comments, complaints, quandries, curses
Baxter: Oh no it’s going to rain!
Me: No, I think it’ll just be cloudy in the morning.
Amelia: The word that Mama is looking for is “overcast.”
Amelia: What’s the hippo in Tinga Tinga called?
Me: Is it Hippo?
Amelia: No.
Me: Harriet?
Amelia: No.
Me: Hortense?
Amelia: No.
Me: Hilda?
Amelia: No. I think it’s Hippo.
Amelia: Mama. Yesterday, all of the people at camp, well, some of the people, well, one person…
Peach is angry and looking forward. Like angry that you can’t have a treat, and looking forward to your birthday party.
Tom: How was amelia this morning?
Andrea: calm. apologized for yelling last night
Andrea: I want to have a calm discussion of all the begging we’ve had lately
Andrea: but it needs to be when no one’s already mad about something else
For the record, this does not seem likely to happen anytime very soon; it feels like at least one of the kids is pretty much irate or sobbing nearly all the time these days. Either that, or one of the adults is snappish and short-tempered. Parenting a 6.5y and a 3.5y is kicking my ass lately. I don’t know how parents with more than two kids even deal; I’d be She-Hulk or Judge Judy all day long.
Hack: Amelia is reluctant to read aloud to me/us. Today she brought me her 18″ doll Bella and asked me to brush Bella’s hair. (Amelia isn’t persistent and careful enough to do a good job and brushing hair is one of the few things I ever liked about playing with dolls.) I told her I’d brush it as long as Amelia read to me while I worked. She read me a whole picture book and the time passed very happily for the both of us. 
Hack: A family we’re friends with taught us about “the tickle button,” an undefined spot on your body, which if “On,” means you are interested in being tickled, and if “Off,” means you do not want to be tickled. This has helped with Baxter’s mania for tickling people without asking first, yay!
It’s also spawned other questions, like “Is your snuggle button on?” and “Is your hugging button on?” In case you were wondering, Baxter’s snuggle button is always on.
Luck: I told Amelia we might ask her to take a nap today because she’s been getting to bed so late he last couple of nights. She decided to “play” rest time in the morning — I think in order to get out of taking a nap — and played it so convincingly that she fell asleep and napped for almost 90m, a good 30m longer than I would have asked her to stay in bed. Naps without fights? I’ll take two!
Got this at the used bookstore yesterday, hoping to read it to Amelia. It’s set in Texas in 1899, and the protagonist is a girl who identifies herself as a naturalist despite her school teaching her:
Reading, Spelling, Arithmetic, and Penmanship. oh, and Deportment. I got an ‘acceptable’ for Posture but an ‘unsatisfactory’ for Use of Hankie and Thimble.
Her granddaddy is horrified by this, and starts allowing her to shadow him in his own experiments and (local) expeditions.
If she tolerates it, I think this would be a fun book to read with Amelia. It does deal with topics of racism on top of sexism, but I think we could talk about both constructively. I’ll read through to the end before I lay it on her 6yo brain, though. Liking it a lot so far.
“Uh-oh! I don’t want to forget my Batpurse.”
(whiny) “MOMMMMM! I’m too tired to go to sleep.”
“Everything looks so far away in my bin-ah-clee-ars.”
And last but not least:
There’s a thump in Baxter’s room after lights out. Tom goes in to investigate and sees Baxter dive into bed when he opens the door. Tom approaches the bed as Baxter lies still and pretends to be asleep. Tom kisses Baxter and says, “It’s time to go to sleep now, buddy.” Baxter whispers, “I am asleep, Dada.” Tom replies softly, “Baxter, if you were asleep you wouldn’t be talking right now.” Baxter, eyes still squeezed shut, mouths silently, “But Dada, I really am asleep!”
Baxter was adamant that he wanted to wear “a sparkly dress” to summer camp today. Since we try to keep dress up clothes at home, I dug through a cache of summer clothes that Amelia wore a few years ago and found this sundress. Baxter’s delight was instant, exuberant, and enduring. So much so that he made up this song:
I love my new DRESS!
I love to TWIRL in it!
I want to wear it every DAY!
Because I look so BEAUTIFUL!
And then he ran around singing “I Have Confidence” from The Sound Of Music until breakfast time.
I’m really happy (and feel really lucky) to be able to send Baxter to a preschool where I know he won’t be shamed or teased for wearing a dress or skirt. He’s also really excited about his new sandals, “because my favorite colors are blue and green, mama!”
The Thing With The Stuff 