"We didn't get you Fudgie the Whale, Daddy"

I realize that no 5-year old can keep a secret, and Helaina certainly falls within that category.  The week prior to Father's Day was tough for her, trying not to spill the beans about gifts, brunch and cake.  She would start to tell Jim something, I'd yell "Helaina!!" and she'd cover her mouth with both hands, say "oops, sorry Mommy" and then 10 minutes later we'd repeat the scenario.  Sunday morning while we were eating breakfast here was the conversation:
Helaina:  We didn't get you Fudgie the Whale cake, Daddy.
Me (as Jim and I are cracking up):  Helaina!  You weren't supposed to tell Daddy about the ice cream cake!  It's a surprise, remember?
Helaina:  Oops. Sorry. Daddy, we didn't get you Fudgie the Whale cake, we got you ..... cheesecake with strawberries.
Jim:  Ohhh, I like cheesecake with strawberries.
Helaina:  Good, because we didn't get you Fudgie the Whale this year.
We wrapped one gift in plain paper so Helaina could decorate it.  The pink people are me, Jim, Josh and Helaina.

The things Helaina made in school for Father's Day are really cute - and one was hysterical.

Jim's reading Helaina's responses to questions her teacher asked about her Daddy.  I nearly wet my pants when I first read them, they are so funny.

Blond hair?!  My favorite one is "will you get something for me".  Makes it sound like we use Helaina as a slave!  The teachers must have a blast asking the kids these questions and hearing their answers.

A framed picture of Jim being a good Daddy and allowing Helaina to paint nearly his entire face one Saturday afternoon.

Helaina picked this t-shirt out for Jim.  There was an entire rack of all different kinds but she wanted this one.

This surprise was truly a surprise for both of them because I didn't say where we were going until we were in the car on our way.  Chinese dim sum brunch - yummy.  We selected all sorts of "small plates" from a menu:  shrimp stuffed wontons, dumplings, sticky rice, beef sticks, won ton soup,  a seafood noodle dish and steamed pork buns.  Not a fan of the buns - looked like a giant snowball with some bbq pork filling.  Couldn't figure out what the "giant snowball" was made of! 

Yah, here's Fudgie the Whale ice cream cake that we DIDN'T get Jim.

This weekend was Helaina's last soccer game until September.  They play 6 games in the Spring and then 4 or 5 more in the Fall, so their picnic was held Saturday.  Lots of kid-friendly games.  We let Helaina use some of her tickets on the dunk tank, which she begged to do.  With the very first ball she unbelievably hit the target but not hard enough to make the kid fall in the water.  Second ball, missed completely.  Third ball, a direct hard hit and the kid went for a swim!  We couldn't believe it and she was absolutely thrilled.  Look at that stance - maybe we should sign her up for t-ball.

Her ring and bracelets were some of her prizes (she hasn't taken them off since).  She also used some of her tickets to get her nails done ...

... have her face painted and get her hair sprayed pink, with glitter and pink and blue clip-on braids.  Stunning.

While in a store last week shopping for Father's Day, we (fortunately) had to pass the girls department where we just couldn't pass up the great deal on a new "tankini" swim suit with peace signs on it.  It is just too adorable on her - big girl style suit.  I couldn't stop grinning when she tried it on at home.  "Mom, look, I can do this."

And check out the back of the suit.  Helaina just LOVES it, and I do to.

Helaina swims every day, rain, shine, 80 degrees or 60 degrees - doesn't matter to her.  She jumps in and refuses to get out no matter what.

Happy Flag Day

Yesterday the hallway board in Helaina's preschool read "Tuesday is Flag Day.  Don't forget to wear your red, white and blue!"  All of Helaina's 4th of July shirts from last year don't fit her this year (what a surprise), so a last-minute Target run this morning was successful.  She was dressed in red, white & blue from the top of her star hair bow to the bottom of her spangled flip flop feet (this is the first year Helaina can wear between-the-toe flip flops without the strap bothering her - she thinks it's a huge deal).  $1 - gotta love the Target $1 bins.

Swimming, swimming and more swimming.  Helaina can't get enough whether it's 80 degrees and hot or 67 degrees and windy.

This picture was taken Friday afternoon.  By the end of the school week Helaina is tuckered out.  Friday's are tough because they start out with O.T., then she has school where she works hard and plays hard, she came home and went swimming (even though I protested, I lost that battle) and then crashed on the sofa while waiting for Jim to get home.

Zoey zonked out on the other end of the couch.  She curled herself in between the pile of toys Helaina had tossed aside and went to sleep on the Leapster speller with her paw around the Build-A-Bear cat also named Zoey.  A true cat nap.

Learning to swim

Yesterday was the first day Helaina felt daring enough to take off her swimmies and start learning how to doggie paddle.  She did good at her first attempts and was very proud of herself.  Back into the pool today with Daddy for more swimmie-free swimming.

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Inquisitive? Oh yah....

To say that Helaina is inquisitive is an extreme understatement.  Questions, questions, questions and more questions all the time.  I frequently think back to 2008 when we brought her home from China and she didn't say a word for at least 2 months.  Flashforward 3 years and the child never shuts up!  It's her gift of gab and adorable personality that has endeared her to the speech pathologist on Helaina's surgical team.

Dr. Eileen absolutely loves Helaina, is very impressed with how far she's come and refers to Helaina as a true success story.  She thinks that Helaina is hysterical, articulate, cute as a button and anything but shy.  Those qualities are why Eileen invited Helaina to be a "subject" at one of the undergraduate classes she teaches.  One Friday a few weeks ago I dressed up Helaina in her finest ladybug attire (above photo!) and Jim and I took her to an undergraduate class of about 35 students so she could be their "test".  When we walked into the room there was a collective "ahhh, ooooo, ohhhh, she's so cute, look how adorable she is" from the female students.  Small groups took turns speaking to Helaina, doing some standard speech testing on her and asking Jim and I questions.  Their mission was to determine where Helaina was in the speech therapy process.  They got it right and figured out that she no longer needed speech therapy and was given a round of applause.  Eileen was thrilled, Helaina was happy to be the center of attention and even happier when Eileen gave her a Disney princess basketball and a Disney princess pop-up play tent for her efforts.  We couldn't be more proud of our little lady.

Helaina sported some of her finest jewelry for the occasion.  "Let's paint my nails in a pattern - pink, blue, pink, blue, pink."  The ability to recognize and create patterns is one of the skills kids entering Kindergarten should be aware of.  Helaina's got it covered.









Getting back to being inquisitive, frequently I'll jot down things during the day so that I remember to tell Jim some of the conversations I have with Helaina throughout the day.  Here are a few questions that Helaina has asked in the last 2 days:  Do cats blink?  Why is water wet?  Why do I have a nose?  Where is my voice?  Will I have this voice when I get married?  What color is my voice?  Is it clear like a protoplasm?  (the protoplasm reference comes from a Scooby Doo movie, believe it or not!).  I was talking about a bridal shower the other day and Helaina asks "What is a bridal shower curtain?"

Then today at lunch while slurping down noodles, IT happened.
Helaina:  Mommy, how does the doctor get the baby out of a lady's belly?
Me:  (gulp) Well, the Mommy's go to the hospital and the doctor has special tools to help the Mommy push the baby out of her belly.  (special tools? what was I thinking)
Helaina:  But how does the baby get out?
Me:  (double gulp), Well, the Mommy has to work really hard to push the baby out of her belly.
Helaina:  Out of her belly button?
Me:  Well no, out of ..., well ... the doctor helps the Mommy in a special way and the baby comes out.
Helaina:  Oh.    (mercifully, that was it)

After dinner tonight Jim and Helaina were on the couch and I was in the kitchen cutting up watermelon:
Me:  Helaina, why don't you ask Daddy the question that you asked me at lunch today.
Helaina:  Daddy, how does a baby get out of the Mommy's tummy?
Jim:  Well, it pops out.  Just like popcorn.  Pop, pop, pop, pop then out comes the baby.
Helaina looks toward me in the kitchen and I shake my head and smile.  She smiles too and then goes back to watching a cartoon.  End of that conversation for now.  Jeepers, she's only 5 - how much detail are you supposed to go into with a 5-year old girl????!!!!!

Phew, what a scorcher

What do you do when it's a record-breaking 97 degree day?  You switch off between playing in the water and sitting in the air conditioned house.  Helaina reached a pool milestone this evening when she jumped in the pool with nobody catching her.  Her head and face goes under water a little and it's a good start to getting her to submerge her face completely.  After her initial jump she was so proud of herself that she continued to jump in, get out do it again, jump in, get out, on and on about 20 times in a row.

After gymnastics Monday night we stopped at Toys R Us to buy their advertised $4.99 slip 'n slide.  Best $4.99 spent in a long time.  Helaina absolutely loves it.

Another weekend, another soccer game, another birthday

With each passing week Helaina gets more into her soccer practices and games.  She's still majorly exhausted by the end of the hour of play but her skills are slowly improving.  She usually has a huge smile on her face when she's in pursuit of the ball.
Check out her stance while trying to block a ball being thrown in.

She got to play goalie for one quarter but unfortunately she didn't get any action.  I don't think she minded because she loves wearing the vest.

A little one on one.

On Sunday we celebrated Baby Geo's 1st birthday.  He did not like wearing his crown and ripped it off his head pretty quickly.

Oh joy, another pinata.

Nic with a daisy in her hair and green frosting all over her face.

There was a gazebo and lake at the park where the birthday was held.  Jim snapped a few nice pictures before Helaina had enough and took off looking for something more exciting to do than pose.

Funny Helaina:

Lately Helaina's coloring has been very colorful.  If she's coloring a princess instead of doing the dress all blue, the hair all yellow and the crown all silver, she'll use every crayon in the box and put different colors next to each other.  One day I asked her why she does that and she said "It like a rainbow.  This is creativity.  I being very creative."  And right she was!

Sometimes it works out that I'll give Helaina her evening bath when Jim is in the shower in our bathroom.  She has this routine where if he's in the shower she'll take off all her clothes, charge into our bathroom, pull the shower curtain back and moon him.  He screams and tells her to get out, she laughs hysterically (as do I) and runs out of the bathroom - it's their "thing", but Jim's not a fan of it when she sneaks in and he isn't prepared for the attack.  The other night Jim was just getting in the shower when he heard Helaina charging down the hall like a bull.  She had bolted upstairs to moon Daddy.  I heard some complaining from upstairs and as I rounded the corner to head upstairs I see Helaina standing on the top landing, totally naked, about to cry.  "What's wrong?" I asked her.  Her reply:  "Daddy heard me coming and locked me out of the bathroom.  I VERY disappointed 'cause I wanted to moon him."  She had such a pout on her face!  So I took her by the hand and she told Jim, through the locked door, that he's not supposed to lock her out any more.  Too funny.

Memorial Day Weekend

With 80 degree weather upon us, it was time to get the pool open.  Jim hooked up the hoses and gauges to the filter.  We added water, took off the winter cover, added a ton of start-up chemicals and voila - pool water with a 69degree temperature.  After 24 hours it was ready to swim in.  Jim had to go in the pool, no choice, because he had to anchor a 50-pound sandbag under the ladder to keep it in place.  I give him credit, he went in relatively quickly without too much screaming, then he actually went back in later to swim with Helaina.  I wouldn't even get my toes wet!  Helaina was delighted because she's part penguin and part polar bear.

Easing herself in ...

... then splashdown, didn't take her long to get back into the swing of things.

Helaina was all too happy to help with cleaning the pool cover.  She thought it was one giant slip and slide.

She liked scrubbing and then hosing the soap off.  At one point when she was on her knees with the bucket and sponge, she started scrubbing and singing "Sing sweet nightingale, sweet sweet nightingale, ahahahahahhhhhhh..."  She was acting out a scene from Cinderella.  Too darn funny.

This weekend we also celebrated Anna's birthday - 2 years old now, with a baby sister due mid-July.  I remember the day she was born and it doesn't seem like it was 2 years ago.  Check out those Shirley Temple ringlets.  We all can't wait to see if  the new baby will have the same curly hair.

Surrounded by piles of gifts, she hukered down and got to ripping paper, only to lose interest after opening about 8 presents, then she took off running toward the playground.

Nic was hesitant to go down this big curvy slide by herself but she was more than happy to slide down with Helaina hanging on to her.  They'd get to the bottom, Helaina would start running to the steps again with Nic following her yelling "Helaina, wait up!"

Helaina totally loves gymnastics.  The regular season finishes at the end of June but we decided to sign her up for 7 weeks of summer classes because she enjoys it so much.  She's made friends with the little girls in her class and looks forward to it every week.  Her newest favorite, aside from doing cartwheels continuously everywhere, is the uneven parallel bars because they are learning how to get on the top bar now and our little daredevil loves it.