first haircut

LM gave herself a haircut, her first one ever, in fact. I guess that's what I get for trimming my own bangs. Listen to your stylist, never trim your own bangs!! Your child will watch you and ask to cut their hair too, which of course you will strictly forbid, and then one day you will find them being 'too quiet' in the bathroom snipping away at their ringlets... Oh three-and-a-half, why do you have to test my patience and make my daughter's hair look bad!

(It's actually not a total hack job, thank goodness)

Lately, I have found myself more frequently than ever using words like consequences, privileges (as in lost ones), polite/impolite, obedient/disobedient, one...two...three... and you guessed it - time out. Parenting this age is not easy. It is all sorts of teaching, and stretching, and learning, and deep breathes for the both of us. But what I am grateful for, among all the smiles and the tears, is as she is growing, so am I. At least I hope so. And I try to remember that as I am chasing her down to get dressed so we won't be late. Or pleading with her to sit in her car seat so we can get home and put a tired Lark down for a nap. Growing. Learning. Everyday. The both of us, just in different ways.

More importantly, I've also found myself frequently saying words like sorry, I love you, good job, hugs, and YES. Most of the time she's not so bad, this three-and-a-half-year-old. And I feel pretty lucky to be her mama at the end of every good and bad hair-day.

Also, who am I kidding, I am going to trim my own bangs again. In secret, with the door shut.

her first sewing project

It all started when LM came up to me holding a needle and thread. "I want to make a monster, mommy." Instead of being alarmed that she had somehow acquired a sharp dangerous object, I smiled - my little girl wants to do a sewing project!!! I sat her down with a crayon and paper and told her to draw what she wanted the monster to look like, and I thought what she came up with was so cute and funny. This is the first time she has ever drawn a picture complete with arms and legs, let alone nostrils and a beard (that is what she said the scribble under the nose was - just like daddy, ha)! 

(she added the other eye on the drawing later, after we were already done)

She helped pick out the fabric, I sewed it all together, and then she carefully put the stuffing inside. Once the monster was all done she was so proud and excited that it looked just like her picture! I accidentally put the glitter ribbon on backwards, but it doesn't really matter since they all twist and turn anyway. She named him Snarfy and when I asked her why she answered, "Because he is a Snarfy mom." I guess I should have known :) 

I am so glad that she had an idea and knew that she could make it a reality with a little help from mommy. I think it is such a blessing to be able to express yourself through creativity, and I hope she continues to come up with many more projects for us to work on together!

resolution update: music

With the end of the year sneaking up, I thought I would look back and see how I am doing on my resolutions so far. This was the first one I wrote:

'This year... I resolve to listen to more music. I tend to like quiet moments and can even drive in the car for hours with just my thoughts for company (Husband is opposite so we have battles over volume control). But I have a little girl that is undeniably an up-and-coming music lover, and so I am committing to help her burgeoning love grow by putting on some tunes more often (have any good recommendations for kids?)'

I am happy to say that I feel like I am doing really well with this goal! Of course it helps that LM is constantly asking to listen to music, my part has mainly been providing her with fun and appropriate options. Her favorites are the Yo Gabba Gabba cds, the Cars soundtrack, Popcorn Bopping, and her Sesame Street 'Feelings' record. She loves to sing along and I am amazed at her ability to pick up on the lyrics quickly.

We started a tradition where she gets to choose a record whenever we go thrifting. There are usually at least a few options of children's records for $1 a piece, and she is building up quite the collection because let's face it - we hit up the thrift often! It's fun for both of us to dig through the stacks, and this way she doesn't get too upset when I tell her she can't bring home the broken princess cell phone she's been carrying around...

It makes me smile when she chooses to spend the afternoon spinning records, or requests a specific song on repeat in the car while she bops her head and sings along. I hope her love of good music will continue to grow and grow... this is definitely a resolution we will keep up every year!

And, we are still all ears (pun intended)  for any good recommendations if you have any :)  

sleepyhead

For some reason I always looked forward to the stage where I would find my child asleep in odd places. And now that that time has arrived, I have to say it is pretty darn adorable.

shadow puppet party!

LM's birthday party was this weekend and we had so much fun! She was truly the happiest little girl surrounded by all of her cousins and was spoiled with love! As you know, the theme was 'Shadow Puppets'. We kept the agenda simple, starting out with a puppet show and popcorn, then we let the kids try out different hand shadows, ate hot dogs and Izze, and finished things off with cake, ice cream, and presents!

(invitation)

The birthday girl was very concerned that we needed to have three things at her party: party hats, balloons, and candles on the cake. Pretty easy requirements! So, we made some simple cone party hats, as well as a few fun pillbox hats with big feathers on top for the girls (see first picture, inspired by). I thought Lark looked so cute in her party hat!

I made a theater  for the puppet show using a cardboard tri-fold and white butcher paper. It worked great, but if I were to do it again I would use sheets so it would be easier to store and wouldn't potentially break or tear. 

For the puppet show we thought it would be fun to do a Mad Lib type story, so we wrote one and had the audience yell out adjectives, verbs, etc. to fill in the blanks before we started, it was a great way to make them more involved. Then we dimmed the lights and passed out popcorn. The story turned out so funny with the random words thrown in, and Husband saying a silly phrase every time a character was mentioned in the story. For example, whenever the knight was mentioned he would pause and say, "Hey, how you doin'?" like Eugene in Tangled, then continue on with the story...

Above are pictures of the main scenes. The story was about a Princess who was having a birthday party, but didn't invite the mean dragon and witch. They were mad and decided to cast a spell and turn her into a donkey! Her fairy Godmother gives a knight a gift to make the dragon and witch become nice so they will tell him how to reverse the spell which turns out to be...can you guess?... a kiss! So the knight kisses the donkey and she becomes a Princess again. Everyone is happy and becomes friends, the end!

It was a silly little story and all of the kids loved it! The story uses all of the shadow puppets in this set.

For her present we got her a bike and helmet, but the bike isn't coming until today (I thought I had ordered it in time for the party, oh well!). She was very excited for her head protection though, ha! She got a lot of fun presents like art supplies and music toys which she has been playing with ever since, what a lucky girl!

When it came time for blowing out the candles she got a bit shy so I had to help her out. Husband made the entire cake from scratch and it was so yummy, I wish I got a better picture. I think it is going to be tradition that daddy makes the birthday cakes since he did it last year too!

For party favors I gave each family a copy of Fun with Hand Shadows to take home. It was such a nice time. Thank you to everyone who could come, I know LM felt special on her big day!

morning wake up call

(source)

how my morning started...

LM climbs into my bed much too early

i ignore her and hope she will fall asleep again laying next to me

then after a few quiet minutes a tiny whisper blows in my ear

"mom, i'm happy."

"good, i'm glad you are happy."

"because you're awake now."

my eyes open.

tricked by a two year old.

"i need breakfast now mom."

my oldest

 I feel like my oldest has been a bit neglected on the blog lately, but we haven't forgotten about her!

Currently she is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba, making sure Lark's diaper gets changed regularly, painting rainbows and pigs, singing with her microphone, jumping off the couch onto pillows, reading Olivia, and eating canned peaches. Can't wait to see what she'll be obsessed with next week, she keeps us on our toes! 

I used to think I couldn't love her more, but now I realize there will never be an end to it...