Tomato Salad

You know you're lucky when you pack a bowl of sliced heirloom tomato's sprinkled with a dash of olive oil and a dusting of salt & pepper in your 5-year-old daughter's lunchbox and the bowl comes back completely empty with her shirt bearing whiteness with orange oily & seedy drips down the front.

Magic Penny

I think we all learned this back in the day, didn't we? Well, E learned this golden oldie this week at school. She originally tries for an impromptu Rock & Roll version, but gives up and goes all out with motions and everything! N does back-up maraca.



P.S. Thank you Crafty Crow for the very sweet hearts!

Sittin' Pretty

I can often find N sitting this way while playing with his toys on the ground or in the bath; strait back and legs folded & crossed at the ankle with his toes touching. In fact if I undo his legs they spring right back into place!

Pink Party

E must have thought she died and gone to Heaven...pink as far as the eye could see: A little girl spa birthday party. When she arrived she got her nails polished (turquoise), made flower necklaces, and her hair done complete with glitter. The girls ran around in princess dress-up waving sparkly heart wands while listening to Disney Princess music. The refreshments were pink lemonade in glasses rimmed with pink sugar, and pink Hello Kitty cupcakes. Most of the girls were from her class at school, and it was really sweet to see all of them together...

...and then there was N.

Lunch Date

E's had a full year. Welcoming her brother into our family, starting school, her dad's been traveling more than ever, and now we've received news this week that her Great Grandpa's health is failing. That's a lot of really big stuff to deal with. She's great, don't get me wrong. I'm not overly worried, but a few recent behaviors have led me to keep an extra close eye on her; to search out opportunities to make meaningful contact & to validate those strong feelings and guide her in appropriate expression. I dropped the ball. She's so verbal and I forget she hasn't mastered (and who of us has) pairing emotions and appropriate communication of those feelings.


A few weeks ago she mentioned that one of her classmates had a doctor's appointment in the middle of the day, and before she came back to class her mom and her went out for lunch and she was able to skip (the dreaded) rest time. "I wanna do that sometime," she sighed. Well, today was the day. I got a sitter for Nils, picked her up and let her choose the destination. We were both beaming, it's been a long time. We ordered our food, chatted about her day, an then got down to it. I told her that it was OK to have these really strong feelings about her life, it was OK to be really mad, and OK to be really sad. I want her to tell me what she's feeling, but we needed to figure out a better way of expressing them. We came up with our plan, and I think we both feel relieved.



She drew this picture before I picked her up, and we took the photo after we were seated in the restaurant.

Hat

I have to go through N's clothes every few weeks or so. If I fall behind he will have inevitably grown out of something he hasn't even worn yet. The kid is huge. He rival's at least 2 different 2-year-old's I know...he's in some 24-month old stuff, but pretty squarely in 12/18-month set. Yes, he's still just 7 wonderful months old. It's kinda thrown a monkey wrench into my neurotic 'buy seasonal clothes ahead of time plan.' E was always right where she should have been; if the label read 6-12 she could wear it until she turned a year, sometimes even after. But not this guy, somethings only cycle through the wash a few times before they're thrown in the too-small-pile and handed over to my sister and her immanent little guy. The scale read 23 pounds when I took him to the doctor's this week ...he's a little lug.


Anyhow, I do believe he looks fabulous in this hat, and I can't imagine his head getting too big for it before summer comes and goes. So hopefully, we'll get a few more pic's in this one, but who knows. I don't hold too tightly onto anything these days.

I Have A Dream...

I was really impressed with the amount of information E was coming home from school with about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. last month. They of course did a few projects, and this one just came home:

Happy Groundhog Day!

* as always Crafty Crow is chuck full of fun ideas for this silly holiday, here's a link for some at-home-fun with your tot, and make free e-cards @ MyPunchbowl.

Trading In

The whole pacifier thing was a fluke. I bought a few before he was born, fully expecting to return them; I didn't think N would take to them. His sister promptly spit them out, and apparently I as an infant hated them too. But they really did something for old N. I was one of those mom's that had them stashed in the car, jacket pockets, his diaper bag, and a handful in the same corner his crib night after night that he was able to retrieve himself with no problem. But the whole teeth issue was starting to worry me. Not that at nearly 8 months old he doesn't have any yet, just that when they did start coming in their growth would be effected. And with the catalogue of stories that friends had relayed to me about their nightmares of separating tot's with their binkies, I needed to have a game plan. Or, did I? One morning for his nap I thought, "I'm gonna put this sippy cup with water in the normal 'binky corner,' and just see what happens." Nothing! No whining, and no tormented fussing! He thought it was novel to have something different in his crib to play with, and to suck on. That was a week ago, and nary a pacifier to be had. Hallelujah!

Hey! I've Been There!

D sent me this shot of him in Utrecht, Holland with the same windmill in the background as the picture of me 6 1/2 years ago!