Clothing the Lone Star Girl

The Lone Star Girl is just so freakin' cute. We keep preparing for a garage sale that keeps getting postponed and I have handed down to her a number of very bohemian articles of clothing that were tight, sexy little things on me ten years ago and that can pass as huge tunics on her...almost. She loves them even though they are huge and is having so much fun bopping around in her "new" clothes.

As much as she likes my funky hand-me-downs, it took some doing to get her to the thrift store last weekend to shop for school clothes. She lightened up when we got her three pairs of jeans, three pairs of capris and four tops for under $34, though. She really liked her haul. All of the tops and one pair of the jeans are black...she is going through some sort of beatnik phase. I do not get Shopping-Mama of The Year Award, though, because we still had not gotten THE PLAID DRESS. We have a family tradition that every year she gets a new plaid dress for the first day of school. Oddly, the only store that ever seems to have plaid dresses for school-aged girls is Burlington's and they generally have an ample selection - weird. So we went to Burlington's and picked out a new plaid dress and then we were finished with our school clothes shopping for another year. Ole'.

Tofu Dogs?

The Lone Star Baby was eating in her high chair today. She was in one of her label-collecting moods and was pointing to each piece of food on her high chair tray so I would tell her its name. The conversation went something like this:

LSB: (point)
LSM: Cheese.
LSB: (point)
LSM: Cheese.
LSB: (point)
LSM: Tofu dog.
LSB: (point again)
LSM: Tofu dog.
LSB: (brow furrowed) Pup-pup?
LSM: Not that kind of dog.

She wouldn' t eat anything but Veggie Booty after that, though.

Foremilk Plug

The July issue of Foremilk: The Monthly E-Newsletter of Lone Star Ma has been e-mailed. To subscribe to Foremilk, which is free, send your e-mail address to mariah@LoneStarMa.com. Put "Foremilk subscribe" in the subject line!

Sisters

I don't know if there is anything in life that gives me as much joy as how much the Lone Star Girl and the Lone Star Baby love each other.

Expressions

I remember when the Lone Star Girl was a baby, how I would sometimes feel on my face an expression that was like one of hers and how that made me smile. Recently, I have been catching myself with the feeling of an expression of the Lone Star Baby on my face sometimes, and that makes me smile, too. It always makes me feel much kinder towards any facial expression to think that it is one we share. The Lone Star Girl and the Lone Star Baby resemble each other a great deal - no one could miss that they are sisters - but their expressions are rarely similar. They both have very individual temperaments that show on their faces. I enjoy feeling the expressions of both of them on my face from time to time. It's cool.

Baby Signs

The Lone Star Baby is not so into these. She signs "milk" (pretty much constantly), "cereal" and "all done", but that is it except for common gestures like waving and clapping. I think that she is so verbal that she just doesn't have a need for them. She says what she has to say.

The Lone Star Baby's Vocabulary at 13 months

Mama
Dada
Sissy
Hi
Bye-Bye
Birdie
Milk
Kitty
Puppy
Book
Bear
Star
Read!
Block
Pretty (used only to modify flowers; may think it means "flower")
Outside!
Highchair!
Baby
Me
Mmmmm!
Walk!
Wheels! Wheels! Wheels!
Ball
Bubble!
Yogurt
Cup
Sock
Duck
Quack-quack!
Hairdo
Ni-Night (means milk, lying down)
Row-row-row-boat
Wheeeee! (refers to sliding, swinging or being in swimming pool)
Shoes
Bottle
Puffs (the cereal kind)
Glasses
Bath
Wash cloth
Backpack

Future Zinestress!

My nine-year-old and two of her neighborhood friends printed up a neighborhood newsletter for the kids in the neighborhood on our computer today and started passing them out. They had stories about the hot weather and about a book drive that one of the families conducts every year. Her first publication! Part of the independent press already! I'm so proud!

Sundays at CVS

The baby is rather high-need. Quite so. She spends most of her non-daycare time glued to my body and, while I certainly understand her need for me, after more than a year it is starting to wear me out. She is not one to allow me to put her in the backpack and cook or clean or accomplish household tasks, either. Her babywearing time seems to require larger motion than most household tasks require...she becomes antsy if I stay in one place for too long while holding or wearing her. So, we have to go places. Places where I can walk. The library and the bookstore and the grocery store are favored choices when the outside laps have grown wearisome, but lots of places close early on Sundays...hence our time at CVS.

CVS never closes. It is open whenever I need a place to pace, so lately I have been taking the baby there for little sanity-saving outings on Sunday evenings. Sometimes we have photos or medicine to pick up, but usually we are not there to buy, just to walk. The baby enjoys the brightly colored merchandise and the bright lights do wonders for my state of mind, which at times suffers from the bad lighting in my house.

CVS used to be Eckerd's and I am still not really accustomed to the new layout, but I am getting there. I have a feeling that soon it will be, like the library that has seen so much of our walking, a home away from home.

Small Accomplishments

So I have these two new nursing bras and I am quite excited to have them. I couldn't really afford to be buying bras, but I was down to only one nursing bra and it was stretched out, "unsupportive" and had holes in it...so I truly needed to get a couple more. I got the cheapest ones I could find and I'm really happy with what they do for me, so to speak, but I do find them a little hard to fasten back up after nursing.

Today, my older daughter was in the regional swim meet and I took the baby, who was feeling pretty cranky and uncooperative, to watch her. The baby couldn't decide if she really wanted to nurse or not and kept popping on and off the breast and fussing to get up, get down, etc. I found myself unable to re-fasten the nursing bra while holding her in my lap and was a little annoyed with the sensation of leaving it unfastened under my shirt. I took the baby outside for a walk when she got really fussy and, as I was walking along, managed to hook the nursing bra cup back in place with one hand. Yes! It may not seem like much, but I felt pretty happy with myself.

Mother-In-Law Crushes

My eldest is only nine years old but I am already getting these. I call them mother-in-law crushes because I find myself gazing fondly at these boys, then catching myself and hoping they don't think I'm some frumpy Mrs. Robinson: No, dear boy...I don't want you for myself. I just want you for her. There's a very nice young lifeguard at the pool who is ever so nice to his little brother...she could marry him. There is that charming boy on the swim team who wants to be the next coach...she could marry him. There is also that very nice boy whose little sister is in her Girl Scout troop...she could marry him, too. Any of those three would be fine with me, I think. I made the mistake of sharing the fact of these musings with the child and had then to deal with all that simulated vomit. I do remember feeling the same way about the boys my mom thought would make good matches...only now do I see the folly of my ways! Ah, well. She's young yet and I expect to add a lot of mother-in-law crushes to my list before we are through!

Lone Star Ma Blog

At last, at last! Lone Star Ma now has a blog and doesn't have to wait to get enough advertisers to cover the cost of printing before she can harangue people about the politics of parenting in Texas and the workings of her twisted little mind. Now I can take over the world - bwahahaha!!!