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Monday, June 15th

Summertime! (and the updates are more frequent...?)

We shall see. With summer finally here (could NOT have come sooner - what a year!) I hope to have a bit more free time to update the blog and keep you abreast of Important Things. Such as Dessa's swimming lessons (beginning next week), Mommy and Me Pre-School (also beginning next week) and the various trips we have planned (all local and also pretty much beginning next week. The first week of summer vacation is always very "chill" for me).

I'm already busy though, as I've taken up canning. Yes, it's very Little House on the Prairie around here, and other than one Disaster Of Which We Will Not Speak which involved hot jalapeno jam ALL OVER the stove... (and in case you're thinking of doing that yourself, I really don't recommend it. The smell of burned sugar is acrid enough but adding a dozen pureed jalapenos to it is truly dreadful) I've been very pleased. We now have pickles, 2 types of strawberry jam and a half-dozen jars of (new batch) jalapeno jam all sealed up and ready for storage. There's also 4 types of freezer jam (mixed berry, strawberry, ollalieberry and balsamic strawberry) in the garage freezer. I have about 5 lbs of peaches downstairs for both preserves and jam and some more cucumbers for sweet pickle relish and then I'm taking a break until the tomatoes ripen. Which at this rate will be in about an hour and then we'll be drowning in them. The plants are huge.

Our zucchini is coming in at an alarming rate. I really need more zucchini recipes because a loaf of zucchini bread only takes up about a cup, shredded, and we're growing zukes that are easily 2 and 3 cups alone. Many, many of them. This always happens. The plans just look so small and then... madness ensues.

Speaking of things that started small and then grew to epic proportions, we took Dessa to get her 2 year portraits done last week. We had a great photographer who was very quick on the shutter so we got a lot of action shots of our busy bee. We started out formal...

And when asked how old she was, Dessa started counting on her fingers. According to her, she's about 12, but the photographer caught her at just the right moment.

This is one of my favorites. It's taken from above her as she's lying on her back and I think it just captures something precious. She also looks a lot like my sister in this picture.

Then we got some props.

We got the package with the digital CD of all the pictures they took that day and then we ordered an insane amount of prints because that's what the package included. They should be coming in next week.

In other news, Dessa surprises me daily with her vocabulary. It's pretty entertaining to talk to her because she comes up with things I didn't know she could say. Instead of parroting all the time, she takes stuff she's heard or remembers and uses it in new ways, so it's like talking to a real person now. On Friday afternoon when I got off work I returned home and she was still napping (Dave had watched her that day). When she woke up, I went to her room and she was standing up in her crib. I swear this is how the conversation went:

Dessa: Oooo! It's not Daddy! It's Mommy! Hi Mommy!
Me: Hey there sweetie. It is indeed Mommy. Do you know something? Mommy is officially on vacation now!
Dessa: Mommy is on vacation?
Me: Yep. It's summer. That means Mommy gets to stay home with Dessa every day instead of going to work.
Dessa: (considers this) I like summer!
Me: I like it too, baby.
Dessa: But... Dessa go see Nana?
Me: Oh honey, you'll still get to see Nana, don't worry.
Dessa: And Sally?
Me: Yep, Sally too.
Dessa: Ok. Dessa go see Nana and Sally in summer. Mommy is on vacation.

She's like a news reporter. And everything is news. We heard for an hour yesterday about the fact that went to the farmers market and there were taiko drummers ("Drum goes boom at a farmer market!"). When Dave blew up a purple balloon instead of the blue as requested, she chastised him for days, gleefully announcing, "That's not blue!" every time she saw it. One of my favorite affectations of hers is that sometimes she calls us "Super Mommy" and "Super Daddy" (except it tends to come out "Duper Mommy" and "Duper Daddy"). I don't know what started our heroic alter egos or what makes her go from calling us one or the other but I admit there's something damn nice about walking into her room in the morning and hearing, "Good morning Super Mommy!"

This morning she did something new. And, as I do try to document as much as I can, as soon as she finished I raced for the camera and asked her to do it again. In a rare treat, she immediately did (generally once she's performed she gets weird when I whip out the video recorder). Enjoy the vid while I go put the Harvard admissions office on my speed dial. You can never start too early...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Posted by GoddessKristin on 06/15/2009 at 01:53 PM [1 Comment - Go read it!]

Thursday, June 4th

Long Overdue

As usual it is madness and chaos Chez Nous and I am well behind on updating our lives. But that just means there's a lot to catch up on. Strap in and let's ride!

First up, a short video of Dessa enjoying one of her favorite things - bubbles. Auntie AC got the coolest bubble making toys in the west and is showing Dess how to use them in this clip. Chatterbox Dessa makes sure we're all watching her.

Last Sunday Dessa turned 2 and we had a birthday party at the house. The usual suspects came, as well as a few new additions. Dessa's little head just about popped off her body when she saw the birthday cake, as she's been talking about birthdays and cakes and candles for months now. She had to be restrained lest she leap straight into the buttercream:

Auntie AC helped her open her gifts so I could take pictures and video. Both were pretty happy about this arrangement.

This year the difference between gifts and gift wrap became clear and Dessa had a definite preference.

Coolest kid on the block (with the cheesiest smile)...

A big hit gift was a set of doll accessories - a stroller, a high chair, a crib. Dessa's taken a shine to her dolls recently, even sleeping with one at night (along with a plethora of stuffed toys and blankets and the occasional book...). Until Saturday she had two dolls. When she plays with one and you ask her, "What's your baby's name?" she solemnly informs you, "A Little Girl" (though it tends to come out "A Liddle Guwl"). Ask her her other doll's name and she logically informs you, "That's Another Little Girl" ("A Noddy Liddle Guwl"). When she got a third doll to go with her set I fully expected smoke to pour from her ears, for what could you name a third?

No problem though. Two stay downstairs and one remains in Dessa's crib. Here she is taking A Liddle Guwl for a walk (please note Mommy's shoes were a necessity):

The stroller walks through the house have become an afternoon requirement, with Dessa going once around the downstairs and then asking, "You coming too, Mommy?" (or Daddy if he's downstairs when it begins). It's not really a request because you can't actually say no. You are required to accompany Dess and A Little Girl on their circular trips around the house.

Video of that to come! (No really! Trust me!)

Posted by GoddessKristin on 06/04/2009 at 09:12 PM [No Comments - Be the first!]

Monday, April 20th

Beautiful Bad Day

Last Friday Dessa and I were having sort of a Bad Day. You know the kind. One of those days when your toddler's main utterance is, "I WAAAANT _______________". Fill in the blank and take your pick. At any given time it might have been any or all of the following list: Oatmeal, cookie, cracker, toast, raisin, Elmo, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, doggie, milk, zoo book, see Nana, ride Howard, balloon, Daddy, cheese, water plants, fruit & yogurt, Riley, blanket, up, down, remote, bath, nigh-night (but she lies. She doesn't really want to go nigh-night. It's all a cruel hoax), TV, go inside, go outside, this one, that one... god I can't even remember what all else. That's only a small sample of all the things she can and does demand. At will, and at all times.

Language explosion indeed.

More often than not, because I actually don't like her at all and enjoy hearing her cry, my answer had to be no. After one hunk of cheese, another is not OK. We cannot see Daddy now because he is busy making money to purchase more cheese. We saw Nana yesterday. Riley is not interested in seeing you, so leave his poor tail alone. We have read the zoo book nine times in the last 20 minutes and Mommy's brain is leaking out her ear so maybe we could try a different tome this time. We will have a bath later. Too much TV rots your fragile little brain. I know you are lying about wanting to go nigh-night, so don't even ask. I won't be fooled again.

It gets draining, this constant thwarting of the will. Finally I convinced her that she'd said she wanted to go outside, and I wanted to go outside, so let's just man up and go outside fer Chrissake.

Once there I was able to amuse her with extended Plant Watering Time. She's very helpful, this child of mine, so much so that possibly our plants will drown here in California. Difficult to imagine but true. She is adamant about which plants need what water. I do a lot of fake watering.

Afterwards I set a lounge chair in the shade and directed Art Time. This is my half-assed attempt to stimulate Dessa's drawing talents. Having no such talents of my own I have absolutely no idea what would encourage them in my daughter, so I simply hand over the recycled lunch meat container full of sidewalk chalk and let her at it.

On this particular day I was commanded to spell her name a few times in chalk, to draw the letter B ad infinitum ("Again! Again! Again!") and to inscribe several numbers out of sequence. Finally she took over. After a few lazy swipes at the ground with her chalk, Dessa looked for a new canvas. With a chunk of chalk in each fist she began wandering the yard scratching lines onto any surface that pleased her. Her Cozy Coupe was duly decorated, and her plastic kitchen. Then, logically, she turned to my plastic lounge chair.

A quick scratch on the armrest pleased her. A few more and she was hooked. She orbited my chair and scritch-scratched quietly on the plastic. At first I protested but then figured it was easy enough to wipe off, so what was the big deal?

Until she began to draw on me. My arms got a quick anointing and I quickly protested. "No, Dess. Mommy doesn't need chalk all over her."

More chalk lines on the arm.

"No honey. Please don't draw on Mommy."

Another line.

"Dessa. No. I don't..."

And then I stopped myself. Somewhere I remembered that once, a long time before Dessa, I swore I would try very hard only to tell my kids "no" when it mattered, so that the word actually meant something. I was so damn sick of hearing myself say no that day that I could barely stand being around me. So I stopped. After all, I was going to shower anyway, right? And chalk isn't going to hurt me. And I sort of wanted to see where she'd go with this.

Quietly I watched her work. She was surprisingly focused. A swipe here but not there. Pink this time, then white. Then she'd switch arms. My legs got the treatment too. Once I got over my automatic "no", it was interesting to watch her.

Finally I quietly asked her, "Dessa? What are you doing?"

She lifted her head and looked right into my eyes. I wish I could convey just how sincere she sounded when she replied: "Make boo-ful".

And she does.

Posted by GoddessKristin on 04/20/2009 at 08:21 PM [1 Comment - Go read it!]

Thursday, April 16th

I thought I was tech savvy. I was wrong.

Therefore I should never be allowed within 5 feet of my camera and its "format card" option EVER AGAIN.

Pictures will resume as soon as they are recovered. And by that I mean as soon as Dave spends an insane amount of time fixing my incredible stupidity. And by incredible I mean... well you can imagine.

Posted by GoddessKristin on 04/16/2009 at 06:47 PM [2 Comments - Read 'em!]

Thursday, April 9th

That's My Girl

This morning when I went to raise Dessa from her slumber (at 6:15 am which - damn, it's still DARK then!) she greeted me with the ringing endorsement...

"Oooooh! Mickey Mouse!"

That's my baby!

Posted by GoddessKristin on 04/09/2009 at 11:13 AM [No Comments - Be the first!]