Subscribe to my Blog
There She Grows

Kid is very much enjoying the clay candlestick holders she made in pre-school. They are bejeweled with treasures. (sequins of all kinds are ‘treasure’ defined). Shown here in use with the lovely hand-dipped hannukah candles we got post-holidays for a buck. Ah the simple pleasures in life.

Read the rest of this entry »

During our walks, Lil will often pick up one of the big pinecone-shaped seeds that fall from the trees lining our block. The other day she held it up and announced, “this and the tree match.”

The tree truly was the exact shape as the seed. I told her that was a very good observation to make, and that’s a connection that can be found time and again throughout nature. Miraculously, she left it at that. For now. But sometimes when we tread on subjects of such potential depth, she wants to know much more. It amazes me, the discussions we get into nowadays. Most always initiated by Lil, her curiosity and alarming understanding about certain things.

Read the rest of this entry »

Its noon on Sunday and she just fell asleep. That means, after this procrastination post, work time for me until she wakes up. Much like… every other day.

I do sometimes fantasize about working on location somewhere, having a set schedule and some structure. It doesn’t have to be full time, just out of this house. So that whenever I have the rare moment of freedom at home I wouldn’t feel like I have to be working. I’d love to be using this naptime to do art projects in the garage, or watch a movie, although I’d first need to use it to finish up our xmas thank yous or tackling mount laundry… the kind of things I never seem able to finish during her waking hours. And then maybe once in awhile I could just go the eff back to bed. Which is at times my ultimate fantasy, lol. 2 and a half years into this parenting thing, waking up at 6:30 is still a huge struggle for me. Dont’ worry I’ll save that for my next self-pity post.

Yeah this is one of those moments I am feeling rather bleh about my current routine. Why should I, when things are so great I thank my lucky stars its worked out the way it has. But when I’m feeling particularly sleep deprived and ineffective, my darker pessimistic side comes out easily. I think this year is going to see some changes. Could go in one of two directions. I’m going to have to figure some stuff out.

oh wait, she’s not even asleep yet. Still just playing in her room. I can hear her reading to herself in there. Heh.

Well, more like a very blurry iphone shot taken of her first class photo as it hangs on our fridge. I should really scan it one day. Its adorable, and a bit of a milestone as the very first of a whole childhood full of class photos she’ll collect over the years. I still have an old folder full of mine someplace at my mom’s house and its a trip to look back at them.

Her pre-school peers currently range in age from about 2 to almost 5. I remember how small she was compared to the others when she first started at 18 months. And how brazen she was despite that, fitting herself right in immediately. Now she’s an old pro and has welcomed new students as older ones have departed. Can you spot our little sweetie’s big smile?

Oh, how she loves school. It fills me with so much joy. We had an extended break over the holidays, since we took off for Chicago in mid December. With so much going on, it was awhile before she started missing her school routine. Once the whirlwind of family fun began to subside, she started pretending she and I were having circle time in the green room, like they do in school. She wanted to sing together her morning school song… and sometimes when she was playing on her own I overheard her mention her school friends names as if she was playing with them. It was really sweet, and we were both happy about her return to school this Tuesday.

To be honest, I was ready to return to the preschool routine as well. It gave me 1 day of non-mom-time during my sister’s fun visit here. There is SO much I need to catch up posting about. Lots of Big Kid achievements, a new playhouse down the street and new friends, Lil’s first trip to the dentist… and all our travel and family visits throughout the holidaze. I’ll get to some of it eventually.

note to self: Hello do a day, sir.

This was part of the holiday card we sent out this yr. Miss two-and-a-half smothering Marley with her joy. FEEL IT. lol, its so them.

And here is Lil’s very first Santa experience. Taken at the SL moms club holiday party. She wasn’t afraid in the least; the moment he walked in the front door she ran right to him for a hug. Then started in with the hard questions: “Santa, where’s your sleigh?!” he pretended not to hear, lol.

She also put both hands on his stomach and said, “bowl full of jelly, mama?” I’ve read The Night Before Christmas a few times, and she really seems to love that part.

OK. So much. Hannukah, two christmases in two cities. So much family and friends and fun. This post shall serve as a placeholder until I return to elaborate on the holidaze. In the meantime – Happy Celebratory December Holiday of your choice, and Happy New Decade!

This is my new favorite picture.

Living up to the reputation of two-year-olds, Lilah has suddenly started to have all-out tantrums. That is what I call the episodes where she’s so upset she is beyond all logic. That may sound silly to say about a toddler; what logic do they ever have, right? But Lil really is capable of understanding and communicating quite well. That’s how her strong personality is somewhat manageable. Certainly less so in the past few weeks, when a new level of tantrum has been winning out over hopes of discussion and compromise.

When that happens, when she is completely inconsolable, I see that the only person who can calm Lil down is herself. She needs alone-time to get over it, without an audience in me. That’s the main thing. So I sometimes sit her on the green chair, making sure to differentiate it from a time out by inviting her to come find me when she’s calm and read to talk and listen. Then I just walk out of the room. She does not calm down instantly by any means, in fact she takes it up a notch. But she miraculously stays in that chair while she continues to freak out. Within a minute or two, Lil composes herself and finds me, or sometimes sits quietly and looks at books before emerging. When she comes out after calming down, I am way happy and welcoming.

Read the rest of this entry »

Toward the end October we travelled back home to spend a long weekend in the Chicago burbs. The centerpiece of our trip was the wonderful wedding of Amy and Larry, which I got to witness from the stage as a proud bridesmaid. It was full of fun and happiness. And the rest of our time was filled with a whirlwind of friends & family.

To my Angelenos: this is what fall looks like.

And without further ado, here’s our weekend in pictures (and a few videos)…

Read the rest of this entry »

Lilah got a bunch of plastic bangle bracelets and figured out just what to do with them. I suppose this could be considered an addendum to an earlier post, although it lacks that certain while-he’s-asleep charm.   However, we may have to start a series entitled “stuff on dad.”

We had a great halloween this year, with plenty of excitement and participation from Lilah. Its so fun to experience my long-time favorite holiday from this new perspective, to see it through the eyes of a young kid. She was gearing up for it all month; telling everyone about her costume, making decorations, becoming obsessed with books about halloween and the concept of trick or treating.

It felt like our halloween fun went on for weeks, which was pretty awesome. And when the day finally came, Lil really had a great time with it. And then we ‘grown-ups’ even managed to do some partying of our own. Here’s my long picture-post. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re driving back from Kiel’s art show and Lil is gazing out the window at stars. Sometimes she starts singing “twinkle twinkle little star” at the stars, and she was. She sings the whole song in her sweet little voice and then ends it each time with, “yee-ha!” We have no idea where that came from, but its a steadfast addition to the twinkle twinkle song.

For the first time, she asked if she could fly up and touch a star. We joked about her catching one in a net. I got a little more serious and told her that, while they look teeny tiny, its just because they are so so so very far away and they are actually bigger than she can imagine. Far larger than the whole earth, etc.

“Way way out there? Out of space?”

Outer space, yeah.

And she starts talking about flying to a star in a spaceship. “Can I ever fly in a spaceship to the stars?” Yes, we believe so, we say. That might be possible in your lifetime. Is that what you want to do? “Yes. Maybe I can find Wall-e.” We laugh.

“Can you watch me? Watch me go to the stars?” She asks. “We definitely hope so!”

And after a few more thoughtful moments she goes, “Outer space is cool.”

A sequel to this post. The other day we were in the grocery store that has the inner starbucks, and stopped for a treat. I got an iced latte and she got a biscotti. It took her a few tries to pronounce it right. And then,

her: Biscotti? Some type of cookie?

me: Yeah its that long cookie you sometimes get.

her: Biscotti. hmmmm, lets see. Spanish?

me: No, its a different language. Italian.

her: Talian!

–

Later that same night when we were getting her ready for bed, she started singing one of the Spanish songs. One where they name the articles of clothing.

her: Who is wearing a vestido? Lilah?

me: No, Lilah is wearing a camisa.

her: Camisa. (grabbing her shirt). Pantalones! (grabbing her sweatpants). Mommy is wearing a vestido?

me: Vestido is a dress. Mommy is wearing a falda. A skirt.

her: Falda is a skirt, vestido is a dress.

her: hmmm…. what’s Tuhtah mean?

me: Oh, you mean when daddy calls your dress a tuhtah? That is a whole nother language. That’s how you say dress in Assyrian.

her: Whole other language!

..He hasn’t said that to her in a long time so I was really surprised she remembered that and made the connection that it also meant dress in a language other than English.

That is all.