tiny dancers

Annabelle's dance studio had a little tiny recital last week. Only eight girls from the original class signed up and one had to drop out on the day of the performance so it was a small group.  I offered to take the spot of the missing girl but I was turned down. Each dancer's family was given two seats in the audience so it was only parents and a couple of siblings.  

She had two practices before the show and after I picked her up from the first one, she said her dance shoes didn't fit anymore. We never wore shoes when we practiced at home so I didn't know she outgrew them during the quarantine break. I had to track down shoes from a friend whose daughter is in another class. We did try the costume ahead of time but we couldn't get the skirt to line up evenly. It always looks like a shirt badly tucked into pants. That's because it was an asymmetrical skirt so it wasn't supposed to be even. I believe the words you're looking for are, "what a great dance mom you are." 

I love watching little dancers. They're so precious in their tutus and very little idea of what to do.

The tap song was "Animal Crackers In My Soup" and the ballet song was a version of "Baby, Take a Bow." At two points in the tap song she was supposed to do a wiggle with one hand on her hip and the other in the air. AB was SO embarrassed anytime she did it. I honestly didn't know if she'd do it in the recital or not. The lyrics at those points were "who's that bunch of personality?" and "here's the future Miss America." I showed her several times how to do a convincing Miss America move but she was never impressed. When she did it at the recital, she shrugged and stuck one arm up. It was the most minimal effort she could have put forth while still doing it. 

If only she had looked to her mother for guidance. I'm very experienced with the hands-on-the-hip move.

party like you're housebound

It was much easier to take AB's birthday photos on her second birthday. All I had to do was fake sneeze and she'd burst out laughing. This year she insisted her leggings matched her dress (they didn't) and she intentionally let go of the blue balloon and we never got it back.

On birthday eve Christopher inflated somewhere around 38 balloons. We take birthday balloons very seriously around here. I'm so happy we have a mantle to decorate again. Hanging the birthday banner from the tv stand isn't nearly as festive. 

We had a very low-key day. Annabelle opened one of her gifts in the morning (she opened the rest at night) so she'd have a new thing to play with during the day. I baked the cakes the night before so all I had to do was make the frosting and cake toppers the day of. Cake decorating is 1000% less stressful when I'm not worried about all the rooms being spotless for guests who are arriving in 3 hours. Normally I'm a chicken with its head cut off on birthday party day but I enjoyed the slower pace. The downside is no one was here to appreciate what I'm ranking the best birthday cake I've ever made. 

Sesame wanted a Harry Potter themed birthday which is NOT a theme I ever would have picked. I wasn't allowed to read the books growing up and I would have been fine if she never read them, but Christopher enjoys them and the two of them have been listening to the books together. He's able to explain and discuss questionable parts as they go. She won't be able to listen to anything beyond the first three books for several years which means she's listened to those three at least 5 times since January. By virtue of living in the same home, I too have listened to the first books 5 times. She has spent so much time telling me the rules of quidditch, the history of this character and asking questions about how such and such potion is made. I've been through a similar Harry Potter indoctrination before. We got married the same year the last Harry Potter movie came out and Christopher thought I needed an HP movie marathon to see the previous seven movies. It was SO MUCH Harry Potter. Now nine years into our marriage I'd say peace out, I'm going to watch A Walk to Remember so you're on your own, but newlywed Sarah was very obliging. 

AB asked that her birthday cake have a letter from her favorite characters on it. I printed a birthday letter signed by several characters, colored it with a tea bag and crumpled it to give some texture. I made the little quidditch ball (sphere? playing piece? I haven't been paying much attention) with playdough that morning and used a black chopstick for a wand. I was dealing with health issues that week and didn't have the energy to create a personalized wand.

We were able to get both sets of grandparents, all aunts and uncles and a few cousins together to sing happy birthday to her at the same time. It made me so happy. So few family members have been able to attend her birthday parties because of distance and it meant a lot that they did this for us. 

They couldn't get a good view of the cake but they didn't require me to clean the bathrooms either. All in all they were perfect party guests. 

.six.

My favorite girl turned six on Saturday. Last month she was swimming in a cake pan because we didn't own a kiddie pool and now she's waiting for her first tooth to fall out.

Every March 28th I take her picture at 1:40, the minute she turns another year older. It's neat to look back and see what she's doing at that time every year because it really shows what she's into. She LOVES coloring and drawing right now.  

She had a lot of first this year. She graduated from preschool and started piano lessons. She did her first group sport and danced in her first recital. 

She got her first headache, first case of HFM and went to the eye doctor for the first time. She went to her first VBS and on her first camping trip. I feel like she's done so many big kid firsts this year. She's somewhat adjusted to me working and not being home to tuck her in every night. Most nights she waits for me to get home to fall asleep which is slightly annoying but honestly makes me happy because it's so sweet. 

She still has a wild imagination and an assortment of imaginary friends. Her original group of Goldbug, Garby, Carla, Azelia and the baby are no longer part of her imaginary rotation but I refuse to let them die off. She brings her brother Matt on every trip and I always ask if she's going to bring Goldbug and Co and she says no. I know she's going to say no but I ask anyway.

She loves coloring, playing outside, snugging the cats and collecting stuffed animals. We have more stuffed animals than we know what to do with but every time I try to get rid of some she notices. She loves history and doing science experiments. We're still working on reading and her handwriting leaves much to be desired but we're getting there. She's started to sound out words and write us notes and letters and I love it. She loves jokes and making puns. She would listen to kids podcasts and audio books all day if I let her.

She adores Christopher. All day long she asks how long it is until he comes home. They still go on Daddy Daughter Breakfast every Saturday morning and sometimes they let me come but I know she prefers when it's just the two of them.

I'm not sure how much she weighs but she's around 47". She has her 6 year well check tomorrow morning at 8:30 which was VERY optimistic planning on the part of pre-quarantine Sarah. I guarantee you I thought we'd get the appointment out of the way, then have time to go to the library and do some school before swimming lessons. Now we feel like we're really living it up because we get to leave the house at all and drive to the doctors. How the times have changed. 

I love this picture from the cruise because she looks like her two-year-old self and I cling to every little bit of babyhood. ''What a surprise that you don't want her to grow up" said no one ever. 

We've had some rough patches lately because she's started to think she is more of an authority figure in our home than she is. We've always given her the respect of listening to her thoughts and opinions but as she's gotten older it's become apparent that she assumes she has more influence on daily decisions than she does so we've had to work on that. I want her to know she's an important part of the family but she isn't a third adult. I never imagined I'd make it 6 years into parenting and only have one child but here we are. I was never someone who wanted to have children close together because I wanted to enjoy each child as a baby and toddler and we've gotten that with Sesame. As I say to her every night, she's my best girl.

In which AB requests to be interviewed but things go off the rails

What do you want to talk about?
About my school.
What about it?
It's fun. It's work through play. I like my friends. (She means learning through play.)
Who were your best friends there?
Teagan, Luke, Victoria and Arya. All three of them. Actually, just Victoria and Arya.
How did you like your old school?
It was fine. It was work like a boarding school.
How do you know what boarding school is like?
Cause I know all about it. Cause I heard of it before from Christopher Robin. If you wanted to be on an interview blog, whose blog would you want it to be? You type quickly. Are you supposed to type quickly?
Who's doing the interview here?

What makes you scared or lonely?
What makes me feel lonely is if you're at work and I'm at home and I kinda get a little worried about you. That makes me sad and lonely.
What makes you feel brave?
To have courage.
What is courage?
I don't know. Do you?

Tell me about your imaginary friends.
Ralph and Leah are on vacation but they're coming home. They'll meet us at MA. Massachusetts is fun at Grammy's apartment. Me and my Aunt Squiddzen go and have a lot of adventures together. Like one time we explored a tunnel. I will never go in there again!

Tell me a story about your life.
One time, it was the night before my birthday and I didn't want to turn 5.
Why not?
Because I liked being 4!
Do you not like being 5?
I do. The one thing I'm glad about being five is I can go to the Home Depot kids making things. I went just a couple days ago!

What's your favorite color?
Magenta and blue and green and purple. Dark, dark, dark, dark, dark purple. Look at the cats! They're sleeping!

Can you tell me a joke?
Do you remember the joke of gobble, gobble, google? Here's another joke about z,z,z. What did the zebra do all night? Zzz, zzz, zzz! Sleep!

If you wrote a book what would it be about?
It would be about soggy, wet, scratchy blankets on top of a blankie, on top of a blankie, on top of a blankie! Then there would be a whole stack on top of soggy, wet, scratchy blankets! Isn't that funny. Or I'd write about the Watermelon Princess and the surfing hampster. 

What kinds of things do I like to do?
You like to hold me. And you like to go in drawers. You go in there and snooze all day and never get any work done. 
I've never snoozed in a drawer!
I know but it's a silly answer! You like Daddy. You like black things and sparkly things. 
Who taught you how to wave like the queen?
You did.
What else have I taught you?
That feathers are made from birds. That if you put your fingers across it, you don't have a messed up feather anymore. You want me how to talk. How to write an A. How to say "hi Daddy." How to groom the cat's fur. How to read. 
What are your favorite things to do with me?
Tag and tickle and tickle tag! I like to spend time with you playing tickle and airplane.
How old am I?
48.
What size shoe do you think I have?
890? Maybe size 1.
How old is Dad?
45.
How strong is Daddy?
So strong! Like, a zillion strong! So strong.
What do you like to do with Daddy?
Get presents for you. Go to Home Depot and make the kids activities. 

I'm going to ask you some questions about America.
America! You know all about America! If I were you I'd spell my name.
Why would I spell your name when we're talking about America? 
It has hair.
What does?
America! It has hair! It has ears! America has cats scratching it all the time! 
Where does the president live?
In the 1890's? Or the 1880s. Get it?
No, I don't. I mean, what's the name of his house?
The Black House! I mean, the White House.
What is his wife called?
The First Lady. Can you read me this interview?

***

"Mama, what's squash bubbling?"
"Squash bubbling? Is it something in cooking? Where did you hear it?"
"It was in the Peter Pan movie. They were squash bubbling."

"I think the word is swashbuckling."
''That's what I said. Squash bubbling."
 

"I used midge pod at VBS. Do you ever use midge pod?"
"What's midge pod?"
"Do you mean modge podge?"

I hope she always mispronounces words.

tiny dancer

May 11th, 2019

let's celebrate Sesame

Our month of celebrating Annabelle's birthday is finally wrapping up.

Christopher's birthday job every year is getting the balloons and he never disappoints. She couldn't believe how many he got. Go big or go home is his motto when it comes to buying things. 

Mom and Elizabeth were here for the last week and we did our final birthday celebration on AB's actual birthday. The birthday person always picks whatever fancy plate they want and she chose a Christmas plate. Given that she's on the 18th consecutive month of listening to Christmas music at night it was a choice I should have predicted. Our sweet little friend Lana came over for a special birthday supper. It's fun to give her bigger parties but it was really nice to have a quiet day to visit and play together.

Special birthday pedicure

The next day we went to a plantation an hour and a half away to take birthday pictures. It did not go as planned. The shoes we brought hurt Annabelle's feet. Neither pack of special balloons I bought had strings. When I did get a confetti balloon blown up, it burst and flung confetti all over the pristine garden. Elizabeth swung her arm and accidentally gave Annabelle a bloody lip. We were not off to a good start. 

I feel you, sister.

A few of the 210 pictures I took turned out well. Look how grown up she is. When did this happen?

Three days ago she looked like this and now she looks like she's about to a teenager. 

I always have a month week of mourning before Annabelle's birthdays. This year she joined me in crying. ''But I don't wanna turn five, Mama! I wanna stay 4 years old!" I had to really talk up how great being five will be. I don't love how fast she's growing but I love her and plan on keeping her around for the next 105 years. 

.five.

Annabelle was born on a Friday and I didn't change one single diaper until Monday afternoon. I didn't ask anyone else to do it, but I couldn't sit up or walk to the bathroom without help so Christopher or the nurses did it all. It was the least they could do after I had a person unceremoniously pulled from my body.

Five years later to the day, I was scooping poop out of the kitchen sink because one of the cats (not to name names but Lucy) didn't use the litterbox for its God-intended purpose. 

All that to say, I didn't expect the day my very much potty trained favorite child turned five would be a day I dealt with unpleasantness of that kind.  

I say this every year, but I can't believe she's growing so fast. As my friend said, the sands in the hourglass are falling at warp speed. 

1:40pm, the exact minute she turned 5.

She loves school, food, coloring, crafts, snacks, popsicles, stuffed animals (of which she has dozens and dozens), swimming and movie nights with popcorn.

She's so funny. I want to bottle up her giggle.

She's always been ready for a good time.

She tried talking to the kids on the playground about the Pilgrims and didn't understand how they didn't know who the Pilgrims were.

She loves going to the doctor. "Um, Mom? I have this scratch over here from when I bumped into the wall but like, not really bumped into it. Just a little bumped into it. Do you think we can go see Dr. Tweet?" (His last name isn't really Tweet but it's very similar and I never correct her because it cracks me up.) 

She's not perfect and struggles when others don't want to play what she does, but she is very compassionate towards other children and has a good heart. She has a little friend who can't walk well due to health issues and AB has never once gotten frustrated with her or not wanted to play with her because she can't keep up as well.

She loves the cats and more often than not they sleep together at night.

She's become an excellent swimmer. She does hour-long lessons every Tuesday and has come so far. She struggles with freestyle but can do fairly well with the breaststroke. As long as she has goggles on she's a happy camper. If the goggles fog up or fall off she acts as if the sky is falling and she won't swim.

She can be so absent-minded. I'll tell her to put her dishes in the sink and she'll start talking about what she did at her imaginary school and she'll walk right past the sink and into the living room.

She got nervous about going to a new Sunday school so she asked Christopher to write our phone numbers down for her. She folded the paper up and put it in her shoe for safe keeping. Every week since she's asked for our numbers and little family portrait to "keep me from being lonely."

She still has the most curly hair and the bluest eyes.

She's my best girl.

birthday month begins

A few weeks ago, we gave Annabelle the option of having a birthday party or taking a special birthday trip. I thought for sure she'd pick the party. She talks about her party for months leading up to the big day but I underestimated her love of hotels. I know she loves them but I didn't think she'd pick a hotel over a party. Her love of the "honeypot" aka hotel room ice bucket runs deep. Truthfully I was a little disappointed because I love setting up her parties but it did take things off my plate. Plus, with the changes in the family coming up with foster care we thought it would be nice to have a special time just the three of us. 

Her one request for the hotel was that it have a pool. I called before making the reservation to check on the status of the pool which was a gift of true love in and of itself since I don't like calls with strangers. We made strawberry cupcakes, went to the party store for party supplies and counted down the hours until we left. I don't love the usual kids selections at party stores (I'm more of a klassy party girl), but I knew she would want to pick out plates and napkins and it was her weekend. She picked Shimmer and Shine. I did my best not to steer her towards the cute rabbit plates. It's her party! Her weekend! If she wants Paw Patrol or Elmo so be it! She got to pick out a party favor for each of us and little bags to put them in. She was so excited.

For all the road trips she's been on, I would have hoped she'd learn not to ask "are we there yet?" every fourteen minutes for three hours. When we finally got to half an hour away, I said it was the length of two Daniel Tiger shows. She knows there are 60 seconds in a minute and asked us to count to 60 with her 30 times. Thanks but no. I can't make every birthday request come true.

Sesame brought her imaginary brother Matt to the hotel. Thankfully I didn't have to pack for him this time. She usually requests I pack his luggage and carry him through the airport. I didn't know until it was almost too late that I was supposed to bring him a party favor too. Thanks to my trusty imagination, I whipped a slinky out of my pocket for him. In this picture, she's smiling at Matt with true love. She has several imaginary friends but Matt is her current favorite. She also has a brother named John and a sister Olivia but they didn't come.

The main destination for the trip, besides the hotel pool, was the American Girl store. She doesn't love dolls like I did when I was her age, but she went two years ago and loved playing with the displays. I think we were at the store for half an hour before she got overwhelmed by the noise and screaming children and asked to leave. We said she could pick out a small item for her Bitty Baby and she kept saying, "You can pick whatever you want, Mama. I'll like what you pick." Most times I appreciate that she's very compliant and it's much better than the alternative of throwing a fit, but sometimes I wish she'd be a little more decisive.

 After a few laps around the mall, we went back to the hotel for the party. Yes, I put light candles near the sheets and no, nothing caught fire. 

AB was thrilled. She sat on the bed eating cupcakes off Shimmer and Shine plates and talking about her new American Girl cat. It took all of 25 seconds to clean up which made me think maybe the no-party route is the way to go.

The next day we went to a nature center/museum. The ride home took nearly 5 hours instead of 3 thanks to bad weather, but Matt behaved well during the drive. It's so hit and miss with those imaginary friends.

home sweet (little) home

The day has finally come.

It's time for Annabelle to get her own home and move on out. She's mooched off us long enough.

"Ya talkin' 'bout me?"

Christopher found plans and bought the wood for her new abode. It sat in our living room for several weeks due to weather. I felt like we had moved into the lumber department at Home Depot.

I won't lie- I had serious doubts about his ability to build something with any kind of structural integrity. It's not that I didn't have any faith in him, but I really didn't have faith in him.

Color me surprised when it started to come together.

Then tragedy hit. The floor fell apart when we moved it onto the cement blocks. I tried to be helpful by removing the bent nails and reassembling the floor using the screw gun. I had never used a screw gun before and probably won't use one again. I couldn't get the screws further in than halfway. I was not strong enough. All those exercises I've been doing have been in vain! 

After many days of cutting, nailing, painting and MUCH MUCH sweating the house is nearly complete. I still need to retouch some paint on the inside and decorate a little more, but for a starter home it's darling. 

I had visions of decorating with fabric and pompom garlands but I let Annabelle have a say in decor. She chose a safety theme. That was nowhere near my top 15 ideas but it's her house. It looks a little sparse so I'm going to look for a little table and chairs at thrift shops. Maybe I'll fill a plastic firefighter helmet with water and fill in with flowers as a centerpiece. 

Yesterday we pretended it was a Dunkin Donuts. Annabelle loves their "hashfries" (hashbrowns) so I made some out of felt. 

I'm glad her new home isn't too far away. I just hope she'll be a good neighbor.