100% Awesome

With thanks to Aunt Katie for giving Juniper the coolest socks ever. She wears her desert socks every day that they are clean.

Snuggly towel monsters with big feet

Exactly what the title said.

Hazel is obsessed with shoes, especially too-big shoes that belong to any other family member. When she put on Juniper's sneakers after a recent bath, Juniper was happy to jump on the big shoe bandwagon by putting on Aaron's boots. The girls are playing together more and more, which is a delight to watch. Juniper becomes understandably frustrated with Hazel's inability to play by the barely civilized rules of appropriate 4 year old behavior, and Hazel loves to say "No!" to just about anything, but overall they play well and enjoy one another's company.

The arc of the universe

 Juniper and I were recently talking about eyes and the different eye colors in our family. This led to an oversimplified talk about genetics, in which I made some comment about how every person gets half of her DNA from her mom and half from her dad. Juniper indignantly interrupted me to announce, “But some kids have two moms!” This sparked a conversation about the difference between your biological parents (a man and a woman, parts of whose bodies combined to make your body) and your real parents (the people who love you most and care for you and make a family with you). Juniper was interested and full of questions. These are tough concepts to grasp, and I know she was fuzzy on the details, but I think she got the gist. At the very least, she got enough to satisfy her own curiosity at the moment, and eventually we moved on to some other topic.

Four year olds have a hard time with abstract ideas, but they can be fierce in their defense of What They Know Is True. When I started spouting some crazy nonsense about how all kids have a mom and a dad, Juniper called me to task because she knows that isn’t true. She has friends with two moms, and even a kid—perhaps especially a kid—can see that those families are as real as any other. Many people of our generation have chosen to stand on the side of love, but it has never crossed Juniper’s mind that there could be any other side. Families are families; moms are moms; love is love. What’s complicated about that? I’m grateful to live in a time and place where my child can take these things for granted. I expect that one day, she will be horrified and baffled to learn that not long ago, there was a time in our country when same-sex couples couldn’t marry.

Are we there yet? No. Are we bending toward justice? Absolutely.

Mr. Tesla, the experiment was a success.

Bedtime story

Happy Birthday, Thomas

Juniper's good friend Thomas just turned 4!

We celebrated his birthday at the Oakhurst Community Garden. Hazel was delighted with the chickens. Juniper was more excited about the dirt and worms (of the oreo and gummy variety). When I saw a big pile of dirt and worms on her plate, I asked her whether she'd had any real food first, or just gone straight to dessert. She assured me that she'd started with real food: "Chips. And watermelon."

  

Trying to convince Thomas to move away from the serving table, someone asked him whether he wanted to move to the picnic table with all his friends. Thomas protectively put his arm around Juniper's shoulders and proclaimed, "I am with my friend." They're a delightful pair. Aaron's theory is that they get along so well because both of them have stereotypically boyish interests (superheroes, police, stopping bad guys) but play like girls (sustained imaginative narration, not very rough and tumble). Whatever the reason for their special spark, we're glad to have Thomas in our lives.

Hazel did get to ride in the wagon with the big kids. At one point there were 6 kids crammed into the wagon. They all grumbled about not having enough space, but not a one of them would get out and wait for the next turn to ride.

All in all, it was a very fun day at the gardens!


Part 2: I just realized that when I did this post last night, I missed a couple of photos Aaron had given me.



We knew the Lego steam roller was a big hit when Thomas' parents told him he could open it at home and he immediately replied, "let's go home!" 



True friendship = sharing your special birthday cake.

In full bloom

Woohoo! With the end of the school year, Sally is done with teaching, Aaron is done with school photography, and we are back on the blog. You can be on the lookout for more cute, absurd, silly, and delightful photos of the girls.

Well prepared

Juniper the Super Red Tiger and her trusty sidekick, Mom the Super Red Panda, are ready for any situation:

"I have powers for grasslands, space, and China."

Welcome Home

Little Racer

Juniper's preschool holds an annual 5k fundraiser race, Beat the Street For Little Feet. This year, Juniper was a proud participant in the "tot trot," which involves a herd of young children running (or meandering) across a patch of field that's maybe 15 yards long. Maybe.

 The tot trot does not involve a fancy finish line, but Juniper was happy to pose here while the one mile fun run was in progress. Several of her friends very impressively ran the full mile.

Though she didn't run an official mile, she played hard and ran all over the park with her friends. By the end of a very fun morning, Juniper was pooped and pathetic about having to walk up this hill to leave the park.