Showing posts with label Pepper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pepper. Show all posts

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Okay, so I'm really behind these days blogging -- and in everything else in my life.  It's not that I don't think about it, not that I don't want to do it,  but, well, you know how it goes.  Funny thing about that life stuff- it just keeps plowing along.  Sometimes I'm driving that big yellow plow but lately, I've been caught up in the swirl of rocks and snow and debris spinning around the concave blade, spat out on the side of the road until another plow follows in it's wake.

(Jeez, you'd think I was from Maine ambushing you with a snowplow metaphor like that.)

Anyway, the Pickle did manage to turn seven in January in case any of you are wondering.  I baked another silly cake, this year dipping my toe into the process of fondant.  It was a spa theme and for the first time, we had the cake at our house instead of the community club house. She originally wanted a rock and roll party, but I figured if we were going to have 20 girls in our tiny little house, perhaps the theme should be a bit more-- calming.




I finished my eight-month coaching class a couple of weeks ago.  I'll be starting another one in a month or so (not as long as the first one) as I meander my way towards certification. Certification is not required in coaching but it's definitely an important element IMHO.  The way I see it, if I am helping somebody change their life, wouldn't it be great if I had some extensive training to help them do it and a governing body (in this case, the International Coaching Federation) to say, "Hey, not only is Regina legally allowed to do it, we actually think she is qualified to do it!"  I'm working on a website that I hope to have live in a couple of weeks.  I'll keep you posted.

Pepper is a magical three year old.  She's full of life and creativity and enthusiasm and self-expression.  I actually love three.  Both the girls have navigated it well, avoiding most of the temper tantrums and stalwart willfulness and embracing the fun and the explosion of learning and putting themselves out there into the world.  It's a delicious time for me.  I try to drink it all in as much as possible.

That's me in a nutshell.  The fog that's covered my brain for months is starting to disperse and I'm wanting to return here and write more.  I hope I will.  I hope those of you that have been out there also continue to come back here too.  I like meeting up with you once in a while.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

And now we are three

Here is the cake:


(Hard to believe it was homemade, huh?)




That caused this face:

(She still has a blue ring around her mouth)

The Pepper turned three on Saturday. It was a day filled with presents such as this awesome set of bongos that Pickle came up with all by herself:



There was also a double doll stroller, play kitchen toys and a stuffed dolphin.

Then it was off to lunch at Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger --- which ironically, has some of the best vegetarian fast food in the city. Following that was a trip to the local toy store to see The Great Zucchini perform. This guy is the Pied Piper of children's performers. We could never afford to have him for a birthday party but the show was small and he found out beforehand that it was Pepper's birthday so he made a big deal of it as if it were her own party. At the end, she shyly walked up to him and said, "Thank you Mr. Chini for coming to my birthday."

Next stop: Chuck E. Cheese. My eyes are still bleeding, but the girls love it. We only hit it about four times a year which is pretty good since we live less than two miles from the place.

FYI, Saturday visits...bad.

Then we were off for the annual picnic at Pickle's school where she won:



The cakewalk.


Because really, who doesn't need four pounds of cake in the house at one time? Add to that, we have a small party at Pepper's daycare tomorrow with, yup, cupcakes.

You can have your cake and eat it too, it just makes you really, really nauseous.


Thursday, February 28, 2008

Diamonds are a Pepper's Best Friend.

This is an actual conversation between me and the Pepper at our favorite local restaurant. Let me set the stage:

Cheeburger Cheeburger is a small chain of 50/60’s family-style sock-hop looking restaurants. Along with the music of the time, they have life-size cardboard cutout of various people, including James dean, Betty Boop and Marilyn Monroe. Pepper, two years old is eating her French fries when she spies the Marilyn Monroe cutout on the back door of the restaurant.

Pepper: Look! (Pointing at Marilyn) Dat me!

Me: That’s not you; that’s Marilyn Monroe.

Pepper: No, dat’s ME! Look, she have strong arms. (She flaps her arms delicately like a bird.) I have strong arms. She have a pretty, pretty dress. I have a pretty, pretty dress. She have…(Pepper opens her mouth and points to her teeth)…big teeth and a smile. I have big teeth and a smile. She have long hair. I have long hair.

Me: You don’t have long hair. And your hair is red, sweetie.

Pepper: (Undaunted-) She have nose, and cheeks and ears! I have nose, cheeks and ears.
Pepper: Gasp- LOOK! She have little, little shoes. I have little, little shoes! Dat me!
The last line was delivered with such authority; there was no denying her argument.

Me: Ok, that’s you.

Pepper: I go touch me.

At which point she ran over and gently rubbed the arm of Marilyn.

Pepper: (To the three tables of people who had heard the conversation and were now watching her every move.) DAT ME!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Sigh.

One of the greatly endearing habits of The Pepper is that since she has been able to talk, she has referred to ice cream as "happy." Regardless of the Land Baron's obsession with the frozen dairy goodness, he did not actually teach Pepper to call it this. After dinner she asks for happy, walking through the grocery store in the ice cream aisle, she joyfully points to each container as we walk by; happy, happy, happy, happy. It's always been happy to her.

On a side note, the Land Baron's obsession with ice cream is so strong that he has it every. single. night. We have come home from plenty of large feasts, putting away food that in caloric count, could feed most of the state of Deleware and he will walk through the door, go directly to the freezer and take out the carton. When the Pickle was testing to get into Pre-K 3, she answered an analogy question like this:

Teacher: We eat breakfast in the morning and at night we eat....
Pickle: Ice Cream!

Afterwards, the Land Baron felt the need to explain to the teacher that at 2 1/2 years old, the Pickle didn't always get around to eating her dinner, but she did have ice cream every night with her father and therefore understood the concept of the question.

Yesterday however, was a sad day in our house. After dinner, Pepper walked to the fridge and said "Ice cream please." and I said, "Happy?" and she said, "No ice cream." The Land Baron saw my sad, "I can't believe we're losing this part of her to growing up face" that I seem to have mastered over the last several years and said "I didn't want to tell you, but she asked me for 'ice cream' yesterday too. I was hoping if I ignored it, she'd forget that she said it."

Sigh....

Monday, December 3, 2007

The Reset Button

There's been a lot of sickness as of late around our house. I've had an ear infection, the Pickle spent all of Sunday throwing up, the Land Baron is worn out from lots of late, long hours at the hospital and Pepper is plagued by some unaccounted for malaise. Everyone seems to be heading towards health again, except the Pepper. She has spent the last several days just sort of moan-y, a little feverish, cranky and weepy at the drop of a hat. Today was a particularly bad day for her. The final straw was apparently when I chose the wrong color socks to put on her little chilly toes. She wept from the depths of her heart as if I truly had broken it by suggesting the contrasting color of cotton.

So we needed to reset. Cut to: small children piled into the car, wind whipping around us, pulling out of the driveway under cover of darkness (at 5p.m. - but it seemed much later). Fifteen minutes later, pulling through the parking lot of our friend Wendy, nary a tear or a moan. It was, instead, replaced by the sound of contented children munching on the deliciously decadent french fries and Mr. Pibb for dinner. Add to that a few extra minutes on the road driving through neighborhoods looking at holiday lights and suddenly the world seemed a little more bearable for a two year old overwhelmed with the prospect of getting through even one more minute with her sanity in tact.

We returned and were able to manage bath and the bedtime routine without a single meltdown. Sometimes Christmas miracles really do happen in real life.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Random NaBloPoMo Ramblings

Today starts a stint of night shifts at the hospital for the Land Baron. Not exactly ideal hours but the money is good and we figured out that he'd actually get to spend more time with the girls by working nights. He's been putting in loooong hours at the hospital and when he works twelve-hour shifts he's gone in the morning before the girls get up and comes home usually after they are asleep. Make that five days a week and the girls are a bit squirrely by day three or four. With night shifts, he's here to play with them once they come home from school and daycare, have dinner with them and start the bedtime process.

Pepper got her first haircut today. She's not exactly Rapunzel but she was starting to look like she had a mullet, so it was time. She sat stoically, watching the proceedings carefully in the mirror. It's hard to know what a two year old expects with a haircut, but this clearly wasn't it. Although she was psyched about the lollypop at the end.

It's been chilly here in the last week - I've loved it. It finally feels like November to me. But, in typical Maryland form, the closer we're getting to Thanksgiving, the warmer it's actually getting. Thursday it's supposed to be in the 70's. I have mixed feelings about this. And it happens almost every year here in Maryland, so you think I would have come to some conclusion by now. It's great to have weather where the girls can go outside and play while they have five days off in a row, but I really like it to be chilly over Thanksgiving.

I think I was going somewhere with all of this - but it's 10pm, I'm exhausted and the Pepper isn't exactly asleep yet - by which I mean she's still sitting at my feet awake and playing while watching some Muppets on TV. Her sleep has been all off the last few weeks- I'm not sure if it's because she's napping late at daycare or if she's overtired (which unfortunately, makes her sleep less) or maybe it's one of the other thousands of things that disrupts toddlers' sleep patterns. Anyway, I guess it means it's time for me to sign off for now and try to think of something witty and clever for tomorrow's post.