J: What is something Mommy always says to you?
A: I wuv you!

J: What makes me happy?
A: That I hug you and hold your hand.

J: What makes me sad?
A: When I hurt my knee, but we go home and you put new band aids on and then I come hug my Mommy and that makes me feel better.

J: How does Mommy make you laugh?
A: Um by doing funny things like juggle! juggle! juggle! juggle! with your foot!  (For the record, I cannot juggle)

J: What was Mommy like as a child?
A: Well you put child stuff on.

J: How old am I?
A: Uh (holds up four fingers).
J: No you’re going to be four.  How old is Mommy?
A: Uh… tall.

J: How tall am I?
A: Oh, really tall!  (Holds hands way above head)

J: What is my favorite thing to do?
A: Play at the park with me!

J: What does Mom do when you’re not around?
A: Go find me.

J: If I become famous, what will it be for?
A: Me and my dad and Noah.
J: Why will I be famous for you guys?
A: ‘Cause we like you!

J: What am I really good at?
A: Saying “hewwo! hewwo!” in Spanish.
J: How do you say hello in Spanish?
A: Just like “hewwo”.
J: Oh, right.

J: What am I not very good at?
A: Not jugg-a-wing (juggling)

J: What does Mommy do for my job?
A: Um, you go to work
J: What does Mommy do at work?
A: Well you help people that got hurt.

J: What is my favorite food?
A: Macaroni and Cheese-y.
J: No it’s not!
A: Yes!! Only Macaroni and cheese for you!

J: What makes you proud of me?
A: Um that you juggle, juggle and go to the park with me! I always say you juggle.
J: Yeah I’ve noticed, but I don’t juggle so why are you saying that?
A: You don’t juggle???  Well, ’cause you always juggle.  I’ll teach you one day.  (Balls. Drop. Everywhere. Loudly.)
J: Okay, no more juggling.  STOP.

J: If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?
A: Uh, Oscar.
J: Oscar the Grouch?  Why?
A: Cause I wuv you Oscar the Grouchy.  I really like Oscar Grouch.

J: What do you and I do together?
A: Uh, nuffin.
J: Nothing? We don’t do anything together?
A: Well we do sometimes. We jump, hop, play togedder.

J: How are you and I the same?
A: Our hair! Our hair make us the same.
J: Aything else?
A: Wuv. (be still my heart)

J: How are you and I different?
A: Well, our shirts don’t match

J: How do you know I love you?
A: Well, I just know that you wuv me.  You silly!

J: Where is my favorite place to go?
A: Ice skate!

J: Well thanks for letting me interview you.
A: Thank you.  I wuv you hop sack.  (I turn around and she’s hopping around the living room in a reusable grocery bag.  At least someone around here remembers to use it for something.)

My little Hobo turned three a few weeks ago.  THREE, INTERNETS.  Gah!  Even more astonishing is that she keeps getting better and better with age.  So basically, she’s just like me.

Embrace your week here

But enough about me. The real news is that my baby man turns TWO MONTHS old today.

The even BIGGER news is that this little GIRL turns THREE today!

How is that possible? And how did it happen so quickly?

Where does the time go???

Happy 3rd Birthday to my fabulous daughter! You impress me every day with who you are and who you are becoming. What a gift it is to watch you grow! I love you and I am SO proud of you.

Regardless, this will still be considered the best day of my life… again.  I can’t believe how blessed I am to have TWO healthy babies.  Loves of my life.  Always.

Embrace the camera

Come around she did.  While still at the ripe age of two years and eight months old, my itty bitty gigantic baby girl had her FIRST dance recital a few weeks ago.  She woke up the night before with a fever, achy, feeling miserable and I was not sure we would make it.  There was no way I was going to force her to go either.  When it came time to leave we dosed her with some antipyretics, asked her if she wanted to try and go and she wanted nothing more.

“I get to wear my tutu costume!”

SO excited before the show

For me, the excitement of watching her up on that stage, performing a few of the moves she had spent weeks working on was going to be my shining moment.  My daughter’s FIRST performance.  Clearly the draw for her wasn’t the dancing, or the time she’d spent practicing every week for months, but it was the little pink tutu.  And whatever makes her happy, makes me happy.

So we went.  With red eyes, bright red cheeks and the biggest sense of pride I’ve ever seen in her.  My heart swelled.

Then it broke a little when I was waiting with her before her turn to dance and she laid her little sick head on my chest, obviously tired.  Why did we bring her? I started to wonder.  I shouldn’t have let her come, she’s going to get more sick.

When the time came for her group to go on stage I whispered for her the exact same instructions I whisper every week at practice, to follow the group, listen to the teacher and have FUN.  “I am SO proud of you,” I told her, “You’re going to be GREAT.”

I gave her a hug and watched her walk off with six other little girls.  Again, my heart swelled.  My eyes swelled.  (I had to remind me and my pregnancy hormones to cool it.)

Look at my BEAUTIFUL girl!

There’s really no words for me to describe to you how awesome it was to see her up there, smiling bigger than anyone else (she really was!), knowing how bad she felt that day and watching her give it her all.  After a little hiccup with her position my girl danced her little heart out.  My girl, danced.  Up on a stage.  Fearless.

I had the hardest time not just bawling the entire time.  I was so excited for her, so proud of her, so in awe of who she is becoming.  I apologize if there is any shaking in the video, I had to keep laughing and smiling to prevent from completely breaking down like the crazy emotional pregnant lady that I am.  I am telling you, my cup overfloweth.

It will go down as one of the greatest days.

See the whole set (it’s only like 20 pictures) here.

OH!  And she was totally well and fever free by 10pm that night

You started dance class last weekend, or as you like to refer to it, “dance cass!!!!!!” with the most excited voice you can muster.  You LOVE to dance, but you don’t love to listen so much.

The first week I left you in the class with two other girls, and sat outside snapping photos through the glass.  You did GREAT for about 10 minutes, until you caught sight of me.  The last 35 minutes of class you spent most of the time in my lap or running around not listening.  It was a little frustrating but more than anything I was so, so proud of you for trying. You remind me of myself in so many ways, I only hope I teach you to keep on trying, and not give up when you are scared or frustrated.

The second week I stayed in class with you, something I don’t think we’ll try next time.  Along with bribes of M&M’s and skittles and promises of a Wendy’s Frosty if you stayed with the group and listened to your teacher, you mostly enjoyed running around willy nilly, hanging off the balance bars and kissing your reflection in the mirror.  I’m most sad I didn’t get a picture of that.  Again, I felt more pride than anything because regardless of the outcome YOU ARE SO FREAKING CUTE.

Every now and then you would run over with the other kids and follow along for about 2.5 seconds before running off to dance in your own little world.  I don’t care, your time will come.  For now I just enjoy how much you love your “dance cass!!!!”, always want to wear a tutu and how super duper adorable you look in a leotard with or without the skirt.

Oh, and even though you might not excel right now at the structured ballet/tap portion of the class, you have exceeded all expectations in the creative movement portion of the class.  Your ribbon wand not only serves as a fairy wand but also as a floor duster. Always my little helper.

Your spirit inspires me in every way.  Keep on dancing, baby!

Did I tell you she can count to 15?  She gets 1-4 mixed up, always, but the girl knows what number comes after each number up to 15.  She can’t give a flying flip about singing her ABC’s, can’t recognize a letter to save her life, but she can recite half the nursery rhymes in the book, can “read” nearly all the words to “The Foot Book”, asks me to sing “Widdle mermaid song!” and knows the verse after each verse I sing, and can carry the tune.

Did you know that she is 37 inches tall?  Or that she fell at Seaworld, back in JUNE, and will tell you that she fell outside the sharks, that her knee was “beeding” and the man sprayed it with spray and put a big “ban-aid” on and then she was okay?  She tells everyone this story.  The child remembers everything.

Do you know that when we go shopping she can carry all her own things right up to the register, tell the salesperson exactly where she found it, what color it all is, that her Mommy is going to buy it for her and when we leave she always says “Bye! See you waiter!” and just makes me the proudest Mommy in the whole world.

Do you know that I adore her with every fiber in my being?

Have I told you lately, that I love her?

I used to take all kinds of crappy photos self portraits of Avelyn and I when she was a baby.  These days the fight usually isn’t worth the battle.  However, wouldn’t a whole album of pictures like these just be wonderful to show my grandkids one day?  No matter, she is still my absolute favorite person of ALL. TIME.

I mean, didn’t I just become her mother yesterday?  Because I’m pretty sure my baby is, well… missing.

I swear I just blinked my eyes for a split second and when they opened again this girl was standing before me.

An absolutely beautiful, wild haired, funny child who looked a lot like my baby, but oh so different.

This girl talks a lot.  And laughs at jokes.  And makes jokes of her own.  My baby didn’t use to do that.

If you see my baby will you please tell her I didn’t realize I should have made an appointment to say goodbye?  And while you’re at it, go ahead and tell this new girl hello, because I am absolutely sure I will keep her around as long as I can.  And I swear I will try really hard not to blink for the next few years.

Happy Mother’s Day to us all.

After Kevin left for work she and I sat on the back porch a while.  It’s one of her new favorite things, to sit on the porch or the driveway and pat her tiny hand next to her while she looks up and mumbles a phrase I can’t understand, inviting me, no instructing me, to join her.  She could sit like that with me for hours. 

I sat on the cold concrete while she crawled around pointing to all the things she knew the words for, shouting each one in a voice that has not yet learned volume control.

“Burrrrrr!” (bird) 
“Ayyyyyyyy!” (plane) 
“Teeeeeee!” (tree)
“Ow-uh!” (flower)

Her unruly blond curls blew in the wind and she gasped and smiled, sucking in her breath like she does every time the wind blows and surprises her.  As if it’s the first time this has ever happened.  Every single time.

Perfection

We walked around the block mid morning, and for the first time she walked the whole way all by herself, munching a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie the entire time.  We are still working on the “hold Mommy’s hand when you’re outside” bit, but she did pretty well.  She really can’t be blamed since she is my child after all, and is the epitomy of independent first born. 

She waved and quietly whispered “Hi” to the passing cars and when no one saw her and waved back I silently hated them all.  Don’t you see this precious baby waving to you!? Don’t you understand that she is shy and beautiful and doesn’t do this ever!? Don’t you know how lucky you are you non-waving-at-little-girls ASS!?

Ahem.

The rest of the day we spent chasing each other around the house, playing “beh-bee”, tickling, and working together on our memoirs, er internet window shopping.  She is really quite the typist.  You can’t tell from the photo but her shorthand is outstanding.

Nearly every half hour I would stop and realize how beautiful it was outside, and how beautiful we were having it inside and I couldn’t believe it.  Our days are mostly good, but as most days with a toddler they are usually full of lots of whining and tears too, from both of us.  But not today.  At one point Avelyn was playing contentedly by herself so I sat down at the computer bookmarking “Santa finds” online.  I peered over the couch to see this:

Can you fully appreciate what’s going on in this picture?  My child is soothing her baby doll, sifting flour in the kitchen strainer, typing on her keyboard, shouting out the words while watching WordWorld on PBS (off camera) and talking on her phone.  (Okay, the phone she’s talking on is actually a mouse but her “real” cell phone is sitting next to her, she is just so creative she’s invented multiple uses for each instrument.)  How could I have known she would reach her multi-tasking potential so young?  Oh yeah – THIS IS SOOOOO MY CHILD.

●          ●          ●          ●          ●          ●          ●

To top off an entirely fabulous day Avelyn ate carrots at lunch.  As in Carrots.  The vegetable that grows in the ground.  I rolled them around in a little butter and brown sugar and put nothing on her plate but carrots and her sandwich and she ate them.  Not all of them but some and that’s a step.  We made chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner and yes, I was totally pushing my luck with everything but potatoes but she ate it!  We both agreed the chicken was bland so we dipped it in Honey Dijon dressing and she ate it up.  The broccoli was a little harder but I let her decide when to try it and she nibbled a few pieces.  We’re making progress. 

To celebrate our fan-tab-tab-ulous day of perfection we finished with ice cream and chocolate sauce.  Well deserved, don’t you think?

For the first time in a long time everything about my day, the whole day, was perfect.  And I just want to remember it that way.  It was perfect.  It smelled of little girls and pig tails, sunshine and wind in our hair, salty sweat on a chubby cheek from running so hard, so fast, and countless tiny bear hugs and snotty nosed kisses.  Unbelievably, undeservedly… perfect.