Parental Experiment

Let us pretend for a moment or two that I simply sat back and let my little lovely kids do whatever they really wanted to do (for the most part) and I snapped pictures. For example here we have a delightful real life art piece inscribed on my very own kitchen cupboard (in a bold use of black sharpie), and following the little hand I suspect to be the culprit....hmmmmm

Here is Bitty (I believe on the dining table- you'll see that this is a favorite hang out for this 1-1/2 year old.) The 2nd pic her little lips are trying to explain to me WHY she is on

the dining table and playing with a glass full of water:

When mom shuts her mouth and doesn't nag, a video (Hannah Montana) is immediately put on. Bitty then ventures up Nat's bed...

Bitty displays a fantastic skill of leaning just far enough over the edge to give me a heart attack, but not far enough to fall off (yet)


And indeed, despite the poor jumping room, she will simply make due and just jump anyways... all the way up there on the top of the bunk bed


Here you'd almost think that this precious little face was sincere and genuine. You'd be wrong.

Dinner time and mom's not saying a word. Lu feeds Bitty. Bitty feeds Lu. Bitty feeds Nat

Dinner was not nearly as destructive as I thought it would be. My kids like food. That is good. Bitty still thinks that her place during all this is to be ON the dining table. I don't think I have any chance of breaking her of that habit- as I submit and just sit back and take pictures

Here is Bitty's game of poker or something. Note the smirk in pic#1, the poker face in pic #2, oh and the joy of stacking the poker chips in the pic#3

Then there'd be Lu. She tries for a sweet pic, but can't hold that too long. She's then sporting fishie kissie lips and then "swimming" with her fishie kissie lips... but where oh where has Bitty gone? She's not in the picture. Bitty.... Bitty!..... Bitty?.....

Bitty: In the bathroom applying deodorant. What a blessing that she already concerned about personal hygiene

What's that Bitty?

You need to go pee?

Let's go!


<-- LOVE the look on her face right here. "Mom! Help me! How do I do this again?"

She is so proud of herself. Then I couldn't help it so I started singing the "Pee pee in the Potty" song and she's dancing. And yes she really does dance. All of a sudden tho she's terribly concerned that we've left the poop out of the song =( She'd like to sing about the poop too. Fabulous..... and then...easily distractable but also showing off her multi-tasking skills: she applies deodorant to BOTH little armpits WHILE sitting on the potty. Go Bitty! Go Bitty!


No potty experience is every complete without a little hand washing right? She is on a mission to get to that soap ...sans diaper. Well heck, and while she's all the way up there and she's really already IN the sink, she decides to wash her feet too...

Good night dear friends. May your tushies be just as cute as Bitty's.

Mama's Day

Here's a pic of Mama at St Patrick's Seminary. She had to wear that air filter/mask thing ALL.THE.TIME. She took it off for this pic, held her breath, and put it on the angel. Still makes me cry.

Here's a similar pic of Dad, Mama, and Dear Dear (Dad's aunt. She lived about a month after mom died. Dear Dear however lived just days after her own 100th birthday. They woke her up at midnight of her 100th bday and sat her up, handed her a glass of champagne and said Happy 100th bday! Her reply? "Oh sh*t. That's way too old.") Anyways, Dear Dear hung her cane and purse on St Francis of Assisi's arm. Charming eh?

The Peterson Clan on the outer banks of North Carolina. For the record Granddad was 6-4, Grandmere was 5-1.

These are the men behind the Manhattan project, and their respective families. See Granddad far right, below him Grandmere who is holding my mom. 1944-ish.

She found beauty in everything. After all the chemo and bone marrow transplant she finally asked dad to shave the rest of her head. She was done with the little wispy pieces that still remained. She was ready to be done with it. She put in her favorite earrings made by her best friend Chris, and set her self against the backdrop of the paint tarp at St Patrick's:

... I've never ever seen beauty so simply stated and embraced.

See: something about a mama and her baby...even my mama and her mama too. =)

Mama, me and Lu. Christmas 99. Yes we are wearing tiaras.

Favorites of Mama:

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First day of rain breakfasts at Spanky's
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Doing cartwheels down the middle of hwy9 when no cars were coming

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Going through the lockes in France and being blessed by a little medicine woman with magic potion
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Learning how to split Iris bulbs after the blooming season

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How she would plant her string bean plants in a circle, so that in the heat of summer I'd have a little hide out right in the middle. I'd have just enough room to sit with my crayons and a stack of paper and draw for hours in the shade

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She'd always make fast friends with the janitors and gardeners where ever she went

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Another year and I'm not missing her any less, and at the same time I don't feel any less connected to her. Curious. What I have newly found, is that some of those oh-so-special things that I thought were just qualities that Mama possessed, are actually qualities I'm finding in friends and family that I never knew to look for before. I miss her voice. I have a friend whose voice so closely resembles Mama's at times that I have to stop what I'm doing to catch my breath. A friend with the same sensible, organic heart that can reason any trouble. This is beautiful. What more will I find?

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And just to come full circle with this, and end on a silly sweet idea: I have a theory about Mama and Bitty and Mama's kidneys and Bitty's being a pee-pee machine. Mama's kidneys were damaged from the amyloid early on, and eventually shut down completely, rendering her in complete renal failure. Kidneys serve a very vital purpose, helping to rid the body of waste. Anyways, Mama was a trooper no doubt, but I know it was a constant struggle for her deal with the dialysis every single day. So here's my theory: When Mama got to heaven and there was informed that I would soon be pregnant. I think that Mama and God had a little 'meet and confer' if you will, and I think given all the kidney problems she'd had...she bargained long and hard for Bitty...so Bitty has been blessed with the MOST FUNCTIONAL KIDNEYS EVER. They process the pee-pee like it's no body's business. So the moral of this story is: every morning when I wake up and Bitty is pee-peed all the way down to her soggy socks and up to her little armpits, I can just picture Mama saying, "I worked hard for that," with a little wink and a smile.

Memories

I'll post something special for Mother's Day, but I guess kind of as a warm up I'll post tonight about something special that Mama used to do for me.

Mama was very crafty. She was known for her gardens of veggies and flowers, she'd make home made cards for every occasion and mastered how to press flowers and put her stamp of life on things. There were sometimes when Mama would make me a dress, knit me a scarf, but not very often. Also not often, but maybe this is what makes is so special, she would find something simple already made thing and then she'd embroider just one edge, or find the perfect little applique for just one corner. I have one sweater from when I was a little girl, she put a little pink bunny on the corner of the little pink sweater. I have a comforter she sewed 3 little hearts to on the edge. It was just once in a while and it meant the world to me.

Her love was always just what I needed. The way it was never gaudy, it never needed attention. It was there to simply be and love and take in the moment. And now those moments are my memories, some of my very favorite. Little bits of love stitched into time that I can hold in my hand...and feel.

For the first time I am passing on the tradition. This little guy is going to saunter in to a new home tomorrow. I think I should name him.

Ahhhh yes, Allessandro the Alligator. Happy trails little fellow. I've prayed over you.

Bitty-isms

Somethings are as clear as day out of this babe's mouth:
Oh gosh
Hi daddy
Where'd my baba go?
I don't know
One two!
Want a bite?

Other things...not so much, here are the translations:
peep- time to go pee pee

belly buppin- belly button

meggie- mom <-- this one makes me sad, I'd much prefer 'mama'

aticker- can I have a sticker?

abbie- dog (any dog is an abbie)

ago?- you're going to go?

hola- hello

mookie- milk

nallie- middle sis
Dodo- uncle jojo

eebol- multiple choice: eye ball, eye brow, or elbow =)

sharr-shower

Lulu- big sissy

Yaheerdat?- Do you hear that?

Minty Goodness and My Staff

Lookie here at these smiling faces! This is me and my staff (most of them)(and my elbow.... why does it look so big? Never thought before this pic that elbows could have girth. I stand corrected.) Anyhoo-- this is my staff and me at Ristorante Italiano for a yummy tummy "staff meeting." It was delightful! I can tell you definitively that I am blessed to be here.

And this my fellow readers and blogging buddies was my dessert. Some minty-minty-froo-froo-thingie:

I've got a certain hankering of sorts for desserts. Like this one. And like a few birthdays ago at Scopazzi's and since it was MY birthday I ordered one White Chocolate Mint Decadence for supper and ANOTHER one for dessert. Because I can. (And who says it wasn't the hydroxycut working!?!?!)