Guess which child at the Library Story Time belongs to me?

Lydia gets so shy around groups of children, although she can be very interactive one on one. Sometimes I despair of knowing how to get her involved, but she isn't sad being on the sidelines. In fact, she comes home excited as anything, so I guess that's just the way she's built. I like to dream that she'll be some amazing author, since she loves to observe people. It really astounds me how much each child comes to Earth with their own little personality intact, even from the day they are born. We can mold and guide them to their best selves, but it is working to make water run uphill to turn them into someone else.

What happens when you forget to attach the booster seat to the chair, but not to the child...

I was upstairs, and heard some desperate crying....

Recently some friends, who don't have children, were talking about how mothers will often post pictures of their children in trouble, or into something, or whatnot, and then say that they just had to get a picture. I laughed about it, because it's true, these pictures are all over the Internet, and leave you wondering if their child was on fire, if they'd run and get a picture first, before putting them out.

But I admit, I also do the same. I think because as a Mother, there are things that make us laugh, and we just have to share them with someone - telling people about it later doesn't work. We need pictures. And it's not like Elisheva was in danger while I ran and got the camera...she couldn't even move! Also, I think this kind of pictures happen because your kid does something naughty, and you can either laugh, or cry, or take a picture, and scold now and laugh later.
Lydia did this when she was just six months old, while I took a twenty minute nap. She was so proud of herself! Luckily, I was able to re-piece the book together, or I wouldn't think this was a cute picture at all, but instead a catastrophe.

If you're this kind of picture taking Mom, why do you do it?

Autumnal Day

Avram had his second day back at school today, the first one making its appearance last Wednesday. His only teacher was out of town (for his two classes), so we started school, and then immediately dropped back into vacation mode until today. Avram is teaching his first class this quarter, a Biblical Literature class to 26 students. So far his school year has consisted of teaching twice - a different beginning than he's ever had before to school. Despite being very nervous, he has loved his first two days, and feels really positive about teaching.

As for myself, I love Autumn. I love how the air smells, and how the leaves are already starting to turn. I love that my brain, after being sluggish for the summer months, comes alive again. Perhaps because my birthday is in October, perhaps because I love school, and school was always the harbinger of the coming season, but Autumn has always been my favorite time of year.Recently Avram and I re-arranged our living room, because I got inspired on a whim, or as Avram likes to say, I had a bee in my bonnet. I also made up a list of every dinner we've eaten this last year, and organized it by category, so now I have a master list of menus to refer to when I don't know what to plan for menus that week (which happens every week).

Today, my first full official day of homemaking alone since June (Avram took Arabic in the summer, but he was home every day by one or so), I kept busy. I transferred all the girls clothing from Summer to Fall, and re-packed the endless discarded diaper and wipe boxes with the latest offerings of too small clothing. I read from the large Martha Stewart Tome on housekeeping. I'm only in the kitchen, the first room she addresses, but I'm determined to make it clear through to the Attic. Then, feeling motivated, I went and cleaned my kitchen. It was not filthy, but needed the usual light smattering of dish doing, plus sweeping and mopping the floor. Or so I thought. With Martha Stewarts words echoing in my ear, I suddenly realized how filthy my entire kitchen is. It reeks of dirt, in greasy, baked on places. I decided to clean my stove to address the embarrassment residing in one quarter of my home, and discovered that I had neglected cleaning the drip pans for so long that I think they'll never come clean, and also that my stove top can lift up. Who knew? Lydia kept on asking me what I was doing, which made me uncomfortably aware how rare her mother deep cleaning must be. Never the less, I shouldered on, with only comet and a kitchen sponge, and although my Stove is still liably not fit for swine to eat from, its underbelly makes me proud. Besides, compared to when Avram is home, and I want to vacation, it's amazing. Also, I washed and dried (and put away) four loads of laundry today. Yes, I know you don't care about my cleanings, but to me it's all I have to show progress.

Meanwhile, my girls, with a bedroom full of toys from loving relatives, found a box to share.
Mostly they shared it well.
Except when Lydia struggled to share.
Then later today they played together with their baby stroller.
Although Lydia likes sharing here a lot more than Elisheva did.
I look to a return to blogging, now that life is back to routine. And as long as my girls keep entertaining each other.

A Love Letter to Sqaw Peak

While going through photos to upload to Facebook of our old Medieval club college days, I ran across this photo. I would walk up to Rock Canyon Park as one of my routes of frequent walks with Lydia as a baby. I miss those meandering walks, but even more I miss the mountains. I forget how much they affect me, until something reminds me, such as a picture. I grew up in Salt Lake City, and so the mountains were always there, but they were just that - there as a back drop. I grew up in the middle of the valley, where the mountains often looked like two dimensional painted cardboard backdrops - beautiful, but distant to myself. In college, in Provo, I truly began to love the mountains. In Autumn the first signs of the changing season were seen in the mountain foliage. First on Mount Timpanogos, then creeping across the mountains down through Provo the reds and oranges crept in among the green. In November the small mountain behind the temple - seen between the two larger ones, would always fill up with snow first, and could be seen between its somber companions as a spot of white. (You can't see the small mountain here, but it's right behind the Temple.)

In March the mists came down, and made Provo feel like the Scottish Highlands.

I always knew where I was in the world, with the mountains beside me. Multiple times in my college career I came to the mountainside in the evening, and watched Utah Valley's city scape while pondering life's questions. Even while living in a city, I still felt a part of nature by seeing it daily above me.

I love aspects of other areas I've lived. When I first moved to Wisconsin, I still remember the rush of wonder when I saw my first purply twilight. I had read of twilights in books, but always took them for authors' fancies, in the same league as snow always on Christmas Eve, and neighborhoods with childhood activities reminiscent of the Little Rascals. Then, on that country twilight evening, I realized that outside of Utah, outside of mountains that obscured the setting sun, twilight was more than a literary device, but an actual, poignant event. Egypt had the Mediterranean Ocean, viewable from my balcony. England had such high levels of picturesque that I felt every sight better belonged on a postcard. Columbus has rain, which I'm enjoying even this very evening. Virginia had thunderstorms that would shake the house for hours in their fury, a wildness I delighted in with every crack and flash of light.

But I shall never forget my mountains. If I never live in Provo again, it will always be the guardian of my heart, for my heart is held within its walls of stone.

Yikes, She is Cute

Elisheva continues to become my most favorite toddler. The things she loves most in the world: food, shoes, and going places. Elisheva loves grated cheese,and has learned that if others at the table have a bowl, or spoon or whatnot, she needs one too.She now feeds herself, and delights in it. Elisheva has developed an attachment to shoes, and specifically to once she has shoes on, going outside, and going places. She loves to play in the dirt of my tiny herb garden.
When you take her shoes off at night, she usually cries. Also, once she has her shoes on for the day, and thinks we need to go somewhere as a family, but aren't leaving fast enough, she'll deliberately unsnap her jelly sandals, and then come to you for re-snapping, thus reminding you that we need to hurry up and go, already!

Elisheva has a few words, although she is a slow talker. She'll regularly say, "Mama," "Nana" (banana), "Shoes" (her favorite word, to no-one's surprise), "More Milk!" always said as a command, and occasionally she'll pop out with book, or water, or Lydia, or even Daddy. Today she said cheese. Mostly she uses expressive grunts to navigate herself through the world, which do work quite effectively.

Yikes, She is Cute

Elisheva continues to become my most favorite toddler. The things she loves most in the world: food, shoes, and going places. Elisheva loves grated cheese,and has learned that if others at the table have a bowl, or spoon or whatnot, she needs one too.She now feeds herself, and delights in it. Elisheva has developed an attachment to shoes, and specifically to once she has shoes one, going outside, and going places. She loves to play in the dirt of my tiny herb garden.
When you take her shoes off at night, she usually cries. Also, once she has her shoes on for the day, and thinks we need to go somewhere as a family, but aren't leaving fast enough, she'll deliberately unsnap her jelly sandals, and then come to you for re-snapping, thus reminding you that we need to hurry up and go, already!

Elisheva has a few words, although she is a slow talker. She'll regularly say, "Mama," "Nana" (banana), "Shoes" (her favorite word, to no-one's surprise), "More Milk!" always said as a command, and occasionally she'll pop out with book, or water, or Lydia, or even Daddy. Today she said cheese. Mostly she uses expressive grunts to navigate herself through the world, which do work quite effectively.

I Did It!

My before picture of my hair. It's wet - so that's why it's kind of scraggly. It reached my natural waist.Don't mind the demon eyes.

My friend that I babysit for cut it for me (she's gone to hair cutting school, and she also cuts Avram's hair - and we babysit so her and her husband can go to the temple. I like trading.)
Although I asked her to cut my hair this morning, when she dropped off her son that I babysit part time, and so I knew all day I would be cutting it, this did not make me feel nostalgic in the slightest over my hair. When she braided my hair, and lopped it off, I didn't feel even a pang of remorse.Look at all that hair! As I mentioned before, I will be sending it into Locks of Love. I've never donated my hair before, since the last time I went drastic with the haircuts it was died, and back then they didn't take died hair - although they do now. But this hair hasn't been died at all - it's all natural. Not that I've ever had anyone ask me that, since I have a very common hair color - but I always secretly wished someone would, so I could tell them it was all natural.

I asked for the shortest cut I felt comfortable with, since I know for sure my hair will grow out, and I wanted to see how I felt about really short hair.
I like it, but I think I'll like it the most when it's grown out an inch or so - so I can make it more feminine with hair products and stuff.
I like this picture, because it looks like I have attitude. I do have attitude. I'm glad I don't look like a man with short hair. Not that I was specifically worried about this, but all the pictures you find when you look up short haircuts are of supermodels or actresses, all of whom have professional stylists and makeup people and genes that tell them what beauty products to use. I don't have any of that, so who knows what the same haircut would look like on me?

After we put the girls to bed, I ran over to CVS, and spent my October allowance and then some on some beauty products - hair stuff (like Gel, but cooler), and mascara and lip stain (like lipstick, only not. It looks like a little marker, but it has a stain. Since Avram and I both hate the taste of lipstick and lip gloss, I thought I'd give it a try.) and eyebrow cold waxing kit thingy, since we don't own any tweezers, and I thought if I could do it all in one go, I'm good with that. I don't usually wear makeup. Actually, I wear makeup on average about every other month or so. But now with short hair, I don't want to look masculine, or frumpy, so I thought I'd buff up my makeup collection.

Then I came home, and put on the lipstain. And it looked orange. Then I tried the eyebrow waxing, which would have been as effective if I'd taken some of our packing tape and used it instead. Then I was sad. Then I blotted off half the lipstain, which I'd apparently way over applied, and my lips did not scare me any longer. I finished up with the mascara, which was at least what I thought it would be (it's waxless, for no clumping), and the hair stuff, which I also liked. Then I felt better, and less like a teenage girl who buys all the wrong beauty products, becuase she has so little experience with them, and no one to tell her what to use. Hey, during my formative makeup years, ie college, I almost never wore makeup. I blame it on being a Granola, and always dating granola boyfriends who thought makeup was weird. Yes, the major boyfriends in my life liked me better without makeup. Where did I find these boys, I tell you.

I just looked up at a hair trader website, and the really long stuff sold for about $2000-$2500. I'd like to think my hair was worth maybe $1500. Doesn't that make me sound rich? After all, this hair had never been blow dried, not even once. It had had zero hair products used on it (well, shampoo and conditioner). I'd never died it, or permed it, or done anything to it. It's like the Gift of the Magi story, although if all she could buy for over a $1000 was a measly watch chain, she was being seriously gypped. And I'm not buying Avram anything with my hair. I like the idea of knowing how much my hair is "worth" although I'm donating it to Locks of Love. It makes me feel rich inside, like I can afford to give thousands of dollars to children who need wigs.

Overall, I'm very happy with the change. And now I shall go have some homemade peach pie, because in all this excitement I ate almost no dinner.

Hail to the Princess Lydia!

How do you know you have a three year old girl? Every thing is princess. These dolls are, from left to right, Aurora, Belle, and Ariel. Every pink dress is an Aurora dress, and every Blue dress a Cinderella one. Heaven forbid if you suggest a green or purple dress - those aren't any princesses! Your bedding (compliments of grandparents) are Disney princess themed. You can sleep on your princess sheets in your princess pajamas. (Although your princess obsession cannot explain your headgear).

You know all the words to the Aurora song -

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream
I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam
And I know it's true, that visions are seldom what they seem
But if I know you, I know that it's true
You'll love me at once, the way you did once, upon a dream.

More tellingly, both of your parents will also know all the words.
You dry off from baths in your princess towel - apparently with an also appropriately Princess snooty expression.You often spend your days dressed up, over your blue Cinderella dress, in your dressup, obligatory pink princess dress. Your favorite color is pink - pink everything. In short, your name is Lydia.

Note - I do not know where this princess obsession came from - it must be hardwired into Lydia's brain. She's been equally exposed to many Children's movies, and we do not buy her "themed" toys - but here it is. I just try and emphasize the general princess theme, and not the specific Disney Princess theme, so I don't feel so much like my child is a walking advertisement.

In Desperate Need of Hair Help

This is my hair, at my natural waist. I have spent four years growing it out. And now I want to cut it all off, and have a pixie cut. (And donate the locks to Locks of Love).

I've had short hair before - twice. I just want really short hair. I've never had hair shorter than my ears, but I like how my hair looks when it's all upThat's almost like knowing what you'll look like with short hair, right? Right? Don't think you can talk me out of this hair cutting business. I love having long hair. I love growing my hair long. I just don't love keeping long hair. When I came to college, I started to grow my hair out. By my wedding, it was this long.Five months after this photo was taken, I was pregnant with Lydia, and worked as a window washer at DT every day. And every day I put my hair into a bun at the base of my neck, where it fell out half way through the day into a long scraggly pony tail. And I hated brushing it, because every morning I was too busy throwing up to worry about my hair, so I'd put it into a bun without brushing, which meant every night I was trying to comb through tangles galore. One hot August night I demanded of Avram to get rid of my hair!

I dragged him into the bathroom, handed him the scissors, put my hair in a ponytail, and had him chop off my hair above the elastic band. Then he evened out the result, and voila! A short haircut. Six month after that my hair looked like this.
Although I'm not pregnant, I find I have grown bored with my hair. It gives me ennui, even. Instead of being excited about how long my hair is, I have begun seeing it merely as a burden. As soon as I can figure out the short hair that I want, it's all coming off. So, help me. What I really want is a short layered pixie cut, that's a tiny bit wavy/has short little curl type doo-wops. See, this is why I need help. No one could give me a haircut based on the verbal descriptions I give. Can anyone send me a picture? Please? This time, I think I even want to keep it short for a while (although the often cutting could be a problem - I've never had regular hair cuts in my life).

A Vignette of Our Lives

Avram has been on his summer vacation for 2 1/2 weeks now. This would help explain the lack of blogging lately - I find that when he's here to talk to about all of my thoughts, I feel less of a need to record them in written form. Also, he gets computer time as a priority, as he is writing his paper for October 2010's Sperry Symposium at BYU. Somehow him being scholarly trumps Mama and the Internet, much to my eternal chagrin. Our life is still sufficiently exciting, though. Here is a sample day:

Evening before:

Thora: Avram, we need to have a schedule, so we don't waste time. So we're ultimately more productive. I'll just write it down in my trusty day planner. We'll start out by both getting up at 7:00 am sharp.

Avram: And I'll do my thirty minutes of Biblical Hebrew, then write on my paper for an hour or two, and also do scholarly readings, plus each day of the week review a different language - Greek, Arabic, German, French, and Hieroglyphic Egyptian.

Thora: And I'll deep clean each room of the house one day at a time, plus take care of the girls so you can study. Plus make yummy breakfasts.

Next Morning 7:00 am. Avram and Thora lie sleeping. No alarm clock goes off, because they haven't used an Alarm Clock in two or three years - they just wake up to internal clocks. Too bad the internal clocks are on holiday.

7:30 am, Avram comes awake, and reads Biblical Hebrew for Half an hour. Thora still lies in bed, having important dreams about visiting Antique stores and buying donuts. Or going on a group date with the King's Singers in the group (all of whom are decades younger than the real versions).

8:00 am, Elisheva's caterwauling from the other bedroom drags Thora from her dreams. Avram continues typing on his paper, except when he's stuck for ideas, in which case he visits the RPG.net forum.

Thora changes diapers, takes Lydia potty, and generally parents. The girls run in and out of the bedroom, where Avram types on the computer. Avram turns on Pandora for his classic folksy rock station, and attempts to ignore children climbing on his person.

by 9:00 am the family cobbles together some sort of breakfast. Then Thora washes dishes, completing her "deep cleaning" of the day. Avram goes upstairs to escape his crazy family, and checks out the new trailers coming out. Lydia and Elisheva climb the furniture and entertain themselves by fighting over the exact same item, regardless whether it's a crust of bread or a toy stroller, at five minute intervals. Thora reads some book.

At 10:00 or 11:00 Thora kicks Avram off of the computer, since he is distracted anyway, and tells him to go and study a language. He watches the kids, while attempting to read some dead language.

By Noon the whole family has cabin fever, and the afternoon is spent in trying to forget the morning ever happened, whether from visiting the Library, runing errands, grocery shopping, reading or watching Star Trek. Dinner happens in a normal manner. Then we all go to bed, to repeat ad infinitem.

Yesterday we broke out of our life, and went to the Zoo in the afternoon. The beautiful fall air, with its crisp undertones complemented the frisky animals. We have never seen so many of the animals awake and moving! We wanted to do some of the extra activities, like the Carousel or the Boat ride, but we weren't sure where to buy the tickets. I asked the Boat man, and he just let us on for free. Then, in a fit of spontenaity, I suggested going to the movies, to see Up. So we progressed to the Movies (which are in the same section of the city as the Zoo). Elisheva slept through the first third, and the manager didn't make us pay for her ticket. Then we went out to eat for subs, buying one 20 inch sub to feed the whole family. Finally we completed our escape from our normal lives by visiting Walmart, and getting ice cream.

The whole day only cost us $20. (Not counting necessary items at Walmart unrelated to the vacation). That's my kind of fun vacation day. And in the morning we still managed to fulfill our required vacation vignette already outlined.

Luckily there are only three more weeks of this. I'm not sure I can handle much more of the constructive at home vacationing. I love seeing Avram all the time, it just continuously amazes me how both of us can be full time stay at home parents, and not feel that life is twice as easy, but rather that watching two children and taking care of a five room house takes all of our time. Mostly it just takes all of our time, because we're both in vacation mode, so we both want to curl up with books, or watch movies, or be unresponsible.