Larger Than A Compliment
I’m not big on doling out compliments. If I give someone a compliment, it’s usually because they have done, said, worn, or whatever something so big and beauteous that I can’t keep my pleasant feelings to myself. I’m also not a person that talks about her kid in an overly positive way. In fact, many times it’s quite the opposite. I talk more about Mazie’s failings than her successes; it’s a Midwestern thing or at least that’s what I tell myself. Honking Mazie’s horn is like honking my horn and therefore it shouldn’t be done regularly. There is a fine line between proud and pompous and I am careful not to overstep.
All of the aforementioned is just the background for what I’m about to report…
My child, Mazie Kaye Thingelstad, has been the cutest, funniest, sweetest, most well-behaved kid for the last while. She has been a sheer pleasure to be around. Not all the time, all the place, after all she’s three. But, for the most part my child is in a stage of contentment that I find bewildering and lovely. She says funny kid stuff, she does funny kid stuff. She listens and does as she’s asked. She pees and poops in the toliet, she gets her own water out of the sink and climbs into the car by herself. Other than the endless three year old question of “why”(which I know is her just being inquisitive, but I still find annoying), she doesn’t do much that isn’t grand. I’m counting my lucky stars and I know my number will be up soon, but for now my Mazie is the rockin’est preschooler I know.
Larger than a Canon 40D
Jamie wields a camera most of the time, most of the place and I’m often with a camera. Mazie decided the other day that she was sick of her no camera status so she invented a camera of her own. She had the best of times walking around taking shots of all of the pretty scenery. We had a hard time getting her back in the van as there were just so many pictures to take.
Larger than a Beetle
I never would have guessed it, but Mazie digs toy cars. She’s picked up two on the trip, a rad VW microbus decked out with peace signs and 60’s memorabilia and a VW beetle covered with a scary leopard print (I tried to convince her to go for a different look, but she was set on the “cat” theme). At home Mazie spends countless hours conducting the lives of her dolls and stuffed animals. Her cast of characters include a life-sized dolled named Mark, who, in case you’re wondering, is a girl, and Johnny, a stuffed bear dressed in very girlie clothes who Mazie insists is a boy. She has a wooden pull-frog on a string, froggie, and a few other babies, all girls, with names like Just Baby, Baby Beans and Little Tiny Baby. Mazie spends most of her free-time at home making sure that all of these “individuals” get fed, take naps, dress and undress, take walks, and get to know one another better. We brought a couple of her dolls and animals with, but without the supporting paraphernalia (stroller, toy kitchen, crib, clothes, etc…), she hasn’t had much interest in them…And here enters the cars. The cars have completely taken over Mazie’s world of play. She drives them around hours each day, inventing roads, trips, pretend people, car washes and elaborate stories. It’s awesome.
Quotes from the road…3rd Installment
Yesterday, at the Shark Reef Aquarium, Mazie saw a bunch of fish schooling. She said, “Mom, look, a class!”
Larger than a two year old
That’s right, Mazie is now three! Today was the big day and she celebrated in true Mazie fashion: a pool visit, strawberries, mac and cheese, chocolate cake and lots of playing. Here is a pictorial of the day’s festivities (you have to click through to see the full picture)…
If you are looking for a touching account of Mazie turning three, tune into Jamie’s post. I’m not too good at that sort of thing, so I decided to let him take the reigns and drive that horse.
SF + TKT = :-(
I know San Francisco is a great city and so I figure there was something out of whack with me during our visit. It’s not that I had a horrible time or no fun at all, but I never fell into a groove with the city. Since I don’t have much to report, I thought I’d share a few photos instead. Click through the pictures if you want to see the full image or read the description.
Deep-Fat Fried
I’m feeling like a horrible mom. I tend to be pretty blasé about certain things and the sun is one of those things. I know, I know, not putting sunscreen on your kid is a horrible crime and I’m so guilty no jury is needed. I could easily count the number of times I’ve applied sunscreen to Mazie on one hand. She’s never burned before; she’s always been the same shade of off-white. I try to ensure her sun exposure is low, keeping her in the shade or making sure that when she does get sun it’s early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Anyhoo…
We were at a park in sunny San Francisco on Saturday, getting some quality time with the all-important swing, and by nightfall a small part of Mazie’s face was puffy and red. It’s now Tuesday and she still has red spots on her face. Jamie, who is much wiser about sun things than I, had put sunscreen on her, but even that wasn’t enough to counter the devious plans of this particular sun. I remember him being worried about Mazie getting too much sun and me thinking that he worries far too much and should just chill out.
As with all things like this, I learned my lesson and changed my tune immediately. After realizing that my stupidity got my kid burned, I’ve become the sunscreen police. So, to all you moms and dads out there who religiously put sunscreen on your kids, good job.
Larger than a piece of poop
Warning: If you are easily offended or have a problem with stories of poop, even cute three year old pooping stories, please do not read any further.
As we were walking alongside the redwoods today, Mazie decided that she needed to poop. She dropped trou’ right there in the middle of the path and plopped down a couple of turds. It was awesome! I gave her a high-five immediately. I know most people would feel differently, but I couldn’t help but to applaud her adventurous spirit in the face of adversity. As soon as she finished we saw a group of kids approaching. We did a quick stick-stab and throw of the specimen deep into the forest floor, wiped her clean* and had her pants back up before the approaching kids could utter the word “poo”.
*The toilet paper used to wipe clean was packed out and disposed of properly. Over and out.
Larger than a woman’s butt
Jamie has handed the camera over to Mazie on a couple of occasions and I think during her brief encounters she has managed to log almost 1,000 pictures. Thankfully, Jamie has had the good sense to delete many of them. She has a knack for photographing the ground and people’s feet, but today she found a woman’s butt to be of particular interest. She took this picture in the middle of the Redwood Forest. If you are interested in more amazing Mazie pics, Jamie has created a set in Flickr just for her photographs.
larger than a piece of chocolate cake
mazie is really into her toes. she spends at least 30 minutes a day examining the space between each toe. sometimes while trying to change her diaper she throws a fit because i want her to put her legs down so i can get the stupid diaper on and she wants to keep her legs up so she can continue looking at the space between her toes.
this is a reasonably new obsession, probably two or three weeks old. it seems that she is interested in finding any dirt or small bits of stuff that might be in between her toes. she doesn’t necessarily want to remove the bits, but she does want to identify that the bits exist.
some say perhaps it is a manifestation of an inherent weirdness placed in her genetic code by me or her dad; we both teeter near the brink of mild ocd. i’d say the perhaps is warranted.
