The Family *roll

Above average & good looking: living in Northfield, MN

The Family *roll

New New Mommy

September 1st, 2010 by emjcarroll · Uncategorized

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Take this kid. Please.

When Eleanor started daycare in January, we referred to her daycare provider as “New Mommy”. Back then, she was waking up at 5:45, wasn’t sleeping through the night and still required a lot of cajoling, bouncing, feeding and parental patience to keep her happy. I was more than happy to bundle her off to New Mommy 2 days a week while I did schoolwork. New Mommy Daycare was wonderful and I was thrilled to see her enjoy herself so thoroughly there. Sadly, that daycare is closing and we spent the last week scrambling to find a new place for outsourcing our parenting.

We considered putting Eleanor in a Montessori program where she would have spent her days with other toddlers. However, two things happened on Sunday that made me reconsider. We went to a 4th birthday party for one of the daycare children at a local gymnastics center. First of all, Eleanor took it upon herself to greet every parent and child who came to the party (she knew them all as they were her daycare buddies and their parents). She walked around, excitedly saying “HI!” and waving her hand as each person entered. Later, she was bouncing on a trampoline with a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old. The bouncing got a bit much for her and she eventually was being bounced on her face over and over again (don’t ask why I didn’t intervene; I’m not sure myself). The 4-year-old said to the 3-year-old “stop bouncing, Eleanor doesn’t like it” and led Ellie off the trampoline. I found the 4-year-old’s concern and the 3-year-old’s willingness to suspend possibly the most fun activity ever for the sake of Ellie’s face extremely touching. And I don’t think a roomful of other toddlers would every yield such cooperation and empathy. So Montessori is out and we are extremely fortunate to have found an in-home New New Mommy daycare that we hope will be as good as the last. She starts on Tuesday.

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Lights, Yiddish, Dancing!

August 29th, 2010 by dmjg · EDG

Here, for your enjoyment, are three videos from the past month or so.

1) For about three days in early August, Eleanor was obsessed with the new chair in our bedroom (and who wouldn’t be with that fabulous fabric?!). First, she just wanted to climb onto and sit in the chair. Hence this series of photos. But then she discovered the light. Apologies for the jerkiness in the video. They are the result of me lunging toward the chair in anticipation of her falling.

2) Here is a very small snippet of Eleanor’s signature dance move which looks suspiciously like an old move of mine I liked to call “The show stopper”. This video also features a brief Yiddish lesson courtesy of Abba and Lulu.

3) Finally, Eleanor grooves to Kraftwerk.

“Wir fahr’n fahr’n fahr’n auf der Autobahn” indeed.

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Above Average Anniversary

August 25th, 2010 by emjcarroll · Minnesota, Moving, Northfield

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Raspberry picking at our CSA. Seriously wonderful.

Fair warning, folks: I’m going to get all “Sunrise, Sunset” in this post so if you’re not in the mood, move on.

We’ve been in Northfield for just over a year now. I remember when we were making final plans to choose Northfield over New York City, I warned Dan that I would likely cry every night for the first 3 months. I feared being friendless, lonely, isolated and further from a Trader Joe’s or Vietnamese sandwich shop than any person ought to be. Reader, I haven’t cried once.

Living in Northfield really suits us. For example, Dan’s gigs start at 5pm (as many of you know, we are often asleep by 10pm). But, more importantly, living in Northfield has also encouraged us to change the way we live. The lack of stores selling essentially prepared foods (I’m looking at you, TJ’s) has forced us to learn how to actually cook, which we enjoy immensely. Our large swath of much-less-than-perfect lawn encouraged us to plant a vegetable garden and pumpkin vines which nicely distract the eye from the scourge that is our grass. My fear of being lonely led me to be aggressive (uh, maybe “assertive” is a

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CSA Haul or Why We Cook Now

better word) in making friends with other new mothers. Most of our friends in Chicago were our friends and I’ve really enjoyed having my friends. Living so close to the library has sharply reduced the amount of books I buy and having entire reference sections at my disposal has made it much easier to learn how to knit and garden. The astonishing fitness level and slender figures of our friends and neighbors has encouraged me to keep running and eat well.  The ecological conscientiousness of the town has led us (or guilted us, to be entirely honest) into being more responsible about recycling, reusing, etc. Being a nurse at the free clinic has forced me to learn how to take care of adults and discuss condom use or syphilis testing without embarrassment and not have a heart attack when I get a blood pressure of 150/90.IMG_0260.jpg

I do miss Chicago. I miss our friends there very much, especially at this time. I miss feeling anonymous and hearing the El. I miss my old job and my wonderful co-workers there. I miss, of all things, the lake. There are 10,000 lakes in Minnesota according to our license plate but none of them are in Northfield. But Northfield is most definitely our home now, lake or not.

IMG_1788.JPGTonight my mother’s group is having a dinner to celebrate almost one year of parenthood. It’s been just under a year since we met at a “Baby and Me” class run through the school district. I remember agonizing over what to wear just before our first meeting and treating it like a first day of (baby) school. The women who I met that day and those who have joined our band over the months have turned into my most valuable resource and one of my greatest joys in Northfield. I am so excited to watch as our kids grow up together and to see whether or not Eleanor will eventially poke somebody’s eye out.

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And we’re back…

August 19th, 2010 by dmjg · The cottage

…after a fabulous week of swimming, tubing, bbqing, sunning, hug-a-boarding, reading, complicated german board game playing, drinking, socializing IMG_4334.JPGand relaxing at the cottage. Eleanor was a champ: she didn’t skip a beat in her sleep routine. That, combined with my mom’s willingness to take Eleanor every morning when she woke up, meant two very well-rested, happy parents.

Before we left, I wondered whether the cottage would hold the same appeal given that we no longer live in a big city we feel we need a break from. Well it does and we’re already looking forward to next year’s trip.

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How to play with a 1-year-old

August 9th, 2010 by dmjg · EDG, Visitors

We are off to my family’s cottage in Ontario for a week tomorrow. It has been a little over a year since we were there last. We’re looking forward to a more relaxing time this time around and we’ll also be seeing lots of good friends.

Speaking of good friends, we had a 24 hour visit with the Zemensteins. Rebecca was in the Cities for the Uptown Art Fair, so they stopped in Northfield for a night on their way back home. It’s always slightly sad hanging out with Ryan & Rebecca because it makes me think about what might have been: we were only really starting to get to know them when we left Chicago and we get along with them so well, it’s a shame we didn’t cross paths sooner in Chicago.

Perhaps the highlight of the visit was watching Rebecca’s mad toddler-entertaining skills in action. I thought I was pretty good at playing with kids. But wow. This is how you play with a toddler. It never occurred to us to let Eleanor play in her toy box. Genius!

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Fetch

August 4th, 2010 by emjcarroll · Belly, EDG

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A tete-a-tete in which I break the news to her that she still isn't as smart as the dog

Dan and I had a conversation last week about Eleanor’s intelligence vis a vis a dog’s. He claimed she was approaching the intelligence of a Border Collie. I pointed out that Eleanor couldn’t herd sheep or sort colored objects or do anything so sophisticated. Dan scaled back his claim and stated that maybe Eleanor’s intelligence level was more like Belly’s. I pointed out that Belly, unlike Eleanor, can go down stairs without faceplanting.

So she’s still not as smart as a dog but she does enjoy many canine pleasures. We play a lot of fetch (indoors and out): I toss a ball or pinecone or Cheerio and Eleanor tears after it and brings it back to me for another round. She also enjoys eating the dog’s food, each piece of kibble perfectly sized to occlude a 14-month-old’s esophagus. Like a water-happy Retriever, she enjoys splashing in Belly’s water bowl and making a mess. In fact, Belly’s food and water bowls are so interesting to her that lately she has been seeking to become one with them. With amazing tenacity and focus, she will work to smush her bottom into the food bowl, bring her knees to her chest and hug them and give a smile that can only be compared to that of the cat who ate the canary.

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While not as happy-making as a bum in a bowl, the old hand-in-sippy-cup is still pretty thrilling

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P.E.I.

July 31st, 2010 by dmjg · Music, The Counterfactuals, Trips

I spent half of this past week on Prince Edward Island, visiting Ian, Jannah and the newest addition to the Toms family, Emma, who is a very sweet, well-disposed baby indeed (what a long way we’ve come since the days when Ian lived in the part of the dorm at McGill affectionately IMG_3509.jpgknown as “The Rat Hole”). She smiles and laughs and has bright blue eyes that express a real interest in the world around her.

Ian and I make a point of seeing each other once every year or sometimes two. When I was at McGill I spent two summers on P.E.I. with the greatest summer job in the world: playing drums 6 nights a week in a band. Beyond meeting Emma, the highlight of the trip was playing a gig with the old trio: Ian on guitar, Chris Budhan on bass and me on drums. As you can imagine, playing with the same guys 6 nights a week for two months straight and then again as a group during the academic year leads to some serious musical sympathy. To the very limited extent that I have a distinctive style of drumming, it was formed in the group with Ian and Chris and in conjunction with their development of a distinctive sound. There was one month in particular when, as result of seeing a fantastic show by the Abby and Norm group (the album really doesn’t begin to do justice to the way they played live), we came out of our shells musically and started to stretch. Playing with Ian and Chris that summer, and in the following months, was far and away the most satisfying experience I’ve had playing drums. So you can see why I was excited to play with them again. And apprehensive: just a quick glance at their websites reveals that since our days at McGill they have, to put it mildly, progressed musically. I, on the other hand, have not (well, not on the drumming front at least).

I’m happy to report that the gig was awesome. Chris and Ian sound amazing and, while I did make some mistakes here and there, I was able to hang with them reasonably well. What was most amazing about the show however was how ridiculously comfortable it was: Chris and I locked in together time-wise immediately, I knew just when Ian was wrapping up a solo, & we would often hit breaks at the same time. There are days when it feels like you’re fighting your instrument. If you’re in decent shape, those days are usually somewhat rare (i.e. not so rare for me anymore). More common are the days where it feels like things are working, but playing still involves a lot of thinking. And then there are times, very rare indeed for me, when it really feels like you are no longer playing the instrument. It’s as though you’re watching yourself  play the instrument and it feels effortless and fresh. Those are the best moments and I had a few of them, just a couple stretches of 8 bars or so, playing with Ian and Chris. At the end of gigs with moments like that I feel giddy and weirdly peaceful. It’s been a while. I know I sound, very uncharacteristically, like a hippie. But there it is. Groovy.

In other musical news, The Counterfactuals are back at it, although the only constant between the previous incarnation and this one is me. Jason Decker and I are playing The Contented Cow at 5pm (so rock and roll. I won’t be in bed until at least 8.30 with that start time), so if you’re in Northfield, come check us out.

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Rice County Fair

July 26th, 2010 by emjcarroll · Uncategorized

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We saw camels.

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And tortoises.

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Even a miniature donkey.

Eleanor, Dan, Cati (and baby F-H in utero) and I visited the Rice County Fair last Friday in Faribault, our County Seat (home to the best high kick dance team ever). There was a petting zoo filled with miniature, baby (and even some miniature baby) animals. Baby human and baby animals – together at last! Watching Eleanor walk up to the cages, bend down and say a breathy “hi” to each animal was one of the happiest moments of my life.

I needed that happy memory to stop myself from becoming too sad about Lonesome Ron, the Rice County State Fair’s under-appreciated yodler.

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In other, unrelated news, Dan is away in PEI for a couple of days and Eleanor and I are on our own. Things are going well and we’re enjoying each other’s company. School is out so I don’t have to worry about doing anything but keeping both of us happy. In order to give some structure to our days, however, I have decided to teach her how to hug and how to find her bellybutton. Things are going well on both fronts. I sort of regret trying to teach her to hug because it is a little disheartening when she spurns my requests.  I get her back, though. She’s almost 100% with the bellybutton finding and when I want revenge I ask her to find it when she is wearing a onesie. Good luck with that one, kiddo.

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Eleanor is a Chicken

July 20th, 2010 by emjcarroll · Uncategorized

IMG_3153.jpgEleanor has fears that come and go. For a while, she was extremely afraid of the vaccuum cleaner, hand blender, hair dryer and coffee grinder. Then she wasn’t. Then she was. Now she isn’t. She actually pats the vaccuum cleaner and follows it around like a dear friend when I get my act together to clean up the small chihauhau’s worth of hair Belly leaves around the place.

She wasn’t afraid of Charlie, Dan and Bonnie’s (very, very) friendly lab and would let Charlie lick her with canine abandon. Now she is and will not.

I get the loud noises and galumphing labrador but I do not get her fear of cute, small animals. A couple of months ago, Eleanor and I came across a litter of dachshund puppies that lived in our neighborhood. They were cavorting on the lawn and I put Eleanor down to play with them and look adorable. You know, like a toilet paper commercial. Man, did she hate those puppies. She screamed and tried to drag herself away from them (this was pre-crawling). Anything but those 8-ounce, pink-nosed, fuzzy, sweet and tumbling hounds of hell.

She has also decided she is terrified of the chickens. When we let the hens out of the coop last week (oh fateful day!), she moaned and cried pitifully when I put her down next to Maxine who was at least 3 feet away from her and benignly pecking at the driveway. Seriously, Eleanor? A chicken?

Leo, on the other hand, has no such reservations. Here he is offering my car keys to Maxine:

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"Let's go Maxine, you & me, out on the open road. Now...can you drive?"

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A tale of two chickens

July 18th, 2010 by dmjg · Chickens

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The outside portion of the coop (there's a chicken door (a former window) heading into the indoor coop in the garage

It has been a week of chicken-related highs and lows. Last Saturday, Eleanor, Emily, Dan H. and I drove out to a local farm to buy two chickens. As you may well know, Dan and Bonnie already have chickens. They had four chickens until very recently when Betty mysteriously died (RIP). I won’t bore you with the details, but in the course of your typical, “Where is the coop going to go from here?” discussions in the wake of a chicken’s death, we offered to buy chickens for the coop and pitch in with food costs  in exchange for some eggs. The Heeler-Roll egg co-op was born.

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Kathy. What a fine looking chicken.

Back to the farm. We chose a beautiful Brown laced wyandotte and a lovely California white. We solicited name suggestions on Facebook, where Emily’s friend (and Eleanor’s godmother) Bridget naturally (?) suggested we name a chicken after her. Well, we couldn’t honor one godmother without honoring the other (Eleanor has two godmothers, no godfathers), so Bridget (California White) and Kathy (Brown laced wyandotte) joined Beyonce, Olivia & Maxine in the coop. As we are fond of saying, while Eleanor’s godmothers are far away (Ottawa and Tuscon), her godmother hens are very nearby.

We were still in the glow of recent chicken acquisition when we headed over to Dan and Bonnie’s on Wednesday. We let the chickens out of the coop to tool around. After 1o minutes or so, we corralled them back into the coop. Except for Kathy. She had disappeared into the woods behind the coop and was nowhere to be seen. “Don’t worry, she’ll come back,” Dan said. “And if she doesn’t, she’s just a chicken.” Ahso. Now Dan and Bonnie were out of town from Thursday until today, so we were on chicken duty anyway. We checked the coop at twilight nightly in the hopes that Kathy had returned, but with no luck. After two days, we assumed she had become food for one of the many hawks one routinely sees circling overhead in these parts. So sad. We tried to get an POW-MIA flag to hang from Dan & Bonnie’s garage (we were going to glue a red comb to the top of the POW’s head — very respectful, I know), but it turns out it’s not easy to find a POW-MIA flag and I could not bring myself to go to the VFW to ask for one (“Hi, I’m wondering if I can buy a POW-MIA flag.” “Do you know someone who is a POW or MIA?”, “Uhhh, sort of.”). We were all prepared to get another chicken — Kathy 2.

Well, it’s a good thing we didn’t. When I went by to check on the chickens today, the following note was stuck in the Heeler’s door:

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(I put an apricot over the phone number)

Kathy is alive! She is not safe yet. Dan and Bonnie only get back late tonight so it falls to us to wrangle her back into the coop. I need to go a buy a large net. And then, in about 3o minutes, I will wildly be chasing a chicken around a stranger’s backyard. Wish me luck.

Believe it or not, this is only one of two exciting chicken-related stories from the past week. The next one will have to wait until the next post.

Update: Kathy has been successfully plucked from the tree she was roosting in and placed back in the coop. Yay!

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