Miriamisms VII

Miriam has been coming into our bed sometime during the wee hours of the morning with increasing regularity, despite the fact that she has a little nest on the floor of our room, should she feel the need to be closer to us. Fortunately (for Mrs. Pickles) she climbs in next to Daddy, who can go back to sleep almost instantly. When asked in the mornings why she came into our bed, I've received these replies:

"The monkeys were trying to GET me." (Mrs. P: "What color were the monkeys?" ME, without missing a beat: "Purple.")

"I had a bad dream. The hunter was trying to kill me." (she had just read The Story of Babar, whose mother suffers a fate like Bambi's)

"I had a bad dream. A dinosaur was trying to eat me."

"I had a bad dream. The dwagon was trying to eat me."

"I had a bad dream. The people were bothering me." Mrs. P: "What were the people doing?" ME: "They were trying to hurt me, and the hunter too."

Should we be worried about all these violent dreams?

Once I asked her why she didn't stay in her big bed, since Katie was there in her room too, and she replied, "I need to be with PEOPLE." Oh, so what's Katie, chopped liver?

On a related note, while I was reading Bedtime for Frances (the story of a little badger who doesn't want to sleep because of all the tigers and giants and spiders and scary noises that live in her room) to Miriam, she paused at the point when the moth was thumping against the window, and said, "Maybe Frances should put the pillow on her head so the noises can't bother her," because, of course, this is what Miriam does whenever she imagines she hears something while she's in bed.

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Miriam has no problems with self-esteem. Whenever we leave a playdate, she will say, "She [whoever she was playing with] didn't want me to go, she wants me to stay and play because she LIKES me." I know, it sounds sweet, but when you hear it in the pampered princess tone of voice she uses....! I've been trying to turn her focus outward, and note how much she likes her little friend, and how much she will miss her, etc. And then she'll say, "Yeah, but she misses me because she LIKES me." And then I give up.

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A recent exchange:

Mrs. P: "Miriam, would you please do X for me?"
Miriam: "Of course I will! Expecially when you ask SO nicely."

Hm, can't think where she's heard THAT one before!

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ME: "Can I have a smiley face?" (she asks this whenever I pull out the permanent marker -- in this case, to write the dosages for cold medicine on the bottle)

This is what I gave her:


put on a happy face...

ME: "No, I want arms! And a nose! And eyebrows! And legs! And a heinie!"
Mrs. P (laughing): "Ohhh, Miriam!"
ME: "Am I crazy?"

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Mr. P will put Miriam between his knees and push her back and forth and back and forth. Sometimes she really likes this "ride" (aka, "The Blender" or "The Washing Machine"). Mr. P recently did this to Miriam, and she let out a protest/whine to let him know that she didn't like it.

Mr. P: I'm sorry Miriam. I thought you liked being in The Washing Machine.
ME: (with a slight grin) Daddy, did you think I was a diaper?
Mr. P: (after laughing) No, Miriam, I thought you were a pretty dress.
ME: (laughing) No Daddy! I'm not a dress! Dresses don't have legs or a head!

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Out of the blue:

ME: "Aunt Tine is STRONG!"

I just thought I'd post that for the amusement of those of you who actually KNOW Aunt Christine, aka "Teeny". :b (The backstory for her comment, I believe, is from nearly two years ago when we were out in CA and Mommy was Great With Child, and therefore forbidden from picking Miriam up. But Aunt Tine could pick her up, therefore Aunt Tine was strong and Mommy was not strong. I'm amazed she remembers all that!)

Cooking with MacGyver

Chef MacGyver

Wellll, it's the end of the month and once again our cupboards are beginning to look like Old Mother Hubbard's. Since we're trying to keep to a grocery budget, we've been trying to make do with what we have on hand and not go to the store for anything else until tomorrow. (The other day I broke down and got some milk and eggs since we were totally out and would have starved without them!) Our meals have been looking pretty funny lately -- for example, for lunch today Katie had half a sour cream donut, a slice of avocado, and a scrambled egg. Since Mr. Pickles is in charge of dinner for Saturday and Sunday, I was curious to see what he would come up with, having to create something edible and filling out of things like a lamb bone, ketchup, half a serving of egg noodles, chewing gum and duct tape -- you know, that sort of thing. Actually, he managed to pull it off quite well -- I must say I was quite impressed. I would have given up much sooner! Yesterday we had sandwiches of shredded leftover lamb in barbecue sauce with potato fries and apple crisp for dessert (all homemade); then today he made pasta with chicken in a white wine sauce, with cooked mixed vegetables and leftover apple crisp for dessert. Everything was so delicious. Chef MacGyver saves civilization again! (So did I pick a keeper or what???) :)

Katie-English Dictionary

Now that Katie has mastered crawling, her vocabulary is just starting to explode. She's at the word-a-day stage now. I have to admit that I was starting to get a little concerned when she was 16 months -- it seemed that she didn't have nearly as many words as Miriam did at that age. But at the end of 16 months when I actually sat down to write out all her words, this is what I came up with:

uh-oh
Mama (which for a while actually meant, "Mom, Miriam's calling for you!")
bow (boom)
ba-baaa (bye-bye)
Daddyyyy
eyes
ee (ear)
baa-baa (ball)
on
off
chs (juice, aka any drink)
num (her word for nursing)
ot (hot)
up
unnn (all done)
dees (cheese)
eck (eggs)
baba (baby)
noon (nose, said with lips puckered)
Boppy (a nursing pillow)
ba-po (peek a boo)
noonoo (noodles)
bup (beep -- used while pushing someone's belly button)
gps (grapes)
mmmmo (more)
dats (stuck)

I had also taught her a couple signs:
[rubbing chest with one hand] -- please
[rubbing belly vigorously with both hands] -- pretty please with sugar on top

She also makes various sound effects, specifically for cars and trucks, that should make any father proud. :)

at 17 months, her new words so far are:

mm-hmm (while nodding yes)
aya (heinie -- it's funny that Miriam used this same word!)
mum (as in chrysanthe-)
mouf (mouth)
evo (hello, often said while holding her foot to her ear...)
do (door)
aaaaaa-bup (um, not sure about this one, but it's cute)
duck (truck)
gack (yuck -- said while wrinkling her nose and sticking her tongue out)
ope (help)
nunn (down, as in: up... nunn... up... nunn... you get the idea)
na-nuuun (all gone)

So... why was I worried, again?

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UPDATE
See the sidebar for the latest Katie Word of the Day/Week. (this gives me an incentive to blog more often!)

More 17 month words:

bubboos (bubbles)
was was (said while twisting) -- imitating the washing machine agitating
ba! -- bar (she loves hanging from our chin-up bar -- we have a very cute video of her giggling hysterically while holding on for dear life)
bewbee -- jellybean (she learned this one pretty fast during Easter week!) :)
mouf -- put food here! (as in "[something unintelligible]... mouf," e.g. "bewbee-bewbee-bewbee... mouf" -- I want a jellybean!)
shhh -- somebody's sleeping
xkths -- hockey sticks (she's very good at hitting an Easter egg with a hockey stick -- Mr. Pickles says he's going to draft her to their hockey league)
wawa -- water (although she still prefers "chs" -- juice)
thith (sis, aka Miriam)
sssa (see -- said whenever we take a picture using the digital camera)
doggie (dolly)
awbee (strawberry)

18 month words:

oh no! (said whenever she hears a siren)
dousie -- outside
drogees -- stroller
dockees -- chocolate
wagees -- water
noogees (yes, she seems to like that suffix) -- noodles
bella -- umbrella
oh my
mickey/muck/moke -- milk
shlide -- slide
bucky -- buckle
I -- any letter of the alphabet, usually referring to our ABC magnets
ducks! -- stuck
knock
hat
beep
buckee on (first sentence!)
fuffies (muffin/flower)
buff (what a dog says)
book
mushy (mushroom -- usually as in "mushy, uh-uh!")
ahm (arm)
dess (dress)
feefs (leaves)
bush (brush)
wun (run)
mine (and so it begins...)
oops
mao (cat/what a cat says)

After this point her vocabulary has increased so much that we can't keep track! So from now on we'll record only the most obscure words that need translating -- i.e. her mystery words. :)

lala -- umbrella/Cinderella
tush -- touch, usually with "no"
butt -- bright, said while covering her eyes
dry -- cry, usually said while Miriam's throwing a tantrum
fees -- face
ghee -- blankie
clin -- sing (as in "sing me a lullaby")
bush -- fish (goldfish crackers)
wuvvey -- rosary
keekee -- "nakie" aka naked. (like most children while we're trying to get her dressed when we get to this point she takes off running)
Key -- Katie (at 22 months)

trip to DC

A couple weeks back Mr. Pickles took a day off work during cherry blossom time so we could go into town to admire them. Unfortunately, a couple days before that we had had a huge storm (see previous post) with lots of rain and wind, so the display wasn't as glorious as it could have been. It was still lovely, though, and we had a great day walking around. We visited the new World War II Memorial, and offered a prayer of thanksgiving for all of our family members who fought in the war. Not sure about Mr. Pickles' family, but both of Mrs. Pickles' grandfathers served in WWII -- one in Europe, one in Asia.


WWII Mem. -- Pacific


WWII Mem -- Atlantic

It's a really neat monument. Apparently there was a big stink raised when it was revealed the memorial would be build on the National Mall -- not unreasonably, some didn't want the spectacular view between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument to be obstructed. I thought the designer did a beautiful job of preserving that view, as well as adding something important to it.


the pillar for Michigan is next to Mr. Pickles

I'm just glad a monument has finally been erected to honor those who gave their lives to protect what they loved. You can't help but feel grateful for the sacrifices our armed forces made, and are still making, on our behalf. Like all the monuments in DC, there were lots of great quotes carved all over the place -- which, naturally, I didn't think to write down.


After that we walked around the Tidal Basin -- along with half the rest of the world. Everybody and his mother touring DC takes this picture, but that doesn't make it any less striking.


Jefferson Mem.

Before we got back on the metro we paused in a big green field to let the girls run their little legs off. That is, Katie would try to run as far away from us as possible, and Miriam would go collect her.


"Look what I found! Can I keep her?"

Weird Weather

broil of fume from the Mountain of Fire?

It was dark and dim all day. From the sunless dawn until evening the heavy shadow had deepened, and all hearts in the City of Alexandria were oppressed. Far above a great cloud streamed slowly westward from the Black Land, devouring light, borne upon a wind of war; but below the air was still and breathless, as if all the Vale of the Potomac waited for the onset of a ruinous storm.

(with apologies to JRRT)

Adventures in Fine Dining

Last weekend was a GREAT weekend. We had some family visit -- we refer to them as "The H's, Jr." (to be distinguished from "The H's, Sr.") -- and all the kids had a great time trashing my house.


mini-munchkins

Ha ha, just kidding -- although I didn't realize how much of a neat freak I'd turned into until I had to force myself NOT to be constantly cleaning up! Seriously, it was great fun to be able to spend so much time with another family in the house. You know everyone, we DO have a queen sleeper sofa which we've been told is rather comfy... anyone is welcome any time... free bed & board...

I love the contrast between Katie's & Max's skin in this one. I think this was the expression on Max's face the entire time he was here, too. :)

babes in the tub

Aunt Terri will be happy to know that the kids all loved the "toots," as Miriam calls them:

musical mermaids


bathing beauties

Edy & Miriam got along famously, as usual. When The H's, Jr. arrived, Edy & Miriam went running towards each other, but stopped short, standing and observing each other shyly. Then they gave each other the biggest hug and went running off to play. At one point during the weekend the girls were upstairs in Miriam's room, when we suddenly heard one of them crying. As Rachel & I were going up to check we heard one of them say "Don't cry," followed by that voice weeping (they sounded so alike I had a hard time telling them apart!). When we arrived we found them just standing there, looking at each other, and crying. It was so cute and sad! Apparently Edy had hurt herself, and Miriam was so distressed by Edy crying that she started crying, too, which upset Edy even more -- and they just kept setting each other off! Awww, such tender-hearted girls we have!


Edy & Miriam in their Sunday best

So anyway, things were going swimmingly until after Mass on Palm Sunday. The H's Jr. offered to take us out for brunch, so to IHOP we all went. We were told the wait for 8 people was 15-20 mins., max. 45 minutes later we were finally shown to our table. By this point all the kids were getting cranky b/c it had been HOURS since we'd last eaten anything. Miriam in particular said she was very thirsty, so when her juice finally came, she downed it. After our food came (smiley-face pancakes for the kids, of course), Miriam had a couple bites, but then complained that her tummy wasn't feeling good. Mr. Pickles offered to rub her belly, so Miriam climbed under the table to get to him (we were at a booth), but didn't resurface right away. All at once we heard an odd, juicy, very loud belching noise. Uh oh is right! When she finally surfaced, she was green in the face and her beautiful dress was covered in what had recently been the contents of her stomach. She continued to retch the rest of her lunch all over Mr. Pickle's omelet (fortunately she hadn't eaten too much besides the gallon of juice). I ran with her to the bathroom to get her cleaned up a bit while the bill was paid, and Mr. Pickles was offered a replacement omelet. Miriam felt slightly better once we got home and I promised to wash her dress (she seemed more upset by the fact that her dress was a mess than anything else!). Once The H's, Jr. left, though, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the bathroom floor. Poor Miriam. She was so pale and lethargic and couldn't keep anything down for longer than 20 minutes that I really started get worried. But after sucking on a piece of Pedialyte popsicle, and managing to keep it down, she finally begged to be put to bed around 8. That seemed to be the end of it, although it took a couple days for her appetite and energy to return.

Then of course Katie had her turn a couple nights later -- although now we wonder whether it was the virus or a reaction to dinner. We had had pasta with tomatoes & salmon (yeah, it was fun cleaning THAT up) -- but I've been noticing that she doesn't seem too keen on tomatoes lately. I wonder if she's developing her mother's aversion to raw tomatoes (she certainly doesn't seem to have any problems with ketchup -- although I don't really think that counts as a real food!). Anyway, after that little episode, Katie's spent the rest of the week nursing frequently and throwing tantrums at the slightest provocation -- or sometimes none at all. I think she's also got the rest of her molars coming in -- all her gums are certainly swollen.

So, for those of you who were wondering what had happened to us, now you know why we haven't blogged in a while!

Exultet! Christus Resurrexit, Alleluia!

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.
(from the Exultet, that great Resurrection song of praise sung by the deacon at the Easter Vigil)

Happy Easter, everyone! It's finally here! And how did we celebrate this high and holy feast in our domestic church, you ask? Well... I took the girls to church, then we went to a friend's for a delicious Easter brunch (which would certainly not be approved by the American Heart Association), then after naps for dinner we had... popcorn and chocolate. Not exactly an Easter feast, to be sure, but when everyone is recovering from illnes, it's about as much as you can expect! Yes, Holy Week this year was penitential for us all -- only we didn't choose the penance! We started off the week with Miriam suffering from a 12-hour stomach virus, revealed fairly spectacularly on Sunday morning (more on that in another blog). Then Katie, not to be outdone, woke us up at 2am on Tuesday covered in vomit. Don't you just love doing laundry and giving your children a bath in the middle of the night? Fortunately that was her only episode, but neither of the girls ate very much this past week. At the same time, Katie's eyes also became all red and goopy -- we suspected pink eye so we've been administering some leftover eye drops from the last time Miriam had it. Meanwhile Mr. Pickles had been suffering from a bad case of allergies -- the pollen's been really bad lately. This then developed into a head cold, which Katie also caught. Finally, Easter Sunday morning Mr. Pickles woke up with major intestinal upset and has basically spent the last 36 hours sleeping. I think we've seen each other a total of 20 minutes since yesterday morning. Assuming I don't catch anything, we'll probably have our big Easter feast this Sunday. (yes, I know, Easter is 8 days long, so we can celebrate any day, really!) Poor Mr. Pickles, though -- he's been waiting for so long to enjoy eating meat again, and yesterday he got to feast on Ritz crakers!

Well, aside from occasionally doing laundry at odd hours of the night, I had a lovely Holy Week. I think most of you know I sing in our parish's choir, so we were on duty almost every day this week, it seemed! We've got a really good choir this year -- I think this is the most people we've ever had, at least since I joined several years ago. It's certainly the most male voices we've had. The greater number of people helps with the sound, of course -- but we've also got a really good blend of voices. (You don't want individual voices to stand out, no matter how good they are as soloists -- a choir ought to sound like one voice.) Anyway, our choir director was really excited early on in the season when he realized what a good group we had this year, so he's been having us do some challenging things that he's always wanted to do for a while but was waiting for the right time. We've been doing a lot of a capella pieces (unaccompanied by the organ). It can be a real challenge getting everyone to stay on pitch when there's no organ to listen to! Even with my sensitive ear I have to say that we're getting really good about that. I was really proud of the sopranos this past week -- they didn't drag us down at all! (I can sneer at them now that I sing alto.) :) I think everyone would benefit from chanting the Divine Office occasionally -- those of you who sing Gregorian chant regularly would probably agree that it's good for training your voice (in addition to uplifting your soul!).

One thing our pastor requested this year was that there be no organ from the Gloria on Holy Thursday to the Gloria during the Easter Vigil. (Do the Norbertines do this?) This meant that all the hymns, communion meditations (our choir's pieces), and responsorial psalms in between were done a capella. The choir director had a pitch pipe to give us our first note, but after that, we were on our own! It was very interesting. It made Good Friday that much more somber. And when the organ played again on Holy Saturday, how glorious! I can see the organ from where I stand in the choir, and I noticed that the director pushed just about every button he could to get a huge sound. It was AWESOME. It just goes to show you you don't appreciate what you have until you have to do without it for a while.

As Lent drew to a close, I couldn't help but feel that it could have been so much better. If only I had been more faithful to my Lenten sacrifices, if I had eaten less and prayed more, if I had been a better wife and mother, if I had tried harder to grow closer to Our Lord -- Easter would have meant so much more. Why don't I do better? Lent is so short in hindsight -- so why do I slack off every year? Because right around the third week of Lent I always get tired and discouraged, Easter seems too far away, and the penances seem too hard and not really worth it. I really understand why the Church celebrates Laetare Sunday -- to remind us that this present suffering is only temporary, and the future of Easter glory awaits us, if only we hold fast. I've mentioned that before, but this week I finally realized how much Lent and Easter are a metaphor for our life and death. Just like Lent, the sufferings of our life on earth are only temporary, and after they are over, how short they will seem! Our life will seem like the blink of an eye; or a bad dream remembered dimly upon waking into the Real World. If only we persevere -- keep getting up after we fall, keep trying to follow after Our Lord, carrying our cross with Him, not counting the cost but considering any sacrifice worth paying, what future glory awaits us!

Now if only such high and holy thoughts would stay with me as I try to plan menus for sick tummies, wipe noses, and administer eye drops to a squirming toddler...

Cornus Florida

...[T]he legend of the dogwood flower is that its wood was used to fashion the cross on which Christ was crucified. It seems the dogwood once grew as tall as the oak and other noble trees of the forest, but the shame of being used in the crucifixion caused the dogwood great distress and sadness. Recognizing the dogwood's pain, Jesus is said to have promised to render the tree forevermore unsuited for such a use. From that point on, the tree was to be bent and twisted so the wood would be unsuitable for any use that required a straight length. Furthermore, the petals were to be borne in the shape of a cross, with a rusty red nail mark at the tip of each and a crown of thorns in the center of the blossom.
(from Dogwoods: the Genus Cornus by Paul Cappiello and Don Shadow)


our dogwood tree


O come and mourn with me awhile;
O come ye to the Savior's side;
O come, together let us mourn;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified.

Have we no tears to shed for him,
while soldiers scoff and foes deride?
Ah! look how patiently he hangs;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified.

How fast his hands and feet are nailed;
his blessed tongue with thirst is tied,
his failing eyes are blind with blood:
Jesus, our Love, is crucified.

His mother cannot reach his face;
she stands in helplessness beside;
her heart is martyred with her Son's:
Jesus, our Love, is Crucified.

Seven times seven he spoke, seven words of love;
and all three hours his silence cried
for mercy on the souls of men;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified.

O break, O break, hard heart of mine!
Thy weak self-love and guilty pride
his Pilate and his Judas were:
Jesus, our Love, is crucified.

A broken heart, a fount of tears,
ask, and they will not be denied;
a broken heart love's cradle is:
Jesus, our Love, is crucified.

O love of God! O sin of man!
In this dread act your strength is tried;
and victory remains with love;
for he, our Love, is crucified.

--Frederick William Faber, 1849

They get it from their father

This was the view from our window last Wednesday morning.


Happy First Day of Spring!

And this is what Miriam insisted on wearing that day.



Yeah, babe, I know -- I'm ready for spring too!
(Katie is trying to drink from her cup upside down, in case you were wondering.)

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So... what do you want to do tonight, Katie?



Oh, the usual -- just hang out.

Find the Hidden Mickey

It's an interplanetary conspiracy!


from spaceweather.com