2/52: Amaryllis, Wheelchair Construction, and Dress-Up

 

Mary Claire had a sudden brilliant idea the other day (Mary Claire often has sudden brilliant ideas, all of which involve LOTS of scraps of trash left all over the house in her wake), and immediately got to work transforming one of Peter's plastic trucks + a cardboard box into a wheelchair. After all, one of her favorite book characters uses a wheelchair, so the only way to "play" as the book characters is to have a genuine replica wheelchair. Made out of cardboard.

Well, plastic trucks are not meant to hold an 8-year-old's weight, and so the wheels snapped off and it's kind of being dragged across the floor now, but we've gotten a solid week+ of play out of it, so I suppose there are worse craft projects?

I bought two new amaryllis bulbs this year, after last year's amaryllis failed to produce anything but leaves. I'm VERY glad I did, because after letting last year's amaryllis go dormant and trying again? NOTHING BUT LEAVES!!! I think I didn't let it go dormant properly (the leaves need to take in sunlight for several months before they shrivel up and then you can let it go dormant and try again, I cut them off when I got sick of looking at them and that was clearly inadequate.), so I'll try again next year and that will REALLY be the last chance.

But anyway, we're talking about the new amaryllis bulbs, and they have done very nicely! One sprouted immediately, bloomed in time for Christmas, and sent up *another* bud that has now bloomed also. The other... Did nothing. And still nothing. So after a couple of weeks I emailed the company, and they offered a refund. They never actually gave me the refund, which I suppose is fine because after a MONTH, it finally sprouted! And produced the most lovely striped amaryllis! The only problem is that I think it's going to be a one-off, because it didn't grow any leaves, so I don't think it can properly go dormant? I'm not sure. I'm still new to this "indoor plant lady" thing but I'm going to learn!

In a fit of frustration with Edith's tremendously scraggly hair (she had a second wave of growth all around her hairline, but it was curly? so it looked like she had taken scissors to the underside of her hair and then stuck styling product in it. very urchin-chic), I cut a quick bob one evening last week, and she's so very pleased! Her long golden hair was lots of fun to braid, but having it all one length makes her look so much more... kempt. (If unkempt is a word, why isn't kempt?) She promptly spent the rest of the week in her princess dress+playsilk cape+tiara, and obviously I needed a picture. She's Princess Sylvie, of course, from one of her favorite Elsa Beskow books, because Princess Sylvie also has short golden hair.