Pooh: Kanga?
Kanga: Yes, Pooh.
Pooh (timidly): Don't you think -- I mean, you DO think, of course you think -- uh, let me start over.
Kanga (gently): Yes, Pooh.
Pooh (clearing throat): Don't you feel...well, *I* feel...that home is...
Kanga: Home?
Pooh: Yes, home! Home is...well, home is...best. Don't you agree?
Kanga: Yes, Pooh. I agree. It took a while, but I agree. I think the creatures in the Hundred Acre Wood do, too. Home is best.
(To clarify...we're staying in Portland.)
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
In Which Kanga Has a Day Out
I am issuing a challenge to all mothers of infants and toddlers. Do whatever it takes to get a full day off sometime soon, potentially with intermittent husband presence. We're talking 8:30 - 5:30. Maybe it's a grandparent or spouse sitting, or a one-day nanny, but do it. Here's why...
"Kanga's Best Day Ever...a Comedy in Ten Parts"
8:30 Take J to daycare. The facility's cook gives me a breakfast sandwich just to be nice.
9:00 sit at Starbucks with latte and enormous cinnamon bun. (Oh yeah. I went there.) Buy three books for J.
9:30 Hang out at home to chat and flirt with husband. Remember him?
10:30 90-min massage, followed by spur-of-the-moment eyebrow waxing. Wow! there is skin under the forest.
12:00 shower, then lunch with aforementioned husband at SONIC, where you get to eat in your car and they bring burgers on trays. You eat in your car! Yes, I am lame. I LOVED it. They have tater tots!
1:30 hang three pictures in J's room. Have waited 9+ months to do this simple task, which takes approximately four minutes total.
2:00 order cute T-shirts on friend's recommendation -- get 10% discount! Woot.
Consider reading book, dismiss wacky idea and talk over the Palin controversy with husband instead.
Log on to work mail and discover I have no important mails. Yes.
3:00 depart for the BEST PEDICURE IN TOWN (it lasts an hour...$25). Observe neighboring pedicuree (?) demonstrating to bewildered Vietnamese nail artist the best way to frighten away a grizzly bear.
4:30 Pilates class
5:30 waltz home...unfortunately, to angry baby and stressed husband. But I can handle it. I just had the...
Best. Day. Ever.
Ladies! The gauntlet has been thrown down!
Love,
G
"Kanga's Best Day Ever...a Comedy in Ten Parts"
8:30 Take J to daycare. The facility's cook gives me a breakfast sandwich just to be nice.
9:00 sit at Starbucks with latte and enormous cinnamon bun. (Oh yeah. I went there.) Buy three books for J.
9:30 Hang out at home to chat and flirt with husband. Remember him?
10:30 90-min massage, followed by spur-of-the-moment eyebrow waxing. Wow! there is skin under the forest.
12:00 shower, then lunch with aforementioned husband at SONIC, where you get to eat in your car and they bring burgers on trays. You eat in your car! Yes, I am lame. I LOVED it. They have tater tots!
1:30 hang three pictures in J's room. Have waited 9+ months to do this simple task, which takes approximately four minutes total.
2:00 order cute T-shirts on friend's recommendation -- get 10% discount! Woot.
Consider reading book, dismiss wacky idea and talk over the Palin controversy with husband instead.
Log on to work mail and discover I have no important mails. Yes.
3:00 depart for the BEST PEDICURE IN TOWN (it lasts an hour...$25). Observe neighboring pedicuree (?) demonstrating to bewildered Vietnamese nail artist the best way to frighten away a grizzly bear.
4:30 Pilates class
5:30 waltz home...unfortunately, to angry baby and stressed husband. But I can handle it. I just had the...
Best. Day. Ever.
Ladies! The gauntlet has been thrown down!
Love,
G
Saturday, August 16, 2008
In Which Kanga Reminisces -- and Projects
I took J to the Dartmouth picnic two weeks ago. The Oregon chapter of the Dartmouth Alumni Club holds a picnic every August, usually at a gorgeous beach house in Gearhart. This place is astounding. It was previously connected with the Episcopal Church as a small summer camp, and includes the former church, the main house, a shed, a guest house that is several hundred square feet larger than my "non-guest" house, a glassed-in writer's studio, and separate garage big enough to stage food and equipment for a big party.
Most flabbergasting of all, though, is the baseball field. Yes, field. Between the gardens of the main home and the guest quarters is a full-size regulation field. The house owner just really. loves. baseball.
We arrived at 11 am on the dot, since I'd timed our trip over the coastal range to coincide with J's morning nap. She did well, waking up five minutes after we arrived.
She proceeded to charm everyone there, and literally did not cry, whine or even make a negative sound of any kind -- she didn't even poop -- the entire day.
We took off about 2:30 after a great meal of roast chicken, cowboy caviar (holy crap, look that up. amazing...), a beer and some brownie treats. On the kids' menu...chicken and veggies in a jar, with pureed peaches for dessert.
As we drove again over the mountains and J napped like a champ in the backseat, I thought about how interacting with other Dartmouth grads, of any age, always takes me back there. Even if, as was the case today, we don't even speak of the College except in very general terms, it reminds me of the depth of emotion that this connection holds for me.
And, though of course no one said a word about it, I have to admit that as I drove away from the coast I was figuring out...let's see...class of 2028? 2029?
Most flabbergasting of all, though, is the baseball field. Yes, field. Between the gardens of the main home and the guest quarters is a full-size regulation field. The house owner just really. loves. baseball.
We arrived at 11 am on the dot, since I'd timed our trip over the coastal range to coincide with J's morning nap. She did well, waking up five minutes after we arrived.
She proceeded to charm everyone there, and literally did not cry, whine or even make a negative sound of any kind -- she didn't even poop -- the entire day.
We took off about 2:30 after a great meal of roast chicken, cowboy caviar (holy crap, look that up. amazing...), a beer and some brownie treats. On the kids' menu...chicken and veggies in a jar, with pureed peaches for dessert.
As we drove again over the mountains and J napped like a champ in the backseat, I thought about how interacting with other Dartmouth grads, of any age, always takes me back there. Even if, as was the case today, we don't even speak of the College except in very general terms, it reminds me of the depth of emotion that this connection holds for me.
And, though of course no one said a word about it, I have to admit that as I drove away from the coast I was figuring out...let's see...class of 2028? 2029?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
In Which Kanga Boasts a Bit
While dropping J off at daycare this morning, I put her in a standing position while I spoke with her teacher.
Gradually I realized that her weight was perfectly centered...and I let go.
She stood, unsupported, for about eight seconds.
Mama is so proud, baby.
Gradually I realized that her weight was perfectly centered...and I let go.
She stood, unsupported, for about eight seconds.
Mama is so proud, baby.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
In Which Kanga Hangs On Tight
This morning, after changing J's diaper and singing her the Good Morning song, we traipsed on down the steps to the living room.
Except that Ampersand had other ideas.
She darted in front of me as I raised my foot, and I ended up sliding down our seven steps. Even as it happened, my mind slow-motioned into what to do: I simultaneously raised up J and held her tight to me, while my rear, elbow and neck took the brunt of the fall. After a brief cry, J was none the worse for wear.
Can't say the same for me...had to skip Pilates, and my neck doesn't turn quite right. But there was never any question that I would hang on to J, come hell or high water.
Except that Ampersand had other ideas.
She darted in front of me as I raised my foot, and I ended up sliding down our seven steps. Even as it happened, my mind slow-motioned into what to do: I simultaneously raised up J and held her tight to me, while my rear, elbow and neck took the brunt of the fall. After a brief cry, J was none the worse for wear.
Can't say the same for me...had to skip Pilates, and my neck doesn't turn quite right. But there was never any question that I would hang on to J, come hell or high water.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
In Which All Characters Confer Regarding Geography (Part I of an ongoing series)
(With apologies to Matt Ruff's Set This House in Order)
Rabbit: I am glad you all could make it. We are here to discuss the relative merits of moving.
Piglet: Eep! Why do we have to move?
Owl: Piglet, nobody said we HAVE to move. It's just that G and her husband and Little J might WANT to move.
Piglet: (knitted eyebrows)
Owl: Well, I shall speak first. As a design librarian, I find myself torn...
Piglet: Eep! (again)
Owl: Ahem!...torn, that is, in the figurative sense. I have an excellent set of opportunities at my current position. I enjoy my co-workers immensely, and am getting exposure to many different work scenarios that will serve me well down the road.
However (other woodland creatures begin fiddling with their paws, talons or toes), there is a hefty amount of corporate fog building at my company, and it might just be easier to go to a firm that has already addressed and solved the problems that my company is just now experiencing for the first time. It is, in a word...
Pooh: (under his breath) Exhausting.
Owl: Yes! That's it exactly. Astute and helpful bear.
Pooh: (grumbles) Astute? I'm trying to lose weight. It just takes a while.
Piglet: (timidly) Well, I don't know why anyone would want to leave the town that G, J and her husband are in. It's beautiful, clean, safe, liberal and not too expensive.
Christopher Robin: It IS across the country from their families.
Eeyore: (arches eyebrow, then thinks better of it and just grimaces)
Christopher Robin: And it does have a 140-day school year. That seems...short.
Kanga: I certainly agree. I for one can't imagine letting Roo attend school in places with no art, gym, music classes or...(trailing off) libraries.
Christopher Robin: Then we are agreed that it is a Puzzle?
Pooh: It certainly is. A Puzzle of Great Consequence.
Rabbit: And, as it is of Great Consequence, it certainly will require nourishment to solve. I recommend we break for carrots, or the sustenance of each creature's choice.
(Agreed.)
(To be continued.)
Rabbit: I am glad you all could make it. We are here to discuss the relative merits of moving.
Piglet: Eep! Why do we have to move?
Owl: Piglet, nobody said we HAVE to move. It's just that G and her husband and Little J might WANT to move.
Piglet: (knitted eyebrows)
Owl: Well, I shall speak first. As a design librarian, I find myself torn...
Piglet: Eep! (again)
Owl: Ahem!...torn, that is, in the figurative sense. I have an excellent set of opportunities at my current position. I enjoy my co-workers immensely, and am getting exposure to many different work scenarios that will serve me well down the road.
However (other woodland creatures begin fiddling with their paws, talons or toes), there is a hefty amount of corporate fog building at my company, and it might just be easier to go to a firm that has already addressed and solved the problems that my company is just now experiencing for the first time. It is, in a word...
Pooh: (under his breath) Exhausting.
Owl: Yes! That's it exactly. Astute and helpful bear.
Pooh: (grumbles) Astute? I'm trying to lose weight. It just takes a while.
Piglet: (timidly) Well, I don't know why anyone would want to leave the town that G, J and her husband are in. It's beautiful, clean, safe, liberal and not too expensive.
Christopher Robin: It IS across the country from their families.
Eeyore: (arches eyebrow, then thinks better of it and just grimaces)
Christopher Robin: And it does have a 140-day school year. That seems...short.
Kanga: I certainly agree. I for one can't imagine letting Roo attend school in places with no art, gym, music classes or...(trailing off) libraries.
Christopher Robin: Then we are agreed that it is a Puzzle?
Pooh: It certainly is. A Puzzle of Great Consequence.
Rabbit: And, as it is of Great Consequence, it certainly will require nourishment to solve. I recommend we break for carrots, or the sustenance of each creature's choice.
(Agreed.)
(To be continued.)
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