Hello Again, and SLUGS

Good Christ, I haven't written on this blog since NOVEMBER? That's terrible. To remedy this negligence, I've added BLOG to my newly redesigned bullet journal, in the "habit tracker" section, and if I don't color in those little squares every day, well, I'll feel shame and failure etc. For now, I suppose all I can do is begin again, with where we are today.

Easter

Fortunately for any of you who are still aware that this blog exists, I have a story. A story about slugs. A story about spending Easter in Pennsylvania, and hiding plastic eggs around the yard at 6:00am after a rainy night, and the kids running outside for the egg hunt around 7:00am, a mere hour later. They gathered up the eggs in their bags and brought them inside. Immediately, one of the kids saw a small black slug on the outside of an egg. We didn't think much of it, since the eggs had been sitting in wet grass. But then--another. And another. And then Molly saw the silhouettes of slugs INSIDE THE EGGS. Slugs had found the tiny hole at the ends of the eggs and slimed in. Some eggs had two slugs inside. All the kids were screaming, and refusing to open the eggs, and Andrew was trying to keep up with the onslaught as he squashed the slugs with paper towels.

That was the first stage of the slugs. Then we found some on the carpet from the eggs being dumped out of the bags. Later, when I went to put some stuff into the bags, I saw the bags each had several slugs inside. IT JUST WOULDN'T END.

This is clearly a story that instantly became Family Lore, a story that will be told and retold for a lifetime, the story about the Easter when slugs got into the eggs. All three kids will have neuroses about outdoor egg hunts and wet grass for the rest of their lives. I might, too.

Ear Piercing, Round II

Greta got her ears pierced for the second time in January, and though they'd been healing beautifully, her left piercing--out of nowhere--became hideously infected, and a giant ball of awfulness formed on the back of her earlobe. Our visit to the pediatrician turned into an urgent same-day visit to an ENT, who had to drain it with a needle while Greta screamed. Now that piercing has closed. She has one earring, like a pirate, and will have to get the left ear repierced AGAIN once it's fully healed.

This is a cautionary tale, you hear me? A cautionary tale. Maybe not about ear piercing, exactly, but about making sure you react to a child's every casual mention of discomfort with an immediate trip to the doctor and a demand for antibiotics, because if I'd done that, when Greta first observed a bit of discomfort with her ear, maybe it never would have escalated like it did. Lesson learned.

Interests

Just for the record, here's what the girls are into these days: American Girl dolls (Kit and Julie were Christmas gifts), Hatchimals Colleggitbles (no idea how to actually spell that, it's a play on words that doesn't quite parse phonetically), slow-rise squishies, super balls, coloring with Mr. Sketch scented markers, stuffed animals, my old Cabbage Patch dolls. We're reading Harry Potter 1 together. Lucia's read the first three herself and is working on book four. They both love playing the piano. Lucia's working on Allegretto I. Greta's on London Bridge.

Eating

Mostly the girls seem to hate everything I cook, but then again today they shared an entire head of steamed broccoli, so whatever. I can't keep track anymore. They did love all the Easter foods. Lucia ate six St. Joseph cakes. Greta ate five scrippelles.

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