this woman’s work

Madison was worried before we got here because she’s developed a fear of sharks. And crabs. So we told her that sharks don’t come to Oregon beaches because it’s too cold and that there aren’t any pinchy crabs here anyway. And we decided to put away the ocean book before she got to the jellyfish. She’s very nearly four, which means she’s just figuring out that she’s mortal and she worries.

The ocean is, of course, pretty darn big even if you’re not a very small person so she stood on the sand and just started. Noah took off to leap into the waves but she was afraid to even put her feet in the edges and the foam spooked her, too. So she built sand castles while Noah and Brett ran in and splashed around. She’d look up to see what they were doing and shake her head.

Then we walked down to the rocks (where the sea lions sun themselves but they weren’t out today — there was one out in the waves bobbing his head but that was it). And she was grossed out by the seaweed until I got her to touch it and then she was more brave about touching things. She started gathering shells (really shell fragments) and I led her bit by bit closer to the wet sand, close to the waves, until one came up and pooled around her feet. It surprised her but she didn’t run this time. She stopped and we watched it come in again, pooling around her feet again and this time she laughed. Then she shouted, “I did it!” and then she started to dance.

Pics of these events in the next entry. (Written without coffee after sleeping crammed into the bed with two wriggly children. Typos are a given.)

S/he somehow figured out that the kids were in a hotel and managed to gift them with junk — much of it chosen to keep boredom away while riding on a plane. Smart easter bunny!

Today we’re hooking up with Brett’s side of the family but otherwise laying low because we are TIRED. And we may have woken up at a luxurious 9am our time, but we went to bed at 3am. Of course we’re in Portland where coffee was cool before coffee was cool so it’s all good.

I’m still rocking nervous about my presentation on Saturday. Current worry? What if nobody shows up? I’m counting on audience questions so I know what to say next. Also I left my index cards at home — oops — but they should be easy to replicate.

At our luxury-ish hotel they have terry cloth robes and a super-magnifying mirror in the bathroom. I give the robes an ironic thumbs up (I think robes are silly but fun) but the magnifying mirror doesn’t do much for a person’s self-esteem. Fortunately the world doesn’t look at me through magnifying mirror glasses so I’ll go back to ignorant bliss.