Life is full of short Shorts

 

If you've been here for a few weeks,

you know I've been making lots of Dana's shorts

 

 

Well, until very recently Pu, my oldest

 was done with my stitches.

 

So I made some shorts for the 1.5 year old.

 

Guess who stole them?

 

Guilty.

(She's also wearing a Me-made dress

 that only a month ago

gave her emotional herpes)

 

One of the fun things about working from a

pattern is that one can custom fit.

I made this pair a size 4 to give my diapered tot

lots of room during diaper change.

And this suits skinny Minnie just fine.

 

 

A tight squeeze if you ask me,

but now suddenly everyone may wear them

instead of just Yu.

 

 

Oh yah, there were two pairs :)

 

 

In other earth shattering/ breaking news:

Pu has been haranguing me for the past few

weeks to chop off her hair.

Her long, beautiful curled at the end baby hair.

(sniff)

 

We talked about it.

I suggested we go slow and cut it gradually

knowing that this little person doesn't like big change.

 

She said no.

I said "really?!?"

She said "go for it",

over and over.

 

It IS her hair after all.

And, then it was over in one minute.

 

 

 

The tears lasted for about sixty.

But now she's "used to it" and glad.

I tried to use the life is full of bad haircuts,

big changes, unexpected results logic.

And some snuggles.

 

I figured, that this would be a good mistake

 to make.

Not serious, totally recoverable,

and possibly teachable.

 

Because, these are the mistakes we want

our kids to make.

The little ones, that feel big.

The ones that don't matter,

but have impact that feels meaningful.

 

So later, when the profound choices come,

and the consequences have potential for

significant resonance,

our Little one's have had some practice.

They have some resilience.

 

They can handle it.

They can recover.

 

As they grow, they get another chance

to do it all over again,

differently.





 

Or maybe they do the exact same thing

because they can look change in the eye

and say...

"bring on the surprise,

nothing a little time and growth can't fix."

 

Short Moves

Oh sweet summer,

How I love you.

 

 

Few things make me happier

than a naked baby on a swing.

 

Cheeky.

 

This is our last month is this old house.

This 103 year old house that we love.

 

This yard with 2 apple trees and 3 swings.

 

This house that was the first

 home to 3 little girls.

 

This garden that feeds them all summer

 on strawberries, blackberries,

huckleberries, thimbleberries

& a meager crop of blueberries.

What can I say?

We like our berries.



 

(New shorts for the shortest Shorty.

 

 

With awesome buttons from sweet Carla.)

 

I have such mixed emotions about saying goodbye

to our home.

 

Just like this pivotal text:

"Baby happy, Baby Sad"

it really captures it all:

 

This feels like the end of a chapter

in our little world.

 

Meet boy, add cat, add house, add dog,

add 3 girls.

Finished building family.

On to the next adventure.

See you on the other side.

 

We are literally moving around the corner,

so though there will be some punctuation

that marks this new chapter.

There will be lots of chances to look back

as we look ahead.

 

So I'm going to focus on the happy things coming.

Whatever they are.

 

We have the chance to build in new ways.

A new garden,

that we can stand beside and watch blossom

as all the Little's leap ahead.

 

 

Already, it's moving in hyper speed.

And I get that there are no breaks.

Only little feet trying on larger shoes.

 

It feels like a big step,

not a little one.

It's time to take inventory and pack up

 the things that matter

 

And leave behind the things

that no longer fit us.

The us that is now 5.

Wow, that happened fast.

 



 

Better hug those who we want close.



 

And peak over the shoulder just briefly.

 

Because, we're on the move.

Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep them doggies rollin'...

I got a new bike.

This makes me VERY happy.

 

I cried when I sold my old bike.

It was so beautiful that I wanted to make

sweet sweet love to it, but it was so heavy

I couldn't actually ride it.

 

Which is a draw back for a bike. 

 

 

And so,

with Pu gaining some bike riding moves,

and the Sweetie game to drag the other 2

up all the hills in the Chariot bike trailer.

We had our first family ride.

 

Then later just Pu and I went rollin'

and I became the shepherd for the big girl.

 

 

So, she 'needed' some bike shorts

for our mommy and me bike riding adventures.

 

It feels so vulnerable riding

with little kids in the city.

My first ride with Pu on a carless street,

on a bike route, being super safe and responsible-

we got honked at.

 

It was just one grumpy dude,

but it rattled my cage.

In my head I flipped him the bird.

 

One of the drawbacks of being a

'role model' (eye roll) is I have to curb all

my agro desires and flip the bird on the inside.

 

Who honks at a six year old?!

 

When I grew up in a small town, my bike

was totally my ticket to adventure.

I went everywhere and had total freedom.

No helmet, back for dinner, and then out again.

 

 

Not for this one, or the Little's who come next.

If I could sew them a bubble wrap space suit...

 

I felt like I was playing high stakes poker

with her little brains.

Don't smash them on the road!!

Assume everyone is nuts and trying to kill you!!

Every pot hole is your enemy!!

Was that bunny looking at you funny?!?

 

 

That was my inside voice.

On the outside I was all

 

"Nice moves raw hide."

And then I wiped my brow.

 

The shorts perfect kid day.

The Middle One, Nu, and I...

had a perfect kid day.

 

We 5 had plans to jump the border

 and visit an auntie,

but Nu's passport expired last week.

 

So, she and I had one of a handful

 of her and I dates

since #3 hit the scene.

 

It was sooo wonderful.

 

These two,

are both very skilled in their own ways

at stealing the limelight.

Stealing, owning it, rocking it, whatever.

 

 

And this middle one, is so good with it all.

 

She loves her big and

little sister with such unmitigated devotion.

She empathizes with all of their

woes, whether real or imagined with such compassion.

 

She is the perfect middle sister.

She is also happy to march to her own super wacky drum.

 



 

And just as likely,

to come crashing through someone else's drum,

playing a tuba.

 

She is often moving in all directions

at the same time.

 

Covered in brambles and bug bites and glee.

 

Today she led the day.

 

And bike riding was central.

I bought Nu a new bell for her bike,

so she could be just like her big sister.

(And truthfully, so the world could here

her coming before she kneecapped them)

 

Her face exploded in pure, radiant, happy.

 

On any given day she'll tell you,

unsolicited

that "I like pink"

 

So at nap time I made her these

 pink and bike Dana shorts.

 

 

They went on fine post-nap mommy and me adventures.

 

To have a day with my middle girl feels like such a gift

 

These windows are opening as the littlest

begins to loosen her mommy death grip.

 

and embrace the world.

 

 

But this big middle girl, she used to be my baby.

And, to hang with her again one on one,

it so warmed me inside out.

 

 

I'm not sure she noticed,

what with the biking and the dog beach,

and the lemonade, and the pink purse, and

more bike riding, and the picnic,

and the bug hunt, and the passport photo

and the end-o into the bushes, and the band aids,

and the chalk drawing and the just being her awesome self.

 

But I noticed.
 

Big time.