Yep, we’re an old married couple. We didn’t even get each other cards. But we are going out for dinner and a movie Saturday night. I have to see the new Indiana Jones movie!
Author: Sarah
Big Girl Rainbow Bed
It was a traumatic shopping trip – for me, at least – but Carrie finally picked out her big girl bedding. (Asking a 3 1/2 year old to make a decision is like catching rain in a colander.) Keep in mind that she has a lavender, green and white room.
Meet bold rainbow stripes:
Actually, in a strange sort of way it actually works. Once we get the rest of the room set up (which will have to happen after the baby’s room is painted) I think it’s going to be just fine. It’s just a little…bright…right now. Her alternate sheet set is dark green with white polka dots, but she wanted the flower sheets first.
I did have some second thoughts and some tears of my own earlier when I was folding up her crib/toddler bedding and she had a meltdown over her “baby” quilt… “But Mommy, that quilt still fits me and this one is too big for me because I’m still little!” But she went to bed without complaint and fell asleep quite quickly, so I guess it’s all OK. We’ll see in the morning, because I’m more than happy to get it back out if she’s not ready to part with it.
Overheard in the Yarn Shop
Carrie and I wound up at the shop this afternoon, and she told me she had a question for Grandma. So I walked her back to the office and told her to go ahead and ask. This is what she really needed to know:
“Grandma, who’s in charge of the yarn shop when I’m not here?”
Oh-kay. Good to know she thinks she’s in charge of the yarn shop when she is there. Maybe I can teach her to make change and unpack new inventory?
(Oh, and for anyone wondering, my mom’s answer was “Well, we just muddle through as best we can!”)
The Life Guy
So today there was a substitute for one of Carrie’s swim teachers, a male lifeguard. At one point Carrie wandered away while they were in the wading pool area, and slipped. Of course the lifeguard picked her up very quickly and she was perfectly fine.
After, in the locker room, I asked her what happened, and she told me, and I told her she probably shouldn’t be wandering away from the teachers during class. Her response? “That’s OK, Mommy, the Life Guy picked me up!” No fear, this one.
Happy Mother’s Day
I hope everyone had a nice day. We just kind of hung out since I’m still not over my cold and Denis wanted to try to get the pool pump running. (It was, briefly, but unfortunately didn’t stay that way.)
I realized this afternoon that I’m 30 weeks along. Which means that I’m at least 3/4 of the way to meeting this baby! 10 weeks seems like a long time to wait, but when you consider that in those 10 weeks we have to transition Carrie to a twin bed, clean out the guest room, strip wallpaper (ugh), prime and paint the walls, find and re-assemble the crib, put Carrie’s dresser in the baby’s room and move in her “new” dresser (we’re going to use my childhood furniture), find all of Carrie’s old clothes and sort through what we’ll be able to use… Ack, we only have 10 weeks to do all that?!?
Anyone up for a wallpaper stripping/painting party in the next week or two??
Sick of Being Sick
OK, I’ve now been sick for over a week. I’m really tired of being sick. Mostly, I’m tired of coughing, as I’ve pulled every muscle in my left side. Being sick while this pregnant really, truly sucks. Carrie got it too, but really only seemed to be sick for a couple of days, and her cough is nearly gone.
Kite Flying & Bubble Guns
Yesterday was a nice, warmish, windy day, so we got out Carrie’s kite. After figuring out we put it together wrong (the directions were about as clear as mud) my brother and I got it up in the air. But Carrie really wanted nothing to do with it while it was airborne, so instead she spent the afternoon running around with a bubble gun, terrorizing the flowers (she said she was watering them) and getting soap on everyone’s shoes.
Maybe next year she’ll actually want to fly her kite instead of shooting bubbles at it each time it plummets to the ground?
Fun Conversations
Carrie: “I love you Mommy!”
Me: “I love you too, sweetheart, but what about Daddy?”
Carrie: “Well, I love him too, but, you know, not all the way up to my eyebrows.”
—
Me: “Carrie, what should we call your little sister?”
Carrie: “Top!”
Denis: “Ok, see, ‘top’ isn’t actually a name, it’s a word, can you think of any names?”
Carrie: “Maybe…bottom!”
Sarah: “That’s not a name, either, silly!”
Carrie: *thinks hard*
Carrie: “Eyepatch!”
Me & Denis: “Eyepatch?!?”
Carrie: “Yeah, ’cause then she’d be a baby pirate, and when she cries she’ll say ‘arrrr'”
*my mom interjects*
Grandma: “So the baby’s name is ‘top eyepatch bottom the baby pirate’?”
Carrie: “Arrrrr!”
Beren-teen Bears
We went to a members-only event at the Strong Museum tonight, to meet the Berenstain Bears. I haven’t actually read the books to Carrie, but the new exhibit is really fabulous and perfect for preschoolers, and she enjoyed it quite a bit. (Actually the area with the quilt block designs was a place I could have spent more time in myself!) The icing on the cake was running into some of her friends from preschool, and the three girls spent ages playing together in the fort while the adults just tried to make sure they didn’t wander away in the crowds.
3.6 Years Old!
Dear Carolyn,
Today you are officially three and a half years old. I don’t know where the time has gone, I think just yesterday you were six months old! You’ve gone from being that little baby who was just starting to eat solid foods to a big girl who loves to help us cook in just three short years.
Your reading is coming along amazingly. In a month you’ve gone from three letter short vowel sound words to understanding the whole “silent e” thing and figuring out a few sight words like “the”, “and” and “to”. You sit in your carseat while we’re driving and just test out sounds and sound combinations – a lot like you did when you were a baby, but much more sophisticated – “b..uh..k, book! b..oo..t, boot!” You also like to experiment with spelling words on the refrigerator…let’s just say, your spelling is quite creative – although I can pretty much always figure out what words you’re trying to make.
Sleep is still pretty elusive these days. I’m starting to think you’re outgrowing the rock hard mattress on your toddler bed, because you comment on how comfy and cozy our bed is when you crawl in with us every night. I just have to find some new furniture for you, and then we’ll switch you into a twin bed. This way we won’t have to buy a new crib mattress, anyway.
I can’t believe what a big girl you’re becoming. When I wake up before you and you’re sleeping in our bed, you look so…old. Well, not old, but I can see in your face the young women you’ll become in 15 years or so, much more than I can see the baby you were just a few years ago. And yet, you’ll always be my baby.
Love, Mommy