Trick Post!

I uploaded the pictures on this post before heading out of town last weekend and then never got around to writing anything. Since I began (with the photos) May 4, the post may get shuffled into past ones and lost so that no one reads it. If you see this one, maybe leave a comment? I'm approaching it as a blog experiment I suppose.

May 1, Harper, Nana, and I headed south to Cincinnati to visit Nana Jones. We enjoyed lunch, did some damage at the Carter's store (which I was thrilled to find!), and then got to see Nana Jones' room.

Here are Nana Jones and Harper looking out the window for birds:


They also enjoyed a lively conversation with a few dogs:


Our Cincinnati trip also included a stop at Big Lots, where Harper procured this lovely watering can. Then we sprinkled the new hostas out front.



And yes, I know our yard is a mess. We're working on it!

Running with the Big Kids

About half an hour north of our house is a church with a large indoor playland. Think McDonald's but without the fast food. For five hours every weekday afternoon it is open to the general public. (There is also a preschool at this church; can you imagine going to a preschool with a giant indoor playland?) Worth the half an hour drive? Absolutely. I am always on the lookout for free entertainment and being indoors is just a bonus, although I'm sure it is much more crowded on rainy days than on the beautiful sunny day we visited.

So we're at this big beautiful playground with twisty slides and tunnels and places to climb, all of it thoughtfully enclosed to prevent plummeting children. Perfect, right?


As it turns out, beneath Harper's spirited personality, she is incredibly physically timid. She wanted nothing to do with most of the climbing and sliding and tunnels. Rather, she spent nearly the entire time we were there going up and down this little green slide.


After a while, the playground was overrun by some very fast, very loud, BIG KIDS. All Harper could do was just stand back and watch as they ran by.


So she was intimidated by the slides, tunnels, climbing, and big kids and I still think she'd be excited to go back. Maybe next time she will even venture up the purple steps which lead to the more exciting parts of the equipment. If not, we'll have to sign her up for gymnastics!

Teacher Gifts

Welcome to another public service provided by Midwest Mom! Inspired again by Swistle, I am about to write an entire post about gifts for teachers. Feel free to jump ship now if you are not interested in this topic. I will also say up front that there will not even be any pictures of Harper in this post. Harper stories/photos will return in the next post, I promise.

Having been a classroom teacher for four years, and having many teacher-friends, I feel highly qualified to address this topic. In my short career I have received gifts ranging in value from $2 to $100 (no kidding, totally unnecessary, but fun!). The value of the gift really isn't important, but here are some helpful (I hope) guidelines for end-of-the-year (or holiday) gifting for teachers:

1) Step away from the apples. Seriously. The possible exception to this would be in the case of a new teacher who has yet to be showered in apple-themed nonsense. Unless the teacher is a self-proclaimed apple enthusiast, it really isn't necessary.

2) Consumable is good. Teachers, like most of us, already have a lot of stuff. You might want to steer clear of anything that will take up shelf-space. Again, unless you know the teacher's decor and tastes really well, avoid anything non-consumable that needs to be displayed in the teacher's home.

3) Gift cards are easy, available in any amount, and can be purchased from a variety of stores. Especially at book stores, coffee shops, ice cream, and video stores, a little can go a long way. $5 is a movie-rental or a really nice cup of coffee, even most of a paperback! If you can/want to spend a little more try the mall, restaurant, movie theater, or store like Target or Kohls. A local spa gift certificate might be nice too, but that's not everyone's cup of tea. Want your money to go back into the classroom? Send a gift certificate to a teacher-supply store. You might not realize it, but there's probably one near you.

4) Candles, lotion, scented soaps, etc. are not a bad idea. If you are going to go that route I suggest getting them from a decent place (do you want the seven piece cherry-scented "spa" set on clearance for $4.50?) and possibly include a gift receipt. I know someone who loves vanilla anything - lotion, candles, etc. Vanilla seems like a mild enough scent, right? But to me too much vanilla makes me feel like a cookie factory threw up nearby. I'm not trying to offend the vanilla-lovers, I'm just saying that scent is a pretty personal thing. I always loved receiving gifts from Bath and Body Works because I use their stuff and because you can take any unused product back and exchange it like it's a gift certificate. I have never had trouble exchanging items their store.

5) I always thought notepads (of the non-apple variety!) and note cards were good gifts, especially for elementary school teachers. I went through both like crazy sending notes home, to other teachers, writing thank-yous etc. If you don't get school-themed ones then the teacher can use them at home as well. You can also have your kids decorate note cards by folding unlined, 5x7 index cards in half, and buying similarly-sized envelopes from an office store. Have your child decorate the front of each card, pair each with an envelope, and tie a ribbon around a set of eight or ten.

6) Beware of baked goods. I know homemade goodies seem like a good idea; thoughtful and lots of work can go into them. Having said that, I know several people who will not eat food that came out of kitchens they are unfamiliar with. Or people are just picky eaters. Baking for your teachers might not be a good use of your time. About half the teachers I knew happily ate goodies brought in by the kids; the other half gave them away or threw them away. (Go ahead, gasp in horror.) I'm just saying, do you want to put the time in if someone's not going to eat it? Now if you've given your teacher baked goods in the past and they have come back to you raving about your cookies/cake/brownies/bread/pie and asking for your recipe? You may commence baking.

7) Gifts the the whole class worked together on can be nice if you have an uber-parent to do all the organizing. It can either be one big item that the kids helped personalized (a friend of mine received a rocking chair from her class one year, decorated with the kids' thumb prints), or a collection of letters or a drawing from each child, bound together in a little scrapbook. I think these kinds of gifts do require a little better knowledge of the teacher though. . .

8) Classroom supplies can also be a tricky area. If you know that the teacher has been buying items with personal money, then go for it. However, depending on your school, a lot of that might be provided already and not actually be coming from the teacher. Stickers or stamps are nice little gifts for most elementary classrooms.

Some of you are probably thinking, "Teacher gifts? Don't we pay them?" Well I will not go into that debate here, but the truth is you don't have to give teachers gifts at the end of the year. You also don't have to tip the person who cuts your hair. It's a personal decision. Each school culture is a little different this way, and if you aren't sure (and you care) about what is typically done, ask another parent.

An end-of-the-year gift is just a way to let your child's teacher know you appreciate the fact that she (or he) spent a huge part of each day caring for your child, worrying about your child, and generally working her butt off to provide twenty or more kids with a safe and successful educational experience!

Having said that, a genuine thank you from you, your child, or both of you is just as nice as any other gift. Everyone likes to be acknowledged for a job well-done. If you appreciate the things your child's teacher has done throughout the year, just tell her. It's nice if you tell her principal, too. I have saved all the thoughtful notes I've received from parents and children. When I was still teaching it was great to have a box of them to pull out when I was having a bad day.

Some of the best teacher gifts I received were:

-A huge outdoor pot that all the children in a class had put their hand prints on, full of geraniums ready to be planted, and a gift-certificate to a local garden center. (That was from an entire class.)

-A giant popcorn bowl filled with packages of microwave popcorn and a gift card to a video store.

-Gift cards!

-A really sturdy canvas tote bag with the children's hand prints and names on it; I received that from the second graders I did my student teaching with and I've been using it for nearly eight years.

-Notes from kids or parents who thanked me for specific things I'd done throughout the year.

I've received many nice gifts over the years, but those are sticking out in my mind right now.

Another quick note, if you do give a gift card to a book store or someplace like Target, it would be easy for the teacher to spend it entirely on items for school. If you intend for her to make more personal use of it, don't be afraid to tell her. I once received an embarrassingly generous gift card to a local book store and I used 75% of it for classroom books because I felt funny spending it all on myself.

There you have it, Midwest Mom's guide to teacher gift-giving! You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Virtual Fashion Show

I could probably subtitle this post, "Things you are highly unlikely to care about, #1." Of course that implies that you do care about my usually thrilling topics such as going to the park, cute things Harper says, displays of Harper's naughtiness, etc. But this is really pushing the limits of what a person might find entertaining, unless you are very excited about summer clothes for female toddlers. I am following Swistle's suggestion that Harper have her own fashion show. Nana helped us purchase some new duds from Lands' End, and I picked up a few supplemental items from Kohl's and Target. I did want to try the items on and make sure they fit okay before clipping the tags off and washing everything. So here, without further ado, are many of the new items for Harper's summer wardrobe:

Blue shirt and floral shorts from the Lands' End Kids catalog. I don't know why Harper looks as though she's trying to rap in that photo.

Pink shirt and skirt (with built-in shorts) from Lands' End Kids catalog; the skirt is looking a little long, but the next smaller size would have been way too small. I think she'll survive.

I will confess that Curious George might have been playing while we were trying the clothes on (She doesn't care what I make her do as long as she can watch that monkey at the same time!); which may have something to do with her refusal to look at the camera in this photo. The green tank top is another Lands' End item and the cute little denim shorts came from Target. They look like they have a zipper and button, but the button only decorates the elastic waist. This is a very important detail, as Harper hates the feel of most pants/shorts that actually zip/button and will cry out that they are, "Too fall (small)!" The best part, the shorts were only $3.99 at Target! She also has an olive green pair. (I wanted "neutrals" but they literally had at least a dozen colors to choose from.)

Turquoise shirt also from Lands' End. And Harper would like you to come play in her tent, you know, when you have time.

This top was also from Lands' End and the bright pink shorts came, 2 for $9.00, from Kohl's. Though it looks like a party color, bright pink apparently makes Harper very serious.

Last outfit for today. . . Harper's stripped shirt was another $3.99 find at Target, also available in at least a dozen varieties. The yellow shorts were the other half of the 2 for $9.00 deal at Kohl's. Look at my thrifty shopping!!!

Harper (still in the Target shirt) thanks you for attending Summer Fashion 2007.

Designers interested in being featured in her fall show should feel free to send us free clothes; size 3T please!

What's Not to Love?

Daffodowndilly

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,

She wore her greenest gown;

She turned to the south wind

And curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight

And shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbour:

“Winter is dead.”

-A.A. Milne

Going to see the tulips and daffodils (though we were a little late for those) at Cox Arboretum has become one of my favorite things about spring in our area. I know you don't come here for pictures of flowers, but I couldn't help myself!

Spring!

Just like last year, we decided to celebrate the nice-ish weather with a trip to Cox Arboretum. Coming around the corner into spring and summer means it will be time for me to once again become the unofficial spokesperson for Dayton Metro Parks. We loved all our park time last year and definitely didn't take advantage of it as much as we could have. Cox Arboretum is one of the best because it is close, free, and beautiful no matter what time of year.


Taking pictures of Harper was much more difficult this year. She didn't really want to sit near the flowers and she was a little nervous about the ginormous bees which were zooming haphazardly around the flowerbeds. I caught myself trying to explain that the bees weren't interested in her because they were busy pollinating the flowers. I stopped myself when I remembered that Harper is only two years old; the science is a little ahead of her.




Harper did enjoy the flowers a little, but she was mostly interested in climbing on the benches and picking up rocks.



She still loves rocks and dirt more than about anything else we find in the great outdoors.



The turtles were high on her list as well. She kept asking me if she could go pet one.

"Pease pease pease pease pease pease Mommy? Can I jus touch it on the shell? Can I jus pet the little one? Pease?"


****

Random aside:

Tonight at dinner Matt was holding up fingers and asking Harper how many. She can count like a champ if she's just rattling off numbers, but we're trying to show her how to slow down and count to figure out how many objects there are. So she was patiently counting fingers, one finger, three fingers, four fingers, two fingers. . .

Then Matt held up five and asked, "How many fingers am I showing now?"

To which Harper replied, "All of dem!"

ROFL

Harper is strutting around the family room right now "fixing" things with a key which apparently looks like a tool of some sort in her mind. Here are some of the random things coming out of her mouth:

"No Reboun, dat's my job!"

"Now for the easy part."

"Uh oh, I better get started, Nana will be here soon."

"Uh oh! I better finish up, Nana will be here soon."

"We jus need some new batwees (batteries)."

"I need some music to help me feel better."

"Whew! (Wipes hand across her forehead as though she's just finished a very taxing job.) I did it!"

She's wearing a long-sleeved pajama top, a diaper, and sandals. What can I say? Two-year-olds have some very specific, very odd ideas about what they want. (This mental picture is meant to add to your amusement and is not necessarily representative of the quality of parenting in our home.)

Flair for the Dramatic

Even though these pictures were taken back over Easter weekend, I still felt the need to post them. One of the things Harper loves is pretending. Specifically she loves pretending to be a dog or a cat. And when she is playing this game you should watch out, because she will actually lick you on the cheek if you don't stop her.

When we were up in Wisconsin, visiting my parents, Harper was in the basement rec room with my dad, pretending to be a dog. Something went awry and Harper "hurt her paw." My dad, being the excellent grandfather that he is, proceeded to fashion a cast from an ace bandage and some masking tape. Check out Harper's pitiful, "I'm hurt," face.


Don't worry. She was only acting. See!


Harper just becomes more and more of a character every passing day. Earlier this week, when she was playing nap refusal games with me yet again, she looked me square in the face and said, "I no take a nap, Mommy, the sun is out. It's a beautiful day out dere!"

I have to work harder on keeping a straight face. I've never before known a person who could make me frustrated to the point of tearing my hair out and cause me to crack up with the same sentence.

Today Matt's mom was giving Harper a bath while I was at an appointment. Harper was playing with one of her musical dolphins that float in the bathtub. When you submerge them they usually make bubbles and today one didn't. Harper told Ann that it wasn't working and needed new batteries! (Note to self: Lay off the electronic toys.)


*****

I feel I would somehow be remiss if I didn't mention what happened in Virginia earlier this week. Of course my thoughts and prayers are with the Virginia Tech community. I cannot imagine how you try to return to anything normal after such a tragic event.

The news affected me differently than things like this have hit me in the past. I am not sure why. This is going to sound crazy, but I think Harper's peanut allergy has something to do with it. In many ways the world has seemed infinitely more dangerous to me since learning that accidental contact/ingestion of a peanut product could potentially kill Harper. So I am already terrified of sending her off to school; I'm not sure any event could increase that anxiety for me.

As a parent, and a human, I find myself constantly skating that line between a normal level of anxiety that helps keep my family and me safe and a level of anxiety that qualifies me for medication. This week it's been a little more difficult than usual.

Can I Get a Leotard?

Matt was coaching today but I had some nice quiet time to work because Nana and Dziatku took Harper to see this:



Clifford Live! Right here in our little town. Harper even came home with a Clifford sippy cup which, by the way, is not spill proof. Nana and Dziatku reported that she was a little scared in the beginning, dark lights, loud music, a dog the size of a garage, but warmed up and had a good time. I was worried she would be disappointed since last night she told me she was going to pet Clifford and then ride on him. Although after the Elmo incident, I probably should have realized she wouldn't really want to get within touching distance of a tank-sized dog.

After Harper returned I was absentmindedly playing with her hair and I realized it was long enough for pigtails!



There is something about seeing this little girl in pigtails that made me want to slap a leotard on her and plonk her on a balance beam. Wouldn't she be a cute little gymnast? I blame my image of a little pigtailed gymnast on this book which I read in grade school and still have a tattered copy of in the basement. Then again there are books like this, which came up in my search and makes me think maybe no to the gymnastics after all.

Then I remember that Harper can still barely get both feet off the floor when she jumps and I don't think she'll be on the fast track for any elite sport in the near future.


And don't you think a child capable of making this face might need an outlet for her energy:


*****

Some good news to share now; I had to take a standardized test which was required if I want my library media education certification in Ohio, which I do. I took it the first weekend of March and finally found out that I passed! Hooray! Apparently people from the graduate program I'm in generally don't have trouble with the test. A normal person may find that reassuring but not me. In all my neurotic glory I just thought about how terrible it would look if I were the only person from my program not to pass. So now that's one point of anxiety I can set aside. Don't worry, others will surely creep in shortly.

Quick Update

Between being sick and being out of town things have felt a little crazy around here lately. It was wonderful to see my family in Wisconsin over Easter weekend, but way too short. We were only up there for one full day, heading up on Friday and driving part of the way back Sunday evening. The whole thing felt pretty rushed and chaotic, but it was a great opportunity to see many relatives we normally miss. One of my dad's brothers and his family hadn't seen us since Harper was about nine months old.

Harper had a grand time with seemingly unlimited playmates, which may explain why the first day back at home with only me for company was particularly nightmarish. We didn't hype the Easter thing much this year, but she still hunted for eggs like a champ and enjoyed being showered with treats and gifts.


This is kind of full-circle photo:


On the right is Rebecca, my oldest cousin's daughter. In the middle is Noah, my youngest cousin. Looking at those three children, can you guess which one has five siblings and is kind of over the togetherness thing?

*****

In other news we put this in Harper's room on Monday:

There are horrible* side rails folded beneath the quilt, so please don't accuse us of child endangerment. Harper went right to sleep in it the first night, and stayed there all night. Today was a totally different story and I fear nap time is gone for good. Along with the possibility of me plonking her down in her crib for a pseudo-nap so I can at least take a shower. Taking the crib down might have been a decision too hastily made. . .

(*I don't think side rails in general are horrible, just the ones we purchased. We couldn't tell they were horrible until installing them and now we've ordered another set. I know you'll be dying to hear how it turns out and I promise to keep you informed.)

Lessons on Toddlers

What we've learned:

Supervised arts and crafts are a lot of fun.




Less supervised arts and crafts are also fun, but not always a good idea.


Earlier she was watching a television show during which there was face painting for a birthday party. I should probably have seen that one coming.

Something Like Talent

Sometime last week, when Harper was at dinner with Matt, Nana, and Dziatku, she learned/played a game of making faces. Still pictures don't really do her justice, but I had to try. Please note that not only is Harper affecting various moods, she is doing it while riding the rocking horse. I present:

The happy face.


The angry face.


The crying face.


The laughing face.


And, my favorite, the peek-a-boo face.


Thanks, she'll be here all week.

Ailing

When you have a stomach virus there are two kinds of pain.

One kind means you need to get to the bathroom. Pronto. The other kind means you are feeling the effects of not eating anything but a couple of slices of toast in three days.

It is really important to distinguish between the two.


*****
And now a funny picture of Harper sleeping: