Pics from Thanksgiving - yesterday

Moving the Stickers

Yesterday Shara was sitting at my computer and she calls me over and says, "look what I did. I moved all the stickers." She meant the icons on the desktop. I'm going to make her pc single click to open a program, but I'll keep mine double clicks and very fast ones at that! She's doing really good at her computer and all I have to do is start the browser, homepage is sesame street, and she can get into the games and do the rest. She even wants me to leave the room.

I asked her what she wanted to give daddy for Christmas, because I hadn't actually planned any of this very well - no gifts, no cards, etc., and she thought a spiderman ring would be good. I was going to bring her out to get one, assuming we could find one, but at lunch she told Alan that she was going to get him a spiderman ring, so I figured at that point it lost it's cute factor. Doesn't always get the concept of a surprise.

We played in the driveway yesterday as well and had fun throwing snowballs at trees and other targets. She wouldn't let me go into the snow - started screaming for me to stop, because she thought I'd fall through and not be able to get out. Last night we were watching Shrek the Halls and she mentioned Donkey going into the snow and jumping out and then I realized that's where her fear came from. She wouldn't believe me that the snow wasn't that deep, so we stuck to the driveway instead.

She wore her new nightgown last night and we have some pictures that we'll post. After 2 nights of waking up coughing, the actual cold came finally out. After her nap yesterday the cough was constant so we gave medicine and it was great until 3 AM last night. Gave her some more and she stayed another night in bed with us. Our room is rather cold, so the nightgown didn't work so well and we added pj bottoms to the outfit.

We're still keeping our holiday plans because once she's medicated, she in great spirits and you'd never know she has a cold. At this time her nose isn't even running, so my fear of spreading it is low, and you can't tell me 1/2 the population doesn't have something at this time of year they're passing along. So as long as she isn't acting like she's sick, might as well make our rounds and just keep washing hands. I'm sure most of the people we're going to see would rather have a sick Shara than no Shara at all!

Oh, and if the Chatta Box leftovers weren't so extra spicy and the non-spicy one not beefy, we'd bring them to the Lookers today. Next time we'll pick up something to bring back with us. It was so good and Shara loved her garlic beef fried rice, fried veggie roll, and especially the miso soup with lots of tofu.

Storms & Hanukkah at Bubbe's

Last Thursday was the first big storm of the season and the wise governor sent everyone home early so the roads couldn't get plowed with all the people driving around. I didn't have a bad time, but Alan had it rough - needed a jump and didn't get home 'til after 9 PM. Shara & I had a pretty good time. We made cookies and she was a big help stamping and rolling the dough. She didn't like that daddy wasn't home for bedtime but we layed down together and she was out within 20 minutes. I think she was more tired than anything.

We made the pilgrimage to Bubbe's for another Hanukkah party and had the best time. The trip up was uneventful - we just played a little and read stories. Shara hasn't wanted a movie in the car in a very long time and is happy to listen to stories, play with a toy or two or relax and look out the window. I got a lot of knitting done too!

When we got there we settled in and then watched the video from Shara's dance party from earlier that morning. We all loved watching her on the TV and she was so cute. Later when we watched it with the Lookers, Jill said Shara was doing very well, and she should know, having brought up two dancers.

I had wondered if this would be the first time we saw the present frenzy because last week I took her to Hilliards to get a couple of presents and everything she saw was her favorite. When we were at Hilliards, they had a big, 5' tall snowman that sang and danced when you got close and she freaked, but didn't need to leave the store as she would have had to do last year. Well anyway, no frenzy. She was very calm in opening her presents, thanked everyone and really loved playing with them all. I had picked up a fruit slice candy to put in her bag of gifts from us, along with a toothbrush, tissues, and a couple other little things, and I looked at her later and she was trying to open the candy. I asked her if she could ask before she eats something like that and she said yes, she would, and then did. I said ok, but before I said ok, she had it opened and exclaimed, "I opened it all by myself!" But other things she asked first, like a chickpea from a bowl on the table, and I wonder if she would have asked if I hadn't been there. I doubt it would have occurred to her. As long as she isn't helping herself to alcoholic drinks, that's fine. If it's something spicy she takes by accident, she'll learn.

We had bought Five Little Gefiltas to give to Bubbe and that was all well and good until Shara realized it would stay with Bubbe. She cried and wanted it to go home with her and Bubbe said ok, and I said we'd bring it the next visit. It's such a cute book. I recommend it for anyone brought up Jewish or around Jewish Deli's!

She really did great, considering we didn't get to sleep until after 9:30 PM and she had the exciting dance party that day. The next day, we had a good breakfast of bagels & eggs, and Alan & I shoveled out and we tried to get on the road early because of the storm. We went an average of 50 miles/hour and it wasn't so bad as to pull over, but we were happy to get home.

Pictures will be posted as soon as everyone sends them to me! So please do!

Funny

Tonight for dinner Shara wanted mac & cheese (leftover) & soup. After she saw my bagel w/ lox & cream cheese she thought that would be good too. I told her I'd share with her and she pitched a fit about wanting the whole thing. We told her she could have 1/2 of the 1/2 with the lox and didn't like that so I gave her the whole 1/2 explaining that she had asked for the other and yada yada. Always thought that sounded funny. Anyway, then she say's, "I like this a lox".

Writing Rut

I know, it's been a month since I've written but it doesn't seem as though anything really exciting has been happening. The cute things shara says are unfortunately not written down, but here are a couple I remember - rememory, "I'll miss that" when wanting to read another book first.

Last night Shara woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. Alan went in to help her and I slept through the whole thing. I can't believe I missed it! She told me this morning the story and I wasn't sure if she was dreaming or if it happened for real, but Alan confirmed it did.

Yesterday we decorated Hanukkah cookies - Shara helped sprinkle the sugars and even cut out a sheet of cookies. We can't wait to share them next week at the hanukkah party. Then Alan and Shara watched Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and after supper we all played memory, which was a lot of fun. It was nice to have a relaxing time at home.

Dance is going well. Next week we have a party there and they'll do a little performance, so Alan bought new tapes for the newly repaired video camera so we can share with everyone. It may even be short enough that we can post it online. The teacher wanted them to keep the performance a surprise for us so she's been good about not telling us, but I did get her to show me one thing and it's very cute. One of the other parents said they were going to dance to Jingle Bell Rock, but I asked Shara and she didn't recognize that song but said they're going to be dancing to Jingle Bells.

Today we're going to Sophia's dedication and then over to John & Maggie's. It should be a good chance for the girls to play together. We missed Hannah's bday party, so it's been a while since they saw each other. Now she's playing on her own computer doing an Elmo game from the Sesame Street website. She's getting good at mousing, but we need to fix her play area. Her monitor is too high and there isn't room for her to move the mouse very well. It's great that she's enjoying all these games because they're very educational. Last week we brought home a drawing she did and she wrote her name - it was across the top of the page and I had to pick out the ara, but the S and H were very clear and right next to each other.

Some new & old pictures

Click here.

No more diapers

Monday, Shara said she wanted to wear big girl underpants to bed, so Alan and I went and picked up a waterproof pad to put under her sheet. That night she went to bed with her undies and we reviewed what she should do if she had to go in the middle of the night. We made sure she had enough light in the hallway and could get to everything easily. We didn't hear anything and she woke up dry. Tuesday night we went over the same routine and while Alan & I were watching TV, we heard her open her door, then the potty seat slam up, then the toilet seat slam up, then down, then the potty seat slam down. Then there was a long pause. The water came on and another pause, as I'm holding my breath throughout, and finally her door opens and shuts and that's it. Before I went to bed I went into the bathroom and saw she followed all the directions - even shut the potty seat for me to take care of. She did great and we were so proud!

Wanted to post that she's getting over another ear infection (both ears) and also needed to have drops this time. She was over it pretty quick but we did miss Hannah's birthday party, which we were upset about. It was bad timing and I think in the long run it was a good thing for all that we didn't go, but still, it's not something we want to miss. At least we'll get together for the Edaville Railroad - our annual tradition!

Tonight Shara & I were laying in bed and she tells me that Abby said she (Shara) didn't have a pink coat. Shara said she did and Abby said she didn't. I asked if Shara showed her her coat and she said yes. I asked what color Abby said it was and she said dark blue. I said maybe Abby doesn't know her colors very well. Shara liked that. I asked Shara how she felt when Abby said this and she says frustrated - every syllable pronounced slowly but clearly! We happened to have watched a Blues Clues the other day about feeling frustrated. We decided that maybe Abby just needed to practice her colors and that Miss Jenn or Miss Amanda could help her.

Halloween Night 2007

This year Shara went out as a fairy. First with daddy, then with mommy. It was a lot of fun. Alan took her down one street & I went down another - just 2, but boy, it took a long time. She walked so slow. She was so cute and happy and wanted to follow around the big kids. We did have a good time tasting a lot of the treats and she was happy to share with me and I her. She doesn't like jr. mints, but basically liked everything else.

Shara also asked Alan if we'd see Nemo - last year there was a Nemo in the neighborhood and though we hadn't talked about it all year, she remembered. Another thing she remembered was her candy assortment. One of the moms at dance said that it's nice at this age because you can take away the candy and they just forget. I think Shara had her stash inventoried. She'd ask for a treat for breakfast and dinner. I allowed it because they said to let them go nuts for a week. When Monday came around, I was ready to have this end, but she wasn't. Since I didn't warn her, I let her have something for breakfast and then that was it. She said ok, I took away the candy and she didn't mention it again. Testing has been fearce this week, but we're strong!

Potty update - Shara came home 3 days in a row in the same clothes she went to school in!! :-)
She's been doing great and so has her friend Tenley. The other day they had an adventure - I still have to hear from Tenley's mom Casy to see if Tenley corroberated the story, but apparently Tenley helped Shara clean up an accident last week and the teacher never realized it happened. Had I not seen the stained pants and saw her sneakers were still wet, I wouldn't have believed it, but she was ok about it so I didn't make a big deal about it.

Saturday we had a nice time at Katie's birthday party. It took Shara about 25 minutes to warm up and then she let me put her down and had a good time. The best part was after the party when Shara and Katie got to play together. They had a great time and it was so nice to have Shara play with someone outside of school. We have to have play dates. I'd say more often, but it's not something we ever do. I think this winter we'll have more time. Summer was crazy and fall is going to be busy with the holidays, but once they're over, we'll definitly get more social.

Wearing Big Girl Underpants!

Well thanks to Miss Amanda, Shara has been wearing big girl undies all day at school! She's doing great. The other night she ran into the bathroom, sat on the potty, and pooped! She was so proud of herself, as were we. She got stickers and more stickers. She hasn't had too many accidents, not that I'm an expert, but today she came home in the same outfit she went to school in and as she was coming back from getting the mail with daddy, said, "oh!" and ran into the house to poop. She's also continuing to go to sleep by herself at night.

Last night we made pumpkin squares and tonight we decorated them. I made the frosting and turned my back on her to go into the oven to get the tray of squares, and I hear the beaters go on and Shara say something like, "look!" It's a bit of a blur, but basically frosting all over the counter, floor, and wall. I said, "that's a time out!" and told her she needed to clean up the floor, and she really got upset, for real, not her usual pretend upset, and wiped up the floor. Then we discussed, and went back to making the cookies. We had fun - she helped a little with using the cookie cutter and I gave her 2 to frost while I frosted the rest and then she decorated by putting on a sprinkle of orange sugar. The best part was when she said, "I like baking, I like baking with you."

Big Girl Bike

Forgot to mention, the other night we picked up a bike that our neighbors put out on the road. It's a little two wheeler with training wheels. We're going today to get a bike seat, or cover, and a helmet. It's really cute!

Sleeping Well, Wearing Big Girl Undies, First Overnight - Wow!

The past couple of weeks have been very crazy. First, before I forget, last weekend we went to the King Richard's Faire. It was a lot of fun. We first saw the big cat show and I was a little freaked out by the Liger, but Shara didn't seem phased at all, with any of them. She was scared of the unicorn (person in a big costume) at the front entrance, and had a fit later when she was trying to ask me about the uniform and eventually I was realizing she was trying to say, "unicorn". Close, but off enough to fully confuse me. We all really loved "The Lost Boys Renaissance Rock n Roll", that we watched/listened to while eating lunch, and realized how silly some of the things we find funny really are. She couldn't understand why someone would drink mud. I said to make us laugh and she just didn't get it. Jousting was fun and brought up more questions that keeped arising for the next couple of days like, "why did the stick break?" - she was talking about the javalin, which I assume was a breakable one. This year it really seemed staged. I don't remember it being so obvious last year. It was fun anyway. Then we were ready to leave. Without a nap and not the best entertainment, it was rough near the end. Next year we'll look out for more performances. But then next year she'll probably want to participate in the "Princess Academy".

Something got in my head to last week to start pushing/talk about potty training again. I figured sleeping was good, she's settled in preschool, we've all been very happy, why not try and ruin everything? Well I did. I started asking Shara if she wanted to sit on the toilet or potty and asked her teachers if she had been using the potty at school and that night Shara wouldn't go to sleep by herself. She screamed and cried when Alan tried to leave and finally fell asleep and Alan snuck out. I asked her about it the next morning and she said, "Brutus didn't want to go to sleep last night by himself. He got sick in my bed, didn't get sick, just made sick noises." I asked her later if that had to do with my talking about the potty and she said yes.

I told her I was going to ask her teachers to ask her during the day if she wanted to go on the potty, but not make a big deal out of it, and that they should pay attention so we could do the jelly beans for her going on it. She liked that idea. I had also talked to her teacher the day before and we decided to bring in Shara's underpants and she'd put them on her and see what happened. So that did happen and Shara was fine about it. She did go a lot on the potty, had a few accidents, went to be fine at night, even said to Alan, "daddy I want you to go now". She's been having a few accidents at school and has been coming home in different clothes, but she's still going on the potty. This has only been going on for 3 days at school and she doesn't want to go on the toilet at home and has sat on her potty here, but isn't very excited about it so I'm not pushing. She also isn't comfortable pooping on the potty so didn't go for two days. As soon as Alan put her in a diaper the other night she went.

Last night Shara spent the night at Oma & Jidor's. Sorry Bubbe. I mentioned to her that Katie was going to be spending the week at her nana's because Dave & Kristin went away to do training together and all of a sudden, Shara was into spending the night. Today is Oma's birthday and I thought it would be a nice present for her. I hope so. We're going to be leaving in a few to pick her up. We miss her, but also had a fun time together. The house is certainly different without her presence.

My Little Dancer

Last week Shara did much better in dance class. She went in from the beginning and though she sat through stretching with ducky & giraffe, she eventually put them in a cubby and participated with the rest of class. I'm hoping today goes as smooth - we don't observe today but stay in the waiting room. All week she's been sashaying and princess walking. Last night we practiced putting on her ballet & tap shoes and she gave a nice performance, but I had to dance too.



Nothing too exciting has been happening. We had a really nice day with Bubbe, Papa & Liz out in Amherst. As we drove away from dropping Liz off, Shara said, "what a nice day this was". She was right. And then she was asleep for the whole ride home.

Mind is working fast

There are several cute preschool things Shara has been saying and doing.

• Last night Alan got a chuckle when he saw her sweater hanging up on the back of her chair, as ours typically are, but this one was inside out.
• The other day I was changing her and noticed her pants were on backwards. I asked if she dressed herself today and she proudly said, "yes!". Of course I replied with, "great job!"
• Alan & Shara have had a few hide & seek games outside. Shara stands near the house and counts while alan runs a little away. The rule is that he has to stay where she can see him.
• The other night we were saying good night to the cats and Alan called Brutus Brutal Toodle. That had her cracking up for the next 45 minutes. It was the funniest thing she had ever heard.
• Not so cute, but lots of potty talk. Even if I say the term "potty talk" she gets rolling.
• We bought a birthday card for Alan while out shopping last weekend and when we got home she ran up to him and told him we got a card and tried to show it to him. We also talked about a present for him and later, on her own, she said she wanted to make a project for him - art project. So after dinner we got her supplies (thank you Bubbe for the glittery glue. It was a hit.) and she had a blast. As she was working she said to Alan that this was for his present. I asked her if it should be a surprise and she turned to Alan and said, "it's a surprise".

We went to the NRT Harvest Fair last weekend and had a very nice time. Neat Sheets are a wonderful invention! She did not want to ride or even pet the ponies, but had fun looking at them and loved the cotton candy and the only thing she really asked for, aside from the cotton candy, was to have her face painted, which she got - a cat. She fell asleep about 5 minutes after us leaving.

Dance class ended very well. She wouldn't go in the room without me, so I did go in since another mom was in also. The two moms did more dancing than their daughters. I said to Shara, in earshot of the teacher, to remember at home she said that mommy & daddy would be in the waiting room and she would be sad in with the teacher. Teacher replied, "I have no problem with that". So I left and Shara was sad indeed. She followed me out and we stayed in the hall until the time to change into tap shoes. When we went back in, the other mom shoved her kid in, and Shara was already in, and the door got shut with me in the hall and Shara in the room. She cried a little, but had ducky & giraffe and I peeked in and saw she was standing there but not crying. Then she started following the teacher around and eventually she was actually doing things with the class. I was very proud & very relieved! She got her listening sticker and I hope that next week will go much easier.

Fall Activities Begin

Last weekend we went apple picking at Phantom Farms orchard near Alan's parents. It was very warm. Last year was the same thing - very warm, and didn't remind me at all of when I was a kid. Global warming anyone? This past weekend was the same thing. We went to Bubbe's for Yom Kippur and again, it didn't remind me of when I was a kid. I always remember being rather chilly but the past few years we've been dressing for summer. Shara had a great time though.

For the apple picking she reached up and was tall enough to grab an apple herself, which put a big smile on her face. Then we listened to Cajun music for a bit and had a little picnic outside. Just being outside is nice. She wanted to get pumpkins, and they had cute little ones, so she picked out one of those, then she zoned in on a bigger one, really went right to it, and we got that as well, since we weren't sure if the Pumpkin Farie was coming this year. Well, yesterday when we got home, low and behold, there were 3 pumpkins on our steps. We were all pretty excited that for another year, we did get visited by the Pumpkin Farie.

Yesterday we dropped Liz off at school and we all had lunch at a cute Mexican place in Amherst. Very college, but good food. Then we saw her dorm room and walked around a bit and played racing & hide & seek. By the time we left it was close to 3PM and we (I) wanted to stop at Atkin's Farm. That was a mob scene so Alan stayed in the car and Shara & I went to pick up doughnuts. After we picked out what we wanted, not a big selection at the end of a Sunday, Shara says to me, "Mommy, you're so nice to me. You give me lots of things I want." I replied that that was very sweet to say and nice to hear, but that sometimes you don't think I'm nice because I won't give you what you want", but I wanted her to know that it is because I love her that I don't let her have everything. The lines were long, so I got a couple other things as well because I really didn't want to stand in line for just doughnuts. Then Shara decided she would rather have a doughnut instead of ice cream and I had apple crisp with soft vanilla on it. It was really good. Much better than any I've had. Not too sweet and I could really taste the apples. Shara enjoyed her chocolate dipped doughnut and watching the little dogs. By now Alan had joined us but passed on dessert.

We didn't get home until late and dinner was problematic. Shara fell asleep in the car and I had to wake her up. I gave her strawberries & mango because she didn't really want anything else to eat. Then she did want something else and was very upset that I didn't bring home the tuna & rings. Should have listened to Bubbe. Then she got mad at me because I didn't understand that the kind of egg she wanted was hard boiled. She said no to the sunnyside up, no to scrambled, and then I showed her a sunnyside up just to make sure and she really got mad. Then she calmed down and said she wanted the kind she could see then said the kind she could hold. I stupidly asked, "an egg sandwich?" Not good. But then I finally asked, "hard boiled?" and yes, that's what she wanted. But then it was too late and we unhappily settled for cereal, with the promise that I'd make tuna and rings and deviled eggs for tomorrow. She then asked to finish her doughnut and Alan said only if you eat all that cereal, which she did, so she got some of the rest of her doughnut and went to bed happy.

List of summer activities

After we got back from Florida I had the rest of the week off as well. Shara went back to school on Tuesday and I stayed home with horrible allergies. Wednesday I went shopping and got my hair cut. At night we went to Yardley Rink for a Blues Festival and had a fabulous time dancing and enjoying the music. I think Shara's going to be a groupie. She loves to watch the band put away their instruments. Thursday Alan & I had a date day and went into Boston and had lunch on Newbury St. and looked around. Saw Minnie Driver when we were at Emac & Bolio's - she went in and left fairly quickly so she must have been window shopping?

Friday was a mommy & Shara day. We went to Verrill Farms and got lots of produce and had lunch there too. The shopping part was fun, but then things got a little ugly because Shara wanted to eat there but I knew she wouldn't like the sandwich but we got it anyway and she picked and mostly fooled around and then complained a lot. She didn't want to leave but we did anyway and then stopped for ice cream and she took what seemed to be 2 hours to eat a small dish of soft ice cream with hot fudge. Of course mommy had to finish the ice cream soup. She did fall asleep on the way home.

Saturday was the last swim class and Oma & Jidor came to watch. It was fun and Shara was happy to have them see her. After Florida she really was swimming great. What a difference - Alan really noticed. We then were home for lunch and nap and that evening went to Cambridge to Jasper White's Summer Shack. What a great place. It lives up to its reputation as kid friendly. Grownups get to eat very grown-up dishes (or not) while the kids can choose from good quality hot dogs and other "shack" items. After that we took a quick trip to the computer store and then home.

Sunday we went to the Marshfield Fair. What can I say? we looked at the amilos and for some reason Shara didn't like looking at the tiny new born bunnies. We listened to music and the biggest problem was moving away from the music for any reason. We did let Shara play one of the midway games so we came home with a plush flower. We also left crying because she didn't want to leave. Obviously we had a great time.

Last weekend we went into Boston on Saturday to see the Swan Boats. Shara, I later found out, didn't want to go on the boats because she didn't realize she could have sat on my lap. She thought it was like the airplane where she'd need to be in her own seat. That was ok because we had a great time anyway. We had an Upper Crust pizza picnic in the Boston Garden. Shara had a great time feeding the ducks. We later found out that was a no no. They really liked the roasted fava beans but not the wheat thins - too crunchy.

We played for quite a while at the Frog Pond/Playground. What a fabulous playground. All the kids were having so much fun in the fountains and on the climber. Shara made up a story that we were on a train and running away from the big bad wolf.

We also walked up and down Arlington St. picking up a pear for snack at a nice Italian market, and looked in a beautiful pastry shop. The nicest pastries would have required refrigeration, so we decided to go local and stop at White's on our way home. As usual, Shara didn't want to leave, but duckie & giraffe comforted her and she fell asleep on the way home.

Monday we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then got sneakers at Nike. We also picked up Shara's leotards. Shara and I baked as well. We made chocolate, coconut, oatmeal, raisin cookies! They were good and we shared with lots of people. It was fun as soon as we got the rules straightened out - I measure and she dump. She did lick one of the cookies on the cookie sheet and I needed to explain why we don't do that and she ate the raw cookie. As Alan says, all the eggs are pasteurized and it would seem that it's safer to eat raw eggs now than when we were kids. These are also the good eggs, so if we don't make a habit of it, I think it's ok.

Yesterday we went to the (ähts) The Boston Arts Festival. It was so hot! but a great time. We got to watch a few dances by Boston Ballet II and were really impressed. Turns out we made a very good decision to enroll Shara in dance classes. She was enthralled and when we got home was trying to do the fan dance from Dance Asia. We had our picnic supper while listening to the Boston Gay Men's Chorus. Between bites of sausage pizza from Regina's (not the original but Fannuil Hall), Shara was performing her interpretive dance. We played for a few minutes at the playground and got scared away by the thunder & a little lightening and decided it was time to vamoose. Shara, of course, didn't want to leave, but didn't put up too much of a fight. If Alan didn't really want to go, I would have liked to stay and look around Quincy Market, but he was right that Shara was really tired and we all had a great day and shouldn't push when she was so tired. She didn't have a nap and didn't seem to need one. Went to sleep within 10 minutes and I don't think she cried all day!

Picture from these events!

Florida Trip

travel day 1 (Thursday) - Well I had wanted to update the blog daily and that didn't happen, so I'll do my best to remember. Our trip there wasn't as smooth as one would hope. We got our plane in Boston very easily. Shara didn't want ducky or giraffe to go through the x-ray, but she didn't have a choice and they kept Baby Bella company. She was very good at the airport, kept by my side. We started boarding the plane and as soon as we got to the entry to the plane she freaked out. Screamed and did not want to get on this plane. I dragged her and finally calmed her down with the help of one father who gave us some nasty (to me) Shrek gummy things. The woman in front of us stroked Shara's hair and told her that Jesus loved her and would protect her on the plane and there was nothing to worry about - lovely. I "brought Shara down" but she refused to sit in her own seat. The flight attendant said she had to, it was regulations, but I was the mom and once her back was turned, etc. So Shara stayed on my lap for the flight.

Then we got into Laguardia late and had to go to a different concourse and through security again. Of course going through security wasn't mentioned anywhere in the planning I did for this trip so I didn't account for the time that would take and we missed our plane, even after running full out to it. They put us on another flight, to Miami, and it was a good thing I asked for further clarification, because the answer to my first question of, "is there a plane change to Fort Lauderdale or do we stay on the same plane?" was answered with, "no plane change" and what they really meant was you're on your own to get to Fort Lauderdale. I called Jill & co. and they agreed to pick me up in Miami and then we had to get my luggage from Fort Lauderdale.

Getting on the plane to Miami was much less traumatic, but we did agree that if they told Shara to get in her own seat she would do so. We didn't make eye contact and they let her sit on my lap. It was a good flight and we played a little, napped a little, and ate a little. After that, no big drama, thank goodness!

We got to the condo around 3 PM and relaxed a little and had a very good dinner, relaxed some more and went to sleep.

Day 2 (Friday) - Today we had a good time at the pool and the beach. We woke up early and did a puzzle and played with some fun toys Nonnie had stashed away. At the pool, Shara swam like a little fish - wild and free, as she says, but she likes calling herself a shark. In the afternoon we went to the beach and shara played with Nonnie building and knocking over sandcastles. After being all sandy, we took a shower. This was Shara's first shower ever and it was fun. She said she didn't want to take a shower, so I was going to get showered first and then give her a bath. Well while I was showering, she decided to get herself undressed and come right in. We had to scramble to get a little towel for her to stand on and her soap, etc. We had a good time and she was great.

For dinner we went to Sr. Buritto's for some yummy Mexican. When Shara was done, she was done. I took her for a walk to calm her down. She didn't want to sit where she was and wanted to sit between Jill & myself. She really just wanted to be disagreeable. After dinner we went next door for Gelato. We found out Shara doesn't like lemon gelato. She had a sample and spit it out all down her shirt and onto mine; nice. Then we were going to split a chocolate chip gelato and she was going to have a chocolate sprinkle cookie. She ate the cookie and almost all the gelato - didn't want to share. I drank the gelato soup.

Her moods throughout the vacation were up and down. It was hard to give her a nap when everyone's schedules were all over the place. There wasn't a firm family breakfast, lunch & dinner, and I didn't fully understand until closer to the end, that everyone was basically on their own, so schedule at will.

Day 3 (Saturday) - Today we went to visit Cousin Ethel at Neiman Marcus at Town Center. In the very early morning we went down the the beach with Samantha to look for turtles. We went at about 5:45 AM and didn't have any luck. We later found out that they could go down to the water any hour of the night, during the dark, but it depended on the light situation; moon or artificial. We must have found something fun to do down there because we didn't get back until close to 7 AM. We then had a small breakfast, as usual, and got ourselves ready to go to the mall.

It was fun, but again, Shara wasn't eating enough to keep her from being cranky. She ate very light breakfasts and hardly anything for lunches. Today she had a little fruit and cereal, but at least she was drinking her smoothie daily. The vegetables were absent from her diet, other than a little bite or two of tomato. She did get her vitamin and she certainly wasn't acting malnurished. For lunch, which we decided to have by the fountains - a little picnic, she said she wanted green beans and a hot dog. I went all around and found a vegetable medley with greenbeans that she said she would eat, and a hot dog. She ate all the hot dog but wouldn't touch the vegetables. I told her she couldn't have any desserts or sweets today because she told me she wanted the green beans and then didn't eat them, after I had bought them for her.

We went to Neiman Marcus and hung around until Ethel had a break. It's hard with retail - people calling in sick, floor coverage, etc. so we occupied ourselves with taking pictures by the pretty butterflies on the ceiling, dancing and jogging around the handbag/makeup departments. Most of the sales people thought Shara was very cute and she really was being good. She stayed away from people and didn't touch anything. Then we had a little visit with Ethel and she gave Shara a little pink velvet pouch and a little gelt to put in it. I got teary, thinking of Nanny, and Shara thought it was great! She also got a little piece of chocolate, which had to be saved for later. We decided to meet for breakfast the next day and said our goodbyes. In the car, Shara tried to open the chocolate and I said no, but she grabbed it and started to open it anyway and I basically told her to go to sleep, which she did, for the short drive back to the condo. We then went for another swim, chatted with a teenage boy down there, and Shara wouldn't leave my neck.

Dinner was leftovers, which Shar didn't eat, since I took the opportunity at the pool to give her snack, which she did eat. She was happy to get up and play a little, but not so happy when I wouldn't leave my dinner to join her. So I finished dinner with her on my lap. Boy this is really sounding like I had a bad time, but I really didn't. It was just really difficult because she wouldn't leave my side - to let me go to the bathroom, shower, etc. Jill did get her to play for a while when I really needed to go to the bathroom myself, but she did notice when I wasn't there.

Day 4 (Sunday) - We woke up this morning and basically had our smoothie and got dressed to go to Flakowitz's Bagel Bakery for breakfast with Cousin Ethel. Shara started having some fruit to hold her over but then I opened my big mouth and started saying that at the restaurant we could have eggs with lox, etc. and she stopped eating, holding herself for breakfast. So by the time we got there she was cranky again! She wanted to sit in a highchair - good - but didn't want the third table pushed over to give us more room. She wanted just the 2 tables. She really started screaming, so I took her outside, with duckie & giraffe, that she had put in her backpack earlier. She asked for them and I nearly panicked because I didn't remember backing them! So anyway, we went outside and I calmed her down enough to explain why the third table was a good idea. Just when she was starting to like the third table, Ethel shows up and we all go inside. We split the lox & egg omelette, an everything bagel & tomatoes. Shara ate a lot of the omelette with ketchup, and not much else. But she really liked it and we all had a very nice visit. She did some art projects for Ethel to take to work and Ethel gave her wonderful bubbles and a cute book. We left and went home, went to the pool to play with the bubbles, had a very little lunch and took a nap, finally. She napped for 2 hours and I knit.

We woke her up and she really wanted to go to the pool instead of the ocean, so we did and it was very nice, even though there were two very adult couples in the pool with us. The clouds came and we decided to take a look at the ocean before heading up to get ready for Licorice and Phyllis to come for dinner. With a nap, Shara was great. She didn't want the excellent meal that Grandpa and Nonnie cooked, but ate french bread with sliced eggs, had one bite of sweet potato and maybe a bite of fish. I think I cut the fish up too much and it was too hard for her to eat. But she liked the eggs. Then she had some cherries and brownies and was happy. We took pictures, played with the little doggie and then went to bed.

Day 5 (Monday, going home) - In the morning we went to the beach to again find turtles. This time we did it right and we saw the volunteers who told us how things worked and showed us some of the turtles they found that morning. The big sea turtles lay their eggs and the volunteers mark the nests with stakes so the town vehicles don't disturb them. The date they're layed is written on the stake. About 60 days later the eggs hatch. What they look for are the tracks down to the ocean, out of the nest. The volunteers then do a shallow dig to see if any turtles got tired and didn't make it up all the way. If they find any, they take them back in a bucket of sand to spend the day in a cool place, then take them back to the beach at night to let them into the ocean. The people come back 72 hours later to dig the nest and see if they can find any others trying to get out. This is what we saw - they found 3 alive and 3 dead and counted a large number of hatched eggs and then put back the unhatched eggs to give them a chance to hatch. It was very interesting and something that residents get to see each year, but for us, maybe only once in a lifetime.

When we got back, we had some breakfast and got ready to go. We stopped for more great bagels and if I had known how great they were, I would have gotten a couple more to bring home. Nice and chewy, as they should be and the cinnamon raisin was the best I ever had - not really sweet and the raisins were really good ones. We got to the airport with more than enough time, especially since our plane rescheduled to take off at 1:50 rather than 1:35. Again Shara was good in the airport, even though she was tired. We ate a little and played a little but mostly watched the airplanes take off and land. We got on the plane and no one told her she had to sit by herself - actually they did say it because some idiot got his seat mixed up and wanted to sit in Shara's seat and the flight attendent came over and asked about the seats, etc., but in the long run, she sat on my lap and mostly slept. The connection was only a few gates down, same concourse, so I was super happy and we didn't have time to go to the bathroom, but quickly bought a bag of pirate booty.

This time on the plane the flight attendent did insist that Shara sit in her own seat, but was so nice about it and gave Shara wings and everything. She cried and protested, but the "m & m's" helped and as soon as she got in her seat, she was really ok. She didn't even want me holding her or touching her, even though we had to sit in line for 25 min to take off. She was really good, but gave me a scare when I asked how her tummy was and she said sick. I asked if she was going to be sick, throw-up and she said yes. Turns out she was kidding. I even handed her the barf bag! So Alan picked us up at the airport and we went home. Daddy and Shara very happy to be together.

08/07 Florida Trip

Let's go fly a kite

This weekend we went to a Kite Flying competition. It was at Millenium Park in West Roxbury. What a beautiful location. The weather was great and there were lots of little kids running around with kites. We bought one and started to fly it and Shara went bonkers. She was screaming, "stop, get it down" or something like that. I couldn't figure out what was scaring her so and could only imagine it had to do with Curious George and how the balloons take him up into the air. Turns out she was scared her kite would fly away like her balloon did at her birthday. Tenley, don't worry about it - this is not to make you feel guilty, I just have to write it! After getting 2 ice cream cones - looking back I can see how I could have reasoned with her, but at the time I couldn't so I gave in and let her have a cone, which ended up dripping all over since it was such a nice, hot summer day, that daddy ended up eating some and mommy ate most! We went to dinner at the Chateau. When I went there without kid, I thought, eh, good Italian food, but not the kind of atmosphere I'd seek out. Now that I have kid, I think, "what a great place"! The food came rather quickly, though we had salad, Shara was content with some of their great bread. Quickly after we finished salad, I was just finishing mine, the entrees came out. Shara's was already cool enough for her to eat, but ours was hot. Very nice touch. I always hate it that she has to wait so long to dig in. She ate so much pasta & meatballs. I also have to remember that tomato sauce is a vegetable, not like ketchup. The other nice thing is that the waitress, when we were done with our meals, was good to leave out the word "dessert". I could tell it was on purpose. She said, "is there anything else I can get for you?" and gave a look that conveyed, "like dessert?" Since the answer was, "no thank you", she quickly got the check and the bill was settled fast because by the time Shara & I got to the car to put her bag away, Alan was already out. We then took a look at the golfers and then, reluctantly, went home.

Sunday was a day of learning to discipline. I have been getting nervous about Florida and handling Shara, so I did a little reading and realized we need to rein her in again. It's been a while since we've told her the limits, but yesterday I sat her down and told her that if she didn't start listening to mommy, daddy, or whoever else was taking care of her, she'd start having her toys taken away. I had started a tissue paper project with her in the morning before breakfast, which she quickly abandoned, so I started breakfast. She didn't want breakfast and wanted to do the project. I told her no breakfast, no project. She chose no breakfast, yes project. This went on for a while ending with Alan giving her a time out. Eventually she got down some Clifford Crunch and then no longer wanted to do the project. The rest of the day was fun until we asked her to do something. It's been that way for a while, actually since she's moved to pre-school, that I know there's something going on, I just need to figure out what to do about it. I think setting the limits will be a good start. After we had our "discussion" she kept telling us she loved us and there was lots of lovie dovies happening. Not to say that night night was any different than the past month's night nights, but this is a hopeful start!

Next up, lunch with Liz on Wed. and leaving very, very early Thursday for Florida!

Mini Daytrip & Pictures

See new pictures.
Yesterday we all went to Rockport for a couple of hours. It was fun watching the boats. We also liked the seagulls. A couple women were feeding them bread and they gave Shara a piece to throw to them. Then a little while later a man sat down and started playing the accordian. It really seemed like we were in a movie. Alan said an Italian movie. We walked around more, had some ice cream (me) and then Shara got some mango slush. For dinner we went to the Clam Box in Ipswich. Shara ate clam chowder & lots of fries. Much like the dinner she had the night before. She tried a fried clam and liked it but then didn't seem to like the strip part, which I thought odd. The belly she did like. It was an enjoyable day, lots of negotiating for the water bottle and arguing, but for the most part, a nice day.

Forgot to mention this earlier. When we got home, she was asleep, so I took off her shoes & changed her diapers while she stayed asleep, but it was so funny; she started laughing in her sleep and said, "get off me" or something like that.

Bubbe's Birthday and using the Potty

We had a great time at Bubbe's last weekend. Shara loved visiting with her cousins and her bubbe. Loved the deviled eggies and bagels! As usual, it was too short a visit. Wanted to go see Liz and her artwork, but we called and figured she was still sleeping after a late night, so next time for sure.

Shara's teacher said the other day that she went to the bathroom all day by herself and was doing a great job. She still won't go poop on it, nor will she go at home )-:, but it's certainly a start. She will try at home, but doesn't usually get there in time. The jolly beans do help!

Last night we went to the Norton Library to hear a couple of singers. It was a lot of fun and the first and last we'll be able to go to this summer. It's been going by way too fast!

Want to go back to that

tonight shara said she wanted to go to bed by herself, unprompted. We were excited and i told her how proud i was of herand if she did,we could have a special treat tomorrow. Well, no treats for us. She really did try hard to fall asleep quicker than usual though. The other thing that was really cool was when we were about to go into her roomto get ready for bed she took off down the hall towad our bathroom. Alan started to go after her and i stopped him when i saw she was starting to pull down her pullups. I helpd her get on the toilet but nothing happened. I think she just missed it, but this is really encouraging. I wonder if my telling her about the waste created with all those diapers in the landfills had anything to do with it?

One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry

Today Shara & I went to Ward's Berry Farm to pick berries. After spending 1 1/2 hours trying to get out of the house, we finally did and had a very nice time. Shara learned she still likes blueberries - and ate more than we bought, or so it seemed. She actually liked the ones that were still a little purple and tart. After picking for about 1/2 hour (took some time to get our basket, get to the field - not wanting to walk in the grass because it scratched her legs, and there were bugs, etc., though she finally did walk herself and loved it! - and then find the ripe berries. I don't think we were in the ripest spot. There wasn't any direction about what to do or where to go, so we just kind of walked and found berries. We also found the raspberries along the way and I found a few ripe ones for Shara to eat.

After berry picking and diaper change, we went into the market and got some corn, rolls, cucumber and paid for the berries. Took that to the car and went inside to get a smoothie and sandwiches. The wait was rather long, but apparently the kid couldn't read the order takers writing and was calling the wrong name. While we waited Shara tried to run behind the deli counter, and other assorted things to do while being bored with waiting. She was really good though. She carried her sandwich ($3.95 for 2 slices of rye bread and 3 slices of turkey - nothing else!) all the way out to the side where they had picnic tables set out surrounded by beautiful flowers. She had fun watching the birds eating bread and then a little boy and his dad came and ate and there was always something for her to look at. She wouldn't have eaten anything, so I made her turkey and tomato roll-ups and she ate some bread in the car. One piece disappeared, and I don't think it was one she gave to the birds, so she may have eaten that at lunch. I had a very good grilled eggplant, tomato & arugula sandwich on a baguette with garlic mayo and balsamic vinaigrette. We shared a strawberry & orange juice smoothie.

After lunch we went and found the animals, but I was ready to go. It was really hot and windy, so all the dust was blowing around. Shara was clearly tired - it was 1:30 and she woke at 6:30, after going to sleep close to 10:30 last night. She spent the evening at Oma's while Alan & I went to see Harry Potter and eat some great Indian food at Kabob & Curry in Providence. After dinner we tried Cold Stone Creamery. I had been avoiding the place and with good reason. It was really good and super rich. Certainly nothing I could eat nightly, unlike the Plant Depot.

is it for real this time?

Shara went on the potty Wed. at school - actually pee'd, not just sat! She went into their bathroom and did it all by herself, she says. Her teacher did confirm that she went, but i haven't verified she was alone, but she could have been. The kids do go in by themselves. She still wants nothing to do with trying it at home.

Talking Buffalo

we visited bugaboo creek on the 4th with alan's family. shara wasn't very comfortable about the buffalo, which was the only moving/talking thing in the room, until the 4th time it talked. in between there was much obsessing anbout it, but once she was used to it, she loved it. but not the moose.

after we went to newport for a couple of hours of is it or isn't it going to stop/start raining. other than the weather it was a lot of fun. we were all walking own the sidewalk when shara took aturn into a nice clothing store and started dancing around, putting on a real performance. it was cute and i was happy there weren't any customers.

Yesterday was her 3 year old checkup. she did great. not too much fussing, even when they took blood. she's in the 40%tile for weight and 60%tile for height. big spurt this year. also, potty learning,traiining, whatever, is going nowhere.

Sleep Problems Again

Don't know what started this up again but i'm not happy about it. Sunday night Alan & I were relaxing with a couple martinis when Shara, for the first time left her room by herself at night. She screamed and Alan was gone with her for an hour. I fell asleep with her until I woke @ 10:30.

We have no clue why this is happening again. She's talking about Brutus ooo'ing at the fox. A fox was mentioned at lunch on the 4th, but not that fox nor even close to this context. I don't know bu apparently she was really traumatised by that incident last year.

So last night we went to Mansfield library to hear the Toe Jam Puppet Band - lot of fun, and didn't get to bed until late, so she was asleep when Alan left. She woke up at 4 am today, again left her room. I got up and tried to lay with her while she fell asleep, which she didn't. Tonight same story - tried to get her to go tk bed herself and when Alan left her to cry a little, it seemed like she was going back to bed, which she did, but to start throwing up. Alan's in there with her now after my attempts to lay with her until she fell asleep failed because each time I'd move she woke and asked if I was going. And don't think saying yes workd because it didn't. OK, Alan just left her room.

First Full Week in Preschool & Birthday Party

The birthday party was great. Everyone had a really nice time and we were so happy that the girls had such fun playing together and with the great presents we received. Caraboo was a big hit. Shara's learned to play it by herself, so it's been giving us many long minutes of entertainment. She's also becoming a very good at putting puzzles together. We're going to be making ice cream sandwiches today, after Shara gets up from her nap. We do have pictures, which I'll post here, but not of the party (took video instead) so if anyone has any, let me know. Maybe you can upload to flickr and I can just link? That would be nice.

The first week of preschool went really well. Monday I cried, but not until I left the room. She just looked so sad and was holding back her own tears, which really got me going! But from Wed. on, all was well and she was happy happy happy! And at night she was very tired and cranky, but as the week went on we could see she was getting used to her schedule and wasn't as cranky.

Yesterday we went to Hannah's for a little play party with a few other girls. It was fun and I'm always amazed at how different all the kids are from each other. Shara is happy playing by herself but did talk to the other kids when prompted - I told her to, "ask Hannah about..." and she would, but not on her own. She's not as independent as the other kids either - wouldn't go anywhere without Alan or myself and to be honest, it's not that bad. I'm almost happier that she is a little dependent on us still because she's only three and I don't want her growing up quicker than necessary. Where it would be nice is if she would want to loose the diapers and dress herself more. It's mostly lazyness, I've decided. If she wasn't so tired today from being up too late last night and still waking up early this morning, I was going to put her in big girl panties and just tell her if she pees she'll not have a diaper to keep her dry and to let us know when she needs to go, but I think this will have to wait. I can't do that to her when she's so tired and out of sorts. Shouldn't set her up for failure. We'll just take a whole weekend and do it right.

Balancing the checkbook.

Happy Birthday - 3 Years Old!

What a big week. At school Shara is transitioning to the preschool and today is her graduation - with ice cream & a pizza party! She could have had breakfast in preschool (Ms. Amanda's room), but she wasn't ready - we didn't know about it and it really isn't official until Monday, but other parents were having their kids eat over there. We decided to wait until Monday. She'll be in preschool all day anyway, except when they take her back over to 2's for the party.

When we were doing Shara's hair this morning, she asked where the edamame man was. She said the edamame man outside and it took me a few minutes and I realized she was talking about Pea Pod - the grocery delivery service. I had put in an order to be delivered last night and she kept wanting to say edamame. While we were doing hair she was playing with the leap frog phonics game that Grandpa & Nonie gave her. She matched the letters to spell cat and bat. It's really great - they show a tile with a picture of a cat and the letters below. She matches the letters from the letter tiles. When doing it with her I can tell her to search for a "c". Her letters are really coming along and so are her numbers. I'm assuming when she's in preschool full-time she'll be reading ahead of schedule. She also really likes numbers - more than letters at this point. She loves counting and arranging. She also gets the concept of addition. Pretty cool.

Last night we had her birthday dinner at Maguire's, at her request. It was fun - lots of chowder and pasta. Then they brought out her cake & ice cream with the candle and started singing. She didn't like that and later told us she just wanted mommy & daddy to sing. Not the man and the ladies. I had misunderstood her earlier and thought she wanted the staff to sing to her. I did feel bad but she wasn't broken up about it. We all enjoyed her cake - Alan stopped eating first, then Shara & I continued until she said, "mommy, stop eating my cake. It's my birthday." And she did finish almost every drop - even when it became ice cream soup!

I'm trying to think of other things that have happened and I can't really think of too much. Yesterday when I picked her up she was on the playground and wanted to take a bike ride before we left. She started riding around the concrete perimeter and there was a bigger boy riding another bike hot on her tail. He was actually bumping into her but she was totally unfazed. She wasn't going to move out of his way and just kept going and stopping at her own pace. It was really funny, if not a little rude. But I then realized that she wasn't going to have any trouble in preschool because she could really care less. She's happy to play by herself, nap for as long as she wants, eat what she wants, and she does play with other kids, but she's really her own person at this age. I'm sure we're all saying, "I hope it stays that way!"

Last Swim Class

The problem I'm having with updating the blog is knowing just what to put down. Shara's doing so much and saying such cute things that it's hard to remember all the little things, and that's what we're getting a lot of these days - little things.

On our way home from school she's been really good at telling us what happened during the day - what she had for lunch, the art projects she worked on, basically a conversation.
Restaurants are a big thing - I don't know if it's because she doesn't like my cooking, but she always is asking to go out to eat. The other night we all went to Fresh Catch where Spolleto used to be. She ate almost a whole bowl of clam chowder. That's all she wanted. I also started doing a new thing - mixing her vegetables with something she really likes, like a bit of broccoli on the fork with sausage, or shrimp. She's not bad about eating vegetables, but she'd much rather have something that's tastier to her, like cake or pasta.

Yesterday we went to Johnny's graduation party. It was fun. Hannah and Shara had fun running around and looked like they were playing follow the leader, but Hannah was the leader. I was wondering if it was Shara's way of feeling comfortable at the party. For the first 1/2 hour she wouldn't let me put her down. Then I basically said she needed to sit and eat and then if she wanted a chip, which she was asking for, she'd need to sit in her own chair. She did and then wanted to go on the stage where Hannah and the big kids were hanging out. She pretty much was parroting Hannah and I found it odd because Shara seems to be so independent and has her own ideas of what she wants to do, so I do believe it was a coping mechanism she used in a foreign environment.

She didn't have any naps and there were a couple times I thought she was going to fall over asleep. She did sleep on the way home but woke when Alan tried to put her into bed. Before dinner, since we ate lunch so late, we did laundry and watched me pack for my mini-conference (I'm at the airport now). Earlier in the week she said she wasn't going to cry when I went away, but she did, and so did I when they dropped me off today.

Yesterday was also her last swim class - another reason why she was so tired. She did really well. Swam more on her own. Alan had told me that he had a terrible dream friday night and couldn't get back to sleep. He dreamt that shara went in the water without her vest and was drowning. I had a hard time getting that out of my head during the lesson. But I tried not to show fear and she was so proud of herself and how she was swimming all by herself! There was a sub teacher and I think it was great that they got to do something different. Each week her teacher did exactly the same lesson, but yesterday she started learning how to grab onto the side of the pool and walk her hands down the side. Also started learning to pull herself out of the pool. These are important safety skills and I'm glad it was introduced. A lot of what's learned is for her and us. I do want her to be in the next round of classes - over the summer. I just hope that we are going to do something different. At least it's time in the water, and who knows when our pool will be ready and the weather is always a factor as well.

We did add some items to Shara's wish list for her birthday, so if you're having a hard time deciding, click on the link to her Amazon list. Alan and I are getting her the Fisher Price digital camera. She did say she'd like the mini Mr. Potato head set and said she "needed" the "mini pet shop" toys from Hasbro, but that's not good for her age and I told her when she's older we can put that on her list. She does love puzzles and Bubbe bought her a 24 piece puzzle that doesn't have a border, picture in back or anything. It's just like an adult puzzle, but the pieces are bigger and there are fewer. She needed some help of course, but she did great and really did do most by herself. We got her another one and she loves them. I'd have to say that's her favorite thing to do.

So next is getting ready for her party. She's really excited to have her friends over and share cake and play. We were invited to another party for a classmate on the same day, and they're having ponies and a moon walk. Alan spelled those as he was reading the invite - she probably would have chosen to go to Erin's party over her own if there was a moon walk!
But all is well and I'm sure Alan will have an interesting time being a single dad for a couple of days (he says a week but it's 2 full days and his parents are coming over today, so that doesn't count). And Wednesday is only the morning, so I don't think he'll be overwhelmed. The new thing to him is getting her and her breakfast ready in the morning and picking her up and fixing dinner. He's done baths, gotten her dressed, picked her up from school, and even dropped her off a couple of times, but I'm guessing if she's happy they'll be fine, and if she's miserable, it won't be so fine! Life is a series of events, and we can add this little trip to all of our lists.

Trip to the Zoo

This post is actually being done on 7/1/07, but realized I forgot to put any entry in for our trip to the Zoo. We went to the Roger Williams Zoo on the last day of our vacation week. We had a great time and it was fun to go during the week. The weather was great and we spent just the right amount of time there. We saw the elephants, giraffe - shara's favorite, zebra and all the other animals you'd expect. They did a neat thing with the penguins - they tagged them (bracelet around their wing) and put up a chart so you could match the bracelet to the chart and find out their names. We did this while sitting on the steps enjoying a refreshing apple snack. We had lunch with a nice man and his daughter who were there on a field trip with their school. Shara had a meltdown and he said don't worry about it, he has 3 kids and has been there many times.

Swimming - all by herself

At yesterday's swim lesson Shara swam all by herself for the first time! Yea Shara!

Mother's Day Pictures

I know Mother's Day is now old news, but I'm just getting around to posting the pictures. We had another fun brunch in Northampton with the family. Shara was great - loved the chocolate covered strawberries and eggs. She even put butter on her bagel somewhat herself. Jidor keeps apologizing for taking direction from Shara on their walk, and not telling anyone where they were going, but I think he felt worse about it than we did!

Dinner Out

Last night we went to Maguire's for supper. Shara was great. Ordered herself - macaloni & cheese. We shared the clam chowder, but Shara ate most of it, and her mac & cheese. Didn't want to look at a vegetable, but we did get dessert - the chocolate lava cake (very good). She eats just as neatly as a grown-up. When the waitress came to clear our plates, Alan & I were done, she left Shara's because she was still eating. Then she finished and tried to call over the waitress, "hey, I'm done!", and we had to quiet her down and explain not to yell to the waitress and wait, etc.

why u kissin me?

l gave shara kiss tonight and she asked why u kissing me, r u going bye byes?

First night in over a week she didn't go to sleep on her own. She's also been falling a lot lately. I think she needs a tumbling class.

Moose or Music - very confusing

today at the plant depot - shara got ice cream, I got flowers, she asked me, "where is moose?" I asked moose? and she said yes. then I asked again, " you mean moose or music?" and I was pretty sure she said moose so i said i didn't think they had moose here. Then i asked if she saw a picture of a moose here and was that what she was remembering. then she got a little mad and said, "no around there." and i finally figured out she was talking about the goats. So then I asked if she meant the animals in back and told her they are goats and she said, "oh, goats."

We also had another swimming lesson today and this time it was daddy who went in the pool. It was nice to see how much fun they both were having. Shara even swam a little by herself.

Oh, and both Shara and daddy survived my first night away from home, but I don't think Shara ever acted so happy to see me when I picked her up from school yesterday!

First Swim Lesson

The first lesson went quite well. At first it looked like it was going to be a bummer, but once she warmed up - physically, it was great! We swam, chased after ducks, and sang songs.

Last week Shara also had an ear infection but was such a big girl at the doctor's office. She didn't cry, opened her mouth and let the doctor look in her ears. She's been taking her medicine and is all better.

This past weekend we went into Cambridge again to join the Slater's for brunch, which turned into lunch after a very long walk. It was great because we all got a good workout! We started at the Plough & Stars for their gospel bunch but the tables were full and the place was small so we walked over to S & S. Shara was very tired and almost took a nap on me while I carried her most of the way. The kids had a very nice time in the restaurant and many eggs & bagels were eaten. Both were out cold on the drive home!

Rain Rain went away

Along with everyone else, we're enjoying the sunshine and warmth. Sunday we went to Cambridge - Harvard Square, to walk around, eat good food, and people watch. At the end of the day I said it was 75% enjoyable. As I'm writing the figure, I look back and seem to remember it being better than that, but time places tricks on us. I asked Shara what she liked best and she said, "the music, the bikes, the cars, the motorcycles." There was a lot to look at. We ate lunch at the Garage and I was surprised there were no booster seats or high chairs. I got cranky because Shara wanted to use me as her booster and I don't like that, but really, she didn't feel comfortable on the chairs and she was already very tired.
- The night before she only had a 20 minute nap and didn't get to bed until after 9:30 - Oma & Jidor watched her for most of the day while we went to a wedding. -
After lunch - pizza, veggie quesadilla, steak sandwich, we took a walk around and listened to music, chased pigeons (the humanitarian in me was cringing, but Shara had so much fun trying to catch them!), and then the struggle with giving baby a stroller walk. I made a deal that we would give it a try. After a meltdown, we were all the way to the car to go home when I asked Shara if she wanted to go home or get in her stroller, put baby away and have some dessert. She of course opted for dessert and all was well again. We got ice cream at Harrels and took it by the T stop to listen to a guitar player and sit on the steps. After that we looked around some more - took a very long way back to the car by means of Harvard Yard, where she had lots of fun following the ropes that were blocking off patches of grass seed. It was really nice to be able to let her just go and not worry about cars. She didn't want to leave, but it was time. We had to open her window so she could wave and blow kisses good bye to everyone. She really had fun and loved it there. Fell asleep as we hit the highway.

Yesterday when I got her up she was very happy until she realized we were going to school. Then she was miserable and we had the worse drop-off in months. She wanted to go back to Cambridge - I didn't realize that until the evening, but that was the problem. I think we all need a vacation!

4/3/07 - in the car on the way home from school we were listening to elle elephant and shara asked, "who's singing"? and I answered, "elle, do you want to join her?" Shara pointed to the front of the car and said, "I can't go in there!".
2/2007 - Ring around the rosey the cows are in the meadow, eating cornbread. (mixed up the little boy blue rhyme - cows in the corn)
4/2007 - Now it's cows in the meadow, eating corn cups.

Discovered Picasa Web Albums, so take a look at some pics from Easter, etc.

Shara - Late winter

Spring Holiday Update

We had a great time at Bubbe's for Passover. Matzo balls were eaten and family and friends were seen. Shara had a great time - not too much uppies at all and she loved seeing her cousin Samantha. She went with her and didn't care to see mommy or daddy. The trip there wasn't bad at all. Shara mostly watched movies while mommy knit. I know, I know - car games, looking at the sceanery, etc. but boy it's easy to put on Cinderella. Plus when we try to do car games and show her cows, she's really not that interested. If I had a tv in the car as a kid, I'd be more than happy to watch it rather than being bored - or carsick if I remember correctly. And now you can't have fun jumping from the back seat to the back of the car and laying on the floor, etc. You're just stuck in a car seat.

We made a couple of stops along the way - mostly bathroom breaks. We first went to Aunt Jill's for lunch, assuring Shara that the dog would not be in the house. She didn't want to go to Aunt Jill's and upon questioning, found out it was because of Isabelle! Jill made homemade bread and tuna fish and (super yum!) deviled eggs. I think Shara may have eaten 5 eggs if she could. We had fun dancing in the living room, doing "ring around the rosey", and feeding the chickens. Shara made all the chickens scatter when she jumped up. That was fun. Shara really wanted to go on the trampolene, but we promised her in the warmer weather she could. We then left to go to Bubbe's.

When we got to Bubbe's, it was clear that Shara was tired. We visited for a bit and then Shara and daddy took a nap. This was great because it turned out to be a very late night! Jill and Samantha came over before Shara woke up but shortly after she did and then had so much fun playing with Samantha. She really loves her big cousins. I think they dressed baby bella and Shara got dressed and books were read. This was all great because mommy could help bubbe, which she couldn't do during dinner and after cleanup. Not wanting to cause a fit, I gave in to mommy not being able to get up from the table.

Aunt Susan came by to visit and brought Shara a beautiful dress. I took it out of the bag and immediately Shara said, "princess", which is what she looked like in it when we tried it on her at home. I picked her up so she could see herself in the mirror and her eyes lit up! Thank you Susan. She may be able to wear it sooner than we thought. Aunt Susan also gave Shara a very nice book that we started reading and do like a lot too. I think that will be on the bookshelf for many years.

The sedar went great. Shara wasn't any more noisy than the grown-ups. She sat nice through the whole thing and looked at my book. She took a small taste of the horseradish and didn't cry, even though everyone was saying it was very potent. I did make her try with the horosette and not alone. She loved the alkes (matzo balls) in the soup and the soup too. She ate a couple pieces of the gefilta fish and a bite or two of the chopped liver. For dinner she stuck to the mashed potatoes and turkey, and not much of anything else. I think I told her to have a bite of asparagus and she did and said she liked it, as with the tzimmis, but didn't really want any of that and had seconds on the potatoes. She did have too much junk - fruit slices (lots of artificial everything, thank you for buying bubbe!) but I got her to stop with the chocolate by saying we'd go to Hilliard's for a chocolate easter bunny instead. I'm trying to get her to have good chocolate if she's going to have any. Not the junky kind.

We all slept together, no sense bringing the pack and play if it wouldn't be used, and we seemed to mostly sleep well, relatively speaking. We didn't get to sleep until after 10:30 and all woke at 6:30. More yummy eggs for breakfast - bubbe makes the best scrambled eggs! and lots of matzo with cream cheese and cantalope. Good breakfast and then a good lunch. Another too short visit was over with promises of seeing each other soon. Bubbe and Papa will come to visit us next time.

On the way home we stopped at a bar that was in the process of turning itself into a "brewpub". Shara fell asleep shortly after we got on the pike and we didn't want to wake her up too soon, so we waited until Westfield. We found this place and it seemed like it would be a good place to go and it turned out that she ate almost a whole bowl of corn, chicken and potato chowder. She also had some of my fried clams and a couple sweet potato fries. Alan had a burger and I had a "slap and tickle" basket - which was basically a very greasy fisherman's platter. We continued on toward home, with another stop at Whole Foods. Mommy wanted something sweet and got a cookie to split with Shara. It was a gingersnap cookie - vegan, from their bakery, and I was surprised she liked it - very spicy! We also got some bagels and nice vegetables. We love those little sweet potatoes and Shara really got excited about all the colors of the peppers, so I had to buy a stir-fry mix, since it had all the colors of the rainbow in it. That was with the hope that she'd try some of them, which she didn't!

But we did have the sweet potatoes last night, along with a pork loin roast and even asparagus! I roast the asparagus and the sweet potatoes. The potatoes I sliced and tossed with some low-sodium onion soup mix (Goodman's) and a little oil. Then when they were 1/2 done, I threw in the asparagus. The roast had a honey/mustard/herbes de provence sauce and was cooked perfectly. We all had a very nice meal (didn't start until almost 6:30 - the roast wasn't done!) and Shara couldn't get enough of the roast. She ate a whole piece and then about one more - basically the amount I had, and then a piece of asparagus and at least 2 of the baby sweets. We had a lot of fun at dinner - Alan & I had a glass of wine. I think we had too much fun - we were laughing and then Shara started gagging and threw up a little, but she was ok and we all learned that she needs to swallow what's in her mouth before she takes more.

We did end up getting the chocolate Easter bunny - dark chocolate, from Hilliards. Shara ate 3/4 of the ears and then agreed to share with Oma, Jidor, and Auntie Chris the rest - in the form of the filling for the macaroons I made. I didn't have enough chocolate and this was a good excuse to keep her from eating the whole bunny. She was more than happy to share. We then colored easter eggs - Alan got some video. She was really careful to put them into the cup of colored water gently, but getting them out was a little messy, but it was all fine and in the end we have a nice bowl of colored eggs to make into egg salad, or deviled eggs, seeing as they are a huge favorite!

Today it's off to Oma & Jidor's for Easter Brunch/Lunch? I don't know. Alan told me the time and we'll be there - looking forward to another easter egg hunt, but Shara said we needed to take 3 home, we don't need to take all of them home this year. She only needs three to add to her collection in the kitchen. Don't know where she got three from, but it's better than 15!

How was your day?

Almost every evening the three of us sit down to dinner and discuss how our day was. Shara will often start the conversation by asking, "how was your day mommy?" I tell her, and ask her the same. Last night she said, "it was really busy at my work. I played a lot." I asked what she did and she said, "played with puzzles, shapes." It was really cute.

It was really nice the other day when I went to pick her up they were still outside playing. As the snows on the ground again, I can't wait to have her outside almost daily. She's so much happier after getting fresh air. I think we all are.

Last Saturday we went to meet Bubbe & Papa at Trader Joe's and then to go out to dinner with Liz. Shara was a bit out of sorts. We had a great ride in the car but had trouble with the busy market and she wanted to see Liz right away. We went out to lunch and it was just ok. Shara ate french fries and was her usual good self while eating, but before and after not so good. I wanted her to walk around the market, but she wanted uppie and I think she needed a chance to walk around a little. She did walk a little, when they gave out samples of pasta she was right on it, and did walk down an aisle or two. Actually she had fun in produce picking up bananas and trying to touch a lot of stuff. She wasn't that bad, but swung from crazy to uppie.

She was really tired after a short trip to Whole Foods. Maybe it was all the cheeses she sampled. She actually asked to take a nap and I thought maybe Barnes & Noble to sit in a chair and sleep, but she ended up having a fit when I got her in her car seat to go there and conked out a few minutes later. We drove around a little and found this nice marketplace/bakery near Liz's college. Papa stayed in the car with sleeping Shara while Bubbe & I went inside. It was a really nice market and I got some goodies for the family. When we went back to the car, Shara woke up but probably wasn't ready to do so. She was cranky and wanted to see Liz, but we still had an hour or so to kill so we gave her an M&M cookie and went to the Eric Carle Museum.

We went to the gift shop and Shara pointed out all the books she knew and said, "mommy and daddy". I looked and saw the picture of the husband and wife caterpiller and asked if that's what she saw and she said yes. I thought I smelled something and said we should go to the bathroom. I started with a diaper change and she saw the little toilet and wanted to go on it. She tried and then washed her hands very nicely in the little sink with the step stool. She then tried out the water fountain and got a little wet, but it was fun. We went back to the store for a few minutes and then it was time to go to Liz!

We saw Liz's room and relaxed there a few minutes. Liz showed us some beautiful things she's done. There was a pair of leg warmers that were gorgeous - purple and grey, no pattern used. She asked Shara if she liked this hat and Shara said yes and Liz asked if she could try it on her and Shara said yes, beaming. Liz asked if Shara would like the hat and Shara beamed even more and said yes! She was so happy to see Liz. I know Liz plays with her and obviously really loves her but these two girls are so in love with each other. It's beautiful. I hope Samantha gets to spend some time with Shara too, and sometime soon. We'll have to really make it a point to get them together more often.

We went out to dinner at Judie's and it was very nice. We had to wait about 20 minutes in line and Shara entertained everyone with Baby Bella and ballet moves. She did very well, but when she knocked on the window next to the lady relaxing with her paper and dinner, she didn't get a very nice look from anyone. We were seated and Liz colored with Shara while we all looked at the menus. We got the sweet potato chips, loved by all and the waitress asked if I wanted Shara's dinner to come with the main part of the meal and I said we were going to get the sweet potatoes and she asked, "how about with the salads?" and I said yes, but looking back I should have said with dinner because Shara was done with her penne & sauce just a little before the time our dinners came out. It wasn't a speedy dinner, salads were on the table for at least 20 minutes. But still, Shara did well. She played with her MP3 player, cups and coloring. It didn't hurt that we were all playing with her too. It was a very pleasant experience, but I knew we wouldn't make it through dessert, though Liz and I were disappointed.

We dropped Liz back at school in the rain and then we took Bubbe & Papa back to their car and headed home. Shara was out before we hit the highway then woke briefly when I got her out of the car and then went into bed with her clothes on and fell asleep before I had a chance to get into bed with her.

Hello

Yesterday morning, while I was getting smoothie and breakfasts together, I heard Shara open her door. Next I hear her say, "hello!" to Brutus. I peek around the corner, say "good morning" and she looked so proud of herself for getting up and leaving her room. It's been so long since she's done this and I was very happy too. She must be feeling more confident now. I also notice less uppie over the weekend.

What she's done:
- put her shirt on.
- put her slippers on - one at least. The other's a little tight.
- played nicely with playdough all by herself while I was making supper.
- maybe gave duckie & giraffe a bath in the sink at school. I saw them over the gate between the 2 rooms at school and felt they were wet. I smelled them and they smelled like cleaner. None of the teachers knew what could have happened. I asked Shara about it on the way home and she said she washed them. I don't know if that's what really happened, but they took a bath with her last night.

Preschool around the corner!

cute saying
camerla
mecidin

Has been visiting preschool and having a great time there.

singing songs: mary mary quite contrary
5 little monkeys
wheels on the bus
lots of things from mother goose

Put on her sneakers herself and I taught her how to put on her jacket by laying it on the ground and putting her sleeves in, then flipping it over her head. She was very pleased with herself.

Potty update - she only uses it if there's a reward involved. She's very typical toddler - diapers don't bother her and going on the toilet is time consuming and takes away from her current activity. I think she's starting to understand the idea of knowing when she's going to pee, but doesn't pay attention to things that are happening aside from what she's working on. I can talk to her and she isn't listening, if she's doing something else.

Much more confident on the climber & at the playground

Scared of bugs! Wondering if her eyesight is bad because every fussy on the floor is questioned. Also, in the bath the other day, while the water was almost gone, she started playing with a hair. I wondered if she knew it was a hair and all of a sudden she started in with this blood curdling scream. I took her out and we had to leave the bathroom. She finally said she thought it was a snake.

Yesterday was first time in a while that she played by herself and didn't need lots of uppie. Had a really good day until going to pick up dinner. She was really hungry & tired and started acting out. When we got home she had a poopy - wet and had been there a while. I think my leftovers from dinner the night before were too rich for her - mashed potatoes & lobster in leftover sauce. So we had an unscheduled bath because her bum hurt! and that delayed dinner longer, but she ate and ate until she started tossing her baked beans off the plate.

What we've been doing lately

Listening to Jazz at the museum - 2/19/07


Our valentine's day gingerbread house.


Shara's first arcade game.


Looking cute in mommy's sweater.


Actually we've been having a bit of a time with hives. They only appear at night, since last Thursday, but really started Friday. We've gone over everything she's been eating, washed all the linens, and can't figure out what the cause is. I'm going to talk to her teachers today and see if they used any new cleaners. We did notice that they appear mostly after she's had a fit, which is quite often again. If they don't clear by the end of next weekend, we'll have to visit the doc, so she can say they're hives and there isn't much we can do and probably suggest the rounds of alergy testing, which I don't want to put her through. She's very happy and you wouldn't know there's a problem until nighttime when she's itchy, mostly on her neck and feet. Since they come and go, we'll need to take a picture so the doc can see.

Monthly Update - January

Shara's been doing so well, especially with her talking. She's been talking a mile a minute and her pronounciation has been great.

She says aminals instead of animals.
She got dressed herself and even picked out her own clothes - everything matched (1/30/07)
Asked who gave her the gingerbread girl cookie because she wanted to thank them - Thank you Tanta Annie.
"I'm going to play with all of they"
"I don't know, go ask your mother." - from One Fish, Two Fish. Shara answered this when we were talking and I didn't know an answer to a question of hers.
2/2 - Day before I read her the words, "The End" and showed her what they looked like. The next day she recognized them and read them herself.
2/4 - first time riding the tricycle, helped sort the laundry (separated her clothes out of the basket from mommy & daddy's), went to the market with just giraffe while duckie was getting washed - what a big girl!