Christmas 2012

Even a “low key” holiday is action-packed.  Where to begin, even?  First, here's a holiday centerpiece that Ro made at school.  I think she told me that her art teacher gave her some extra berries to work with.  I presume this is because she was really into the project.  She did such a nice job--I have to say, it looks pretty professional to me, very balanced composition with the different greens. I think it's cool that they did that with the kids.

Grandmama came to visit early rather than test nature and risk snow on the pass around The Actual Day.  This wound up being a good call. Plus, she got to visit when Rosalie’s school put on a winter puppet show.  Rosalie was the sheep.  As you can see, she was brilliant.

Seems like they had a lot of fun putting this show together, from making the puppets to rehearsing as a school, to presenting the show.  They all took it very seriously.  Rosalie was thrilled to see us in the front row when they came out to take a bow.  I think she almost came and sat in my lap, but we gently coaxed her back on stage.  Adorable.  

They sent home Rosalie’s portfolio and it sounds like she’s doing great in school.  Obviously we are very proud.  

The next day I took Rosalie with me to work for the annual holiday luncheon.  Grandmama's gifts came in handy: she sported her new pretty dress and spent most of her free time with her new remote control car that is powered by hand-crank (doesn't need batteries!).  People were impressed by this sustainable toy.

While we were there at the luncheon I thought a couple of times how cool it is that this was the room where our wedding reception was held! And the guy catering the luncheon (who was now my boss) was the guy who catered our wedding! 

Also, a couple of high school seniors who were my former 6th grade students came to find me to say hi.  They walked with me and Rosalie back to their/our old homeroom classroom, and we explained to Rosalie that she was in my belly when I was giving these girls a spelling quiz.  It felt so full-circle, with Rosalie so big and with Shanley and Ellen talking about where they were hoping to go for college.

There were some great nostalgic moments during our time on campus that day.  I feel so lucky to have such a great husband and kid, and such a great work community that I can keep coming back to in all kinds of roles.  What a special place that is.  I'm glad she liked it too.  What's not to like about a place that has a pink feather Christmas tree and teddy bears right next to the food service line?

Recently (in the past few weeks), Rosalie mentioned that an older kid from school told her that Santa Claus is not alive.  "That's not true, right?" she asked with a nervous laugh.  That was such an easy question to answer.  "Of course it's not true!" I insisted.  I've always talked about the spirit of Santa, and without going into too many details, I've mentioned that people don't see him.  I never say, "There's Santa!" when we see a guy dressed up. I always say, "There's a guy dressed like Santa!" I feel bad for that kid who thinks that Santa is not alive.  The holiday spirit of love, joy, gratitude, and generosity is alive and well all over the placde, even for that kid, even when he doesn't realize it.  Thank you, Santa, or whatever we want to call you!   

In Rosalie's letter to Santa, she agreed that she could pare down her list slightly and ask for markers for another kid to have (someone who doesn't have markers).  Just always loosening the jar lid to think about others and remember to feel grateful for what we do have.  

Her top priority on the list this year was GUM.  She'd only had a few pieces so far in her life, and when we have given her a piece of gum, she takes it very seriously.  She loves it so much, you can tell that she knows it is a big responsibility (do not accidentally swallow it, do not let it fall out of your mouth).  On Christmas morning, she got the gum she asked for--strawberry--and she was so thrilled.  "I knew Santa would come," she said, hugging her new stuffed kitty.  

By the way, how did Santa know she likes kitties?  He's pretty magic.  Another by the way, it's a good thing I got Ro two packs of gum because she finished off a pack in one day.  She's been rationing it out since then.

Another object of obsession this year was the Lego house.  I was pulled into the project early on.  I can’t really say I was an unwilling participant.  However, I was more of a consultant and piece-finder because I didn’t want to get too involved and take over.  At times the diagram was confusing.  

However, she stuck through it, and I must say she is quite the talented Lego-ista.  I’d be watching her and feel surprised that she would just nail it in the right place, first time.  She was very, very into it, doing a little dance with joy when something came together.

Definitely some spatial intelligence going on there.

Anyway, rewinding back to Christmas Eve, we had a quiet, easy night.  After dinner we drove up to "Olympic Manor," a neighborhood where everyone agrees to do Christmas lights.  We parked the car and went for a walk around that neighborhood.  She was truly thrilled about almost every house we saw.  She skipped and ran and effused over every lovely thing that she saw.  Her joy was our joy.  It reminded me of when we stayed up late to watch fireworks on the 4th of July...that breathless, tired, slightly overstimulated ebullience.  She was so excited to be staying up late (8:30?) with us and having a night time adventure.  We all were, actually.

This year’s season has also been a time for decorating cookies.  We had a delicious time at Heather, Owain & Jimmy’s house with luscious gingerbread, frosting, and a lavish array of sprinkles.  The five of us were in sprinkle-y heaven.  So when my friend from culinary school invited me over to decorate cookies last week, I was so on it.  She was in the pastry program at school when I was in culinary, so she was full of cool decorating tricks!  Here she is demonstrating a dragging technique to make a string of hearts from dots.  I also love those "flowers" on the tree next to it.  

Anyway, I had so much fun that night that I didn’t want to leave—and since she had so many cookies, she invited me back the next day and said I could bring Rosalie too.  By the way, this woman has six cats and room to run around.  Rosalie heaven.  We stayed for many hours the next day, forgetting to eat lunch.  When Ro was finished doing a few cookies she would go off by herself and commune with all of the cats quietly.  Weirdly she didn’t even eat a single cookie when she was decorating.  She was lost in the process as much as we were.  We could have stayed a week.  Here are a few cookies she & I did that day.  Feeling grateful to Melissa for her generosity and teaching talents!

And now for some gratuitous snowflake-head shots.  It's from our "photo shoot" for this year's holiday card.  It was nearly impossible to choose a picture with that mega-watt smile.  Happy Holidays!

October Adventures

Rosalie has been enjoying her new school, but it has also been a big transition!  My own new job, which originally was three 8-hour shifts, has had to change to four 6-hour shifts so I can get home early enough to pick her up right when school gets out (rather than having her play at extended day).  

We found that she really needs some down time, more than she needed when she went to BP.  Our time together in the afternoon has been really nice.  It’s been wonderful to watch her get “lost” in what she’s doing, whether it’s drawing a chalk rainbow on the sidewalk, building a balloon collage, or just building a fort for her animals, singing a song.

 She also likes to create grand inventions:

(That is face paint on her cheeks from her friend Owain's birthday party)

Our down-the-street neighbors have given Rosalie a cookbook, “Pretend Soup and other Real Recipes.”  

She loves this book, with its illustrated step-by-step recipes.

It’s fun to cook with her.  She does sometimes say she wants to be a chef when she grows up.  If she does wind up wanting to do this, she would be great at it.

One day we had neighbor friend Lily over to make a few fun things from the cookbook.  Rosalie's got pesto in her food processor, there.

Meanwhile, back at school…she’s actually starting to read!  It’s amazing how quickly she’s been picking it up.  She recognizes words out in real life, uses context clues to figure other ones out, and she also can read from booklets that have a root sound that you can add a first letter to (such as her “–at” book that has cat, bat, rat, etc.)   

Because she has a social studies teacher(!), Rosalie has been in the know about the election.  They built a voting booth and even did their own voting at school recently.  She and her classmates voted for Obama; it was a landslide. 

Earlier in October she came home asking to watch the presidential debate: Specifically, she said she wanted to see Barack Obama and Romney talk on t.v. and argue about how they both want to be president.

When I suggested that we do bath and dinner early so that we can watch it, she was thrilled.

Rosalie: Why is everyone wearing bow ties?

Anne: They’re wearing neckties because it’s important that they look professional, and nice, and-

Rosalie: -and fancy?

Yeah. And fancy.

The rainy season has brought with it some, you know, rain. At school they run three laps around the park each day, rain or shine.  This has led to Rosalie becoming 1) a great and joyful runner, and 2) not afraid to get a little wet, which I think is important for a Seattleite.  The other day we walked/ran to the park in the rain, and she played on the equipment in the rain.  It was just the two of us.  It felt fun—like we were quite the hardcore outdoorswomen.  Where were all the lightweights?!?

For Halloween, R wanted to be a butterfly. When we found some wings that were red, her favorite color, she was over the moon.  

The wings are made of feathers and cardboard, though, so I have to say it was a stressful (for me) costume.  There  were flimsy armbands to deal with, ripping and tearing and feathers coming off…and think about the rain.  Not pretty.  

Fortunately she got lots of mileage out of the wings before Halloween itself.  We went to the zoo a couple of weekends, where they were doing mini-trick-or-treats at different stations around the facilities.  And of course hanging out and coloring was a good opportunity to sport wings as well. 

Anyway, thank goodness for Stacey, who last year sent R an astronaut jumpsuit in response to her interest in outer space.  Because we sure did use that jumpsuit for trick or treating on this rainy Halloween day.  We just layered clothes underneath for warmth, and she was unencumbered by the need to be careful all the time and could focus on the task at hand: loading up that pumpkin bucket.  I like how more and more places are offering alternative “treats”, such as stickers, spider rings, and tiny toys. It’s nice.  Anyway, butterfly or astronaut, candy or stickers, Ro had a ball.  

As usual we did the afternoon trick or treat in downtown Ballard around all the businesses, and in the evening after dinner she and her friend Gigi went up and down our block to finish the night off.  We have great neighbors, I have to say.  I sure do feel lucky about that.  It was nice to see people we know and like.  Since it’s been so busy I haven’t seen people lately.

Speaking of the astronaut costume, I loved the adventure that Rosalie and her Daddy went on the other day.  I came home and they were traveling to different planets (Rosalie had her suit on).  Afterwards, they sat down and drew a map of their adventure together, with planets and meteors and stars.  It was fun to hear them discussing the names of different planets and moons.  Michael really does know a lot about space.

Yesterday we went to (Rosalie’s first) IMAX film.  It was about Monarch butterflies, and it was in 3D.  She kept reaching out to try and touch the butterflies.  At one point, when one butterfly flew especially “near” to her, she looked down at her arm to see if it had landed on her.  It was the most beautiful, endearing moment. 

Anyway, the current excitement around here is waiting to see who wins the election.  Also, there’s a lego masterpiece in the living room that Rosalie says “looks like the Ballard Locks (it does!), but with a bouncy slide.”  After school we’ll either work on that some more, or bike to the park.  Or both.  Thanks for your patience in waiting for this blog post; it has been a wild and wooley time with all of our transitions!

First Day!

This is an addendum to the last post from two nights ago.  Rosalie had a smooth start to her first day at Matheia.  She woke up in the morning feeling excited, and then nervous, and then excited again!  A jumble of feelings.

We arrived and it was a bit of an overwhelming bustle, but we got everything sorted--where her lunchbox and things went, and where she was supposed to go.  We found where her group would be meeting, and they had spots for people to sit with their names on them. I pulled a classroom paparazzi with my phone:

I think those spots where they are sitting are the kids' book bags.  They will send book bags home to us with a selection of books for us to read with the kids, and we return them with a paper that says whether we liked the books or not, then they send new books home to us based on our "reviews" and the kids' preferences.

Anyway, it wound up being a great day for her.  She said she made new friends and enjoyed herself.   Last night she was excited for today to happen so that she could come back!  It sounds like it's going to be good. 

New Chapters

Wow, so much to tell.

First of all, today was the last day at Berry Patch, and tomorrow is her first day at Matheia. It's the  beginning of the school year and the beginning of her new chapter as a preschooler.  She's going from kids her age and younger to being the smallest fish in the pond, a preschooler in a Pre-K - 5th grade environment.  Fortunately the older kids are sweetie pies.  Rosalie is excited and nervous, and definitely happy.  This morning she said, "Today is my last day at Berry Patch.  It's really special."  Sure enough, it was a great day for her.

Nicolie and Veronica, the best teachers ever, sent her off with a small photo album with monthly photos since she started at the BP, which was when Rosalie was TWO.  It was such a great time for her, being there.  I am so grateful to Nicolie and Veronica for their loving care and attention, their creativity and humor.  They taught her so much!

Fortunately she will get to come back and visit on certain days when her new school is closed for teacher in-service days, and for the monthly Parents' Night Out on Saturdays.  Myself, I've been surreptitiously tearful about the bittersweet transition, but we know this is the right time for Rosalie to move on to her next adventure in learning.  She's going to sponge up so much this year, maybe even start reading! She sure seems ripe for it already.

Tonight Rosalie helped pack her first lunch for her first day of school (This is a new experience because BP used to serve delicious lunches to the kids).  She proudly helped make her own ham and cheese sandwich, and was excited to load each lunch item into each little container.

This weekend we went on a great adventure: our first official family hike! We had been putting it off because we wanted to make sure she was physically and mentally ready.  What a drag it is to try to enjoy nature when someone is whining and complaining.  I mean, besides yourself.  Anyway, Michael found a great location -- Twin Falls, right east of Snoqualmie -- and it was a couple-mile hike total, which would be just right at this point.  The falls were beautiful.  We didn't have the camera, but thankfully Michael had his phone/camera.

I was mentally prepared for whining, but actually that girl was just thrilled the whole time.  "My first hiking trip!" She kept exclaiming.  She noticed and oohed & aahed over everything, from a caterpillar on the trail, to the trees, to every trickle of water on the side of the hill--she deemed each and every one of those a "waterfall."  We walked together, nobody carrying anyone else, all the way up the hill to the falls lookout, and all the way down to the river for some river-rock-climbing and water-testing.  At one point in the middle of the hike, while huffing up the hill, she paused in her enthusiastic hike narration to declare, "I'm so happy!"  We grown-ups were, too, especially then.  Even at the end of the hike when she was tired, she kept up her good attitude and trucked on.  I only needed to give her a piggyback ride from the trailhead to the parking lot--mere yards.

Needless to say we'll be doing another hike again soon.

Last weekend Michael's parents came to visit and we re-celebrated Michael's birthday.  Jenny & Bob brought presents for all of us! An overall theme of these presents was that we all received multiple aprons in honor of my graduating from culinary school.  I was really touched by Jenny's thoughtfulness--she made many of the aprons.  Rosalie layered apron after apron over her neck as she unwrapped them. I picture a typical kid who receives clothing presents as being ho-hum about it: as in, "Where are the toys?" But instead she sincerely and enthusiastically noticed, "I will be so warm!  I have all of these aprons!"  And she hugged all the aprons to herself.  In the end she also got some cool markers, books, and a kite.  She was happy as can be.

This animal lover obviously had a great time with her friend Zoe, the Klatt doggie.  She's getting really good at being alpha/authoritative with Zoe, which goes a long way with an exuberant dog who is full of love.  As you can see, she's got Zoe on a tight leash here.

It seems minute in comparison to the monumentally cool things that have been going on, but we made a black bean frame the other day (I was out of macaroni—that was the original idea).  It started with careful placement of each glue-laden bean upon the frame (we even tried tweezers), and it ended with generously pouring glue all over the thing and then pouring beans over the glue, trying to keep them on the frame by catching them with our fingers before they slid off.  Good times.  I will not be teaching her patience, but at least maybe strategy.  And really, can you tell the difference?

Quotable Rosalie:

"What's better than popcorn? ...More popcorn!"

Our cutie pie.

Little Cool Things

The other morning after Rosalie had her wonderful babysitter she woke up and had a heart drawn on her foot.  Of course this led to some morning body artwork.  I drew shapes on her other foot, her hands, and even her shins.  Nowadays so many people have tattoos--I wonder if she'll wind up getting some "ink" when she gets older.

At school a couple weeks ago the theme was bugs, and she seems better equipped recently to deal mentally with bugs.  She seemed slightly less squeamish around all the crawlies.  This week she & I went to the back yard to build a "fairy house" with sticks, pine cones, leaves, etc, in the sort of wild part of our back yard.  A spider was crawling on the fairy house, and she pointed it out, but not in a nervous way.  We just said hello to the little guy and welcomed him to the house.

 So it was neat when she found a bug in our house and actually wanted to capture it herself.  Once it was caught in the container, she wanted to observe it with her magnifying glass.  I really liked her spirit of curiosity with it.

Today the three of us were in the car for awhile to visit Tad and Shannon and their kids because they were in Olympia for the week.  Anyway, during this long trip home in traffic Rosalie was explaining something to us.  It is hard to describe now, but for some reason Rosalie was talking about "hustlers."  As in con men or crooks or something.  I'm not 100 percent sure how she even learned this word, although she said "school."  Fascinating.

She was explaining all the bad things they do (ruin people's food, take things, etc).  She'd say things like, "A hustler's name is this: Hustler."  Then she said, "What color is a hustler's shoes?"  We said we didn't know.  She said, "Hustlers don't have shoes."  --which Michael thought was a pretty sophisticated joke/trick question.

Anyway, near the end I had to intervene, because she started to say things like hustlers were never kids...and I started to talk about how everyone used to be a kid.  And if someone winds up being a hustler, it's likely that they started out with a pretty hard life to feel like they needed to do things like hustling.  Who knows if it stuck in her head, although she mentioned that hustlers didn't have toys.  So maybe she got it.  Anyway, our kid sure has an active imagination.  I wish I could peer in there and see the world the way she sees it.

Family Fun

It's been a dream of Michael's ever since we moved in here to sleep on our back deck.  Friday evening we made that dream a reality.  We made a fire in the firepit in the back yard, and cooked our dinner over the fire.  That way we were "really camping."

Rosalie was very excited about the fire.

Then we set up the tent(!) on the upstairs deck, and we filled the tent with a soft futon mattress and all our own blankets and a lamp. It was a pretty luxurious set-up.  There's Michael outside the tent, enjoying the emerging stars in the sky.  We actually saw a shooting star that night! Unbelievable in the city.

It was not a night of great sleep, even with the cushy accommodations, but we all survived with a lengthy nap the next day.

Saturday, while I was finishing my final project for photography class, Michael took Rosalie to Gasworks Park to see if they could see the Blue Angels practicing their flight demonstration.  It sounds like they didn't see much, but they had fun nonetheless.

On the way home, Michael took Rosalie to see the Troll under the bridge in Fremont.  If you've never seen this in real life, I'll tell you that the thing under the Troll's hand is an actual VW bug.  It's a mighty sculpture, and this picture doesn't even capture how dominating it is in real life.  Rosalie was pretty overwhelmed by the size of it, obviously (Me too. Who wouldn't be?), so she didn't want to have her picture taken with it by herself.  Fortunately there was a nice family nearby who swapped photo shoots with Michael.

It was a hot weekend, and both afternoons we had the pool & sprinkler going.  Rosalie loved the water.  She would just get lost in her own world playing.  It was highly relaxing for all involved.

Pool cleaning/maintenance is so important.

Rosalie had her buddy from school over yesterday to play in the pool too, and they had a grand old time.  All in all, it was a dreamy summer weekend!