Spring has sprung! And so have we! (Also: The Elise's Easter Kitten, and a Baby Bulletin)

We did not try to coordinate
colors, but I think we go
well together nonetheless!

Spring! It's not only a season, it's an action, and especially around our house. While the weather has continued to fluctuate through April, we've finally been able to peek outside, leave our cozy little den and frolic in the sunshine. And three of us are pretty cute frolickers.

There's something about great weather that makes kids want to PLAY, so it's always fun to send them out for the first particularly nice day we've had in several months of not-nice days. First, they run. And run, and run--around in circles, up and down hills, back and forth. All that pent-up energy finally has an outlet. Then, they rediscover all of the things they loved three months ago, except now the kids are three months older, so they love them in a different way. Then they go searching for bugs, worms and other treasures, creating new habitats for the poor critters. Because what worm doesn't want a handful of grass dumped on it?

At Grandpa's with a pet worm.

In fact, worms have been the star players this spring--every container becomes a home for these "pets." Elise, in particular, can play with her pet worms for hours--long past their animation has ceased. They get rides down the slide, they get transferred to the sandbox, they get carried around in shovels. And their only crime was to have been in the wrong mud at the wrong time. Kalina enjoys digging, and we have given her a spot in the yard to do so (which meshes nicely with Elise's worm-caretaking hobby).

Now that she doesn't have to face a cold wind, Naomi loves being outside--either with a birds-eye view (to her) from the Baby Bjorn, which utterly delights her, or being carried around to various trees, bushes, stones and other textures as she learns about nature in her own baby way. She also loves to dig in the grass, and would enjoy the opportunity to sample a leaf if only Mommy would allow her or turn her back for just a minute.

If babies could sneer... "Fine, Grandpa
can hold me. But I don't have to like it."
We're pretty sure you'll change your
mind when you experience his awesome
story-reading skills, Naomi!

One of the best moments of spring, when you're young, is the first time you go outside in shorts, or even a short-sleeved shirt. Now that you're more aerodynamic, you can run faster and longer! It's a very freeing feeling.

To this end, we went on our first "big-girl" mall shopping trip and found a few new clothes for each girl (with the emphasis on Kalina since so many of Kalina's clothes are finding their way to Elise's closet). We also found matching outfits for all the girls for spring, and more for fall (for $2.99 a piece since they were on sale!), and about a million dollars in American Girl products that we want. It was lots of fun, especially once I decided not to get annoyed by the fact that no one wanted the chicken strips they'd ordered for a special lunch out, because they're not just like McDonald's.

Of course, it wouldn't be spring without Easter. And we saw the Easter Bunny! Kalina preferred to stand back with Mommy and just smile and wave at the giant furry creature, but Elise soon became best friends with it. The rabbit doesn't talk, but it can wave, dance, hug, give high-fives, etc. Elise happily did all those, and then the bunny gave her an Easter egg from his basket. She cracked it open to find a dollar inside!! Enough to buy two of the tiny rubber sea animals she loves so dearly. I found it interesting that even the chance of receiving a week's worth of allowance wasn't enough to tempt Kalina to approach the giant bunny.

Each girl came up with her own Easter
craft project, and they are both amazing.
Kalina's was a soft, cottony lamb!

Elise made an egg with bunny
ears and chick feet and a tail
and lots of other random things.

Back at home, Elise spent the next two weeks preparing a goody
bag for the Easter Bunny to take with him after he visited our house on Easter Eve. She also decided that she wants to be the Easter Bunny, coloring several pictures and acting out several scenes to that effect. Which makes sense: anything involving sharing candy and jumping would be right up Elise's alley.

We also read the Easter story a dozen different ways, completed Easter crafts in preschool and out, asked every day in really excited voices if it was Easter yet and played with Easter decorations. In this way, we passed the time until Uncle Tom arrived with his girlfriend, Marla and her 4 1/2-year-old daughter, Lenorea!

Egg dying! And can you believe we
have a group picture where everyone
is smiling? Seems impossible!

As you can imagine, the kids were instant friends, but to ensure a bond, we dove into egg dying right away. Kalina immediately set up an egg-dying operation, with eggs plunked into each color of dye within reach, while Lenorea and Elise nicely shared the purple dye and worked with one egg at a time. The difference a year (or two) makes! Kalina also for the first time followed in Uncle Tom's footsteps and managed a couple beautiful multi-colored eggs. Elise was fascinated by the robin's-egg blue ones in addition to her usual purple.

The weather was beautiful all weekend, so we spent as much of it outside as we possibly could. I think the girls found hundreds of Easter eggs, all told. They'd each chosen their own dress this year (with the exception of Naomi, who wore the cutest one that fit, of which there were about two since she's so miniature). Elise in her purple and Kalina in her "golden" orange dress both felt like pretty princesses. And they were!

Easter loot!

And of course, the Easter Bunny made his visit, as evidenced by the appearance of three treat-filled baskets hidden throughout the house. Everybody received stuffed animals this year: a lamb for Naomi, a kitten for Elise and a green and pink unicorn for Kalina. Plus candy for the bigger girls. Naomi was also excited about the Easter grass in her basket, but Mommy managed to whisk it away before it ended up too far into Naomi's mouth while she wasn't looking.

Good thing it was raining,
or this picture wouldn't
be quite as cute!

Naomi had no trouble helping
this Easter egg find its way
to her mouth.

Post-Easter, we visited the Botanical Garden, which smelled as beautiful as it looked. We were in fairyland, and even the garden caretaker whose job it was to fish all the flower petals out of the fountains (that our girls were tossing in--oops!!) couldn't help but smile at the girls.

And although we're still shivering at times, we're hoping Spring is here to stay. Not too soon to be replaced by summer...




_____
The Story of the Easter Kitten

Mouth full of chocolate,
basket full of kitten, heart
full of happiness.

When Naomi reached a certain age and ability to be out of the house longer than 30 minutes, it became inevitable that I would need to take them all grocery shopping. At the same time. By myself. And actually buy more than milk, bread, eggs and the first decent-looking fruit I came to.

Sure enough, that day arrived. Knowing we could no longer fit in one of the racecar carts, I had a gentle, yet firm discussion with the big girls en route about how I'd need their help, how important it was to stay close to Mommy, and how they were not to grab things off the shelves. Things they already know. I don't remember whether I handed down only serious-sounding words in my best "I'm bigger than you but I'll be nice until you feel the need to change my mind," voice or set up consequences, but either way, the trip was mostly a smooth one. Possibly the fact that we hadn't done this (much) in a couple months helped.

Towards the end of the freezer section (which is always last, of course), Naomi started making the little "mmm...mmm..." noises that soon turn into "uuuhhhh...uuuhhhh..." that then become "Wahhhh...Wahhhh..." and finally settle on "AAAEEEEHHHH!!! AAAAAEEEEHHHHH!!!" until her situation changes drastically. I knew we were on borrowed time, but that was okay: we had picked up our bag of frozen peas (or whatever) and were headed for the finish line! I started propelling the heavy cart in that direction when it happened.

"Mommy, can we get this kitten?" My middle-born was holding up an adorable, soft, white stuffed kitten that I knew probably cost somewhere between $6 and $10. It came from one of the several stuffed animal racks that curse key locations throughout the store. It's always the same: "Mommy, can we get it?"

Unfortunately, unless allowance money has been hoarded long enough, the answer is no. No matter how cute the animal or the child. But the saying of "no" always takes several minutes of my precious time, and produces a grumpy child (and Mommy) to boot. I hate those fluffy racks.

Frantic to get to the checkout, weary beyond belief and sooo ready to be done, I uttered an unintelligible combination of, "blah-blah...your allowance...blah-blah...birthday...blah-blah...Christmas list." The three-year-old wasn't buying it, and rightly so. "But I don't get an allowance, and Kalina does, so I can't buy it myself!" she protested through frustrated tears.

Meanwhile Kalina, sensing my weakness, hurriedly searched the rack for an identical kitten or, failing that, any other stuffed animal she would tolerate bringing home, just in case Elise won the battle and she could piggyback on the success. She'd have a strong case, after all.

But she couldn't win. "Sorry, Honey, you have to put it back. Give it a nice pat and please put it away." I similarly quelled Kalina's bid for a new stuffed toy. Elise must have been as tired and grumpy as I was, though, because she cried as though her heart would break--very nearly breaking mine in the process. In fact, I'd been feeling guilty lately about the fact that Kalina owns most of the household's kittens even though Elise loves kittens dearly and often pretends to be one.

"Put the kitten back, we need to go," I informed the small girl. She sadly walked toward the display, then glanced at me, tucked the kitten under her arm and started walking toward the exit. I will forever in my mind be able to see the half-hopeful, half-rebellious look Elise gave me over her shoulder as she peeked back to check my reaction. Should I have given in??? I still wonder.

Instead I simply said, "Elise, you may not steal the kitten. They might call the police." Crushed, poor Elise slowly turned and wandered back to the display. With a final heartfelt sob, she put the kitten back and we finished our shopping. It was awful.

But then the kitten appeared in her Easter basket! A couple long months later, Elise is now the happy owner of her very own soft, white kitten. She hadn't mentioned the Dierberg's incident after the fact, but I recalled it to her as I "noticed" that the kitten kind of looked like the one at the grocery store. Her ecstatic reaction Easter morning was probably worth the misery of holding my ground earlier. Well, not really...I still would've liked to have given in.
_____

Happy and in her crib at the same time?
Is that possible?

The Baby Bulletin:

Naomi has her first tooth! It arrived on or around April 10, and partially explained why the previous week had been such a rough one (double ear infection plus new tooth? Mommy couldn't put her down for a second!). She has always enjoyed chewing, and now enjoys it even more. Kalina thinks it's great when Naomi bites on her finger. "I can feel her tooth!" I imagine she won't find it so magical for much longer.

Despite some (albeit inconsistent) sleep training, Naomi continues to refuse to make progress toward human sleep patterns. She might actually be nocturnal. Mommy is not nocturnal. We've officially given up much hope of improvement for at least another month or two, seeing as Kalina and Elise didn't sleep through until at least 9 or 10 months, and they were actually better sleepers than this one. Why? WHY? WHY??? I have been rereading the old blogs rather wistfully lately. We will keep trying, but will stock her crib with encyclopedias, puzzles and a tiny violin so that she can at least use her nighttime awake time wisely down the road.

Look, I have a furry toy, too!

Naomi can now pivot, roll and inch, so that about a four-foot radius around her is up for grabs, literally. Kalina takes this in stride, but Elise freaks out. In all fairness, it seems that Elise is often as much concerned for the baby's safety as she is about getting drool all over her possessions.

I've long suspected that Naomi is sensitive to overstimulation. Although we're (begrudgingly) done with all forms of swaddling, this is showing up in other ways. Does the baby make it through 1 1/2 hours at the mall, benignly taking in the sights, without a peep? Does she have a fabulous time during an hour or so of Baby Bjorn-ing on the golf course (our evening roaming grounds on nice nights)? Does she consent to being put down on the floor while Mommy walks into a different room while spending a couple hours at a friend's house? Yes to all three--but the return home has brought floods of tears, near-panic attacks and veritable hissy fits. Is it a "thing?" Can the baby only handle so much of a new environment at a time, only to fall apart from the new experience as she attempts to process it all? Will she ever be able to travel and if so, will she require four suitcases so she can completely surround herself with familiar objects? Only time will tell.

___
Kalina!

I realize I haven't blogged much about Kalina lately. Making up for lost time with the other two, maybe? Nevertheless, there's lots to say about her growing independence and her newfound ability to actually read. But I might save that for another blog...