She's famous!

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

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!

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...

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!

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....

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?

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

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

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...

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