Small Crevices

What is it about small crevices that is so enticing to little kids? The smallest gap will tempt a child to drop a toy, paper, or DVD within its confines. When they tear down the walls in the loft of our old Shaker Heights home, someone will find a hoard of goods from the time we spent there. It then should not be surprising that a nose nostril would be so alluring to a three-year-old. Yet, you have to wonder, why? Why would you stick something up there?

Chloe came to us crying. There was something in her nose and she was not happy about it. Ryan got out his otoscope for a better view. Barely visible in the back of her nose he could just make out the shape of a yellow polly pocket shoe. Why do those things come with shoes anyway? They don't stay on their feet and are lost within moments of the package being opened. It's a wonder Chloe even found one in the first place.

After we tried all we could do, we called on the services of a pediatric ENT who was able to extract and return the shoe. On the drive home, a traumatized Chloe clutched her plastic baggie containing the small yellow shoe as if it were a prize from a gumball machine.

It was a lesson learned, and it seems that more often than not, lessons are learned the hard way. Chloe tells us she will not be sticking anything else up her nose. She has learned the painful consequences. Unfortunately, those consequences were not passed on to her twin and Hadley now has a dolphin nose up hers!

Happy Birthday Emme

When we first moved to Ohio one of our first outings was to the North Chagrin Reservation where the remnants of Squires Castle are. Though just a gate house for Squire's planned estate, after 120 years it appears to be a small castle. Emmry was not even one-years-old at the time but on that visit I planned her fourth birthday party, which was to be her last birthday in Ohio. What would be better for a little girl than having a princess party on the lawn in front of a castle? The girls would dress-up and we would play games, eat fancy food, and hunt for pixie sticks all with the castle in the foreground. Summer and early fall weather in Ohio is beautiful, so it would be perfect.

Unfortunately, while the weather in Ohio can be beautiful, it is also unpredictable. Mid-September, 2007 was windy and cold. It did not stop my princess party dream though. We had the party at the castle, though Emmry actually wanted a flower party. The kids dressed up, we played games and ate, but all with our jackets pulled up around us. The tissue paper flowers I painstakingly made for decorations tore and blew in the wind. The table cloths would not stay put and the watermelon shaped like daisies looked out of place as we huddled around the BBQ.

Thankfully weather in Arizona is a bit more predictable. This year with just a few months planning we threw a beach party. With eight of her friends dressed in suits and sun screen, we played games, ate, and swam in the warm Arizona sun.

As a family on the 15th we drove to Sedona where we played at Slide Rock, a natural water slide in Oak Creek Canyon, and snacked on its banks. Emmry even braved the cold water and slid down the chute with her dad. It really was perfect!

As we put Emmry to bed with her presents around her, I couldn't help but think that age four started out so unpredictably, despite three-years of planning, and at the end of that year we were in Arizona. Hopefully age six will be much more predictable... we'll just stay right where we're at.

Outsmarted

Why is it that when a toddler and adult go head to head, the toddler always finds a way to outsmart the adult?

The girls have recently figured out that all the "good stuff" in the pantry is on the top shelf. At eye level they see dried beans and milk, wheat, oats, rice and oil. The syrup would be perhaps the most tempting and I'm sure with a bit of ingenuity they could get the lid off, but by just craning the neck upwards there is a wealth of goodies to tempt any child: fruit by the foot, fruit snacks, granola bars, crackers, chips, pudding and candy, including a Costco size bag of M&Ms. So not surprising, it did not take them too long to figure out how to scale the shelves and pull down their preferred treat.

Climbing eight feet off the ground, reaching one handed into a box, and scaling back down was sure to take us back to the orthopod who already had plenty of questions for us. So I made a trip to my local Babies R Us and produced a child lock to Ryan. After nearly an hour of wrestling with the "easy to install" device, Ryan had the lock on the door and we were sure to avoid any more questions.

However, it took Hadley less than one day to figure out the secret to the lock. Hadley shared her new found knowledge with Chloe and the "good stuff" was accessible again.

That night, the girls exhausted from not napping fell asleep around 5:30 p.m. We flipped the lock upside down which restricted any downward movement of the handle. We've got them this time! We assumed they didn't understand the door could be opened by pushing up on the handle.

The next morning the girls were up at 5:00 a.m. I was not. When I pulled myself from bed at ten to six I found them sitting at the table with a box full of Oreos strewn over the table. Breakfast anyone?

Kindergarten

Kindergarten was made for little girls... the coloring, cutting, pasting, creating...

While volunteering in Emme's class the other day I was able to observe the children's' artwork. Emmry had drawn a picture of a flower on a bed of grass with a rainbow spanning across the sky. How bliss! I could have laid on that grass for hours, smelt the flower, and gazed in awe at the rainbow. Where is Mary Poppins when you need her?

Then I came across her friend's picture. This friend is a boy. His picture reminded me so much of Braden's kindergarten artwork. Not that their pictures were not wonderful in their own way... perhaps they will be great contemporary artists. Their pictures had the sporadic quality of a rushed hand and a mind full of the upcoming recess... of balls, sand, slides and swings. Perhaps just a little less attention to detail.

I could see from Emmry's picture that she loves kindergarten. She loves the coloring, cutting, pasting and creating. She loves learning to read and write in her journal. And though I am missing her, it is fun to see her in her element. She has truly found her calling in life... kindergarten student!