Spelling Does Count

Attention World!

My name is Suzanne.

Let me spell it. S U Z A N N E

Let's try pronouncing it, shall we?

sOO-zan'

Here's what my name is not:

Susan

Which is spelled S U S A N

And is pronounced

sOO'zun

TWO DIFFERENT NAMES WITH DIFFERENT SPELLINGS AND PRONUNCIATIONS.

Not the same name. So when I give you my name, and even spell it for you, what should I hear and/or see?

Suzanne.

Not Susan.

Thank you.

Earth Day 2008

To celebrate Earth Day, the kids and I went for a walk in the woods. Which we had to drive to, but whatever. It's the gesture that counts, right?

I loved watching them explore and play around a huge fallen tree. It made me a little wistful -- it's exactly the type of activity I craved as a child but didn't get to experience.

Last week I drove the kids past the house that I lived in until I was about 8. It's only about 20 minutes from where we live now, but it's a noticeably rougher area. Sean and Allie were fascinated by the sight of the long line of row houses. They marveled over the weed-choked alleyway that serves as the backyard, by the postage stamp-sized front yard.

I have fond memories of that house, of the chummy neighborhood where I could walk to the corner store for my mom, where I could visit my grandparents by trotting across the street.

What I sought, though, was something completely inaccessible -- green space, woods, wildlife. In the absence of abundant nature, I created a slice of it for myself. Behind my house and down the alley a bit was an adjacent alleyway bordered by thick shrubs. I found a secret entrance through the shrubs -- I called it The Little Hole. It was my private haven, a place I could retreat to play alone, to pretend that I was hidden deep in a forest.

I showed Sean and Allie where The Little Hole used to be. The thicket of shrubs has been cleared away. It's a completely open space now, just another section of the alley.

I can still feel the frisson of excitement I'd get by parting the leaves and entering my special space. I'm glad that I have that memory. And I'm even more glad that Sean and Allie have access to the real thing.

Amply Illustrating Three of Our Four Slogans

This morning, I awoke to hear Sean and Allie already in earnest conversation.

Allie: Sean, you can't call me Allison anymore.

Sean: Why?

Allie: Because my name is now Ariel.

Sean: Okay. Hi, Ariel.

Still rubbing my eyes, I follow Allie to her room.

Allie: Mommy, where are my green pants?

Me: In your closet. Why?

Allie: Because I'm Ariel now, and I have to look like her.

I help her into her green pants.

Allie, holding up a piece of purple tissue paper: Now help me put this on. It's Ariel's top!

In case you are unfamiliar, here's the look she was going for:


Me: I'm not sure that's going to work, sweetie. Plus it's still kind of chilly for a top like that.

Allie: ARIEL HAS TO WEAR THIS PURPLE TOP!

Me: Okay, it's not worth arguing about. But only for a few minutes.

Allie: Get some tape!

Me: Ummm, manners?

Allie: Please!

We struggle to fashion a tube top from lavender tissue paper. Within 2 minutes, it's ripped.

Allie: (Wailing)

Me: I can fix it! I'll use more tape.

Allie: No, GLUE! Glue it together!

Me: Tape would be better for this tissue paper, I think.

I tape the top again. It falls down within 1 minute.

Allie: (EXTREMELY LOUD WAILING)

Me, thinking fast: Why don't you pretend to be Ariel as a human? She wore a dress, right? You can wear a dress, too.

Allie: (Sniffing). Okay. What color?

I look at our Little Mermaid book. When Ariel is in the rowboat with Eric, she's wearing a blue dress. Thank GOD Allie has a blue dress.

We remove the tube top and green pants, put on the blue dress.

Me, tying the bow in the back of the dress: And it even has a pretty bow, just like Ariel.

Sean: No, Ariel's dress doesn't have a bow.

Me: Yes, it does.

Sean: No, it doesn't.

Me (giving evil look of death, speaking with clenched jaw): I think it does, okay, Sean?

Allie looks as if she is not sure who to believe but is prepared to pitch a fit if necessary. It's a precarious situation.

Allie: I like the bow!

Thank goodness.

Crisis averted at 7:15 a.m.

Sloganeering

I'm thinking that the Mimilou household needs a slogan, something we can all rally behind, something that succinctly captures just who we are as a family.

Some possibilties:

Why be agreeable when you can argue?

What? I can't hear you over all the shouting!

Whining is for winners!

It's going to cost HOW much to fix?

_____


What would your family slogan be?

Secrets

The first thing Sean told me today when I picked him up from school was "I don't want to go my baseball game today."

(He's had one T-ball game so far and had a grand time.)

No subsequent interrogation technique elicited a reason. Did anything happen at school? No. Did someone say something to you? No. Did you do something you don't want to tell me about? Yes. I mean no. Do you want to whisper in my ear? No. Do you want to write it down instead of tell me? Yes. (Pause while he sits at the table.) I don't really have anything to write about. What's wrong? NOTHING!

Realizing that my obsessive need desire to know EVERYTHING just might be having the opposite effect, I backed off.

He seems okay, if a bit ornery, this afternoon. He still doesn't want to go to his game and still offers no reason. It's driving me crazy.

Sigh. I am ill equipped to handle secret-holding. I know it will only get worse as the kids get older. You start with a reluctance to swing a bat at T-ball and the next thing you know they're married to someone you've never met.

What, you think I'm blowing this out of proportion a little?

From the Roundhouse to the Death Star

Today I cleared off the coffee table. Today, for the first time in three years, the table is no longer serving as an outpost of Tidmouth Sheds.

Today I put away all the Thomas the Tank Engine toys.

And I heard not one word of protest.

My newly minted six-year-old was too busy playing with all his new Star Wars toys. Now, instead of Thomas and Percy and Gordon and Henry, all I hear about is Luke and Annakin and Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. He's not about to let the fact that he hasn't seen a frame of any Star Wars movies get in his way.

An era has passed. We've traded the cheerful exploits of steam engines for the life-and-death light saber battles of Jedi knights.

Will the Force be with us always?