit, I heard,

"Mom! Look! It's alive! It's alive!"

Josie had pulled the floater out of the water and was showing me how it was weakly moving it's wings. Small signs of life indeed. Upon closer inspection, though, I found that the poor thing had been in the water long enough for it's back legs to begin to disintegrate. The body looked a little gelatinous. I told Josie that the butterfly was suffering and the kindest thing to do would be to place it on the ground and step on it. *GASP*

Not the right thing to say.

So we delicately placed the wounded butterfly on a hyacinth. We watched it weakly flutter it's wings and we prayed that it would get strong and fly away in the night. The butterfly was gone in the morning. I couldn't tell you for sure what happened to it, I have my suspicions (no I did not go out and squish it, I'm not THAT mean!) but Josie insists that it got strong and flew off to warmer gardens.

And that's my Josie.

And lest you think that everything around these parts is all maudlin sentimentality, I leave you with my favorite butterfly picture EVER.  Drawn by the Elia when she was just a few years old.  I've featured it on this blog before, but thought it was due for another round.  The beauty and sentiment in this simple drawing continues to amaze and delight.  I hope you enjoy it just as much as we do.


Are you ready?

In preparation

Among the many things we did today for Easter,



the children's favorite was the long, endless, whiny, terrible Good Friday service.

Oh man, I wish it was their favorite.
Although I remember as a kid sleeping, whining and complaining through many an Easter morning service.
Now my kids get to complain through a bunch of Easter services! They love it.

We are ready for Easter.

The Watershed

Went out and did a little kite flying,

a little walking, looking at nature, dipping our feet in the creek.


Phew! All that fun makes a midget thirsty!

No End in Sight

mmmmmmm..... straws..... with snot....

mmmmm.... dirt.....

and leaves!

Mmmmm... Blizzard....

Two Fisted

mmmmmmm..... ribs.....

Goodies!!

When Abuela arrived we opened up the packages of goodies. Some from her, some from the ABCD's. Boy was that fun!

Whiskey!

...or should we say, Calaca!

super cool.

New dresses and T-shirts from Abuela.
...and, Yes he is guapo.
If strangely bent.



We had a little visit from Spidey.
Spidey wears only the mask at night.
He saves the outfit for daylight hours, let it breathe a little.




A very unhappy puppy showed up at one point.
I think he missed his 100 other brothers.
Or maybe he didn't think the vest matched...






I think he was just lonely.

But then the roaring tiger showed up and frightened the blues away.

High Hopes