The Angel in the Christmas Pagent

Go Pokes!

iMargaux

Precious cargo

Happy to go to School

On Recent Events

Halloween was happy!

Margaux dancing to Billie

Brief clip of M dancing to a Billie Holiday record. She's really into records (i.e., the vinyl ones). The girl from two doors down came over last week and when I put on a record, she was absolutely dumbfounded. I asked her if she'd ever seen one before and she just shook her head.

Margaux, on the other hand, thinks this is the way to play music.

Check out my new boots!

Simile! God loves u!

Margaux and I were discussing what to have for breakfast, and I suggested pancakes. "Do you like pancakes?" I asked. "I like pancake syrup," she answered, then added, "I will be sticky like a red-eyed tree frog!"

(The title of this post refers to Cindy's misreading of a bumper sticker a few years ago.)

The Stunk, Part II

It seems that skunks (or "stunks", as Margaux calls them - see her previous thoughts on the critters) are destined to be a part of our lives at the new house. Last night we let Fergus out into the back yard to do his business, while Cindy and I sat on the patio and chatted. After a few minutes, we began to notice a strong, nasty smell wafting over the patio. Then Fergus came running back towards us at top speed, headed for the patio door with a "let me in!" look on his face. His face, however, was drenched in skunk spray. Man, that's nasty. It's peculiar, though...there was a distinct undertone of garlic and onion to the skunk smell. Not sure if the skunk had been feasting on someone's garden, or if skunk smell is normally infused with herbs and spices. For a split second, the Cajun in me thought "ummm..smells sort of like gumbo." Then, of course, we began to gag. Poor Ferg...as if it wasn't bad enough to be sprayed by what I'm sure he assumed was a black and white cat with a big tail, Cindy and I immediately grabbed him and began to scrub him with a mixture of vinegar, baking soda, and soap. This mixture does very little to get rid of the skunk smell, but it does add a nice pungent vinegar odor to the mix. Fergus spent the night in the washroom, then went first thing this morning to the vet to get a special "de-skunking" bath.

Grasshopper

If you know Margaux or see this blog regularly, you know that she loves all God’s creatures. There is no insect, no worm, and no slug that doesn’t deserve a little of her attention. So, imagine her delight when in Baton Rouge she discovered black and red grasshoppers that were HUGE. She just had to hold one, and we enthusiastically helped her do so. Here are the pics from her crazy grasshopper experience.

Sidenote: Turns out that the grasshopper’s dramatic coloring is supposed to warn predators that it is poisonous. Perhaps Margaux’s parents should encourage just a wee little bit of caution when exploring nature.

2011 ACK trip

Just catching up with some photos from the summer. This set is from our June trip to Nantucket. We rode the ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket for the first time ever. It was a beautiful day and a great way to arrive on the island. So, here are some pictures from the ferry and then a couple of Margaux at the beach.

The Stunk

Margaux just recently realized that she can get out of bed on her own. Yes, we know we are lucky that we’ve had 3+ years without worrying about her wandering around while we are asleep. Well, a few weeks ago she started coming into our room in the morning when she was ready to get up. Not a big deal because she doesn’t get up too early. But, then it progressed to where she was getting up during her nap or getting up right after we had put her down for the night. Then, it got worse. She would get up in the middle of the night and come tell us she was up and not go back to sleep for a couple of hours. We felt like we were back in newborn-land. So, I decided we had to do something, anything, to see if we could get this to stop. I bribed her. I told her that if she could stay in bed all night and not wake up Mommy and Daddy until the sun came up, she could have a reward. First, she wanted to know what exactly the reward was. I told her to pick what she wanted. She said she wanted to go get frozen yogurt with gummy bears in it. I said, “You’ve got yourself a deal, kid,” and we shook on it. Right before I put her to bed that night, just as I was about to walk out of the room, I said, “See you in the morning.” This little voice replied, “OOOOKayyyyy, but I’m a stunk.” I said, “You’re a what?” She said, “I’m a stunk. I play while others sleep.” Turns out she had heard about skunks being nocturnal, and she decided that’s what she was. She did, however, sleep through the night and earned her reward. At the risk of jinxing us, she’s slept through the night every night since. Who knew bribery could work so well?

Getting teeth cleaned

First trip to the dentist!

Fun at the beach

I love my Toms!

The many faces

Margaux's been practicing her frumpy face lately. She's getting quite good at it...











For comparison, here's a happier face:

Oy!

I took Margaux to her 3-year old check-up last week. When the doctor asked her to count, she said, “I don’t know how to count.” When the doctor asked her to name some colors, she said, “No.” When the doctor left the room, I said, “Margaux, how high can you count?” She counted to 21. When I asked why she didn’t say her colors for Dr. Webb, she said, “I only know my shades of pink and purple.” I said, “ Couldn’t you have just said the word shade for Dr. Webb?” A few minutes later, Dr. Webb returned to the room and talked to us about the fact that Margaux is 25^th percentile for height and 25^th percentile for weight. She said, “Margaux, keep eating all those fruits and vegetables.” Margaux said, “What are fruits and vegetables? I want a donut.” I wanted to crawl under the examining table and hide. Seriously, Margaux gets donuts a few times a year and eats blueberries and carrots like other kids eat M&M’s. This three-year old thing is going to be an interesting ride. I can see that.

When I grow up...

Margaux informed me that "when I get big I will have sunglasses, coffee, and big bubble gum.". Good to have goals.

Late Night Conversation

Last night, when Margaux had been in bed for nearly 2 hours and was still not asleep, I went in to see if I could help. In a voice that was bright and vibrant (as if it were 10:00 AM instead of 10:00 PM), she began the following conversation.

Margaux: Oh! Hi, Mommy!

Me: Hi, sweetie. It’s time to sleep.

Margaux: What’s that in your hand?

Me: A baby monitor.

Margaux: What baby are you monitoring?

Me: You!

Margaux: I am not a baby.

And, she’s right. She’s not quite a baby anymore. She does still need quite a lot of monitoring, however. I’m pretty sure that’s going to be the case for many years to come.

Goofy girl

Pigtails

The Parents are One Step Behind

From Mike:

Thursday morning at school drop-off, I was suiting Margaux up in her

raincoat in the door of the minivan. (It was pouring this AM.) And

she has a matching umbrella that she loves, too. When I gave her the

umbrella and got my umbrella, she said, "Put it over your head, like a

shell, Daddy!" I asked, "What animal has a shell?" thinking she'd of

course say turtle. She answered: "Limpet." So I said, "Well, turtles

have shells." She looked at me and said: "snails." So, yeah,

obviously her dad has no idea what animals have shells.

I didn't even remember that there *was* something called a limpet.

But according to Wikipedia it's "a common name for numerous different

kinds of saltwater and freshwater snails."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limpet)

From Cindy:

Last night Margaux kept pulling the covers off her bed as fast as I put them on. It was late, and I wasn't amused. I finally said, "Margaux, don't do that again!" She burst into tears and started sobbing. When she finally calmed down a bit, I said, "Margaux, when Mommy says no, you don't have to get so upset. Just stop whatever it is you are doing." She took a few seconds and looked at me with her big, wet, brown eyes and said, "But, it would be so much more fun if you would just say Yes."

Blizzard v2.0 - Part I

Sheesh...enough already. We got a load of snow dumped on us again Tuesday night. I'm guessing around 6-8". Two college kids rang the doorbell Thursday around noon, offering to shovel the driveway for $20. I instinctively said no (I sort of knee-jerk say no to anyone who comes to the door), then about half an hour later realized what I had done and ran outside to find them. Alas, they were long gone, and I had to shovel the *&%*!* myself. Stupid stupid stupid.

[UPDATE - Thurs, 10-Feb-2011: The temp plunged to well below zero here last night. Poor Cindy had to haul herself up to school to educate the ignorant in weather that was -15 degrees...yes, that's NEGATIVE FIFTEEN! It had warmed up some by the time I got out (around 1:00pm); it was up to 20 above.]

This is what the front yard looks like (you can see the outline of the sidewalk).



I had to get out with the shovel to clear a path so Ferg could go do his business ("In the land where the Schnauzer's go / Don't you eat that yellow snow")



Cindy sat inside to read the paper while Margaux watched Curious George.

Blizzard of '11, part II

While mommy supervised from the porch, Margaux worked hard on her excavation project.

















She was going to build an igloo. More of a conceptual igloo than an actual one. She piled up some snow and said "look, an igloo!"















Then she made some snow angels.
















Dad helped out.


















After a long day of making snow angels, there's nothing better than sitting down to rest...


















...and having a snow snack.

















Sometimes, snow just makes you thoughtful.

Blizzard of '11

Well, it's astonishingly cold today here in Stillwater. Currently 15 degrees, dropping to *negative* 2 tonight. Egads! It snowed from late Monday night until early Tuesday afternoon. We've been huddled inside, because it was too windy and cold to let Margaux play outside. Maybe tomorrow. Margaux didn't seem to mind staying inside too much. In fact, while outside it looked like this:















...she decided to not only snuggle up *on* the couch; she actually snuggled up *inside* the couch, and spent quite a bit of time playing and watching Seasame Street on the DVR.















This is a before and after pic of the back yard. The top of the picture was taken around 9:00pm Monday. The bottom one was about 12 hours later.

Singin' the blues

This is a short video of Margaux and her harmonica doin' her thang. American Idol here we come!



I heard her in the living room singing and playing harmonica, ran and got the Flip Vid, but by the time I got there she had stopped. So, I asked her for an encore performance, which she happily agreed to.