monday night flashback #12

here's another visual aid to go along with #10:



last time i mentioned my pet lamb lucky. well i had some other really great pets (that weren't intended as dinner, at least not ours). like a tarantula. i would be afraid to hold one now. but as a kid i packed a tarantula around everywhere i went during the warmer months. i think i got my first one hiking with my dad at the mouth of grove creek canyon. and later, when we moved to mohican lane, i would find their burrows, stick a long weed inside, they would latch on and sometimes get the best of me. but often i could just pull out the weed with a tarantula hanging on the end. there's a great picture of me at age six or so with a pretty big one on my shoulder. (mom, any chance you could send that one along?). i can't be sure whether this is a memory or i've just heard my parents tell the story over and over. but apparently not long after the picture was taken, our cat snatched up my tarantula, chewed and swallowed it right in front of me.

another time, at about the same age, five or six, i caught a scorpion. i member it had a light blue body and yellowish tail. when i wasn't swinging pensively i spent most of my childhood turning over ever rock i could, hoping to find a centipede or spider or snake or lizard. this time it was little scorpion, the only one i've even seen in the wild, as they say. i 'm not sure how i convinced my dad, but he let me take it home. that is, i would have taken it home if it hadn't escaped en route. i remember holding it in a covered can on the drive home, checking occasionally to see how it was doing. the last time i checked, the scorpion was gone. we were a little wary about getting in the truck for a while after that.

by far the best pet i had was a magpie. i really wanted a predatory bird. so a scavenger was the next best thing. my dad brought it home from work. i don't know how he got it. we named it maggie and fed it canned dog food. maggie was just a baby so i took him around to friends' houses where we tried to teach him to fly by dropping him from play ground equipment. (thinking back on this i hope we weren't too rough.) one day i had him perched on my forearm like you would a hawk or eagle. i was waving my arm up and down to get maggie to open his wings, and he just flew away. i was heartbroken. but maggie would return to the back yard every so often, squawk to get my attention, and then fly away again. i never figured out whether he was maintaining our friendship, looking for some more dog food, or repeatedly gloating in his freedom.

voilà, fini!

i finally finished my quilt! some of you may remember my post back in january where i listed my new year's resolutions. one of those was making a quilt. well, it only took 3 months to do a quilt that "you can complete......in just a day or two". i suppose, if you squished together all the hours i worked on it, it did take me a day or two. i decided way back while cutting out the squares, that i would make all of you live through the birthing of this quilt. I've learned a lot, mostly what not to do and i need to write it out so the next quilt i make goes more smoothly. here it goes: lesson #1: cut the blocks of fabric into squares. it is difficult to sandwich pieces together that aren't the same shape. i had many issues with wonky shapes that didn't/couldn't go together. lesson #2: don't over think the placement of the blocks. i spent literally hours trying to find the 'right' order for the smaller blocks. i'm happy with the way i did it. it was the first that i tried and i should have stopped there.lesson #3: sew straight seams. (disclaimer: this only works when you have straight edges in the first place.)lesson #4: discourage little helpers from pressing the pedal while fabric or fingers are in the way. (in case you're wondering, no i didn't have any of my fingers sewed by lucy, but not for lack of trying on her part.)lesson #5: once you lay it out, don't get cocky and think you'll finish in an hour or two. because you will have a breakthrough idea that will cause this:can you see it? that's right, i sewed a whole row on the wrong way. this set me back quite a while. at first, i just didn't want to pick all of the stitches out, so i hid the quilt for about a week before i faced up to my mistake. my first mistake is visible in that picture too. did anyone spot it? here's a closer picture of it:i missed one layer of the sandwich and didn't want to fix it properly. if i had known i was going to be picking out a longer seam, i probably would have done it right. oh well.
lesson #6: much like #5, don't get cocky once you've sewed all together. it took me two separate days, spaced a week apart, to cut the seam allowances (don't i sound like i know what i'm talking about). my fancy spring loaded clippers couldn't cut through the 6 layers of flannel so i had to use my regular fabric scissors. my hands bear the marks. i took pictures of the blisters/scars, but my hands looked kind of freaky and i didn't want to scare anyone.

here it is. all washed and raggedy. just in case anyone wants the instructions on how to make a beautiful quilt like this, click here.

the zoo.....again

today was playgroup day and i was in charge of picking somewhere to go and something to do. being completely unoriginal, i choose the zoo. it's close, i have a membership, and i tried to take the girls last saturday but didn't make it because the place was so crowded, the nearest parking was in front of rice university (1/4 to 1/2 mile away). anyway, i'd been telling hazel that we'd go. and we did. it was a lot of fun. i'm mainly posting this because it seems that each time we go, we find something we haven't seen before (or at least remembered seeing). this time i finally went into the actual aquarium. hazel was happy to see some familiar faces, such as nemo, dory, crush:

and mr. ray:we looked at the birds more closely. so i took a picture of the ones hazel thought were too loud:i need to confess, i'm not one to dawdle at places, even museums. i tend to speed through everything. i know i miss a lot this way, but it's just how i do things. this time at the zoo, i had other people to keep pace with. we were there for over four hours. i had fun and the kids all enjoyed themselves (tantrums aside), but i think that was more time than all of my other trips added together. a large chunk of time was spent waiting for and watching the sea lion show. we were some of the first get positioned and got good spots:

here hazel is watching the sea lion take 'warm up' laps. she had tripped over her own feet in her excitement to watch the show and scraped up her knees pretty bad, so she wasn't in the best mood when all of the grade-school field-trippers came and elbowed us out (i did ask several girls to let hazel watch, but they just looked at me and stayed in the way). i got a couple of pictures before retreating with my upset toddler (we missed the cool jump-through-the-hoop and fly-across-the-pool tricks, grrr):

not terribly exciting. i pacified hazel with some raisins while we waited for the rest of the group (if you look at her left knee, you can see her scrape):

next came the zebras:then the children's zoo:

this next picture is one of my favorites of the day. it was taken in the gopher tunnel, where you crawl through and pop out in a plastic bubble to look at the gophers or whatever animal is in there, up close:

the color and contrast-y-ness are cool. i like it.

we visited the petting zoo. hazel and her buddy, gretel, brushed this nice, smelly goat. he was very patient, poor thing, even when gretel held him in a headlock so she could, "brush his teeth".

i love how hazel is holding herself so stiffly and staying as far away as possible. it took her a bit to get this close and if that goat had at any point turned towards her, she would definitely have freaked out. luckily, like i said, it was a nice goat. while we were in the children's zoo, we rode on the carousel. i didn't take any pictures because i was holding lucy while standing next to hazel. hazel loved it though and lucy enjoyed the breeze too. next came the lions:

hazel was pretty surprised to see jonathon the lion actually sitting up:then we saw the nasty looking african wild dogs:we left them quickly and that's when i took my favorite picture of the day:

awwwww. hazel and gretel ran ahead of us holding hands. so precious. just after this, hazel gave up:

i asked her if she wanted to go home and take a nap, but she replied, "i wanna sleeped at the zoo." we then found the texas longhorn:

just kidding. that's not really what this is, at least i don't think so. the sign said something else.... that i don't remember. what i do remember the sign saying, is that the horns are believed to help keep the animal cool. weird, huh? in this next picture, hazel had a burst of energy and decided to play the drums and sing twinkle, twinkle, little star:

and then finally, i got to see the baby giraffe:you might have to zoom in a bit to see him/her clearly, but he/she was so cute and probably not too much taller than me.

i hope everyone has enjoyed their tour. i think between all of the other zoo posts, you've all 'been' to the houston zoo.

a visual

gail emailed me this picture of grant with lucky and i thought i would post it quickly.

spring 1983:notice lucky butting grant's leg. if you haven't yet read grant's adventures with lucky the lamb, you can here.

monday night flashback #11

for this week's entry, i thought it would be fun to put pictures of myself as a baby/toddler next to pictures of hazel and lucy. then i thought i would put up a picture of my mom as well. i was confident that i had all or most of my baby pictures and my mom's too. during the past 3 or 4 years my parents have been working on transferring slides to the computer. for christmas 2 years ago, my siblings and i all got cd copies of the pictures they had done so far. anyway, i spent way too long looking through literally hundreds of pictures. i was trying to find one of the very few pictures of my mom as a little girl and one of me in a stroller, that in my memory, looks just like hazel. unfortunately, i failed to find either of these. on the plus side, i found good material for future flashback posts.

i've narrowed down my pictures to two and i'm not going to post pictures of the girls, since i posted new pictures of them this last weekend. you can scroll down for comparisons. i'm kind of surprised at how much lucy looks like me. i was expecting my baby pictures to look more like hazel.

i'm not sure on the age of the first picture, around 12 or 18 months probably. the second one i was nearly two years old. maybe it's because i'm closer to lucy's age in these pictures but i just don't see much of hazel here. what do y'all think?

lucy's list

to keep everything balanced and fair, this is a post all about lucy. she is growing so fast. she gets around quickly and is starting to crawl the proper way, with her tummy off the ground, if she's not in any hurry, otherwise it's still scooting. she uses the same arm and leg to propel herself. in fact she has a blister on the big toe of the foot she pushes with. kind of sad.

a couple weeks ago i gave her a biter biscuit for the first time. at first she wasn't too sure about it but soon enough she was gnawing away:

she really liked it:
i have a hard time remembering that she gets around so easily now and forget to put things out of her reach. last week i came into the living room and saw this:
she pulled the wipes down from beneath the tv, somehow got the bag open and yanked all of the wipes out. yesterday, i heard pages being torn apart and walked in on this:
i guess we need to find a new place for the national geographic's. i probably should have realized that if she could get the wipes off of that shelf, it wouldn't be that much harder to get the magazines.

and last but not least, we have another tv junkie in the making:

hazel's hat, hair & other type hits

i have some more hazel stories for y'all. on march 3rd, grant took the girls to the zoo while i went out to lunch with kandice (it was during spring break and i got the whole day off. it was awesome.). one of hazel's favorite animals to see is the tiger. on this particular day the tiger was sleeping in the furthest corner away from all the people. grant told hazel to tell the tiger to come out. so hazel yelled, "come 'ere, tiger! i wanna tell you a secret!"

this next story i wouldn't normally want to immortalize, but it reminded me of a story gail has written down in grant's baby book. hazel likes counting and we often ask her to count 'how many' of something. at the end of february she came up to me in the kitchen and said, "how many boogers? 1...2...3...i counted the boogers!" it was cute because she was so excited, and funny only because she's mine. the story about grant is somewhat similar. when he was about the same age as hazel, he wanted to go with his dad in the truck somewhere for work. his dad had had a long day and told him to sit still. after sitting still for a little while, grant asked his dad if he could 'pick his nose' (at least that's how i remember the story going and i haven't heard it in a while.).

lucy had a pretty nasty cold back in february and still has the cough. on march 7th, grant was feeding lucy her fruit and vegetable with hazel standing by. lucy began coughing and hazel laughed, a superior laugh, and said, in a very patronizing tone, "oh, woo-cy, don't barf!"

doing hazel's hair is kind of a frustrating thing. this isn't just because she doesn't hold still, but also because her hair is so super fine it won't stay put. well despite this, i was adventurous yesterday and decided to try french braids:

it turned out pretty well. her hair was dry when i did it so i think next time i'll do it when it's wet, maybe with a little gel. i'm really glad i took a picture right after i braided, because they didn't last long. they made her pretty happy though:

next on the list would be hazel's new wardrobe. she is so skinny and tall. all of her 2t/24 month clothes from last year fit, they're just too short. so i went to target for something (ha! i'm racking my brain trying to figure out what i was intending to get...did i even get it?) and ended up in the toddler/baby section somehow... anyway they have fairly good prices so i looked around and got hazel a few shirts and found these awesome shorts (note: the shirt in this picture is an old 2t shirt. it fits well, when she's not raising her arms):they're long! hazel's previous shorts had been dubbed 'hot pants' by grant. it was so great to find these long ones and she really works them! especially with her hand-me-down etnies:this brings me to the latest purchase, hazel's new hat. we all know what a big head she has, it's been difficult to find hats that actually fit her head. this one is a perfect fit so it won't last long, but it is so cute!

and finally, this last picture i took on the way home from the park (not the one in the background):

hazel wanted to walk home and i let her, figuring she would get tired soon since she had been running all over the grass and the park is just barely under a mile from home. she surprised me and made it halfway before letting go of my hand and trying to run away, thus earning a seat in the stroller. this picture was taken just before that happened. i took it because i thought it was the stump of one of this tree that fell during hurricane ike:

but if you look in the lefthand corner you can see part of the stump. apparently it was already there.

**just a quick word on the potty training issue. thanks for all the comments and advice. they were most helpful. i've decided to not push her. each morning i give her the choice to wear panties or a diaper and so far she has picked panties once, only to back out of it as soon as i sat her on the potty to make the change. i don't think she is really ready, emotionally or physically, so i'm not going to press it until this summer (when grant is around to clean up all the mess, heeheehee...).

monday night flashback #10, tuesday morning edition

not that long ago i had a standard repertoire of childhood stories that i would tell on special occasions. i never wrote them down, and it's been a while since i last told them, so lest i forget ...

even though (or precisely because) i'm the main character, i can't be sure how accurate they are. several of you will have already heard them, so feel free to list variants/corrections to the tale in the comments. in no particular order, here are the primary mythemes:

1. when i was about five, my mom would let me (emphasis on let, as i'm sure it was my idea) eat dry cat food while i watched cartoons. i can still remember the small semi-translucent brown cup i ate them from. i don't recall the taste but i do remember liking it. it was the dark orange five-pointed cat food bits. (or was it four-pointed? mom, can you clarify?)

2. before jewel came along, i used to get bored as an only child. so i spent a lot of time on the swing set in the back yard. i'd swing awhile. then think about life. then swing some more. one day, i was done swinging and decided to jump out and go inside. i got swinging real high, let go of the chains, and flew through the air. before suddenly being jerked backwards by my neck. in a moment of deep contemplation i had tied the hood strings of my sweater to the chains of the swing. then forgot.

3. at about the same age or little bit later, my dad brought home a baby lamb. we named him lucky and kept him in a makeshift pen back behind the swing set. lucky was my friend. i even got to bottle feed him. so it was hard for me to witness the amputation of his tail, for example, when it got too long. but he soon became one of those pushy kind of friends that are sometimes more like bullies. as he got bigger, i could not be in the back yard if he was out his pen because he would knock me down. i had to keep a constant lookout, because at any moment my dad might open the pen and let him out. (that was my perspective as a fearful toddler anyway; i'm sure it was not that my dad would intentionally let lucky out to clobber me. right dad?) no matter how fast i ran to the house, i couldn't avoid getting trampled at least once. well eventually lucky just disappeared. without a trace. or so it seemed. until one evening we had something new for dinner. i can't remember how it came out (mom? dad? do you?), but i guess that lucky's fate was disclosed right there at the dinner table. needless to say, we all went to bed hungry that night. or ate something else more likely.

4. in the back yard, next to where lucky lived, we also had a chicken coupe. and i was in charge of gathering the eggs every morning. it was no easy job. the door didn't go all the way to the ground; there was a section of the coupe that ran under the door. so i would have to open the door carefully and maintain my balance while stepping over the bottom section of the coupe--all without letting the chickens escape and while holding the egg basket. one time when there was a bunch of baby chicks running around inside along with the usuals, i collected the eggs, and slowly backed out of the door, only to hear a 'crunch' as i stepped outside. one of the chicks had gotten past me. it was pretty traumatizing for both of us.

well i think i'll stop there for now and tell some of the others later.

hazel's potty time?

on thursday, grant and i came decided that it was time to potty train hazel. several factors lead us to this conclusion: a) hazel is almost 2 1/2, young enough to be pliable and old enough to learn fast (right?); b) diapers are just too expensive; c) two kids in diapers = plethora of smelliness/dirtiness. anyway, i thought it would be best to start at the beginning of a week, so that, ideally, hazel would be ready to go for nursery the next week. saturday, the girls and i dropped grant off at school and then hit target to shop for hazel's special potty day. hazel picked out a stool for the bathroom, tinkerbell and princess panties, a pink poster for her potty chart, and skittles for her reward. lucy enjoyed playing with the panties once we got home:

we spent the past two days psyching hazel up for her 'big day'. explaining that each time she sits on the potty she gets to put a sticker on the poster and each time she puts something in the potty she gets a treat. i spent the better part of this afternoon making hazel's chart:

did you notice the two stickers there? this is where the story gets really interesting. after hazel 'woke up' from her nap (she had actually been playing in her room for a good 45 minutes before coming out), grant was changing her diaper and i said, "hey, let me try a pair of her underwear on to see if they fit." hazel is very skinny and has absolutely no bum. she still fits into 18 month capri's. her 2t pants fit nicely around her waist but are total floods. so understandably i was a bit worried that the smallest size panty was going to be too loose. we tried them on her and surprisingly they fit, a bit baggy on the bum and hips, but otherwise a good size. (embarrassingly, i got teary-eyed seeing my little bug in underwear. i can't believe she is growing up so fast) hazel got really excited wearing her 'big girl panties' and didn't want to take them off. we thought, sure, we can start a half day earlier. we set a clock for 15 minutes, gave her the run down again and put elmo's potty time on. the next 45 minutes or so were very promising. hazel sat on the potty without a fuss, got excited to put stickers on the poster, but didn't leave any deposits. finally, we had our first accident. we were really positive. we cleaned her up then had her help clean up the mess, reiterated the 'tell us if you feel like you need to go', and reset the timer.

now we come to the main point of this post: three (more) accidents later, two of which occurred almost immediately after her sitting on the potty, i'm wondering if she is ready. after the last accident, hazel broke down crying, wanting to cuddle and not wanting to sit on the potty. do we stop? do we keep pushing? should i try tomorrow? leave it for a week? i know it takes time, but it almost feels like she isn't as ready as i thought she was. we're taking a poll. let us know in the comments which way to go........

HEAD, shoulders, knees & toes

so i was reading past posts, chuckling at my wonderful wit, when i was stopped by this picture:

i tilted my head to the side and thought, "my goodness, she does have a big head!" now i know i've mentioned this before, but it had never struck me in such a visual way. since her very first head measurement we've known she had a 'sputnik'. for those with no children yet, here is a sample of the growth chart that gives parents and doctors an idea of how a child is developing physically:

this one only shows length and weight, but there is a similar curve for the head circumference. hazel's noggin has always been about 1/2 to 1/4 inch above the top curve. the pediatrician was never worried because her curve followed the 'normal' curve and didn't jump up (which might indicate problems). anyway, i got curious and looked at a few of her baby pictures to see if it would be this obvious to me again. it was:

look how small her fists are. at this point in her life, no joke, when she stretched her arms up, her little fists didn't go over her head. (she is so precious in this picture, isn't she.)

this is one of the few pictures that make her look chubby. her head isn't too disproportionate to her body, but still rather large. **don't get me wrong, i think that hazel is (and several people have told me this, including complete strangers at the grocery store and on the street, which makes me kind of nervous) stunningly beautiful. she was a gorgeous baby and is a perfect and lovely toddler.

to end this post, i wanted to upload a clip from a very funny movie (so i married an axe murderer). but, alas, i have failed. so, you get to read the quotes, don't forget the accents.

• Stuart Mackenzie:Look at the size of that boy's heed.
• Tony Giardino: Shhh!
• Stuart Mackenzie: I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick.
• Tony Giardino: Shhh, you're going to give the boy a complex.
• Stuart Mackenzie: Well, that's a huge noggin. That's a virtual planetoid.
• Tony Giardino: Shh!
• Stuart Mackenzie: Has it's own weather system.
• Tony Giardino: Sh, sh, shh.
• Stuart Mackenzie: HEAD! MOVE!. . . .I'm not kidding, that boy's head is like Sputnik; spherical but quite pointy at parts! Now that was offside, wasn't it? He'll be crying himself to sleep tonight, on his huge pillow.