hen, under stuff

"get the camera!"

that is what we have been yelling around here, about every day, for the last week. we have been noticing that, if left on the floor for a few minutes, that henny will find himself under something. we all decided to try to get pictures of him under different things.  it almost never fails that he will end up under something, and here are the pictures to prove it. 

RIP mae

my parent's dog died several weeks ago. somehow we had put off telling bee about it until just today. last year, their other dog died as well and bee was very upset by it. we had to have the same conversation about the dog for weeks. "no, she won't be back" and "her body stopped working" we things we heard ourselves saying again and again. she can be very sensitive and really feels and processes things, sometimes for stretches of time. 

needless to say we were not looking forward to telling her about the other dog. but today we were literally forced to do the deed. bee was set to spend some time with the grandparents so we had two choices. we could bite the bullet and tell her about the dog or just ignore the whole thing and hope she didn't notice that the dog was gone. i know it is insane but a tiny part of me actually thought about option number two. 

anyhow, after a nice quiet painting project i took a deep breath and dropped the bomb. here is how it went:

me: i have some bad news to tell you.

bee: what? (big wondering eyes looking at me)

me: well, you know gramma and grampa's dog mae? well, she died. 

bee: (silence)

me: do you know what that means?

bee: (excited) they can get a new dog!

some amount of thoughtful conversation followed: how mae won't be back and how gramma and grampa are pretty sad. but basically bee just wanted to excitedly discuss what options they had for a new pet. maybe a dog! a cat! 2 cats!

so, crisis averted, i guess. some part of us thinks that the shit will hit the fan sometime and we may have to have those hard talks. but for now i'll take it. this is one time in parenting where the best possible scenario prevailed.

i'm dry heaving....

this is why it's great that i am not the only parent around here. these pictures are from an activity that bee just enjoyed outside with her father. it's called, "gathering worms from the driveway and bringing them to the garden." it's also called, "go outside and take some pictures that will make your mom throw up a little."

(photos by D)

call merriam-webster

little bee has created a new phrase. it has quickly become a big part of our language around here. one day bee was on the phone describing what she was up to. she said that henny had just gotten up from his rest and "now he's just whippin' out!" (he was acting excited, full of smiles and coos.)

whippin' out: to act in an excited manor or exhibit outrageous behavior.

i love this new term. i probably say it more than i should. 

in other news, spring has sprung. we couldn't be happier. our days have been filled with gardening (seeds!) and outdoor adventures (worms!). i have made it up the mountain 5 times in the last three weeks and it feels great. basically, we're whippin' out around here!

oh that baby!

little bee has an imaginary friend, her name is baby. baby has been around for probably a year now. baby is all things to all people and situations. sometimes she is a teenager, sometimes she's three, sometimes seven or eight. sometimes baby experiences exactly what bee is experiencing, which is nice for working out our feelings. for example, last weekend baby's mom went on a trip. but don't worry, baby wasn't going to miss her too much, and baby knew that her mommy would be home soon. 

alternately, quite often baby is living a life that is much greater than ours, in many ways. if we have two cats, then baby has a cat farm. if the easter bunny hid 12 eggs in our living room, baby found a hundred in her living room. and so on. it is very predictable and makes us laugh ever time baby one-ups us.

over the weekend we were out enjoying some burritos as a family when the topic of smoking came up. bee said something about cigarettes and we launched into the speech: "cigarettes and VERY bad. they are so bad for your body. the WILL make you so sick and you should never ever smoke them."

little bee responded with, "well, baby smokes cigarettes. she smokes cigarettes ALL THE TIME! she blows on them all day!"

i'm sure, knowing baby, that when she gets lung cancer, it will be the worst lung cancer with the BIGGEST tumor ever!

the longest weekend

this past weekend i left the family for the first time ever. i have never been away from henny for a night and have never gone anywhere alone since being a mom. i went with my wonderful friend to this place to meet this person. it was a wonderful excuse to get away to a nice place and have lots of great chats along the way.

all went well on the home front which made it all the sweeter. naps were had, bottles drank, puddles happily stomped in. what made the trip even better was getting home (that sounds weird) on saturday afternoon. that made the weekend feel soooo long. 

sunday brought much creation which made me feel like a good little follower of our new bible. we made salt clay. the whole family enjoyed digging in 

and making something. being able to bake it and keep it was the best part.

sunday afternoon was full of gardening. it felt good to get out there and start envisioning what will be coming up soon. last year our garden was really amazing, beautiful and productive. this year we are hoping for more. yesterday we spent the last bits of daylight building a "castle" for bee. it is like a teepee, built with saplings, string and vines. we also planted peas all around the bottom. they promise to grow 6 feet tall and will wind around the castle to make "walls". i couldn't be more excited about this.

finally today we started some seeds inside. this was especially fun because i got to one it one-to-one with bee, because henny was asleep. we slowly chose what to plant first, and made tags and covered the plants so they could collect all the sunshine. 

i think spring has finally sprung.

little thrills

it's a simple pleasure. after bath, nice clean hair, silky from conditioner. a few nights ago we cozied up after bath in front of what will probably be one of the last fires of the year, in the living room, and braided. the feel of little bee's hair running through my hands, criss-crossing all the way down (so long!), it is certainly one of the perks of the job. it is a small reward after all the mini-tantrums that this junior teenager has been throwing my way.

and the result the next day is almost as thrilling. call me crazy, but sometimes i get giddy the night before, almost like a kid on christmas eve (but not quite!), anticipating taking those braids out and revealing some wild hair. that 80's hair is just so fun!