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Baby powder smells vile

I'm a laundry slacker and I tend to tackle it in half-hearted spurts.  Generally, I will fold large bath towels and washcloths almost immediately, but smaller items like socks and undies will usually be ignored for a few days until I get the urge to mow the pile down to a more manageable size.  Today's urge struck around noon, after a long phone call to a distant friend.  Immediately after this long phone call, I was beset by a feelings of unfinished laundry.  My thoughts turned to the teetering piles of clothing on the counter and I made the snap decision to put them away.  I bustled up and down the stairs, feeling very productive.  However, with each trip down the stairs, I found my nostrils increasingly assaulted by a cloying odour in the air.  It reminded me of my high school years - more specifically, the smell the always hung in the bathroom air after gym class.  I rounded the corner to the laundry room and noticed that the air had acquired a smoky hue.  In the haze, I could just make out the 3-foot-tall outline of Malia.  She was vigorously squeezing a giant-sized bottle of baby powder onto the lockers in the mudroom.  The room literally reeked.  Still does, actually.

 

Malia had emptied about half the container into the mudroom.  And about half of that remains unaccounted for, still airborne and landing who-knows-where.

Cleaning up the mess wasn't too bad.  I learned something interesting, though.  Did you know that cornstarch creates a charge as it is sucked up into the vacuum cleaner?  It's the weirdest thing.  The nozzle was crackling and zapping like you wouldn't believe.    The whole time I was vacuuming, I was picturing the charge building up in the garage canister until - KABOOM!

Wouldn't that be a story to tell, eh?

Burnaby Village Museum

On May 15, Brianna and the rest of her Grade 3 class went to Burnaby Village Museum.  The kids were all encouraged to dress up in old-fashioned clothing and most of the kids turned up in the coolest, vintage-style outfits.  Even the teachers and some of the parents dressed up.  The kids looked like a walking museum exhibit and some of the foreign tourists that were visiting insisted on having pictures taken with them.

I made Brianna a simple apron, along with a set of hairbows and an outfit for her doll.  (This is the sewing project that Malia "assisted" me on.)

Brianna and her classmates had a grand time and the weather was beautiful.  The wonderful weather was a real treat after the monumental amount of rain we've had this season.  Three years ago, I went along on Dani's Grade 3 field trip and I remember that the rain was blowing sideways.  So the sunshine was a treat indeed.

This sign is so cool.  

All in all, Bri and I had a wonderful day!

Jacob's garden

Jacob has been collecting vegetable seeds for the past several months.  I'm not sure what the attraction for him is, because although he gets enormous satisfaction from growing vegetables from seed, he will not ever actually eat a vegetable.  He is dismissive of flowers, as he has no patience for their purely ornamental qualities.  However, vegetables seem to fill a need in him somehow - perhaps they satisfy his desire to nurture others.  He is quite tickled when we enjoy his garden's harvest and I am quite happy to give him free reign.  If he grows up to be a guerilla gardener, can I really complain?

Last Thursday, we set to work clearing weeds and (ugh!) horsetail out of Jacob's garden plot.  He diligently  uprooted all the visible weeds and raked fertilizer into the soil.

Then he planted his seeds.  First a row of sunflowers.  Then 2 rows of corn.  

While our backs were turned, Malia tore open the bean packet and poured the contents into the dirt behind us.  Jacob was not happy.  These same seeds had been lovingly hidden for the past 2 months in his sock drawer and he wasn't going to take their abuse lightly.  In frustration, he quickly scooped up as many of them as he could and planted 3 rows.  Malia, unflustered by his anger, calmly tore open the pea box and poured them out as well.  Jacob leaped up in frustration and begged me to remove Malia from the scene.  I knew that short of tying Malia to a tree, I would not be able to keep her away for any length of time and suggested that he find a way to involve Malia in the planting process.  

The last 3 rows Jacob planted were carrots.  We used seed tape - and what a clever invention it is!  We used a bamboo pole to drag a groove in the dirt, laid the seed tape in the groove and covered it with dirt. Voila!  Three tidy rows of carrots. 

After Jacob was finished planting, he washed his hands at the tap outside.  He said, "Mom, I think I have an allergy.  Whenever I wash my hands, I have to go pee right away.  I had the same thing last year."  *snicker*

Snipping and sewing

Two days ago, I began sewing a doll outfit for Brianna.  Next week she has a field trip to Burnaby Village and I've made it something of a tradition to create a child-sized apron and a matching doll outfit for the occasion.  The kids are all encouraged to dress up in period clothing and far be it from me to keep my child out of the loop.  In fact, I'm hoping that all of my daughters will treasure their respective doll outfits and aprons.  I used the exact same pattern each time.  Right now however, all the outfits from previous years are in Breezy's doll box and I think the girls couldn't care less if they get trashed.  Pity, isn't it?

Anyway, back to the project at hand.  Brianna and I went to Fabricland and picked out a cheerful floral and a gingham fabric for the dress and apron.  Not one to let the grass grow under my feet, I began snipping out the pattern pieces immediately after supper.  Malia, of course, was all over me.  She had me tie on Emma's old apron (which I will use as a pattern for Breezy's apron), located a pair of scissors and dove into the tissue paper.  After repeated attempts to shoo her away, I gave up and handed her some scrap pattern pieces.  She studiously reduced a strip of tissue into confetti, then turned her attention to my pin cushion.  With cheerful aplomb, Malia pinned a pattern piece onto the fabric, looking for all the world like she actually knew what she was doing.

Tidy, isn't she?

Haircut

Malia likes to twirl her hair around her forefinger.  However, her hair is very fine and scanty and it quickly becomes tangled and fuzzy.  When she twirls her hair, she'll generally leave a funny looking corkscrew sticking out of her head at an odd angle.  Or, worse yet, her finger will become stuck in her hair.  And then she must pull and tug until her finger is free.

A few days ago, I noticed a bald spot on Malia's head.  She had literally twirled her hair right out of her head.  What had been a rather charming habit of hers suddenly seemed like a much more sinister hobby.  What child repeatedly pulls chunks of hair out of her follicles to the point of baldness?

She needed a haircut - badly!

I also had the hunch that neatly trimmed  hair would make Malia would cool and modern.  Nelly, a good friend of ours, offered to do the trim.  This morning after our walk, we plunked Malia down on the porch and Nelly set to work.  She was rather dubious about the giant orange shears that I handed her, but she gamely set to work.  Snip, snip, snip....soon Malia's lap was full of sweet blond tendrils of hair.  I couldn't tell if she was curious or worried about their appearance on her lap.  She was staring down so intently.

Post haircut, Malia looked hip and relaxed.  I think she new "do" suits her.  Unfortunately, we can no longer comb over the bald spot.  It's there and it's visible.  

Happily, this bald spot in no way impedes Malia's ability to have fun.  After her haircut, Malia and Carter played with abandon.  When it was time for Carter to go home, they both cheerfully displayed their dirty, chalky hands.

Swinging

You know this all started with someone saying, "Hey, I have an idea......"

And Marian, I know you're not gonna read this in the next few hours but I'll say this anyway, "Will you kindly hurry up and have that baby soon?  I hate being immobilized by anticipation.  I can't do laundry.  I can't do anything productive.  I'm just sitting here....waiting.  And just for kicks, I think that you'll have a baby boy.  8 pounds 9 ounces, dark hair and looking like Josie.  Born at 1:00 PST.