Memories of Grammy

It has been a VERY long time since I wrote here.  We have moved (twice! But one place we only stayed at for a few months) and we have some new traditions.   We take walks over to "Magicarp Lane" (so named because when we played Pokemon Go, the stream attracted lots of Magicarp) and rain walks.  The kids have loft beds that they use as jungle gyms instead of beds.   They make things out of boxes a lot.  And we started reading books at bedtime.  We started with the Wayside School books and then we read Hitchhiker's and some of the Harry Potter books, the Boxcar kids, and Wrinkle in Time.

We lost Grammy in September 2018 after a year-long bout with brain cancer.  And one of the reasons I want to start this blog back up is to record my memories of Grammy for the kids while they are fresh(er).  Grammy loved her grandchildren dearly and was always willing to advocate for what she believed were their best interests, including haircuts.

A picture of Juliet popped up on my Facebook memories feed.  It is from 4 years ago and Juliet is sporting shoulder-length hair and bangs.  I remember how much Grammy didn't like hair in her grandchildrens' eyes and how she and I would disagree on that.   I recall it affectionately now.  But she really wanted that not to bother her grandchildren and one day I approved the Juliet haircut.  Juliet picked it out of a bunch of cuts, but I was shocked to see how different Juliet looked with such a different haircut!   It was hard for me.  But it was a demonstration of the care and love that Grammy had for her grandchildren and now when I see that haircut, I miss her.

This Happened: The Way Things Work

Today was a surprise of a day.  Found out late the night before that Matt had to work and I didn't.  So today was an unexpected pick up with a day of random adventure.  

We started out pokehunting because NEW POKÉMON!  And we discussed the plans for the 100th day of school celebration at Juliet's school.  Her biggest interests are Pokémon and Owls (felt that had to be capitalized too so it's not left out!) so we talked about ideas in those veins.

Juliet wore all the hair bands we bought at our acroyoga class the day before.

 

Our pokehunting brought us to a new park which we would visit later, and a trip to the post office, and the kids' first drive through a car wash (the blinking lights were more then I could pass up!  I was more excited then they were at first!).  Jonah held my hand during the wash with delight and curiosity.  Juliet did not seem that interested.  

I've been working on cultivating my kids' interests.  Juliet was and is an excellent climber.  Agile, balanced, strong - I've always been able to trust her abilities there. So we went to a circus class together recently and signed up for a private class for the two of us that I need to schedule.  And we started doing acroyoga (partnered yoga).  Juliet actually really just started doing acroyoga on her own.  Maybe prompted by the loft beds that make the bedroom seem like a jungle gym?

 

 

I've identified Jonah's interest as "the way things work."  

One of the unexpected benefits of different morning start times is the half hour I get to spend with Jonah one-on-one.  And so one day I taught him about how the car works and pumping gas.  And the next time we went and pumped gas together and he was beaming.  BEAMING!  He was so proud and happy, like I reached his heart and it sang.  When I picked them up after school that day, Jonah immediately demonstrated his knowledge to Juliet by popping the gas lid.  He was so proud of his knowledge!

I had a great Mommy-Jonah date recently too while Juliet was at a play date.

Jonah and I went to the library to look at the Way Things Work book.  We found one of those wood rollercoaster things and talked about making our own.  And we went to a nice Italian restaurant, sat at the bar, and shared mussels.  Jonah was sweet and wonderful.  And he was so happy about the mussels that he whispered in my ear, "Let's thank them."  And he paused and looked around and motioned again for my ear, "Let's thank them for EVERYTHING."  He also thought their bread was superb.  (Warm bread!  Yum!). Driving away, he wanted to make sure I knew where the place was.  I wasn't sure why until I realized that he thought that was the only place that served mussels!

 

 

 

So today after pokehunting and car washing today, we went to the Midnight Family Dinner and the kids were so so so good and sweet.  And amazingly hungry.

 

 

They both ate all that food!  And then Juliet brought the check and Jonah the card and they happily paid at the register.

Then we went to 5 Below for our 100 idea but were unsuccessful in finding anything.  We did turn a tiny cart in to a double decker transport though!

 

Though we weren't 100 inspired, we did leave with a giant ball,

 

 a giant disk, 

 

Socks I will wear but save for Juliet when she gets bigger (gladly, happily, my little one!),

 

And two snuggle pillows.

 

The snuggle pillows are a return gift from me.  Juliet and Jonah bought me a whale recently.  And they filled it with hugs and cuddles.  (They take that job very, very seriously.). I'm not a big stuffed animal person, but the other day I was feeling lonely and sad and I found that whale and, wow, the sense of love I felt was amazing.  So I wanted them to have their own and I filled them with cuddles before they left.  I hope it helps them.  Right after they bought the whale "secretly," Jonah and Juliet were whispering about it in the back seat.  Jonah said a word with the word "whale" in it and Juliet said, "shhhhhh!  You basically just told mommy!"  And she broke down the unintended reveal for him.

After 5 below, we came up with our 100 plan.  We played outside a while in our yard.  Juliet found crocuses and we added that to our list of  "first sightings" (like the goslings and fireflies).

 

Juliet made up games that were weighted to help Jonah even out the score.  The goal of the games seemed to be to get to infinity +1.  (Is that even possible?!  Or is that, by definition, inevitable?)

When Jonah won, we declared him king of the yard and had a little procession.  We went over to the plastic adarondac chairs and he sat down.  I said it was his king throne.  Juliet sat in the other and declared herself queen.  I asked what I was.  They thought a second and  Juliet replied, "Mommy is the serpent."  I did NOT see that one coming!

 

Then we made our cookies for the 100 day, a fitting wrap up to the way the day started.  And I present to you.... Voltorb, Pokémon #100 in the universal pokedex:

 

 

Bon appetite!

This Happened (September 25-27 edition)

This was Juliet's birthday weekend!  Happy 5th Juliet!

The first thing they did is find special places in the house/sub for the pictures they picked out for me so I could see them when I missed them.  *heart* & *hugs*

 


After dropping Juliet off at preschool and seeing her self-portrait,

Jonah and I worked on cars at CVS,

before getting to work on our birthday presents and supplies.

Juliet made joke items (scissors, magnet, pen) and we'd set up situational jokes and then knock those suckers down.
M: Juliet, can you get me a pair of scissors?
Ju: Sure, Mommy! *runs in to the other room, comes back with paper scissors"
M: UGH!  I can't cut with this!

Rinse and repeat.

Juliet made a pop-up book completely unassisted (well, she'll say I helped, but I colored in a small block of blue, truth be told)

 






which she read to Jonah.

The owls supervised Jonah's puzzling.

We took one of our regular barefoot walks around the block (love that new tradition!).

Juliet learned the joy of fixing lost cards in a card game

and making fingers in to worms.

Jonah shared a Nutribullet with me. (Before you say it, I didn't make him - he likes it!  Juliet, however, does not understand the appeal.)

 


Then we celebrated Juliet!

 

 

 


Jonah entered through the window

and found shelter under a leaf.

The next day, we learned about slap bracelets

puzzling,

and extreme coloring.








We did some parachute experiments with different materials and parachutees

 


and learned a basic version of Yahtzee.

 


Then we had a lot of cleaning up to do!