For the most part, Peach has always had a chin-length bob, save for the last couple of years when she grew it out over the school year for Perfect Ballet Bun purposes. As soon as she came off the stage at her recital on Saturday, she declared, “I can’t wait to get my hair cut!” So off we went the next day, and she returned home with the Hairdo of Her Youth.
As a baby, she was pretty much bald until she was 2. Then, when her hair finally came in, it was in ringlets. We’re talking Shirley Temple, folks. It was adorable and quite surprising, at least to me, because I always just assumed my children would have stick-straight hair like I did (until this very unfortunate Ted Nugent thing happened a few years back. Gah.). Turns out, T-Bone was one of those pretty-boy babies, with the big eyes and the big curls, who was constantly mistaken for a girl. So Peach got those genes (plus the dimple in the chin), and we went about our days with people always commenting on her curls.
As she’s gotten older, her hair has gotten thicker and more relaxed, so we’re down to a nice amount of body and twice as much hair as I could ever dream of having. When it’s longer, she mostly wears it in a ponytail or headband, but she’ll still indulge me when I want it up on one side with a big ol’ bow, just like the old days. She’s good like that. And it somewhat distracts me from the sobering fact that the child is officially 5 feet tall. Have I mentioned?
So Sunday, after much fixing and admiring and tossing of the hair post-cut, Peach came to me and said:
Mommy, when I look in the mirror now, I see the girl in all those pictures in my old scrapbooks. This is the girl on her first day of preschool. This is the girl riding her little pink scooter. This is the girl holding her newborn baby sister. This is that girl!
Could you just weep? Well, apparently, so could Olive, because at bedtime that night, she started to get upset, and when I asked her what was wrong, she said:
O: Well, (sniff) I’ll tell you. I was just looking at Peach, (sniff) with her new haircut. And well, (sniff) I just started remembering (sniff) when I was younger, (sniff) when I was a baby, (sniff) and she had that hair. (sniff) It just brings me back to memories (sniff) of my younger days, (sniff) when she would hold me, (sniff) and it just makes me cry.
LT: Oh, me too, sweet angel. But happy tears, right?
O: Yes, (sniff). Happy tears. (sniff) It just takes me back to memories.
What to do with these sugar lumps of mine. What to do.
May 26, 2009
May 21, 2009
Mad Granola Love
We’re in End-of-the-School-Year mode around here, as are many of you, I’m sure. Last weekend, Peach had a ballet demonstration, and this weekend, she and Olive have a dance recital of the more dog-and-pony show variety. And guess who volunteered to be the Backstage Mom? Yup.
This week, we had two Cultural Challenges at GGMS. Olive’s class program was “inspired by the presidential election, and the promise of change,” so they sang “This Land is Your Land,” an MLK song, and, a GGMS favorite, “We Shall Overcome,” with the handwaving and the swaying and everything. Individual performances included a cello piece, counting and naming the colors in Chinese, a jump rope routine, and several gymnastics demos. They tied the whole thing up with a square dance to “Zippity Do Da” and a conga line out the door.
For her class, Peach chose to recite “I Carry Your Heart With Me” by e.e. cummings in honor of her last year in Lower Elementary. We also enjoyed stilt walking, jokes with puppets, a traditional Indian folkdance, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in French, and, my favorite, a brother/sister duo opening the show with “Redemption Song.” How cool is that?
Do you see why I LURVE this place so? Sigh.
This week, we had two Cultural Challenges at GGMS. Olive’s class program was “inspired by the presidential election, and the promise of change,” so they sang “This Land is Your Land,” an MLK song, and, a GGMS favorite, “We Shall Overcome,” with the handwaving and the swaying and everything. Individual performances included a cello piece, counting and naming the colors in Chinese, a jump rope routine, and several gymnastics demos. They tied the whole thing up with a square dance to “Zippity Do Da” and a conga line out the door.
For her class, Peach chose to recite “I Carry Your Heart With Me” by e.e. cummings in honor of her last year in Lower Elementary. We also enjoyed stilt walking, jokes with puppets, a traditional Indian folkdance, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in French, and, my favorite, a brother/sister duo opening the show with “Redemption Song.” How cool is that?
Do you see why I LURVE this place so? Sigh.
May 11, 2009
Yes, It Goes Without Saying
I hate cancer.
Last month, we lost a dear friend of the family to lymphoma. Sharon was a vibrant mother and grandmother who literally lit up the room, and she hugged you like she meant it.
Yesterday, one of my oldest school pals lost his beautiful daughter after an 18-month battle with a brain tumor. Bailey was smart as a whip and so funny, and she loved to dance. She was 12.
I know all of us have been touched or, more likely, hurt by cancer, and on a day like today, that just makes me so goddamn mad.
Last month, we lost a dear friend of the family to lymphoma. Sharon was a vibrant mother and grandmother who literally lit up the room, and she hugged you like she meant it.
Yesterday, one of my oldest school pals lost his beautiful daughter after an 18-month battle with a brain tumor. Bailey was smart as a whip and so funny, and she loved to dance. She was 12.
I know all of us have been touched or, more likely, hurt by cancer, and on a day like today, that just makes me so goddamn mad.
May 8, 2009
The Week In Bullets
Not that anything THAT exciting has been going on the past week or so, but I feel that my latest experiences and ponderings can best be delivered in bullet point format. Also, I’m lazy.
- Last Wednesday, we hosted T-Bone’s parents the night before they were due to leave for Ireland for two weeks. The morning of their departure, at 5:30 AM to be exact, my MIL realized they had left their PASSPORTS at home. A mere 3.5 hours away. Each way. And their plane was at 11:50 AM. Long story short, my FIL met their neighbor about halfway there and beat it back here just in time for them to board. It was all quite exciting – albeit a tad baffling. How do you NOT have your passports with your tickets? – but it all worked out, and they’re so enjoying the Emerald Isle. God bless anyone within earshot of them though, because they’ll have to listen to that whole story, over and over. And over.
- GGMS was closed Friday – not because of the Swine Flu, relax – so Mama Turista kept Peach and Olive at her house for the weekend. After work, T-Bone and I hit some of our old haunts, worked in the yard, and caught a movie at the Drafthouse. We picked up las ninas on Sunday at Opie’s belated birthday party. Baby pool + slip-n-slide + post-cupcake sugar crash = two tired and dirty birds.
- Lots of action at The Job this week. Some of which was planned, some of which was not. None of it really effects me (does anything at that place?), other than that I might have to move out of the Fortress (which, except for the frostbite, I would actually miss). And it stings a little when we get dogged in “that GD liberal media of ours” (or, so I’ve heard in the breakroom). Whatevs.
- Peach and I spent Tuesday at the lake with the rest of the GGMS 3rd years, celebrating the end of school and their last weeks in Lower Elementary. Peach LOVES her teacher something awful, so even though she’ll just be upstairs next year, I know she’s going to miss Miss C a bunch. We had a great day, swimming and running about, and at the Official Nicknaming Ceremony, Peach was christened, “Grasshopper.” I can’t imagine why. The tradition includes some sailing, but after great effort was put into assembling the sail and readying the boat, the boom fell off and snapped in half, right in the middle of The Safety Talk, which quickly turned into The Lesson About Flexibility and Perseverance. In the end, we decided on “parade rides” around the campsite, which looked a little something like this:
See that blue stuff, kids? That's called a "lake."
- This weekend, we’re gearing up for a Beatles cover band show tonight and Peach’s ballet demonstration tomorrow. Sunday is Mama’s Day, so be sure you do something sweet for yours. And if anyone’s asking, yes, a tub of vanilla icing would be perfect.
April 28, 2009
My Big Fat Fiesta Weekend
Well, we did it and we did it up right. We ate more Mexican food in three days than I have in several weeks – and I loves me some Tex-Mex, y’all, but DANG. On Sunday, M and I snuck in one last beany, cheesy lunch before I put her on the plane, and my teeth actually hurt from crunching so many chips. THAT much Mexican food.
We started at Chuy’s (natch) for lunch right after they landed on Thursday and then wrapped up that night at The Oasis. I haven’t been there since The Fire, and my stars, that place is huge now. The food still stinks (whatever, new “chef”), but the view is still worth the drive – even though the lake is SO low. We saw lots of little sandbars that are normally underwater, and I thought, who KNOWS what kind of stuff surfaces out there when the levels are down like that. Especially considering we were a stone’s throw from Hippie Hollow (NSFW, that one). Eww.
Friday, we stopped by to wish Opie a Happy 2nd Birthday and to rub my SIL’s belly for luck. We followed up with lunch with one of our old crew (always good for a laugh) before a drive around town, the Memory Lane Tour, if you will. We cruised the old neighborhood, the old schools, the old haunts, and recalled the old characters we used to know. It was fun, if not a little sad, and at times, it felt like we had just been there. Weird. We took a few minutes to decompress and then girded our loins for the evening’s trip to NIOSA.
Having M and T here reminded me of two things: how much fun we have together and how much I heart Sand and Stonio. The city is so beautiful and the people are so friendly – granted, most of them were about half in the bag the entire week, which may have affected the vibe a wee bit. But with as many people as there were crammed into downtown, and with as much cerveza as there was a-flowin’, it’s pretty amazing that we didn’t see any fisticuffs or other nefarious activity. We did see one pretty gnarly lovers’ quarrel going on right next to one of the 8 billion Roasted Corn booths at NIOSA, and M alerted the rent-a-deputy standing nearby because we really weren’t sure which one of them was going to start swinging first. We also nearly lost our lunches (and our lives) in a human traffic jam somewhere between the Anticuchos and the Churros – it was like, out of nowhere, everybody in La Villita decided to hit this particular intersection at the exact same time, and we literally could not move. And how lucky that we were nose to nose and privates to privates with half the city right in the middle of the Swine Flu outbreak. We left soon after.
Saturday, we spent the day at the King William Fair, which I haven’t been to in a month of Sundays. It’s like a daytime NIOSA, but with dogs and crafts. And every fabulous guy in town. It’s awesome. That neighborhood reminds me a lot of the Garden District in New Orleans, so I just walked around pointing at houses, “I want that. I want that. I want that, too.” Even among the throngs, we ran into one of my best friends from high school, so it really felt like old home week.
After a spin through El Mercado (You can all relax. I finally found that plastic papel picado I’ve been looking for. The one with the horse!), we hit the legendary La Fogata to celebrate T’s birthday (she’s 29 – again. And again. Plus 10.). Mama and Papa Turista joined us, and I swear, those two had more fun than anybody, just hanging out and catching up with their prodigal daughters. Plus, they really are a comedy show themselves, what with Papa and his food issues (I have never seen ANYone have so much trouble at a restaurant. He’s so predictable, I could make big money betting that something will be “wrong” with his food. EVERY time.) and Mama and her patience of Job. We shoveled in some chocolate cake back at la casa and called it a night after that. Come Sunday morning, it was time to face facts and pack up for home.
Olive has been singing that “Make new friends, but keep the old …” song at school, and it is so fitting for M and T. We live states apart, and only see each other every few years, but we can pick up right where we left off and laugh and laugh until the cows come home. When I woke up Monday morning, I really missed them not being here, and I’m already looking forward to our next adventure. Because while I do love silver, these two are my gold.
We started at Chuy’s (natch) for lunch right after they landed on Thursday and then wrapped up that night at The Oasis. I haven’t been there since The Fire, and my stars, that place is huge now. The food still stinks (whatever, new “chef”), but the view is still worth the drive – even though the lake is SO low. We saw lots of little sandbars that are normally underwater, and I thought, who KNOWS what kind of stuff surfaces out there when the levels are down like that. Especially considering we were a stone’s throw from Hippie Hollow (NSFW, that one). Eww.
Friday, we stopped by to wish Opie a Happy 2nd Birthday and to rub my SIL’s belly for luck. We followed up with lunch with one of our old crew (always good for a laugh) before a drive around town, the Memory Lane Tour, if you will. We cruised the old neighborhood, the old schools, the old haunts, and recalled the old characters we used to know. It was fun, if not a little sad, and at times, it felt like we had just been there. Weird. We took a few minutes to decompress and then girded our loins for the evening’s trip to NIOSA.
Having M and T here reminded me of two things: how much fun we have together and how much I heart Sand and Stonio. The city is so beautiful and the people are so friendly – granted, most of them were about half in the bag the entire week, which may have affected the vibe a wee bit. But with as many people as there were crammed into downtown, and with as much cerveza as there was a-flowin’, it’s pretty amazing that we didn’t see any fisticuffs or other nefarious activity. We did see one pretty gnarly lovers’ quarrel going on right next to one of the 8 billion Roasted Corn booths at NIOSA, and M alerted the rent-a-deputy standing nearby because we really weren’t sure which one of them was going to start swinging first. We also nearly lost our lunches (and our lives) in a human traffic jam somewhere between the Anticuchos and the Churros – it was like, out of nowhere, everybody in La Villita decided to hit this particular intersection at the exact same time, and we literally could not move. And how lucky that we were nose to nose and privates to privates with half the city right in the middle of the Swine Flu outbreak. We left soon after.
Saturday, we spent the day at the King William Fair, which I haven’t been to in a month of Sundays. It’s like a daytime NIOSA, but with dogs and crafts. And every fabulous guy in town. It’s awesome. That neighborhood reminds me a lot of the Garden District in New Orleans, so I just walked around pointing at houses, “I want that. I want that. I want that, too.” Even among the throngs, we ran into one of my best friends from high school, so it really felt like old home week.
After a spin through El Mercado (You can all relax. I finally found that plastic papel picado I’ve been looking for. The one with the horse!), we hit the legendary La Fogata to celebrate T’s birthday (she’s 29 – again. And again. Plus 10.). Mama and Papa Turista joined us, and I swear, those two had more fun than anybody, just hanging out and catching up with their prodigal daughters. Plus, they really are a comedy show themselves, what with Papa and his food issues (I have never seen ANYone have so much trouble at a restaurant. He’s so predictable, I could make big money betting that something will be “wrong” with his food. EVERY time.) and Mama and her patience of Job. We shoveled in some chocolate cake back at la casa and called it a night after that. Come Sunday morning, it was time to face facts and pack up for home.
Olive has been singing that “Make new friends, but keep the old …” song at school, and it is so fitting for M and T. We live states apart, and only see each other every few years, but we can pick up right where we left off and laugh and laugh until the cows come home. When I woke up Monday morning, I really missed them not being here, and I’m already looking forward to our next adventure. Because while I do love silver, these two are my gold.
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