JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

At dinner tonight I said to the girls, “Tell Daddy how you feel about Uncle Doggie.”

“Sad!” Abigail and Michaela chorused.
“We were happy when he was here, but now he is gone,” said Michaela.
Abigail echoed. “We miss him.”

Yes, Uncle Doggie has come and gone. He was here for little more than a day over the weekend, but a fun and busy time it was. He had never met Elisabeth, and Michaela was about Elisabeth’s age, the last time he had seen her. I’m not sure Abigail even remembered him, although she was 3 at the time.

Highlights of Uncle Doggie’s stay with us:

Uncle D. went to Michaela’s gymnastics class and Abigail’s soccer skills class. The two brothers (T & D) took the girls to the neighborhood playground for a couple hours on Saturday afternoon. He and Abigail did some reading together. Michaela liked to read to him too. Uncle Doggie even read Ugly Vegetables – and he is growing one of them in his garden!

Elisabeth warmed up to her uncle and soon was waving at him across the table and across the room. But on Friday night, when we tried to move Michaela’s bed into her room, so that uncle could have Abigail and Michaela’s room, Elisabeth had a fit. Who would have thought that a baby would get upset about sharing her room?! We had tried this arrangement before, months ago, when we had had guests, and it had worked well. But I guess she is older and doesn’t want to share now. Elisabeth cried the whole time her sisters were trying to sleep in her room with her, and only went to sleep after we moved the older two into our big master-bedroom closet for the night. Even later, when we moved the beds around again, Elisabeth still got upset at the sight of moving mattresses. It seems she is pretty used to having her own room now. So today I had her share her bath with Michaela – she needs to start sharing some things….

Michaela fell asleep at dinner, right before Uncle Doggie had to leave. I think she was sleep-deprived from all the adventures during the day, and also the previous night, with upset Elisabeth. It was funny to see her sleeping, her eyes even partially opened, sitting right there in her chair at the table. We’d never seen her do that before! Before Uncle Doggie arrived she bounced like a kangaroo across the kitchen floor. She was quite excited – and also shy – to see him at last!

Abigail enjoyed reading with Uncle Doggie. She also got to hang out with him while Ted and Michaela did gymnastics class. And I think she also enjoyed the special treat we had. For dessert on Saturday, we had a very rare indulgence of cookies (snickerdoodles) and candy. The candy was Ferrero Rocher , a golden-wrapped ball of chocolate and hazelnuts. I had bought the candy for an occasion, and it hadn’t worked out to eat it then, so I had been saving it…okay, snacking on it too….waiting for another special time. Abigail took 20 minutes to eat her chocolate. This included multiple trips for hand washing, many exclamations, and lots of excited chomping, during which she would grin at me and open her mouth wide, showing me all the chocolate in all her teeth, and reminding me also a bit of a Muppet (can’t remember which one, but it had lots of teeth and liked to smile…). Curious, I looked up the web site and learned that the maker of Ferrero Rocher also makes Tic Tacs (surprise) and Nutella (not as big a surprise). (I know at least one reader of this blog likes hazelnuts and chocolate so I had to include this info :)) It took away a bit of the romance to learn that these Italian-born chocolates are now manufactured in New Jersey; but hey, they still taste yummy! Abigail savored each layer. She likes to eat her treats in little bites.

I’m also grateful for “Doggie”‘s enlightenment regarding my raspberries. I mentioned that for some of mine, the fruit was rotting off of the vines while it was still pale. I had just assumed there was something wrong with the vines. But “Doggie” told me that they are probably golden raspberries . And he was right! They taste delicious! I went out and tried some first-thing this morning. I am quite relieved to know that my plants are fine and healthy, even fruitful. The golden berries we have are large, so large that the red raspberries could be stuffed inside them. Ted’s brother and his wife have been very helpful to Ted and me with our household projects. They are also developing their own niche with their nieces. We are grateful for them in many ways.