The magic of play dough

Preschool Week 2 Report:
Woo hoo! Finally a day with no tears!

Belly had said Sunday night, "Mommy, I won't cry if Daddy drops me off. Only when you drop me off."

So Monday, Daddy drops her off and there are a few tears.

There's truth to the phrase, strength in numbers, and today proved that to be true for Belly. E walked both Bulilit and Belly in to school. Dropping off Bulilit to her classroom, he says, "Look, the play dough table!" and Bulilit heads straight for the table with a mere, "Bye" back to her dad and sister.

E walks Belly back to her classroom, helps her hang up her bag and coat and helps her wash hands, then gives a high five and a hug and NO TEARS!!!!!

I go to pick up Bulilit (30 min earlier than her sister, they're doing a whole graduated schedule with the 2s class) and she is totally fine, sitting nicely on the rug. Her teacher tells me that she was fine the whole time, stayed at the play dough table while a bunch of the other kids were crying. Apparently she'd look over at the criers, then turn her attention back to the play dough. Her teacher said it was like she didn't want to get involved with the group of kids who were crying, and that she really enjoyed music with Miss Anne.

One of the moms said when Bulilit went to wash her hands, she ran into her sister, and Belly waved and said hi, but was OKAY. Of course, Bulilit and I waited around until Belly was let out and Belly saw me in the hallway (I was hoping to hide, but was talking to another mom in the hallway). She was okay but definitely seemed to want to stay with me instead of go back to her classroom.

When she was dismissed, I checked in with Belly's teacher who said there were no tears at all! Let's just hope it continues. :)

best day ever!!!!!

nini and veh are visiting from cali, on their way back from their grand european holiday.

as usual, the girls were excited to see them. friday afternoon, after receiving an FC Barcelona jersey from the travelers, belly asked to play soccer outside with nini and daddy. as they're playing, i hear belly exclaim, "best day ever!!"

not to be outdone, on saturday evening, the girls were playing with a toy nini and veh also brought back from europe. basically like a slingshot but lights up when you shoot it in the air. as they're playing, bulilit yells out, "best day ever!"

the dog. arf.

fun memory for today:

belly, holding her stuffed dog and complaining to me: "well if bulilit doesn't want to play doggie with me, arf arf, then i don't want to play games with her."

Memories: Emerald Cove

During my teenage years, I was completely slightly obsessed with the Mickey Mouse Club, but especially with Emerald Cove, its serial show within a show. I had a few episodes on VHS, but all my VHS players broke over the past couple years, so I have not been able to watch them in forever. And YouTube searches always proved fruitless.

That is, until I noticed the most recent updates of one of the channels I subscribe to, TheMMCchannel.

I'm in heaven.

Wishing on a star

Belly was sick today, so i let her watch videos in my office as long as she was laying down on the bed in my office. The Little Star episode of Dora the Explorer came on and toward the end, Dora asks, "What are you wishing for?"

I hear belly's soft, sick whisper, "I wish Mommy will play with me."

heart breaks.

Photo from Amazon.

good day

the weather was unusally beautiful for an august day so the kids went to the playground at the nearby elementary school twice today (before and after nap). what made me smile is, ten years ago almost to the day, their parents were on their first real date and stopped by the exact same playground.

it's so fun to watch them playing on big kid (okay, kindergarten-acceptable) equipment, but it's bittersweet as i realize that my girls are no longer babies (hello! preschool starts in just a few weeks.).

belly and bulilit tend to have a love-hate relationship, so it's always nice to hear them playing nicely together and talking to each other, having real conversations.

at bathtime, the two become engrossed in water play. tonight, belly facilitated a conversation between her little mermaid doll and mermaid dora.

overall, good day.

overheard

ami to belly, explaining that they are going on vacation: we're going to turkey.

belly: do you have a house there too??

funny for the day

i was coming in from an errand and walk in from the garage. i spy bulilit on a step stool in the kitchen, holding a box of whoppers which had been hidden up on a shelf. she realizes she's been caught, smiles at me and says, "only one!"

preview of the teen years

belly had a hard time at soccer camp today. she wasn't happy when i told her i was not going to run drills with her, so she ended up crying through most of the camp. i pulled her aside, embarrassed by her behavior and was trying to talk sternly to her. she was still hysterical so i kept asking her to calm down so i could talk to her. she would answer back forcefully, "I AM CALMED DOWN!"

i then told her if she didn't want to play with the other kids, then she could just sit there and watch, but that i was done talking to her. her reply?

"well, if you're done talking to me, then i'm done talking to you!"

this does not bode well for when she turns 13.

allergies

So the dermatologist says Bulilit is allergic to milk (all dairy), egg whites, mangos, strawberries, apples, grapes and plums. Well then. How do I explain to a 2 year old that she can't eat her favorite foods anymore? That Mac & Cheese, yogurt, grapes, apples, strawberries and ice cream will make her itchy?

A couple links I found to help me navigate this crazy new food allergy world.

• Marketing Mama On Food Allergies
• How to read a label for a milk-free diet

i don't get it

Planking

entertainment

bulilit definitely provides entertainment to her sister. even when belly is tattling on her, bulilit will do something that will make belly giggle.

today, belly told me bulilit was being nasty to their nanny, so when i told bulilit to go back down and apologize, she slid/bounced down the stairs on her stomach. she literally looked like a puck from the plinko game on price is right. bounce-bounce-bounce. cue belly's infectious giggle.

i know *exactly* how lois feels

cousin time

i love watching the babies play.

today, my cousin came over to help us move some furniture in preparation for our move, and he brought bear along. bear and belly have always played really well together ever since they were babies (maybe due to the fact that bear's mommy would bring him over twice a week and watch belly for me while I worked). bulilit, meanwhile, loves bear and follows him around everywhere.

so the three of them are playing, running from the large family room in the basement into the bedroom and back out. bear and belly decide to get on the electric cars -- which nini and veh gave the girls for christmas -- and are driving them between the family room and bedroom. bulilit, not wanting to be left out, climbs into the cozy coupe and is trying to chase after them.





then, perhaps in a vengeful moment, bulilit one-ups her cousin and sister. bear and belly each have a 6" play ball, running after each other. bulilit, feeling left out, looks for one and disappears in the room. out come bear and belly yelling, followed by bulilit with a huge exercise ball!

i love...

...that belly makes her bed (6/2)


...a clean house (6/1)


...town festivals (even in sweltering heat and humidity) (5/30)

...georgetown cupcakes


...that the girls love the pool (5/29)

...when the belly and bulilit are being sweet to each other (at target, 5/28)


...bulilit's cheesy smile

kawawa bulilit

had to take bulilit to the opthamologist because of a blocked tear duct that she's had since she was an infant. as we sat in the exam room, she was watching toy story, finding nemo and dora to keep her distracted. As the nurse was going through different visual tests -- the usual eye chart, except with pictures instead of letters -- she would call out, "horsey! hand! dumbo!"

For the depth perception test, she clawed at the air for the ones that "stood out." We had to wait for the doctor, so got sent back out to the waiting room. as we sat there, bulilit turns to me and says, "go mama!"

Since her eyes were dilated, the nurse warned me that the sun would be especially bright to her. Luckily, it was an overcast day so I wasn't too concerned. When we made our way out, bulilit turns her face into my shoulder and complains it's too bright. I gave her her sunglasses to try and shield the (very little) sun. Poor baby. As soon as I got her buckled in the car, she passed out! Guess the doctor's appointment took a lot out of her.

booboo chicken

"Mommy, you look like a chicken!"

That's what my daughter said to me this morning as I was trying on dresses.

"Why do I look like like a chicken?" I asked her.

"Because Donald Duck has a chicken, Booboo chicken, and he has a long tail," she explained.

Oh. Makes perfect sense now. Thanks, Belly.

best part of my day

overhearing the girls playing, belly is obviously the mommy and bulilit is the baby.

belly: ok, time to go to sleep.
bulilit: brush teeth!
belly: ok, brush teeth. say "eee."
(silence)
bulilit: eat that! lollipop!
belly: i already told you, no more lollipops.
bulilit: i'm eating it!
belly: ok, time for bed.
bulilit: night everybody!
belly: go to sleep. (pause) are you itching?
bulilit: no.
belly: want to lay down on my tummy?
buliilt: yeah. (pause) i want mommy.
belly: no. you want to go to randall? you're going to randall!

(in case you're wondering, randall is randall from monsters inc. used to be the only thing that would scare bulilit into going to bed, but now she asks to go into the closet with randall. there goes that.)

reverse roles

After I finished working today, I made my way downstairs to get in some playtime with the kids. Belly's new game is playing mommy, and making me the baby. It's weird to hear what you sound like to your child. Belly is very strict, putting me in the corner and telling me I'm nasty. We played like we were out shopping, in the car and she says, "We're going home, you're going to the corner. I'm leaving you with randall!"

Also, at camp a few weeks ago, she learned how to play "Fish, fish, shark" (aka "Duck, Duck, Goose"), so we play every so often. The first time I played with her, I was in shock -- Belly is FAST! It probably didn't help that I was slowed down by Bulilit, who wanted to ride on my back every time Belly picked me as the Shark. Fun times.

smee's birthday

So we celebrated smee's birthday at fridays the other night. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before but any time the whole family is together, I hardly pay attention to the kids, since there are so many other people around to do it. This particular evening, she learned how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, which she then ended up playing with anyone who would play with her. Belly, however, doesn't like to lose, so as soon as she shoots and sees what the other person has shot, she'll change her shot to beat the other person. Ahh, the joys of playing with a three-year-old.