The Apple and the Tree, or What Goes Around?
I came home from a reasonably low key day at work today, caught up with our nanny before she left, nursed Noella, played with Mariel, and eventually made it upstairs to put my work bag away.  Hudson had puked all over the floor in my bedroom (red and chunky) so I was less than pleased.  I went into the bathroom to find a roll of paper towels and cleaner, and discovered that Mariel had been in there and left clothes on the floor.  When I went into Mariel's room, I found crayons, a coloring book, and a large patch of newly blue carpet (our carpets, so you know, are beige). 
I called the nanny to find out if Hudson had been given anything to eat during the day (it turns out that while kids napped and she cleaned the kitchen, the dog may have snatched a grape or two from their lunch leftovers- not enough to be poisonous, but apparently enough to come back up).   I also (oh so casually, as I am sure you can imagine) mentioned the crayon colored carpet.  Mariel had asked the nanny if she could go upstairs to color in her room, away from Noella and the nanny's son.  Since Mariel was quite emphatic that this was normal and allowed, is often allowed to have quiet play in her room on her own, is generally pretty good, and (as the last post reveals) is big into coloring, the nanny quite reasonable let her go.  This was NOT normal, has NEVER been allowed, and apparently the freedom just got away from her. 
I was pretty mad, but can't help but recall some stories from my childhood... such as when I convinced a babysitter that the pet guinea pig was always allowed to roam the house freely.  Lets just say the guinea pig took advantage of the newfound liberty to find a place to hide.  And stay hidden.  Bye Bye guinea pig! 
I told this story to Mariel at dinner, who wisely noted that this was not a good thing for a kid to do and "you were just like me, Mom."  
I consider myself warned.
PS- Thanks to Patrick, the carpets are all clean again.  Ready for tomorrow.

A budding Picasso

We are in a new artistic phase- it happened very suddenly.  Mariel is spending more time in her own made up world these days without needing our interaction as much.  Her drawings and "writing" have become much more deliberate and planned out and sometimes have elaborate story lines to go with them.  She tells me that the top picture is one of the sky and the bottom picture is one of a dinosaur. 

Conversation with Mariel
At dinner, Patrick commented that our neighbor, Cassie, was in the paper for her role on the high school softball team. Since Cassie is Mariel's hero, the conversation quickly turned to the idea that if Cassie plays on the "big girl" team, Mariel wants to play on a "little girl" team.
Me: Well, you could maybe play Little League in a few years. Or T ball. T ball is for little girls.
Mariel: T ball? I could play that.
Me: Sure. I don't know how old you have to be, but we can find out.
Mariel: When do I get the cups for the tea?
Maybe we are not talking about the same thing here...

Mariel's first day of pre-school, 2009.

She's all grown up. She has been excited to go back for weeks, so this was a big day! It will be strange for me, as the nanny will usually be the one taking her and picking her up. Major control issues at play here, and I am not used to relinquishing any of my control over my kids... or, well, anything. So, we'll see how I do.

The nanny asked (as we listened to another preschooler scream non-stop for the entire 10 minutes we were on the school campus) if Mariel ever had trouble being dropped off at school. I chuckled a little. Does Mariel have problems being dropped off anywhere? Going with someone else? Um, no. She's pretty much ready to be as independent as she can get away with (at the ripe old age of 3 and a half, as of tomorrow).

Oh right, so I guess I probably do need to work on this letting go problem of mine...

Post Toronto
I made it home yesterday, surprisingly tired after my "holiday." Something about having early morning meetings, days packed with paper presentations and other events, early morning flights, and doing my best to stay out late with friends I rarely see anymore. And for those doubters, I did manage to stay up until about 2:30 on Thursday night :) I did sneak away one afternoon for a long walk along the gorgeous Toronto harbor, watching sailboats and plane flyovers from an airshow. It made me nostalgic for Sydney, perhaps because of the relaxing feeling of walking around a city, by the water and through parks with no place special to go- and noone waiting for me anywhere. Of course, when I lived in Sydney I walked everywhere not only because I enjoyed it (or learned to), but primarily because I actually could often not afford the extra few dollars for an impromptu bus or subway ride.
I came home to happy kids and a tired Patrick. Noella is now free-standing for about 10 or more seconds, which seems a little ominous. She does it best when she forgets what she is doing. I brought Mariel home a dinosaur print umbrella, which is a big deal. And I brought myself home a long to do list for work, which I now turn to....