“Claire would you like some ice cream?”
“Ice cream? No…I want ice CREEK! Bwaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha! I said, ‘ice CREEK!’ not ‘ice CREAM!’ HA HA HA ICE CREEK!! I made a JOKE!”
Ladies and gentlemen, she’ll be here all week. Reserve your seats today!
In honor of Earth Day, I’m going to share a “reduce, reuse, and recycle” idea I stumbled upon a month or so ago…and it’s still a big hit!
We’ve always recycled here. Yes, we pay for this service. Yes, it was very limited when we started. Yes, it’s hard to keep track of the every-other week schedule. Yes, it’s worth it. Honestly, green has never been a favorite color of mine, but something that helps the earth is a good thing, and we’re trying to do our part. I mean, come on…we live here.
A few months ago, our waste management company expanded their recycling program to include a lot more numbers of plastics, magazines and phone books, in addition to the typical glass, metal, paper and plastic! And? You don’t have to keep them separate anymore!! Yes!! And, as organized as I am, you’d think I’d have the “Recycling Weeks” memorized. I don’t. I missed the last one. It’s totally my fault. Granted, my hubby didn’t remember either, but his job is to go to a “real” job, and I’m supposed to remember what week is Recycling Week. So, now because we have so much recycling to go out on the curb, it’s threatening to take over the garage…and our lives!
(Picture that last part as being said in a loud, booming voice. Sorry to be so dramatic, but I don’t think you realize how much recycling we have. Missing a week with the new and expanded list of eligible items is a critical error. Excuse me while I put the Recycling Weeks into my computer calendar. Carry on.)
My hubby says the countdown when he leaves for the day. “T-minus Three Days!” he calls from the stairs. “Dude, I’m putting it out on Wednesday night!” is my answer…and it has been on my mind for the last two weeks. Forget trying to beat the truck on Thursday morning. It’s going to take me three days to haul it all to the curb. 
So, what does this have to do with anything? Well, they’re finally taking phone books! We’ve been collecting them for ages, and to be honest, I don’t remember the last time I used a paper phone book. For real. It’s been years. We’re an online family, and with a 24/7 network, any phone number is a click away. Well, what would we do if the electricity went out? We’d have bigger problems than trying to find a number, that’s for sure. But, we’d manage without a paper phone book.
One day, Claire was begging for something new to do. I’d just tripped over the phone book that had mysteriously made it into my office, and I hadn’t taken it down to the green tub yet. I noticed that Claire’s colors were still sitting on my desk from when we made Thank You notes the other day. Suddenly, it hit me. I was just going to recycle this phone book anyway…why not let her color all over it?
“Here! Here is a really cool new coloring book! Look at all the pages! There are numbers! And letters! And funny pictures! And maps! Here are your colors; have at it.” She was thrilled.
We’d both discovered 1,056 pages of non-stop fun, and we found a way to enjoy something that was going to be recycled anyway.
So, it’s Earth Day! Find a way to reduce, reuse or recycle. Green isn’t such a bad color, after all.
Claire loves to recap events or describe things that have just happened. She’s actually very good at it. All of the sentences tumble out one right after the other, with hardly a break for a breath. Here is what Claire said when she handed me my towel:
“Momma was takin’ a shower. You was takin’ a shower! And, I was over here. And then I was over there. And you was talkin’ to me. And I was talkin’ to you. Then, I camed over here, and I flushed the toilet. Momma yelled. You yelled! You yelled at me! You was angry! I cried! Cuz I was sad. And you was angry! And you yelled! And I cried some more. And then I was sad. And then you was finished in the shower. And I peeked in. And you kissed me. Cuz you was angry, cuz I flushed the toilet, and you yelled, and I was sad. But I love you. And you love me?”
“Yes, Claire. Of course I love you. Just because I get angry and yell doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I love you, but don’t ever flush the toilet when Momma’s in the shower…ever again.”
Oddly enough, I didn’t get scalded or frozen to death when she flushed the toilet. And, technically she asked if she could do it…as she was doing it…as I shouted Nooooooooooo. It all happened simultaneously and in slow motion.
I try to take my shower before she gets up or during her nap. This time was an exception. But, she’s been in the bathroom with me before as I’ve showered, and we’ve never had a problem.
No, I’ve never specifically told her (before now) to never flush the toilet when someone’s in the shower. And, how could she know that this is a bad thing? Flushing the toilet is a highlight in her day, and people taking showers is quite exciting. (Sometimes it’s the simple things that make a toddler’s life entertaining…) She wouldn’t know that combining the two is not a good thing.
But, now she knows.
My hubby and I are bantering over the kind of music he wants to play during dinner. (Speaking of which, he showed me a really cool music site! It’s called slacker[.]com, and it’s really cool!!) He is making fun of my choice of music and I his. (We really do like the same type of music, for the most part…it’s when we both get in a mood that makes it interesting.)
We’re at the end of the meal, and I’m getting everyone some ice cream. All of a sudden, I realize that he’s tried to switch the station again. I make some snarky remark or obnoxious noise. Or both.
He says, “Claire, your momma is…”
“Be careful!” I interrupt with a warning in my voice. “She’ll remember and repeat every word you say…”
“…funny,” he says. Good save, Mister. But, I’m not through with you yet.
“Do you want your ice cream…” I say with an accusatory tone.
“Yes!” he says, laughing.
“…in a bowl or on your head?”
“In a bowl!” Claire shouts. “In a bowl!”
“Good answer, Claire. Good answer.”
Claire and I went exploring in the yard yesterday while Daddy worked on a project. In our adventures, we found many of the flowers have started to bloom!
When we ventured onto the rocks on the west side of the house, imagine my surprise in finding the sun at just the right angle to include these awesome spring colors in a shadow portrait!
I ran back into the house, grabbed the camera and made Daddy take a break from his project. He joined us in the sun, and we were able to create our Spring Shadow Portrait 2008 to be used for the blog header.
You can click on each photo to enlarge.
In order, you’ll see the shadows of Claire (with Puppy), Momma and Daddy, captured with the Grape Hyacinth and Holly.
This mixture of blue and purple is one of my all-time favorites.
I love the bright yellow!
Creating shadow portraits is an on-going theme here at The Casual Perfectionist. I’ve tried to represent the different seasons with various scenes. (Well, my impatience with the recent snow-storms did throw an exception into the mix…and those tulips are almost ready to bloom!) You can read about the other shadow portraits I’ve used as headers by checking out this category.
Enjoy!
Here are some pictures I took of Merlin and Claire this morning. Merlin is the other half of our Kitty Duo, Merlin and Jasper. You can read more about them in the Kitty Category.
While Jasper was off patrolling the perimeter and monitoring the wildlife from the window before taking his morning nap (from inside the house…neither of the kitties are allowed outside), Merlin was in the kitchen beggin’ for some lovin’.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
To the untrained eye, it may look like he’s uncomfortable in these photos or that he is plotting his escape, but that’s not the case. He hunkers down like that and purrs and purrs and purrs…craving all of the attention.
Merlin loves Claire. As you can see by the photos, the feeling is mutual.
“Why are we stopping?”
“Because there’s a stop sign. We have to look both ways and make sure there are no cars coming. If it’s clear, we can go.”
“Oh. Why are we going this way?”
“Because this is the way to get to the store.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where it is.”
“Oh. What is that sound? What is that…that…that beeping? What was that noise? What happened, Momma!?”
“That was me honking the horn. That man in the minivan just pulled out in front of us! But, I saw that he wasn’t looking this way, and I had a feeling he’d do that, so I slowed down. I honked at him to make him pay attention.”
“Oh. Okay. Don’t hit those light poles, Momma!”
“I’m not going to hit those light poles, Claire. That’s just in Daddy’s racing game. We don’t like to hit light poles in real life. So, don’t worry; I’m not going to hit the light poles.”
“Oh. Why are you not going?”
“Those cars are stopped. See the light? See how it’s red? When it’s red, you stop. When it’s green, you can go. It’s green now, so here we go!”
“Um, Momma? Why are you going over here?”
“Because that lane has to turn right up there, and I don’t want to turn right. I want to keep going straight. So, that’s why I moved into this lane.”
“Why?”
“Cuz.”
“Why?”
“Cuz.”
“Why?”
“Cuz.”
Oh wait, I just snapped back to reality. For a moment, I’d forgotten that I was actually talking to a toddler. Silly me.
“Why?”
“Because that’s how we get to the store.”
I dare say she’s worse than how I am when Daddy’s driving…but for the record, I almost always sit in the front seat.
Claire does really well on the stairs. She has a miskabobble every now and then (but none as bad as what happened to me), but overall, she does well. She’s slow, but steady.
We still keep the steps gated here, because of how the house is designed. There’s no need for her to be roaming around down on the lower level unless we’re all down there. The only thing down there is the door to the garage, the workroom/kitty hideout, the guest room and guest bath, the entertainment room and Daddy’s office. All the daily essentials are on the upper level, so we keep the stairs gated.
Today, after running errands, we were going up the stairs. Claire was in front of me. Have I mentioned she’s slow? So, I said, “Come ON, Claire! Get movin’! I don’t have all day!”
To which she replied, “Yes you do! You do have all day.” She was so pleased in her observation.
True.
“Actually, you’re right. Technically, I do have all day, but I didn’t want to spend it on the stairs.”
Sunny breezes tousle our hair
Outside playing in the park
Friends running, laughing, sharing
The perfect afternoon.
Claire and I met some other moms and kids at a local park yesterday for a playdate. The weather was gorgeous – low 80s, sunny with a nice breeze. Today, the weather department is predicting a snowstorm, but yesterday was perfect. There was a softness about the day that still lingers.
I’m clinging to that feeling, realizing that even if the snow comes today, its days are numbered.
The moms I met were all different and yet we all clicked. The kids were the perfect ages and dispositions to play together. Claire, though hesitant at first, figured out how to go down the big slide all by herself, with the help of her new friends. I could see her playing with the other kids from where I was sitting. Little Miss Independent would still look over to see me every once in a while and wave.
Roots and wings.
She’s starting to form both.
Moms relaxing, chatting, keeping a watchful yet casual eye. Kids running, laughing, playing.
Knowing we’ll be able to do this many times again is such a great feeling.
Claire cracks me up! We have the best conversations throughout the day. (Who knew a 2-yr old could be so funny!?) Here are some recent snippets. Enjoy!
~*~
“Which shirt are you gonna wear, Momma?” Claire asked, helping me look through my closet. “The black one? The blue one? The green one?”
“How about this one?” I asked, pulling out the magenta-ish one. “It’s kinda like a hot pink.”
“It’s not hot pink! It’s pink!” she shouted. Then, she reached out with her hand and touched it. “And, it’s not hot. It’s cold!”
~*~
I was looking at the broccoli on Claire’s plate. They really do look like little trees. I’ve heard that if you can’t get kids to eat broccoli, you can pretend they are trees. Claire was gobbling them down with no problem today, but I said, “Look Claire! These look like little trees!”
“Momma,” she said with a serious look, shaking her head. “Those are not trees. I think those are broccoli. We don’t eat trees.”
~*~
Claire and I were watching The Little Mermaid. We’d made it to the part in the movie where Ursula gets really angry and stirs up the sea, wreaking all kinds of havoc.
“Momma! I need to cover your eyes! This is the scary part!” Claire screamed as she tried to put her hands over my face. “It’s just a movie! Don’t be scared, Momma!”
~*~
Claire is eating lunch at the table. She looks over at me and says, “Sometimes I feel like a nut.”
I started laughing and said, “Oh really?”
And, without missing a beat, she replied, “But sometimes I don’t.”
~*~
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