On the road again....

I just can't wait to get on the road again....

Well, yeah, I probably could. Gearing up for Move #4 (Location #5) in five years can compel me to run out of the house and leap into Pearl Harbor if I let myself think about it too much. But I'm trying to focus on the positive.

One of the best things is running into this blog during my search for a home: "It's Lovely, I'll Take It!" (http://lovelylisting.blogspot.com/). It's poorly chosen photos from actual real estate listings that had me laughing so hard I almost wet myself. Seriously. I dare you to get through a month's worth of archives without laughing out loud many, many times.

John is on a short TDY, and of course that's when the fun things happen. Last year it was the house getting fleas. No, just the house, NOT the pets. I had no idea that was even possible. This year it's Emily discovering art and spreading it all over the world. Ballpoint ink all over the loveseat in the lanai and herself, marker all over the kitchen counter. While the ballpoint ink made my life miserable for the better part of the day (hair spray really DOES work pretty well, though), I could absolutely make out with whomever at Crayola came up with washable markers. Whatever they paid you, my friend, it isn't enough. But the markers are now in an indefinite time-out since Miss Emily is disregarding my edict to color ONLY on "special paper". At least it's good to see that we've instilled the value of taking pride in one's work. *sigh*

She's also taken to watching The Little Mermaid, which is a big switch (and a special treat since Daddy is away and therefore the world just ain't right). Forks are being sacrificed at an alarming rate as she reenacts the scene in which Ariel mistakenly uses a fork as a comb for her hair, but at Emily's young age, she doesn't quite catch on to the faux pas. Life imitating art. Oh, joy.

Speaking of hair, my baby got her first haircut Monday. *sniff* Yes, she finally, at the age of 2.5+, had enough hair to need a haircut. I was pretty bittersweet about it, but her curly cotton fluff had to be trimmed in the back to ease the tangling that was driving both of us crazy. We went to a franchise called Pigtails & Crewcuts, which is a fantastic, kid-friendly hair-cutting place. Emily got to sit in a red airplane as well as grab a lollipop at the end of the adventure. (Yeah, she wasn't quite sure about the whole thing, but she did very well. Much, much better than at the dentist last week. MUUUUCCCHHH...)

I should probably rescue the cat, who is currently being earnestly and lovingly covered with a red blanket for "seepytime". Now she's being patted. Now kissed. Now admonished to "put yoo head down. Seepytime." Okay, kitty's good.

Well, in hopes of a good night's sleep as well as a nostalgic look back at a slightly younger Emily, I share part of her bedtime routine, taped by John last spring.

So long, farewell...

Emily is currently obsessed with "The Sound of Music". I infinitely prefer this to the recent obsession with all things Disney princess, specifically Snow White (d*** you, Michael Eisner!!! Those ubiquitous little princesses!!!), who aren't my idea of a prime female role model for my daughter. Belle would be the exception, though. Rather than simpering around for some perfect man to come make her life fabulous, she's a regular girl who rises to a great challenge, sees beyond the superficial, and shows some courage. But it was Snow White Emily latched on to. I learned to live with her. She spends a lot of time singing about this guy she's only met briefly but will live with forever, but at least the girl knows her way around a broom. I'll admit to pretty significant amusement over my little pumpkin sticking her head into any type of hole--shower, trash can, dryer--and singing:

"I wissing... I wissing...
forrrr, wunnn, yooove...
to fine meee... to fine meee...
to-day.... to-day..."

I'd made it through Emily's first two years without her being aware of the Disney princess phenomenon. However, last Christmas, shortly after she turned 2, her Uncle Jim and Aunt Teresa sent her a Disney princess seek-and-find book. Within a few months, she was utterly obsessed with all things princess, which is easy enough to do given that these bloody girls are EV-ER-Y-WHERE. Really. Home Depot, electronics stores, and goodness knows Wal-mart. Emily would go bonkers when I was sifting through Sunday coupons because she saw a tiny little princess figure on one of those checks by mail flyers. *sigh* And every trip to every store brought more of the neverending magic that is all things Princess. Ugh. Emily's soaring joy at the spotting of a princess led to Daddy--the softie--getting her a "pincess piyyow", "pincess hairband", "pincess steeker book", etc., which I didn't protest because she didn't ask for them but did light up like a Christmas tree when her daddy showed them to her. I told John, however, to warn his brother that one of their kids would be getting a drum set from us sometime this year.

But much to my relief, she has transitioned back into "The Sound of Music" in the last few weeks, which is fine because her mother can lip sync the entire movie. After tucking her into bed, we hear her upstairs singing "Doe, dee-ah, lala dee-ah... Rayyy, dwop gunnen suuuunnnn!!" Memories of years in community theater are coming back to me and I'm imagining the two of us in a local production of musicals someday.

Seems today that her favorite song is the "So Long, Farewell" song. You know, the one with the cuckoos. Our babysitter, Becca, told us that Emily was upstairs singing many cuckoos after she was supposed to go to bed. Today as I got her room ready for her nap, I heard her slowly making her way up the stairs by scooching on her bottom like Gretl, singing:

"Suuuunnn... goooonnne... bed, so muss I-I..."

I hid behind the doorway and laughed silently until the tears rolled down my face. Then she was quiet and I peeked to find her lying on the top of the landing the way Gretl does. Oh, the toddler drama.

Speaking of farewells, major event last night. Becca, Emily's beloved babysitter, came over so John and I could attend a retirement dinner over at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Pearl Harbor. (Very, very cool.) Emily was so excited about Becca's arrival that when John and I walked out the door to bye-bye waves and the signs for "I Love You", we looked at each other and laughed. John remarked, "She doesn't give a flip that we're leaving!". I noted that we must be two of the only parents on the planet who were delighted at that development. For so much of her life, Emily was very much a koala baby who really didn't handle being left well at all, so this is a thrilling and freeing step for us. I only wish Becca weren't PCSing next week--this cheery, warm young woman is going to be sorely missed.

In Memory of Maria Sue Chapman

I don't have the words to articulate how my heart aches for the family of Steven Curtis Chapman, a beloved Christian music artist, over the loss of their youngest daughter, Maria. I've signed every blog or post I could find, prayed in rambling words for their comfort, and wondered what in the world I could do. I'm not generally very impressed by "celebrity", but the thing is... he's not. He's a genuinely devoted man of God, husband, and daddy whose music has been a major part of so many believers' lives for years, and somehow the loss of this precious child seems so personal to tens of thousands of people across the world.

This tragedy just knocked us all breathless, and it comes on the heels of the death of a little boy hundreds of us online moms knew during his four-year struggle against leukemia. Samuel Backus was beloved by countless people who never met his family, and the brutal final weeks before his death--which eclipsed the horror of the previous four years--has left us grieving in a profound way. (Please visit www.samuelbackus.com for a gut-wrenching journal of courage and love in action.)

The work the Chapmans have done for international adoption over the years has made an eternal impact for God's glory, and in my overdeveloped sense of justice, I don't understand how this could happen. I trust, I TRUST, that God will turn this unimaginable loss to His glory and somehow bring beauty from ashes.

Chapman family, you don't know me, but I'm one of so many who feels like she knows you. Your marriage, your parenting, your living for Christ have been part of my life for so long that it feels like extended family. Three of your songs were even used in our wedding, including the precious song you wrote for the children born in your heart, (When Love Takes You In). We deeply grieve your loss, desperately wish we could do anything to ease it, and surround you in prayer and love.

I'm just so very sorry. I'm so glad you know without question that you will be together with your baby girl again. May God bring that day soon.

Mortified to be a Pennsylvanian

I'm usually quite loyal to my home state. Green, rolling hills; gorgeous rivers; fairy-tale snowfalls and lush summers; good people... there's so much to love.

But I'm horrified at Hillary Clinton's win in our primary today. It's killing me. I even changed my party affiliation from independent to Democrat just so I could vote in the primary... against her!

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm pretty riled up to even say this out loud. As a social studies teacher, I was very careful to keep my political views to myself and not inappropriately influence my students. They knew I despised Bill Clinton, but other than that, I kept it private. Even if I had had a strong inclination to a political party, I intentionally remained registered as non-affiliated because I felt it appropriate given my subject area. Then I married a military officer and felt the same choice would be prudent. This primary was sufficient reason, however, to reneg on that policy.

Now, in my state's defense, the Pennsylvania primary was not a fair contest for these two candidates. Clinton tends to be backed by hard-core Democrats, while Obama appeals to middle-of-the-roads, independents, and liberal Republicans... who generally aren't registered Democrats, in which case they are not eligible to vote in the primary. This gave Clinton a HUGE advantage in the primary. I notice I'm not seeing much discussion on that fact at present.

Well, I did my best. And I'll have to wait until John comes home from a TDY to Japan to rant about this. At the moment I have my hands full with a toddler suffering from a bad case of tonsillitis--high fevers, copious amounts of gunk flowing from various orifices, and a "tummy huut".

Speaking of which, a note to self: Don't wear a white shirt when dealing with a very sick toddler. Between the nose running like a seive, buckets of tears at the trauma of the pediatrician's office, and a child whose primary source of comfort is snuggling into her mother, it was not a pretty sight. Wet t-shirt contest, Mommy-style. Oh, my life is ever so glamorous...