New Year's Eve

Let's close out 2013 with some pictures Scarlett took this week.

In 2013, Scarlett started preschool.  Her Grandpas both turned 60.  Ramona's twin brothers were born.  Our family has been very lucky and very happy.  It's been a beautiful year.

Merry Poxmas

I assume that we'll always remember Christmas 2013 as the year Scarlett had the pox.  Luckily, the recovery seems to have started, and there were times today as I saw her running around with her cousins, I nearly forgot about them all together.  During the days, she's been mostly in good spirits, alternating between bursts of energy and laying all drowsy on the couch.  Her nights have been rougher, that's when she feels itchy and she wakes up a lot.  How lucky we are, that our biggest health concern for Scarlett is a standard case of the chicken pox.

Today she opened up a frog habitat- someday soon two real live frogs will live with us.  She has new slippers and bath bombs and frog-shaped hand sanitizer.  She and Charlie made a gingerbread house and I think tomorrow, I can start eating the gum drops off it, right?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Blue blue blue blue Christmas

A blue christmas to me means that I'll have Christmas with a whale.

-Scarlett

Chicken pox: A Story of Christmas

In an exciting turn of events, Scarlett has the chicken pox.  She thinks this is SO AWESOME because her cousins had them first- she was jealous, why let them have all the fun?- and because today we've let her watch Dora anytime she wants.  In our house, tv is a real luxury.  Right now, she's watching the Curious George Christmas, and she's smiling and happy and telling me what's happening, because I can't see the screen from where I'm sitting.

"They have a yellow car! They have a white tree?  George is able to sit in the front of a car, Mom"

Yesterday afternoon, she was feverish, wanting to cuddle.  Then her cousins came over to play, and she turned into her happy self.

This morning, she woke up and made donuts with Charlie.  Who knows what the afternoon will bring? 

Second week of December

Three years ago:

Two years ago:

Last year:

This week:

I feel like I'm documenting Charlie's facial & head hair as much as I'm documenting Scarlett's childhood here.

Steps for a fun afternoon

Step 1: Dump clean laundry onto bed - (Emily)
Step 2: Enter room, jump into the middle of clean clothes pile - (Scarlett)
Step 3: Proceed to put on all of mom and dad's clean shirts, two of mom's skirts, dad's boxers, and a pair of pants to be worn as scarf - (Scarlett)
Step 4: Run around jumping and screaming, wearing mom and dad's clothes - (Scarlett)

Apple Juices

Scarlett and Ella, being twinsies.  Matching apple juices from the coffee shop, (Scarlett wouldn't normally order that, but she said "find out what Ella wants, and order two!"  Then, she saw it wasn't a hot chocolate drink and she was bummed, but recovered quickly.)

 
And this move here, they've done this before

Cold potato

Scarlett wrote me a note, to take to a work meeting today.  I asked her what it said, it was this:

"If you want to see a twin size off the ground bed

Come to our house

And love you forever and always

Now you are my sweets

Which is you! (laughs)

And say a word say a word say a word

Love you love you love you"

Then she wanted to play a hot potato, cold potato game, which was:

"1 potato

2 potato

Hot potato

3 potato

4 potato

5 potato

6 potato

 Hot potato

7 potato

Cold potato

6 potato

Cold potato

Dad I’m pointing over there at cold potato!” (points at me)

After that she just ran after me, pulling on my clothes, saying I was a cold potato that was rolling away.  Oh, motherhood.

 

Throwback

Babies Charlie and Sally, way back when.

It's our engagement anniversary

It was 9 years ago today (or, maybe yesterday, we aren't sure) that Charlie asked me to marry him. We were in our little apartment on Holgate, which we loved even though it was tiny, because it had a washer & dryer. I'm so glad he asked and I said yes and that we still feel lucky to have each other.

Once Upon a Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in Eugene was nice; there was lots of running and lots of brussels sprouts and many people that we love. 

Scar and Ella made relish trays that reflected their personalities.  Ella's was neat and orderly.  Scarlett's was.... let's call it abstract. She's an impressionist with her food art. 

The two girls ran around together and loved each other and insisted on wearing and doing and eating the exact same thing.  If Ella was wearing boots not shoes, Scarlett had to wear boots not shoes.  On Thanksgiving morning, Ella really wanted to wear red and black because Scarlett was wearing red and black.  When the weekend was over, Scarlett was sad sad sad that Ella had left, which made me both happy and sad sad sad.

Showing off her artwork to Karen. 

Johan, you are looking extra European here.  You just need a mini car and a cigar.

Thanksgiving Day Triplets

Yes more monkeys jumping on the bed

Scar-isms from today

"I wish our eyes were on top of our head like a froggie."

Playing a game where she is the mama coming home from work.  I ask, what do you do at work?
"I go on runs and do a lot of typing."

S: "What if when I'm a grown up I don't have a job?"
E: "What would you do with your time?"
S: "I would stay home and watch football all day."

Favorite games

Scarlett's favorite thing lately. "let's plan an animal guessing game!"  This means someone thinks of an animal and says where they live- I'm thinking of an animal who lives in the ocean.  Then we take turns asking questions until we figure it out.  Pigs, whales and monkeys get the most play when Scarlett picks the animals and we guess.

We've broadened this to "I'm thinking of a person who lives in a house."  It's almost always her cousins.

Here are some shots of Scar at school, first carrying the sharing tray- you put an item in the tray and invite someone to talk to you about it.  The kids take turns doing this every few days- last week Scarlett brought her giraffe mask.  I ask, did you tell them about Arnie?  No, she didn't.

Scar-ism

'Mama, dance and sing with me wherever I go okay?'

Ah, weekends

WAFFLE JOY!

Harmony Fall Program

There was a little fall festival at school last night, the 5 classrooms each sang a fall-themed song and they sang a few together.  There was a lantern walk, and a picnic.  Here is the video of Scarlett's class singing The Thunder Song:

There was also a pumpkin song, one about a jack o lantern, and a song with the lanterns about darkness and light.  I also have about a dozen videos of her practicing her songs in the bath tub.  My heart was brimming with pride at the adorableness of the whole event.  She was such a big girl, walking up with her class and sitting there while the other classes sang.  Afterwards we had a potluck, and she told us she wanted to sit with her friends instead of her family.  Sigh.

Three and three-quarters

My dear Scarlett,

You are growing up so quickly and lately, I've wanted to capture this in a blog post but I don't know what to say.  You are tall.  Your hair is long.  You talk like a teenager.  You call dad and I "guys" and you like to say "I knowwwww" whenever I remind you to use two hands, or to hold something carefully, or whatever.  You know everything already, at age (as you like to say) 'three and three-quarters'.

Last night when I put you to bed, we had yet another play-fight about who loves who more.  I tell you always that I love you more, then you tell me in a funny voice that you love me more, then I tell you in an even funnier voice that I love you more, etc etc.  You are impossibly affectionate, putting your face right up close next to mine while we talk.

Daddy built you a loft bed, a 'big kid bed' a month or two ago, which you love and happily curl up in every night.  Your bedtime is now 7:30, but should probably be 7 because you're so exhausted by then.  I couldn't bear to lose that extra half-hour with you, though.  Thanks for toughing it out.

Yesterday we went to an open house at your school and you showed us what you do all day, and you didn't want to leave.  You held my hand and walked me around the classroom.  You do a work (I'm sorry, I mistakenly called it a game) where you put colored tiles all over the classroom and then go back, trying to remember where they are.  You like sink scrubbing, object scrubbing, and wood polishing.  This weekend, I put you to work washing the baseboards, which you did happily with a spray bottle and some q-tips.

At mealtimes, you always suggest 'switcheroo evening' which means the grown-ups eat on kid plates, and the kid eats on a grown-up plate, or we all eat on kid plates.  You like drinking out of tall glass cups, like us, and using big utensils even though the spoons barely fit in your mouth.

Here you are with Esther, practicing your biggest school pictures smiles:

I love you the most!
Mama

Making Cookies

A kid on the playground at school recently asked Scarlett if she braided her hair by herself.  She said, I don't know how.  When she told me this, I said, I can teach you to braid.  So we made a list of things she wants to learn.

To Braid.
Cooking.
To cut with a grown-up knife.

She and Ella helped make sugar cookies last weekend, and use the cookie cutters,and roll out the dough, and frost them, and pour so many sprinkles on.

Frog & Toad: Cookies
Toad ran to Frog’s house. “Frog, Frog,” cried Toad, “taste this cookies that I made.”
Frog ate one of the cookies. “These are the best cookies I have ever eaten!” said Frog.

On my birthday

Dear Mom,

On Scarlett's birthday, I like to think the day is half about me.  It's my momaversary.  We eat sushi because that's what I like, and I tell her how she was born and I became a mama on the same day.  So today, on my own birthday, I thought you should know that I'm thinking about you and all the times I probably spit up on your work clothes, and kissed you when I had terrible breath, and poked your face while you were trying to nap, and woke you up at night.  I remember in my old bedroom in the Barger drive house, that you would sing to me as I fell asleep.  Scarlett doesn't ever want me to sing, but she did sing happy birthday to me in the car today, the best version I have ever heard.  Thank you for being the mom you are, and teaching me to be a good mom to my own little girl.

Love,
Emily

Scar-isms

These are all the things Scarlett said, which I emailed myself and never posted.


October 3:
 "Will you send me pictures of phones?  Different phones you can buy me when I'm bigger?"

(After the chair fell over as she ran by) "Sorry that I bumped you, chair"

"Cuddling is hugging and laying down"

Char: "You're a pretty cute kid, Scar"

Scar: "You're a pretty cute kid, Dad"

Father's Day
"Dad, I'm gonna give you a kiss AND make you a present."

June 28:

"Daddy, guess what's special about today?  Arnie is turning FIFTY-TWO!  He was thirty-two and now he's turning fifty-two."

 

May 24

(on a drive to Seattle)

Parent: Scarlett, what are your favorite things to look at?

"Only you and daddy and the water slides."

Our Newest Turtle

School

(blog post from Tuesday)

Today, I sat in a corner and just watched Scarlett's classroom for a half-hour.  There are parent-teacher conferences coming up, and this is part of the process, and I've been dying to know Scar does all day so I have been looking forward to this.  Charlie gets to go one morning next week.  Here's what I observed:

• Scarlett painting at the easel wearing a paint smock over her very thick winter coat
• Kids whispering and pointing, 'whose mom is that?'
• A little boy standing on a rug, sighing 'nobody wants to have a conversation with me'
• An older boy, probably 5, sitting at a table for the entire time I was there, drawing pictures of fruit cut in half. He was looking at cards with the fruit and drawing exact copies.
• Teachers holding kids hands and walking around the room with them
• Scarlett walking slowly around the room. This happened a lot, in 30 minutes.
• Scarlett eating a snack in the corner, far far away from me

Sometimes she's a big kid to me, because she talks so much, she knows just what she wants.  But in class, she just looked small and quiet compared to those other kids.

Tomorrow is the class trip to the pumpkin patch. Adorable pictures to follow.

Songwriter

Scarlett sang me some songs she wrote, titles are in bold with lyrics follwing

 

A Frog Once Went to the Pond

(lyrics to this are the title sang over & over, with some laughing)

The Frog Once Went to Sit With Dinner Friends At School

The Frog Once Went to Eat With Dinner Friends At His School

But then he decided to go home

It says ‘oooom!’ at the end

 

The Ox Went Away

The Ox Once went away for a day

But then it came back for matrovian and dinner and he told me of his lives

Then it says ‘Bringggggggggg off’

Bring Off

The frog once went away for the afternoon

Pumpkins!

Fall is my favorite season, and it's not just about the apples.  Or Halloween candy, or my birthday.  There are also pumpkins  Someone is out there reading this, saying, but Emily HATES pumpkin!  And you're right, I do, I think pumpkin pie and lattes and ice cream are the worst.  But pumpkins themselves make for really cute, happy trips to the pumpkin patch with friends.  

There were also pony rides.  At first, Scarlett said no to the pony ride.  But after watching the other kids, and picking out a pumpkin, and scrubbing the pumpkin (pumpkin scrubbing is also a thing she does at school), then she was game.  This horse is named Molly, it was the smallest horse but later, telling Charlie about it, Scar would say it was the BIGGEST horse.

Apples!

It takes surprisingly little time to pick 50 pounds of apples...