Picture of the day

Taken by our neighbor, George:

You can see that this puppy playtime is just about to come to a screeching halt.

Addendum to the campfire picture/post

Oh man, I'm kicking myself because I didn't have my camera out 30 minutes after I took that picture Sunday night. We had a fire event. I knew I had saved our Christmas tree for a good reason. It had been lying next to our garage since January and it was all dried out and crumbly. I carried that sucker down to the firepit Sunday night and placed it on top of the burning logs.

There was a loud whooshing sound followed by an impressive inferno. It lit up the whole backyard. Mr. B was in the house when I did it and he was first alarmed, then very impressed with the pyrotechnic display. The flames shot about 15 feet in the air. It was pretty awesome.

I will be collecting used Christmas trees next year, so make a note to set yours aside for me.

Verbal and dental precociousness

Tikka asked me early in the day who would be at the Memorial Day neighborhood party. I named all the people I thought would be there and she corrected me: "No mom, Maverick won't be there. He's at school." I explained that no, there's no school today and that Maverick would in fact be there. She then said, "Oh mommy. I'm so sorry. I misspoke."

And then here's my five year-old with his first loose tooth:

The early tooth doesn't surprise me, though, because he had a good set of choppers at five months. I also had a sense that he would be on the early side of the developmental scale when his umbilical stump fell off at five days. (I was expecting 10-12 days like all the baby books said.) I remember carrying him into our bedroom early in the morning after changing his diaper and having the stump fall off, and I said to Mr. B., "Our little boy is growing up so fast!" (Sniff)

Heaven in the backyard on Memorial Day weekend

Playdate

It's unpleasant enough when the kids' playdates go bad.

Six degrees of separation

between me and Bill Clinton:

Bill Clinton shakes hands with Ted Habte-Gabr,
who is the brother of Ezana Habte-Gabr,
who was a University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics dishwashing co-worker and friend of Mr. Bickerson,
who is the father of Spidey and Tikka,
who are the children of Mrs. Bickerson.

I know. It's totally amazing.

First hat

I'm not sure the expression on his face conveys precisely how truly, truly thrilled Spidey is with this hat that I knit just for him. I only had to unravel it three times to get it sort of right.

Here's another picture that really shows how he feels about this hat.

Last day of Parents' Club

Top (l-r): Marion, Hope, Jenna, Lorraine, Rosemarie
Middle: Abby, Hannah
Bottom: Trace, Brandon

Crank-y

No, it's not a snowdrift. We have a kabillion cottonwood trees in our neighborhood and the stuff piles up everywhere. This time of year is when I cannot take enough allergy medicine to stem the sneezing and congestion. Am I the only one who feels like you are being accused of having a methamphetamine lab at home when you go to Target and try to buy some Sudafed? I live on Sudafed and Benadryl in the summer and now that they ration out the medication I try to buy two boxes every time I go to the store.

I don't know how many boxes of Sudafed you have to buy to look really suspicious, but what makes them think I don't have a very small meth lab?

Helpfulness

I told them that they were on their own this morning with respect to dental hygiene, so they took turns brushing for each other.

I spy with my little eye

someone who looks like he's ready to crack.

Sunshine!

And blue sky! [Well, it's a live cam. There was sunshine yesterday when I wrote this.]

The hideous curse of crappy weather has lifted. The kids and I are gonna go roll around in the grass with Peggy like crazy people. It is totally beauteous outside right now.

Of course the mosquitoes are going to try to ruin all the fun.

Jinx!

She owes me a coke. (See "How young is too young?")

Flyball

Dog obedience commences tonight. I'm looking forward to this as soon as we master the basics. I think our high energy girl might excel at flyball and agility since she loves to retrieve tennis balls and seems to like to race the kids. It remains to be seen whether or not I can be trained.

The force

What is it with the Star Wars mania? When exactly did my five year-old develop such an obsessive interest in it? He can spot a fast food cup with Darth Vader's face on it from three blocks away. (There's been some litter on the sidewalk during our morning run.) The questions are nonstop:

Mom, who's you favorite Star Wars character? Mom, who is the one you like next? Mom, what is Dad's favorite Star Wars character? Why? Why doesn't Dad like to talk about Star Wars? Why can't I go see the Star Wars movie? Why can't we just buy the movie at Target? Can I just look at the characters in the toy aisle -- just for ONE minute? Mom, do you think they have Star Wars stuff at MacDonald's? Can we go to MacDonalds and see? Why can't we ever go anywhere to buy a Happy Meal that has Star Wars characters in it? Why are you so mean? Dad, who is Luke Skywalker's dad? Was he on the Dark Side? How come Yoda talks so weird? My favorite character is the Imperial Guard; Mom, what's your favorite character? MOM! You told me Luke Skywalker was your favorite character. You can only have one favorite. You're not fair. When are we EVER gonna get to see a Star Wars movie?

On a happier note

Spring and the smell of tomato plants, parsley and peppers:



This is the before picture.

Nap

Doesn't she look peaceful? Isn't she cute? What a doll. What a precious puppy. How could we be so lucky to acquire such a wonderful canine companion? What did we do to deserve her?

SHE WOKE UP AT 4:20 A.M. AND WOULD NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP!!!

Is it too much to ask of Peggy that she wait until 5:30 to get up like the rest of this family?

Being a mom

I think these two store windows on Main Street USA reflect succinctly the essence of motherhood.

Hypnosis

So I bought some self-hypnosis for weight management recordings on iTunes and I've been listening to it on my shuffle at night before I go to sleep. As part of the plan, you have to write down when and where you overeat and with what behavior you will replace the bad eating habits. I've been wanting to learn how to knit so ...



While I seem to have lost my lust for kettle corn, I really need to move beyond the scarf stage. One CAN have too many scarves. And crappy ones at that.

Mick Jagger is in the news

We had tickets to see The Rolling Stones in Ames, Iowa in 1989. We were living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota while I completed a music therapy internship at McKennan Hospital. Mr. Bickerson and I put our dog in a kennel and left town on Friday around 5 p.m. We drove about four hours to Rockwell City, Iowa to meet up with friends John and Joleen, and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. The drive from Sioux Falls to northwest Iowa at night was a dull and long drive so we were happy to get to our friend's house and relax for awhile. We were all set to spend the night there and leave for Ames in the morning.

But wait. Where are the concert tickets?

Mr. Bickerson left six Rolling Stone tickets on the kitchen table back in Sioux Falls.

It was a loooooooooonnnnnngggg drive back. My sister-in-law and I braved the eight hours in the car to retrieve the tickets.

It was a good concert but I wouldn't say it was worth driving 12 hours between South Dakota and Iowa.

Last day of toddler class

We're moving on to preschool and kindergarten next year.

Living in a fairly large metropolitan area, this class of kids, moms, nannies and dads has been a substitute for the small town neighborhood commeraderie that I grew up with in Iowa. I started taking these classes when Spidey was six months old. I don't know if I would have survived some parts of toddlerhood/babyhood (especially when Tikka was an infant!) without this support.

Incomprehensible quote of the day

In the course of discussing the potential merits of, and reasons Spidey is too young to go see the upcoming Star Wars movie (i.e., too scary for kids), Spidey said:

"Come on, guys! Who cares? You know you're just trying to beast the dark off of Darth Vader anyway."

....to beast the dark off
....to put some stink on

I'm keeping a list to write up my kids' dictionary some day.

What kind of mother am I?

Poor Peggy was left behind with my neighbor for Mother's Day so the Bickersons could make a fast trip to Iowa to see mothers, daughters, cousins, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles. Peggy's away-from-home playmate took a chunk out of her ear at dinner time Saturday night. Mrs. Neighbor refuses to tell me what the trip to the doggy ER with anesthesia, stitches, and antibiotics cost her and her family. We are so fortunate to have such kind people living so close.

Do you want to know how much fun it was to ride in a car to Iowa and back with two children who these days seem to be in the throes of growth spurts and extra-intense temper tantrums over the most ridiculous issues? It was almost zero fun. There were moments during the trip when I wished I was back at North Memorial enduring the searing head pain that comes with a brain infection like encephalitis. There were, however, about 20 minutes of blissfull quiet between Des Moines and Ames while the children slept.

Despite the car trip from hell, a lot of fun and love was had with my brother and his family, my mom, my aunt and her family at her 50th wedding anniversary and cousins I hadn't seen in 15 years! There was cake-eating, trampoline jumping, hammock-swinging, Gator-driving, firepit-warming, cow-greeting fun had by all of us.

Maybe Peggy will have to join us next time.

Some highlights:



Uncle Steve and Hope check out the grass with the "W" built in it. (Ask Steve. It's all about genetics.)



Mr. Bickerson, Spidey and Uncle Jim discuss all things cow. Slowpoke (the orange cow) elicits expressions of sympathy from all due to her hip problems.



Spidey and cousin, Noah, find all kinds of ways to fight and play during our visit.



The Hanson Family



Aunt Nancy and Uncle Steve's dream house. Is it a barn? Is it a house? (It's an extremely cool house.)

Random Observations

The naked lady at the Y turns out to be a fairly normal person. I heard her speak for the first time and she carried on a normal conversation about spring and gardening with a fellow Y member. I assumed her nude make-up and hair routine meant that she was possibly a sociopath. Her conversation skills lead me to believe otherwise and now I feel bad for assuming she was nuts.

According to the movie Parenthood I am officially a parent. My daughter insisted on wearing a gift bag over her head Monday when we took big brother to school. She ran into the drinking fountain in the hallway and a door. She also informed 90% of the adults she encountered with an edgy, "I'm not talking to you!" before they even looked in her direction.

Five year-olds are not too old to have flat-out Tasmanian Devil-style temper tantrums. I shall be consuming a giant Costco chicken enchilada to replace the calories burned during temper tantrum restraint.

The weather today is magnificent and 60+ degrees. Yesterday I slipped on an icy sidewalk during my morning run with Peggy. Minnesota weather makes you crazy.

A day with the dentist

It seems that spring is a good time for dental hygiene.

Best sound of the day (so far)

The screaming giggles coming from Tikka while Peggy cleans the remains of her oatmeal breakfast from her face.

Can you feel the rage?

Miss Tikka has been a terrible, terrible, terrible two year old today. The climax of the tearful day came just before supper when Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson thought it would be fun to go for a walk. The walk ended 10 minutes after it began with Tikka in full-blown tantrum dragging her sparkle shoes under her trike pedals as Mr. Bickerson pushed her home. I'm going to keep these awful shoes to present to her when she comes to me some day with child-rearing issues of her own. (Oh boy, I think I just turned into my mom in that last sentence.) Forget dog barking ordinances; I'm afraid the neighbors are going to call the city to report nuisance crying coming from our house. If giving her a big bowl of ice cream every time she cried wouldn't condition her permanently to cry all of the time for ice cream, I'd give it to her in a heartbeat because at this stage nothing shuts down her crying like a big ice cream sundae.

But of course I would be stupid to do that so I'm crying now, too, but I have a better reason. And that is? I can't have my Arrested Development fix tonight. And there's nothing on worth watching. Please HBO, bring on the next season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, would you? We're this close to canceling you.

I suppose I could pick up a book.

But wait!

Giant mutated bug plague story on CBS? Color me there.

Puppy love

I'm getting over or coming to terms with the inconveniences of raising a puppy and I think I'm starting to fall in love with her. Peggy is so smart. She looks at me all day long with a look that says I'm ready to do whatever it is you tell me to do! If I had opposable thumbs I'd fold clothes and make coffee for you!

Oppositional defiant disorder

I'm not a smoker but every time I see this new sign in my neighborhood I have a really strong desire to light up.

Underpants rule/ diapers drool.

She woke up this morning with underpants on her mind and insisted on wearing them to school. Nevermind that she has maybe agreed to wear them twice and one of those times was over a diaper. Well, if you're two and a half and desire to wear underpants to school count me in. I will only ask you if you have to go once every five minutes. We packed an extra outfit just in case.

She did just great: excused herself twice from group activities to use the facilities. I'm proud; she's proud. But what I really admire is her flushing technique:

Boo, hiss.

Hasbro has forced a shut-down of the e-Scrabble website. My friend, Arnold, just told me about the online game site this winter and I was hooked.

*considers toy boycott*

Spring game

I'm not much of a football fan and if I was going to cheer for a team it would have to be the University of Iowa, and basketball not football. But who can complain about hanging out in the metrodome on a rainy day? It was crappy and cold outside but the sun was shining indoors.



And the frosty malts were tasty.

Happy Birthday Mr. Bickerson

Your family loves you so much.

Dilemma

You are out on a nice, sunny, late afternoon run two miles from home and sudden digestive distress strikes. Do you:
a. look for adequate shrubbery cover in the immediate vicinity;
b. knock on your relatively new babysitter's family's door and beg for help thereby ensuring said family will never allow their daughter to babysit your children again since you will have revealed yourself to be a disturbed and incontinent mother;
c. turn around and run home hoping that husband and children are not there to taunt you for pooping your pants?

Rumble!

It was Jets vs. Sharks in church this weekend. We did most of Parts II and III of the Messiah Sunday after a rehearsal with the orchestra on Saturday. It's always fun to sing with the orchestra but it never fails that there is some incident that highlights the ginormous egos that seem to plague some instrumentalists.

The orchestra is all union and the choir is all volunteer with the exception of the four soloists/section leaders. The fight was about air conditioning. The air kicked on in the sanctuary about one-third of the way through rehearsal and the psycho oboes had a fit. "We can't POSSIBLY play with this AIR BLOWING on us! Our reeds will dry out!" They both had water right there by their chairs upon which, I would like to remind them, they were allowed to SIT. The choir, of course in robes, had to stand for the 75 minutes. Not such a big deal for most but there are a few singers who are over 70. So some choir members were saying leave the air on so we don't pass out while the orchestra people were huffing and puffing about air blowing on them.

Our very nice interim director worked it out. It was his first time conducting a big professional orchestra. He's the music director at Hopkins High and after the Messiah he had to race to school for dress rehearsal for The Music Man. So he had a lot going on and probably has had little sleep since Easter. He couldn't be a nicer guy. He shared this with the choir after the rehearsal and after the musicians had scampered away: He said one of the violists tested him before the reheasal got going by asking him what senza misura means. He knew. He's a fairly accomplished musician. He said in hindsight he wished he'd asked the violist why the hell he didn't know what it meant.

Moral of the story. Don't be snooty in church or someone might link to a picture of you on their blog so that the next time the five readers of said blog attend a performance of the Minnesota Orchestra they can applaud for everyone except that guy.

Chill'n

You might be the mother of a five year-old boy

when, in the course of discussing the latest and greatest superheros among the preschool set, your son casually drops his pants to show you an illustration of what he calls "Ninja Power Rangers."

My husband delights in the name printed on the back: Windstorm!

The green team

A scene from basketball at the Y. I heard one of the coaches say to his own son just before practice started: "It's not about winning. It's about playing well and working together as a team."

Spring cleaning

What to do when one or more of the kids is housebound due to viral illness and all playdates suspended? It appears that nothing reduces illness-related crankiness like a little house cleaning, especially when a hose is involved.

On record

Serious thoughts ahead -- use caution.

I know this isn't a living will but I thought I'd just lay it out here for the world to see: Should I ever end up incapacitated, I want my relatives to do with me what makes them most happy. Mr. Bickerson has stated to me that he would most certainly let my parents decide what to do.

I do want to make this very clear: Under no circumstances do I want anyone resembling Michael Schiavo's lawyer, George Feros, near me or my family. There is something very strange and wrong about him. That someone could prevent a mother from giving her own child water makes me sick to my stomach.

Inch worm

Tikka has been measuring things with a tape measure around the house. For the record, Peggy is bigger an a half. I am bigger 21; and Tikka herself is littler than four.

She also tried to give herself a snazzy mullet-style haircut this morning. I suppose Fantastic Sam might be willing to try to turn her hair don't into a more presentable do.

Terri Schiavo

Perspective

Happy Easter

We told the kids that the Easter Bunny only comes at nap time and only if there is peace and quiet in the house. Spidey wore a suit to church this morning and he complained of being so hot that you would think we'd wrapped him in plastic wrap. I didn't sing in choir this morning because the choir members had to be there from 8 a.m. to about 12:30 so Spidey took the opportunity to lay on the floor under the pew. He's better behaved when he's only with dad on Sundays.

But everyone is sleeping now (my favorite part of the day) and I've been perusing the news on the computer. I found this inspiring article for Easter. I like especially the Leonard Cohen lyric quoted at the end:

Forget your perfect offering; there is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

Easter brunch at Wendy's? Why not? (Okay, I roasted a lamb rack for supper. Are you happy now?)

We have a rescue hero down!

There was drama in the kitchen early this morning:

More puppy pictures

I can't stop myself:



Spidey wants to walk her all day:



She looks like a border collie and she has the same energy level. Here's hoping we can be as smart as she is and teach her to be a good canine companion.

I don't like looking at it either

"Mommy? You get Peggy some unnerpants 'cause I don't wanna see his bottom anymore."

PEGGY!!!

OMG, how much coffee does this dog drink? I'm starting to think it would have been easier to have triplets!

Peggy

She's ours and it appears she has an eating disorder. Unlike our most recent dog, Ed, we are not going to get away with letting Peggy figure out how much to eat. I think this little puppy might explode if she's left alone with a large supply of food. She kind of exploded in her crate last night so I had the pleasure of giving a rowdy puppy a bath at 5:30 this morning.

Free to a good home

Should we? Can we?



She's quiet and non-nippy. Part Australian blue heeler/ part ubiquitous lab. Perhaps named Peggy?

The calm

before the storm

Happy Birthday Hank

We love you more than you can imagine (yes, more than 10 Minnetonka water towers-full).
Hank's movie

Kid art

This one is a portrait of a preschool friend.

I can picture her

20 years from now with a cup of coffee and a newspaper.

Ninja play elicits quasi-profound questions

"Mom, why can't we see the Easter Bunny when he lays his eggs?"

Not shake your booty

Tikka greeted me this morning with, "Mom, you get that shake your booty out of my closet for me?" I thought she wanted her grass skirt that goes with her bathing suit. She dances in it sometimes and she learned the phrase "shake your booty" from her aunt and uncle. I got it down for her.

"NO! Not that. You know that funny booty you got for me? That funny shake your booty in your closet?"

I headed for my bedroom where she could show me.

"NO MOM! Not there! Come wif me." She took me to the kitchen.

A-ha!

This is what she meant.

Nice ending

Is it possible for a two and four year old to whine continuously for 10 hours? It seems so. The cure this afternoon was a car ride around Lake Minnetonka to look at the kabillion dollar homes while the kids ate Wendy's Frosties even though it was 29 degrees outside. We caught this picture of the sunset on our way home.

sunshine.jpg

Wayne's world

In the car this morning on the way to take Spidey to preschool:

Tikka: Mom? Me take my mittens off now, peeze?

Me: Yes.

Tikka: Excellent. (And it was pretty much clearly articulated.)

Perky

They were making fun of it on Dave Barry's blog a week ago but this is a miracle; it's like cosmetic surgery without all the yuck.

I'm anticipating the questions: "Have you done something? Colored your hair? Got the braces off? Joined the Church of Scientology? Gone vegan? Something's different about you."

March 16 Update: Buy 'em while you can! I went back to get one more Body by Victoria Uplift Add-a-Cup and was informed that this particular bra is experimental and they might not be around forever. Experimental?

Photo of the day from Flickr

The Streets of San Francisco
Originally uploaded by bernardroth.

Just browsing photos tonight and happened upon this one. Makes me miss my friend and running buddy, Arnold.

What happened to ESP?

Seems like we used to hear about ESP a lot more often when I was a kid.

Breaking away

I hope I'm not the only one who likes to pretend to be in a bike race with the people riding next to me at the Y. There was a fellow cyclist next to me this morning. We both got on our bikes at the same time. I made a goal in my head to not quit before he did nor let my RPMs dip below his. I could glance over and see the display on his bike; his heart rate and cadence. Couldn't see what level he was using. I was keeping up without having a heart attack and my feet were spinning faster than his were. After about 45 minutes I started to send messages to him to quit using my powers of ESP. He wouldn't listen and he kept going. Damn it. I was tired and I had to pee but I was not going to let this guy win the YMCA Stationary Bicycle Criterium.

Turned out it was all for naught as I was unceremoniously yanked from the race at 52 minutes due to a poopy diaper courtesy of my daughter. Better luck next time, I guess.

Did I mention that my opponent was approximately 70-75 years old? :-)

Hoop dreams

I'm having one of those heart-is-bursting-with-love days. This more than makes up for all the vomit.

Spidey started a basketball class at the Y yesterday. Although he has been talking about this class nonstop since we visited a couple of weeks ago, when the actual day arrived and it was time to go, he put up a big fight. There was just too great a chance that he wouldn't be perfect at everything from the start. He was very nervous about being the only one on the team who didn't possess any basketball skills. His attitude often seems to be "Why try if you can't be the best at it from the start?"

So anyway, being evil parents, we forced him to go. The two volunteer dad coaches couldn't have been nicer. Spidey is on the Green Team which represents Responsibility according to the YMCA logo. Every other kid could already dribble. Crap, most of them looked like they'd already been to some intensive basketball camp. (That, or their dads all played professionally.) And then there was Spidey. He has two non-athletes for parents (endurance running aside). His parents have ZERO skills when it comes to your regular organized sports. He tried so hard to get the dribbling down. They practiced dribbling for a long time; dribbling in one place, dribbling with one hand then the other, then walking and dribbling, running and dribbling. He's got a lot of work ahead of him if he wants to catch up to the other players but HE LOVED IT!

Spidey just came out of his room with a drawing in his hand.



It's the YMCA, a basketball court, all the color-coded teams, and (most importantly in my opinion) "the door where you go in." He said he wants to take it next week to "give to my coaches." And now he's out on the deck dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, and dribbling.

I just can't explain how proud I am that, although he was so obviously anxious -- in tears -- about this new thing, he did it, he found out he liked it, and he wants to go back.

UPDATE:

We all went to the playground this afternoon. He's such a precious little dude:

As the stomach turns

My best friends. We've become so close over the past five days. One highlight from our stomach virus week was Tikka's delight in identifying lunch items in her crib: Look, Mom! My 'paghetti-Os! A peach!"

I'm so glad it's over.

Something like 911

It has come to my attention that, in addition to practicing fire safety and having an emergency home exit plan, it would behoove families everywhere to have an emergency plan for stomach viruses. The four year-old and the two year-old need to rehearse what to do in the event of vomit and explosive diarrhea while I need to call back Ritzy Clean to ask them to put a little more clean in their ritzy.

UPDATE: I am thankful for a large, front-loading washing machine. Spidey likes to sleep with about 250 "friends" every night and you can fit a surprisingly large number of stuffed animal friends into the washer.

UNRELATED UPDATE: I thought I left my watch at the Y yesterday when I couldn't find it at home. I called and described it and where it might be and a nice lady said she'd go look in the locker room for me and call back. She called about 45 minutes later, said she'd found it where I said I thought it would be and she would put it in an envelope with my name on it at the front desk.

I just took a load of laundry out of the washer and there was my watch.

Hmm.

Technology is amazing

Will we even recognize the world we live in in 10 years? Amazing, I said.