Lily's first day of kindergarten

Today's the day. The day you've been waiting for. Last night before you went to sleep, you said, "I'm just a little girl, but when I wake up I'll be a big girl. A school girl."

The four of us walked over to the school at about quarter to nine, though we could have left at three minutes to nine. You were impressed by just how many kids were there. And because most of their parents were there, too, it was down right buzzing with activity.

When the first bell rang, Mme Thorson met us all at the kindergarten door. She talked about your lockers and indoor vs. outdoor shoes. (We'd seen your locker when we came to play at the playground the other night, so you new exactly where your locker was.)

When everything was in it's place, we had to wait a few minutes while the teacher delivered a little lost boy to the gym.

And then a bit more waiting after you found your nametag and did a puzzle.

You couldn't wait for all the parents to leave, which we did first. I'm sure you're in the full swing of things now.


It looks like a fun place. I think I'll go and look out the window to see if recess has started yet... Maybe I'll see my new big girl out there.

So...sew what?

I've been rather restless creatively. Having not been at work – where I made displays, posters, illustrations, calendars, books, etc. on a daily basis – I haven't felt that sense of accomplishment of making something tangible. On Tuesday, I made chili for supper and was rather proud for the rest of the day...

Feeling like there's been practically no time to accomplish much of anything besides keeping the kids alive (which is an accomplishment, but a never-ending project), I decided I had to start sewing again.

I hadn't completely stopped since Finn's birth, but it was rare. A reversible purse/bag for cousin Kim in June, a pillowcase dress from a 30-year-old pink pillowcase Lily found in the basement in July, and that Alice in Wonderland apron for your birthday that you didn't wear at the beginning of August. As an attempt to recapture some of my sanity, I buckled down last week and made a couple bibs and burp cloth. One bib was for Finn and the other things were for Lily's daycare buddy, Sophia, who just got a new baby brother named Hudson.


Awww, doesn't he look cute in his new bib? We need lots more – this kid is a puker. And then I made this playmat so we have something to throw down on the filthy rug or on the hardwood. It's not done; I still have to hand-stitch it (or tie it), but it's nice and substantial, backed with super soft, dark brown corduroy.

And then last night and this morning, I sewed Lily a napkin and placement (kinda like this) with a napkin/spoon pocket for her lunch kit. She picked the fabrics. Here's the inside.

Here's the outside.

And this is it all rolled up.


And I've got lots more things in my head I want to make. By special request, Lily's at the babysitter today and tomorrow. Then next week she's off to school. I'm looking forward to those quiet mornings...until Finn cuts out his nap!

4 months old

Right now, I am watching you sleep. It's something you do well and it still surprises your Dad and me since we thought we could only produce babies who didn't sleep well. Aside from a few off nights last week, you'll typically only eat once between 7:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. – unless you can't be bothered. You nap between 8 and 9 in the morning for approximately 2 hours, then after two hours awake you go down for a two to four hour nap. Those four hour naps are most common when someone is sharing your sleep. Then you have a brief half hour to an hour nap in the early evening and fall asleep for the night around 9 p.m., about an hour after your sister falls asleep. And that's your schedule. It's nice to get into a routine.


We got you weighed yesterday. I was a little surprised considering you were just over 15 lbs. a month ago. Now you are a manly 17 lbs., 7.5 oz. and just above the 85th percentile, according to the WHO boys weight-for-age chart. Nice, except it's hard to keep you in clothes. Anything we have that's the right size is kinda warm and wintery...as we expected to have you in 6-12 months clothes when you were, well, 6-12 months old. Oh well. One evening when Dad came home from work, you were wrapped in a fitted crib sheet. It was the only thing clean that could cover you.

One day old, two months old and last Sunday. That's progress.

Your sister really loves you. Like alot. She's so proud of you. She always says, "Remember when Finn was so tiny? You're such a big boy now. Good boy! Good boy!" She lists off all of your accomplishments since birth on her fingers. And the other night when we had you sitting up for almost ten seconds, she was giddy with pride. She ran to tell Dad as soon as you flopped over. "He did it!" And while she still can't stop kissing you or holding your hand or foot, she doesn't bug you quite so much. You're getting much more fun and more interactive. Laying on the bed beside each other a couple days ago, you were face to face, mouths open wide. She would yell into your mouth and a few seconds after she stopped, you would yell into hers. This went on back and forth for a few minutes before you got agitated. She thought it was hysterical. So did I. She also needs to hug you when she's sad. She says it makes her feel okay again.


You've also begun to laugh. Not much and with some prodding, but you do it. It's so fun to tickle you.

His giggles from Hood/Anderson on Vimeo.

At the same time, you've also been...crying. You've cried about five times in the last week and we don't know why, just that you were getting across that you mean business. And you are a lot more vocal when unhappy these days. It's particularly adorable when you whine when you're trying to go to sleep. Those high-pitched squeals are more funny than demanding.


We've been going for lots of walks, too. You love it outside and immediately calm down if fussy. You stare at the trees and admire the flowers. You're not as big of a fan of watering the plants, but it's a necessary evil. I dread the days where it will be too cold to venture out on a daily basis.

Since almost mastering your hands, you like to rub your fuzzy head, grab our plates at mealtimes, rub our cold smoothie glasses each morning and stick your hands into our mouths when we get close enough.

Your fist/fingers are forever in your mouth. While you could sprout teeth any time now, I'd rather you wait. Keep those gummy smiles a little while longer.


Aside from all that, you're just plain delightful. Oh, and adorable.

Style notes: Aug. 2010 edition

As she gets older, I'm guessing her desire to express herself through the clothes (and accessories) she wears will just get more...interesting. So welcome to the first edition of Lily's style notes. This kid has a lot more style than I've ever had.

Apple harvest

Aside from eating roasted beet salad all week, we also made an apple crisp with our hail-damaged apples – which may or may not be large crabapples or just small apples. (But I'll take hail damage over the disgusting slug mess we've been dealing with though. They're just ravenous this year; they've eaten more tomatoes and beans than we have. Jerks.)



How nice to have such a cute helper.


Oh, and Finn was there too, in a supervisory role.

Mugshots

Okay, not mugshots but they kinda look like it. Finally got the kids' passport photos yesterday as our Disneyland trip is about a month away. Nothing like leaving things to the last little bit... Fortunately, you can pay a premium to get things like birth certificates and passports into your hands – after you've already paid for flights and reserved a hotel room. Oooops.

Love sick

Friday, Lily's birthday, was also her last day of swimming lessons. Daphne, the instructor, and all the kids sang happy birthday to her. And since it was the last day, there were a lot of games to be played. She passed Sunfish, no problem.


When it was all over, Nana surprised Lily with a little "Yayyy! You passed!" gift. It was kinda funny because we'd been threatening to buy her the same thing...

Every time we say a certain someone's name, this happens:


The smirk. The smile that is usually so big and embarrassing that it needs to be hidden from view. We just don't know what it is...


Maybe he does...


Oh yes, it appears Lily has "Bieber fever" like every other little girl out there. She'd downloaded his Baby song from iTunes because I always sang it – it was stuck in my head from a ringtone commerical. She didn't know anything about Justin Bieber, but then there was an article about him in Maclean's and when we showed her his picture and told her it was the boy who sang that song, she blushed – A LOT. So every time we see a picture of him, we show her and she can't help but get that goofy ear-to-ear grin. Even to speak his name elicits this response. It's kind of funny.


Apparently that boy's got something special...

Five years old

Today you turned five. It's been a rough week having to wait for today. Perhaps we won't have a birthday party before your actual birthday next time.

On Wednesday, you woke up and said, "It's my birthday!" to which Dad replied, "Happy birthday." Obviously he was still asleep. When I intervened to say, "Actually, your birthday isn't until Friday. Two more days," you collapsed in a crying fit on the bed.


On Tuesday, swimming lessons were canceled due to the rain. Again disappointed, I said we could do something in the afternoon when Nana came to watch Finn. You decided you'd like to spend your birthday money, $20 you got from Margaret. So, you and I hit the mall. Of course, you only wanted to go to Claire's, but we stopped at the Body Shop so I could look at their make-up. "Ooooh," you said. "Maybe I could buy some perfume!" You picked out the Vanilla eau de toilette, then went to hand me your wallet. It was $17 so I told you I'd buy it for you for your birthday; I couldn't have you spending it all on just one thing. "Oh thanks, Mom!"

Then on to Claire's. That place is like crack for you. You immediately picked out this folding brush with a mirror on the inside and some (more) sparkly eye glitter. Then the salesperson told us there were two racks for their 10 for $10 sale... So you also got some Hello Kitty rings, a Hello Kitty collar, a Hello Kitty bracelet, a Red Queen keychain, an Alice in Wonderland necklace, a heart ring, a pink headband adorned with pink flowers and feathers, a cell phone pocket, a rainbow bracelet and a puppy change purse.


Needless to say you were thrilled. When we got to the van, you told me you were going to look at all your stuff. You pulled out the receipt and said, "This is my receipt because I paid for it. That's awesome."

It was pretty awesome. Then yesterday, Nana brought over her present for you: an iCarly backpack with panties, socks, Tic Tacs, a couple loonies and an outfit. Wow. Never have I known a little girl to get so pumped to get panties and socks, but there you were trying those on first. I suppose they were quite wonderful...rainbows and pink/black knee-highs with hearts. I would have thought they were pretty special, too.


The week has also been full of thank-you card writing. You have been thankful and impressed with all you've received. You've gotten a lot of really nice things on top of the gifts you got at your party. Uncle Nigel and Auntie Jessica sent some gorgeous dresses (which you wore for four days), a blouse and some pants. Maureen and Hannah from next door gave you a ceramic plate/bowl set to match the tea cup/glass set they gave you when Finn was born. We're heading up to Saskatoon this afternoon where we'll meet Grandma and Grandpa for a birthday supper; I'm sure their gifts won't disappoint.

We didn't disappoint this year either.

Karaoke five year old from Hood/Anderson on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, big girl.

Face sleeper

As the weeks go on, I'm relaxing a bit as I watch you sleep on your tummy. Like I said when you first started flipping over, it's rather disconcerting. And you do flip, no matter how we lay you down. Sometimes you flip so fast, we're not even out of the room yet. It wouldn't be so bad if the majority of the time you weren't directly face down. I usually stay and watch (or surf or nap), just for peace of mind. Every once in a while you'll turn your head a bit, but it's rare that you're head is ever sideways. It's like you'll miss something if you sleep on your ear.

In the photo below, you can see that your nose and temple were red from sleeping on them.


But you're happy and cute, even if you don't know that babies are supposed to sleep on their backs now.

"That was the best party ever!"

In the middle of the night, Lily woke up and exclaimed, "That was the best party ever!" Then she layed back down and went to sleep. The excitement – and sugar – were obviously still rushing through her.

When asked earlier in the evening what the best part was, she eagerly responded, "Everything!"

Needless to say, she thought her Alice in Wonderland tea party was very successful. The first time she tried on the dress (which we found for $9 at Superstore), she said, "Oh. My. God. I look just like Alice. Can I get my hair curled for my party?"

Anyway, it was tonnes of fun.


There were lots of sweets. The sugar cookies shaped like card suits were quite popular.

The homemade red rose chocolates (we're painting the roses red...) would have been more popular had they not completely melted in the sweltering 30˚C heat and a crazy high humidex.


There was iced tea to be drunk in the perfect little tea cups that we borrowed from Margaret.


And everyone was there. The Red Queen...


The Mad Hatter and someone small that perhaps could have been the dormouse.


Hey – another Red Queen showed up, too.


Looks like Alice and the Red Queen made amends to amicably share in the festivities...


Actually, everyone got along stunningly.


Let the games begin! The first was the tea bag toss into our lovely, large tea cup.


Pin the grin on the cheshire cat was a big hit. When the butterfly scarf appeared to not be opaque enough, we had to resort to using the extra large Mad Hatter's hat to cover the little eyes.



There was also a butterfly pinata. (The caterpillar turns into a butterfly, so it works...) What a great toy for getting out little four and five-year-old aggressions!


We also had croquet set up, but the hot, hot sun brought us inside for cake and presents. The cake was merely pretty and not really related to our theme...unless you count the hole in the middle of the bundt cake as the rabbit hole! Shoot, that would have been a great idea. Green grass icing with flower sprinkles and chocolate icing in the middle for the rabbit hole. Now I think of it...

Ahhhh, what a beautiful girl.


It was hard to wait for a slice, but well worth it. Those three cups of zucchini sure make for a great cake.


And all the cards and gifts exceeded her expectations. Finally.


We headed back outside briefly to blow bubbles, jump on the trampoline and stay hydrated drinking pink lemonade out of plastic wine glasses before everyone bid adieu to Wonderland.

Now all Lily has to do is turn five this week...