Should have put this up months ago!

60 things we love about Mana!

1. She makes the best Halloween costumes, even of little-known Anime characters from the 70s (without even knowing what Anime is when she starts out).
2. She thinks cookie painting belongs on more than just Christmas!
3. And she’s willing to mix up the best cookie icing ever.
4. She’s been ahead of the parenting curve by a good 20 years: vegetarian diet
5. She’s been ahead of the parenting curve by a good 20 years: not too much television
6. She’s been ahead of the parenting curve by a good 20 years: attachment!
7. She gives great advice…”cut to the chase, marry this one!”
8. She can play make-believe better than any 60 year old we know.
9. She loves to scatter milkweed seeds in the wind.
10. She thinks wine tasting includes words like DEET.
11. Once she says that, no one else can go back to “fruity overtones with hints of chocolate”.
12. She would eat broccoli three times a day for the rest of her life.
13. She thinks kale on toast is a great dinner.
14. Ditto popcorn.
15. She saves amazing heirloom toys, and lets her grandchildren play with them even if the lawyers have banished them from the stores.
16. The toys continue to appear, perfectly matched to the developmental age and stage of her darling boys.
17. She donated her husband to the Select Board.
18. She taught Ian to appreciate a light load on the line.
19. She knows all about sublimation (the physics principle, and the defense mechanism).
20. She always knows when you need an eraser.
21. She understands the natural bond between toddlers and chickens.
22. When she laughs really hard, she always tears.
23. Sheets in her house always smell of lavender.
24. She thought it was a good idea to video tape a chicken getting eaten by a hawk.
25. She knows that the best necklaces are made of pasta.
26. She’s only twice buttoned a onsie underneath the diaper.
27. She has a great list of favorite field trips with a toddler: Airport, Rapid Transit, Laundromat, Greenhouse, Busrides.
28. She likes the smell of one cigarette lighting up.
29. She throws an excellent hoot-n-nanny.
30. She thought of the possibility of lead paint on the chicken coop in the middle of the night.
31. She thinks it’s fun to sing “On top of Spaghetti”.
32. She always has a hanky.
33. Her writing is in the best colors.
34. She will spontaneously drop anything for a good walk in the woods.
35. She can sing “Take me out to the ballgame” one syllable off the melody.
36. Her underwear always matches her bra.
37. She’s happy to tell you all the important things she learned from her first mother-in-law.
38. She knows exactly how important it is for a mother to hear about her child’s poop.
39. She’s all about glass and cotton instead of plastic and paper.
40. She never says no to a swim.
41. She keeps replacing her pool when it fails.
42. She always has fourteen of the best projects you’ve ever seen on the dining room table.
43. She’s not afraid to tell you that she’s pulled half her knitting out six times.
44. She’s likely to have knit your favorite sweater.
45. She gets pedicures.
46. She thinks her skirt is also an AP.
47. She knows that dandelions belong in the grass (and curling in the pool).
48. She knows everyone in town and never introduces someone that she’s not supposed to.
49. She wears hats with her hair coming out the top.
50. She sings 90 percent of the time that she spends with Jonas and Julian, so now they do, too.
51. She rides a recumbent.
52. She cried through the Vagina Monologues.
53. She knows all the songs Mr. Rogers used to sing.
54. She gives advice at least as good as Mr. Rogers gives.
55. She nurtures the fairies in all our lives. Maybe she is a Fairy?
56. She can tell if someone’s newly pregnant from 100 yards away.
57. Ditto in love.
58. She knows a good Dad when she sees one!
59. She removed a mole from herself because it was bothering her nieces.
60. Ooh La La she knows how to love!
61. We’re typing and we can’t seem to stop!