My oldest daughter turned six over the weekend. How did that happen?
In some ways things haven't changed very much. She was a spitfire as a baby and she's grown into a very dramatic child, often costumed and also often getting into trouble for punching a sibling who angers her. She can almost simultaneously be the most lovely and delightful child, helping cook in the kitchen, telling me about a story she's read or caring for a sibling and also the most annoying, aggravating kid.
I find myself completely baffled by her sometimes and at other times I think she may be the most like me. Maybe that's why she baffles me.
She certainly looks the most like me, although as much as I wanted glasses as a kid, I never got them. For her they have made a world of difference. Before she got them, she never drew anything, her ability to read went backwards and we were both frustrated. After glasses, a whole new world opened up. Now I have a hard time prying her away from books, she draws lovely pictures and she's writing as well as most of the other first graders I know.
Even though she still has the, ahem, lively personality she's always had and a sometimes interesting perspective on the truth (her first famous bout of trying to blame someone else for her misdeeds came before age 2, when she claimed the dog had taken a bite out of each apple), I marvel at the chance to be around someone so fascinating.
Whatever she does that may at times drive me completely insane, and my husband can attest to the fact that more than anyone else she does make me crazy, she's also the child which when I think about I just have to say, "Wow! What a kid." I worry more about her and pray more about her. If she just uses her powers for good, the bad guys better watch out!
My four y.o. has a "lively" personality as well - higher highs and lower lows. I wouldn't trade her for anything, though her hard-headedness can be a challenge. I continue to pray for God to bless me with a good memory of her and the other kidlets so I'll have something to enjoy in about fifteen years. I know I won't have the strength to chase after grandkids!
One of the funniest episodes I remember is when she could not yet aspirate "h" but had learned the word "hassle". And she liked to apply it -- as a verb? an adjective? who knows? -- to her brother and mother and father. This was entertaining in itself, but you also had people working around the house at the time, well within earshot. Very recently this incident came up in connubial conversation. It seemed oddly on point and, four years or so on, still cracks us up :)
Me: P, who took a bite out of every apple in the bowl you knocked off the table and broke this morning? Did you do it? P: No. Me: Did your brother do it? P: (giggling) No. Me: Did the dog do it?!?! P: "HOBBES nibbow appow!"
Happy, happy birthday to little miss P! Maybe the reason I never got my girl was that I couldn't handle having a mirror (even one with a lovely name!)...
As many of you have probably heard on the news, Nashville has been experiencing something of a gas shortage. There have been long lines at the stations that had gas at all and many, many stations have just been sold out and shut down on and off for days. Not being old enough to remember the gas lines of the 1970s (I guess I lived through them, I just don't remember it), I have never seen anything like it.
Fortunately for the Adams' family, I filled up the tank on the Friday before Ike swept through Texas and Nashvillians went gas crazy. We usually only use about a half tank per week, so we're doing fine and not particularly affected by the local gas woes ourselves. Still, it is definitely a problem for a city to run out of gas.
You can watch without sound and it will give you subtitles (not quite the same effect, I'll grant you). Still, hilarious.
How does a city run out of gas? And if Nashville, why not the rest of the country? We seem to be getting our supplies just fine (although the price went up to $4.29 for a few days, I've seen $3.69 recently).
Actually, the subtitles are what's filled with the foul language. The sound is in German and I didn't actually catch any swear words in that, although the actor does do a good job of capturing Hitler's incomprehensibility, so it's hard to say for sure.
We are out of gas here in the Atlanta area, too, and if you do find someone with gas--as we found out yesterday--you can only buy a minimal amount for over $4 a gallon. I was allowed $20. I don't use too much gas, so hopefully that will do me until some sense of normalcy returns. It is so bizarre.
There seems to be a ton of these parodies on YouTube. The first one I saw had him mad because the Cowboys lost to the Giants in the playoffs. He was frothing about the point spread.
posted by skinnydan at September 23, 2008 10:35 AM
I feel better about understanding so wenig myself now! We actually watched that whole movie thanks to Netflix. I don't remember how much of the rest of it I understood or even whether the whole thing was in German. I never will forget the horrifying scene with Frau Goebbels, though. NEVER.
Due to some comments and e-mails I have received, I have decided that I need to elaborate a bit on the photo of me at the side. Everyone has been universally complementary of it and if I do say so myself, it is a rather nice picture, however while it is a photo of me -- it is not a photo of the whole me.
You see, that photo was taken when I was a seventeen year old freshman in college. By my calculations, I only have one more year until that was taken seventeen years ago. The girl in that photo is just that -- a girl.
Since that photo was taken, I've met a nice boy and finished college. I finished two graduate degrees. I got married and have lived in several different states from Arizona to Alaska. I've also had five babies and have either been pregnant or nursing a baby (or both) since 1999. I've also gained, ahem, a bit of weight since my college weight of barely 100 lbs.
So that photo is me, but it is only a part of the history of me. I wouldn't really want to be just that seventeen year old college girl again (though I wouldn't mind weighing what she weighed). I'm glad I've grown up since then and become the woman I am now. Thank you all for the kind words about the photo, but some time soon I'll probably show you something a little more recent.
posted by skinnydan at September 22, 2008 10:33 AM
I figured it was probably a picture from back then.
But please don't tell me it's really been 17 years! College feels a long ways away in one sense - how else would there have been enough time for everything since then to have happened? - but in another, I just don't feel like I've been away that long.
Oh, I remember how wonderful those types of moments were. Good for you...hope you actually slept too, and wasn't awake from time to time to check on her.
Btw, great profile photo. Very Audrey Hepburn-ish!
Hi...saw your name mentioned on Like Merchant Ships and had to click over! It isn't everyday that another Jordana comes across my path! Cheers to being a Jordana!
She's precious, and what a nice baby to let you sleep! I must be doing something wrong. Jay was the only one to sleep through the night before he reached toddlerhood. Daniel's not quite there (toddlerhood) yet, but he's only slept through the night twice. Oh well!
Such a sweetie. She looks about the same age as my youngest (2 months) who isn't sleeping through the night, but only wakes once to eat around midnight or one and I'll be thrilled with that if she keeps it up!
"I like being Catholic," said the eight year old. "Not only because I love the faith, but also because I have so many friends now. Before at church there were only four kids around my age. Now there are more than fifteen!"
Not all Catholic parishes are bursting with children, but we attend one with lots of large families. In fact, my husband and I were joking that with our five children we've just met the minimum quota. Of course, this isn't true, but there are an awful lot of families that take up two pews on a Sunday morning.
There are kids every where. There is noise and life. There are wiggly kids and kids who have to go to the bathroom. There are babies nursing and children fussing. And they aren't always only my children!
It is always comforting to be in a group with others like you. When doing something different, like raising a large family, it sure helps to have older moms and dads who have been through all this to talk to and friends who are doing it right now to commiserate with.
Over the weekend, we had our Catholic homeschooling group over for a potluck and annual planning meeting. By my count we had thirty-two kids and a lot of families didn't make it and some left their older children at home. I'm glad to be part of that group; to have found so many people to help me through all the tough times that come with raising and educating the children.
I have to admit that when sitting by myself in Mass I sometimes catch myself looking at all the families with some sadness mixed with a tinge of envy. You are very fortunate indeed that you all swam the Tiber together: I've not yet figured out how to get the Missus into the water and there are times when I despair of ever doing so.
I scored 10/15, which is "just enough knowledge to be dangerous." That fits me pretty well. Which is why I generally let the man in the family do the fix-it projects.
As goes without saying, the world is different today than it was seven years ago. Seven years ago, I was in Alaska and woke to the phone ringing at 7 a.m. My husband away in California was calling to tell me of the attacks that had happened and the towers that had fallen. It had all happened before I even woke up. I watched the news in shock and horror until my little boy, not quite two years old, took notice of the TV and started babbling about airplanes and smoke.
I couldn't stand the thought of him seeing the horror of it all and at the same time I was so grateful that I could shield him from it by shutting off the television. There were some parents in the thick of it, who could not do the same; those traveling on the planes with their children; those in the Pentagon and the WTC who knew they weren't going to be coming home to their children. There was no off-button for them.
Seven years later that little boy is almost nine and I have four other little ones that I hang on to and endeavor to teach and protect. The war that started that day is still going on and turning off the news won't stop my children from knowing what's happening in the world for long. Nor should they be kept entirely in the dark. Those who died and the tale of that horrible day should not be forgotten and so we have to tell the story and pray for those who were lost.
"There was no off-button for them." Indeed. And I imagine there is still a horrific replay of the events.
I turned the television off finally because the replays weren't replays to my oldest, then four. He just saw plane after plane slamming into buildings. And as you said, I was grateful to be able to do so.
As the boys have grown, we've exposed them to more and more. But it's so sad to see the innocence lost as it happens. But they learn compassion and can join in the prayer.
posted by Joyful Days at September 11, 2008 09:13 AM
We haven't broached the topic with our small fry. I agree with everything you said, though. It's amazing to me that this happened so long ago. I'm thankful we have a president who hasn't forgotten, and many brave men and women who haven't forgotten. God bless them for the burden they have taken on and for doing the hard work of protecting the rest of us.
You know those days when things get done, the house isn't a wreck and the kids are learning? How come those don't happen more often?
I'm going to pretend the brown streaks on the bathroom wall are just mud as I scrub them away, okay?
I'm having a million homeschooling kids and their parents over on Saturday. It might thunderstorm. Eeek!
My son, breastfeeding advocate. Said five year old, "I'm pretending to be a newborn and I'm drinking out of a bottle because my mom doesn't nurse me." The eight year old looks up, "Don't play that. That's really sad."
When we were visiting in Maine last month, the six year old left some, ah, mud streaks on the bathroom wall, which I had noticed and then forgot in the rush of packing up. It was left to my mother and sister to rediscover and deal with them as they prepped the cottage for a new batch of renters coming in. I got a bit of a telephone wigging for that one.
The 6 y.o., when confronted with her crime, came clean (as it were), although in her defense she claimed that she couldn't find any t-p and had panicked.
The gel was made to write a letter of apology to her grandmother and aunt.
I don't anything as funny as that last one, but the younger of the 2 children I nanny, will get frustrated with her older brother and give him time out. And he actually goes to timeout nicely and sits there. It was funny, but a clue that perhaps i need to change up the routine and remind them that I will take care of time out.
lalalala...pretending not to hear comments about brown streaks...lalalala
I, too, love the new sidebar picture. Something about the fringe makes you look very sophisticated (an important quality to have when dealing with brown streaks).
I love Terry and I miss him a great deal now that he's "not blogging." However, even when he's "not blogging" he still puts up the occasional "not blog post." Terry's Guide to Hockey is absolutely on par with some of his other classics, like his post explaining the difference between cheese puffs and cheese curls.
Thanks for your helpful comment at my blog. One question - do you put the vinegar in one of those fabric softener ball things, or is there some other way? Thanks in advance. :)
My fusspot is teething. He's starting to enjoy playing by himself, though, which is definitely good! He can disassemble a MegaBlocks tower with impressive speed for somebody who has just discovered his own toes...
I'm slow to mention this, but the other night I had the chance to meet up with several Nashville bloggers (Meredith, Malia, and Shauna) and my friend Jo-Lynne, from Philadelphia. Jo-Lynne's been blogging for a while, but I've known her for nine and a half years, since we started chatting on-line when we were pregnant with our first children. It was fun to finally meet in person. Also pictured, two of my girls and my friend Nina, who has also been chatting with Jo-Lynne and me for the last nine and a half years.
My three year old sat at the table firmly resisting my demand that she take a bite of her squash, red pepper and carrots. "Eat the carrots," I told her. "You like carrots."
Jordana Adams, Chief Pontificator