Dandelion Chains

I had one of my better Mamma moments today when I spied a dandelion field coming back from ballet! Well, I am always trying to take nothing for granted in this world, so we high-tailed it into the field and frolicked around, . . . while I made my very first dandelion chains for the girls. Leia started her own, and did very well! (Sarah taught me how one day last year at Mapleview, but I never truly made one myself.) : ) We had SO much fun (mud and all)!!! Of course, it wasn't until the end when I noticed the "No Trespassing" sign. Ha!

And just look at my little monkey sitting IN my flowers! What a mischief maker!!!

Newberry Egg Hunt

Another fun surprise of the weekend was a special egg hunt at the park! (Even "Little Cassie" and her brother got to join us!) : )

Leia hunted with the big kids, so she only got three eggs as well. (She was pretty disappointed because she was used to a huge amount like last year from Southern Village.) We had to have a little discussion about being grateful. But Leia's highlight of the day was playing by the "stream" in the runoff from the town. There had been a lot of rain, so the water was rushing pretty fast!

Then the girls got to dye and egg and sticker-it up! : )

Grandpa showed them how to peel an egg, . . .

. . . and then my picky eater tried her very first (and very last) bite of hard boiled egg. Ha! : )

Our Weekend in Newberry

The highlight of the weekend for me was watching the girls react to my very favorite doll/puppet EVER! It's a goat that sings "The Lonely Goatherd" when you make it sing!!! Thanks Grandma!!! (After we get back from Disney I'll have time to concentrate on some major Sound of Music stuff with the girls!!!)

But obviously Annie wasn't always excited about it. Ha! I can't tell you how ODD it is to find Annie in a position like this! Ha!

We went on a walk and made a dandelion wish together. : )

And the girls really wanted me to take a picture of some daddy loving on the "Lion porch." : )

And how often does Annie seek major loving and cuddling with her adoring Leia Rose? Leia was in heaven!!!

The girls also received one of those musical Nemo books that, when you pressed the shark, it played a funny song, . . . to which Leia Rose thought it would be funny to wag her bunnels. Annie got such a kick out of this. I can't tell you how many times Leia did this!!!

And then there was the saga of the deflated balloons. Leia made it a project to deflate all of the balloons left from Grandpa's party and then use them as "bags" for jasmine flowers. ; )

And we also walked to Grandpa's other lot to see his collection of growing Christmas trees! : ) One is now taller than Leia Rose!!!

Highlights from Grandpa's Surprise Birthday Party

Gosh, there was LOTS of dancing far into the night!!! But the biggest surprise for me was that suddenly Leia Rose disappeared, . . . she had gone over to Munson (the musician), asked if she could sing a song, took the microphone, and started singing! Her choice of song? "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" by Kelly Pickler! (The only song that Leia regularly requests.)

Leia Loses Her First Top Tooth!

We had been wiggling this sucker for months it seemed! These top teeth are BEARS to get out! The top edge of the tooth was so sharp it would poke her every time it wiggled! And Leia has been such a trooper letting me "try" three or four times a day! Wow! That last "string" holding it was a doosy!!! But tonight I tried "one last time" and we heard a "pop" and there it was in the tissue!!! Leia was SO happy!!! I remember spitting time and time again until the water ran clear when I was little, . . . and it was the same with Leia Rose. She must have swisheled and spit about 50 times! : ) And it was so sweet to hear how Leia Rose now can't say her "Fs" and "Ss" because of that gap. : ) And this ALSO means that there has to be absolutely NO thumb sucking now, . . . or her permanent teeth will be affected. You've probably noticed the band-aids helping her along these weeks. ; ) It's working. Anyway, we ended the day with singing, "All I want for Easter is my two front teeth!" Hee, hee!

And, for the first time, Leia Rose got to use the special tooth fairy pillow that was such a part of my own youth! SO special!!!

Playing School

The girls and I had a BLAST playing school today. And, oh, how it reminded me how much work it is to set up even ONE class. Yikes! : ) Anyway, we had many "students" who weren't called upon all the time, of course, as it is in real class. There was writing time and centers and snack and recess and drawing and books on tape. Very fun! Leia Rose couldn't WAIT to do this! And I think Annie ate two whole apples during "school." Ha! ( As a result of "Important Conversation #2," Oma suggested that we play school in order to demonstrate how to respectfully raise ones hand and respond to questions. Worked like a charm.)

Important Conversation #2: Know-It-Alls

This Wednesday at Assembly, Mrs. Quarles pulled me aside and told me, in the nicest way possible, that Leia Rose was starting to be a know-it-all: getting frustrated when she isn't called upon, making exclamations, sometimes just yelling answers out so she wouldn't have to be called on. It took me a while to figure this out because Mrs. Quarles didn't use the word "know-it-all" of course and worded everything as nicely as possible. But I knew this might someday be a problem with Leia Rose just because she IS so very smart, . . . and could probably give a fifth grader a run for thier money in Science and History (although not in language arts, of course). Anyway, I just have a horrible memory of one particular child I know at one particular age and how HORRIBLE this can get if it is not nipped in the bud. So, darn it, I was going to nip this in the bud. : ) So, I called two people: Laura (both Shenan's mom and a psychiatrist) and my Mom. Laura said, "Make your point to Leia and keep it simple and short." And Mom said, "Play school and demonstrate." So I did both. First I had a long conversation (during our snuggling time, just like our first important conversation) with Leia about being respectful of her classmates. I explained that getting frustrated and making sounds when you're not called on, . . . and not giving someone else a chance to answer is showing disrespect to her friends. I explained what a know-it-all is and that she wasn't one, . . . but that she could become one if she didn't continue with respect in this way. I told her to imagine that there are 26 kids in her class, . . . and that she should only be called on ONCE out of every 26 times if everyone raised his or her hand! (I'm SO glad she understood that analogy.) Then I told her that there's a little trick that teacher's learn in "Teacher School": "Because you are such a good student, Leia, every time Mrs. Quarles sees you raise your hand she says to herself, 'Oh, I see that Leia Rose knows the answer! Yay!' So by raising your hand, you have already proven yourself, okay? Of course, . . . don't EVER raise your hand if you DON'T know the answer, because then the trick wouldn't work anymore." Leia laughed and laughed. Well, the whole thing seemed to work. I'll have to check up on it with Mrs. Quarles later and see if this did the job, . . . or if we'll have to continue reiterating. I be sure to report if it's the latter.

Important Conversation #1: Mamma Juices

Oh my goodness, I suppose everyone is surprised when this comes up for the first time with their little girl. I don't know, but it seemed to be SO soon with Leia. Anyway, it was partially my fault. I was right in the middle of my period and needed an appropriate "change," so I threw the necessaries away and was about to go downstairs to change when Leia Rose called me in to snuggle. Needless to say that I was VERY fidgety when I went in there. I knew things would slow down when I lay down with Leia, so I did that, but she had already noticed. She asked, . . . and I decided to answer as simply as I could: "Well, Mammas have these special juices that come out, and I really need to take care of it right now." Hmmm, of course that opened the floodgates: "What are these 'special juices,' Mamma? Are they spurting out right now? Do they hurt? What do they look like?" Well, I just lay there and told her the whole thing. "The juices are called a woman's 'period.' Each month, a lady's body get's ready to have a baby, and if no baby begins growing, then the place for the baby to nestle into (do you remember the sack that came out after Annie was born?) has to go somewhere, so it comes out of the vagina (the place where Annie came out) and it looks like blood. And this is something very private for a Mamma and her daughter to talk about. It's NOT something to EVER talk about to teachers or friends or classmates, . . . because people could not understand or even get afraid. I remember when I rode the bus to Pine Crest one year as a counselor, there was a little girl who came up to me and wore a really confused face as she told me that those big girls had told her that blood comes out of her Mamma every month and she uses a tampon for it. 'What's a tampon?' I just took the little girl by the shoulders and said, 'Don't you worry, honey. You just go home and ask your Mom about those things. She'll explain it to you.' And SO, it's just not something that you should talk about in class, . . . EVER, even if the teacher mentions it. You just listen, . . . and don't feel like you have to offer your private information." Lots of serious thought on the part of Leia Rose here. She seemed to understand and truly did keep it private between us. (Thank goodness!!!) It was REALLY important that I make the privacy thing clear to Leia, . . . she just shares SO very much about our family willingly, that I know she wouldn't mind sharing this, too. *sigh* Hence the careful tone of mine. The laughter during the whole conversation? When I told Leia Rose that some people call their period their "friend." Ha!

Balloons! Balloons!!!

Annie has continued her love for her "Sheepy Show" lately which was a special present from Oma a VERY long time ago that Annie has just recently rediscovered. Anyhow, there is a song in the show that both girls have fallen in love with: "Balloons! Balloons!!!" Leia had been wishing for days for a balloon and I suddenly remembered that I had some left from her 2nd birthday (for goodness sake)! I got them out and blew them up, . . . and the girls had a blast!!! They even brought them in the bath where they discovered that, due to static electricity, balloons stick to shower curtains! Who needs toys!?!

Among the Flowering Phlox

Oh, how this reminds me of when Leia Rose was two with Shenandoah and Leia frolicking among the phlox in front of Shenan's old house. Seems like a million years ago. And yet, I think I found my spring picture spot from now until kingdom come! : )

A Bike Path & a Bishop

To our great excitement, Brian found out that the trail that runs by his work is actually a rail-to-trail bike trail!!! It runs 8 miles (4 up, 4 back) and although some of it runs by the road, most of it is just wonderful!!! Today we walked it, but the bike rack is purchased, . . . so that's next!!! Then we went to Mass and got a special treat to see the Bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte! This would have been really great if the Mass hadn't lasted for two hours. In the middle of the homily, the bishop decided to "show our new pastor around the church" . . . beginning with the front door. ("Now here is the door that your parishioners will enter to seek your guidance in regards to spiritual matters and experience the sacraments.") For goodness sake! Still, it was exciting to show the girls the Bishop and to see Father Nick's installment Mass. Annie and I headed outside to diaper change among the daffodils anyway (and we watched everything else through the glass side-door).

Leia's Recital Picture Day

Springtime Outside

Another beautiful spring day in the mountains with lots of swinging, a beautiful chalk drawing of our family, and of course, a kitty show among the blooms!!! : )

A Special Moment for Leia and I

Today, while Annie was napping, Leia Rose asked if she could go outside by herself. I said yes and started doing my household duties of the day. In the midst of my chores, I decided to check on Leia Rose, and this is what I saw. For some reason, this picture made me sad, . . . Leia forging her own little trail at the top of our dirt slope, sister is napping, no friends in the neighborhood to play with, Mamma is busy inside. It made me think of Heidi and how this was exactly a moment when Leia would have asked her to go out and play. Well, I thought, "That's it. I'm going outside to play!" So I dropped everything and ran outside to play with Leia and we had the best time ever! I have never seen Leia Rose get into such "Mamma Mode" as she did after this day. (She must have felt that this meant I really, really cared about her to leave everything I was doing and just play with her, . . . just Leia and not Annie.) Anyway, it must have been a whole hour that we were swinging on our tree swing doing the spider and just talking and laughing and singing and learning how to use our feet to push ourselves off the tree (with a few mistakes). Ha! And we frolicked among the flowers just watching a lone bumble bee fill its pollen sack in between our sniffs of the sweet flower fragrance. Spring has sprung, . . . and Leia and I shared the new season together. : )

A Baby-Play-and-Learn Morning

Today I decided to be industrious and do lots of activites from my favorite Baby-Play-and-Learn book! (And, of course, Annie wasn't as happy with me dictating activites as she is when she can dictate them herself. A child destined for montessori? I think so!) Anyway, we still had lots of fun!!! We did "Ring Around the Rosie" (one of Annie's favorites), and Things that Go Together (where we used a puzzle to show which two things went together, . . . which at least got Annie into puzzles again), and Dance Till You Drop, and Toss It, and Hide the Music (I hid the phone and then pressed the finder), and Toddler Bowling, and finally Paper Wrap: the focus of the pictures. Paper Wrap is supposed to highten a toddler's sensory perception by having them look at something common in a different way. Basically, you're supposed to take toilet paper or wrapping paper and wrap it around the child like a new set of clothes (stripping them down to the diaper is supposed to heighten the perception). After the child has their fun, they can have more fun by ripping it off! I thought it would add to the perception even more if Annie got to do this in front of a mirror. Annie thought this was REALLY cool (although I definitely got some looks that said, "Mamma, what the heck are you doing!?!")! . . . until she started feeling confined. Ha! She was definitely happier when she ripped it off!