Piper learned an important lesson over winter break. I’ll let her tell you.
I’ve learned that it’s okay to make mistakes. That Piper is wise, isn’t she?
Making Mistakes
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Tag Archives: piperism
Shrinky My Dinky
If you’re a fan of piperism, you probably already know how much I loathe arts and crafts. Glitter gives me a panic attack. I was forbidden from puffy painting in my sorority. I just can’t make things. But Sissy and Piper love to. They’re both crafty. Sissy has her own sewing machine. She loves embroidery, whatever that means. Being a more is more kind of girl, Piper, too, loves to embellish everything in sight with color, beads, and sparkly stuff. My heart is beating faster just writing this.
I may be the only mother in North America who has never done shrinky dinks. I didn’t even know what they were. A dear friend gave Piper a kit for the holidays. I tried to hide it before she saw it, but she had a playdate the next day and added it to their fun agenda. “Mom, Alex and I can do Shrinky my Dinky tomorrow! She’ll love it!” Giggle. Snort. I was too busy laughing inappropriately to defend myself.
So, shrinky my dink they did. It turned out that I didn’t have to do much which is probably why the shrinky dinks turned out at all. Piper even hunted down colored pencils in our house. Sissy had them, of course. After the coloring, Piper and Alex watched the magic in the oven. I may have peeked. It was kind of cool.
Best part? No mess. Happy kids. Whew.
Fresh. Really Fresh.
Piper is once again on a stand off with the leftovers. She would prefer every meal made from scratch and hot out of the pan just for her. Who wouldn’t? I get it. But who has time for that? I cook homemade meals 3-4 times per week. My partner cooks dinner twice a week on my teaching days because I get home late. We try to double the recipes so that there are leftovers and plenty for packed lunches. We do what we can.
Piper appreciates her food. She LOVES to eat. Sissy couldn’t care less about food. She HATES to eat. This is how I know that when it comes to meal time, it’s nature and not nurture. They’ve both been raised on a mostly healthy eat at home vegetarian diet, and they both turned out with completely different tastes and habits. Sissy would prefer seaweed and oranges as an after school snack. Piper wants a fried piece of cheese, please. I’m sure there are plenty of things I’ve screwed up for both of them, but I can’t take any credit or blame for their food intake preferences.
Still, Piper peruses our offerings with a close eye. “Is that kalamata olive bread fresh?” Piper asked this week when I offered it to her with homemade soup. I’d even slathered on some butter to moisten it a bit. “I will eat today’s bread or yesterday’s bread but nothing older than that.” Food snob, right? I was immediately transformed into my own mother and gave Piper the starving kids in Africa lecture. It wasn’t pretty.
Last night dinner was running late so I offered guacamole as an appetizer. Piper loves guacamole. She peered into the bowl. “Hmm. That looks a few hours old, Mom. Is it fresh? I mean, really fresh?”
I’ll take that as my cue that Ms. Fresh is indeed ready to join me in the kitchen. Here’s to hoping Chef Piper will soon be at my service.
Happy Blogiversary to Us!
Here we are, dear readers. One year. 365+ posts. 50,000 plus hits. New friends. Old friends. Faithful readers. A lot of memories. More to come.
Just like one year ago when we began, I’m not sure where Piperism is going next. If parenting has taught me anything, it’s not to assume I have anything figured out. The minute you do, change happens. It’s inevitable. This moment matters. This one. I’ll keep blogging. One post at a time. I’m grateful to have you along for the ride.
And since it’s our one year blogging anniversary, let’s take a little trip down Piper lane.
Here are your favorite posts (based on number of hits) from the last blogging year:
Drunk Dialing or Something Like It
And here is mine:
I’ll Stop the World and Melt With You
Courage Comes in Small Packages
And you? What’s your favorite post? What piperism made you laugh out loud? Share!
Collages Rock
Sissy made a little collage for the Piper. They’re sweet like that. Sisters.
You want one, too, don’t you? I do. Sissy should be taking orders.
Burning Our Regrets
Last week at church Piper burned her regrets from 2012. It was part of the Children’s Worship Service, which is one of my favorite things that our congregation does. One Sunday a month, in a space that’s all their own, the children come together to practice spirituality. The children light the candles. The children collect and give the offering. The children decide their own service projects. The children join hands and pray. The children recite their pledge to our community:
May we have eyes that see,
hearts that love and
hands that are willing to serve
Children squirm during the short service and it’s okay. Sometimes they switch seats and it’s okay. Sometimes they have urgent questions and it’s okay. They’re children. This is their service. I get to attend with Piper, but I’m only a visitor.
Because it’s the new year, the children decided that the service would center around new beginnings. And to begin anew sometimes you have to let go of the past. These kids are geniuses, aren’t they? We should stay out of their way and listen a little harder.
Each kid wrote a regret from 2012 on a piece of flash paper. It could be something they’d done or something that had happened to them that made them sad or something in our world that was regretful. I’m sure you can think of a few. Piper had no problem coming up with hers. On her tissue paper thin paper she wrote:
TEASING
It’s happened to her. She’s done it a few times too. We all have. And sometimes it hurts. Whether we mean for it to or not. Piper regrets teasing and she doesn’t like when she’s teased.
Piper clutched her paper tight as she got in line with the rest of the children. One by one they burned their regrets in a large urn. The flash paper gave it a dramatic effect. When you toss your paper into the small flame, a momentarily flash of fire bursts. Piper thought it had PIZAZZ, her new favorite word.
Then they talked about forgiveness and letting go of injuries. Piper had one moment of teasing that particularly hurt that she’s been holding onto. She’s talked about it daily since it happened. But after burning TEASING, I haven’t heard her mention it. She’ve moved on. Kids can do that. They live in this moment. This one. Sure, there’s a birthday party at some bounce house this weekend, but when you don’t know the days of the week, the weekend means nothing. It’s so far away. It could be tomorrow. It could be never. It’s recess. Let’s go play. Let’s try not to tease while we’re out there. And forgive a lot more in 2013. I’m following Piper’s lead.
Grading
Piper is worried about first grade. She just started reading. She just began really writing. And she’s already anxious about an event that is 9 months away. Her eyes fill up when she talks about it. Poor baby.
“What are you worried about, P?” I asked, wiping away her tears.
“It looks so hard,” she said, “they do all this big kid stuff.”
“You do big kid stuff, already. This morning you dressed yourself and packed your snack and set the breakfast table. That’s big kid stuff.”
“That’s easy stuff, Mom. In first grade you get REAL grades. It’s not just about trying anymore.”
I thought about that. Piper already understands that effort goes a long way but eventually this world is about performance and evaluation. At five, she gets that. Sigh.
“Actually, Piper, they don’t give grades in first grade. I don’t think report cards have grades on them until third. Instead, they give you little check marks about your progress.”
Piper’s eyes got big at that news. “Well, geez, then, why do they call it first GRADE?”
A Tale of Two (or Three) Giraffes Part 2
Have you read A Tale of Two (or Three) Giraffes Part 1?
Here’s part 2:
This afternoon I cleaned out Piper’s backpack. We were searching for her homework, which she likes to stuff really far down in various pockets in hopes that I won’t find it and make her do it. Nice try.
Buried deep down in there were the giraffes magnets that were recently confiscated by Piper’s teacher from the thieving, evil first grader who stole them from Piper’s locker.
Except. Piper had two giraffe magnets. And now we have…
“Piper, why do you now have three giraffe magnets?” I asked. “You only had two before.”
“Ugh oh,” Piper said, “maybe I stole HIS giraffe magnet! I’M the thief!”
Don’t worry, dear readers. Piper will be returning the giraffe magnet to the innocent, evil first grade boy first thing tomorrow.
A Tale of Two (or Three) Giraffes Part 1
Part 1: There was a crime spree at Piper’s school last week. At least, according to Piper.
“Mom! A little boy stole my giraffe magnet!”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I saw it in his locker. I was walking by in the hallway and I saw MY giraffe magnet in HIS locker.”
Piper told her teacher. The teacher gathered information and investigated the crime scene. Then she helped Piper retrieve the evidence. And they decided that maybe Piper shouldn’t bling out her locker with such cool stuff. Piper agreed and packed up her locker mirror, pictures of Sissy, magnetic notepads, and giraffe magnets. No reason to leave the good stuff in plain view when there are elementary school thugs roaming the halls.
“Who was the boy?” I asked.
“Some first grader,” Piper said. “Those first graders are all evil.”
Beach Illustrated
According to Piper, this is what the beach looks like:
There is always a rainbow at the beach. Your mommy is always with you. And those big bright shiny things in the sky? That’s how bright the stars are at the beach. Sometimes you see shooting stars, too. Your rainbow protects you from their fall.
Your mom carries a sand bucket and a shovel for you at the beach, too. Oh, and mom is green. Either green was the only crayon available or Piper watched the Wizard of Oz at the beach for the first time. But, really, if your mom was a witch, would she carry your sand castle making implements? I don’t think so.
piperism 