Happy spring, everybody. I'm long overdue sending out this update, but sometimes
just taking part in life takes all my time.
Zelly is doing great. At her last check up in February she weighed in at a whopping
19.7 pounds and has stretched to a towering 32.5 inches.
I've recently updated the website with a new front page picture and story, so check it
out, www.speakeasy.org/~camcombs [Ed. that's the old site]. There are some newish pictures at the end of
the index and we'll be uploading some more in the coming months.
Spring is in the air and it's time to put seeds in the ground. Zelly helped me plant the
garden this year. Here's what I remember of that day:
Me: Ok, Zell. I'm going to do some planting, want to help?
Zelly: yeah-huh!
Me: Alright. First we have to crumble up the dirt. No, keep your gloves on. Watch
how I do it. [dig-crumble-dig-crumble]. Ok? Do you want to try?
Zelly: Yeah, Mom! Mom...?
Me: What honey?
Zelly: Mom, bubbs on!
Me: Yes, honey, you have your gloves on.
Zelly: Momma-bubbs on?
Me: Yes, I have my gloves on, too. Are you gonna help me?
[much digging and crumbling and messing with her gloves]
Me: ok, now it's all smooth and we're ready for the seeds, ok?
Zelly: Mom-mom? Buhrds talking... yook, buhrds!
Me: Uh-huh, those are birds. [seeds in my hand, now she's interested in them]
Zelly: Momma, what dose, momma?
Me: Those are seeds honey, baby plants come out of them.
Zelly: Oh... beebees? Momma, I wann some dose.
Me: Ok. Here are some for you, sprinkle them around like this. [she waves her hands
around for several seconds after the seeds fall out of her hand in a clump].
Me: Alright, now we'll put a little more dirt on them and pat them down.
Zelly: Pat, pat, Pat, pat [sing-song voice]. Momma, I pat!
Me: You sure do honey, you're a big help. Now we're going to plant some swiss chard.
We're going to poke the seeds in. [I start placing seeds around the prepared area]
Zelly: Mom-mom, I wann some dose.
Me: Ok, honey. Here are a couple, put them out. Now we're gonna poke them in, ok?
Watch me... poke 'em in, poke 'em in...
Zelly: [poking random holes in the dirt, saying in a sing-song voice] poke 'em in, poke
'em in, poke 'em in....
[… eventually ...]
Me: ok, honey, that's all the seeds, we're all finished.
[Zelly pats the ground a few more times just to make sure.]
Zelly: ok, mom, aww done!
I took her out to the garden this weekend to show her that some of the baby plants
were coming up and she seemed excited but I'm not sure she connected the plants
with what we did the weekend before. During her surly teenaged years, I'm sure to
comfort myself I'll drag out this memory of the time when she hung on my every word
and her bright blue eyes followed my every move.
Oh, here’s another story for you. Zelly loves eggs. She especially loves it when she
gets to help me cook them:
Zelly: Mom-mom, I hunnry. [tugging on sleeve or pant leg] Momma, I rearry hunnry.
Me: Oh, ok, well, what do you want?
Zelly: I wann aigg, momma, aigg aigg aigg. [nodding her head like it’s gonna come off]
Me: Alright, let’s cook an egg. Up you go.
[I lift her up to sit on the counter beside the stove]
Me: Ok, Zell, what do we need? We need a pan, and...?
Zelly: Aigg!
Me: Yep, we need an egg. Here’s an egg. What’s next?
Zelly: [pointing up at the cupboard above the stove] Mom-mom, sall and peppie!
Me: Yep, we need salt and pepper. Ok, now the pan is getting hot, so keep your
hands over here.
Zelly: Mom-mom, I pay? [she’s pointing at the timer]
Me: Sure, here you go, you can play with this.
[she goes through several cycles of turning the timer on and cranking it back to zero so
she can ring the bell. Each time the bell rings, she says ‘Momma, what happen?’ with
her eyes wide open and her eyebrows arched up into her hairline. This is one of her
favorite games during egg cooking.]
Zelly: [ding] Momma, what happen?
Me: I don’t know, Zelly, what happened?
Zelly: [big smile] I nunno… [and repeat]
Me: Zelly, do you want cheese with your egg?
Zelly: Chee aigg, momma!
Me: Ok. Zelly, can you sing the egg song?
Me and Zelly: Aiggy, aiggy, Aig-GY! [picture a conga line of two, complete with the
hand motions]
Me: Ok, Zelly what do we do now?
Zelly: sall and peppie! Sall an sall an pep-PIE! [more conga line music]
Me: Ok, salt and pepper. And now we turn the egg over and it's time for cheese.
Zelly, can you do the cheese song?
Zelly: cheezy, cheezy, chee-ZY! Aiggy cheezy aig-GY!
[soon she's settled into her high chair cheerfully gobbling up her one egg omelet]
We do the sing-song, dancing thing a lot at our house. It’s a sneaky way for us to get
Zelly to practice words she’s been having trouble with, and it’s entertaining. She’ll
break into song and dance for no reason but that it’s fun. The alphabet song is her
favorite and if I was really talented I would reproduce that for you here. Her favorite
part is ‘lmnop’ but lately she’s been skipping the whole middle to get to ‘xyz’ so she can
do the ’… now I know my abc’s, next time won’t you sing with me’ verse. What a silly
monkey!
Hope this update finds everyone happy and healthy and doing lots of singing and
dancing. If you're not sure what to sing and dance about, take a lesson from Zelly: you
can sing and dance about everything!