A Quick Laugh

Our child was the first child born and spent a lot of her early years as the only. This means she naturally gravitates towards the adults in the room. Always.  

At summer camp, she becomes besties with the counselors. When at a party with children, she can be found with the adults. Most of the stories we have involve teachers, not classmates. In class, she likes to sit away from her classmates. 

It is who she is.

Now for a story....

Weeks ago, we attended a meeting on a potential upcoming class trip opportunity to Italy. This is a chance to hang with other kids their own age in a different country. Alice asked if we all went, if she could room with us. We stopped to ask her math teacher (a trip chaperone) if the kids had to room with other kids or if she could room with us. She said it depends on what we wanted. I mentioned Alice needed to learn how to hang with other people her age and not room with her parents. Alice gave me a look, the math teacher laughed.

Fast forward to this weekend when she was talking about school drama. 

Her "Oh, and thanks to YOU, now I have to sit next to so-and-so in Math class because my teacher thinks I (in air quotes) 'need to socialize with kids my age'! I used to sit alone!! It was wonderful!! And now it's ruined!"

I laughed until I cried.

This season of life with Alice has been one of my favorites. Our conversations are hysterical. Always.

Until next time.....

The 13th Year

13. 

You are officially in your Teen Era, kid. 

Skibbiddiboopboop!

You played volleyball for two semesters with the City of La Porte Parks and Rec. They were both very different teams and you learned a lot. Underhand serving was your JAM!

You handled 6th grade like a champ! You joined the Drama Club and got to play Snow White. Art class was your favorite. You attended your first school dances. You purchased pickles at both.

With all the extra things you wanted to participate in, you made the hard decision to end your time at Taekwondo. With you getting older, it was time to move to the adult class and that was scary so you decided to hang up your belts. You did the right thing and told Mr. Barnhill in person and that was very brave.

We visited California! We had fun at Disneyland, stood in the trees and got our feet wet in the Pacific Ocean. We toured the bay, rode a steam train and shopped in San Francisco. It was a grand adventure!

We added to the family! We brought Sully home in March. We met a lot of dogs but you wanted to see the one with the little legs. And now he is ours. The two of you love playing tug of war.

This was your last summer with La Porte Parks and Rec summer camp. You had an absolute blast and were heartbroken to have to say goodbye. My hope is that you get to continue to grow with this program and eventually return as a camp counselor.

You started a new school this year. You were disappointed to not get an art class again; however, I think you landed where you needed to. You are now in theater and choir. You are staying after school almost every day for practices. You have an audition next weekend for Regional Choir. You are also on the travel One Act play crew! My little Techie!! We are so excited to watch you continue to grow.

Since you had volleyball experience, you decided to take athletics. You do regret that now. ;) You tried out for the volleyball team but didn't make it. This turned out to be a good thing because practice is at 6am and we do not do early. Gross.

You found the musical Epic on YouTube and that is your entire personality now. Bless it.

You got to attend your first concert! We say Laufey and she was WONDERFUL!

You had to get your second round of braces a week early because you threw away your retainer at school. When I told you you would need to go through the trash - you...were...scandalized.

Kid, you crack me up. We laugh SO MUCH. I hope that never changes.

We also get passionate so we now have safe words to use before things get too out of hand. We also have one for when you have big feelings but no real reason. We use these often.

You still want to be tucked in. I told you on your birthday now that you are thirteen, you don't need to be tucked in any more. You looked at me with the most teenagery face and said "I'm gonna get tucked in." 

The next few years are going to fly by and we want you to know that you are so very loved. Even when the three of us are cranky - we love each other no matter what.

I hope this year is everything you want it to be and more.

Watching you grow is our favorite thing.

We love you,

Mom & Dad

Total Chaos

It's always when my Beloved is at work....

To know me is to understand I have an irrational fear of roaches. I become completely unhinged if I even think there is one nearby. It's unhealthy and I have no intention of changing - I am who I am.

Now to my living nightmare....

Thursday evening as I was eating the last of my dinner, a roach crawls out from under my Beloved's chair and creeps behind our living room bench and I swear it's the size of a Corgi. Usually at this time of day, my beloved husband is home to handle such a crisis. Not THIS night though. This night he has a late event he has to help with.

I did NOT panic! I finished the last few bites and then ran to my room screaming "Alice, stay in your room - there's a roach in the living room!"

From my bed, Alice and I are screaming to each other about what we should do. It's decided that we should abandon the house. It's no longer safe. We decide to go to Taekwondo. I tell her to brush her teeth. She runs to her bathroom to speed through teeth brushing.

And then...the roach enters the hall and turns towards me as if to say, "hey girl, what's up?" Sir. We. Are. Not. Friends.

I scream "ALICE!! IT'S IN THE HALL!!!!!"

She screams and runs to our room. 

Our unwelcome visitor makes its way to Alice's doorway, looks in the room and proceeds to move down the hall.

Now I panic. After checking out Alice's bathroom, it walks DIRECTLY TO MY ROOM.

It's the roach version of Goldilocks. 

The nasty intruder steps foot in my room to all the screaming, decides this is not the vibe he's looking for and turns around.

I get a moment of bravery and decide I can kill it. I'm a grown person. It's just a bug. Alice throws a flyswatter out of our bathroom,; I take a few deep breaths and I head down the hall.

By this time, it has made its way to our back bedroom doorway. I bravely get close enough to hit it - only I miss because grace is not a spiritual gift I was given. I was given the gift of calamity. 

I turn to run, trip over my comfy house shoes and hit the floor....hard. So. Hard.

I crawl back to my room and throw myself on the bed. Alice offers to call 911 from the bathroom.

This is it. I am done.

I tell her we're leaving. She grabs a shoe; I have the flyswatter - and we run.

Every light in the house is on, there are shoes and large throwing objects spread throughout the house - I don't care, I walk away from all of it.

Alice in the car "where did it come from?!?"
Me "The gates of Hell!"

Alice does her TKD class and when she's done, my Beloved still isn't home.

Alice "okay, let's go to Walmart and spend money", because she is MY child, and this is how we heal.

Instead, we decided ice cream can fix it.

We get home and remain in the car until I can no longer take it. I walk through the house and our nasty bestie isn't anywhere I can see. I make Alice get out and we pile on to one spot on the couch while she sobs in fear, and I eat my well-earned Blizzard.

And that's how my Beloved finds us once he finally gets home. 

Her sobbing and me trying to watch First Daughter on Netflix.

Bless.

Did we handle it the best way possible? Probably not.

Did we make Dada look until he found the dead beast? ABSOLUTELY!

Is the right side of my body bruised? Yes. Yes, it is. 

My dominant elbow I spend a lot of time leaning on? Bruised. I am living with my discomfort and taking it as a lesson in what not to do next time.

Next time I will immediately leave the house and go shopping...

This is the way.

Until next time.....

The 12th Year

Happy birthday, Alice!

Today, you are 12.

Can you believe?!

It was a busy, busy year. 

You wrapped up your 5th grade year playing an Oompa Loompa in Willy Wonka. Fifth grade was probably the hardest year you have had yet but you got through it! 

This summer we got to sleep in a bus! Sort of. :) We took a little trip to San Marcos and saw caves and deer and goats. It was such an adventure!

You got your braces off and now have to keep up with a retainer. You had determined baby teeth pulled and handled it like a champ!

You started 6th grade and so far, it has been a much better start than last year. We talked a lot this summer about friendships and the opportunity this provides to expanding your circle. You were way less stressed with the start of the year. You are taking art and have joined the Drama Club.

You earned your black belt in Taekwondo. You are now on the Diving Divas volleyball team and have your first game next week. 

You got a cell phone for your 11th birthday and texting with you is SO MUCH FUN.

You are growing and changing and it's such an honor to be a part of it. We tried to prepare you for as much as we can and so far you are handling it so much better than we imagined. We are proud of you. Always.

Sometimes the big feelings are a lot so we have a safe word for those times when we're both a little overly passionate and need to step away to gather our calm. It mainly just makes us laugh and confuses Dada. 

If ever your feelings are too big and you don't want to share them with me, I hope you know you are surrounded by a village of people who want nothing but the best for you. You are never alone. 

I hope this year is the best one you've ever had. 

We love you so very much, babes. 

Being 12 is SO preppy.

Slay.

Mom & Dad

Yay Day!

 There are two things that contribute to this story.

1. Alice is ready for a dog. She has been BEGGING for a new dog for MONTHS. Every time she sees a dog or hears the word dog or passes the dog aisle at any store. She. Wants. A. Dog.

2. Surgery recovery means no "intimate" situations allowed until cleared by the doctor which is usually at the six weeks mark. My Beloved being the funny man that he is counted six weeks on our kitchen calendar and wrote "Yay Day!" It should be noted this is a calendar that Alice has never paid attention to a day in her entire life.

Now to the story.

A few nights ago, Alice comes running in to our room all excited.

Alice "MOM! Why did you write Yay Day on National Adopt a Shelter Pet day!?? Does that mean we're getting a dog?!?"

And I immediately start laughing and say, "Daddy, Alice wants to know why you wrote Yay Day on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day?!"

This is his doing, let him handle it.

Him...."I wrote that because that's the date Momma is supposed to be completely healed and can get back to her normal routine."

Me "Yes, that's the day I can move my weighted blanket all on my own." (I'm not supposed to lift anything over 10 lbs.)

Her disappointment was palpable. 

The date has a paw print on it, for crying out loud.

The next day we're in the car when Alice announces from the back seat, "I told Mrs. Ashby about 'Yay Day'."

Lovely.....just lovely.

Me "What exactly did you tell her?"

Alice, to me "I told her you wrote that on the calendar."

Me "No! DADDY wrote that!"

Him "I'm not sure that matters at this point."

Me "Did you tell her what kind of surgery I had?!"

Her "No, she didn't ask."

I have read ZERO parenting books but I am confident this kind of situation isn't in there.

And I know what you're thinking, "I know what you will be doing that day!!" 

NOPE!!!! My post op check is at an undisclosed later date so Yay Date will not happen on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day. We will also not be adopting a shelter pet on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day either. 

So, boom! 

Until next time.....

A ready heart

CAUTION: This is the end of Father Christmas. Keep the small eyes away.

For years, Alice has been asking about Santa. She does this at the most inopportune times usually following the other fictional characters we've slowly unmasked. I wrote about it here.

My response is always the same, "do you really want to know or do you want to sit with it?"

Her response is always, "I'll sit with it."

We know her head knows what her heart isn't ready for.

This year, her heart was ready. 

After we got home from Christmas at my mom's something was said and I asked, "who do you think Santa is?"

She said, "I think you and Dada are Santa." 

The ONLY question she had was if Santa was ever real. We talked about where the idea of Santa came from and she was content with that.

We talked about all her previous gifts and how Uncle Travis, Nana, Aunt Tami and now Aunt Meghan get to stay up and set everything up. We laughed because Daddy's job is to make sure Alice gets to sleep so he is always truly surprised on Christmas morning.

Alice "so when I asked Santa for a Barbie house...."
Me "Santa got the Barbie house she knew would fold up and fit in your messy room."
Her "fair."

She also asked if we kept her letters to Santa and I honestly don't know where they would be if I did. I do have this year's though because it was super last minute and quite cute.

We also discussed the elf. This year I did a few extra things since I knew it would probably be the last year. Her sweet Music teacher made tiny cookie sheet cookies that I left out like Meyers baked for her. She took it to school for lunch and when she told her friends where it came from, her friend Isabella quickly told her friend Alex not to say anything. Bless her heart. 

I also let her know next year, she can move them. 

"Slay." she says. 

"But nothing involving any kind of food!!" - me, clearly seeing the ideas forming.

"Oh man...." 

It was a calm discussion where we laughed and shared the backstage memories. She knows to hold the magic for the younger kids and what a huge responsibility it is because kids deserve the magic of Christmas. Period.

The best part? Because we waited for her heart to listen to her head - no one cried. 

Letting her carry the magic a bit longer until she was ready to let it go didn't hurt her or us.

Christmas next year will be a new kind of magic SHE will get to create. 

And won't that be something!

Until next time....

The 11th Year

Happy birthday, Alice Anne!

Today you are 11. 

That's almost a teenager. Oh my.

Like all the letters before, I'll say it again - this was a big year.

You are still in Taekwondo and currently have an advanced red belt. You got the chance to help with teaching classes. You liked being able to see the young kids you were helping advance. You asked to go to class tonight so you can break a board even though you will do everything you can do to avoid doing that on a regular class day. 

You sang several solos in front of the entire school! This SHOCKED us. You did beautifully. We were so very proud.

We got to visit Disney World and had THE BEST time - just the three of us. You rode ALL of the rollercoasters and got to tell the joke at the Monster's Joke shop. You will probably never ride the Rockin' Rollercoaster ever again but you at least rode it once!

Now you have braces! You have made very little complaints but next week you get additional hardware added and that will probably change...

You were able to spend the summer at the La Porte Parks & Rec summer camp again. You had a ball and made friends. Now you get to see them once a month at their Parent's Night Out.

You have an obsession with creating paper toys. You have a room full of cardboard houses and paper dolls and other items made out of paper, toy stuffing and tape. I don't understand it but you love it.

You started 5th grade. So far it has been a bit of a struggle because you are in a class without your core group of friends. This has been hard and I'm hoping it gets easier. Now that you are in 5th grade, you can join the Drama Club. This is something you've wanted to do since you could read the words "Drama Club" on the posters at school. This brings me so much joy.

This year will be another year for lots of change and growth and discovery. I am so thankful to be a part of it.

Watching you grow up is our greatest honor.

You are loved and supported. 

Your village is mighty. 

We love you.

Happy birthday, bruh.

Love,

Mom & Dad

The head, the heart and Santa

Alice's head is telling her all the things her heart doesn't want to hear. 

We knew this was coming. We understood that by fostering this kind of childhood 'magic' we would one day have to answer for it. We made no plans - we decided to handle it when it was time as the questions came up. 

That was foolishness. Let this be a warning to all new parents - RIP the heads off all mythical, magical beings at the same time. Just completely break their heart at one time instead of a slow, continuous break the span of 4 years. 

She's a trisky child and asks these heavy, life-shattering questions when we're compromised and our brains are tired so we answer without thought to deceive preserve the magic of belief.

And she KNOWS. I know she knows but the asking is part of our penance.  

First it was the Fairy. One day over the summer while I was working, she walks into my office and asks "Mom, are fairies real?" Me, distracted, responded with "no." Her "then what about my fairy door!??" Me after a long pause....."okay, I can't think about how to answer this right now, let's revisit it later." 

Then it was the Easter Bunny. Late one night something was being talked about and then she stared us down and asked if the Easter Bunny was real. I took a breath and told the truth. We argued about where the Easter presents came from. She said, "okay, the Easter Bunny isn't real" and we thought we were done. A few days later she said "I wonder what the Easter Bunny is going to bring me this year!" I told her we talked about this and there was no Easter Bunny. To which she responded with "yeah, I know. But he's still going to bring me something." We go over this every Easter even if I've let her pick out what goes in her own Easter basket.

Months later we were playing on the floor of her room when her Dada states "that's because the Tooth Fairy isn't real." My eyebrows jumped to my hairline and Alice's jaw dropped down to her chest. Him "was that not one we went over already?" This was exceptionally entertaining because we got to go over all the times her 'Tooth Fairy' forgot. 

She usually follows up these kinds of chats with "what about Santa!?" and I look at her with all the gentleness I can muster and say "do you want the truth or do you want to sit with it a bit longer?" and she says with devastating seriousness "I want to sit with it" so we move on.

I think her head is getting louder than her heart and all this growing up is unsettling to her. 

The other night while I was taking a shower she wanders into the bathroom with all the Santa questions. 

"Mom, is Santa real?"

Me "do you want to truth?"

Her "no."

After some quiet thinking, "if he's not real, then how does the elf move?"

Me, from the shower "what does your head tell you?"

Her, after a pause "that someone else in the house moves it."

Another pause, "mom, what if kids at school talk about Santa?"

Me "it's probably not going to be what you want to hear."

I peek around the shower curtain and say "when we do finally talk about Santa and it's what you fear it to be, we can still keep the magic for Kayden and Sawyer. We can always make magic." 

By this time I'm crying, obviously. 

Then she circles back to "so, how does the elf move if there is no Santa?"

Me, at the point of enough...."I'm not sure I want to answer that while I'm shaving my legs in the shower. Maybe you should go ask your Dad."

She didn't because it's usually me she wants to trigger into a sobbing mess. 

We'll talk about it again, of this I am SURE.

And my heart tells me she will adjust because the magic will change and SHE will get to move the elf. And I guarantee her elf will do A LOT more than our elf did. 

For now, we'll let her ask the questions she already knows the answers to because holding on to every ounce of her childhood seems to be what she NEEDS right now. She'll accept it eventually but for now, we're going let her heart hold on. 

One day it will come up and I will ask her "do you want the truth or do you want to sit on it for a bit more?" and she will say she wants the truth even though she's known it all along. 

Spoiler alert - I will sob then too. 

Until next time.....

The 9th Year

 Happy birthday, Alice!

Today you are 9.

It has been another year of learning and laughing and growing.

You still curse the Rona even though we did get to have some fun outside of the house this year. 

You got to spend the summer making new friends at Day Camp with the city of La Porte. 

We got to take the first family vacation we've had since your 5th birthday! We spent a few days exploring downtown San Antonio. We stayed in a hotel and did almost every single touristy thing we could. We had so much fun just being together away from the house. We also traumatized you with a Ghost Tour and will probably never hear the end of it. It's okay - it was still fun.

You had the MOST EPIC birthday party ever! Your village came together to play Among Us. We ran all over Nana's house being suspicious and having the best time ever.

We have had another year of making memories.

But I have to be honest, you have had a difficult time with the idea of turning 9. You have had this amazing self awareness that makes you understand this is a major year of growth. You see this as a loss of something young and a turn to something grown and you are not thrilled. You are fighting the idea of getting older tooth and nail. 

I was telling to our friend, Laura, about your dread of growing up and her response was "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." And she's right. 

I sobbed at the end of every major life chapter when faced with a new uncertain one. 

The idea of growing up is daunting and overwhelming. We have shared many talks about how it's evitable and 9 might not be all that terrible. 

You have moments where you slightly agree but mostly you feel like it's all downhill from here. 

This morning you had a minor meltdown. I've tried to stress that it's not that bad; it's just another day. It's not like you have to start paying your own car insurance now! You don't turn 9 and instantly get a mortgage! That's not how this works. 

Kid, it's going to be okay. Growing up is not all that bad.

And no matter what tomorrow brings, you have a village of people who adore you. You will never lack support or encouragement. We will get you through whatever it is you have to deal with. You will not have to face anything alone.

Child, you are loved. Always. 

Love,

Mom and Dad

Into the Wild

Well, I decided to attempt to do something fun for Spring Break and that's how most hot mess stories start. 

Bless it be. 

I chose the zoo. I thought, it's outside and you can only buy tickets online at certain time slots which must mean they are limiting how many they sold. Foolish, foolish me. I thought this was a safe choice. 

We have not done anything in a large crowd in a year and instead of easing in to it - we joined 8 million other people in Hermann Park. This is what happens when the weather is gorgeous and we're not in a pandemic. Only we're in a pandemic but no one wants to be in one anymore so we're pretending like we're not and EVERY ONE was there. Together. Outside. To-ge-ther.

Me = Freak. Mode. 

Our tickets were for 2pm-3pm. This means you have to enter the Zoo at that time. No sooner, no later. We arrive with almost half an hour to spare only with 8 million people, there is no parking. None. Zero. Zilch. 

We circle the entire area once and only once because by the time we make it back to the entrance of Hermann Park - they've closed the road to traffic due to no parking options. 

This is 1:45ish now. 

I'm immediately defeated because that's my automatic Go To response for such stuff. 

I happen to know mom is on her way to work so I call her to check on the Light Rail by her hospital. We end up meeting her at work and she offers to drop us off at the zoo. Bless her. She is the best. 

I am still in defeated freak mode. They're not going to let us in. All will be lost. I've ruined Spring Break.

We get out on the side of the road on Fannin and scamper through the park. We arrive at the zoo at 3:08. My Beloved asks if we can still get and they say yes. All is saved! 

And then we enter the park full of people wearing masks and standing way to close to each other. I spent the entire 3 hours saying "don't touch that. here's some hand sanitizer." Freak. Mode. 

The Houston Zoo is doing the best they can to keep us respectfully apart. They are limiting the number of people in the building exhibits so we did have to wait in line to see the bugs but they had lines drawn because humans are dumb and we can't tell 6 feet apart unless we're shown. We also stopped to eat a quick snack INSIDE. It was a weird time of day so there was only one other family inside which means we could stay on opposite sides of the place which feels safer. This was the first time we have eaten inside a restaurant in over year. It has been such a strange time.

We have not been to the zoo since the Kindergarten Field Trip that was also very much worth blogging about and a lot has changed. I feel like the Zoo has done a fantastic job with their renovations. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we got to see a lot of animals. 

You get to walk under this guy now which is both totally awesome and a little intimidating because he looked like he was trying really hard to find his way out. 

At the end of the day we had to figure out how to get back to our car. This meant we got to have a Light Rail adventure. We walked back through Hermann Park and caught the rail in the medical center. This might have been Alice's favorite part. It only cost us $3.25 and will probably be the only way we go to the zoo ever again. We will park at the park and ride and ride it in. Or just ride it for the three hours the ticket is good for and see all of Downtown Houston. 

Alice had fun seeing the animals. We had an adventure. The weather was lovely. We made memories. We survived. 

And we will never attempt this during Spring Break again. 

Until next time..... here's some cute animals - 

Quarantine Halloween

It has been a challenging year and Alice has missed A LOT. We planned to avoid all group Halloween things this year since we're still in the middle of a Pandemic and it felt like the smart thing to do. In an effort to give her a special day, I decided to plan a Halloween fun day. 

We always intended to go to Huntsville for the weekend. I wanted Alice out of the way of crowds. If she couldn't see it, she wouldn't miss it. We haven't been up for a visit since February and all parties involved felt it would be safe for a visit. I had intentions of shopping for games and crafts but by the time I was well enough to go, everything was Christmas. Boooo! I was able to order a few things from Amazon though. 

She and I dressed the part. I was a witch and she was my black cat. She got to wear eyeliner on her face - she was THRILLED!

These were our activities:

Mask craft - I found these on Amazon. They were so much fun! They're a scratch set so they did make a mess but it was easy to clean up. The package came with a lot so we'll have some for the next several Halloweens. :)  It came with everything needed and the masks fit both the kid and the adults.

Hotel Transylvania Movie Marathon - We packed up our movies and shared them with Mawmaw and Papa. These are super cute and not at all scary.

Brownie Mummies - we baked brownies and she iced them to look like mummies! This was a fun two part project so it kept her busy twice! 

Pumpkin Ring toss - I bought several packages of cheap glow necklaces and three Gizmo pumpkins from HEB. We played variations of this all day! And at the end of the night, she made a big giant rope out of all the necklaces. When in doubt - it's always worth the dollar for a package of anything glowing. Walmart always has amazing options.

Build a Monster - I found these on Amazon as well. They are SUPER cute and made of heavy felt. The problem was, we couldn't get them to stick together. We tried all the sticking things and nothing worked. They are cute though! And Alice enjoyed building a monster family.

Spider Races - I bought a package of plastic spiders off the internet and a package of smoothie straws from HEB. We lined up a spider and blew it across the table with a straw. It was hilarious. Alice didn't like playing against Dada - he has a much better lung capacity. 

S'mores - we ended our day with s'mores by the fire while we howled at the moon. And by 'we' I mean Alice. Howled and howled! 

I know I over planned. I know I overscheduled. And I don't care. Alice had a beautiful day. She laughed and played and smiled. It was such a much needed weekend of fun and being away. We were safe and isolated but she didn't know it. All she knew was she was having fun.

It was really great to be away and the moon was SUPER COOL!!!! 

Until next time.....

The 8th Year

Well, kid, here we are again with another birthday letter. It has been a HUGE year and we have a lot to cover.

This might have been the most challenging year yet - not because of you but FOR you. 

Here we go....

The Infestation: For all of your years in childcare/public education, I have been diligent about lice prevention. DI-LI-GENT! I've added Tea Tree oil to your conditioner for at least 4 years and you made it through 4 years of lice outbreaks unscathed....until this year. I was less than diligent and they found you. And then we found them. And then we did family lice treatments. I bought ALL the lice treatments and we used them ALL. Dada did ALL the research and we did every.single.suggestion. I cried with you as I brushed through your hair. We are so sorry. It has been our greatest parenting fail so far and one we will not make again because now we buy specific lice preventative hair conditioner you will use until you leave for college and get to buy your own. Our showers are also equipped with lice treatment shampoo just in case we get a case of the itchies. I use it often. The good news: now when we say we need to check your head - you let us! There's no fighting or screaming, you simply let us. That's growth! The other good news: when I have lice nightmares (which is often) and wake up in the middle of the night in a panic - I don't wake your dad to check my head. And that's growth for me!

The Rona: With March came a pandemic. I never, ever imagined I would have to say that but here we are. We moved to lock down as soon as Spring Break was done and we remained home for the next 183 days. Together. Just us. You were able to spend a handful of days at Nana's but for the most part, it was just me, you and Dada. And let me tell you, we might not be the best of influences and this has been a lot of influential time together. It has been isolating and boring and LOOOONG. You've had to learn to wear a mask and attempt to distance yourself from others. You immediately ask for hand sanitizer when we make it back to the car. You have only been around other kids 3 times since March and those times were limited. We are spending lots of time apart from the people we love in order to keep them and us safe and it STINKS! You did get to see your Papa or Mawmaw for the first time since March this weekend and it was much needed. But you mostly understood how important it was and didn't fuss too much. When we mention we can't do something or we can't see someone, you whisper "corona" all angry like it's a four letter word. It's cute but probably also an example of our questionable influence. The good news: we had lots of time together - just us. We played and fought and avoided pants. We slowed down and stayed still and were just present. We hugged and laughed and yelled. Yelled a lot. So. Much. Togetherness. But we found some sassy masks and we've made it this far. We're still wearing masks but it's old hat now and seems like the norm. It will be weird when the air touches our faces again.

The School At Home: When the pandemic started, so did School At Home. And School At Home is totally lame. We did not enjoy it one bit. It solidified my conviction that I am not a teacher and that your preferred learning style is in a classroom with peers. This was the hardest, most painful part of being stuck at home. The good news: we made it through First Grade. I'm not sure we should have, but we did! 

The Racism: In the midst of all the things, you became more aware of some of the hate we've protected you from. We had heavy conversations about what racism looks like and what it sounds like. We read books and watched Town Hall meetings with Sesame Street. You heard me and your dad talking about it. You asked if we should be talking about in front of you and we said yes. Our job is to protect you. However, our job is also to raise you to be aware and recognize when people are being mistreated, abused, targeted. We want to you to understand when to speak up. We want you to be empowered enough to let someone know when they are being hurtful even if it is someone you love. Our job is to give you the means to use your voice for something better. Our job is to tell you now so you are aware and can call it out for what it is when you see it. You are not too young to be an ally. 

It has been a heavy year but there has been some light!

You have a fish named Blueberry and he's still alive! We did dump out on the floorboard of our car on Christmas day. I managed to scoop him up in the inch of water that remained in the tank. We made it back to Nana's where they were waiting with towels and more water. I'm pretty sure he's forgiven us....

You lost a lot of teeth! None at school though - I'm hoping this is your year. 

You got to go back to school! You have to wear a mask and you have to follow new rules but you don't care. You are so happy to be back and that makes my heart happy. I hope you soak in all the learning.

I hope you look back on this year and think about all the time we spent together. The car picnics. The playing at home. The video calls with far away family and friends. The 'pants optional' summer. The dyed hair and hand drawn tattoos. Some of it was hard but I wouldn't trade it for anything (mostly). The time with each other was precious even when we were yelling and crying.

So Happy Birthday, Alice. I hope this next year is the best one yet (and with WAY less unprecedented times).

Love,

Mom and Dad

The 7th Year

Happy birthday, Little Miss!!

Today you are 7.

It has been yet another year of changing and growing and becoming. 

You lost teeth!! 

You grew new teeth! 

You started first grade.

You went bowling and swimming and to the Planetarium with your summer camp.

You are still completely dedicated the rules you have created for each and every game you come up with even when we do not know what those are. 

You LOOOOOOVE to play Escape room. You and Daddy play YouTube channel.

You are attached to L.O.L. dolls. Your new attachment is to a little doll with long pink and yellow hair that smells like candy. 

You have started to sleep with a sleep mask and you are sleeping so much better!

You like to pretend you are the mom which makes me the kid. I am a difficult child. It brings me immense joy to be so. ;)

You still love to make projects.

You can sing any song on the radio. You are made of mostly ice cream and cheese pizza. You wear all the colors you can at one time.

You are lovely and spirited and precious. But also just a bit sassy. 

And we wouldn't want you any other way. (Well, maybe a little less sassy sometimes.)

We wish you the very best this year and we cannot wait to see where it takes you.

Happy birthday, Alice Anne!

Growing Pains

This summer Alice has been attending a kids program at the church she where she attended Mother's Day Out.

She goes about every other week and they get to do all kinds of fun things.

The group is extremely diversified in regards to age and I am pretty confident Alice is one of the youngest and since she doesn't go every week, I think it has been a bit harder to 'get friends'. 

She has come home a few times saying the other kids won't play with her. She is naturally drawn to older kids since that's usually who she is around and preteenish girls don't want to play with a little girl.

And this makes our girl sad.

Which makes this momma heartbroken.

We talk about how we're not meant to be friends with everyone and sometimes older kids don't really want to be around little ones. 

We talk about how it is okay to play on our own as well and not to let anyone get you too down.

She was a little more vocal about issues before we took her this week, I offered to not make her go back but she seems insistent. She only has one week left after this week so she might tough it out.

The kids have a rest period at the end of the day and are allowed to bring in pillows and blankets if they want. Alice has been bringing her beloved Ki-ki with her.

Yesterday she asked me if she could take one of my blankets instead because one of the other girls told her her blanket was a baby blanket.

My heart broke. And then I got irrationally mad and wanted to hunt down a child and punch them in the throat. 

This is her beloved KIKI!! This is the same blanket she told me she plans to give to her kid like I gave her mine before bed the other night. (yeah - this caused ALL THE TEARS!!!!)

And now some dumb kid is making her feel silly for loving it.

I vocalized none of these thoughts and we found a less baby-ish blanket for her to take.

These are tough lessons. 

Tough lessons for her.

Tough lessons for us. 

We cannot fight all her battles.We should not fight all her battles.

She will have to learn and lean and grow and adapt all on her own out in the wild. 

She will come home with a broken heart, hurt feelings and scars.

And we will be there to help her pick up the pieces. To encourage. To guide. To support.

And I will try REALLY hard to not punch people in the throat. 

Growing up is hard. For kids and their adults.

****

She came home yesterday saying she would be taking her Kiki after all.

Me "even though it's a baby blanket?"
Her "It's not a baby blanket! It's a special Kiki Santa made just for me!!"

Ooops.

Me "maybe we shouldn't tell the other kids that - I wouldn't want them to be jealous."

Now I get to stress about when she finds out Santa is a just a big huge lie.......

Until next time......

Field Trippin'

Today was our very first field trip ever. 

And it was......interesting.

We never went on field trips in school with the exception of 5th grade when they took us by bus to the Junior High to show us where we would be the next year. That's it. We went on field trips with our day care but never in school.

But these Kindergartners got to go to the Zoo!

To me a field trip means everyone rides the bus together and wears matching shirts and goes around as a class exploring.

Only that's not how her school does it. Nope.

For her field trip, the parents drive themselves, take their own kid plus one or two (who ride in on the bus) and visit the zoo at their own pace. And the teachers love it because Kindergarten parents love to attend a first field trip so the teachers get to walk around all by themselves. 

Alice comes home yesterday and tells me the name of the other girl in our group. I prepare for me plus 2. However, at the gathering this morning I am told that the other little girl's mom was able to come too so I only have Alice.

Basically, I am taking Alice to the Zoo on a school day with their permission. 

It is discussed in our gathering that all of the major roads into downtown Houston are currently closed so I asked Google Maps to help. Google Maps is outdated and failed me miserably and I ended up on the other side of Minute Maid Park going the wrong direction because an entire exit no longer exists and no one informed the Google. 

This makes me frazzled. My child will be the only one waiting for their way late parent.

I scream and lament and curse but I manage to make it to the Zoo before the kids. 

The zoo is PACKED! I'm pretty sure most other schools in the greater Houston area are ALL at the zoo (in matching shirts and walking in large groups by the way!)

Finally the bus arrives, I gather my child and we take off. 

My mother calls Alice "10-minute-Alice" because that is her attention span. Only at the zoo it's "10-second-Alice." If they built a zoo like they did airports with moving walkways through the exhibits - I think Alice would be a happy camper.

We are there from about 10am to 1pm and by 11am Alice is basically done.Her feet hurt,  it smells, she's tired, she hates snakes, she wants to pet EVERY SINGLE RANDOM PIGEON WE SEE and she HAS to have the stuffed Red Panda because she LOVES it the best. And also, it's hot. 

By noon, I am counting down the seconds. 

We make it to the meeting point with lots of time to spare - I was taking NO chances - and once all the children show up and they head towards the buses, I leave. 

The teachers mention that if we want, we can check our kids out early at the office.

NOPE!! You keep my child until 3:45pm, thankyouverymuch.

I call mom from the parking lot while I'm getting in to my car. As I am turning the wrong way on MacGregor, I glance over and see a very tall, VERY naked man walking towards the zoo. He is holding what looks like a small amount of clothing in his left hand and that's it. 

He looks like he was running to the zoo only all his clothes suddenly burst into flames and he had no other option than to waltz naked towards the zoo. I mean, when you want to see the elephants, you WANT TO SEE THE ELEPHANTS! 

My sister asked why he was naked like it's a totally normal reaction to roll down your window and ask a completely naked stranger why he is heading to the zoo sans clothes. Nope, that was not what I chose to do. I chose to look around like, "everyone can see the naked man, right!?" and then proceeded to a location where I could right my driving wrong. 

And then I sat behind a bunch of buses for about 15 minutes.

When I made it back to my original location, there was a police car with it's lights on and I'm assuming a naked man in his back seat. 

It made the news so I am confident I was NOT the only person to see the naked Zoo man.

This is all way more than I bargained for for a memorable First Field Trip experience. 

Incidentally, this is the third time I have encountered a random naked man. For such a prude, I seem to find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time quite often. 

And this is basically how the entire month has gone. (Not the naked man part - only the everything-is-a-hot-mess part.)

More on that later......

Both my mother and sister asked if I got a picture of said Naked Zoo Man and I let them know that I BARELY got a picture of my own child at the zoo today. What kind of mother would I be to get a picture of the naked man and not my child on her first field trip?!

So here's the one I got. 

Of the kid, not some random naked dude.

Until next time..........

A New Smile

Well, it finally happened. Her smile will forever be changing. 

Let's start at the beginning....

We have been talking to Alice about how her teeth would eventually fall out for larger teeth. Usually she just changes the subject which mostly suits me fine because I DO NOT handle mouth related anything very well. 

Travis popped his tooth out in a Walmart checkout lane once and I nearly fainted.

Nope!

Nonetheless, it's happening and we all need to be prepared. 

A few weeks ago we were at dinner and Alice mentioned her classmate lost her tooth while at school today.

Me: "that's exciting! How do you feel about losing your teeth?"

Alice: "when I yose my teeth, I'm going to put them on a teeth neckyace!"

Me: *eyebrows at my hairline * "this is your father's influence....." (Seriously.)

A few weeks later she came home and said she cried at school. When I asked why, she reluctantly told me it was because her tooth was loose and she's scared. 

We talked about how it's normal and how there is nothing to worry about. It's one of her little bottom teeth and she will not let ANYONE near it. Nope. We never actually saw it wiggle.

She comes home a few days later terrified because her friend told her her tooth was going to fall out on Valentine's Day.

Some time later we were asking about her tooth and the teeth necklace was mentioned again. Again, I questioned this plan. This time she says in frustration, "it's a yittle neckyace with a treasure box! The nurse puts your tooth inside!"

Oh, thank goodness.

Me: "oh! If you lose a tooth at school, you get a little necklace to put your tooth in! That makes way more sense!"

My Beloved: "honestly, I'm a little disappointed...." SEE!!

I am ALL FOR her losing her tooth at school. YES, PLEASE!!!!

I could tell the past few days her little tooth obviously looked a little more out of place than normal. She has been super careful to eat on the opposite side of her mouth.

We're finishing up dinner last night and she suddenly says, "MY TOOTH!!" and sure enough, she's holding her tooth, right next to me.

We quickly calm and congratulate. When she gets a bit shaken, I say sweet, calming things while holding a napkin to the bleeding spot. My Beloved takes the tooth and we all pull ourselves together.

As we were walking out, my Beloved announces, much to the dismay of our daughter and to the confusion of the other guests, that we just lost our first tooth. Alice may never recover. Or eat Mexican food again.

I handled it well and I didn't get emotional until we were in the car. 

My little baby lost her first tooth, y'all. We were just lamenting on growing them last week, I swear!

We decide losing a first tooth should be celebrated and since she is still shaken, we decide a new LOL doll might do the trick. And it did. We stressed this is only for a first tooth and she is currently working on how to negotiate that rule.

We got home and called all the family - this is a HUGE deal!

Many moons ago we received a very lovely Tooth Fairy pillow made by Daniel's Granny. In a moment of clarity, I suggested we put the pillow next to her existing fairy door in the living room so the Tooth Fairy can just share that door with her fairy, Nixie. This means the Tooth Fairy did not forget!! HOLLA!!!

She has many teeth left to lose and her smile will be changing for the next few years.

And I'm thankful she got through her first year of school pictures with all her teeth. ;)

Alice and her new LOL Pet

I am also trying to decide if now is the time to start filling out her baby book. There is a page for losing teeth! Probably there is a page of growing teeth but I skipped it. Maybe I can just staple the middle pages together and tell her not to worry about those. "Nope, not important! It was birth facts and then your teeth fell out! That's it!" 

Or maybe I'll just burn the book before she finds it......probably that's best.

Until next time.....