Soldier, Ready for Battle

Writing the Declaration of Independence

Peeper is rather fascinated with quill pens. We were hoping that the Easter Bunny would bring her one of those fancy wedding guest book pens with the feather on it, but he told us they were took expensive.

So, when Shrike found a big feather in the backyard, she figured we had a great substitute. She put it in the freezer for several days, to kill any buggies or what-not that might be on it, and then she gave it to Peeper, who was, of course, thrilled.

Unfortunately, Peeper wasn't satisfied to pretend that it was a quill. Oh, no. This evening, she insisted that she had to "write the Declaration of Independence."

First we tried using an ink pad, and then I gave her some black paint, but either did what she wanted, and she actually got quite frustrated.

So, I need to google how to make a quill from a feather, or possibly go buy the quill and ink that we saw at Mr. E's Elephant Museum the last time we were there. We passed on it because it was actual ink, but ink that works has got to be better than paint that pisses her off.

Sprinkling Our Friends

Our MOMS Club friend A (aka The Cupcake Lady) is expecting baby number two in a few weeks, so T and I conspired to throw her a surprise shower sprinkle this afternoon. T handled all the decorations, and she did an amazing job with them.

We even had a theme!

The baby's initials.

Cupcakes that A didn't have to bake. (T baked and iced; I sprinkled.)

The hostesses and the guest(s) of honor.

More Art

Since I took those photos of the pictures Peeper drew of us, she's added quite a bit to them, including arms, legs, hair, and I don't even remember what else.

But that's nothing compared to this one of me. Shrike drew the outline and my facial features, obviously, but then Peeper took over.

First, she told me that "Oh, I forgot your eyebrows!" so she added some one. Then she gave me some teeth, and a tongue. Fair enough. Later, Shrike pointed out that she'd also given me quite a dramatic bellybutton.

Then, this afternoon, she calls me into the room, "Mama, look! I gave you goodies!"

Why yes, yes you did.

"Now I can get goody when you're not here. See! (slurp slurp)"

"But it's not just the same as your real nipples, because Real Mama doesn't have drawed nipples."

After I took the photos, I told her I was going to text them to DoulaK, because I figured she'd get a kick out of them.

"But she might get embarrassed!" This is our explanation of why you don't do / show / talk about private things in public - because people get embarrassed." And indeed many might, but DoulaK would not.

"Oh, goodies don't embarrass DoulaK."

"They don't?"

"No, goodies don't embarrass her, and vulvas don't embarrass her."

"Oh! I forgot to draw your vulva!"

Note that she only added the two squiggly lines coming out of my crotch. The vertical line and dot are my button and zipper that Shrike drew. I guess.

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I'm actually really impressed with these drawings and the ones she did yesterday, because up until pretty recently, her "picture of people" have been scribbles, and just a few days ago, they were lollipops with eyes.

In this series, she added tons of detail, not all recognizable, and one feature at a time, with lots of stopping to do other things and later realizing, "Oh, I forgot to make your...!"

After making me anatomically correct, for example, she made me nice and cozy with a hat and earmuffs and a scarf. . .

. . . as well as snow pants and boots.

Update on Galoot

Yesterday, Galoot when back to the vet for a follow-up on the tumor in his mouth that was discovered when he was having his nose biopsied last month. 

First, it seems I was mis-remembering what the vet told me after that, and it was on his lower jaw, not his upper jaw.

When she looked at it yesterday, she saw that it had already regrown quite a bit, and according to the x-ray, it was beginning to invade his jawbone, so she removed the big molar that it was near plus the teeth on either side of that one, and a segment of his mandible underneath those teeth. 

When she said before that she might have to remove some of the bone, I had envisioned shaving off a bit at the top, but no, she removed the bone in that area. The whole thing. You can't tell anything looking at the outside, except that his mouth is swollen on that side, and you can see where the teeth are missing. The vet says that it will take him some time to get used to it feeling weird, but he should be pretty much back to normal in a couple of weeks. 

In the meantime, he's doing pretty well, all things considered, but moving a little slow, and pretty well-medicated. He's got a fentanyl transdermal patch until Monday, oral painkillers three times a day and two different antibiotics (twice a day and once a day).

She said that given how much she took, she's very optimistic about having gotten all of the tumor, and this is not a kind of tumor that metastasizes, so assuming we hear back from the path report that the margins from this surgery are clear, then he'll be cancer-free and good to go.    

After a false alarm about him being ready to come home yesterday, Peeper was very, very glad to see him today and get him back home where he belongs. 

This is the best I could do trying to get a photo of his face. The surgery was on the right side, but you really can't seen anything here. Not that there's much to see. You can, however, see the lesions on his nose.

Little Artist

This evening, Peeper had me trace her body on a roll of paper, and then she drew some pictures of her own.

This is me (left) and Shrike (right) and Peeper in the middle. At this point, we had appropriately-colored eyes, mouths and teeth. Later, she added lots of other body parts. This is pretty new.

This is Eena (left), Papa (center) and Uncle J (right). Notice that Papa has arms and hands.

Springy

Tucked In and Tuckered Out

Restitution

This is the Big Bad Wolf, repairing the straw house after huffing and puffing it down.

Tools all laid out. (I don't know what the alarm clock is for. I guess Wolfie gets paid by the hour.

Selecting just the right tool.

And getting to work!

Packing Mommy's Lunch

Yesterday, Peeper randomly announced that she was going to pack Mommy's lunch for work today. Nevermind that Mommy's not going to work today.

She made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and really wanted to give her an apple because "apples are Mommy's favorite fruit!" but we didn't have any.

Then she made herself a "cheese sandwich" which consisted of about half a bottle of ranch dressing and a "triangle cheese" (Laughing Cow wedge) that wasn't spread out at all, between two slices of bread.