Firsts

Well, it had to happen eventually, right? Poor Carrie woke us up at 4:something this morning with her first tummy troubles. Thing is, I think she was more upset about it happening than feeling sick, because it had never crossed her mind that such a thing could happen. Luckily, it was just once, and there are no other symptoms, so it was probably just something she ate and she’ll be all better tomorrow…fingers crossed, anyway…

I took Carrie to her first movie today, Horton Hears a Who. Aside from the fact that she’ll tell you she really, really, really didn’t like the bird, I think she liked the movie overall. I’m glad we were the only two people in the theater, because there were a few times I had to keep up a running commentary about how things were just pretend and there was a happy ending to keep her from wanting to leave. I’m pretty impressed at how well she can describe what the movie was about, too.

And I’m probably dating myself, but talk about sticker shock…a matinee ticket was $7. Seriously, I remember when matinee tickets were more like $3.50, and evening shows were $5. And we won’t even talk about popcorn prices… You know what? Netflix is worth every penny!

Carrie had her first dentist appointment today. She has 20 perfect teeth, and was so well-behaved and compliant that the hygienist and dentist were both floored. What can I say? I have a brave kid. She even admitted to me on the way there that she was a little scared, but you totally wouldn’t know it based on the way she acted.

And it didn’t hurt that they rewarded her with a Belle toothbrush and a sparkly tiara after. Watch, she’ll be asking to go to the dentist next week too…

Carrie had her first swimming lesson today. And she LOVED it! It’s really more of a water safety/comfort kind of class than an actual learn-to-swim class, but I think there’s some value in her learning to have a healthy respect for water from a teacher as well as at home. Now she can’t wait for summer when our pool is open and she can go swimming a lot, and I’m trying to figure out the logistics of achieving that goal while first being extremely pregnant and then having a newborn that shouldn’t be out in the heat for so long… It’s going to be an interesting summer!

My baby started school today. No longer a toddler, she’s officially a preschooler.

I was not prepared. I had her clothes all laid out, my clothes all laid out, we left the house on time…but she’s been so excited about the idea of school that I expected her to run happily into the classroom and never look back. I would be free to go run errands without dealing with the carseat and have a couple of hours to relax, clean the house, knit…whatever. Instead, I had to peel her arms from around my legs and give her a firm push towards the blocks the teachers had put out for the kids to play with. And then I nearly lost it when I saw her bottom lip quivering and her eyes filling up with tears. I don’t think it helped that nearly half the kids in her class were already sobbing.

I barely made it out to the car before I completely lost it. They gave each parent a “first day survival kit” with a poem about how hard leaving is, and it contained a tissue, a Hershey’s kiss, and a tea bag.

You know what, though? She loved it! According to Carolyn (who apparently can recognize her name spelled out – who knew?) preschool was “really, really, really fun!” and she can’t wait to go back next week. I, on the other hand, haven’t quite recovered!

Last night I painted Carrie’s toenails. She didn’t ask for it, and it’s been so long since I wore nail polish I’m not even sure why I thought of doing it. She looks so grown up with her pretty pink toenails!

In potty training news, Carrie finally filled up her sticker chart – we had a one-month break during which she refused to even look at a potty, so it’s been a while – and her reward was to go to the Strong Museum and ride the train. She was thrilled, and picked out her “party dress with the flowers” and a pair of Elmo panties. Which both needed to be changed when I made the mistake of taking a three minute shower, during which I was interrupted by “Mommy, I had an accident, but I wiped it up with clean panties.” Um…good job? Not really. The museum visit was pretty uneventful, until we were dashing to the car in the worst downpour ever (think extra-powerful shower type water) and Carrie tripped and wound up with her first skinned knee. Oh, and during her non-nap (quiet time? can I call it that if she’s not quiet?) I heard “Mommy, I need you, I went poopy in my diaper.” and I ran upstairs to find said diaper no longer on the bottom in question. Sigh. It’s been a long day.

I really think she’s nearly trained. (I think I’ve said that before.) She is accident-free as long as she’s bottomless. So this weekend the goal is to teach her to keep underwear dry. Wish me luck!

OK, so Carrie has actually come to the real Sit & Knit several times in her life already. But that was as a passive (well, sometimes active!) observer.

Today we went to my grandparents house to celebrate both my brother and my cousin graduation from various levels of college. Their house has a great big wrap-around porch and is situated in the woods. It’s a very lovely place to sit and chat and knit. My mom and I were both working away on socks when Carrie announced that she wanted to knit too.

So my mom pulled out an extra skein of sock yarn (I’d laugh except I actually had two extra projects with me just in case – for a total of 4 hours riding in the car and a 6 hour afternoon at the house) and showed Carrie how to finger crochet.

Those little fingers were pretty good at finger crocheting! I’m thinking one of those chunky plastic crochet hooks and some nice smooth worsted weight wool next…

This morning while Carrie and I were snuggling she mentioned “Mimi”. I asked her who Mimi was, and I discovered that Mimi is a 3 1/2 year old little girl with red hair who was sitting on the bookshelf. I asked Carrie to tell Mimi that 3 1/2 year old little girls should not sit on bookshelves and could she please climb down, and then asked her how she knew Mimi. She said that they have been friends for a long time. After Mimi got down off the bookshelf she declared that she was going to go eat at Wendy’s. Um, OK.

We’ll see if Mimi becomes a regular visitor or not.

Carrie got to play with play-doh for the first time yesterday. She absolutely adored it! Her favorite part was when I made a little worm for her, which she named “Slimy”. (I don’t know why, but aside from Elmo her favorite Sesame Street character is Slimy.) She also really liked using the blunt little knife that came with the play-doh to cut things I made into pieces.

Now I just have to figure out what I can make out of play-doh besides worms, snails and snowmen. I honestly can’t remember what I used to do with the stuff when I was little…

Oh, and just in case you really love the smell of play-doh, but don’t want to just go out and buy a container of it, there’s a limited edition play-doh fragrance you can buy. “Mmm, honey, you smell just like play-doh!”