A Fairy Happy Birthday After All!

The other day, as Kalina and I were talking about the fact that she would soon be six years old (something we've discussed a lot lately), I told her that a lot of times, people act all the different ages at different times. So a 100-year-old might act like a 0-year-old if she screams and whines and fusses like a baby, or a 5-year-old might act like a 100-year-old if she shows wisdom and patience. And everything in between. (Never mind that Mommy sometimes acts much closer to 0 than 100. But I am closer to 0 than 100!)


And on Kalina's birthday, she not only turned six, but also 100 if you take into account her positive attitude when the big fairy birthday party we had planned for the day had to get postponed due to a particularly virulent stomach virus that visited her mom overnight. If there's anything worse than missing your oldest's sixth birthday and causing her party to be rescheduled, it's being that six-year-old. Poor Kalina! We'd worked on it, planned for it and looked forward to it all month and in a broader sense, since Christmas! But I saw nothing but smiles on my sweet girl's face as she celebrated anyway and made the best of her day.

Thank goodness Kalina had Elise to
help her celebrate! Elise put a lot of
thought into the gift, wrapping and
card. But I'm pretty sure that Elise,
herself, is the best gift.

I think when you're six, having it be your own special day might be all you need to put a smile on your face, but we came up with a few special things that helped. Gifts, for one! By the end of the day, Kalina was surrounded by plenty of new favorites: an enchanting Lego castle and an adorable Lego puppy, the Playmobil penguins she'd been asking for for months, a lovely fairy set from Elise, a Kirsten American Girl doll she adores and plenty more. Sometimes we wonder if she's spoiled (probably) but judging by her sincere, ecstatic, unprompted thank-yous all around, for everything from beautiful, sparkly cards to every gift, she's not so spoiled that she takes it for granted. Kalina even went the extra step to ask who each gift was from so she could say thank-you to that person. Par for the course if you're 100, I imagine, but above-and-beyond the six-year-old crowd.

Daddy also picked up McDonald's for lunch and made his special pancakes for supper. He allowed lots of sweets for both big girls, and let them help him construct a praying mantis cage for all his baby praying mantises that magically hatched on Kalina's special day (seriously, everything natural Matt touches turns to gold!). The true hero, he did this while managing the baby and doing the dishes, seeing as I was completely, painfully useless and napped on and off for several hours--probably my first nap in years.

Opening penguins from
Aunt Nancy

A true picture of graciousness, Kalina let her little sisters help with her presents (and play with them), even downplaying her own new Littlest Pet Shop set so that Elise would feel better about her own, and not be so jealous. I never heard a word about rescheduling the party, or about how I could only make a short appearances throughout the day, even when Kalina blew out six candles on her celebratory ice-cream sundae (having had a cupcake earlier in the day).

Six!!! How did it happen? As all good things, very slowly. At times I'm astounded at the sweet, smart, confident, imaginative, patient, attentive and responsible person Kalina has become. She's utterly devoted to her little sisters (although she can barely keep herself from tickling them to pieces), she builds Lego creations far more creative than anything I've ever put together and all last week she walked happily into VBS without looking back--no anxiety, no problems. She follows rules (often) and is still able to be quite silly, just as a six-year-old should. Kalina tries new things with more confidence than she's ever had, makes new friends, and  is beginning to really think beyond herself to help out and do the right thing. Case in point:

Kalina and the newest
member of our family.

At the library the other day:
Kalina: Mommy, can one of us hold the DVD on the way home?
Me, while holding my breath: If you two can reach an agreement about who gets to hold it, then sure. If not, I'll hold it. (Knowing that stakes are high--last time someone wanted to hold a DVD the results were disastrous, albeit very educational for both girls.)
Kalina and Elise square off, and I can sense Elise tensing (I am, too).
Kalina: Elise, you can hold the DVD on the way home. I want to do the nice thing.
Librarian, whispering to me: Is she for real?
And after that, I of course let them watch some of it while I made lunch.

In fact, I've noticed that when Kalina is in a good mood--and I'd say that's most of the time, unless she's sick or stressed--the whole household is sunnier. She can, and usually does, make our whole day.

Kalina wanted an ice-cream sundae
for her birthday treat. Thank goodness
she's "only" turning six or it would've
been ice-cream soup!

At six, Kalina is reading simple easy readers (and birthday cards!), manipulating numbers in her head, telling time to the half hour, counting small amounts of change and identifying all the coins, very knowledgeable about the world around her (the other day the girls were discussing the difference between a damselfly and a dragonfly), beginning to understand her place in history and asking great questions to learn more. She can mostly recite Psalm 23 and she knows the details many Bible stories better than I do. Her memory is astounding--she can remember events from her toddlerhood, and remembers details I don't about events that happened years ago. And she does not feel six yet, but I imagine she will by this time next year.

Kalina still adores crafts, drawing without hesitation (this was a long time coming, but we are there!), cutting, gluing and generally creating whatever her heart desires. She can sew buttons, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and feed the baby. She's proud of the fact that she can climb a tree on the golf course, she'll happily perform on the piano for you (a song she's made up or one from her music books) and she's really good at digging for, and finding, worms and other critters, showing little fear except toward bees (and she's been stung twice, so I can't really blame her). She is still much, much, much more likely to pretend that a soccer ball is an egg about to hatch than to kick it back and forth, but she does enjoy her scooter.

Lisa (a.k.a. Lamby) is still Kalina's best friend, and now usually gets to wear clothes, which are changed for all the big occasions and especially the lamb's own birthday, which is celebrated at least weekly. And so Kalina, as with most kids at this age, thrives on keeping one foot firmly in the imaginary even while taking on more of the "real." May it ever be so.

_______

Julia, Lilly, Lily, Madeline, Lydia,
Molly, Kalina, Hayley, Elise, Choe.
Not pictured: Lucy, Anna

The fairy party finally happened, and it was everything we'd hoped it would be! Kalina and I had spent several really fun late bedtimes (her bedtime, not mine) creating paper mushrooms, a giant sunflower and "fairy bread" together, in addition to invitations I wish I'd taken pictures of because they garnered more compliments than I'd ever heard of an invitation receiving. Kalina stenciled a fairy on the front of each, and we filled in the information on the back. According to several moms at different times and places, the guests thought Kalina's stenciled fairies were very inspiring. And I have to agree.

Sometimes I do wonder if
they're for real. Other times,
not so much.

Despite all of Kalina's help, or possibly because of it, I wanted to be sure the party had some magic in store for her. And it did! First, the fairies arrived: Kalina got her own set of six pretty plastic fairies to live in the fairy house she would be painting. Meanwhile, the guests got to each search for their own fairy in the front yard on their way in. Elise, being the Birthday Girl's Sister (and mostly since I didn't want to try to monitor her outside and finish the party setup inside at the same time), got to search ahead of time and, to her utter delight, managed to find one of the fairy queens. Yay for Elise, who held up relatively well considering the peculiar combination of activity and jealousy that meet at an older sibling's birthday party.

Everybody arrived at the same time, pretty much, about 15 seconds after I deemed myself "ready enough for a party." That was a close one, possibly because Miss Naomi decided it'd be a great day to have trouble falling asleep for afternoon nap, and then short-napping (in all fairness, she's had an otherwise easy week).

We dove right in to painting fairy houses, which Matt had crafted out of wood weeks before. They were every bit as much of a hit as he'd hoped--the fairies fit in perfectly (each girl tested) and they painted up beautifully.

Next, we had face painting, a fairy dress-up, a photo booth, and a mini "fairyland" for the kids to play in, with and around. Which pretty much resulted in a constant stream of high-decibel, high-volume chatter for the next 30-ish minutes, and girls with various combinations of wings, tutus, wands and flowery crowns running back and forth. Cute.

Can fairies grant their own
wishes or do they need
candles?

 Then it was time for food. Our little fairies had worked up quite an appetite, and wolfed down "fruit wands," "fairy bread" and "magic mushrooms" in a matter of minutes. Maybe they were just excited about the cupcakes--which truly were something to be excited about, as they were fancy and from a store since I just didn't have a fresh batch of cupcakes in me (after all, I was recovering from a nasty stomach virus).

Being fancy and from a store, the cupcakes were stacked with purple icing, much to Elise's delight. What was not so great, however, is that shortly after her first bite, her icing managed to slide off the rest of her cupcake, taking the top portion of the cake itself with it. Not cool to a tired, jealous Birthday Girl Sister who had been fixated on birthday treats all day long. Not cool at all. In a quick, easy solution, the broken cupcake became mine and a new treat was dished up to the nearly hysterical child. Whew, solved that problem!

Elise's best fairy face.

Until her second cupcake somehow landed top-down on the chair next to her. Another mom was already kindly handing the again hysterical child a third cupcake (and who knows how that one would have met its demise?) when I managed to convince Elise that a spoon would, in fact, be a good idea. I also somehow managed to get her back onto the first cupcake, and she ate up every bite. Poor girl.

And finally, it was time for presents! A huddle of girls watched in rapt attention as Kalina opened everything from real fabric butterfly wings she could wear, to various craft activities, to a kitty purse. Kalina, nearly beside herself with delight at each gift, managed lots of unprompted, enthusiastic thank-yous. The difference a year makes!

After a little playtime with the new gifts, it was time for all the fairies to fly home. Kalina spent the next full 24 hours not quite sure what she wanted to do next, faced with so many options she even remarked at one point, "I'm bored" (she actually wasn't, just crippled by indecision).

Elise's ego is healing up nicely, aided by the generosity of Big Sister, who would often rather make new craft and Lego projects for her little sister than for herself, and who gave her a baby fairy left over from the party.

Naomi, by the way, spent the duration of the party safely with Grandpa, who worked his darndest to make sure she never felt the need for Mommy the entire time. In support of Big Sister, however, she wore her tutu and matching rainbow shirt.

The "behind-the-scenes" work
that made this party possible!

Big sisters

Prettier than Grandpa's roses!

We recently started Elise on an allowance. It's a bit crazy--a 3 1/2-year-old getting an allowance--but neither of us really feel up to the task of explaining to her that she's younger than Kalina. It would take a lot of tears and a lot of convincing (especially when Kalina brings home a new toy every so often just because she's older), and we're pretty sure she would never forgive us. So we just give her a couple quarters a week, and consider it an investment in family peace.

[That being said, maybe we should give Kalina more credit--she's spent a good portion of her allowance on Elise and seems to enjoy indulging her little sister (or once, by her own admission, being able to play with her own toys without her little sister constantly asking to play with them). Elise has received small plastic Care Bears, a stuffed grey kitten, gum and more from her big sister's generosity.]

Elise's favorite activity at
Grandpa's house.

In this and other ways, Elise has been a "big sister" for almost as long as Kalina has. For example, Elise the Brave is usually the one who doesn't mind going down to the basement, or to the "scary" part of the basement, to retrieve the forgotten toy. Or to the neighbor's house alone without asking permission to knock on their door and ask the neighbor girl to play with both of them while Kalina watches from our yard. Kalina lets me call her "little Kalina," but Elise insists on "big," or at least "middle." And I'm pretty sure Kalina learned some of the nuances of bike riding from little Elise (don't tell her I called her that).

It does sometimes seem to confuse and frustrate Elise when she feels out of place among Kalina's friends, or can't run quite as fast as Kalina ("She always gets the swing first!"). But being a mere 3 1/2, poor thing, is never reason enough for her to give herself a break.

A pair of scientists.

Of course, we're still watching Elise unfold as an actual big sister. As Naomi has learned to scoot and crawl and become a real threat to Pink Bear and other treasured possessions (such as Mommy, who is still walking Naomi around in all her free time), Elise has, as you'd expect, sensed a tiny bit of competition. But Elise's natural generosity and easygoing spirit also shine through: "It's okay if Naomi puts Pink Bear in her mouth." What 3 1/2-year-old ever says that? Granted, Naomi is cuter than most babies.

Meanwhile, Kalina, who was a bit younger than Elise (at only 3 instead of 5 1/2, as Elise seems to be now) when Elise was Naomi's current age (did you follow that?), has settled quite naturally into the roll of substitute mommy. Although she occasionally gets it wrong (stop tickling the baby right before naptime!!!), she's occasionally almost on par with Daddy for quality of caretaking (stop tickling the baby right before naptime!!!). She patiently and sweetly plays with the baby, often stepping in without being asked, and winning some of the best grins of the household.

Naomi could do this all day!

Elise, by the way, has her own style of playing with Naomi, which often includes plain old silliness. I imagine Naomi will better understand the humor behind, "Look, Naomi, there's a giraffe on my head!" with a few months' experience ("Wait a second...giraffes don't belong on peoples' heads! Hahahaha!"), but the two are already forming their own sweet relationship.

Both big girls are ultra protective of their little sister. Sometimes more protective than is entirely convenient.
Kalina or Elise, panicking: "Mommy, the baby is playing with a napkin!!!"
Me, the hypocrite: "Um, I know, it's okay, I'm watching her."
Kalina or Elise: "But she's not supposed to play with napkins! She might tear off little pieces and eat them!!!"
Me, fully recognizing the very valid point and countering with what feels like a very valid point of my own: "Thank you, Sweetie, but this is the only way I'm going to be able to make lunch for us, and she's not trying to eat the napkin right now. If she does I'll take it away, I promise."
And so the big sisters are learning that all rules are relative and at the mercy of convenience. Bad mommy! I will have to undo all of this down the road, but for now, we need to eat lunch.

Kalina and Naomi playing happily.

Speaking of choking hazards, it's been made painfully obvious that girls as a species gravitate toward tiny objects. The big girls love miniature animals and shiny beads, and the baby loves them just as much. Beyond this, the big girls love building pet cages and landscapes out of blocks, and the baby has no problem with knocking them down as she explores their creations. We have navigated this territory before with the two big girls and everyone survived, but only through a  miserable combination of baby gates (which nobody really likes), new rules, sadness and mad grabs.

Tiny treasures aside, for the most part, the girls are actually helpful. They are happy to fetch Naomi's comfort animal--a hedgehog puppet that she attached to all by herself--attempt to distract her during fussy diaper changes or carseat transitions, feed her, read her naptime story and pile around her more toys than she could possibly play with at one sitting (partly because she doesn't like to sit still). I used to worry that Naomi would be alternately neglected and picked on; now I am pretty certain she'll be spoiled no end, never so much as having to tie her own shoes until she's eight years old.

One of Elise's favorite jobs
is to swing the baby.

I maintain that every baby should come with a 5-year-old and 3-year-old girl. Life is crazy, but more often than not, it's a fun kind of crazy. Many times a day I'm very thankful to have a couple of "big sisters" around, whether they're haphazardly trying to drag her away from potential choking hazards (which almost always provokes a rushed, "Thank you for helping, but please don't drag the baby!" from me) or pretending to sneeze on her (Kalina: "But she likes it!"). And I'm pretty sure Naomi is, too.

_____________

Some cute things the big girls have said lately:

Me: Wow, clouds and wind. What do we think of that?
Kalina: Clouds plus wind make rain!
Elise: And rain plus sun make a rainbow! And a rainbow makes colors! And colors make love! (Big, sweet smile.)
Kalina: And love makes imagination, and imagination makes fun, and fun makes happy!
Leave it to my girls to turn the possibility of rain into happiness.

We raised tadpoles! And are about to
release them.

Kalina: I want to be a queen for my birthday.
Elise: And then you can marry Jesus!

Elise: If I ever poof up and start to float away, just tell me to let out some of that air, and I will float back down.

Elise, every so often: Am I magic?
She's pretty convinced she is. When asked what her super powers are:
"I'm super-strong. I can lift my bike. And I can talk without talking." (She means thinking.) What's her favorite thing to say without saying it? "I love you."

Squish, squish, yum!

All about Naomi:

In her 9th month, Naomi worked her hardest on half a dozen different milestones. I think she might say "ma-ma-ma and almost mean it," and possibly even "ball," and her pincer grasp can easily get Cheerios, peas and other small bits of food into her mouth, a process she relishes. In fact, her favorite way to eat her food is by squishing it first. Squish, squish, yum...squish, squish, yum. And in this way, she actually works up a pretty decent appetite, even while extinguishing ours.

All the rest of the developments have been gross motor skills that have nothing to do with squishing macaroni and cheese. Naomi waved at Kalina on Wednesday, and at Daddy today. She can pull up to standing, sometimes bend down and keep her balance, stand for a few seconds by herself, walk one-handed and dance. She can crawl, too, but she still prefers walking unless she has proper motivation. And my personal favorite, she gives hugs on command--but only if she loves you. :)

We sold a couple cups of lemonade
during a neighborhood garage sale!
Thank goodness everyone let us
keep the change...

The baby continues to love studying things and freaking out if you pull her away too early. Her personality is very interactive--she occasionally tries to engage her big sisters in play, enjoys "showing off" and wavers back and forth between quite cheerful and furious, depending on whether or not she is doing something she wants to be doing. Naomi is not mellow, but is happy to be distracted for reasonable periods of time as long as the distraction is worth her time.

All the girls in Kalina's preschool
class on "graduation" day!

The kids' museum carts in a beach and
my girls could've played all day.

Naomi's, "This is a
fascinating new substance!"
face. She's also mad at me
for not letting her sit in a
sandy stream. Sorry baby!

So far, so good: Naomi likes
swinging. Will it last?

A tea party with pretend tea
(juice) but real teacups.

Friends from Durham visited!

The job of mommying

Mother's Day with my
three bosses/sweeties. I call it, Study in
Pink.

When you work at a "real" job, you hear things like this all day:
"What a great idea!"
"Can I get your opinion on something?"
"What do you think about this plan?"
"You sound miserable, why don't you take a sick day?"
"Anything I can do to help?"
"We really appreciate your expertise."

When you "don't work," you hear this:
"You're the worst mommy ever in the whole world."
"Can we do a craft?"
"This is the worst day ever," (after meaningful activities and the children's museum, followed by a delicious lunch and stories)
"I don't want to."
"No, that wouldn't work."
"I haven't gotten to play all day long!"
"Gross." (in reference to dinner)
"Can you please sew me a barn?"

Elise "mowing" the grass
she planted at preschool.

And, my personal least favorite, complete silence when what you were really hoping for was for a couple little people to jump into action, or at least answer your question. Or acknowledge your presence, even. Anything. Is this thing on? Hello? Hello???

 Or, maybe worse, when they answer every question with the word, "tooty," which isn't quite a bad word but sure sounds close to several, so you can only respond with a frowning laugh because you don't want to condone something you shouldn't, but you also don't want to be a complete-stick-in-the-mud for something that really could turn out to be no big deal. Plus, you're pretty sure that if you respond at all, it'll only make it a bigger deal than it is. Which is what will also happen if you completely ignore it. There's kind of no right answer here. But it's not actually a bad word, right?

At any rate, there are times when it seems that despite Mommy's best efforts, she and her endless loads of laundry and dishes really only get in the way of the amazing things that could be happening at our house. Or, the other variation, when Mommy's hidden agenda of civilizing her children get in the way of perfectly good playtime. Just ask my children.

Take Naomi, for instance: a child who will most definitely be good at puzzles someday, and probably would be now if it weren't for the fact that she's still working on her pincer grasp. She actually demonstrated her comprehension of the concept the other day by putting a circular object back into the circular hole it'd come out of. Or trying to, anyway. Darn underdeveloped pincer grasp.

The baby would be fully on track for a Nobel Prize in Chemistry (or something), except for the fact that Mommy simply cannot hold her up by her torso and walk her around the whole day, as Baby clearly needs (wants? It depends on her decibel level) in order to develop at the rate she'd prefer (light speed). But since I am unable to support Naomi, literally, as my back and wrists are shot, I'm completely failing my youngest, who no doubt will  have to consent to progress at age-grade level throughout most of her schooling career. I'm really holding her back, and pretty soon it'll show.

In fact, we have the following disagreement daily, if not hourly. Minutely?:
Me: Isn't the third child supposed to be mellow?
Naomi: I am supposed to explore! Learn! Discover! On my feet! Now!

Nature studies with Daddy.

Let's just say we actually did run the house completely on Naomi's terms (as opposed to about 75%, which is what we do now). Here's how a day would go:
5:30 a.m. Awake! Nature study on a long stroller walk around the neighborhood with Daddy.
7:00. First breakfast.
7:20. Inter-relational studies with the big sisters.
7:30. Object lessons, to be conducted from a standing or walking position.
8:00. Second breakfast. But only for about five minutes before I scream and shriek and want OUT of the chair. NOW!
8:15. I'm tired and nothing will make me happy except exploring sound theories by banging or tapping one or more objects together, from a standing or walking position. Never mind the breakfast dishes (or Mommy's soggy, ignored bowl of cereal).
8:45/9:00-ish. Fine, I'll sleep.
10:15. Morning snack.
10:30 until 12:00. Intensive texture observations, to be conducted from a standing or walking position.
12:00. First lunch. Same routine as second breakfast.
12:10-1:15. I'm tired and annoyed at seeing the same four walls, day after day. Gross motor skill studies, from a standing or walking position.
1:15: Second lunch.
1:25 to 2:00: Gravity experiments, to be conducted from a standing or walking position.

The injustice! Mommy won't let me
learn! Sometimes you just have to
laugh and snap the picture, because
you can't change it. The feet were
kicking, too, presumably to add
drama.

And so on. Now, replace anything unreasonable in the baby's directives with "crying pitifully because Mommy won't let me learn and makes me lie here on the floor surrounded by a wide variety of colorful rattles like a baby," and you have our actual routine. Lately, the big girls have been noticing that Mommy's grumpy a lot.

When we're all at our best, it's rather adorable to see Naomi charging around the house supported by a parent--and it happens many times a day. She talks as she walks, delighted, never mind the fact that a mere five seconds ago she was howling at the indignity of being placed on the floor on her tummy and surrounded by baby toys. The injustice! Placed upright and allowed to wander, however, Naomi is all sunshine, cooing and hooting at her new freedom and vantage point, no doubt already composing research papers in her mind on Surface Texture Comparisons or Noises Trash Cans Make When You Thump Them. Just look at all the learning she can do! What do shoes taste like? What would happen if I pulled over the trash can? Why is this slippery? What do these buttons do? Can I put my sister's favorite teddy bear in my mouth?

See, she knows how to be happy!

Surface Texture Comparisons, by Naomi
The House is composed of three main surface types, with several surface texture subsets. The major types are, listed in order of quantity: soft; brown; and cool stone. The "soft" surface texture type varies in color from beige to dull blue with shades of brown accent colors. The beige surface texture is the softest and thickest, but the singular beige color is easily forgettable. Dull blue with shades of brown accents is the most interesting aesthetically, and in the middle for softness, being not as thick as the beige, but still pleasant to the touch. Another "soft" texture is ridged, unlike the other two, and rather hard, although it is nicely striped in shades of cream, beige, blue and black. Rather interesting toys/objects can be found near this surface, although it is often out of sight of the Mommy figure, so it is undesirable unless she is immediately present. Brown texture types have two subsets: smooth and super-smooth. These are both hard and uninteresting, but can occasionally be good for sliding on feet or tummy, if one is in the mood. Cool stone has rarely been examined. It should be noted that a wide variety of surface texture types can be found outside the House, and will be investigated further at another time.

Ironically, the only thing the baby doesn't want to learn is how to crawl. Crawling is, apparently, for babies.

Yes, clearly I've been doing a terrible job with my littlest, who is destined to fall short of her true potential due to Mommy exhaustion. Now, let's talk about how Kalina can read because Mommy forced her to. Totally unrelated.

I love knee socks! Isn't she
tall?? Even without the stool?

Kalina can read! Really read! Big-girl books! ("Emergent Reader" big-girl books, anyway.) While her personal favorite is one that she's had memorized for almost a year, she is able to legitimately sound out several of Naomi's and a few easy readers we've brought home from the library. (Side note: if you're trying to convince a 5-year-old to learn to read, just bring home a baby and get out the old baby books. I won't say it's easier than the traditional method, but it works!) She's cleverly begun to notice that reading is everywhere! Cereal boxes! Signs! Preschool! You name it!

Elise, by the way, would want you to know that she can "read," too. She would also love for you to nod and smile as she triumphantly makes her way through "That's Not My Dolly" and a few others she has under her belt, or thinks she does, anyway. Yay, Elise! (She can legitimately sight-read her own name, too.)

I maintain that Kalina could've been reading much earlier, except she just didn't want to. Why? Aside from the inherent challenge ("But I don't really like challenges, Mommy"), it could be that she's afraid I won't read to her anymore, which I've assured her is not the case.

This hasn't stopped me from pushing reading. Or, more accurately, nudging it. Or sometimes cramming it down her throat, poor girl. My theory is this: if you live in a nice house with plenty of food, clothing, toys and medicine, with two loving parents and loving extended family, high-quality friends, a yard to play in and, in short, absolutely everything a child could need to feel safe, secure, confident and happy, you can work on reading, even if you don't particularly want to. We all have to have some hardship in our lives, right?

Kalina's preschool "musical!" So
sweet. She's in the back row and even
wore a dress to "fancy up!"

We've used flashcards, easy readers, alphabet magnets, puzzles, white boards, Bingo, computers, books and virtually every other resource I could (reasonably) think of to gain understanding of the English language. We've worked for years, although taking months off at a time to allow for more natural development And with the exception of sight word Bingo, Kalina has resisted it almost every step of the way. Despite all of my hard work (or perhaps because of it?) Kalina's preschool teachers have at times been more likely to see the fruit of her labor than I have, until now.

But eventually she learned the alphabet, then the sounds and then the fact that you can put the sounds together to make words. She learned cat, hat, mat and all the rest. Bingo taught us the, this, were, its and lots of other helpful words. Tiny flashcards (what 5-year-old doesn't like tiny things?) taught us blends. An alphabet on the wall reinforced sight words and sounds. Preschool teachers helped out with writing along the way, as nothing I could do would make the girl form even her own name for the longest time, and then anything but her name. And after 2+ years of off-and-on work, Kalina was taught to read (and write, too, although I can't take any credit for that)! And the whole experience taught me that I probably need to lighten up a bit.

If only Naomi would let me.

Nevertheless, I couldn't be prouder of my oldest, as she painstakingly makes her way through easy readers--still gently prodded, and rarely completely voluntary, although now that the hardest work is done (as I've assured her), she's a bit more open to the idea and sometimes even reads of her own accord. I know she's proud of herself, too. Likely for putting up with her mommy's "nudging" as well as for her accomplishments.

I also couldn't be prouder of my youngest, for demanding more out of life than a series of primitive baby toys. They are rather mindless, aren't they? The big sisters always got bored with them, too, and one of them is reading at five. And, um, another at three...right.

A chilly preschool field trip to get
ice cream!

And I couldn't be prouder of my middle for dozens of different things--as it seems you've read about lately in a couple different blogs.

In short, I do believe and expect the best of my kids. Which is why I expected my five-year-old to at least be working on reading,  and my nearly nine-month-old to at least be working on waiting patiently, horizontally, on the rug for five minutes while I saute onions on the stove. I truly believe both can rise to the challenge, although my nine-month-old would have me believe that tummy time nowadays is akin to making the five-year-old read Dickens.

Regardless, I don't think I'm doing a bad job. No matter what my three bosses sometimes tell me.
___________________________
Pediatrician Visit!

Naomi turns nine months in a few days! And so it was time to see the doctor. The baby weighs 15 lbs. exactly, and is 27 inches long, putting her in about the 6 1/2 percentile for weight and the 29th for height. Although cheerful on the way in, she was not happy about being laid down on the table, either because she associated it with a diaper change (which are all mini-nightmares nowadays, with crying from both of us because one wants to roll and the other wants to fasten the diaper on. Ironic, isn't it? that the only time the baby wants to be on her tummy is when it really makes things difficult?) or her shots from her last visit.

The baby is doing great, and even has a series of teeth coming in. She has three, and there might be as many more working their way out through her gums. Which the doctor confirmed could be the reason she went from "only" waking up twice at night to now waking up 3+ times, and she was kind enough to advise Advil. I also wonder if maybe Naomi's just working on her next paper entitled Gravity: True Every Time? in her head. You know how that is, right? When you just can't stop thinking about something so it keeps you up at night. Except usually with me, it's my grocery list or summer planning or a missing toy that's really bugging me. Poor Naomi, though, I can totally relate.

She received only one shot, and it wasn't too bad--the baby was possibly more cheerful after her appointment than before. She even consented to practice crawling a bit, but possibly only because I had the TV on in the background, which probably dumbed her down to a more age-appropriate level. Poor Naomi. I'm totally wrecking her chances with a prestigious career in science. Bad Mommy. But Dinosaur Train is science, right??

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...

Look out family room, here comes Naomi!

Baby seal or baby baby? Would she
be even cuter if covered in a fine layer
of silky fur?

I've known this day would come. I've known, in fact, for more than a year. It's been impossible to deny, as hard as I've tried, that one day we'd have a grabby baby on the loose in our home, wreaking adorable, drooly havoc on anything she manages to approach. That's right, the baby can roll.

Naomi has been able to kind of, or occasionally, roll for at least a month or two, and especially from back to front. At first, the motion surprised her, and not always in a good way as she lands her stomach or back on a hard, plastic toy (think of stepping on Legos--ouch!), or her head flops onto the floor. Once rolling started to happen more often, she learned to kind of duck her head in and smooth the transition so that it wouldn't be quite so uncomfortable to roll from front to back--at least if there are no toys in the way. And then she decided that rolling was okay, and could be a new mode of transportation. Now, Naomi is working on purposeful, goal-oriented rolling. The baby still has not learned to plan her rolls to avoid planting on toys, but I assume that comes next. I don't think she's ever gotten more than about five rolls away from her starting point (although that has gotten her under both her and Elise's beds), but it's enough to cause some big changes around our house.

Goofy girls. Naomi has the best big
sisters ever.

It is a much different situation from last time. For one, Kalina no longer freaks out (in a big way) when another child so much as glances at her stuffed lamb (Lisa, who is now a mother herself---sniff!). The girls love when I tell stories about how Baby Elise briefly look at Lamby, as she was called then, from across the room and Kalina would melt into tears, convinced of her little sister's involvement in a massive conspiracy to kidnap the stuffed animal and keep her for herself. I think only time changed her mind--I sure couldn't. But it's a relief that we don't do that anymore.

In fact, good-natured, generous Elise is so used to having a sister around that she really only seems concerned about her toys entering the baby's mouth, or drool leaking onto them. I know I will never be able to convince her, "it's just cute baby spit," so Naomi will have to learn the rule, "No putting your sister's stuffed animals into your mouth" before she even gains much of a concept about what constitutes a stuffed animal ("Is that the plastic block that fits into the hole? No? Shoot, I've got this all wrong."). But the baby doesn't suffer much at all at the hands of her doting big sisters, so this is a worthy compromise. Besides, she'll have to learn it sometime.

I love baby profiles. I may
have mentioned that before.

The bigger problem is that both of the big girls have firmly moved into the "millions of tiny toys" stage of girlhood, which they happily scatter over the house like raindrops. Aside from driving me slightly crazy, it means that every time Naomi rolls over, there's a new choking hazard.

On my side is the fact that while Naomi can certainly gnaw on a plastic ring for a while, she at least starts with her fingertips. Primed and ready at almost every calm and alert moment she has, her fingers love to touch and study. Our little scientist first tentatively touches an object, then scrapes it with her little fingernails, then pats it if it's big and drum-like, or grabs and manipulates it if it's small and hand-held. Her mouth is always at the ready, but not always in use.

And fortunately, the big girls are hyper-aware of what constitutes a choking hazard (especially if the choking hazard happens to be a prized possession). They're also hyper-aware of whenever the baby is playing with something that's not specifically a baby toy (again, especially if it's a prized possession), but we've had the "We share our toys unless they're put away in your room" discussion and I think they're okay with the arrangement as long as I occasionally let them borrow some of Naomi's shape sorters and rubbery animals and whatnot. Because apparently shape sorters are still fun if you're 3 1/2 or 5 1/2? Maybe it's fun to be an absolute pro at them.

The elusive finger-in-mouth
picture! Naomi loves chewing
on her finger. It's cute. It
comes out every time I pull
out the camera because it
wants to touch the camera.

We do have one new rule: for now, anything on the family room rug has to be fair game for Naomi. In return, I promise to keep her out of the actual playroom when the big sisters are playing in there. For now. Even if I have to fence it off. I think this will keep us all from going crazy except, potentially, Naomi when she realizes there's a treasure trove of really good toys within crawling distance.

Did somebody say "crawling?" That'll never happen...

Pbthbthpbhthbth. Something else
Naomi has learned lately.

This thing spins. And it spins
again. And again. And again.
I wonder if it'll do it again.
Naomi the scientist, and the
one who has most loved the
exersaucer. And most
studied it.

Whee! Spinning!