Trickster

Lola was cutting up a storm yesterday afternoon. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she was cutting up fake food for Sandman. She was going to set out a bowl filled with her paper snippets and wait for him to go: "Hey! What is this?"

I am pretty sure that is exactly what he was saying when I heard him meow at four o'clock in the morning.

New Do

We spent the past week in Elkhart Lake, enjoying some free time, good company, and many hours in the pool. Lola especially loved the pool. She would jump in around ten in the morning and would not come out for anything until the late afternoon, save a potty break or two.

As a result of all that bobbing in chlorine, her hair turned into one big dreadlock. Not even the half gallon of conditioner and detangling spray I used could untangle that mess. I was forced to resort to scissors.

I love it! She really rocks the bob and looks so big all of a sudden. Lola likes it too, but she did check with me several times if her hair will grow back. And if I do say so myself, I didn't do too badly at my first cutting job.

Mom also has a new do, by the way. I am now a redhead. Pictures to follow at a later date. Maybe.

Toddler Talk V

Lola: "Can I take a bath? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease."
Me: "No honey, you already took a bath this morning."
Lola: "But I did three push ups!"

Lola: "I love you. You are the best mom in the whole world! You can make computers, you can make houses, you can maaaaaake............ snacks."
Me: "Um..., thanks!"

Lola, wearing new purple and pink swim goggles: "When I wear my swim goggles, are my cousins gonna think I look silly?"

Lola: "Mama, you know what? You are my favorite girl."

Lola: "Mama. When it's spring time day, the green ones... that talk..., what are they called again?"
Me: "Um..., frogs? Leprechauns?"
Lola: "Yes, leprechauns! They make the snow go away."

Lola: "Let's play I am the mom and you are the honey."

Lola: "My hand hurts."
Me: "What's wrong with it?"
Lola: "It hurts when I go like this." [Pushes her fingers backwards towards her wrist.]
Me: "Well, don't do that then."
Lola: "I am having a rough day."

Nativity set = Activity set
Co-workers = Work friends

Religious Education

Don't laugh, but I have started to work on my big Christmas project for the year. Last year I made an advent calender in the shape of a Christmas tree. I did not want to fill it with gifts or candy, I wanted to make it about the meaning of Christmas. The plan was to make a twenty four piece nativity set. However, after submitting my plan to a reality check, I went for little ornaments instead, and store bought at that.

So this year I am making a nativity set. Little wooden figurines and needle felted animals. I have needle felted once before, many years ago, under the careful guidance of my sister, needle felter extraordinaire. This time I am on my own. I went online and found a step-by-step tutorial on how to needle felt a sheep. I started two weeks ago. Let's just say it's a good thing the first of December is still more than six months away. My sheep does not resemble a sheep in the slightest.

I mentioned my project to a co-worker in the break room the other day. I don't know if she misunderstood me or has very little faith in my needle felting skills, but she walked in last week with a gift for me. She was at a garage sale where she found a nativity set and bought it for me. I was touched by her thoughtfulness.

When I went to pick up Lola that day, she asked me if I had a surprise for her. I told her I did, as a matter of fact, and showed her the nativity set. Ryan and I are not very church going and Lola's knowledge of religion is basically non-existent. I introduced all the characters of the nativity set to her and then tried to put it away to buckle her in her car seat.

"But mama," she cried, "I want to play with Jesus!"

Growing Pains

With every birthday comes a doctor's visit. Last Thursday Lola and I visited with her pediatrician for her four year old check up. She was so excited, she had been asking me all week when we were going to the doctor.

The visit went fine, for the most part. She is growing as she should and everything functions as it should. No surprise there. It ended with the final round of her vaccinations. When I told her she was going to get some shots, she enthusiastically asked if she was going to get a band aid? Why, of course!

Two nurses came in to administer the vaccinations, four in all. While I held Lola's elbows, they stereo poked her. Lola sat up when she felt the first pokes but held it together. But the last one, the MMR, was a mean one. That one really hurt. Poor girl. Not even the toy stethoscope the nurse gave her when it was over could console her. When I asked her if she was mad, she answered: "No. I am sad."

Lola and I both have a dental appointment next week. She is also very much looking forward to that visit but she did check with me first if the dentist was going to poke her too. I told her no, he will not. She sighed with relief and proceeded to tell me she never wants to go to the doctor again, she prefers the dentist. I wonder how long it will stay that way...

Four!

Happy birthday to my beautiful, funny, charming, mischievous, smart, outgoing, cool, imaginative, creative, and loving daughter. This day is a very special day. Because this is the day you were given to me to care for. You are, and always will be, my favorite little person in the whole wide world! Even though you told me you're officially a big girl now.

I love you Lola, with all of my heart!

Pyjama Party

Lola woke me up in the middle of the night crying for her mommy. I found her in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet. My happiness about her waking up to go potty (it's still hit and miss with lots of laundry around here) quickly subsided when I felt her warm body and heard her cough. She was burning with fever and obviously sick. I tucked her back in and snuggled for a little bit. Just before I went back to my own bed, I told her she would not be going to school the next day. She perked up. "Are we going to make party hats?"

She has been begging me to make party hats for days now. I have no idea why or where this burning desire came from. But what else is there to do when you're spending an unexpected day at home? Party hats it is. We taped some construction paper sheets together and cut out a circle large enough for a hat. Lola went to town embellishing the hat with glitter hearts, left over from Valentine's Day. Of course one was not enough, we had to make five.

While Lola was clearly feeling better by the minute, my health rapidly deteriorated. When it was time for her nap, I decided to take one too, rather than enjoying some free time. She slept until three, I woke up around dinner time. Ryan had come home in the meantime and spent the afternoon entertaining his daughter and looking after his wife.

I am feeling much better now and tomorrow will be business as usual. I will go to work as planned and Lola will go back to school. But at least we got the party hat project out of the way.

Sweets For My Sweet

Sweets for my sweet, sugar for my honey... I was singing this song all weekend long while Lola and I made Valentine's Day cards and decorated shipping tags with potato stamped hearts and red and purple glitter. She is not willing to part with the cards she made so there is no point in running to your mailbox in anticipation. Nothing from Lola this year, sorry.

The shipping tags were for the little bags of sweets she was giving out to her friends and teachers at school. Twenty in all. Centering the potato on the tags was a bit tricky and she gladly handed that task off to her mother, as well as adding the little drops of glue. But the glitter job is all hers. She was not going to let me have any fun with that. Her forehead crinkled in concentration, she very carefully tapped the glitter from the shakers over a big plate and then shook off the excess.

The tags turned out beautifully. She was so proud of her work, we made a few extra for her to keep. As for the content, I missed the memo requesting parents not to hand out any candy and filled them with just that. Luckily Ryan caught it in time and I was able to correct my rookie mistake. First thing Monday morning, I was back at the kitchen table, emptying out the artificially sugared chocolate and gummy hearts into a large jar and replacing them with naturally sugared blueberries, strawberries, and clementines.

Sweets for my sweet, sugar for my honey... I cannot get it out of my head!

Toddler Talk IV

Having a three year old is like having a talking dog. It is just funny. (Heard on the Bob & Tom Show one morning on the radio). I agree, it is.

"I used to be a grandma but now I'm a mom. I was short like a grandma, but then I grew bigger and now I'm a mom. And when I get even bigger, I am going to be a big sister!"

Lola: "I would like to fly an airplane."
Me: "Well, when you get bigger, you could learn how."
Lola: "But I would miss you!"
Me: "But you would come back to me, after you're done flying."
Lola, softly: "But I don't know how to find my home."

Lola: "Remember? When you were a little baby, and I was your mom? Remember?"
Me: "Ummm..."

Lola: "I'm going to draw a picture of papa."
Me: "That's a great idea, he'll love that."
Lola: "But I am not going to give him a pagina." (That is not a typo.)
Me: "Of course not. Boys don't have vaginas."
Lola: "Oh. No, I mean a penis. I don't like penises."

Making Valentines

An afternoon of old-fashioned potato stamping

Bigfoot

Two days before I left for Palm Springs, we joined my brother and sister-in-law and my nieces for a short trip to Granite Peak, a ski area a few miles outside of Wausau. It is a fun little ski hill, just over an hour away from Rhinelander. A perfect place for Lola to learn how to ski.

Although she was more excited about the hotel's indoor water park, she was also looking forward to playing in the snow. Like all toddlers, she caught on pretty quick once she got used to having really big feet all of a sudden and figured out how to balance herself by leaning forward. We had her strapped in a harness so she couldn't get away from us.

The second day we enrolled her in a toddler ski class for two hours. She is now a pro. She can make turns, pizza slices, and duck feet. That's really all one needs to know to successfully conquer the slopes. And she loved the ski lifts. Mama not so much once she found out they didn't have safety bars! It didn't bother Lola one bit, but I hung on for dear life.

I could not believe it. I still can't. In this overprotective country where I am scolded for not forcing my child to wear a helmet when she is riding her tricycle, that same child is allowed to dangle thirty feet above ground on a skinny bench with nothing in place to prevent her from falling off. And nobody bats an eye.

Despite this shortcoming, we are returning at the end of the month for some more fun in the snow. No water park this time though. Lola will be disappointed, I'm sure.

Mama's Home

Lola has never given me a hard time about going to work or taking off for a few days. As long as I promised her I would come back, she was fine with me leaving. Until recently. When I left for Palm Springs she cried so hard. No matter how many times I told her I would be back in a few days, or how many hugs I gave her, she could not stop crying. Heartbreaking.

Today I left during her nap. She knew I had to go to work and asked me as I was putting her down: "Are you going to be here when I wake up?" When I told her I wasn't, she started crying. I gave her an extra big hug and promised her I would kiss her goodnight as soon as I got back. When I closed her door behind me I could hear her sniffling softly in her bed.

I came home fifteen minutes ago and walked into her room to keep my promise. She opened her eyes when she heard the door and gave me the biggest sleepy smile. The kind that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside and so happy to be a mom. We snuggled for a little bit and then I tiptoed out again. She was still smiling when I pulled the door shut. So was I.

I love coming home.

While I Was Gone

I was in sunny California for the last five days, attending a conference on Indian Gaming Marketing in the desert town of Palm Springs. It was a great conference, very educational, engaging, and fun.

While I was gone:

* The Storm of the Century raged over the Midwest, covering the region in a two feet thick blanket of snow. All air traffic came to a complete stop, extending my stay on the West Coast by 24 hours.

* The folks at XM Radio came to see the error of their ways. We are once again in good standing with them. In fact, our account now shows a mysterious $53.28 credit for future use. They even turned the radio back on after some prodding on our part because that was one detail they overlooked.

* Lola came down with a 24 hour stomach bug, giving Ryan the joy of cleaning our child and her bed three times during the night. When Lola and I talked about it yesterday, she was adamant she did not have a bug because she did not eat one. "Don't say that to me!"

* Despite the airports of both Green Bay and Dallas being shut down due to weather, the Packers made it to Texas for the upcoming Super Bowl. Everything is green and gold here in anticipation of the Big Game. Unfortunately our projector broke and I have to watch the game in the bedroom.

For your amusement, here are a few Texans struggling with Wisconsin city names:



Here's a challenge for the Wisconsinites feeling all smug after watching this: try pronouncing the name of the Washington city Puyallup. It took me almost a year before I got it right.

Toddler Talk III

I have a funny child, I could record her all day. Here are some highlights of the past months.

After Ryan told her it was our anniversary, that we had gotten married four years ago, she looked at me and exclaimed: "You got married?!?"

And later to her grandmother: "Mom got married!"

At daycare during a nature walk, outfitted with little magnifying glasses: "Connie, I think we have a mystery here..."

"I am so frustrated, I am going to turn into a monster!" And no, we have not been watching The Incredible Hulk. She was just demonstrating she learned a new word that day. Everything was frustrating to her.

There is a lot of talk about bugs going around at the moment. People are calling in sick left and right. Lola knows why: "If you eat a bug, you get sick."

"Row, row, row your boat. Gently down the stream. Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary. Like a spider's dream."

It is almost time for bed and Lola will do anything to avoid having to go to bed. We're discussing the messes in our rooms. I suggest we clean up this weekend. "How about you clean your room tomorrow and I clean my room today. But maybe you need some help with the little things. You know who could help you?" Big smile, pointing at herself. "But only if you listen to me. Do you promise to listen to me?"

Clean And Shiny

The creature is taking a bath. She has quite the collection of bath toys but she informed me earlier she wasn't sure she wanted to play with them anymore. So I gave her a scrubber instead. And now I have a clean bathtub.

I am brilliant, if I do say so myself.

Lazy Parent Potty Training

Lola discovered the convenience of toilets many months ago, but at night she still sports a pull-up. We were almost ready to give those up as well when we moved to Rhinelander and the nightly flow started back up again. And I was so looking forward to not having to buy diapers again. Alas, not just yet.

She would, from time to time, tell me she didn't want to wear diapers anymore. After all, she is a big girl now and none of her friends at school wear diapers either. (Apparently that is what toddlers talk about when they're by themselves.) I would answer her that I would be happy to put the pull-ups away if she was able to keep it dry. I know she can do it, because nine out of ten times when she crawls into bed with me in the wee hours of the morning, she is still dry. She is just a little lazy about going potty in the morning and when it's time to get up, she's wet.

She must get this laziness from her parents because last night at bedtime, when we realized we were out of pull-ups, we did not run to the store that is a mere five minutes away. Too late, too cold, too lazy. Instead we asked Lola if she was up to the task of not wetting her bed. Of course she was, she assured us. We happily chose to believe her.

She almost succeeded. At 1 o'clock this morning, she woke me up to inform me she had just gone potty. Wonderful! When I took her back to bed, I noticed her pyjama pants were a little bit wet. I took that as a good sign because peeing had apparently woken her up. Fresh jammies and back to sleep she went.

At 5 o'clock she was back by my bedside, this time naked from the waste down. Again, she had gone potty in the bathroom, but there was a fairly big wet spot in her bed as well. So, first thing this morning I was stripping her bed and doing laundry. That's what I get for not running to the store last night.

I think I am going to tough it out for a little bit and not give in to the urge to buy pull-ups because I think this might be a good way to learn. And 5:30 AM is as good a time as any to do laundry, don't you think?

Making Family Memories

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas! The seasonal spirit has taken a firm hold on our household. Ryan and I both want to create family memories and traditions of our own that Lola can look back on some day with a smile on her face and happiness in her heart. I am not sure if she's catching on, though.

When we went to the Christmas Tree Farm to pick out our tree, the adults were almost skipping along, very much enjoying the experience. But Lola? She just wanted to go home, she was cold.

And I have been sewing up a storm to finish my Advent Calender in time for the first of December. Bursting with pride, I presented the finished product to Lola this morning and told her she could take one ornament from a pocket every day to hang on the tree and when all the ornaments are hung, it will be Christmas!

"Go ahead," I said, "hang the first one."

Her response? "Uhm, maybe tomorrow..."

Friendly Witch Of The North

Fillet of a fenny snake

In the cauldron boil and bake

Eye of newt and toe of frog

Wool of bat and tongue of dog

Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting

Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing

For a charm of powerful trouble

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble

Double, double toil and trouble

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

(William Shakespeare)

The First Of The First Day Of School

Lola started school today. It's not really school, it's daycare at the Y in Rhinelander but the setting is very school-like. So we call it school. She was very excited about it. Armed with a brand new pink backpack and a polka dot sleeping bag for naps, she set off for her new school this morning. She hopes to make lots of friends. So do we. It would be wonderful to have friends in the neighborhood.

Ryan brought her to daycare and he will also pick her up. Up until now, Lola's daycare was in Wabeno, about five minutes from where I work. I very much appreciate sharing drop off and pick up duties with him. And as an added bonus, a day off during the week is now a day I can have all to myself if I so desire.

It was very quiet in the car though, this morning. Lola is going through a serious "Are we there yet?" phase and wants me to play baby all the time. To clarify: I have to be the baby, she is the mom. It's okay that I am a baby that knows how to drive a car, as long as I cry like one... It's funny and tiresome at the same time. I made up the rule that I only cry from Monico to Crandon on the way down, and from Monico to Rhinelander on the way back, resulting in a lot of "Are we in Monico yet?" On the positive side, she knows the name of every town between Rhinelander and Wabeno.

I missed her chatter this morning but not the crying. But just this once, for old time's sake, I cried a little when I reached Monico.

A Letter To Santa Claus

Out of the blue Lola asked what Elisabeth wanted for Christmas at dinner the other night. I told her I had no idea, we would have to ask her. I then posed the same question to Lola: "What would you like for Christmas?"

"A purple suitcase," she answered, most decidedly. Purple is her favorite color, although she just informed me that blue and pink are her favorite colors too, in addition to purple.

"Is there anything else you would like?"

"No, just a purple suitcase."

A purple suitcase it is then. I suggested she write Santa Claus a letter to inform him of her wish. She agreed that would be a good idea. I grabbed a pen and some paper and we set off to write the letter together. Since she cannot write, I proposed she'd dictate and I would transcribe.

We need to work on her small talk skills a little because all she could come up with was "Dear Santa, I would like a purple suitcase for Christmas. Love, Lola." Then again, during the busiest time of the year, I am sure Jolly Old Saint Nicholas appreciates someone who is to the point and knows what she wants.