not much

Emma has been "visiting" people a lot lately, as I try to finish my creative project over this long weekend. Luckily enough of my friends like her that they don't mind helping out with some babysitting.

The other day she said "toothbrush" - no kidding. Her language skills are developing fast. My friend Susan reminded me to record some of her talking. I love that sweet persistent voice! E says a similar "sentence" over and over in quite a few different situations. I have no clue what it means, but it sounds pretty much the same each time so it must mean something. It's something like "begeseggen zie bosch". Sounds German doesn't it? Maybe she was German in a previous life.

My writing project is going well. Now that I'm down to the stage of purely implementing my to-do list of scenes and edits, I feel like procrastinating. This always happens when a goal starts to really look feasible -- I lose my motivation. But don't worry, I'll pull it off. Back to work now.

someone else is princess today

Emma learns to cope with sharing the spotlight at this party for my co-worker's daughter, a couple of weeks ago.

why no write

Hi everybody. Sorry I've not been posting very much. I've been using almost every spare minute to work on a creative writing project - something I'm submitting to a contest! The deadline is June 1st. I'll tell you what it is after I'm done.

The 3 of us are going on vacation June 1st (soon as I mail my entry), for one week. We're driving up to the Washington DC area to do some sightseeing and visiting friends. So blog posts will be irregular for a while -- I hope to get back to my usual daily schedule by mid-June. I miss it. Thanks for your patience!

Sarah

p.s. latest Emma news: At the babysitter's she said goodbye to Victor, "bye-bye Victie!" She pointed at a picture of my dad and said "ball" (because he played ball with her all week when we stayed with them at the end of April). And she is starting to do more pretend play - feeding me with an empty spoon or cup, giving a doll a drink. She says "thank you" when you give her something (sometimes) but more often it means, "Here, take this."

I guess it's a mom thing

We all survived my trip away. I only cried in the car driving away. I only called home 3 times (all on the first day). Neither of them gave me the momentous, dramatic homecoming welcome that I felt was warranted. In my mind this was like a return from 3 weeks in Nepal. But it was 3 days in Richmond. David said taking care of her for 3 days was "nothing special". Okay then, that put me back in reality! I guess, knowing him, that means it went well. But every mother I talk to knows what I went through. The baby isn't the only one who gets separation anxiety. I can't describe the feelings any better than: it just feels wrong to be away. It's not an intellectual problem. I guess it's loneliness, but it's a version that's kind of visceral.

The second day and night I was fine, I think. What helped was keeping busy - mainly, keeping my brain busy. I was taking a class that was intellectually stimulating and I was meeting interesting people. When I woke up without her, it also helped to watch a couple minutes of "Teletubbies" which gave me a little dose -- a quick trip through toddler land -- and made me smile. Only a couple minutes though. That was enough.

beach with hungry gulls

more pictures from end of April

happy mothers' day!

E and I had a nice morning walking to the coffee shop. I'm leaving today for 3 nights, to take a class for my work. My first trip away from her for more than 12 hours! I'm sure she'll survive, but will I?

I'll let you know how it went when I come back to the blog on Thursday or Friday.

she said Mommy!

... when I picked her up from the sitter yesterday. And again today when I got her up from her nap. It finally feels like I clearly have a name in her world.

times you wish you had your camera

1. Sunday at my local coffee shop: I was able to completely go through and reconcile all my receipts with my checkbook while Emma sat opposite me like a little lady, entertaining herself with my empty coffee cup and a plastic stirrer and feeding herself pieces of dried fruit.

2. Tonight: I took her to my hairdresser for a bangs trim and she sat so still and serious, absorbed with her reflection in the mirror.

3. The other day coming home from work: I discovered one reason she loves to take her shoes off in the car -- she uses the end of the shoelace to pick her nose!

blue duck on a string and a handful of sand

Here is one of my favorite beach pictures.

radical inspiration

When people talk about the future of the planet and our disappearing natural resouces, one of the first implications I think of is How Plastic Will Become a Precious Substance. After all, it's a petroleum product.... Today I learned about a few people who are trying to live a plastic-free life -- can you imagine??? This blog is funny and thought-provoking: http://plasticfree.blogspot.com/ I like how the blogger pokes fun at herself but is movingly earnest. I admire what she's doing. I had already started to be more conscious of my use of plastic, trying to save and reuse it a little more. Maybe I should stash some of E's plastic toys in the attic to save for her; when she's 60 she can sell them and retire on the proceeds. Can you picture those green diaper-wipes containers being used as chic flower vases or tissue boxes? There will be big money in mining the landfills for used plastic. Margarine tubs and shampoo bottles will be like those antiques that people decorate with now (soft drink signs, picket fence slats, stuff like that). What materials will be cheap when plastic becomes expensive? It's not like we're going to suddenly have more forests, I don't think. Maybe cotton farmers will finally find their prestigious place in the world! Families could plant trees in their yards in place of the plastic lawn ornaments, and start investing in their own sheep.

I don't think I'm ready to cut plastic out of my life completely, but I think what I'll do first is try to reduce the amount of it that I buy just to throw away - like in food packaging. I'm open to any tips you readers have! We'll all be more prepared for the future if we learn to live without it.

first trip to the beach

E and I went to the beach with "K" and "M" (age 8). Here the ladies pose at a Greek restaurant where we had lunch.

E hardly noticed the ocean for the first half of the day -- too busy playing in the sand.

K gave us a wading pool so that E could enjoy the water more easily, and in the shade. That's a play tent in the background. E didn't like it in there but M sheltered in it sometimes.

One busy beach girl