Milk Tongue

Conor, our boxer, passed this morning. He was almost 13 years old. Patient, calm, solid, snuggly. He was my first dog. He was my children’s first dog (they couldn’t have gotten a better one). He never complained about their rough snuggling or attempts to ride him like a pony. Never growled, never nipped. If they got too annoying he would just get up and move. There’s nothing like a big warm dog to make you feel safe when your husband is on the road and you’ve watched too many episodes of Law and Order.  I will miss him so very much.

I can only muster the energy to post about birthdays. Toot turned 5 last weekend. We had a party with family, pizza, a cake we made and frosted ourselves, presents, and no singing. Toot demanded that no one sing Happy Birthday and no one was allowed to clap when she blew out her candles. Indeed, she didn’t even blow them out - she let her brother do it for her when it looked like Grandma was about to lose control and break the rules. I’m really hoping she’s able to relax a bit more at her next birthday because if this continues she’ll be celebrating her sweet sixteen in a straight-jacket.  Or I will.

Someone…whose picture is shown below…and who would kill me for posting this picture, if she knew, because she thinks she looks like a dork in it (uh, maybe like the most beautiful dork *ever*)…turns 12 today. Happy Birthday, Kit! I was super proud about keeping my mouth shut about the birthday present I got her (Lady Gaga tickets) and it was all for naught because, of course, she guessed. Stupid giant brains!

A 20×30 print of this photo of mine sold this weekend at the Exposure.Detroit Garden City Hospital exhibit. Wheee! I couldn’t be happier that my first sale is helping such a great cause.

(cross-posted to The Mamas!)

What music do you listen to when you’re in the car with your kids?

When my oldest was small, I listened to whatever - and I do mean whatever - I wanted. She wasn’t the type of kid who repeated inappropriate things at random times. We listened to a lot of David Bowie and The Cure but there was also the occasional spin of “The Chronic” or the Office Space soundtrack. I never once heard her baby-lisping, “One, two, three and to the fo’”.

Fast forward a few years. Toot is an infant and I start thinking that there is almost no chance I will be as lucky with this kid as I was with Kit. How many children are not “repeaters”? So out goes the Dr. Dre, Yeastie Girls, Tupac and Little Kim. I listened to the relatively sanitized Black Eyed Peas, Destiny’s Child and The Killers. And as always, a lot of NPR.

(I feel like I should note that I hold no “cool music” credentials what-so-ever. I LOVE pop, hip-hop and rap. While I do own a lot of Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys and even a little Death Cab for Cutie,  I have been know to appreciate Carrie Underwood and Celine Dion.)

Now, Toot and The Boy are four and almost-three. Not a day goes by when I don’t hear Toot’s sweet little voice singing, with exceptionally clear enunciation, from the back seat. Sometimes it’s a song from The Little Mermaid or Once More, With Feeling (the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Just as often, she’s singing (as she calls it) “The Chapstick Song” (I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her cherry chapstick)  or (and I cringe as I write this) “Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick, I want to take a ride on your disco stick”. She loves that stupid song.

“Toot”, I say, “What’s a disco-stick?”.

She looks at me like I’m a crazy person, exasperatedly replies, “You know! It’s like one of those sticks that you hold onto and bounce!”

“A fancy pogo stick?”, I ask.”YES, mom.”

I feel slightly better about her enthusiasm.

I struggle, in respect to music, with what I feel is expected of me as a mother and what I want to do. I DON’T want to listen to Kid’s Bop or The Wiggles. I don’t feel as though kids need to grow up never hearing a swear word. But I don’t want to coarsen or desensitize my kids. Finding the balance is hard. Again, what do you listen to in car with your kids? What would you never-ever play for them?

Some shots from a school trip to Europe when my husband was obviously extremely, extremely young. And cute. And AWOL from the cast of 21 Jump Street. See more babyDaddy here.

See the rest on my Flickr stream.

I’m having one of those days where I want to chuck it all and escape.

I’d take the kids and husband with me - leave the house, the dogs and most of our things. Escape to a tropical isle where we’d RENT a bungalow on the beach. I’d never vacuum again.

I had the carpets cleaned on Tuesday. I found a pee puddle about ten minutes ago. So that was, what, 2 days? It makes me want to tear my hair out.

Since I refuse to spend real money on anything other than major home renovations or car repairs, shopping for summer shoes has been a bit trickier than normal. But! I prevailed and found two good pairs. 35$ and 23$.

I watched “The Never Ending Story” with Toot this past weekend. Initially, she was disinterested - what with the main character being a boy and all. I told her there was an EMPRESS and ADVENTURE and A DRAGON - this won her interest, provisionally at least, so she settled on my lap. We got to the Ivory Tower and Atreyu’s first appearance and she was suddenly riveted.

Who was that girl? Why did she have that pretty necklace? Why are those snakes eating each other?

I explained the ouborous and left the gender identifiers alone.

We happily watched the rest of the movie, pausing occasionally to talk about why that girl’s horse got stuck in the mud, why that girl was sad and would that wolf eat the girl? Today she asked if we could watch “that movie about the girl with the white horse” again. I’m pretty comfortable with this interpretation of the narrative. Maybe it’s time to bust out Zena: Season 1. (Toot is already a Buffy fan.)