pseudo-thanksgiving

Today was a busy day.. we made cookies, pies, pulled out Christmas stuff.. Zoe and Gran had a tiny play.. Zoe said she wanted to be a dolphin.. Gran said: "Abracadabra, Allacazam.. you are a dolphin" and Zoe was swimming like a dolphin.. then she wanted to be a lion.... Then she tried to get Gran to play a game of hide and seek.. it didn't really work...

We also had a pseudo-thanksgiving dinner (I couldn't find turkey legs, so we had Chicken ;).. but we had pumpkin pie (the first time I had ever made it.. Laura Deen's recipe).. it turned out well (good thing, we have a ton of it)... We were sitting down enjoying it.. I put the kid's portions in the little bowls that Heather gave us with the built in dip section.. and filled those with whip cream... well Finn was only interested in the cream part.. set to licking it out.. but got stuck.. honestly stuck.. suctioned to the bowl..screaming.. I pushed in on his checks and click.. it unstuck.. we all laughed so hard.. (laughing that hard with a belly full of pie.. not good)... then because it was such a racket, Zoe wanted in on the action.. she also tried, but failed to get stuck.. did get whip cream all over her face.. Finn too.. but then Finn did it again.. so funny...

but the night didn't end there... Gran fell asleep or something and dropped a glass at the table while we were cleaning the kitchen... I cleaned it up.. set to get the kids ready for bed.. Bruce was on a conference call... then I come back in and Gran is collapsed over the chair.. I tried to wake her, no go.. I lowered her to the floor... her eyes were open, she was breathing (hardish).. I scream for Bruce... we all tried to wake here.. now the irreverent part... Zoe comes in "I think she is dead.".. and kept saying it.. Finn would get close.. kind of pokes at her... then at some point he is standing over her.. and is going to put his foot on her. Both kids were quite confused. We put Gran in bed, called the Dr, then the ambulance came.. still waiting to hear.
After Gran was gone to the hospital, Zoe said: "I miss Grandma"

I hate you.. I don't love you any more

I remember listening to a speaker at Zoe's preschool talking about all these things I hadn't experienced yet.. one of them the "I don't love you any more". Well Zoe has started in on this big time.. so much so she hurt my feelings yesterday.. I just couldn't hear it any more (yes, hormones on my part). I always say in response, "But I will always love you".. but sometimes.....

a picker

I'm sorry Zoe.. one of the habits you've picked up.. you inherited from my side of the family.. we are ... pickers ... Yep, there is some compulsion to pick and not only that, but we enjoy it, the way your dad's side enjoys rubbing the eyes. Zoe loves to coat her hands in glue and there is nothing as intense in concentration as Zoe picking it off. ;)

Wet and loving it

Something got into both kids tonight...they were aiming for ...well...finding trouble... At some point Finn comes out saying..."nakie"... Well he wasn't naked, but guess who was...and she tore into the diaper wipes and was wringing huge handfuls all over her and spinning on the now slick and wet hard wood floor...crazy... Finn was trying to be in there too.

Then silly me I put zoe on a time out, clean up, but have to leave to go finish dinner... Finn comes out again and he is wet in the sleeve... My jump to conclusions was right... Zoe was now playing in the sink and Finn was playing in the toilet... Luckily we have Lynda.. Who keeps such things spotless...

That seemed to care of their naughty energy for the night...

tub paint!

How do you get a 4 year old who fights but loves a bath to get in.. two words.. homemade tub paint!

http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/2008/04/homemade-bathtu.html

1 T cornstarch (I used waaayyyy more)
1/3 cup dish detergent (you may want to use something that won’t make your kidddies break out if they decide to paint their bodies. I used an eco friendly brand)
Food coloring

Pics up soon

Letters

About a month ago Zoe started asking me what signs say... For about two weeks she has been writing a few letters.. And some "alien-like" symbols... Now she is always finding new letters and new ways of making... With her fingers, with sticks, with straws, on paper. This weekend she has started finding them in her surroundings. Today she made an x with her straw and then named it and found the same thing on the exit sign in the restaurant.

Today she found the letter tracing app and was going thru it

The cool part is that they surround them at school by these letters and give them exposure to it, but do not practice it explicitly... It's a lovely thing to find her exposed to and soaking up this new found knowledge.

The letters I have seen her write include

A X H i L O P Z

presents

"Hey mom, I want to play a new game.. I want you to give me something I do not have in my room. Puzzled, I looked at my dresser and gave her a pumpkin she likes to play with off of it. She threw it down and said, "No, that's not what I mean".... I can't remember how it came out, it took a while.. but what she meant was that she wanted the Christmas present sitting in the closet. Not only that, but she wanted it to be a Barbie with a crown, and dress "this big" = 1 inch tall, with polka dots (sounds a bit like the gift we gave one of her friends).


Zoe has been to two parties for friends recently.. we had to buy birthday presents.. she accepted it with grace (but not without the occasional.. can I play with it before we give it to her?)...
then she spotted some presents I put in the closet from her Auntie Heather.. for Christmas...

I have no friends, I want a new school

Zoe must have had a hard day at school today.. she cried tonight telling me as I was getting her ready for bed that she doesn't have any friends and wants to find a new school.. In getting more out of her, it sounds like Asha wanted to play with Max and Zoe didn't like that. I tried to just let her dump it out, dragging more out of her. Then I asked if she wanted my opinion and she said yes. We talked about having more than one friend, and how over the day it might be good to play with different people. A work in progress I think... We hugged for a while, then she said she was fine, we read books, sang a song, and she was quickly off to sleep.

Will you be my friend

Finneas do you want to be my friend? Then hold my hand we have to stick together.

"so..."

Zoe's new habit is to sit down, look at you and say "So...." usually followed by "How'd you sleep" or "How was your day"... this morning she sat down in the toy room, looked at me and said, "so...Mom! when some one says so, you are supposed to say 'so...' ".. of course at that point I couldn't do it with a straight face. Now she's made it part of a knock knock joke to crack me up.

Halloween

Zoe had asked me if it was Halloween every day for the last month, perhaps month and a half. Then the day finally came, she was so excited. If anyone asked her what she was going to be, she'd say a fairy...but it was decided early that we'd do a theme of Alice in Wonderland. Zoe was a lovely Alice, Finn was the White Rabbit, Mom the Queen of Hearts and Bruce was the Queen's Consort, the Naive of Hearts (hopefully I spelled that right).. Bruce was supposed to be the Mad Hatter, but changed at the last moment.

We spent a lot of time getting ready... Mom trying to set up the timer with her new camera and tripod.. we got a family picture!!!

Then at 6pm we went to Emily's house for dinner (we made enchiladas), kids ate before we left because I knew they wouldn't settle down once we got there. Then we went Trick-or-treating. The girls were slow to catch on... enjoying just holding hands and being together (they don't go to the same school anymore). They were so cute together... finally after about 4 houses, they worried less about where we were and were just off at their own speed (still kind of moseying). We went two blocks down, and then back up... the weather was ideal... crisp, but not too cold.... and dry! At the top of the hill (3 houses shy of our end goal), Zoe declared she had enough candy (her bag was getting heavy), but it was a bit less than last year (when it was much colder). In the end, both kids candy added up to about 1 gallon zip-lock full. We stayed busy enough we didn't even do our neighborhood. When we were on our way home, Zoe said, "I want to go lay down on my bed and have a little rest".. she was exhausted and easily asleep by 9. (1 hour later than her usual bedtime)