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The Lizard
John Gardner
The Lizard is a timid thing
That cannot dance or fly or sing;
He hunts for bugs beneath the floor
And longs to be a dinosaur.
Every Insect
Dorothy Aldis
Every Insect (ant, fly, bee)
Is divided into three;
One head, one chest, one stomach part.
Some have brains.
All have a heart.
Insects have no bones,
No noses.
But with feelers they can smell
Dinner half a mile away.
Can your nose do have as well?
Also you’d be in a fix
With all those legs to manage:
Six.
Audrey,
Here are some pictures of our pets.
Uncle Timo
We had lots of fun on our last WC trip. Here are some photos of what we did. More pictures to come of the Springville and Napa trips.
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- Fun with Audrey on the cool cars!
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- Big Smile
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- Grant and Mommy
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- Sweet picture of Audrey
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- Petting the Goats!
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- Fun with Jeffrey and Mary Lancaster
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- A really cool dinosaur at the VLSB Building at Cal
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- Smiling with Daddy
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- All of us
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- Mommy, Sini, Grant
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- I love the carousel!
A cute video of Grant reciting a poem from Bread and Jam for Frances.
If you had trouble getting all that, here is a translation:
Jam on biscuits, jam on toast
Jam is the thing that I like most.
Jam is sticky, jam is sweet
Jam is tasty, jam's a treat
Raspberry, Strawberry, Gooseberry,
I'm very fond . . . of . . . jam
Tagged:
- Four jobs I’ve had in my life:
Pizza maker at Sbarros Pizzeria; activities assistant at a nursing home; administrative assistant for a local college; and don’t forget…MOM! - Four places I’ve lived:
Ridgecrest, CA; North Fork, CA; Sturbridge, MA; and Berkeley, CA. - Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
Heh, heh…we don’t have a TV. But if we did, I’d probably love to watch American Idol, Rachael Ray and other cooking shows, Home & Garden-type shows, and the news. I am such a news/political junkie. - Four Blogs I Read Regularly:
Al Mohler’s blog, friends’ blogs, Pardon Our Dust (a home-renovation blog in LA area), and family members’ blogs. - Four Favorite Foods:
Coffee!! (does that count?); fresh-baked cookies (any variety), pasta primavera or Cheesecake Factory’s Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp; and all Indian food. If coffee doesn’t count, I also love Thai food, especially pad thai. - Four Places I’ve Been:
Tirana, Albania; Zurich, Switzerland; Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC; and Kennebunkport, ME. - Four Places I’d Rather Be Right Now:
On a sunny beach, reading a book; taking a fun class at Cal; hidden away in an overstuffed chair in a library reading another book; or at a romantic B&B with my man
- Four Friends Who Will Respond and/or Add to Blog:
Jonathan, Ethan, Timo, and Jenny. - Four Things I Look Forward to In This Next Year:
Celebrating four years of marriage; Tim starting rotations; me being back in school; and mostly, Grant POTTY-TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Four People I Tag To Add This To Their Blog:
See number 9.
I went shopping at Payless the other day as they were having a BOGO half-off sale (Buy one, get one half-off). I don’t often go clothes shopping these days so this was a fun treat. I found a couple of pairs of shoes that I liked, paid for them, and brought them home.
When Grant saw my new shoes he was over the moon! “Oh, mommy!” says he, “these are so CUTE!” He insisted on trying them on and clomping about with them. Very hilarious.
Grant and I made his bed this morning and carefully arranged all his “friends” on the bed. He loves his stuffed animals! He’s especially fond of “Clown Baby” - he loves to sleep with him (or her?), “change” his diaper, and sing little love songs to him. It’s really cute. Hopefully, it’s good practice for a future baby brother/sister someday.
He also believes that one should smile with all his might. Click on the pictures and you’ll see what I mean.
It’s hard to believe it, but Tim is almost halfway done with medical school. In about four weeks he will be completely done with the classroom time! He finishes up exams at the beginning of May and then he’ll spend a couple of months studying for the Step 1 Board exams which take place the end of June. I’m am so proud of how hard he’s worked. It’s not easy with a wild little boy and chatty wife like me around.
Once he’s done, we’re taking a serious family vacation And that includes a couple of nights away for just the two of us. Yippie! I’m so excited about that part. But I’m sure a lot of our conversation will still center around Grant (isn’t that funny how when you finally have time to yourselves you still talk about the kid(s)?), but at least it will be uninterrupted by a two-year-old’s squeals and jump-a-thons. I’m sure we’ll talk about other stuff too, like, you know, how much we like each other.
I think it takes about two years to start feeling comfortable in a new place. I think I’ve finally started to feel that southern CA is not new anymore. I’m more comfortable here, I’d even say it’s home. It’s the little things that make the difference.
For me, that means that when I walk into the grocery store I know where everything is and I can plan my way through the store ahead of time. There is nothing more annoying than being in a strange grocery store when I’m trying to find the canned tomatoes and Grant has managed to get out of his buckled-in seat and is jumping in the cart and the lines are really long. It’s too stressful. I just hate that. I really know I’m in a strange land then.
I can get in and out of our store in thirty-to-forty minutes now, with a week’s worth of groceries. And thankfully, Grant has started behaving much better while there. It’s so much less stressful than it used to be.
The other thing that makes a place feel more like home is becoming friends with one’s neighbors. There’s nothing like a neighborly chat over the fence! I had one of those last weekend when my neighbor walked down to talk for a little while while I was working in the yard. She has two little boys who are about Grant’s age. It’s a lot of fun to have another young mom down the street close by. It also feels so strange- so 1950’s or something- to have a nice conversation over the fence with my neighbor. It’s just not as common anymore. I know it’s easy for me to keep my guard up because I just don’t know them that well. Some of them are never home, or if they are, they stay inside a lot. It’s hard to develop a sense of community with my neighbors if I never see them. I’m glad I am able to develop this budding friendship, though; I hope it keeps growing. It’s wonderful to feel that sense of connection with your neighborhood.
Now that we’re halfway done with school, we’ve been talking a lot about the future. Will we stay here and do a local D.O. residency, do a D.O. residency far away, or try for a military residency? I think we’re leaning towards a military residency first, and a D.O. residency after that. Which means that we’ll be moving again in two years.
But I refuse to hide inside my house and be a hermit just because it’s very likely that we’ll be moving again. I want to be able to take away special memories and relationships from this place. It’s hard to do; sometimes, I’d rather be selfish and disengaged and do my own thing but I know that’ll waste the opportunity. I’m grateful for my sweet neighbor down the street, for all the mommies that I know from the local park, and for our church. We’re here for a reason. It’s more than limbo.
Every season has its blessings and challenges. I’m trying hard to look for the blessings here.
We caught this precious moment on video last night as Grant was reading an ABC book he has. It seems out of the 26 letters he consistently misses the G and calls it “J.” Eventually he’ll figure it out, I’m sure. He absolutely resists our correction to the contrary. A bit of a stubborn streak
It was just too fun to listen to him singing this….
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