Birthday Manicure

For Ellie's third birthday we decided to start a cute little tradition of going for mommy and me manicures. She has had her nails painted by me before but has never gone to the salon. The place where I go offers "princess manicures", polish and a flower for a child under 10. She was so excited all day and kept talking about wanting to pick blue for her color. I had told her that I would get the same color she picked out so that we would match. I was a little worried about the blue, until I saw the first color she picked out when we got there. NEON pink. Oh boy. Thankfully we had to wait a little and Ellie was wiggly enough that she kept going back and picking out different colors. She settled on a bright, but not neon, pink. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was her birthday. She was so excited, but managed to sit really still while her nails were painted. She loved having to put her hands in front of the fan and then the nail dryer. She didn't smudge them at all and the little rhinestone they put on her flower lasted through diner before she picked it off. It was a huge success and we are both looking forward to our little birthday tradition! Anyone have any ideas for a Daddy and me birthday tradition for Tony and Matthew?

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Me : Thank you, Ellie.

Ellie : You're welcome. Or...Am I the welcome? No, you're the welcome. No, I'm the welcome. Right?

Wait for me, guys!

If Matthew had a few more words, I think all we'd be hearing is "wait for me guys!", "can I play too?", "hey, wait up!"...he desperately wants to play with the big kids, use their toys, and do what they do. He watches his big sister play dress up (and ends up as model), he up climbs on anything he can find, and he imitates everyone and everything he sees (see beer pictures...don't worry it's not open). It had been fun to watch Ellie and Matthew start playing together. Ellie likes having playmate to do what she says, and Matthew dotingly follows her around. It'll only get better as they get older!

Cookie Crumbs

Ellie and I made cookies yesterday. Butterscotch Blondies. This is the first time I would say that she really successfully helped. Usually she stands on a chair, eats the chocolate chips and I let her stir once while she just flings flour out of the bowl. This time she was a really good stirrer! Later that afternoon I gave both kids cookies and they were eating while I was working in the kitchen. Matthew doesn't have very many words yet, but all I could hear coming from the living room was "mmmm, mmmm, mmmm". I was thinking to myself, wow, I much have done a really good job with those cookies! I was really proud of myself. You would imagine my surprise when I find both cookies, massacred...every single butterscotch chip delicately picked out the cookies and eaten. All actual "cookie" was left behind in a pile of crumbs. Guess Nestle Tollhouse is the good cook, not me.

What are we missing?

I read this story the other day....

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work . After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk..

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?

...and today while I was at the mall with the kids, we saw a high school choir singing Christmas music. I almost walked by, but then remembered this story and sat down with Ellie and Matthew to listen. I also watch the other people around me, feeling proud of those who stopped to listen, or even sat down to stay. I was particularly proud of a father, alone with his two young boys, who stopped and stayed quite a while after his two year old son asked if they could listen. Many other people rushed by without even noticing the choir, but we had a really nice Christmas moment, the three of us, listening to Christmas songs sung by kids in red sparkly red Santa hats.

Seeing the glass half full

We have these awful, loud, dirty, annoying birds around here called grackles. They kind of look like black birds. They sit in the trees, your roof, the power lines and they poop on everything. They are so loud that I can hear them in the background, through the phone, when I am taking to one of my friends. And these are not song birds. Their name, "grackle" should give you an idea of what they sound like. I think that's what Julie Roberts Daddy was trying to shoot out of the trees before her wedding in Steel Magnolias. Well, I took Ellie to the grocery store today and when we got out of the car there were several of these birds in the parking lot, eating trash. I barely even noticed them, but Ellie, sweet little wide-eyed, three year old, says, "Oh mommy look at those birdies! They are sooooo beautiful! I love them. Aren't they soooo pretty." Kind of melts your heart...

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Me : Ellie, are you ok? You look a little bit sad.

Ellie: I'm not a little bit sad. And I'm not a big bit sad either!