Mama's Birthday

Wendy gave her version of her birthday so here is the view from Dad and Nora Kate. In the week leading up to the birthday Nora was very excited to go shopping for Mama. She talked about buying Mama flowers and a water bottle (what I got for fathers day). Sunday morning we decided to pick sunflowers from the yard and Nora and Jack were very excited to bring her each one after we picked them.

Wendy stayed with Jack, while I braved the store with Eleanor. She was so excited running around and grabbing literally everything she could reach saying, "lets get this for Mama!" So although Wendy got some interesting gifts, I actually used my veto power to keep her from getting really odd presents, like Star Wars trading cards, silly bands, and a horrible turquoise necklace to name a few. The card she picked out was a birthday card and had Tinkerbell on it, but it was for a granddaughter. I showed her the cards for Mom and after a quick glance she said, "None of those are sparkly enough for Mama." Tinkerbell card it is.

I thought it would be fun to bake something for Wendy so at the World Market, Nora and I decided on a Carmel Monkey Bread mix. I'm pretty sure that having "Monkey" in the title was the winning factor for Nora.

Here she is ready to start baking, complete with apron and doggie gloves. The doggie gloves didn't last long as they were covered with butter after her first baking task. While Wendy took Jack to the coffee shop and shopping, Nora and I got started. She helped me mix the bread and caramel mixes and dish it in the pan. It actually looked pretty bad before cooking and I wasn't sure how it would turn out.

One it was in the oven we had a lot of wrapping to do, as I couldn't find any birthday wrap we used Winnie the Pooh Xmas wrap from last year. She was a pretty good helper and loved putting tape on the presents even if the tape didn't actually hold the paper together. We got everything done just as Wendy was walking in the door to see her pile of presents. It was really fun to see Nora so excited and proud as we brought in the cake/bread with candles and sang happy birthday.

As to why the birthday girl was watching Jack while Nora and I did the shopping/cooking, it's because he is an absolute crazy man right now. In the last few weeks, he has had instances of running around in stores, hiding in clothes racks, and grabbing anything he can from the shelves and tossing them on the ground, all the time with an evil little chuckle. We aren't sure if Nora ever went through a hellion stage like Jack, or if it wasn't as bad since we could double team her and now we have to play man-to-man defense on the kids. See picture below for said evil grin while munching on a bread stick.

Birthday Mom

I wanted to share some recent pictures we had taken of the kiddos. Jack was less than thrilled to have his picture taken, but since they were for Eleanor's third birthday, we didn't make him. We call this one: pout-y face with phantom mom-arm in background. Gotta love the photography studio, they give you every picture they take on a CD for posterity. Of course since Jack was in a bad mood, Nora Kate was in a fabulous mood! We got about 50 great pictures of her. This is one we didn't have printed, but just love it.

I also thought since I had all the time in the world today (a day off from work!), I would tell you about my "first" birthday as a mom. Today I am 36 years old and yesterday my family celebrated the milestone with me. Geoff can provide shopping details that are quite funny, but I received the neatest gifts from my 3 year old. They included a stretchable shark, stuffed raccoon, birthday balloon and flowers, veggie chips, truffles, lottery, lots of Starbucks gifts card money, fly-swatter, spiral notebook with puppy dog cover and a Tinkerbell card. On top of all that, my girl and her wonderful Daddy made me some Monkey Bread.

"You need help Mama?" she asked so sweetly opening every gift. "You like your present Mama?" after every gift, then quickly followed by "Can I see it Mama?" I hope you can see the genuinely big smile on my face. Recalling the evening just makes me laugh in such a good way.

I have had amazing birthdays my whole life. My mama made sure each anniversary of our birth was more than celebrated, which set me up for great expectations every August 16. Then, I married a lovely man who jumped right on board my "My birthday is special" bandwagon and has given me some unforgettable presents. So, I never expected it to get better than that, but it was truly heartwarming to see Nora's little face when I raved about each gift.

Of course, the real credit belongs to her daddy who didn't hesitate to spend the money, wrangle her at numerous stores, and spend time baking the coffee-cake-like Monkey Bread even when she got butter all over her puppy gloves. "Mama, I need my gloves for baking." OK love.

I loved my "first" birthday as a mom. It isn't my actual first birthday as a mom of course, but when your kid can pick out her own card to give you (Tinkerbell!); bake you a cake (well, Monkey Bread, yum!) and help wrap the many presents (in Winnie-the-pooh wrap) she picked out all by herself, it counts as the first. Thanks for the love my lovely family, you sure know how to make me feel very loved and very special.

Our Girl

When Eleanor was due to be born, some faithful blog readers will recall that we did not know if she would be a girl or a boy. When she did come out, the Doctor said, "It's a boy" when she simply meant a girl. The scheduled induction was Friday, July 13, 2007 and we were excited about that, with the fun math about prime numbers and Fridays being lucky birthdays and all. Then she would not come out and ended up born via C-section at 12:34 am on Saturday 7-14-07. She was also supposed to be a "big" baby, but was this tiny little peanut, all legs and arms.

[Picture from July 14, 2007]

The past three years has brought us both sweetness and sass, over-dependence and fierce independence, singing and screaming, running and swimming! I cannot tell you how much I look forward to the adult our baby will grow into while I simultaneously ache at how fast her childhood is passing by. Our baby, our girl, our Nora Kate Grove.

[Picture from February 2008]

So, for her, here I allow myself a bit of a mama moment and reminisce and laugh at the things she does that make me laugh (she says "I am frusterated," I love that), the things that make my heart swell (she flings her arm around my neck when we snuggle in for a nap), and the things that have me asking my own mama 'Was I like that?' (I say: The sky is blue, Nora says: No it isn't. I say: Look up, see how blue? Nora says: No Mama, that is not blue).

[Picture from 2009]

I also feel the impulse to write down all the things I might not say well when it matters, when defining life moments may happen and I am not there or I fail miserably to say or do the thing you want me to say or do to instill your trust in me. But, it comes down to this: I love you my wonderful child and I always will. There is not a single thing you could do to un-secure that love; it was always there. I know I will not do everything right or even well in being your mama, but you will know that I am here and I love you. I will try to keep you safe and healthy in mind and body; but I will annoy and embarrass you, of that I am certain. That being said, you become whomever you want to become and do whatever work it is that excites you and we, your family, will be here when life gets tough or sad and when you need us.

[Picture from July 2010]

So, I hope you have enjoyed your birthday parties, your presents and the many treats as you turned three years old. I know I have enjoyed thinking back at all your growing and becoming and thinking ahead to all we have yet to do. You are no longer a baby, but you will always, now and forever, be our baby.

3

Happy Birthday Eleanor Kate!

Free Range Kids

So I was quoted in Forbes the other day by Lenore Skenazy, so that's pretty cool. Lenore is the founder of Free Range Kids which is a blog I try to read every day. The basic premise behind FRK is that 1) the world is actually a pretty safe place despite what the fear mongering media tells us everyday and 2) that kids should be allowed to explore this safe world in order to prepare them to become competent and independent adults. If parents are constantly interfering and protecting them how are they going to learn how the world works? Anyway, you can read a lot more of her thoughts at her blog which I will link at the side.



Our Free Range Kids have been doing great. Comfest was a great chance to let them explore our world for a while. Note the comfest world may have very little in common with the real world. Eleanor had a wonderful time walking around and meeting people and we met some many nice folks because of her exploring. We met people with bubbles, babies, beach ball, toys, and guitars. Everyone we met seemed to enjoy her inquisitive 3 year old mind. Jack was close behind slaying the ladies with his golden curls and sweet smiles.

N-O-R-A and J-A-C-K

Music is big in our house right now. We saw They Might Be Giants a few weeks ago and if you haven’t discovered Here Comes Science, it is the best kids CD ever for two geeky parents and what are sure to be brilliant kids. We all love the songs. Yesterday, we spent the afternoon singing to Justin Roberts and his new CD. It is about the 4th time we have seen him and it is always a treat.
Nora is now only 5 weeks from three and surprising us constantly. The other day, she was drawing on her Aqua-doodle and all of a sudden, said, N-O-R-A. Whaaaat? She can spell her name? We didn’t teach her that! I just love that school of hers! At her parent-teacher conferences a few weeks ago, we heard that Nora’s teachers think she is “clever and bright” and “not just bright because she is one of the older kids in the class.” And, at the risk of sounding like one of those annoying moms (I know, but allow me this), one of the mothers at Nora's school said to me, “Nora is so smart!” Another mom said that the conversations she overhears during drop-off between Nora and her teacher Brigid are “outstanding for a child her age.”
It has been fun seeing the kids start to play together without any prompting from Geoff or I. Here they are sitting down on the porch reading together. Jack is such a willing participant in anything Nora suggests, it is just a nice thing to see. To that end, Nora has become a huge fan of “Go Diego Go” the cartoon series about animal rescues. She watched the show daily before bed and Jack sings “Go Go Go” in support! Gramma sent Nora a Baby Jaguar (Diego’s sidekick) and she carries that little thing everywhere. Jack gives him hugs when his sister lets him touch it. However, she has made it clear, the show is about her, not any of us. Example: Geoff said, “Hola Diego” at the start of one show recently and his sweet girl turned around and said “He not talking to you Daddy!” Well, that may not have been her best moment, but she is sweet running around the zoo or dog park yelling “It sounds like an animal is in trouble!”

She is a sweet girl. Just last night she said to me "You're a good mama" Really? she nodded yes and I just enjoyed the moment. I also was the very proud recipient of my first kid-made necklace, complete with a heart which says "Nora Loves Mommy" ahhh, I love this age. I figure I'll keep that necklace and wear it when she is completely absent of any positive emotion as a teenager.
And, with Father's Day fast approaching, I wanted to post this picture. These children adore their father and no one can get them giggling like he does. He puts up with their tantrums and refusals of him for mommy, but they look for him when he leaves and ask about him if he happens to not be with us. So, here's to you Ga Ga, you're a great Daddy!

In other family news, my brother and his wife had a baby boy on May 20, 2010. They named him James Lawrence Anthony, with all three of those names a tribute to men in their extended family. He came out perfect and healthy and with red hair and blue eyes. If they let me, I will post a picture soon. He is a cutie and joins big sister Dosha who is just over two.

Changes

Jackson is suddenly starting to look like a little boy.


And Eleanor is starting to look like a baby jaguar.

A sleepy jaguar.

Showing some Bengals pride. I don't think the outfit will fit come football season.