The Queen's Rambles

First, how about some more Summer Camp?

Day 28 – What size family do you come from, what size family do you want, and why?

Super easy question–not a single thing to ramble about here.

We had an absent father, a mother and two daughters in our immediate family. We also had a very involved grandmother and no other grandparents.

I am totally fine with my family of four. I suppose it’s because that’s what I’m used to. I have my boy and my girl and I am oooooold and hate pregnancy, so no more babies for me.

Now a well child report:

Elsa finally had her 15 month check-up yesterday after many delays. The good news is: she’s well! Her iron levels are almost up to normal, her lyme is under control, she doesn’t currently have any issues, she’s developing well. All good things. She weighed in at 27 pounds and measured 31.5 inches. She is no longer off the charts. She’s hovering around the 98th percentile. The doctor was very happy to see that her weight has basically flat lined.

She is such a darling little girl. My very favorite thing is seeing her peek around me or whatever is in her way to get a better look at something. The curiosity just shines from her eyes. She is showing quite a temper when things don’t go her way, but in general she is happy and easy to manage. I am totally ready to wean her because she’s talking the nursing acrobatics to all new heights. This afternoon she was nursing with her butt in my face and her feet thrown over my shoulder. My nipples are in serious need of lanolin but I have no idea where I put it.

She did take cow’s milk once, but has refused it since then. Bah.

I really need to take a lot more pictures of her (and her brother). Though this stage is exhausting, she’s just so adorable that I never want it to end. She is big on the copying big people thing, which melts me every time I see her try to shampoo her hair or sit up at the big table and use a fork.

Ok. Enough goopiness.

I need someone to tell me how to e-mail a picture from a Verizon phone. I can figure out how to send a picture message to another phone, but I have no idea how to actually get the picture to me in a usable form.

While we were in Vancouver most of our group watched an IMAX movie at Science World, but that didn’t thrill Erik. Instead, he wanted a snack. The snack bar was across from a stage where a show was going on, so we sat in a place we could see and Erik was immediately sucked in. The scientist was doing a version of the shell game, only with water in non-see through glasses. Have I ever told you about Erik’s love obsession with the shell game? He’s a born gambler, that boy.

Erik quickly forgot about his French fries and ended up in the front row of this show. As a new glass was produced and the water poured into it, Erik got more and more excited. He was easily the most excited person in the audience and was yelling out at every interactive opportunity.

The scientist clearly took notice of Erik because when it came time for volunteers from the audience, the guy carefully worked it so that Erik was number 5 out of 6. This became very important later.

There were six glasses. Glass number 6 was full of water. Each glass would be dumped over the top of a child’s head to prove it was empty.

Erik couldn’t contain himself and kept telling Girl 6 that she was going to get water on her head. He also taught her how to scooch out of the way so she’d stay dry.

Surprise! The scientist played a trick on Erik and had Girl 6 get glass 5, which left Erik with the glass full of water. Erik and the scientist then had a lengthy conversation about this last glass of water getting dumped over Erik’s head and what he should do about it. The scientist had a plan with a raincoat and rain hat, but Erik didn’t feel that was necessary since he would just scooch out of the way.

Erik had the whole audience in stitches, even though he wasn’t trying to be funny. He was quite serious about this whole thing.

And damned, if Mike didn’t have the camera. I just had the cell phone.

Of course, the glass was over-turned and no water came out. Erik’s disbelief was total and complete, causing more hilarity from the audience. I have never claimed my son was shy.

It turned out the glass had been filled with the stuff that disposable diapers are made of. I guess the whole production about going down the line and threatening to dump water over the heads was so the water would have time to get totally absorbed.

The whole thing was fantastic and I need my pictures!

I guess I better go to bed now. We are totally off schedule with bed times thanks to a few days on the west coast. Getting up at 9:30 is wonderful, but not very practical. I have things to do, places to go, people to see! I’m pouting because Mike is only home from vacation for 3 more days, then I’ll be on complete kid duty for four weeks straight. No camp. Send help, please!