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| Birthday wish #1: throw money in the fountain at the mall |
Let's catch up with the Chucklehead a little bit since she turned three on September 2nd...
The morning of her birthday it was our turn to drive Charlie's school carpool. On our way home, I said "Today is your birthday! What do you want to do today to celebrate." And in typical Antonia fashion, with an awkward cheesy grin on her face, she replied "I don't knoooooooowww," which is how she always responds when she's put on the spot.
After thinking about it for a little while, however, she decided that what she wanted to do was go to the "stroller store" (which is the mall) and throw "moneys" in the water. And, of course, ride in the stroller one last time, because--as we had discussed multiple times-- her place in the stroller would be usurped once baby Eve was born. At the mall we did everything she always wants to do at the mall but we never have time for, including sitting in EVERY SINGLE ONE of about 12 rental stroller/cars at the customer service counter. If you've spent any amount of time around Antonia you know that she's a question repeater; and sure enough, she probably asked me about nine times in the course of the day "Mom, can it be my birthday today?" She also wanted to know if she could take her birthday to Thea's house, one of those questions she asks that I have a hard time answering. Charlie has always been mostly interested in the literal, quantifiable world around him, and being as --so far--I know more than he does, answering his questions has never been a problem. But Antonia continues to stump me with questions like "Mom, can someone build a ladder into the clouds?" which of course would lead to "Why?' no matter the answer. Or consider this example:
Me: Antonia, I need to tighten your pants so you're not showing everyone your bum. (This is a constant problem when she wears jeans. Is the problem her jeans, or her bum? I haven't figured that out yet.)
Nia: Why?
Me: Because people don't want to look at your bum.
Nia: Why do people don't like bums?
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| Birthday wish #2: ride in the stroller at the stroller store (mall) |
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| Opening birthday presents |
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| Birthday wish #3: a birthday cake with marshmallows on it. You might be able to tell from the picture that she put those marshmallows on herself. |
Even though she's almost three years younger than Charlie, Antonia will be two grades behind him in school, which means that this year was her first year of two years of preschool. She's going to a little preschool co-op we formed with some great people from church and she loves it. So far this year she has had her first crush, started to (finally) care about learning her letters, made lots of cute crafts, and constantly surprised me with what she actually knows. At home she is a little distracted and more interested in being goofy than practicing letters or counting, so we can never tell what knowledge has managed to penetrate the little cloud of zaniness she lives in. Every once in a while she'll wow us with, for example, knowing the words to a song that she's only heard once, and we get a little glimpse of what she's really capable of.
What's even more charming is to hear the song lyrics she makes up herself. The other day I heard her singing a primary song while she munched her lunch. The actual words are "I wiggle my fingers, I wiggle my toes..." But she was ad libbing "I wiggle my arm, then wiggle my 'nother arm..." In truth, it IS more fun to wiggle one's whole arm than just fingers and toes.
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| First day of preschool, wearing her backpack "just like Charlie's!" |
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| At Uncle Evan's wedding wearing Charlie's jacket because we were not prepared for how cold it would be. It was friggin' freezing, Mr. Bigglesworth |
After the wedding, some of the family ventured down to Las Vegas, ostensibly to visit us, but undoubtedly to escape the cold weather in Idaho, as well. Antonia enjoyed spending time with all her cousins, but especially her favorite cousin, Eli. Eli is the cousin who is closest to her in size and interests, is older than she is, but is not so old that he's too cool to play with her.
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| At Lake Mead throwing rocks (what else?) with cousin Miriam |
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| Lunching with cousin Eli. They wanted to sit by themselves, away from everyone else, it was pretty cute. |
Just as we were all catching our breath from school starting, Eve's birth, Evan's wedding and family visiting, Halloween came out of nowhere and caught us unprepared. Particularly because repeated queries regarding Antonia's costume choice left me utterly baffled and clueless about what to do for her. Her response was always "I don't knoooowww" (with the cheesy grin) or "Santa Claus," but if I suggested that I choose FOR her, she would collapse into panicked whining. I finally just grabbed a costume I saw on clearance at Old Navy and then I presented it to her with so much enthusiasm that it was an offer she couldn't refuse. The week of Halloween was the week that I was teaching preschool so we got to have a fun little party with ghost bowling, a marshmallow ghost game and decorating cookies. There really isn't anything more entertaining than preschoolers cramming too many marshmallows into their mouths and trying to talk.
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| Preschool party! Superman is Antonia's special friend, Parker. She talks about him all the time... |
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| At the church Trunk or Treat, with a flower painted on her cheek. She was really serious the whole night as she played the games and trick-or-treated. She's always so bubbly that when she acts serious and restrained, it's like she's a different little girl. |
hopter-hopter: helicopter
bless you: (v.) to sneeze. As in "She bless you-ed on me!"
pan-yo: piano
hunkey mug: a hug Antonia invented that is performed in the manner of a monkey throwing itself at you and wrapping its legs around your waist
1 comment:
I think it's my kids' job to ruin wedding pictures - or Halloween pictures. Any pictures, really. Cute kiddo though. I still think fondly of the first time I met her and you weren't sure what to do with her uncontrolable screaming. So hilar.
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