You’ll recall that we posted a brief video of Chloe diving at the beginning of the summer. Here is Chloe again, indulging us with a new and improved dive in celebration of (or mourning for, depending on your point of view) the last weekend of the season. Farewell summer of ’08 – here’s to ’09!
Category Archives: Treasures from the Archives
“Yes, I Do!”
Sophie loves food. She does, she really does. Especially sweet stuff.
Parakeets and More Parakeets
During the girls’ visit with Grammy the other day, they went to a local zoo that had a parakeet exhibit. Lots of parakeets all over the place, in the same spirit as the butterfly exhibits that have become very popular.
Chloe and Sophie each held a feeding stick to attract the birds, and as you can see from the photo, the birds were not shy. Their friendliness and proximity enchanted the girls, and they had a grand time.
It’s a very good thing I wasn’t with them. Because had I been there, my main preoccupation would have been all the potential for well-targeted bird excrement falling on the human invaders. There were tons of birds hanging out, ergo tons of potential for poop. And there were no plastic protective ponchos in the offing. The girls and my mom were spared, however. Lucky for them.
The Party’s Over
We just got home with the girls – after our 24-hour reprieve from caretaking. I really enjoyed the quiet, but I missed them a smidgeon towards the end.
That is, until we arrived at my mom’s place, and Sophie started crying because she was tired and because we were there to pay attention to her. And until they started screaming and running around my mom’s apartment. And until we got to the car and Sophie started sobbing again because she was even more tired than she had been when we first arrived.
The girls had a fine time with their Grammy, as evidenced by this photo taken at a local park. Sophie obviously loved the little train ride. And Grammy is always chock-full of activities. They made Play-Doh (yes, out of flour and other ingredients) this morning and created little creatures – an alligator, snake, frog and turtle. My mom gave them some old clip-on earrings for dress-up play. They went swimming, they colored (and Sophie is a mighty good colorer) and they ate my mom out of house and home. My mom thinks Chloe has tapeworm. Highly unlikely. Shes just a very hungry child.
Date Night!
Thanks, Mom! Thanks for taking the girls off our hands for an overnight with Grammy! The timing couldn’t be better from my perspective. After a crazy week at work, it was so very nice to be able to come home to peace and quiet.
And my husband and I got to go out to dinner and a movie! Which is a true luxury and something we rarely do on the same day. Twice a year at most.
We had dinner among adults. We didn’t have to go to a restaurant that caters to noisy kids (although the restaurant we did go to happens to be noisy, with or without kids). And we only needed a table for two. And we didn’t have to color or play hangman or tic tac toe while waiting for our food. Do you sense my bliss and contentment?
And the kicker was that we got to watch a real movie (“Tell No One” – which was fantastic and in French, by the way)! And we didn’t have to share the treats! And we didn’t have Chloe sitting next to us talking incessantly and way too loud about the plot points. And there were no misbehaving kids kicking the backs our seats.
The joys of a vacation from parenthood, even if it’s just for 24 hours.
The 2nd Grade Teacher Placement
We just found out who Chloe’s second grade teacher is going to be. The name doesn’t mean anything to me at this point, because we haven’t heard anything about her.
I’ve already e-mailed the moms of a few of Chloe’s friends to find out who their kids have – and I hope that Chloe will have at least one buddy from previous classes with her this year.
Second grade starts in one week. The thought of having to get into a routine of making sure the homework gets done – my girl is a bit rusty on that score, I’m sure. We really liked Chloe’s teacher last year – she took extra steps to ensure that Chloe was sufficiently challenged. I hope the new teacher is the same way.
In the meantime, the last weekend of the summer approaches, and as I’ve written before, I feel like the weeks since June have flown by and I haven’t had much time to really enjoy it. It makes me a little sad. But as I write this blog entry, the girls are dancing to “Joy to the World” and they make me smile. From Chloe, who can’t shimmy to a beat but snaps her fingers really well, to Sophie, who jumps around like a clown, shakes her booty and falls off the couch onto the pillows on the floor…we really are lucky.
The girls don’t realize how much they cheer me up when I’m feeling down (and of course I would never tell them this lest they start using it against me) – just by being silly and happy and free.
Wheelbarrow
Sophie and Chloe have finally figured out how to work together to make a human wheelbarrow. It took them some time, but Sophie – the strong almost 3-year old that she is – is now able to use her little girl arm muscles to move herself across the floor.
Chloe, for her part, is now coordinated enough (at least when it comes to wheelbarrows) to keep hold of Sophie so she doesn’t fall and hit her face on the floor. They make a good team.
Papa took them to the zoo today. Sophie’s favorite part was the snake display. She really likes snakes. I don’t know why. We already know that she likes to stomp and kill bugs. But she has a thing for snakes – their slithering, perhaps? I don’t quite get it myself.
On a totally different note, I’ve noticed that Sophie’s language skills have advanced a notch over the past week or so. She’s now starting to explain herself by using “because.” And she distinguishes between Play-Doh and regular clay. And she’s employing the word “really,” as in “Did you see any birds at the zoo today, sweetheart?” “No, not really.”
And we’ve settled on a clown for her birthday – a nice, gentle clown, who juggles, does magic, puts on puppet shows and makes balloon animals, including snakes. Just what a 3-year old crowd should love.
Crazy Nancy Drew Reader
That’d be our dear Chloe. Who started volume six of the Nancy Drew series on Saturday and who is now almost done with volume seven, a mere two days later!
She has become a voracious reader, at least of Nancy Drew. I’m trying to convince her to start reading the “Harry Potter” books, but because she’s the obsessive-compulsive daughter of an obsessive-compulsive mother, she likely won’t even seriously consider starting another series until she’s read all of the million (ok – the original series had 56 books; but there have been several spin-offs since which, according to Wikipedia, have produced at least a couple hundred more) Nancy Drews. Crazy, no?
On another note, I made some calls about procuring entertainment for Sophie’s birthday party next month. I should be able to check that off my list by the end of the week. I like the idea of a friendly clown who can do face painting, tattoos and balloons – there’s a “Colors” and a “Lickerish” who might fit the bill. Sophie would love that.
Almost Forgot! Sophie’s Turning Three!
Sophie’s not actually turning three for another month, but I realized this weekend that we have yet to give much thought as to how we’re going to celebrate her upcoming milestone.
Now that we’ve been through plenty of birthday parties with Chloe, I’ve decided birthday parties are highly overrated. We had cake with family members for Sophie’s first two birthdays. But this year, she was invited to a few parties, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to invite some of her little friends over for some fun. If we can get our act together in time.
Face painting? Balloons? Lizards? Puppet show? Little Gym? I might be able to enlist my husband to act like a French clown à la Marcel Marceau – which would be easy for him because it wouldn’t require any talking. My father dressed up as a clown for one of my brother’s birthdays many moons ago. He looked ridiculous, but I’m sure the kids loved it. At least those who weren’t scared out of their wits. Maybe dressing up as a clown isn’t such a great idea after all.
If I have any hope of booking anyone for the end of September, I better start making a lot of phone calls tomorrow…add organizing her birthday to the already-too-long to-do list. Ugh.
Except for the Shoes
Chloe, Grammy and I went shopping for back-to-school clothes today. All in all, a very successful outing. Except for the shoes. Chloe’s sneakers, pictured, are going to be her sole (excuse the pun) closed-toe pair of footwear for a while longer.
Chloe tried on at least 30 pairs of shoes in five different stores today. I felt as if I were reliving the crazy dress episode from last year (Part I here and Part II here), but there was no happy ending this time around. She tried on Vans, Nine West, Kenneth Cole and who knows how many other brands – to no avail.
Too tight, too loose, too much arch – you name it, Chloe found something wrong with every pair she put on her feet. She’s like freakin’ Goldilocks, except miss third-time’s-the-charm Goldilocks is easy compared to our dear Chloe.
The only pair she didn’t try on was the $209.95(!!!!!) pair of Prada shoes at Nordstrom. I was desperate, but I have my scruples. I suppose Manolo Blahniks for the tweener set will be next. Obscene.
For what it’s worth, I am happy to say that when as far as shoes are concerned, Chloe does not take after me. I have no patience for clothes shopping of any kind, so I tend to buy things quickly or not at all. However, her Papa is a pain in the ass when it comes to his precious feet. Too tight, too loose, too much arch – you name it, my husband takes forever to find a pair he likes. Which is perfect, because guess what? He’s on vacation next week and he’ll have ample opportunity to schlep his daughter around to every kids’ shoe store within a 15-mile radius. Because I’m done. Done, done, done.