Thursday, February 16, 2012

A No School Day (and contest)


     Today is a no school day. There is no school today, tomorrow, Friday or Monday. I have been looking forward to this stretch of Ivory being home. She seems to not look forward to school as much as she used to, and is often quiet and sullen when I pick her up. When I ask her about it, the most I have ever gotten out of her is: “_______ was not my best friend today”. I have to remind myself that she is only 3 ½ and that she probably just lacks the vocabulary to discuss her feelings. When I went into her classroom to get a feel for what was going on, it was fruitless. I spent the entire time reading to her and some of the other children, and that turned out to be her worst day yet. I am dreading the upcoming Parent Teacher conference.
But,
     Today is a no school day.
We eat heart shaped pancakes.
I put away laundry, while Ivory pretends to lead her class in pajamas. She has been begging to go to school in her purple pajamas, and so I told her today she could pretend to do just that. The books are propped open, standing up on end, each book a classmate and I hear her say: “Now, brown bears....”
I wash dishes and make lunch, while she colors on her dry erase board and then starts her own project: gluing a stack of different colored circles onto a card. Sylvan is scooting around on the floor spreading the same circles all over the dining room, drooling with glee.
I pack our mac and cheese (made from scratch), roasted Brussels sprouts, apples, carrots and pears into a bag with picnic dishes. We are going to have a picnic. The only place I know that has a picnic table that is not covered in snow is at the Children's Museum. We load into the stroller and head out.




A few hours later walk along the river trying to spot the great blue heron, but today he is absent.
A short while later I am sitting, sipping coffee, while Ivory and Sylvan are snoozing in the stroller. I try not to leave the house with out a project. The double stroller doesn’t fit through my front door, so I duck into coffee shops when they drift off to sleep.
      The wind is brisk and mounds of dirty snow are all that remain of our winter wonderland. I am looking ahead to scratching the first rows in our garden beds and watching Ivory drop the first seeds in the ground. I am sure Sylvan will be in heaven, trying to shove hand fulls of black soil into his mouth.
I cut the paper into the first image that comes to mind: a blooming daffodil, a harbinger of more color to come.
Sylvan wakes up and then Ivory. We walk home.
     Tomorrow, is another no school day, (With the exception of the dreaded parent- teacher conference), and I am looking forward to it. Maybe we will visit someone, go on a walk, or maybe just stay home and bake bread.


Daffodil Card Contest:
I made another card and slipped it into my bag already filled with cards, and I had the idea to give it to one of you. So, leave a comment on this blog post by 5pm next Wednesday (22nd).. I will write all the names onto pieces of paper, and put them in a hat... Ivory will chose the winner, I announce the winner and then we will work out how to mail it to you.   

8 comments:

  1. Ah, no comments!?! Je suis la grande gagnante! :) Or maybe, like crocuses, I have a head start on your spring card, thanks to the time difference. Sounds like a great day! I've started making a seed list for this summer, too. Just wish I could order from FedCo, since I've never been closer to them (Maine), but no go across an international boundary. Crazy, absolutely insane that we can't ship organic beet seeds across a border that is still open to things like asbestos, etc!

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  2. include me!
    I would love to see the card Ivory made in her pretend school, too.
    I remember the days when best friends were so important. When Adam was her age, if he was trying to talk me into doing something for him, he would say, "you can be my berry best friend." With the girls, one of them would come home sad because a best friend was mean to her. The next day, everything was back to normal.
    Let me know how the conference goes.

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  3. Oh Heidi, what a beautiful glimpse into your life! I need to read this more!
    Poor Ivory...She's just too smart for school right now I'm sure, maybe she gets bored...but what a lovely day with mommy for a change!
    I hope I'm like you when I grow up, such a wonderful wonderful mother. We seem to hold the same domestic ideals [: I'm so sad I still haven't seen Missoula, but surely this summer! and please come visit us if you have the chance, I'll be moving out to create what is hopefully my own peaceful abode [:
    I love you so much! And I'm officially adding this blog to my little bar of favorite sites at the top of the page so that I remember to read it all the time. You have a lovely, image-filled way of writing.
    Oh, and tell Ivory to pick my name! :D

    Love, your little sister

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  4. Like the post! And how I remember the sweater Ivory is wearing! Someone in East Germany made it for the kids, and I know Nadja, Richard AND Judith wore it! It is so awesome to see it on Ivory. I bet the East German who knit it for us never dreamed it would end up in Bartlesville, Stillwater, and now Missoula!

    Of course, I love the cards!
    Sylvan is precious! I miss you all..

    Your Mama and Omama

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  5. I'm entering on behalf of my mother. Though in Seattle, she longs for Missoula and adores your family and blog. Therefore, this is my comment!

    I'd also like to commission you for a special piece of cloth/bag type thing for my bass. They're technically called bibs but that doesn't nearly describe what I'd need done. Let's get coffee (c'mon over with the squirts!) once my immune system reappears.

    -Aaron

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  6. And the winner is: BGM! Bethann, can you mail me your address, and I will send you the card!

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  7. Yay! The card came! It's so great to get a real letter, esp. one marked with the ultra-"nostalgic" AIR MAIL! Now that I have your address, expect one...sometime. Mail across the border doesn't move very quickly.

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