This is Paddington Bear. Nini made him for Mom when she was a little girl.
He’s my bear now. He likes to sit here, in my room.
Whenever I go into my room, the first thing I do is go over to Paddington Bear …
… take his hat and …
… put it on my head.
It’s very stylish, don’t you think?
Only then can I go about playing with my toys.
“It’s nice having a bear about the house.” —Michael Bond
Our good friend Nick Daggy took family photos of us at Ault Park late April. I loved the way they turned out. It was a long photo shoot for Sophie, and Nick took 500+ photos in an effort to get some good smiles. Thanks again, Nick!
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever … it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” —Aaron Siskind
(Thanks to Andy for the hairstyle, and my dad who caught her funny look—talking about her hair and face here—on film.)
“Hair style is the final tip-off whether or not a woman really knows herself.” —Hubert de Givenchy
Two Sundays ago Sophie and I drove to Columbus to celebrate Cindy and Will, and their soon-to-be-here Baby Boy!
Cindy’s sister, Christy, threw a perfect shower.
Sophie loved playing in the water table with some of the many other children who were there.
We’re trying to teach Sophie how to share …
She did, however, take to driving without a problem.
Congratulations, Cindy and Will! We can’t wait to meet the new member of your family!
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” —Buddha
Congratulations, MaryBeth! We loved celebrating with you last weekend.
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” —Confucius
For Mother’s Day this year, Andy built me a lovely clothesline, which I’ve long wanted. I eagerly took my first load out while Sophie napped. It was a windy, sunny day, perfect for drying clothes on a line. I left them out for a few hours, and then Sophie and I went to the dentist (my mom graciously watched Sophie in the office lobby while I had my teeth cleaned). On the drive home I noticed the streets and leaves and buildings looking wetter and wetter the closer I got to Ft. Thomas. Wet is an understatement. It poured. Sophie’s clothes were soaking wet—wetter than when I first put them out.
But I left them, figuring they would eventually (re)dry. Several hours later, it started sprinkling again. I checked the weather forecast online—it was supposed to storm (and it did) for three days. I took the soaking wet clothes off the line and dried them in the dryer, thoroughly disappointed.
It has since gone much better. Here are Sophie’s cloth diapers drying on the line.
I feel so good about line drying them. Her diapers are brighter and smell better now, too. I don’t line dry everything (even though I probably should) but seeing her diapers and our towels drying in the breeze—I don’t know what it is but it just makes our house feel more like a home.
“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.” —E. B. White
After a day of pointing, “uh, uh, uh” and totally guessing what specific toy Sophie wanted out of her for-now-too-deep toy basket …
… I simply put her in it. We were both quite happy with the arrangement.
“If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?” —Steven Wright
Andy likes to keep stuff. He likes to keep all boxes, no matter how big or how small, plus all the inserts that go into the boxes. (He was not amused when I tried to organize the pile of boxes by breaking down all the boxes and putting all the inserts into one huge box. Who knew it would be so difficult to tell which insert went with which box when you wanted to repack something?) He likes to keep any nail or screw, no matter how rusty or bent, in case he may need it someday. He likes to keep random plastic lids—who knows when you might find the bottle it belongs to? He also has plastic bins. They’re all the same color. They’re neatly stacked. The problem isn’t the bins, it’s what’s in the bins.
Stuff. Random stuff. There’s not one bin for, say, old letters and another one for, say, old school books. Here are some items you might find in a typical bin: half a deck of cards, a book of $.33 stamps, half a (rusty) bottle of shaving cream, 12 wires, a fax modem, a small wooden baseball bat, two Koosh balls, six dead batteries and about $22.75 cents worth of change. And the amazing thing? He knows what every thing is! For example, I’ll hold up a strange plastic piece of something and he’ll say, “Oh, that’s the cover for the electric hair trimmer.” (And by the way, Todd, if you read this, that’s your electric hair trimmer.)
Here’s the real problem: I like to keep stuff too. I keep every thank you note, invitation, Christmas card and postcard friends and family send me. But they’re organized, by date sent, in pretty hat boxes in my closet. I have several plastic bins as well, full of childhood mementos. Their inventory includes my old blanket, a few favorite stuffed dolls, my Girl Scout badges. I find much of what he keeps unnecessary. But I’m sure he can say the same about my stuff, too.
But, we’re thinking about moving. Our Realtor said we didn’t need to do much to our house, except for the basement. “Completely clean it out,” she said. So I’ve been posting things on Craigslist, for way too little, as indicated by the 12 offer e-mails I instantly get back. I have a huge Goodwill pile. I’m trying not to throw much away but some things, well, no one would want them. And we both decided that this cleaning process must also include going through Andy’s bins.
I’ve learned the easiest way for us to do this is to bring, say, four bins upstairs, open two beers and go through them together. Last night, among other things, we found a ticket stub to Armageddon, which we saw on our first date (I was touched he had kept it). There was a letter Matt’s mom wrote to him. And a camera, with film in it, which I can’t wait to develop. I also found a ton of change for my Paris fund. And then there was this:
A paycheck, from when he worked as a waiter at Frisch’s, in 1998! “Do you think I can cash it?” he asked.
“Housework, if it is done right, can kill you.” —John Skow
This is my brand-new pool. Karen, a really nice woman Dad works with, gave it to us!
I was so excited to get in I could hardly stand it.
Mom and Dad took so long. So I just decided to get in by myself.
Apparently you’re not supposed to wear shoes in a pool. (Who knew?) And guess what? They took my diaper off, too!
OK, so it was a little cold. And I, maybe, had a little fit. So I sat on Mom’s lap for a bit.
See how brave I was?
Tucker, apparently, had no problem with the temperature of the water.
It was fun! I’ve been in it several times since. And the last time I was in it, I actually sat all the way down in the water and played with my bath toys for a really long time! So thanks, Karen. This is going to be a way better summer than last year. (Although, to be fair, last year I wasn’t even rolling yet.)
“The water is your friend. You don’t have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move.” —Aleksandr Popov
On Saturday, after lunch at our house, we went to Summerfair with my parents, grandma, Katy and Tom.
No artwork this time. Just two ice cream cones and a small quilted purse for Sophie to hide her treasures.
“Thrift comes too late when you find it at the bottom of your purse.” —Seneca
