How lucky I am to be Meme

Meme, that's me !

Bella gave me the name when she first came. She decided it was spelled Meme and so it is. I have been her "Momma" a long while now but the name still hung around. When Sabina was on the way, Thea asked me what I would like to be called and the only thing name that came to mind was the one I'd been given a few years before.


Now Sabina and Iris call me that funny name. It fits somehow and hopefully one day soon the lovely Ada will laugh and say "Silly Meme" as her cousin and sister do now. Ada of the huge deep blue eyes and the eyelashes that are longer than her hair. Ada, who makes me think of her father when he was little. She has his expressions and the way he'd look deep into your eyes and then grin a huge grin.

Sabina loves nicknames and frequently now calls me "Meem" which makes us both giggle. We are Bean and Meem, quite a pair. She is so serious one minute and cracking a joke the next. She hates it when anyone is hurt or sad and runs to give huge hugs. She asked Bella "Honey, are you gonna be okay?" Empathy in a not-yet three year old. Wow.



Iris' belly laugh is huge for her little body but it matches her dynamic personality. A two year old who is starting to read, can count and plays computer games - she's amazing. I love to hear her belt out "Meme, that's funny when you do that."

These lovely ones live quite a distance from me but a part of me stays with them whenever I have to leave them.

I am indeed lucky to be me and to be Meme.

How she learns

We school at home. We have for a few years.

Why? Because she doesn't 'fit' in school? Because school doesn't suit her or us? Because we want the freedom to come and go as we please without a schedule forced on us by a 'school year'?

Because we want her to be able to think for herself, to set her own goals and learn about the world freely in her own way and own time? Because schools here teach 'to the test' and not to the individualized needs of the child?

Because with the bus ride and the standing in line and the waiting and more standing in line and another bus ride on top of actual learning time makes for a 9 1/2 hour day away five days a week from mid-August until late May?

Liberals who school at home? People assume that home schooled children are part of an ultra-religious family. That we wear long skirts and don't cut our hair? Ha! We're 'secular', - in a good way, I might add. People who support quality public education for everyone else school their own child at home? Yep. Choice is a wonderful thing.

We use some textbooks, some workbooks and sometimes we use none. We dream and draw and go back over stuff that didn't make sense or didn't 'stick' the first several times. You may choose whatever reason you wish to label why we home school. The point is - we do. And most of the time it works. If it takes three more years to stick that concept she struggles with, that's fine. We have the time.

Thank goodness, it wasn't dog pee this time

We're awash in dog pee. Poo, too, but not as much because Maggie is - oh how I hate to say this - a nasty little poo eater. I can't figure out how she knows which poo to eat and which to pass up but this tiny, adorable looking little stinker is indeed a stinker. She needs breath mints, mouthwash, gargle and a tiny little toothbrush. [Imagine here if you would that little stick figure emoticon that goes "Gahhhhhh!". That would be me at this point in (not) house training a six pound creature.] I've been told that many dogs eat their own poo but I can't reconcile the cute face of Isabella's adorable mini- dachshund with the fact.

But I digress. Maggie will occasionally 'do her business' outside but more often than not she'll squat and pee or poo in some corner or doorway. She's learned we don't like it but she hasn't chosen to let us know she needs out when it's time. She has learned to be sneaky so we're less likely to catch her 'in the act' and use the technique taught by The Puppy Whisperer which is to say 'ah ah ah' and place her outside.

Anyway, this evening at bedtime Isabella went to help Maggie find the pink 'lellafant' she seems to need to take with her under the covers each night. Isabella yelled downstairs 'Oh no! I think Max has peed inside now, too. That puddle's too big for Maggie to have done it!" Gary and I were both especially tired from the long day and week and stared at each other with dismay, each hoping the other would go check out the problem. I must have stalled longer because he went upstairs and asked Isabella to show him where to find the mess. It only took a moment to hear him laugh and say "Isabella, you're seeing puddles where there aren't any. That's just a shadow on the carpet. But please take Maggie outside for a few minutes before you go to bed!"

Thanks the goddesses for small favors.

No matter how many children I have ...

...I still seem to collect more. One who needs advice on cooking, dealing with 'boys' who won't grow up, menstrual cramps and how to budget for a vacation. One who needs dog training advice and encouragement to get out and get busy. One with problems way to big for me to help much so we chat and visit and I applaud and commend where possible. I get text messages at all hours of the day and night. I get surprise phone calls "May I come over? Will you come get me?" I do my best to support them but it's never enough. And contrary to the somewhat popular opinion I don't know everything about anything.

There's also the whole Easter thing to explain to a 10 year old. What do rabbits, candy and eggs have to do with Jesus? See I told you I didn't know everything.

A coat of paint for my soul

Painting the walls in the house is supposed to move me forward. If the upper floor of the house looks less like Mom's house I'm hopeful it will help me miss her a bit less and move on a bit further in the process.

So a nifty green and light milk chocolate are the colors in the living room, hall and stairwell.

Now what color do I need to paint inside my head?

Don't get me wrong, I'm doing okay. But clearing out her stuff is still ahead of me and that paint color isn't looking too good.

Unlike Miss Hannigan I'm thrilled to be...

...drippin' with little girls. Adorable, funny, smart, mischievous and lovely. My lovely Bella, of course, doesn't seem small when compared to her three little nieces: Sabina, Iris and Ada. A couple of days spent with them is like a giant mood elevator with a touch of back pain thrown in. I seem to have a bit of trouble when I fold myself into tiny spaces playing hide and seek with a giggly two year old.

Ada has grown so much. She's amazingly calm, a very observant baby and can nearly sit up on her own. She loves to roll around and looks at her 'big' sister with complete adoration. Iris had better start eating a lot or Ada will be as big as she is soon. Speaking of Iris, she's really reading; 26 months old and she looked up at the sign above us and said "aisle 6, Mimi, this is aisle 6'". Wow. She's so funny, can figure things out so quickly and is deeply entranced with ears. She couldn't stop gently tugging on Maggie's droopy mini-dachs ears and seems to really enjoy giving Ada's ears (which resemble mine, poor baby) a pull now and then.

Sabina is more three year old than two now. She's speaking in such complete sentences and expresses herself so beautifully. She is very empathetic and wells up in tears if anyone is hurt or upset. Her curls are changing color a bit but are still more copper-colored than any other shade.

What did I do to deserve these wonderful little human beings? I feel very lucky, very blessed.

Poster board, construction paper and all that

Isabella chose to learn about the solar system and to produce an informational display about it at our 'science fair'. She perused books, the internet and her favorite placemat. She learned a lot and frankly so did I. Astronomy and knowledge about things celestial has grown enormously with the help of super duper telescopes and those amazing space 'probes'.

We learned why Pluto is now just a dwarf planet and what a dwarf planet is exactly. Amazing.

So now it's nearly done, she only has to put a few last details on it. Hopefully the puppy won't chew on the corners or wet on it.

Glitter glue, cool typefaces and a nifty printer assisted her in her efforts. So did her minions - otherwise known as Momma and Poppa.