Princess Idleways and Boredom

The other week I read The Princess Idleways: A Fairy Story (1879) by Mrs. W. J. Hayes. It is one of the classic stories that is available for a free Kindle download on Amazon. The story itself was entertaining enough, although I don't know that I would read the book over and over. The plot tended to meander quite a bit.

I have, though, been thinking about a point mentioned in the book. The story starts by explaining how the princess, Laura Idleways, is a selfish and lazy creature. I was particularly struck at the discussion of how the princess was "always depending upon others for entertainment, too lazy to amuse herself, and much less inclined to study or to find happiness in being useful." I had never thought about boredom as being connected to laziness before, and I appreciated this insight. When someone is bored, it is because they are too lazy to entertain or amuse themselves.

I can remember complaining to my mom at times when I was bored. She would give me suggestions of things to do, and I usually would reject each one as being too boring or unappealing. Now that I'm a mom, I am the one who offers Sam suggestions of things to do when he is bored, and he usually dismisses each idea for one reason or another. The other day, though, I was able to tell Sam about Princess Idleways and how her boredom was a result of being lazy. Sam seemed to really understand this idea; he could tell that at that moment he was depending on me to entertain him or find something to entertain him. Although, obviously, there are times when I want to play with Sam and be with him, I also want him to better cultivate the ability to entertain himself.

I'm happy to say that I never find myself bored as an adult. There are always more things to do than I have time for!

S Family Nicknames

Lucy's nicknames still continue to be "Snuggle Buggle," "Buggle," "Buggle Boo," and "Bug." I also call her "Lovey Lu" and "Lu." Sometimes I call her "Buh-Buh," because that is one of the sounds she makes right now.

Lucy's nicknames have made me think about some of the creative nicknames, silly titles, and silly phrases that my siblings had. Here are ones that I can remember:

• Viv
• Vivi
• Vivi Voo
• Vivi the Fusser
• Mah-da-ca
• Mah-ca-ca
• Mahn-ca
• Chef Boy Aldee
• Aldee Baldee Boo
• Alden Balden
• Aldoo
• John
• Milly (Mom said she thought of this one when she was reading Hamlet's Mill and thinking about Millstones)
• Milly Willy Huggy Hilly Lovey Lilly Silly Gilly
• Milly Moo
• My Little Angel (V would call my sister C this, which made my brother A upset. He would say, "She's not an angel. She's just C!"
• Liza
• Liza Bean
• Snugglebean
• Bean-A-Rama
• Liza Loo
• Looper Doo
• Looper
• Liza Looper
• Loopey Doo (a variant of Lovey Loo, which we also used)
• Favorite Sister of the Universe 
• Lize
• Eliza Lies a Lot (Not that this is true! We just liked to say it because "Lize" and "Lies" are homophones)
• Cal Pal
• Cal-Pal-A-Rama
• Pal
• Wernk
• Wernk-A-Chunk
• Wernky Wernk 
• Wernkalicious
• Schmoshem
• Schmosh
• Schmoosh
• Schmooshroom
• Schmoshy Schmoosh
• Snugglebum
• Pardner
• Lydia the Prettia
• Lyddie Loo 
• Lover Dove
• Snugglebug
• Lyddiebug
• Sweet Pea (I think just Dad used this)
• Peanut (just Dad used this one too)

If L grows up to be a grouchy old lady, maybe we will call her Lyddie the Old Biddie as a joke!

Lucy Laughs!

May this be the beginning of a long era in which Lucy finds entertainment and Sam has someone who constantly laughs at his silly antics.

What I Would Do

If I had a day or two to myself right now, I don't think I would spend it on a museum visit or anything else so frivolous. Right now I feel like life is manageable, but packed full of constant needs and activities. It would be nice to get caught up on things like, say, vacuuming. Sometimes I feel like folding one basket of laundry is a big triumph for the day. If I do have free time, this is what I will do over the next few weeks:

- Write my six-object tour for my docent class
- Finish reading "What Are You Looking At?" for my docent class
- Cut down the dead flowers and weed in the garden
- Mow the lawn one more time
- Go through Lucy's clothes and donate the ones that she has outgrown
- Memorize my Christmas choir music
- Transcribe my silly musical jingles into actual notation (this is a frivolity, but something I want to do soon)

I know that many of these things will happen at some point, because they have to happen. But I have higher priorities than what is on this list anyway, like helping my friend Meka with her soon-to-be-born baby (which will be so fun!). I know that in just a little over a month, this constantly-busy schedule will die down. I'm looking forward to some luxury time.

Lucy's Fourth Month

Lucy Loo is four months old! She is between the fiftieth and seventy-fifth percentile for her weight and head circumference, but she has jumped up to the ninetieth percentile for her height. Perhaps she will be a tall little girl, just like her B family relatives!

She is eating well and sleeping fairly well. I wish that there were more times that she would sleep through the night, but I'm trying to be patient. She still isn't laughing yet, but she does make an aspirate "k!" sound when she is amused or happy. Over the past four or five days, though, she has discovered that she can make loud, high pitched shrieks. She makes these when she is happy, or sad, or bored, so I don't think they have any inherent, specific meaning. We think she is just trying out her voice and seeing what noises she can make. But the shrieks are quite annoying, so I hope they end soon! I told J that I will only be glad about these shrieks if she ends up being an opera singer.

I get to look at this cute face while I prep for work.

She smiles the biggest and longest if Sam is behind the camera. She is mesmerized when she is around him, and always is happy whenever we pick him up from the school bus stop.

We had some warm days this past month, which gave Lucy the chance to explore and drool in the Moby.

Lucy's first piggy back ride on Sam's shoulders. It looks like she's taking advantage of the chance to inspect Sam's hair!

Apparently she likes to watch television. Here she is enjoying a few minutes of "Phineas and Ferb" with Sam. When I'm getting ready for work, Sam is really helpful at keeping Lucy happy and entertained.

I love her nicely-folded hands on top of the Bumbo in this picture. And I love her little boots, which were a gift from my cousins.

A jrink of water

Sam is learning how to spell. Each week his teacher is sending home spelling words that he is supposed to learn, so he can be prepared for the weekly test. So far, the words have been really easy (like short words that end in "-ag" or "-at"). But these exercises in spelling have gotten Sam to think about how more complex words are spelled. Tonight, after asking for a drink of water, Sam asked about how to spell "drink." This was our conversation:

Me: "D-r-i-n-k" spells "drink."
Sam: Oh, with a "d!" Like, "duh-rink?"
Me: Yes, with a "d."
Sam: I thought it was with a "j." Like "jrink."

I guess with the tendency to swallow and mispronounce consonants in American English, Sam mistook the "d" for a "j." And I think it's amusing that for the past several years of his life Sam has been asking for a "jrink" of water before going to bed each night, unbeknownst to me and J.

The Magic Pumpkin Sleeper: Round 2

Halloween jammies!

It's fun to have things come full circle, now that we have a baby in the home again. Almost exactly six years ago, I wrote a post about how Sam began to sleep through the night with the help of what we called his "Magic Pumpkin Sleeper." And now, since Lucy is about the same size that Sam was six years ago, she gets to wear the Magic Pumpkin Sleeper too. Perhaps it is helping her to sleep through the night a little, but she has been better sleeper than Sam all along. Lately we put her down to sleep around eight o'clock at night, and then I wake her up around ten or eleven for a final feeding before I go to bed. She has been sleeping somewhere between five and seven in the morning, which I think is pretty good!

I think Sam and Lucy look like they are related in these two photos, especially either their roundy-round heads and pointy chins. But they also look different too, especially in their noses. Sam also had darker eyes at this age than Lucy does right now, which makes me think that her eyes will stay blue. We will see!