juliloquy

so you see what we're dealing with here

A multiple-choice quiz to give you a small glimpse of life with da Roo.

1. You ask her to go to her room to put on her pajamas. She returns ten minutes later wearing

    a. her pajamas

    b. nothing

    c. the same thing she was wearing previously, plus a birthday hat

    d. princess dress-up clothes

 

2. With whom do the "gooey pahnov goo" hawks roam?

    a. the littlest pets

    b. the watch-out plants

    c. Lovey, the swimming/flying dinosaur

    d. all of the above

 

3. Who/what is seven?

    a. her brother's age

    b. the name of one of her favorite songs

    c. the name of Lovey's pet cat

    d. all of the above

 

4. At school, she has shown true leadership by

    a. getting many of the other kids to "play bird" and "take dirt baths" during recess.

    b. mastering the art of dry transfer and rolling up and restoring the work rug.

    c. starting her own salon and giving actual haircuts to two classmates.

    d. reproducing aminal sounds.

 

5. Words we hope she never learns to pronounce correctly . . . at least for a few more years

    a. calapitter

    b. so'd (so that)

    c. burrtend

    d. all of the above

 

6. When at the kitchen table, Roo might

    a. use chopsticks to imitate a walrus, narwal, unicorn . . .

    b. make a diving board out of turkey bacon for the waffles to use to jump into their "muddle puddle" of syrup.

    c. be too busy talking/playing until an exasperated parent holds the piece of pizza directly in front of her face.

    d. all of the above

 

ANSWERS

1. c. . . . plus a birthday hat (although the others are likely as well)

2. b. the watch-out plants. I'm not exactly sure what these are, but according to da Roo, I don't want to know.

3. d. all of the above. Apparently, Seven [the cat] also has a younger sibling named Four.

4. a. . . . "take dirt baths" during recess. (sorry, classmates' parents!) You also get points for b—her rug-rolling skilz are top notch.

5. d. all of the above. We especially like "so'd" because she "caught" it from her brother, although he no longer says it.

6. d. all of the above. Her chopstick walrus is the absolute cutest.

 

girl at four

As you can tell, I am not doing the post-every-day-in-November thing this year. But I would like to put up a few posts this month, at least! So I will back up to the end of September to cover the birthday of da Roo.

She is now 4. Four! (Fore!)

She loves her teacher and classmates and "schoolwork." Here she is with her teacher, preparing to do her birthday "walk around the sun":

She has the drama of age 4 down, although she is an overall easygoing kid. Her favorite mode of play is imaginative, with stuffed animals. You hear a lot of high-pitched voices if you come to our house, is what I'm saying. She and Shmoo also hum like happy alpacas throughout the day. Books are ever-popular with her. She has a best friend outside of school, several school friends, and also adores our neighbor, Suzie, who is a first grader. And she has chosen a spouse: Shmoo's best friend's little brother, a kindergartner. (He feels the same way about Roo. They fed ice cream to each other at a party last summer.)

She is good at making silly faces. She is still quite the homebody, but will (and does) talk to anyone. We chuckled at her icebreaking tactics during our summer beach vacation: She had a rotation of about three opening lines (the favorite of which seemed to be "our last cat has run away, and she's never coming back).

Her favorite movie is Fantasia (although she's on a "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" kick). She likes house music. We split a bowl of phở for lunch almost every day (but don't imagine that means she is an adventurous eater). She is still a fashionista. Her favorite combo is shirt, skirt, and leggings.

When Roo was three, I joked about trying to surpress the urge to micromanage her strategy for the game, Memory. It's a different story these days. I pity her opponents.

She and I have always been close. In the past, she has been pretty lukewarm to HPR. This fall, however, the two of them have had lots of together time (without me, because my freelance work has required a lot of my attention the past few months), and that has really helped their relationship. It's so nice to see that blossoming. 

Put a post up on your dumb blog already

Heya. School has started! Shmoo began first grade on August 29th.

His best friend and one other student from last year's class are with him. I got a really cute picture of the three of them, but I don't want to post it w/o the other mom's permission. But here is when Shmoo and Alicia found each other on the first day.

 

Roo began preschool on August 31. She has Shmoo's teacher from last year (mixed-age 3s, 4s, and kindergarten). Whereas Shmoo still goes through 4-5 cycles of kiss/hug/"I love you"s, Roo heads into her classroom with nary a backward glance.

Also in the photo above is our new-to-us car, Steffi. This is what happened to poor Bucky the Saturn this past summer.

Bucky's the one in the front. The four of us were OK (as was the driver of the other car, except for a badly sprained ankle) and we kept a memento of Bucky (photo comes in landscape for some mysterious Typepad reason).

We did a lot of fun stuff over the summer. I'll leave with a cute kid photo from Shenandoah.

reasoning skills, check

Today, 8:45 a.m.

Roo: May I please have a cupcake?

Me: Not until after lunch.

[pause]

Roo: May I please have lunch?

Goldilocks

I was looking through the library shelves lately, saw this, and had to check it out.

Ruth Sanderson, how did you channel my daughter's image? If Goldie's eyes were olive-green-brown rather than the blue you see here, she would be complete match of da Roo. The book is a cute retelling of the classic story, ending with [spoiler alert!] the three bears and Goldilocks making blueberry muffins together (after G remakes the beds and fixes Baby Bear's chair).

I see that I have also been remiss in parent-bragging. Shmoo's artwork was selected for display in a county-wide student art show at the Delaplaine Arts Education Center. He was one of 6 students chosen from his (K-8) school. Photos are on flickr here. Needless to say, we're very proud.

I'm on Team Hammurabi myself.

Roo's latest favorite video. She likes Gilgamesh best, the little weirdo.

 

work-life balance (mostly) obtained!

We have some new routines in 2011. Roo-tines. I have been able to pick up some regular freelance work (yay!), so we have arranged for Roo to go to a nearby daycare three mornings a week. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday HPR drops her off at 8 and I pick her up at noon. The daycare center relies on video a little more than we'd like (during transition times: drop-off, pickup, and between lunch and naptime), but the teachers are great and it's nice for Roo to get some social interaction with her peers.

As it turns out, I don't get much more that 3 hours of work in on each of those days, because I drop off Shmoo at Kindergarten between 8:45 and 9. But the divide/conquer kid dropoffs make for much less stressful mornings for me.

The other new thing in our schedule is an intro to dance class for Roo. They run for 45 minutes on Wednesday afternoons. The setup is genius: The kids go into the studio with the instructors and the parents can view the session on a monitor in the lobby. (No chance for kiddos to cling to their parents in lieu of participating.) Roo loves class. She imitates the teacher with flamboyant and dramatic flourishes. It's hilariously cute. I also love how the hand-me-down leotard she wears (thanks, cousins!) really emphasizes her 3-year-old belly.

HPR's days off during the winter have been Sunday-Monday. It's so nice to be able to have at least one family day per week.

I'm enjoying using the parts of my brain and skills that I worked for so many years to hone. I have had to be a bit creative when the time I've carved out from my schedule doesn't suffice to complete my work, but so far (adding some evening hours and relying on HPR to do solo care at times) it has evened out pretty well.

Win!

Dear Roo's Dependable Nap Time,

Please come back. I miss you. I'm not the same without you. We had a good run, didn't we? More than three years . . . that special time every day that left all involved refreshed and renewed?

I have found several others to replace you: I cherish Quiet Time with every fiber of my being, but it just kind of falls short of the real thing. I've also toyed with the Occasional Nap and have even dabbled in three-ways with Skipped Nap, More Schedule Flexibility, and Longer & Sounder Nighttime Sleep. But I have to say, Falling Asleep When We Pick Up Big Brother from Kindergarten and/or Five-Thirty P.M. Meltdowns are baggage I can frankly do without. 

What can I do to win you back? I'll try anything. The Kitchen Timer Trick—you like that, right? And I'll throw in as many Let's Just Snuggle for a Few Minutes Here in Your Beds as you can stand. Just please. I'm not ready to let you go.

Love always,

Julie

more nativity hijinks

I have chronicled past adventures of our crèche figurines. This morning, Roo asked me to help her put her baby Jesus into a perfect-scale VW bus.

"I've gotta split, Ma. Nice threads, Wise brothers."

And a close-up:

"Prince of Peace out."

A view to da Roo

13 years to go, originally uploaded by augen.

Roo, you sure have a lot of personality packed into your 32 pounds. You are 3 and 1/6 years old.

One of my favorite things about you these days is your fake laugh. (Your natural laugh is great, too.) Your enthusiasm is unbounded.

You are a fashionista with definite Opinions about what to wear. Skirts are your favorite. I choose my battles. Good thing you have plenty of pairs of tights for these cold-weather days.

Pink is your favorite color, although in the past few weeks you've been making eyes at blue.

You love books, singing, and dancing. You have a stock repertoire of these oeuvres, but also make them up as you go.

You are hyperverbal. Beyond your academic smarts, you are endlessly curious about others' emotional states.

You talk to anyone and are generous with hugs. You are usually up for an adventure, but are an unapologetic homebody.

You admire and adore your big brother and are getting better and better at standing up for yourself.

My sweet girl. Your love cracks my heart open further with each day that passes. And there is always room for more.