Dellanor Delphinium

Today was Roo's last day of school which marks the end of my days alone with Deli. Sure it's going to be good to have the girls back together again, but I'm going to miss all the attention Delberd demanded from me. Now her constant stream of conversion will most likely be aimed at Tess instead of me. Will she ask to go to Target everyday like she would after we left Tess at school? Or demand that we eat breakfast together and that we eat the exact same thing? What if she doesn't need me anymore? What if Tess is already a better mother than me. Summer is just beginning and I'm full of anxiety. Any way, here are some pictures and a video with a bunch of random moments of Boo Radley.




Deli's first babysitting job was to watch Tess's school teacher's new born baby for two days.





accessorizing


why paint on paper?


Adelle with tea, toast and Delphiniums from the garden


Some of my favorite Dellanorisms:

setting: breakfast in the kitchen

me: "Look Adelle, there's something behind your head!" (I was trying to steal a bite of her cereal)
Deli: "What? What? Wait.......is it my Christmas stocking?" (this is in May)


setting: taking out the trash

me: "Look Adelle a cockroach! What should we name it?"
Deli: "Bush, hello Bushy"


setting: picking up Tess from School

Deli: Tess...I'm sorry but Mom and I went to Target today without you and I got a bagel but we didn't get you one. I'm so sorry Tess. (in a not-really-sorry tone)


setting: TJMaxx, quickly trying to buy socks for Tom when Adelle spots a must-have Dora shirt

Deli: Mom can I get this for my birthday? (This is the standard question for any desirable object in a store)
me: maybe, but your birthday is in March, remember?
Deli: No Maaahhm! My TODAY birthday!
me: nope
Deli: please. please, please, please, please, please Mom please. If you let me have the shirt then I will invite you to "Kids Club" (a magical place without parents and all you can eat brownies that she and Tess have made up and try to threaten to uninvite Tom and I to when we don't respond to their liking) but if you don't let me get the Dora shirt then you will have to have a consequence (at this point we had a small audience)
me: let's put the shirt in the basket for now (This was deceptive of me, I know. When we got to the check out I just handed the clerk her shirt and asked him to put it back for us.)
---later that day, just as Tess gets into the car from school---
Deli: Guess what Tessy....Mom and I went to the store and guess whhhaaat....I got a new Dora shirt but I'm sorry you didn't. I'm sorry Tess.
me: Deli, we didn't get the Dora shirt, you were much too fussy in the store.
Deli: WHAT! Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!


setting: me sitting at the computer

Deli: Mom, I want to sit on your lap because it's squishy


setting: getting the house picked up

Deli: Mom, can I watch Lion King because it is my favorite?
me: no Deli, we have work to do, you need to do your spoon drawer (emptying the silverware) and clean your room
Deli: (after stomping her foot and bouncing her body off every piece of our furniture) but Maaaahhm, it's my very very favorite!
me: sorry babe, not until we finish our work
Deli: But Maaaaaaammmaaaa
me: no Adelle
Deli: FINE! (with a final stomp of her foot) I WILL do my spoon drawer and THEN I'll clean room
me: good idea


setting: at the checkout at Walgreens

Deli: hey Mom, can we get some gum? Gum is my favorite, I will chew it. I know when I was 2 I would swallow it but I'm 3 now and I will chew it pleeeeeeeeeaaaaase.
me: no
Deli: but Mom I mean it. I mean it! I WILL chew it! I will chew like this (munch, munch)......I will NOT swallow it. Look, thus gum is blue and look....this gum is pink and this gum is red and this gum is GREEEEEEN. Ooohhhhh I like green gum, I had green gum one time. Mom can we get this greeeeeeeen gum because I LOVE IT!
checkout lady: WOW! She talks a lot! Does she always talk this much?
me: yup.

randomness...a specialty of mine

So I was talking to my running mentor and friend, who happens to be what I would call a power blogger (a person who equates "put new post on the blog" with "wake-up" on their daily to-do list) about our different blogging styles. Basically she write really interesting, funny things and doesn't necessary rely heavily on photos, especially photos of the kidos to try to sponge some attention--which would essentially describe my style. But most recently my friend has ventured more into utilizing cute baby pics to draw in the online crowds so I thought I’d give it a go at a picture-less kid-less post. Prepare yourself to be rocked by randomness, click away while you still can.

First of all, Tom and I have been in love lately and that feels good, so we decided to celebrate our love by……..
buying some CD’s (something we haven’t done for sooo long). Saturday night we took advantage of some free babysitting and hit the town. Although we had planned to go out to eat together, we skipped dinner to justify our purchases.

purchase #1 Pacha Massive – Hot Spanglish disco techno rap (usually at this point I would put pics of the girls break dancing, but I won’t)
Here’s one of their songs, my favorite is “oye mira” but I couldn’t find it



purchase#2 History Boys Soundtrack-- What a movie! The screenplay is perfect, taken from an even better play I hear. The Soundtrack includes the Cure, the Smiths, the Pretenders, the Clash etc. Normally I would talk about how the girls believe the chorus from the Clash song sings "rockin' the Deathstar," and I'd put a video of them grooving in the backseat and singing the chorus as loud as they can, but I'll stop myself.

purchase#3 Tracy Thorn, out of the woods

Music I still would like to get someday, Nick Drake and Texas--but Tom won't let me b/c then he would have to admit that I can pick out good music all by myself.

Second only to dancing around in Barnes & Noble and embarrassing Tom, I love to spend my weekends reading the New York Times. I try to force myself to read the entire Week in Review section before I rush into the Sunday Styles but I can hardly stop myself from heading straight to the most entertaining section of all--at the very end of the Sunday Style lies the Wedding Announcements or what David Brooks calls the "mergers and acquistions." Here are my top four from the last two Sundays. These select few are chosen based on 3 criteria;

1-- unbelievable perfection (i.e. She's a 25 year old M.D. graduating from Yale with a masters in astrophysics from Harvard and he is a 27 year old J.D. from Columbia with a Ph.d in bio-engineering from Stanford and MFA in french horn performance from Juilliard)
2-- Shameless exploitation of career based lineage (i.e. the bride is the great-great-god-niece of Herbert Boufee, a noble prize nominee in 1874)
3-- unadulterated corniness (this stuff is my favorite, you got to read it to believe it)

So read on and cast your vote for your favorite. Please remember to sit up straight, cross your legs, and turn side to side while you clap soflty and repeat "good match, good match indeed" in your best british accent when you finish reading each announcement.

Fola Popoola and Alvin May II catagory 1

Julia Taft & Christof Putzel catagory 2

Catherine Bennett & Sophien Bennaceur catagory 3

Jennifer Openshaw and Randy Schwimmer catagory 3--I love the pic with this one, ya kinda gotta feel bad for the chauffeur in a monkey suit