2 + 2 = Monkey

My girl is officially 4.  She couldn’t be more excited.  Quite a milestone, after all.  She first got to feel special at school.  In their music class, the kids’ birthdays are first celebrated by being put in a special chair at the front of the class so that everyone can sing them happy birthday.  They have their own birthday song they sing that includes their name and age – very cute.  They don a birthday crown for the day and get to bring a treat for all to share.  Mia’s birthday landed on what was also Pajama Party day, so she got to bring doughnuts for her and her classmates to enjoy.  The kiddos thought that was the coolest thing.  Ah, the power of doughnuts :)

On her birthday, Daddy bought her a cake and ice cream and they celebrated at Grandma and Papa’s house with all the kiddos.  Daddy said she loved being sang to and had lots of fun being a monkey.

The next day, I thought I’d take her out to celebrate, just me and her.  I surprised her with a trip to the movies to watch Beauty and the Beast in 3D.  We had time before it started, so we ate, had ice cream, bought a new bedtime book at a nearby bookstore and just walked the shops outside and talked.  It was such a beautiful, warm day.  We spent lots of time by the wishing well and left lots of wishes (pennies) in it.  While lying on her stomach, Mia would take her coin and whisper her wish to it, then toss it in.  Very cute.  A bit before it was time to watch the movie, Mia made a little friend, Keira.  Instantly, there was giggling, gabbing and games of tag and hide-and-seek.  It just so happened Keira and her Mommy were there to see the same movie as us, so the girls held hands on the way in, sat together and even shared a bag of popcorn.  I swear, that girl makes friends everywhere she goes.

The 3D glasses were not making Mia happy – at first.  She didn’t understand why she had to wear them, even after I explained it to her.  Try explaining 3D to a four-year-old.  You get a blank stare.  I think she explained it better once she saw it for herself.  It was “magic” :)  She was absolutely mesmerized by the movie and loved every minute of it.  She even opted to keep her 3D glasses instead of recycle them so that she could better inspect them once we got home (after being unable to find any apparent magical qualities, she gave up).  After the movie, the new friends said goodbye and went their separate ways.  Mia couldn’t stop talking about the movie and asking questions of why this or that happened.  It was one of those perfect days.  I hope she always remembers it.

Christmas (better late than never, I say)

Christmas kind of felt like a jumbled mess this year.  It flew by before I knew it.  Everything kind of happened all around the same time and it feels like I didn’t get to revel in it the way one should.  I don’t like that.  Can someone get a move-on with the “time slower downer” invention, please?  I’d buy ten.

I’m very glad Mia’s in school.  Where I might have fell short in helping her celebrate this year, her school family really picked up.  Sharing the excitement of it all with her friends and teachers was a new and wonderful experience for her.  I know she got her Christmas fill and that’s what matters.  She had her Christmas show in early December and was practicing all of the songs well in advance.  And we have more foam decorated Christmas trees, Snowmen, Santa Clauses and ornaments than we know what to do with.

For the Christmas show, the chapel was decorated beautifully and our Mia did really well.  She was front and center holding her little bell around her neck and singing her little heart out.  All of those songs that we heard non-stop weeks before were suddenly far less wearing now that she was performing them on stage.  Love that girl.

With scheduling conflicts, we were barely able to squeeze in a visit with Santa this year which was probably just as well.  Turns out your “free” visit with Santa isn’t so free.  The “photographers” were rude and rushy and when I told them I would not be purchasing their horrible pictures this year, they informed me that I would have to take my own pictures off of the red carpet…which would put me at a very awkward angle and about ten yards away from Mia.  So I went ahead and took my pictures front and center where I wanted.  I know, I know.  The careless disregard was pretty hardcore to all who witnessed.  But I have to get my rebellious nature in somewhere in life now.  I can’t go around punching boys and kicking in kneecaps anymore.  That kind of stuff will get a girl arrested once she’s of age.  So I was a little worried that I might get a Santa ticket or be thrown in a Santa holding cell, but nothing was said and all was well.  Couldn’t say the same for my pictures though.  We really weren’t feeling this Santa.  I wonder if he even knew how to smile?  He lacked the charm and warmth of the old Santa and he gave Mia..….fist bumps........

Maybe this is just my thought process, but I don’t think Santa’s supposed to be a “cool dude”.

I think we might skip the Santa visits from here on.  It was all just very cheesy, sterile and phony and all about running a business to make that money.  The magic just wasn’t there.  Not very Christmassy.  I’m afraid if I keep taking Mia, she's going to get wise to it in no time.  And I want her to imagine and believe as long as she can.  There’s more mystery and excitement in the anonymity of it all anyways.

I don’t know.  The older I get, the more and more I feel like Cindy Lou Who…or is it the Grinch?  The ads, the commercials, the craziness.  What does it really mean anymore?  Seeing how frenzied people get over stuff irks me.  Makes me feel like I'm watching a circus from the outside.  Not that we didn’t do our little share of gift-buying, but seeing basket after basket full of stuff – I just don’t know.  How much does one person really need?  Really?  It just seems like people have completely lost it now.  Is it competition or the feeling of “I never had it, so my kids will” that makes people go overboard?

To avoid being turned to the dark side, or in the case of the Grinch, the green side (ba-dum-tsss), it's nessessary to try and block out that part of it to keep that good feeling at Christmastime.  And the simple things are what do the trick.

Christmas songs – they remind me of my Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  She’d always have her little radio in the kitchen playing the songs of the season while we spent time together making food, playing card games, just talking.  The smell of their house, especially when food was cooking, was the single best thing in the world.  It will always be home.  And it will probably be part of my heaven.

The lights on people’s houses – the messier the better.  Seeing the things people come up with, from the unique and perfect to the truly thrown together – they always make me smile.  And they just make everything look sparkly and pretty.

Our Christmas tree all lit up and decorated.  It’s not a thing of perfection and it’s not something that would ever be featured in a magazine.  It’s messy and jumbled and many of the ornaments are older than I am.  Seeing it all thrown together - ornaments from my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother, ornaments that my Mom made out of clay, ornaments that me and my brother’s made, ornaments that were gifts, the plastic ornaments that Christopher and I bought before Mia came along when we had close to nothing, and now ornaments that our little girl has made - it’s amazingly beautiful.  I can just stare at it and completely lose myself in it.

My little girl’s smiles on Christmas morning.  I live vicariously through those smiles and remember what it was like for me when I was little.  I can only hope we’re helping her make good memories that she can always look back on in sentiment.

Receiving Christmas cards and hanging them up.  They make me happy and because I know their time is limited, I love to display them around our fireplace so that I can see them each day.

Good ol' Christmas movies.  From the old to the new, it’s one of the best things to curl up by a fire and watch a good Christmas movie.  Watching Laura Ingalls sell her horse to buy her mother a stove or watching the March girls give away their Christmas food - tears every time.

The best things I received this Christmas was not electronic or shiny or sparkly.  It was a snowman picture frame that Mia made.  One of the snowman's arms were on backwards and it held a picture of our little monkey wearing a Santa hat and holding a present under the school’s Christmas tree. 

It made me melt.  And my heart grew three sizes, for sure. :)

Random life through a phone camera

I don't know why I haven't felt into my camera for the past few months, but when I look back I kick myself.  Missed opportunities that will never come again...

At least we always have our crappy phone cameras!  Yeah!
 

Cousins :)

 

All smiles at dress rehersal



What? Is it not normal to do karate in the middle of Disneyland? Oh. Okay then....



Winners of the Trike-a-Thon!

Decorating cakes at Abby's Butterfly Birthday 





Fancy Nancy at The Nutcracker ballet with Mommy :)

Starting School

For Mia, starting school has been just what she needed. She’s so very social and amiable and we had hoped this would only help her thrive - and we think it has.  She has made many new friends and she’s been learning so much it blows our minds.  She comes home singing all kinds of songs, she’s learned and memorized passages, she’s recognizing her letters and numbers and she’s even learned some sign language!  She loves her music class and is always singing new songs; and she’ll come home doing yoga, among other things, showing us all she’s learned from that day.  Lol yoga.  She loves her playgrounds.  They have a few that they alternate between so they never get bored.  They also have a fleet of trikes that they bring out some days that the kids can ride around the track there.  And her schoolwork/homework cubby is always full of the fun work that she’s done that day.

But perhaps the most important thing for is the social aspect.  A lot of my friends and family are teachers and they all say the best thing any Kindergartener can have is social readiness.  The maturity to be there and be receptive to learning is the most important thing.  And we think our monkey is coming along just fine.  Each day she’s excited to go - she loves school.  She has a ritual every morning where she asks me, while I’m making breakfast, to read her the lunch menu for that day so she knows what to expect.  She’s very much into time now.  She always wants to know what month and day it is.  Then she tells me how many more days are left in the week and therefore how many more days until Saturday and Sunday, her “days off”.  She’s a funny little monkey.

We love her school, as well.  They’re very involved, structured and most importantly, nurturing.  The class sizes are small, they’re very clean, very secure and they’re prepared for anything that could or might happen.  They practice writing and pre-reading every day and they prepare the kids for Kindergarten and strive to exceed state standards.  They do a lot of fun activities and have a lot of fundraisers to which all proceeds go back to the school.  They let us know how much was raised, how much each class will receive and what it will be spent on.  So far there's been drive-up take out dinners, movies on the green with all the fanfaire and goodies, a trike-a-thon (which Mia’s class won – Yay!), the Scholastic book orders (I loved those as a kid), a Christmas play and a Santa’s workshop for Christmas.  And her teacher is a wonderful woman.  She reminds me of my beloved Kindergarten teacher.  Just a lovely, patient and kind woman.  Mia and the other children love her so.

Her first school picture.  So sweet  :)

The thing that I can't get used to is the sand.  It's killin' me!  Can't even say how many pairs of socks she's gone through.  Bleach can't work miracls, after all.  But it is a way to guage what kind of day she's had.

A good day = tons of sand pouring from her shoes