Hallie and Travis

I guess I must be doing something right when Travis fixes himself a bowl of Raisin Bran and Hallie asks for leftover edemame for their afternoon snack.

When I got up yesterday morning, Hallie greeted me with a delighted, “I wrote a poem!” Here’s the poem she wrote. It’s illustrated with trees, flowers, sun, clouds, and a robin saying “tweet, tweet!

Spring
By Hallie Turner

Spring, spring, I like spring
Not winter, nor summer, nor fall
Out of all the other seasons
Spring is the best one of all

With the daffodils and daisies
And birdies in the air
Butter cups and roses
And green grass everywhere.

Yesterday morning the kids and set off on a preview of Raleigh’s upcoming Dr. Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve park. I’d heard about it from my Parks board meeting and wanted to see it for myself, so we all got drinks and snacks, loaded the dog in the car, and headed north.

The park is very much like it was when Dr. Wilkerson bequeathed it to the city. A long, winding driveway leads into the middle of a woodsy expanse of property, with two big meadows at the center. Two homes and a barn stand testament that this was the doctor’s home for over 40 years. Tall grass in the meadows long in need of a cut is the only thing that seems out of place.
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On the way to school this morning, Travis launched into explanation mode. We haven’t seen this too often recently, so I was delighted to recognize that I was about to learn some new and exciting truths about our world.

Travis began, as he often does, by telling me what his brain was thinking. But he quickly corrected himself to say that his brain doesn’t ACTUALLY do the thinking, that there’s something in his chest that connects to his brain and sends it thoughts. He went on to explain that, in fact, his brain isn’t really inside his head, it’s inside his heart.

At dinner, I encouraged Travis to fill Daddy in on his discoveries. We weren’t disappointed. Travis immediately started telling Mark about how his brain was in his heart. But then he declared, “Actually, I have TWO brains.” Then, as a confidential aside, “That’s why I have such big thoughts!”

When we recovered from this revelation, we asked him “So, you have a backup brain?”

“Yep! A backup brain!” He seemed very pleased with the new label for his supplemental brain.

I’ve always said Travis has a huge heart, and he definitely does have big thoughts. I’m glad we finally know where they are all coming from. Or do we?

The kids and I spent most of spring break in Virginia with Gum and Gup and Anna, David, and Wes. Gup’s mind seems to work round the clock coming up with ideas for things his grandkids might enjoy and learn from. I was teasing that next time I’m just going to leave the kids there for a few weeks so he can begin to make a dent in his list. Even that wouldn’t be enough time to make much of a difference, I don’t think. And of course the ideas keep coming faster than they could ever be executed. Read the rest of this entry »

Hallie made her TV debut last week. OK, it wasn’t “real” TV. But she did appear on her school’s morning news program. In honor of poetry month, kids were invited to submit the name of a poem they’d like to read on the air. Hallie came home really enthusiastic about this. We went through all our poetry books, and she chose Shel Silverstein’s “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out!”

I got her to school early on Thursday. They let her practice with the teleprompter a couple of times and she was good to go. She did a really good job! She needs to work on being a bit louder and more expressive, but the media specialist said she was the best one yet.

There are plenty of things Hallie is reluctant to do. And if she doesn’t want to do something, she can really dig in her heels. But I’ve never seen her show nervousness about being up in front of a group of people. I’m being very careful not to say, “Don’t be nervous!” since the idea hasn’t seemed to occur to her. I sure don’t want to be the one to put it in her head. I can’t wait to see how she does with her Barnyard Dance performance next month.

Hallie’s lost her front tooth at last! I didn’t think it was ever going to come out. By last night she could (with her tongue) turn the tooth completely backwards and then push it up to horizontal. But she claimed it “hurts too much” to actually tug it out. I can’t imagine what was hurting–there was next to nothing holding it in!

So far Hallie’s lost all her teeth (this was #4) at school. As usual, I knew as soon as I saw her trot down the sidewalk that it was out. There was the big, impish grin followed by the lips clamped shut and then a huge smile. Hallie has so much space in her mouth that it looks like she’s lost at least two or maybe three teeth. Her other top one is very wiggly and a bottom one even more so. But after watching each one she’s lost hang on weeks after I thought it ready to fall out, I refuse to make predictions.

I (I mean the Tooth Fairy) stocked up several weeks ago when I (she) found some cute treats at AC Moore. I had to laugh when I rummaged through the bag just now. The receipt was dated February 25. Feeling confident that her tooth would be out soon, I (she) bought a kit to make a St. Patrick’s Day necklace. A month to the day later, that tooth is finally out. I guess I (she) will be saving that kit for next year.

Travis has been very into sharing lately. He’ll offer me his last apple slice or M&M and beam happily when I thank him. The other day I picked him up from school. A classmate had given him a plastic egg with two pieces of chocolate. He proudly gave me one, and when I thanked him I commented on how much I’ve enjoyed his recent generosity. “Oh, Mommy, I’m just practicing on you for the real thing,” he declared.

When I stopped laughing (to myself), I pushed him on the difference between “practice” and “the real thing.” The distinction became pretty vague, and he decided that what he’d really said was, “I’m practicing on you AT the real thing.” Then he explained that I was his “practice target” and that what he was doing was the real thing only in practice. Our conversation went round in circles for a while, with no clear resolution. Whether he considers what he’s doing with me practice or real, I hope he keeps it up.

It seems that at the tender age of 6, Hallie’s already recognized one of her biggest challenges. Mark and I were goofing around with kids during bath time the other night. I don’t even remember what we did — it was nothing too remarkable — when Hallie held her head in her hands and moaned, “Why was I born to such crazy parents?”

It’s become a recurring theme, and we seem to give her plenty of reason to repeat it. At one point we were explaining that her parents came from a long line of crazy parents and that most likely she herself would end up with crazy children. With a heavy sigh she said, “There’s just no way around it.”

Of course, Hallie and Travis both give us ample opportunity to turn things around on them. Amid some antic or other I’ll wail to Mark, “Why did I have to have such CRAZY children?” Tonight Mark and I were explaining to Hallie that we were quite normal until she came along and we only got crazy in reaction to her craziness. She wasn’t buying it, though she clearly got a kick out of our efforts. I see all of us getting a lot of mileage out of this one.