My Heart is Home

My baby is home! I will admit it, I really really enjoyed having a break. With work being so nuts, I enjoyed being able to just zone out when I got home. I didn't have to switch from bad day at work to dealing with a defiant three year old.

However, I am so happy to have her home. She barely wanted to hug and kiss A and I, but when it was time for bed, she saved hugging me for last, then asked for lullabies. Something she hardly ever does.

So I sang and snuggled and let her know silently that it was OK, even if she said she didn't miss me, I knew she did. I missed her too.

It starts now doesn't it, the growing up and away from us? She doesn't need for everything any more. She tests her boundaries and goes her own way more than she listens to me. She is exceptionally independent. My mother says more so than I ever was. (I was a late bloomer stubbornness wise, that happened as an adult)

I haven't written about it because I was afraid of being judged, but we've been having some behavior issues at school. I think she is getting bored. She's wanting to start learning how to sound out words, and do more with numbers, and as one of the oldest in class, she is struggling with the boredom. At least that is what I hope it is. She can be such a good kid, but she has never been one to do what was expected. 18 months of nursing using a nipple shield because she wouldn't have it any other way. Not even crawling until after she was a year old, then taking off. Walking just in time to be able to take the spot in a better daycare.

I am so screwed once we hit the teen years.

Banjo!

I have absolutely no idea what to write about. Well, I mean, I have things I want to write about but I can't write about. So instead, a banjo.

I have a secret love of banjos. They are a guilty pleasure. I grew up listening to folk music, and it will always be my first musical love. Banjos, mandolins, fiddles and all.

Getting to see the father of the bride (who is not the banjo player) and many family friends playing at this wedding was a real treat for me. Though not as big of a treat as hearing the bride's brother (who is 15 years younger than me) sing. He's a baritone. He also dropped his pants and peed in my yard at my graduation party. (he was potty training) The two things are not quite matching up in my head just yet.

Going Home

We had a great time this weekend. Well, M and I had a great time. A tolerated being at a "family" wedding where the only people he knew enough to be comfortable around were the people actively involved in the wedding (bride, groom, parents, siblings of all). I got to see all of the people I really like from my home town that still live there. I got to show off my beautiful daughter in her twirling "wedding dress" (thanks to Stefania for sending that at just the right time). She charmed just about everyone.

She especially took to the bride (I think it may have been the stunning dress and the fact that we talked about her wedding for days), and the mother of the bride. The mother of the bride is my second mom. The cool mom (sorry mom). She's the one I could talk to about stuff I couldn't talk to my own mom about. The funny part is, when I was about M's age, I really took to her too. I was the little kid following her around. Apples, trees, you know the rest.

We're back home, but M stayed up North to hang out with Grandma Tere (seen above). She is having a great time being entertained by all kinds of new people. Running around the property where I grew up. Getting in to trouble the bride's cousin's son. (who's dad was the resident troublemaker when I was a kid) Charming everyone she meets.

She has requested to not go home. Instead she would like Grandma to drive her right down to Nana & Grandpa D's. We're sort of hoping by Wednesday she'll miss us enough to come back here.

On the off chance that you ever find yourself in Fergus Falls, I would like to point out to you a couple of things. First, Falls Baking Co. Home of the best bread on the planet. No, not kidding. I've had a lot of bread, and Scott's can't be beat. Second, Stumbeano Coffee. I am a coffee nerd, and I'm here to tell you I had the best latte of my life on Sunday morning, at Cafe 116. Made by Greg Stumbo himself. I would like to bundle both of them up and move them closer to the rest of my life. In the mean time I'll settle for putting and order in with my mom for when she brings M back.

Whole Wheat Sour Dough, Oatmeal & a French Boule. I'd also like a pound of Greg's Espresso Roast. I need it ground, I can't do anything fine enough for my stove top Bialetti at home.

A Dog & Her Cucumber

Last year, right before I had finally had it and hacked the thing to pieces, Tess discovered that she really really liked vegetables in the form of my entire summer squash plant. Not just the fruit, all of it. Sure, table scraps and the occasional lost pea were fine, but now she knew where they came from.

I spent the rest of the year trying to keep her from chewing on the remaining parts of the squash and eventually having to beat her off with a Brussels sprout stalk to keep her from eating the stalk, sprouts and all.

I have a weird dog.

This year she's been moderately unaware of the garden's presence. That was until the cucumber.

While taking her out for a potty break right after we got home from work, I wandered over to the cucumbers. I've had a lot of flowers, but nothing looked like it was really taking off. Imagine my surprise when I had a nice perfectly pickable cucumber right there on the vine.

So I picked it. Then Tess went absolutely nuts.

It was all she could focus on. Even after I peeled and sliced it for the other cucumber lover in the house (we planted them at M's request), even after we ate it, she was still looking everywhere for it.

Her obsession with the garden has returned.

My only real concern is that once we have ripe cherry tomatoes, we won't be able to leave her alone in the back yard for a second. They are perfectly sized for small terrier mouths.