I’ve had a great Valentine’s Day. I’m home after a nice evening out with my hubby, eating Thai food on Tybee Island, reminiscing about our early days and being so glad we found each other so soon in life.
Camille has enjoyed her Valentine’s Day too, happy to be with her family and especially happy to be with her Boo. I had a good laugh hearing about this conversation between Camille and her Boo earlier in the day.
Boo: “Camille, are you your Daddy’s Valentine?”
Camille: “No, I’m Boo’s Valentine.”
Boo: “You can be Boo’s Valentine and your Mommy and Daddy’s Valentine, too!.”
(pause, as Camille thinks this over)
Camille: “I don’t have a choice.”
I’m glad she’s at least resigned herself to being our collective Valentine. I’m also glad I did have a choice, and I’m glad I chose wisely almost 15 years ago!
Last weekend, we had a great visit with Erin and Jones and Boo in Fitzgerald. Jones is changing and growing so fast, and was scooting all around the floor working on his crawling. I can tell Miss Camille is growing up too, because my mature little girl wasn’t nearly as jealous this time if someone (other than her Auntie) held Jones.
The cutest thing happened when Erin and Boo stepped out for a bit, and it was just me and Camille and Jones hanging out in the living room. Camille plopped down on the floor in front of him and told me, “Mama, I’m going to talk to Baby Jones.” Then she turned to him and said, “Baby Jones, did you have a good morning nap?”
So I grabbed the camera, but unfortunately the conversation had moved on to other topics.
Cousins Chat from Ginger on Vimeo.
While we’re on the subject of videos – here’s another that might bring you a laugh. It’s Camille’s take on the Super Bowl. (Spoiler alert: she thought it was pretty B-O-R-I-N-G)
… I would be SO PSYCHED to know that a baby giraffe had been named after ME!
This giraffe was recently born at the Buffalo Zoo, and I saw this tidbit about her on ZooBorns:
“The female calf was born on January 10, 2009 to father, Cain, and mother, Akili. Since she was born so close to Inauguration Day, Zoo officials have named the calf ‘Malia’ in honor of President Obama and First Lady, Michelle Obama’s, first-born daughter. As Akili previously gave birth to a male named Jabari on August 9, 2006, this is also Akili’s ‘first daughter.'”
This is a lot cooler than the line of dolls a toy company created (and had to discontinue) called Sasha and Malia. Funny thing is – the company said the dolls were not intended to depict the Obama girls. Really? Wow, that’s some coincidence.
But a baby giraffe with my name – now that would ROCK!
I wanted to see Slumdog Millionaire because I’d heard so many good things about it. And I totally get it. I really do. It’s a compelling, interesting, edge-of-your-seat movie which is beautifully written, shot, and edited.
But I hated it.
I couldn’t focus on the plot because I just found the child beggar scenes too disturbing. I feel kind of silly to have been so upset by it – I had certainly heard before about children being intentionally harmed to make them more compelling as beggars. But actually watching it unfold on the screen made it more tangible and more raw. Yes, I knew I was watching fiction. But I also knew the underlying tragedy was real.
I should have known better than to go see this movie. I used to love Law and Order: SVU before Camille was born. But now, I just can’t bear to watch the story lines, which so often revolve around children who’ve been harmed. I don’t even like the movie Finding Nemo, because the poor fish’s mom is killed in the opening sequence, and the rest of the movie is a desperate race for father and son to find each other again.
But the scenes depicted in this movie were so much worse, so much more heartbreaking. And what I also find heartbreaking is a feeling that I can’t do anything to fix it. I’ve done a little online searching for an organization I can support. For something I can do, even if it’s small. But I know it won’t be enough to give me peace after what I saw on the screen tonight.
I know I am a very lucky Mama to have such a laid-back, easy-going, fun-loving child. Like most toddlers, she picks fights now and then, but her little fits and tantrums are usually pretty easy to manage and short-lived.
But there are two things that seem to suddenly be causing more distress, and I’m not sure why or what to do about them. The most difficult involves bath time. She has never really liked having her hair washed and would often complain about it, but the rest of the bath was fine. Now, she hates being bathed, and has recently been getting so upset about hair-washing it’s difficult for me to keep doing it, even though I know I must. She seems scared of bubbles, and as soon as I lather her with a washcloth she starts crying for us to get the bubbles off. And in the past week, when I lean her back to wash her hair she starts crying so hard her face turns red and her body shakes with the sobs. She even says it’s hurting her, when I can’t imagine how because it’s all baby-safe shampoo and doesn’t even get into her eyes. I’m careful to avoid splashing her face, but it doesn’t seem to matter. We bought her some new bath toys to see if we could distract her, and they helped during her last bath (until hair-washing time). But I worry that when the novelty has worn off, we’ll be back to square one.
The second thing is more of a frustration for us than an issue for her, I think. We never wanted to force her to potty train, but for months have been encouraging her to use the potty and thought we were doing well. The thing is, if we can convince her to get on the potty she’ll go nearly every time, and we have gone a whole day without a wet diaper. But we always have to beg her to go, even bribe her to go, and it has become tiresome. Recently, she’s begun resisting the potty more too, even crying when we suggest it, and since we didn’t want to force her, we’ve pretty much given up for now. But I’m frustrated because she is capable of communicating with us, and she knows how to go and where to go, but she just doesn’t want to. So I guess we should just wait?? She’ll let us know when she’s ready? How much should I push the issue?
Anyway, if any of you moms or dads out there have advice about either of these issues, I welcome the input!
Camille had a great playdate with her buddy Elsie today. One of the highlights was watching the two of them shake their groove things with Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba.
It’s Dancey-Dance Time! from Ginger on Vimeo.
I remember riding in the car, heading down Victory Drive almost 8 years ago, on my way to a job interview at WSAV. Taking in the palm trees, the old homes, the Spanish moss on the live oaks, Daffin Park and the fountains, knowing the beach was just a few miles away – I remember thinking, “I MUST get this job, because I MUST live here…”
And I still love this city. Every day I see the trolleys full of tourists rumbling across the brick-paved streets, I’m reminded that I’m lucky enough to live in a city people pay to come visit.
And lately, I’m proud to say, plenty of other folks are taking notice, too. According to the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, here are some of the accolades this city has received in the past 12 months:
Savannah: “15 Coolest Cities in North America” – MSN.com, February 2009
Savannah: “Best Romantic Getaway” – Travel + Leisure Magazine, February 2009
Savannah: “Best Southern City” – Southern Living Magazine, January 2009
Savannah: “Top 10 American Travel Destination” – Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, August 2008
Savannah: “Top 10 Cities in the US and Canada” – Travel + Leisure Magazine, July 2008
Savannah: “Gold Service Award” – Meetings & Conventions Magazine, July 2008
Savannah: “Top 25 City for the Arts” – American Style Magazine, May 2008
Savannah: “50 Great Cities to Visit in America” – London Daily Telegraph, March 2008
Hooray for my beloved Savannah!
Hello sweet girl, and happy Thirty-Month birthday! I am missing you so much tonight. You’re snuggled down and asleep many miles away from home at your Nana and Granddaddy’s house. I bet you’re tired after a super-exciting day – you got to play in the SNOW! Granddaddy sent me these pictures, and said your favorite part was looking up to watch the flakes fall on your face and saying, “They tickle me!” I wish I could’ve seen you playing myself!
You went to stay with your grands because Daddy and I have been on a church trip, taking a bunch of teenagers to Disney World – and let me just say, I’m not ready for you to be a teen girl. My ears are still ringing from the general shrieking and hysterical laughter that frequently issues forth when several of them gather together.
We may have many years before you are a teenager, but I have a hard time believing that today you are just as close to three as you are to two. A few days ago, you and I were looking back at some videos recorded around your second birthday, and I was stunned by how much your language has progressed since then. We carry on conversations now, and I LOVE it!
We recently had a conversation I found amusing because I just didn’t expect it so soon. Two of my friends (also mothers of your friends) recently had babies, so we’d been talking about the babies in their bellies. Our conversation went something like this:
You: “Mama (pulling up your shirt), I have a baby in my belly.”
Me: “You have a baby in your belly? I don’t think so. You can’t have a baby in your belly until you get married one day.”
You: “Mama and Daddy got married.” (we’ve discussed this in the past)
Me: “We sure did.”
You: “I’m going to get married … to mama.”
Me: “Oh, well you can’t get married to me because I’m already married to Daddy.”
You: “Who I marry?”
Me: “Well, I don’t know sweetie. When you get older, if you want to get married, then maybe you’ll find the right person and you can get married.”
This seemed to confuse you a bit, so I changed the subject before we got much deeper. Although you can’t yet grasp the concept of marriage, I really like your current philosophy about family. We’ve been playing with playdough a lot lately, and you usually insist on having me make three of any particular kind of animal. “Make a duck family!” you’ll say, or “Make a giraffe family!” One is always the Baby, one is the Mama and one is the Daddy. After they eat cookies and drink orange juice (you were not impressed the day I made playdough broccoli for them to eat), they go to sleep. You put them right next to each other and say, “They need to nuzzle. Nuzzle, nuzzle.” Like this sweet cow family:
You’ve also been picking up on even more of the things we say, and some of them make me laugh because you sound so grown up. Like instead of saying yes, you often say, “It’s true,” or “Of course.” The other day, we were getting ready to go to the library and I asked you if I could come too. “Of course, Mommy. Of course,” you said.
You are still every bit as girly as before, perhaps growing even girlier by the minute. One day last month I painted your toenails – something that had only been done once many months before. You seemed quite pleased about the pink color on your toes. That night, you began whimpering as we started running water for your bath and I asked you what was wrong. You cried, “I don’t want to get my toenails wet!!” By the time we put you in the water, you were in crisis mode, even though we’d told you it wouldn’t just wash off. You spent that entire bath with your feet up in the air, keeping your toenails just above the water line. Silly girl!
One of your favorite things to do right now is play hide and seek. You don’t exactly play by the rules – usually peeking while you count, and rarely counting all the way to ten. You also like the be found, and when I say “Ready or not, here I come!” you often respond by running out of your hiding space saying, “Here I am!”
Your Daddy captured video of this recent game of hide and seek with your buddy Elsie in the park near our house.
Hide and Seek from Ginger on Vimeo.
Sweet girl, I can’t wait to play with you again tomorrow. I have ached for you these past few days, missing your tender hugs and your happy laughter. Nana and Granddaddy say you haven’t seemed too homesick while we’ve been gone, but when I talk to you on the phone you’ll say, “Mama, I need to see you.” Well, I need to see you too, angel. For now, sleep well, and know I love you, and I’ll see you soon.
In our discussions with the landscaper last summer, our goal was simple and clear: a kid-friendly backyard. We weren’t interested in a bunch of fancy plants or water features or anything that would get in the way of a kid having fun. We wanted grass and lots of it, a patio so we could enjoy dinner outside on a nice Savannah night, and tree for a swing and some shade.
So I was a bit concerned when our pest control guy called last week with some bad news. We were at work and he was in our backyard on a windy day. “Your patio furniture is blowing around the yard, and your table has blown over. I think the glass is broken.”
I think? I think?
When we got home to assess the damage, it was more like the glass had been shattered in a bazillion tiny pieces and strewn across the backyard.
So much for my kid-friendly yard.
These look like fairly substantial pieces of glass on the ground, but what you can’t tell is that each of these larger pieces are really made up of teeny, tiny bits of broken glass. So every time we’d pick one of these up, with just the slightest pressure they’d crumble in our hands, raining more glass into the yard. And in between all these larger pieces were thousands of the tiny fragments already broken and stuck in the dirt. These small shards were everywhere, from the patio where the carnage began, all the way to the base of the pine tree and all along the fence line where glass slammed into them and shattered. The pictures do not even begin to tell the story.
For several hours on Saturday, Lee and I crawled around in the grass, down on our elbows, picking up pieces of glass so small we couldn’t wear gloves and probably needed tweezers. We cut ourselves often enough, but barely made a dent in cleaning up all the glass. I now believe the job is too big to do by hand, and I’m going to see if I can find a lawn care company that can help us.
Meanwhile, we have instituted a “No Shoes, No Service” policy for the backyard.
While in Miami, Erin had the great idea to visit a park near her home. This is no ordinary park – sure there were fabulous playgrounds and lots of picnic tables, but there were also animals! Lambs were being bathed near the 4-H barn, and Shetland ponies grazed in the pasture.
Jones really enjoyed the ponies, laughing and smiling as they approached the fence to say hello.
You could even roam in the barnyard with goats and pigs. They seemed so sweet and docile … until I had the bright idea to buy a cup of food so Camille could feed them. Let’s just say I’m glad I was holding her. Just see for yourself.
When Goats Attack from Ginger on Vimeo.
I definitely want to go back – it was a beautiful park. But the goats won’t get any more food from me until they learn some manners.
