Monkey, you were such a little peanut when you were born.

Mommy

On Saturday, Monkey and I finally got our hairs cut. We had needed an appointment for quite some time, but my stylist was traveling in Hong Kong for three weeks. More than a cut, I really needed color — my hair was especially dry, for one thing; the grays were creeping back, for another; and for a third, I was losing my fondness for being a redhead. And DearDR wanted a trim, too.

Here’s a little photo essay.
Before the Cuts:

Leopard Sisters:

Quote from Monkey, “Are you taking out the white, Mommy?” I didn’t think my gray hair was quite that noticeable. Thank you, Monkey.

Quote from my stylist, to Monkey, “Don’t worry, you can give her some more in just a minute.”

After, Monkey:

You can finally see her eyes again! I like the length on the sides and in the back, too.

Monkey has very pretty hair, straight, shiny, and soft (we use conditioner). On her last visit, my mom commented on how pretty her hair was. Then added, “Your hair was never that nice.”

Gee, thanks, Mom.

“No, but it wasn’t,” she said defensively. “You always had a kink or a wave in it. It just didn’t lay nice.”

Hence, short hair for me. Since about eighth grade.

Mommy, After I:

My stylist overruled you all. Sorry. When I showed him the blog post, he laughed heartily (and my stylist has a seriously hearty laugh — he’s about 6′5″) and said, “Like this is a democracy.” He pointed to 3. “That’s what we’re doing.” I said that most everyone who had commented really liked 2. “I know I need to grow it –” I started.

My stylist interjected: “Look, that is a great cut for you. But Monkey and Bun will be in college before your hair is that long.” (I think he was exaggerating.) “We’re going to start here [# 3] so you can eventually get there [# 2].”

Mommy, After II:

This is how it looks after my stylist does my hair. I may ask to go darker next time.

And, yes, that is my kitchen and dining room. My stylist comes to my house.

Mommy, After III:

The Zoolander pose. Does my nose look big?

This is what it looks like after I style my hair myself.

And finally, Mommy, After IV:

Thought to myself, “At least smile a little, woman!” It’s hard taking pictures in a mirror.

Not the real house, unfortunately.

Here are a few things to clear off my blogging table.

First of all, the very sweet Allison at Allison Says gave me not one, but TWO blogging awards, and said nice things about me, too (uh, I can’t seem to link to the images of the awards. Advice welcome. In the meantime, you can see them at her place). Allison is the mother of Alex, a baby that apparently everyone loves to touch, which bugs his mama. But I’m telling you, that boy is so adorable, I want to grab him and gobble him up every time I see him.

Allison already gave these awards to some of my other favorite bloggers, so I will pass them along to only one, my buddy now hailing from Nashville, Tenn., Misfit Hausfrau. She is completely irreverent, the mom of two girls, and a Lost lover. I especially value her blog because it makes it easy to check in with a friend who moved away. We still get to see each other once or twice a year, but I can always be up-to-date on what’s happening. And she’s funny, too.

********************

Secondly, I recently signed up at Freepeats.org, and things have been flying out of my house. I have given away about three boxes of toys and a box of maternity clothes. And it’s so easy: just post what you have to give away, or check the Wanted forum. The people who want what you have will come pick ‘em up. I feel better about doing this than giving stuff randomly to Salvation Army or Goodwill. You know that what you are giving away is needed and is going to be used.

So if you, too, need to do the Great Toy Purge of 2008, I heartily recommend Freepeats. I did not have enough toys to give away to the takers!

Now, I still need a good home for the girls’ old stuffed animals. Still no takers there. They may just hit the curb, although if i do that, they will haunt me. I just know it.

Of course, if I manage to unload everything I want to, and I do manage to have baby number four (technically) (and not that we’re actually ‘trying’) I will be looking to get it all back. If I stay with Freepeats, though, I don’t think that will be a problem.

I actually have a bunch of stuff I am trying to get to moms I know. If they decide they don’t want them, I’ll just post them to Freepeats. Also, my sister-in-law WonderSIL is expecting another baby in March. If it’s a girl, I want to pass on clothes. If, on the other hand, she has another boy — her fourth — she is well provisioned.

Well, maybe she’ll need a little more wine.

********************

Thirdly: Happy Halloween.

I know there is a lot of confusion (or people are confuzzled) about when and why Halloween is scheduled in Pittsburgh. I can understand the frustration. I’m of the opinion that Holidays should be celebrated on the day they occur. (Anyone else remember when Pittsburgh celebrated July 4th on July 3?)

I like that they have set hours, I will admit. I can expect people to come between 6 and 8 p.m.; the earlier time is great for little kids because there is still daylight. In my neighborhood they had trick-or-treating on Thursday because of the high school football game. Since DearDR couldn’t be home, we just handed out candy, and the girls are trick-or-treating tonight in an adjoining neighborhood with friends. So it worked out well for us this year.

*********************

Monkey had a Halloween party at her preschool yesterday. They sang little songs and everything. Bella went in my stead (thank you, Bella!). She called me later at work to tell me how cute Monkey was.

“Some of the parents brought treats,” she mentioned. “I put them in a bag for Monkey.”

Okay, I thought, so she’s already got some stuff. Cool.

Turns out that “some parents” means “almost all of the parents in Monkey’s class” and “treats” means “treat bags with fun stuff, cookies, candy and personal notes.”

I win clueless mother of the year award. I better get my sh*t together for Christmas time.

*********************

And lastly: I am getting my hairs cut tomorrow (as is the bang queen, Monkey). Please help me pick a real style. The color will be a brown closer to my natural color. It’s time to go away from the red. Thanks.

1:

2:

3:

4:

5:

6:

People just give things to DearDR. I’m not kidding. They hear him talk about liking music or the Pens, and they lend him CDs to burn or give him front row tickets to a game. He gets offered cars (I make him say NO), and the other day someone just gave him a digital camera.

I wish they had given him the manual. But we’re figuring it out as we go along.

Bun is developing a really funny personality.

From the Dormont Park picture session:

Nanny is the matriarch; Bella is Nanny’s daughter; DearDR is Bella’s son. We don’t really know how much longer Nanny will be with us. She’s not an invalid, although she is no social butterfly. She has emphysema, and as far as I can tell, they (whoever they are) decided against supplementary oxygen. For now anyway.

It’s kind of a race to see who passes away first (I was tempted to be flip here, but I don’t want you to think I don’t take this seriously. I wanted to type “kicks the bucket” or “buys the farm”, but these are our grandmothers we’re talking about here) Nanny or Gigi. My money is on Gigi: She is older and confined to a wheelchair now, and her dementia is well advanced. My mom, Nonna, says it’s just a matter of time. Which makes a ringing phone a thing of joy.

But anyway, this is our slice of the family. I think we look pretty good.

Sassy!

Monkey is thinking of adding to her fairy costume this year.

Girl’s got Personality, I’m telling you!

Much thanks to Classmate’s Mom who was sweet enough to take these pictures, and awesome enough to remember to email them to me.

This is from last Friday.

We had a lot of fun here:

Our First Hayride!

Reporting Direct from the Pumpkin Patch.

The Giant Slide was a Big Hit.

It was a little chilly, but we had a good time. I think Monkey really enjoyed seeing her classmates in a different setting. And it is clear that she just loves her teachers — she couldn’t stop asking about them, or running up to them to say hi and chat a bit. I think school is really good for her. Makes me happy to know she is doing well.

Because I’m too tired for words.

Here are some images Monkey managed to capture before she dropped the camera in the sink. (For the record, the camera works now, but the flash does not.)

I’m going to start calling her Annie Lebowitz. (And just sue me if I spelled that wrong — too tired to look it up, even).

“What’s in here?”

“Cheeeeeezzze” and Chocolate:

I can’t even think of anything clever here. If I had the energy (and the commenters) I would run a contest. What the heck? Name the picture. I’ll figure out something:

Horsey-face Mommy:

A More Reasonable Distance:

The Babysitter’s Shirt:

Is This Thing On?

And now we come to Monkey’s favorite subject: Her sister, Bun.

Bun One:

Bun Back:

Bun Two:

Bun Blur:

Bun Bangs I:

Bun Bangs II:

Especially if you have one starting school for the first time. Even if it’s just preschool.

DearDR took this picture. With the digital camera that has a shorted-out flash. I’m not sure why he didn’t get her feet, or took it from so far away.

But check out that pose.

I think she’s going to be fine.

**************

Bun waited in the driveway for Monkey to get out of the car. But Monkey was not getting out of the car.

“Fo-wa,” said Bun. Pause. “Fo-wa?”

“Come on,” said Mom-mom. They walked to the front door of DCL. Mom-mom gave Bun a hug.

But no Fo-wa.

Oh well, there were lots of toys to play with, all the same.

I know that kids like music. Monkey loves music — mostly the singing aspects of it. Currently, “Flying Machine” by Father Goose on Bam Bam Diddly (featuring Sheryl Crow and Dan Zanes) is, in her words, “her best song.” She asks to hear it over and over (and over and over and over…) again.

Dan and I like music too, although we have radically different tastes. And as I was hitting repeat on my CD player for the fourth time to listen to “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay — this is my summer song ‘08, the one I blast from my car — I thought, “Oh, that’s probably where she gets it.”

*********************

Monkey has a new friend, a 7-year-old boy whose family moved into our neighborhood about two months ago. The other day, walking with him from his house to our house, she asked him, “Can I hold your hand?”

I just about had a heart attack.

But at least she’s not kissing boys in cars. (Yet.)

I know that it is sweet and innocent, and just friendly. Platonic if you will. And I have to rein in my adult mind and just get a grip.

Admittedly however, Monkey has been like this since the earliest days, preferring Tadone to Bella, Pap-pap to Nonna, the uncles to the aunts, and so on. I could wish for a more shy child it is true — for goodness sakes, she walks up to perfectly strange men in restaurants and waiting rooms to say hi and take a seat next to them. Yes, it causes me palpitations. But I have to believe not only in Monkey, but in the inherent goodness of human nature.

Or should I just let DearDR go and buy that gun now?

Incidentally, the boy did hold her hand, although his, “All right,” was reluctant. But he is the younger brother of two sisters (11 and 18 years old), so he’s probably a little sensitive to female nature.

Poor kid.

*******************************

I finally got around to asking Monkey why she didn’t want to sleep in her room.

“I’m afraid of the dark,” she answered.

Oh.

How about a nightlight? I just happen to have one right here! With a brand new light bulb!

She has to be able to see the nightlight, but that has been easily arranged.

Two nights so far. I have my fingers crossed.

*******************

Finally, I think I know what Monkey will be getting for her birthday.

Obviously, most of these feature her fingers. If I can identify any other part of it, I will.

I think this is a swatch of the dress she wore on Christmas day:

Not a clue:

Niece, artistically framed:

I’m not that pale:

Couch with cherry blanket:

Same, only fingers much, much closer together:

I seriously overestimated my ability to deal with four children under the age of 5 all by myself. Bella did step in at crucial moments. Such as when I broke a glass on my patio. She also took the three older ones for an hour at “rest” time. God bless her.

I also overestimated the attraction of a kiddie pool. I figured hot day + cold water = kid magnet.

Not so much.

Bun absolutely refused to go in at all (she had woken at 6 a.m. that morning, and was disinclined to be cooperative pretty much for the rest of the day).

I completely underestimated the desire of children to be outside on a hot, beautiful day, especially with the promise of a kiddie pool.

As a matter of fact, my nephew complained that the water was too cold. What?? Too cold? He asked me to “make it super hot.” Dude, it’s 90 degrees outside. I did add two buckets of hot water, as much as to appease Nephew, as see if the temperature was bugging Bun. And it still wasn’t much of a go.

Also, I overestimated the size of the pool. I thought it was easily big enough to accommodate four kids. I was wrong.

Anyway, some pics:

Nephew “taking a break” from the pool. Just before telling me it was too cold.

Empty Pool, One Niece.

Kids in Pool! Success!

Well, almost. Bun, not in pool.

Dress-up: Witch and Pumpkin (note to rpm: please think about getting a few boy dress up clothes.)

Dress-up: Dancer, Dancing.

The “Down” part of the title references DearDR’s Sunday activity, namely cutting down the half-dead tree in our yard. It took two almost-40-year-olds and two teenage boys about eight hours. No blood was shed. I don’t think anyone even got seriously bruised.

However, I cannot speak for the other almost-40, but DearDR could barely move today.

I hope some of these pictures give you a sense of scale. Suffice to say: Not a small tree. But my man had a plan, everyone followed the plan, and they took their time. And drank roughly 20 to 25 pitchers of water. And probably a couple of beers (for the almost-40s).

12:30 p.m.: All of Tree.

1 p.m.: Starting Small.

3 p.m.: Less Tree.

Pretty!

4:30 p.m.: All Dead Tree.

Yeah, that’s my man. He’s got tools, and he’s not afraid to use them.

6:30 p.m.: Short Tree!

7:30 p.m.: One, Two, Three.

7:32 p.m. Tree Down.

Now we just have to tear out that box and level the ground a little, plant some grass, and walla! Backyard.

Countdown to Girlie Weekend: 36 hours

We have had some technical difficulties, and I haven’t been able to download pictures from my camera for months. It was the digital-age equivilant of all those rolls of film you keep meaning to take to get developed, but never get around to.

These difficulties have finally been resolved, so I’ve a few images from the past few months to share.

But first!

We went to the ENT (Ear-Nose-Throat) doctor on Monday, and it could not have been a more different experience than what I was expecting. Except for the “great with kids” part — I mean, it’s part of their name. They should be great with kids.

The upshot is: No ear tubes. The doctor was really honest, and after talking with me, reviewing their charts, and checking the kids’ ears and throats, he just basically said there was nothing that indicated that they needed ear tubes any time soon.

He said that if they should develop infections over the summer, then tubes could be indicated. If they get a bunch of them this fall and winter, tubes are an option. But for the time being, in the absence of any other indicators (no fluid in the ear, no current infection, no sore throats or toncellitis [sic]), then they were in the clear. He also suggested that one reason for their rash of infections could be because of their return to daycare. Now that their immune systems have gotten a boost, we should see fewer colds, etc.

Here’s hoping! I was really relieved. I though I was going to meet a more aggressive doctor. He summed it up by saying, “If they were my kids, I wouldn’t get tubes now.” That pretty much clinched it.

We’re taking off for Seven Springs shortly. If my sis has her laptop with her, I’ll try to throw something on the blog, but it’s not going to be a top priority, if you can imagine.

In the meantime, here are some fun, photographic moments:

My little audiophile!

Happy Mother’s Day (a little late…)

Bella’s summer outdoor gift:

“I grew some hair since you were away.”

Future tomato:

Cherry tomatoes:

HUG!

Happy Independence Day!