Kiss My Knits!

We got a bike for Em last year and she’s still not proficient at it. This is our fault, for not seizing the momentum gained from the excitement of first purchasing the bike. We debated a lot about the best method to use, when perhaps we should have picked something and gone with it, even if it weren’t the best way.

It’s not all us, though, as Em wants to know how to do everything, but she doesn’t want to do the work to actually learn how to do everything. Well, this is summer, and she wants to know how to do these things, and by God she’s going to learn how to ride a bike this week if it kills me. Which it may.

Part of our problem is that we can’t practice in our driveway. It rolls directly onto Tyvola Road, a major thoroughfare. We have to take the bike somewhere else to practice. This is also a problem, because children are required to ride in the back seat of a car, and my car is not big enough to hold her in the back seat and the bike. However, across Tyvola Road is the Marion Diehl center, which recently installed a running track. This isn’t the nice soft red stuff, it’s asphalt, so we can ride on it without worrying about tearing it up.

I stuffed some wound-wash and bandaids into my pockets, just in case, and we walked over this morning and rode. Mama’s little underachiever promptly started negotiating. “Let’s just ride three times.” I wanted to go for a set time but I don’t own a watch, so we negotiated to eight good stretches of riding. Only once did she deliberately try to ride for a few feet and then stop. I told her nicely that that wasn’t going to fly, and she put her all into it again.

We made it 3/4 of the way around the quarter-mile track. Then she felt like she was done. I opted not to push it. We’re going back tomorrow and going all the way around the track.

It was 80 degrees and it was hard work holding that seat and awkwardly running behind her while crouching. I was panting and sweating, which I think made her feel like she was working harder than she actually was, because she said she was tired when she looked just fine to me. We went back home for water and orange slices. We’ll give it another go tomorrow, and we’ll try to go all the way around the track. Em is on board with this. We’ll work up from there.

I get that it’s hot and she doesn’t want to go out. I don’t want to either. But I know she’ll feel a sense of accomplishment once she’s able to do this, and I want to give that to her. Even if I have to push her down that road a little.

Em: Do you know what my lifetime dream is?
Me: No, what?
Em: To have my appendix out!

Last week it was to be the first woman president. I guess she can do both.

Well, you can see it now.

Best part: Em just went and put on her bikini, then a bathrobe over it. She ran into the den, swept out of her bathrobe, and said that she was a superhero and I had to be the villain. Then she defeated me. Behold the power of green hair.

Well, the greening of Em was a bust. It actually looks more green in the sunlight, but inside under low light you can barely see it at all. There’s a closeup at right which shows it a little bit, but it’s really hard to see in this picture.

I think “subtle” would best describe it. However, when you’re ten, you don’t want “subtle.” You want ANIMATED SUPERHERO AWESOME GIRL FANTASTIC. We may try some Special Effects brand but I don’t think it’ll do much more without bleaching her hair, which we’re not going to do.

Oh well. She had fun doing it, so we can chalk it up to another learning experience.



On an unrelated note, Em went to the dentist to see if the amoxicillin had cleared up her infection.

It had not.

The previous x-ray didn’t extend all the way to the base of the teeth. This one does. The dentist says that the two dark areas at the base of the roots on the second-to-leftmost tooth (the biggest tooth) are advanced decay. She has referred us to a general dentist with pediatric experience for a root canal.

Em’s taking it surprisingly well. I, on the other hand, may run the X-ray by someone else for a second opinion. She’s probably correct in what needs to be done, but I still need to check if there’s even a chance we can avoid it.

Em, meanwhile, has taken an eight-second-long shower (she timed it on a timer), changed into her princess costume from Halloween, and is watching PBS kids’ shows while hanging out on the couch. ETA: Now she’s added a swim mask. Just another day at Casa de Tvini.

To say that I don’t know what I’m doing dyeing hair is an understatement. I think she can pick up Radio Free Europe on that headset.

By the way, I’ll be taking this photo down fairly soon – this seems like the kind of thing that a young teenager might be mortified to have out there on the web in a few years.

My daughter would like to put two green streaks in her hair. Me being the permissive liberal type, I say “why the heck not?” I’ve settled on Manic Panic semi-permanent dye so it’ll last for a while but it she won’t have to live with it too long, and it could in theory be gone by the time school starts. Em’s chosen color: Green Envy.

However, I have absolutely no experience with hair dyeing. Yarn dyeing, yes, but I don’t think I can dunk my daughter’s head into a crockpot for a few hours.

Does anyone have any advice? Any links on the web that you think are particularly helpful? Anyone in Charlotte who can recommend good sources, or who might be willing to try to help us? I’d rather my daughter not come out of this looking like Sigmund the Sea Monster.

Little help?

ETA: Her hair has lightened a little this summer to a light brown. We would rather not bleach before adding color, as that creates a bigger problem come Fall.

ETA-again: I misspoke. Her chosen color is “Electric Lizard.”

Well, sure enough, my shoulders and upper back are quite sore today, a result of holding a 75 pound child upright for extended periods of time. Still, as the sacrifices of motherhood go, it could be worse.

My husband and I got a little time this morning together, and went to the local EarthFare. Right now he’s making a coffee bean and anise rub for some steaks, which he’ll grill up later. It’s an experiment, but it sounds like a tasty one. We also got some smallish baking potatoes, just for good measure. And now, my energy’s fading, so since my husband is home maybe I’ll try resting my eyes a little. It’s not easy to do – Em wants a lot of attention and interaction. That’s definitely a good thing and a step in the right direction, but it still wears me out. Early to bed tonight, for sure.

ETA: Dinner was wonderful. Mr. Tvini also grilled a zucchini we’d gotten at the farmer’s market. Delish!

As I try to find new things for Em to do this summer, I hit on an activity that I did a lot as a kid. Roller skating!
Everyone skate in the opposite direction!

Tonight Em made up a great fairy tale called The Invisible Princess. All that could be seen of the princess were her crown and her shoes. Everybody around her had a special glass they could use to see her. But one day they thought she wasn’t there anymore, that she had vanished! But then they were able to find her again.

Quite the original story. I’d buy that book.

Em and I went to a garden shop today to grab a few herbs. Em also decided she wanted a flower to plant, and I was glad to let her pick one out and buy it for her. That’s a great summer activity for a kid, right? Planting a flower?

Apparently “planting” in Emilese means “supervising Daddy.” Heh.