Firsts

My mom was able to visit for the first time in two years. The last time we saw her was when we were in Oregon in January 2020. Linden was still a baby then and Maren was still a preschooler. My mom was only able to come visit for about a week, but it was so so great for all of us to see her. 

The day that she left (Wednesday) was Maren‘s first day of first grade and Linden‘s first day of day care. After three days of daycare Linden has her first daycare cold, and as of this afternoon has had her first Covid test. 

Jeff and I just finished the first week of fall semester. I am sick with a weird ear thing - my ear is not infected, but there is fluid buildup that isn’t improving and now I have a semi-urgent ENT referral. 

With all this going on we are pretty exhausted. Here’s hoping for the second and third weeks to settle down 🤞🏼

Dancing to saw music

 After our basement flooded a couple of months ago, we filed an insurance claim and were approved for restoration work. It took a long time, but this week it was finally finished. 

Just before the last bit of work was done, we all went down to the basement to play on the new carpet while Jeff did some sawing. The new carpet is thicker than the old carpet was, so he was sawing a bit off the bottom of a door so that it would close. Maren and Linden “danced to the saw music.”

I feel like there is nothing more quintessential to childhood than moments like this ❤️

Let August be August

 It is hard not to be looking ahead to September. But a mom friend of mine shared this poem by Morgan Harper Nichols:

So we are trying to enjoy this month. Backyard s’mores, nature walks, and kids being kids. 

 

 

It is all happening, so we might as well mentally be here for it, and actually find those moments of joy 😊

Now the poop is robotic

 Although the toilet clog game never seems to get old, Maren and Linden have been varying it up a bit by adding elements to the story. I finally managed to get a video by pretending I was doing something very engrossing on my phone. In this version, they are robotic poops:

The reality that summer is ending in a few weeks is starting to set in. I am woefully unprepared for teaching next semester - one in person grad class, one online asynchronous undergrad class, plus supervising clinical work for two grad students (so basically teaching 2 1/2 classes). I will be as prepared as I need to I suppose, but I am definitely a bit stressed.

Because I also really just want to enjoy summer. When I am not working I do my best to put work out of my mind, and most of the time I think I do a pretty good job of it. 

Sisters

 Something I have really enjoyed over the past few months is watching Maren and Linden learn to play together. They are still working out some important details, like remembering to talk to each other when they are upset about something. Right now there are lots of instances of screaming and the other person not having any idea why. But sometimes they really have fun together.

One of their favourite games right now is called “toilet clog.” They take turns pretending to be poop getting flushed down the toilet. This involves sliding down Jeff’s legs. At the bottom and they sit on his feet pretending to be stuck – a clog. Then Jeff has to “use the plunger,” which means shaking his feet until they fall off.

I would love to get a decent photo or video, but the second they notice that I am trying to document what is happening they stop and play some thing else. I have no idea how this game came to be, but they seem to enjoy it 😂

This weekend we decided to take it easy, and didn’t go anywhere far, and no beach. But yesterday we went for a walk at a nature area just a little outside of town.

It is a pretty area and we saw lots of plants and wildflowers there, and a few interesting birds and butterflies. No pictures of those, but it was very nice to get out in nature.