Travelingjenny

Navigating the hilly terrain of motherhood

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  • Adoration

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    Tess spent a good deal of time with Grace this summer putting on performances. Tess seems to have learned quite a bit from her big sister about singing and dancing, and especially about how to win the adoration of an audience. 

    On Sunday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a walk at Wolfe's Neck State Park, one of our favorite spots. It was high tide, and all of the little tide pools had disappeared, so we simply sat (and jumped) on a big rock and watched the sparkling water that nearly surrounded us.

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    Tess must have been inspired by the view, because she started singing her very own little songs, and swayed her arms in the breeze. The songs didn't really make sense, but her little voice is so sweet, and she was wearing those little cat ears, and her sundress was swinging around… Yep, she has no problem winning over an audience.

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  • Phone photo Friday: Toots’ Caboose

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  • Livin’ the dream

    Wondering why you haven't heard from me lately? It's very simple: I'm merely struggling to keep my head above water, and at the end of the day I simply don't have the mental energy for blogging. Here, in a nutshell, is what I've been dealing with:

    * A three-year old who has decided that she doesn't want to go to school after all. So instead of a few blissful hours of freedom, I get to relive my toddlerhood by sitting quietly in Tess's preschool class while she learns to feel comfortable there. This is, however, preferable to watching her kick and cry and yell, "Nooooooooooo!" as I walk away at drop off time. There's pretty much nothing worse than that.

    * A child that has decided not to nap, even though she is exhausted from the extreme stress of not wanting to go to school. She is so very tired that she simply cannot eat — she can't even pick herself up off the floor and climb into her chair — so she has decided to subsist only on her meager ration of milk. 


    * A five-year old who has decided that she simply will not sleep until her parents are asleep, a full 2-3 hours after her actual bedtime. Furthermore, she has decided that when she does sleep, it will only be on the floor. When she wakes up, she's tired and whiny and cranky, but the next night she stays up again, because who needs sleep, anyway?

    * A child that can't decide what she wants to wear to school, and then what she decides on isn't right, and then she must shed many tears before finally settling on something. And then she refuses to eat breakfast, because no matter what she is served, it's certainly not what she wants (and nothing can be right anyway because she didn't get enough sleep).

    This evening, in an attempt to maintain an iota of sanity, I decided to attend my exercise class for the first time in three months. As I left, Adam was trying to cook dinner. Grace was sobbing and wailing because Tess had messed up her pile of leaves in the yard, and the pile was so special to her, and she would never get it exactly right again. And Tess, who had just been released from a time out, was running around the kitchen, stark naked.

    So, please forgive me for my recent absence from the blogosphere, but right now I am channeling all of my energy into fighting the urge to run away from home. 

  • A big day

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    Tess has been very excited about starting school, and for the past couple of weeks she has told everyone who will listen: "Soon I'm going to go to school!" She didn't seem at all nervous this morning, and did a crazy dance at the door, singing: "It's a good day! It's the best day!" In fact, she put on her backpack and grabbed her lunch bag before she had even brushed her teeth.

    After we got both girls' cubbies set up at school, the four of us headed outside together to join the other kids. Tess's teacher pointed out that the preschoolers' name tags were hanging in some shrubbery, and asked her to find her own. Grace, who was an amazing big sister (and kindergartner!) today, immediately took Tess's hand and helped her find her name. When her teacher then announced it was time to head inside, Tess simply turned around, galloped up the hill, and grabbed the teacher's hand. 

    As I watched her walk away, taking the first of many steps towards independence, a funny thing happened. My heart didn't break. Instead, it filled up and nearly burst. There was my baby girl — excited, brave and ready for something new. Becoming her own little amazing person. I'm very proud of her today — lonely, but proud.

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  • Farewell, summer

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    Yesterday, in a fitting farewell to summer, our friends took us out on their boat. The weather was picture perfect. We hung out on an island for a couple of hours, enjoying the white sandy beach and meeting a seal. It was very fun — the kind of day that I'll look back on in mid-February to remind myself that all the snow and cold is worth it. Because we also get to have days like this. 

    Now I have to face the fact that tomorrow my baby girl is heading off to preschool (and let's not even mention the full-time kindergartner). Tess is very excited — she even picked some flowers for her teacher today, and drew her a picture. She's certainly ready, but I'm not. I'm going to be lonely without my sweet little buddy.

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  • Phone photo Friday: Starfish

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  • Canoeing

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    Last summer when we visited French Creek, we took Grace out for a float in the canoe, but her wiggly little self got bored pretty quickly. This summer, however, she got really into it. She sat with Adam in a big inflatable canoe, and she got to paddle all by herself. (Apparently, the secret to success with Grace is to give her a job and to make her feel like a big kid.) We had such success with our half-hour float that we went out the next day for an hour-and-a-half trip. We had lunch on a rocky beach along the way, and stopped a couple of other places for some (very successful) crayfish catching. Tess sat in the big canoe with me and her grandpa, and then she took a turn with her daddy. She got to paddle, too, and she loved it (see her practicing below). 

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    All of this fun on the creek was followed by some swimming in the creek. Thank goodness Adam loves the water, because there was no way I was getting in there with our two little water bugs!

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  • Crayfish catchers

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    It is a little-known fact that I am a skilled crayfish catcher. When I was a kid, I spent hours knee-deep in French Creek, where we spent weekends, flipping over rocks to find them. I learned to use "anything-catchers" (strainers with handles) to trap the quick little buggers, or sometimes I just used my bare hands. I would catch a bunch and keep them in a bucket for a while, picking them up carefully and watching them scoot around. Then I would release the crayfish back into the creek so I could catch them again another day.

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    This summer, I started teaching Grace the tricks of the trade. She would spot them for me, I'd catch them, then she'd bring the bucket and give each one a name. One day, she sat for a good amount of time with the bucket between her legs, practicing the proper way to pick up a crayfish (right behind the claws). One grabbed her and drew blood, but she was undaunted. I love that kid. I think next summer it'll be time to pass on my anything-catchers.

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  • Phone photo Friday: Rock running

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    We're going on vacation tomorrow — see you in a week or so!

  • ‘Neakers

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    I took Tess to the store today to pick out some new sneakers. She chose the exact same shoes her big sister has, and I don't think it's just a coincidence. Tess was very excited, and celebrated by racing Grace down the front path to the garage and back — several times — and wasn't even bothered that she never won. She just kept saying, "New 'neakers… So cool."

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