No Leftovers

Venice says in the car, "There is no such thing as leftovers with mochi." When I asked, "What if the mochi was in the refrigerator for 5 years, would it be old and ikcy then?" She replied without pause, "It wouldn't last that long."

Nail Polish Incident

At bedtime, I was reading a book to Venice when she said, "Mom, I have a problem." "Yes?" I asked. "I used the nail polish on my eyebrow before I brushed my teeth and now it itches." Um...

Scouting Outing

On out scouting adventure, Xander was pretty excited thru/out - he chattered in the back seat, asking about the Delta Pond Park, and I told him I knew little about it, but that we were going to explore it and see if it would work for fishing sometime in the future...

He said it was very far away, and I said it was maybe 15 minutes as the car drove - I told him it was actually very close, and he seemed to like that...

He said he liked to fish - I asked if he'd fished before, and he said yes, as he almost always does to questions...

When we got to the area around the ponds on Goodpasture Island Rd., I couldn't find a place where we could enter the park area - there isn't one apparently....I drove around it a couple of times, going in both directions, and found nothing to say a park was there....there is one parking area, with maybe 20 parking spots just off Goodpasture, but when we stopped there and got out of the car, the sidewalk along the edge of the pond there stopped just past the parking lot - obviously there isn't a pathway along the pond, or around or into the park area, if there is an actual park there...

There was a sign put up by the Eugene Parks Dept, describing some development plans for the pond area, but nothing on it said anything about the area as an existing park - it gave a woman's name and phone number, and said if there were any questions about the projected development to call her - I did, finding that she is with the Eugene Parks Dept and in charge of parks, and left my name and phone number and asked her to call me - Xander asked me why I called someone, and I explained what the sign said - I said when she calls me, I'll call him and tell him what she said about the area and if there is anyplace we can go fishing - he was pleased with that...

We ran into an older African-American woman, maybe in her 80s walking along with a rolling walker - she said her name was Alice, and she comes here to feed the ducks - she asked me to throw a muffin along the edge of the pond, which I did, and she whooted like a goose to call her friendly denizens - she said she comes all the time, and lives in a home for seniors in the complex alongside the pond - she didn't know where you could go fishing around here, except that she sees people coming from farther along Goodpasture with fish...

Xander didn't seem unhappy that we didn't find the Delta Ponds Park - he just seemed to appreciate that we went on a scouting adventure looking for it...

It was an abortive scouting trip, but Xander wasn't disappointed, so that makes it just fine with me...

Jiichan...

Fun with Magnets

This morning Xander found a magnet and began experimenting with all the places it would stick to....He was a wonderful scientist and tried many surfaces...He called the surfaces it stuck to magneeto....I told him the word was magnetic....he tried that a rew times, the reverted to his favorite phrase and I let him be. Then I remembered I had a bag of magnets so I found those. He played with them for 30 minutes...I had paper clips with the magnets...he had great fun watching the attraction and repulsion...picking items up, etc.

He was in a very good mood and so happy the whole time he was here.

Love,
Granny

Jiichan's Outing

We hadn't gotten into the car at Casey's school, and the two were talking about where we'd go today - they usually wait til they're strapped into their car seats and I'm pulling away from the school before they talk about where we're going....this time they thot Chuck-E-Cheese, then, no - McDonald's, then, no - the Science Factory, but that, too, was no....then they thot maybe Granny&Jiichan's basement - well, maybe, cuz they hadn't been there for a while - in the end, they said no to the basement...

Venice said she was hungry and asked where we were going for our treat, and I said I didn't have anything specific in mind, but we could go to Ben&Jerry's after wherever we went - they both thot McDonald's was the place to go, so I said ok....Casey said that it wouldn't be a regular Jiichan outing if we didn't have a treat...!

Then, Venice remembered that she needed to be home by 5:00, and I said I knew that and would be keeping track of our time....she then said that we could go to our favorite place for outdoors since it was such a nice day, and we could keep the other places for times when it was cold or rainy - Casey agreed - Venice asked if we could go to Skinner Butte Park and play, and then end up going to McDonald's for our treat afterwards - I said I didn't know if we'd have time to do that, that I was concerned that we wouldn't have time after Skinner Butte - Casey said why not go to McDonald's first, and then go to the park - Venice chimed in that we could go there, eat our ice cream, not play on the structure, and then go to the park, and that would give us enuff time for both....I suggested that if we did that, they could take their cones with them in the car, and we could drive to the park and eat ice cream at the park, thus saving time and giving them more time at the park - they both thot that was the greatest idea...! - on the way to McDonald's Casey said this was the best outing ever...!!!

At Skinner Butte they pretty much played by themselves while I watched - they play so well together, and there's a pretty even give and take between the two....at one point I didn't see them from where I was sitting, and waited thinking I'd see them come running around the play structure - they didn't, and it had been maybe 20 mins or so - maybe less, but I was anxious not seeing them, so it felt like that long....so, I went looking for them - I found them lazying in a big open mesh tube, just curled up in the bottom of it, drinking their root beers and talking - pretty cool, that...

The two of them are getting very athletic around all the structures - both climb without much fear, and sometimes it scares me where they climb - Casey is getting to the point where he's Venice's equal in where he climbs, getting more athletic....they both are like monkeys, and at times cause me to catch my breath - I try to stay close enuff so that I can scream if I think they're getting beyond their capabilities, but far enuff away that I don't stifle them in their explorations - I know, that probably scares hell out of the parents to hear this - sorry about that - I do love to see them carefree and unself-consciously enjoying themselves, and each other...

It was a very good day...!

Jiichan...

Xander Figures out "You"

One of the cute things kids say is, "Carry You", when they are asking to be carried, instead of saying, "Carry me." With a first child, you might try to correct it, only to miss it when it's gone. So with the second child, I have relished it for as long as I can.

I asked Xander, "Do you want me to carry you or do you want to walk?" He said, "Carry you." and then I could hear him take his breath in and think. They he said, pointing to my chest, "I want YOU to carry ME."

In the next few days he made the connection again. Sometimes giggling if he said, "Carry you... I mean you carry me."

Ahh, it's all over! He's figured it out.

Xander Takes a Creative Bath

At bathtime tonight, I had gotten Xander out of the bath first. He was diapered, jammied and generally cute and fuzzy warm. I walked out of the bathroom to run to the office when I hear, "Xander? What were you thinking?"

Chris had caught Xander getting out of the bath. He had climbed back in, to play with Venice, who was still in the bath. He had gone in fully jammied. So he came out sopping wet. No longer fuzzy and warm... but still cute!

When I was older

At the dinner table tonight, Xander said, "When I was older, I used to play bowling and golf a lot. I really liked it. When I was older." When we asked him about this, he explained, "when I was six."

Venice and Forgiveness

I picked Venice up from school today and in her regular fashion, she asked me, "What are we doing today?" I replied that I had a few chores I needed to get done in the house so we were just going home. Her reply?

BIG HEAVING SIGH, "Mom, you NEVER plan anything interesting. It's SO BORING."

Dramatic pause while I counted to 10? No, straight to, "What? We just went to the strawberry patch yesterday, yadda yadda yadda. If you can't appreciate what I DO do for you, then I don't want to do anymore!" I tried to stay calm, but boy, that was hard. I decided she needed to show me appreciation, so I told her that she would have to go home and stay in the craft room until she could come out with a thank you note for me for all the things I DO do for her.

She came out 10 minutes later with a card for me. It wasn't a Thank You exactly. The cover said, "I Love you Mommy". The insides... well, "I. Am.Sory.Mommy Haw.CAN.I.FRGiV.You." Translated, "I am sorry Mommy. How can I forgive you?"

For the record, at this, she was instantly forgiven, of course! I tried to explain, that she actually wanted me to forgive her, not her forgiving me, but that got a bit jumbled up through my teary eyed, touched heart explanation.