Not a hand dryer!

Chloe is spending the afternoon with grandma Vicki. Here she is using the hand blower, and showing off her wonderful sense of style and her new pink hair!

Things are just right

This morning I was thinking about how grateful I am that Chloe dresses herself now. It's been a long time since that was my job. I went into her bathroom and noticed how she had aligned her items on the counter just so.
It makes me remember those times when she didn't have so much control of her surroundings and had to rely on me to make everything just right. Not always an easy task. Even though getting her dressed was the hardest part, I did end up getting pretty good at it.
I started off feeling glad about not having to do that anymore, but now I'm missing the feeling of knowing just how she likes everything. It's been a steady process of teaching her to make things how she likes them on her own- without getting upset when someone else does it "wrong". I'm proud of how far she's come.
When I see evidence of these thoughts in things like her bathroom items, it makes me smile and feel proud and nostalgic all at the same time. I think- "Yep- that's my Chloe."

There's a penny in the toilet

Abby came out of the bathroom and said, "There's a penny in the toilet; does anyone know how it got there?"
I said nope. Chloe said "No, I don't know...I didn't put it there."
We asked if she was sure, she said "I went to the bathroom this morning, and all I remember putting in there was toilet paper.... I mean, I guess I could have done it by accident, but I don't remember. I mean, if it was me- I don't remember anything about it."
After a little bit of coaxing, she admitted to putting the penny in the toilet. She was pretty upset thinking she was in trouble.
She went to sit on Abby's lap and we assured her that no matter what, if she told us about things and asked us for help, she'd never get in trouble for them. We talked about being curious about things and how that is exactly what we want her to be.
She finally told us (in surprising amount of detail for having had no recollection) about how she was curious about if the penny would float in the toilet, or what would happen, so she dropped it in there.
It did take some convincing that she wasn't in trouble, but soon she melted into Abby's hug on the chair as Abby reassured her. Then Abby explained that even though she was just curious about the penny, she was going to have to figure out a way to get it out of there.
We wanted her to know that no matter what we are on her side an she can always count on us for advice and support, but she's got to fix it somehow.
Together they came up with a plan and Chloe sprang into action. she felt good and excited when her plan worked.

I really hope that these small lessons will stick with her as she gets older her problems get bigger. I hope.

Chloe Frame Wall

We got a new refridgerator.  Actually, Abby got it for us for Valentines Day!!  It's big and stainless steel and looks lovely in our kitchen.  With the new addition, we are no longer able to post Chloes masterpieces of art and schoolwork on the fridge.  So we made this wall of frames near the bottom of the stairs.  It was fun to put together and we can rotate Chloes work as often as we like.  Chloe insists that the penguin picture is unfinished, yet we love it just the way it is. 

Cant promise that

Last night at dinner Chloe asked if she could save three of her six carrot sticks and eat them for her lunch the next day. I told her okay... She put them on top of her lunch box. Then I said she could do that under one condition. If she promised she would absolutely eat the carrots at her lunchtime. She immediately scooped up the carrots, put them back on her plate, and said "Well, I can't promise that, so I'll just eat them now". I can't say whether she was admitting to trying to get out of eating them, or if it was her tendency toward taking absolutes very seriously. Either way I'm smiling.

Sleepy girl

I have to leave for work just before 7 in the mornings. A lot of the time I need to wake her up before I go so she can start getting ready for school while Abby gets ready for work. She gets dressed, eats the breakfast I put on the table for her, brushes her hair and teeth and gets ready to go on her own. If she has any time left, she finds something to play with until Abby says its time to go. I'm proud of her for beig able to get ready so independently.. Right now she's learning how to "watch the clock" and make sure she gets everything done she needs to and has an idea of how long until its time to leave.
Of course I like it best when she gets plenty of sleep and wakes up in time naturally. But I also very much cherish those sweet moments of watching her peacefully sleeping before I wake her up. I like to lay next to her on the bed and wake her up by being next to her or rubbing her warm back. She's usually super sleepy for the first few minutes and puts her hand on my cheeks like she did when she was a baby. As she wakes up she always wants to pull me in and squeeze me. I love that part.

Lunch Treats

Chloe loves marshmallows. Sometimes when I'm making her lunches I like to put a treat in there for her, and a big marshmallow is an easy and fun choice. In order to pack it, I wrap it in foil. She tells me that she always gets excited when she opens her lunchbox and sees a little foil ball.

Field Trip

Chloe is very excited for her field trip today to see Afrikan Safari Acrobats at the Mt. Baker Theatre.  She said to Shell: "I'm going to be on my BEST behavior and wear my BEST outfit."  Here she is complete with mismatched socks.

Pocket shirt

I sewed a big pocket all the way around one of Chloe's shirts so she could hold and bond with our little lovies. Abby and I let them in our shirts all the time, but they sometimes try to make a break for it. So I thought if I sewed a compartment around Chloe's shirt she could hold them with no worries of them getting out. The only opening is up on the chest of the shirt so it's super cute when they come peep their little noses out to say hi. Chloe was very excited to hold them and feel them moving around. She said "It tickles!". She was very careful when they wanted to go around to her back that she didn't squish them. Now I'm thinking about ways to make a removable sleeve or something she can wear with any shirt. Hmmm...

Roller skating

Chloe and I went roller skating today and had a good time! She especially liked to go in the middle and chase the lights on the floor. She made a little friend and skated around with her for a while. I was proud of her for trying to go faster and taking my advice to stay off the wall if she wanted to get better. She even entered the fast race knowing she wouldn't win. We recently read a book about doing things and having fun, not needing to win every time. She didn't win, but she didn't come in last either. She got in line to do the limbo, got her skates loosened up, and started learning to use the toe stopper. It was so nice to see she wasn't holding herself back.

Report Card

Two families

Sushi

Chloe had sushi at a restaurant for the first time. She said the sticky rice tasted funny, but she did a good job with her chopsticks. As we sat at dinner she told us about what happens when kids get in trouble at school. The first "step" is being held back from recess. She's only been held back once, for talking to a friend when she was supposed to be listening. Sounds familiar to when I was in school.

We played goofy with our straw wrappers and at one point she told Abby and me we are the best moms in the WORLD. Of course that always feels good.

After dinner, we went grocery shopping. The rule is that Chloe can choose anything she wants from the produce section. This time she chose blueberries and strawberries. We also had a very goofy time talking about grape nuts. I like them and Abby doesn't, or at least she used to not. So we let Chloe try them. It was hilarious Abby talking about how bad they tasted- exaggerating for the fun of it- and Chloe and I saying we were gonna make different things out of them and trick her into eating them.

When we got to the check out, the guy working there said he wanted to help us because we looked to happy. And when we got to the van, Chloe was helping with the groceries.
It was bedtime when we got home, and Chloe was very good about making the transition. It was a nice evening. I love spending family time.

Valentines Day!

Chloe got picked up from school by Grandma Vicki who had some valentines for her, including this huggable caterpillar.
Then when we got home we were surprised by our sweet valentines on the stairs from Abby!
Grandma Kris had gotten Chloe some cute new outfits, and she immediately loved them! She asked if she could put an outfit on to go to dinner in.
Then we snapped a quick picture before leaving to have a fun, family dinner out.
We had a collection of Valentine coloring and activity pages we did together at the restaurant.
And, it was made extra special by Chloe and my surprise birthday party for Abby! Chloe missed out on Abby's birthday so we wanted to do something all together. Chloe and I bought Abby her dream hammer for work and had the waitress put candles in her burger! She was SO surprised! Chloe was happy to have given such an awesome gift and surprise!

Goodbye in the morning

She felt so good to hold. I realized it won't be long before I will never pick her up that way again. I feel deeply sad and proud of her at the same time.

Cousin Kayla

Kayla came for a sleepover! It was fun to hang out with her. Chloe was excited to have her sleep on the trundle bed in her room. We went to the mall and out to eat. Chloe was being very silly and cute trying on the sunglasses, until I took out the camera. Then she was quite serious and still until I gave up and put it away. We didn't take as many pictures as we should have, but these are a couple from the weekend.

Little Babies

One Saturday we woke up and we were all three in the kitchen having some breakfast. We were talking about what we might do for the day. Abby said: "I know!!! We're going to get some baby pet rats!!" and we all said yyyeeeaaaa!!! It was pretty spontaneous, but we'd talked about it a little before. So we headed out down to the local pat store on railroad. Abby told us stories on the way down there about how she'd gone there as a kid with her dad to get her first pet rats. We called it "the little Abby store", but decided that at some point it'd be called the "little Chloe store", too. So we went in and found one small enclosure with two little baby girls. Just what we wanted!! We shopped around for all the necessities and bought our first pet rats! We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about cute, fun names for them, and finally decided on RuPaul and Rainbow. Abby told us how all her rats had started with R. So we kept the tradition. They are cute names, but we mostly call them "the babies".

Talk about differences

Shana posed a question about talking to young kids about acceptance, celebrating the differences in people, etc.
This morning my thoughts are this:
I've talked to Chloe a lot about this stuff. What I've come to think is: any thing I can think to say to her about "differences are beautiful" have mostly been lost. I think maybe those concepts are too big. Talking doesn't do much for opening their little minds. If we point out and talk about differences in people, we are still bringing more attention to differences than accepting them as normal, acceptable, and good. The things that help the most are actually LIVING the message. Spending time around "differences", modeling behavior, and taking away the novelty goes a long way. No matter what we say about differences in people being normal, it will never be true for them until it's actually true in their lives. Just the other day, Chloe saw a picture of a baby with a cleft pallet on the computer and said it was gross. Of course I told her what it was, and that it wasn't gross. I explained how it happens and how it's treated, she understood and didn't think it was gross anymore. But I've had that same conversation with her a few times before in her life, about the same thing. I suspect it will always be a bit weird, shocking and yes even "gross" until she has a real life experience to pull from. And it's tough, I mean, it's impossible to go make friends with and spend time with enough people who embody all differences. So, we can continue to talk about things in an open and accepting way, and hope it begins to stick at some point. In the meantime, we can lovingly point out and celebrate our (relatively slight) differences among us in our immediate families.
My goal for Chloe is that she grows up around people who unyieldingly show openmindedness and and graceful acceptance of differences and she will learn the way to be and the way to approach differences in her own life. I suppose at some point she'll be privy to the opposite and likely feel and see the pain caused by judgement. Of course it makes me sad to think of her ever experiencing pain... It helps to know she'll have a good reference point in the world and a soft place to land. I will always strive to be that for her.

MLK Jr.

Chloe did a little book in school to celebrate the holiday. On the back page, she drew his picture of him.