seconds, re-runs, repeats

This should have been part of yesterday post. I saw this photo this morning and realised it was excluded and I don't know how since it is probably one of my all time favourites of Rosie.


The sun was was bright that I couldn't actually see what, if anything, I was taking photos of hence the missing arm but I love her great big smile. I also know that her face is saying brr, it's a bit cold Mummy.

Teeth, everywhere.

Last night as I was inspecting Rosies teeth after she had brushed and flossed I spied the crown of a tooth at the very back of her mouth. I knew she would be so excited so before I said anything to her I took her into my bathroom, planted her firmly in front of my huge mirror and told her to open wide. I ran my finger to the very back of her mouth and then showed her where to look.


Oh my! Rosie nearly had a fit she was so happy. She really can't believe she is getting big girl teeth. Nah, me either.

Lily didn't get one 6 year molar until she was 7, Rosie doesn't turn 6 for a few more weeks.

Lily wasn't at all impressed. She is convinced Rosie is going to be taller than her. I offered her some reassurance and went back to celebrating the occasion with Ro. Kidlet doesn't have enough room in the mouth for the teeth she already has so the 2 at the front that are wobbley better leave soon.

Gah, my baby is getting so big.

Notice anything?

what is different?

Yes, indeed. She has glasses

BUT  they are not prescription glasses, oh no. They are fake glasses, uh huh. Weirdo Child has had an obsession with glasses for quite a while and started, a couple of weeks ago, wearing sunglasses all the time and I mean all the time. She was wearing them 24/7. I was worried that they would hurt her eyes and was also worried that she would fall down the stairs as some of the pairs that she wore had really black lenses in. Things only got worse when she got her American Girl doll and hooked her up with a pair of specs also. In Rosies mind everyone in her family wears glasses apart from her.

I went online and found fake glasses for kids and got her some. Weirdo Child thought she had won the lotto. Talk about the best gift ever!

So now the little fruit cake has her very own glasses and feels like she fits right in!
It's so very hard not to giggle at that face.

Video from Santa

Rosie received a video from Santa. It arrived in an email the other evening when she was at swimming so I showed it to her the very second she came home.She looks a little bedraggled, even by her standards, because her hair is still wet.

Oh my gosh I just love how captivated she is by it. Her facial expressions make me laugh.

Such a lovely looking Santa, you can tell he is the real deal.

enchanted

What a face!

Absolutely in shock

Looks a little panicked, he must have mentioned the naughty list and thumb sucking

But she isn't on it.....phew!

Lily received one too but her reaction was a lot more low key!

Turkey Eve

I haven't spotted any Pilgrims yet but i did spot an Indian earlier so I know that Turkey Day is very very close.

So that's what she needed that brown paper bag for at school.

That's my girl

A conversation with Rose.

Rose: is it house cleaning day today?
Me: No, tomorrow.
Rose: Well do you think you could clean it because it's looking pretty bad and it's bothering me.
Me: Really?
Rose: Yes, I like it when it's really really super clean and tidy and it doesn't look like that today.


I think I missed the rest of the conversation as I had to walk away in fear that I might have said something along the lines of, YIPPEEE, the kids a freak like me.

It never looks really bad here but apparently Rosie feels the same way I do. If the house doesn't get power cleaned of all dirt daily it upsets her yin and yang.

She makes me smile.

Rosie

Ever since she school started, 3 weeks ago, Rosie has been very into her studies. She sits and writes her letters, or makes up stories or does maths problems all the time. Lily was doing something today that must have been disturbing her studies.

I found her sitting all by herself and looking like this.

It was all right for her to chatter away but not for us.

Growth spurt

The last few months have found Rosie on a humongous growth spurt, not physically but mentally and emotionally. Until recently I could spend hours and hours sounding out words to her as we read a book and the very next day we would read the same book again and the words that she recognised not 24 hours before were now totally foreign once again. It didn't faze be as I am a big believer in "each in his won time".

It appears her time has come. During the last couple of weeks in school she has learnt and remembered more than ever before and is taking off like the proverbial bat.

Another area where she seemed to march to her own band, forget drum, was in drawing. Whatever she drew just all looked the same whether it was a picture of me or a bat, or a rocketship or a fairy princess. I hated it when she asked me what I thought it was because honestly, I had absolutely no clue whatsoever. That seems to be changing also and for the better. The other day she came home from school and with a great flourish produced a drawing from her back pack. She told me she had done it in art class. I looked at it and noticed that there was a note from her art teacher on the paper also. I then asked her if she had drawn it or if he had. She told me she had and was most indignant. I said, that I knew she coloured it but who actually drew the people and she insisted that she did. So I attempted the question from a different angle. I was so surprised at her drawing that I really thought that the teacher had done them for her. (yes, in hindsight I know that really sounds awful but you didn't see her people, people)

It seems that the little timid, scared of her own shadow, child is finally coming into her own and I really couldn't be happier for her. I don't think she'll ever be loud and bossy, who knows perhaps she will but bossy isn't pretty anyway. Everything is falling into place at once for her and I am surprised that her head isn't exploding. She even asked me if she could ride the bus home from school because not many kids in her class do and she is worried that the school bus driver might get lonely.

This is the one from school that I didn't think she had drawn herself.

This is me and Rosie. 

aw, she cracks me up.

I can't believe we did this **

**This post would have made a whole lot more sense if I had actually attached the video.

I went to my photo albums earlier to retrieve a photo for facebook and realised it was gone I then noticed that all of my albums have been changed around. As I swore like a sailor at the kids for touching the damned computer, I came across this little gem. (oh have no fear both kidlets were in school when I swore at them).






I really can't believe that I laughed quite so heartily at my own child's misfortune. Oh heck, who am I kidding yes I can.
Just this evening while we were eating dinner she was futzing around with her food and I asked her to, PUHLEASE just eat it.
 Rosie: Is it chicken?
Me: No, it's cat.
Poor Lily nearly split her sides laughing and I had a hard time keeping a straight face. Rose had just put a piece in her mouth and truly didn't know what to do next.
Me: Not kitty cat just some old outside smelly cat.
Lily: Probably Siamese. (she knew she wouldn't know what that was)
Rosie: I don't think I should eat it. I don't think I like cat.

And with that Lily and I just cracked up laughing. Maybe you had to be here cos it was really hilarious. Of course it backfired on me and it took about 10 minutes for her to believe that it truly was chicken.

Life is coming up Rosey

A few little Rosie snippets cos it's been awhile.

Rose doesn't sneeze she has "bless you's" and as soon as she has a "bless you" you better immediately say bless you or she will get upset.

She still uses a Loff joff instead of a washcloth.

At age five most Rosie-ism are long gone yet she still says, dis, dat, dare, and doze instead of this, that, there and those. It drives me up the wall.

She also, done something instead of did something, which is another pet peeve.

Her blanket is still needed but only at a night. This is something new but since school started it appears to have been all but forgotten. Her thumb is the same story.

She spends most of her time talking to herself when she plays by herself and it's hilarious. She has a great imagination and her games always involve saving people and odd costumes.

Her lisp completely disappeared on it's own but will make an occasional re-appearance is she is very sleepy.

The other day she was looking at a photo of me when I was a child and didn't know who it was. When I told her it was me she replied, Wow, really, but you weren't even Chinese then. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer bless her.

Rosie loves to help me cook and the bigger the knife or the bigger the gadget she is using the happier she is.

She still loves playing "casher casher", that would be any game she can play that used her cash register. That is the best money I have ever spent! Child spends hours being the casher casher lady.

Yesterday in the car we were listening to kids songs and London's Burning was playing. After a few verses I realised that Rosie was singing, Lunch is burning, Lunch is burning, call the engines, call the engines. She won't believe me that the real words are London's burning!

She has grown really tall but still only tips the scales at 31lbs, scrawny little thing.

Who wears these?

Fame

Taking gargantuan strides

I have no idea what has happened to Rosie in the last 6 weeks but I like it. She has developed a confidence about her and a sense of adventure that was not there before. I have no explanation and I keep looking at her quizzically and asking the real Rosie to please step forward. When I say this she looks at me utterly perplexed.

I first noticed it when the girls and I went to Tampa and she decided to ride all the big rides with no prompting from any one. Even after she rode one that scared her silly she still carried on to the next one without batting an eye. Then when we were in North Carolina she zip-lined and was attached to a stranger and whisked away by him and had no problem with it at all. 

These were not small little things for her, they were huge and very long overdue but that's beside the point. I made a point to say something to her about it but I didn't want to go overboard in case she wasn't aware of this new found bravery and immediately resorted back to her Chicken Little behaviour.

As the new school year loomed like a dark cloud I could feel her getting antsy. We talked it through and did all we could to ease her nerves. Monday morning was painless. There were tears in her eyes but nothing compared to years gone by and she even said she wanted to go back. Say what? Who is this kid and what has she done with the real Rosie? 

She was very concerned about the fact that in Kindergarten you get dropped off and are no longer walked to your class room. For the past 2 years classroom drop off has been mandatory and as for as I am concerned it has made her life 1,000 times worse. She of course loved it because she got to keep me with her for a few extra minutes every single day. This is bad for a kid who hates to separate. I need to get out of there and the faster the better. Monday and Tuesday were walk in days but yesterday was D- Day, drop off day. 

I asked Lily if there was anyway that she could walk Rosie to her area and still get all the way to her area and be on time, she said of course she could and of course she would. I told her didn't have to as nobody walked her in when she was 5. She said that if the kids have younger siblings they are expected to do it. I straightened her out and said no, you are expected to walk out with them not in. You do not have to do this especially if it will make you rush. She told me she wanted to. (be still my heart)

I told Rose that I would be driving them through the drop off lane and that Lily would help her find her way to her area and that would be that. She seemed OK with it and even went to sleep with no worries.

Yesterday morning all was going well until we reached the car lane and it was at a stand still. People were parking and getting out and totally screwing it all up. We had plenty of time but I really didn't want Lily to feel rushed so I pulled the car over to the side and told them to get out right there. They were laughing and giggling and Lily even managed to drop her lunch which made things even funnier. Rosie didn't even realise that she hadn't kissed me until I asked for one. Without as much as a glance over her shoulder she took off holding her sisters hand and skipped merrily into school. 

I'm so happy for her. So glad that she is finally realising that she can do this stuff without having a heart attack. I couldn't wait to pick them up  to see what happened after I was gone. 

I really wasn't expecting to hear what I did: it turns out that Rosie was one of only a handful of kids that didn't cry . Lily said alot of them were crying at the gate and even more were crying on the covered patio. Oh wait, that's not all of it. In the cafeteria our neighbours little girl, Rosie's friend, was crying and Rosie took it upon herself to find out what was wrong. 

Oh please lets not have any setbacks I'm loving this freedom for her. I'm loving the fact that she is gaining some confidence, she really deserves it and god only knows it is really really long overdue. Why take baby steps when you can take gargantuan strides? 

Off they go together. Mummy who?

If there is a parenting award........

....I won't be getting it.
I have no idea how Lily is doing so well. Actually I have no idea how both of my girls are still alive let alone thriving.

Did I ever mention here how I/we actually forgot to feed Lily her lunch on our 3rd day of being her parents? No? Well, we did. It somehow completely slipped our minds. It wasn't until well into the middle of the afternoon when she saw someone eating some candy and nearly ripped their arm of in order to get some for herself that it became obvious to me that she might be a little hungry. That thought then led to another one which made me realise, holy crap, I haven't fed the poor little mite.

Thankfully I got into a groove of feeding her 3 times a day with a few snacks here and there and even remembered other important things as well but it came to my attention yesterday that I have once again dropped the ball.

Lily and I were talking with Rosie and I have no clue what made me ask Rosie such an odd question but I said, "Rosie, do carrots grow on trees or in the ground?' She thought about it long and hard, she rolled her eyes far back in her head and then answered:

Oh yes she did, she said they grow on trees. At first Lily and I just fell about laughing, (perhaps that is another example of my fine parenting) but then I got a bit concerned. So I tried again. "Rosie, where do eggs come from?" And with a serious face she said:

Another freaking tree! I nearly fell out of mine. At this point Lily is gasping for air as she is laughing so hard. Lily then asked where people come from, I scowled at her for this one as I had no intentions of walking that walk just yet but Rosie's answer was simple, "they just grow". So then she asked where cheese comes from and helped her out, Rosie, does cheese grow in the ground or on a tree? Rosie just looked perplexed and said her standard answer:

Oh dear how can it be that the kidlet thinks everything grows on trees? I am fully aware that I am raising 2 city slickers due to our geographic location but their grandparents whom they visit frequently are country dwellers and take country living seriously. Rosie has collected eggs from under a hen, she has seen carrots growing, she has picked fresh produce. There must be an explanation, perhaps she amnesia. Yes I bet that's it.

Thank heavens I no longer have to answer to social workers cos our days as a family would be numbered.

 I think I had better look for a house for sale in the middle of East OshKosh with a large plot of land so that I can plant all the trees we need to live, socks, shoes, cheese, carrots, underwear perhaps I should try a money tree too and lets not forget a tree that has parenting manuals for leaves!

A beautiful sight

There are few things in this world that can make me hear the sound of angels singing as easily as a pair of beautiful new shoes. (shallow? yes indeed) But the most beautiful sight of all which heralded the most beautiful angelic chorus was this sight:

My little girl in a pair of pretty sandals.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned much here about Rosies feet and our quest for shoes for her on 3 different continents or not. Rosie has extremely narrow heels. They aren't much bigger than a mans finger which means every pair of shoes just slips right up and down as she walks. Please don't suggest a brand of shoes because as I have mentioned we have tried 3 different continents in our quest for pretty shoes but they have all failed us miserably. Child has been forced into a life of of Crocs and Keds with one pair of Nikes thrown in for good measure. None of the aforementioned shoes looks pretty with a summer dress, a Christmas dress or any stinking dress for that matter. As luck would have it Tom Boy doesn't much care for dresses but on the odd occasion where Mama says they are mandatory Crocs look horrendous with them.

When I went to get her school shoes sneakers the lady in the shop tried everything to get her in a pair of Sperry's and told me she would special order some "skinny" sandals for her and let me know when they came in. They came in a couple of weeks ago. We went on Saturday and she had 3 pairs to chose from. Dear heavens, 3 pairs that all fit. I nearly passed out from shock. Rosie was all giddy and took about a nano second to choose this pair. She is so proud of her pretty sandals and keeps telling anyone that will listen that she has sandals. She wants to wear them all the time and even wore a dress for 2 days in a row for the full affect.

 Please excuse the sand on her tootsies and the really shabby pedicure in the photo but we have just got back from a fantastic day in Naples, AKA Nipples. but more on that tomorrow. I just needed to stare at those pretty little toes and share them with my family who will probably pass out from shock as they, well most of them, have joined us in our quest for the perfect fitting shoes in the past.

They are indeed a thing of beauty. Oh my I can hear the angels singing again.

Just in case any of you have the same problem these shoes are "Jumping Jacks"

A long weekend with a twist

It's a long weekend here. This weekend officially marks the kick off of summer. We were looking forward to heading over to the West coast but we have had to cancel those plans and any other plans that we had due to a school project that has me seeing red. I'm trying to make lemonade but I'm miffed to say the least, very very miffed. As one child was diligently working away inside the house on her freaking project Rosie and I were outside in the garden and she was trying to master skipping, AKA jump rope. She really, really wants to learn Double Dutch but in order to even try it she is going to have to learn ordinary skipping first. Try not to laugh. If I wasn't in such a snotty mood over Lil's project I am sure I would have been on the floor in hysterics.

There is so much determination on that little face. There is equal amount of determination on the face of the one stuck indoors today as well. Her story is amazing by the way. I think I am going to cut and paste it to the blog when she is done so I can have a copy here. have a great weekend everyone.

Daddy's girl

I think that a certain little girl is going to be a daddy's girl. She is really, really attached to him and if he plays his cards right she will think he hangs the moon for her every single night.

A sleeping hat

Do you have bad dreams or sometimes have ghastly scary thoughts invade your head as you are trying to fall asleep? Well I just might have the solution?

Last night I put Rosie to bed, read her three Llama Llama books and then kissed her good night and came back down stairs. About 10 minutes later this little tiny voice called me from the stairs and told me that she couldn't fall asleep because she was having scary thoughts. I scooped her up, took her back to her room and asked her what they were about. She told me.  After thinking for a nano-second I came up with the solution.

"What you need little pickle is a sleeping hat". I said, all cheerfully.
She looked at me like a had sprouted another eye. Which really didn't shock me as even I am amazed by the junk that flies out out my mouth.
"A sleeping hat, really Mummy, what is a sleeping hat?
"This is a Sleeping Hat Rosie", I said as I whipped an old sun hat out of her drawer not even knowing if it fit on her head any more. You wear it when you go to sleep and it stops bad thoughts from being able to get into your head. See it gives your head protection from bad and icky thoughts".
"oh" she said with a big grin on her face.
And with that she snuggled down and went back to sleep.

It must have worked because a few minutes later I went to check on her again and this is what I found:

Add caption

I tell my kidlets so many lies that I'm sure I'm going to go straight to hell. But then again if I hadn't told her this little white lie she would have laid in her bed scared all night fretting with these horrid thoughts so instead maybe I will write a book about when and where it is OK to lie to your kids without the fear of going straight to Hell.

Bringing home the big bucks

When Rosie was dismissed from school today her teacher asked if I could wait for a minute or two as she needed to give me something. Once all the kiddies had been picked up her teacher handed me Rosie's artwork that was displayed at the County Youth Fair along with a ribbon that she won. Rosie was so proud. Mrs. K then handed me a cheque that was made out to Rose in the amount of $4. I have no idea what the $4 is actually for, if it is for getting first place or just for participating, the teacher didn't know either. Either way kidlet is a happy little camper.
Ro and her Batik banner

Her fancy schmancy awards

Her cheque.

A big girl bicycle

As you know we spend a lot of time riding bikes, a lot. So how did we not notice that Rosies bicycle was to small for her, until last week? The poor girl was nearly knocking her knees on the on the handlebars and she looked like a giant perched atop of the tiny thing. Both girls have always received their bikes as either Christmas or birthday gifts but since Rosie's birthday has already passed and Christmas is at the other end of the the year we decided to just go ahead and replace it. Yesterday was the day. We told her we were going to do it this weekend as long as we got home from the swim meet at a decent time. She was really excited about it. Lily got showered and changed and we hopped into the car with Rosie grinning like a cat with new pajamas. We headed to Tarjay and they were sold out of bikes in her size. Rosie was slightly deflated. Next we headed to the place I detest most in the world, WallyWorld. They were also sold out of girl bikes in her size. This was not going well. Jacob suggested Sports Authority. I said this was a bad idea as they would not have kids bikes so I stayed in the car with Lily. I got a text to meet them in there as they had bikes for kids. Rosie was beaming from ear to ear and was precariously perched on a dirty looking and scratched floor model. Jacob said the sales guy had gone to find the price as it was the only one left. He came back with a ridiculous price and I had to break the bad news to Rosie. I was not about to pay top dollar for a bike that looked second hand. Now we were panicking. Toys r Us was the only place left. We headed to the bike section and they had rows and rows of them. Rose (sorry I had to call her that after writing rows and rows) was awestruck. She chose a polka dot one. I DO NOT allow the girls to ride bikes in the stores even if the stores allow it. I DO NOT allow the girls to play with toys in the stores, even if the stores allow it, it pisses me off to see this. Yesterday, and I believe it was the 7 hours of sleep in 48 hours, I told Rosie to ride it to the register. She looked at me like I had sprouted another head and then looked at Jacob and then very very gingerly rode her bike, oh so slowly to the cash register. I then remembered we needed new swimming goggles for the pool this summer so I told her to head to the goggle section then back to the register where we paid before riding right out the door and into the car park where we made her get off so we could walk it to the car. Later we rode to the park. I can't tell you how great it feels to ride at a decent speed with her. Usually I have to hobble along on my bike because her organ grinders monkey bike was so small it was so slow. This one actually goes fast. The plan is to let her get used to it for a few weeks and then rip the training wheels right out from underneath her. Well what do you expect from us, the ever loving parents?

Happy girl on her BIG bike

On the way to the park she rode so fast that I was concerned she was going to fall off

Polka dots

So proud

There is a bit more to this story and I will share it later

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's off to work she goes. Due to the dire financial mess that American Airlines has landed itself in they are trying all sorts of cost cutting measures to save the company some money. One such strategy is to hire a younger, less experienced crew. Rosie was thrilled to find out she had the job

But when she realised what she was being paid and the lack of a benefit package she was less than lack lustre about her new career.

Artist

For some odd reason blogger is not co-operating to day and it is placing the photos below the Link Within so you will have to scroll down to see them.

A few days before we left, Rosie's teacher sent home a note stating that a piece of Rosie's art was being displayed at the Dade County Youth Fair. We knew we were going to have to go and see it.

I asked Rosie what it was and she told me it was, 3 little pigs. Off we went into the Exhibitor Hall and searched through 1,000's of drawings looking for the 3 little pigs. An attendant came up over and asked what we were looking for and as I turned to tell her I noticed even more "stuff" hanging from the ceiling. As I was talking to her I kept looking up and there, high above my head, was Rosie's Batik banner. There were no pigs at all she got that part completely wrong.