As this photo attests, Norrie spent much of the Pride Parade carrying a sign saying "My Mama and Baba Love Me." Whenever we reminded her to do so (when she was awake, that is), she would brandish her sign like a sword, pointing it towards the crowd to show it off. She was very proud to have her own sign.
But what we didn't realize was that she has learned how to read. A full 3 or 4 days later, I said to her as I sometimes do, "Norrie, do you know how much your mama and baba love you?" She nodded and said "Sign." See, the sign says it, so it must be true!
(Okay, in reality, we probably explained to her a few times what the sign said. And we explained that we were marching because she has two moms, and that some of the other kids have 2 moms, some have 2 dads, etc. But still!)
Friday, June 30, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
Norrie sad
It's sad, but it's also amazing. Yesterday Norrie was just plain upset for a little bit -- it felt like nothing was going right for her and she was being thwarted at every turn. Finally I got her excited about something: walking over to Dave's house to watch his sprinkler. When we got there, she snuggled up to me and was quiet for a minute, not whining anymore. Then she said "Norrie sad."
I told her I was sorry she was sad and she said "sowwy." Then we watched the sprinkler for a while more. Amazing.
I told her I was sorry she was sad and she said "sowwy." Then we watched the sprinkler for a while more. Amazing.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
House finches at our house
We had a family of house finches (I think there's what they're called) nesting in our porch light for about a month. I wish we had set up a web cam but now they're gone. It was really cool. At first, a bunch of twigs and other crap showed up on the front steps, and A. and I both thought "what's she doing, dragging trees around up here?" Norrie's too young to be blamed for that yet.
Then one of us looked up and saw that a nest had been built in the broken porch light fixture. We usually have it on, but the light bulb must have burnt out a couple days beforehand. Then we saw some birds kinda hanging around, but no real activity, so we thought maybe they had decided it was a really dumb place to build a nest. But then we started seeing 'em hanging around more, and then the next thing we knew, we could see (just barely) and hear (a little bit) baby birds!
We think there were 6 or 7 all together. For a week or so, we could hear them peep peep peeping when they wanted to be fed, or were being fed. Whenever we came too near, the mama or baba or papa bird would hush them. At first, they didn't know how to hush on their own, but then it seemed like they learned, so they would be quiet if we came too close even if there were no parent bird around.
They all took off within about 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday. It was a particularly crazy time to learn to fly, what with open studios happening, but they all managed! We got to see a couple of them take their 1st flight.
Norrie liked talking about the nest, but we don't think she could really see the baby birds well enough to be excited by seeing them fly off. But we sure were excited! Our first experience of an empty nest.
Then one of us looked up and saw that a nest had been built in the broken porch light fixture. We usually have it on, but the light bulb must have burnt out a couple days beforehand. Then we saw some birds kinda hanging around, but no real activity, so we thought maybe they had decided it was a really dumb place to build a nest. But then we started seeing 'em hanging around more, and then the next thing we knew, we could see (just barely) and hear (a little bit) baby birds!
We think there were 6 or 7 all together. For a week or so, we could hear them peep peep peeping when they wanted to be fed, or were being fed. Whenever we came too near, the mama or baba or papa bird would hush them. At first, they didn't know how to hush on their own, but then it seemed like they learned, so they would be quiet if we came too close even if there were no parent bird around.
They all took off within about 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday. It was a particularly crazy time to learn to fly, what with open studios happening, but they all managed! We got to see a couple of them take their 1st flight.
Norrie liked talking about the nest, but we don't think she could really see the baby birds well enough to be excited by seeing them fly off. But we sure were excited! Our first experience of an empty nest.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
2nd kids
Today, I talked with a friend who's about to have kid #2. We were reminiscing about those early days right after our 1st babies were born, when every emotion was so heightened and all we did was stare at our newborns. I told him I remember realizing 2 or 3 days after we brought Norrie home that we still had ice cream in the freezer from before she was born. I was ecstatic. It was like the 1st time I had thought about anything besides the birth and her. I also remember about 10 days after she was born when we 1st watched TV (an Angel episode). We laid Norrie on the couch between us. I forgot about her for a couple minutes while I got absorbed in the show, and it felt so weird!
My friend said he doesn't think it's quite the same the 2nd time around. He has good friends who are very loving and responsible parents. Nonetheless, when they brought #2 home, it took them about 2 hours of being at home before one of them said "wait a minute -- where's the baby?" They had left the baby asleep in the car seat just inside the front door, while they dealt with #1.
Explains something about birth order, doesn't it?
My friend said he doesn't think it's quite the same the 2nd time around. He has good friends who are very loving and responsible parents. Nonetheless, when they brought #2 home, it took them about 2 hours of being at home before one of them said "wait a minute -- where's the baby?" They had left the baby asleep in the car seat just inside the front door, while they dealt with #1.
Explains something about birth order, doesn't it?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
