Nicology

A couple more

I liked these slightly blurry but sweet pictures that Zoe took at her birthday party.

Just some pictures of these wonderful girls (and their wonderful Gannie)

Sisters

Sisters reading on the top bunk. I got home today not sure I would make it through the evening, but watching these two little beings share quiet time together makes it all worth while. 

Oops.  Caught with the camera!

First grader!

How did the summer come and go so fast? And how did I end up with a first grader??

Here she is anxious to be on time for her new teacher, and reading to her baby sis. Sabine is a generally attentive audience, though she likes to add her two cents. Sabine is a baby that kind of yowls discontent rather than crying.

 

I love that I have finally got Eva into tennis shoes. They light up, of course, so they are more interesting. When I asked how they feel after a day of running around she told me, "they feel good. They're numb.". I wasn't too alarmed because I had an idea where this was going. Instead of slipping off her heel or getting in her way, she didn't even notice she had them on! That is what shoes are for when you are six. Sadly, my love if shoes has rubbed off on her. Oh well, we will just have to keep looking for shoes that feel numb.

 

Lastly...Dog and Sabine are settling in nicely, though this is not helping the napping situation!

 

 

 

  

Sabine Andree

 

 

Nearly two-and-a-half months into this new endeavor and it is still hard to believe. This perfect little being has joined our midst with good humor, determination, and occasional ferocity (mostly when you put her in the car). The world of babydom is brand new and comfortable at the same time. And the awareness of how quickly it passes gives me a great appreciation of the hundreds of expressions that pass over Sabine's face every few minutes, the cooing, grunting and gurgling noises she makes, and the snuggling that is much harder to squeeze out of a six year old.

The baby queen, as we sometimes like to call her, also throws her adoring big sister into sharp relief. How did my first baby get to be so beautiful and creative, loud and rambunctious, loving and articulate, pesty and wonderful? I was soaking her up in the months before Sabine joined us- loving her and admiring her with my whole heart in anticipation of the attention the babe would require. I miss her, just her, but adore this little person who makes us all smile and coo. And a wave of love/pride/anticipation hits me every time I get a chance to say "the girls." They are lucky to have one another, these girls and I am lucky to have the two of them.

 

 

 

 
 

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Eva was a starfish in the opera that her class wrote. I fear I will never ever get those songs out of my head. 

  

Growing

This is a post I meant to add a while ago...

There is a lot of growth happening around her in a lot of senses.  I guess the most obvious one is my belly -- after five years of begging for a sibling, Eva will get her wish (if all goes well).  This baby goy (girl/boy), as Eva calls her future sibling will be born in April, and couldn't have a more excited sibling.  We sat around the table tonight making maps of how we can redo her room to accomodate a baby.  She really wanted a bunk bed with a crib underneath, but after I convinced her that wouldn't work, she settled for a crib next to a bunk bed.  When we told her almost a month ago I finally had a real visual image of what grinning from ear to ear means.  She couldn't stop smiling and hugging and giggling.  And my daddy's girl could not get enough of me.  I was like a goddess bringing her the best gift ever!  That only lasted so long, but she is still SO excited.  

About a week after we had told her she came to sit on my lap as I was sitting at my desk.  Mama, she said, is there anything gooder than being a big sister? 

I don't know, I said.  Can you think of anything?

No, she told me and gave me a big hug.

(This photo is a random one of her holding a rooster in Novato)

*******

Growth is also happening in leaps and bounds, manifested in the growing pile of notes being left around the house.   Eva is loving writing things down, and has finally let herself just spell words the way they sound.  They are not always joyful.  Last night she ignored me on several occastions when it was time to get ready for bed.  We are only reading two books tonight, I told her.  You lost one book.  No we are not! She yelled.   Shortly after she came back with this note:  

Dylan read it with a calm voice.  No! She said, I wrote it with three exclamation points!!!

She also came home the other night with a frightening brainstorm.  She was having Dylan drill her on some addition problems on the way home.  3+3, 4+4, etc.  She then told him she had a secret only he and I could know about.  She was going to write all the addition and subtraction problems on a piece of paper and then glue it on cardboard.  Then, if anyone asked her a math problem she could just look and no one would know!  She is dreaming up cheat sheets!  In kindergarten!   What is highschool going to look like?  I predict miniskirts and algebra inked on her thigh.  Scary.

One last anecdote.   Eva and I were in her bed petting Bear.  I love Bear so much, she said.  I don't think I could love any cat more.  Unless it were a kitten or a girl.  And after a pause, or if it were a prettier cat.   That's unconditional love for you...

 

 

 

Milestones

Wow.  I sent my baby off to kindergarten today and I have been such a wreck!  My mom told me she cried and cried when she sent me to kindergarten, and I am following resolutely in her footsteps.  I had to skip the new parent breakfast because there was no way I could talk with other new parents.

 

We walked her into her classroom, crowded with kids and parents, and hung up her new backpack.  She gave us each two hugs and two kisses and then went and sat right next to the teacher.  She  maintained eye contact with one of us (with a big goofy smile on her face) until the parents had to leave the room.  She was wiping her eyes when we left, and of course I was wearing sunglasses to try to maintain a bit of dignity while weeping.

When I picked her up she told me that she and another little girl had been chosen to take a paper to the office and were going to do the same job every morning.  She is a teacher's pet already.  She told me she had also learned some rules.  First, you have to look at the teacher.  But, she said, she already learned that in bug camp.  Also, you have to stand in a straight line for everything.  She thought that was a weird one.   So, she seems perfectly pleased with kindergarten, and I am getting my act together.  

It has been a summer of major steps.  She called me in June while I was at a conference in San Antonio to tell me she had a loose tooth.  The audacity of getting her first loose tooth while I was out of town!  Fortunately, she waited to lose it until I got home. 

Next big step: pierced ears.  When Eva called her friend Ali to tell her about losing a tooth, Ali promptly responded that she had gotten her ears pierced.  I had just been waiting until she expressed interest, so off we went to pierce her ears.

So there goes my baby with one missing tooth, one loose tooth, two pierced ears and a new backpack into the world of grade school.  How did that happen?

Flor the Marqesh: A tale from the Yucatan

Meet Flor. She is a Marqesh- a special decorated scarab from the Yucatan. You can pin it to your shirt and I crawls around. Eva is very excited about it and keeps talking about how much she loves Flor. This morning we had a terrible scare. We thought Flor had died. She was very still and her little legs were all tucked in. Eva cried and cried and cried. After about twenty minutes of eulogizing her, she started to walk! I guess that is how she sleeps. Good thing we didn't bury her as planned!

She's 5!

Art, Art Everywhere

There has been such incredible artwork happening at our house recently.  My girl is drawing on anything she can find.  I love this pumpkin, smiley face tree that appeared on her desk.  And of course Bear is makes frequent appearances, as in the picture below. (What?  You didn't recognize him?)

She is also practicing her writing, especially lowercase letters, whenever she gets a chance, sometime sounding words out for herself, sometimes asking for them to be spelled.  I love how she has labled the cat up above (hair, bow, feet, legs).  And her bedtime sticker chart down below (PJs, Teeth Brash, Pee in Pot, each with corresponding pictures.  I really love the toilet).

One of the benefits of my new working life is that I frequently come home to drawings especially for me (Fr mama).  My office wall is filling up, as you can see.  It sure makes me happy to be surrounded by all those smiling beings!  

Remind me I need to write a follow-up post to the Clementine story...its a good one.