In Uniform

Harry, Luke and Morgan were back at art class this week. Each wore the tie-dye shirt (totally spill proof) that we ginned-up for Harry's 2nd birthday. The teacher was very amused. But her credibility as an art instructor was further eroded when she asked me how we got the colors so vibrant. "I do tie-dye with my kids but it never looks right," she said. Um... OK. I explained the process to her and she looked totally baffled.

'Inner Peace'

Toddlers are all about phases. Harry has recently entered the highly-unpredictable, I'm-going-to-go-loco-if-my-banana-breaks-in-two-during-breakfast stage. It's delightful. Really. Bias aside, he's the best kid: always smiling and enthusiastic. But boy, these emotional jags...I think it's a cross between his Italian blood and the drama of toddlerdom. One minute we are happy happy happy. The next we are howling for five straight minutes because the baby is perched on mom's lap.

So, how ironic that last night Harry was sitting on the sofa, softly chanting words he had recently heard spoken in the animated movie Kung Fu Panda: "Inner peace....Inner peace."

Yes, Harry. Mommy could use some too.

*Need a pick-me-up? Go to the Itunes store and download Jack Black's version of "Kung Fu Fighting."

Summetime, and the Livin' Is Easy

Between the weekly birthday parties and the twice-weekly trips to the pool and the local water park, Harry is these days subsisting on a diet of pool water, sunblock and frosting. There aren't enough words to describe a todder's joy as he splashes down a water slide, or sees those birthday cupcakes appear (no, doesn't have to be his birthday). I never appreciated it like I do now -- Summer really is a magical time to be a kid (and a parent).

Baby You Can Drive My Car

Charlotte isn't driving (short of Pearl and Sam's red roadster), but she's got life by the gearbox and she's giving it a road test. This includes crawling all over the house to points forbidden (in search of electrical wires to munch and chairs to tip over and one jealous brother to smack on the head...a new favorite trick). Last night she moved her body until she could move no longer, collapsing in a heap of baby momentum and zzzz's.

Today we had our 9 month check with the pediatrician. Miss Bliss is a little taller (45th percentile) , a little slimmer (still a bean bun at 21 pounds, 9 ounces) and has the trademark Barnes head: huge. She flirted with all the nurses and cried just a smidge after two shots (tho she did give that nurse a cinema-perfect scowl).

'Oh My Darling, Oh My Darling....'

Do you know the next words? "Oh my Daaaaaarling Clementine.....'

Clementine is Harry's newest favorite song. He likes to sing it. Not the whole song. No, no. Mom has to do that. But when we get to our heroine's name, I stop and Harry fills the gaps. I have very cute video I'll post, hopefully in the near future, but no breath-holding please.

In case you don't know the lyrics to Clementine and think it's just a sweet little ditty, think again. It's actually a very sad song, ripe with a drowning (our fair Clementine slips into a pool of brine), suicide (dad just can't take it) and then consummated lust (Clementine's beau, the narrator, takes up with Clem's sis.) Exactly how did this become a children's song?

In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner forty niner,
And his daughter Clementine

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev'ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

The Red, White and Blue

Two pregnancies, two labors and still it took Paul to remind me that no, we would not be watching the fireworks (live) because our children go to bed before dark. Hmmm. Sometimes I just forget. But that little wrinkle didn't stop us from packing three days worth of 4th of July fun into to one afternoon (I seriously need to go back to bed).

We started by checking out the Maury School festival, which I'm told has been going on for a very long time. Think: over-done hot dogs and hamburgers, a veeeery old man hammering out patriotic tunes on a portable keyboard, a baby beauty contest (!)... (Paul ran into a kid carrying a certificate that proclaimed he had the prettiest eyes and Paul says..."are you sure?" Horror!! ), a dunk tank, a giant moonbounce and a fire engine.

Kitchy, super old-fashioned and totally perfect for a neighborhood 4th. As I told a friend, I'm not sure what Harry liked most -- the hotdog, the fire truck, lights a blazing (he actually WORE the hat this time) or the moonbounce, which he visited three times before getting an elbow to the kidney by a "big" kid.

After Harry and Charlotte and Paul's naps (why didn't I nap?), we went to the waterfront in old town where some friends host an annual potluck picnic. Harry immediately stripped off his shoes and began roaming. To the waterfront, we stormed to feed the ducks, to the dock we ran to check out the boats (and point out the bloated tummies on drunken boaters...yes, Harry did, and quite loudly) and then we spent much time just looking up...many helicopters and airplanes en route to the airport. Harry can't quite say helicopter. It sounds more like hick-cucumber, which had me extraordinary confused until I noodled it through.

It was an evening of many proclamations...all of them more horrifying than the next. In less than an hour Harry declared -- in no particular order: "I want to jump in the water," "I want to run away" (said while dashing across the grassy knoll) and, my favorite, "I want to try beer." He managed none of these. Still, I think he had a very good time. I know Charlotte did, cooed over as she was by twin girls (3-years), who thought she was an animatronic doll. While she did not declare her intention to run away (bless her), she did celebrate the 4th by popping two new teeth and giving her mother official cause to say that she is indeed now "creeping."

I hope everyone had an equally amusing holiday, without or without a light show.

"Happy Birthday America"

Harry and Charlotte had the fortune of hosting playgroup the day before the Fourth of July, which as it happens was a holiday. So we pumped-up the spiffy new pool (thank you Jim and Eliza), put some wieners on the grill and extended an invitation to our normal Friday crowd as well as the dads.


The weather was beautiful while the kids cavorted, the desserts were overflowing (a special thank you to Janney for her awesome patriotic cupcakes and Dinah for the fabulous red jello stars), and the kids were super cute, splitting their time between the sandbox and the pond. It was a very nice start to the holiday weekend. We feel so lucky to have these fantastic friends in our neighborhood and our lives. Before the kids went home for naps we serenaded America with a

rendition of "Happy Birthday." It's high time she got a little credit.