Gardening and “Up North”

Left to right: The view of the lake in Eagle River. At home, the daffodils (“hours”) at their peak. And Lauren at the lake.

On Wednesday, May 20, I realized that I still hadn’t replaced my dying daffodils with the annuals I’d bought the previous weekend. (Petunias, geraniums, mums – tried-and-true stuff that works in our yard). So, with Nick working late, I put some toys in the grass for Lauren and we worked on cutting them down. Lauren was occupied with the toys for approximately two minutes before she went into the garage and found the basketball, tennis balls and best of all, Daddy’s bucket of golf balls. I taught her which balls bounce high, which balls don’t, and if you take the lid off a canister of tennis balls, you can take them out, count them, put them back in and put the lid back on. The golf balls and tennis balls bought me an hour of time and a happy Lor. But at one point, Lauren put everything down, stood up, put her hand on my shoulder, pointed an index finger directly at a daffodil flower, and said, “Hour.” Then every flower, “Hour-hour-hour-hour…” I was surprised and praised her. The words have been coming rapid-fire. “Ball.” “Apple” “Buck” (that’s the buckles on her car set and chair). And a few in passing I’ve forgotten.

After our plant-a-thon, on Thursday, the three of us headed up to Grandma and Grandpa’s property in Eagle River. Nick worked outside while Lauren and I bonded and played. Liz, Jon and Brayden were there for a bit and Lauren just loved seeing her cousin again. The majestic views of the lake were just what I needed to lift my spirits.

The Stairs, Dandelions, and a Booster Seat

Lauren’s first night at the table in her booster chair. Picking dandelions at Grandpa Tom’s house.

This week, Lauren mastered going down steps. At our house, it’s easy because we have two small sets, and she knows when someone holds her hand, she can step down, sit on each one, and move to the next. At Grandma and Grandpa Wenos’ and Grandpa Tom’s house this weekend, however, she slid down the whole flight continuously on her belly, masterfully moving her arms and legs for balance. Scary for Mama, but of course we took some video of it!

The three of us hit both sets of Lauren’s grandparents this week because Aunt Kayla had a piano recital in Rhinelander and Aunt Ellyse graduated from UWSP in Stevens Point. Lauren sat nicely in Grandma Colleen’s lap and rocked back and forth to the music at the former event, earning comments afterwards about what a nice girl she was. Graduation Day was 50 degrees with a cool wind blowing through the ceremony. Lauren and I toddled around the Noel Fine Arts Center (they did a huge revamp since I visited last), and finally went to Grandpa Tom’s house nearby to set up stuff for an overnight stay. After a nap, we joined everyone for a grillout at Iverson Park, complete with playground and slide for Lauren.

The visit to Point was nostalgic. My mom, grandmother and I used to go to the Fine Arts Center all the time for art shows and plays; six months before my 18th birthday, when my mom was sick, she bought me a photograph as an early birthday present, and that’s the last time I was there. (She did make it to my birthday though, and I still have the photograph.) Ellyse called me with directions, giving me street names, and I couldn’t remember where they were. (I’m a true Madisonian now!) I also tried to remember my own graduation day, also outside on the same quad, but warmer, and Nick’s the year before mine, in scorching heat, when I received a violent sunburn.

Lauren loved picking apart the dandelions at Grandpa Tom’s house and running around. She fell asleep in the car heading home on Sunday. We stopped at Great Grandma Gladys’ house on our way out of town, and she gave Lauren a nursery rhyme book, and Nick her old guitar and songbooks, and for me, an old necklace that she bought for my mom and my mom willed to her. Nick has tuned the guitar and has spent time picking out music from memory on it (years of piano and French horn gave him quite an ear), and I’m really enjoying him.

And tonight, booster seat night. The high chair gets to go in the basement, and for next time, the chair is really easy to travel with!

Bead Queen

All decked out in beads.

A bead fascination started around St. Patrick’s Day for Lauren. She’ll loop them around herself or stuffed animals, and just toddle around. (We supervise her).

Mother’s Day

I went to a fun family gathering and only took one picture? Whoops. At least it’s a good one. Here is Uncle Fred showing off his tan from Mexico (he went pre-swine flu) with cousins Cooper (just back from Disney World – she has a fan in her hand), Lauren (gnawing on the back of the sippy cup) and Taggart (hey, he looks presentable). Two minutes prior to this, Mr. Fred was doing Cooper deadlifts.

Nick, Lauren and I got together with my mom’s side of the family for Mother’s Day. Cooper is wearing a dress I bought her for her birthday in this picture; she changed clothes mid-party. Alex, my bro, says she’s a clotheshorse that sometimes can’t go to bed because she’s not wearing the right pajamas. She got to have a special tea with the Princesses (what is the plural of “princess”?) at Disney World (Sleeping Beauty, Belle, etc.) and her hair braided on the trip. They are moving into a new house in Waunakee soon.

It was so good to see everyone, especially my grandmother, who is out of the rehab center after a fall over the winter and living back at home. She is unhappy about carrying oxygen with her, but shared positive thoughts with me about getting back on her feet and getting a landscaper.

Nick helped Lauren make a Mother’s Day gift: He cut out a stencil that says “I love Mommy” and put it over a piece of paper. Then, she scribbled over it with her markers she got at Easter. He said he had to tell her, “Go over here, Lauren. Go over here,” until it was done. My first real piece of artwork that I can hang in my office. It brought tears to my eyes. I also received some scented lotion and a candle from Bath and Body Works. It feels really good to get excited about this holiday again.

17 Months

Lauren picks out a book at the library. Lauren and her carseat buckles.

Lauren’s at a really fun age, and I’m starting to notice that, trait-wise, she has my independence and Nick’s resolve/patience to figure things out. Independent child Colleen: At age 3, I was disappointed that I couldn’t spell “cow” and insisted I do it “myself”. Resolve/patient child Nick: He climbed trees and never fell out. (OK, bad example.) It’s not a bad combination. Cases in point:

*She has figured out how to do the buckles herself on her high chair and her stroller, but cannot figure out the baby car seat’s buckles. We were going to put the baby car seat away in the basement, but it has turned into a rocking chair for her dolls, and she works for 20 minutes at a time to figure out the latch.

*She continues to love the dishwasher. She will hand pieces of silverware (no sharp knives) to me and I’ll put them in the drawer while I emphasize, “Please, can Mommy have that? Thank you!” She says, “Bye!” to every single piece.

*She also says “ummm” when eating food she really likes, and says “Bye” to each piece of waffle/cheese/carrot as it goes in her mouth.

*She’s figured out how to get up the stairs leading to the biggest slide at the park, but she still wants me to wait at the bottom of the slide for her.

*She screams happily like a teen girl at a Jonas Brothers concert when I come to pick her up at daycare. And a big hug. Pre-toddler age, she crawled behind the chair to peek-a-boo at me. (I like this greeting better.)

*Every night, we work on the brushing teeth thing. She’ll put her toothbrush in her mouth and suck all the water off of it, and she loves to stick it under the faucet for more water (maybe I need to give her a drink before we start all this?) I hold her and work on her gums with the fingertip toothbrush as she fusses. Then we wipe with a Spiffie.

*She wanted to pick out her own books at the library today. I went in search for more Sandra Boynton titles; Lauren loves “The Belly Button Book”, given to her by Aunt Laura, and “Moo, Baa, La La La” from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jessica. She also likes pull-flap books. We left with a counting book, a pull-flap book, a Dora the Explorer color book, and a story about bears.

Brayden’s Baptism

All four cousins together at last (Jessica, Samantha, Brayden, and Lauren). Proud parents Jon and Liz with Brayden and his godparents.

The fam headed up to Mauston to attend church and Brayden’s baptism immediately followed. At mass, Lauren climbed around like a little monkey and fell backwards onto the kneeler, smacking her head, crying as I tried to soothe her. Yes, as I mentioned before, we have become those people in church. And then it happened again. And then the priest wrapped up the service by saying something like “Little voices are welcome, so if anyone tells you otherwise, send them to me,” and stared straight at us. Relief.

So when the baptism started, there just wasn’t any way Lor could sit. So I handed the camera over to Nick, and we went outside and went up-down-up-down the church steps. (I am trying to teach Lauren the back-up-butt-first method, but she prefers hands held, walking frontwards). Then we sat in the aisle and softly read books and Samantha and Jessica came over to join us. (Sidebar: I adore reading books to children.) Brayden slept and gently woke for the water, but I’m told he didn’t utter a sound.

A fabulous party in the church basement afterwards. Jon and Liz had made some excellent seasoned pulled-pork sandwiches, Grandma Colleen brought coffee cake and potato salad, and since Liz had requested some Texas caviar from us, we put it out (yum!) The basement had a kitchen and plenty of toys for the kids. Samantha and Jessica took a jump rope and a car and promptly made a game of pulling each other around, Lauren took advantage of wandering around, and I got to hold Baby Brayden. It was Samantha’s 7th birthday, so we had the added bonus of getting to see her. And as I looked around at all the busyness, I thought, maybe that’s all we’re here for on earth: family.