pink pajama mama

I have been wanting to take Henry and Annabelle to toddler time at the Native Earth Teaching Farm for years. We’ve never made it.  Usually our mornings are very slow and lovely. The kids completely disappear in their own play worlds in the morning and I absolutely love making them something warm and delicious–pancakes, oatmeal, english muffins. This morning I had a double whammy of delight and made pancakes AND chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I then dressed each child (a lot like trying to capture seals in the water) and finally made it to the car at 10:10 am( toddler time started at 10). I tried to coerce George into coming by saying we’d only be an hour. He disappeared back inside the house, and I figured he wasn’t coming, so I backed out of the driveway, only to see him running out of the house, one leg in his pants, trying to flag me down. There are only three main roads on the island–North, South, and Middle. Still, I managed to get lost. Annabelle sighed and I said, “Annabelle, it’s not about reaching our destination. Getting lost is really fun. That’s when you really find magic!” ”I know, Mom,” she replied. “I’m just tired of being lost.”Luckily, the roads we were on were staggeringly beautiful. We finally made it to the Farm, and we were the only car there. George started to laugh. He usually doesn’t do well with things like getting lost or arriving somewhere to find it closed, but today, he rolled with it.The farm was so picturesque. We were immediately drawn to a handsome little Billy Goat named Joey. This goat had the most gorgeous beard I’ve ever seen–long, think, lustrous, clean. I asked the farmer, Rebecca, who also had a beard, if she brushed the goat’s beard or if he took care of it. She said he took care of it on his own. (I couldn’t help but picture him with a hand mirror and a moustache comb). She said he didn’t like to get it wet and he would run into his little house at the first sign of rain. Incredible. As I watched Rebecca talk, I was awestruck by her utter lack of vanity–her full beard, her braless boobs swaying under her layers of farm clothes… One might think I’d let go of some of my own vanity in the face of such earthiness, but one would be wrong. I thought that gorgeous beard was wasted on a goat and would look much better on me–not as a beard of course, but as hair. We saw all sorts of amazing animals. Henry was especially delighted by the butting heads of the pygmy goats, and I loved the exotic white royal turkeys. I’ve never seen such beautiful turkeys! THey looked like marshmallow snow birds! They’re endangered and the farm is trying to breed them and help bring them back. Annabelle had a verbal exchange with another billy goat, a black one named Blackberry. He would make a mooing sound and she would make it back to him. This went on for sometime until she finally said, “This goat doesn’t know how to baa very well.”On the way home, we stopped for a little picnic at Alley’s. There was a darling weeping tree that Annabelle turned into her house. “That boy can come in here,” she said. “That boy Henry?” I asked. “Yes, that boy,” she said. Henry came trotting over and she swept aside the branches and said, “Come in, Darling, welcome to my house.” They held hands and sat down, and when Henry got up to leave a few minutes later, she said,  ”Sir! Gentlemen can’t leave until they help up all the ladies sitting down!” Henry obliged by offering his hand, helping her up. “Oh thank you Darling,” she said, grabbing his head and kissing it.George looked at me. “Where does she get this stuff?” “I have no idea,” I replied. 

Oh my beloved blog!! It’s been so long! We’ve been traveling since December 5 and we’re now on Martha’s Vineyard without internet! I did just happen upon a rogue signal, so in a nutshell, we’re having the BEST time! We went on a walk at Felix Neck Sanctuary today–I love that word, sanctuary, and it was wonderful to see HEnry and Annabelle’s cheeks rosy from the cold, their noses turned red, and they had a ball running on the paths, picking up pine cones and twigs, climbing on fallen tree trunks… just perfect. There’s no snow on the ground here, and the temperature is in the 40’s, so it’s not bad, but still cold for those of us accustomes to New Orleans weather.Annabelle has taken to wearing my long silky nightgowns–they drag on the floor behind her. She especially likes my cheetah print one with the feathers. She put it on today with my high heels and said, “I’m going to a party darlin.” She pronounces “darlin” like a country western singer. She said Henry couldn’t come because he didn’t smell good, but that I could since I smelled like flowers. I prtested that Henry smells like an angel, so in the end, he was invited to her party. The party involved somersaults over the pillows and a lot of jumping on the bed.In a nutshell, our trip began in Springville Utah at my parent’s on Dec. 5. We have the best time with them. They’re amazingly fun for 70 year olds, and they keep us laughing. We kidnapped my dad nearly every day and made him hang out with us The kids adore him and my mom. Marlise, my little sister, has 6 kids!! Four of her own and two she adopted last year form Haiti. They’re 2 and 3, perfect for playing with Henry and Annabelle. There are so many cousins up there it’s just one long party. Then, we went up to Snowbird and George joined us. Snowbird was a BLAST!! I forgot how much I love to ski! My girlfriend Sally came and said she skis like a ” bat out of hell” which is a pretty good description of my skiing. My parents came and babysat while we skiied and went out at night. So much fun!Then, we went to San Francisco and stayed at the super deluxe Four Seasons. The lap of luxury! They had tiny white robes for Henry and Annabelle and all sorts of treats. The best part was meeting up with two of my best friends who I haven’t seen in two years, Zar and Tanya. We went to school together in Paris in  1990 and backpacked around Europe  and Greece together. Zar and I found a new wine we love called Hope and Grace and she helped me push the monkeys around the city in strollers. Aside from teh lame ass at the Hermes store (what a stuffy store!! ) telling Annabelle she couldn’t ride their damn rocking horse, we had a great time. Zar and Tanya bonded immediately with the kids. I’ve never seen Herny take to someone as fast as Zar who played with him on the stairs “down-down” as he calls them and Tanya had Annabelle in hysterics running her around with the stroller.The worst day was the day we all got up at 4 to go to the damn airport to leave for New Hampshire, a stressful plane trip with two little ones, and dragged all our stuff into the airport, only to find we were at the wrong airport and wouldn’t make it to the other one in time!! George got on the phone and got us the last three seats on  a completely different airline, and $1,000.00 later, we were on several different planes to NH. Henry vomited on me first thing, so I smelled especially good the whole day, and then my suitcase didn’t make it, so I spent the entire next day in George’s pajamas. Aside from this, the kids did great and it wasn’t a bad trip. New Hampshire was a winter wonderland with about four feet of snow, and we made cookies for Santa and played and lounged before our big road trip the following day to the Balsams in northern NH. The drive was spectacular with these picturesque New England farmhouses with tiny candles in the windows and the moon hanging nearly full and low–just beautiful. The Balsams was a bit of roughing it after the Four Seasons. WE had ordered a Christmas tree and were expecting it to be a six-footer, but it was a one foot tall bush, not even shaped like a tree. It looked like they hadn’t painted since 1863, but other than that, the service was impeccable, and once I got used to it, I loved it. Their skiing is all baby hills so I tried out some trick skis–those tiny skis about the size of ice skates-to challenge myself and I had a ball. I think I may have a future in the senior citizen olympics between trick skiing and ice skating…This trip has been long and i’ll never do this much traveling again at once with the little ones, but we’ve had a ball every step of the way. I’m sitting here looking at the fairies we made today, the sticks we collected today, and watching my rosy-cheeked cherubs sleep, and thinking how incredibly lucky I am. All my christmas wishes warm and sleepy in my big cozy bed. 

I haven’t written in so long! We’re in Utah at my parents, reveling in the snow and the mountains and all the “Ho-Ho’s” (Henry calls Santa Ho-HO) aroudn the house. My mom is the chachke queen! (That’s a mouthful!)We’ve had really fun exhausting days. Today we stayed in our pajamas all day until we changed into new pajamas after baths! We didn’t even comb our hair! It was wonderful! We puttered around the house, watched the snow, and I reveled in watching Henry and Annabelle in full action. Henry spent a long time tonight making himself dizzy. He turns in circles until he’s stumbling and laughing and then does it all again. He’s also fond of “bonking” his head on various things, such as other people’s heads, chairs, walls, etc. He thinks this is hilarious and will walk all the way across the room to “bonk” his head on Grandpa’s. He also likes to pull a tiny doll chair up in front of the tv so he can be comfortable while he pushes the buttons and attempts to destroy Grandpa’s careful tv settings.My parent’s received a roll of wrapping paper as a gift from neighbors and Annabelle said “come ride the horse with me Henry!” They both spent the next half hour galloping around the house on this roll of paper, Henry clicking his tongue like a horses’ hooves.I just watch their imagination in complete and utter wonder.  

Happy Halloween!! I always do this–celebrate so much for a coming holiday that on the actual holiday, I”m too exhausted! We managed to make Halloween cookies, but never got around to frosting and decorating them–they’re in the freezer. We made marshmallow-gumdrop ghosts and forgot to pass them out. And we never made it to George’s offices to pass out treats in costume. C’est la vie.
This morning I was making waffles and Henry was being unusually quiet–never a good sign. “Annabelle,” I said, “can you go check on Henry and tell me what he’s doing.” “Sure,” she chirped and ran out of the kitchen and down the hallway. “He’s squirting milk all over!” she shouted from the stairs. Sure enough, he was sitting on the steps with chocolate milk and a straw, fascinated by the way it squirted when he squeezed it. He was pouring it over the top of his head, the front of his pajamas, and all over his galoshes (yes he wears galoshes with his pj’s in the mornings.) Henry loves to play dress-up, unless I want him to wear a costume and then he refuses. He was a handsome baby boy for Halloween because he refused to wear any of the costumes I offered him. I had an alligator costume, an owl, a chicken, a cowboy, and an elephant and he refused all of them. now, you may be wondering why I have so many costumes but don’t forget we live in New Orleans so we use costumes all the time for he festivals and parades. Not to mention, I love costumes. maybe it’s my mexican blood–I can’t resist anything sparkly.

The costumes: I saw a darling ladybug costume on someone else and decided to get one for me, but it didn’t quite look the same on me. In fact, I looked like a chubby ladybug in an ill-fitting way-too-short dress with major panty lines. Yuck. But then, I figured out a way to make all the parts work by wearing the dress as a skirt I could make longer and adding a different top. Much better–and FINALLY I had a real costume and not a makeshift witch or cat. Annabelle ended up being Cinderella just as she’d planned.

We had a great entourage trick-or-treating with us tonight. Kendra, George’s marvelous co-professor who adores children; Roxana, our incredible babysitter and one of George’s students who is a superstar in her field of international business and has just landed the most coveted job among Business students in NY at a famous bank, but she really wants to illustrate children’s books and is a fabulous artist–she was dressed as Princess Jasmine in a costume her mother made for her and sent up from El Salvador; and of course, Miss Cathy, our royal photographer, a brilliant artist (look at her website! www.cathyweeksphotography.com), parade partner, and cat lover extraordinaire (she strolls her gorgeous cat Colonel Bourgeois around the neighborhood in a cat buggy). It was the perfect group–everyone fun, lovely, and positive.

I was talking to my mother earlier and she said she had decided to be a flower child wearing flowers in her hair. She asked me what else she could do to look like a real flower child. I told her to pretend she was taking psychedelic mushrooms (which wouldn’t be a leap for her–not taking them but acting like she was on something) and she laughed gaily (my mother is always laughing gaily, even when things aren’t funny.) She said, “I had four children in the 60’s. Then two more in the 70’s. I missed the whole free love movement (we were living in San Francisco at the time). What is this “free love?” Then I heard my Dad pipe in the background, “You wouldn’t know, you’ve always charged me.” She laughed again. It’s so hard to be so far away from them, we talk on the phone nearly every day.

And so, here it is, Halloween night, and I nearly crawled up the stairs in weariness. Longing longing for a long hot candlelit bath. We’re going to have a quiet All Souls Day tomorrow.