First grade, last day

So long, friends! See you in summer school!

(At Sorrento Springs, summer school is an enriching, not a remedial, experience. Emilyn can't wait for these two weeks to elapse so she can go back to school and take her cooking class!)

But Tuesday was her last day of first grade. All in all, she had a very good year! She went up two levels of reading (from "K" to "M" -- which basically is beginning second-grade level to beginning third-grade level). She got almost all "O"s on her report card -- O for outstanding! She made some good friends and kept some old ones from kindergarten.

She did some very serious writing this year. I couldn't believe this curriculum. They learned writing techniques that I didn't learn until college! And lots and lots of math. Algebra, even. "What plus 3 makes 5?" If that's not algebra, I don't know what is. In all, I'd say she's the most well educated first-grader I've ever met.

And she got to be very good friends with Ms. Foston, who was in her first year teaching at Sorrento. And Emilyn is lucky enough to have another first-year teacher, Miss Niles, next year! We know they'll remember Emilyn as fondly as she remembers them.

Thanks for everything, Ms. Foston! We got her an azalea bush and a Sam-I-am thank you card. It was neat. We hope she plants the bush at her new house after she gets married to Officer Love. Warren Love. Is that a great name, or what?

Here are some more shots from the last day of school:

Emilyn gets ready for summer, collecting her stuff and cleaning out her desk. At Sorrento, they also have "Switch Day," so Emilyn has already spent some time in her new classroom with her new classmates and new teacher! Again, no windows! (That's important for a storm-fearer like Emilyn.) "Miss Niles is nice," Emilyn says.

Emilyn and Ms. Foston pose for one last photo. Emilyn says, "I'll miss Ms. Foston. But I'll see her every morning after I get off the bus, on my way to second grade!"

Team Foston shows and tells for the last time this year.

See you all in August!

Wings and wheels, the king of beers . . . it's a "grand" visit!

Grandma and Joe are here this weekend! And what a weekend it's been.
Emilyn, Steve and Allen showed Joe the World Bird Sanctuary, where he got to see eagles and owls and you-name-the-bird-of-prey! And Emilyn learned to ride her bike!
Plus, we spent a lovely afternoon as the guests of Anheuser-Busch, the king of hospitality!
Then, we took a little downtown driving tour, and Joe got to hang out the sunroof and take pictures of the Arch and the new stadium.
Joe made us chicken marsala, and today, Steve will be smoking London broil! Yum!

Those Busches really know how to landscape! As usual, impeccable gardening, not a scrap of litter or a speck of dirt. Emilyn loved the flowers!

Grandma and Joe wait to take the tour. Ahh, St. Louis. Where else can you do so many fun things for free?

Who's being a horse's ass? Not "King" or "Bill," two of the famous Budweiser clydesdales. They're good sports, having their butts photographed all day.

If Joe didn't see enough eagles at the park on Saturday, he sure saw plenty more at the brewery Sunday!

My favorite -- the Bevo fox! But sadly, the packaging plant was down for cleaning, and we only got to see the video. Shucks.

Here's an award-winner: Grandma and Joe and Emilyn at the fountain outside the Bevo packing plant.

Salute! The big payoff! Hope you all enjoyed the trip!

Triumph on two wheels

On this day, the 28th of May, in the year of our lord two thousand and six, Emilyn Sarah Crabbe learned to ride her bike. (And Mommy learned how to edit video on her new camera!)

Here's what Emilyn had to say about the experience: "It took a long time, but still I was pretty excited about when Daddy told me about an article in a magazine that said how to teach your kid to ride a bike in one day. Today I just finished riding nonstop, mostly, up a hill, around a cul-de-sac middle and then coming down a gigantic hill. And then riding up another hill and then through the grass, then up the driveway!"

I'm 8 months old today!

I'm crawling! And I'm getting my first tooth (on the bottom, left side).

***

And Mommy's really figuring out her new camera!

All in all, life is pretty good.

The thrill of victory

Read up on dropshots.com. This is an amazing place where you can upload and share all your digital pictures and video. Now you broadbanders out there can see Emilyn's tug of war triumph!

***

If this works out like we hope, we'll have lots more digital video to come! Want to see Allen crawling? Walking? Eating his first birthday cake? Then stay tuned to The Crabbe Trap!

With crawling come consonants

Allen's babbling is getting much more advanced. He said "yaya" today. And there are a lot of "ga's" in there, too. So we say to him: "Da-da-da-da-da-da-Daddy. Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-Mommy." And lots of "a-GUH!" and "a-BUH!" We'll be conversing in no time!

I'm having a field day with this thing

OK, it was Emilyn who had the field day. I just watched.

Trouble was, it started very early in the morning, and I missed most of her events. But I was there for the Red team's greatest triumph: the tug of war. They trounced the Blue team and the White team and took first place in first grade. Whoo-hoo! I even learned how to use the movie function on my new camera, and captured the thrill of victory. Now I just have to learn to post video on the site here...

Here's Emilyn, rooting on the Red team from the stands. This was after she'd already competed in three events: Spoon Zoom, Waiter Wars, Stilt Walk. But her greatest triumph was yet to come!

Here's Emilyn and her friends, with Mr. Gehm and Ms. Foston, getting set up for the final event of the day, the tug of war. Get ready, kiddo!

Pull, Team Foston! Pull! A fine field day was had by all. Even Allen, who missed his breakfast to be there.

The Crabbe Trap goes digital!

I caved! We bought a digital camera today. (And thanks to Grandma for the anniversary gift.)

I went to Creve Coeur Camera a few weeks ago... they have very smart and helpful people there. (Everyone in St. Louis should visit them. Seven locations, one near you!) I said, "I hate digital cameras. What kind should I buy?" No, basically I told them I love my film camera, it takes the kind of pictures I want to take, can I take them with a digital camera?

At first I looked at SLRs -- exactly like my film camera, only digital. Neat! And they were just what I wanted, but SO damned expensive. And they do only what my film camera does. Point and shoot, just no film.

Then the guy showed me a tiny silver thing, no bigger than a pack of smokes. And it does a million things and costs half the price. It plugs into the TV and takes movies. It can make your picture look old-timey, or like a painting, or like a charcoal sketch. It'll take closeups, landscapes, portraits, portraits with landscapes. It has a setting for taking pictures of trees, for crying out loud! Fireworks. Running water. Food. Who takes pictures of food? A special setting for kids, I guess because they wiggle so much.

Anyway, here's my first day's efforts. I'm now convinced that I can take the pictures that I want to take with a digital camera. (Except inside with the flash. I'm still working on that.) As my friend Geof says, it's all in the photographer's eye. And the cute-as-pie subject doesn't hurt!

Did I mention that Allen is moving now?

It makes it even more challenging to take his picture.

I guess for that reason alone it was time to get a digital camera.

But even though I "deleted my disappointments,"

I still got a lot of great shots!

More than I probably need!

I'll head to the camera store soon to make

some prints and see how they turn out.

Overall, he's a pretty cute kid!

Steve said Allen just needed a straw hat to complete this farmer-ish ensemble... I don't know... I just think he's cute as heck!

I mean, does he really look like he's ready to milk the cows...

... or slop the hogs?

Or plow the fields?

And here he is in yet another pair of overalls...

this one more nautical, less farmer-ish:

***

Milestone time

Yesterday morning, Steve and I found Allen ... sitting up in his crib! He had his feet through the bars, looking like he was dangling them over a dock or something. Too cute! So, we quickly lowered the mattress a notch.

Nothin' you could say could tear me away . . .

... from my guys!

Allen and Daddy are getting along just swell now. Daddy particularly appreciates Allen's ability to take naps and his flawless cooperation at bedtime! Our routine has made everything easier on everyone.

We're wondering, though, once again, if it isn't time to figure out how to feed this kid more food! He acts as though he'd like to eat constantly. And, really, he does. He has a bottle in the morning, then breakfast (cereal and fruit). Then, by 10:30, he's ready for another bottle and a nap. That's three meals in two and a half hours. See the trend?

Then, he wakes up around 1, and gets a bottle at 2. By 3:30, he's ready for another bottle and another nap. Then, he wakes up around 6, gets another meal (cereal, meat, vegetable) at 7 and another bottle at 8!

I mean, when are we supposed to squeeze in more food?

Bumper to bumper

The Crabbe kids were in their first fender-bender today... Everyone is OK. Even the car isn't too bad. Steve, Emilyn and Allen were stopped on Manchester Road this afternoon near our old apartment and got rear-ended. Emilyn called me at work, all excited: "There were three cop cars!"

But, now that I know everyone is OK, I'll breathe a little easier and keep working. More details as they emerge.

Rub-a-dub-dub, Allen in the tub

Some shots of Allen in the bathtub... He likes to play in the water. As noted before, he likes it especially when Emilyn gets in the tub, too. Sometimes she just wades in, and he likes that just fine.

We can't wait until he can sit up reliably on his own and play. Right now, he's just too lunge-y and wiggly to be trusted with that.

So he's confined to this bathtub seat, but he just loves to scratch at the blue elbow pad!

Allen says, "Do you mind? I'm trying to take a bathtub here!"

Sunday at the farm, pickin' berries

Had a great Mother's Day today. I got flowers, and Emilyn made me a book and a card with my very own word search! Some of the words: pretty, perfect, nice.

After Allen's first nap, we drove to Belleville to pick strawberries at Eckert's.

We rode out to the field, not in the cool tractor, but in a little bus much like a hotel shuttle. Emilyn was in charge of spotting the berries that looked most like "ruby jewels." When the sun came out, intermittently, they were easy to spot. We ended up with what must have been two quarts of berries! Five bucks! Cheap when you do all the work yourself!

Then we went back to the farm store, bought a pound cake pie shell and other goodies, and headed home. We stopped in Columbia for Mexican food, and watched the Cardinals lose... Allen ate rice and beans.

We came home and cut up strawberries for our mega-tart. Steve made real whipped cream. It was deeelicious. I have enough to make another one for work! Great day!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

This is what it's all about, people!

My two little ones, showing the love ...

From all of us here at The Crabbe Trap ...

Hope all you moms out there have a great Mother's Day!

Portrait of the artist as a young girl

Emilyn was honored this month to be selected to represent Sorrento Springs in the all-Parkway (that's our school district) art show at Queeny Park in west St. Louis County. Parkway covers a big chunk of the county and has about 19,000 kids in K-12... there are four high schools! Sorrento Springs Elementary has 385 kids.

Anyway, Emilyn was thrilled to have a piece of her artwork chosen for the show... imagine her joy to find when she got there that there were two pieces! Her weaving and her kite! Great work, kiddo! She went to the show with Daddy and Allen on Saturday, then I took her and her friend Maddie back on Sunday. Here's the proud artist with her work:

Here's what Emilyn had to say about her kite:

"It took a lot of hard work, but it was worth it. I had a practice, teeny piece of paper, and I folded it in half, and I drew half of the butterfly. And then I got a big piece of paper, and I repeated what I did on the teeny paper. Then I cut it out and colored it with markers. And here it is now!"

Here's what Emilyn had to say about her weaving:

"It was very hard. At first I didn't understand, but then
I got it. You could either use red and yellow to make orange, yellow and blue to make green, or red and blue to make purple. I put lots of blue pieces of paper down, fat lines, and then I weaved them with the red. Up and down, over and up. And then I weaved the red, up and down over and up, with purple, because red and blue makes purple. And again, here it is now!"

Happy anniversary to us!

It was 18 years ago today that Steve looked at me, backstage at Pearl River High School, and said, "You know, we should do something about all this shameless flirting we do." And so began one of the greatest love stories of our time!

Or not. But I remember what shirt I was wearing that day. I still have it. I don't smell his jacket anymore, at least not if I can help it! And now, when we pass notes, it's usually because somebody forgot to buy milk. But he still makes me weak in the knees. And he's every bit as good a dad as I knew he'd be that day we spent at Mrs. LaBrake's house, playing with her baby girl. Love you, Steve! Happy anniversary week!

Speed Bump caption contest

Now, here's something to get those creative juices flowing, people!

This guy, Dave Coverly, is positioning himself as the heir to Gary Larson. If you liked The Far Side, you'll almost always chuckle at Speed Bump. And this caption contest is almost too tough to resist.

I've already made my entry, but I'd like to hear what you guys out there come up with! You can enter the contest by e-mailing your idea to speedbump@comcast.net. Deadline is May 14. Click on "comments" below to share your idea with us here at The Crabbe Trap.

And read more Speed Bump at http://speedbump.com.

My sister, world traveler

Laurie just got back from world-trekkin' it with her friend Jean. This is them, above, at Stonehenge. Laurie was in clover to be there, literally. She said she pulled up some grass for me! Yay! It'll go nicely with my four blades of grass from the "grassy knoll" in Dealey Plaza in Dallas. I made my friend Amy get that for me when she went. Feel free to bring me some weeds from whatever famous spots any of you may visit.

Here's a nice shot from Laurie of Stonehenge at sunset, I think. May or may not be dawn. Laurie also made it to Germany and the Czech Republic!

Looks like Laurie made a new friend while on vacation without her husband. This statue is the famous "Barberini Faun," or "Sleeping Satyr," in the Glyptothek museum in Munich. Laurie says he looks so real you think he's going to get up and walk away. (She assures me that she really appreciated him on a much deeper level than this photo would suggest.)

I'm Jennie, your social director

Here's something I've found out: If Emilyn's going to have any kind of a social life at all, it's up to me to engineer it.

Is anyone else aware of this? Apparently, kids today don't just "play." They have to have "play dates." And with "dates" comes a "calendar." And with a "calendar" comes a "secretary." And that's me.

That means I have to be organized. It means I have to plan. It means I have to network. It means I have to finagle my way in with the right moms, grease the right palms, the whole bit.

Those who know me know that this is not my schtick. I can work, take care of the kids, do dishes and laundry, sometimes sleep, and that's about it. Now I have to engineer my kid's social life? Is this what I signed up for?!?

I guess so! And I'm going to give it a try! If anybody out there has any tips, I'd love to hear them.

Missing Mom

I want Allen to know his Grammy. He's too young to listen now, but I try to tell him all about her. I surround him with the things she bought or made. Today, she would have been 74. I miss her every minute.

Mom was a doer, a maker, a goer, a player. She lived for the experience. She made friends everywhere she went. I can't count the times we went somewhere, and -- by the time we left -- some stranger knew the full story of my conception. Back seat and all. That happened once on a playground in Kentucky. Once, she struck up a conversation in a craft store in St. Louis, Mo., and discovered she was talking to a woman from Spring Valley, N.Y.

She believed in things like that. Luck, karma, kismet. Things happening exactly the way they were supposed to happen. Her youngest daughter landing the home state of her father, root-root-rooting for his beloved Cardinals. An itchy left palm means you're going to get money. Right, you'll spend it. Throw salt over your left shoulder. When you see a load of hay, make a wish and turn away. She saw wonder everywhere, and she sopped it up like gravy. (Come to think of it, she also liked to sop up gravy.)

She had no pretense. Everyone was a friend until proved otherwise. And when proved otherwise, watch out. Mom had a barb for everyone and everything she disapproved of. Usually they spilled out with that pre-dinner glass of wine (or, thanks to Macy's, sometimes two glasses).

Mom loved fiercely, and without question. When I brought Steve into my world, that love enveloped him, and I think it's fair to say that the fierceness took him aback. Then came Emilyn. And Allen. She loved them all. Not just because she loved them, but because they were mine. They were mine, so they were hers.

When I had Emilyn, she gave me a loving push. Your kids are your kids, she said. You'll do fine. Seemed kind of harsh at the time, to a hormonal, stressed, C-section victim. Sink or swim, kid. And I swam. And when I swam, boy... no one was more proud.

Yet she was the consummate caretaker. And, let's face it: It annoyed her less to do everything -- at least, in her house -- herself. She never stopped moving until all the work was done. And when it was done, it was time to doze on the couch in front of her favorite TV dramas. JAG. Without A Trace. House, M.D. With a cup of tea in hand that, with luck, didn't end up on the floor.

And Grammy loved her games. Cards. Mahjongg. Rack-O. Bingo. Huckle-buckle-beanstalk, a great way to keep a little kid smiling on a rainy day. Everything that wasn't work was play. And some things were both.

And her pigs. But it wasn't about the pigs. It was the story behind them. The places she got them. The people who gave them to her. To Mom, everything was a talisman, to be imbued with power and meaning if enough love and work went into it. Like her quilts. Besides her kids, and grandkids, and great-grandkid, her quilts were her bid for immortality. She knew she couldn't live forever, but she damn sure wanted to live on in what she left behind.

I loved her, and she knew it. And I knew she knew it. She was proud of me, and I knew it. And she knew I knew it. When she was gone, in a blink, I found peace in that I had no regrets. To all of you, I suggest you "get right" with the people you love. Someday, you're going to want that same peace.

So, what did she leave behind? I like to play. I like to go. I like to make, but I'll never be as good at it as she was. I see wonder everywhere, and I sop it up like gravy. I love fiercely, and without question. And my children will never have to wonder whether they make me proud.

And I'll teach Emilyn and Allen to find the joy in every day. To have fun, and be funny. To learn, and to teach. To love, and be loved. My girl already has a heck of a head start.

I'll close with what I wrote in every card, and to me it never got tired or trite: Happy birthday, Mom. We love you and miss you.

Photo of the month -- April 2006

Our big trip to the new Busch Stadium, April 16, 2006

Don't forget... you can always go back and read The Crabbe Trap archives... Just click on the month on the left of the screen!