Six is Savage… A play in four parts.

Part I.
The Anniversary
Scene opens in a car, with a mother, a daughter, and a baby on their way out shopping.
“Mommy, where are we going today?”
“To buy Daddy a present.”
“Yeah, because you need to get him something for his birthday.”
“No honey, I need to get something for our anniversary.”
“What’s an anniversary?”
“It’s a celebration of the day we got married.”
“Oh, yeah, am I going to be there?”
“Yes honey, we are going to take the family out to dinner and then we are going to come home, put you to bed, and daddy and I are going to have some alone time.”
“Oh Yeah! Can we stay up late and watch a movie cause I love movies and it’s a special night so I can stay up really late, like midnight!”
“No honey, mommy and daddy want some alone time, so after dinner we will be putting you to bed.”
“Can I help pick out the present?”
“Well thank you honey, but I think I know what I am going to get him.”
“Yeah, so I can help you pick out something really special.”
“No honey, I think I know what I want to get your daddy.”
“Oh. Well can I get him something myself? Oh, but I can’t! I can’t shop by myself, but if you come with me, you will know what I got!”
“Honey, it’s all right, you don’t have to get us anything, it’s not that kind of celebration.”
“I can make a card!”
“A card would be great.”

Part II.
The Driving Lesson:
Scene opens with a mom, a daughter, and a baby in a car, stuck behind a long river of cars.
“Oh god, here is the traffic.”
“Maybe you should turn around mommy.”
“No honey, we need to go this way.”
“But there isn’t any traffic behind us.”
“You’re right, but home is this way, and we need to go home.”
“Maybe we could go home another way if we had a map and found a way without traffic.”
“Maybe honey, but we are stuck here now.”
“Yeah, cause you didn’t turn around.”

Part III.
The Interrogation:
Scenes are a montage of many different common moments in the day of a mother, opening mail, cooking dinner, working on the computer. Also in the scene is a daughter and baby.
Scene I.
“Sigh.”
“What Mommy?”
“Huh? What do you mean what?”
“You sighed. Why did you sigh?”
“No reason honey, I didn’t even notice I did it.”
Scene II.
“Darn.”
“What Mommy? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing honey.”
“But you said Darn.”
“Nothing you need to worry about honey.”
“But why did you say darn?”
“No reason honey, it’s nothing you need to worry about.”
Scene III.
Giggle
“What’s funny Mommy?”
“Just reading something honey”
“What is it?”
“It’s a blog about parenting honey, you probably won’t find it funny.”
“Can you tell me anyway?”
Scene IV.
“What Mommy?”
“Yes Honey?”
“You made a sound. What?”
“Sweetie, I get to make sounds without having to explain them all to you.”
“Okay.”
“But, why did you make that sound Mommy?”

Part IV.
The Explanation:
Scene opens in the kitchen, with the mother stopped in the middle of some activity, baby on her hip. The daughter stands before her.

“Mommy, maybe when I am older, like maybe Ten, or Seven, or maybe next week, you know not today, but when I am older, like tomorrow, maybe then you can get me a checkers game, but not a kid one, a grown up one like the one they play in Little Bill, you know with Bobby and April in the episode where he can’t find his thing?”
“You mean a chess board?”
“Yes.”
“Your father and I have chess boards honey. We both like to play.”
“Really? Can you teach me how to play? Maybe when we get home, I don’t mean right away, I mean after I am done with my homework and you are done with dinner and putting the baby to bed and before I go to bed if I can stay up late to play.”

Close Curtain.

Happy national be rrrattlin’ on like a pirrrate day

Ahoy all ‘n a happy national natter like a pirate day! I hope ye all ‘ave had fun drinkin’ ‘n dancin’, ‘n ‘ave enjoyed a tasty pirate grub!
We didn’ do too much herrrre, mostly rearranged th’ furniture ‘n hung out. We had a tasty stew fer grub wit’ a nice bottle o’ wine.
Oliver ‘n I went t’ our first Mom’s Club meetin’ today. It went really well! I like th’ mom’s in th’ group a lot, ‘n it looks as though thar are goin’ t’ be a lot o’ fun thin’s t’ do o’er th’ next few months.
I be especially pleased t’ see we be goin’ t’ FrightFest at Great Adventure next month. Lee ‘n I went when I was pregnant ‘n I basically couldn’t ride anythin’, so I ‘ave been achin’ t’ go ‘n actually ride th’ rides! Wit’ no sprogs along even!
We be also goin’ t’ be doin’ a few fun charitable thin’s, includin’ helpin’ th’ sprogs make blankets fer residents o’ an assisted livin’ ship nearby.
Tomorrow I plan t’ pillage th’ garage fer loot fer a yard sale. I ‘ave several boxes full o’ unknown booty that I be sure will work fer a yard sale. Th’ Mom’s Club be acceptin’ thin’s fer a major sale, ‘n I can happily give thin’s up t’ a good cause.
I also ‘ave t’ work a little more on me case. I needs t’ prepare a motion fer summary judgement ‘n get th’ brief finished. Well, more started really.
Now I be off t’ splice th’ mainbrace wit’ a few hearties. Fair winds!

One of these things is not like the other…

One of these things is just icky! It would be the Gerber carrot baby food in the plastic container. Oliver hates it! He spits it out every time I try to feed it to him. Note its fake reddish coloration. It tastes fake and reddish.

Now note the lovely orange carrot color in the glass bowl. That would be a bowl of steamed carrots whipped up into a lovely puree. They are buttery and delicious, with nothing but a little water added. I kept licking the spoon, they tasted so good.
What did Oliver think?


He liked them so much he ate three helpings.

Managing life with chronic illness requires savvy spoons