Just a Taste

of the family portraits we had done!

Dancing Bear

Bad Bloggers

We have been terribly negligent with pictures. We have just been having all of this summer fun with friends and family. In the past few weeks, we had GranAnn and Pop Roy come for a visit. Elsie and Kit adored having their grandparents here for fun times. Then, we went to HHI to celebrate Grammy's birthday with Poppa and Donna and Joe. Just this morning, Elsie asked me what Joe was doing on the beach today. Clearly, she came to know the man well if he resides on the beach even in her mind's eye. As I watched Joe playing with her, I was reminded of all of the years, many years ago, I would beg for Joe to throw me in the waves and pull me on a raft and build a sandcastle with me. Good thing "Old Joe" has still got it. Then last weekend Deavours came and it was really convenient for her to come to visit and play with Elsie for hours on end so David and I could remember how it felt to just have one child to care for.

We'll get better with pictures--and track some down from Grammy. The Pace family is coming next weekend and we have the baptism in Atlanta in a few weeks so we'll take advantage of those photo ops.

Interrogation

Sometimes it feels like we are trapped in an interrogation and sometimes I am reminded of the wonderful ways of this world. In the car after puppet camp today, we were talking about going to Atlanta for Kit's baptism:

Elsie: Does Johnny have a baby now?
Me: Yes, remember, baby Tad?
Elsie: Does Kate have a baby?
Me: Yes, the same baby as Johnny's--Tad.
Elsie: Does Barbara have a baby?
Me: Yes.
Elsie: Does Mike?
Me: Yes.
Elsie: Does Poppa?
Me: Yes, I am Poppa's baby--so's Johnny and Barbara.
Elsie: And who made you a mommy?
Me: You did.

xoxoxBear




Bear is a really bad kisser. That is one of my favorite things about her. When you lean in to kiss her, instead of closing her eyes like people being kissed do, she opens them extra wide and then opens her mouth just as wide--and doesn't pucker like a goldfish but gapes open wide like a bass. If she keeps this up, she will live at home forever. I wrote once about my delight in Elsie's uncoolness, and there is something so sweet about this lack of awareness in both of them right now--it makes them all mine somehow, girls so terribly delicious and totally uncool only their mother could love them.

Caption Contest
I love it when the McKinneys have caption contests. Any suggestions here?

Bear Babysitting

The Rhetoric of Elsie


Elsie surprises us all the time with the words she knows and the phrasing she attempts and uses. We delight in her explorations of language. I need to do a better job of recording such things and probably should correct some of them, but they are so damn sweet. I'm thinking of my rhetoric class for this fall and if I was to analyze her language use from a rhetorical perspective, here is what I might say:

• Sometimes she tries out new words to exert her independence, recognizing the relationship between language and power in the Foucauldian sense. On the potty one day, she demanded some "privacy."
• Sometimes, she coins phrases. "Doing tricks and moves" is a neologism that means dancing naked.
• She calls "Sprite" "sprout." Today, at lunch, she requested "Sprite" and I let her since we were having a special mommy/eldest daughter day. She told me "I lub Sprout, Mommy." She then paused and said "I wike Sprout on demand, too." "Sprout" is also a preschoolers channel on TV with educational shows so she was recognizing its double-connotation and the complications of homonyms.
• One day I used a funnel to make a musical instrument--a shaker--using a water bottle and dry macaronis. That same day, Daddy removed a splinter from her foot. A month later, she was marching around the house with a water bottle requesting a "splinter." Obviously, she recognized the arbitrary nature of signification--there is no "natural" relationship between words and the things they represent.
• And many times, we recognize the limits of language and its lack and absence--as opposed to the presence of gesture (in its Derridean implications). Those are the fleeting moments we'll lose long before we forget "sprout" and "splinters"--the hand gesture she uses when she is "sneaking," the side kick she fancies when dancing, and the sweet sticky sweaty smell of her generously given hugs.
  

Happy Half-Birthday Kit!

We are halfway through 2009 and, thus, halfway to Kit's first birthday. Born six months ago today, Bear is weighing in at 17.8 pounds (80th percentile) and measuring 27 inches high (91st percentile). Her dainty head is 41.5 cm around (25th percentile) and is full of MENSA brains. Big sister helped her survive the ordeal, and word is that she kept up with cousin Brooke who had similar height/weight stats at her 6 month well visit.

Kit at 6 months

10 things you should know about Kit at 6 months:
1. Well, she has to be the sweetest baby ever--really, ever. She currently eats well and naps well, and thankfully, she has always been pretty good at these things--except for select moments, of course. From birth, she would wake up once a night to nurse and kept this up until 5 months when she easily started sleeping through 7 to 7. Elsie started sleeping through the night earlier, but there were more rough nights along the way. For Kit, it was pretty much up once to nurse and then right back down. She has been a good nurser and took to eating food right away--she seems to love squash, well, that and whatever we feed her.
2. Kit likes to smile and giggle. She loves to have her belly tickled with kisses. Other people laughing makes her belly laugh and that is one sweet sweet sound. She's not been a fussy baby--she's a pretty happy girl.
3. Kit is very serious when she is talking. She'll make those baby cooing and calling sounds and gets a serious look on her face with one eyebrow raised and one down--kind of like my dad. Her voice is deep and loud--kind of like my dad. I'm pretty sure she is lecturing us on something--kind of like my dad.
4. GET IN MY MOUTH. See previous post.
5. Kit loves to jump. We need to get video footage on this--but she loves to jump and jumps to the music. David is convinced she has rhythm and she will be his musical prodigy. (Recently, Elsie dashed his hopes there--more on that later.)
6. Kit goes down easily for bed and her two naps. It used to be that the little chub would immediately roll onto her left side--the little dumpling. But now, she stretches her right arm up like a baby Statue of Liberty, arches her back, and turns her head to her upraised arm to sleep. It is a dear little vision we keep in our mind's eye--we'll try for a picture for you.
7. We call her the Bear. You know how it is with us and nicknames. We have them and our people have them. We even planned for nicknames when we were choosing real names for our children, but their nicknames are not what we imagined they would be. And it is David's fault--He named her the Bear and that is what she is.
8. Right now, she is an easy-going little thing and loves her Nonie and loves her big sister and loves the people who come around her. She wants the pug to GET IN HER MOUTH. She seems very observant and interested in what is going on around her. She'll kick it out on the floor and play on a mat. She'll check things out from the Bjorn. She's content to ride around in her stroller. She's down with it.
9. She is just about sitting up and rolls over inconsistently. Her legs are incredibly strong and she seems to already love to stand--on your lap, in the jumper, in her office. She may be a wrestler or a weight-lifter one day.
10. Mommy and Daddy love their Bear so very very much.

Booch and the Bear

Get in my Mouth: The Bear Version

Way back when, Elsie went through this pre-talking stage where clearly her favorite command was "GET IN MY MOUTH." Remember this post and this one. Baby Sister is following suit: the hands, the feet, all four at once--the food, the toys, the dog--GET IN MY MOUTH!

father's day






















We made something as sweet as Elsie's Daddy for father's day:

Heath Bar Cake

1 chocolate cake mix
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 small jar butterscotch topping (if you're a whiz in the kitchen, you could make your own)
12 ounces whipped cream
4 chopped Heath Bars

-Prepare the cake according to directions on package and bake in a 9x13 pan.
-While still hot, use a wooden spoon handle to poke holes in the top of the cake.
-Pour condensed mile evenly over the top, then pour butterscotch topping evenly over that.
-Sprinkle half the the chopped bars over the top.
-Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

-After refrigeration, spread whipped cream over cake, then sprinkle with remaining Heath pieces.

Elsie prepared it (with help from Mommy) and shared it with Daddy, Addie, and Poppa after dinner on Father's Day!

elsie and jake





Last summer, Elsie was terrified of Jake. This summer they are best buds. Whenever Elsie sees him, she responds as if he showed up at the Salty Dog just to see her. Never mind the crowd of kids whose parents saw the sign that Jake makes appearances at 11, 3, and 6 and are waiting in line for photo opps. On the Salty Dog website, you'll find that like Jake, Elsie appears in many pictures--here are two of them.

At one time, Elsie was also scared of the Salty Dog's Cappy the Clown and now that Cappy is not there, she asks about her constantly. Most questions lead to other questions when it comes to Elsie and other kids her age. In order to get the incessant questions to stop, we sometimes answer even when we don't know the answer and that can lead us to trouble. Here is how one conversation went. It starts out innocently enough and then D seems to veer off course a bit:
E: Daddy, where is Cappy?
D: She's not here.
E: Where is she?
D: At her house.
E. What is her house?
D: A home.
E: What is her home?
D: A cabin.
E: Where is her cabin?
D: In the woods.
E: Where are the woods?
D: In the trees....
Now, whenever we go to the Salty Dog, we have to talk about what Cappy is doing at her cabin in the woods, and whenever we see trees, we have to discuss if Cappy's cabin is there and so on and so on and so on.

Evenings at HHI

A Day at the Beach

Actually




Actually, for all of the talk of our "vacation" and given the setting, you would think we returned relaxed and rejuvenated, but not so much. Because you see, the term "vacation" should be used loosely. In fact, this is old news--I lamented the loss of old school vacations way back in 2007.

And this time, we had two kiddos! We have new admiration for our parents after this lesson in endurance. So, we moved households over to HHI for two weeks. We had visits from the Heidels for a few days and the Habel-Bachelder crew (3rd annual) for just about a week. These had to be the best houseguests ever in terms of good sense, good humor, and lots of pitching in. The last post included Heidel pics and here are the Habel Bachelder pics sent to us. As these pictures indicate, lots of popsicles/ice cream pacified the little ones, and porch cocktails mollified the young at heart. And all of the smiles and laughter kept us sane and wishing our time would never end--especially the time post-8pm when certain small fry were sleeping.

We spent a lot of time calculating how next year would be easier: Alice will be almost 5, Elsie almost 4, Claire almost 3, and Kit 18 months. Surely, they will be able to transport themselves to the beach, Salty Dog, petting zoo, and Harbor Town then. And they will all be potty trained and play solo for hours on end and take long leisurely naps and sleep in and will eat without argument.... Anyway... And then we spent a lot of time remembering what got us to this moment--all while enjoying our "vacation" in paradise.

And speaking of remembering, nine years ago today is still ranking as one of my favorite days and we are already planning to celebrate our tenth anniversary next year on a vacation without quote marks.

E's Favorite Things: The Beach and Camille


Actually, Camille's parents--Lee and Ginger--rank right up there as some of E's favorite "fings" as she puts it. And we are pretty fond of Lee and Ginger, too. They have been immensely helpful this year, especially at moments when David or I have had to juggle both Elsie and Kit alone. They took E to the St. Patrick's Day parade with them so I could handle feeding and parking Kit in the midst of the mayhem. And then at the beginning of our vacation when I had to commute to work for a few days, they picked up Elsie duty on the beach while David napped the baby. Here are a few shots they took of their fun in the sun and you can bet we were serving them much-deserved sunset cocktails on the porch later on that evening.

HHI Vacation, 2009

Style Maven Elsie

So check out the Sesame Street posting and look closely--notice Elsie's yellow fingernails? Jaundice, you might ask? Not quite. I took her for a mommy-daughter pre-beach mani-pedi and this is the color she chose. I guess she didn't get the memo that any child of mine and her father's should under no circumstances wear yellow unless it is Halloween and they are dressed as a duck or Big Bird. Children of a lovely olive complexion like that of her cousins might be able to carry yellow but any shade of yellow plus pasty-freckley-always-verging-on-sunburned babies better stick with shades that highlight bright blue eyes and porcelain skin.

You see, Elsie was enamoured when I got my toes done for the first time this season and I promised to take her "next time." David asked her what color she would choose and she insisted on "yellow." Now, for all of Elsie's obvious genius, she has been a bit slow or negligent or oblivious in the color department. She just had not heretofor had time for dealing with the subtleties of shades of color, the nuances of hue. Surely, she just didn't know what she was saying when she declared that she would request a yellow manicure?! I was convinced that when she saw the wall of pinks and reds, she would see the light. But not so fast, Mama. Upon scanning the wall, Elsie immediately pointed her chubby finger at the yellow, the sole yellow in a sea of rosy shades, and there it was--yellow chubby fingers and yellow chubby toes--this season's hottest shade on a soon-to-be style icon and finally color-conscious toddler.