Checking in

How am I doing on my goals from the beginning of the summer?

1) Dress myself, and brush my teeth and hair. Most days, mostly.

2) Wash the breakfast dishes. Most days, mostly.

3) Feed myself and Dutch adequately. Most days, mostly.

4) Don't be mean to Dutch when she drives me crazy. Failing totally.

5) Make sure Dutch is active enough to get really sweaty at least once every day. She gets a little sweaty every day, and really sweaty some days.

6) Don't let Dutch get sunburned. Success!

7) Remember the first-aid kit on every playground trip. I haven't brought it once.

8) Make sure Skipper gets her down time. Most days, mostly.

Countering depression

I just ate about a pint of berries. I'm preparing another 12 pints or so for freezing. Next week: pesto!

23.5% depressed.

I just dipped my toes back in the scary, frigid trying-to-get-a-job pool, and was rejected (from an internship paying $12/hr at the agency where I interned last year) within two days of submitting my application. I didn't even rate an interview.

The most-broadly-defined jobless rate (including people who've given up looking for work and people who wish to be more employed than they are) is at 23.5% in Oregon. I bet it's even higher in Portland.

We really are going to have to leave the state. The thing is... I don't even know where we'll GO to find a job. Are there states that wish to hire liberal-arts types for planning-y sorts of jobs? Anywhere? I find it hard to imagine that we'll ever be completely employed again. Our temporary poverty is starting to look much more permanent, and we're starting to feel pretty grim. Okay, we were already feeling pretty grim, but now it's worse. The humiliation is really starting to feel ground in now, in a way it wasn't before, like it's not going to wash off ever.

But, hey, at least we don't live in a meth house! Nor are we being tortured. We are healthy and whole AND we have two lovely new quilts, and we were recently given a free crib by a kind stranger. Things could be a LOT worse.

More miscellany

One of my fabulous cousins bought Dutch a dress at a garage sale. It's a beer wench costume. Dutch thinks it's the prettiest thing ever ("I look JUST like Snow White!"), and she wears it as much as she is allowed.In other news, Skipper is getting really big.And jowly.

Swimming

Dutch LOVES swimming! She's badgering me to add more lessons to her already-swim-packed summer.

I'm impressed with what she's done so far. She's been brave and determined in making big leaps of faith (trusting her buoyancy! putting her head underwater!) and practicing relentlessly. In thirteen half-hour classes, she's gone from being very reluctant to put her head in the water to doing a "front glide" all by herself, which requires her to immerse her head and kick herself along with no help. They other kids in the class are happy to do what the teachers ask, but they're not particularly invested in any sort of outcome, as far as I can tell by their behavior. Dutch looks much more goal-oriented. She pushes herself; she asks the teachers if they'll let her take the next step (like trying to float by herself instead of with their support). I've never seen her do anything like that.

I'm not sure what exactly is propelling her determined progress. I think she likes the rapid improvement, she likes that Cook and I approve of it, she likes the idea of moving up to a more sophisticated class, and so on. She also seems to genuinely like swimming - she was delighted to frolic in the refreshingly chilly Deschutes last weekend.

So I got my wish. I've got a kid who likes swim lessons. Also, my dream of an idyllic summer of watching one kid learn to swim while the other kid sits cherubically in my lap also is sort of coming true. Skipper seems happy to sleep, nurse, or sit and watch the pool-related antics. She's a good baby. (Also, she sings! She's a weird baby.)

patriotic

Dutch is almost four years and eight months old. Skipper is almost three months old. We're getting old!

We had a wonderful weekend with family. Dutch had the best weekend of her life, I'm pretty sure. First, there was a parade, in which Dutch (along with half the population of the city) got to walk.
Skipper thought the parade was really exciting.
Then there was the river to swim in.*Then there was a huge garden to water and weed, and a dog to torture.
There were household chores to be done.There were fireworks to watch (no pictures, sorry), the national anthem to mangle... marshmallows to roast!

And there was horseback riding!

*Swimming deserves its own post. Dutch has been "swimming" 13 out of the last 15 days, and she loooooves it.