Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Best Christmas Present Ever

Noelle Christine was born on December 24, 1968 at Notre Dame Hospital in Manchester, NH. She weighed 7lbs. 15oz. and had a lot of black hair just like I did when I was born. We lived upstairs at 134A Orange St., right next door to Paquette's Market! Noelle was a colicky baby and I, being a first-time mom, probably contributed to the problem by making some errors as a result of inexperience! Anyway, I did not get much sleep, for a long while. On a lighter note, we were at a La Leche League meeting when she was just a few weeks old....I had nursed her and was holding her in my lap to burp her and when there was a momentary lull in the conversation, she let out the loudest burp you can imagine, and we all burst out laughing!
When she could move around, she liked to take the magazines from the corner shelf and tear them up.....probably an indication that she would later love reading, and like to make things out of paper!

On summer weekends, we liked to pack up our Chevy sedan with everything but the kitchen sink and drive out to Bear Brook State Park for a picnic. Most weekdays I did not have a car, so I put her in the Stroll-o-Chair and we would walk a few blocks to downtown, or to the park, or to the Paquette's! Or, we would visit our elderly neighbor, Mrs. Seavey. She kept a little basket of greeting cards that Noelle could play with....again, the paper thing. Mrs. Seavey and I would talk about everything, including her childhood in Virginia, where she was cared for by the family's "Mammy". If it was a hot day, our little family could drive just outside town to Lake Massabesic, where it was always ten degrees cooler! We took Noelle to Montreal when she was about 8 months old, and explored the World's Fair, carrying her in a new-fangled baby backpack! We visited Wood's Hole Massachusetts on that same trip, as I recall.....
Another favorite outing was to visit Aunt Margaret and Uncle Raymond Paquette, and their German Shepherd Herlick, who lived a little way out in the country.
On her first birthday, we had a big party for all the Paquette's, and Noelle received a toy spinet piano!

When Noelle was about 15 mos. old, we had the opportunity to buy the house next door to Grandma Frances for $7000, so we relocated to Indianapolis and lived at 4930 Brookville Road for the next six years. David was born about six weeks after we moved in.....we had a nice yard and a big garden there.

One day, when I was on the phone, Noelle and David, probably aged 2 and 1, entertained themselves by sticking pieces of dry spaghetti into the toothpaste tube, withdrawing them and proceeding to lick the flavorful stuff off, for a treat I like to call "spaghetti popsicles"!
I am sure that was her bright idea! Then there was the time that she painted nail polish designs on my full-length mirror after I dozed off when we lay down at nap time! When she received a set of finger paints, I was so reluctant to break it out because of the perceived mess it would make.....not to worry....when I finally did, she was so disturbed about getting her hands messy that she never wanted to do it again!

Noelle started tapping at Dance Arts at age 5 with a group, went on to solo, and is still tapping today. One of her most memorable contest novelty acts was when she dressed up as Uncle Remus, blackface and all, and told the story of The Tar Baby, by Joel Chandler Harris. She won, too.....no doubt it would be considered "offensive" today!

I think one of her least favorite memories was when her dad bought 3 different sizes of the same "ugly" sneakers at Sears Save Shop, and she had to wear them "FOREVER"! Noelle was a very good student at St. Bernadette, and then flourished in the 6th grade AT program at #99! she skipped the seventh grade and went on to win the Booster Club Scholarship to Scecina at OLL!
In her senior year she was selected to be one of the Wm. H. Block Department Store H. S. Models. She participated in fashion shows, and was one of Santa's elves at Christmas time. It was fun to visit Santa Land when she was there...

Noelle and David were at odds during most of their younger years.....so much so that I sometimes had doubts about their survival to adulthood. But somewhere along the way through high school, maturity won out, and they moved beyond sibling rivalry. So parents, there is hope! Of course, I had to endure the same situation with Daniel and Nadia......definitely not fun to go through it twice!

At our annual Christmas Eve party, we always sing "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus and Noelle, and I am again so thankful for my special Christmas gift so many years ago.....

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Nancy Bum Bancy

Tierra go fancy, tee-legged, tie-legged, bow-legged Nancy! I just had to put that in because that is the "name game" that my mother taught me when I was a child!

So, Nancy was born on payday, November 15, 1971, at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove. If I recall correctly, she weighed 8lbs. 15oz. just like David(I don't have that info at my fingertips).
She was always cute and smart, but she liked to cut hair, probably the result of big sister Noelle giving her a "trim"! I remember thinking that since Nancy's hair was always in a "bird's nest" on the crown of her head, and did not seem to grow very fast, and was generally unruly, she really did not need a haircut! Someone might have gotten a spanking on that one.....
That "bird's nest" drove Grandma Frances nuts! Nancy was her favorite from the getgo, probably because they were both Scorpios! Anyway, Grandma took her to the beauty parlor many times for hair cuts or permanents in order to tame those stubborn locks or to repair a "whack" job...

Anyway, Nancy learned to read early, and began school early(see previous post), and she never looked back. She reveled in the AT program at IPS#99, and enjoyed the field trips and other enrichment activities that we learned about, like The Feast of The Hunter's Moon!

She and David tapped together until he went to high school. Then she and Nina made a great duet....two tall, good-looking girls with flying feet!

Nancy was the only girl in Miss Bowron's calculus class, and she got A's! In freshman engineering at Purdue, calculus posed no problem for her either....boy, were we proud! (She gets the math gene from Donald!)

Nancy took up rock-climbing in high school for a time. This was before climbing walls appeared indoors and on playground equipment. I never had the opportunity to observe her skills, and, even now, when I think about it, I get the creeps! Speaking of heights, I only learned years later(thank God) that she and her friend Karen climbed out of the window upstairs and onto the roof for "fun"! That was in grade school...

She played softball at Irvington Little League and then for her senior year at Scecina, and
Nancy was known for her coolness on the pitcher's mound. One could never discern the game
situation by her demeanor!

It took a LONG time to realize that Nancy is allergic to nuts and to cats. I think there is even a photo of her, napping on the mattress, right next to Sparky, or whichever cat was current at the time. And, she used to cough at night for no apparent reason. Duh! Every once in a while(usually at Christmas), her lips would swell. Duh! She was in high school, and was holding and loving up a kitten when I finally put 10 and 10 together! Her neck had turned red! Duh! Call CPS!

In spite of the circumstances, no charges have as yet been filed..........

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Nina, Nina, Bo Bina..........

Nina was born on March 22, 1974 at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove. She weighed 7lbs. 10oz., and was named after Pauline Smith (who I called "Nina"), my second "mother". She cared for me when I was an infant and my mother was at work. Back then, she and her husband Ben lived at 9th and Chester Sts. We lived with them for a short time, at least until my first birthday.

Nina Catherine(my mother's middle name), was baptized on May 18th 1974, our sixth wedding anniversary, and we had a party at St. Bernadette's after Mass. Grandma Frances sewed her a blue coat and bonnet to wear on that special day!
On her first birthday, she fell asleep in her highchair....probably too much excitement!

I know that I took a photo of her without her two front teeth but I can't find it for some reason, and I feel bad about it....maybe it will still turn up!

Nina was rather shy and retiring in the grade school classroom, but she saved her energy for home and family! Her teachers could hardly believe that she could be a "screaming banshee" when it suited her!

Around 1980, her little tap group was the first to go to Regency Dance Competition Nationals in St. Louis and win a big trophy!

On our trip to Omaha in about 1984, great-uncle Leo let Nina drive the tractor at one point. She didn't know how to stop, and when he stepped up to help her, he was accidentally knocked to the ground, and the back wheel of the tractor passed over his abdomen! Luckily we were near and made him lie still, and called the ambulance! At the hospital he vomited what they thought was blood, but actually, he had been eating a lot of raspberries in the garden.....he stayed overnight though. It was a traumatic experience for all concerned!

In Albuquerque in 1985 we went on a trail ride along the Rio Grande...Nina was very nervous on her horse and it did not help that our guides would say things designed to engender fear of snakes and runaway horses! When we got to Bryce Canyon, Utah, she and I stayed behind in camp when the others took an early ride into the canyon....

One evening we were watching TV in the living room. Nadia's hamster was getting it's nightly exercise on it's rather squeaky wheel, and the usual sibling banter was being exchanged. All
at once Nina came bouncing into the room on the Pogo-Ball, and I totally lost it! I was
laughing so hard that I had a pain in my side! It was one of those times that I could not stop
laughing at the craziness of our "3-ring circus"!

I have loved watching Nina dance all these years(I can't count how many times), and I am thankful that I still have the opportunity 35+ years later!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Dan The Man!

Daniel was born on December 6, 1976, and weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz. He came out face-up, so I had a lot of back pain! He was my St. Nicholas Day surprise!

About 18 months later, just after his little sister Nadia was born, he had his first adventure.....we had returned from church and were awaiting a visit from friends who were coming over to see newborn baby Nadia. They arrived and came in to visit. ( There were about eleven people in the house.) Some minutes later, as we were talking, someone was at the front door. It was toddler Daniel!
Apparently, he had slipped out, unnoticed, and gone for a walk. Our guests, who had not seen him for a while, told us that they had seen him, nearly two blocks from our house, just walking along! We were astonished, to say the least......he had crossed one street and a railroad track! I guess then he turned around and came home. These things sometimes happen in large families, I hear.....thank God for Guardian Angels!

In late November of 1979, we drove to Florida for Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Paquette at their condo, with a stop at Disney World on the way. When we headed home, our VW van broke down near Lake City. It was not the bustling stop it is today, so we ended up at the Days Inn near the I-75 Exit. With the car in the shop for major repairs, we had to walk to the grocery and to KMart for whatever we needed. The weather was cool and it rained for most of the three or four days we spent in close quarters there. Good thing Grandma Frances was there to help with the children! We did manage to put together a visit from St. Nicholas and a decent 3rd birthday party for Daniel in spite of the circumstances...

When Daniel did the reading at his First Communion (Grade One, back then), it was a very proud moment for me.

One morning a few years later, he was angry about something or other, so he put his foot through the transom window on the upstairs landing! In the process, a big shard of glass went into his foot. Our resident nurse, Grandma Frances, removed the shard, cleaned the wound, and bandaged him up.

I went to countless Little League baseball games, Scecina football games, and CYO basketball games. Then there were the dance recitals, contests and programs. One time he and Nadia were doing a pantomime/tap. It began with a song exchange between a boy and a girl, then a tap dance. Well, they exchanged roles, and Daniel dressed as a Flapper, and Nadia as the guy! They performed it out only once, and I did NOT take a picture! Wish I had....always good to have those pix handy to show at engagement parties or wedding rehearsal dinners!

On Christmas Eve 2001, we were busy getting ready for our annual party. Grandma had opened the doors to her living room, and I had just sat down for a few minutes while Nancy was helping with last-minute food prep. I was a little bit sad because it would be the first Christmas Eve without all our family there. Daniel had been in China for four months, teaching English. I saw a shadow cross the window on the front porch and thought one of our guests was a little bit early. Nancy opened the door, and in walked Daniel! What a surprise! He had traveled for two days to arrive on time! I couldn't believe it! What a memorable Christmas that was! And, we were all together....

All these years later, I am still marveling at how he taught himself to play the guitar, and at how he and Christopher could just stand there and jam like they did so many times in the basement......and when he accompanies me on the guitar, why can't I ever start the song on the correct note? It's a puzzlement!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

David, That Little Stinker!

David was born on May 7, 1970, and he weighed 8lbs. 15oz! He was a good baby, but sometimes prone to projectile vomiting!

I took Noelle and David to Cincinnati to visit my friend Donna when he was between one and two years old. There was another little girl there about the same age. At some point during the visit, David bit her right on the face! How embarrassing!

David's third birthday was celebrated in Manchester, New Hampshire at Grandma and Grandpa Paquette's house. I made a cake in the shape of a choo-choo train!

Early one morning at our house on Brookville Road, before we remodeled the upstairs, David came into our bedroom in his yellow "bunny suit". He had black blotches from head to toe, since he had obviously been playing in the fireplace!

The night before the Indy 500 in 1977, Donald was working at the St. Bernadette Bingo. Daniel was nearly six months old. I had sent the children upstairs to bed. Before long, David came down in his pajamas to tell me that my bed was on fire! I rushed upstairs and, sure enough, he was right! He had lit a Kleenex and dropped it on my bed! There was water in the bathtub and I could have soaked a bath towel in it and put the fire out, but I couldn't think! I called the Fire Department and got everyone out of the house. They came right away and put it out, but it had ruined our bed, part of the floor, and there was some water damage to the ceiling in the room below! We had to sleep on the playroom mattress downstairs until our room was repaired....plus we got new bedroom furniture! Donald came home that night with two tickets to the Indy 500 that someone at Bingo had given him. So the next day we took baby Daniel to the Race and sat in the Tower Terrace! Believe me, it was a welcome distraction. I found it difficult to sleep for many nights. I was so thankful that David's pajamas had not caught fire, and that he had not been afraid to tell me what had happened! He went to the Fire Station for a counseling session about fire safety too.

Probably the following Christmas Eve, Donald and I were downstairs late helping Santa. Finally, it was time to go to bed. As we went up the stairs, there was David, his face between two newel posts above the landing with a direct view down into the hall, and sound asleep on his stomach, his chin resting on the wood base of the railing! I wish we had taken a photo, but we were too tired. He did not wake up when Donald carried him to bed. I love remembering that!

David liked to draw very extensive and detailed "battle" scenes, with little tanks, soldiers, guns, and planes, which would entirely cover a sheet of paper! And he liked to tell stories so much that he could talk your ear off! On a visit to Omaha, David slept in a room with my uncle Eddie. I was up very early one morning and on my way to the bathroom I could hear David's voice, talking on and on to Uncle Eddie about whatever. I remember smiling at the time....

David liked being a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout, and an Explorer Scout. The latter afforded him experience with computers at the former Naval Avionics plant.

I love you, David!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Week With Our Grandson Kam

Every morning, just like clockwork, Kam was up and ready to face the day between 6:00 and 6:30a.m.! He is a fascinating 6 1/2 year old little boy who loves clocks and clock towers, signs, math, flags, and the weather! If I want to know the time, I ask him. If I want to know the weather forecast, he will find it out by checking The Weather Channel app OR, he will draw and write a "Kam" forecast in his spiral notebook and share it with me!

Big Ben is his favorite clock tower, and the Westminster chimes too. Was it just a coincidence that the first two movies we watched featured Big Ben? Kam wanted to keep watching the same scenes over again and again! As for clock towers here in Florida, I had never noticed any around this area of Palm Beach County, but we managed to find two of them to visit, plus a clock on an ornamental pole in Lake Worth! Kam was happy!

Our condo doors sport official-looking "Exit" signs, courtesy of Kam, Nancy, and our printer! While Kam was here, my iPad was never in danger of a low battery because he loves to plug electronic gadgets into their chargers.

As the week went on, Kam seemed to accept "homework time" every morning more readily. Of course clock face pages are the favorites in his math workbook. When there weren't more for him to do, his mother made one from scratch! Then he drew one in his notebook for her to do....he likes to write the directions for her to follow. He does NOT like two-sided worksheets however! I wonder if he will be a test-writer when he grows up, or a climatologist, or a clock maker?

Then there are the ocean and the swimming pool! Kam loves both! In the pool, he and his mother had many swimming races from one end to the other. He and Grandpa played games of water frisbee, which were scored like tennis matches. Kam likes to keep score. By the way, no seniors were harmed in the course of these activities! At the beach, Kam can keep himself busy digging, pouring water, and tossing sand or shells into the ocean. This year he discovered how much he liked wading out into the waves and jumping over them! His other favorite pastime is alternately chasing the birds and feeding them popcorn. He likes to suck them in with the food, and then run at them when they come to get it!

Kam and his mother made 24 Valentine cards one rainy day. Of course they put clock faces on the fronts, and on each one he printed "It's time to say....Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Kam".
I was impressed!

Last year, I found a little game, Skillball, at the thrift store. It consists of a little metal half-round tray with holes in it, and twelve marbles. Each hole has a point value. Little did I know that it would become a source of rainy-day fun for Kam and Grandpa! Tournament were held and Kam did a lot of adding up scores in the process...a good thing. I hear that they used a cardboard box to make one for play at home!

Early in the week, Kam was NOT ready to read books to me, but by Friday, he did so willingly. Actually, we alternated reading pages. I made a list for his teacher of the five books that we read, and I signed it. I hope she was impressed with this, AND with the fact that he completed ALL his homework!

On his last morning here, he came to me and said, "Grandma, may I please use your iPad?" That, and my bedtime hugs were my very favorite moments of the week:0)

P.S. When I read over this, it made me tired! No wonder I was falling asleep every night before ten! Nancy, you are the best mother that this boy could have! God bless you both!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Last of the Old Notes

Here is the last of the observations that I saved from 25-30 years ago...

High School

Those four years go by so fast!
Keep tabs on your child's friends and activities. I talked to them every day about what went on that day. Of course, some were more communicative than others.

You need to make sure that they are taking the proper courses. Look into what is offered. Do not depend on counselors to steer your child in the right direction.
It never hurts to ask questions about requirements for graduation, honors' programs, etc.
I always tried to inform teachers immediately to let me know if homework wasn't being handed in, or if there was a behavior problem!(It is better to nip any problems in the bud from the getgo! You should apply this at every grade level.)

If your child wants to work, I recommend only a few hours a week to make a little pocket money. We were lucky that our girls were able to work a few hours a week at the dance studio, and there was babysitting for both boys and girls.

It is good for teens to be involved in after-school activities such as sports, theatrics, clubs, and so forth, because along with classwork and homework, being busy is the greatest way to feel useful and productive! Community service and volunteering are also worthwhile ways to be involved.

Today(2012), I would reiterate all of the above with emphasis on keeping close tabs on your children! I have told many working mothers that, in my opinion, it is of vital importance that a parent be in the home for teens when they return from school each day! Why many parents think that supervision should lessen for high schoolers is beyond me! At this age youngsters still need structure, though they would never admit it! My children always knew that if they were in any kind of situation that warranted it, they could fall back on "My mom(dad) won't let me!). If their friends thought I was mean, so be it! I know there were kids who did not like to call our home because I answered the phone most of the time!

We had very few parties at our house because they knew we did not allow alcohol. I felt bad for Nina the one time she did have people over because she was so busy checking up on whether anyone was trying to sneak booze, that she really did not have time to enjoy herself!

A few years later it was not unusual to see a yard full of cars, and groups of "alternative" young people on our porch and in our yard, because we were hosting a "show" in our creepy basement! We had so many bands play there, rattling the windows upstairs, and necessitating the wearing of earplugs! (I have NEVER understood just WHY the bass had to be SO incredibly LOUD!) Sometimes I would offer homemade brownies, with a jar for monetary donations for our missionary cousin in Haiti! There were lots of laughs and conversations on our porch between sets....many of my evaluations of those who attended were based on whether they greeted me, and if they could carry on a conversation(or would) with me! There was no music after 11:00p.m., and we informed our neighbors about upcoming shows. I remember being amused when passing cars would slow way down when they approached our yard, wondering what in the world was going on at that old house!

It is good when you can offer a wholesome place where young people can gather, just to hang out, work on a project, do homework, play games, and so on. I am proud to say that our two granddaughters, who are now in college, have such a home. Just make sure that YOU are nearby and that all abide by the rules of your home!