shiso mama

I finally went into the basement and dug out all of Otis’s 3T clothes (I like to buy ahead, especially at sample sales). I’ve been feeling pretty lackluster about getting Otis dressed lately, and I finally realized why - it used to be so much fun to dress Otis up. I mean really dress him up. Like a fun little doll. I mean, remember the tights and thigh high socks? The leg warmers? The ELF HAT? Ah, Fashion Show Sunday was fun in those days. But nowadays, it seems like everything feels so functional and grown up. Not as much fun. Sigh.

I think I can blame school for this. I mean, his school is great for many things like, say, socialization and emotional growth and all that junk, but the kids spend most of their time in activities of their own choice. And for Otis, that usually means sitting in the sandbox, no matter the moisture level of said sand, with a little bit of rolling around in the dirt thrown in for good measure. All of which makes me wonder why I bother anymore. See that nice outfit I dressed him in when we left the house? By the time I picked him up at school this afternoon, he was wearing a dirty old t-shirt, a pair of sweatpants that hinted loudly of the MC Hammer era, no socks, and dirt-encrusted boots on the wrong feet. He was running like a duck.  Maybe home schooling will be the right answer for us. I mean, it seems the only other alternative is to let the kid be a kid, and that can’t possibly be right.

On a related note, we’ve been having this terrible problem where Otis refuses to take a nap at school. We’re OK at home, he’s OK at Grandma R’s, but it’s a no-go at school.  And boy does he need it. We’re stumped. Anyone else experience this?  I’m starting to get desperate.

Despite the thrill of the hunt, we may have visited our last DWR sample sale - this one, as the last one, was rather disappointing and F claims that it’s possible that we may have better things to do with our time. Sigh.

We had to console ourselves today with some homemade pants and shopping totes to take with us to the farmer’s market. Although I’m not sure, when I started this whole fashion show sunday thing, if the look I was really going for was “hung over college student too lazy to get out of his pajama pants”…..

I now believe that it is every American child’s God-given right to own a pair of suspenders. Maybe I’ll start the Society and Union for the Support, Preservation and Promotion of Equal National Dress Rights for Suspenders (SUSPPENDRS for short!) Who’s with me?

Add this to the list of things at home that I miss: accessories. Really, they make the outfit, don’t they? I feel rather at a loss without my selection of hats, scarves and thigh-high socks. But it’s too hot here for that. In fact, look what happened to our Sunday outfit today. We started off with a new pair of overalls from Lao Lao with a button-down shirt:

But right after breakfast, it became this:

Forget the Village People. We’re going Chippendales all the way.

I’ve been getting the pressure to cut Otis’s hair because it’s so hot. Do you really think it matters that much? He’s sweaty all the time, but I think he would be no matter what. I’m happy putting his hair up into a ponytail, which he now likes to tell everyone is “so pretty!” but I guess I’m just adding to the poor guy’s gender confusion.

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This afternoon, we took Otis to Toys ‘R Us, which we’ve never done before. As F pointed out in the middle of our visit, there’s nothing like taking a kid to a toystore to teach him how to articulate what he wants. In a very clear and loud voice when he was sitting next to the Thomas the Train display, Otis said, “I want to get it!” And when we were laughing about it in the cab on the way home, Otis said, “I want to get the train!” I think those are the longest sentences he’s put together without stuttering so far.

My friends, let this be a lesson to you in sample sale shopping. You might see a pair of unmarked overalls, think, Hey, no problem, the kid’s got short stumpy legs, buy them in a sale-induced frenzy and come home to find this. I’m thinking about shortening them and making linen lederhosen. What do you think?

collage # 168 here.

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Despite the supposed fact that every day is Mother’s Day (ahem!), today your family is bound by law to honor and cherish you. Have you been celebrating by being absolved of your mother-ly duties? We’ve been pretty low key here today - a yummy homemade pancake brunch with Fifth Aunt Grandma K, followed by an afternoon of sculpting fertility goddesses in my likeness. You too?

You will be happy to know, however, that I did perform my motherly duty of dressing Otis up today. We’re starting to get some pretty glorious California weather around here, although there can still be a slight chill in the mornings, so we are still layering. But summer is definitely just around the corner - cherries filled the Farmer’s Market, and the peaches and nectarines are just making their first appearances.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

I guess I’ve been unofficially growing out my hair ever since I cut it. Not that I hate it, really, but I think I’ve finally realized that the texture of my hair makes it so that it will never look how I envision it should look, no matter how much styling and product I (theoretically) use. By the time I realized that I desperately needed a trim, however, it took an additional few weeks to actually book an appointment with my stylist, who, having decided to return to graduate school, only cuts hair on Saturdays.

So when I showed up in her chair last weekend, I was feeling vaguely apologetic, as though the state of my overgrown hair was an insult to her craft. I guess I was feeling a little eager, as well.  Trim here here and here, I requested. Get rid of this cowlick, chop off that insouciant kick of the hair. And by the time I left the salon, I looked like this:

Hmm, well it seemed like a good idea when I was describing it to her…
Then I realized that I was no Karen O, and I felt a little like this:

Hmm, in fact, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like a little immigrant girl, fresh off the boat. Case in point:

(a little aside - lately I’ve been obsessed with the thought that one of my eyes is askew, a la Shannen Doherty, but looking at this old picture of me made me realized that I’ve always been like this!)

Here, let’s see the old me and the new me side by side, shall we?

You see my point, despite my sad attempt to sweep my hair to one side.

And here’s another disturbing image:

Yes yes, it’s all full of love and pukable adorableness, but have you noticed that our haircuts now match? Who’s his hairdresser? Me. Maybe one of these days, I’ll start dressing him like me too.

Nowadays, no outfit is complete without his yellow rainboots and his baby man-purse, stuffed full of striped elephant and small plastic animals. We actually saw one of his classmates at the farmer’s market this morning, and they spent a fair amount of time chasing each other around, whoever possessing the elephant being the pursued.  Did you notice I finally cut his bangs?  Not that it helps, since it looks like he needs another haircut again…

A new habit we’ve noticed:

When Otis eats finger food, he’ll always eat with one hand and hide another piece behind his back. Just in case a mysterious, ghoulish food thief should appear, I suppose.

Click here to view collage #162.

Hope you are enjoying the (holiday) weekend.  Here’s our little (Easter) ham this Fashion Show Sunday:

Still love our little elf hat:

We went to a Easter Egg Hunt/Brunch today, and as I scanned the crowd of kids wearing their Easter finery or just their everyday casual play clothes, I felt a momentary pang of guilt dressing Otis up as I do. Then I saw one of my favorite kids in the neighborhood and felt better although yes, it’s true, she does dress herself:

(leotard, shirt, thigh high pink socks, pink rainboots)

Which leads me to our latest recycled sweater tutorial. This one took a few more brain waves than the last project, but I’m pretty pleased with the results. I had this sweater, and while I loved the colors and the stripes, the turtleneck made me feel like I was choking every time I put it on:

First I washed and dried it. Then I cut off the turtleneck (using my handy rotary cutter) and turned over the edge and stitched it. Here’s the inside view:

The ribbed hem cinched in a little and I didn’t want it any tighter, so I cut off the hem before taking in the sides of the sweater. Then I trimmed off the excess and reattached the hem, topstitching afterwards. Another inside view:

I cut off the cap sleeves because they didn’t lay in the right place on a toddler, and turned over a hem and stitched. The sleeveline stretched a little (and I think I need to take the sleeve in a little more), but a little steaming helped.

It seemed plain so I played around with some of the extra pieces. I decided a Peter Pan-ish collar was too girly, even for me.

I ended up with a contrasting stripe down the middle (using some of the excess from the sides) and then F and I decided to make it into a “tie” using the tip of one of the cap sleeves because we thought it was funny. ho ho. It even has a little bit of stuffing in it to make the knot a little puffy. It’s all zigzag stitched on.

Anyone going to try?

Hey hey hey, I think this is my new favorite outfit! It replaces this one as the cutest outfit ever, although he does need a new newsboy cap (more on this hat another day).

I bought a few items of clothing from the designer of these “grandpa pants” at a sample sale a while ago, and I love love love them. I had no idea their clothes were so expensive until I went looking for some more and experienced some sticker shock. But I’ll say that the things I’ve bought from them have really worn well, and the quality’s fantastic. Luckily, I just found these on major sale, which makes me even happier. I think F needs a pair.

Here’s the outfit in action: