Monday, May 24, 2010
Magical Day
Today is a magical day. Things are blooming, the sun is shining, and I think we may have had a Thimbe the Fairy sighting. I was sitting in the living room alone and suddenly the wind kicked up and our street was FILLED with blowing fairy dust(it had to be fairy dust, right?) and I called to Cady, "Come quick!" Cady came running out and we looked out the window. I told her that I saw someone flying by very quickly and sprinkling the fairy dust. With each question that Cady asked she got more and more excited. "Did she have brown hair? Did she have wings? Did she have green things wrapped on her legs? Did she have a crown made of flowers?" Cady realized that it must have been Thimble the Fairy who came by and sent her a special message by sprinking her fairy dust down our street. This inspired Cady to want to draw Thimble a picture and send her her most favorite sparkly rock. Since putting it in the envelope I have heard her say several times in her sad little voice, "I'm really going to miss my rock" I told her that if she isn't ready to give her rock away that it's okay to keep it. Cady said, "It's okay mom, I know that Thimble doesn't have a special rock like this so I want her to have it." Awwww. What a big heart. I'm certain that next year's party is going to be a garden fairy tea party with a guest visitor. Hopefully Thimble will find us again.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
And it's a wrap...almost!
Summer vacation is just around the corner for both Cady and me. YAYAYAY!!! Next week Cady will have her little "graduation" ceremony which means that I will have to leave early on my last day of work. I can think of worse things!
What do I have to look forward to this summer? For starters, I cannot wait to ditch the weird afternoon-school schedule and am hoping that I can get Coben off the morning nap and encourage him to start taking an afternoon nap instead. Right about the time that he'd get tired in the afternoon and I could potentially have gotten him down for a nap, was right about the same time that I'd have to leave to pick Cady up for school. It has made for a lot of long, grouchy afternoons. Because of Maine, we can't schedule too much. I learned that most of the activities run the full course of the summer. It wouldn't be a big deal to just miss the last couple of weeks of any activity but it seems like they all had an end result...a play, a dance recital, an art show. So, I think we'll take advantage of library hours, the community center pool, backyard play, fountains, etc... Whatever we do, I'm just looking forward to having unshared time with the kids.
Last week Cady had Field Day. Field Day is the day when the kids spend the day outdoors doing all kinds of physical activities such as the 3-legged race, potato sack races, relays, etc... I was able to take a couple hours off or work to cheer her on. The highlight of my day was to watch her with the boy that she says she is going to marry, David. This is the same David who loves to plant kisses on Cady when they say goodbye. What a joy to watch their uninhibited affection toward each other and also really neat to see that it wasn't shut down which I'm sure in another year or two will be. While David and Cady waited for their turns they constantly had their arms around each other while sitting together. David would also lay his head in Cady's lap and Cady would stroke his hair. I also observed David standing behind a sitting Cady hugging her from behind with his chin on the top of her head. It was all so sweet because it's probably the only time in her life (for a long time at least) that I'm going to be okay with that level of affection. I think what really impressed me the most is how far this vehement boy-hater has come in the last year and how demonstrative and loving she is with someone that she really likes.
Coben is talking. Talking and signing all at once. And we are learning that he is ALWAYS hungry. I have never seen anything like it. He puts away more food than I do and still doesn't seem to fill up for very long. He toddles around the house constantly signing the sign for eat. And then he eats. A lot. Then he signs non-stop "more". Almost overnight he went from 3 words to about 20! He's on his way! In no time at all he'll be asserting himself with Cady...that will be a fun blog!
What do I have to look forward to this summer? For starters, I cannot wait to ditch the weird afternoon-school schedule and am hoping that I can get Coben off the morning nap and encourage him to start taking an afternoon nap instead. Right about the time that he'd get tired in the afternoon and I could potentially have gotten him down for a nap, was right about the same time that I'd have to leave to pick Cady up for school. It has made for a lot of long, grouchy afternoons. Because of Maine, we can't schedule too much. I learned that most of the activities run the full course of the summer. It wouldn't be a big deal to just miss the last couple of weeks of any activity but it seems like they all had an end result...a play, a dance recital, an art show. So, I think we'll take advantage of library hours, the community center pool, backyard play, fountains, etc... Whatever we do, I'm just looking forward to having unshared time with the kids.
Last week Cady had Field Day. Field Day is the day when the kids spend the day outdoors doing all kinds of physical activities such as the 3-legged race, potato sack races, relays, etc... I was able to take a couple hours off or work to cheer her on. The highlight of my day was to watch her with the boy that she says she is going to marry, David. This is the same David who loves to plant kisses on Cady when they say goodbye. What a joy to watch their uninhibited affection toward each other and also really neat to see that it wasn't shut down which I'm sure in another year or two will be. While David and Cady waited for their turns they constantly had their arms around each other while sitting together. David would also lay his head in Cady's lap and Cady would stroke his hair. I also observed David standing behind a sitting Cady hugging her from behind with his chin on the top of her head. It was all so sweet because it's probably the only time in her life (for a long time at least) that I'm going to be okay with that level of affection. I think what really impressed me the most is how far this vehement boy-hater has come in the last year and how demonstrative and loving she is with someone that she really likes.
Coben is talking. Talking and signing all at once. And we are learning that he is ALWAYS hungry. I have never seen anything like it. He puts away more food than I do and still doesn't seem to fill up for very long. He toddles around the house constantly signing the sign for eat. And then he eats. A lot. Then he signs non-stop "more". Almost overnight he went from 3 words to about 20! He's on his way! In no time at all he'll be asserting himself with Cady...that will be a fun blog!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Hair products
One of my most favorite things about Cady is her knack for making up new words. If she doesn't know what something's called she just calls it the word that she thinks it should be called. Her newest one is for curlers. She had a bunch of my old electric curlers outside and when we asked what they were she said they were "hairmines" (Hair-Mine). Yet a few minutes ago when I asked her to pick up the "regular" curlers (non-eletric) that she had been putting on Wall-E's tail she said, "those are curlers!" I told her I thought they were hairmines and she explained the difference to me (very matter of factly of course). Apparently there is a difference and each requires its own name. Who knew?
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Clipping along
Life has finally resumed some normalcy after the renovations, trip to Wisconsin, family visit and a birthday party. Normal still involves a lot of running around and juggling but we have a new perspective on how tame that seems now.
Cady is involved in a little love triangle at school. On one hand there is Javier. Javier is five and was one of her first steady school friends. In January things started to shift a bit and Cady came home talking about David instead of Javi. "Davie likes the Wiggles, David does a Wiggle Dance. David. David. David". David on more than one occassion has planted a big kiss on her at the end of the day. The most recent was when I had to pick her up early for a Dr. appointment. David yelled across the classroom, "Cady, wait! I have to kiss you" and comes running across the room and plants a big one on her. Well, the past two weeks she has started talking about Javi again and Mr. Polo told me that last week there was an actual fight between the two boys and she was smack in the middle of it. Both boys were competing for her attention by drawing her pictures and it got heated when Cady only gave one of the boys a picture in return. Ah, young love.
Tonight Cady and I had a date. I bought tickets to see a neighborhood theater production of Wizard of Oz. I wasn't expecting much considering that last time we went when Grandma was here Cady said that her favorite part of the show was when it was over. We dressed up, put on a little make-up (glitter hair spray for Cady) and I could tell she felt so special. We parked at the show and walked up 32nd Avenue for dinner. Several people passed by and made comments to Cady about how pretty she looked and I could see her walking just a little taller after each compliment. She chose Chinese food so we had a nice dinner together and then walked back to the show. What a hoot! The way the play was set-up was a circular platform in the middle of the room surrounded by just six tables with eight chairs each. Very intimate and extremely close. I was a little worried about just how close because Cady was already having a lot of anxiety about the wicked witch. Well, the show started and the fun began. Because it was so intimate and because Cady made no attempt to use her "library voice" everyone from the actors to the audience got to share in Cady's innermost thoughts. During one scene when the trees were throwing apples at Dorothy and the Scarecrow, the Scarecrow missed the apple and it rolled under our table. I didn't even notice that Cady crawled under the table to get it until well into another scene when the apple goes flying onto the stage. And my all time favorite Cady comment of the evening was this:
Cady: Why is he walking like that? (referring to the tin man who was walking stiffly)
Me: It's because he is made of tin
Cady: (Pause) Am I going to look like that when I'm 10???
It was a great night. Cady laughed harder than I've ever heard her laugh (aside from being tickled) and she had so many comments during the show. The owner of the theater company approached us during intermission and said, "I don't know what's better. The play or the cute comments that your daughter is making" and this woman was seated at the table furthest from ours, yikes! Cady was terrified of the witch and spent all the witch scenes in my lap. She hugged Dorothy after the play. She sulked because she wants the show to be "open" every day and she didn't ever want it to be over. And because the show actually ended almost two hours past her bedtime she had the funniest meltdown during the ride home. It was pure tiredness and she was completely losing it in the back seat over nothing.
So that's about it for us. Naturally I'm still waiting to hear something (anything) about my position for next year. Meanwhile I'm just wrapping up the school year, getting my data reports completed, planning summer activties and enjoying the thought of spending more undivided kid time soon.
Cady is involved in a little love triangle at school. On one hand there is Javier. Javier is five and was one of her first steady school friends. In January things started to shift a bit and Cady came home talking about David instead of Javi. "Davie likes the Wiggles, David does a Wiggle Dance. David. David. David". David on more than one occassion has planted a big kiss on her at the end of the day. The most recent was when I had to pick her up early for a Dr. appointment. David yelled across the classroom, "Cady, wait! I have to kiss you" and comes running across the room and plants a big one on her. Well, the past two weeks she has started talking about Javi again and Mr. Polo told me that last week there was an actual fight between the two boys and she was smack in the middle of it. Both boys were competing for her attention by drawing her pictures and it got heated when Cady only gave one of the boys a picture in return. Ah, young love.
Tonight Cady and I had a date. I bought tickets to see a neighborhood theater production of Wizard of Oz. I wasn't expecting much considering that last time we went when Grandma was here Cady said that her favorite part of the show was when it was over. We dressed up, put on a little make-up (glitter hair spray for Cady) and I could tell she felt so special. We parked at the show and walked up 32nd Avenue for dinner. Several people passed by and made comments to Cady about how pretty she looked and I could see her walking just a little taller after each compliment. She chose Chinese food so we had a nice dinner together and then walked back to the show. What a hoot! The way the play was set-up was a circular platform in the middle of the room surrounded by just six tables with eight chairs each. Very intimate and extremely close. I was a little worried about just how close because Cady was already having a lot of anxiety about the wicked witch. Well, the show started and the fun began. Because it was so intimate and because Cady made no attempt to use her "library voice" everyone from the actors to the audience got to share in Cady's innermost thoughts. During one scene when the trees were throwing apples at Dorothy and the Scarecrow, the Scarecrow missed the apple and it rolled under our table. I didn't even notice that Cady crawled under the table to get it until well into another scene when the apple goes flying onto the stage. And my all time favorite Cady comment of the evening was this:
Cady: Why is he walking like that? (referring to the tin man who was walking stiffly)
Me: It's because he is made of tin
Cady: (Pause) Am I going to look like that when I'm 10???
It was a great night. Cady laughed harder than I've ever heard her laugh (aside from being tickled) and she had so many comments during the show. The owner of the theater company approached us during intermission and said, "I don't know what's better. The play or the cute comments that your daughter is making" and this woman was seated at the table furthest from ours, yikes! Cady was terrified of the witch and spent all the witch scenes in my lap. She hugged Dorothy after the play. She sulked because she wants the show to be "open" every day and she didn't ever want it to be over. And because the show actually ended almost two hours past her bedtime she had the funniest meltdown during the ride home. It was pure tiredness and she was completely losing it in the back seat over nothing.
So that's about it for us. Naturally I'm still waiting to hear something (anything) about my position for next year. Meanwhile I'm just wrapping up the school year, getting my data reports completed, planning summer activties and enjoying the thought of spending more undivided kid time soon.
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