What Caroline Says

Countdown to Caroline's 7th Birthday

2011-02-22T16:41:00.001-05:00

It's officially a week away! The day Caroline has been waiting for since the day she turned 6!

We put up a little something to help us count down to the big day . . . Caroline loooves counting down, and she squealed when she saw this.

A few weeks ago, Caroline made out a wish list.

translation: 1. walkie talkies 2. dresses 3. shoes (she spelled it the way Lincoln pronounces it, just for fun) 4. pillow pets--a dolphin 5. helmet (for bike riding) 6. knee pads (for roller skating) 7. remote [controlled] cars 8. movies

We aren't having a big party this year, so I am trying to think of little ways to make the day special. I am planning on leaving messages up all throughout the house. Caroline loves party decorations, and I think this will be right up her alley. Here is a work in progress--the makings of a little birthday banner. I can barely stand it.

If time permits, I will make several more little banners with different messages. For now I am just starting with the basic "Happy Birthday."

Last night after the kids were in bed, I got out this rainbow-colored paper pack and [drooled and] just cut, cut, cut. I am still not over delicious rainbow colors. I think I could have a rainbow-colored birthday every year for the next fifty years and not get tired of it. This paper makes me giddy.

I would love some ideas on how to have a festive and simple birthday without having a party. We have always done it up big (because Caroline loves lots of guests and I love parties!), but that is not the plan this year.

So far our plans are to go to IHOP that morning in our pajamas (Caroline's request) and eat free pancakes. (At least we heard they were free on March 1--we should probably confirm that at our location.) Later that day after lunch, we will pick up Papa Paul and Grama Jan at the airport! Then we have a few more hours to celebrate before Jeff and I have our community group meeting that evening.

Several times over the past few years, I have wished that I did less for the birthday party and just spent more time enjoying the day with Caroline. I think this year will lend itself well to just spending time together, but I have to be intentional about it--no coming home from IHOP and sending her off to play while I work on something. I want it to be a together day. Any ideas?

collage box: a birthday gift

2011-02-18T01:21:00.001-05:00

I love posts about gift giving on other people's blogs, so I thought I would share one on here. Caroline's friend Brandon turned 5 recently, and for his birthday we put together a collage box.

We got a plastic storage container (a SnapWare container from Target)

and filled it with some fun goodies.

top tray--googly eyes, mini popsicle sticks, buttons and paper scraps

(punched with our paper punches--fun!)

middle tray--glitter glue, Elmer's glue (white and stick), masking tape, plastic tape and scissors

bottom tray--a few more things (feathers, stickers and some yarn and ribbon),

with plenty of room for Brandon to add some of his own treasures

We gave this along with the book I Love to Collage! by Jennifer Lipsey and some small posterboard (found at Target near the regular posterboard).

After putting this gift together, Caroline is itching to glue something herself, so maybe we'll have our own collage time soon. She has a plastic tool box where she keeps all kinds of odds and ends (ribbon from packages, tiny broken toys or pieces of toys, nature "treasures," scrap paper and anything else she finds (or rescues from the trash) and wants to keep but there is no real place for. She wants to save so many things, and I can get overwhelmed with the clutter (I have my own to deal with, you know). So when we disagree over an item's worth (usually an item that was discovered with excitement and then just left on the kitchen counter), I will ask her, "where will you keep this?" If it's worth saving in her box, she can keep it. Periodically, she gets out the box and makes things from its contents . . . or just sorts through all the treasures (which is just as fun).

I think it's a great idea to have a place like this where you can keep little things that seem fun or [somehow] meaningful but that you don't know exactly what to do with. Part of the inspiration behind the collage box birthday gift came from Caroline's random things box and this post on The Artful Parent. The mother whose art space is featured in the post says she keeps an "okay to glue it" box in the art room and that she has given similar boxes as birthday gifts to her daughter's friends. An "okay to glue it box"--doesn't that sound like fun?

I have also had this gift giving list from Patricia of good + happy day bookmarked for several years. This is where I first heard of Jennifer Lipsey's collage book. In her list, Patricia suggests giving the collage book along with construction paper, scissors, and glitter glue. So simple and perfect.

There are so many possibilities with this type of gift. I am thinking about putting a girly spin on it and including a different book for some [belated] little girl gifts we need to give . . . I will share some ideas for that in another post.

#3

2011-02-10T12:51:00.000-05:00

Roman Alexander Carlson

1/26/11

sweet siblings. one doting big sister. one very curious big-but-still-baby brother.
see his precious little hand on baby roman's soft face. he left tiny fingerprints (you can see if you look closely).

HOT! papa

my cousin referred to me as "mother of three." it sounded so odd at first! but i love it. my heart is full.

Quote for the Day

2010-10-04T20:46:00.003-05:00

Frustrated sigh from Caroline and "Ugh, it's HARD teaching babies math!"

She has such good intentions, but Lincoln just won't cooperate sometimes.

Where to start . . .

2010-09-24T16:45:00.005-05:00

I am popping back over here to see if I can sneak a five-minute post in. I can't believe (well, in some ways I can) that I haven't written ANYTHING in over a year. That makes me kind of sad.

Caroline (a big six-and-A-HALF--the 1/2 is huge to her) and Linc (a fat 16 months) are upstairs playing together right now. I've been listening to the pounding of lots of footsteps overheard, several hard thuds, and plenty of sweet baby boy giggles (Caroline can make him laugh harder than anyone else can). Those giggles usually turn into screaming, though, at some point. Lincoln often lets Caroline have her way with him (he loves rough play), but he decides when enough is enough. He has no problem sharing his opinion. If I'm lucky, the screaming turns back into laughing before he can come downstairs to complain to me. :)

Often I find that the screaming is directly tied to an attempt by Caroline to dress him up in something he doesn't want to be dressed up in. He used to let her do just about anything (and we have pictures that document that stage), but lately he doesn't like bothering with sequins and scarves and things. That's probably for the better. Sunglasses and hats and shoes he will still happily try on, though.

I have no idea how to catch up, so I will just try to document a few of the things that are going on right now.

Baby News

We are expecting baby #3 and just found out yesterday that it's another boy. The lady doing the ultrasound said to Caroline, "How do you feel about that?" and she rolled her head back and said, "Exhausted!" Just a little bit later, she added, "I can't handle 3 boys!"

I think another boy fits in really well with the family dynamic right now. I also think it's crazy. Right now I am trying to figure out the best solution for a 2-year-old and an infant sharing a room . . . we want the boys to share, and we also want to keep our guest room as a guest room. (Come and see us!)

Caroline @ School/Being a Big Girl/Developing Character :)

Caroline started 1st grade at a school that meets on Wednesdays and Fridays for class and leaves the rest of the week open for studying at home. We are enjoying this arrangement right now. Caro loves the schoolwork we do at home and loves seeing kids and having a class when she goes to school. Right now she is looking forward to her "first-ever field trip!" She is picturing riding a bus to this field trip, but her school does not have one. "Riding a school bus" is still way up high on her list of things to do. Maybe one of these days.

Caroline still almost immediately begins talking about her next birthday right on the heels of the most recent one. I have had to be very firm that we are not discussing being 7 (7!) right now but are going to enjoy being 6. She upped that to six-and-a-half as soon as she officially could and even observed her half birthday this year on September 1. I will not go back and look at the pictures and blog posts from when she was 3 (3!). I will cry. I am starting to tear up a little just thinking about it. Things are so different now. I can't believe I had five whole years of just her to myself. We went everywhere together--she was such a good traveler and good little errand runner. And we stayed home together. She completely wore me out, but could also play to her heart's content in her own little world. She is still very happy in that world and still sings at the top of her lungs while she plays. I hope she doesn't stop doing that for a long, long time. This has characterized her play from the very beginning. I remember wanting to do a post a long time ago entitled, "Her Life is a Musical." Her princesses and dolls and make-believe characters rarely just talk--they are almost always singing to each other. And she makes up the best and most dramatic songs . . .

Today Caroline was imploring me to pleeeease let her play with her princesses and blocks on the fireplace hearth, and she promised she would pick it all up when she was done. I told her that she always says this, and she told me, "I WILLLL, I promise! I will be obedient and attentive!" These are the first 2 character traits she has studied in school, and she was putting knowledge of them to good use. I smiled at her suspiciously, and she added, "I will go the extra mile!" (Going the extra mile is encouraged under the Obedience trait.) She won me over with that one.

Fat Baby Linc

Lincoln is quite the talker and has been for the past couple of months. He loves naming animals and pointing out cows whenever we drive by a pasture or field . . . or Chick-Fil-A. He says, "oooh, aaah" every time he sees a monkey (and they can be anywhere, if you are looking--which he is). Even when he can't really say a specific word, he will mimic the facial gestures we make when we say it. Before he could say "shoe" he would just put his lips in an "o" shape and kind of say "oooo." The best word is penguin. He squints his eyes a little bit and moves his mouth very deliberately to say something like, "wen, weng." And his noise for a pig is very similar--more of a mouth movement than an actual "oink." When I am trying to get him to talk on the phone to someone, and all he wants to do is listen with the phone pressed against his face, I ask him all the animal sounds questions and he talks. :)

One of the things I love most about fat baby is that he is content to just lay his head on my shoulder when I pick him up to hold him, especially if it's first thing in the morning. I will just stand there next to his crib and soak it in. If he is afraid we are not moving far enough away from his crib, he will stir a little and point to the door, but as soon as he is happy in the direction we are moving, he will rest on my shoulder again--usually all the way down the stairs. It's the most precious thing. It's over once we get to the bottom of the stairs, though, because that's where the kitchen is. And he has only one thing on his mind when he is anywhere near the kitchen--"bite-please."

"Bite-please" is becoming a Lincoln trademark. When he was first starting to ask for things, doing the usual toddler grunt, I thought I might go crazy if I heard "uh-uh-uh-uh-uh" one more time in a day. I started telling him to say "bite, please" or asking him if he wanted a "bite, please" and often trying to get him to say "please" before giving him a snack. Much to my relief, it didn't take him long to change out "uh-uh" for "bite, please" (which, in the very early stages, was more like "baa-peas"). But I was in no way prepared for the frequency with which he would use it. It is his anthem, his chorus, his daily chant. If he hears any type of rustling of packaging or the slightly squeaky pantry door opening, he is immediately underfoot and begging, "bite-please, bite-please, bite-please, bite-please, bite-please, bite-please . . . " And while it is much nicer ringing in my ears than a repetetive grunt would be, he says it so incessantly that it sometimes has a similar unnerving effect--just a lot more endearing, I guess. You can't eat a single bite in peace if he is around. And he knows no stranger when it comes to food. We were in downtown Chicago earlier this month, and Linc saw a man sitting outside on the sidewalk eating McDonald's and he reached towards the man (from up on Jeff's shoulders) and said, "bite-please, bite-please, bite-please" over and over as we walked past. Close friends and family in the area (those that do the babysitting!) tell us he goes straight for the pantry when he's over at their house. After a long afternoon of babysitting, my friend Katie even changed her Facebook status to "bite please." That phrase can pretty much sum up a whole day.

Well, so much for five minutes. I had to abandon this when the playing upstairs kind of fell apart. And now I am back late at night finishing it up and thinking this is why I don't update often--I write too much! I know I'll be glad I at least wrote something.

I've decided to take a break from online reading and do some writing instead, so maybe I'll be back here more often. I find so much inspiration online, but then I'm on inspiration overload and always reading and never doing. I'm going to start with a week or two of only reading real print and just writing. And when I need a good dose of inspiration or something, I think I will write a letter (one of the most inspiring things, I think). Hopefully, now that I have said it on here, I will stick to it . . .

Signing off for now.

Internet Savvy

2009-07-10T23:52:00.002-05:00

This afternoon we were making tea and Caroline asked, "how does it make tea when it's just those white bags?" I told her that tea comes from a plant and those were tea leaves inside the bags. She asked some more questions about tea, and I had to tell her I just didn't have all the answers. I said, "Maybe we could read about it."

She said, "Yeah, maybe you could log on to it. Maybe you could look it up on Facebook."

Facebook?! I had to pop her and squeeze her several times for that.

I really don't know how that word is in her vocabulary. Jeff and I are both on Facebook but have never talked to her about it . . . don't even think we talk about it that much, period. But apparently the term has come up enough times for her to know something about it. We are realizing more and more nowadays that absolutely nothing gets by her.

She loves to play on Jeff's Ipod. The other morning before swim lessons, she picked it up and said she was going to check the weather. She informed me that it was sunny in Frisco that day and said, "let me see about Chicago." I thought she was just pretending to actually be checking anything, but she slid her finger across the screen and there was the Chicago forecast. Apparently, that's one of the locations Jeff has set up on the weather app and Caroline knows it.

I'm pretty sure it won't be too long before she's on Twitter. :)

News

2009-07-08T16:54:00.004-05:00

Wow, it's been forever since I've updated anything on here! I've been meaning to write for . . . what . . . 10 months!!

Where do I even start? Rather than go in chronological order, I will just start with the biggest (and Caroline's favorite) change--her little brother Lincoln.

We have a sweet, chubby, smiling and cooing baby in the house and I think I can speak for all of us in saying that we are smitten. Linc will be 8 weeks tomorrow (so hard to believe) and he's really started interacting with us more in the past couple of weeks. He has the sweetest smile (very much like Caroline's baby smile--they favor quite a bit in that area), and he's at that stage where he seems like he wants to say something, but he has to focus really hard first for like a minute . . . and then when he finally finds his voice, he gives us a huge grin and lets out one tiny little "guh" or "goo." Caroline and I hang on every word. :)

Caroline loves being a big sister. I can't believe I haven't written a single word about her anticipation of sisterhood. She prayed every single day for "the baby to grow strong and healthy." Once I could start to feel him kicking, she would ask for reports a couple of times a day. "Did you feel the baby kick this morning?" If I answered yes, she was very pleased, and if I went a little further and said the baby was kicking a lot, she was super pleased, "Wow, he must be really healthy, then, huh, Mama!"

She had big plans for her role as a big sister, telling me all the time that she would take such good care of him. She would feed him, change him, take him for walks . . . do everything. And all I would have to do was clean the house.

When she found out that babies eat a lot and even wake up at night to eat, she was a little surprised, but just went ahead and added the night shift to her job description as well. Her first reaction was, "Ooooh my goodness, I'm going to be really tired if I have to wake up to feed him at night!"

And just as promised, she has been a huge help. Her favorite thing to do lately is to hold Lincoln up on her shoulder while standing up and kind of bouncing him. She says she can calm him down that way. The other day she wanted to pick him up out of his bassinet and I said not to because it would be too hard to reach down into it and lift him out of it. She said, "I can do it. I can. I just reach down and pull him up. I can do it." I still said I would rather her not do it and she said, "Mom, listen, you just need to remember it in your brain (pointing to hers) that I am able to do it. I am. I will show you."

Well, the next morning while I was on the phone (and sufficiently distracted), Lincoln started crying and Caroline came into the master bedroom to check on him. She said, "Hey there, buddy," in her sweetest voice, reached into the bassinet, scooped him up, put him up on her shoulder (his legs hanging down almost to her knees), started bouncing him, and looked over at me with a smug big-sister smile. Now I will be sure to remember it in my brain that she can get him out of his bassinet. :)

A friend of ours is expecting a baby in November and we were talking about what it might be. Caroline said she hopes it's a baby boy because boys are cute. I think it's sweet how she's partial to them now.

***

Well, there's a start. I might even get some pictures up soon . . . we will see.

Because I wanted to post this picture

2008-09-10T16:22:00.003-05:00

Elements of a Good Dress-Up Outfit

DSC07843, originally uploaded by amscarlson.
. . . and play around on the cool photo editing site my mother-in-law showed me. :)

Flower Girl Duties and Finding her Future Husband (?)

2008-09-10T03:15:00.002-05:00

In August Caroline was the flower girl at my cousin Molly's wedding. There was no ringbearer in the procession, so Caroline walked down the aisle all by herself and came and stood by me (I was the matron of honor). At one point during the ceremony I looked down and Caroline was stretched out on her stomach, straining forward--I thought in order to get a better view of Molly and Jonathan. Later I found out she was actually winking--a lot--at Jonathan

Caroline had said the day before, "I like Jonathan. He has a cute face." She was all grins when she was around him.

But there seems to be room in her heart for several boys. She still maintains that she loves Brode, age 2 ("he's such a cutie pie!"), and up until this August, she was going to marry him. But she also took a very strong liking to Jonathan's younger brother Josh, who is 13. After the wedding ceremony when the bridesmaids and groomsmen paired off to exit the sanctuary, Caroline walked hand in hand with Josh. It didn't take long for her to decide that he also had a cute face.

On the trip home from the wedding she decided that she was probably going to marry Josh. But--she added--she kind of wished that she was Molly's sister. And that Molly would shrink down and she would shrink up. So that way SHE could marry Jonathan.

If this is how it is at 4, I don't know what we will do with her at 16.

Caroline's 11 Things

2008-09-08T12:58:00.005-05:00

Caroline and I were lying in her bed this afternoon for rest time. I had told her I would cuddle her for a little bit before she had to rest. She wiggled and squirmed and seemed to have other things on her mind. Lying on her back, she brought both hands up to where she could see them and began to snap--her newest trick. When she first started trying to snap about a month ago, her fingers barely made a sound together. Now when she does it, she will occasionally get them to make a little pop and she's so excited.

Today she did several legitimate snaps in a row and let out a little squeal. Apparently, this series of snaps was confirmation that she could, indeed, now snap. "There are so many things I can do now!" she said. [Beginning to count on fingers] "I can snap, I can whistle, do cartwheels, do handstands . . . four things!" She put her four fingers right in front of my face to show me.

"Wow," I said. It was all I could do not to squeeze her guts out. I reminded her that she also knows how to swim. She let out a little gasp--"FIVE things!" she shrieked.

She lay there beaming up at her five fingers. "And now I need to learn two more things--do a headstand and do a head-and-hand-stand. And then I will have this many [holding up seven fingers] things!" (I am not sure what a head-and-hand-stand is, but I'll give her that one. When you're listing all the things you can now [or will someday be able to] do, it doesn't hurt to throw in a few extras.)

"Then I will be able to do seven things good!" Her eyes were wide in amazement.

"And--you can count to ten in Spanish," I reminded her. Another finger popped up. "EIGHT things!" The excitement was too much. "What else should I learn how to do?" she asked eagerly.

"Maybe . . . blow a bubble (something she's been asking me to demonstrate lately) and . . . read (because she asked to learn how) and . . . tie your shoes (isn't that an important kid milestone?)."

"Um, can I you use your fingers? I'm running out of fingers to count," she said, since she was maxed out at ten. She wanted us to start all over. She took a deep breath and stared at the two tiny fists in front of her face. She looked over at my hand to see if it was ready and began reciting her list.

"[1]Snap fingers, [2]whistle, [3]do cartwheel, [4]do handstand, [5]swim, [6]do headstand, [7]do head-and-hand-stand, [8]count in Spanish, [9]blow a bubble, [10]read, [11] tie shoes (she looked at me to see if I was following along with my one counter). THIS MANY THINGS!!" she proclaimed, putting her ten next to my one.

I did almost squeeze her guts out. It's hard not to sometimes.

This go-getter personality of hers has been evident from birth, when she was straining to hold her head up the day she was born and continued bobbing it around until she really could, way earlier than you would have felt comfortable letting her do so. Every nurse that handled her seemed almost baffled by how strong she was.

It's like in her little baby mind she already had a list and she wanted to get through it as quickly as possible. Hold head up (check), roll over (two months), sit up, scoot, crawl, walk a little bit (eight months), walk all over the place (9 months). She was not very cuddly during her first year of life--she had to be moving and doing.

She does cuddle now, much to my delight. But she's still moving and doing. There's just so much she wants to do, and right now she has five things to check off her list.

Our Weekend

2008-07-29T00:31:00.010-05:00

Us this weekend (minus the horse trailer)

Caroline has this Schleich SUV that is so much fun to play with. It is sturdy, rolls smoothly, has room for passengers, and--the best part--everything is detachable. You can take off the top, both doors, all four tires, and the spare. And the windshield folds down.

I think this is also what makes real Jeeps so fun--you can take them apart. Ever since Jeff got his Jeep a year ago, he has been itching to take the doors off. This past Friday, he finally did. Caroline was ecstatic. She says she never wants the doors to go back on. I asked her why she likes them off so much and she said because she can see everything and doesn't even have to look out the window. I can understand her enthusiasm--with no doors on, her backseat view is as good as any other--no craning her neck or stretching as far out of her carseat as she possibly can to see something we point out in passing.

Caroline sitting pretty in the back seat.
She made made this dress go off the shoulder. Oh dear.

I will admit I thought it was pretty cool too. We drove around at dusk and the evening air was perfect. It was a great sensory experience--you could see, hear, smell, and feel more. The best part was when we would drive near the lake or a grove of trees lining a creek and feel the air get noticeably cooler, almost chilly, for a moment.

It may seem like an unusual pastime (especially with gas prices as high as they are), but we really enjoy just driving around. We like to look at houses and land, sometimes revisiting places we have considered buying (we're renting right now) and sometimes just dreaming (land . . . sigh) or surveying the Texas countryside (wheat and corn fields, creeks, trees, farm ponds, sunsets, wind).

This weekend we saw acres of land and some houses on the lake. For around 1 million, you could get 22 acres, a 4-bedroom log cabin, a barn, and a pool. After seeing this particular lot with fields and trees and wide open spaces, I really wished we had a million. I can get absolutely dreamy picturing our family life in a place like that.

Just as dreamy was the house on the lake--not the house itself so much, but the expanse of yard leading down to the lake and the small island about 30 yards out. If you lived there, that would be your island to row out to and build a fort on and explore . . . probably along with several other neighbor kids who have also staked their claims, but still. It makes me giddy just thinking about having a place like that as a child (or an adult, for that matter). I took a picture that doesn't quite do it justice, but you get the idea.

This was one of our best weekends as a family since moving here. I want to remember the little things that were special this weekend and incorporate those things into our weekend routines or traditions. We are rarely so purposeful as to follow a prescribed routine, but I think it would do us good. Here is what I want to remember:

Be together: We often run errands separately--one person goes and the other stays home with Caroline. This weekend we went almost everywhere together (Blockbuster, the donut shop, the pizza place . . .)

Ride in the Jeep (with the doors off, if possible)

Don't be in a hurry: We really had no plans, other than playing Settlers with Dan and Lisa (which was another fun thing)

Give each other some space with no guilt: For Jeff that meant a long nap on Sunday after church and for me extra time alone at the gym and at Target :)

Work on a project together: Jeff didn't necessarily do this with me, but he also didn't give me any grief* about working on this project (right in the middle of the living room floor)--sorting through papers and setting up a new filing system, which I got online (and am loving). While I was at the gym, he and Caroline even went to Best Buy to get an external hard-drive so we can back up our computer files. It feels great to be getting organized! We talked about having one goal for each weekend and working together on that. *Why might Jeff give me grief about this? Well, because it is an organizing project and I usually dive into such projects with abandon, to the neglect of other, more immediate needs like laundry or dishes or meals. And, as mentioned, I always make a huge mess in the middle of the floor.

***

So this isn't the typical Caroline post, but this is what's on my mind. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer! It is hard to believe it is almost August!

Caroline playing around on the Jeep as if it's a jungle gym.

Miss Malaprop

2008-07-08T19:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon Caroline and I put a puzzle together. There is a part of the puzzle that Caroline thinks is difficult, so she assigned that part to me while she worked on her favorite parts.

When I finished my section, Caroline looked over in amazement, dropped her jaw and said, "You are so unnecessary!" She said it like she was paying me the highest compliment ever. I took it as one. :)

If you want to see her in action . . .

2008-07-03T17:07:00.008-05:00

you can watch these videos I took with my camera.

Swimming

2008-07-03T16:31:00.010-05:00

Caroline has been taking swimming lessons for the past two weeks, and she has learned so much! She already loved the water before lessons and was trying to teach herself to swim short distances. Now she can pretty easily swim the width of the pool.

This afternoon while swimming with some friends from church, we found that she can also swim from the diving board and back!

She stood in line with the big kids . . .

bounced on the edge a while . . .

and experimented with a number of different jumps--check out that form. :)(you can click on the images to see them larger)

Tiger

2008-07-03T16:01:00.006-05:00

We watched the US Open as a family a couple of weeks ago when it was on. Caroline paid close attention each time Tiger Woods was golfing and cheered when he did well.

The following Monday, right after the Open had finally been decided, she and I were sitting at Firehouse Subs eating lunch and the tv there was on with the news. Caroline was watching political coverage very closely for some reason, which led her to ask, "Mama, does Barack Obama play golf?"

It was funny enough to hear her say "Barack Obama," but I was especially amused that she wanted to know about his golf game. Later Jeff asked why she wondered that, and she said, "because he has brown skin like Tiger Woods."

At the dinner table the other night, Jeff told Caroline that he had just seen some pictures on the computer from when she was a baby. He said, "You were holding your tiger and he was white!" (Her stuffed white tiger, which she has had since birth, is no longer white but grey after being dragged around for four years.)

Caroline missed the point of what he was saying, though. She looked at him incredulously and said, "He used to be white?!" She thought he was talking about the other Tiger. :)

New Vocabulary

2008-07-02T22:49:00.003-05:00

Caroline disobeyed tonight and was about to be disciplined, and she started crying and lamented, "I don't know why I'm so disobey-able!"

Another word to add to her made-up-words list. :)

More Tom Sawyer

2008-07-01T01:21:00.007-05:00

The crush has been undoubtedly confirmed. Caroline received a gift in the mail Saturday--a CD with the songs of the Tom Sawyer musical and a DVD of the production that her Aunt Meesh directed at her school. Caroline was overjoyed. She wanted to listen to and watch them both immediately.

I let her listen to the CD in bed Saturday night (which was a mistake--she listened to it twice and still wasn't ready to go to sleep), and then she watched the DVD Sunday afternoon after church. I wish you could have seen her face as she watched. She grinned from ear to ear when Tom came on-stage. She grinned when he did funny things and ornery things. She grinned when people got on to him ("This is the part where Aunt Polly pulls his ear!"). She grinned when he sang and when he talked. We were eating lunch while watching it and she barely ate unless we reminded her to.

I tried to take a few pictures but the angle isn't great since I was trying to stay out of the way of the tv. :)

This morning I went to get her out of bed to get ready for swimming lessons and she was lying there, already awake, listening to the CD again. Often she climbs into our bed once it's light outside, but this morning she told me, "I thought to myself, 'Mama might still be asleep so I'll just listen to my music and wait for her in my bed. Was that a good idea?'" So basically the first thing on her mind was not climbing into bed with us but listening to Tom Sawyer again. All throughout the day today she would go into her room, listen to a few songs, and then pause it for later.

We had the neighbor girls over to play this evening and I overheard a great little bit of dialogue. The girls were huddled on the couch, shrieking at the imaginary lions all around them, and Caroline came up with a plan, "Hey, guys! [girls still shrieking] Hey, guys! [still shrieking] Guys! Listen! I have a brother named Tom Sawyer and he pulls ears, and he can pull those lions' ears and get them away from us!"

The girls had no idea what she was talking about, but it sounded good.

Shortly after Caroline came home from Chicago in May, I dug through the book boxes that are still packed up in the garage and found my old copy of Tom Sawyer. I remembered it having some pictures and I thought it was abridged, so I figured it might be something Caroline would like. Well, it turns out it is not abridged. It does have a few color pictures but the rest are just black-and-white sketches at each chapter heading. I wasn't sure how it would go, but Saturday night I told her we could read it. She listened through the whole first chapter. At one point she was fidgety, so I said, "We're almost done," and she said, "I wasn't hoping that," meaning--that's not what I meant by wiggling around like that.

Sunday we read all of Chapter 2 and she loved it. In that chapter Tom gets his friends to whitewash the fence for him. They actually pay him to let them do it. While we were reading, Caroline made a connection with the musical--"that's where they say, 'don't feel like work to me!'" She also noted "that's not what his hair really looks like." The boy in the book illustrations has blonde hair. The "real" Tom Sawyer (Michelle's student) has dark brown hair.

And, she tells us, Aunt Polly and Injun Joe and Huck Finn are all just pretending to be Aunt Polly and Injun Joe and Huck Finn. But Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher aren't pretending. Translated: the Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher you see on-stage (and that Caroline met) are the real deal. The rest of them are actors.

Tonight before bed we were all sitting on the couch and Jeff said something and I asked, "Who?" and he said [predictably], "Joe." I knew that if I said, "Joe who?" he would say "Joe Mama." Ha ha ha. So I just said, "Who?" again and he said "Joe" again and I said, "No, really, WHO??" And Caroline piped up, "JOE HARPER!!"

Can you guess where she got the name Joe Harper? That's right, he's a character in . . . Tom Sawyer. I am pretty sure we will never hear the end of this. I am pretty sure that in about a week she'll have the entire musical memorized. It's a cute little obsession.

This face . . .

2008-07-01T01:02:00.003-05:00

is on my computer desktop now and I just can't get over it. I couldn't get the complete story behind the picture out of Jeff (it was taken in May when they were in Chicago), but basically she was putting on a pouty face for the camera. It is a bit unusual (not her typical pose), but I like it because all of her features stand out so strongly, especially the lips! She inherited one of my favorite of Jeff's features.

(photo taken by Caroline's "Gamma Jan")

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

2008-06-13T01:35:00.014-05:00

Caroline and Jeff took a trip to Chicago at the beginning of May, and while there Caroline found a new love--Tom Sawyer.

Jeff's sister Michelle was busy that week directing her high school students in the musical The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Caroline got to go to school with Auntie Meesh (as she calls her), and sit in on a speech class and go to play practice. She was, by all accounts, on top of the world.

At one point she even said she didn't miss me.

Well, ever since coming home from that trip, Caroline has talked NON-STOP about Tom Sawyer. Whereas she used to have 33 sisters (the number is always in flux, but has been in the thirties consistently lately), she now has 3 brothers as well. They are: Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Injun Joe ("he's not really a mean guy--he's just pretending").

When she came home she was singing the songs from the musical, talking about Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher as if they were her best friends (always using their full names), and laughing over and over about Tom's Aunt Polly pulling his ear. She just couldn't get over the pulling of the ear.

She would be in her playroom acting out some drama and then come running into the kitchen (laughing like she couldn't believe what had just happened) to tell me a HUGE story, and each story would have as the clincher some kind of ear pulling.

"And we were playing chase and then Tom Sawyer caught me and he pulled my EAR!"

or

"And then Aunt Polly pulled Tom Sawyer's ear and then Tom Sawyer pulled Becky Thatcher's ear AND my ear! He pulled both of our ears!"

I would usually say something like, "Oh my goodness, that is so silly." And she would agree, "Tom.Sawyer.is.so.silly!" and throw up her hands and shake her head, grinning.

I began to wonder if she might have a crush on Tom, either the character she saw in the musical or the actual student who played Tom on-stage. Either could be possible--she spent a lot of time hanging out with the high schoolers during practice, so much time, in fact, that she thought she was one of them. My sister-in-law told me that when a fellow four-year-old asked Caroline if she wanted to color, Caroline told her no! She would normally be super excited that someone was inviting her to do something. But she was completely taken with her bigger friends.

Below is a picture of Caroline and the big kids playing her Go Fish game. The one above is her as Becky Thatcher. :) Pictures compliments of Michelle (thanks!).

Big News!

2008-06-12T00:08:00.003-05:00

Someone got her ears pierced today! She is very pleased with her new look.

She also got a haircut (she was long overdue for a trim), but it's basically the same cut she has had before, so that's not quite as big of a deal. :)

She was the one that wanted to get her ears pierced and the one that initiated the going and doing it (to surprise dad when he gets back from his trip). She has requested it before but has always decided, "maybe another time," after talking really big to begin with.

Well, today was the day. She was definitely nervous and wanted to hold my hand. She really gave no reaction at all when they first went in. But she sat there for a little bit and decided it did hurt, after all. She reached for me and cried a little bit on my shoulder. That was hard--I was just glad I hadn't pushed her at all to do it.

She soon asked when she could take them out. :) She has left them alone, though, and doesn't seem to mind them now. In fact, she's rather pleased with the pictures we just took.

In other news, I have several other posts I'd like to write. There has been plenty going on--I just haven't stopped to write it on the computer. I'll try to get a few more things up in the next few days. There are some things she has said and done and some new interests I really want to write about and not forget.

And I think I'll do a little Father's Day post as well. I am wondering--if I ask Caroline what she loves about her dad, will she mention the word "chubby" at all, like she did when Jeff asked her what she loved about me?

Vacation Quotes

2008-03-22T20:43:00.001-05:00

Speaking of vacation, if you want to see some pictures, click the Flickr link on the left and choose the "TN Vacation" set.

We got Caroline some new crocs and, while thanking us, she told us just how much she had needed the new ones. Her old ones didn't fit anymore on the heel, she said. The old ones were too small now since her feet had turned four.

***

Jeff asked Caroline, "Do you want to go horseback riding one of the days we're here?"

Caroline: "Yes! And cowback riding! That would be SO fun!"

***

Caroline would NOT quit talking (question after question after question) in the backseat of the car Saturday evening and I was kind of getting a headache. I said to her with mock amazement, "Caroline, your mouth just can't be quiet tonight, can it?" And she said, in the most agreeable tone, almost as if she were as "surprised" by it as I was, "No, I'm just so questionable."

This reminded me of a time last November when we were getting the car loaded up for a trip to North Carolina. We were getting out of the house a lot later than expected but still planning to drive through the night. It was already pretty late, so after I buckled Caroline into her carseat I handed her a pillow.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"So you can rest while we're driving because you'll be tired."

"No, I won't be tired--I'll be soooo askerful."

I smiled, wanting to just laugh out loud. "What's askerful?"

"You know, like ask a lot of questions."

Of course I knew. Anyone who has spent ANY amount of time with her knows. Even she knows. She describes herself better than anyone. Not inquisitive or curious--just very, very questionable and askerful.

Good Friday

2008-03-21T22:53:00.013-05:00

Caroline has said out of the blue a couple of times recently, "I love God." Today she asked Jeff and me if we loved God. I said yes and Jeff said yes and then she asked Jeff "how much?" After he said, "very much," she replied with, "not as much as he loves you!"

She was in the backseat of the car drawing on a piece of paper when she started this conversation. She asked me, "What does a cross look like?" I pointed in the direction of (funny enough) a huge cross in the distance (in front of some kind of outreach center, I think). After drawing for a little bit she said, "I drew Jesus on the cross, see?"

I looked back to see her drawing of Jesus on the cross, as well as her version of a hand and a foot (separate from the cross drawing). She had the words to a song in her head, one that we sing at church and also have on CD--"a crown of thorns, pierced hands and feet [thus, the hand and foot], a body bruised, and mercy's plea." She had "written" the words to the song on the page as well.

She asked me, "what are thorns?"

I explained and so she added the crown of thorns to the picture. She asked why the men who put that crown on Jesus' head wanted to poke him, along with a few more questions relating to Jesus' beating and trial. "Why did the men want to hurt Jesus? Did Jesus know their names who hit him? Did he know that man's name who was standing on the stage (Pilate, depicted in her Bible on-stage before the crowd)?"

Then she asked, "What does 'mercy's plea' mean? Wow, I was thinking--deep stuff for a four-year-old . . . Jeff and I explained in a kind of tag-team fashion.

This is just one example of conversations we have been having almost weekly around here. A few weeks ago, Caroline said to me in a very sensitive, somewhat sad tone, "I wish they could have just kept killing lambs for sins and not have to kill Jesus."

Statements like this coming from her take me aback a bit at first, so I think for a minute and try to come up with an equally sensitive response. It's just so amazing to observe the Holy Spirit's working on such a little heart. I am truly thankful for our new church and the great teaching and music (which Caroline is just soaking up). I also really appreciate the illustrations and writing in Caroline's Big Picture Story Bible. Jeff and I have commented before that some of the text is probably too much for a little one to grasp (even referring specifically to the OT part concerning lambs and sacrifice), but apparently it is sinking in!

Portrait of a Lady We Met Today, by Caroline

2008-03-04T18:32:00.009-05:00

There is a lot I would like to write about and catch up on (like Caroline's 4th birthday!), but for now I just have to share a little something that made me smile today.

Caroline and I had to go to the local Department of Public Safety this afternoon to get my driver's license renewed. As is always the case in places like these, there was a long waiting line. For a while Caroline chatted with a very friendly elderly lady who was in line behind us and liked Caroline's "beautiful brown eyes." After she had filled the lady in on her age, recent birthday party, etc., the conversation died down a bit and Caroline decided she'd like to write. She took a little mini notebook over to a desk, worked on a drawing for a little bit, and then came over to tell me, "I drew a picture for her [pointing to the lady behind us]. See--it has her thing what she uses to walk with. I knew what shape it was. But when I taked it out, it teared--see?"

Caroline was upset that it had ripped and so she decided to draw another one. The lady was very pleased with the second drawing and how Caroline had written her own name on it so nicely and how sweet she was to make a picture for her and how impressive it was that she even drew the cane.

I wonder if she would have been as flattered by the first attempt? Not only did it have the lady's cane, but it also showed her pointy, crooked teeth in detail. :)

She didn't draw the teeth in the second one, and I was relieved. :)

Countdown to Valentine's Day

2008-01-21T14:43:00.000-05:00

With no more Christmas celebration or decorations to enjoy, Caroline is moving full speed ahead to Valentine's Day. At the first of this month when we started to take the tree down, she came very close to crying. She said, "but what about [read: what if] I still want decorations out!" in the most despairing tone.

And when it was time to put away the Christmas-themed books and toys, you would have thought I was asking her to bury them forever. I think she actually cried a few tears over putting them all into the red Rubbermaid. About 30 minutes after we had put what I thought were all of the toys away and Caroline had gone off into the playroom to mourn, she emerged, face downcast, clutching a stuffed snowman (it had been hiding in her kitchen cabinet) to her chest. She walked very slowly towards the Rubbermaid, stopped, kissed the snowman, and placed him inside. Then she walked out of the room the same way she had come in. I let her have her grief, but I couldn't help laughing to myself behind her back as she was walking away. :)

Later I made the mistake of telling her we could put some different decorations out when it was time for Valentine's Day. I thought this would cheer her up a little. She has not failed to mention Valentine's Day every day since.

For this holiday we are going to use a countdown calendar. I saw this one on Family Fun's website (click on the three links under "Countdown Calendar") and it's pretty cute. It's in the shape of a chocolates box and you "unwrap" a little activity to do each day from February 1 up until Valentine's Day. I think we will substitute our own countdown ideas for some of the ones it mentions, though. Here are a few of the ones I've thought of--

Go to the library and check out some Valentine's books

Go to the library and check out a Valentine's flannel set (our library has what they call "Storytime in a Box" and it's really cute)

Go to Barnes and Noble and spend an afternoon reading all the books on the Valentine's table

Make some new pieces for our flannel board

Make a doorknob "mailbox"/cardholder

Make some of these crepe paper flowers--I've been wanting to make some since August when it was posted on one of my favorite blogs and I've been saving up soup cans

Write a list of all the things you love about _______ (a person a day, maybe)

Make homemade marshmallows (see here and here)

Make wax paper and crayon hearts

Make some finger paint valentines

Make Valentine's cupcakes and deliver them to friends and neighbors

Make Valentine's sugar cookies with sprinkles

Make any of the sweets recipes on my friend Nikki's food blog (she has the recipes divided into categories for easy searching; pay special attention to the "valentine's day," "chocolate," and "truffle" categories)

Make a valentine notebook (something for Caroline to slip all her valentines into after the day is over)

Find a mailbox/birdhouse to put between our yard and the neighbors' so that the girls can exchange notes, Little Women style (remember the box in the garden they used to correspond with Laurie? I love that kind of thing!)

Have a tea party

Make Valentine's shrinky dinks

Make a balloon valentine for Lindsey

Look up Bible verses about love and friendship and talk about them--work on memorizing some together

Yikes, maybe we should get started on this countdown thing now! I have some more ideas for things to make, but I can't share those right now because some of you just might be our valentines!

Do any of you have fun ideas or traditions? (Laura, are you reading this?)

Do share! Can you tell I love ideas? :)

Happy Birthday, Aunt Rach!

2008-01-21T13:15:00.000-05:00

Today is my Aunt Rachael's birthday, and I thought I'd celebrate it here on my blog with this adorable picture, circa Christmas 1969. Someone was very proud of her Red Cross nurse's uniform!

Quotable Christmas, Part 2: "Don't buy me any Christmas presents!"

2008-01-18T23:21:00.000-05:00

We started packing up the decorations and taking down the tree on January 1, but I still have storage boxes sitting around in the living room (driving Jeff crazy) and guest bedroom. There are still a few things left to sort through and put away, and I'm hoping to get that done sometime tomorrow. I am still working on my "Christmas Resolutions," but I really don't need the decorations and boxes lying about to help me in that pursuit.

I'm sure I will think of more after I post this, but I thought I'd share another Christmas quote. About two weeks before Christmas, we got a package in the mail from Jeff's grandmother, and Caroline was so excited to see a few wrapped presents with her name on them inside the box. When I told her to go put them under the tree, she happily did so. But then she asked, "Can I open them now?" When I told her she would have to wait until Christmas, she was extremely disappointed. "Why can't I open them now?/How many days until it's Christmas?/ That's soooo long [her voice getting shakier]. I can't wait that long [shoulders sagging, almost crying]!"

A week later another package came, this time from my Aunt Karen. We opened the box and found another wrapped gift with her name on it! "Can I open it?" she asked eagerly. "No, go put it under the tree--it's for Christmas," I told her.

She could hardly bear the news. She did what I asked, but walked towards the tree carrying the gift as if it weighed 50 pounds and her arms couldn't support it. Shoulders again sagging, this time she actually did begin to cry and asked me, "Why does everybody keep sending me Christmas gifts?"

The following weekend, Jeff and I arranged for a babysitter to come over while we went out together and had a shopping date. Caroline was already excited about Katie (one of her favorite teenagers ever) coming to visit, but just to add to this excitement, I explained to her that she was going to stay home with Katie while we went out and that the reason she couldn't come along was because we were going to buy her some presents!

After Katie arrived and we had talked for a minute, she started down the hall and said, "Caroline, come show me your room." I gave Caroline a last-minute hug and told her to be good. She squeezed me back and as we were leaving called out cheerfully, "Don't buy me any Christmas presents!"

Christmas Resolutions

2008-01-15T00:47:00.000-05:00

Caroline and I just finished our Christmas thank yous a couple days ago. Normally, this accomplishment would be the very last Christmas-related thing we would do. But I am doing something different this January than I have other years--still thinking about Christmas instead of packing it all up and storing it until next December. Every year after the holiday, I have a pretty good mental list of all the things I would like to do differently in the next year. But I don't stop and write anything down or spend time really thinking more about it once the new year gets underway.

So this year I am thinking more about Christmas resolutions than New Year's resolutions. I want to really evaluate how we celebrated Christ's birth this year and in years past and how we could do things differently in the future.

In 2006 I came across a website that outlines a plan for beginning Christmas preparations October 21 and completing everything by December 1. The idea is that if you follow this plan and do certain tasks each week, you will have a calmer, less stressful, and more joyful Christmas holiday and a more peaceful December.

The site offers helpful printables and articles, all for free. Whether or not you follow the outlined plan perfectly, it definitely provides some food for thought and an organizational framework. How nice would it be to have everything done by December 1 and then spend the rest of the month just enjoying family, observing traditions, and worshiping Jesus?

The concept is great, but I have to remember that there is more to a joyful Christmas than super organization--and that super organization, in and of itself, won't really transform my Christmas. Only Christ will. The centrality of Christ's birth at Christmas time is something I've always acknowledged, but I have also gotten caught up in all the goings on of the season and haven't let this truth really sink into my heart.

So I'm letting it sink in now, and I am thinking of ways to thank God for giving us Christ all throughout the year. And I am making plans for this December, even though it's January.

I was super excited in the midst of all this evaluating to find a book that deals specifically with incorporating into your family life daily routines and holiday traditions that center around God and honor him. It's called Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper. The night I found the book I was so eager to dig in that I read most of it online (available for free download). It is packed with insight and truth and excellent suggestions. I've borrowed a copy of the book from a friend and am going to go through it again throughout the rest of this month and think on the questions it poses:

Guiding Questions for all our Traditions all Year
(from Treasuring God in Our Traditions)

What is my greatest treasure? What is most precious to me?
How do I reflect and express that treasure in my life?
How can I pass that treasure on to my children and others within my circle?

Along with this, I want to consider the questions I've been asking all along and give thought to what I would like to incorporate into next Christmas.

My Christmas Resolutions, in no certain order
and some of them only in question form:

In regard to gift giving and receiving

Buy gifts as I think of them for someone all throughout the year and save them for Christmas
Put more emphasis on the thought behind a gift than a spending amount
Do something with Caroline to teach her about giving in general and, in particular, to those in need
Evaluate how much we spend at Christmas just to spend and try to determine better ways to celebrate with that money (more giving, using it towards time together with family instead of lots of gifts)
Emphasize giving over getting with Caroline and approach the presents like they are just an extra treat, not the main idea

In regard to being more organized

What things did I really want to get done before Christmas this year and wasn't able to? (making some handmade or sentimental gifts, starting a new tradition with Caroline, reaching out to the neighbors with a small gift . . . )
When can I make time to work on some of those ideas or gifts throughout the year in order to have them done by next Christmas?
What can I do ahead of time this year in order to be more organized?

In regard to being more worshipful

How do I acknowledge the significance of Christ's birth in my heart and through my actions?
What can I do (activity, tradition) to acknowledge the significance of Christ's birth in our home?
How can I prepare my heart for Christmas?
What can we do as a family to teach Caroline the spiritual significance of Christmas?
See Treasuring God questions . . .

So there you have it, in case you were wondering what was going in my head lately. :) Maybe I'll have to start a segment on this blog called, "What Amber thinks" since these things really have nothing to do with "what Caroline says. " I'll be back with plenty more of that, to be sure!

Quotable Christmas

2008-01-13T15:45:00.001-05:00

Caroline was so amped up over the holiday, she chattered non-stop--even more non-stop than she usually does. (Is that even possible, you ask? You would have to experience it firsthand to understand.) For one thing, we had all of Jeff's family in town so that meant 11 extra people to talk to!! For another, it was Christmas time and she is three. There was just so much going on and so many presents to unwrap and play with (only child, only grandchild, only neice . . .)!

Here are just a few of my favorite sayings from this Christmas:

"Just what I always wanted!" squealed repeatedly while digging through her stocking and finding, well, stocking gifts--shampoo, lip gloss, candy . . . All of these things were just what she'd always wanted.

*****

On Christmas morning before we had opened any gifts, someone (I think Uncle Josh or Aunt Meesh) asked Caroline if she knew why we gave each other gifts at Christmas time. I think she said, "nuh-uh," (which is what she says even if you've already gone over something with her; I think it's because she would like to be told again and enjoy the repetition--sometimes this is kind of frustrating), and she was told, "It's because God gave us a gift--Jesus. So we give each other gifts and remember the best gift ever that was given to us."

Caroline said, "Yeah, and maybe I will give God a gift too."

"What will you give him"

"A yo-yo."

??

*****

One evening while we were over at Dan's and Lisa's house, Caroline came running into the kitchen where most of us were and exclaimed, "Uncle ----- is sitting on the potty like a GIRL!"

"What? How do you know?"

"Cause I went in there and sawed him [laughing]!"

"What did Uncle ----- say?"

"Shut the door."

"Haven't we talked about knocking when the door is shut?"

We have, by the way. Being part Sawatzky, Caroline lacks the personal space gene--she doesn't really need her own, nor does she expect others to. In my family, a closed door means nothing. Jeff discovered this the first time he visited while we were dating. When he told me that my sister had started to open the door while he was changing, I asked him if he had locked it. He said, "No--I shut it," in a shouldn't-that-be-enough sort of tone. That's not enough around here, I explained.

The house we are renting has one of the weirdest master bedroom/bath set-ups ever, in my opinion. There are two small double doors leading into the bathroom from the bedroom and they do not lock. And in the bathroom itself, there is not a door to separate the "water closet" from the rest of the bathroom. So if you want privacy, you have to lock the bedroom doors--which are also double doors. And in order for them to lock, the first one has to be bolted with a sliding thing up top and then the second closed and locked on the handle. That's a lot of work for a bathroom trip! It makes absolutely no sense to me.

So there have been quite a few times we have not done due diligence by adequately securing the premises and have had to tell Caroline, "Shut the door! Knock first!"

I'm guessing in her eagerness to follow Uncle ----- around in order to know what he was up to at all times, she didn't remember this little rule.

*****

On a very different note, the very first thing Caroline said on Christmas morning--when we were expecting her to say she couldn't wait to open presents--was, "I can't wait to go to Heaven and see Lindsey." I thought it was sweet that she was thinking about her friend.

*****

I hope everyone had a good holiday season. I feel out of touch because I didn't send out any Christmas cards this year and haven't been on here to give an update in a long time (as Nikki pointed out). :) There is still lots I'd like to write, but this will have to be all for now. Hopefully I'll post some pictures and other things this week. Happy [somewhat belated] New Year!

Happy belated birthday, Aunt K!

2007-12-13T12:51:00.000-05:00

My Aunt Karen's birthday was earlier this month. I thought I would make up for the
belatedness of this wish with a very cute (and funny) picture of her.

It has been said my sister Libby resembles Karen a lot and Caroline
has also been likened to her. I can definitely see it in this picture. What a sweet face!

We love you berry much, Aunt Karen!

"Maybe you could make me a list."

2007-12-13T02:43:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I walked into Caroline's room and noticed lots of clothes and hangers on her closet floor. She had been in the habit of pulling items down off the hangers (which are way above her head) so she could change clothes and "dress up." This usually resulted in broken hangers, previously clean clothes in a heap on the floor, and shirt necks stretched and buttons popped from being pulled on so hard.

I had already explained to Caroline that she shouldn't pull clothes down from the closet, but, apparently, had not been specific enough. I think I had said something like, "don't pull on your dresses--you'll ruin them," or, "you've got to stop making such a mess by pulling all these clothes out of the closet." I had said things like this more than once, so that day when I walked in and saw the mess I started to get frustrated.

"Caroline, look at this mess in your closet," I said, very sternly.

She looked at all the clothes and shook her head side to side, as if in agreement with me that, yes, this was quite a mess. I think she assumed I would be less upset with her if we were on the same page right away.

"What has mommy told you about taking clothes down?"

She explained herself: "I didn't pull them. I stood on my car--see--and I just got them down like that. I didn't pull them."

"But I told you not to even take them down, didn't I?"

She thought about it with a very cute thinking face and then said, "Oops, I forgot."

I gave her the benefit of the doubt, figuring it was possible she had misunderstood something. And I realized, as I have many times since becoming a mom and going through the whole discipline thing, that I have to be especially clear by spelling out everything I mean.

So I said, "Okay, for next time you need to remember--

don't pull your clothes down and make a mess on the floor,
don't pull your clothes down at all--don't stand on the floor and pull them down, don't climb on something to reach them and pull them down,
don't take any clothes out of your closet--not any--you can play with the ones that are in your dresser, only the ones that are in your dresser . . .

Can you remember that for next time so you don't get in trouble?"

She had the cute thinking face on again. She touched her pointer finger to her chin and said thoughtfully, "maybe you could make me a list."

I said, "A list??"

"Yeah, like [she started to list on her fingers] don't pull on the clothes, don't stand on my car, don't take bologna out the fridgerator, don't take money out my piggy bank, don't use your chapstick 'out asking first . . ."

And she went on. Apparently, she can remember a whole lot of things. But it would be really helpful to her to have a list. :)

"My cheeks are still chubby . . ."

2007-11-16T03:34:00.000-05:00

When I woke up a few mornings ago, Caroline's sweet face was staring right at me. She smiled a big grin and said "good morning!" and I said, "good morning, stinky (it's an affectionate term I use whether I think she's stinky or not)."

She was lying there with a little hand under one of her cheeks. She stayed like that for a moment smiling at me and then she stopped, as if something had occurred to her--

She said, "My cheeks are still chubby," and she squeezed the side of her face that had the hand under it and added, "I can feel them squishin."

At which point I grabbed her and sqeezed her until she almost couldn't breathe. I love it when she says things like that. :)

Happy Birthday, Ama!

2007-11-15T03:52:00.000-05:00

Today is my mom's birthday. Isn't this a sweet picture?

And I love this not-as-sweet picture. I can't believe how much she looks like my sister Addy in this one. It's like the exact same face, except I doubt Addy would be giving anyone this look. :)

To everyone else who has had a birthday and not received a birthday post from us, well, I am just now thinking of it! Very much love to you all anyway! :)

More Little Faces

2007-11-13T22:20:00.001-05:00

Update: You can see pictures here.

******

Well, I'm having a hard time deciding which pictures will make the final cut and blogger is having a hard time uploading the ones I was going to share . . . so here is a picture of pictures--a fridge full of Caroline faces--my "proofs," if you will. :) If you click on the image, you should be able to get a pretty good view of most of the pictures.

I like the fridge proofing because having all of the pictures up there at once allows me to see pretty easily which ones are better than others.

We had a lot of fun taking these today--it was a beautiful day (but just a little bit windy). And the place we discovered--the Texas Sculpture Garden--is really pretty (and the art is cool, too). When trying to think of a place to take her picture here in Frisco, I started to miss Greenville and all of its natural beauty. A few years ago, I took my sister Stefani's senior pictures at Falls Park on the Reedy River in downtown Greenville and you couldn't ask for a more accessible or picturesque setting. Well, the sculpture garden here (located in a sprawling office complex, of all places) is so beautifully landscaped with weeping willows and big stones and little ponds and green grass--it made for a great backdrop. And it makes me glad to know there's a pretty place with a good walking path where Caroline and I can come and enjoy nature. The path flows really well, keeps you interested and wondering what's coming up next. Caroline loved spotting something in the distance (usually big rocks) and wondering how to get to it. Basically, I just followed her around as she ran and explored, and we stopped here and there for a few (well, a few at a time) shots.

I really enjoy taking my own pictures--it's fun to be outside on a pretty day and see what I can capture, I only have to pay for printing, and I can play around with the pictures on my computer and have more control over the outcome. Caroline likes it this way too. Except for a few complaints, she was all smiles and pretty much just thought we were playing the whole time. She got to pick flowers, climb on rocks, jump, run in the grass, and see two turtles.

Up until this point, she has only had her picture "formally" done once a year, but I think we'll start doing it four times a year--once every season, as a little tradition. We'll get more pictures and have a chance to wear more outfits this way. :)

Be looking for a little Caroline face to show up in your mailbox soon!

I love this little face . . .

2007-11-13T17:43:00.001-05:00

Got out and took some pictures today at a really pretty garden. I'll post more later . . .

Just Ducky

2007-11-12T15:07:00.002-05:00

Just some more shots of Caroline's favorite fashion victim.

Ducky and Pink both look a little worn out in this one--like they don't know what hit them. I'm afraid they could be very close to a Buzz Lightyear drinking-darjeeling-with-Mrs.-Nesbitt type of breakdown.

Hey, Nikki, do you recognize any of the outfits or accessories? They're from the dress-up bear you gave her. :)

The ants go marching one-by-one . . .

2007-11-09T14:52:00.000-05:00

Before Caroline’s nap just a while ago, we were sitting on the couch cuddling, at her request. She was yakking my head off, as usual, but every once in a while she would stop talking long enough to stick her thumb in her mouth and hold her tiger for a minute. Apparently, she was in deep thought during one of these quiet moments because she popped her thumb out of her mouth and said, “How does that ant song go?”

We had just come from story time at the library where they sang “The Ants Go Marching.” I sang her the first two verses. At the end of verse one, the little ant stops to suck his thumb, and at the end of verse two, he stops to tie his shoe.

I was expecting her to ask me to sing all the rest of the verses when she said, “Why he stops and sucks him thumb?”

I said I wasn’t sure.

She looked at me with a "that dosen't make any sense" face and said, “He can suck his thumb while he’s walkin. That’s what I do.”

She decided the song should go, “The ants go marching one-by-one; the little one walks and sucks his thumb.” ☺

Remembering Lindsey

2007-11-07T16:30:00.000-05:00

Today marks one year since Caroline's special friend Lindsey Boehm went to Heaven to be with Jesus. She died unexpectedly last year on Tuesday, November 7, at the age of 5.

We had just met her family earlier that Spring when they began coming to our church. Caroline and the two girls (Lindsey's younger sister Cadence was three at the time) were instant friends. And Jeff, Jason, Laura, and I bonded at about the same rate. It was one of those situations where you become friends so quickly you can't believe you haven't known each other for years already.

When Lindsey died just six short months later, we were so thankful that we had met her when we did. I often wish that it had been even sooner and that I had a whole five-year's-worth of memories to draw from.

Lindsey was one of those people who was so full of life you can't quite grasp the concept of her losing it. But I have to remind myself that she really didn't--she just passed from this one to the next, and she is now enjoying eternal life with her Saviour.

Lindsey's mom has a blog and you can visit it at www.boehmgirls.blogspot.com. To read her testimony of God's goodness and love, and to see Lindsey's amazing funeral program, start at the November 2006 archives.

Here are some pictures from our "Lindsey Day" here in Texas today. We wrote some notes and took them to the local party store where we had them put inside helium balloons. We went to the park and let the balloons go up to Heaven where Lindsey can get our letters.

Caroline really wanted to send the movie 12 Dancing Princeses to Heaven, but we were afraid the balloon wouldn't float with that in it! :) She said she would pray to Lindsey and ask her if she wanted to see that movie. When I explained to her that we don't pray to Lindsey, but only to God, she said, "Then I will ask God to tell [ask] her, 'Lindsey, do you want to watch 12 Dancing Princesses?'"

Writing to Lindsey . . .
Getting ready to send the balloons . . .

Letting go . . .

On their way to Heaven . . .

Jason, Laura, and Cadence and all of your special family and friends-
we love you and are thinking of you!

To see some more pictures, try this link. It's from my Facebook account--I hope it works!

Dress-Up Everyday

2007-10-30T01:48:00.001-05:00

Caroline is totally into dress-up these days. Yesterday when we were getting ready to go to the Arboretum, I got her ready before I hopped into the shower, thinking that this way I wouldn't have to hurry her later. But when I came out of my room she was wearing different pants, her crown, and princess shoes. She wanted to be beautiful. If I hadn't been a bit frustrated, I would have taken her picture.

Here are a few of her most recent get-ups. As you'll see, it doesn't have to
involve princess dresses. It seems the more layers, the better.

And sometimes all you need is a crown to go with your pjs.

As usual, Ducky is not left out of the action. I'm going to just start following this duck around--it gets dressed up more than any other toy.

Plus, it photographs really well, don't you think?

New Friends

2007-10-30T00:48:00.001-05:00

Ever since we moved, Caroline has been actively seeking friends. Every Sunday she wants to know who will be at church. Every other day she wants to know who we are seeing today. If I say I don't know, she'll supply me with suggestions.

She's really excited to be making so many friends. She loves listing all of their names and she said once, "I can't believe I have so many friends. I can't even count them all!"

Granted, making friends is extremely easy at three, especially when your approach involves simply staring at a kid until he or she looks at you and then, when he/she does, waving and (if that goes well) saying, "do you wanna play?"

On our second or third visit to the church we are now attending, I went to pick her up from her class and she was holding a little girl's hand. I said, "Did you find a friend?" And she said, "Uh-huh, her's my best friend!" I said, "What's her name?"

She turned to the girl and said, "What's your name?"

Today we saw this little girl (whose name is Addy, by the way) along with several other children. We visited the Dallas Arboretum--it was a great outing! I'd go every day if it were closer.

Here is Caroline with her best baby friend (in Frisco), Violet. When we first met Violet, Caroline called her Baby Eye-lip. She went from that to Vi-lip. And now that she knows better,
she calls her VioleT with a very strong T.

This is Addy, who is a month shy of three but taller than Caroline. :)

And here is the whole group, including Addy's baby sister Sadie and Isaac, Elijah, and Lucy. Caroline liked playing with the boys, except when she slipped and bruised her knee and said
she didn't want to play their game anymore.

It was so nice to be outside in the pretty fall weather. Caroline ran
and played (and danced) herself to exhaustion.

She Makes Her Daddy Proud

2007-10-29T23:35:00.000-05:00

Last week while we were driving in the car, Caroline said, "What day is today?"

"Friday," I told her.

"And then Saturday and then Sunday?"

"Yep.

"I know what comes on Sunday," she said proudly.

And I said, "Oh yeah, what's that?" totally expecting her to say "church."

"Football!" she said, excitedly.

"Oooh . . . yeah, you're right."

And then for some reason (I sensed an educational moment??) I added, "You know what, pro football is on Sunday and college football is on Saturday."

I expected her to respond with her earlier enthusiasm, but she just said, "I knowed that already--Dad told me."

Yes, of course, that is so old news.

---

This past Tuesday, Jeff took Caroline to the Mavericks/Bulls game and so the night before we had to run to the mall to get her a jersey. Jeff was hoping to get her a Bulls jersey, but--since he couldn't find one--he got her the next best thing, another Chicago team's jersey, which she is extremely proud of.

When they got home Tuesday night, I asked her what she did at the game and she said, "Sawed a lot of girls!"

Um, okay? Jeff assured me that she saw all of these girls not with him but while sitting in the front with his boss and boss' brother, who have season tickets on the floor and didn't really mind the female attention Caroline attracted. :) Apparently, she got the royal treatment. She got a VIP pass to eat in the suite and get cotton candy . . .

she got a special visit from the mascot,

and spent a while on the jumbo tron.
Jeff says he just hopes she doesn't expect this at every game.

Photo Shoot

2007-10-14T14:05:00.000-05:00

While in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago we visited a "pumpkin patch" on the lawn of a Methodist church in Waynesville. There were pumpkins everywhere. It seemed a great place to take a few pictures.

If only Caroline would cooperate.

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4

Take 5

When she's in this mood, I have to let her get all her silliness out and then she might give me a good picture. We at least got one from this day.

Take 6

Take 7 was another goofy one. I gave up.

Because I am so bad about taking her to a studio to get her picture made regularly, and because she doesn't like it anyway, I think I will take her to a park somewhere and take some pictures of her myself. As funny as the silly faces are after-the-fact, I'm hoping she'll give me some sweet ones. Otherwise, friends and family will all be getting pictures like the ones above. You might want to go ahead and place your orders, just in case. :)

Thanks for the Emails!

2007-09-12T23:27:00.000-05:00

They've been a big hit. You should see Caroline's fingers move over the keys--she likes to type like I do, she says. I'm sorry we haven't responded to everyone yet--we've been having internet difficulties. But hopefully we're all set now and Caroline and I can get busy with our reply "mechages."

When we check her email I let her click on as many things as I can, in proportion to the amount of patience I have at that moment. She loves to move the mouse around. I read her each message and show her any pictures or attachments, and then we type out our response together. I ask her what she wants to say and also make note of what she said or how she reacted as we were reading the message.

And then for a special treat, I let her loose on the keyboard. What ends up on the screen is totally unintellible, but she sure does it with flair. I'll have to videotape her typing sometime. You can tell she thinks she is really hot stuff.

So keep the emails coming and we'll get back to you in a more timely manner now. Starting today . . .

Flannel Board Fun

2007-09-12T22:44:00.001-05:00

We had hours of fun with this today. It's our very own homemade flannel board. I think I enjoy it just as much as Caroline does. It's an instant gratification project--you think of something you want to see on the board, you cut it out of felt and slap it on--that easy.

At the library's story time the other day, they used a flannel board when they sang "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." As the kids were singing, I thought to myself, "That board is homemade. I bet I could make one . . ." After storytime was over, Caroline and I meandered over to the board to check it out. The librarian said they had books on flannel board crafts and she and another extremely helpful librarian went out of their way to help me find some materials. They even took Caroline and me back into their storage area behind the puppet stage to see their stash of flannel materials. How fun.

I came home with a couple of great craft books and some instructions from the internet, which one of the librarians had printed out for me. I don't know if I've ever been so . . . helped. It was the royal library treatment.

I already had an oversize bulletin board and I got felt and flannel from JoAnn's Crafts and Wal-Mart. Last night I stayed up after Caroline went to bed and put the flannel background on. I also made a tree and some clouds so she could wake up in the morning and find them on the board. She was so excited this morning--and that's all the invitation I needed to make lots more little felt things! I could see us adding a little to this everyday. Tonight before she went to bed, she said she wanted us to make stars tomorrow "for when it's nighttime." I have so many ideas for storyboards and scenery that I don't know what to do with myself. Ah, the excitement of being a child . . . and a child's mother. :)

"I will tell him sorry."

2007-09-10T03:30:00.000-05:00

Last night before bed, Caroline brought me her picture Bible and asked me to read from it. Before I could put away the book I was reading, she was already turning pages in hers. She said, "Let's read about when they're dead."

"When who's dead?" I asked.
"Jesus. About when they kill him and die him."

She got to the section of her Bible that deals with Jesus' death, pointed to a very simple and touching illustration of him on the cross and asked, "Why there's blood on it?"

"Because . . . (I had to think about how I wanted to put it) they put nails in his hands and feet so he would hang on the cross." This struck me as extremely gruesome at that moment.

"And that poked him?"
"Uh-huh."

"Why they did that?"
"Because they wanted to kill him."

"Why they wanted to kill him? They didn't like him?"
"No, they didn't."

"What were their names who killed him?"
"We don't know the names of everyone who killed him, but a lot of people were angry with him and wanted him to die."

Caroline turned the page and asked what they were doing there. I said that after Jesus died they took his body to bury it.

Next page--"and what there?"
"All the people who loved Jesus were together talking about him and missing him."

Next page--"and what there?"
"She is going to where Jesus is buried to think about him and remember him, like how we go to where Lindsey was buried to think about her and remember her."

Next page--looking at me, waiting . . .
"She finds out that Jesus isn't there anymore. He isn't dead."

She turns the pages quickly--
". . . and she goes to tell the other people"
". . . and they go and see that Jesus isn't there anymore"
". . . and they go to tell everybody"

"And what he's doing here?"
"Jesus comes to them and explains everything to them."

"Who got him to be alive--God?"
"Yes."

"Is he in Heaven with God?"
"Yes."

She thought for a minute, shook her head, and with her face down said, "Maybe if I can go to Heaven, I will tell him sorry."

"Sorry for what?"
"That he died."

I thought this was a very tender thing to say, and it warmed my heart to see her so touched. But I wanted to emphasize the hope of the story, so I explained to her, "Well, Jesus isn't dead anymore, remember? And you know what--it hurt him to die but he wanted to do it. You could tell him sorry that it hurt, but he wanted to do it so he could save us. He was so strong that he could have made the people not hurt him, but he let them kill him so that he could die in our place."

"Could God have maked them not kill him?"
"Yes, he could have, but he was letting them kill him so . . . so that we wouldn't have to die the same way he did."

I started to explain sin to her and how Jesus was paying for our sin. As I talked she was turning pages the other way in her Bible, and she came to the story about Lazarus and asked what was happening there. We switched from the topic of sin to the topic of graveclothes because she wanted to know why Lazarus was wearing all that white.

I sensed that our moment of "deep" conversation had come to an end, but I am certain she will come back to the topic soon. This challenges me to be even more prepared for the next round of questions. I think back to when I was very young and found the comfort and friendship of Jesus . . . how sweet to know Caroline can have this as well someday, maybe even soon.

I am really enjoying being a mother right now--we have so much to learn together and I can't tell you how exciting this is for me!

"Once upon a time . . . "

2007-09-07T02:29:00.001-05:00

According to Caroline, this is all you have to say to tell a story. If, when she asks for one, you reply that you can't think of one right now, she will say, "It's easy. You just say 'once upon a time' . . ." and she finishes the phrase with her eyes big and her voice up and expectant, as if you will now complete her sentence with the story that has just magically formed in your mind at the mention of those words.

It's that easy--to her. And really it isn't that hard, if you just take the time to do it.

Jeff told her a short story the other night in bed and I got some cute pictures. I was about to walk into the room and then stopped when I saw them lying there talking together and, of course, went to get the camera. She never even looked up when I snapped the pictures--that's how into it she was.

After Jeff's story was over she asked if I would tell one. My mind was blank at first but then I remembered one of my favorites:

"Once upon a time there was a little girl named Carrie (she grinned). And when Carrie was just a little tiny thing, her Grama Jan . . . et (added that in keeping with the whole altering the names thing) came to visit her and taught her a trick. She would say, 'How big is Carrie?' and Carrie would raise her little arms up above her head as Grama said 'soooo big.' Carrie was very good at this trick.

One day, when Carrie was at her Aunt Adeline's and Aunt . . . Elizabeth's (no "L" name was coming to me so I went with the real name, which doesn't get used as often) house, they all decided to play hide-and-seek with their friend Kelly. Adeline and Kelly ran to hide and took Carrie with them while Elizabeth counted.

'Ready or not, here I come!' Elizabeth called. She was walking around everywhere trying to find the girls but it was taking a long time. And so she thought of a trick. She yelled out, 'How big is Carrie?" really loudly--and right away Carrie stood up and answered 'sooo big!'

(We paused to laugh together.)

So Lib--Elizabeth knew right away where they were and ran to catch them all. The end."

She loved it. Of course she did--it was about her.

That story is a favorite of mine for many reasons. One, it recalls that time when Caroline would do those little things and seemed so much smaller. Two, I'm amused at Libby's cleverness in throwing out this particular bait to lure Caroline out of the hiding place and expose the older girls (who were really the ones playing the game anyway).

Addy told me later that she was trying so hard to get Caroline to sit really still and quiet . . . but it was no use when Libby gave the call. The girls came into my parents' house grinning with their sides of the story--Libby so proud of herself for thinking up the idea and Addy, as always, tickled with the inner workings of her toddler neice's mind when facing a dilemma--do I crouch quietly like Addy says or jump up and show Libby how big I am? What's a little one-and-a-half-year-old to do?

***

So whose story is next?? :)

Caroline loves a good story.

2007-09-06T01:59:00.000-05:00

I think I can attribute a lot of this to the fact that she has heard us tell each other stories about her probably for as long as she can remember and definitely way before we thought she was listening.

But I think it is also due in large part to the fact that any time she would spend the night with my family she would get a story out of Ama (my mom), who always told pretty good ones. My mom used to tell Addy and Libby stories about when she was little and the minute she was finished with one, they would say, "tell us another." So she'd tell another, and another, and another . . . until she couldn't remember anymore, at least not that night. Once their requests had nearly depleted the childhood memory reservoir, she went to making up stories about them, in code names, and they loved these as well. She now tells these stories to Caroline on visits when Caroline is getting the extra special I-know-I-can-ask-for-a-whole-lot-and-get-it -because-I-am-with-you-guys bedtime routine.

Lately, though, Caroline is asking for stories at all times of day. It may be at bedtime or it may be right after she thinks she noticed some "story" in something you just said. Like last night at supper she said that we should go fishing and catch a fish and then eat it for dinner. I knew exactly where this came from--an episode of Caillou in which his grandpa takes him fishing. I told Caroline that my grandpa used to take me fishing.

"When you were a little girl?"
"Yep."
"Will you tell me another story, Mommy?"

Wait a minute, did I just tell a story?

Tonight after Dan got home from work (Jeff's brother Dan and his wife are living with us until they close on their new house), he said that traffic was terrible on the way home and he mentioned briefly that at one point he thought a cop was going to pull him over but didn't. When he was finished with this news, Caroline asked, "Could you tell another story, Dan?"

It seems she hangs on every word of what--to us--is very mundane conversation. I think it's cute and I actually just read something last night in Raising Lifelong Learners that stressed how important it is for language development that children have opportunity for conversation and shared stories. It suggested building storytime and conversation ritual into each day and I like the thought of that. The only thing is, I'm sure that as soon as I arrange for a one-on-one sit-down conversation and have Caroline on my lap she'll just look at me excitedly and say, "Do you wanna play I Spy?"

Anyway, all of this leads me to another idea. If any of you have stories to tell, please share. You could send them to her in an email--how convenient. Obviously, they needn't be extraordinary--tell her about your drive home from work or something. :)

(And, Mama/Addy/Libby, I would like some of those Quay and Boppity-Bop stories written out, please. Make it a "projec." Love you.)

(And Aunt K--I'm sure you could come up with some great stories of when you and Ama were little. Love you too.)

"Can I check my email?"

2007-09-06T01:34:00.000-05:00

Caroline asks me this more than once a day pretty much every day. Whenever we're at the library, which has been quite often lately, and I'm whisking her through the big room towards the children's section, she pauses and pulls me almost to a stop at the computer station and says, "Can I check my email?"

And she'll do this more than once in a given library visit. At the library I always say, "No, not right now." But the other day on the way home from the library she asked if she could check her email on my computer when we got home. In an effort to not always go with my initial reaction and say "no" I said, "Sure--but, Caroline, why do you need to check your email?"

"I need to see what my baby brother's name is going to be."

?? (No, we're not expecting, by the way.)

So at home I pulled up Word and let her type. She loved pointing out letters and pushing the keys, but she also wanted to use the mouse and soon I found that she had opened a lot of my computer programs by clicking on them. I let her play around for a while and ended the session before she could ask to go on pbskids.org.

All of this leads me to a very exciting announcement: Caroline is going to have a for-real email address and she would be tickled pink to get for-real emails. If you want to write her a note for me to read to her, send it to ecarolinecarlson@yahoo.com.

She would be soooo excited if I told her she had an email to check. :)

"Sometimes I don't know what to do when my dad's not here."

2007-09-03T22:03:00.001-05:00

Caroline has become extremely sensitive to Jeff being gone lately. Even on days when he's just at the office, she sighs and says, "I miss my dad," or "I wish Dad would come home." If she's awake as he's leaving she'll take a dramatic turn and cry for him as he says goodbye.

The other day she was restless and fidgety and came to sit on my lap. She said the usual, "I miss Daddy," and then she added, "Sometimes I don't know what to do when my dad's not here." The sweet thing is--though she's quite the drama queen sometimes--I can tell she really means it.

On the other hand, there are times when it seems she just wants a good cry. Like the other day when we were both in a public bathroom stall (a place in which she's always extremely talkative), she got really pathetic and teary-eyed and stuck out her bottom lip and informed me,

"I missed you when I was in your tummy!"
"What?"
"I couldn't see you and I missed you!"(And she actually dropped a few tears--amazing.)

I assured her that she was just fine when she was in my tummy and there was no reason to be sad about it now.

I seriously wonder sometimes if she might have a career in [melo]drama.

"I keep changing my mind 'bout what I want to be when I grow up."

2007-08-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

This morning Caroline reminded me that after three is four and after four is five. Five--that magic age where everything wonderful in her life will happen. She said excitedly, "I can't wait to be all growed up!" Then she kind of wrinkled her forehead and added, "I keep changing my mind 'bout what I want to be when I grow up . . . a doctor for checkups . . . a donut maker . . . a ice cream maker . . ."

I told her she had plenty of time to decide. I'll keep you posted on what she comes up with.

Tots Tennis

2007-07-23T23:14:00.001-05:00

For some reason we thought that signing Caroline up for some kind of summer activity (in addition to the dance class) would be a good thing--something more for her to do, maybe a way to meet some more people. We had to choose the activity based on when we would be in town and tennis was the lucky winner, Tots Tennis to be exact.

Caroline was very excited and was an enthusiastic learner. Unfortunately, the class was right when naptime should be starting, so one day we had an emotional breakdown. I'm not sure what was said to her by the coach or if she was just upset that she had missed a ball, but at one point she looked across the gym at me, reached out her arms and started to cry a little bit. I went over to her and tried to encourage her to finish the drill she was on, but she was pretty emotional. We went over to the side to talk. I asked what was wrong and she said she didn't like tennis.

"Why not?"
[Crying] "Because it's not my favorite game!"
"Why?"
"Because I don't like it here." [still crying]
"Why don't you like it here?"
"Because this place is too messy."
"It is?"
"Yeah, [very indignantly] there are balls all over the place!"

At that point I laughed because it seemed that what was getting to her was just the chaos of the whole thing--thirty kids in one gymnasium, tennis balls flying everywhere, little teammates to distract you from the drill you were doing, and lots of coaches herding you here and there. It all made sense to me. Earlier that same session, Caroline was trying to retrieve every ball that went by her. Pretty much every other kid seemed oblivious to them, but Caroline was determined to clean up whatever she could. And finally it was too much--she couldn't clean it all up and she couldn't handle the chaos. She did go back to the next drill, though, and was fine for the rest of the day.

The last day of camp all the little ones were given some tennis balls as a parting gift and Caroline was so excited. That night she really wanted a racket to go with them, so Jeff promised her that when she woke up she would have one. And--like the very good dad that he is--he went to the 24-hour Wal Mart late that night and got her one . . . and me one (so I could play with), along with a bag for her and some more balls. Needless to say, we played tennis a lot the next day. She's gotten pretty accurate by this point and wants to play all the time. So--another interest that I've never had personally that she seems to be really into. But maybe she would be really into whatever we threw at her. It seems to be her personality--such a go-getter!

Caroline Takes Pictures Too

2007-07-20T14:16:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we spent Saturday afternoon putting Caroline's new bed together. I took my camera into her room to take a picture of her "helping" Jeff. Well, I left the camera in the room and when Jeff and I weren't in there, she decided to take some pictures of her own. Now, mind you, this was before I took any of the toy pictures (she hasn't seen me take any of them, anyway) so she came up with the subjects of the photographs on her own. Here are her results:

A blurry one of her new bed with tiger and her little puppy on it.

A head shot of the doll she calls Purple.

A couple more shots of Purple.

And, finally, my personal favorite because her fat little foot is in it.

This is the first time she has taken pictures with our camera without us being there to supervise. I think it's funny that she took a picture of the bottom bunk and then took the time to climb up to the top to take some of Purple. I caught her as she was on her way down the ladder carrying the camera. Who knows how many more pictures we would have if I hadn't walked in. I almost wish I hadn't, just to see what else she would have photographed. :) Maybe I'll "accientally" leave the camera out another time and see what she does.

Jeff and I have both caught her taking pictures with Jeff's phone. I walked through the living room one evening and saw her holding it up, so I asked, "Caroline, what are you doing?" and she replied very matter-of-fact without looking away from the phone, "taking pictures." I said, "You know how to take pictures with Dad's phone?" "Uh-huh."

I'll put some pictures of her new room up sometime soon after we've finished a few more things. She likes the new bed a lot. When I tell her it's time to play in her room, she plays on the top bunk. She said one time, "I am going to play on the top one and pretend it's a ship!"

We'll try to write more later and tell you all about the tots tennis camp she went to this week . . . :)

The Secret Lives of Caroline's Toys

2007-07-16T20:30:00.000-05:00

The badge to the left of all of these posts is a link to a site called Flickr, a photo storage and sharing site. I am very new to Flickr, but I like it a lot and have created an account and played around with it some. I think I will start a collection of Caroline's toy pictures--they just crack me up, the dressed-up duck in an earlier post being one example.

Perhaps not everyone will find things like this as amusing as I do, but to me they are just so very . . . Caroline. She leaves little traces of herself wherever she goes. When she was first beginning to walk and we were up at my parents' house in NC, one of my sisters was giving her Cheerios (I think it was) to snack on and Caroline, true to form, was not sitting still for a minute as she ate. The family later found out---as my dad was vacuuming around the fireplace--that she had been hiding Cheerios away behind one of the decorations at the foot of the mantle. It was kind of an eat-one-and-save-one-for-later arrangement.

You don't always think that much is going on in a wee one's little pea brain until you discover a clue--like hidden Cheerios--and realize that they have a real purpose in their busyness. We thought Caroline was just pittering around while snacking. In reality, she must have been hoping to make that snack last longer, or possibly even to come back to the stash on her next visit.

That tidbit leads me, in a roundabout way, to the toy pictures I've decided to start taking. I guess, in a similar way, the traces she leaves behind after play are clues as well--into what's going on in her imaginary world. I wish I had been taking pictures from the very beginning, but oh well. Yesterday I snapped these.

This is her purple bear riding her little kitty like it's a horse.

Here, dog, horse and giraffe are watching the train go by.

To her it probably makes perfect sense for a zebra to drive a schoolbus.

This one is my favorite. The little bunny has a perch, the donkey is
looking out the window and the cow is . . . taking a nap?

These are her princess figures in my old Fisher Price Little People house.
It fascinates me that she often turns dolls and figurines away from her
and towards windows, Jasmine and Mulan being the exceptions here.
Did Mulan fall? Was she pushed? I may never know but I like wondering.).

That will be all for now, but I'm sure that if I went and looked there would be plenty more play clues lying about. I love peeking into her happy world. xoxoxo

"I hope you change your mind."

2007-07-13T16:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning Caroline was drilling me with questions, since that is part of her morning routine. "Can I have juice? What? Can I have cereal? What? Can I watch tv? Why? Can I have more juice? What are you getting ready for? Why? Where are we going? What? And then where? Why? Can we go to the park today? Why? Can we go swimming? Why???????"

It may seem that there are too many "whys" and "whats" in there and that they are out of context, but that is how she uses them! Any answer to a question may be followed by either what or why.

"Mommy, is my shoe on the wrong foot?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Caroline, why doesn't even fit there!!"
"It doesn't fit? What, mommy?"
"Nevermind."
"What?"

So anyway, yesterday I told her it was time to change clothes. (What for? Where are we going? Are we going to a store?) While I was helping her on with her clothes, she said, "I know, let's go to the park!" I told her, "Well, I'm still trying to figure out what we're going to do. I think we'll go to the park tonight when it's not so hot." She smiled very sweetly, looked right in my face and said, "I hope you change your mind." It was such an agreeable way to disagree with my decision.

And this morning at breakfast she brought up the park again. I told her "We'll see," hoping not to go into it in length. She said again--very sweetly--"If you change your mind I will be very happy."

What is this about changing my mind? Does she think I do it a lot? Is she already on to me at the age of three?

We did go to the park (she's posing with the pond in the background in the picture above), but we didn't stay long because it was so hot. We'll come back to this one another time, I'm sure, because it has a neat play area and a nice atmosphere. This particular park was on my "List of Places to Check Out." I made a list of places I'd like to visit around the area when Caroline and I are out or we are wanting to get out of the house and just need somewhere to go. There is a lemonade shop on Main Street as well as a cool antique store. I like that Frisco has a small-town Main Street. It seems to be in the beginning stages of revitalization and I hope they keep it up.

Well, this post--like all the others--is very long so I will go and add more later. I'm sorry to write so much, but it's partly for me, as well as anyone who cares to read all of it (or 90% of it, as Jeff would do). It's been great hearing from people via comments. Caroline loves hearing from all of you and so do I! :)

"I like being best friends . . . with you, Mommy."

2007-07-12T00:24:00.000-05:00

Caroline said this to me yesterday when we were eating lunch together. Sometimes I get her lunch ready and let her eat it at the table without me, but she always likes it best when I sit down across from her and eat with her, preferably eating the exact same thing she's eating (and you can bet if our menus differ in the slightest she will point it out and want to discuss it in length). The conversation can be tedious at times, but I try to remember that these are special times we won't always have together.

Well, yesterday she grinned at me really big in between bites and said the best friends bit. That was a bright spot in the day. It was a bit of a blah day up to that point and when I thought about what she said I realized that there was the answer to the looming question of what to do today--spend time with her. No matter how lonely either of us may feel here at times, we are together at least.

So--tonight we took a walk to the park in our neighborhood and, to Caroline's delight, three little boys showed up to play with her. They didn't know they were coming to play with her, but the minute they hopped into the swings next to her, she began talking to them. The oldest boy (I found out later) was 7, but Caroline doesn't care how old or young a potential friend might be. She said to him, "Look what I can do all by myself," referring to her newfound ability to keep swinging even when I'm not pushing her. He smiled at her, which I thought was nice of him.

A while later the two younger boys (both six) were on the jungle gym along with Caroline and when one of them walked towards her on the slide she said, "Oh no, oh no!" and started running in the opposite direction--towards the other boy. When she got to that boy, she did the same thing, squealing and heading for a middle exit. At the bottom of the jungle gym she waited to see if either of them would follow after her, and when one did the game was on. The three of them played chase for a good ten minutes all over the playground.

The mother of two of the boys sat on the bench next to mine and we talked a little. She said her family had just moved here about a year ago from Mexico, not far from Baja, CA. I enjoyed talking with her and hope to see her at the park again some evening.

In regards to some other boys that were at the park when we got there (teenagers playing basketball), Caroline said that she would like to do exercises and run like me (ha!) so she could have energy to play basketball like those basketball boys. :)

"I will point my toe like this."

2007-07-11T13:52:00.001-05:00

It wasn't too hard to wake Caroline up this morning. I just had to ask a couple of times, "Caroline, do you want to go dance?" :)

She had a great time in her class. She was the only first-timer and was very attentive--wanting to know exactly what to do and how to do it. She had some of her own expectations as to what they would do in the class, though. After they were finished with the tap segment and almost through with the ballet segment, Caroline said, "Excuse me, um, can we hold onto that bar and do ballet?" As if they hadn't already been doing ballet! The teacher smiled and told the other teacher, "She wants to do bar work."

At the end of the class, each girl got some glitter on her hand. This seemed to signal to the other girls that class was over and they started towards the door. Caroline, on the other hand, stayed near the teacher, blew on her hand to dry the glitter, and asked, "Now what we gonna do?" When her teacher told her it was time to get her things and find her mommy, the lip started to quiver. Poor kid, she was having too much fun.

We met Jeff for lunch and sent him on his way (business trip to Maine for two days) and now we're home getting ready for naptime. I took a couple of pictures when we got here and the poses are all hers. She started with the hands up in the air one (below) and for the next one said, "I will point my toe like this" (notice the back foot above). She's still in her "princess clothes" and will probably want to sleep in them. :) If any of you get on here today and read this, be sure to send us a comment or email. It will be a little lonely with Jeff gone. We miss you all!

"I need to be friends with those people so I can play on their swing."

2007-07-10T23:14:00.000-05:00

Caroline asked me today, "How they (neighbors behind us) get a swing in their yard?" Hoping to not have a long drawn-out conversation I said, "I don't know." "How I get a swing in my yard?" "I don't know." Then she decided, "I need to be friends with those people so I can play on their swing." Good thinking. Her dad would be proud of her reasoning skills.

The friend situation is a huge deal for Caroline. The other day at Wendy's Jeff and I were laughing at her because she would not take her eyes off of the kids horsing around in the booth across from us, not even to dip her chicken nugget in the ketchup (meaning--she picked up the nugget, dipped it in the ketchup, and brought it to her mouth without looking). She was glued. Jeff asked her three times, "Is it really that interesting?" and she didn't hear him once. When kids are around, she just can't help herself.

Tomorrow she will have her first dance class. She is super excited. I'll put some pictures up tomorrow. It seems we could have gone a few different routes--she loves music, she loves jumping and tumbling, she loves doing karate chops and kicks, she loves catching, throwing, kicking, hitting, and she loves dancing. I guess we're going with the dance thing because the place is right down the road and it has a really flexible summer schedule. This is new territory for me--very girly--but it's not hard to be enthusiastic about it when she's in the little outfit . . . I want to squish her!

For Real This Time . . .

2007-07-09T03:10:00.001-05:00

I started this in February with high hopes but haven't done a thing with it. Tonight I have decided to change the name. Haven't put a lot of thought into it, really, but it won't be hard to top the first name. I actually had Jeff's on the first one, but he has informed me that he really isn't interested in being included in this. It was a dumb name anyway.

So--I read this article ("Open Books") in the July Issue of Real Simple about the different ways people keep journals and I really liked what one of the mothers featured does. She has a journal for all of her kids' funny sayings. I've actually been writing down Caroline's sayings for about as long as she's been talking, but they are not all in one place--sribbled on a loose sheet of paper, in my planner, on the fridge calendar . . . I think it's a great idea to have them all in a book--or on a blog. Or both, probably. Jeff/Caroline gave me a really cool journal for Mother's Day, so maybe I'll start by writing them there and then transfer them over.

I'll leave you with a recent picture. I put a full-length mirror in Caroline's new room, knowing it would amuse her for long periods of time. The other day she was all about changing her clothes and brushing her hair. This is her posing. :) I'll include the one of her duck too. She likes dressing up animals and dolls as well. I like the outfits she comes up with.

Family and friends that we just left--and those of you we haven't seen in a while--we love and miss you guys!!

The Move

2007-02-20T02:27:00.000-05:00

I guess it's for real now. Caroline and I have been here in Dallas with Jeff for the past week and we've looked at houses and duplexes for rent. It's been real to Jeff for a while now, as he's been working with this company since November and has travelled out here frequently. But I continue to say "maybe" or "it looks like" or "we might." We need to set a date and then it will be more definite.

Caroline is already on the lookout for friends. Today we went to Barnes and Noble and she kept an eye on any kid that crossed her path, just in case that kid might want to play with her. When she saw a little girl holding a Backyardigans stuffed figure, she informed her, "I watched that show last time." The little girl's back was to me, so I did not get her response. Caroline, though, continued with "I go on the website." I had to laugh. I knew that she understood she could play games on the computer but I didn't know she had picked up the actual terminology.

Here she is at a park in Frisco. When I told her to smile sweetly (instead of the way she was smiling), she said, "I'm smiling this way cause I want to smile like this." So this particular look is intentional. :)

Here goes . . .

2007-02-20T02:20:00.000-05:00

Initially I'm thinking this blog will mostly be about Caroline--just a way to share pictures and moments with the family and friends we will soon be leaving when we move. But we'll see. Until very recently I haven't been that interested in blogs, but a few close friends seem to have a good bit of fun with them and actually find some use in them, so I'm reconsidering. I'll see what I can come up with.