My Dear Cordelia

On the eve of mother's day, I had my own King Lear moment.  5-year-old Sammy and I were proclaiming our love for each other.

Sammy:  I love you.
Me: I love you more.
Sammy: I love you most.
Me: I love you most plus one.

That startled her into silent awe and big, happy eyes for a moment before she grasped the concept and continued.

Sammy: I love you most plus ten.
Me: I love you most plus 100.
Sammy, halting: I love you most plus 10 million!
Me: I love you most plus infinity!

Short pause to explain infinity.  Again, she was awed, then bested me easily.

Sammy:  I love you more than I love my money.
Me:  Awww!  I love you more than my money too.

Sweet, snuggly silence before she clarified. 

Sammy:  I said that because I don't really get to use my money, so it doesn't mean a lot to me.

Then she snuggled in tight and giggled to let me know she really meant that as the utmost profession of love.

Little Stinker!

______________________________________

Two hours later, again Sammy and I were snuggled closely on the couch playing Mahjong together.  We were playing some hard levels and losing, then finally caught an easy game.

Sammy:  I love you more than that Mahjong game.
Me:  Which one, the hard or easy one?
Sammy:  Umm....I loved the easy one a little bit more than the hard one.  And I love you a little bit more than the easy game. 

She held up her fingers to show me the less than 1-centimeter gap and repeated, I love you a little, little bit more.

Then, once more, she giggled and snuggled in close so I understood that was high praise....I think.


😂  Oh my dear Cordelia, certainly you lack "that glib and oily art, To speak and purpose not"!

Best. Song. Ever!

Lizzy has taken to song writing recently.  As I was cleaning up the piano room, I saw this one sitting on the ledge.  She hasn't sung it to me yet, but I had to transcribe it before something happened to it, because it really is the best song ever (at least in my opinion).   :-D

Original Lyrics:

Mothers are cering
mothers are sweet
Mothers are like a staarre they hav
cer a balt us in the world haye
my mother is p sweet
_______________________________(line drawn across page)
too me v my mother shood be tackin cker ov too too oo.
She is my shine ee n love thing
she is the one I love oo u
But she is my only mother of all all all.
Yaye.


Mothers are cering
Mothers are sweet
My mother brings my heart too me
My mother is cering and my mother is sweet
She is like a cering gron up and
she o reel ee reel ee is
She is the one I reel ee cer a balt her
She is the one I love very much so much







Translation:
Mothers are caring,
Mother are sweet.
Mother are like a star.
They have care about us in the world. Hey!
My mother is sweet
__________________
to me.  My mother should be taken care of too too oooooo. (remember it's a song)
She is my shining love thing.
She is the one; I love ooooooo you.
But she is my only mother of all, all, all.....
Yay!

Mothers are caring.
Mothers are sweet.
My mother brings my heart to me.
My mother is caring,
and my mother is sweet.
She is like a caring grown up and
She, oh,  is. Really, really is.
She is the one.  I really care about her.
She is the one I love very much, so much.)


Apparently she got all my sweetness genes and then some. :D

Cheaper than buying paper

The ultimate in reusable art supplies...skin!  It's free and regenerates quickly.  That, and it makes you "beautiful."

Made You Smile!

Going, Going, Gone

Mmmm...that looks good.

Wanna share?

Oh, hi Mom!  I'm not doing anything.  Just talking to Nye!

Gotcha!

Why People Sign Prenuptials

Nye: Will you pretend dinner dance with me?

Lizzy: Only if you get married to me.

N: I don't want to.

L:  Then I won't go.

N:  But then I'll be all alone.

L:  Then get married to me.

N:  Ok.

L:  Will you give me all your love?

N:  Yes.

L:  Will you give me all your mercy?

N:  Yes.

L:  Will you give me all your peaceness?

N:  Yes.

L:  Will you give me all your house?

N:  No!

L:  But you have to.

N:  ::whining:: But then I'll be all alone and I won't have a house.

L:  But I won't go to the dinner dance with you.

N:  Okay.....I guess I'll give you all my house.

L:  Ok.

Snowy Spring Day

Spring this year means 60 degree days followed by 8 inches of snow, followed by 60 degree days.  It's actually kind of lovely.  A brief chance to enjoy the snow one last(?) time.  There's only one problem-snow mice. 

I'll let the dread seep in for a moment....

If you use your spidey-senses, you'll start to see them everywhere.  Or at least the possibility of them is everywhere.  The only way to protect the innocent women and children in your house is to use your trusty whisk (borrow your mom's if you can't find one and be sure to leave a trail of discarded utensils and spatulas so someone can find you if you-know-what gets you) and leave no snow unturned....unwhisked?

Nye came in after half an hour and casually told me there were no snow mice on our deck.  You can imagine my relief.  Then he became quite serious, pointed, and told me in a loud whisper, "at least on that side of the deck."  When I looked out, one side of the deck had an awful case of gopher holes, but the other was pristine.  You know what that means.............

SNOW MICE!

Meanwhile, back at the lab, our industrious inventor/color queen was making a family of robots.  As well as using the camera to take pictures of them.  This 5 year old has a knack with the camera!  My favorite part is that Nye's bot looks like the tin man, but he has a heart-a happy heart.  :)  

Happy birthday Nye

Lee: So Nye, how does it feel to be three? Nye: Umm, it feels awesome!!! Three minutes later: Nye throwing a small fit: I don't want to be three any more! I want to be two! Lizzy: But Nye, then you won't be a daddy and you can't buy your own chocolate and stuff! Nye, resigned and sighing: OK....I guess I'll be three...

Hindsight

When your three year old son eats the frosting off of six cupcakes, sending him to a nap is NOT an effective solution.

Spoken like a girl...

Lizzy's bedtime prayer tonight:

Dear God, Thank you for toiletries and stuff.  Amen.

Define: miles

GPS: Turn left in 1.5 miles.
Nye:  Uh-oh, it said miles...miles means the chicken goes on the road.

Harvesting Oregano

The oregano was getting weeding looking and Nye was getting antsy inside.  What a perfect match!  

Trimming immediately brought him to a focused and calm place and kept him there for quite a while.

Perservance

Nye: "Mom, can I play on computer?"
Me: "No."
Nye: "Mom, can I play on your phone?"
Me: "No, Nye."
Nye: "Mom, can I watch TV?"
Me: "No."
Nye:  "Mommmmm, you not say no to everything!"
Me:  "Nye, go find something else to play with...we're not doing those right now.  I want you to entertain yourself!"

                        

Touché my boy, you dug through all the boxes and found the one other electronic toy in the house....

Done with Quarantine! Almost...

YAY!!  Today marks the first day in almost a month and a half that we're not contagious with whooping cough!!  We can get together with people again!

Or we could have if Nye hadn't woken up with a fever of 101.5, vomit, and had a few bouts of diarrhea for the past 24 hours and Lizzy didn't wake up with a slightly swollen, rash face like this:

 Oh yay, looks like another day at home. :-D

At least Lizzy still has her sense of humor.  My best guess is that hers is a case of hives from either sleeping on the carpet last night or a bubble bath from yesterday afternoon?  Time will tell.

Herbert and heart shaped rocks

Lizzy went from deathly afraid of spiders to letting daddy long legs crawl up her arms in one day!  A feat for her!! 

Thanks in large part to Pamela Jay of heart shaped rocks.  She explained to Lizzy that daddy long legs are named Herbert.  And they don't eat little girls, but prefer sherbert. 

I guess naming your fears works!

Welcome into our lives Pamela and Herberts of all shapes and sizes!

Reassurance

The kids helped me season a whole rainbow trout for dinner tonight.  We talked about where the stomach was, where it pooped, what the teeth felt like, and how it breathed.  They were pretty captivated until I chopped it's head off.  Nye was aghast and kept saying "poor fishy, poor fishy."  It was a good segway into discussing how the dead know nothing and can't feel anything.  Lizzy got the concept quickly and began to reassure Nye.  "Don't worry Nye, you won't feel it when they cut your head off because you'll be dead already!" (big, confident smile) 

Late at night

Mid-July 12:18am.  Last night of vacation.  Just put kids to bed in same room with us.  Conversation in the dark ensures...real, difficult feelings come out.

Nye: Mommy, you stupid. (I took his glow stick away because he was eating it.) 
Lizzy: Don't say that.  It's evil.  You're evil Nye if you say that!
Nye: I not like Mommy.  I want mommy to die.
Lizzy:  But then you'll never ever ever EVER see her again....not even in the Kingdom of God!
Nye:  Well... I will hit Goliath.  Then I hit him and save mommy.  Then I hug her, I love mommy!

I almost had cereal this morning

Instead I forced my lazy side to actually make breakfast.  My stomach/health is grateful.

Ingredients: butter sauteed zucchini and spinach, two dippy eggs, parmesan cheese, refried beans, and guacamole.

Sweet Frog Spring Treat

Celebrating the coming of warm spring days by eating ice cream out.  Unfortunately, it was a 55 degree blimp when we had planned on going.  No worries, we still enjoyed it to the fullest.

"Hey Nye, try some of mine!"  ::shoves it in his mouth::

"Huh!  Not bad.  It's ok."

"HE LIKES IT!"

These are a few of my favorite things

Dried herbs make me unreasonably happy.  Oh the plans I have for you...teas, decoctions, infusions, extracts, glycerides...yay!