New One

So, I really can't keep up these days -- that is quite obvious on this blog. But you know, with a three-year-old, and full-time work, and being pregnant...oh. Have I not mentioned that on here? Yup, Naomi is going to be a Big Sister sometime around the end of January! And hopefully next week we'll find out if she is going to have a little brother or little sister.

Naomi is adapting to the idea- so much in fact that she calls the baby "my baby", and corrects me if I say its mine. She has decided they will share a room, and we talk alot about how special Naomi is to us, that she used to be little in my tummy, and now she is big and there will be a new baby. As excited as she is, I can also see that she wants to be close more than her usual. She knows there is change, that mama is tired alot, and that there is this new baby coming. I am really aware how this time it is not just Mark and I welcoming another person, but that it is three of us doing this together.

The "Green-with-Carrots-Marshmallows-and-a-Duck" Cake. and Umbrellas.

This year when I asked Naomi what kind of cake she wanted, this was her answer: green, with carrots, marshmallows and a duck. She was pretty consistent with her message - the only change was the addition of umbrellas right at the end. So this is what she got!

Happy Birthday Naomi!

No picture for this yet, but the girl turns 3 today! Amazing to think about where we were when, etc etc. Naomi enjoys hearing those stories, actually. She is quite excited about the Birthday, and so we will be celebrating for what feels like the whole month of July. We let her open her birthday present from her Granddaddy and Dot Dot last night --- a singing strawberry shortcake card with matching stickers (so cool) and a bright pink canopy/netting thing to hang over her bed (AWESOME). Naomi thinks its all the coolest, and spends hours sitting on her bed with the tent closed, opening and closing the singing birthday card.

Tonight she gets daddy time and phone calls. Tomorrow she gets swimming at (hopefully) Hamilton Pool and her present from us. Saturday she gets her Cake (yes the capital C is deliberate - this has been Anticipated for months). Then we get a family reunion and fireworks. Not bad for 3. I like that America will send her fireworks every year. Its a nice perk. :)

Summer Haircut

Movin' Up

This week Naomi has made the long-awaited move from Dragonfly to Starburst. In pre-school land that means she has moved from the 2-year-old class to the 3-year-old class. And she is super-duper excited! As soon as we got a call last week letting us know there was space, she has been talking about it. It has been time for her for a while - she has been one of the oldest kids for a while, several of her friends had already moved.

So far she is fitting right in. Yesterday when I picked her up, her teacher told me I had just missed seeing her run around in the spiderman costume! And when an older boy told her that she couldn't be spiderman, because spiderman is a boy, she told him "yes I can."

Something about the move has helped her in dropping off at school too. The last month or so has been more difficult for her - she has had a hard time letting me go, and we have had a few days of saddness. We worked out a solution together, and she has been hanging out with one of her teachers in the mornings, which has helped. But since moving up, she has been really comfortable on her own, and playing on the playground on her own. It really amazes me how aware she is of that getting bigger/still little journey that she is on.

Firefighter Naomi

Firefighters

Drive, Drive, Drive

Smoke when we go

Pour out the water

People feel better

written by Naomi, May27, 2009

Naomi's grandmother "Dot Dot" helped her write this poem. We took her to the children's museum in Denver last week, where they have a room with a fire truck, and firefighter coats and hats to wear. Naomi was in heaven -- The day before she told me she wants to be a firefighter when she grows up!

Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday I was greeted at the door with,"Mama, I have a card for you! It has butterflies on it."

My Big / Little Girl / Mama

It is the theme of Naomi lately. She has been wearing underwear for almost three weeks now, and despite many accidents, she is getting better and better at it - yesterday she had none, and last night she actually wore underwear to bed (we were totally out of pullups) and slept all night! This morning when I called her "little girl", she said "I'm not little." What are you then? "I'm a big girl!" So true, dear.

In this picture (you may not be able to see it) Naomi is holding her baby doll in a scarf. After hanging out with some friends-with-babies using slings, Naomi was playing with her baby and asked me to tie the scarf around them! A few days later, when a friend got out her sling for her baby at our house, Naomi went and got her things as well. And then copied her rocking motion too.

Adventures with Naomi

Tonight at dinner when I told Naomi she is funny, she said: "I'm not funny, I'm Kristen!"

Last night I walked outside to find Mark tying up the tomatoes, while Naomi had found the sprinkler, put the hose to the nozzle, turned the water up, and was jumping through it. All on her own.

Tuesday was Mark's birthday - Happy Birthday! Naomi and I made a carrot cake- she wanted cake, not cupcakes. She's been singing to Mark all week. Last night she started singing again, and then half-way through she looked at me and said, "Wait!" and proceeded to tell me where she wanted to sing to Mark and how. She got off her chair, held up a book, and serenaded him with happy birthday once again, but standing.

Naomi is excited about our trip to Colorado in May, and keeps talking about DotDot and Granddaddy, Alli, Alvin and Olivia. She has been talking about them alot, at one point she even started telling me about where we all slept the last time we were at my sisters - and that was last fall. Alvin has been part of her pretend games as well. And then the other night Naomi talked about seeing her DotDot. She said, "When I see Dot Dot, I'm going to say (lowers voice, grins) I'm here Dot Dot."

Insert Cliche Here

The thing that has been most evident to me since having a kid is that most of the cliches people throw at you about parenthood are actually true. I find myself more and more lately trying to figure out where my baby has gone, and really loving this little girl that has moved in with us. So, it is inevitable then that we would have the potty training post. The last two days Naomi has gone to school sans pull-ups, wearing underwear like a big girl. I am so proud of her and nervous for her all together. It really is a step in independence - which Naomi is aware of because at the same time she tells us that she is still little, and has gone back to using her little potty instead of the big one. I'm okay with this push-pull of growing up. She will be doing this our whole relationship, and I am so happy to be the one to hug and the one to give space.