gardening at night

[flea]

Oh, okay, 6:30 am doesn't count as night, even if all the other people in the house are sleeping. I managed to put my insomnia (up since 4:30 cries by the Fuss) to good use for once, and planted mesclun lettuces (no room for my buttercrunch until I dig over more of the bed, although I suppose I could put them where the spinach has obviously failed to germinate...). Also watered Peas 1 (standing proud with 2 sets of leaves) and Peas 2 (just about to sprout) and the pansies in pots in the front yard. And scattered the last of my acid-loving-shrub fertilizer.

I have a pink azalea in bud and the rest I fear won't flower because they haven't been pruned; I am worst at pruning these excessively bushy bushes. I did do some work on the backyard camellias this past weekend (as mr. flea with great satisfaction removed all the wild onions from the lawn - he takes as much joy in this as I do in digging up dandelions!), but I ned a ladder to do more. Neighbor surely has ladder; must borrow. Otherwise violets are blooming in the lawn, and the more domesticated ones are getting ready; ipheion is in bloom; daffodils are at their peak for me; tulips are well up and beginning to make buds (they are in full bloom elsewhere). I am eager to see what the Turkish tulips come out like; all the rest are in their second year now so if they bloom at all I count it lucky. Most of my iris looks strong, and the freak early iris at the neighbor's has bloomed (it is a regular bearded iris but is against a south-facing and sunny brick wall and generally blooms with the daffodils!). I have sprouts of the lilies I planted in the iris bed.

Casper conversation (in the car):
C: I'm poopy!
me: Well, we're on our way home; we'll change your diaper when we get there.
C: It's a pull-up! You was wrong!
me: Yeah, I meant pull-up. You're right.
C: Nah, nah, you was wrong! (Sung with such pure joy it didn't come across as malicious at all).

She continues to be The Bossiest Two Year Old Ever lately, and all the bad-dream control freak issues persist, and I'm starting to worry that maybe school (where she is an obedient, quiet angel) is too controlling for her and is heightening the normal two year old assertion of independence and worries about control over the universe, which play out in such detail at home. It's hard to tell what's a normal phase and what's unusual stress. It's likely that I am just projecting my bad feelings about the school, and blaming them for everything. But boy am I tired of "IT"S NOT YOUR BLANKET; IT"S MY BLANKET" (blanket in question is on my bed) and the complete freakouts over things as apparently minor as the placement of the fork next to the plate.

Comments

[vwbug.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I'm glad you got some quiet time this morning, but sorry that the terrible twos persist. I, as usual, have no advice, since I only parent a barky dog. But, I wanted to share some empathy.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Last night Nora had a full-on melt down over the fact that she had to say "please" before I'd give her a cup of apple juice. So I wouldn't say Casper is being unusually control-freaky.

And what is it about forks?!? The other frequent battle of wills here is over being allowed to use a full-size, grown-up fork.

It's all normal

[(Anonymous)]

Two year olds also have a strong sense of (and sensitivity to) order. So the whole fork placement thing is probably just playing on that. And the whole control thing is pretty normal too -- you're probably already doing this, but anywhere she can have a choice, my advice would be give it to her, and save the no-you-can'ts for things that matter (like holding hands crossing a street). Anything you can turn into a choice, turn into a choice (between two choices, like even having two toothbrushes to choose from). Not that this always works, by any means, but sometimes it can help. But in any case, all that doesn't make the "It's not your blanket, it's my blanket" any more fun to deal with. :( That part just sucks. *big hug*

Lola