hi, i’m elaine. these are things i like to talk about. frequently. and a little too loudly.
1. butter
2. kris kristofferson
3. babies
4. jim henson
5. lactose intolerance. to be honest, i don’t like to talk about this but it seems like everywhere i go i end up in a conversation with someone who is, so, i’ve just adapted. DARWIN!!!!
6. birth
7. shaking it
8. myself
9. myself and my love of butter
10. butttahhhhhh
11. my hair
12. crying
ugh i’m tired. that’s all!
ohhh man we did some STUFF this week. check it.
we zoo-ed it.
she likes to wear you clothes just as much as i do.
new artings at the library. she said she was inspired to draw so she did.
discovered some gnarly, antique doors in our hood. i told her they were secret doors.
she noticed this root system at the schiller park playground grown in a circle. decided this is where gnomes and faeries have dinner together.
in which she discovers a spider’s web, touches it then freaks out b/c it’s on her hand
nom nom at the north market + our treats for being good. she had the little girl and i had the dog dressed as a pig. japan, you so crazy!
you just go ahead and run it out, you crazy lunatic
these last two are at highbanks metropark in the natural play area. this is the best sycamore tree i’ve ever seen, said sycamore featured on the right. i asked darla to pose in front of it and she laid down on the ground and rolled around like a dog. she’s special.
a word on highbanks metropark: they have these little shelter houses that have fireplaces in them. i don’t care how cold it gets, when you get home you will take me there and darla too. you will build me a fire in one and you will like it. you will woo me with your manly survival skills and we will sit in front of that fire whilst darla goes buck wild at the nearby playground. i will probably have some yarn and a darning needle in my hand but i won’t be using them. they are just props b/c that is what a lady is supposed to hold in front of a fire.
that is all.
i can’t even keep track of all the funny stuff she says anymore and i’m getting lazy b/c you’re almost here so i don’t wanna. i feel that way about chores around the house. it’s like i think you’re already here so i don’t want to do it on my own but ‘taint the case.
i do remember that she has figured out how to be three people at one time instead of just two: toddler approaches. tugs on my shirt to signal that my attention is needed. says “mom, i’m mai pretending to be gumby” and then bounds off. i am very frightened for the future at this point.
you missed a pretty magical first for darla’s life – her first viewing of the wizard of oz. i would give anything to have captured the look on her face when dorothy opened the front door to reveal oz and all its vivid splendor. darla’s eyes grew saucerlike and she gasped. she then sat enraptured. if i had known it was going to be that spectacular i would have waited for you to be home before we watched it. also, I FREAKING LOVE JUDY GARLAND.
well i better sign off so i can write you a honey-do email so you know what you’re going to do when you get home.
i love you more than cheese.
wife former fwife
i meant to post this picture update earlier in the day but we were busy with adventures. the motto for this s’ennight could have been attention to detail. we made lots of new discoveries- secret old doors in the neighborhood, odd trees, new parks and playgrounds. learning is getting more comprehensive. such as when i show her the veins running through the leaves and then compare them to the veins in our wrists. she understands they serve the same purpose in both beings – the transfer of oxygen and nutrients. at least she understood for 2 minutes. it has probably floated away, out of her brain by now but FOUNDATIONS ARE BEING LAID! i am an educating force to be reckoned with. cackle cackle cackle!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anyway here are some of my favorite pictures from our outings.
OhYeahandI’mHereToo
you and i have had a …err…complicated relationship. winter is closing in and i can tell things are going to get a little more hairy between us. (pun! hair pun!)
i think what bothers me the most is you cause me to be too introspective: do i wear you slightly wavy and all to one side in a whimsical fashion or do i wear you straight across and extremely flat to show i’m hard and edgy. do i feel hard and edgy? do i feel whimsical? how do i feel? what’s inside me? who am iiiiiiiiiiii? hmmm. if i wear you parted down the middle does that say i’m hungry for beef nachos? problem. solved.
back in my school-bus-riding days there was a friday tradition to yell F-R-I!!!! D-A-Y!!! FRIDAY!!!! and then bang on the sides of the bus. when i was a wee lass i didn’t join in but once i was a little older and could discern the knowing smirk on Arsilla’s face (bus drivers have the best names, especially in indiana) i would pound right along. Arsilla was just as happy as we were to not have to ride that bus for two days.
now that i’m a stay-with-my-kid-all-the-time mom i don’t have that same sense of relief that floods in at 4:59 pm friday evening. 33.33 repeating percent of the time i don’t even know that it is friday. but yesterday i tried to have a good ol’ fashioned friday night celebration with my girl.
after a day of errands and a failed attempt at visiting the natural play area at highbanks metro park – located it but atmospheric conditions prohibited proper exploration – we spent some time at the neighborhood park. i’m going to wikileak this photo out before the salty sailor update:
this is a tree at the end of our block that has never received its due notice. today darla exclaimed “look, mom, that tree is all tied in a knot with itself.” so it is.
sensing that it was definitely a soup day, i made broccoli and cheese soup by loosely following pioneer woman’s recipe. ’twas delicious dishes. *tangential story at the bottom of this post if you’re interested.
we finished the evening watching castle in the sky cozied up in bed. pretty subdued. but, truthfully, i need subdued like whoa right now. the little miss was actually pretty good company today but i’m so worn out. it didn’t help that i was up all night trying to work through ambitions and mastermind plans for taking over the world. and not even this world. a future world. that’s how big my plans are!
i feel a little down about not having any big friday night to-do or anything special for the weekend really. at one point i was contemplating just getting into the car with darla and visiting some destination spot in ohio just to feed my gluttonous craving for novelty. then the thought surfaced that this could be the last girls weekend darla and i have together. i am of course thrilled that mike and all his saltiness will be returning shortly but i’m always a little sad when my solitary time with darla is coming to an end. the dichotomy of being a mother is maddening, i tell ya.
so we’ll just stay close to home for the weekend and leave ourselves open to discoveries such as that tree. things that have been there all along but have been overlooked in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
and we’ll wait for a man named mr. mike.
*tangential story time. have i ever mentioned that the universe always gives me what i want? i’m pretty lucky that way. if i voice a want to the universe it somehow makes it to me. not in the “i want a million dollars” way but little everyday graces. such as earlier this week when i noticed we hadn’t made a dent in our broccoli from the last produce delivery and i said, i said to me-self “hmmm, i should look up a broccoli and cheddar soup recipe.” i sit down at my computer and BAM the first post in my bloglovin’ is broc + cheese soup from pioneer woman. added bonus the recipe called for tons of butter!!! thanks again universe. i gots your back and you gots mine!
just some things i’ve been loving on the internet lately:
icelandicbutterflies.tumblr.com
this is my new internet crack addiction. i get my fix of picturesque new england scenes and secretly (now not-so-secretly) concoct plans of tricking my parents into retiring in maine, my cousin to move back to maine, and my husbeau and girlie to migrate there and live out some new england fantasy life. we shall see.
beautiful breastfeeding portrait as seen on marvelouskiddo.blogspot.com
it’s not that i like this next post but i’m glad more information is getting out about this. it was hard to toss all the lotion and baby wash that we received for baby shower in the recycle bin but i blamed myself for not having read the information sooner to have informed our shower attendees that we would be using only organic baby products. if you have any pregnant or newly parenting friends please have them do more research on their baby products. they can start with this article.
this new site by anthropologie has me itching to create and leave a beautiful mark on the world. please go to the anthropologist and be inspired. this is the story of artist Jim Denevan working in Siberia. photos on the site are breathtaking. the installment about PE Guerin was fascinating as well. Jim’s vid-yo below.
my personal fave of these was this one about Phillip Toledano. it’s about his baby girl and becoming a father. i like his honesty and, of course, his artistic eye. i mean, putting your screaming baby’s face on a plate is pretty hilarious.
and lastly, i don’t care about kim’s divorce. i don’t care that she even got married in the first place. her marriage does not define mine so i’m not going to get all up in arms as a married person. BUT i hope it will bring some attention to loving couples who do deserve their married rights. the pics of love and devotion in this article are something to which we should all aspire. oh, and our senses of humor should aspire to this.
ps. i’ve really been digging this blog too.
TRICKY!!!!
what blogs do you love? leave them in the comments. i’m craving new inspirations and informations.
i realize that once i put something out onto the internet and out into the universe it stays there forever. most of these posts are laden with motherly woe and frustration. i want to give you something more than that when you finally read all this.
when you were 4 months old i could get you to laugh more than anyone else. that was one of the proudest achievements of my life.
you are much smarter than i am or will ever be.
the most fortunate aspect of my staying home with you is i feel these past three years have taken their time. i don’t look back saying “wow, time flies.” i get to spend every day with you – almost – and i feel our long days creep by like sap on a tree. i think this means we’re doing at least something right.
sometimes i pull you out of bed at night and bring you in to sleep next to me because i miss you. i feel the weight of frustrations voiced and reprimands dealt during the day and i feel compelled to bring you to my side so that maybe i can erase some of that through osmosis. it seems like peaceful times are rare during this toddlerhood conjuncture so co-sleeping can sometimes be a salve on my parental guilt wounds. and other times you kick me in the face at 3 am.
you are wild to the core. i know this because i am wild, too. part of my frustrations of motherhood are the reigns that have been placed on me that weren’t there before. i think that if you and i were left to our own devices we’d whirl ourselves into oblivion like mad dervishes. but you are pulling on my reigns and i’m tugging on yours. together we will balance each other. you will guide me and i will guide you. i just hope that neither of us are blind b/c then we’ll never be able to find that water that we probably won’t drink. i hope your spirit will always be free. i look forward to seeing you as a young woman. i anticipate the metamorphosis of your spark into a full fledged blaze. we’ll compare flames for a few years and then i’ll be able to bask in the warmth of your glow while mine recedes to smoldering embers.
when i’m away from you all i can do is think about you.
i love you.
you are beautiful.
i love you.
you are intelligent.
i love you.
you are amusing.
i love you.
you are free.
i love you the most.
there are days when i’m certain that the universe made a mistake giving me a child. i’m a fraud and if you’ve ever heard me give any parenting advice then just toss it in the waste basket. my child is a maniac – a very cute and hilarious maniac. i’ve learned that i cannot ever hope to control my wild child. her spirit is too free. and i want that to be a good thing, i really do. but controlling myself is the issue at this point. i mean, it’s pretty bad when you’re two-and-a-half year old tells you to go meditate.
universe, can you give me sign that i am supposed to be a mom? preferably a sign that doesn’t involve CPS showing up at my door. also, a sign that doesn’t involve the staypuft marsmallow man.
oh wait. darla just fell asleep in the 2 minutes that it took me to write this. is that it? is that my sign? it’s certainly a sign that momma’s gonna take a nap…
a much awaited dinner date with a girlyfriend has come and gone. now that it’s gone, i bet you wanna know how it went…
darla did these things in this particular order: threw a fit in the ordering line. spilled her entire cup of edamame on the floor. stood on her chair repeatedly. ran out the front door that was propped open for the gorgeous fall night. pinched a baby on the cheek. poked a complete stranger in the REAR END with a chopstick! attached herself to one of the lady waitstaff and kept running after her complete with the leg cling (another total stranger, mind you. i just know she’s gonna climb in the back of a van someday when offered a sucker). repeatedly slid down the back of the booth bench seating. refused to wear her shoes at the table. stole carly’s tortilla chips. probably only ate a combined total of 5 bites as dinner and, drum roll, yelled HEY STOP YOU STUPID JERK at an oncoming car while we said our goodbyes on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.
(by the way i am chuckling heartily at the memory of this last one as i type.)
BUT
they poured me the wrong kind of wine at dinner so they gave me two for the price of one. those glasses look half full and not half empty to me! soooooo….that makes the evening a success in my book. CHEERS!
also, at bedtime she told me she likes me and i’m a fun mom. she has some redeeming qualities. thank you, darla, for keeping my life interesting. as infuriating as your antics can be at times, it’s your spiciness that i love the most about your personality.
momjeanz 