Tag: Eleanor

Vintage Finds from Randolph Street Market

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The weather was perfect in Chicago this past weekend, so I took my best gal with me over to the Randolph Street Market. We stopped off at Dunkin’ Donuts first before seeking our flea market treasures — coffee for me, frozen hot chocolate and a donut for her.

Energized and ready, we continued on our way. The Market is held throughout the year indoors, but my favorite time to go is when they have the outdoor portion open too. There’s a booth that’s always there with vintage anatomical models and posters, and every time, I’m tempted to bring a couple home.

Bats! Cats! I wanted both of these too, but I restrained myself.

These gauges and nautical blue pointy things (technical term) were perfectly weathered. What would I use them for? No idea, but aren’t they pretty?

Giant mirror photo opp! Hello.

Vintage globes. One is cool, but a collection of them is always so much better.

I was into these old puppets.

Eleanor brought a toy butterfly with her to the Market, and we left with a collection of real specimens.

We are now the proud owners of a zillion old butterflies and moths! Such a good score. Some are more interesting and in better shape than others, but we’re both pretty excited about either framing them or coming up with some sort of display under a glass cloche. I’ll be sure to share it here when we do.

September 29, 2016
About to Bloom

I ripped out her zinnia. Technically, I didn’t do it, but it’s my fault.

I took all three kids shopping with me for new school clothes over the weekend while Brandon stayed behind to mow the lawn. “That’s a weed,” I told him as we walked by a planter, pointing to a tall, odd plant I hadn’t noticed before. He pulled it.

The first grade kids planted seeds into little plastic cups as winter turned to spring. We could see them through the window and Eleanor showed them to me, saying that they were supposed to be a surprise. (She was too excited and proud to wait.) The class had lined their cups along the windows and watched them grow, then brought them home just before Mother’s Day weekend to give as gifts. Eleanor and I watched as her seedling continued to grow, remembering (mostly) to water it — just a few drops at a time. “Not too much, mom! Here. I know how to do it.” The weather finally warmed and we planted the tiny sprout outside in a big planter where the side yard meets the back, where we would see it often. We checked on it as it grew sideways at first, then up, growing from two leaves to four, and then eight. We didn’t know what color it would be, but we put forth our best guesses. Pink, probably! At least we hoped so. It’s my favorite color.

This morning, it was Brandon who was taking all three kids out while I stayed behind to work. I helped get them ready, like always, then went out to help load them in the car. “Let’s go check on the zinnia before you go!” My idea. And when we couldn’t find it, I realized that hadn’t been a weed. I realized why I hadn’t noticed it before. It had changed. It was just about to bloom.

I know it’s not that big a deal, but we cried, me more than her. I thought that maybe I could find someone with a zinnia and transplant it, showing her when she got back. It’s not the same though, is it? It won’t have the same bend to it. It won’t be the seed that we cared for together. We’ll never know what color it would have been, but I’d like to think we were right. Pink, my favorite.

August 23, 2016
A Birthday Weekend

Eleanor turned seven on Friday! We celebrated with the dinner of her choice, followed by birthday cake. What did she choose, knowing we would make anything she wanted, go to any restaurant, or order whatever she liked? A cheeseburger happy meal. So McDonald’s it was, plus cake, just for the five of us.

The next morning, Brandon’s mom and I took Eleanor and three of her friends to the American Girl Place Café for a birthday lunch. Very cute. (I like the whole party planning thing, but there’s definitely something to be said for signing up for a tried-and-true birthday party complete with goody bags.)

Eleanor got a matching dress for her and her doll as a birthday gift, and she was thrilled that they were twins! The girls came back to our house after the party and we had a sleepover, so E broke out the matching pajamas that night too. A lot of fun was had! And very little sleep.

The next day was Brandon’s birthday, so we had family over for both him and Eleanor. More celebration! More cake! It has been a very sugar-filled weekend, and very sweet all around. Brandon’s birthday does get lumped in with Eleanor’s a bit because they’re only two days apart. (It’s the same way with me and Calvin.) It’s such a big deal to kids, and not so big for us, you know? We’re both happy just to see them having a good time.

May 2, 2016
Kids and Small Pets

A few people have emailed with questions because their kids are interested in getting guinea pigs or other small pets of their own. I can’t claim to be an extensive resource for all things cavy, but I can share our experience with how much our kids really help take care of them.

We’ve had a dog and a couple of cats since before Eleanor born, but she had been asking for a new pet for about a year. Both Brandon and I grew up with pets (he had a rat and his family had dogs, cats, and bunnies — my family had a dog and a cat too, and over the years I’d had a rabbit, a hedgehog, fish, mice, and a hamster), and we agreed that E seemed ready for one of her own. She checked out a different book about animals each week from the library throughout kindergarten, in part because she loves all kinds of animals and in part because she was doing her research. For her, it came down to hamsters and guinea pigs. Hamsters have fun cages with crazy tubes and lookout towers, but they’re more fun to watch than to hold. Guinea pigs are larger and more docile so they’re easier for kids to play with, but they take up a lot of room. E made her decision and went with her grandparents for her sixth birthday to choose a pet, cage, and everything to go along with it. Guinea pigs are happier in pairs (thanks, library book), and after a week or so, we found another female to join our house… except she was a he, and then they had babies.*

So now we have two giant pet cages — one in Eleanor’s room with the girls (Speedy and Butterscotch), and one in August’s room with the boys (Gingerbread, Noisy, and Cute-Cute until he left yesterday for a new home). August likes them well enough, but either because of age (four) or temperament, he’s not as into them as E is. She loves the guinea pigs.

Cleaning the Cage(s)
I organized all of the small pet supplies along the floor of our linen closet — food pellets, hay, chew sticks and toys, and clean bedding. (The best bedding is paper-based — pine and wood shavings are messy, smelly, and best avoided.) Guinea pigs are little poop machines, but they do tend to go more near where their food is. We clean that section as needed with a small dust pan reserved for the job, and then we completely change out the bedding once a week.

Eleanor can do it. Kind of. It takes her a long time and she makes a bit of a mess, so I usually do it with her while she ‘helps’ by holding the garbage bag. I want her to be there, not because I need the assistance, but because her pets are supposed to be her responsibility and she should know that they aren’t magically being cared for with no effort on her part. As she gets older, she may be able to change the bedding by herself, but I assumed going into it that Brandon and I would be helping for a while so it’s not a shock that I’m doing it. I am unfortunately allergic to them, so I sneeze and sniffle through the process (about 15 minutes per cage).

Food and Water
Eleanor can and does make sure there is food and water for the guinea pigs at all times. They need fresh fruit and veggies, and E likes figuring out what they’ll eat each day. We often give them any leftovers (carrots, apples, etc.) that the kids didn’t finish from their meals, but sometimes E has me make a teeny tiny fruit salad to serve. Adorable. The only part she has trouble with is the hay because it can get messy, so Brandon and I usually do that part.

Socializing
The girl loves her pets. Eleanor couldn’t pick the guinea pigs up at first because they’re quick and nervous by nature, but she’s good at it now and no longer needs help catching them. She has done a good job of taming them, and even thinks they do tricks and communicate with her in a secret animal language! Calvin likes to watch them run around their cages, and August will pet them when they’re already out and being played with, but he doesn’t take the initiative like E does. She wakes up and pets them. She has gotten out of bed at night and slept on the floor to be next to them. We wondered (as a lot of parents do) if interest would wane but Eleanor is just as into them now as she was in the beginning, and I think the responsibility of caring for them has been good for her.

Cute-Cute Goes to School

Yep, we’re less one guinea pig around here; Cute-Cute is now a school pet! He won’t be in August’s classroom, but just down the hall with another teacher. Eleanor was in school when Brandon and August took the little guy over, so I had them take a bunch of pictures to show her. They used the pet carrier toy from Eleanor’s vet set, and she thought that was pretty funny. She was also excited to see that there is a cage all set up in the classroom just like the one he was living in here, and that he’s going to have lots of new friends visiting him each day.

* According to Eleanor: if our guinea pigs have any more babies (please no — but apparently they mate immediately after birth, which we didn’t know and I’m watching Speedy get fat…), the boys will be named George and Jr. and the girls will be Lily and Twilight.

September 9, 2015
Push the Little Daisies
I was doing a television appearance once, and there was a stylist on set for wardrobe. She had some great options for everyone, but then she zeroed in on a giant beaded daisy necklace for me. “This looks like you!” she chirped, and I politely declined, all the while thinking of Drew Barrymore in the 90s. I may have tried to emulate her skinny brows at the time, but I’ve never been much for daisies.

I’ve written before about my sentimental jewelry pieces. I always wear my wedding ring, but when I travel, I also wear a little elephant necklace that reminds me of Eleanor, and a heart ring for August. I had been looking for something that would remind me of Calvin too, but nothing I’d come across had been quite right.

I associate him with flowers. I was working on a post about my entryway a few days before my due date, and I’d almost finished my setup. I went out to the florist and came back to arrange everything, but I couldn’t take photos because the sun had set. I joked with Brandon that the baby was going to arrive before I could get my shots in the morning, and sure enough, I went into labor in the middle of the night. I had Calvin, and the first thing I saw when we came back home the next day were those flowers.

I just got back from Salt Lake City because I was there to speak at Alt Summit again. I’m lucky to have so many opportunities to travel because of the blog, but it’s the times when I’m away from my family that I love having those sentimental pieces with me the most. I’m not a superstitious person, so it’s not about them being my ‘good luck charms’ or anything of that sort, but I have for years worn my wedding ring, my elephant necklace, and my heart ring when I fly. I like the tangible reminders of home.

I don’t like to wear too many types of jewelry at once. My wedding ring, a necklace, another ring, and something else is a lot, so I’d been looking for another gold ring that I could stack. I wanted something delicate with flowers or leaves for Calvin because of the association and I’d come across a few nice ones (along with plenty of not so nice ones), but I would know it when I found it, and I finally found it.

I wasn’t familiar with Alex Monroe before, but his floral designs are exactly what I’d been looking for: delicate, modern, and pretty, and not giving me flashbacks to nineties Drew. Some of my favorites are below and his other designs are fantastic too (mouse and tea cup ring, anyone?), but I chose that second ring. So glad I finally found my little Calvin reminder.
June 11, 2015
The Future of the Monthly/Yearly Photo Project

If you’ve been reading for a while, you’re probably familiar with my monthly photo project. I started when Eleanor was a baby. I bought the same pink bodysuit in different sizes, made a felt pin with a number in the center that could be switched out, and photographed her in the same chair and in the same setting each month to document her first year. As those first twelve months came to a close, I decided to continue taking the monthly photos until she turned two, and then yearly after that. I did the same thing for her little brother, August, and I’m doing it now for Calvin.

I love having the photos to look back on. It’s fun to see how each child has grown, and also to look at their photos side-by-side from the same ages. And I love that it has inspired so many others to take on the project, too!

Babies are sort of universal. Assuming normal development, they grow at roughly the same rate, reach the same milestones, sit up, learn to talk, learn to walk, and so on. Of course they have different temperaments and each baby is unique, but documenting their growth through a series of photos isn’t violating any burgeoning personhood. They’re babies. They grow quickly, and it’s fun to see that in pictures.

As the kids grow older though, I hesitate to share as much. Their experiences are less universal and more specific to them as individuals. As they begin to choose their haircuts, their clothes, and the way that they want to present themselves, they should be able to explore their identities without strangers watching or commenting.

Eleanor will turn six next month. I’m planning to continue taking her yearly photo, but I won’t be publishing it. Five years old feels like a good place to end the series publicly, and I’ll do the same for August and Calvin. This isn’t to say that you will never see my kids’ photos as they get older (though I have dialed that back). There is a difference though between a picture that happens to have them in it, and a series specifically shot to show how they have physically changed as they’ve aged.

May my children never choose something as awful as the perm I got when I was ten (a body wave — so sophisticated!), but if they do, they can do it in relative anonymity, away from their mom’s blog.

March 19, 2015