The Yard Salad

If there was anyone who was full of energy when they were a child, it was me.  My mother and father have told me more times than I can count how I was a challenge and how I had enough energy for seven children hopped up on sugar.  And I believe it.  I remember not understanding why I had to slow down or why bed time was always too soon for my liking.

Now I have children.  And now I know.  I suppose it's not common that you hear a parent say, "My Desiray is just the most calm child.  She sits and does her work quietly and never bothers anyone.  She never has uncontrolled bursts of energy."  I suppose that's because children are made up of 82.3% high-energy compound of some sort.

So my mother would come up with lots of ways to keep me occupied in a way that would also burn energy.  One of her special tricks was to have me help with the dinner by making a "yard salad."

First, you have to be old enough to know that what you're making isn't a real salad.  Because it's going to be made up of all sorts of yard things.  A "garden salad" denotes items from a garden, which commonly are edible.  Yard salads aren't edible, but they can be very pretty.

She'd give me one of her big salad bowls, and off we'd go—I'd frequently have a friend from the neighborhood over who also had excess energy—and we would hunt down the most perfect, beautiful, unusual leaves or even pretty rocks.  We'd arrange them so the "salad" would look as enticing as possible to unsuspecting dinner guests who didn't know it's true origin.

And if we did an exceptional job, we would show mom and she'd give us a little packet of that powdered salad dressing mix and we'd get to sprinkle it all on top.

At dinner, usually out on the deck during yard salad season, our salad would be featured proudly at the center of the table.

Mom was always complimentary of our work, saying how delicious it looked and how thankful she was that we were able to contribute to the dinner in such a helpful way.  Because that's what moms do, right?  Encourage.

The Big Boy Update:  I think school is tiring.  He took a morning nap after school yesterday, something he doesn't do often any more.  And now, after his second day, he's tried to make a little bed under the exer-saucer (or contraption as we like to call it.)   He's gone to the cabinet and brought out the blanket when I wasn't looking.  But he's too big for underneath it.  He then got a pillow and tried to get comfortable.  I suggested he try napping under the table, and helped make a little tent under there with a second blanket.  He may be nodding off as I type this...

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Unhappy baby parts.  Nose—snotty.  Bits—rashy.  Temperament—strained.  Antibiotics—not helping.  After six days of antibiotics with no improvement, we're voting them off the island in favor of a viral diagnosis.  The antibiotics are making her yeast infection worse.  They are also giving her diarrhea which is making the yeast infection more painful—and also worse.  Here's to a happier baby tomorrow.