Talents

I've often wished I had some sort of a creative bone in my body. I'm not a scrapbooker, I'm not a stamper, I don't paint, or sew, or have any kind of gift for home decorating, and I'm certainly not a 'fashion girl' as Josie aspires to become. I've tried knitting (thanks, Gudrun!) and want to continue with that since I find it relaxing, but I have an unfinished hat, scarf, & poncho to show for my attempt at developing a creative talent. Any of these talents would probably bring me joy and help me reduce stress in my daily life, but today, I wished I had the talent to work with Irrigation Tools. Actually, every time I have a broken sprinkler, I wish for Irrigation Talent. And, sadly, that happens frequently. Maybe it has to do with my Lawn Mowing & Edging Talent?

I pride myself on being able to do things on my own. According to my parents, I've had that stubborn streak for most of my life. I've always had to 'learn by doing' rather than 'learn from others' mistakes'. In most cases, I've learned a great deal & sometimes suffered a great deal, too. Still, I try to make the best of things & move on, eventually. As a role model for Josie, I notice that I try even harder to show her that women can do anything if we set our minds to it. I don't mind if she witnesses the struggle, especially if she sees the success at the end of the battle. (In many cases, she has also learned some not-so-nice-vocabulary-words but I always apologize afterwards and give her alternative words to use when she's frustrated. So far, she likes "oh, man" but I've heard her use "phooey" a time or two, also.)

Two years ago, our good friends, Marilyn & Doug, gave me a fabulous gift for Christmas: luggage rack bars & a used car top carrier to make our travel & camping trips in a two door car with a carseat & 2 large breed dogs a little less crowded. I LOVE that luggage carrier & someday I'll have to post about all of the great trips it has allowed us to take. (If I had the talent to be a scrapbooker, I would have had some lovely pages of pictures to share from our adventures, but, again, I don't have that talent, so instead you'll have to stay-tuned to my blog.) Long story short, even though Doug offered to help me install them, I spent hours and HOURS trying to put those d#$* racks on the roof of my car. Josie's vocabulary increased ten-fold throughout the day but just as darkness started to impede my ability to curse anymore, I finally figured out how to tighten the latches & Josie & I celebrated loudly! I'll never forget her words, "Someday, when I'm a Mommy like you, I want to put things together, too. Good job!" I still feel badly that she heard my frustration but I'm thrilled that she witnessed my struggle & then helped me hold tools and assisted me as I figured it out on my own. I hope she remembers that lesson more than the vocabulary lesson. Success makes the struggles worthwhile and builds confidence, right?

So, after weeks and weeks of watching patches of my front lawn dry up & die, I finally decided to use today to solve the mystery. With recent temps in the triple digits, I knew I'd need to get an early start, so I set my alarm (on Sunday, a day of rest?) for 6:30 am. I ate a hearty breakfast of Cheerios & sucked down my diet Dr. Pepper caffeine-fix & headed out with my shovel. I had high hopes of fixing the problem, then moving on to house cleaning, followed by grocery shopping. Not a bad To-Do List for a single parent.

Or so I hoped.

The details are ugly so I'll spare you the ramblin---but after digging up 5 holes in very Dry-haven't-seen-rain-since-May-with-triple-digit-temps-and-broken-sprinklers-for-many-weeks Dirt, my hands were blistered & I was reciting (SHOUTING) every single curse word I could remember & tried to make up a few of my own. Digging turned out to be the easy part. Broken risers, broken sprinkler heads, & broken PVC tubing were some of the issues. And out of frustration, there was also that broken shovel & mangled finger that still continues to throb. After six hours of labor and FIVE trips to the Hardware Store for Irrigation Repair 101 Tips from an employee at Cobb's & a sweet elderly woman's instructions at Home Depot, I finally have sprinklers that seem to water most of my lawn. I still don't have much water pressure and some of my Pop-Ups don't pop up but at least the dirt is back in the holes and most of the pvc glue has been picked off of my fingers and hands & I'm pretty sure there are no more rocks in the lines. On Tuesday, when my Automatic Timer goes off, I HOPE to have water coming out of every sprinkler without any more leakage in between. Fortunately, Josie was with her dad all day & didn't add any new words to her mental dictionary. But, I'm definitely going to show her that the sprinklers have water coming out of them when she returns home this week!

I'm not sure if I'll ever develop my talents for creativity or craftiness but since I like to 'live in the moment', my new dream is to acquire Irrigation Talents. I can now view this Tub of Tools with fondness:

(Special Thanks to Bob, for guidance, suggestions, encouragment & humor! Also to Kathee for a delicious Mediterranean Chicken dinner, wine & conversation to help me end the weekend on a positive note. I'm lucky to have such great neighbors & friends & I hope none of them are judging me according to the cursing they heard coming from yard all day.)

Glimpses of Josie Growing Up

Josie's trying hard to grow up faster than I wish.

"I'm too big for princesses, Mom. We should find a little girl that likes princesses & give her all of my stuff." (Then she proceeded to stuff all of her princess clothing, underwear & Princess Paraphernalia into a grocery sack while I stared in bewilderment. I quickly realized that she was cleaning her closet on her own & suddenly didn't feel so sad about this transition.)

"Now that I'm six, I love High School Musical. I'm going to need to go shopping to buy some fashion clothes, okay?" (Now I felt really bewildered...FASHION clothes??? Luckily, she still prefers Target as her favorite place to shop. On my part time teaching salary, that's a HUGE relief.)

Then there was the day I listened as she left this voice message for Grandpa, "Hello Grandpa. This is Josie Wrinkle. When you have time, do you think you could come to my house in California and move my mirror up in my room? It's cutting off my head because I'm in first grade now & I'm really tall." (Grandpa was thrilled to receive such a special invitation & I felt sad, once again, that he lives 2700 miles away.)

The physical changes are somewhat obvious: She lost a top front tooth on the first day of first grade & a week later she lost the other front tooth. She's a perfect Halloween Jack-0-lantern & loves to show off that gappy smile.

She's THRILLED and counting the "sleeps" until Erin's wedding in October because she's going to be the Flower Girl! Just as I predicted in Courage is a Process , Josie is braver now that she's six. It definitely helped to see a photo of the dress she would wear, "Oh, Mom! I'll be beautiful! I really, really, really want to be a flower girl!"

She was speechless and grinning from ear to ear the day the dress arrived & I let her try it on. I had to beg her to stop spinning so I could snap a few photos to send to Erin. (Considering the dress is supposed to be Tea Length, our next step is to find a reasonably priced Seamstress but I can already imagine that toothless grin as she walks down the aisle.)

Just this week she came home and proudly shared her Friday Test scores with me. She gently rubbed her fingers over the old-fashioned foil stars that Mrs. Rail had put next to her 100% scores on her Sight Word Test, Spelling Test & Dictation Sentence. She picked up the packet and put her face next to the stars and whispered, "Ohhhhh...I can't wait for Friday. We get to take tests again, Mommy. First grade is the best!"

Sadly, we've also witnessed that horrible Self Image Challenge that many girls seem to go through. I just didn't realize that it would start so young. "Mom, my legs look too fat. I need to do more exercises to make me look skinny." Or "I don't smile at the bugaboos (her reference to the boys she likes to chase at recess) because they will think I look silly without my teeth."

I know we have our work cut out for us this year as she emerges as a reader & writer but it's her self image that will worry me the most. I can't protect her from all of the hurts she'll experience but I hope to arm her with enough confidence to face the perceived & real judgements she will face as she continues to develop relationships with her peers.

I am so grateful to our friends & my colleagues at school for always keeping a special eye out for Josie & for convincing her that she's appreciated & loved by so many. She feels so at home & confident when she's at school---what a lucky girl to have such a strong start in school!

Can't Resist Those Josieisms

"It's really hard to be six, Mom. I just can't keep my angries in all the time. It makes my belly hurt really bad so I have to scream sometimes. I'm sorry."

"My hair is too hot. I can have Princess hair when it's winter. Let's cut it off so I don't have to be so sweaty."

"I think I look just like Mrs. McClelland now. I love being so beautiful!"

"When I'm seven, can I wear Fashion shoes every day?"

"I'm going to be just like Curious George now that I have a trophy."

"I can't wait to go see my cousins! In 36 sleeps I'll be really spoiled. But I'll still talk nice to you, Mom, and I'll probably still snuggle you."

"I already ate dinner. I had a cucumber slice & a celery & 'nem an ems for dessert. Don't go cookin' anything for me."

"I've had too much sleep so quit telling me I'm tired. My brain is so full of sleep that it's blank!"

Sidenote: Josie's mom thinks that Six is going to be a very interesting year.

Treasures From My Life With a Six Year Old

"I am 6."

"While we try to teach our children all about life,

Our children teach us what life is all about."

~Angela Schwindt

Stellaluna

Tomorrow is Josie's official 6th birthday and the excitement surrounding this day has been mounting & growing for many "sleeps". This year was the first time she's expressed such anticipation and started planning her party months ago. After debating our budget, Ray & I finally decided to have it at a local Bounce U facility so she could invite as many friends as she wanted & we could avoid a mess at either of our houses. The kids had a great time bouncing & chasing and the adults could simply visit, chat or join in on the fun.

Turning six is a very big deal to Josie. She told me this afternoon that she'll be a lot taller tomorrow & she insisted that she weigh & measure herself so that she could prove that turning six would indeed result in some physical changes.

I mentioned to Josie this morning that six years ago today I was in the hospital trying very hard to help her be born. She could care less about those details (so I spared her) but she did have one important and pressing question, "Why didn't you name me Stellaluna? I really think I would be a good Stellaluna. From now on, you can just call me Stellaluna and I'll let my friends keep calling me Josie, okay? I just think that'll work better."

Happy Birthday, Stellaluna! You are the prize in my life and I'm thrilled to be your mom! The 31 hours of labor, 3 hours of pushing & eventual C-Section was all worth it. Those words, "It's a girl!" that your dad shouted have forever changed my life in the most amazing ways possible. I'm still in awe of your girliness & your independence and I'm sure we'll be having our battles ahead as you change into Stellaluna but this journey is more magical than I could have imagined.