20 Questions, Age 4

I wanted to do this since seeing it on Pinterest a while ago.  It's a set of 20 questions you ask your child every year on their birthday until age 14.  Eventually I will place the yearly answers in a book with a picture for that year.  It was fun trying to get answers out of her...she tired of me asking questions by about question 12.  :)

20 Questions- November 12, 2012

By Erika, age 4

1.  What is your favorite color? Red

2.  What is your favorite toy? My marbles

3.  What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries and grapes

4.  What is your favorite TV show? Big big friend and Bubble guppies

5.  What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Perogies

6.  What is your favorite outfit? *shrug* nothing.

7.  What is your favorite game? Playing on the play structure

8.  What is your favorite snack? A treat

9.  What is your favorite animal? A birdie

10. What is your favorite song? ABCDs

11. What is your favorite book? New books

12.  Who is your best friend? Kenzie

13.  What is your favorite cereal? Rice Crispies with marshmallows

14.  What is your favorite thing to do outside? Shovel snow

15.  What is your favorite drink? Milk

16.  What is your favorite holiday? Birthdays

17.  What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  All my friends

18.  What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Toast with butter

19.  What did you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake with icing

20.  What do you want to be when you grow up? Artist

She's four?!??!

Erika turned four.  I'm not sure when my little baby turned four.  It's nearly impossible to believe that that many years have passed since she was born.  So much has happened, so many life events to list. 

She is such a little person with big ideas and deep thoughts.  Her feelings are intense, her actions large, her speech thoughtful.  She uses words like camouflage and adorable without batting an eye, and judges others' moods in order to gauge her own approach.  Such a sweet little girl.

In four short years, my baby has turned into a little girl. I am so proud of her.

Happy 4th birthday, Erika. 

Love you lots.

Remembering

Often I think that I'll always remember how things are.  Things that make me happy, lessons I learn, moments that are so fricking adorable you want to just wrap them in bubble wrap and stick them in a time capsule.  They are such rich pieces of time that I think I'll never be able to forget them.  Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not.  Just in case, here's a short list of some things right now I want to hold on to.  Yes, many of them involve Erika, for a 3-almost-4 year old is oh so clever and adorable, but I also want to be sure to think about myself...what I'm like at 36-almost-37 years old, and what's important to me right now too.

1. Life not about a single moment, but about multiple snapshots.  I want to remember not to judge a day on a moment, but as a whole.  I can be having the toughest day at work, but then I come home to a thoughtful husband and adoring child, and all is right with the world.  I want to remember that a day is not made by a single action or even a series of awful actions, but how you feel at the end of it.  I have to stop dwelling on times that are rough and just flow easier. 
2. Erika calling me her "best best friend".  I realize that moms are supposed to be moms, not friends, but right now this is rank #1 for her.  She's identifying me as the most important person in her life, and I just love it.  It's accompanied every day by multiple hugs, kisses and cuddles, and sometimes I'm not sure how I survived without this copious amount of affection.  It's awesome.
3. Don't laugh when your child is being obstinate.  Now, at this stage it's damn cute and clever, but it will grow into a child that thinks defiance is OK, and even amusing.  I want Erika to grow up with good boundaries and respect for others.  
4. I am not one of the younger teachers in my school.  I know this realization is long coming, but for a while I worked in schools with aging teachers.  Now, I am not the youngest by far.  In my late 30s, I have colleagues I consider friends over a decade younger than me.  That's OK.  I am alright with being a teacher that has been there a while, and has the answers I need to have right now.  While youth is nice, experience is good too.    


5. Play more.  My house is not spotless.  Dishes often linger in the sink and the bench by my front door is a catch-all during the week.  Laundry is only allowed on weekends and my kitchen counters are cluttered.  As my Dad puts it last time he came over- "your place is messy, but you make it work."  In our house, there is always time for a tea-party (today Erika sprinkled sugar, marshmallows and LOVE into my tea...*sigh*...), a puzzle is fun, stickers are timeless, and building houses out of mega-blocks until they crumble is great.  Playing is connecting, and it's my favorite.

:)

Matching stickers!

She applied all of mine, walked away, and came back with the same ones on herself.  Great memory. :)

Carving.  She wouldn't touch the pumpkin innards, but loved wielding the spoon. :)

The off switch

Been REALLY busy around here.  I fondly remember weeks where there was one, or maybe two events to remember and attend.  Not anymore!! This past week, for example, in addition to working, I had something going on every day except for Friday night. Dance lessons, swimming lessons, shopping for a wedding shower, board meeting, dentist appointment, social, dog-sitting and a wedding shower were all scheduled for this week. Serious craziness.
Now, you'd think that when you're that busy, you'd just drop off to sleep as soon as the opportunity arises.  Not me!  As soon as there's the hint of extra events or responsibilities, my brain kicks into overdrive and won't slow down enough for sleep.  What usually happens is that I'll fall asleep fairly easily, but then SOMETHING will wake me up in the wee hours of the night (too hot, random noise, etc) and I cannot get back to sleep.  For 1.5h plus, I'll lie there and stress about what's happening the next day, and all the possible things I have to remember or have to do yet.  I'm not tired enough to just pass out, so I stress.  It's happened about 3x this week,and it takes a toll.  I just want the brain to have an off switch (non-pharmaceutical! lol) that would help in these situations.

That rant over, this week has been a blast.  Erika is loving the new hip-hop dance class she's in Monday nights- I am the first to admit she's not the most coordinated or gets the moves right away, but she has the biggest smile all class and just loves it.  That alone is reason to keep taking her. 
Swimming is great too- she's for the first time in the water without me, and loving it.  We have some skills to work on (back float/swim, jumping in unassisted) and others we're really good at.  She's a nervous girl in uncertain situations, but willing to try.  I love that she tries...and trusts those around her that assure her she'll be safe.  :)
We have Owen for a couple days right now too- my favorite old dog ever.  He is so easy-going and Erika dotes on him at all times.  He lets her too, which is even more awesome. 
The wedding social for Kirsten and wedding shower for Jessica was a lot of fun too- at both I got to visit and see great friends and celebrate the special moments in their lives.  Erika came to the shower too, and was so excited to be old enough to come to a "party just for girls".  Although a little high-maintenance, she did well and had fun. 

All ready to go to the wedding shower- in a dress I wasn't sure I'd find an opportunity for her to wear befoe it was too small. I even had gold shoes to finish the outfit.  :) 

Erika is always good with cuddles.

All 3 of us squished into the loveseat.  I wouldn't change it. 

Things can slow down any time now, that would be OK.

When I look back.

I haven't blogged in a long time.  I don't think there's just one reason- I mean, I like the record I'm making of my life that will last for years to come (I copy and paste as a word doc to save), I like sharing my thoughts, ideas and perspectives with those that want to hear it, and I enjoy writing in general.
All I can say is that I just lost momentum.  I'm doing the things that have to be done daily/weekly, then spending time on the easy stuff.  I'm not having much left over for the things that take a bit more effort.  What I think that I have to remind myself is that when I look back years from now, it's going to be the extras I remember- not the loads of laundry, the finished marking, not the pins I've pinned on Pinterest, or the facebook status.
It's the moments you immortalize.  I don't have the best memory (just ask me to remember last year's student's names) so I can't even say that these special moments are safe.  I think I need to talk more of the extra things that happen, the special things I want to save for later and the daily happenings I'll get a kick reading about in the future. I need to put as much effort into this for me, as I do for other things less important.

I don't blog, I pinterest.

That's right, I've jumped ship.  Ok, not entirely, but as my mouse moves down that favorite list, it is more often than not getting sucked into that amazingly addictive word of Pinterest.  Pins about everything.  You can search a specific topic, like "slowcooker recipes" or "tips to train your dog" or "Fall fashions" or "wedding pictures" or "baby rooms", and amazingly pins appear that link you to many useful websites (or so told by the person pinning). 
Instead of searching, however, you can go the route I usually take and browse through your friend's pins, see what of yours has gotten repinned (very flattering that someone thinks what you pinned is re-pin-worthy), and then click on the popular option at the top and browse aimlessly through the millions and millions of pins that are put up on Pinterest.  Ever so time-consuming, ever so fun.
I then meticulously choose a handful of pins I enjoy and sort them into creatively labelled categories of my own.  Have I ever gone back to see my pins that I carefully chose? No.  It's much more fun to see new ones- pins that I might find even more fascinating than the ones already hand-selected.  :)  So fun, and just mindless time wasting.  Perfect for lazy summer evenings.

I'm enjoying.

Two big giant leaps forward, one small step back.

The road to recovery.  A tough journey, full of the unknown.
Ok, that's about as philosophical as I get.  :)  Really, though, Rick's recovery is as complicated as I ever want something to be in life.  At two weeks post-procedure, he's doing well.  Not wonderful, but good.  His stitches are starting to dissolve, he's on to soft-texture foods (cooked eggs, dumplings, chunky soups) and drinking LOTS of water.  His eating is laboured, as every bite must be macerated very well, and swallowing is quite painful yet.  Small portions are key at this stage.  He's also weaning himself off his pain medication in preparation for return to work (modified duties) on Monday.  Lots of rest still to recover.  A few setbacks yet, but still a lot of forward progress.

Food is very important to our family, probably more than most.  Rick prides himself in creating unique, delicious, bountiful meals.  He varies texture, color and balances all components.
Now, though, his main vessel for nourishment is soup.  And more soup.  Family and friends have been WONDERFUL with offerings of soup varieties and support.  You really learn to look around you and realize and appreciate what you have. 
Rick is sick of soup.  He wants texture.  Oh, he's getting the nourishment he needs, but wants crunchy, chewy, crisp foods. He wants to eat what he wants, in the quantity he wants to.  Since the surgery and reduction of food for a week plus, he has lost almost 30lbs in the 2 weeks post-surgery. Despite the surgery, he looks great. 
Sleep quality is yet to be determined. There's still a lot of swelling, and his body is still getting used to the new expanded airway and lask of tonsils and uvula.  He'll have a sleep study done in a few months, but I am very optimistic that the surgery will be successful and his apnea improved or gone altogether. 
We'll see- but I've really enjoyed having Rick home for the past week and a half and spending time  together!  :)