Audrey's check-up

Audrey had her 3-year-old check-up today. She was waaaay off the charts in terms of all the developmental stuff. Knows a few colors? Can count to three? Can pedal a tricycle? Um...yeah. She measured 38.5 inches tall (95th percentile for height), 29 pounds (50th for weight) and 49 centimeters around her head. No shots (yay!) but she has a lab order for routine blood work (boo!).

1000

Welcome to my 1000th post. It might be hard to tell from where you're sitting, but over here there are balloons falling, bands playing, and legions cheering.

Audrey is three years old

Happy third birthday to Audrey!

At 6 a.m. I wake up and tiptoe out to the kitchen. A second later I hear a bedroom door open and little feet running. It’s one of my favorite sounds: it’s the sound of Audrey starting her day. She appears around the corner in her princess nightgown, blonde hair flying and falling in her face. She pushes it out of her eyes and blinks up at me, smiling sweetly. She always wants to cuddle when she first wakes up. “I need a snug,” she’ll sometimes say. Today I pick her up before she has the chance to say anything and I sing “happy birthday” softly in her ear. She wraps her arms around me, gently pats my back and says, “Mama, Mama.”

As a baby, Audrey was the least cuddly of my three. She would barely tolerate storytime, let alone hugs and kisses. Too busy! She always wanted to get down and crawl or walk away. Now that she’s older, the balance has shifted and Audrey wants more affection than I have time to give. Maybe it’s a reaction to being the middle child? She wants to be in my lap, on my back, holding hands as much as possible. She still takes her goodbye hugs and kisses very seriously—not just with me, but with everyone. When Robert is heading out the door in the morning, she will run after him screaming frantically, “What about hugs and kisses?!” She even offers goodbye kisses to people she’s just met, winning hearts wherever she goes.

Audrey also wows us on a daily basis with her language and accomplishments. I don’t spend much time deliberately teaching her, but she can identify most of the letters, draw an A, do puzzles and games meant for older kids, color in the lines (pretty much), and play a mean game of “sneak up yell boo be an animal guess what you are”—the charades-type game Maggie invented years ago. Audrey might say something like, “I’m green, I swim in the pond, I sit on lily pads, I say ribbit-ribbit, I like to hop…I’m a frog!” (She gets so excited she often forget to let us guess the answer, and just tells us.) She seems to know the words for just about everything. At daycamp yesterday, another mom asked which kid was mine. I pointed to Audrey, and she said, “Oh her—she explains herself very well.” Not a bad way to describe Audrey.

She is loving daycamp so far. After just a little bit of anxiety the first morning, she has been excited about it all the time. She took her first swim lesson on Tuesday and did great. (I hung around long enough to observe both girls at their lessons.) She looked confident in the water and like she was having a lot of fun. She says her favorite parts at daycamp are drinking juice and cleaning up!

Her other favorite things to do are read books, drink warm milk, eat snacks (much preferred to actual meals), watch TV, play an Elmo computer game, color with markers, make collages, help me cook, play with water, ride swings at the park, pick flowers and leaves, look at bugs, and play dress-up and pretend games with Maggie. Maggie and Audrey are the best of friends. They argue and bother each other sometimes, but most of the time they get along amazingly well. They are always building forts, playing princess, playing board games, calling each other on pretend phones, digging in the backyard, playing hide and seek, whispering secrets in each other’s ears, and looking at books together. Audrey doesn’t have as close a relationship with Jane; it’s more about mutual tolerance. But I’m sure they’ll be closer as they get older.

I’m fascinated by Audrey’s personality. She’s smart, stubborn, funny and not nearly as emotional as her big sister, yet still very clingy at times. Sometimes she says she’s feeling shy, which means she wants to hide behind me or in my arms and not have to deal with anything. She’s harder to discipline than Maggie, mainly because she doesn’t seem to care about punishment as much. She often takes a time-out with a laugh, or just doesn’t seem to take my words seriously. Sometimes I wonder, though, how much of that is a sort of mechanism for operating in the family. It’s interesting having three kids and watching how they develop into their personalities and figure out how to get attention and fit in with everyone else.

Audrey loves to have my undivided attention, whether it’s to read books or play a game or just talk. Sometimes at night or in the car, she tells me stories. Here’s an example—she’s dictating this to me right now: “Once upon a time, there was a pony. It has all kinds of colors, but only pink. Pinkie Pie is her name. She was finding a secret place. I didn’t know where the secret place was. It’s very tricky. There was a purple pony walking through the meadow. Then walk away home. I think that’s all my story.”

Robert and I are starting a Graff Girl tradition, where we take each girl out for a special activity by herself for her birthday. We inadvertently started this for Maggie’s third when we took her to Disneyland. And I’ve come to realize that Robert and I haven’t done something alone with Audrey since she was a little baby! She is already very excited about getting to do a special outing with no sisters. She’s picked the local kids’ museum and lunch out, and we’re planning to do it this weekend. I’m sure Audrey will bask in the attention, and I’m looking forward to enjoying her company without the usual chaos.

Tonight we’re celebrating Audrey’s birthday over dinner—she requested pizza that Daddy brings home in the box, so that’s what she’s getting. I set up a few party supplies in the dining room to make it look fun, and she’s getting one last gift from us—an inflatable bouncy pony. Right now the room is ready and we’re just waiting for Robert and the pizza. Audrey is excited and keeps running into the dining room to peek at the decorations. According to Audrey, the best thing about birthdays is getting to eat cake and open presents. I think the best thing is the opportunity to focus my thoughts on one kid at a time, think about what makes her unique, and celebrate that wonderfulness.

Three days old:

Three years old:

Audrey quotes

I'm snug as a rug bug.

Thank you really much!

It would be my pleasure. (with a fancy bow)

I'm not hurting Janey anymore. I'm so proud of me.

(While playing animal doctor...) You're the sick donkey. I'm giving you a check-up. Hold on. I have to call the schedule center. (she was so adorable I had to pick her up and give her a squeeze, at which point she said...) Put the doctor down!

New recipe

The girls and I invented a new snack yesterday: peanut butter banana s'mores.

Yum.

Daycamp

Today, Maggie and Audrey started summer daycamp (three days a week). Audrey was pretty anxious about it last night and this morning and kept saying she didn't want to go. I was getting anxious too and sad about parting from Audrey. But in recent weeks, she has been getting bored at home and she seemed like she really wanted and needed more stimulation. So we decided to send her to camp, and I'm glad we did.

Because she loved, loved, loved it! When I picked her up she didn't want to leave, and she gave me a blow by blow report of her day, which included gymnastics, songs, crafts, snacks, playground time and lunch (from her new lunchbox, a birthday gift from us--see photo below). She said her favorite parts were painting and cleaning up.

It was a bit painful letting go of my Audrey, sending her off to teachers and friends and activities that I won't really be a part of. It was a little too quiet at home and I found myself missing her voice. But I'm glad she had so much fun, and I'm proud of her for being so confident and doing well her first day away from home. And, the time with only Jane was nice for me--I got a bunch of stuff done and was able to focus on Janey a bit more than usual.

Tomorrow both girls will be taking their first-ever swim lessons. They are so excited!

Birthday party

We celebrated Jane's first and Audrey's third birthdays with a big party in the backyard. We had more than 40 friends and relatives here for a cupcake-themed party all done up in pink and yellow, with a cupcake pinata, a cupcake craft activity and (obviously) lots of cupcakes to eat! Audrey says her favorite thing about the party was when she got to eat her own special cupcake. Jane seemed to like the frosting best.

It was fun and everyone seemed to have a good time, but I am exhausted! I had so many ideas and ended up not being able to execute on all of them, but even still I had many late nights and frantic moments getting everything ready. But in the end it was worth it (I think) and Audrey and Jane had fun, felt special, and enjoyed their day.

Jane's birthday portraits

Splash

At playgroup yesterday, Jane had her first experience in a wading pool. She loved it!

Jane is one year old!

Are you as stunned as I am? My little Jane, my youngest, my baby--is ONE YEAR OLD today! 

More photos and a long, slightly weepy post are up over at Jane's website.

California Adventure

Go Lakers!

Yesterday at Huntington Gardens

It begins

Maggie: You don't look fancy or cool, Mom.

She was right; I was wearing pink foam sunglasses and dancing a jig in my latest attempt to distract the girls out of an escalating altercation.

But still...I would have expected criticism from a teenage daughter, even a preteen. But from a 4-year-old?! Shouldn't I still be a hero???

Priorities

Maggie/Audrey: We're bored. What can we do?

Me: Let's make cupcakes!

Maggie/Audrey: Hooray!

Maggie/Audrey: Can we eat them now?

Me: No, you can have them for dessert after dinner.

Maggie/Audrey: Hooray! What's for dinner?

 .....?

oops. forgot to make dinner. or plan dinner. or remember dinner.

cupcakes for dinner?

Another still life by Maggie

Maggie's graduation speech

Preschool graduation

Maggie is a preschool graduate! I originally thought the idea of preschool graduation was a bit silly, but I admit that I got caught up in the excitement and thoroughly enjoyed it. Just seeing how proud Maggie and her classmates were in their little caps and gowns, and how seriously they took the event, made me a believer. Maggie stood on stage with the entire school to perform several songs and dances, including the macarena (which she is an expert at). When it was her turn, she came up on stage all by herself and said her little speech very clearly into the microphone. 

Maggie was very proud to have eight people in attendance (us and her grandparents). Afterwards at the party, she got a lot of nice gifts from her teachers and grandmas. Robert and I gave her a graduate teddy bear, a watch (her first!) and a card that plays the song "Celebration."

Maggie says her favorite part of graduation was lunch, and singing the songs on stage. Audrey's favorite part was sneaking a snack with Daddy. My favorite part was hearing Maggie give her speech, and seeing her confidence as she marched on and off the stage. 

I'm a little sad to say goodbye to Maggie's preschool days. It's weird to think I'll never pick her up there again. But since Audrey is starting at the same preschool in September, I can't feel too sad about it. I'll still be there plenty, and Maggie will get to visit as often as she wants. And, of course, she and I are both looking forward to all the new experiences to come at elementary school.

Status report

Maggie: At her last week of preschool. She "graduates" on Thursday! Moody. Brilliant. Looking forward to summer day camp at the YMCA.

Audrey: Experiencing a potty training relapse. Able to identify more animals than I can, including macaroni penguins and whooping cranes.

Jane: Eight days away from her first birthday! Crawling from room to room. Utterly and completely adorable.

Robert: Sick with the flu or something. Quarantined. Surrounded by gatorade, pop tarts and magazines.

Deborah: Working my way through a box of See's candy. Sore muscles from too much yard work on Saturday. Overwhelming list of things I want to accomplish before A & J's combined birthday party less than two weeks away. Exhausted.

Making lemonade

Maggie stayed home from preschool today. She usually stays home one day a week, and since she has a mild cold, this seemed like a good day for it. Audrey and Jane have the cold too: Jane's is on top of teething (ugh) and Audrey's has turned into an ear infection (ugh ugh). So there's been a lot of grouchiness and misery as we slog through the day. 

A quick trip to Trader Joe's for milk and edible bribes was a harrowing adventure, with Audrey in full-blown tears by the end. When we were checking out, the clerk sent out some sort of bat signal and a manager and another clerk swooped down to bag our groceries triple-time and usher us out the door. Sometimes the spectacle is worth it.

(We also got extra attention thanks to the girls' Lakers shirts. When an employee said, "All right Lakers! Now that's a cool mom!" Maggie beamed at him and said "Go Lakers go!" Everyone in the vicinity laughed and cheered for the Lakers.)

We came home; Audrey and Jane napped; the afternoon has been better. Maggie was gazing out the window at our neighbor's lemon tree and asked "Can we make lemonade?" One of my favorite things about being a stay-at-home-mom is that I can so often answer "Yes!" at times like this. We went out to pick lemons from our (very nice) neighbor's tree, squeezed them, added water and sugar, and mixed up a (very strong) pitcher of fresh lemonade. I didn't realize how strong it was until I tasted it--whoa! I offered to add more water and sugar, but the girls said they liked it as it was.

A royal picture

I've been told that these fine personages are, from left to right, the queen, the king, the witch and the princess. Notice the battlements and flags of the castle rising above.

An hour well spent

A long four days

Robert has been out of town on a business trip since Thursday. I'm spoiled; he almost never travels, so I'm really not used to him being away. My parents have helped out, but it's still been a really, really, really long four days and three nights of single parenting. Low points included night before last when it took me a solid two hours to get all three girls bathed, PJ'd, and more or less into bed, as well as this morning, which began at 4:00 a.m.

I will admit that we've had a lot of fun, though, especially today. I pulled the girls away from the TV this morning to take an hour-long nature walk around the neighborhood (they collected leaves and twigs and things in bags). Then we spent the rest of the morning doing yard work, including planting a sunflower fort in the back corner of the yard. To do this, we marked off a 6-foot square and planted seeds for mammoth sunflowers that are supposed to grow to 10 feet tall. If it works, the sunflowers will sort of lean into each other and create a fort with an empty center where the girls can hide. I'll keep you updated on whether anything like this actually materializes! But at least the girls had fun planting it. Thank goodness for my mom, who actually knows a lot about gardening and coached us through it (not to mention showed up with tools and did a big chunk of the work).

I guess a small, nice thing about single parenting is being able to decide on the spot what I want the girls and myself to do, without taking anyone else into account. Like right now, I decided we should go to the playground. So...off we go!