Dancing Away

Poor Mariel spent Sunday, her birthday, sick in bed with a fever.  We had to cancel her party and she also could not go to her big celebration.  Sunday was a fundraising event for a non-profit that I work with, complete with an Irish Band.  Mariel was pretty sure that the band was really there for her birthday, so it was quite devastating when she could not go.  I took Noella as my replacement helper.  A few lessons learned:  it is much easier to sell raffle tickets when you have a sweet 4 year old charming people; Noella can hang out independently at a bar with suprising (maybe alarming?) ease; and Noella has not yet outgrown her wild dancing phase.  She was quite entertaining for all involved.

Hopefully we can re-schedule Mariel's birthday celebration for next week.  She went with an Irish theme, so St. Patrick's day weekend will work well.

Too much information?

We were all home on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.  This worked out well, as we discovered that Mariel had lice and spent much of the evening trying to clean/ heat/ freeze everything possible to kill our new louse friends.   The kids were fully treated and safe to return to school this morning.  Far from being embarrassed about her situation, Mariel walked to school with a friend discussing what life would be like if the world was overrun with lice.  I fully expected her to spend the day discussing it with her classmates.  I was not prepared for  Mariel to come home with this lovely self-confidence building worksheet on "What makes you different."

I was pretty relieved that I had already spoken with her teacher this morning.

Stylish

Noella got her hair cut this morning (as did the other two).  She came home and decided to fix her beautiful new hair up.  So - this is the picture of the results.  "Take my picture, mom.  I look STYLISH."
In other news, Holden's vocabulary has been expanding.  While "NO" is still a favorite, he is also getting creative in making up words for things he does not know.  His new contribution is "spoon saw"... for knife.  I was pretty impressed.

Just some thoughts on kids these days...

Here are some thoughts on what the kiddos are like these days....

Mariel these days is alternately funny, inappropriate, and surprisingly thoughtful.  She is a model first grader.  She is missing odd teeth, thinks saying the word "booty" is hysterical, and interjects some of her many new pieces of odd knowledge randomly throughout the day.  Mariel is still fascinated by fashion and the idea of clothing, and she really does sit down with Vogue and go through each magazine several times, carefully identifying which things she likes and does not like.  Needless to say, she and I have some very different tastes in clothing!

Noella remains her spunky little self.  She is an excellent middle child and a very amusing preschooler.  Noella puts so much energy into wanting to help and wanting to take care of others that it can be overwhelming (both to her and to those targeted others).  She is also increasing in her love of singing (see the future Christmas hits below) and has somehow managed to learn most of the lyrics to "Call Me Maybe" and "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together," which she enjoys belting out repeatedly.  If you don't know those particular songs, you may consider yourself very lucky.

Holden continues to embrace life as a toddler.  He does not walk so much as run/gallop/dance his way around... often while throwing anything resembling a ball so that he can immediately chase after it.  He has been struggling a bit due to molars that are taking their slooooooow time coming in, torturing everyone in the family and at school.  When he is not a grumpy monster he is a warm, snuggly, sweet boy who loves to give (snotty) kisses and yell "Thank you" to everyone he can think of.

Language Lesson

The girls take great pride in helping their brother learn to say new words or to improve his pronunciation.  It is always quite interesting to hear where the lessons go.  Today, on the car ride home, it sounded like this:
N: Holden, say Grandma!
H: Pampy.
N: No, not Grampy.  Say GRANDMA!
H: Pampy.
N: (sigh) Ok.  Say Papa.
H: Papa!
N: Say Babci.
H: Babci!
N: Say Grampy.
H: Pampy.
N: Mom.
H: Mama!
N: Dad.
H: Daddy!
N: Grandma.
H. PAMPY.
(Noella emits a loud sigh of despair.  I myself was a big sister once with a brother who did not always follow my lessons, so I totally understood her sentiments there.) 
N: Fine.  Holden, say onion peel.
H: Nun un pee?
N: Good! Now say driveway!

Then, sadly, we arrived home so I did not get to hear where this new train of thought would go.