Tea parties, guitar playing and a bubble tree

For the 2nd night in a row right after dinner, Daddy is required to have a Disney princess tea party with Helaina. Tonight Jim tried to escape to the family room to read the paper while I cleaned up the dinner dishes, but he was summoned to the table for tea once again. Helaina's baby Anna and her beloved elephant joined the party. I listen to the conversation as I load the dishwasher and crack up. Last night Jim told Helaina that his first cup of tea was too hot and his 2nd cup of tea was too cold. She said "Daddy, I make it just perfect."

Daddy set up elephant so he could sip his tea through his trunk, which I thought was very funny.

Daddy spilled his tea on Anna's head (just between you and me, it wasn't accidental). Helaina reprimanded him: "Daddy, don't do that!" as she covered up Anna's head with her hands!

Santa brought Daddy the "Big Book of Children's Songs" for Christmas so they were playing and singing the ABC song. Helaina is playing along with her Backyardigans guitar.

Over the weekend we were blowing bubbles on the front porch and Helaina thought it was cool that many of them landed on a bush and didn't pop. She called it her bubble tree.

Funny Helaina:

Helaina had her flu shot last week and Daddy got his today. Helaina and I were munching on baby carrots when Daddy came home from work and showed her the bandage that was still on his arm. She took the carrot in her hand, handed it to Jim and said "Here, eat this. You arm feel better." Too funny!

Now I know my ABC's ...

When Helaina sings the ABC song it is too darn adorable. She occasionally misses a few beats but for the most part she's got it down. I absolutely love the way she sings the letter "w" - pronounced something like duboo! We finally figured out how to get video on the blog so we'll be doing that more often now.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Nemo takes flight, sort of...

Yesterday we attended the Families with Children from China Kite Festival at Fair Haven. We had tons of fun that included a barbeque with lots of food and desserts, a great playground for the kids to enjoy, and of course the water and beach where the kites were flown.

It was a windy day so I didn't think there would be any problem getting Nemo up, but it took some time. Helaina had interest in the kite at first but the sand, water and her friends were too tempting. In the picture below she's hurling stones into the water.

Nemo did get up pretty high after Jim switched locations on the beach, but after a while he took an unfortunate nose-dive into a bush and that was it. Nemo's resting now in the garage still a bit sandy, with a few bumps and bruises on him, along with kite string that is so tangled we will most likely throw it out and buy new string! All the kids loved the kite, though. Thank you, Aunt Terry and Uncle Mike.

Notice in this picture that Helaina is stepping into the water with her sneaks on even though she was told not to about 12,000 times. Guess the temptation was just too great.

You'll also notice that in the rest of the pictures her socks and sneaks have been removed, along with her pants rolled up. I'd bet anything that she's thinking to herself "If I run all the way into the water, there's nothing Mommy could do about it!"

Helaina and her buddy Maddie.

Splish splash in the very cold water.

Question: How long does it take to get three 3-year olds to sit still, face forward and pose for a picture? Answer: Forever. It didn't happen. Helaina, Cecelia and Meilyn were having too much fun jumping, rolling, digging, running and literally throwing themselves into the sand.

Meilyn trying to rub the sand out of her eyes.

At least they are all facing forward - sigh.

"Help me, Daddy."

Hanging, a favorite pastime.

Helaina and Meilyn on the see saw.

Our "dish to pass" was 2 dozen ice cream cone cupcakes. Easy to make, fun to decorate and the kids love them. This time along with the m&m's we used candy corn and gummy bears to decorate. One for the cupcakes, one for Helaina.

As usual, every road trip ends up with a nice sleep on the way home. Those little legs of hers logged so many miles at Fair Haven there was no way she wouldn't sleep all the way home.

Baby-obsessed Helaina

Helaina has recently been exposed to several friends and family members who have been pregnant, some already had their babies and others not yet. She has watched the "baby in belly" grow most recently in her speech therapist who is expecting in November, and she is still fascinated. She even walked up to Jim a few weeks ago, patted him on the tummy and said "baby in there" (!!!) - which prompted the explanation that only girls have babies (yikes). Enough about that with a 3-year old.

The other day she was in the family room dancing to a music video on tv of the Fresh Beat Band (which Helaina LOVES). When I went into the room to tell her to stop jumping around so much (because the furniture was shaking!) I saw that she had taken her basketball and stuffed it under her jammy top. I asked her why she did that and she replied "baby in there" with a huge grin on her face, followed by "I just pretending, I teasing"! The picture is blurry because she wouldn't stop dancing long enough and stand still, but you get the idea.

Funny Helaina:
One day last week when Helaina was telling me about school she said "little boy puked"! I said "Oh no. Were you next to him when he puked or away from him?" She replied "away", thank goodness!

Lately Helaina has been defending herself with us when she's accused of doing something she doesn't think she's guilty of. For example, sometimes she pets our very old dog Heidi a little harder than she should. I'll tell her to be gentle with Heidi, pet her, don't hit her. Helaina will respond with "I do ANYTHING!" - what she means to say is I didn't do anything - and while she's saying it she'll hold both hands up as if she's questioning me, while shaking her head!

A green finger tip means only one thing ...

... finger painting at school! Amazingly enough, there was no paint on her anywhere other than her finger.

She also told me the activity table in her room that is usually filled with sand is now filled with water - brave, brave teacher having a water table in the room with 16 3 & 4-year olds! Update on the crying & separation anxiety: no more! I'm very happy to report that last Wednesday (on only the 4th day of school), Helaina kissed me goodbye in the hallway, ran past her teacher into the room and started playing. I looked at Miss Melinda, she looked at me and shrugged her shoulders declaring "Well, I guess that's all over with!" Woo hoo. You're such a big girl, my little Helaina!

Happy Birthday, Daddy

Daddy's birthday was Saturday and there has been celebrating going on all weekend. Helaina woke up at 6:45am that morning so I went to get her up so Daddy could have 10 seconds more of peace. Helaina burst into the room yelling "Happy Birthday, Daddy!", flung her pillow and elephant onto our bed, climbed up into bed and popped Daddy on the head! I made us all a breakfast of scrambled eggs (including Heidi because it was her birthday on the 16th - she's now 15 years old, how many people years is that anyways?). Later that morning we made the frosting for Daddy's cake - chocoholic Daddy gets chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate chip ice cream. "I have one more taste of chocolate?"

We had several parties this weekend, the first one started with a barbeque at Uncle Jack's house. Helaina had to sing "Happy birthday dear Uncle Jack and Daddy" because Uncle Jack is Daddy's twin brother.

Helping Daddy and Uncle Jack open presents.

Daddy's birthday dinner was at a Mexican restaurant. Helaina liked the fried ice cream, especially the whipped cream and honey that was drizzled on it.

More partying, more cake.

Baby Anna came to "Uncle Jimmy's" party. She slept through part of it, giggled through part of it, and cried through part of it! What a sweetie pie.

Helaina's first school painting

Helaina brought home her first painting from school today. I'll probably have to frame it! The paper that came home from her teacher this week said they are learning a song to help them remember the names of their classmates (16 kids in the class) and that they will continue to explore their classroom, learn where everything belongs and learn to clean up (Helaina actually loves to pick up toys and put them away).

Unfortunately there were tears once again when I left Helaina at school today (I'm wondering how long this will last). When I picked her up and she saw me standing in the hallway the huge smile on her face was priceless. Again she jumped into my arms and squeezed me around the neck so tight. She was holding my hand as we were walking down the hallway - actually Helaina was skipping down the hallway. She took her other hand, rubbed my arm and said "I so glad, I so glad!" Me too.

2nd day of school - instant replay of day 1

With all the drama and tears that occurred when we dropped of Helaina on her first of school, I decided not to mention school again until yesterday afternoon. I told Helaina that she was going to school again on Friday and that she'd have lots of fun and I would pick her up just like I did on Wednesday. She looked at me with a puzzled face and declared "I ready WENT school!" Apparently Helaina thought that school was a one-time deal! Yikes - explanation again of how school works, with Helaina asking "you pick me up like last time? I get big hug?" Yes, sweety, of course. It's really odd because she willingly gets ready at home, hops in the car and bursts through the school doors ready for action - it's just the separation thing she's not used to yet, I guess.

Literally RUNNING to get into school, with Daddy chasing behind!

She knows the routine already, hang your packback in your locker before going into the classroom.

One table was set up with paints and Helaina immediately ran to it.

When we told Helaina we had to leave she started crying and saying no. Jim had alreay kissed her goodbye and was waiting in the hall for me. Do you want to hear the really pathetic, break-your-heart part now? With tears streaming down her cheeks, my daughter took my hand, pointed toward a back wall in the classroom and led me to it. On the wall were cards with words & matching pictures that outlined their day. They said various things like school begins, circle time, free play, potty time, gym class, snack time and so on. Helaina pointed to the last card on the very bottom and then looked up at me. Can you guess what was on the last card - the word "home" with a picture of a house next to it! Geez, Helaina, don't do this to your mother. Told her again that I'd be back in a little while to bring her home. At that point one of the wonderful teaching assistants came over with Helaina's painting. She bent down to tearful Helaina and asked her where she wanted to hang her picture to dry. As Helaina was distracted with the painting, the assistant turns her head to me and whispers "Go now, Mom!!!" Well ok! I weaved my way through the children, patted the teacher on the back, said "thank you and good luck" and headed out the door with Helaina crying up a storm. Sigh. My neighbor told me the other day that her little boy cried at pre-school every day for the first 3 months. Thanks for that tidbit of information.

When I picked Helaina up from school today I got the same huge hug and smile that I did on Wednesday, along with "youuuu come back!" - of course. Her teacher said that the crying today lasted only about half as long as it did on Wednesday (phew). Details of Helaina's morning that I could squeeze out of her were that they had cheerios and a cup of milk for their snack, a little boy spilled his milk and they had gym where she had a blue balloon. Helaina has gym once a week and it sounds like a good time. The gym teacher sends home a sheet each week stating what they will be doing and today they did YogaKids, learned the Hello Everybody song, played stop & go to music with streamers, and hit balloons with racquets. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that gym class.

09/09/09 - oh boy

Helaina's first day of school is behind her now and aside from a 10 minute meltdown when Jim and I had to leave, she did very well. When she woke up this morning I asked her if she remembered where she was going today. She said "school" - good girl. She looked adorable in her Abby Cadabby shirt and new Dora sneakers with her Dora backpack. Ready (and willing) to go!

At the school she got very excited when she saw the other kids with their backpacks waiting to go in.

We were a little early getting to the school so we headed over to check out the playground.

"I go in there?"

Checking out her locker.

After meeting her teacher in the hallway she flew into the classroom and started playing immediately. The room is great with a sandbox, kitchen area, dolls and accessories, trucks & tractor area, play phones and tons of other things.

She was having so much fun that Jim and I thought we were in the clear and didn't think she'd mind when we left - wrong!

When it came time to go I told her that I'd be back in about 2 hours to pick her up, bring her home and then we'd have lunch (like I've been telling her for weeks). The tears started (Helaina's, not mine - I saved mine until I left). Her teacher said we could stay longer or just leave her with them and they would take care of it (she said that one of the teaching assistants is wonderful with crying kids). Opted to leave because we knew our stubborn daughter was not about to stop pitching a fit - gave the teacher Helaina's beloved elephant, kissed her tear-soaked cheek goodbye, handed her over and promised her that I'd be back. Yikes, that was hard. I got home and couldn't concentrate on anything while wondering if she was still upset. About 20 minutes after I got home my cell phone rang and I recognized the school number in the id. Oh no, is it them telling me to come back because she's still screaming? It was the speech therapist who is assigned to Helaina's room. She said that they assumed I'd be worried and wanted to let me know that Helaina settled down after about 10-15 minutes, tossed her elephant aside and started playing as if nothing happened! I thought it was very nice that they called, thanked her for the update and breathed a huge sigh of relief. When I got to the school to pick up Helaina and she saw me in the hallway, she smiled and came running full speed at me. When I picked her up she put her two little hands on my cheeks and said "I told youuuuuu coming back for meeeeee!" Yes, sweet baby girl, Mommy will always come back for you.

Happy Labor Day

On Daddy's last day of vacation we went to Onondaga Lake so Helaina could climb and swing on her favorite playground. She went crazy for a while, we had a picnic lunch and then rode the bikes 2 miles down to the other end of the lake where there are more playgrounds. Helaina rode in style as she was towed in her trailer attached to Daddy's bike. Daddy, not so easy, hauling the extra weight of the trailer and 38 pounds of Helaina behind him! So cute in her Dora and Boots helmet.

"It's there, so I must climb it."

"Hmmmm, how can I get up there?"

More climbing ...

Curvy slides are the best.

Playgrounds make you thirsty.

And so the countdown begins - Helaina's first day of pre-school is in 2 more days, Wednesday. I'm sure there will be tears at the drop-off, although I'll save mine until I'm out the school door! The first thing Helaina asks when we talk about school is "you stay watch me?" and I explain (for the 50th time) that Daddy and I can stay for a little while but then we have to go. Mommy and Daddy already went to school and Helaina's school is special just for little children, and so on and so on. She does like it when I tell her she'll have a snack each day with all her new friends! Recently she's been saying to other children on the playground "What you name?" It's absolutely adorable and she melted my heart the first time I heard her say it. Can't believe she's going to school and it's almost here. Knots in my stomach just thinking about it.