Fairy Time

We're entering the big leagues around here!



Dee was concerned that the Tooth Fairy would be unable to locate her tooth in the special pillow that hangs from her doorknob:



So she left this under her pillow:

School Sweetheart Dance

How long do you think it will be before the idea of going to a dance with her Daddy embarrasses the heck out of her?



And here you may view their real personalities:



I can't wait to show these to her prom date.

Kindergarten Curriculum, c. 2010

I have very few memories of Kindergarten. I'm pretty sure we spent the whole year learning our letters, though.

Dee, on the other hand, has cruised through the curriculum they want Kindergartners to complete, and has kept right on going. This is the sheet they sent home this week with words for her to be able to read.



Cirrus!? Really? I have a degree from Stanford AND a PhD and I had to look it up. (I did think it had something to do with clouds, and it turns out I was right, so Mom, Dad... that $120,000 wasn't completely wasted.)

They also have her spelling the phonics words now as well. I will say, for a state with a budget crisis that has pretty much eliminated money for gifted education, her teacher is doing a good job keeping her busy with 32 kids in the room and limited resources. Today, driving home in the car near sunset: "Mom! Look at those cirrus clouds!"

Days 20-22

I think this is the best one of the past three days:



This was rather... meh. Though now that I really look at it, the giraffe print with the hearts isn't bad.



And this! Just the dress! No accessories at all! What is the world coming to?



Tonight, though, she gets dressed up for the Father-Daughter Sweetheart Dance at her school. She gets to stay out until NINE. It doesn't get more exciting around here than that, people!

Snuzz, Several Years Later

Baby Dee laying on a fairly new Blankie, early in 2006:



Blankie was a Christmas present, perhaps from my sister, in 2005. I was in a post-bedrest-now-I-have-a-colicky-baby haze. Look how pink, on one side, how white on the other!



And then, the snuzz was born. My mother described it well in 2008. Today, the yellow snuzz is considerably worse for the wear:



This comes from being chewed on before the nose-snuzzing/thumb-sucking begins:



I hesitate to speculate on either the purpose of the toe-snuzz, or what it may do to the poor Yellow Snuzz:



Long live Blankie.

Days 16-19

FRIDAY:


It was Career Day at school: dress like what you want to be when you grow up. Dee's final two candidates: Vulcanologist (Volcano scientist) and... one of Santa's Elves.

SATURDAY:


Originally there was a fuchsia skirt over the pants but it came off when it got in the way of her jump rope.

SUNDAY:


In the morning there were giraffe print shorts under the dress, by afternoon she had gone to the tights.

MONDAY:


Really remarkably tame, I think.

And a gratuitous dimple shot:

Day 15

Kind of a psychedelic schoolgirl look today. Pleated denim skirt over the penguin stretch pants. And the green socks with the pink sandals are pretty eye-catching, I think.

Days 13 and 14

Aaaaaand now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Day 13 was a good one, I think:


Especially the way she INSISTS on putting in her headbands:


Day 14 was a little more ho-hum.


Note Buddy in the background there, trying to steal the flashy pink shoes.

Things may get more sporadic here as I actually had to return to work. (Sob.) The semester's first class meeting was last night and it went pretty well, aside from the fact that I spent 3 of the 4 hours blabbing at the poor students. Introductions, the syllabus, safety orientation, roll call and adding latecomers, lab tour, how to use the equipment, how to write up a lab notebook properly... I was even boring myself. Fortunately now that this is out of the way, the rest of the semester I just give my hour lecture when they arrive and then they have three hours to get their stuff done. It's my favorite class to teach. Should be a good group, too, as far as I can tell from the first day.

Dee's enrichment classes started up again this week as well: gymnastics, a multi-sport class (piano was full) and then (drumroll please) her long-awaited "Mad Science" class starts tomorrow after kindergarten. This is the same group that we hired for her fifth birthday party:



They were making slime. I shudder to think what might be coming home in her backpack tomorrow.

Days... hmm. Who can say?

Our weekend was not so great. Buddy had a cold before Christmas and so a couple of weeks ago we took him to the pediatrician since he wasn't kicking the cough.  The pediatrician diagnosed bronchitis, and prescribed an antibiotic (Augmentin), which he duly took for the full 10 days without incident. His cough and funky nose went away.  Then, the day after the last dose of antibiotic he developed a horrible rash, so we returned to the pediatrician, who agreed that he's probably allergic to the antibiotic (which is in the penicillin family; I had a similar reaction in college). Then over the next two days he developed this weird joint inflammation, causing him to say "it really hurts" and not want to walk.  He just laid there like a lump.  My husband consulted Dr. Google and diagnosed serum sickness.  It degenerated to the point that he couldn't/wouldn't walk, so we called the pediatrician's after-hours line Saturday night, who told us to take him to the hospital.

So, the ER on Saturday night. You can imagine. They left here right after dinner and got home at 4:30 AM. Diagnosis: serum sickness. Treatment: wait for it to go away. Apparently the trip to the ER was all it took to cure him because Sunday and again today Buddy is back to his old self.

The immune system is weird.

Days 7 and 8

Well, yesterday was interesting. Between the two kids we now have a truly impressive rash, 4 new medications, and one suspected penicillin allergy. The Christmas cold: the gift that keeps on giving.

Yesterday did show a return to Dee's more traditional fashion flair. This is Dee getting one last Snuzz before heading out to face the world.



But then today, meh:



Buddy, however, got in on the fashionista action today, including his "Yucky Charms" t-shirt:



Please please please let me not need to return to the pediatrician's office any time in the near future!

Day 6

A vision in pink. Well, pinks. Several of them.

Back to school after MLK weekend. Just in the nick of time. I thought Dee and Buddy were going to kill each other. Buddy is going through two stages simultaneously: "Why? Why, Mommy, Why?" and the one where saying something once is only 10% as good as saying it ten times. This is driving Dee nuts: "Buddy, I KNOW. You already said that." My husband and I just giggle to one another, remembering the days when Dee drove us batty doing exactly the same thing.

I'm off to work myself in a few minutes after a paltry four weeks off for Christmas. It's a rough life. I actually had to put on something other than flannel.

Day 5 and Lego Brother-in-Law

Some new clothing makes its debut today, as I have just spent my Christmas Gymbucks. The penguin on the hem of the skirt is hidden in the fold, and you can just make out the sequined peace symbol on the front of the shirt. It worked even better later in the day with the ruby red slippers when she went to soccer.

And moving to an entirely different topic, my sister got married in September, to a wonderful man who shares a first name with my husband, so we call him "Uncle Critter." Here he is with my sister in a photo I have shamelessly snatched from my sister's blog.



Now Buddy is becoming quite the LEGO fiend, and he got quite a few new ones for his birthday. One of them is a police set, and includes a "robber" mini figure. I swear it is my brother-in-law in LEGO form. My sister thinks I'm nuts. I leave it to you.



I'm pretty sure it's the grin. Here, let me find another one.



(Also stolen from Jennie's blog)

Day 4... bland again. What happened to the style?

I guess this is what happens when you try to document something... it vanishes.

Day 3: Buddy's Birthday Party

Again, fairly tame. I guess she can tell I'm trying to capture her flair, since it's gone into hibernation this week. There was a peek, with the differing stripes on the sweater and the socks, and of course the ruby red slippers.

But the boy of the day... How can my baby be three?

Day 2

Kind of bland today, actually. What you can't see are the giraffe-print bicycle shorts under the cherries-and-teapots-print skirt. And the rats-nest of hair at the back of her neck that her mother forgot to comb out before school.

Pregnancy Blog Becomes Photo Blog?

Yes, I am still alive. I'm still lurking or commenting on all of your blogs!

I'm breaking my long silence for an interesting reason. I spoke to my sister last night, and she had an excellent suggestion for this blog. I was describing to her the interesting outfit that Dee had put together for school yesterday, and she suggested I document Dee's fashion choices for one month and post the photos here. So, here goes. I have no idea if I'll last the whole month, and I may not post daily, but I will give it a try. At any rate, I think it will be fabulous for me to have a record of the way my wacky 5 year old likes to dress.

Dee, dressed for a typical Thursday at Kindergarten:






















I should note that her shoes light up when she walks in a rather spectacular display of multicolored LED lights. And, in case you missed the tights:

And how, exactly, might I reproduce the problem?

Guilty as Charged

Some people have recently implied that I haven't updated my blog in a while. Well, okay, true enough.

Things are good. Dee and Buddy are thriving. Dee turned 4 in September and is just a smart little cookie. She reads fluently (!!) and is a nonstop source of questions and curiosity about how the world works. (It's exhausting.) Buddy is going through the tantrums associated with not quite being able to express himself the way he wants, but his language is developing, and my parenting skills regarding tantrums are quite well-developed, seeing as this is the second time around for this for me. (See, "It's exhausting," above.) So he is also good. He'll be 2 in January (?!?)

I am a little bit past the age with Buddy where I was with Dee when I got pregnant again. I am NOT going to get pregnant again, but the number of people around me who are pregnant with, or have recently had, child #3 are causing twinges. Mostly, though, I have mourned the loss of my future fertility. And my hands are pretty full as it is.

I am teaching three different classes this semester, and it is kicking my ass. A few more weeks, though, and I have a month off, and then in January I'll be teaching just one upper-division lecture/lab combo class (for 8 units!) so that is going to help out a lot. I'm hoping to have time to breathe.

My Dad just turned 60, so I flew up to Washington for the party. My sister just got engaged. My Mom is dealing with some medical issues. And the kids have recently brought home 2 separate upper respiratory viruses and shared them around the house. I have 16 people coming for Thanksgiving dinner. Life is full. I am well, and grateful.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

DD's Meme:

All we need is a little LOVE! This award is about sisters uniting together and giving others some love because life is hard and who couldn’t use a little love? The rules for this award is simple. 
I LOVE YOU = 8 letters which gives you 8 rules:

Here are the rules:


1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award and write a little bit about why you love them. That would be DD from Mama Said Knock You Out. She is never afraid to be who she is. It is so wonderfully refreshing!
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.

4. Nominate no more than 17 people who you love or you think could use some love.

5. Write one word (you can only use a word once) about what you love about their blog.
6. You cannot nominate someone who has already been nominated-the love has to spread to all.
7. Post links to the blogs you nominate.

8. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they’ve been nominated.

I have a giant pile of lab reports currently eying me from my desk, so I'm going to have to punt here, and say if you're still reading this, and you want to participate, consider yourself nominated!

DUPLO Danger

Gee, Mommy, I'm sorry. I didn't MEAN to give you a black eye when I whacked you with my oversized LEGO blocks yesterday.

Eighteen-months-olds are dangerous.

Vocabulary

Scene: Dee is coloring with her new set of 50 crayola markers. As she finishes with a color, she shoves it all willy-nilly back into the package. I am idly tidying the markers back into their individual plastic slots.

DEE: Mommy, what are you doing?

MOMMY (absentmindedly): Oh, don't worry, sweetie. Mommy's just being anal.

DEE: That's okay, Mommy. You're just a little bit anal.

MOMMY: Thank you, dear.