"The Greatest Show on Earth"...or something like that

My sister-in-law Jennifer and I took the girls to the Circus this weekend. It was a new experience for all of us, although my mom tells me that I went when I was very little and since I have no memory of that joyous event, I am considering this my first Circus. I know Vanessa won’t remember much of it and Katelyn will only remember her favorite parts, but exposing my children to the vast world is something that I am striving to accomplish as a mother. I look back at our outings and activities this summer and can almost see the memories forming in the girls’ hearts and hear their minds trying to understand the world around them. And the Circus was just another avenue of, well...fun, laughter, silliness and risk taking. On the way home, I asked the girls what their favorite part of the performance was. Katelyn thought that the man walking upside-down hooking his feet into loops hanging from a beam high in the ceiling was cool – although she was a little concerned because he didn’t have a net or rope attached, so what would happen if he fell? Good question and one that I avoided to answer truthfully. And her second favorite part is also Vanessa’s favorite…the elephants. Not just the elephants, but what they were doing. Pooping. And peeing. On the show’s floor. And then one sat in it, which just got the girls into hysterics. Bodily functions of animals…what a precious memory we made together that night!

Morning Laugh

This morning when we were starting to think about breakfast, Bill asked the girls “How do waffles and sausage sound?”

“Daddy, they don’t make any sounds” Katelyn promptly responded.

Nothing like child-like innocence to put a smile on your face.

Blinking lights, bumps, neon signs...something!

The girls, Riley (our dog) and I took a walk to our local park. This is not something out of the ordinary, so we are all familiar with the rules: ears on, stop at all corners and do not cross a street without Mom next to you. Katelyn leads the way on her bike wearing her bright pink helmet, with Vanessa following on her tricycle sporting her yellow helmet and Riley and I bring up the rear. We are fortunate enough that from our house to the park, we only have to cross residential streets. We cross from corner to corner, handicap ramp to handicap ramp.

As we were crossing the other day, I checked to make sure that there were no cars in sight. We started to cross and were perhaps about half way when a car started to come down the road. No problem, right? We are a good several hundred feet in front of them – they can see us and slow down to let us finish crossing. Katelyn had safely crossed when Vanessa got stuck trying to cross. By this point, the car is coming at us very fast and not slowing down. CRAP! I have one child on one side of the street, the other is stuck and I’m going to be taken out by this oncoming car. I hold up my hand, as if I was some cross-walk guard (without my neon vest) and start yelling at the car to “STOP”. Nope, not happening. “STOP!…STOP!!…STOP!!!”. At this point, he starts to maneuver to drive around me, so that he wouldn’t have to slow down. I step over to block him, because after all, we are in the middle of the road and if he tried to go around me and didn’t gauge correctly, he would have hit Katelyn. And don’t forget, I have Vanessa sitting about two feet from the ground on my other side, so I was terrified that the driver wouldn’t even look for her.

I finally got him to stop, after several “choice” words in my head. I really wanted to tell him off and yell everything in my head out-loud to him, but what kind of example would I be setting for my girls. And talk about a vocabulary for them too! They would have learned several new words if I had made that decision. And furthermore, if the driver had decided to get out of his car to confront me, what kind of place would I have been in to safely protect my girls and me. Perhaps Riley would have helped defend us – actually, I know he would have, especially if I started to scream. But I really didn’t want to go down that path.

We finished our walk around the park, with me fuming the entire time. Since then, I have made contact with my representative from the Department of Transportation with the goal of getting a cross walk, and perhaps blinking lights, in efforts to make sure that others visiting the park can do so safely and perhaps drivers will slow down in that area. Personally, I would love several speed bumps on this road too, as obviously this driver was going too fast if he was able to get from one end to the other end on this long street before we crossed (and he wasn’t even on the street when we entered).

I am anxious to see my tax dollars at work.

Enjoying Summer Playtime

Our doorbell rang and it was a group of kids from the block asking if Katelyn and Vanessa can join them outside to play. YES, of course they can! The girls joined the group, a group of all boys by the way, outside for a game of tag and a few rounds of hide-n-seek. They were so tired by the evening, after the constant running and laughing all afternoon long.

You see, this was is a big deal for me. Our street is made up of all boys, ranging in age from 5 to 12. Actually, there are two families with girls just around my girls’ ages and a few years older, but they never come outside to play. I’m not sure what’s up with that – maybe it’s the personality of the family, perhaps their kid’s just don’t like hind-n-seek as much as mine do.

So the boys on our block play like…well, um, boys. And it’s usually very different than how girls play. However, we’ve been spending a lot of time outside this summer and the boys have gotten to know Katelyn and Vanessa better and know that these girls enjoying digging for worms as much as they do.

Bill and I recently cut down the 50 foot tree in our front yard. We did not want to remove the tree, but it has been causing sidewalk damage, plus it sits, rather, sat, atop of the main water and sewer lines to our home. Therefore, since we’ve had problems inside our home in these areas previously, we are guessing the tree roots are invading the pipes. We talked to several arborists and each one said that as soon as we trim the roots enabling us to repair the sidewalk, the tree will die from a form of root rot and shock which this tree is prone too. We were really left with no option. We applied for a permit to remove the tree, along with a permit to repair the sidewalk. As homeowners, you are responsible for all maintenance starting at the street, including city trees and city sidewalk. And of course, you cannot just fix these things on your own…you have to apply for a permit, do all work to city specs and then have all work approved upon completion. It’s rather a cumbersome process, for which you are paying entirely out of your pocket for.

While we were outside cutting down the tree, we had everyone on our block out watching, encouraging and gasping as we cut the tree down. By the late afternoon, all of the kids ended up in our front yard playing in a small portable pool we had set up on the front lawn. The older boys took charge and made sure no one got hurt and that everyone had a turn. They watched out for Vanessa, the littlest of the group, making sure she felt included. I was a little nervous about how the group of young boys was going to play with two small girls. But they, especially the older ones, were amazing…almost as if each of the families that these boys belong to have younger sister siblings to watch out for. None of them do – they each come from families of all boys. It was as if they’ve adopted Katelyn and Vanessa as their younger sisters and they are playing the older protective brother role. I grew up on a block with at least 25 children around the same age, so watching my own children play a game of tag outside brings back such warm wonderful memories, the kind that you always hope your own children would get to experience.