Tooth #4

Today at breakfast, William got a funny look on his face and then he pulled out the tooth that he had bitten loose. Hopefully it should make eating carrots easier, but corn on the cob might be out for a while.

Old McDonald

My mama job requires all kinds of talents. Feeding, clothing, and convincing children they want to do things they don't want to do (eat some vegetables!) requires some creativity and talent. Today at lunch, I was trying to convince Gemma to eat some bananas mixed with sweet potatoes. She wasn't buying it and I was wearing more sweet potatoes than she had eaten. So,method #1? Distraction.

Mama: old McDonald had a farm. Eieio. And on his farm he had a cow. Eieio. With a moo moo there

Amelia: wait! Stop! I didn't want to do a cow!

Mama: what?

Amelia: I didn't want it to be a cow. I DON'T WANT IT TO BE A COOOOOOOW!

Mama: (inward eye roll)
Mama: what did you want it to be?
Amelia: old McDonald had a wife!
Mama: a wife?
Amelia: a wife.
Mama: But, what would a wife say on the farm?
Amelia: (silence for several beats) I love you!
Mama: okay then!
Amelia: or, pick up your socks

Sent from my iPhone

Sleepy

William wanders out of his room.  It is late- 11 or 11:30 at night.  He sleepily wanders into the bathroom.  I get up to go assist.  William sleeps so deeply that when he gets up he sometimes has trouble waking up enough to....well let's just say get the job down well.  I go in the bathroom and find him bumping around with his eyes shut.  Typical.  I hug him to me and guide him toward the toilet.

"You don't have to help me with this anymore mom."

(a pause before my brain comprehends what he is telling me)

"What?"

"This.  I don't need help with this anymore mom."

 oh.  hmmm. really?

I help him wash his hands and shuffle him back to bed.  And I contemplate.  He might not actually need my help with this anymore.

The Last Day of Preschool + BIG dance show

Today was a BIG day for Ms Amelia!  She had her last day of preschool for the year AND her big ballet dance show!  Preschool was a water and ice cream extravaganza.  I knew it was going to be tricky to keep her in good spirits for her big performance - I think we did it!

The Boston Tea Party girls!  Their dance started with a little tea party...with real china. Eek!  This one is from the dress rehearsal Wednesday night

Amelia in her dance outfit after dress rehearsal

She was so beautiful in her costume! again, from Wednesday's dress rehersal

Amelia's invented ballet poses - Wednesday dress rehearsal

Another Amelia creation from the Wednesday dress rehearsal

Last day of 3 year old bee room preschool

On the front step with her backpack.  Will she put it on? No.

Back to more ballet poses

Gemma running away from me

Amelia the night of the show

Amelia at home right before the dance show

Amelia's class during the awards portion of the show

Grandpa Heidt and Amelia (with a William bomb in the back)

Grandpa Heidt drove in for the big dance show all the way from Minnesota - what a special treat!  If you asked me to drive 7 hours for a dance routine under 3 minutes, I would have said no.  Lucky for us, Grandpa thought that sounded like fun!

I was so proud of Amelia's hard work on preparing for the dance show.  We practiced every day, several times a day.  She knew the routine by heart (and so did our whole family.  Even Gemma could do parts of the ballet routine).  When her song started, William started singing along and Gemma got so excited she started yelling.  It sounded a lot like, "Go Amelia".  John and I chanted the moves under our breath.  Which was hard, because we were holding our breath throughout the whole routine.  She was flawless.  She showed no fear and hit most of her steps.  She didn't smile, but she also didn't cry and she clearly wasn't afraid.  I'd like to share it here, but the dance teacher has asked us not to post on the internet.  So I won't.  But, I wish I could.  Because I am so very proud.

When she was done dancing, I was so relieved.  I have been very stressed about the dance show.  I was worried she would be scared.  Or refuse to go on stage.  Or fall.  Or forget the steps.  Or cry.  And that wasn't all.  The preparation for the dance show has revealed I have a few hang ups and insecurities I wasn't aware of until now.


The ballet teacher is strict (as one would expect, and then no more) and has a list a mile long of rules* for the dance show.  One rule was hair was to be in a bun.  No bangs are allowed.  (hang up alert.).  I don't do my own hair.  Ever.  In all seriousness, I do not comb or brush my hair.  I run my fingers through it and most days it ends up in a ponytail or some other quick arrangement that prevents the baby from yanking on it and keeps it out of my eyes.  For some reason, a bun felt like someone asking me to quick do some calculus.  I have never had a calculus class.  So, I did what anyone in the day and age does.  I turned to youtube and watched several informative videos on putting hair in a bun.  This helped, but the mere thought of a bobby pin would still make my heart race and palms sweat.  This wasn't something I could screw up.  It had to be perfect for my girl.  Lots of things could potentially go wrong with a dance performance, but it wasn't going to be my fault.  I did not want to be the responsible party for ruining her dance show.

The list of rules also called for light stage makeup - nothing heavy (hang up alert).  Whaaaaat?  I wear chapstick and occasionally mascara along with under eye concealer for those dark, dark circles.  When asked, the teacher clarified she would like some pink blush (or whatever color I had on hand.  HA!), some red lipstick (not pink, purple, orange, coral, or other color.  Just use the plain red I have in my collection.  HAA again!), and some light eye makeup.

To sum it up, I survived and faced down my fears of not having it just right for my girl.  It turned out right and she fit in with the other little girls.  Amelia was delighted by the number of "practice runs" I required to develop my confidence.  This girl will happily wear obscene amounts of makeup every day of the week.  Not that I will let her.  


*No flash photography, no video recording on ground level (balcony only), no posting video on internet, no glitter, no perfume, no nail polish, tights must match dance shoe, assigned shoes must be worn. All students must remain backstage for the entirety of the show.  Rules.  Gotta love them.

11 Months

Gemma turned 11 months old on Thursday.  Can you believe it?  With it being a Thursday, which is when Kelly works during the day and at night, things got a little crazy.  On her way to work, she texted me saying "I wasn't able to take Gemma's 11 month photo today.  Can you go outside and take a few?"

Well, now I'm stressed, because typically Kelly takes the monthly photos, and you've probably seen that she does a terrific job.  I have some mighty big shoes to fill.  Hopefully, if I just took enough photos, I could get some good ones purely by coincidence.  Even the blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut.

One thing to notice is the curly hair!  The weather warmed up, the humidity came in and BOING!  Gemma went from her straight hair, to having little ringlets around her head.  Looks like she may be taking after Mama and big sister, Amelia. 

The one photo where you could actually see the sign

What the 11 months sign looked like most of the time

Doing a little yard work.

I put Gemma down and she stood there, but would not move.  I think the grass may have been a little prickly on her feet.  

Yes!  She finally is looking at me and smiling!

Well, at least she's still smiling.

William and Amelia were also outside during this photo session, and Gemma was very distracted with all their antics.  

William stop!  Don't go in the street!

The next series of photos I think are kind of funny, since they show a bunch of different faces that Gemma made in a rather short period of time.

About this time, the neighbor came out with her two kids.  Now, there were five big kids to watch running, and riding around.   Photography session over. 

Father's Night

A few weeks ago it was Father's night at Amelia's preschool. It was on a night that Kelly works, but luckily a friend was willing to babysit William and Gemma (on the sitter's birthday no less!). Thank you!

The preschool was divided into stations. Crafts in one, snacks in another, photos and stories in another, and games in the last one. Apparently there was a theme to the party. It was Western night, and you were supposed to dress up! Oops!

In the game room there was Nerf guns to shoot at targets. Play-doh, dress up clothes, and a sunflower seed spitting game. Amelia's first choice was the Nerf guns. Who would have guessed?

 

Get it?

William's joke this evening!

Amelia conversation

I feel like Amelia says plenty of cute stuff, but as the neglected middle child, she doesn't get as much written down here.  So, on Wednesday, the two of us were driving to ballet class (a ten minute drive) when the following conversation took place:

Amelia: I want to listen to the dinosaur music.
Mama: The dino music is in the other car, I don't have any dinosaur music here.
Amelia: Can we please listen to dinosaur music?
Mama: Thank you for being so polite!  I still don't have any dinosaur music.
Amelia: Then I want to listen to Car Talk . 
Mama: What?
Amelia: Can we please listen to Car Talk*?
Mama:  That is only on the radio on Saturday mornings!
Amelia: I just love that show.

-----

The same evening on the way home, we had the following conversation:

Amelia: Do you remember when Grandpa Heidt was a baby?
Mama: Nope. 
Amelia: Can you tell me about Grandpa Heidt was a baby?
Mama: I think I know some stories about Grandpa Heidt when he was a baby.  He used to have very curly, beautiful hair.
Amelia: So you remember.
Mama: No.  Grandpa's sisters told me about his curly hair and about when he was a little boy.
Amelia:Grandpa has sisters?!?!?
Mama: Yes.
Amelia: Do you remember when Grandma Kim and Grandpa Kevin were babies?
Mama: nope.
Amelia: You don't?  Why? 
Mama: Grandma and Grandpa are older than Mama.  So, I wasn't born when they were babies.
Amelia: What? You DO remember, right Mama?
Mama: (are we home yet?  we hit every.single.red.light) No, I can't remember that because I wasn't there when they were babies.
Amelia: Where were you?
Mama: Hey!  Let's play the letter game!  I'm looking for a letter A.....


*In short, Car Talk is a public radio show featuring two brothers who discuss car repair and other car related topics when they aren't insulting each other.  I admit John and I are big fans.

Tooth #8&9

Yesterday I noticed Gemma has 2 new teeth starting to poke out. The top incisors on the right and left are coming in.

Sent from my iPhone

Field trip! Part I

On Wednesday I got to go with William's class on a field trip to Purina Farms!  A big thanks to daddy for taking the day off to stay home with the girls- no siblings were allowed!

We haven't been out to Purina Farms yet, so I was excited to scope it out with a bunch of kindergarteners.

We arrived and caught the beginning of the dog show.  William was completely mesmerized by the bigger kids having a dance party to the loud music while they waited for the show to begin.  I don't think he even saw the dogs.

As the show got under way, we had to walk away as we were scheduled for lunch.  I had some disappointed friends!  

They got over it quick - especially when lunch included Sprite.

After lunch, we pet animals and ran around.  And ran and ran.

 

Field trip part II

I got tired of chasing my little crew, so we settled in for a fun tractor pulled wagon ride.

Later, we found a play area with a series of tunnels.  I thought we would never get out of there.  All4 went in and then came out different places at different times.  I kept sending them in after each other and then having them disappear for the next ten minutes.  I finally got smart and didn't let them go back in.  It took awhile, but we finally got everyone out 

Of there and onto the next thing: rope swing!  William loved it and I had to drag him away kicking and screaming.

Field trip part III

With the day winding down, William became obsessed with trying to pet a fish. He was quite unhappy when we left without having put hands upon a slippery guy. Mama was okay with that not working out.

We also caught the end of a milking demonstration - William got to try and milk this cow.

At the end of the day, we put the fitness back on the bus and William and I stayed an extra 20 minutes to catch the rest of the dog show we missed. This time it was less crowded and William saw the dogs doing the amazing tricks.

My first strawberry rhubarb pie

I made my first strawberry rhubarb pie today- with a little help. It is so yummy and one of my favorite spring time treats!

Now that I'm thinking about it, this might be my first pie ever....

What's out there?

Our windows are just the right height for peeking out for the little bean. With the gorgeous weather last week (not so much currently), we had the windows open a lot. This was the perfect opportunity for some peeking and discovery- there is a whole world out there!

Amelia's alphabet

I was on the phone one day last month and Amelia sat herself down at the table with the markers and a pad of paper. A few minutes later, she presented me with the complete alphabet. Somewhere in the mix, I lost the last set, which makes me very sad. We haven't really worked on letter formation outside of her name and I know she isn't working on it at preschool. This is just all her observations from watching William do his homework and reading books.

Hey daddy!

What should I do with these things? (Remotes to the tv)

Hmmm....

I know! My favorite game! Throw them in the tub and turn the water on!

Dlfns

Dlfins



Dalfins live in the zoo and osnin.



Dolfins eat fish.  Dolfins dink wodr.

Dolfins do't have no legs.  They have fins.



Dalfins are trand.



(Dolphins

Dolphins live in the zoo and ocean.
Dolphins eat fish.  Dolphins drink water.
Dolphins don't have legs.  They have fins.
Dolphins are trained.*)


*William was sure to point out the one small peach line that represents the trainer in this picture and the black line that represents a whistle.