Oh, there have been other diapering incidents, but really, that's enough bandwidth. What else is happening Chez Good?
When Steve and I each have some one-on-one time with Josie, it seems we do variations on a theme. On Saturday mornings, while I make coffee and breakfast, Steve takes Josie to get the papers and experience nature in the city. They chase pigeons in the park and come home with pockets full of cracker crumbs that get gummy in the laundry. (Have you ever seen a raisin that's gone through the wash? They're like slugs!):
On Tuesdays, she and I go to Riverdale Farm and experience nature, albeit in a more refined setting, and in cuter outfits; and we bring home beautiful food with which to nurture our bodies and senses:
What we have here is yet another illustration of how Daddies parent differently than Mommies do. And if you need one more example, here it is:
See that? The spider? I don't love our new porch-dwelling friend. Once when I was working at a drycleaning plant, a spider fell from the ceiling into my hair and I squished it when I tried to brush it off. Then I somehow got the idea that some bugs release their eggs when they die, and that I'd have a nest of baby spiders in my hair if I didn't wash it out well enough - which is impossible when you have a tiny bathroom sink to do it in and there are customers waiting. I still get the heebies about bugs in my hair. For the record, the proper name for the feeling of having bugs crawl all over you is formication (yes, it does sound like the word that means something much nicer!) - and a little Midol can help it when you don't really need super strong drugs to control minor obsessive tendencies. I try to get over it, I do, for Josie's sake. But then my problem is that I can decide not to touch bugs, but they don't always have the same inclinations. So, when I pass by the spider with Josephine, I keep my distance and point to it and describe it and we sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and I tell Josephine about how we'll read Charlotte's Web one day. When Steve and Josie are near the web, he'll grab an ant or a moth, stun it, throw it in the web and they'll watch the spider run over and wrap the bug in its silk and Steve will describe how the spider will sometimes just paralyze its prey to eat later. See? Different.
At any rate, Josephine is being so DARN CUTE these days that I just can't stand it. Aside from the nurturing diapering behaviour, there's the chattiness, the love of nooks and crannies, the reading of booksh (independently!), and the PLEASES - all the time with the pleases!
Here - see?
Sitting in a corner with a soon-to-be-diapered bear. She climbs up on this step stool and reads booksh here and talks to herself. I was like that as a kid too. I wish I had more time to just enjoy the cuteness, but I am being run off my feet, there is just so much to do. We bought a new (vintage) fridge that needs cleaning, we're finishing the porch, we're entertaining next weekend, we're both working a lot, and I have to do boring grown-up stuff like find new car insurance and deal with some other paperwork - and the fact that I still haven't picked up Josephine's birth certificate. OOPS.
The weather is perfect, the days are getting shorter, we're all healthy and Steve and I can't believe how time is flying by. So I'm going to relieve myself of the burden I put upon myself regarding the long post about how we didn't wean Josephine by attempting brevity. (Hahahahaha!) (And I'm tired of linking and she just woke up so I've got just finish this.)
What happened is that she had her eighteen month shots the week before, and she came down with a fever on the Sunday that was supposed to be cold turkey day. DAMN. How could I do that to us under those circumstances?
But what happened as well, was that we realized we needed a family re-vamp. I've posted before about how much we love to do weekend road-trips out to the Blossoms Motel in Canandaigua. We realized that's not working for us any more. They're not as fun. Surprisingly, it's not because of Josephine. We love the drive, the time together, and the fun things like getting some nice snacks and having late-night picnics.
The other parts of the trip we still adore as well - the Estate sales were awesome that weekend. Look at the great booksh we bought for Josephine:
And I found what was one of my favourite childhood toys. It needs a few more things, like the horse, cow, dog, and farmer, but they're available. It's the 1967 version that I remember, and I'm so glad that she loves this!
But we don't need to go quite so far to have this kind of fun. The East Avon Flea Market that we usually enjoy hasn't been so great the last two trips. Three of the antique stores that we frequented along Route 5 have changed. Two really suck now because the contents have changed dramatically, and one I realized I've NEVER purchased anything from. That's a long way to go just to look at a booth in a co-op that has some great primitive things that I can't afford. We don't stop for a beer and a snack in neat towns like LeRoy any longer, because Josephine's usually sleeping and we just want to make our destination. In fact, we didn't even try to hit more than a few Estate sales on that trip because we realized it would be more fun to take Josie to the Buffalo Zoo. Which, by the way, was awful for me because it is such a small, old zoo that the animals are in dismal settings and I cried. But I saw the funkiest acorn ever:
It's from the Bur Oak, and it looks like an acorn with an afro! Josephine got to run around unfettered in the fresh air, and we loved watching her see and recognize animals that were previously only in books. That was great, even though we know she won't remember the visit. At one of the Estate sales I bought a nice old print of the Buffalo Zoo to frame for her room one day (too big to scan and I don't feel like trying to take a picture of it. My, by my shots are all artsy/blurry these days!).
What did we learn from it that was a call for a big post? That the myriad changes in ourselves and in the places we traveled to mean that we need to create new memories - not just revisit old ones. That we need to make a lot of little changes, not just a few big ones. None of those changes that have occurred or that need to be made can be attributed to any one thing or person - there have been a series of minute shifts and a flurry of little alterations that are almost undetectable - but they have changed us all perceptibly.
Like a spider sitting on its web, trying to decipher the vibrations of a stunned ant that Josephine's Daddy flicked at it and knowing that something's up - it's not necessarily bad or good, just different - I need to use my spidey sense to determine what's happening in our family.
And so we didn't wean not just because Josephine was feeling punky - we didn't wean because the family just needs a bunch of minor adjustments and not a complete change. And I didn't really need to do a big post about it, but I guess I just did.
