busy weekend

We had a very busy weekend here. We transplanted 150 daffodils. I know you're not supposed to do that while they're blooming, but they were located where my hummingbird and butterfly garden belongs. So hopefully they'll survive. I think they will.

Doug and I learned that we are old. And that hours of gardening will leave us unable to walk.

We also decided to replace our "elegant paper stuffed into the hole where the deadbolt belongs" solution to the kitchen door with an actual deadbolt. I got to use a chisel. I felt pretty handy.

And we had a visit from our good friend Nicole who moved up to NYC last year.

Elisabeth is fascinated with the process of "digestin" these days. She likes to listen to my gut as it does its job. For about 2 weeks she couldn't remember the word 'digesting.' Now she says, without fail, "Mommy -your food is digestin' - I remembered! I remembered digestin! I used to forget but now I remember!"

Oh the weekend started Friday night with us going next door for dinner with a bunch of our neighbors. What do you not want to find two three year olds doing? Polishing their nails unattended. Which is precisely what we found Elisabeth and her little friend Aili doing in our neighbor's master bath. I don't know the extent of the carnage, Elisabeth was clean when she returned downstairs.

Saturday night also involved dinner with neighbors for a birthday celebration. Perhaps my most "American" quality is my severe dislike of food that has a head on it. Or rather food that looks, on the serving table, as it did when it roamed the earth. So the roasted pig in the middle of the table, with cute little feet and teeth and yes - a flower behind its ear, was too much for me to handle. I had to wait until it was carved and then looked like a ham platter before I could eat any.

Elisabeth is learning to read. I think this has been the most excited and proud I've been over something she's done. Right now, she can read most three letter words so long as they don't involve a "special rule" like a th, sh, ow, etc. But don't ask her to do it because she gets mad - she's got to do it on her own free will. I really think maybe she's my kid. She might look like a clone of Doug, but she's got my temperment. It is pretty incredible to watch a kid learn. She's so excited by her accomplishment that she wants to stay up all night reading to herself. Luckily this has meant later mornings for Doug and me.

Elisabeth wants to go on another adventure this week. I don't know where we'll go, but it is fun that she wants to go again. Usually getting her to go anywhere with just me is like moving a mountain.