Marlowe

Or, Sometime You Don't Get What You Want.

Act 1
Scene: getting ready for school.

Mom: Ellis, go upstairs and brush your teeth.
Ellis: yells NOOO!
Mom: Ellis, remember what Daddy said about yelling. That is not nice talking.
E: oh. I'm sorry, Mommy. hugs
Mom: Now go upstairs and brush your teeth.
E: No, thank you, mommy.

Act 2
Scene: Marlowe has discovered the container of cookies in a bag of stuff Grammy sent over. M would help himself but can't get the lid off.

Marlowe: PLEASE!!!!!!!
Mom: No, Marlowe, those are for when it's light out. You can have one tomorrow.
Marlowe finds Ellis and hands him the container PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully, Ellis was more than happy to play the role of boss: No, Marlowe.

I got a little help from my mom today and holed up to work on Handmade Holidays. So lots of creating in my neck of the woods, but nothing I can share yet. I'm sharing Marlowe's creativity from yesterday. I had Ellis and Paints and Handmade Holiday action going yesterday, so I put a couple of drops of liquid watercolor into a bowl of water for M, and he had so much mixing and pouring, basically his two favorite activities.

This was going to be my December Photo Project picture of the day. All nice and serene, eh? It doesn't happen much or for very long. When it does happen, it's a result of great effort upon my part, for the duration.

It's so cute, I just had to share.

Later in the day, though, this preempeted all warm fuzzies.

I didn't hear a crash, just Ellis ran to the kitchen and signed to me TREE FALL DOWN. And I was like, "huh?" (He said it so matter-of-factly, that I couldn't figure which tree he had been talking about.) And Chris looked over and said, "marlowe." That's all one really needs to say. Marlowe was intently playing with the ornaments. He had just pulled the little Starbucks ornament off and was saying, "hot, hot, hot..." Yes, Marlowe, coffee is hot. It would be Marlowe that would pull a Christmas tree down, one that was already zip tied into the stand and duct taped to the table. And it would be Ellis that was immensely concerned that I did not rush to the immediate intervention of Marlowe as I paused to snap this picture.

This is Marlowe's world: If he has it, he doesn't want it. If you have it, he wants it. But if you give it to him, then it's his, and he doesn't want it. Makes eating a little tricky. But that's okay, because food is really fun to tear apart and throw around. Manners?, he says. Schmanners!

where i found Marlowe the morning he turned 15 mos. he's obsessed with trying to get onto the table now.

My friend Chandra took these beautiful pics of Marlowe last Sunday.

Marlowe likes music.
The first movie is M grooving to the music at an outdoor kids' concert at the arboretum. The second is M singing along to some Beethoven. (don't worry. i'm holding onto the chair)

I've been wanting to do a little post about Marlowe since he turned 15months a week ago. But well, let me just tell you something.

Last Tuesday, a week ago today, he turned 15 mos. I heard him bustling about in the kitchen, assumed he was at his usual chores of emptying all the cupboards of tupperware and pots and pans. He's so helpful that way.

I walk in the kitchen, and he's actually standing on the kitchen table eating a bag of blue corn chips.
I'm pretty sure Ellis could only walk for about two weeks when he was that age.

I spend all day making sure Ellis is not hauling Marlowe around unwillingly. Making sure Marlowe isn't crawling up some scalable delight.

The rest of the day revolves around Marlowe's favorite word: NAH.
It means, "I want that." He says it all day and points to everything, because basically he wants everything. He will sign and say PLEASE! NAH, PLEASE!!! It's so nice, really. It's just nearly impossible to satisfy.

Some other words are dog, woof-woof, duck, choo-choo, Daddy, Ellis (yuh-yih), hot (accompanied with a blow), please, thank-you, all-done, night-night, and others. It's just hard to think of what they are with NAH resonating in my ears. He signs them all, too.

He's a pleasantly demanding child. NAH!!!

Three days down. Two to go. I'm Craft Master, and we're having a blast at VBS. Can't wait to show you pics of the week's creativity. These kids are great!!

I have a couple of Marlowe posts. First, his birthday party!!! Which was over two weeks ago. Marlowe turned one on May 25, Memorial Day.
Or, you could say, he turned Uno.

I made him a first birthday Tshirt with a freezer paper stencil. I had seen the idea somewhere on the internet. Can't take all the credit for it, but I can't remember where I saw it. I also made a garland out of Uno cards. And got primary colored paperware. So it was a little themey that way.

We had strawberry shortcake, because strawberries are his favorite food. Ellis helped carry the cake, and we signed and sang "Happy Birthday!" I helped Marlowe blow out his candle, to which Ellis gave me the look of greatest consternation and firmly told me that it was Marlowe's birthday and that I should've let him blow out the candle. Trying not to fall off my chair laughing at Ellis's brotherly earnestness, which was very comical, I had to explain that one-year-old's need a little help.

The party was huge, it was sort of doubled up with another party, a farewell wherein a great band of friends were disbanding into frays of Real Life, attached by wireless routers all over the country. We'll miss our dear ones.

And Marlowe was a little sick, a little bug with a low grade fever. He mostly sat in my lap.

But he did it! He turned one!

Can you believe that today my baby turns one-year-old!? A year ago today Marlowe was born

If I didn't have a calendar I would know it's time: the peonies are blooming.

Poor baby was a bit sick (or teething, still not sure which) on his birthday, but managed to perk up here and there. We had a fun birthday party. Reports and pictures forthcoming.

Can't really write much. Ellis is making a tower out of couch cushions and pouring buckets of cars over them. Cheers!