We recently enrolled Dillen in Karate and last week, her first class, she was given an assignment to earn her white belt this week: Do a good deed without being asked. I never asked her to do something but I did prod her to think about what she wanted to do during the week that led up to today. She did good things off and on but never thought any were good enough to earn her white belt. It was about 15 minutes before we had to leave for class today and I asked her if she had something to tell her Sensai to earn her belt. She said, "Well, can you tell me?" I said, "No, Sweetie. This is something you have to come up with. You've done several really great things all on your own this week. Maybe you could pick one of those?" Dillen said, "Yeah, well, I know I did... maybe I could just tell him a whole bunch and that would equal one big thing." I had to laugh. She's so thoughtful and so darn cute. It was hilarious because for the next 10 minutes all she did was help me: put on my shoes, get my keys, open the door, offer to hold my purse, etc.

When we got to the studio (Roxy and Sean in tow) Dillen's Sensai asked her to tell all of her classmates what she did to earn her belt. It's difficult to hear on the movie attached but she did share several "good deeds" she did without prompting this week. (Sean's pictures below, as well.)

As you will see from the pictures below, she takes Karate VERY seriously. She is very considerate to her (ALL-boy) classmates and treats her Sensai with a lot of respect. At one point, she even turned to me to ask me to be quite (putting her finger to her mouth - picture below) when I was trying to keep Roxy quite.

One of Roxy the Rock Star for good measure. ;0)

Posted by sean at 10:53 PM | Permalink

...with two bored girls and a really big box?

Posted by sean at 4:48 PM | Permalink

A. Go to the Quail Botanical Gardens during their (annual?) Insect Festival.
B. Walk to the booth where they are offering up free worms for tasting.
C. Insist that your husband try at least one.
D. Just for fun, see if the littlest one in the family will go for it, as well.

Two movies below: 1) Sean 2) Roxy

Though both Sean and I were exhausted from having very busy days yesterday, we chose to get out and do something fun with the girls today. We really did have a great time at the Gardens - our first time there. Sean took a ton of pictures (some below). The girls got to touch many different kinds of bugs. There were giant African millipedes (about a foot long and HUGE) for everyone to hold. We saw tarantulas, scorpions, beetles, butterflies, bullfrogs, bees making honey, and hundreds of other little species both alive and pinned to boards. There was a craft table where the girls got to paint and glue eyes to rocks to look like bugs (Roxy tried to make a bee and Dillen made a ladybug). They played in water, enjoyed the miniature train and played in the playhouse. On the way out we walked through the bamboo forest where tons of ladybugs were living. The girls both had a great time catching and holding them.

We wound up buying a family membership to enjoy the fun of the Gardens year-round.

Posted by sean at 8:57 PM | Permalink

So... Dillen started a new gymnastics class yesterday. There is a new girl whose older brother (maybe 7 or 8 years old) was there. The instructor allowed him to stay at one part of the obstacle course making sure the girls followed through with doing their straddle jumps correctly over the cones. This gave him something to do and kept the girls in line. All but Dillen. This boy sat above them on a high mat and Dillen didn't even notice he was there until she got to the cones. He hollered down to her, "Don't forget to do your straddle jumps!" She was startled at first and looked up. The next thing that happened made my eyebrows immediately raise up and my thoughts quickly wander to what our her future with boys will be like. If only I was able to capture this on film. Once she looked up and saw him, her eyes magnetized to him, her chin dropped, she batted her eyes, smiled and giggled, brought her right hand up to her cheek and waved with just her fingers to him. She was 100% smitten. She flustered at the cones and couldn't complete anything knowing he was watching her. She'd jump a cone, look up at him and repeat the batting eyelashes, smile with a wave, jump a cone, look up at him and repeat the batting eyelashes, smile with a wave, etc. (there were about 5 cones). One of the moms sitting next to me said, "That's my worst fear right there. Keep them busy in after-school activities...that's what I'm going to do." The mom that belonged to the boy was MIA. Not sure what I would have said to her. All I could do in response to the mom who talked to me was nod my head. I was witnessing puppy-love in it's purest form; in my daughter; and realizing she's just FOUR YEARS OLD. She has friends who are boys. Even ones that she has said she'd like to marry (Cole and Peter being the ones she typically mentions). But this was different.

In the car on the way home I struggled with even mentioning what I had witnessed. I gave in to the curiosity of what her answer would be and asked, "So, Dillen. There was a boy who was helping out at the cones..." I couldn't even finish my sentence. She started giggling immediately, fidgeting in her car seat and blurted out, "I'm going to marry him when I get to be his age! I'm twitterpated!!" I had to laugh and ask, "Do you even know his name?" Her answer (excited and fast), "No. Can you find out for me?"

Yikes.

It's funny. I do remember my own first real crush. His name was Christopher and we were in the same pre-school class. I, too, was four. He and I both dressed as clowns for Halloween and that sealed the deal for me. He has remained in my puppy love memory ever since.

Posted by sean at 10:00 PM | Permalink

Roxy is 20 months today. Where does the time fly? I recently began weaning her from daytime nursing and I didn't nurse her at all yesterday or last night... or today! So, let's see, it's been approximately 40 hours since she's nursed. (My left boob is ready to explode. It is the size of a watermelon - I would relish in the beauty of it if it weren't for the pathetic size of my right one.) I have been very ready to wean Roxy in the last couple of weeks - almost comparing myself to a mother dog who growls and nips at her pups when she's ready. I have actually been cringing when she latches on. Her suction has become stronger and I can only take so much. It's almost like Chinese water torture. I thought weaning her would be more difficult then it has been. She tends to be a VERY stubborn determined little girl who absolutely will go Chernobyl in a nano-second if she doesn't get her way. She handled the recent talk about no more daytime nursing beautifully - only throwing a few tantrums that didn't last too long. I thought taking away her night time nursing would be pure Hell. Last night, each time she woke up, she threw little mini-fits - but nothing that I couldn't handle. She woke up the first time saying "Hot Dog!" over and over. In my dream-state, I thought she was saying "A duck." And I started saying back to her, "Roxy, there's no duck sweetie... go back to sl..." Sean cut me off and said, "She's not saying 'duck,' she's saying 'hot dog.' She wants a hot dog." That's when we both started laughing. I think, because she wasn't nursing she got hungry. I told her I was not going to get her a hot dog but that she could have a bottle of water and her binky. (Her binky is not something she has ever used as a pacifier... more as a chew toy.) She accepted and went back to sleep. The next time she woke up (about 2 hours later), she was just cranky, fussy and down-right mad that I wouldn't give her, what she calls, "B." I soothed her, rubbed her back and she again went back to sleep. The third time was around 4:00ish. She started getting super fussy and her immediate cries and choice-words were ones that could have woken the neighbors. So, I pulled out all the stops, sat up and said in a rather demanding voice, "Roxy, absolutely not. This is not acceptable. We have already talked about this. Mommy's boobies are off limits. They are owies now and they hurt. You may not have them. You can have your bottle or your binky but not mommy's booby! If you do not stop crying, I am going downstairs! I do not want to hear you cry." She got quiet, having listened to what I had to say and promptly laid back down and went to sleep. WOO HOOOO! I mean, I didn't enjoy having to resort to threats of leaving her but it worked. So, wish us luck tonight. So far, so good. She went down tonight without any complaints and didn't even ask for it. All she did when I asked if she was ready for bed was tap my boob and say "Owie." I nodded and said, "That's right, sweetie."

I love her so much.

It was different with Dillen. I weaned Dillen when she was 22 months. She was talking full sentences by that point and we communicated easily. She was ready and was glad to take ice cream over bed-time nursing. Oh, I remember that bribe like it was yesterday. It's interesting with Roxy because she comprehends everything and her verbal skills are still off the charts for her age level. Still, she doesn't communicate like Dillen did at this age. So, I just assumed she wouldn't understand why I was weaning her. It seems she does and it seems she has accepted.

A few recent pictures of our little Peanut:

Posted by sean at 10:16 PM | Permalink

There is so much to catch up on... but first a BIG congratulations has to go out to my niece and nephew who both just received their black belts in Karate! Liz is 15 and Sam is 12. Very impressive.

Ok. So where to begin...

Dillen had her recital last weekend on June 30th. She was absolutely giddy to get on stage and perform her "Happy Birthday Princess" dance. We arrived early so she could see the stage and where the audience would be sitting and to allow her plenty of time to get into costume and hang out with her friends back stage. Only the mom-volunteers were allowed to stay backstage so I was promptly 'escorted' out to the theatre when the time came. I met up with Sean, Roxy and both Grandma Barbara and Grandma Jane in the theatre and noticed that Dillen's dance was 14th in the program. Though the dances were fun to watch, all I could think about was how Dillen was doing backstage - if she was excited, nervous, etc. Part of me wished so badly I was back there with her and the other part was so excited to watch her from the audience. When the curtain opened, there she was - with her class of 11 other adorable purple princesses ready to dance. She was obviously in her element. She was beaming from ear to ear and 'ready to go.' The music started and she hit every choreographed movement with gusto - relishing in the applause from the audience. Then it happened. She started dancing to her own beat and her face became panicked. I recognized it right away - she had to pee. And before I could rescue her...

... she became "that kid."

Poor thing couldn't hold it as hard as she tried. She wriggled, she held her knees together, she grimaced and just kept on dancing. Then the trickle started. That's when I dropped everything, ran as fast as my legs could take me and whisked her off the stage kissing every part of her face I could connect my lips to. She was sad and mortified and I felt her pain as though it were my own. I felt for her deeply. I wanted to take the moment away. I wanted to snuggle her in a quiet, dark room for hours just rocking her and telling her all would be alright. But the chaos around us backstage allowed for none of that. Instead, we retreated to the room from which she originally came and I sat her in my lap (wet and all) and held her tight telling her she did FANTASTIC and that I was so proud of her. I told her it was absolutely no big deal that she peed. I even gave her a really great story about when I was her age and peed on stage, too. With that she brightened up and wanted to hear all about it. So, I embellished, I created and I overly acted the best story about me as a kid peeing on stage as best as I could. It was as though a weight lifted from her tiny little shoulders. She was actually smiling. We got her changed and decided to leave the recital early to go celebrate over some Cold Stone Ice Cream with her family - yum. ;0) Surprisingly, when I asked her a few days later what her favorite part of that day was she answered, "Performing on stage." I think she must have the bug - wet or not.

Yesterday was Sean's birthday - yes, the entire nation celebrates with us. ;0) We did more then I thought was possible: Sean went body surfing in the morning; we all went out for a quick breakfast; we went to a 10AM show of Ratatouille; we joined some friends for a bit of fun pool side; we celebrated over a BBQ and cake at Sean's moms; we drove to another home to watch the fireworks. The girls were up until 9:30 - amazing since Dillen never napped all day and Roxy only had a 30 minute nap during the movie earlier that morning. Crazy-busy as it was, it actually turned out to be a fun-filled day and I think Sean enjoyed all he/we did.

Tonight, however, was rough.

We are now dealing with the concept of death with Dillen...

We were given a saltwater 55 gallon tank about a week ago and we put 3 Damsel fish in it on Tuesday after we had everything set up and filtered. Well, 2 of them died today and Dillen found the first one. She has seen a lot of death in the Disney movies and other shows but this was 'real.' Now she's obsessed. Tonight, as I was getting Roxy down to sleep, she wouldn't leave my side. She held my hand and said, "Mom, I have something to tell you" and here is how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: What is it Sweetie?
Dillen: Why did the fish have to die?
Me: Well, that's a good question. I suppose it was their time to go but maybe we should have done something different with the tank. We're not sure. Daddy is going to call the fish store in the morning.
Dillen: (after a long pause) Well, what about Wingnut and Widget (our cats). Will they die, too?
Me: Eventually. Everything dies, honey.
Dillen: Will we flush them down the toilet, too?
Me: No. They won't fit. We will probably find a happy place to bury them underground and maybe plant some pretty flowers on top of them.

A long pause...

Then Dillen starts crying - very quietly so she doesn't wake Roxy (gotta love her). I thought she was faking until I felt the tears.

Me: Dillen, why are you crying?
Dillen: I just don't want you to leave me.
Me: Do you mean right now? I'm not going anywhere, honey. I'm right here.
Dillen: Ok. I thought you might leave.
Me: No. Once Roxy is asleep, you can join me again downstairs. (At this point, I was in complete denial she was perhaps referring to my own demise.)

From that point on, all Dillen wanted to talk about was death. She even made up a story about a tiger she had as a pet that died and she had to bury in our back yard. Thank goodness this all happened LATE tonight so she eventually became too exhausted to pursue further conversation. Still, I have a feeling this isn't over. Just before she fell asleep, she asked me "What will you do with me when I die?" YIKES!!! How do you explain to a 4 year old that I DON'T WANT TO BE THE ONE TO DO THAT?!? I told her that she will hopefully live a very long life and have children so that her own children can have this conversation with her. At that point, I opened a bottle of wine, poured a glass and snuggled with her while rubbing her head and telling her the conversation can be continued tomorrow if she would like.

Perhaps spiritual awareness and religious concepts/beliefs will have to be introduced a little earlier then I had hoped.

Posted by sean at 11:24 PM | Permalink