Yappy Birthday, Naomi!

Naomi is 3! A super adorable, sweet, smart, sensitive, singing 3! Here's to embarking on an amazing year covering a full range of emotions and experiences, and probably with not quite so many tantrums because, after all, three is different than two.

Because Naomi won't tune into this blog for at least a few years yet, I can spill the secret that we didn't actually celebrate her birthday on her actual birthday. As a traditionalist, this hurt my soul--but anything for my child, right? We were simply too busy to celebrate on the 21st, but could dedicate the entirety of the 20th to her. And so we did!

Naomi's day started bright and early--but since she didn't remember it was her birthday, despite having had the special occasion talked up all week/month, she was content to talk in her crib for a while while Mommy and Daddy gained a little more consciousness, decorated, and wrapped a last-minute gift (oops!).

The birthday princess's first request was to open a present, so I let her dive into a new birthday dress, which she insisted on changing into immediately. Then we woke up her sisters. Elise switched into party mode the second she opened her eyes, while Kalina took just a bit longer; nevertheless, they were both soon at the table enjoying birthday cereal (Lucky Charms, which actually has less sugar and more nutrition than the kids believe) with the birthday girl herself.

Of course, it wasn't long before "the-party-is-here-because-I-am-here" Elise suggested opening another present--hers, in fact. The three-year-old agreed, and unwrapped the soft, pink penguin she has surreptitiously tucked under her arm and headed for the door with at three or more different gift shops over the past year. Elise got a kick out of the idea that she was rescuing the toddler from a life of crime, and Naomi got a kick out of the penguin. Naturally, Kalina's present came next--a realistic looking stuffed fawn, as Naomi has been asking for a deer for quite a while. (Famous Naomi Circle Time question: "What's your favorite deer?")

Fortunately, Naomi didn't seem to remember that what she actually asked for was a real bunny and a real lamb. Of course, a real dog would have been perfectly acceptable as well.

Then it was time to zip upstairs and get ready for the birthday event: a trip to Purina Farms! It turns out Naomi's tastes haven't changed much in a year, and although she's wary of dogs up close, she loves them in theory (and in stuffie) so we headed out to see more doggies, kitties and bunnies.

We met Grandpa there, and were soon happily going back and forth between petting a soft bunny and watching one baby piglet try to play with another that clearly didn't want to play. We played in the hayloft (and enthusiastic Elise got Naomi to crawl through the tunnels!) and saw a doggie obstacle course show before calling it a morning.

Even birthday girls need a nap, so while Naomi took hers, I baked and Matt canned salsa. Naomi had requested a pink wedding cake, possibly inspired by some wedding cakes we saw at a local bakery. How could I possibly measure up, especially when my uneven version cracked, shifted and simply didn't look very fancy. Fortunately, a little colored sugar and copious amounts of frosting can cure almost any cake, and Naomi's eyes brightened at her beautiful pink wedding cake. Either that, or she just likes frosting.

After a big morning, Naomi and her big sisters opened more presents, including new Play-Doh and Wiki Sticks from Grandpa Les and Grandma. Fortunately, these entertained them well for quite a while as I put the finishing touches on the cake and Matt continued to make some (pretty amazing) salsa.

Grandpa arrived, and the girls continued to enjoy new birthday toys (and Grandpa) while dinner was prepped. What do you cook for a birthday girl who doesn't really like anything? Tacos, of course! And they were accepted.

During dinner, Naomi eyed the big present. It was big. It was rectangular. What could it be? We asked. "A dog," Naomi predicted.

Naomi loved her candles, loved having us sing to her and loved her cake. After thoroughly licking the frosting off her slice and receiving a second, which had its frosting similarly removed, it was time for the rest of the presents!

We couldn't resist the big package any longer. It was, in fact, a big dog! The one Naomi had wanted to cuddle with in Ikea, and Matt managed to sneak out of the store almost as if he were a toddler with a fuzzy pink penguin under the arm. Except he paid for it, of course. Naomi was delighted, although she found it hard to tuck under her arm at first. She decided that it was a baby puppy (baby Clifford, perhaps, without all the red?), and its name was Lolly.

All the rest of the gifts were opened in the context of the big puppy, and included a lot of smaller puppies as well. Naomi put them all carefully to sleep before she would consent to a bedtime story.

We love the giant doggie!

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

At three, Naomi remains sensitive and sweet, as she has been since her baby days. She shows empathy and thoughtfulness ("Mommy, were you lonely upstairs all by yourself?" and, holding me tight, "Mommy, I can keep you safe if Elise jumps out and says boo!"). She makes sure Biscuit always has enough ice cream and birthday cake (Biscuit has a birthday nearly every day). And although she mistrusts babies, men and anyone she doesn't know, she warms up to them once they become more familiar.

Naomi alternately adores her sisters and sees them as rivals (which they are). But especially one-on-one, and occasionally all three together, she's increasingly able to play nicely. She loves playing "circle time" and doing crafts with Elise, and reading stories and taking care of stuffies with Kalina.

Naomi added lettuce and bell peppers to her palate this year, albeit removing all but a couple bites of watermelon and pasta sauce, and occasionally mistrusting plums, mangoes, peaches and apples with spots. She is very gentle with small animals, she loves to dance to "beautiful" music ("Mommy, will you play the beautiful music?") and teach others to dance to beautiful music ("Mommy, do this") and adores stories and jokes (especially Grandpa's joke for the day). Sometimes she sings and makes up cute little songs.

My sensitive girl gets nervous about crowds, loud environments and new people and places, but manages to navigate them with some settling in and long wind-down/processing afterward, which usually involves fixing food for various stuffies.

Naomi loves notebooks to
write in and tear pages out of.

Naomi plays the piano quite well for a 3-year-old (less banging, more actual fingering) and has been blossoming with her crafting as well. She loves cutting things, taping thing, gluing things and hole-punching. She also enjoys notebooks that she can write in, and regularly writes her alphabet (it looks like lines, but we'll get there!), grocery lists and notes to her friends and family (especially 2-year-old Genevieve). Naomi usually enjoys drawing and coloring pictures for people, but often nowadays prefers for me to draw and color while she watches. Her pencil grip continues to be amazing, as are her counting skills. She's working on letter and number recognition, and can point out some of the letters (including mommies and babies) in her name.

While puppies, kitties and other soft animals continue to be Naomi's favorites, she's also starting to venture into the princess realm. Occasionally she turns in to princess Sofia, and she enjoys dressing up. If it were up to her, she would wear a dress every day, and a fancy one at that. Once she rejected brown shorts on the grounds that "but they're not pretty!"

Dissecting her cake. The
outside is the tastiest, but
at least the inside is pretty!

Naomi's still very into mommies and babies, and sometimes I even get instant feedback on my parenting as Naomi acts out scenes between mommies and babies with her animals. "Mommy, the puppies do not want to go to bed, they say, 'We don't want to go to bed!' but Biscuit makes them go to bed." Complete with whiny voice for the puppies and strict voice for Biscuit. Do I really sound like that?

The 3-year-old also seems to enjoy responsibility and housework. She'll vacuum alongside me with her popper vacuum (now that she's not as scared of the vacuum anymore), clean the bathroom with me and generally take care around the house. As long as it's her idea.

She enjoys being outside, swinging on her tummy, doing puzzles, making things with blocks and of course, reading stories. She's a joy to be around, and we can't wait to see what age 3 brings!

We enjoyed a mini playdate
animal party with a few
friends. Not pictured:
the giant balloon!

Grandpa reads a beloved new
Charlie the Ranch Dog
book for Naomi's birthday.

Me and my girl! And a doggie
statue.

Naomi also likes making
necklaces out of pipe cleaners
and Cheerios. She's wearing
one in this picture.

The 9-Day Trip

The train ride at Como Zoo!

When we told the girls we were going to be taking a 9-day vacation, they were duly impressed. Nine whole days! And who even knows how many nights? Wow!

But possibly the sheer magnitude of such an idea put them on edge as well, such that as I was scrambling around a hot and humid house on a Friday morning in late July trying to fit virtually all of our belongings into a few suitcases, everyone else frequently let me know that they were "scared." And while most of us learned that there was nothing to be afraid of, Naomi, who isn't really into new people and places, didn't quite believe me.

Poor Naomi. This was possibly not her favorite trip as a whole, although in the end she found lots to like--as did the rest of us--and whenever she tells friends back here about the trip, she makes sure to mention that she "wasn't scared on the trip!" (Not true!) Here's the play-by-play.

Our friends caught on to Rainbow
Looming right away!

We left at naptime on Friday, which only meant we were traveling with a slightly fussy Naomi rather than a sleeping one. No biggie--on Day 1 of the trip, anyone who's not scared is in a pretty good mood. The trip was easy and after a few snacks, stops and mad libs, we cruised into our friends' place right after suppertime.

Elise and Kalina had recently discovered the joys of rainbow looming (making bracelets out of thousands of tiny rubber bands) and we'd surprised them with thousands of new bands to share with their friends during the trip. Elise the Negotiator wondered when, exactly, we could open the bands. NOT IN THE CAR!! We agreed on Saturday morning unless we happened to arrive early enough to use them on Friday evening. And we did! This was a big deal to Elise, as we heard every hour or so, so immediately upon arrival she and Kalina got right down to business helping their friends, Isaac and Lilly, make their own bracelets. Naomi, who'd heard big things about 4-year-old Cora, quickly paired off as well.

Elise explores Pella with her
doppelganger. You can also see Naomi
trying to do the same with Cora, who is
often, but not always, on board with the
idea.

Everything was jolly until bedtime. Despite lots of reassurance from her family, Naomi was not looking forward to sleeping in a strange house in her "new" bunny sleeping bag. Kalina helped by reading stories and Elise "helped" by making jokes, but it's probably safe to say she dreaded it until she fell asleep. While sitting in the dark beside her, I mentally made a note that we might end up cramming her into a pack-and-play at Grandma's house. Only eight nights to go.

In the bright light of morning, all became sunny again. Naomi ate all of two bites of breakfast, and the older kids spread their bands across the living room, working as though in a sweatshop. Fun! Aside from making bracelets, day 2 of vacation was spent playing outside, picking bowls full of blue (and pink!) blueberries, digging plastic toys out of ice for fun, and exploring Pella. We stopped at a yummy bakery, braved the heat (the heat almost won) and saw a windmill. Naomi actually napped and bedtime went a tiny bit better.

Aunt Debbie's dollhouse
looks as nice as her real
house now!

Uncle David and Aunt
Debbie's new house!

Day 3 we spent in Des Moines. We started at a friend's house, where the two-year-old seemed to like new people even less than Naomi does (but was still pretty adorable). The girls headed to a park with Daddy while I had lunch with my old friend. Then we ventured to Uncle David and Aunt Debbie's new house, where all the girls helped her set up her dollhouse, and Kalina and Elise re-set it up after sweetly tolerating lots of help from their little sister. We played some games, walked around their lake and found the solitary goose, filled bags with pretty rocks (a theme of the trip) and ate a delicious dinner, complete with dessert. Back in Pella, Naomi seemed to be getting used to her sleeping bag.

We ate at Hickory Park
and Cy was kind enough
to welcome us and let
us climb on him.

In the morning, Matt and I babysat our friends' kids while packing up--no big hardship considering our kids played better with friends than without them. Then we left some rainbow loops and were on our way.

Our next major stop would be Grandpa and Grandma's house in the Twin Cities, but we had a couple stops to make along the way. First, we ate at Hickory Park in Ames, an old favorite of ours from the college days. The girls were delighted to find that it's pretty much impossible to eat there without getting ice cream. Yum. Not that Naomi ate much of anything except for ice cream (another theme of the trip).

Then we visited Aunt Jeanie, who sends us beautiful hand-made cards every year for our birthdays. Jeanie was kind enough to not only give us a tour of her craft room, but to let each girl make their own creation. Naomi stamped whales and cats, Elise made a sweet card (that she secretly planned to send to Aunt Jeanie as a thank-you note for helping her make the card) and Kalina opted for a bookmark as she is, of course, always running out of bookmarks. In her own signature style, she found a new way to use parts of stamps to get the image she wanted.

Everybody got to make
something with Aunt Jeanie!

Since Aunt Jeanie lives on a farm, we of course had to explore the yard, with its towering pines and the almost-as-towering field of corn, as well as the garden. It was hard to leave this beautiful place, but a taco dinner was awaiting us so we piled into the car for our last leg of our journey north.

Day 4 ended at Grandpa and Grandma's house, where Naomi was a little more comfortable in her sleeping bag (thanks in part to stories from Kalina), but settling down still didn't happen until late. Oh well--it's vacation, right?

Elise on the Frog Hopper,
just before the slight drop
and the thumbs down. She's
in the very middle.

Day 5 was an extra-special one: Daddy's birthday! And a trip to Como Zoo, where we rode the carnival rides since we hadn't really done that before. After a successful train ride, Elise tried the slightly more adventurous Frog Hopper. Fortunately, a thumbs-down sign stops the ride, so Elise was soon off--but she tried! Although she's not planning to ride it again anytime soon, she did enjoy being up high and seeing the other rides, and I believe she also enjoys telling the story (with a dire warning to her sisters to never ride on the Frog Hopper).

The teacups! Daddy got the honors
of riding along, even though Mommy
totally would have if there hadn't been
a vertigo risk!

We then rode the pony carts and after a long wait, the teacups, which Kalina had been yearning after for a while. Naomi, to my slight surprise, tried everything her big sisters did (except the Frog Hopper, of course), possibly due to the fact that she actually has big sisters to ride with. We tried cars and the teacups again, refreshed with a snack and then, to end on a very high note, panned for fossils, minerals and gems! All three girls were over the moon with their own little bag of pretty rocks (Elise even more so than the others, because she's Elise). Naomi napped away the afternoon at home while her big sisters sorted, sifted, gushed over and identified their rocks, and Daddy and Grandpa golfed.

They also caught a toad and played with the decorative rocks around the patio, which they discovered could be written on by other rocks and turned into fairy furniture and food. And then we ate cake and ice cream with Daddy!

Doesn't everyone look
lovely at Pinocchio?

The next morning, all the girls had a very important date to see Pinocchio in the children's theater. We left plenty early and were rewarded with the chance to see some statues at the art museum next door and use the bathroom before, except for the two youngest, of course. After rather precariously determining who would sit by Grandma for which part of the performance (after all, we were negotiating with a two-year-old), we settled in and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Even Naomi remained spellbound during the entire 1 1/2-hour production!

Then we all enjoyed lunch at a bakery, enjoying some slightly new flavors and our free cookie for dessert. Back at home, everybody except the kids was tired and ready for a nap, so Kalina and Elise played with Naomi while she pretended to attempt to nap, while the grownups checked out. Later we explored more outside, including the lake just around the corner from the house.

On Day 7, we decided the girls needed some low-key, yet out-of-the-house fun (lest something or someone get broken) and checked out a really neat nearby playground. Kalina and Elise enjoyed exploring and trying out some different playground toys while Naomi let the grownups take turns being pulled around by the hand to do the same.

Fun with second cousins!

Later, we headed to Aunt Rita's house for a mini family reunion where we met two new girl second cousins (once removed?) right about Kalina's and Elise's age and their very happy baby brother. The big girls thoroughly enjoyed their new playmates and played outside all the beautiful evening. Naomi, however, wanted nothing much to do with anyone new, and instead sequestered Grandma in the small (but magical) upstairs playroom with her. The toddler did come out of her shell a bit to eat dinner (chips and fruit on her plate--a pretty typical meal for her while we traveled) and especially for ice cream.

Panning for cool rocks is very
serious business.

The next day was our last full day at Grandma and Grandpa's. And it happened to be Grandpa's birthday! If you asked Naomi, anyway--she thought it hilarious to wish Grandpa a happy birthday whenever she saw him. Unfortunately, Grandpa will have to wait until December for the real thing.

Matt took some amazing
pictures of the hawk. We were
not quite this close, but close
enough to get this shot.

We surprised ourselves in the morning with a walk around the lake, including a stop at the playground halfway. If we had known we'd end up out for two hours in partial sun right around lunchtime we would have packed accordingly. As it was, we thoroughly enjoyed the first 3/4 of the walk! We even spotted a hawk eating its prey up in a tree--perfectly visible and perfectly content to let us observe it. We could almost hear it crunching, and we were all too fascinated to be grossed out.

Later that day, Elise caught a tree frog and we explored more of the neighborhood. Matt caught a small fish followed very closely by a leopard frog that Kalina spotted. ("Get the fish off the hook and catch this frog!") Grandpa Les removed a few more toes (he always puts them back on, though!) and we examined all the rocks again.

Doesn't this just look like the coziest
place to sleep?

And then it was our last night! Sometime during the trip, Grandma read Naomi a story called My Favorite Things. The end of the story asks the question, "What's your favorite thing?" Naomi's answer? "Sleeping at Grandpa and Grandma's house."And so it was that we all had a good trip--even Naomi!

Elise taught Grandpa how to
Rainbow Loom!

Grandma taught Elise how to knit!