Not-so-tiny tummy

Yesterday afternoon I took the girls out for a lunch date with some of my friends. If you've ever taken small children out to a public place for a meal, then surely you know how difficult it is to keep them quiet and seated in a restaurant. Over the years I've resorted to utilizing anything and everything in an attempt to have a peaceful meal. Jelly containers become building blocks, sugar packets turn into rattles, and salt shakers...well, we try to avoid those.

Sometimes, I end up using food as a distraction. Yesterday was one of those days. Because I knew we were going to a casual sub shop, I packed the girls a lunch in their favorite lunch containers, since they don't always enjoy what's on the menu. But when we arrived and they saw pizza being served, they begged for some slices. So I ordered a small cheese pizza for us to split.

While they were waiting for their meal, they decided...to eat another meal. They opened their lunch containers, as well as some small bags of chips (a rare treat, often used when peace and quiet is necessary). Here is a break-down of what my not-quite-3-year-old Amy ate, in less than one hour.

-An entire cheese sandwich (on whole-wheat bread, of course)
-a bag of potatoe chips
-A good-sized baggie of triscuits
-An apple
-A juice box
-Two (small!) slices of pizza

Then, on the way home, she ate a lollipop treat that my friend Michele gave to her.

I spent the entire drive home marvelling at the fact that someone so small could actually make that much food disappear in such a short time span. I thought that surely I would have a night off from cooking dinner. She couldn't possibly eat again for another 24 hours or so.

As we pulled in to the garage, Amy piped up from the back seat...

"Oh good, we're home. When we get inside, can I have a snack?"

Archives

I've received many questions from concerned readers, regarding the "disappearance" of older entries in the blog. But fear not. If you're seeking a trip down memory lane, just click on "archives" on the right side of the screen. There you'll find all the writings and photos from past weeks. Enjoy.

Blowing Bubbles

Last night Amy and I went swimming together. The girls have been taking swimming lessons for years, but when it's a parent-child class, Dan always goes in with them. However, last week Amy decided that it would be fun to take Mommy to class with her sometime, and she has been talking about it for days now. I love spending time with Amy but I was very, very reluctant to jump into the pool with her.

It's not that I don't enjoy swimming. Years of lifeguarding and swim teams can attest to that. But the water at the YMCA is notorious for being very cold. Somehow over the years I've turned into one of those mothers that sits on the edge of the pool, and then slowly eases into the water, taking care not to get my hair wet. Jumping in to frigid water, blowing bubbles, and submerging myself are no longer on my list of favorite things to do.

Then there's the small matter of parading around the Y in a bathing suit. Nowadays that is not something I particularly enjoy either.

But I needn't have worried. As we got ready for the lesson, Amy looked at me and said, "Oh, Mommy. That's the most beautiful bathing suit I've ever seen". The water was certainly chilly, but after 20 bobs and 10 minutes of kickboard work, I felt toasty warm. Amy is a very different child when she's spending time with me one-on-one. We laughed and splashed, and she chatted away about the yellow house she is planning to live in someday.

After class we climbed into the van and I buckled Amy into her car set. As we drove out of the parking lot she said, "Mommy, I have a gweat idea. When I'm a gwown-up, I'm going to get a black bathing suit just like you, and then Nana and Gwampy or Gwandma and Pop can come over and take care of my kids. Then you and me can go swimming together in our black bathing suits, and we can hold hands and laugh together. Is that a gweat idea, Mommy?"

It's a great idea, Amy. I'll be looking forward to it.

So that's how they recognize us

AMY: "Mommy, do you know how I can tell that you're a grown-up? Because you have really, really, huge, giant legs and a very loud voice".

A Rose By Any Other Name

Yesterday afternoon I stood in the parking lot of Beth's school waiting for the children to be dismissed. Another mother walked over to me and asked "You're Elizabeth's mother, right?"

I must confess, I almost said "no". Even though "Elizabeth" is the name that Dan and I chose for her almost 5 years ago, she has always been Beth to us. But when school started 3 weeks ago, her teacher labeled her name tags, coat hook, etc. with the name Elizabeth. At first, Beth was not happy. But I used a small bribe to entice her to learn to write her full name, and she did so very quickly. After that, she was fascinated with her new name. She asked us to call her Elizabeth, and she has started to introduce herself to new friends using her given name. It's not an easy thing for me to suddenly remember, so she still hears her nickname used around the house.

It seems funny to suddenly hear her being called by this "long" name...almost as if she's not my little Beth anymore. And in a way, I suppose this is true. She's not at all the same person that she was last year, last month or even last week. How much she has changed from the little Beth we knew only a few years ago! I realize that at some point I will look back at this time in our lives and miss my four-year-old Elizabeth, and all that she is right now.

"Our days glide gently and imperceptibly along, like the motion of the hour hand, which we cannot discover. We advance gradually; we are the same today as yesterday, and tomorrow as today: thus we go on, without perceiving it, which is a miracle of the Providence I adore"...Madame de Sevigne

Random Thought For The Day...

...Courtesy of Amy.

"Mommy, I'm not going to call my eyebrows "eyebrows" anymore. I'm going to call them "the hair that grows above my eyes".

LIttle Erin Appleseed

I've already learned that toast with jelly can be mighty sticky. So I've been experimenting with other foods and household objects in an attempt to keep Erin quiet and happy while I prepare meals. Today I found the perfect thing. A crisp, peeled apple worked perfectly. She sat in her booster chair, munching away. Whenever I looked over to check her, she would smile and wave her apple at me. Perfect...or so I thought.

I did notice that the apple was getting smaller and smaller. In hindsight, I should have taken it away when it got so small that she could hold it in her fist. But when lunch was finally ready and I brought a sandwich to her, I could not find the apple core anywhere. I picked her up, checked inside her shirt, and then got on my hands and knees to check the floor. I never did find it. I can guess where it probably went. Next time I'll be a little more vigilant...but that was the quietest meal-preparation I've had in a long, long time.

In Case You're Wondering

whether they still sell frozen lemonade in late September...They do. They definitely do.

Little Miss Independence

This afternoon we all went to the 4:00pm Mass, since I have to work tomorrow morning. All in all the girls were fairly well behaved, and we strolled out into the parking lot after the closing song, chatting about what to have for dinner. And then it happened. Amy decided that she needed to zipper up her jacket by HERSELF. This is not a skill that she has conquered. But we let her attempt it. We waited. And we waited. Erin started to whine. Beth started getting irritable. I looked around and realized that the entire parking lot was empty. That's when we decided to use that all-important parental authority, and intervene. Dan explained that we really needed to go home now. And then...he reached over and zipped up the jacket.

Well. We knew what would come next, but I don't think we were quite prepared for the magnitude of the explosion.

"No!!! Me!!!" she screamed. "I can do it myself!!" She crumpled to the concrete, arms and legs flailing, trying desperately to unzip the jacket. Dan scooped her up and plopped her into the car seat, and home we went.

If you're looking for us tomorrow, we'll be busy working on zippering. But we'll do it in the comfort of our home. Not in the church parking lot. And next week, maybe she'll be able to do it all by herself.

Comments

I'm still working on the details of this blog. I realized that only registered users could actually post comments, but I changed that setting... and now ALL of you can comment whenever you like! So go on. Let's hear from you!

School Days

Beth started school two weeks ago, and is having a wonderful time in her new classroom. She adores her new teacher, and is thrilled to have one of her friends from last year in her class again. Here's a picture of her and Daddy on her very first day of school.

When I look at this photo, I realize how much she's changed since last year. Last year's photos show a somewhat frightened and slightly confused little girl. She had no idea what "school" was, and had no desire to sit for pictures on her way out the door to this dubious adventure. This year she couldn't wait to go. She smiled for the camera, begged to have more pictures taken, and ran into the car with a shout of excitement. While I still feel some pangs of sadness when I leave her at school, I'm so glad that she feels happy and secure in her little world. Go get 'em Beth. Daddy and I wish you a wonderful year of playing and learning.

Hmmm...

Anyone know the answer to this question from Beth?

"Mommy, how much longer until Halloween is not so far away?"

Baby Steps

Tomorrow is a big day. We are traveling to the shoe store to get Erin's first pair of walking shoes. Unlike her oldest sister Beth, who had many pairs of adorable yet unpractical shoes during her first year of life, this will be Erin's first pair of footwear. We know it's time to make the purchase because she has begun to take her first steps.

It's incredible to watch a baby learning how to walk. Dozens of times each day she uses all her muscles to stand up, and then slowly and carefully takes a step. More often than not, she falls down and then repeats the process. She hits her head. She bumps her arm. She twists her leg. But she still gets up again and tries to conquer this skill. My older children are much the same. I saw Beth today, turning cartwheel after cartwheel with no rest in between, in an attempt to perfect the move. I can remember doing that as a young gymnast myself...doing handspring after handspring, to the point of exhaustion.

It's funny how we seem to lose that drive as we age. I tried a step aerobics class but stopped after a couple of evenings of feeling foolish because I didn't know all the steps. I tried knitting a while back but kept dropping stitches so I put the needles in the closet. What happened to that drive that I see in my kids? The ability to keep working at something new over and over again until a skill is conquered? It's something that we need to learn from our kids, I guess. They teach us as much as we teach them.

Regardless, when I took Erin out of the tub tonight and dressed her in her soft pajamas with little yellow ducks on them, I held her close for a few minutes. She cuddled into me, and I inhaled the smell of baby powder and Johnson's Baby shampoo, and felt her soft skin on my cheek. I know these first few steps away from us are inevitable, but she's still my baby. And she will be for a long time to come.

A Sticky Situation

Note to self...

When attempting to distract the baby during the mad dash to get out the door for morning preschool, do not give her toast with jelly. Having to give her a full bath (and shampoo) in the kitchen sink will put you much, much more behind schedule....

Photo Op.

Here is the family (minus Dan, who is taking the picture!) visiting my brother Tom and his family on Cape Cod.

Here We Go

This is my first attempt at "blogging", so I'll keep it simple!! I'm creating this blog to share some of the joys and challenges of raising three little girls. We have lots of family living long distances away, so now they can read about the girls and see updated pictures. Beth, my four-year-old, helped me choose the name for the blog. (She and her sisters love tea parties!) I hope to write a little bit each day, so stay tuned!