We were sitting on the metal bleachers at Noah’s Little League game the other night, and Chiara, in typical fashion, was spinning and climbing and falling and giving me agita, as my grandmother would say.
I turned to her and said (in one of my shining parenting moments): “You are a pain in the butt.”
Without missing a beat, she turned to me and said, quite seriously: “I am NOT a penguin butt.”
Chiara, 1 – Mom, 0
Third time’s a charm, they say, and in our case the third time (aka Chiara) had better be a lucky charm because she’s going to need it with her wild, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners behavior. I don’t know what it is that makes Chiara so willing to push the envelope where her older brother and sister did not, but I do know that the girl has got more chutzpah in her left pinky than most people have in their entire bodies.
Last night Chiara, who will not turn 3 until July 21, decided to exit the house via the garage and mosey on around the corner to the backyard where Dennis was putting lawn furniture back on the deck. I’m amazed that she opted for this route and did not, for example, decide to wander down the street or into traffic. I’m sure if she had any idea that those last two options were even feasible, she would have gone for it without a second thought. We’re thinking about building a moat around the house, but that would just be a gift to her, one more challenging obstacle to figure out between breakfast and snack time. (more…)
So if you decided to leave home and join the circus, what would you be? Trapeze artist? Clown? Tiger Tamer? That was the question of the hour as we left the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus last night, still reveling in the spectacle of the self-proclaimed Greatest Show on Earth. I knew right away what Noah’s answer would be. His face lit up when he saw the human canon balls preparing to close the show. That was it for him. He said the whole thing was great, but human canon ball? Come on. It doesn’t get any better than that.
For me, this question required some careful thought. Dangling from a trapeze or prancing on a high wire would turn my stomach, and although I often feel like a wild animal tamer, you would not get me into that fenced ring with a bunch of snarling tigers. No, I think I would have to be a clown by default, not that being a clown is easy. Have you seen the way little kids look at clowns? (See top photo above, where Chiara gives the death stare to the clown who had just signed our program) As far as I’m concerned, just taking the girls to the public rest room at the arena was daring enough for my taste, thank you. (more…)
Things have reached a crescendo at our house today, capping off a crazy week of school, work and extracurricular activities. Hence, not a lot of time for waxing poetic — or whatever it is I wax — on this blog.
Today I will be taping a radio show for the Spirit Morning Show on Spirit 88.9 FM KVSS out of Omaha, Nebraska. I’ll let you know when that will be airing or if you can access it via your computers. (more…)
I was out in the yard with Chiara today, exploring the spring flowers that are in bloom. When I spotted the beautiful Bleeding Heart (also known as Mary’s Heart) with its abundant pink hanging blossoms (that’s it in the photo above), it reminded me of an article I wrote some years back about gardens devoted to Mary. Gardening tends to be a meditative practice for many people, so it only makes sense that we could use particular plants, statues and other markers to turn our little plots of land into perennially prayerful places.
I happen to have St. Francis of Assisi in my garden:
We bought this wonderful Mexican statue before we left Texas, and, despite the fact that he bears his share of dirt and grime, I care for him as if he is as delicate as that hot pink hyacinth (Lily-Among-Thorns) you see in front of him. Every winter, I gingerly carry him into our sunporch to provide him with shelter from the inevitable storms, and then, each spring when I prepare the spot where he sits, it is a concrete — or fired clay — reminder that spring has arrived.
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