Enduring winter

Ever since we moved to Montana for graduate school, then on to New York, and now to north Idaho, I have been trying very hard to embrace winter.

I am not having much success.

As a matter of fact, I think I am liking winter less and less with each passing year, and I blame my kids for that. It's one thing to bundle up myself and brave inclement weather; it's another thing entirely to bundle up myself and Clara and Jonathan. Plus, it seems like one or the other of them always has a cold or something, and we end up spending a lot of time indoors.

Seriously, I am starting to lose my mind.

It definitely doesn't help that Syracuse and north Idaho really have to be some of the world's most overcast places. At least Montana was sunny (if frigid).

So to preserve my sanity and to provide at least a handful of happy childhood memories for my kidlets--memories that don't involve injuries or trips to the hospital, if you know what I mean--I have been trying really hard to get creative about having fun indoors. As a little caveat, I should point out--though this is probably obvious enough--that Jonathan is just happy as can be no matter where he is. The boy has no clue that we are always at home, and as long as he is fed and has faces to look at, he is nothing but joy. His sister, on the other hand, is much more aware that we are stuck inside a lot and still hasn't stopped asking to go to the park. Yesterday she put on her swimming suit over her clothes and started demanding a trip to the lake. I declined. (By way of interpretation, Clara unearthed these awesome goggles yesterday, which were somehow part of a little lesson at nursery. I don't really get it. I think they're kind of weird, but she digs 'em.)


Anyway, we do a lot of the usual stuff, like coloring and dancing and watching a couple of shows on PBS Kids and reading a thousand stories. I read a great idea on my friend's blog about swimming in the bathtub, although I think Jeremy would probably think that wasn't the best idea since it may lead to screaming for a swimsuit for every bath... We shall see.

One absolute lifesaver is the Church's music CD that goes with the Primary 1 manual. If you haven't heard it, it's a bunch of classical music and a few stories with suggestions for actions...like stretching, bending, swaying, walking, tiptoeing, jumping, leaping, running (Clara's favorite) and resting (my favorite). We do this a couple of times a day and it's great for releasing the wiggles. Plus it's only 75 cents and ships for free, so it's kind of a win-win.

I also tried my hand at making play dough this week, and it's been a GREAT distraction. The recipe makes a lot, and I made it all green. For awhile I regretted not separating it into smaller batches and making different colors, until I realized that keeping colors separate is probably not Clara's strong suit.

Anyway, if you're interested, here's the recipe:

2 C water
2 C flour
1 C salt (yes, a whole cup!)
1/2 C cornstarch
2 Tbsp. vegetable powder
1 Tbsp. powdered alum or cream of tartar
Food coloring

Mix all ingredients and heat over low heat until a ball forms. Take out of the pan and knead until smooth.

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So, now that I've shared, it's your turn. What do you do to pass the long and lonely winter days? I am desperate for suggestions. Don't fail me now!

Keep out of reach of children

Since I have no remaining ambitions to be crowned "Mother of the Year--2009," I will share with you a little story.

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that a worn and weary mother wants to put clothes on a two-year-old, but that said two-year-old would rather "be nakie" and run around the house in a diaper. Let's also say, for the sake of our story here, that the mother decides to let the be-diapered child run around the house for a moment before taking up the chase. And let's finally say that when, after (literally) two minutes of quiet, a piercing scream breaks out from the next room, that none of this can possibly end well. And if we say all of these things, you will have a hint about why Clara is photographed above wearing that "whatevs" look on her face in our local emergency room.

You will have a hint, but you will not have the specifics.

The facts are these: Clara has had a horrible cough this week, so we did not take her to church. Jeremy went alone to Sacrament Meeting (the first church meeting), then he was scheduled to come home so I could go play the piano in Relief Society (the last church meeting). About 30 minutes before Jeremy was to return home, Clara, running amok in her diaper, went into Jonathan's bedroom, where I had taken out a bin of crafts supplies the day before. She fished through the bin for what must have been two glorious minutes until she found a great prize.

The prize? A tube of superglue. That she opened. And put on her eye.

So yes, instead of taking her to church where she could've gleefully infected 10 other toddlers with her cough, I had to take both of my precious offspring into the influenza-and-MRSA-ridden hospital so that the doctor could see if any of the superglue was on her cornea. It was not. I suppose that's the happy ending of the story. Nevertheless, after my other incidences of gross maternal negligence this week, I have to imagine that this is near the last straw.

So, for all of you parents out there, please be aware: don't leave anything within reach of a curious toddler. And since curious toddlers' curiosity actually knows no bounds, perhaps this will save you a trip to the ER: superglue in the eye turns white, just as it does when it dries on your skin, meaning you can see it. If the superglue is in the whites of the eye (the conjunctiva, if you're taking notes), then it's no big deal. It will be irritating but will flake off and go away after awhile. If the glue dries on the cornea, that's a bit more concerning. I don't know what the treatment is, exactly, but I can't imagine it's pleasant.

So there you have it. Clara just has a smear of superglue underneath her right eye, literally millimeters from her eyeball. She's no worse for the wear, which I guess makes one of us.

This week's motherhood motto: Constant Vigilance.

(By the way, you may have noticed that Clara is indeed holding a pacifier. She only uses it when she's falling asleep. Or if she has to go to the hospital. Don't judge us. Perhaps one day I'll tell you about the time we tried to give the pacifier to Santa Claus and how that backfired. We'll be waiting a little while before trying another tactic.)

Terrible. Horrible. No good. VERY Bad.

So I know you're all familiar with that classic children's book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. His day is, indeed, a very bad one, but I am pretty sure I have him beat with my day yesterday, or at least my morning.

Yesterday was benign enough in the beginning. We watched the inauguration in the morning (with Clara incessantly asking, "Where's Obama, Mommy?"), and then I figured I might as well take the kids to story time at the library. Clara pretty much lives to go to nursery on Sundays and to go to story time on Tuesdays.

About 10 minutes into story time, which was (mercifully) sparsely attended, I felt a little rumble from the baby on my lap, after which point I felt an ever-expanding pool of sticky wet warmth spreading up his back. Of course I had no change of clothes, but I figured I might as well change his diaper. I took him and Clara into the bathroom, where Clara started dragging a wooden step stool around the concrete floor, which was very noisy. I convinced her to stop by telling her to wash her hands, and then I stripped Jonathan down, only to discover that there was almost no trace of poop in his diaper and instead his back was just COVERED. And then I discovered something worse: I only had two wipes. I wiped him up as best as I could, and then I strapped him into his front carrier, where I got to absorb some of his wetness. He's good at sharing.

We went back to story time, which by this point had progressed to craft-making. I made the craft while Clara did her best to spread glue over every available surface, then I worked my way upstairs to get a few books I had on hold. Clara chose this moment to escape into the bowels of the library, so I grabbed the books and ran after her. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her out of the library and out to the car. When I let go of her hand to open the car door, she took off. I screamed at her to GET OUT OF THE STREET! THERE ARE CARS THERE! And she, duly terrified, started running back towards me. And then she tripped on the tip of her shoe and fell, face-first, into the wet gravel of the asphalt with a sickening thud. I ran over to assess the damage, and while I was wiping sand out of her mouth and checking for missing teeth, Jonathan started screaming.

I picked Clara up and heard an unfortunate popping sound from my back, but luckily nothing gave way. I plopped her into her car seat, wrestled a screaming Jonathan into his, then came around to Clara with my trusty first aid kit and proceeded to wipe down her face with an antiseptic wipe.

Finally, both of the kids stopped crying (Jonathan was asleep) and I drove home, completely on edge, wondering how that could possibly have been any worse. And then I got out of the car in our garage, went around to Clara's door, and discovered that in the furor I had completely forgotten to buckle Clara into her seat. What kind of a mother am I??

We made our way into the house, where Jeremy was mercifully having his lunch break and made quesadillas for everyone while holding a still sleeping Jonathan. So I guess that was one good thing.

Nothing truly horrible happened for the rest of the day, but suffice it to say that my nerves were completely shot. I'll be recovering from this one for awhile yet. Oh well.

The update post

I have somehow misplaced my zest for blogging, but I'm on the lookout for it and am sure it will re-emerge sooner or later. In the meantime, for all my loyal readers (Hi, Mom!), please acccept these official updates:

Snow: As of this morning the official snow total here was 112.6 inches. If memory serves me, that is more that we had last year in the 'Cuse. To put this into perspective, the normal season-to-date total is a mere 31 inches. On the plus side, we have had two days of rain, which has led to messy conditions on the roads but has also caused most of the snow piled on our roof to melt or slide off. This is good for two reasons: 1) I don't have to worry that our house will be added to the list of collapsing buildings in the area; 2) I don't have to worry about Jeremy getting on the roof to shovel the snow (which means, by extension, that I also don't have to worry about becoming a widow this week, I think. At least the risk is greatly reduced).


Jonathan: Our sweetest of sweet babies is now four months old! He is a hefty 16 pounds, nine ounces and has an enviable physique. He sleeps for 10-11 hours at night, which makes our hearts melt. He can grab his toys and get them to his mouth, and he loves to stand up. And he still has one of the readiest smiles I've ever seen. I just love that baby!


Clara: Clara had a wonderful Christmas and still goes to sleep every night saying that Santa is going to come. She is saddened by the loss of our Christmas tree, which disappeared during her nap one day, but she takes comfort in playing with her new toys and sleeping in her big girl bed. She is still quite taken with the Nativity, and we enact it probably five days a week (I kid you not). If Jeremy is wearing his robe in the morning, Clara says, "Daddy's Joseph! Care-la's Mary! Where's baby Jesus, Mommy?" If you ask her what the angel said to the shepherds, she says, "Fear not! Glad tidings, great joy, all people!" And she likes to talk about the manger and how there was "no room a innd!" She's a good girl.

Merry Christmas!

The eye of the storm

I'm inclined to think that if the weather weren't so crazy all over the country--snow in Las Vegas and New Orleans??--then you would have already heard about our very literal storm of a lifetime. But since the wild weather of the Inland Northwest was trumped by other storms in more metropolitan areas, I am taking it upon myself to give you the rundown of our week.

Between Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning we had 37.5 inches of snow. I have seen three feet of snow before, but I have never seen it come all at once in the same storm over such a short period of time. Apparently no one else has either--at least in this neck of the woods--since this storm broke every snowfall record in the region. By Thursday morning we were completely snowed in, although Jeremy very diligently kept our walkway and driveway plowed--he shoveled five times during the storm.


Clara loved getting all bundled up and going out to play in the snow. She took her snow shovel (a big black spoon) and helped Jeremy, then she went sledding on a cookie sheet down the driveway. The only thing she didn't like is when she tried to wade across the street through two feet of snow to find the neighbors light-up nativity scene. She fell face-first into the snow and got herself a nice snowburn across her nose and under her eyes for her efforts.



The plows finally rolled through yesterday morning, and I took my life into my hands by venturing to the grocery store along with what must have been the entire population of the county, all moving very slowly on plowed but dangerous roads. But now we have milk to last us through the next storm (six to 10 inches predicted tomorrow and Monday!) and we're grateful that Jeremy works from home so he doesn't have to venture out in the foul weather. The only downside to this series of storms is that the snowplow deposited a 10-foot (I kid you not!) mountain of snow in our front yard as it came around the bend. Oh well. Clara will be sledding until June at this rate on our very own mini-mountain.

:::Jeremy and Clara play in what Jeremy has since dubbed the "chump change snow" on Wednesday evening:::


:::"Just a man and his snow shovel," as Jeremy has been fond of saying recently. Also, he likes to call those his "snow khakis":::


:::Clara and me in our driveway. That's the street behind us, which may explain why we didn't venture out:::


:::The aftermath--Saturday morning:::

Carpet naps

Clara decided yesterday that she needed to take a short rest on the carpet--probably because Jonathan was lying on one of her blankets and it suddenly looked like a grand time. I put the "crown" blanket and pillow--which she recently got from her great-grandmother--on the floor, then put all of her other "covers" on her, then she told me to leave so she could take her short rest.

"Should I take Jonathan?" I asked.

"Jon-than Care-la short rest! Carpet!" she replied, nodding emphatically.


So I left. Jonathan, as you can see, was pleased as punch to be near his "sisty," and Clara was bound and determined to take her rest on the carpet. I only left them alone for about two minutes before going in to get Jonathan. She protested fiercely, but I just told her that Jonathan wasn't tired yet.

Believe it or not, she did not fall asleep on the floor, although she did lie there for quite some time--probably 30 minutes. Then I heard a little knock at her door. I went to open it, and I found Clara standing there, all done with her "nap."

"Fun rest, Mom," she said.

Forty-five minutes later, she was fast asleep in her bed. I just love that girl.


By the way, please stay tuned for a report on our current weather. Even after two winters in Syracuse, I have never seen the likes of snow like this. We're at 33 inches and counting--all in the last 24 hours or so. Also we're snowed in. Fear not, though: we have milk and we have diapers. What more could we wish for?

Baby, it's cold outside!

For some reason I thought it would be less cold and dark in the Inland Northwest than it was in Central New York. I was wrong. This is the farthest north we've ever lived, and I guess that comes with cold and dreary winter weather. I'm told this is colder than usual--and I hope that's true, since I think four of the next seven days will have a high temperature under 3 degrees. Brrrr!

Before the real arctic air settled in, Jeremy and Clara enjoyed a romp in the backyard snow. Clara was insistent that Jeremy make her a snowman with a carrot nose. The snow was so dry, though, that it was nearly impossible to form a ball, so she ended up with a 10-inch snowman--though it was made with the three traditional snowballs and had a teeny-tiny carrot nose.


Happy winter!

Just for fun

Tag This!

So...I have never been tagged, but I have always secretly wanted to be. This is much like how I've never been in a book club but have always secretly wanted to be. At least I can now check "get tagged" off of my list of wishes. Thanks, Robyn!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Looking for love at BYU's (erstwhile) Deseret Towers (unrequited, as it turns out)
2. Waiting patiently for the first Sunday of the month so I could eat my weight in Chicken Cordon Bleu and fried shrimp at the Morris Center cafeteria (if you'd been there, you would understand)
3. Exploring the marvels of cutting-edge technology, such as instant messaging and email.
4. Learning to walk in snow.
5. Becoming myself.

5 things on my list of things to do today:
1. Draft a solution to our current economic crisis.
2. Crochet seven bandages for overseas lepers.
3. Organize a sit-in to protest the pernicious purchase-tracking systems of national grocery stores with their "preferred member pricing."
4. Write a chapter of the great American novel.
5. Take care of my house and kids and stuff.


5 snacks I enjoy:
1. animal crackers
2. string cheese
3. clementine oranges
4. tortillas
5. yogurt


5 things I'd do if I became a millionaire:
1. Buy a house and pay off the mortgages of my immediate family.
2. Oust Rudy Maxa and become the new host of "Rudy Maxa's World."
3. Change the name of "Rudy Maxa's World" to reflect the identity of the new host.
4. Buy a lake house.
5. Buy commercial paper.


5 places I've lived
1. My mother's womb.
2. Stockton, CA
3. Bozeman, MT
4. S-Y, NY
5. Fresno, CA

5 jobs I've had
1. Gate guard at a community swimming pool. My duties included cleaning the public toilets with a pummice stone, hosing vomit off the pavement, and keeping the nacho cheese piping hot. And one time I let two guys in to use the phone, and then 10 minutes later watched while they were held at gunpoint by a dozen police officers in the street outside the pool. Great security.
2. Waitress at a retirement community. The dining room was always hot and the residents were always picky, but it was there that I met one of my great loves: steamed asparagus.
3. Humanities/Religion reference assistant at BYU's Harold B. Lee Library.
4. Public Relations assistant at the (formerly known as Jacobsen) Center for Service and Learning.
5. University writing instructor. I have guided more than 120 freshmen to greater heights of academic achievement. Most of them weren't that interested in being guided, but the guidance itself was dripping from the ceiling.

5 people I tag
I'm sure many of you are just itching to get tagged, but I can only choose five:
1. Naomi
2. Megan
3. Steph
4. Katie S.
5. Emily G.

Golden seal extract and other horrors

I recently bought shampoo and conditioner at Costco for the first time--just the generic Kirkland Signature stuff. Yesterday I was reading the front of the conditioner bottle and was startled to see that one of the ingredients was "golden seal extract." My initial reaction soon turned to horror when I couldn't figure out what golden seal extract could possibly be if it wasn't the extract of some beautiful marine mammal. I don't want to kill innocent seals for the sake of my luscious locks!

I got progressively more worked up about this animal cruelty atrocity until I realized that a magical tool called Google could probably tell me everything I needed to know. Plus, I figured that if there were a logical explanation it would save me the trouble of sicking PETA on Costco, if you know what I mean (Jeremy was all ready to chain himself to the front gates of Costco, loudly condemning complicit shoppers and eating all the Polish sausages and Very Berry Sundaes he could stomach).

But as it turns out, golden seal is an herb thought to have healing properties. No wonder my hair looks so awesome.

An historic birthday

Forget the election: in our house this has been a day of joy and celebration! Today is Clara's second birthday, and we've had a wonderful day marking this auspicious occasion. Here are ten things we love about Clara:

1. She loves to read. We recently discovered that she has memorized all of her favorite books. Now when we read to her we leave out random words and she fills them in. Much fun is had by all.
2. She sleeps 12 hours at night. No elaboration required.
3. She loves being a big sister, and she is very soft and loving with Jonathan. And she sometimes accidentally gives him roundhouse kicks to the face. But mostly she is just very soft.
4. She has beautiful, big, blue eyes.
5. She has an enormous head. Seriously: it's off the charts.
6. She loves to dance and spin. And when she spins, her eyes are on the opposite side of her body, away from her spin. It's amazing. And kind of creepy.
7. She has an insatiable curiosity and a contagious zest for learning new things.
8. She brings light and joy into other people's lives. Seeing her make people smile makes us smile.
9. She's fiesty. This is something to love, and also something that kind of makes our heads want to explode from time to time.
10. She loves Jesus.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Clara!