Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A Good Day With the Children

Two high-fives to report.

Us women (me and the three small daughters) had a busy day! First stop was the park - something we try to do every non-rainy summer day if we are not sick. Next stop was JoAnn - yes, again - and the girls were given special permission to sit on the cutting counter to watch the staff at work. They carried out a pleasant and intelligent conversation with the nice lady cutting my trims and when we left, she said something to the effect of: "your children were so well-behaved that you can come back here anytime!"

The more honest side of me almost said, "Ma'am, you might think twice about your invitation if you'd seen them in action last time we were here." But this is the upper midwest - everyone is nice here (including her, probably). It's the rule. So I thanked her, praised the kids profusely (they were quite proud of themselves) and patted myself on the back for having remembered to bring copious amounts of The Secret Weapon. See, people - it works.

But wait, it gets better.

We then made a quick stop at the party supply store to check out their Hello Kitty section - a reconnaissance trip, if you will. Emily picked up one of those overpriced plastic-but-made-to-look-bejeweled crowns and said, "Mom, we need one of these birthday crowns. Hm.. or should we make one ourselves?"

Yeeeesssssssssss! The experiment is a success! Stimulus: licensed merchandise; stimulus enters eyes, image forms on retinas, optic nerves send message to brain, synapses crackle, brain generates DIY thought, DIY thought sent to vocal cords, mouth speaks.

Find: "buy". Replace "buy" with "make". Brain successfully rewired.

All those hours of watching mom working with cardboard boxes and masking tape and sewing dirt and making Maisy underwear have paid off. Of course we still buy lots of stuff - licensed merchandise and house brands and wooden and plastic toys and everything. There must be balance after all. But to know that somewhere in their little minds, they entertain the possibility that anything can also be made - oh, I am a proud mom today.

P.S. I am also a frazzled mom today because the smallest is sick, spewing lava from her little nose, and skipped her nap in favor of screaming all through the afternoon while refusing to be held. Just so you all know we still have an astoundingly high chaos level here.

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on the successful JoAnn trip!

    I remember the first time Emma said "Or maybe we could make it" - definitely made my day!

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  2. Yay! We've had similar jubilation here, because my kids have been seeing store bought stuff and asking if they can make it too. Older filth wizard has asked if we can make wind chimes and a catapult this last week. It's just what I've always wanted! For them to look at something and wonder if they can make it and how. Mwah ha haaaa! Our children will be making us hot tubs and mini bars from scrap before long LiEr!

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  3. First, I wish good health to the smallest. I hope she would feel better soon and start smiling as usual again.
    Secondly, congrats on opening your store. Soon you'll have to change the "unemployed mom" on your profile. I hope you will have lots of orders but also would know when to stop and go to sleep.
    And last, yesterday I made "your" aquarium with my children and my nephews .http://peami.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html.
    My blog is written in Hebrew, but you can try reading it with Google Translate. Actually translation is really funny , but along with photos can figure out how much fun we had. You should know that here, in Israel, you have a lot of fans.

    Thank you for sharing us with your talent and your life.
    Good luck
    Batya

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  4. I absolutely love your blog. You are hilarious. "Brain successfully rewired." Too funny and at the same time it gives me hope that one day my daughter will look up at me and say "We can make that."

    Hope your youngest is feeling better.

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