So I have photos, but...
for some reason, I cannot upload them to the blog right now.
However, I did want to post a Fiona update anyway.
Fiona had her 2nd birthday on Sunday, November 25th. After Fiona and I went to bed on the 24th, Dave did a phenomenal job decorating the house. When Fiona got up in the morning, her face lit up. Mouth open, eyes all wide - streamers and balloons and all manner of Winnie the Pooh paraphernalia was about. She loved it.
Dave's family had joined us for Thanksgiving and they were all still around for Fiona's birthday. So Fiona got to have breakfast and open presents. She got a mini American Girl doll, a beginner puzzle where she gets to put various t-shirts and pants on a puzzle doll, a vegetable peel and cut set, some clothes and a Savings Bond.
We bought her several presents for her birthday that we thought would be fun and challenging for her - we bought this puzzle board that has all different types of latches on it...she could do them all on the first try. We bought another beginner puzzle board - it's a picture of a farm and you can pull up certain pieces and farm animals are underneath...not only can she pull up the pieces and fit them back in place where they go one at a time, she can take them all out, mix them all up and still put them all back where they go AND if you ask her where a particular animal is...she knows which piece it's under. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!
During her family birthday present opening last weekend, she got to one present that she was having trouble getting the wrapping off (and yes, she is at an age now where she loves to open the gifts herself), it didn't take long before she was frustrated and out it came, "Shit." Everyone in the room paused, silence. Someone said,"Did she just say....?" No one wanted to repeat it. But she had no such trouble, she followed up with a stream of them,"Shit, shit, shit." Fabulous.
Then one of the outfits that Grandma got for her was a pink velour running suit, we went to try it on. I finished helping her get dressed and she looked down at herself and said, "Big...Shit." Flippin' hilarious. Which is bad because every time she says it, we laugh. We know it's wrong and we're only encouraging her, but we can't help ourselves. We're raising a cussing monster. Darn it.
So we invited Fiona's Montessori class (and a few of our actual friends) to come to an afternoon kids party. But apparently in the internet age, even if you request RSVPs, no one actually does. Out of 15 invitations, we got 6 RSVPs and ultimately only one kid showed up for the party.
It all turned out fine, though, because the more we thought about what we had done (invited 15 kids and their parents to our house), the more we realized that we were INSANE to even consider having that many "terrible" two year olds at our house at the same time.
As it was, Fiona was able to enjoy time with her friend, Fiona, and they were able to play with enough activities to entertain 15 kids and they had the cake all to themselves. It was a harmonious afternoon.
So a little more on the cussing because the birthday party wasn't the first time it happened. We first noticed her saying it one night when she was helping Dave cook dinner. She was standing next to the stove yelling "HOT! HOT!", then she'd say, almost under her breath (like I often do) "shit", then start yelling again, "HOT! -shit- HOT! HOT! -shit-" And the whole time she was banging the countertop with her hand. We were practically peeing ourselves listening to her. Dave actually broke out the video camera for that, maybe someday I'll learn how to upload that wonderful footage to YouTube.
We continue to be amazed at the things that Fiona can do and the clear ideas that are in her head. When we first moved into our house, we had some of the flooring replaced. And over time, the transition piece between the rug in the living room and the vinyl in the dining room has come off. We've just dealt with it, but when Dave's mom visited, she became obsessed with the idea that it should be fixed. So while she was here, they bought the stuff and eventually everyone in the house, except Fiona and I were involved in figuring out how to fix it. Almost every day now, Fiona has to point out the nicely repaired transition and list everyone that was involved with fixing it. It's pretty funny.
We are trying to figure out more and more ways to involve Fiona in the running of our house. We work hard at including her in everything we cook. We bought a "kitchen helper" which is essentially a cheaper version of the Learning Tower (which is essentially a glorified step stool that a kid can't fall off of) and we use it every day. Soon we have to figure out how to get her cleaning our dishes, since she LOVES to wash dishes - gotta take advantage of the slave labor while she still thinks she's just playing.
For the record, Fiona is getting better at the "Happy Birthday" song, now instead of just "Hap Ber-da", we get the whole phrase "Hap Ber-da do do".
I have also started singing "The itsy-bitsy spider" to Fiona and they must sing it at school because she lights up and starts doing these actions with her hands. And when I finish the song, she starts singing a new song, which sounds like "pickle pickle" and she looks at me, like I should know which song comes next and she expects me to sing it. I couldn't think of any children's song that starts with "pickle, pickle" so I was thinking that I should talk to the teacher and find out what songs they are singing, see if I need to learn some new ones. But when Dave's mom was visiting and I explained the phenomenon, she wanted to see. So we did the itsy bitsy spider and then lo and behold, Fiona starts singing "pickle, pickle" and Dave's mom looks at me like I'm a complete IDIOT and she says, "Are you serious? You don't recognize that song?" And I'm thinking - No, I really don't know a children's song that starts with pickle, pickle. The silence between us grows and she says, "It's Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Once she said it, I realized that if I had listened to the tune Fiona was singing, instead of the words, I probably would have figured it out, but...come on, Pickle, Pickle little star?! Would you have thought of that?
And finally we got our Christmas tree this past weekend. Fiona helped us decorate. We should have video taped it, probably. But we were having more fun trimming the tree as a family, enjoying the fire in our fireplace insert and listening to Christmas music on my archaic boombox (because our stereo died earlier this year). It was a very warm and fuzzy feeling to be enjoying an evening like that together. Sigh.
Love and Peace to you All this holiday season.
However, I did want to post a Fiona update anyway.
Fiona had her 2nd birthday on Sunday, November 25th. After Fiona and I went to bed on the 24th, Dave did a phenomenal job decorating the house. When Fiona got up in the morning, her face lit up. Mouth open, eyes all wide - streamers and balloons and all manner of Winnie the Pooh paraphernalia was about. She loved it.
Dave's family had joined us for Thanksgiving and they were all still around for Fiona's birthday. So Fiona got to have breakfast and open presents. She got a mini American Girl doll, a beginner puzzle where she gets to put various t-shirts and pants on a puzzle doll, a vegetable peel and cut set, some clothes and a Savings Bond.
We bought her several presents for her birthday that we thought would be fun and challenging for her - we bought this puzzle board that has all different types of latches on it...she could do them all on the first try. We bought another beginner puzzle board - it's a picture of a farm and you can pull up certain pieces and farm animals are underneath...not only can she pull up the pieces and fit them back in place where they go one at a time, she can take them all out, mix them all up and still put them all back where they go AND if you ask her where a particular animal is...she knows which piece it's under. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!
During her family birthday present opening last weekend, she got to one present that she was having trouble getting the wrapping off (and yes, she is at an age now where she loves to open the gifts herself), it didn't take long before she was frustrated and out it came, "Shit." Everyone in the room paused, silence. Someone said,"Did she just say....?" No one wanted to repeat it. But she had no such trouble, she followed up with a stream of them,"Shit, shit, shit." Fabulous.
Then one of the outfits that Grandma got for her was a pink velour running suit, we went to try it on. I finished helping her get dressed and she looked down at herself and said, "Big...Shit." Flippin' hilarious. Which is bad because every time she says it, we laugh. We know it's wrong and we're only encouraging her, but we can't help ourselves. We're raising a cussing monster. Darn it.
So we invited Fiona's Montessori class (and a few of our actual friends) to come to an afternoon kids party. But apparently in the internet age, even if you request RSVPs, no one actually does. Out of 15 invitations, we got 6 RSVPs and ultimately only one kid showed up for the party.
It all turned out fine, though, because the more we thought about what we had done (invited 15 kids and their parents to our house), the more we realized that we were INSANE to even consider having that many "terrible" two year olds at our house at the same time.
As it was, Fiona was able to enjoy time with her friend, Fiona, and they were able to play with enough activities to entertain 15 kids and they had the cake all to themselves. It was a harmonious afternoon.
So a little more on the cussing because the birthday party wasn't the first time it happened. We first noticed her saying it one night when she was helping Dave cook dinner. She was standing next to the stove yelling "HOT! HOT!", then she'd say, almost under her breath (like I often do) "shit", then start yelling again, "HOT! -shit- HOT! HOT! -shit-" And the whole time she was banging the countertop with her hand. We were practically peeing ourselves listening to her. Dave actually broke out the video camera for that, maybe someday I'll learn how to upload that wonderful footage to YouTube.
We continue to be amazed at the things that Fiona can do and the clear ideas that are in her head. When we first moved into our house, we had some of the flooring replaced. And over time, the transition piece between the rug in the living room and the vinyl in the dining room has come off. We've just dealt with it, but when Dave's mom visited, she became obsessed with the idea that it should be fixed. So while she was here, they bought the stuff and eventually everyone in the house, except Fiona and I were involved in figuring out how to fix it. Almost every day now, Fiona has to point out the nicely repaired transition and list everyone that was involved with fixing it. It's pretty funny.
We are trying to figure out more and more ways to involve Fiona in the running of our house. We work hard at including her in everything we cook. We bought a "kitchen helper" which is essentially a cheaper version of the Learning Tower (which is essentially a glorified step stool that a kid can't fall off of) and we use it every day. Soon we have to figure out how to get her cleaning our dishes, since she LOVES to wash dishes - gotta take advantage of the slave labor while she still thinks she's just playing.
For the record, Fiona is getting better at the "Happy Birthday" song, now instead of just "Hap Ber-da", we get the whole phrase "Hap Ber-da do do".
I have also started singing "The itsy-bitsy spider" to Fiona and they must sing it at school because she lights up and starts doing these actions with her hands. And when I finish the song, she starts singing a new song, which sounds like "pickle pickle" and she looks at me, like I should know which song comes next and she expects me to sing it. I couldn't think of any children's song that starts with "pickle, pickle" so I was thinking that I should talk to the teacher and find out what songs they are singing, see if I need to learn some new ones. But when Dave's mom was visiting and I explained the phenomenon, she wanted to see. So we did the itsy bitsy spider and then lo and behold, Fiona starts singing "pickle, pickle" and Dave's mom looks at me like I'm a complete IDIOT and she says, "Are you serious? You don't recognize that song?" And I'm thinking - No, I really don't know a children's song that starts with pickle, pickle. The silence between us grows and she says, "It's Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Once she said it, I realized that if I had listened to the tune Fiona was singing, instead of the words, I probably would have figured it out, but...come on, Pickle, Pickle little star?! Would you have thought of that?
And finally we got our Christmas tree this past weekend. Fiona helped us decorate. We should have video taped it, probably. But we were having more fun trimming the tree as a family, enjoying the fire in our fireplace insert and listening to Christmas music on my archaic boombox (because our stereo died earlier this year). It was a very warm and fuzzy feeling to be enjoying an evening like that together. Sigh.
Love and Peace to you All this holiday season.
posted by Chaos @ 9:23 AM
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