What's black and white and taped all over?

I remember one Halloween costume from my childhood. It was the most beautiful butterfly costume I had ever seen. It was made out of felt, black with shapes of orange, and red and yellow (Think Monarch). And I had pipe cleaners for my antenna.

So when Jack said he wanted to be a zebra this year, I immediately thought I could pull it off with a homemade costume. First, I bought a plain white pants and shirt from Basic Brilliance. THE place to go if you just need solid colors of cotton clothing. Unfortunately, my imagination can tend to come up with schemes that my skills at sewing just can not meet. Especially since I have no skills at sewing. Or a sewing machine. Yes, I have a needle and thread, but no way am I going to handsew black stripes on.

So I went low tech with duct tape. Let me tell you, ripping duct tape in uneven, curving pieces ain't so easy. But with a little patience, I was able to get them how I wanted them. Here's the shirt when it was done.

As final touches, I ordered some ears and a tail online and the facepaint. . He totally loves the facepaint. Just looks in the mirros and laughs.

Meditations on parenting

Once there was a tree that stood tall and proud beside a riverbank. Beside her grew a small weed. The tree bragged to the weed about how big and strong she was and how the weed should be embarrassed to be so puny next to something so large. The weed answered that she was just existing where nature put her. In the rainy season, a massive flood came and the force of the waters washed away the tree. But the weed, always humble, bent flat to the ground and survived the raging waters.

Sometimes our strength is not evidenced by how tall and unbending we can stand.

I heard this story from my yoga teacher today and it immediately reminded me of the ups and downs of parenting.

How easy is it to see the tie to parenting here? Once my children were beyond breastfeeding and the infant stage, they were always looking for ways to exert their independence. The big picture tells me that this is the way they grow and learn to be their own person. But as the parent trapped in the moment, I am often pulling at my hair and wanting to yell "Because I said so, that's why!" at the incessant questions that are thrown my way about why they have to do what I say.

I have to remember that sometimes bending with the forces of nature will allow the storm to pass easier than trying to stand straight up in the onslaught.

The rules

Jack jumped out of bed this morning, he was so excited for their class field trip to Dinoland. But before he went, he explained "The Rules" to me over breakfast.

Jack: No hitting our friends.

Mommy: That's a good one.

Jack: Stay with the teacher.

Mommy: Always smart.

Jack: Don't tease the dinosaurs...or feed them.

Mommy: Good plan.

Jack: Or the teachers will send you back to the bus.

What a deal!

One of my favorite new shirts.

Happiness

 

Call 991

Today was dress up like a community helper at school. Obviously, with this crew, I felt completely safe sitting at the breakfast table. Should a criminal appear or a fire break out, I''ll be well taken care of. As Jack always says "Just call 9-9-1!"

She's got it, yeah baby, she's got it.

Everyone has their style

Tonight was cookie night as an old friend from Chicago came over to visit and brought her niece, Kate, whom we adore. Jack talked all day about Baby Kate coming to visit . Well, Baby Kate is no longer a baby and thrilled Jack to death by bringing sugar cookies and all the decorations with her so they could make Halloween cookies after dinner.

Everyone had their own style. Alexandra...hmmm, let's just say she likes to get fully involved. No high-brow design for this one. Just wants to feel the icing goosh between her fingers. I think she kept her hands like that for about 5 minutes, just letting the sugar soak into her body by osmosis.

Now Kate is a sprinkles girl. Specifically, pink sprinkles. The more the better. She would prefer a mound of them, but had to change her game plan when she found that sprinkles don't stick unless they are glued into a substance, like icing. So, she learned on the next one and spread them out with a spoon into the icing. Pink + orange = CLASH. But there's no convincing an aspiring princess that they don't work together quite well.








Finally, Jack preferred the everything on top approach. You know those bagels that you get that are called Everything bagles because they are poppysead-onion-sesame-cinnamon raisin-blueberry-honey wheat flavor? That's like Jack's approach to cookie design. If it's an option, it needs to be added to the cookie. The more the merrier. Who cares if you can barely pick it up because of all of the things on top. It's a cookie, for Christ's sake. Go heavy or get out.

And really, with cookies...is there any approach that is NOT right?

Can you hear me now?

I'm up in Dallas for a few days for work. I do this every month and I always have mixed feelings about it. You know, John totally jumps in and takes care of the kids with help from his mom so I can make these trips as guilt-free feeling as possible. Because let's face it, I'm a mom-I always have some smidgen of guilt going on.

But I also have a chance to step back see the forest for the trees. See the bigger picture of my family by getting a view from a few hours away. Oh, and I begin to miss them. John called last night and told me that Alex had thrown a fit suddenly at dinner, banishing her food to the floor. Very un-Alex. She's the girl who loves to eat and isn't one to be picky. John thought they had just waited too long to get dinner on the table.

Then he called early this morning. Apparently, Alex was pulling a repeat of the food-tantrum with her breakfast. Juice? Thrown. Waffle? Heaved off the table. John told me he thought maybe she was just missing Mom. I laughed because Alex is such a Daddy's girl. But I gave it my best shot via speakerphone to talk her down from the ledge and back to her waffle. And you know? It worked. She smiled and started eating again.

Apparently, you can phone in this whole parenting thing!