When Rebecca is exceptionally tired, she is exceptionally chatty. Tonight, as I sang their lullabyes, I decided to sing one I used to sing a lot when they were babies that I hadn't sung in a long time. Rebecca's responses are in parenthesis.
Puff, the Magic Dragon (Dragon? Like in DragonTales! I like that show!),
Lived by the sea (that's like the ocean--we were at the ocean in Florida!)
And frolicked in the autumn mist (did you say "kissed"?? Kissed is yucky!)
In a land called Honilee.
Little Jackie Paper (Jackie? That's like Jack. I know a boy called Jack.)
Loved that rascal Puff (giggles)
And brought him strings (a guitar has a string!) and ceiling wax (what's wax?)
And other fancy stuff (I like to dress up and be fancy. I am a fancy girl!).
Together they would travel
On a boat with billowed sails.
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail (My doggies have a tail. Quincy is my best dog, just like Pluto is Mickey's best dog.).
Nobles kings and princes (what about the princesses and the queens? I like to be a princess!)
Would bow whene'er they came.
Pirate ships (like Pirates of the Caribbean! I went on that ride with Daddy at Magic Kingdom. And they were in the parade, too. And Captain Hook is a pirate.) would lower their flags
When Puff roared out his name (my name is Rebecca. And now I am 3.).
I ended the song early, because I could hardly contain my giggles. I kissed her forehead. She was asleep before I even closed the door to the room!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
How much is that doggie in the window?
Some would call me heartless, cruel, unkind. I know there are different schools of thought about barking dogs--well, more specifically, what to do about them. I think there's only one school of thought about them in general, which is that they are obnoxious. Anyway, our dogs are "geriatric" according to the vet, but Oscar's incessant daytime boredom bark (one he rarely shows when we're home) was driving the neighbors to insanity. To the point of reporting us to Animal Control. And their insanity became our insanity, as we tried method after method of calming what is a herding dog's instinct.
So I asked around, did a lot of research. My wonderful forever friend Julene is a dog enthusiast--her dogs (5 in all, I think) are a very close second after her children. She trains them to do agility contests, feeds them a very high-effort diet of raw meat and uses only positive-reinforcement to get them to do the right things. When I found out she had some of her dogs debarked, my ears perked up. Debarking (vocal cord cutting) causes the sound to mute or dull, but does not take away the dog's instinct to bark, nor the pleasure he gets from doing so. In this area, debarking ran about $700, which frankly is a ton of money for a geriatric herding dog. In Memphis, however, this blessed procedure--done by the same vet who magically fixed Julene's dogs--was less than $150. So we loaded up the pooches last November, and Oscar was rendered mute (but still, I must add, perfectly happy and still needy as always).
The scar tissue is settled, and there is a bit of a bark again, but it's a tolerable yip at this point. However, Oscar has done two things to compensate for his silence: he has become an incessant scratcher (on the outside windows, which are low to the ground since our house is a split-level; on the doors; on the deck, on whatever he think will be loud enough) AND he has somehow convinced Quincy to become a Barker. "Quincy hardly ever barks," we'd proudly brag. Ha! I guess Oscar barked enough for two. Now, Quincy may be headed for Magical Vet Man if he doesn't mind his pees and cues.
All this to ask how in the world one can put a house on the market with two scratchy, potentially loud dogs? (Not to mention two toddlers and two insanely busy & not-so-tidy grown-ups, but that's another topic.) The windows in the back, thanks to Oscar's habit, clean up fine but look scratchy again after one afternoon outside. The garage doors have scratches IN THE METAL. I'm pretty sure Oscar is missing a little something in the "self-control" department--something left over from being the only child for a few years, before Quincy, before kids. He's a bit OCD if you ask me.
So don't call me cruel--or if you do, the very least you can do is offer to adopt my two sweet, lovable dogs while I try to sell my house! Rescue them from...declawing??
So I asked around, did a lot of research. My wonderful forever friend Julene is a dog enthusiast--her dogs (5 in all, I think) are a very close second after her children. She trains them to do agility contests, feeds them a very high-effort diet of raw meat and uses only positive-reinforcement to get them to do the right things. When I found out she had some of her dogs debarked, my ears perked up. Debarking (vocal cord cutting) causes the sound to mute or dull, but does not take away the dog's instinct to bark, nor the pleasure he gets from doing so. In this area, debarking ran about $700, which frankly is a ton of money for a geriatric herding dog. In Memphis, however, this blessed procedure--done by the same vet who magically fixed Julene's dogs--was less than $150. So we loaded up the pooches last November, and Oscar was rendered mute (but still, I must add, perfectly happy and still needy as always).
The scar tissue is settled, and there is a bit of a bark again, but it's a tolerable yip at this point. However, Oscar has done two things to compensate for his silence: he has become an incessant scratcher (on the outside windows, which are low to the ground since our house is a split-level; on the doors; on the deck, on whatever he think will be loud enough) AND he has somehow convinced Quincy to become a Barker. "Quincy hardly ever barks," we'd proudly brag. Ha! I guess Oscar barked enough for two. Now, Quincy may be headed for Magical Vet Man if he doesn't mind his pees and cues.
All this to ask how in the world one can put a house on the market with two scratchy, potentially loud dogs? (Not to mention two toddlers and two insanely busy & not-so-tidy grown-ups, but that's another topic.) The windows in the back, thanks to Oscar's habit, clean up fine but look scratchy again after one afternoon outside. The garage doors have scratches IN THE METAL. I'm pretty sure Oscar is missing a little something in the "self-control" department--something left over from being the only child for a few years, before Quincy, before kids. He's a bit OCD if you ask me.
So don't call me cruel--or if you do, the very least you can do is offer to adopt my two sweet, lovable dogs while I try to sell my house! Rescue them from...declawing??
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Brain Mush
Molly is home sick today. She has a nasty cough and a fever, which comes down slightly with Motrin but is hanging in there to fight off the buggies. She doesn't have much energy and is declining all offers of food, including ice cream. So here's my question: how bad a parent am I that it is nearly 4 pm and I have let her watch continuous movies since 7 am?? There was an hour when she took a nap (TV still on) and an hour when I tried to engage her in some art projects (usually a sure winner). But she keeps asking to "just watch TV." Have I ruined her imaginative mind, or is this just a break from "good parenting" that i must let slip due to illness...
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
To Blog or not To Blog
It's a new year, and I am an adventurous woman. I leapt into the world of technology with astonishing speed, creating a Web site last summer and managing to update it very infrequently. So why not attempt the same feat with a BLOG! Frankly, I am impressed with other people's blogs, and I am nothing if not a Joiner. It's fairly apparent from the GuestBook on our Web site that many people around the country (and even the world) find themselves preoccupied with my family. Who am I to leave you feeling unfulfilled?
One obvious conflict here is where to display things--Website or Blog. As I embark on this journey, I will have to examine this question more fully. Perhaps the answer will come easily. Blogs lend themselves more to the day-to-day stories and updates. It may become clear that one format is better suited than the other; then I shall pare down to only one.
For now, though, I will try to do both. Since we are the Marsh Family, our Blog is called "Swamp Things." Welcome--and please join in the fun by posting on this Blog or creating your own that I can link to on my site!
One obvious conflict here is where to display things--Website or Blog. As I embark on this journey, I will have to examine this question more fully. Perhaps the answer will come easily. Blogs lend themselves more to the day-to-day stories and updates. It may become clear that one format is better suited than the other; then I shall pare down to only one.
For now, though, I will try to do both. Since we are the Marsh Family, our Blog is called "Swamp Things." Welcome--and please join in the fun by posting on this Blog or creating your own that I can link to on my site!
Pete's Review: Babel
Our recent trip to Marco Island gave Courtney and me the rare opportunity to see a movie in an actual theatre without having to pay for a babysitter. Naturally, we jumped at the chance to visit Marco Movies across from the Hilton where Courtney spent her days in CME training. Courtney decided it was time for what I call an "Important" movie which requires one of the following:
Structurally, Babel is nothing particularly original. To avoid retracing each of the film's intersecting "slice-of-life" vignettes, think "Traffic" (which coincidentally also meets almost all of the criteria for an Important movie) meets "Crash" (Important) in the desert. And not just one desert, this time, we get the desert in Mexico, Southern California and Morocco. Fans of "Traffic" will be happy to know that the intersection framework presented by "Babel" is, at times, easily as ridiculous and unbelievable.
In summary, two Americans go for a bus tour of the Moroccan desert to recover from the loss of one of their children when for no apparent reason some local pre-teens start shooting at the bus to prove they can. We soon discover that in their grief, they have decided to leave their two other children in the capable hands of their ostensibly undocumented housekeeper who proceeds to take the children with her to Mexico without so much as a note from their parents. Meanwhile, halfway around the globe, the daughter of the man who gave the gun to the man who sold the gun to the pre-teens' father is all messed up.
In general, I would wait for the DVD on this one.
- An incredibly important life message
- An incredibly sad plot line and/or ending
- Disdain for Americans
- Subtitles
Structurally, Babel is nothing particularly original. To avoid retracing each of the film's intersecting "slice-of-life" vignettes, think "Traffic" (which coincidentally also meets almost all of the criteria for an Important movie) meets "Crash" (Important) in the desert. And not just one desert, this time, we get the desert in Mexico, Southern California and Morocco. Fans of "Traffic" will be happy to know that the intersection framework presented by "Babel" is, at times, easily as ridiculous and unbelievable.
In summary, two Americans go for a bus tour of the Moroccan desert to recover from the loss of one of their children when for no apparent reason some local pre-teens start shooting at the bus to prove they can. We soon discover that in their grief, they have decided to leave their two other children in the capable hands of their ostensibly undocumented housekeeper who proceeds to take the children with her to Mexico without so much as a note from their parents. Meanwhile, halfway around the globe, the daughter of the man who gave the gun to the man who sold the gun to the pre-teens' father is all messed up.
So why is this movie Important? Life lessons and subtitles aplenty:
- People are basically good folks everywhere (unless you are a fat, white, British tourist)
- Guns are bad everywhere
- Sex is important to teenagers (and apparently pre-teens) everywhere
- Death is bad everywhere
- Never leave your kids while you go out of the country if you are going to be riding in a bus in the Moroccan desert
In general, I would wait for the DVD on this one.
Where Dreams Come True
Perhaps the most significant event in the Marsh world of late: we just returned from Florida. Not just Florida, but 1) DisneyWorld, 2) Nana-and-Pa's-House and 3) a kid-free three days in Marco Island, all rolled into 8 warm and sunny days. All this while Iowa was being pelted with 12 inches of snow and subzero temperatures.
Nana and Pa moved last fall to south Florida, specifically to Boca Raton ("mouth of the rat"). When Peter and I tell people that his parents live in Boca, people assume he is much older than he actually is. I mean, really, if you have parents who are old enough to move to Boca, you must be pretty old yourself. (Hee, hee!) Anyway, as far as we're concerned, Florida is a great place to visit, so you won't hear us complaining.
They graciously agreed to watch Molly and Rebecca while I attended a women's health conference over on Marco Island (west coast island, near Naples). Peter kindly agreed to join me. So the kids got to water Nana's plants, paint pictures, meet some sea turtles, eat junk food, explore the beach, go to the Miami zoo and buy Cinderella III on DVD. All the while, I was learning about colposcopy and the new HPV vaccine during the day and sailing into the sunset at night with my loving hubby.
With careful planning and frantic execution, we managed to scoop up the girls and drive to DisneyWorld after the conference, just in time to have dinner with Cinderella & Prince Charming. The girls just could not have been happier. They were dressed in Cinderella and Snow White dress-up outfits. We spent a very long 13-hour day at Magic Kingdom, followed by a very long day at Disney-MGM (9 hrs) and back at Magic Kingdom for the Pirate-Princess Party (4 hrs). The Marshes are an active bunch--we go non-stop, with only brief stops for the bathroom and MAYBE a drink of water.
I only took 300 pictures (in 2 days) and 2 hours of video footage. I am my father's daughter.
My Disney impressions are thus: 1) DisneyWorld is best enjoyed diaper-free. I am so glad we waited to do this. 2) There is truly something magical about the machinery that is Disney. Things run smoothly, the FastPass and the Rider Switch make lines for rides bearable and sometimes non-existent. I felt like I was in a well-oiled fairy tale. 3) Staying in a Disney hotel is key. Thank goodness we decided to spend some extra bucks to do this. When your 40-pound 5-yr-old is asleep as dead-weight on your shoulder at 11 p.m., you will be grateful for the door-to-door Disney bus. And 4) It's really as magical as they say, even though you sometimes feel like a cog in their wheel. It's a nice, clean, fun wheel.
Nana and Pa moved last fall to south Florida, specifically to Boca Raton ("mouth of the rat"). When Peter and I tell people that his parents live in Boca, people assume he is much older than he actually is. I mean, really, if you have parents who are old enough to move to Boca, you must be pretty old yourself. (Hee, hee!) Anyway, as far as we're concerned, Florida is a great place to visit, so you won't hear us complaining.
They graciously agreed to watch Molly and Rebecca while I attended a women's health conference over on Marco Island (west coast island, near Naples). Peter kindly agreed to join me. So the kids got to water Nana's plants, paint pictures, meet some sea turtles, eat junk food, explore the beach, go to the Miami zoo and buy Cinderella III on DVD. All the while, I was learning about colposcopy and the new HPV vaccine during the day and sailing into the sunset at night with my loving hubby.
With careful planning and frantic execution, we managed to scoop up the girls and drive to DisneyWorld after the conference, just in time to have dinner with Cinderella & Prince Charming. The girls just could not have been happier. They were dressed in Cinderella and Snow White dress-up outfits. We spent a very long 13-hour day at Magic Kingdom, followed by a very long day at Disney-MGM (9 hrs) and back at Magic Kingdom for the Pirate-Princess Party (4 hrs). The Marshes are an active bunch--we go non-stop, with only brief stops for the bathroom and MAYBE a drink of water.
I only took 300 pictures (in 2 days) and 2 hours of video footage. I am my father's daughter.
My Disney impressions are thus: 1) DisneyWorld is best enjoyed diaper-free. I am so glad we waited to do this. 2) There is truly something magical about the machinery that is Disney. Things run smoothly, the FastPass and the Rider Switch make lines for rides bearable and sometimes non-existent. I felt like I was in a well-oiled fairy tale. 3) Staying in a Disney hotel is key. Thank goodness we decided to spend some extra bucks to do this. When your 40-pound 5-yr-old is asleep as dead-weight on your shoulder at 11 p.m., you will be grateful for the door-to-door Disney bus. And 4) It's really as magical as they say, even though you sometimes feel like a cog in their wheel. It's a nice, clean, fun wheel.
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