Goldfish

For a little over a month now Genevieve has been enrolled in swimming lessons. Given that the most important activity for an Arizona kid during the summer is swimming at the pool (really the only way to survive the heat) we figured it was essential for her to learn as soon as possible. The way kids pick up new skills is really cool to watch and swimming certainly falls into that category. Just this week she graduated from pollywog level to goldfish level. (We celebrated this achievement with a box of jelly beans, which Evie shared with me only after I promised her that, "yes, when I was a little girl I took swimming lessons and graduated too.") As a graduate of pollywog Evie can now: do 5 popcorns with help, superman glide, 5 second back float without help, froggie dive, swim 8 feet without help, and my personal favorite, jump in and swim back to the side without help. I realize that many would need a separate dictionary for learn to swim speak but suffice to say she is doing a great job and will be hanging out poolside with the 4 year and older set before we know it!

Five things

Five things I love about being Genevieve's Mom right now:

1) The feeling of her warm little body when she cuddles up to me while we are taking a nap.
2) The way she is all about dirt and how she encourages me to play in it with her.
3) Her incredible imagination and the way she likes to reenact stories and movies she sees for days afterward. I had no idea that so many different variations of finding nemo could be found.
4) Her fierce loyalty to those who are kind to her. She is so kind and considerate to those she considers friends (fortunately for now I am among them. :) Just this afternoon when I laid down to take a nap with her she went and got me an extra pillow to sleep with because she knows I like two and pat, patted me to "sleep".
5) Her bravery never ceases to amaze me and gives me such a warm feeling whenever I see it. She demonstrates it almost daily now from anything from getting up and singing at her school's exhibition to just diving into the pool at swim lessons to going up to any kid she meets and asking to play.

Turn of events

Gotta love the little surprises in life. So here I am, Monday morning, gearing up for my last two days of work, I'm deleting files getting last bits of work finished, tying up all the loose ends. Around noon I receive a call from the HR person a my agency asking me if I would like to stay with the agency, move into a different division (Hydrology) and work on nothing but the project that I have been wanting/waiting to work on for four years.... oh, and all from the comfort of my home. (Maybe there really is such a thing as karma?) The only problem of course is that I had no intention of staying past August anyway because not only am I committed to going back to school I am really very excited about it. But gosh wouldn't it be nice if I could keep my job (and benefits!) part time while I go to school. I figure heck I've got nothing to loose at this point and so I propose this to the deputy director of my agency and she says, terrific... uhh what? Did I just go from unemployed to employed and working (again) on exactly what I want where I want? Go figure.

IST Exhibition

Tonight was Evie's third exhibition at her preschool. Every 6 weeks (aka unit) the kids put on a little show that is based on what they have been learning. This unit was all about animals, in particular pets. They got to go on a field trip to handi-dogs to meet dogs who help people and even had a visit from a vet who brought a real live dog to the class. (This was a highlight for Genevieve) Anyway, the past two exhibitions Evie has been too scared to go up and preform with her class. On a whim I got out the video camera before we left and asked her to sing the song she had been practicing... I was pretty amazed when she sang this:



The actual performance was awesome as well... but I won't subject you to 5 minutes of video (not to mention the fact that I can't imagine how long that would take to upload...) Suffice to say Genevieve did a great job of both staying up in front and preforming and showing off her budding french skills!

Balalaika daddy

Patrick, in a wise attempt to cultivate a little sanity through music, has joined the Tucson Balalaika Orchestra. It is a pretty random little hobby, but he seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Last weekend was the annual folk festival and Patrick's debut as a balalaika bass player. It was also Evie's first appearance as a balalaika orchestra groupie. From where I sit it appears that they are both well on their way to greatness :)

Glass Half Full

We have had a bit of a rough week or so. I was thinking about this as I walked home from the movie store this afternoon when I noticed my (our) shadow. Something about this god-like shadow made me very happy, and I realized that although there have been a series of unfortunate events really we are very lucky. The glass is truly half full.

So as some might know, I was forced to resign my job last week. Its a bit of a long story, one I'd be happy to tell you about if you'd really like to know, but won't go into here. Suffice to say it was a very sad ending to what was, unequivocally, my dream job. That's the half empty. The half full is that back in November I worried that it could all end badly and made the decision to apply to go back to school and get a PhD; something I have always wanted to do. Not only have I been accepted to the program, but I also have received funding for my studies. That pretty much fills that glass... but to bring it to the brim, I now have almost 4 months to hang out and play with Genevieve, a once in a lifetime chance to spend a summer playing and having fun with my favorite three-year old.

So that is how the week started. On Wednesday I was up at my former bosses house working from there (they closed our Tucson office and moved our computers up to Phoenix on Monday, so I have been trying to figure out how best to work until my last day, next Tuesday, all week...) when I get a call from Kelley (our babysitter) informing me that she has just called the fire department because an electrical line failed and there is a fire in the alleyway. That is the half empty. The half full is that the fire trucks arrived quickly, no one or thing (including chickens) was really harmed and thank goodness someone was at our house to call them!

But wait that's not all. (And this is where you may want to stop reading Gerard) On Thursday night around 9 pm I get a call from Patrick informing me that he has been in a car accident. Thank goodness he is all right... the S2000, not so much. I wake Evie up and we drive to go get him, round about midnight we are back at home, a one car (plus scooter) family again. That's the half empty. The half full is that Patrick is totally fine, even though he had the top down when the accident occurred and ended up with bits of the other car in the cabin, the accident was not his fault and who knows, maybe they can fix the whole front end of the car up like new...

Here's to good (better?!) luck and new beginnings.

Eye Roll

This past week Evie looked at me, closed an eye, put her fingers on her eyelid, rolled her eye around in circles and said "Mommy, I am rolling my eyes at you." Awesome.

Candy from a baby

So there is this 60s song with the refrain... its soo easy, like stealing caaandy, from a baaaby... Anyway this little ditty has been stuck in my head all day because of an event (one of a series really) that took place last night. The sum total of the experience: stealing candy from a baby might be easy, but taking food from an Evie sets you up for a world of hurt.

It all started months ago. I had a cookie that Evie and I were sharing. She had eaten most of her portion of it and, after about an hour of inattention on the cookie front, I decided it would be OK for me to finish the rest of her half. Well about 2 minutes after I finished the cookie Evie asked me where the rest of it was. Of course I told her I had finished it, which set off a fit the likes of which I had not seen since the dark ages of the tantrum era. No matter how much I apologized she would not be consoled and not even the offers of a new cookie sated her displeasure with me. She was so miffed at my baked-good betrayal that she went around telling people for days how I stole the rest of her cookie.

That was such a memorable experience that I have made darn sure that I (almost) never finish off any food that is Evie's without getting express approval first. Patrick, on the other hand, is having a bit of a problem with this lesson. It is not due to any malice on his part, it is really more of a forgetfulness. He has a great ability to not remember the storms that rain down should someone knowingly, or in his case, unknowingly finish off Evie's meal.

Last night was a classic example. We were all in bed reading stories and Patrick and Evie were both eating slices of pizza. (A little bit of an unconventional dinner set up I know) Evie handed her piece to Patrick to hold while she went to find another book to read. She of course took her time finding the book, chatting to Oliver about something and then remembering that she had to go pee. Well by the time she made it back to the bed Patrick had forgotten which piece was which and had eaten her entire piece of pizza. He tried to give her his piece but she was not having any of it and just totally dissolved. Poor Patrick tried and tried to console her and apologize but she was offended like someone had just betrayed her in the worst way possible. (Did I mention that I might just have a drama queen for a daughter?) In the end she calmed down and accepted the apology and has not mentioned it again today, so I think Patrick is out of the woods this time. For the sake of family peace and harmony I really hope that it was the last time Evie's food goes "missing" :)

Evie and the chickens

I decided that I had better get a move on our garden before it gets too hot. Evie and the chickens were happy to help... especially when it came to getting rid of the bugs in the compost I put on the garden.

Have castle... will party

Whew, the birthday week is now officially over. Evie had her big birthday present this Saturday in the form of her first ballet class and then culminated the weekend with a big bash in our backyard. All I have to say is thank goodness for the affordable jumping castle, it is totally the birthday girls parent's best friend. Happy B-day Genevieve, may your next year be as fabulous as last!

Desert Bunny

I must admit, Evie has been semi-celebrating Easter for ohh about a month and a half now. Ever since rodeo break, when we played with my cousin Melissa for the day and hid eggs, Evie has been requesting that I hide an egg or two (preferably the filled kind) in our house just about every day. Then last week Mina watched Evie for the evening for us and suggested that she put her basket out by the front of the house for the Easter bunny. The next day there were goodies in said basket... and the day after too. I am afraid Evie now has a totally warped idea of Easter and believes that it is a spring-long celebration of obscured ova and much chocolate.

Well, for the real event (almost) on Saturday we went camping out in the Dragoons with about nine other families, mostly from Evie's school. It was quite the scene, there must have been at least 20 kids there between the ages of 3 and 8. On Saturday afternoon we hid about 300 eggs out in the desert and then let the kids go wild looking for them. (Hiding should be interpreted loosely, not wanting any to go undiscovered and end up as wilderness trash, really most were just placed on the ground) Evie certainly enjoyed the massive hunt.

The next morning almost all of the families went on a short hike together and Evie found a wonderful stream to play in and decided to hike no more. It was a glorious day, not too warm not too cold. We had better enjoy it while it lasts!

Happy Birthday Evie!

An interview with Genevieve on the occasion of her 3rd birthday:
Me: So Evie, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Evie: A doctor
Me: Why?
Evie: Because I like it.
Me: If you could be any animal, what would you be?
Evie: A lion
Me: Why?
Evie: Because I like it.
Me: OK, so what is your favorite color?
Evie: Red.
(Dare I even ask?!)
Me: Why?
Evie: Because I like it.

Other favorites and important stats include:
Height: 38 inches
Weight: 30 lbs
Favorite object: Blankie Sweater
Favorite element: tie between water and earth
Favorite books: Anything new... she seems to (thankfully) be out of the read the same book over and over mode.
Favorite foods: Pasta, blueberries, swiss chard (true!), tomatoes and (of course) chocolate
Favorite activity: Painting
Most awesome saying: Whenever she eats something she likes she says "Mmm c'est bon"
Must have birthday present: Ballet lessons
Major changes in the past year: Evie's hair is now decidedly blond, she has become a real cuddler and she now will spend serious time hanging out and playing by herself.

Ahh spring

Spring is here and is it ever wonderful! This weekend we had a lot of fun enjoying the last bits of warm (instead of blistering hot) weather we will see for ohh about 5 months. The weekend started at Papa's garage, which was the first stop on a tour of garages across Tucson by over 40 British cars. It was quite the scene.


Later on Saturday we went over to Himmel Park for Solar Rock, a 100% solar concert/afternoon in the park. Annie and Ben and their crew, who are in town from Ethiopia, joined us. Evie just loves playing with Maxine, it is a lot of fun to watch! The girls favorite part of the event was the kids musician who sang such classics as "Pack it in, Pack it out" (ahhh the hippie side of Tucson) they both stood right at the edge of the stage amongst the throng of kids and rocked out (No pictures of it though, from where we were sitting you could barely see them :)

Then this morning we all met up again at the Sonoran Desert Museum to see the wildflowers and hawks. Initially the girls were more interested in the dirt than the birds flying over their heads (very close, so close a hawk nicked my hat) but once the hawk landed right near them they got pretty into it and would jump and giggle together every time she flew by. After the museum we went to lunch at my folk's place and then home... it was such a wonderful day and weekend that Evie and Patrick are still asleep and it is almost 5 pm!

Last few pictures

Here is one more collage from our trip... ahh sweet beach.

Mayan Princess

More pictures (and adventures) from Mexico...


Another highlight of the vacation were the two trips we took out to see Mayan ruins. We went first to Coba and then later in the week to Tulum. Evie really enjoyed looking at the ruins and pretending that she was a Mayan princess. She and Patrick created all sorts of elaborate stories about their lives in their castles as we explored the ruins. (In fact they still are creating these stories, as I type I hear them behind me building Mayan castles out of legos...)


At Coba people can still climb to the top of the highest pyramid and Evie was all about trying to do it. She made it maybe a quarter of the way before Patrick wisely decided that it was a trek for another visit. I climbed all the way to the top and I must admit there wouldn't have been any way for me to take care of a three year old on a descent down those steps; it was quite intimidating.

Evie was so into the whole Mayan princess charade that we broke down and picked up a "princess" dress for her. Here she is donning it and posing with her favorite little kid mannequins at a shop near our condo (she requested this photo op by the way)

Evie the Adventurer

Well we just got back last night from a wonderful week in the Yucatan, Mexico. We stayed at my grandfather's swanky condo just south of Playa del Carmen, it was quite the treat. During the trip Evie proved herself to be quite the adventurer....

One our main "goals" of the vacation was to get Evie into the ocean. The past couple of times we have been to the ocean the waves were a bit too intimidating for her and we could not get her to go in without us carrying her. Well, by the end of the first day she was flopping and playing in the ocean and on the beach with the best of them. Something about her success with the ocean must have opened up a whole new world of bravery because tootsies in the sea were the mildest of her adventures during the week!

On Monday (or was it Tuesday...ahh vacation!) we took a trip down the road to a place called Hidden Worlds Cenote Adventure Park. Mom and I had in our heads that we just had to go on a zip line and we convinced Patrick, Evie and Dad to come along for the day too. The first activity at the park was to take sky cycles about 1 km (round trip) through the jungle to a cenote (cave) where we would snorkle into it. The water in the cenotes was really cold so we all borrowed wetsuits for the day. I think just putting on a wetsuit emboldened Evie. I wasn't quite sure how we were going to do all the activities with Evie in tow but figured we could all just take turns if she got too scared.... I shouldn't have been worried.


Evie thought the sky bikes were really cool and just hung onto me for the ride, pointing out flowers and other sights along the way. Then we got to the cave and she wanted to give the trip a try so she put on her life vest and got into the water with the rest of us. For this one we swam along, which suited Evie just fine. We were lucky enough to be the first group through of the day and went with just one other family, who very nicely took a few photos for us!

After the cenote swim we hopped back on the bikes and peddled back through the jungle to the zip line. When asked Evie was all for it so, once again, I strapped her onto me and we went. She was so amazingly brave! There was a second zip line which ended inside a cave and in the water... I decided that one was a bit too much for my adventurer so she had to be content to watch from below as we each zipped down.



In the same area we suited up for a real snorkel into the cenote. Evie seemed ready to go again but I think the mask was a bit too intimidating for her so she stayed behind with my Mom (who was happy to oblige, given that she is a bit claustrophobic anyway). Apparently while we were snorkeling Evie was spending time watching the people rappel down into the cave from above and had decided that she really wanted to do that too. By the time we came back she was convinced that it was the thing to do and we decided we would let her go try, fully figuring she would change her mind when push came to shove. Well much to my surprise (and I won't lie, delight) she went for it and was lowered down into the cave by rope all by herself! There were a few moments when she didn't look too sure about it but when she got down man was she proud of herself! Maybe she will be an expert caver :)

Sneaky (aka the great Lacroix flood of '10)

I don't know if this is true for all families and all children, all I have is a n of 1; but before I had a child I had no idea just how much of an issue sleep would be. Of course I had been warned of the early sleep deprivation and getting the babe to sleep issues... I may not have been ready for that but I was certainly warned. What I had no advance notice of was the sleep issues that plague an almost three year old, aka the sneaky sleep scarcity.

Sneaky sleep scarcity is the condition where a toddler deprives herself of much needed sleep because she insists on sneaking out of her bed and causing varying degrees of destruction. This condition settled into our house about a month ago. Like many other afflictions it started out mild. We would put Evie to bed and hear her rustling around in her room for about 15 minutes before she would fall asleep in her bed. Then it escalated to us opening the door to her side of the house and finding her asleep on the floor in the hallway. A few days later she had made it out of her room, beyond the hallway and into our bed. Each time we chuckled a bit and then just put her back into her room, not wanting to interfere in what seemed like a pretty innocuous little expression of independence. Of course all along the amount of time between me saying good night and her actually going night night got longer and longer. (and concurrently those afternoon naps went from a predictable 2 hours to more like 3 or 4 hours)

Any sense of innocence ended this week. It was Tuesday night, Evie was put to bed around 8 pm and proceeded to putter around as was her new habit. About a 1/2 hour later Patrick and I were on the other side of the house watching TV when mentioned that it sounded like the water was running, Patrick dismissed it saying "Oh it is probably just the sound of gas from the heater" Just to be sure I thought I'd go check on Evie. I opened the door to that side of the house and was greeted by a big puddle of water and the sound of the water in the sink running full blast. The sink is a little clogged right now, so it must have quickly overflowed and then proceeded to start to flood the bathroom and into the hallway and our bedroom. I found Evie in her bedroom on the edge of her bed, crying. She explained that she turned it on and couldn't turn it off and tried to tell us but we didn't hear her. We all cleaned up the mess and she went off to bed (at this point it was like 10:30 pm). After this first incident we thought maybe we should rethink this nighttime routine...

The next night we put Evie into bed and left the door open so I could more easily monitor her. I saw her sneak into our room and decided to let it slide... that really wasn't the problem (or so I thought). An hour or so later we came in to go to bed and found her asleep in our bed with what was left of our deodorant in her hand. The rest of in was in chunks on the bed and smeared all over the lamp on Patrick's side of the bed. Apparently even sneaking into our room was a recipe for undesirable bedtime behavior.

That night was the proverbial straw on the camel's back, which forced us into action. (This seems to be a reoccurring theme for us, our parenting style seems to be one of never learn our lesson on the first go around... sigh) For the past three nights Evie has been confined to her room at night and all is well again. The funny thing about all of this is all we have had to do is to ask her to promise to stay in her room, and she has. Guess we could have taken care of that problem earlier, eh?

British Cars

It just wouldn't be early March (well late February) without a British car show... thankfully this year, because my folks are down in Tucson now, we didn't have to drive all the way to Phoenix to see my Dad's cars on display. Evie and I agree that this year's venue was superior to the past two years... Instead of a courtyard in downtown Phoenix, Tucson's British car show is held at an old west touristy town place, called "Trail Dust Town" no less. All of the cars pull into, and are displayed around the town. Dad was very excited to park his cars by the covered wagons...


Evie didn't get too into the cars. What she did enjoy, however, were the cutouts to put your face in. Once I showed her a picture of her behind one she just had to have her picture taken at every one she could find. What a hoot!

Rodeo

Happy Fiesta de los Vaqueros! In Tucson every year the kids get two days off for Rodeo... and this year is the first year that Evie was in school and, thus, the first year we decided to head out to the parade. I took yesterday morning off (because the state of Arizona does not recognize this as an official holiday... what a shame) and took her over to the Rodeo parade. We got there a bit late, i.e., not 2 hours before the parade started, so it was really hard to find good seats. And then (of course) once we managed to find decent ones Evie looks at me and says "Mom, I have to pee!" (This being the only time in the past two months that I wished she was still in diapers) So off we went trudging through the throngs to find a port-a-potty, which miraculously she proclaimed not too stinky and took care of business. At this point the parade had started and a good place to sit was hopeless, so we were satisfied for a decent view (although Evie spent most of the parade on my shoulders so actually she had a pretty good seat)

For those of you not in the know, this parade is a rather long (although they shortened it this year) totally unmechanized parade and has been a Tucson tradition since 1925. Pretty cool. Anyway it involves a lot of horses and old classic carriages and wagons (which are, by in large, rented by groups each year from the Tucson Rodeo museum...) Evie's favorite entry was the "Cinderella carriage" aka stagecoach from Texas.


It was a good time to be sure, Evie even talked me into a pink cowgirl hat and two hot dogs... If you ask her she'll tell you her highlight of the parade was "When the horsey had an accident and peed all over the street." Not exactly my take away moment but hey to each their own.

Toddler Lessons Learned

I've learned a few things over the past year of toddlerhood... here are my top five:

1. A place for everything and everything in its place
Evie really likes to put things in places. Channeled correctly this could be an incredibly useful trait. Unfortunately I have yet to figure out how to persuade Evie toward the productive end of this rule, so it means that any number of odds and ends at any given time can be found in the stray paper bag, sock, purse, nook or drawer. I am afraid at this point we won’t find that extra set of keys to the Honda until Evie is old enough to drive it. (Yes Patrick I blame this on her) and who knew that the perfect spot for my library card was in Evie’s pink purse (we have since gotten Evie her very own card… one treasure to hide down, 1,000 to go)

Lesson Learned: If you don’t want it bagged, tagged and hidden you better keep it waaaay out of reach.

2. Shoes fit best on the wrong feet, and its closely related cousin PJs don’t really matter
For some reason Evie is hell-bent on always putting her shoes on the wrong feet and woe to the parent who tries to correct this error. She will swear up and down that they are more comfortable that way. I think she has a bit of her father’s stubbornness to her. Also in the stubbornness department, for a few weeks I fought a nightly battle with Evie to change out of her day clothes and into pajamas. I then took a step back and realized that I don’t even usually wear pajamas, so why the heck am I making her? (I do, however, make a habit of putting my shoes on the correct feet)

Lesson Learned: Some battles are just not worth fighting… Does it really matter if her shoes are on the wrong feet or if she wears today’s clothes to bed? Evie now goes to bed most nights in her day clothes (and I’ll admit to sending her to school once, OK maybe twice, in the same clothes as the day before… with clean underwear of course… even I am not that uncouth)

3. Mess is best, put your tile floors to the test
Evie is a Tasmanian mess-maker. One of her favorite activities du jour is to play with water… If left to her own devices for more than a few minutes we will inevitably find her filling up the bathroom sink and creating some sort of concoction with any, and all ingredients she can find. The most recent witches brew consisted of hand soap, lotion, toilet paper, q-tips and a painting of hers off the fridge… Of course as she makes trips around the house to collect her ingredients she drips water and other bits of the concoction. My kitchen floors, which bear the brunt of this traffic, look clean for maybe an hour max after mopping… awesome.

Lesson Learned: Not one to stifle creativity I only ask that she turn the water off after she gets a full bowl (When asked “Why?” I explained because the trees need water too.) and that she wipe up any stray water and or concoction bits up with a towel when she is finished.

4. Take notes
Evie says the most awesome things. For example, yesterday she told my mom, “Mina, you are really lucky to have a Mini, all we have is a Honda.” I swear she comes out with a zinger or two like this every day…

Lesson Learned: I am resolved, and I’ll admit I haven’t done it yet, to start carrying around a notebook with me so I can record them for posterity. After all, you never know when you may need a good laugh.

5. Always jump in puddles.