Otis Sidekicks

Mickey to me: Mom we don't have any food, WHY don't we have any food? Mom: Mick we have food Mickey: We don't have FOOD food, only like the parts that make food Mom: Mick you guys EAT all the food, you know... A gleam enters my eye, Mickey backs up calling for reinforcements Mickey: Ah, guys Mom looks weird. GUYS! Mom is coming up with a project, or a job or SOMETHING Mom: You guys should really learn how to cook! So when you are hungry you say Viola! I can cook! John: Viola? Like we are Spanish James: No numbskull French, Mom seriously I can't cook with him! Mom: Ah, ha! But you WILL cook! James hedging a bit now realizing he agreed to cook puts Mark squarely in front of him self and responds "Mark can't cook! He'd hurt himself. He is really small" Mark: I am not small! I am huge like a Tiger. Mark roars ferociously, Lucy claps from one rug away where Daisy is playing Barbies. Lucy goes back to eating the barbies hair and coughing intermed...

I just found my now very cold coffee precariously balanced on a stack of Dora and Madeline books. Those two types really shouldn't be stacked together. The Dora books I detest reading, the Madeline I love to read. But that is the stack of motherhood, the parts I adore, rhythm, rhyme, beauty, fun and the parts I detest, too bright primary colors, false cheerfulness, materialism and the whining. OK so those don't ALL encapsulate poor Dora but still she is just too glossy and her head is just so big. My coffee is cold but I can brew a new pot. My list of to does makes me feel a little fuzzy around the productive edges and my baby just figured out steps. Back to that brew a new pot, off to do that and tackle the day. Hope you have a bit more Madeline than Dora today:) A cozy photo I love

Moments this week.... At dinner this week as we were doing our highlights and low lights, James excitedly shared the latest news from 5th grade drama. "It was crazy guys, Danny* got sent to the principles office 4 times in one day!" Everyone is properly aghast until Sheff chimes in, "well why the heck did he do that? Doesn't he know he needs to represent the family? Set a good example for younger ones? Show self control in the classroom" We are all watching him perplexed.  A slightly uncomfortable silence. Sheff clears in throat, "huh, we don't have one named Danny do we?" We all shake our heads smiles forming. James responds blithely "Dad, I will be sure to tell Dan he needs to represent our family from now on". Sheff chagrinned laughs. As many know Mark cut his hair last week. To my credit it was not on my watch he came home from school with a lightning bolt cut directly front and center. We buzzed him, he was upset. The cool, odd...

Daisy often helps me with cooking when the bigs are at school. Today as we were making bread dough for pizza she asked me "Do you know why I love to help you cook mom?" I smiled and drifted away to thoughts of her valedictorian speech in college, things about her loving mother and the smells that make up childhood. She brought me back to the task at hand with "Because of the HA!" I looked at her perplexed "The Ha?" I asked. She nodded sagely handing Lucy back her raw cucumber we use for teething biscuits and replied "Yes the Ha! Like I was a big green guy with Daddy muscles and jump them and say Ha! I can make food and you were at school and YOU can't make food, HA!" My fantasies are dwindling down and I remember I ought to pick up that book on sibling rivalry I recently put on hold at the library. I ask with trepidation "So, big green guy, like the hulk? And Ha, as in Ha Ha?" She nods pushing tiny fists purposefully into the doug...

I am cute, adorable, lively and sweet. Really I am, even at 2 am I still get cuddles. When anyone has a hard day I give a smile, pat a back, gurgle. I do seem to eat all things, especially paper but we are working on it. I clap my hands and pee in diapers you can wash right in your washing machine. My folks haven't actually been in a Toys R Us but I think I am way better than anything you can find to entertain kids. I can even take a bath in the sink, see? This was motivated by my big brother saying "we have the best baby ever, I think she is better than my bike!" Yes I trump 2 wheelers too.

This is my image for today. As I run around navigating preschool, cafeteria duty, football practice, adoption advocacy paperwork and the daily chores of life this image is a burst of breath. I tell my kids that stress is simply energy if used correctly. Let what worries you turn into fuel for something better, more meaningful. Often its physical, bringing a friendship issue onto the field or court. Allowing a bad dream to turn into an amazing drawing or story. Sometimes a fight can weave its way into a make believe game for the little ones. And through the bluster of our daily worries and responsibilities comes new life, new ideas and fresh moments. I find an image, a prayer, a song can bring peace to a busy mind. So today my image is of the rainy coast of Maine. You are welcome to share mine for today, and I hope your worry turns into something better than anticipated.

Lucy in front of a daily pile of laundry I have decided it is OK for the house not to be perfect. I just asked M to straighten the blocks as I write this so I might be a bit off base but overall I am trying to let go a bit more on the household ambiance. I still try to keep clothes put away and the front room and kitchen tidy before I sleep. I have decided forts can be left up overnight, animal zoos left for playing with after school and clean diapers left on the bed for future folding. I have more fun hearing about a school story or having Daisy teach me ballet moves than vacuuming and washing the windows seems to happen a couple times a week rather than a couple times a day (as is actually needed, imagine 16 hands you get the idea). Sheff woke up early the other day and announced that life is short and we need to enjoy each day more fully. I squinted open one eye and wondered if an odd alien reversal had happened when we were sleeping. Usually I am the one with the lists and idea...