Crappy Post

Thank you all for the nice comments!!  It really made my week.  I want to show off our tie dye masterpieces today, but first, I’m long overdue to share some more Patricia and Julius stories.  My favorite thing in the whole world is watching Julius and Patricia have conversations.  Patricia, in her toddler speak will ask him questions and he’ll answer whatever it is in earnest.  He’s also started speaking up for her – for instance sometimes I cannot understand some of the words Patricia is saying.  Julius, by who knows how, understands exactly what she is saying at all times and will indignantly shout it at me.  For example, “She said raisins, mommy!  Not crazy!”  As if, obviously, she said raisins clear as day, and Will and I are the confused ones.  It makes her feel more confident though so I love it.

Patricia is amazing at remembering names.  She will hear someone’s name one time and then ask about that person a day later and we’ll have no idea who she is talking about.  For instance at Davis Farmland the other day she was playing “with” (aka near) a little girl and she introduced herself.  The little girl introduced herself as Charlotte and later Patricia said “I want to go back to play with Charlotte”.  I had no idea who she was talking about but luckily Will did.

She’s been eager to use “real names” lately and sometimes reminds Will and I that our real names are “Will” and “Lexi”.  Also this happened the other day:

• Patricia is facing away from me into the chair mumbling something.  I can’t hear her.
• Me: what did you say Patricia?
• Patricia: (turns to me) oh I’m talking to the chair.
• Patricia: (turns back to chair) Hi chair my real name is Patricia Naomi.

She also is obsessed with… poop.  She loves to ask me to play her clips of animals on my phone and I usually give in.  The other day she asked me this, “I see doggies?  I see doggies in garden?  I see doggies pooping in garden?”  Umm, what?!  I have no idea how she came up with that one.  I did not oblige.  They say a lot of toddlers are obsessed with poop so maybe this is totally normal, but this was NOT at all the case with Julius.  When Patricia was around 1 year old she would mumble poopies to herself and crack up laughing.  She’d do this for half an hour before getting bored.  Now Patricia inserts “poopies” into conversation for comedic effect anytime she wants to get a laugh.  (At least I assume to her toddler friends she is basically a toddler comedian.)

The other day we were at a sushi restaurant.  This was more upscale than our usual dining and one of the first indoor dining options we’ve really done that wasn’t Davis BBQ.  Patricia and Julius were waiting for their food and there was a lull in the coversation.  All of a sudden Patricia (quietly) outburst something.  I couldn’t hear her so I asked, “what did you say Patricia?”  And she giggled and said “I say poopies really loud.”  Of course after that Julius chimed in and I had to stop them before anyone could actually hear my children shouting poopies.  Julius is inherently more compliant than Patricia but he feeds off her silliness.  When she is doing something naughty he absolutely wants to be a part of it.  While it’s adorable to see them playing together, it’s more than a bit frustrating getting Patricia to stop while Julius is doing the action as well.

I don’t know if this will last but both my kids seem to like crafts.  (Much to my great joy.)  The other day when Patricia was home sick a couple weeks ago I was leading a meeting and Patricia sat next to me and opened one of the envelopes of animal crafts that Julius got for Christmas.  She looked at the picture and put together almost the whole face by herself just by asking me things like “where are the eyes”?  “Are these the eyes?”  It was adorable and she persevered on her own for quite awhile before eventually giving up.  I felt bad that I couldn’t help her more while I was leading the meeting.  This is becoming a trend with my life.  I think I have to try and reclaim the balance part of the work/life balance.  It’s just the kids have been home so often this year that it is very hard to get things done while they are here and I end up working odd hours so I don’t feel guilty about it.

“Stretch the Giraffe” -Patricia (age 2, without assistance)
My favorite part, hands down, is the unibrow.

Julius is very creative and he makes these mobiles out of trash and scrap paper that are actually quite beautiful.  His teachers at daycare had to tell him not to go in the recycling bin anymore, but he still frequently comes home with scrap paper from school that he has repurposed into masterpieces.  I definitely don’t remember doing mixed media art when I was his age, or really ever.  He might be on another level than me.  And he’s great at drawing.  Sometimes his teachers draw pictures for him during nap time that he brings home.  So I’ll sneakily throw them into the recycling bin (sorry teachers, I’m not framing your art on my art wall.)  At some point though, I realized I had been recycling pictures Julius was making because I thought they were sketches from the teachers… Oh and most of his pictures still have very emotional animals.  A lot of them have tears.  I hope this isn’t a cry for help, but he has told me on several occasions that he thinks sad animals look cuter.

“Two ghost sharks who are going to be married, but a wrecking ball comes between them and pushes them away and now they are sad.” -Julius (age 5)

Patricia still loves beans.  You may remember when she was younger Will would give her an entire can of beans for her lunch and she’d eat them all.  We eat a lot of beans as vegetarians (or mostly vegetarians for Julius, Patricia and Will) so it is convenient she likes them.  The other day we had this conversation when choosing what she wanted for left-overs night:

• Me:  What do you want for dinner, Patricia?
• Patricia: Beans!
• Me: What kind of beans?  3 bean salad, refried beans, or white bean soup?
• Patricia: All the beans!!

Last poop story I promise.  I don’t want to become the parent who talks and laughs about poop but I’m sorry this is my life now.

• A toot noise emanates from the brown chair in the living room where Julius is sitting.
• Will and me (at the same time): Julius do you have to poop?  Go poop.
• Julius:  I guess so.  (waddles to bathroom)
• Patricia: (pops out from behind the brown chair) I toot!
• Me: Do you have to poop too?
• Patricia: No.
• Me:  You need to go potty if you have to poop.  Julius, did you toot or did Patricia toot?
• Julius: (walks out of the bathroom with his pants around his ankles and says indignantly) I have no idea!

Will and I laughed for days about that one.

More Patricia-isms:

• Emooses (emus)
• No away!  (No way!)
• I need has ta potty (I need to use the bathroom.)
• unbutter (unbutton)
• bandy (band-aid)
• He’s my bestie (I like him a lot)

Okay now that you sat thru all the poop stories I want to show off this tie dye! (Also, I’m really sorry that I rewarded all the nice comments from last week with an entire blog post about poop.)

I LOVE tie dye.  It is always so fun to see how it comes out.  Julius’ came out amazing!

Look at these 2 cuties. Julius made his shirt himself.  And yes, I did say “poopies” to get Patricia to smile.
I used 3 tsp dye:3 tsp sodium carbonate 2 cups of chemical solution and applied to dry fabric. Dyes used were Procion bubble gum pink, citrus yellow, and aqua from Pro Chemical

Everytime I finish a tie dye shirt I think to myself “why can’t all my clothes be tie dye?!”
I used 3 tsp dye:3 tsp sodium carbonate 2 cups of chemical solution and applied to dry fabric. Dyes used were Procion bubble gum pink and citrus yellow from Pro Chemical

I mean, don’t you just love tie dye?! t doesn’t get any better than this!
I used 3 tsp dye:3 tsp sodium carbonate 2 cups of chemical solution and applied to dry fabric. Dyes used were Procion bubble gum pink, citrus yellow, and aqua from Pro Chemical

I still have Will’s shirt that I haven’t photographed yet…  I’ll add that shortly.