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May 3, 2005
I’ve had all these little thoughts rolling around in my head for awhile. I thought I might try to capture them in a letter to my girl in time for her second birthday, but it doesn’t feel totally relevant. Instead I think I’ll write and see if it takes shape into anything more useful than just a random collection of thoughts. I’ve tried to start a letter to my girl for her birthday twice and it is making me very emotional. Either I’m waaaay to cheesy, too overblown, too flip… I’ll keep working on it, but in the meantime I wanted to get these things out.
Things I want Ava to know:
How to learn to say yes, and learn to say no at the right times. Is there anything harder? You want to be the ‘can do’ person. But you don’t want your boundaries crossed. If there’s a balance I work on it still.
Don’t use credit to buy anything consumable – like dinner, gasoline, groceries, bar tabs, mascara, nylons. You’ll regret it. You’ll be paying it off long after any enjoyment you got from those things is gone.
There is nothing more annoying than someone who rides the elevator DOWN one flight. I’m not talking about people who are carrying heavy things, wheeling equipment etc… It’s getting on the elevator, nothing in their hands, no obvious physical impairment and riding the elevator down one flight. Don’t do it.
A good general rule is that you shouldn’t wear open toed shoes in months with an ‘R’. Exceptions can be made for a string of warm weather late in April and, generally speaking the month of September. This whole socks with sandals thing you’ve got going on right now is a definite ‘Glamour don’t.’ I love your quirky style, my sweet girl – but I am secretly hoping you grow out of this one.
Do not wear your pretty sandals without a pedicure. Exceptions can be made for flip flops/Birks on a Saturday. You don’t have to have a big, perfect, coral, flawless pedicure. File and buff your toenails, put a sheer coat of pink, ivory etc… and put some nice lotion on those heels. Why waste pretty sandals with ugly feet? But you, my little Patito, have already learned about the pleasure that can come from a pedicure. It cracks me up. Sunday night you hauled out the basket of nail polish etc… asking for ‘pretties.’ Did I start you too soon?
The best life partner is one who is grateful for you. If he or she is not, move on. It’s a very long life to live with someone who is anything but grateful.
If you’re out drinking with your friends, you’ve been drinking quite a bit and you think to yourself “I should have ANOTHER drink because if I don’t this feeling will go away” it is at that point you should STOP. (If not much, much sooner) If you’re anything like your mama you’ll need to learn this lesson the hard way, but I promise I’m right.
It is a very cool thing to try new foods. Be adventurous. At least take a taste. There is so much good food out there, don’t close yourself off. You are a great eater now – something I just love to watch. At Costco this weekend you licked all the Boursin garlic cheese off several crackers and asked for more. I loved that.
Ditto for music. I’m really hoping this whole ‘Wheels on the Bus’ thing is just a phase. It sure seems to be lasting a long time.
There is nothing better than a good book. Reading can calm your mind, stretch your mind, lift your spirit. You love your books – I hope that continues.
Ditto for good movies.
Being your mom is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you more than I ever knew possible, even on the days I would cheerfully plant you in the yard.
On to our regularly scheduled entry…
Ava has started to sing. I asked her lead teacher in the Butterfly room if they practice their singing. Oh yes. Ava loves to sing. She sings all the way to day care, she sings along with her own piano playing. (Yes we have a piano, no one in our house plays it except Ava. It was sort of a hand me down from my parents. Apparently I took my first steps in the piano shop when they were buying it.) I feel so terrible because it would appear, at first blush, that my poor girl has inherited by ability to carry a tune, or, more appropriately, lack there of. But I love listening to her sweet voice warble through her songs. Every now and then I actually recognize the tune. All this singing means she has started babbling again. A phenomenon I thought she had abandoned. Her current favorite, besides the perennial standby ‘Wheels on the Bus’ is ‘Elmo’s song.’ We hear it so often – the LaLa LaLas must be easy – that John and I have made up our own ‘Ava’s Song.’
La La La La, La La La La Ava’s song
La La La La, La La La La Ava’s song
Ava has her nannie, her Mama (or Daddy) too
That’s Ava’s song
She’s also working on the ABC song – she’s got the tune, but the letters aren’t quite there.
John and I broke down this weekend and got a membership to Costco. As a state employee they were offering a terrific deal, so we thought it was probably worth it to try it out for a year. Meghan’s graduation party/extravaganza is a month away and we thought it might be helpful for that. We looked around, spent $80 on a very random assortment of things (a big block of white cheddar, raisins, diapers, San Pelligrino mineral water, a sushi tray [not bad] and a couple of bottles of wine. From my initial perusal, it would appear the best deals in the store might be on the meat. The prices are good, the selection is great and the quality looks pretty good. The sodas are the same price as our regular grocery. The diapers are a good deal. If we can get our act together and start planning these things a little better, I think a weekly trip to purchase meats, cheeses, things like Crystal light, paper towels, diapers and easy snacks for the kids might make this a good value. If not we’re really no worse off. Any tips from warehouse shoppers out there?
Apart from the shopping trip we really had a lackluster weekend. What does it say when a trip to Costco is the highlight? John had a ton of work to do, so I mostly hung out around the house with Ava. It was a gross weekend, cold, windy, not at all springy. After several weeks of above normal temps, we’re back to having the heat on. John was in a very crabby mood. I was very tired from an extra long work week. We just didn’t do much. I did quite a bit of cleaning, restoring order, laundry etc… Very boring married people we are. Although we do have a very busy weekend coming up. The start of the Downtown Farmer’s Market – my all time favorite spring/summer event, a Mother’s Day salad luncheon at the church (I love my Grandma Jane very much) and a big date night are all in the works.
A few observations about my girl. She is starting to put words together more and more. Mostly two word sentences. Things like ‘my chair’ (which I swear I thought she was saying ‘monster’) ‘more crackers’ and so forth. Her combined words are still coming out in kind of a halting way. Except for phrases that I’m not totally sure she knows are a combination of words like ‘help me,’ ‘where’d it go,’ and ‘what’s that.’ Ava is also working very hard on her counting. I know they practice at daycare. She’s very good at counting to about 12. What I’m not sure about is if she understands the concept of three items, or four…. She will sometimes start counting with the number three. When we try to work on how many of something there are sometimes she seems to understand it, other times not so much. Every night when John takes her up for her bath they count the stairs on the way up. It is adorable.
As our sweet baby’s second birthday approaches we’re looking at making some changes to her bedroom. I’d like to make it a space we can leave her to play. She has outgrown her changing table – she’s too long for it. I think we’re going to move it out and put in a small table for puzzles etc… and an easel so she can color. Ava’s room is the smallest bedroom, so I’m trying to figure out how to make space for a big girl bed, which she’ll need soon, her nice rocker, where we rock and read books every night and her armoire for her clothes. I may need to move the armoire into her closet to make space. Toys R Us actually had a nice easel and little table/chairs that weren’t terribly expensive. We’re going to buy Lane a bigger bed and paint his ‘old’ one for Ava, so all she’ll need is a new mattress. Hopefully the legislature will adjourn soon so I can do all these projects! I’m certainly going to have to clean out Ava’s closet before I can move the armoire in there. Ava is looking so big in her crib that I think a big girl bed is imminent. She’s started sleeping with a little pillow (her insistence) and is exhibiting other signs. Although she hasn’t tried to climb out yet, knock on wood. I saw this very cute tropical fish sheets in the Garnet Hill catalog, so I think we may go with a fish theme. (Not Nemo) At least initially. I figure in another couple of years she’ll be ready to tell us exactly what she wants. She loves fish and the colors are nice. Plus she has a very pretty beach picture my MIL bought for her before she was born that she points out to us every morning.
That’s about it from this random entry.
Thanks for reading—
--Kate
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