Caroline's Blog

Laptop!!

2011-01-25T20:34:00.002-05:00

I am posting this on my daddy's laptop because I feel like it. It is totally awesome. I already posted a post today, but I kinda got bored...it is almost my bedtime. C ya l8er!!!!!

2009-05-07T12:17:00.002-05:00

One eye to the microscope; I love the face contortion!

By the end she was skating on her own and having a great time!

Not hanging on the wall, but hanging on to Mom. Getting braver!

Just starting out ice skating at a Girl Scouts event - hanging on to the wall.

Something I hope to instill -

2009-03-13T15:10:00.002-05:00

"My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants."

~J. Brotherton

2009-03-09T09:26:00.002-05:00

Caroline and Sophie at the class Valentine's party.

So proud of her penguin diorama project - she got an A!

Clowning around while shoveling some of our pathetic snowfall.

It's been busy times around here lately - Caroline spent lots of time outside this weekend taking advantage of the fabulous weather. Last week was Spirit Week at school, which meant a week full of "regular" clothes instead of uniforms, which makes the entire student body lose their minds. The hardest one to participate in was "Mismatch Day" just because Caroline knows which colors go together and which don't, so wearing a purple argyle knee high and a flowered knee high was very hard on her fashion sense! In her second grade reading class they have been working on book reports, which annoys Caroline. She wants to read because she LIKES it, not because she has to answer some details about it. Later this month she'll have a sleepover with one of her girlfriends, and attend the Girl Scout St. Patrick's Day dance. She'll do almost anything for the Brownies that will get her a badge.

Living With Benny Hill

2009-01-26T22:36:00.003-05:00

Help me Sweet Baby Jesus - Caroline has discovered the pratfall. Admittedly it was amusing the first time or two, but the 749th time of falling to her knees or crashing onto the sofa doesn't elicit giggles anymore. And it's always accompanied by the requisite soundtrack - AAAAAAAggrrrgh! Waaaaruuggggh! etc. Naturally she must work on this technique at a time when we have other things to do, leaving me standing there with gritted teeth saying "GET. YOUR. SHOES. ON. NOW. oryoucangotoschoolbarefoot!" And the answer is always "I really fell! It wasn't a trick!" It happens at bedtime too -

C going up the steps: [collapse on stairs] OOOOOFFF!

M gritting teeth: Wow, you must really be tired - guess that means we can't play Scrabble before bed.

C: It was just an accident, really!

M: It's not an accident the 12th time - get moving.

C: [collapse on stairs] Oooops, I just tripped!

It's not good for my dental work to sound like a harpy, but I swear the next time she's going to school barefoot.

Five Loves....

2009-01-08T16:48:00.003-05:00

Another blog that I frequently read (www.unpinkmom.blogspot.com) had a challenge to post about five things you happen to love today, outside of the obvious like husbands and children and pets. So here are mine.

1. Hot tea. There's nothing better on a shivery cold morning like today was. I especially like fancy weird flavors like almond cookie and chocolate strawberry. (although today I just had mint)

2. Bal A Versailles perfume. I've never seen a store that sells it, but James and my mom keep me supplied when I am running low.

3. My crockpot. Another blog I read was all about this woman's challenge to use her crockpot every day for a year. She just completed it, but reading about the different things she tried(who'da thunk you could make Shrinky Dinks in there?!?!) made me want to use mine more. Next up, chicken and dumplings in the crockpot on Saturday!

4. Bath & Body Works scented glycerine soaps. We buy them by the ton when on sale, it's just such a nice smell (particularly the cucumber melon) and I feel like they wash off better in our water that's so hard it's a solid.

5. French fries. I cannot think of a more perfect food. I believe I could eat my weight in good french fries. With ketchup, with gravy (don't give me that face, it's a local thing!), whatever, it's all good.

Oh, the drama....

2009-01-06T21:17:00.002-05:00

Caroline's sixth tooth came out tonight, with a bit of help from all of us. At this point I wish I understood why it is such drama for her. So far she's swallowed a tooth, pulled out one herself, and we've done the others. But each one is accompanied by some trickery and hurt feelings. I think the problem is that as the roots of the teeth dissolve, they are very sharp and so as they loosen up they are constantly poking her and causing pain and bleeding. But no matter how many times we go through it, she is certain that it's going to hurt worse than ever and won't let us near her. James has tricked her twice (by getting her to hold on to the loose tooth and then jerking her arm to make her pull it out), and now she's just so frustrated about it she won't even let him LOOK in her mouth, let alone help.

So this bottom lower-right tooth has been hanging on for so long that the adult tooth grew in behind it. It finally loosened up to the point that today it was hanging nearly horizontal. I told her that she simply could not go to bed with it hanging, I was afraid it would come out in her sleep and she would choke on it. So she could pick Daddy or me to help, but it was coming out tonight. Naturally this made her HYSTERICAL so once she opened her mouth to cry I stuck my finger in and simply swept the tooth out, it was so lightly hanging on.

Once we celebrated and I got her to bed, I said that I was sorry for tricking her but that I was only trying to help her. Caroline said "Mommy, you didn't do anything to trick me." I said "do you think I like talking meanly to you? I knew that if I did that I could get you to cry and I could get to your tooth." After a moment of puzzled shock, she said "I didn't even think of that. You're just EVIL!" hahahahaha

Maybe a year....

2008-12-18T22:02:00.002-05:00

is about how long we have left to believe in Santa, I think. Caroline's questions have gotten more and more specific about the hows and whys. She refused to see Santa at the mall because "I know that's just a helper in a suit. Santa can't be at all the malls at once." How does Santa get all the way around the world in just one night? And there's not a sleigh in the world big enough to carry everybody's toys! How does he get in our house if Daddy locks the doors every night and we don't have a chimney? I asked her if kids at school had been "talking" about Santa, but she said no. I think my plan of action for now is to wait until she outright asks, because so far she has been content when I said I didn't know the answer to whichever question. I remember my mom telling me about Santa although I had privately had my suspicions for a bit and I wasn't damaged or unduly harmed by the deception. Heck, she still addresses presents to me from Santa! :-)

Have a holly jolly.....EVERYTHING!

2008-12-16T09:18:00.006-05:00

Yes, well, we've fallen off the blogging wagon just a bit. It's hard to keep up on this with a busy 7 year old's life! Just imagine how far behind it would be if we had more kids....hahaha So here's what we have been up to lately. This will take a couple of posts to catch up, so make sure to look at everything.

When there's a bargain at post-Christmas sales last year, Caroline gets her own Christmas tree in her room this year!

Caroline wanted to learn how to make scrambled eggs. And no, we didn't tell Daddy about this until he saw the picture! She needs to be about two inches taller to reach the stovetop well.

Thoughts on bedtime....

2008-09-29T21:29:00.002-05:00

Caroline and I were playing Scrabble for her bedtime activity tonight. As things dragged along I said okay, she could make one more word then it was bedtime. So she started digging through the letter bag to look for an S to make whatever word.

Mommy: No, you can't do that, it's cheating!

Caroline: Mom, it's almost bedtime, it's okay to cheat.

At least she understands the time limitations....

fun in the sun

2008-09-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

playing outside is the best ever for me.

sprinkler play

2008-09-28T14:41:00.000-05:00

This summer has been fun but my favorite thing to do was play in the sprinkler mom took pictures while I jump in.

We're BACK!

2008-09-23T11:58:00.005-05:00

A little review of some end-of-summer activities...

Caroline brave enough to test out the diving board at her friend's house.

A missing top tooth

Playdate with her friend Maddie - they were playing fashion models

How excellent is this wallpaper for a blog about my little pumpkin? Thanks to my friend Karri for the website that provides it and the education on how to do it! So school is back in session, we're juggling Girl Scouts, gymnastics, all the usual fun things. Caroline has adjusted very well to her glasses. Today is school picture day, which means they will be the first official pictures of Caroline with glasses and LOTS of teeth missing!

Important news!!!

2008-07-31T21:48:00.003-05:00

Yes, pictures are coming, but we had important developmental details! After many many MANY months of frustration, Caroline finally learned to tie her shoes! She had all the steps down for the longest time, but when it came time to wrap the strand around the first loop, she would grab the wrong part to pull through the hole and it would all collapse. Tuesday she practiced and practiced on the shorts she wore to gymnastics, until about 4pm she screamed "I DID IT!!!!" So I told her all about Pop teaching me to tie my shoes and how I struggled with it all through kindergarten and first grade, and that one of my earliest school-related memories was sitting in first grade with my foot up on my chair to practice and just looking in amazement when I realized that I had done it. On Wednesday we went to the movies and both wore tennis shoes, and Caroline tied all four shoes. :-D

Can you IMAGINE what the rest of the summer would have been like?

2008-07-07T10:46:00.004-05:00

Now that Caroline has finally figured out how to start her bike on her own, a majority of our time is spent in the front street riding her bike back and forth, going up and down the curbs, etc. Yesterday Caroline and her friend Sarah had been outside riding for hours - everyone was hot and sweaty and patience was low. Two kids that we didn't even recognize showed up riding their bikes. The little boy decided to antagonize Caroline and Sarah by riding right next to them, following too closely, etc. Caroline said something snotty to him (yes, yes, I know, we're working on it....) and he decided to punish her by crashing into the back of her bike. She panicked and let go, and her bike fell with her leg underneath it. By the time I got her up from the bike and hauled her and the bike back to the house, I was starting to believe that her left leg was broken somewhere between the knee and ankle. She screamed every time I touched the spot and could barely bear weight on it. James and I had one of those married-people-silent-conversations-with-your-eyes about whether to take her to the hospital or not, but after getting her into a cool bath to calm down and relax she was walking just fine and didn't even mention it again. The visions of the rest of the summer in a leg cast were frightening to say the least, and that was only to ME - I don't think she even thought that far! So I'll be keeping an eye out for that little fiend....

For being such a girly-girl, Caroline is surprisingly unafraid of crawly things. Although she did ask repeatedly "Is this a biting caterpillar?"

Caroline filled an entire box herself when we went strawberry picking!

Caroline and her friend Maddie sitting in dinosaur footprints at the Science Center.

Look at the cute little dinosaur babies!

And now it's July...

2008-07-03T10:10:00.006-05:00

The problem with the new computer is that it's a complete dog-and-pony show to upload new photos, or that photos James uploads aren't available to me, so it's been complicated to find the time to jump through the necessary hoops to get the photos. I'd take a PC back any day, but it will be a few years before we get another computer.

But here we are anyway! Since the end of school we've been to pool parties and birthday parties, strawberry picking, bike riding and rollerskating. Caroline lost her top left tooth, which was an event of epic proportions for the carrying on and shrieking. Talk about Drama Queen! She takes gymnastics on Tuesday mornings and has been perfecting her cartwheels and roundoffs. Wednesdays we go to the free movies at the mall. And she still has asked countless times, "I'm bored, when does school start again?" 62 days left...

Singing the class' favorite song "King of the Jungle" at graduation.

Mr. Jones the principal, Caroline, and Mrs. Shrader at graduation.

Riding Smokey the horse at her pal Caden's birthday party.

Strawberry picking - a rare picture with Mommy

On the bed of nails at the Science Center - when she got up she said "look at my back, is it bleeding?"

Modeling her new bathing suit while playing in the sprinkler.

Oh, so far behind....

2008-05-25T09:12:00.003-05:00

Yes, yes, it's terribly out of date. I know. But we've had so much going on that a blog is far down on the list. Now that school is ending and I will be with Caroline more each day, hopefully I'll have lots of pictures and funny stories to share.

So as a recent recap of our craziness - Mommy went to Chicago; at the same time, Caroline and Daddy went on a train trip to Western Maryland. We had parties and a field trip at school, a spring music concert, and field day. Ever watched spastic 6 year olds doing jumping jacks? Fit to fall down laughing, I tell you.

And we got a new computer! We have joined the Macs - shows that those entertaining commercials do work. The keyboard is thinner than your average Oreo cookie and the mouse does strange things, but the screen is huge and the big box that normally does on the floor next to the desk is now built into the back of the screen.

But let's see if I can manage to post pictures with a computer that makes pictures somewhat complicated....

Caroline at the fountain outside the train station.

Here comes the train!

Okay, I'm ready to go

Hey look, you can drive from the back too!

Who needs plastic toys? Caroline spent about two hours playing in a box filled with packing peanuts. She piled them up on herself, hid in them, checked if she could fit entirely in the box, etc. Next time we need a big box for something, we'll make sure to say a six year old size!

Let your conscience be your guide...

2008-04-29T19:40:00.001-05:00

We learned an object lesson about conscience today! In the afternoon, Caroline asked if she could have a piece of gum. I said yes, and then was talking to my mom on the phone. Caroline interrupted me to say "Mom, I did something wrong that I need to talk to you about." I thought maybe she broke a toy or hit a wrong button on her keyboard or something so I said okay hang on while I finish on the phone. But she started to sniffle and said "Mom, I REALLY did something wrong!" So I panicked thinking she painted a wall of her bedroom or broke her bedframe or something. I quickly got off the phone and Caroline went absolutely HYSTERICAL, sobbing and crying so hard she could hardly breathe. When I finally got her calmed down to make sense, she said between hyperventilating "I ate another piece of gum without telling you and now my stomach hurts and I don't want it anymore!" So once I calmed her down (desperately trying not to laugh) I told her that her stomach hurt because her conscience made her feel bad for doing something sneaky, and that she could have saved herself some upset by just asking me because since I hadn't started cooking dinner yet I probably would have let her have another piece. I said that I appreciated her being honest and telling the truth and that I hoped she would always do that because as she was seeing, quite often it wasn't something that wasn't going to get her in huge trouble anyway. But God help me, it was hard not to laugh!

Finally some pictures....

2008-03-25T11:51:00.002-05:00

A freak warm day in January was worthy of short sleeves and a trip to the park.

They made bird feeders out of cereal at school, so we stuck it on the tree out front.

Playing bingo at the school Valentine's Day party.

Blissing out on chocolate fondue for Valentine's dessert.

Daisy Scouts award ceremony - Caroline has become a complete badge hog and will participate in ANY activity if she hears it will earn her a badge for her vest!

Hammie Sleeps Alone.....

2008-03-19T07:54:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it, and I still might cry. Last night Caroline slept WITHOUT Hammie the Pig for the first time ever since she was 7 months old.

We went to the dermatologist yesterday about her recent excema (eczema? I can never remember how to spell it!) flare up and an itchy rash in her elbows. He confirmed that she has VERY sensitive skin and said that the thumb she sucks is also coated with excema. I said oh, I thought it was just dry skin - he said dry skin doesn't look like THAT, and that any stress on her immune system (like being sick) or on her skin (like constant immersion in her mouth to suck) will cause it to flare up, and that she HAD to stop sucking her thumb in order for that to get better.

So when he explained the skin medicine to Caroline, he said it was for her thumb (and under his breath to me he said "and the excema patches that flare up") and that using it would help her to stop the thumb sucking. He said she should sleep with a glove or sock on it to make sure the medicine didn't get in her mouth because it could make her very very sick. So from the time we left the doctors at 9:45am until bedtime at 7:30 she did not put her thumb in her mouth even once. As we were getting ready for bed, she handed me Hammie and just looked at me. I asked what was wrong, and she said she thought she probably shouldn't sleep with Hammie, because being with Hammie made her want to suck her thumb, and she didn't want to do that. So she decided to put Hammie on the book shelf next to her bed, wore her striped mitten to bed, and that was it. She cried for a few minutes, but we talked about some good stuff happening this week, and picking out a reward if she made it for a whole month (new rollerskates), and how big and strong she was to deal with this now when she knew it was good for her. She slept all through the night fine and woke up a bit early this morning to come show us that she didn't take the mitten off all night. I'm so proud I could die!

(and yes, I know it's been a while since I posted pictures - Blogger has been having some hissy fits with posting pictures and I don't have the time to keep trying. I'll get some here as soon as I can!)

The moment every mother dreams of....but NOT!

2008-01-14T18:13:00.000-05:00

We were discussing dinner plans for the evening, and Caroline was very happy when I said I was making one of her favorite dinners - roast beef with gravy. I said that we were going to have french fries (necessary for dipping in the gravy!) and green beans. Caroline said "can I have extra green beans instead of fries?" While I tried to figure out which group of pod people had overtaken her, I complimented her on good food choices, gave myself a pat on the back for good parenting, and was generally proud of all of us.

Until she said "your fries are okay, but I like the ones from McDonalds better!"

Sigh....

Finally!

2008-01-03T11:49:00.001-05:00

Don't fall over in a faint, it's actually a blog update from us! As you know, our entire month of December is a mad house and so updating the blog falls far behind baking and wrapping and cooking and partying. I'm sure you can forgive.

Our first, and so far only, snow of the year. Caroline is modeling all her new snow gear (jacket, snow pants, boots, hat, gloves - we needed the WORKS this year!)

So I'll start from the farthest back - Caroline's birthday! Now that she is attending a school that lets you do fun things, her birthday was a big deal to celebrate at school. We made cookies to share with all of her friends at lunchtime, and the teacher had everyone sign a construction paper "cupcake" and sang Happy Birthday to her at the morning meeting.

Her birthday was also gingerbread-house-decorating-day, so I got to go help out.

Her party at the Pottery Loft with friends. Caden was "the only dude here!", but we assured him that in ten years or so he'd be telling all his friends about the time he was the only guy in a room with 10 girls and be a complete hero.

Her lovely birthday cake - they made icing flowers just for her!

Everyone singing Happy Birthday - note the fall-down-able steps behind us? Caroline and I both slipped at various times. Bruises all around.

All the birthday friends - Kelsey, Abby S., Erin, Sarah, Caroline, Marina, Erin, Caden, Maddie, Jamie and Abby B.

Next up, Christmas!

Disney pictures and other stuff

2007-11-27T19:43:00.000-05:00

Playing around at the hotel

Having lots of fun!

Dinner at Cinderella's - one of the few princesses we ever saw on this trip.

Our annual tradition - wearing pink for a picture at the Pin Store statues. This is the first year she has bypassed Mickey's nose!

A picture to make my mother happy - one night we met EJ and Marjorie and snuggly
new baby Laura for dinner in Orlando.

Those aren't all the pictures of course, but being as we have more than 300, just a few highlights. :) It was tough to return to normal life after vacation - what do you mean I have to cook dinner AGAIN?

Shortly after our return from vacation I had our first teacher conferences at the new school. Both her kindergarten teacher and the first grade teacher (where Caroline goes for reading and math) both said how well she was doing, how easily she makes the transition between the two different classrooms each day, she participates well and often, to the point where the teachers hope she understands that they can't call on her all the time because they have to get the other kids involved too. When I told the kindergarten teacher about how happy we were with the school and more importantly how happy Caroline was at the school, and described some of the problems we had with Montessori she said "wow, it sounds like the Bataan Death March with brightly colored toys!" hahahahaha

So now we are in the big busy (for our family) month of December, just about. Caroline will be having her sixth birthday party at the local paint-your-own pottery place with ten or twelve of her friends. Our Christmas tree is already up and decorated, so now we just have to wrap presents, make some cookies and wait for Santa to arrive!

Halloween Done Right!

2007-11-01T13:16:00.001-05:00

A jack o'lantern quesadilla for Halloween dinner!

All dressed up and ready to go!

Our neighborhood gang ready to go - Lauren the Carebear, Alyssa as Cinderella, Caroline, Sarah and Ellie all as Snow White, and Erin as Ariel. We have no clue why Snow White was such a popular choice this year, it's not like they just re-released the movie or something!

A local house that goes all out in decorating - I told the owner that I didn't know if she remembered us from last year, but that this was the first year that Caroline had ever set foot over the threshold of the garage to see the decorations. Before she would stop at the driveway, cry, and refuse to budge further! (and yes, the little girl who lived at this house and was helping to give out candy was dressed as Snow White too!)

Can I go as a harried mom for Halloween?

2007-10-30T12:10:00.000-05:00

The costume is pretty easy, apparently. It's been consistent madness around here, which is why it's been more than a month since our last update. Caroline went on her first-ever field trip with school, to a local nature center and a pumpkin patch. I think she was more excited about riding on the school bus actually; as we rounded the corner of the driveway to see the huge yellow bus sitting by the side of the building, Caroline let out a squeal usually reserved for meeting a major deity. On top of that I helped orchestrate the kindergarten "Harvest Party" with two other moms - administering a room full of excited kindergarteners on a sugar buzz is like trying to shove an angry octopus into a mesh bag! So of course that means we're also responsible for the Thanksgiving party about a month away....

But, we're also accomplishing lots of other things. We're about to go on our fourth family trip to Disney so have been busy packing and preparing. Caroline's birthday party is scheduled for December 8th at the paint-your-own pottery studio in town. I just bought her beautiful Christmas dress, and scheduled her yearly pictures for after we come back from vacation, so be sure to keep an eye out for the "beautifulest dress ever!" in your Christmas cards this year.

We still have to offload the Harvest Party pictures, so for now you'll have to be content with some pictures from a recent park visit.

Caroline's first experience with marshmellow fluff; it's like kindergartener CRACK! In this 8 oz. mug, she literally had three heaping spoons of Fluff.

At a new park about two blocks from our house.

Hanging WAAAAAAAAAAAY back on the swing.

Let's try out the rock wall too!

The REALLY missing tooth....

2007-09-11T10:22:00.000-05:00

Caroline lost her first tooth a while ago, and continued to wiggle the remaining lower front tooth that was also loose. That one came out during lunch at school yesterday - which means she likely SWALLOWED it with her raviolis or chocolate chip cookies. When I picked her up from school she was completely inconsolable. Floods of tears. "But how will the Tooth Fairy know that it really happened?" After a quick call to the pediatrician to confirm that there would be no harm done by the tooth taking the wrong path (Dr. L suggested I could prove my parenting mettle by searching for it - no thanks!), we decided to write a note to the Tooth Fairy to explain what happened.

Caroline's note said: "Dear Tooth Fairy - My loose tooth came out yesterday but it's gone because I ate it by mistake. Sorry! Love Caroline"

Tooth Fairy wrote her back in fairy-pink sparkly scrapbooking pen - "Dear Caroline - no problem. Accidents happen! But I'll be back for the next one. Love, T.F."

I just love that our communicative Tooth Fairy is so understanding....

The Big Milestones Continue...

2007-09-09T13:20:00.001-05:00

Caroline had her first visit to the beach at the end of August. After an orientation event at her school, I told her that we were going for an adventure. We were literally crossing the bridge into Ocean City when she said "Wait a minute, are we going to the beach?" And as we pulled up in front of the hotel she said "That guy looks like Pop" - because it was!

Her feet in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time (yes, she got a haircut - she couldn't stand it anymore and told Ms. Venus to cut it to her chin!)

After getting a swimsuit on, she was wave-jumping with Aunt Cathy.

Out on the beach, we had to measure how deep someone's sand hole was.

Riding the rides at Trimper's one evening; an awesome picture because it looks like an Evel Kenievel move!

All the exciting news

2007-08-18T09:33:00.001-05:00

Modeling her school uniforms (although this blouse is only supposed to go under the jumpers, there is a knit shirt with embroidered school logo to go with skirts/pants)

Her blood donation shirt from Pop - it's an adult XL size, so the sleeves come to her wrists and the hem comes almost to her ankles!

The missing tooth! Came out Wednesday night after hanging on for about three weeks.

No training wheels! We haven't practiced in a while, but one day she said she wanted to try again, and as soon as I let go she took off pedaling. She also knows how to brake slowly to a stop and to turn, now we just have to practice getting started on her own.

A Major Milestone Reached.....

2007-08-15T20:17:00.000-05:00

Caroline's first tooth is finally out! The bottom center left tooth been progressively looser and looser for a solid three weeks (that first Sunday C said in a panic "Mom, COME HERE - something is really wrong with my tooth!") Today it was just barely hanging on, and she could push it almost horizontal with her tongue. I gave her both taffy and bubble gum this afternoon trying to help her out, to no avail. But while she was getting ready for bed with James, she came screaming downstairs with the tooth in her hand. Stay tuned for some gap-toothed pictures soon!

Caroline-Speak

2007-08-06T21:10:00.001-05:00

I have lots of pictures and stories to share, but being as it's almost bedtime I will drop off two short tidbits of entertaining things Caroline has said lately -

Coversation #1 - you have to understand that Caroline has the same lunch nearly every day; peanut butter and jelly sandwich, fruit, and some type of chip/pretzel/etc. She's long been a fan of cheeseballs, but decided to try something new, so this took place at the grocery store.

Caroline: Mom, I want those things like cheeseballs, but long.
Mom: Okay, you mean Cheetos?
C: No, the long puffy ones. Gram has them at her house.
M: Oh, cheese curls. But did you know when I was little Gram and I used to call them something else?
C: Yeah, Gram told me it - they're cheese noodles!

hahahahahahaha (okay, maybe this is only funny to me and my mom....)

Conversation #2 - tonight Caroline was playing a game on the computer, and part of it involved answering some "general knowledge" type trivia questions. She was working on the geography portion.

Computer Question: What is more than 200 miles long and over 6000 feet deep in some places?
Caroline clicks away - "The Grand Crayon? What the heck is that?"

hahahahahahaha James and I nearly hurt ourselves laughing!

More summer activities....

2007-07-20T20:06:00.000-05:00

I won't even bother to apologize for the length of time since my last post because, well, most of you faithful readers have had little kids before, and if it not you've at least read enough about Caroline and the things she does to know that Mommy doesn't have a bunch of time sitting around the computer to leap through the hoops Blogger requires to make a new post. You'll see lots more of us once school starts

Caroline's favorite activity is her weekly gymnastics class, which might be the best $80 we've spent. EVER. She is also taking dance class at the same place for a summer session, which is six weeks. She is particularly thrilled that Miss Laurie was willing to run a tap class for JUST Caroline so "it's just me and Miss Laurie and nobody else!"

Earlier this week we went to the Reese carnival. Unlike some areas, the counties here don't hold individual fairs, but the various town volunteer fire departments host carnivals throughout the summer, and then there is the State Fair at the end of August. But our evening consisted of lots of rides, a big fat funnel cake with powdered sugar, trying our darndest to win a fish, getting beaten and bruised on the Scrambler that is Caroline's new favorite ride, and more rides until we were ridiculously late getting home. Caroline slept until 9:30am the next day!

We've also been involved in getting ready for Caroline's debut at "big girl school". She is very excited to go and regularly checks her calendar to see how many weeks are left until school starts. It's nice that she has this enthusiasm now, because I know in a few years it will be checking the calendar to stretch out whatever remaining time is left. hahahaha She picked out her first "real" backpack, we've visited the school a few times to drop of various forms and checks, and all we really have left to do is buy school supplies and her uniforms. Being as this will be her first year of all-day school, I am giddy at the idea of all the free time I will have!

Strawberry picking at Baugher's - while Caroline loved the idea, she HATED digging around in the bushes and would only pick the berries in plain sight right along the edges.

Garage monkey - helping Daddy sweep out and neaten the garage

My new favorite picture. Does anyone else see the 17-year old heading out for a date here?

One day we were feeling creative and made "burgers" out of Peppermint Patties, Nilla Wafers and colored icing. Caroline thought I was Martha Stewart arrived on Bancroft Street when I explained this idea to her!

Her first day of gymnastics class. She said "I don't know what they're going to teach us Mom, but I just want to learn to do a handstand."

Long Time, No Update....

2007-06-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

and that's because the madness that is summer vacation has been sucking up all the blog-time. We've been swimming, we've been playing with friends, we've had birthday parties out the wazoo.

But at least I can finally arrive with some pictures from Caroline's ballet/tap recital from early June! (although I have to apologize for the quality - with how dark the auditorium was and the stage was so brightly lit, the pictures are pretty dim) The recital hit at just the right time, I think all the girls were suffering some burn out from dance classes for so long and then that last week was all rehearsals and pictures and more rehearsals and costume fittings, etc.

She had a little attack of nerves when we first arrived, but calmed down when her friend Paige arrived and held her hand and got her to come watch a movie. Caroline went on to dance like a champ and said that she loves dance class and wants to do it forever!

Caroline in the center - everyone struggling to remember what to do!

Caroline on the left; skippedy-skippedy-skip!

Right in the center of the final pose

Tap dance "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" - all the parents were so annoyed at these black boxes. They didn't look like a train at all, and with the black background curtain made it nearly impossible to see them.

The final curtain call

Eat your heart out, Donald Trump...

2007-05-25T09:46:00.000-05:00

because Caroline has better media coverage! At the ripe old age of 5 1/2, she's already been on television and now she's been in the newspaper. A few weeks ago we visited the Towson Town Festival, a local street-fair type of thing with lots of crafts and plants for sale, free samples, etc. They had a nice area set up for kids with pony rides, moon bounce, obstacle course - and a woman from the Towson newspaper took Caroline's picture on the giant slide and asked for her name and age. Since we have connections "on the inside" (Cathy works for the Sunpaper, who owns that Towson newspaper), we got a bunch of copies of "Caroline May, 5, of Taneytown, enjoying the inflatable slide"

Another highlight of the day was "crazy hair" - they had a booth with a hairdresser who would do your up into a quick style, and then spray it whatever color you wanted. Caroline got hers done, and literally HUNDREDS of people commented on how cool it looked. Thankfully they were honest when they said the color would come out with shampoo, but the 2.7 cans of hairspray they used for the style made it rather knotty to comb out.

First they started out with an undercoat of white, so that her own haircolor didn't show through.

Here she is, Rocker Girl!

Showing all the colors - pink, green, orange, purple on the bun on top, all covered with glitter

The biggest number

2007-05-11T08:19:00.000-05:00

Caroline came home from school yesterday and said "Mommy, I learned the biggest number you could possibly count to!"

Mommy: "Okay, what is it?"
C: "If you counted forever, it would be infidiby!"

To infidiby and beyond! heeheeheehee

An unbelievable thing....

2007-05-09T19:34:00.000-05:00

Caroline and Daddy dyed Easter eggs (Mommy got to sleep in!)

MMmmmm, the breakfast of champions

Playing t-ball in the back yard.

Hi everybody!

(beepbeebeebeepbeebeebee) Mr. and Mrs. America, and all the ships at sea - we have an URGENT news flash! Caroline made the incredibly grown-up decision this week that it was time to put Hammie away. After nearly five years, Hammie's fabric has grown so thin that my sewing him only created more holes than it repaired. He was losing more and more of the plastic balls that made up his beanbag body, and we were finding them in her bed, on the carpet, down the stairs, etc. She said that she was okay if we put him away to save him to show her babies when she's a grown up. So I found a clear plastic box (one of the ones you use to display collectible things), and she made a label that says "Hammie the Pig July 4, 2002-May 7, 2007 Caroline, age 5" Now Hammie in his box resides on her bookshelf next to her bed where she says that he can still see her while she sleeps, and she thinks he looks happy in there. Admittedly this is not an entirely huge thing, considering that we have another identical Hammie that she says she is ready to use, but being as we've been trying to get her to accept the new Hammie for YEARS and she wouldn't, we thought this was an important step.

She's famous!

2007-04-23T20:11:00.000-05:00

Caroline was on the 5pm news tonight! We were at the city park near her school this afternoon taking advantage of the nice weather, and a truck from Channel 2 pulled up. The camera guy said he wanted to get some shots of kids enjoying the nice weather, and got shots of Caroline and another little boy on the bouncy seesaw. It showed up on the 5pm news as the lead-in to the weather segment! We had to watch it about nine times between 5pm and her bedtime at 7:30. Every time she watched she said, "I was on the news - I'm FAMOUS!"

Revelations from a 5-year old

2007-04-03T19:01:00.000-05:00

A recent conversation:

Mommy: I think I'm going to cut some of our daffodils to put on the table.
Caroline: Good idea. Put them in a vase. (pronunciation: "vaaaahs")
M: A what? I haven't heard you say that before.
C: A vaaaahs. You know, it's glass, with water in it!
M: Okay, gotcha....

Guess I'll have to explain to her that that pronunciation only applies if said vase cost more than $50!

A stunning event happened today, that I thought may never occur - Caroline actually did and undid some buttons! She's never been much for the fine-motor skill things, and the pediatrician said that was okay because her brain is moving so much faster on the reading and verbal stuff so she'd get it eventually. But it was really impressive to see it actually happen!

The most important thoughts of the day:

GET WELL SOON, GRAM!

Spring is here!

2007-03-29T16:13:00.000-05:00

Spring has arrived in Taneytown, which leads to lots of time playing outside and not much time for updating our humble little blog. My earlier prediction proved out correctly today - two days before the end of the month, we received notice that Caroline is accepted to our first choice school for kindergarten, and they would like to do additional testing because they think she is ready for first grade reading and math! I honestly believe that educationally she would have been quite ready for kindergarten this year, but did not pursue it because I think she would have been emotionally unprepared. On top of which, I recently spoke to a friend who tried to have her child skipped through kindergarten last year, and the test required involves telling time based on a picture of the location of the sun! Heck, I'm 34 years old and could barely manage it (other than high noon - I'm quite sure I could figure that out!), why would they expect that of a kindergartener?!?!

What - you DON'T wear shamrock sunglasses with your nightgown?

Modeling her curlers one night.

Parent Photo Day at school, where we can go in and take pics of the kids in action. This picture shows why we get reports about not concentrating on her work! (while it looks like they were having fun, Caroline said that Madeline was telling her about her dog that died and how she might just get a hamster instead. hahahaha)

Spencer, our future son-in-law. When we have lunch with Spencer and his mother, he tells Caroline to get under the table so he can give her a kiss, and he bought her a light-up rose from a performance of Beauty and the Beast with his own money! Ah, young love....

Another busy month blows by...

2007-03-12T14:40:00.000-05:00

Where has the time gone? We went from talking about Caroline's new earrings to it being almost time for her to be able to change them. It's been a month occupied by random snow, plowed-in cars (five days! I was going to lose my MIND!), little kid birthday parties, Disney on Ice, a visit to the circus and Kindergarten applications. The latter certainly required a huge amount of stress; up until this point any decisions we made that went bad could be rectified pretty easily. But the idea of deciding schooling personally freaked me out, just in the idea that if it went badly it could color her views of school forever and make my otherwise brilliant kid hate something she should excell at. Paranoid much? Hahaha But she did very well at the "kindergarten testing" at one school, and the testing at our first-choice school happens later this week, so hopefully we could have the whole planning issue all wrapped up by the end of the month.

As the end of the school year approaches, I think we've decided that she won't be doing summer camp this year like she has the past two summers. The YMCA recently changed their camp structure so that the one Caroline would attend (based on age) would be an all day program, thus considerably more expensive. And with the idea of her starting full-day school in the fall, a "last hurrah" summer of fun and relaxation and spending lots of time at the pool sounded like the perfect thing. Remind me of that decision when I'm ready to run away from home in mid-July or something....

Caroline in her Valentine's Day outfit

Since we were snowed in, we decided to make cookies.

Snow in early March - the tree is finally starting to outpace Caroline, growth-wise!

I didn't realize the porch light was out until I viewed this picture on the computer....

She DID IT!

2007-02-07T23:05:00.000-05:00

As you can see below, Caroline managed to psych herself up and went ahead with getting her ears pierced! I was so proud of how brave she was - I was holding her hands in case of flinching, and I told her to keep her eyes right on me while they were doing it. I had told her that by the time she heard the noise of the piercing guns, that would mean it was already over. So they marked her ears, she looked right in my eyes and after it was done all she had to say was "wow, that was a pinch!" She spent the remainder of the weekend happier than a clam and every other sentence out of her mouth was about her earrings. So now we're eagerly marking off days on the calendar until mid-March, when she can remove the piercing studs and have more variety. If I had known it was going to be this easy I would have whisked her there the first time she mentioned wanting it done!

So pleased with herself she was barely tolerable!

Look at my cute pink sparkly earrings!

Caroline wanted to take a picture of her satin pajamas, and this is what we ended up with!

Oh, the pressure....

2007-02-01T13:19:00.000-05:00

Peer pressure, that is. Caroline has been talking for a while now about getting her ears pierced, but couldn't quite psych herself up to do it. Until last night, that is, when she realized at dance class that her friend Sarah had gotten her ears pierced! So of course if Sarah's going to do something Caroline has to do it too (wait, maybe that's a bad thing in 10 years or so....), and now she wants to get her ears pierced this weekend. So stay tuned to this space for further updates or pictures of the completed deed!

From the recent snow - barely enough to make a footprint, but all the kids were outside playing!

Caroline and Sarah being pulled on a sled, attached to Sarah's Barbie Jeep driven by one of the other neighborhood kids! (ah, the memories of the dangerous stuff that nearly killed us when we were kids...)

Testing out some fingerpaints that a neighbor gave her.

Laughing at my reaction when she said "Daddy would have a fit about this being messy, wouldn't he?" I said yes, that's why we do it when he's at work! hahahaha

The most miserable day of the year?

2007-01-23T09:13:00.000-05:00

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007030432,00.html

Was yesterday the most miserable day of the year? I hope not. We had a good day - Pop's recommendation of Dunkin Donuts' white hot chocolate was pretty yummy! Caroline read a new book at school (still way below her reading abilities, and that annoys her - "It's so easy!") and we had yummy stroganoff for dinner. What could be better? I admit to my share of bad mommy days, so it's nice to have a day where everything is agreeable and fun and no screaming and tears - from EITHER of us! :-D

Entertaining ourselves in the cold weather

2007-01-21T10:50:00.000-05:00

Madam Baker working at the EZBake Oven

I do have to taste test it, of course!

Are those cakes done in there yet? I'm ready for dessert!

Cute kid, yes. Cool corduroys from Uncle Phil and Aunt Janice, sure. "Yeah, I'm sportin' a turkey baster! What of it?"

Pictures taken during the ridiculously warm weather

2007-01-12T10:32:00.000-05:00

Caroline practicing with her T-ball set from Grandma and Grandpa. She has an unerring instinct to hit the tee instead of the ball, but enjoys working on it anyway!

Showing off some ballet steps - this is third position, I think...

Blurry, but I had to take it for her horizontally-striped zebra. Caroline's also modeling her new favorite style of shirt " 'cause it looks like I'm wearing two different shirts when it's only one, so it's like I'm playing a joke!"

Caroline boinging on her hippity hop ball from Gram and Pop - she says it is easier to hop on the grass than the sidewalk.

Back to random pictures...

2006-12-28T21:33:00.000-05:00

Being silly while getting dressed one morning!

Yes, the tongue hanging out helps in concentration. You don't wear a tiara for hanging out in the kitchen every day?

Making chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks. An unholy mess, but so yummy!

Testing out her new roller skates from Gram and Pop

Christmas Pictures, finally!

2006-12-26T15:22:00.000-05:00

Can't believe I'm actually up-to-date with posting pictures; it's been a while!

Ready for bed on Christmas Eve in her pajamas from the Elf and with the cookies for Santa.

Her first sight of the loot on Christmas morning (note, it was still dark outside the door behind me! She was awake at 7am on the dot) - I think this picture is particularly funny because immediately after it she fell on the floor in shock to see so many things she had asked Santa for!

Checking out the kaleidoscope from her stocking

Puppy from Uncle Phil and Aunt Janice helping to open another present

The hit present of the year at the M household - the Black and Decker Junior Workbench. She built the birdhouse, randomly "drills" and "saws" the pieces of velcroed wood, built the birdhouse several times, etc. One of these days we'll have to put her to work with some real tools and see what she can do for us!

More birthday pictures

2006-12-25T21:31:00.000-05:00

Have to get caught up on these so I can post Christmas pictures!

Tired girls - they all played so hard they were WORN OUT when it was time for cake!

The whole gang - L to R is Nicolas, Johanna, Ellie, Lauren, Douglas, Caroline, Audrey, Jeremy, Madeline, Erin and Sarah.

The super-yummy birthday cake, half chocolate and half vanilla.

Sitting on the birthday throne - this chair was what sold Caroline on having her party here in the first place!

Birthday Pictures

2006-12-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

As close as possible to her exact time of birthday - 8:04am December 7th!

Waiting for guests to arrive at the party. Caroline was particularly thrilled that they let her flip all the switches to inflate the jumpers.

Caroline and Audrey on the slide

Caroline and Douglas racing through the obstacle course

A few seasonal pictures

2006-12-19T13:36:00.000-05:00

Making Christmas cookies, and a little liberal on the sprinkles....

Uncle Phil gave Caroline this piano either for her first birthday or that Christmas, and it is still one of her favorite toys, except now her focus is on the mike instead of the piano and singing whatever weird songs she can make up (the one being sung in this picture was about a purple cow who needed a haircut - no, seriously!)

Our beautiful Christmas tree - can you tell where Caroline focused on hanging ornaments?

Our own little elf - she said "Mom, we have antlers I could wear?" as though I had been hiding them from her all these years.

The many and varied interests of a 5-year old...

2006-12-14T14:47:00.000-05:00

I've always taken pride in the fact that Caroline is interested in lots of things generally above her age level. But some of them are just so odd for a newly-5-year old that it makes me laugh....

Occasionally on our way home from school we will travel the back roads, which means along Route 832. This is a very rural area, with several old homes. Driving along one day, Caroline said, "Mom, STOP! What's that little house behind the big house?" I thought she meant the shed, but she said no, it's smaller than a shed. Since no one was driving behind me, I stopped to look. She had spotted a still-standing outhouse!

I had to mull about how to explain this on her level. So I said that a long time ago, before people knew how to build houses with water pipes inside the walls, they had to go outside to go to the bathroom. She was FLABBERGASTED to consider this - "you mean they went peepee outside?" with a tone of incredulity as if I had said Tom Cruise's religious beliefs make perfect sense. :) So I explained that yes, they had to go outside. I told her to think about the last time she called me in the middle of the night for company to walk down the hallway to the bathroom. She said she knew. I said to then imagine putting on her shoes, and her coat, and maybe a hat or gloves if it was cold outside, and tromping out to the backyard to go potty. I think there is some small part of her that actually didn't believe me! hahaha

So I decided to take this opportunity to introduce her to chapter books and told her that the next time we go to the library I'm going to get a book about a little girl who lived a long time ago and used outhouses - Laura Ingalls. ;-) And now whenever we drive up Route 832, she counts the outhouses along the way!

Moving on....

2006-12-13T10:25:00.000-05:00

I've given up on the vacation pictures - everyone has already seen them anyway! So it's back to regular life stuff.

Ready for professional Christmas pictures - I just loooooved her hair smoothed back and the headband on, since she doesn't normally wear them!

Her ballet recital - the teacher said she has excellent posture.

On the stage stretching with Ms. Leslie

The Three Musketeers of Bancroft Street - Sarah, Caroline and Erin

Our first day going to the parks

2006-11-26T21:50:00.000-05:00

A quick visit to the spoonbill cranes

Caroline LOVES spinning the teacups!

Lunch at Cinderella's castle - Cindy was very impressed that Caroline found "her shirt".

With Princess Belle, Caroline's longtime favorite

Caroline and Jasmine, who was about the most gorgeous woman EVER.

It was exciting even for me to get to eat in the castle - we had our pick of times, and walked right up and in. But even as a grownup, walking into Cinderella's castle gives you that little bit of "oh, WOW" shiver. The food was impressive, the princesses got around to each and every kid and gave them a little bit of one-on-one time. No wonder they call it a magical experience!

The beginning of our Disney Trip

2006-11-19T09:33:00.000-05:00

Let's go on vacation already! (she was up at 6:15am, rarin' to go)

The lovely view from our balcony
Here comes the giraffe!

Caroline liked watching for the zebras

Caroline's Artwork

2006-11-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

A zebra - notice the "snort holes" (nostrils) in between the stripes!

Can't remember if this was supposed to be a cat or a squirrel....

Very happy turtle!

A bird with impressive tail feathers

Next up will be pictures from vacation!

Catoctin Zoo

2006-10-23T07:44:00.000-05:00

Caroline and her friend Nicholas, ready to go feed some animals.

Baby Bengal tiger cubs - so cute and fuzzy you want to put them in your pocket!

Caroline and Nicholas intently watching....

the ALLIGATORS!

"Mom, we HAVE to take a picture of the flamingoes for Gram!"

Making Halloween Cookies

2006-10-22T19:44:00.000-05:00

Care for a little cookie with your sprinkles?

Very intent with the cookie cutters

Ready for the oven!

Firefighters and EMS came to their class for a talk - Caroline's favorite part was getting to climb in the ambulance and check things out.

2006-10-16T20:23:00.000-05:00

Caroline with her wooden doll from Grandma and Grandpa - she carried it around for DAYS, even took it in to school to show her friends. It was all we could do to convince her not to sleep with it! (I was afraid of her rolling over on it and puncturing herself in the face with the pointy wooden hands or something)

How big my baby is! Caroline was helping me gather up some clothes in the basement to take to Goodwill, and wanted to hold up one of her baby outfits to see how much she had grown. Pictures like this make me catch my breath....

Netbusters 3, Silver Stars 1

2006-10-10T14:24:00.000-05:00

Caroline played in her first soccer game on Sunday afternoon (the first official game was the previous week, and she positively refused to play; said she was "afraid" of the other team) Who knows what changed between last week and this one - maybe it was getting to hang around with her friends first to take team pictures.

A high-five from Mr. Gene for a well-kicked practice goal

Caroline and her team celebrating blocking a goal from the other team

2/3 of the "Three Musketeers" having fun while waiting their turn!

Caroline and Erin sharing post-game Halloween brownies and fruit punch.

Sarah and Caroline - in the larger version of this picture the soccer jersey makes her eyes look SCARILY blue!

She said what?!?

2006-09-27T08:09:00.000-05:00

Caroline has been telling us for a while that she doesn't really LEARN stuff at school, they just play. She said the only thing they have learned is how to handle things gently, because they might be someone else's favorite activity and we would feel bad if we broke it and our friend couldn't get to play with it anymore. But then last week while walking to storytime, Caroline gave a very well-thought-out (for a 4 year old) explanation of evaporation! She said "Mom, did you know that if you left an ice cube outside for a long time, like 82 minutes (her number for everything), it would melt and the water would disappear? That's called evaporation." So we talked about how if it was a super-hot day, it would evaporate even faster, and we talked about where the water goes, etc. It was REALLY impressive!

Then the following night Caroline was playing with a little clay turtle statue and she said "I'm pretending that this is a fossil and I dug it up in the back yard." James and I had one of those silent parental conversations that you have in your mind while you look at each other and I said "but what's a fossil? I haven't heard that word from you before." She said that a fossil is a stone with a picture of an animal or plant or something that lived a really "super-long" time ago on it. We were just blown away!

Another soccer practice

2006-09-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

Practicing the goal - right after her feet landed from this kick, she fell flat on her BUTT and was so embarrassed!

"Dribbling" to learn the playing perimeters.

"Is it my turn to kick NOW?"

"Good job, Aidan" (Caroline on left giving a thumbs up to her friend)

She's a joiner!

2006-09-21T08:31:00.000-05:00

I just can't believe it - with everything else we're involved in, Caroline tried out a TAP class last night! There was supposed to be a "Tap Ages 5-8" class last night immediately after Caroline's ballet class. Due to a misunderstanding, the mother of the one kid who showed up was told that class was going on, but the dance teacher was told that the class was cancelled because only one kid showed up. So Ms. Leslie asked the last few ballet girls who hadn't left yet (Caroline, Erin, Sarah and Alexandra) if they wanted to hang out and check out the class. Naturally, Caroline LOOOOOOOOOOVED it - she can't wait to get her hands on some "tappity shoes that make the cool noise!" They practiced shuffles and flaps and "flash tricks" and all sorts of things I know I wouldn't be able to manage. So now we're debating about too many activities (soccer, ballet, storytime, tap), if she could handle the amount of time necessary to do a morning of school, then more than an hour of dance class (45 minutes of ballet, immediately followed by 30 minutes of tap), etc. Who'da thunk this type of fun stuff would be so hard to deal with?

Ballet Class

2006-09-14T14:08:00.000-05:00

I'm ready to go to ballet!

Caroline in the center posing for the "Fairy Dance". She was really bummed about not getting to keep the wand!

Lined up to do some "horse galloping" - Caroline is second in line.

L-R is Sarah, Caroline and Erin, all doing some stretching.

Tonight was the first night of ballet, and there is nothing cuter in the world than a roomful of pink ballerinas, especially when one of them is your own! Caroline was so proud of her outfit and was thrilled to be taking the class with her two best friends, Sarah and Erin. Luckily James even made it in time, so he got to watch too. They did some stretching, talking about proper form and proper "etiquette" of ballet class. Then they started practicing. Caroline and Erin got many compliments from the teacher on their good listening and "nice tall posture" for various things. At the end of the class they got stickers and when we told Caroline what a good job she did and how proud we were of her, she said "I just wanted to make you guys happy!" That's the kind of thing that makes up for the attitude and back-talk and feet-stamping lately!

First Days pictures...

2006-09-08T20:04:00.000-05:00

Practicing keeping the ball straight.

Warming up with some jumping jacks - Caroline is on the right in the black shorts.

Blurry picture because the batteries were dying, but I LOVE how she puts her arms out to keep her balance!

Warming up with some running around and kicking to the goal.

Caroline's first day of school picture. Everyone has commented on how grown-up she looks with the longer hair; a friend said they could completely imagine her looking exactly like this on her first day of high school.

The first night of soccer was the funnest night in a long time. Caroline was sooooo excited to get there and just have the chance to run like mad (thanks to 3 or 4 days inside due to rain). She was so great at listening to the two coaches - who are the fathers of her two best friends, so she was immediately more comfortable with them and able to listen. They spent the first 30 minutes doing different drills, and then the last 30 minutes was a scrimmage with the other half of the team. She HATED wearing a scrimmage jersey ("I don't like it, it's all floppy and yucky!" ) but when I told her it wasn't her regular soccer shirt, she was willing to put up with it. She was surprisingly patient with the scrimmage even though she didn't get a lot of ball time thanks to Gavin the ball hog (both coaches AND his parents were yelling "Give someone else a turn with the ball!"), but even she said she had a great time and can't wait to go back. So we got home, tossed Caroline into a quick bath and straight into bed - for anyone who knows us, you know that it's a complete scientific anomaly for Caroline to be in bed anywhere before 8pm but she was in bed at 7:40 last night! She woke up once to go to the bathroom and told me "I'm almost too pooped to pee." hahaha

Back to school....

2006-09-05T22:16:00.000-05:00

Like Meg Ryan says at the beginning of "You've Got Mail"....can't you just FEEL back to school in the air? It smells like a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils! Or words to that effect. :-)

Caroline, who still likes me to call her "my sweet baby", went back to school today, and for the first time in YEARS (years - like ever in her starting school!) went with nary a whimper, cry, cling, or backward glance. She gave me a kiss goodbye, the teacher came to get her out of the car, and she said "see you in a while, Mom!"

She later reported that she put away her extra clothes all by herself, they had circle time and talked about how this week is a little bit different (the returning students are only coming for an hour per day because the new students are coming first thing in the morning to get acclimated), read some books, and did a new work on "different planets and stuff" that she will finish tomorrow because they ran out of time.

Now I must go listen to tomorrow's weather on the news because Mademoiselle Fashionista will want to pick out the day's outfit as soon as she rolls out of bed!

More from the fair

2006-09-03T19:45:00.000-05:00

Ridiculously fluffy and apparently blow-dried chicken that we laughed about every time we saw him!

Caroline intent on her ice cream made from milk given by the cows on exhibit. Better than my friend who lives in KS, who said that there are big advertisements around her state fair that said all the cows on exhibit would be "available for purchase" after the fair - at the grocery store in a more digestible form. Eeeeek!

Whipping around the corner - wheeee!

The Maryland State Fair in Timonium

2006-09-03T19:35:00.000-05:00

On the kiddie rollercoaster - rode it probably 7 times in the course of the day!

No matter what I told her about the steering wheels being only for pretend, Caroline steered very carefully and paid close attention to where she was going!

She was very concerned that her flying bee didn't have antennae.

Ready to go!

She MUST stop growing!

2006-08-17T20:42:00.000-05:00

The dentist confirmed my suspicion today - Caroline has her first TWO loose teeth! She is positively over the moon with joy. A few weeks ago she conked heads with her friend while playing, and I didn't think much about it. But just the other day she said that one of her front teeth hurt, and I noticed that it was moveable. Naturally I didn't remember from my own tooth-losing time whether it hurts when it starts happening, so I was concerned that she may have damaged something in the collision with Sarah's forehead.

I told the dentist this story and he said that if Caroline truly had suffered some damage to her tooth, it would have hurt long before now, and that it is natural for some pain as the teeth losen. Dr. K then totally stunned me when he said "besides, the tooth next to it is just as lose!"

Caroline is disappointed at the doctor's story that it could take 4-6 months for the tooth to losen completely enough to come out. But he said she could be losing at least one of the teeth by the time of her 5th birthday, so she will be the living version of "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth!" hahaha

2006-08-14T08:25:00.000-05:00

Modeling a bow in her hair - she looks so grown up here!

The final swim lesson - going all the way under

Painting at her easel - ignore the messy kitchen, please. hahaha

A picture to squeeze the heart - Caroline has always had a fascination with my wedding veil and often requests to wear it. I can't help taking a picture every time because it makes me think of when she might wear that veil "for real" and be smiling that smile as she walks down the aisle.

WOW

2006-07-27T21:50:00.000-05:00

There are times that Caroline manages to surprise me - I guess that's not entirely hard to do when parenting a 4.5 year old, but you know what I mean. Keep in mind that this is the same kid with whom I had NATO-level debates with last week over her lack of faith in me that her arm floaties *would so* hold her up - I made her friend Erin put them on just to show Caroline how it worked!

So today after swim lessons, the instructor dismissed two other little boys in a higher-level class than Caroline and her friends and said that they could go down the "big slide" if they wanted to. Caroline said "hey, I want to go down the slide too!" The swim teacher and I had a silent mental conversation with each other about whether or not we thought she would really do it, but Caroline said she promised to go down the slide if Miss Lindsey was there to catch her. I walked her over to the slide, and reminded her that the slide into the pool was definitely smaller than the slides at the playground, so she could totally do it. She climbed to the top and after some encouraging yells from Miss Lindsey and me, she actually WENT! Of course, as a parent one of those key moments of awareness in your brain happens in the .0018 of a second that you realize "that's my baby shooting out over four feet of open space to splash down in the pool!" And my facial expression pretty much matched Caroline's when she shot out the end of the slide - looks like :-0 !!!! However, once the spluttering and spitting stopped, Caroline laughed and said it was great and she would absolutely do it again. That's my adventurous girl!

Swim Lessons

2006-07-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

Kicking while holding on to a float with Miss Tara

Doing the back float

Jumping into the deep end of the pool

Splashdown!

Caroline's swim class - from left to right, Maya (that Caroline knew at Chipmunks Preschool), Caroline, Sarah, and Mike who swims like he was born in the water!

It's been nearly a month!

2006-07-09T20:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, I last posted pictures on June 19 - so it's been almost a month. Very unlike me! Caroline has been having a busy summer. She goes to camp three days a week, with storytime and free kids' movies at the mall rounding out the other days, along with other special outings like a movie with Daddy, playdates with school friends, trips to the pool or the bounce-house.

Our "new neighbors". Their wings are clipped, so they pretty much just mosey around and eat the weeds along the fence. (yay!) Caroline runs and screams in abject terror whenever they get near her! It's so hard to have proper sympathy for your terrified child when you're trying not to fall on the floor laughing!

Caroline got "pretty hair" from Ms. Venus during a hair trim last week.

Playing outside in the lovely weather. I like the mid-jump action shots!

Playing "mini golf" that Grandma and Grandpa sent.

At the circus

2006-06-19T16:11:00.000-05:00

Climbing up the ladder to the slide - she's a pro at these inflatable "rides" now!

Sliding down all by herself, and it was pretty steep!

Best friends - Erin and Caroline

Elephant rides at the circus; they give the elephant a quick "bath" with a leaf blower to get all the random grass/hay/dirt/etc off. The elephant really enjoyed it!

At the bounce house

2006-06-16T08:15:00.000-05:00

This is so fun, Mom!

Sliding down the obstacle course slide, after some encouragement.

Up the climbing wall of the obstacle course.

If I can do the other slide, I can CERTAINLY do this one!

We consider the bounce house the best $6 admission we've spent in a long time. For an hour and a half, kids can come in and climb, slide and bounce themselves silly. Caroline already says she wants to have her birthday party here!

2006-06-09T21:36:00.000-05:00

Singing at the end-of-year assembly; Caroline at the far right waving.

Caroline receiving her end-of-year Montessori badge from Ms. Yost

A bunch of friends at the school picnic - Sarah, Stephanie, Caroline, Emma and Anna.

Caroline with her pal Spencer, and Johanna also from their class.

Caroline-isms

2006-06-04T11:09:00.000-05:00

Caroline has been playing "waitress at the Cafe" with her little kitchen set (swear to Heaven, the smartest $75 we ever spent when she was 18 months old - she still plays with it nearly daily!) So we spent one whole afternoon with her taking our orders and making us plastic food. When James and I had run out of ideas, we said "what do you recommend?" Caroline asked what that means, and we told her that it meant we wanted to know what she thought would be good to eat. So after cleaning up the "kitchen", it became her new favorite word - "Mommy, I recommend that we have peanut butter sandwiches for dinner. Daddy, I recommend we watch Charlie and Lola". In other words, here's what I want - get to it! hahaha

Another evening, after a very busy day, Caroline was worn out. She was fading fast all through dinner, and when I put her to bed she barely paid attention to the stories we read. Like always, I knelt down next to her bed to give her a kiss goodnight and either talk about something we did that day or something that will happen tomorrow, etc. But for the first time ever, as I was talking, Caroline said "Mom, I'm so tired I can hardly hold my eyes up. Can we finish this tomorrow?"

Ice Cream Truck

2006-06-02T16:25:00.000-05:00

The ice cream truck came this afternoon...

and Mommy's letting me eat it before dinner, even!

Ahhh, bliss!

2006-06-02T14:35:00.000-05:00

Relaxing in the backyard shade.

All the cars lined up to go to McDonald's (no, why would we play with just a few cars? hahaha)

Barbies go shopping (yes, Mom, we did still keep all the Barbie stuff!)

Looking for bird's nests in the backyard trees

More Ballet Pictures

2006-04-27T20:20:00.000-05:00

"Point to where you came from...."

"And spin!"

The butterflies emerge from their cocoon (Caroline is in the center)

Erin and Caroline flap their wings

Clapping when the teacher said they could keep the butterfly wings...

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Boy were we RELIEVED when the ballet performance went off without a problem. Caroline had decided to skip a nap that day (I normally require it on ballet days just to have her in a better mood) so was running on pure adrenaline, making her prone to a meltdown. She was so nervous about what to do if she forgot what to be doing, but did so well that some of the other girls were looking at her to help them remember what to do!

The Ballet Recital!

2006-04-26T21:10:00.000-05:00

My little ballerina!

Stretching

Showing off their rhythm learning

Poise and balance. They had to balance the beanbag on their head while walking on tiptoe down a line on the floor, then make a nice finish. All the parents agreed it rather uncomfortably resembled sobriety field testing! But at least Caroline's beanbag didn't fall...

Easter Pics

2006-04-25T09:08:00.000-05:00

Caroline loved coloring Easter eggs again - she thinks it is MAGIC to pull a white egg out of the cup and find it a different color!

This bright blue one is my favorite...

With her Easter basket after finding eggs hidden around the living room

2006-04-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

Caroline on St. Patrick's Day - she told her class that her panties even had green stripes on them! hahahaha

My new favorite picture - it's nice to be able to put her hair up and get it off her neck!

Picture Day at Montessori School - "I'm so glad you're at my class, Mom!"

Enjoying the warm weather at the park

2006-03-22T16:39:00.000-05:00

Caroline the roller skating diva!

(practicing in the basement because it was about 28 degrees outside)

Caroline's artwork - she is the purple person at the bottom, yellow sun at the top left, blue clouds, purple squiggles are lightning, black spiky things are thunder, and pink swirls are wind.

Had to report for all family members to read: You aren't the only ones. Caroline READ me a book last week! A simple little book maybe 4 pages long, about the elves helping get Santa's sleigh ready for Christmas. She read the ENTIRE thing, with the exception of words like "brimming" and "although". (and I know she's not doing it from memory because I've only read it to her once or twice around Christmas time) Her teachers said that she has been working on her letter sounds at school and doing well, with minor confusion of lower case b/p/d/g/q/etc, but that's a normal developmental thing, not a sign of dyslexia.

Some overdue pictures

2006-03-02T10:45:00.000-05:00

Flopping down in the 16 inches of snow - it's really hard to walk in that much snow when your legs are so short!

L-R is Ellie, Caroline, and Ellie's big sister Erin. We met up with them outside and had fun stomping snow lumps, sitting in the snow, and Ellie just liked eating it...

Only a week and a half later, the snow was totally gone and it was warm enough for some "hanging around" outside.

Practicing some soccer kicks

Random Thoughts from Caroline

2006-02-23T12:14:00.000-05:00

Coming home from school today, she saw a big smear of white on a stop sign. She asked me what it is, and I said I didn't know.

C - Mom, maybe it was bird poo.
M - You might be right.
C - But it was alot.
M - Yes, it was.
C - Maybe it was a big bird!
M - It could have been.
C - Mom, bird poo is white but human-type poo is brown.

Today she said she wanted pancakes for lunch. For some reason I went ahead, knowing full well she hasn't eaten pancakes the last few times, but she said she thought she might like them after all. So I made *real* pancakes (not even frozen-in-a-box brand!) and after one bite she said she didn't like them after all.

M: Well, why did you say you wanted them if you didn't like them?
C: I know what they taste like but I forgot how they feel in my mouth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
And the most important thought of the day?

Happy Birthday, Gram!!!

First Soccer Lesson

2006-02-11T22:44:00.000-05:00

The first rule of soccer - always listening to the coach!

Waiting her turn to kick for a goal - the boy in the black shirt is the brother of one of Caroline's school friends.

"I'm doing it, Mom!"

"Gooooooooo, Team Freedom!"

Soccer was fabulous! There will be four weeks of practices and four weeks of games, one of which they will also get a team photo taken and receive Participation Certificates. The coaches spent the first 40 minutes or so having the kids practice "steering" the ball with their feet, taking turns playing goalie, and then the last 20 minutes was actually chasing/kicking the ball. Caroline had a wonderful time (as evidenced by the multiple thumbs up! signs), said she really liked doing it and can't wait to go back. In the space of a week, my clinging vine has disappeared - ballet class, big girl storytime, and now soccer!

Ballet Photos

2006-02-07T22:53:00.000-05:00

"C'mon Mom, is it time to go to ballet now? How about now? Now is it time?"

Dancing with streamers - to get their eyes to follow what their hands were doing.

"Strike a pose, there's nothing to it..." Waiting her turn to practice dancing with her group.

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Okay, let me just say there is nothing cuter in the entire world than a classful of 4-year old ballerinas, especially when one of them is your own kid! Caroline was so thrilled to get ready and put her hair up (it was apparently a BIG DEAL that I used hairspray on her hair - "I thought that was only for special occasions!" hahahaha) She did a wonderful job of listening to the teacher and paying attention to what she was told. Every time the teacher complimented her on doing something well or having nice straight legs for stretching or whatever, Caroline would turn around and give me a big grin and a thumbs up!

2006-02-04T15:03:00.000-05:00

Mademoiselle Artiste working at her easel. After two sick days, Mommy was ready to let her do just about anything!

Helping to cut up butter for melting when making brownies - she's always astonished when I let her use a "real" knife.

Modeling her leotard "with a floaty skirt, Mom!" - ballet class starts 2/7!

Photos from bowling and playing outside

2006-01-11T09:10:00.000-05:00

The crazy "I knocked down lots of pins" dance (bowling on my birthday)

Rolling it right down the middle - she actually beat me by three pins the first game!

Playing outside today, taking advantage of the somewhat-warm weather.

That's all, folks!

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This is Caroline's first week at the local Montessori school! We were very worried about it because it's such a departure from "traditional" learning; but then, what the heck, Caroline's not exactly your traditional 4-year old! At her 4-year checkup the pediatrician said that knowing what she knows about Montessori methods and knowing what she knows of Caroline, she has no doubt at all that Caroline will be reading by the end of the school year. On the first day she got out of the car with the teacher without a backward glance, although she did have an expression like she was going to face the firing squad. Caroline reported later that she liked seeing the fishtank in the classroom, got her own snack and drink - "I didn't even spill a tiny drip!" - and liked playing on the playground. Just recently we were talking about new friends in her class and I asked about another little boy that started the same day she did. She said that he was nice, but she didn't like playing with him because all he does is cry about being there and she likes being there, so she goes and does other stuff. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy are considerably relieved!

Christmas Pictures

2005-12-30T19:31:00.000-05:00

12/24 Ready for Santa! In her cute Christmas pajamas which were traded in favor of cooler pajamas because they were making her sweaty.

Santa came and left a note! (Santa was hitting the sauce, I believe he had a headache after removing all the twist ties from all the toys....)

"Hey, let's see what this is!" She was really into opening presents and shredding off the paper, from confetti sized pieces to whole sheets.

Santa's Little Helper - "Let me get a present for you, Daddy!"

Santa's annual letter to Caroline

2005-12-24T21:30:00.000-05:00

December 24, 2005

Dear Caroline –

I can’t believe you are 4 years old this Christmas – I still remember bringing Christmas presents to a little tiny new baby! Thank you so much for the wonderful snacks. The cookies were delicious. Did you help make them? The chocolate ones were my favorite. And the hot chocolate was a perfect way to warm up before I have to go back outside! Thanks again for thinking of me. I wish I had gotten to talk to you earlier in December when you came to see me, but I know you feel a little shy sometimes. So I’m really glad I got your letter telling me what you wanted. I hope you are surprised!

What a year it has been for you. This was the first year you went to summer camp, wasn’t it? And then you started at Chipmunks School again in Ms. Bittner’s class. I bet you learned so much, and made lots of friends too. (I’ve already been to Sam’s house and Kristina’s house!) Then you went to Disney for your birthday. I’m sure it was great to see all the princesses. Do you like riding the rides?

And there’s still more to happen – I hear you’re going to go to a new school after Christmas, right? I bet it will be great. You’ll make even more friends and learn so much stuff! I think there’s even a fishtank in your classroom. You’ll get to check it out soon.

I hope you didn’t think I would skip you this year. Everyone has bad days sometimes, but the important part is that you are trying to be good. That’s all I ever ask in order for you to make it on the Good Kids List so I know who to bring presents to.

I have to head off to Erin and Sarah’s houses now so they all have gifts to open too, but I just wanted to leave a note to let you know how yummy your cookies were. You’re the best!

More Disney Photos

2005-12-18T21:04:00.000-05:00

One day we even hit the Princess Trifecta! We thought we were in line to see Mickey or someone, but then another person in line mentioned that it was princesses. Caroline was so happy to see some of her favorites up close even earlier than expected.

Our new Disney tradition - pictures with the statues at the pin store in Downtown Disney. We have one from our visit last year so it's a neat way to see how much she has grown.

Some Disney Pictures

2005-12-14T22:04:00.000-05:00

There are too many to post at once, but here's a general overview.

First day at the park. Castle is all fancied up for "Cinderellabration", where Cinderella officially becomes a princess.

Her very first princess meeting was with Jasmine! By the end of the trip it was like Caroline had princess radar - she could spot anything pink/sparkly/tiaraed at 10 paces.

Meeting Minnie outside the park - she made a very big deal over Caroline's birthday.

Welcome to CarolineWorld! Please gather all your belongings and take small children by the hand when exiting the Monorail. hahahaha

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2005-11-26T21:42:00.000-05:00

Caroline returned from a weekend with Gram and Pop fully excited to decorate our tree!

So proud of herself for doing a good job!

Our beautiful tree - we will have to do some "redistributing" though; Caroline was so excited about some ornaments that she was hanging them all together, resulting in 3 or 4 ornaments on one branch!

2005-11-17T10:37:00.000-05:00

The Thanksgiving Feast at Chipmunks School! Food consisted of rolled-up turkey lunchmeat, corn muffins, and mini "pumpkin pies" (tasted like pie filling mixed with vanilla pudding or something....)

Caroline and her "favorite friend" Sam. He's so stinkin' cute!

"Let me get you another pumpkin pie, Mommy!"

See, Pilgrims and Indians can so be friends! (Caroline and Morgan)

2005-11-09T14:48:00.000-05:00

Caroline's holiday pictures - she would have had dental surgery as long as I let her wear a pretty dress and shiny shoes! hahaha

Caroline's first dentist visit - she was nervous, but cooperated with the dentist and let him check her teeth and answered questions about how often she brushes. She goes back for a cleaning in mid-December.

Sliding down the "fire pole" at the park - it took about 19 tries to get her brave enough to actually slide down.

The funny tire swing - she liked the idea of arm rests.

Halloween!

2005-10-31T22:21:00.000-05:00

Beautiful Princess Sleeping Beauty! Caroline was so excited because I said she could wear makeup, so had on pink lipstick, blush, pale purple eyeshadow and even mascara (that we managed to apply without poking her in the eye or too much flinching!)

Our neighborhood gang - from left to right is Sarah as Sleeping Beauty, Lauren as a kitty, Caroline as Sleeping Beauty, Erin as a fairy and Ellie as a butterfly

The end! :-D

Artwork from school - Caroline's hand "ghost"

Some new pictures

2005-10-31T22:10:00.000-05:00

We have created a computer game MONSTER! We discovered that she has fairly good control of the mouse so were letting her play kiddie games on the computer (Nickelodeon, Noggin, etc.) She's addicted! The other night Caroline played a Blue's Clues matching game for nearly 45 minutes.

Helping with "cleanup" after making a Halloween cake

2005-10-18T09:37:00.000-05:00

Caroline and Sarah insisted on having Freezie Pops although it was only about 50 degrees!

Pretending to read the newspaper - "Mine is about butterflies. What is yours about?"

Gorgeous double rainbow behind the house on Sunday afternoon.

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

2005-10-17T14:15:00.000-05:00

Take me to the pumpkins! (in the wagon that takes you to the field - everyone sitting around us was laughing at how excited she was)

I love my little punkin!

Riding Sparkles the pony - she thought this was the most exciting thing EVER!

Even more pictures!

2005-10-11T21:37:00.000-05:00

Somehow she looked so suddenly grown-up in "real clothes"; it's a shock to the eye after being as close to naked as possible all summer!

Little Miss Betty Crocker - she LIVES for helping in the kitchen!

Making cookies for Daddy in the EasyBake Oven - "first we mix them up..."

"Then we delicately drop them in the pan!"

I LOVE making cookies!