Kitchen table

We've been reconfiguring and redecorating our house a bit over the past few days. We found a set of beautiful chairs and a couch, and the addition of just those three pieces throughout our house has made things feel more organized and fresh.

My favorite change is in the kitchen. We removed an oversized buffet and replaced it with a small table and two chairs. Cora is big enough now to sit in a regular chair (esp when it has a booster seat). Today she sat there swinging her legs and munching on celery and hummus while I made us a tasty little meal of green beans, salmon burger with cheese, and cucumber slices. Then we sat together and had a little chat, with lots of comments about our food.

Things have been more crazy these days. We've been running around like mad on a ton of errands, going to a bunch of summer barbecues, swimming a lot, and trying to stay cool. Cora has been a very whiny little bean. Everything she does lately is designed to get my attention as quickly as possible, which basically just involves lots of wild faces accompanied by shrieking.

Something about that smaller table and our intimate little placement in the kitchen made our lunchtime today feel special instead of Oh Crap, Now She's Pitching Food with Her Fast Hand. Instead of wanting to hurry to the next project or task, I loved sitting there together, staring at my little daughter poke carefully at her food and look up at me with bright eyes.

Things she said:

Listening to a robin: "Mama! Baby bird singing!"

Touching the picture above the table: "Daddy's special painting." This insight was quickly followed by her trying to topple it.

Shouting at me with her mouth wide open in the appearance of great excitement: "Mama! Celery! Look!" (Showing me the strange stringy bits at the munched end of her celery stick.)

Listening to a tired crow's caw: "Sad bird." (Said with head cocked and eyes showing deep reserves of sympathy.)