Ella and Josh are taking a weekend trip to Charlotte this weekend, so tonight Ella got to partake in one of her most favorite activities: packing. If you know me, you will know that this is clear evidence of the power of genetics. The girl clearly got my packing gene.
She enthusiastically picked out her outfits for both days, her pajamas, her DVD selections for the car, and her favorite crayons (why the 7 she picked out of the giant box of all sizes and colors of crayons are her favorite remains a mystery). She had strong opinions on which bags and backpacks all of her things were to be packed into, and when I declared that she was probably all ready to go, she leaped up and declared "Oh, my PURSE! I need my purse!" She then selected two small rubber balls, carried them upstairs, and came back down a few minutes later with her small cat-shaped purse bulging with the two balls. Josh asked her what was in her purse and she very matter-of-factly said "Two balls." We tried very hard not to laugh.
After she finished packing her bags AND her purse, she was dancing happily around the living room, stopping to give me kisses ("I'm the kiss monster!!" was shrieked over and over), climbing on top of me to sing songs in my ear, and making me hot chocolate in her play kitchen. Josh watched her giving me so much love and asked "Are you going to miss your Mama this weekend?" to which Ella replied "Who?"
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Big girl outing
We are trying to give each of our kids some age-appropriate one-on-one time whenever we can (which is admittedly not very often). I've arranged my work schedule so that I have Thursday mornings off to be with Dash while Ella is at school. His morning nap means we don't yet have a long stretch of time that we can spend on big outings but we do take Kindermusik together on Thursdays which is really fun for him (so many drums to bang on!) and fun for me to be with other moms of little ones his age.
Even more rare are opportunities for one kid to get both parents all to themselves. Over the holiday break, I purposely sent Dash to his babysitter on a few days when Josh and I were off work so we could do some big girl trips with Ella. One morning we took a trip to Marbles Museum in Raleigh which was so much fun, my only regret was that we hadn't been there sooner. Our activities with Ella usually have to operate at the mercy of Dash's nap schedule, which means we can only do things that can be done in the 2-3 hour spurts that he is awake, so we rarely have time for an outing as far as Raleigh.
It was so lovely to let Ella guide us through the museum, stopping at any and all exhibits that looked fun for her and staying as long as she wanted. Much of the museum was of the 'Please Touch' variety so she got to pretend grocery shop, pretend fight fires, pretend take care of farm animals. In the physical activity section, she practiced her hockey skills (need improvement), surfing abilities (surprisingly good balance), and learned how to hula hoop. [An aside: a little known fact about me is that I was a Glenwood Elementary School Field Day hula hoop champ back in the day and I was able to show off my mad skillz to Ella at Marbles. She was only mildly impressed that I could walk across the lobby while keeping the hoop going].
After a busy morning at the museum, we still had time to go out for lunch. No need for a high chair or a mess of cheerios on the floor when we left. It was a fun morning for us and a fun time for our big girl without her little brother in tow.
All I have are some pictures from my phone but you'll get the idea. It was a great day.
Even more rare are opportunities for one kid to get both parents all to themselves. Over the holiday break, I purposely sent Dash to his babysitter on a few days when Josh and I were off work so we could do some big girl trips with Ella. One morning we took a trip to Marbles Museum in Raleigh which was so much fun, my only regret was that we hadn't been there sooner. Our activities with Ella usually have to operate at the mercy of Dash's nap schedule, which means we can only do things that can be done in the 2-3 hour spurts that he is awake, so we rarely have time for an outing as far as Raleigh.
It was so lovely to let Ella guide us through the museum, stopping at any and all exhibits that looked fun for her and staying as long as she wanted. Much of the museum was of the 'Please Touch' variety so she got to pretend grocery shop, pretend fight fires, pretend take care of farm animals. In the physical activity section, she practiced her hockey skills (need improvement), surfing abilities (surprisingly good balance), and learned how to hula hoop. [An aside: a little known fact about me is that I was a Glenwood Elementary School Field Day hula hoop champ back in the day and I was able to show off my mad skillz to Ella at Marbles. She was only mildly impressed that I could walk across the lobby while keeping the hoop going].
After a busy morning at the museum, we still had time to go out for lunch. No need for a high chair or a mess of cheerios on the floor when we left. It was a fun morning for us and a fun time for our big girl without her little brother in tow.
All I have are some pictures from my phone but you'll get the idea. It was a great day.
Playing on the pirate ship with Daddy
Ella LOVED all the arts and crafts stations
Pretending to plant a garden
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Meant to be a southerner
After a very mild December, we finally have some cold temperatures this week. Cold here means it's in the 20s in the morning and is only warming up to the upper 30s. This feels cold to me. We're getting the dire warnings from Ella's school to make sure to bundle up our child because the kids need exercise and thus they will still go out to play on these chilly days. I can no longer get away with not wearing a coat myself, both because I actually am finally getting cold (two years of pregnancy and nursing had erased that sensation for quite awhile) and because Ella insists that I wear the same amount of outerwear that she does. I feel kind of bad when I swap out the gloves she picks out for me, but I just can't quite bring myself to show up in public wearing two of Josh's mismatched ski and running gloves.
My feelings about this cold weather can be summed up in one word: annoyed. Finding hats, gloves, scarves, and warm coats that fit everyone? Annoying. Actually putting all those layers onto squirmy children? Annoying. Readjusting the carseat straps or stroller straps every single time we go out to account for the difference in thickness of all the many layers o'the day? Annoying. Being all bundled up and then sweating in the car when the heat finally kicks in? Annoying.
I would probably not make it one day trying to raise kids in the north. Bring back the 60 degree winter days where I don't have to remember to put undershirts on my kids (seriously, I didn't even know that kids wore undershirts until I got a bunch in a batch of hand-me-downs from a friend who grew up in the north).
Sigh. At least I can justify making hot chocolate in the morning these days.
My feelings about this cold weather can be summed up in one word: annoyed. Finding hats, gloves, scarves, and warm coats that fit everyone? Annoying. Actually putting all those layers onto squirmy children? Annoying. Readjusting the carseat straps or stroller straps every single time we go out to account for the difference in thickness of all the many layers o'the day? Annoying. Being all bundled up and then sweating in the car when the heat finally kicks in? Annoying.
I would probably not make it one day trying to raise kids in the north. Bring back the 60 degree winter days where I don't have to remember to put undershirts on my kids (seriously, I didn't even know that kids wore undershirts until I got a bunch in a batch of hand-me-downs from a friend who grew up in the north).
Sigh. At least I can justify making hot chocolate in the morning these days.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
My birthday
When I woke up on my birthday last week, we were in Asheville visiting dear friends. Josh had gotten up earlier with the kids, and he brought them in to wake me up about 8 a.m. (late, I tell you, for this mama. What a treat). Ella jumped into the bed grinning and yelling "Happy birthday, Mama!! It's your birthday!" As soon as Josh plopped Dash down in the middle of the bed, he did his usual grinning, butt-spinning, leg-kicking happy dance that he does whenever he gets to cuddle in bed. So basically, I got to wake up to a loud, giggly, sweet pile of babies on my birthday. It's hard to beat that.
But then it got even better. Ella gave me a card which she had made herself. I had of course seen the card several times earlier that week as she had come to show me each section as she colored it but that only makes it more perfect in my book.
All 4 of us were lounging in bed, enjoying the mountain sunrise scene out the window, and just generally feeling happy and cozy, when suddenly Ella leaped up and declared "I have to go get bear!" This would be her stuffed bear who I'm pretty sure came from a holiday gift basket a few years ago and I have tried to give away at least three times. I laughed and said "Of course, because that is just who we are missing." Ella looked me with all seriousness and said "Yes, because he is a Cohen, too!"
But then it got even better. Ella gave me a card which she had made herself. I had of course seen the card several times earlier that week as she had come to show me each section as she colored it but that only makes it more perfect in my book.
All 4 of us were lounging in bed, enjoying the mountain sunrise scene out the window, and just generally feeling happy and cozy, when suddenly Ella leaped up and declared "I have to go get bear!" This would be her stuffed bear who I'm pretty sure came from a holiday gift basket a few years ago and I have tried to give away at least three times. I laughed and said "Of course, because that is just who we are missing." Ella looked me with all seriousness and said "Yes, because he is a Cohen, too!"
One of the things I love about birthdays
with children is that you always have someone
on your lap to help you blow out candles.
A short Christmas tale
Ella is still at the age where everything under the Christmas tree is magical. No package of underwear or holiday-themed pencil is too small to excite her. And the actual presents? Just pure happiness. One line that stuck out in my mind on Christmas morning happened as Ella opened a copy of “Where the Wild Things Are” from Mimi and Biggie. As she pulled the book from the paper, she hugged it to her chest and declared “That’s the favorite-ist book I’ve always wanted!”
Please help me remember this moment when she's 13 and nothing we do can make her happy.
Please help me remember this moment when she's 13 and nothing we do can make her happy.
Letter to Santa
From Thanksgiving until New Year's Day, it felt like one big party at our house. We went from turkey to celebrating Dash's birthday to several weeks of non-stop Hanukkah and Christmas fun. We capped it off by celebrating my 34th birthday (wow, mommy, that is a LOT of candles!) and New Year's Eve out on the town for the first time in maybe a decade.
There's so much to say about the holidays with children. Sometime I'll try to write about how and why we celebrate both holidays this time of year, but that seems a little heavy for the first Me Hour of the new year. Thanks to my wonderful husband who got up with the kids every single morning this entire break, I am seeing 6 a.m. for the first time in awhile.
But back to Christmas... we really did spend a lot of time building up the whole idea of Christmas both as a time for giving and receiving gifts, but also to spend time with family and to do special activities. It was like a long, full, fun, and joyous month, and for that, I am very grateful.
In mid-December, I thought it might be fun to write a letter to Santa with Ella. As we usually do when we write letters together, I let her dictate what to say and then I wrote down the words for her. Capturing the words as she says them is usually priceless in the cute department and the letter to Santa was no exception. She started off by listing all the things that she wanted and I quickly realized we needed some balance. In the moment, I made up the 3 rules of a letter to Santa which I told Ella were 1) telling him some gifts she might like, 2) telling him how she had been kind and good in the past year, and 3) telling him some gifts she might like to get for other people. In typical rule-following Ella fashion, she spelled out these three things in a most adorable way.
The finished letter:
After she wrote the letter, she folded it up, taped it closed, put a stamp on it, and we put it out on the mailbox. I have heard that if you actually send a letter to the North Pole, you'll get a response back, but this letter was too cute not to save so I later took it off the mailbox and stored it in Ella's memory box. I just hope she doesn't find it until after she stops believing in Santa.
There's so much to say about the holidays with children. Sometime I'll try to write about how and why we celebrate both holidays this time of year, but that seems a little heavy for the first Me Hour of the new year. Thanks to my wonderful husband who got up with the kids every single morning this entire break, I am seeing 6 a.m. for the first time in awhile.
But back to Christmas... we really did spend a lot of time building up the whole idea of Christmas both as a time for giving and receiving gifts, but also to spend time with family and to do special activities. It was like a long, full, fun, and joyous month, and for that, I am very grateful.
In mid-December, I thought it might be fun to write a letter to Santa with Ella. As we usually do when we write letters together, I let her dictate what to say and then I wrote down the words for her. Capturing the words as she says them is usually priceless in the cute department and the letter to Santa was no exception. She started off by listing all the things that she wanted and I quickly realized we needed some balance. In the moment, I made up the 3 rules of a letter to Santa which I told Ella were 1) telling him some gifts she might like, 2) telling him how she had been kind and good in the past year, and 3) telling him some gifts she might like to get for other people. In typical rule-following Ella fashion, she spelled out these three things in a most adorable way.
The finished letter:
After she wrote the letter, she folded it up, taped it closed, put a stamp on it, and we put it out on the mailbox. I have heard that if you actually send a letter to the North Pole, you'll get a response back, but this letter was too cute not to save so I later took it off the mailbox and stored it in Ella's memory box. I just hope she doesn't find it until after she stops believing in Santa.
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