Pre-Halloween Festivities and Sanctimony

We carved pumpkins tonight (after having promised the girls we would last night and not getting around to it because we had dinner too late). They were extremely excited about it. E drew on the picture on her pumpkin and Tuey's, and then M spent a loooooong time drawing hers: "I'm just putting on some finishing touches." They mostly have teeny tiny eyes and noses and enormous mouths with itty bitty teeth. Tuey's came out best. M made me carve about a hundred circles all over hers ("those are the touches" she explained). Then she danced wildly in front of them after we had lit them so they would look like they were dancing.

Speaking of dancing, here is the latest favorite activity of the girls: after it gets dark, and preferably on a night when the moon is bright, they put on their fancy Cinderella slippers and go outside to dance with Marmot Dad ("Prince Erik"). If they are really into the story they'll run down the sidewalk and leave one slipper behind for "Erik" to find and bring back to them. M started crying the other night because "I want to have stairs in front of our house!" You know, the kind of stairs Cinderella runs down at the stroke of midnight.

This post is apparently all about M. Here's one more story about her. E has been having fits left and right lately for no apparent reason. As soon as a fit starts, M will look at me solemnly and slightly sanctimoniously and say, "I would never treat you like that, Mommy."

Of course, both of them assured me last night that they were trying to be like Jesus and only do right things. M opined that she would probably be like Jesus by the time she was 20. One can only hope.

Tuey, for his part, is a full time walker now. Only occasionally does he have a need for speed so pressing that he has to scamper on hands and feet with his sweet little bottom in the air. He also has lots of words to say. His favorites are please (said "pih! pih!" while signing please and looking hopefully at my chest) and cheese (which he doesn't particularly like to eat, but he likes to say it).

True Stories

So, many years ago, before E was born, Marmot Dad had a dream that he was holding a little Mongolian boy in his hand and the boy's name was Tajil (or Tadjil, or Tagil, or what have you). We called E Tajil until she was born. Last Saturday I was asked to go to a law conference dinner to help host some of the international guests. I was initially seated at a table with three Mongolians. And one of them was named . . . Tajil. No kidding.

A few weeks ago my ditsy neighbor was over in our yard asking her daughter how school had gone. Daughter said that she was not allowed to eat her marshmallows for a snack at school because they were a sugary snack and their class is not allowed to have sugary snacks at their snack time. Neighbor says, "Marshmallows? I didn't know they had sugar in them." Flabbergasted, I reply, "marshmallows are ALL sugar, and a little bit of gelatin." "Oh great, that's all my two-year-old eats." Sigh. Sad but true. I saw someone over at said neighbor's house a few days ago measuring for an appraisal. I was hoping they were getting ready to sell, but no, they took out a second mortgage to finance the opening of a jewelry store. But we figure either way we win: if the shop does well, they'll move into a big fancy house in a big fancy neighborhood. If it does poorly, they'll move back to Idaho.

Another true story: E ate fish and liked it. Hallelujah. She even asked for some for breakfast.

And finally, E and M have discovered a new favorite game: ponies go to college. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

When Ponies Go Bad

On Thursday while E was at preschool, M and Tuey and I went to one of our favorite haunts, D.I. We scored big time. The girls want nothing more than My Little Ponies for Christmas, but I've been severely griped about spending $5 (each!) for ugly plastic ponies that, frankly, look a little slutty. Well, someone apparently cleaned out their pony collection, and I managed to select six sparkly ponies, one with wings (that always makes the girls happy) for $.25 each. I thought I was so clever to hide them in the basket under a pair of pants. But I guess M has pony radar, because she found them somehow and almost went through the roof with joy. So as a compromise I told her she could select ONE for herself and one for her sister to play with right now, and then we would put the rest away for a surprise for Christmas. So she did, and it worked out pretty well (even though she told E "there are two more of these for you!" but I'm hoping she forgets). And the girls have played with them nonstop since Thursday. I mean nonstop. They even took them over with an extra for their friend Max to play with yesterday.

So today I'm sitting on the floor picking things up when I hear "oh no! A wild animal! Get it!" I look around to see an orange pony and a purple pony holding PISTOLS and they both say "BANG BANG!" and then go to get the wild animals, skin them, and eat them. Yes, pistols. The girls had taken little pegs out of the CD tower (the pegs that hold up the shelves) and shoved them into the ponies' hooves and then taken their maurading gang of ponies around the house to destroy and devour.

Marmot Dad says this is particularly ironic considering the ponies' general effete and lackluster looks and personalities. Aren't they supposed to love everyone and fly around spreading happiness or something? (I missed out [thankfully] on the whole '80s pony phenomenon. MBC??)

I also found the game Operation at DI and have put that away for E's birthday (she's thought she is an underprivileged child ever since she got to play the game at a neighbor's house).

Now here's a recipe (from Moosewood Cookbook) we had at a neighbor's house last week. Very tasty on crusty bread:

grind in food processor or blender:

1 C walnuts

some parsley

add and blend to a smoothish paste:

1 C feta cheese

1/2 C milk

1 clove garlic

pinch cayenne or red pepper flakes

Eat and enjoy. 

Little Microwave on the Prairie

So E and M are both way into Little House on the Prairie play. They spent all afternoon today being Laura and Mary and going to the college for the blind and packing up their wagon and calling for Jack, the brindle bulldog. After a while they decided they were low on provisions, so they took the toilet paper holder and used it for a gun to go hunting. They caught a polar bear and a Canada goose initially. M hauled in the polar bear (a big stuffed bear) for me to inspect. I asked her what she would do with it. "Take off its skin and microwave it and EAT it!" she explains. Then she says she loves polar bear meat. And duck meat. And porcupine meat. I ask her what she will do with the porcupine that she caught. "Take off its skin and microwave it and eat it! (pause) But first we'll have to take its porks off so they won't poke us."

The truly ironic thing is that neither child will touch meat for real (except a piece of rotisserie chicken about once every six months). But tonight at dinner they chowed down on wolf meat (quesadillas) and duck meat (nectarines) and even tried the goose meat (roasted sweet potatoes).