Travelingjenny

Navigating the hilly terrain of motherhood

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  • Show and tell

    Last Friday, Grace brought home a selection of artwork that she had made at school over the past few weeks. For those of you who are too far away to view it in person, here's an online "show and tell" for you, courtesy of Grace. 

    First off, a face made of clay. See the resemblance? Me neither, but I still really like it:

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    This is an example of "finger knitting," which Grace is currently obsessed with, although something tells me she's not doing it quite right:

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    This is a painting of shapes, inspired by the picture books written and illustrated by Leo Lionni:

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    A person jumping rope, obviously: 

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    Finally, a clay representation of our very own house, complete with stairs and a depiction of Grace's bedroom:

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    I'm not sure exactly why, but I just love it when our kid brings home things she's created at school. Perhaps it's because I very distinctly remember bringing home my own creations (usually misshapen clay dogs), which my parents also proudly displayed. Or maybe it's because I love listening to Grace explain exactly how she made something, or exactly what it represents. Maybe I just love the twinkle in her eye as we oooh and aaah over her art. At any rate, Adam's going to have to find a new place for his first editions — I'm clearing off some shelves for a permanent display of our children's masterpieces.

  • Spring celebration

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    Last Saturday, we went to a spring celebration at a local farm, and we took Grace's buddy along with us. They had baby lambs and chicks, face painting, sheep shearing, weaving, crafts, music, and seed planting. Oh, and a touch tank with lobsters, of course! Small town Maine is pretty cool.

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  • Early mornings

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    Grace has been very good lately about entertaining herself quietly before the clock turns to "seven-zero-zero." Most mornings she works on surprisingly creative art projects, such as the kite, owl and stop ("sop") sign she created the other day. When Tess wakes up early, Grace gets her and they do yoga together, or read books. But no matter what, Grace comes into our room at precisely "seven-zero-zero" each morning and wakes us up. Usually she is sweet and quiet, and eager to share what she's been working on. And sometimes, when she is finally allowed to wake us up, she's ready to rock and roll. That can be a little scary (see below), but as long as the first number on the clock is a seven, I'm not going to complain.

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  • Tooooots!!

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    Finally, the weekend we've been waiting seven long months for — Toots Ice Cream reopened! We continued our tradition of being there on opening day (and closing day) each season. Grace and her friends have been excitedly discussing this for weeks now, and had made plans to celebrate the opening together, making the day even sweeter. It was definitely as good as we remembered, although I don't think our animal friends were quite as excited to see us as we were to see them!

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  • Phone photo Friday: Zoo train

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    Tess and I had a busy week, running around to gymnastics, music, a playdate and a variety of stores. So today, we stayed at home, in our pajamas, until it was time to pick Gracie up from school. We played with her parking garage and school bus for about an hour. Then we moved on to the zoo train. And then I was ready for a really big latte.

  • Ummmm…

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    Our weather got so nice, so fast, that I still haven't adjusted to the change. I'm certainly not complaining, but I don't think my brain can process all the sunshine we've had. Or maybe I'm suffering from the fact that all of the happy little birds are waking me up with their cheerful chirping at 5 am. At any rate, I'm tired.

    Since I can't come up with anything witty to write, I'll just share some recent photos with you. They're simply more evidence of how much fun we've having lately, hanging out outside and soaking up all of that springtime sun. Hooray for warmth!

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  • A song by Grace

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    This song is about the two paddles that go with a game the girls recently received as a gift. But the subject matter is not important — it's clearly the message that matters (and the rhyming, of course!).

    "The blue one is Tess's,            

    The purple one is mine.

    Have you ever

    Seen my behind?"

  • Even more from the beach

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    Alright, I know I'm going a little overboard with the whole beach thing, but those of you who live in places where winter is not the longest season can't imagine how wonderful, how amazing it is to be able to spend whole days outside without a winter coat on. This warm spell we've been having has been so good for us. It feels like we were hibernating and suddenly woke up, and surprise! It's summer! The birds are singing, the daffodils are blooming, and the warm sun is shining! And we can go to the beach! We can't swim yet, but we can be there in our shorts and bare feet, playing in the sand! We can sit in the grass and have a picnic and play on the playground, like we did all day today. Life is good.

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    And when I say that we can't swim yet, it doesn't mean that the girls aren't getting in the water. Today they put on their swimsuits and waded right in, even though their legs and feet turned beet red and started to go numb. Because gosh darn it, it was 75 degrees outside, and it's been way too long since they've frolicked in the ocean.

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  • More from the beach

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    I can't resist sharing these photos, taken by my friend Jessica on our beach day. That's Tess's friend Lula — her very first friend — wearing a winter hat and sunglasses. I just love two-year olds. They can have such strong and unusual opinions. Like wearing a winter hat on a warm, sunny day, or walking wide-legged across the beach just for the heck of it.

    Lula has a big sister, too, and for a brief moment, the four girls stood together at the edge of the water. I'd like to think they were contemplating the beauty of the day, or discussing the joys of sisterhood. But they were probably just seeing how long they could stand there before their toes started to freeze.

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  • Phone photo Friday: Beach walking

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    Today at the beach, Tess adopted a kind of wide-legged walking style (forwards and backwards!), which she blamed on the fact that her diaper got wet. Because even though the water is still very cold, its pull is irresistible.