Chocolate Chip Rocket Ship

Jen,
I was LITERALLY crying with LAUGHTER at YOUR DAUGHTER. These are my comments:

1. She is a Thespian of the highest order
2. She could with scat Van Morrison
2A. Or wrap with PitBull
3. How is she soooooo verbal?
4. Did I see it correctly that you were trying so hard not to laugh that you had to cover your face?
5. Somebody TURN EVA OFF. I can see how she is NICKY NICKY NICKY. Only he isn't that stream of consciousness.
6. She "sings" like a Mcgill. Sorta long on the vowel, light on the tone or what we refer to in the biz as "musical intonation"
7. Her riff could be compared to Faulkner or, alternatively, James Joyce
8. Were she a poet, she would be the William Carlos Williams of her generation
9 . Were she a food dish she would be chicken fricase (sp?)
10. Were she a painting, she would be Munch's The Scream
11. Were she a movie she would be UP
12. And so on, and so on, forsooth and lack a day.

Jen and Jeff, what a wonderful child you have!!!!! She is precious adorable and an inspiration to all of us.

Love
Proud Auntie Ginn

Blessed

We've had a flu epidemic at our household for the past two weeks. it's been pretty brutal here with the stomach flu, hard core fever body ache flu, then all of the above morphed into a sinus infection for me and an ear/sinus infection for Eva. We're hurtin' big time. And my parenting has been at an all time low since most of the time I've been solo with Jeff out of town or at work. Yeah, that one hour of television per day is so out the window and my patience has been tested as I tried to nurse a cranky, demanding toddler while I was sick too.

That said, Eva's busted out with some pretty sweet phrases that have helped me hold on to what's most important: our love for each other. We've made a tradition of saying Grace every night that has morphed into prayers. This is the time when we try to think of people that we love who need our prayers and when we also give thanks for what we are grateful for. At a certain point, I turn to Eva and ask her what she is thankful for. Without skipping a beat, she always says, "Loch." Sometimes she adds "Loch, Nina, and Jon" (our good friends). Tonight she added, "I want to bless my love. My love for my family. I know that my mommy and daddy love me." It made me so happy I wanted to cry.

Then, when I put her to bed tonight, we were looking at her new sunshine clock. It's a clock that shines bright when she's supposed to get up and then shines blue at night when she is supposed to be sleeping. As I was holding Eva in my arms and she was gazing at the clock and said, "Momma, it's beautiful. My sunshine clock is so beautiful. (pause). It must be a momma." Both Jeff and I looked at her curiously and then I asked her, "Why do you think that the moon is a momma, Eva?" She thought for a moment and said, "Because she protects people and takes care of them."

Moments like this really make it all worth it, don't they? I definitely feel blessed tonight. Flu, and all.

Santa

Fortunately, the actual picture of Santa is MUCH better! She got her scary smile out of the way with the out takes! Once I scan it, I'll post to this blog entry.

Before our Santa excursion today, I talked to Eva about the whole Santa thing and how it works. You go visit him at a mall (totally random, isn't it?), sit on a strange man's lap (weird, I know...) and then ask him what you want for Christmas (this makes complete sense). This year Eva had no stranger danger and excitedly went right up to Santa, sat on his lap, and even SMILED for the picture! Our little girl is a big smiler but never on cue. And especially not for cameras. She's always doing the opposite thing that you want. So, when she smiled, I almost fainted out of delight. And it was a genuine smile! She LOVED Santa! Last year she seriously thrashed and kicked Santa so violently the assistant quickly removed her immediately and asked that we take a family photo instead.

The best part of the whole Santa excursion was her wish list. I'm so in love with this age because she really isn't materialistic yet. Her wants and needs are so simple.She asked for a Christmas tree (which she already has), Christmas lights (ditto!), a pumpkin (Ding, Ding! Still outside on our doorstep), a blue balloon (OK, that one we'll have to spring for), and a Christmas Cupcake. How sweet is that? The list really makes so much sense if you know her well. Right now, at this moment, those are her favorite things in the world. I love this girl!

Christmas Tree Farm

On Thanksgiving weekend we got our tree groove on and went searching for the perfect Christmas tree for the year. The weather was bright, sunny and crisp, a rare treat in the Northwest this time of year. We had a great time with our friends, Jon, Nina and Loch. Eva and Loch had a great time chasing each other through the tree farm. Santa's elves would be proud.

Poultry Predictor Race in Redmond, WA

Last weekend my friend, Nina, and I ran the four mile Poultry Predictor Race in Redmond, WA. The course was a beautiful four mile out and back course that had a 300 foot elevation gain for the first two miles. The goal of the race is to predict your finishing time with accuracy. Watches weren't allowed on the course and the top five winners walked away with frozen turkeys.

The Poultry Predictor is a small local race with less than a hundred participants in a beautiful picturesque pastoral setting. Jeff arrived at the finish with Eva in tow and our little two year old quickly surveyed the scene and declared, "There's no bounce house." This statement confirmed our suspicions that her life is just one bounce house after another. She lives a pretty sweet life.

Eva's reality is also surrounded by all things athletic and we're beginning to see the residual effects of her sporty introduction to life. She runs laps around our kitchen island for her imaginative play and then does push ups, squats, and bicep curls in between. We've got it on film and it's really hilarious. I love seeing her at the finish line of races and look forward to seeing what kind of passion she will find in life that will fuel her in the way that Stroller Strides and running does for me.

Halloween 2011

Halloween exceeded all of my expectations this year, and that says a lot! We went to half a dozen pumpkin patches in our neighborhood and enjoyed all of the harvest rituals surrounding picking out the perfect pumpkin. I got not just one, but two costumes for Eva at the local consignment store costume shop day. Costume number #1 got the first go around at the Stroller Strides Halloween evening workout. We tossed pumpkins together and did a booty kickin' workout in full regalia. You gotta watch out for those crazy suburban moms gone wild. Isn't there already a show about that?

And if that doesn't sound like enough hype, just you wait. We started the day of Halloween out in full costume again for the Stroller Strides workout followed by a parade with my friend, Jenn's program, Barefoot Enrichment. The kids paraded around the Village Green and had a grand ole time. It was pretty awesome. After lunch and nap, we really hit the party hard this time by getting ready for trick-or-treating. Our neighborhood has more children than adults and you could really tell that night by the throngs of people. It was complete madness. And our daughter couldn't get enough of it.

To say that Eva was excited about Halloween is an understatement. Between preschool and Stroller Strides, her older friends had clued her in on the holiday and all of its sugary splendor. Now, every kid has unique qualities and one of Eva's distinct personality traits is her excitability. And boy oh boy was she excited! Once she hit the first house, rang the doorbell, and got the sugary booty, she was hooked! She took off to the next house before you could say "sugar crash;" you could hear her cow bell ring several blocks away. People were so taken by our little cow they asked to take pictures. You know you've got a good costume on your hands when people stuff dollar bills in your pocket as you walk by! I had so much fun watching Eva get taken by the moment. I later decided that it was way better than experiencing the joy first hand, which is saying a lot!

I look forward to many more Halloweens to come!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to pick our our pumpkin last Saturday with our friends, Joel and Julie and their daughter, Zula. Our favorite place to pick out pumpkins is Jubilee Farms. They have a pumpkin catapult, hay rack rides, as well as the requisite hot cider and hot tamales to make the experience even sweeter. Even though the weather was a bit grim, we had a wonderful time. Can't wait to go back again!

Preschool Update

Parenting is a series of moments, a pastiche of images, feelings. Just when you get a thumbprint, a sense of what's going on, it's gone and you are on to the next thing.

Eva's transition to preschool was definitely a moment for us. Eva's response against going was so strong. She would cry and cling to me like a spider monkey for an hour before school drop off and then again for several hours after. She is not a clingy kid so her response really made me question the decision, especially since she is only two and a half. To make matters worse, once she arrived in school, she would glom on to the teacher and cry. It was complete agony to watch her on the t.v. camera and not be able to comfort her. Since she is so verbal she also helped her case by saying, "I don't want to go to school" throughout the day and night leading up to the next day's drop off.

Eva's teacher, Mrs. Bedhi, was great in giving suggestions to help ease Eva into the routine and transition. First off, she allowed me to walk her in to school and pick her up, which helped tremendously. Also, Eva took her blanket and Blue Bear into class, which also helped. One day I even got to stay with her in school for circle time when she had a doctor's appointment. All of these subtle gestures helped show Eva the integration of her life at home with her new school and friends. Slowly but surely by the month end Eva has transitioned to preschool well and now even looks forward to the experience.

One day during a Stroller Strides workout a friend asked me how the transition was going for Eva. I relayed all of the grim details and emphasized how much we were doubting the decision wondering if we pushed too soon. My wise friend of two kids said, "You should try to enjoy this moment. It won't last long. Before you know it she'll be loving school and won't miss you at all." There is so much truth to this statement. When I was in the thick of the experience, I just felt Eva's pain and it literally made me heartsick. I had stomach aches, headaches, couldn't concentrate, the whole bit. Now that she's on the other side of the preschool threshold, I already miss her missing me (if that makes any sense). Don't get me wrong: I want her to be confidant and grow by experiencing things without me. But that moment where she lingered will never be there again. She is a preschooler. She has friends that I don't know and gets invited to birthday parties with parents that I've never met. I think we feel this transition so viscerally because it is a big deal, especially if we have stayed home with them from the beginning. We've navigated the world together for the first couple of years and I've had the privilege of always being by her side.

To this day, Eva still asks me every Tuesday and Thursday when I drop her off,"You're coming back to pick me up, right?" Every time she asks that question she tugs my heart a bit. I always reply enthusiastically, "Of course, Eva! I'll always come back." She smiles and then moves on to the next question or song.

Suncadia: First Family Vacation

September was a month of many firsts for us. We had our first family vacation together the week after Labor Day weekend in Suncadia, a resort just an hour away from our home. Since our respective families live so far away, we end up spending most of our vacation time visiting relatives. Jeff and I decided that it was time to start to create our own family memories by dedicating one time a year to our family.

Since Eva isn't in grade school yet, we were able to take advantage of the nearly vacant resort area just a stone's throw from our home. Suncadia is pretty famous for being a kid friendly place to visit and the resort sure lived up to its name. We went swimming every day, cycled to the local parks, and also went on kid friendly mile long hikes. When Eva was napping, Jeff and I traded off going trail running or mountain biking. We were in heaven and so was Eva. She got to go on a paddle boat for the first time, wade through a mountain stream, and experience the thrill of swimming in a pool outdoors. We also didn't have the stress of dining out for every meal since we had a kitchen in our room, another perk of this particular resort. We hope to be back for a weekend trip in the winter when the mountains are covered with snow and the cross country ski trails are ready.

Eva's First Day of School

We had a big surprise the last week of August. I went to Eva's Open House for her preschool and was completely taken aback to learn that the teacher wanted Eva to start the next day. We had looked into preschools back in February when we needed childcare for Eva. Most of the preschools here start at two years, six months of age and you have to be potty trained. We put Eva on the wait list at Lakeside Montessori to start in November of 2011, which is when she will hit that magic number. At the open house, her teacher, Mrs. Bedi, wanted Eva to start right away rather than wait until November. Having been a teacher, I completely understood her rationale but I just wasn't quite ready to let her go. Preschool is such a big step for kids. So, I tried to put my heart aside and Eva's needs first and scrambled to find the list of essentials for preschool that afternoon.

We prepped Eva to the best of her ability that evening. I described the process to her so that she knew what to expect. "We pull up to the circle and the teacher will take you out of the car and walk you into school. Then, mommy will come back to pick you up in a few hours." Right away she knew something was up and asked, "You're not coming in?" When I said no, she just wasn't having it. The fateful day was full of tears on both ends for mom and Eva. She cried most of the time and asked the teacher to hold her. We were on vacation the first week of September so it was like starting all over again this week. The jury is still out as to whether it was the right decision. I keep telling myself, "it's only for a few hours a week" but I wonder if she's still too young. Let's hope it goes better this week!

Van Eva

Skuber-Drivers, Eaches, and Big Hitches

Jeff here:

Jen and I share an appreciation for language and proper (or intentional improper) use of words. Of course, we try to impart those same values in Eva.

Eva quickly observed what it takes to fix things which break or stop working. If a screw needs tightening, one simply needs the right tools. Daddy has tools, and so does Eva. Like any good tool set, Eva’s has a hammer, bolts and nuts, a hack saw, a square, and of course her very own skuber-driver. It's a Phillips head skuber-driver, though she is not yet familiar with that level of detail. I am often greeted by Eva, standing at the top of the stairs, clammering "Daddy! It's broken! It's broken Daddy! Got my skuber-driver Daddy! Let's fix it Daddy!" (As a side note, the reader should be aware that I am not a big fan of exclamation marks. I think they are way over used, especially with the advent of email and by the younger generations. That said, every one of those in the above statement is fitting. Every single one!) I am most impressed with what Eva can "fix" with that little plastic toy tool: dead batteries, broken highchairs which are not really broken, plastic spatulas that have no screws. All can be repaired with her skuber-driver.

The one thing for which her skuber-driver is useless is peeling, cutting or eating eaches. She loves eaches, especially the ripe juicy ones. She is a big fan of each yogurt, sometimes settling for blueberry if the each is all gone. Eva sometimes confuses eaches with nectarines.

Eva also loves spending time outside playing with her newest toy -- a T-Ball set, complete with a big fat Bam-Bam bat and a large whiffle ball. When she swings and makes solid contact, knocking the ball off the T, she likes to yell a congrats to herself: "That's a abig hitch! I got a really big hitch!" And yes, the exclamation marks fit the occasion.


Skuber-Driver




Eaches




Big Hitch!




And let's not forget exercising on the "Hin-Up Jar"

Fourth of July In Sammamish

We joke sometimes that Eva's life is just one bounce house after another, and, well, there's a lot of truth to that statement. On 4th of July Eva coasted from one bounce house to another at the Issaquah 4th of July celebration in the morning. She took a nap and recharged her battery only to experience the Sammamish 4th of July festivities with a park full of bounce houses. She had a great time taking in all the activities of the festivals with her friend, Loch, who is always by her side if fun is to be had.

Berry Picking

A Northwest tradition this time of year is to go berry picking with your little ones. Half the fun is eating the berries along the way! We had a picnic afterwards and enjoyed the fruits of our labor (couldn't resist inserting the cliched phrase here!). We made homemade strawberry shortcake that evening. It was berry, berry, fun. :)