Charlie, our newest and most appealing family member.
Charlie cuddles with his mom, Lauren.
Lauren took a really good picture of Megan in her element: chalk and black-top surface.
It has been such a long time since I posted photos of family. Jon and Kate are growing so tall. Kate's personality has taken root and she is a definite, calming influence as she watches Jon jump up and down while he is thinking--and lights up with adoring eyes when Jon takes her hand to pull her across the street--followed by Megan dashing after them.
The story is that Megan has always insisted that Jon hold hands while crossing the street. Jon's intellectual prowess posited to him the conclusion that ANY hand could be held while crossing the street. Kate is now walking quite quickly and follows Jon whenever and where ever she can. Jon took advantage of that fact and, inspired by the appearance of a street in front of him, grabbed Kate's hand. Her face lit up with joy and the two of them took off. This had never happened to Megan--and Lauren described the flash of panic on Meg's face as she realized what was happening and leapt to intervene. Apparently Jon was quite put out by the fact that his mother had quashed this very appealing option that allowed him the freedom to decide when and where he could cross the street--while also following his mom's "hold-hands-while-we-cross-the-street" rule.
The situation reminds me of Megan's first semester of college. I was caring for her two sugar gliders, allowing them to roam the room their cage was in while I cleaned. I left for a moment to prepare their supper and when I returned, I could not find one of them. Mariel was nowhere to be seen. I listened--sometimes they gave themselves away by rustling as they scrambled over and around the objects in the room. Burrito was in her place--ready for vegetables (hate the beans, hate the carrot--LOVE the peas) and fingers-full of mashed potatoes--she began to scold me (imagine a broken pencil sharpener . . . a LOUD, SHRILL broken pencil sharpener) when I didn't deliver supper immediately. I put the dinner plate down where Burrito couldn't reach it and began to search for Mariel. I began slowly to look in all her favorite places. No sugar glider. I then began to quickly pick up objects on the floor--the room was not all that big. No sugar glider. Then I began to move furniture to see if she was stuck behind something. No sugar glider . . . until I accidentally pushed a box of fabric scraps sitting in the middle of the room. Suddenly I was stopped by the LOUD, SHRILL broken pencil sharpener that was Mariel. She had found her way onto the top of the box, down through the folded top flaps, and into a large piece of printed flannel. I opened the box and found her--glaring at me and daring me to move her from her new-found living space.
Now, this might be OK for some pets. Certainly the cats we've had have slept atop towels and dirty laundry . . . OK, and clean laundry. When I was sewing and they found a loose wad of material, they were quick to claim it as their own--purring loudly and leaving bits of fur behind when they ambled off to get something to eat. Sugar gliders, however, are very small animals that tend to mark their territory by peeing on it and their little poops (they do not potty train--even for owners they adore like their Megan) are STICKY. So, leaving Mariel to keep her prize was not an option. I carefully lifted her--surrounded by her flannel bed--and deposited her softly into a corner of her (HUGE) cage. Mariel immediately left the bed and refused to be comforted. Not even a finger-full of mashed potato could calm her down. Burrito, however, was more than willing to gobble down both hers and Mariel's portions . . . which, I am sure, did nothing to mitigate the irritation that Mariel felt towards me at that point.
Back to Meg and her toddler Kate and pre-school Jon. Jon expressed himself in a mild mirror of Mariel when I removed her from the box. SHE had found it and it was HERS. Jon had discovered a way to cover all the bases without needing to wait for Megan to cross the street. It had not turned out as he hoped--he was disappointed, I hear--though certainly not as vociferous in his complaints as Megan's former, furry charge.
