Someone was a wee bit excited...

When we came home from shopping for her ballet clothes and I told her that yes, she could put on the froufy pink tutu we bought for her. She saw it almost immediately when we entered the store, and while it's not really appropriate attire for her class, she really, really wanted it, and I figured it would be good for at-home play.

Readers who have been around a while may remember the purple tutu dress she wore pretty much all day every day last winter. It finally bit the dust this spring after a few too many potty accidents in it. And she had pretty much worn the thing out - I had resewn various parts of it several times. Joe's mom had bought it for her, and she grilled me about it the last time she was over here babysitting the kids. I explained truthfully, but between the language barrier and lack of trust, I'm still not sure whether she understands and/or believes me. She's planning on getting Julie some kind of replacement for her birthday in a few weeks, but I sort of figure the more of these play clothes the better for sharing with friends and sisters.

I need to dig out the other play clothes that I put away months ago when we were struggling with getting Julie to pick up after herself. We still struggle with that, but it's time for some of those things to come back out into the rotation.

But back to ballet. I went ahead and signed Julie up for those lessons, and I think I am almost excited (and nervous) about them as she is. Yes, I will be living vicariously through my four-year-old to some extent, but only as long as she enjoys it. I paid for the whole year of lessons up front, including the shoes, costume and recital fees - all adding up to just over $650. I was careful to check about refunds in case it doesn't work out, and at least if Julie doesn't like it, we can have credit for future classes (like maybe for Sophie to try). Between that check, and the additional chunk I put down this morning for leotard, tights, practice skirt, cute little dance bag and for course the tutu, I think that's more than a generous birthday present, even if it is a little early. Yipes! They weren't kidding when they said kids are expensive.

Also, we signed Sophie up for ECFE classes, which is another, if smaller, chunk of change. But we did those classes with Julie from even earlier on, and they were great. Sophie needs a little more socialization with people her own age, and it's good to have an outlet for meeting other moms and getting advice. I may even look into a music class for Sophie if I can find one on another morning while Julie is in school. Sophie loves to dance. I have a video I took last week that I keep meaning to put up on You-Tube...

Whew! I just had to share all that. I have another post in my head waiting to get typed out as well. I meant to put it up last night, but didn't have time after my knitting class and some other household business that had to be taken care of. It involves a finished object, and it's probably not the finished object you would be expecting if you're keeping score at home.

Blankie...Sunday

Dear Loyal Readers, sorry for the delay in posts. You've heard the excuses a million times already. Let's get to the good stuff.

I'm not going to bother posting laid-flat pictures or numbers this week. I've been pre-occupied with other projects including that damned blue stripe sweater and raising kids. Instead, I took some fun pictures this morning with the girls.





I hope that will please both the blankie fans and the cute kid fans at least till Friday.

Here are some other photos that have been accumulating on the camera for the last few days:

Sophie love using a marker, and Post-It notes are nice because they don't slide around on the tray.


Julie doodling and cutting with safety scissors.



The two of them were keeping busy while I baked these:

Speaking of gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, thanks everyone for their advice on recipes. These turned out really well - they are the recipe from Bob's Red Mill. A casual taster wouldn't know the difference between these and the Tollhouse version. I am a bit of a chocolate chip cookie snob, though, and although I can taste a slight difference, these are good enough to satisfy the craving, and that's pretty darn good. The only problem is that they seem to make everyone who eats them a bit gassy. I still may try one or two more recipes, including the one that loyal reader Andrea suggested (Thanks!)

The other day we were playing upstairs and someone pulled out this sheep puppet from the toy bin. For some reason, it reminded me of Franklin's Dolores, and although mine doesn't have the cat's-eye glasses or the constant cigarette hanging from her mouth, I decided to go ahead and pose it with some balls of sock yarn as a little tribute. Only people who read The Panopticon will get the joke. If you don't read Franklin's blog, you should. He's great. And, by the way, yes I do realize that I have a sickness with the sock yarn. This is only the stuff that is already wound in balls.


Here's Sophie drawing again. She loves the Magna-Doodle as well as the Aqua-Doodle, which we keep in the basement.


Finally, if you've made it all the way to the bottom, I'm going to share with you another reason why I haven't been posting. It's because I've been variously annoyed, freaked-out, shocked, and otherwise irritated by what feels like just about everyone with whom I've come into contact this week. To a great extent, it is my own attitude that is causing this phenomenon, but in some cases it is the other people involved. I have been so tempted to tell stories on them, but that would just not be nice. Stories of the variety that start "Oh, my gawd, you will not believe what so-and-so did today." I've been treating poor Joe to a few of them, which helps. But when you're thinking nasty gossipy thoughts, best to keep them close.

Okay, everyone! Carry on! I'm going to try to post some actual progress on the blue-striped monster tomorrow. I'm still trying to get an acceptable front finished, so that I can move on to sleeve island. Yurg!

My Melting Heart

Warning, this is a sappy little post.

Sophie is always so cute and peaceful when I finally get her to sleep, it makes me sad to put her down in her crib and walk away. She gets so limp and snuggly and generally delicious, I feel like my heart is going to melt down to a little puddle of love. So today I took the camera upstairs and caught the moment, crusty post-lunch cheeks and all.



She does this little thing when I am nursing her to sleep. It won't touch you the way that it touches me, because she is my child and I am the one who gets to experience it every day and have come to anticipate and love it. But I will tell you anyway, and maybe you will understand. I nurse her with one breast until I feel she has finished, then I gently de-latch her. Sometimes, she is asleep enough that she limply parts and so I hold her a few moments more and enjoy her little sleeping self before I put her down. Other times, and this is the cute part, she is too sleepy to cry, but she registers her disapproval by kicking her little feet in a floppy up-and-let-them-drop kind of swing that lets me know she wants some more and so I switch sides and she latches on and we repeat the whole process a few minutes later. I know. You have to be there to get it. But I SO get it, and I don't want to lose that moment to the muddy waters of memory, not any time soon at least.

Speaking of bed time, tonight was my turn to put Julie to bed. Joe and I take turns putting each girl to sleep with their own little routines, and Julie's routine involves stories and cuddles and tucking in and turning off the light. After I finished reading her allotted three stories tonight, I smothered her with hugs and kisses and then I asked her if I could have a kiss back. Julie said "Wait. I'm going to give you a kiss on your back." Then she proceeded to stand up in the bed, lean over and kiss my back (I was still in doggie position from having playfully hugged and kissed her all over her face.) Then, she lay back down and let me tuck her in one last time before I got up and turned off her Hello Kitty lamp and left the room. My girl, she can drive me crazy with her endless questions and her insanely independent streak and her fickle moods. But she does little things like that all the time and they melt my icy little heart.