My Fresh Hell
Life in Scribbletown.

Grandma Doodle

2005-11-21

This is Red's new nickname. As if she needs any more of them. This particular name was born when a new hat entered the house, a red Gilligan-style hat, sent by my aunt in a box filled with second-hand clothes for the girls, that, for some reason, Red is unreasonably attached to. She likes to cram it down on her head with a good bit of force. Sometimes she likes to wear it so it completely covers her face. She'll then walk around blind and smash into things: walls, doors, bookcases.

The first time she put the hat on, my husband said, "She looks like a Grandma Doodle in that hat." A what? He could not explain his comment but the name stuck. And Red seems to like it so Grandma Doodle it is. Actually, though, you could call her Crappy Doo-Doo Head in a nice tone of voice and she'd be just as happy. Toddlers do have their good qualities.

Dusty informed me last week, while we were discussing babies on the way home from preschool, that she plans to have four children. I think the conversation got started when we were talking about when Red was born and what she remembered from a year and a half ago.

"Well," Dusty said, "We're not having any more babies in the house."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not spending the night at Grandma's again. No way."
"Well, don't worry because there won't be any more babies."
"Good. I don't want to sleep at Grandma's."
"You won't have to."
"When I'm a grownup, I'm going to have three babies."
"Really?"
"No. Actually, four. Two girls and two boys. That way, the girls can play together and the boys can play together."
"I guess that's a good plan. What will their names be?"
"I don't know. I'll decide when I'm a grownup."

In another conversation about naps and their importance, I mentioned that I wished I could take a nap at work because I get really tired sometimes. She replied,

"You should take a nap after lunch since you're somebody's boss."

Oh! Is that how it works? Sweet. I missed that memo.

We all went into town yesterday to a birthday party for one of Dusty's friends. We all walked down to the art museum to see a puppet show put on by the parents of one of the attendees (I mentioned them in my post-Halloween entry) and then came back for food, cake & snowman shaped ice cream slabs. Red was banished to Grandma's for most of the afternoon so she could have her nap and hopefully not be killed by her grandmother's idea of fun (ie, letting Red "practice" going up and down her dangerous staircase). I picked her up later so she could take all the cake off my plate and cram it down her throat before I could stop her. At least I'd removed the icing before she did that (I'm not much of an icing person, especially not store bought cake icing. I'm a cake snob. Sue me.).

In the gift bag that Dusty brought home was a small container of Playdoh (Pink! Sparkly!). God, I so love the smell of Playdoh. And crayons. Those are two of the best smells in the universe. Others include: hot coffee, pie right out of the oven (any kind), bread baking, lemon and orange zest, basil, rosemary, sun-warmed cat fur, a clean baby's head fur (what Red has on her head can only technically be called 'hair'), vanilla extract, and chocolate (natch!). What are your favorite scents?

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11:29 a.m. ::
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