This blog has moved...

Improv-a-Mama has moved to

http://improvamama.wordpress.com/

Hope you'll join me over there.

The Magic Number 30

LP works on collecting 30 branches.

LP loves the number 30. I think it is the biggest number she can imagine.

So when she enjoys a game she wants to play it 30 times. Or read a book 30 times. Or eat 30 cookies. Or pick 30 flowers...and so on and so on.

My observations is that although she can count to 30, the upper numbers don't really have meaning yet, so 30! Wow! That's just the biggest, the most, the best amount!

It makes us smile every time. She's so delighted by asking for 30. And although we cheat and do something a bunch of times (like 5 or 6 or 9) and call it a day. It seems to satisfy her.

Oh kiddo, just wait until you discover the world beyond 30. Yes, Little Person, you could ask for 100 cookies or put 300 shakes of cinnamon in the muffins or pick 2000 flowers.

And it does give me a reflective pause....wondering what is my 30? What are the things that I'm accepting as the end, that I don't have the vision to see beyond? What boundaries have I created in my world that I accept as the way things are and will be for always? There is a whole other realm of possibilities beyond that...I'm talking about the 40s and 50s and 100s and 1000s and 10000000000s.

As I'm reflecting on it, I see how I accept many 30s in my life now. In my writing. In my getting involved in new things. In taking risks in relationships.

So for now, we delight in 30...and look forward to the world getting bigger and filled with even more possibility. LP will discover those at her pace and I'll keep trying to be open to ones for me too.

This post is part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.

Making memories...

Today on the bus with LP on my lap, an elderly woman said to me, "A woman can live to be about 80 years old or so and we only have our children for such a short time."

We just had 2 more stops to go when she said this but in those few blocks she also shared that when "they go away from you, they do come back again"…and that "the best is being a grandparent." (when she said "grandparent" her whole face lit up...I look forward to the grandparent experience someday!)

I find that thing everyone says about "it goes so fast" is completely true (in the big picture, I still find individual moments or minutes can take forever). LP is three and bounding forward in her knowledge and abilities every day. Whoosh!

It often crosses my mind the memories I am creating for LP; what I don't often think about is the memories I am creating for me. Memories to stand out from the moments of tedium and times of tantrums.

So from our recent days, I hope that we will both remember:
• porcupine stew (crackers with butter and dried lentils)
• gardening in the rain
• walking with shaving cream "penguin feet"
• creating a costume out of pipe cleaners complete with tiara, earrings, glasses, necklace, dressing gown, belt with a ponytail and anklets
• sharing flower "ice cream cones"

And the one that's just for my mind's eye…the sweet sight of LP sleeping.



This post is part of the 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.

The Panda Queen & the River Otter

Traveling is a time when I am often reaching into my improv bag of tricks ~ especially in just reminding myself to keep an improv mindset (meaning among other things to find things to say "yes" to, be flexible and be open to opportunities).

Our visit with family was so exciting for LP (she was on overdrive trying to keep up with her older cousins) so I used familiar storytelling structures as part of calming down and grounding and reflecting on things that were happening. When she was homesick, we told stories about home and what ImprovDad and all her beloved stuffed friends were doing.

One series of stories emerged about LP as the "Panda Queen" and her group of pandas. LP has 3 pandas at home (1 made the trip with us) and quickly gathered up a few pandas from a willing older cousin (thanks H!) while we were away. We told stories about the Panda Queen and both groups of pandas and LP has embraced her new royal title.

On a cold, drizzly day, my sister, brother-in-law and I ventured to the zoo with the 4 youngest kids. I think we had the place to ourselves except for one other family. The rest of our group roamed the zoo while LP and I went at her pace and she enjoyed lots of puddle splashing. I was feeling tired and down from having a cold and was counting the minutes until we could get back in the car out of the rain.

Then we discovered the river otter.

LP has been into otters since we read "Sea Elf" for the first time a few months ago. She loves to wear a green & blue blanket as her kelp and often has us tie it on her first thing in the morning. (It is a beautiful book about a girl imagining herself as an otter for a day.) And here, unexpectedly was an otter...and a very playful otter who seemed as excited to see LP as she was to see it. The otter would jump into the water and come right up to the glass where LP was, then dart away and return...again, again and again.

It was a beautiful thing to witness. Her enjoyment was so pure and full body. She laughed at times and was just entranced at other times. It lifted my spirits to be there with her.

To top it off...there was a carousel and the Panda Queen got to ride a panda...twice!

This post is part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.

One of Our Favorite Things: Painter's Tape

LP & I just returned from a wonderful trip hanging out with family on the East Coast.

And in addition to all the good visiting and food and experiences, my love of blue painter's tape was rekindled.

It is probably my favorite parenting item...good for everything from emergency diaper repair and babyproofing to crafting to creating a much needed spoon for applesauce on the plane. I use it to help keep paper still for art projects and hang things on the wall and as bandaids for all LP's lovies.

Despite having the world's most densely packed backpack of books and toys and snacks for our journey home, what was the biggest hit with LP? The painter's tape. Good old, familiar, multipurpose painter's tape.

She played with the tape people (pictured above) for longer than any other toy and used strips of tape to create a Wild Thing costume for her small doll (wish I had a picture of it because it looked more like a shaggy ball of tape than a doll). As a bonus, she could stick in all over herself and the seat and the window and it peels off quickly and easily. We also made a few bracelets and a necklace.

Painter's tape...truly, I don't leave home without it!

I linked this post to se7en's Fabulous Friday Fun...go on over and check it out!

Traveling Heavy

is not necessarily a bad thing.

I'm getting LP and myself ready to hit the road to visit family on the East Coast and getting in my usual pre-flight anxiety twist-up. Part of me gets focused on "oh I'm bringing too much stuff" and then worried that I'm not bringing the right stuff. And so on and so on and so on.

I was thinking that I had traveled light pre-LP but that isn't true. I don't like to fly so I always brought as many distractions (books, crossword puzzles, knitting, writing, music) as possible.

Then I realized how to let go of the anxiety...traveling with all this stuff is for comfort. As much as LP needs her best buds, Lambda & BunBun, to come along, I need to know that I'm prepared for...well, for almost anything.

It reminded me of being a new improvisor and wanting to have a set list for a show. I wanted to know what games we would play (or at least might play) and to have reviewed the rules and so on. Then I got restless with so much "knowing" and wanting more challenge. So I started doing shows without set lists...and then I started doing longform improv. This longform creating of up to 2 hour shows on the spot still feels delicious and exciting. In Un-Scripted we usually have a frame we've agreed upon (a genre, like Shakespeare or Romantic Comedy) and we rehearse to come to agreement about what that genre means but then....in the show it is so open and free to discover all the things can happen. I went from needing the illusion of being prepared to anything to feeling prepared to improvise.

It reminded me of being a new parent and anxiously reading and seeking advice (or accepting advice thrust upon us!). And then (finally) came a point of balance of finding the place that brought together useful information (like what is developmentally appropriate) with being in the moment of being a parent and figuring out what works for our family. I went from needing to find the "right" way to needing to find our way.

So I'm traveling heavy today....although a little lighter than in the past. The first time I took a plane trip with LP I brought 20+diapers, today I only have 8.

Opera Tooth Brushing

I have a Mary Poppins-ish approach to parenting things. The bottom line is that there are non-negotiable things that a little person has to deal with AND I like to make it playful whenever possible. So in the spirit of a "spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down" we are now having grand opera tooth brushing every night.

We've been through a few phases of toothbrushing. Animal faces worked for awhile recently (lion roar to get the back teeth, zebra smile for the front). Then we had a few weeks of struggle (you know, the two parent tooth brushing, where one of us is holding squirming child) until opera entered the routine.

So now after an opportunity to mess around with the toothbrush on her own for a bit, LP and I do a brief warm up (mi, mi, mi,mi, miiiiii) and then big, grand voice soaring "AaaaaaaaaHs" together while I simultaneously get a good brushing of the chompers done.

It is fun and evolving. A couple of nights ago, she initiated going up the scale with each "aaaah" and the following night we stumbled into some fun harmonies.

I'll enjoy it while it lasts....and who knows what "sugar" will come next.