Preschool Graduation

Millie graduated from preschool! She learned SO much this year from Ms. Jan and Ms. Joan, and she is totally ready for Kindergarten. She also finished up a year of speech preschool which has helped her tremendously. She mastered almost all of the sounds that were giving her trouble, and she is so much easier to understand. We love this sweet, smart, inquisitive little girl. She has so many big questions (Where does space come from? What would happen if gravity stopped working? How can we get to other worlds?) and I'm not always sure I have the right answers to give her. We just hope she continues to love learning for a long time. At the graduation program, Ms. Joan showed everyone a picture the kids drew of themselves that said what they want to be when they grow up. Millie said she wants to be a superhero. 

Miniature Golfing

Guys. When Mark and I were in college, we both went miniature golfing at Trafalga at some time or other before we met. That was over ten years ago, which is really hard to believe. But when we suggested miniature golfing to Millie for her 5th birthday, we saw just what ten years can do to a place. A place that was once swarming with grubby kids and young college kids who were looking for an inexpensive date. 

Our first clue was when pulling into the pot-holed parking lot and couldn't tell if it was even open. There were exactly zero cars in the parking lot and there was no indication of where you were supposed to enter. But Millie was so darn excited that we parked and checked the door, and it was unlocked. So in we went. 

I went to the counter to buy a pass that would let us all golf and would include 30 game credits for the arcade. The manager who was running the counter gave me a funny look and said most people don't want the credits since so many of the games are broken. Clue number 2, and I still didn't really realize what was going on.

We then picked out our golf clubs. Pretty much we just had to find the least sticky of the bunch. Ew. Clue #3.

The green carpeting was ripped to pieces on every hole. Clue #4.

The last hole (where you try to get a hole-in-one and then you can't get your ball back) had a box to hold all of the balls which was smashed in where we probably could have helped ourselves to all of the colored golf balls we wanted. Clue #5.

After we finished up, I noticed a sign that said, "For your convenience, please skip the Castle and the Schoolhouse holes." Seriously, for our convenience. Thanks for looking out for us. Clue #6.

We went inside and I was looking for a place to get coins for the arcade. Only then did I notice the sign from the health department stating that they could not sell food anymore due to health code violations. Clue #7, and by this point I was laughing when I pointed it out to Mark. 

The kids had a total blast, and it was SO fun to watch them experience this for the first time. They never knew what a dump it was, so honestly it was all worth it. Well, except that it was way overpriced.

Millie's Pumpkin

Millie decorated a pumpkin for Halloween. She was SO excited and loves her pumpkin so much! I love that she insisted on this warty pumpkin (even though it was pretty tricky to work with) and I also love that these kinds of projects keep her so entertained nowadays.

 

I both love and hate the fact that when I ask her to look at the camera and say cheese, these are the kinds of faces I get:

 

3 Years Old

She's officially three years old. On an every day basis we have conversations with her that go something like this: 

"You need to eat your dinner so you can grow big and strong."

Millie: "Up to the ceiling??!?"

"You need to take a nap and get some rest because it will help your body feel better."
Millie: "And grow up to the ceiling?!??!"

Millie: "Am I a big girl?"

"Yes, you're such a good, big girl!"

Millie: "Am I up the ceiling now?"

No, not yet little (big) girl. You have plenty more naps to take and food to eat to help you grow up to the ceiling. But you are certainly growing fast, so it won't be long now. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. 

Creative Millie

Millie is going to be three years old this week. There is so much to love about this little girl, and I need to write some of it down so I don't forget her sweetness. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Millie is not like other children. She is a bit of an old soul, and has never given me the kind of typical problems most children bring to their parents. She has never had a meltdown tantrum in public, and only a handful of times at home has it come close. I never even really had to child-proof our home because she just didn't get into things she shouldn't.

Her most cherished possession is her family. If she sees a lost animal (be it a dog or a spider or a lizard) she tells me it is on its way home to find its family. It is usually named Nini and has a Mommy, a Daddy, and a Baby Yook. She is usually very gentle and kind to Luke and likes to help me take care of him. Fortunately he's a pretty good trooper the times she decides to play more roughly and tackles him. She believes she can run and jump, but I have no fear of her ever running too fast for me to catch her.

One of the funnest things about Millie these days is her creative imagination. She has started to invent games, and often wants to play them all day long. I have to admit I'm not very good at indulging her because the rules are pretty demanding and as soon as I play along she corrects everything I say. She plays simple games like having a picnic, going grocery shopping in my cupboards, or making a carousel out of her ride-on toys. But sometimes she comes up with real gems: throwing a birthday party for a stuffed monkey that necessarily consists of baking a cake that includes real fruit snacks and applesauce (mean Mommy puts her foot down on opening them); throwing a circus and pretending to be the Ringmaster by standing on a platform and talking into an empty cardboard tube to amplify her voice; fishing for "gooey fish" with giant fake gerber daisies (every time I tell her I caught a fish, she informs me that I've caught a hippopotamus or a book instead); or my personal favorite: Messy Piggy--a game where she pretends to jump in a mud puddle and splashes around, then jumps into a pond to clean herself off.

I have a feeling that Luke and Millie are going to teach each other a lot. I hope he grows up playing her games and being her favorite playmate. I hope she teaches him to exercise a little caution at times, but to love his family with his whole heart. I hope he teaches her to experience new things from time to time and to pick herself up again when she falls down without always looking around for some sympathy.

Just the other day at the park, I asked Millie if she wanted to swing. She's usually willing to try, but immediately wants to get back down. This time was no different, at first. Then we stuck Luke in a swing, and he cackled with joy as we pushed him higher and higher into the air. As she watched him, she decided to stay in the swing and that it would be okay if we pushed her a little higher. Soon enough, she was smiling and laughing, too, and didn't want to get back down for a long time. Those are the moments when I am most grateful that they have each other. I love them both for all of the ways they are different, and hope their differences complement each other throughout the coming years.

Busy Life

I have had little time to blog lately (obviously). We have been so busy, and our computer situation is tricky, so it's hard to ever get to sit down and organize pictures, stories, and thoughts. We have had all kinds of milestones in the past weeks, and not a lot of photos with which to document them. 

Potty training turned out to be a big success. It was a pretty rough month because Mark was SO busy at work and I was afraid to leave the house with a child who still needed to learn some bladder control. Finding time to grocery shop was the pits. Even if I just stuck a Pull-up on Millie, I still wanted to give her the chance to use the potty if she needed it. But having to hold her on a toilet while holding Luke in my other arm was exhausting. Bringing my cart into the bathroom isn't always an option, and neither was leaving him outside to wait for us. Then of course it would take about 4 separate trips to the bathroom before there was a success. It's painful just to remember it, but it's getting so much better. I'm so proud of this little girl! We were especially proud of how well she learned to put puzzles together while we kept her in the same room for a few weeks right next to her potty. These puzzles seriously saved our sanity (and probably Millie's as well). 

After weeks of scooting, moving backwards, squirming, and screaming, Luke finally got the hang of crawling. Which was good because I literally walked into a room where I'd heard him scream and couldn't find him because he had backed himself completely underneath the futon. He is happier, and now he loves the freedom to search for electronics to chew on, pull over lamps, pull books off of shelves, eat refrigerator magnets, crawl under the kitchen chairs, and especially open and close doors. One time he closed a bedroom door from the inside and it took me several minutes to get in because he was sitting right next to the door and would not move. He is so incredibly sweet and loving, adores his big sister, loves to be held, enjoys screaming as loud as he can for no apparent reason, and LOVES for us to make him laugh. I'm glad he tolerates it when I can't help but squish him with hugs.

This month has been especially challenging because Mark has been away every week so far for job interviews. The kids miss him like crazy, and I find single parenthood does not suit me at all. So last week I opted to head up to Dallas to spend a few days with some good friends from Ithaca. (If you are reading this, live in Dallas, and knew me in Ithaca but did not get a visit, please forgive me. It was a very short trip, and I knew I couldn't squeeze too much in. We hope to make it back up there again before we leave Houston for a Cornell reunion.) Camilla loved visiting the Children's Aquarium.

She also got a kick out of playing dress up for the first time in her life. The mermaid costume was a little long, but she was very happy to be a ballerina with Norah for most of the night. She even tried hard to coach Norah in the correct method of spinning in circles like a ballerina. I gave up trying to get decent pictures of them as neither one was willing to slow down and look at the camera. Millie loved meeting Norah and Alice and I loved spending time with old friends who never run out of things to talk about. I wish Dallas wan't 4 hours away. *sigh*

Stay calm. . .

Lately Millie has conversations during meals with. . . well, her food. Sometimes they are nonsensical, but yesterday's was particularly good:

(Holding up two pieces of cheese so they are facing one another) "Don't worry, Mommy will be back soon. She's in Nini's mouth."

****

In other news, when I had to buy a box of size 6 diapers (which contains about 1/2 the amount of a box of Luke's for the same price), I got pretty motivated to give potty training a try again. I was dreading this big time, and did not want to feel enslaved to it for the next weeks, months, or years. The first day was not great, but it could have been worse. I was so tempted to quit the next morning before I ever got out of bed. But I knew I should give it a real go, so we followed through. I could almost see the realization in her eyes when she understood for the first time that she needed to go before it just happened. We're on day four, Millie had one accident on day two and none so far since then. I'm still nervous about leaving the house, but we are so relieved and so proud of Millie for her amazing progress!

Santa

I used to be a Santa hater. I wasn't sure how I was going to explain Christmas to my kids because I knew they would be exposed to him, but I didn't want it to come from me. I also didn't want them to be the only kids in their class at school professing the truth about Santa Claus to their poor, believing classmates. I wanted to preserve the true meaning of Christmas in our home, but of course that didn't mean no presents. Things like this stress me out because I want to sort out the answer before it ever comes up, but this time I learned to just relax a bit. Because it really did resolve itself. The first time Camilla asked me about Santa (she heard him mentioned in a song on the radio, and probably in other places as well), I found myself telling her all about him. And I was excited. And now she is excited, too. Our little introvert didn't even have much trouble sitting on Santa's lap at the ward Christmas party. She didn't say a word to him, but she was thrilled with the candy cane he gave her and she points him out wherever we see him. 

Even though Millie is excited for Santa, she knows about Baby Jesus, too. 

Me: Millie, who was born on Christmas?

Camilla: Baby Jesus.

M: And where was he born?
C: In the barn.

M: And did people bring him presents?

C: Yes they did!

M: What did they bring him?

C: A teddy bear, a binky, and a Nonie (her word for blankie).

I think those are better gifts than gold, frankincense and myrrh for a new baby.

The Kids

There's really not much going on around here to report. I'm itching for the holidays to really be here because I feel like it's going to be Camilla's first "real" Christmas. And I get to create the Christmas magic for her. What an exciting (if not a little daunting) prospect! In order to NOT get on Amazon and find more stuff to order--I'm really just about done with my shopping--I'm posting some pictures for the Grandmas. 

First of all, I just love that these two love each other so much. I know there will come a day when they start to fight over toys and such, but for now there is zero animosity between them. I just sat back and snapped pictures of them entertaining each other one day.

I also love that Luke plays with all of the toys that I bought for Camilla that she never appreciated. She was not a mouth-oriented baby. Things did not go into her mouth ever. Luke doesn't like it unless it fits in his mouth. I will not love this when it's food and dirt he finds on the floor, but for now it's toys and Binkies.

Along the same lines, Luke is much more interested in food than Millie was. He has been watching us eat and screaming about it for a few weeks. We gave in and let him have rice cereal. We're holding off on anything else for now because of his allergies (and because his doctor wants us to wait, shhh!), but he's cool with that. He LOVES the stuff and screams until we get him another bite.

Finally, Luke is sitting on his own these days. He's getting pretty good at it, but the stubborn little stinker still won't roll from his tummy to his back. Go figure. 

And to even things out, here's Camilla. She has recently gotten very excited about having her picture taken and hams it up for the camera as much as possible. Or maybe she's just really happy to be eating Mickey Mouse cheese and drinking from a Dora cup. She's such a sweet, happy little girl lately, and we are really enjoying the stages of both of these kiddos these days. 

Our Spooky Halloween

I've been really excited for the holidays this year because Camilla is at an age where she really gets things. I know she's going to be much more aware of the magic and probably remember it for awhile. We've spent the whole month talking up Halloween. She has been so excited to dress us as Minnie Mouse and for Baby Luke to dress up as a Chili Pepper. (When asked, she has responded that Mommy is going to be a Waterfall and Daddy is going to be a Bee. We have no idea where she came up with these costume ideas.) She was thrilled to carve our pumpkins the night before Halloween.

The day of Halloween, Millie wore her costume all day. She couldn't stop talking about going to a party at the church. She kept trying to get us to leave hours before the Trunk or Treat started. We decided to stop at my Grandma's house first so she could see the kiddos in their costumes. Millie was off the wall hyper by this point, and that was before she'd really had any candy. She could not sit still and was all over Gigi's house when she usually stays within arm's reach of me. She climbed up on a chair and stood there for a little bit, and I decided she should get down before she knocked something over. As I moved over to help her get down, all of a sudden she just fell backwards and hit her head on the brick fireplace. I grabbed her to calm her down and assess the damage and found that there was blood. Grandma got some towels for us, and Mark held one on her head. She bled through it in a few minutes. We decided it was time to head to the ER.

Luke screamed the whole way to the hospital (he was starving) and Millie sat silently in my lap while I pressed a towel to her head. And despite the chaos and the horrible timing of it all, Mark and I just felt the worst about the fact that she was going to miss her party. She'd stopped bleeding by the time we got there, so we knew it probably wasn't too serious, but we wanted to make sure there was no concussion or anything. One hour and a $150 copay later, we left the hospital with one staple in the back of Millie's head. You can kind of see it in this picture, so feel free to skip if that stuff grosses you out.

At this point, we knew the Trunk or Treat should be over, but we went to the church anyways in hopes that it had gone over time. It was getting dark and the parking lot had almost emptied when we arrived, and I didn't really recognize anybody. We had to find a way to give Millie some sort of Halloween. So I jumped out of the car and walked to the small group of stragglers to ask if they would give our daughter candy if I supplied them with some. And of course all the emotions of a difficult night finally boiled over the minute I opened my mouth, and I just bawled while I tried to explain what had happened and what we needed. And all of these kind people took pity on the crazy crying woman and hounded Camilla when she climbed out of the car. They filled her purple pumpkin bucket with candy from their own buckets and told her what a pretty Minnie Mouse she was. She was too overwhelmed to say Trick or Treat, but she didn't really need to. I was so grateful for such a small gesture on their parts to salvage Halloween for a 2-year old who had to miss her party. It's moments like those that make me grateful to be a part of a church family full of good people who are friends even though we may not all know each other well. 

Luke lucked out and didn't have to wear his rather warm Chili Pepper costume on a rather warm October evening. He actually kind of had a good night because Momma held him the entire time which she usually doesn't have time to do. He was really a trooper--the whole night could have been even worse had he been in a bad mood. But I did make sure to do a little photo shoot with him the next morning since there's nothing cuter than a baby in a ridiculous costume. 

You can fix anything with sticky tape

Conversation between Camilla and Mark (somewhat edited for the benefit of the reader--Camilla doesn't say all of these words well enough that a random person would understand):

Camilla: What's that? What's that, Daddy?
Mark: That's a bicycle. Someday we'll get you a bicycle and we'll all ride together.
C (lighting up): We has to go ride our bicycles, Daddy! We has to go ride them!
M: No, not today. We only have one bicycle.
C: You ride on the back. I ride on the front.
M: No, this bicycle has a broken tire. We can't ride it.
C: We has to fix it! We has to fix the bicycle tire!
M: No, we can't fix it. We don't have what we need.
C: We has to get some sticky tape! And fix the bicycle tire!
M: No, not right now.
C: We has to get some sticky tape! We has to get some sticky tape at the grocery store! And fix the bicycle tire! And ride our bicycles!
M: No, Millie. Let's play with--
C: We has to get sticky tape, Daddy! And fix the broken tire! We has to go to grocery store!

(2 hours later)

Camilla: We has to get sticky tape! We has to go to grocery store! I wanna ride bicycles! Mommy, let's get some sticky tape!..............



You have to give her credit for problem solving here. :)

Millie Paints

I finally got around to buying Millie some finger paints. She was SO excited to get to use them. It started out very proper and organized.

She then asked if she could paint on her arm. (Seriously, this kid asks permission for EVERYTHING.)

I turned away for a few minutes, and it had evolved into full-body painting. 

Hooray for happy toddlers!