our Ree girlie these days

We are in the process of attempting to determine whether Ree might be an undiscovered genius or not.  On the one hand, she is nearly two and seems perfectly capable of making the "N" sound - for example, if she wants to nurse - but chooses not to apply this sound to say the name of her dear big sister Nell.  On the other hand, when asked to say "Nell," more often than not her smiling response is, "Dumb!"  As to whether or not this is intentional and a mark of her giftedness, only time will tell.

I'm sharing some photos I took of her this past fall, because I was too busy to even look them over at the time when I took them, much less share them and jot down any notes or memories about Ree at the time.  So here we have photos from November combined with memories from... now.



She walked around the time she was one, and hasn't stopped moving since.  A common exchange between Nathan and myself is, "Oh, look at Ree doing ____.  Can Nell do that?"  Nell loves to have fun, but tends to err on the side of caution, whereas Ree will attempt to climb anything, reach anything, run anywhere, and do anything she can think of.

She started singing recognizable melodies when she was fourteen months old; we noticed it while visiting Grandma and Grandpa in California, and while I was wondering if I was imagining it (typical overly-proud mother, of course), my Dad commented on it first.  "Marie is singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!"  And so she was.

Nowadays she uses singing to communicate at least as much as she uses words: singing "Six little ducks" when she sees a picture of a duck, "Rain, rain, go away" accompanied by wild jumping when she wants to go out and jump in puddles, "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed" when she wants to hold my hands and jump up and down, and even "Abide with me" to point out the similar cross shape on her plastic cereal bowl that reminded her of the image on the virtual CD cover that comes up when we listen to that recording on my phone.

A few of her favorite things to do include playing amongst and hiding behind the long curtains in the master bedroom, waiting quietly for me to proclaim, "Where could Marie be?!", and then yelling, still enshrouded in drapes of white, "BOOOO!"

She loves to play outside, particularly when it involves collecting gravel and small pebbles from our street, digging in the dirt, or helping with sundry outdoor chores like leaf-gathering.  (I wish I could say the leaf-gathering was all concluded in the fall when it ought to have been; sadly, the process is still ongoing here in March, since we never quite finished before winter set in!  But she is as eager to help bag up the leaves now as she was in the autumn!)

She loves grapes, clementines, kiwi, strawberries, eggs, potatoes, and rice, and despises cheese.  She hates sitting in her high chair and makes knowns via pointing and gesturing and pitifully crying "Mama!" or "Dada!" that she would really prefer to spend mealtimes in one of our laps.  

Trains, books, the play kitchen, and the car table are lots of fun, but nothing compares to the joy of putting shoes, boots, clothing, underwear, socks, and hats on and off all day long -- whether her own or someone else's.  I have to keep a watchful eye on the dirty laundry hamper, or Ree will often emerge suddenly decked in Nell's previously-worn pair of underwear, my bra, Nathan's dirty socks pulled up to her thighs, my black concert heels, and a winter hat from the hat basket to top it all off, of course.  

Her words include:
Uhbuh (other)
Muh (more)
Mah! (mine! a quintessential toddler word!)
Mama
Dada
Baby
Up
Down
Nuh (nurse)
Ashes (indicating she wants to do ring around the rosy... or perhaps she's just very liturgically inclined ever since the beginning of Lent?)
Hi
bye bye
dah! (yeah!)
No
eh-bow (elbow)
boo
ah duh (all done)
uh oh
shhhh
boom!
Aga (Uncle {Andrew})

Not a bad list in all, but the amount of frustrated screaming around here indicates that she wishes she had a considerably larger vocabulary at her disposal!



Lately she is all hugs and kisses and squeezes, and wraps her arms right around my neck, huddling her little body against mine for snuggles.  An adventurer by day and a snuggler by nap time, tired moments, and night -- oh, how we love this girlie.

oh, hello again!

For the past month or two, I've been meaning to create an altogether new blog with a new title; a space to start afresh.  Then I sort of got hung up on what said title ought to be, and the project stalled out.  As a freelance musician, my evenings at home are limited, and when I do have an evening home, it seems that a dozen different things are calling my name and vying for my attention!

I want to get back to my little corner of the web, though.  I came across a lovely blog post by Rachael back in January and the idea of it has stuck with me.  It's really a nice bit of information if you - like me, I admit - are not quite certain you've got the whole 21st century thing figured out with regards to your technology and your photo-keeping.  But what I loved the most was this part:

"Part of the trouble is that our digital lives are still often dismissed as self-indulging and ephemeral. Instagram accounts are mentioned with an eye roll. Collecting photos annually and having them printed and bound into books takes hours, truly hours to put together, and feels hard to justify when we’ve already posted it and relished the photo elsewhere. While we’d love our children to someday say “she kept a tidy lovely home” about us, it feels less important to imagine them saying “she did such a great job of documenting our family’s life together over the years.” 

Sometimes I think about blogs as this century’s cross-stitch sampler. I’ve encountered criticism of them as aggrandizing digital wastes of time. A trend. People still say things like “I don’t read blogs,” as if they were a category of acquired taste. But they are the next in a long historic line of homemaking habits, small lovely tributes to our abilities and hopes. Even if the writers gloss things over, even if they make life appear too clean and breezy. Though in theory written and created for others, they will always bring the most pleasure to their creator."

You should still go read the whole post, though.  But she really voiced something I've long thought; a sort of frustration with how "mom blogs" are viewed dismissively when in fact, they can be a beautiful place to gather memories and highlights of daily life.

I'm also inspired by her to create some photo books for our family, perhaps one for each year of our recent life.  Judging from how much Nell loves the family photo calendar my sister-in-law made for us for Christmas -- she asks to look through those monthly pictures almost every day! -- I know she would love having a photo book to sit and look through, to look back on her life as a baby as well as the more recent memories we've created.

So it was that bit of writing from Rachael, in part, that reminded me to return to this neglected space, which I do hope to soon move to another corner of the internet whenever I can settle on where that corner ought to be.

In the mean time, this week is a week spent at home for me, quite welcome after several rehearsals and concerts last week.  It has been filled with everyday moments that we've enjoyed quite thoroughly so far.

Sixty-degree weather on Monday merited a trip to the park.

This particular park, just two minutes from our house, is more than just a playground - there's farm land and a barn with animals as well.

Ree yelled happily or angrily {one couldn't quite be certain which} at all the animals, over and over again: "Hiiiii!  Hiiiii!" (Which comes out more like "Iiiiii!")  I think she thought it was quite rude that they didn't acknowledge her enthusiastic greetings.

Nell was charmed to make the acquaintance of this sweet little goat.

Seeing the girls hanging on fences reminded me of similar timeless moments in my own childhood; somehow perhaps some of the most important things I ever did might have been doing nothing at all, if any sense can be made of that.  I've been pondering the nature of childhood lately, more and more as we move decidedly out of pure toddlerdom and into little girlhood and all that lies ahead.  {Very much on my mind: schooling in the future years and what we'd like to do for that!}

Nell has been faithfully helping me water our amaryllis plants in the living room, and they've all burst into bloom in the past week with a vibrancy that takes me by surprise each time I walk into that room.  I suppose it would be odd to admit that these plants were rescued from a trash bin, but there you go, I've said it.  I have to say it, because to me, it somehow makes their blooms that much more beautiful.

And finally, in hopes of more warm days soon to come, I dug up and created a branch border for a "Bit of Earth" for the girls.  They may not have a sandbox {yet}, but who doesn't love to just dig in the dirt?  And now that Ree is old enough to dig without eating said dirt, I believe it will occupy many imaginative hours of play this spring and summer.  It's a little area beside the shed and off the edge of the proper lawn.  A few pails and trowels and sticks and some pairs of play clothes are all that's needed for a very good time!

I know it's only the beginning of March, but I'm dreaming of many more warm days soon to come.

Today, on the other hand, was a bit rainy, so we found ourselves at the library and arrived home armed with some wonderful books.  Perhaps I'll write again soon and share some of our recent favorites!

a girl and her funny face

What to do when you haven't blogged in two months?  Why, blog about something insignificant, of course.  Don't overwhelm yourself thinking you need to "catch up" or "fill in the gaps" in the family chronicles of the world wide web.  Just start with something small; just go ahead and get your toes wet again.  So, here goes.

Back in April or thereabouts, little miss Marie started making the funniest face on a semi-regular basis.  We got a kick out of seeing her scrunch her face up and tip her head back in these silly grins, and would exclaim, "FUNNY FACE!" and clap when she did it.  So naturally, it became a regular occurrence.  Soon, we could get her to make the face by saying, "Hey Ree, can you do your funny face?"  She would happily oblige.

I've managed to get a few on camera, so that I can now present you with several months worth of Funny Face.  Enjoy!

We love this crazy kiddo.  But you knew that.

{Playing Catch-Up}: Ree at Five Months

I tried to make up for the fact that I totally forgot to take pictures of Ree at 5 months old by capturing some stellar (?) expressions at 5.5 months, when I suddenly realized how old she was one day.

Oh... she was capable of cute smiles as well as funny expressions, too.

The top of her hair has been growing and growing... sometimes lending what our friend Cara thinks is a "Who-ish" look to our little girl.

"Who are you calling a Dr. Seuss character?!"

By 5.5 months, when I got around to taking pictures, she was sitting up!

And she was grabbing for anything and everything within reach.  And fussing for anything and everything out of reach.

Since she was picking things up and holding them, I remembered that these things called baby toys exist.  And that they were all packed away from when Nell was a baby.  I brought out a basket of them, and they've been a big hit.  Granted, she'd prefer a piece of paper to chew on, but she'll settle for rattles, teeters, and Sophie the giraffe.

The only thing better than an object in hand?  An object in the mouth, of course!

Nell gets a little concerned, saying, "No Muwwee, don't eat it!" at least a dozen times a day.

At five months old, Ree could put herself to sleep a reasonable portion of the time, if swaddled.  Pacifier also appreciated.    Since she was rolling back to front as well as front to back, I freed one arm from her swaddle so she wouldn't find herself face down and helpless.  Unfortunately, the free arm could flail and knock the pacifier (known around here as a "dubduh," an early Nellism) out of her mouth, but she was far from possessing the coordination to put it back in, especially not in a half-asleep and upset state.  I halfway solved this by wrapping her free arm around a stuffed lamb to keep it occupied.  It worked, some of the time.

Nell is quite sweet for the most part when it comes to Marie's nap times.  She can play quietly by herself while I put Ree down, and when we're struggling in the sleep department, Nell is always good to echo some of the things she's heard me say time and time again: "Go to sleep, little pumpkin!" and "Gah-gay ("It's ok") Muwwee, Mommy get you!" being chief among them.

And in case I don't hear (which I always do), the first peep out of Ree and Nell comes running to me: "Oh no! Baby Wee gy-in'! ('cryin')"

Miss Marie, you are lucky to have a big sister to look out for you!

{Mine still looks out for me when I need it, even at 31 years old.  It's not a bad situation at all.}

we went to the fair

When it's autumn here on the North Shore, it's time to go to the fair.  And despite the fact that the fair is nearly mandatory attendance if you live in our area, last year was the first time I ever went, and this year was Nathan's turn to be a first-timer.

The girls were super thrilled about going.

No, really.  Contrary to appearances.

{And we got to put our Craigslist-freebie Phil & Ted's double stroller to the test.  The verdict?  Not bad for free.}

Nell got to ride on the Ferris Wheel with her Daddy!

And the merry-go-round with her Mama, too.

No rides for little miss Ree yet, but she didn't seem to mind.

Of course, the main draw of the fair, in Nathan's opinion, is the food.  He opted for corn dogs and such, while Nell and I shared a baked potato.

If you choose the 'healthiest' of the fair food options, that entitles you to ice cream later, right?

In the end, a good time was had by all.

Overall, the Topsfield Fair is more... commercialized, I guess, than I remember my childhood fair experiences being.  But we were glad we went, and as Nathan said, "It's a pretty good way to blow through $100 in a day if that's what you want to do."

If you're in New England while the Topsfield Fair is running, you should definitely go, if you can make it on a weekday morning like we did.  I hear the weekends are waaay too crazy!

***

Oh, and P.S.: A little throwback to last year's fair.  I was a couple months pregnant with Marie {dosed up on Zofran, of course, and having a rare good day!}, and Nell was a 17-month-old.  What a difference a year makes!