"Buhbye Conaan" A Love Story

(Video proof of Colin's adoration will go  up next week)

Yesterday Scarlet and Leila had a play date at the gymnastics center.  Sooner than not though, poor little Leila became the third wheel on Scarlet's first date. Someone should have told Leila that she was supposed to be put out by this because she seemed to handle it just fine.

That same someone should have also alerted Scarlet to what was going on as well.  

In fact, out of the three of them I think the little boy who joined us was really the only one invested making more of the experience. What for the girls was a fun hour of bouncing, climbing and falling, was an epic love story filled with suspense, triumph and ultimate loss for him.

His name was Colin and he's three years old.  Just like the beginning of any good love story, he spotted Scarlet from across the room.  Enamored, he dashed as quickly as he could over the play mats and balance beams to be by her side. The kid got within 4 inches of her face but for all Scarlet cared, he could have been invisible. *cue Mr. Cellophane from the Chicago soundtrack*  For the rest of the play date Colin was always at hand, gently patting Scarlet's back every few seconds and attempting to usher her out of harms way.  Gym equipment with five year olds flying about are a hazardous combo.  Where ever Scarlet went, Colin was there.  When she went to the climbing wall he did his best to give her a boost and then scampered up wall as fast as he could with big hopes to him impress her.  Sadly by the time he looked back she had already moved on to a new toy.  When she took a tumble (purposefully mind you, on tumble mats) he darted over to her rescue.   Whenever he caught her eye for a second he would seize the moment and toss himself into barrel rolls, kicks and general flailing of arms - anything to impress.  Sadly though, none of it did.  Scarlet continued blindly on her way, without batting an eye at dear Colin.

 I have several poorly shot pictures from the play date but they do show how little Colin and his orange shirt were never more than a foot or two away from my girl.  

When he recognized that I was her mother, he decided that maybe I needed to be impressed as well.  I introduced myself.

"I'm Scarlet's mommy. What's your name?" I asked

"Caw-win" he said

Then he quickly jumped up, furrowed his brow and showed me all his best karate moves.  He chopped at the air furiously, then froze.

"Oh my, that is impressive."  I said

 He stared intently into my eyes and then ran around in a circle 3 times as fast as his little legs would carry him.

"Yes Colin, I see you have many skills.  You have proven yourself a worthy suiter."

He did his best almost-splits, a Chuck Norris style somersault and then sprinted away in Scarlet's direction once again.

Remember, this had been going on for about 40 minutes and Scarlet still hadn't really acknowledged his existence.  I could see his little brain working.  

He had made a few advances toward an actual hug but just couldn't bring himself to do it.  There was the time where she was climbing out of the ball pit and he went for it but it just resulted in two bonked heads and a confused Scarlet.  That threw off his game a bit.  But then he saw it, his chance!  Scarlet was looking out the window at a half deflated sad little orange balloon.     

"A Bawoon a bawooon!" she shouted excitedly.

She's into balloons? he thought. I could be into balloons.  

He ran to the window and squatted beside her.

"A bawoooon!" she said to him.

She'stalkingtome! Shestalkingtome! he thought.

This was it.  He stood and went in for his big move, gently placing his arm around her.

"A bawoon!" Scarlet said.

Colin nodded enthusiastically and they both stared out the window.

Meanwhile (for any of you who are concerned) our little third wheel Leila girl was flying around on ziplines, climing rock walls and bouncing to and fro.  So she was coo'.

All too soon it was time to clear out of the gym.  Scarlet hugged Leila and said her goodbyes. Colin's eyes were as wide as saucers while Scarlet put on her shoes and headed toward the door. I stopped her before we left pointed out the little boy with the orange shirt and said 

"Go tell Colin goodbye too Scarlet."

"Buhbye Conaan."  she said while she waved her floppy little Beeble arm at him.

Happily,  she took my hand and trotted out of the building asking about lunch plans. I looked back and saw dear Colin.  

His grandmother was fussing over him with his jacket and shoes while he unblinkingly watched Scarlet walk out of his life.

Don't Blink!

This is the girl before bed last night.  She tromped
around the house in her Minnie hat and mittens

Ya know how kids have growth spurts where they just seem to shoot up over night?  The same thing happens with mental spurts as well.  Ew, mental spurts.  What I mean is, one night my 'was-just-an-infant' will go to bed and the next morning I'll wake up to my 'nearly-school-age-big-girl'.  It's like instead of sleeping they spent all night working vocab words, sentence structures and conversational tactics.  This morning when Scarlet woke up she had an entirely new, more mature air to the way she responded in conversation.  She used new phrases, created more complex sentences and executed them as if she'd known how all along.  Someone must have passed along the memo and let her know that now she's two thus giving her permission to slip into her new big girl roll, leaving her old baby ways behind her. Who ever that was better hide because momma gonna punch them in the gullet.  It's getting to the point where I feel like my days of calling her "the baby" are quite numbered.   Her sweet baby babble is giving way to proper use of language.  For example, while dressing her this morning she said "Uh-oh Mama, wait."  when I asked what was wrong she said "My diaper off."  Sure enough, I double checked and her diaper was unfastened and sinking to her knees. Okaaaay, I know that's nothing worth alerting the media over (she says as she alerts social media) but I'm her mom and I want to remember these kinda things, so you as my reader have get to deal with it*. ;)
The big deal for me was in the small things within that interaction. She's never said the word diaper before much less acknowledged that she wears them.  So I was really impressed when she calmly stopped me from dressing her while clearly communicating the problem.  I fixed her up and she said "Der, I fixths it!  Dat's better!"  Had this same thing happened before she would have just said "uh oh" and "oh no" repeatedly till I figured it out for myself.  Other little things that Ryan and I have accepted as typical Beeble behavior seem to have shifted as well.  Her go-to answer of an excited "OKAAY!" whenever she's asked if she'd like to do something has been replaced with a more subdued (but still sweet)"yeeaa, awwight."  

I decided that this was worth blogging for a two reasons.  

1)  Kids seem to grow up when we're not looking and I'm on a hunt to capture these growth moments.  Maybe then it wont take me by surprise when one day I open my eyes and see my daughter as a grown woman looking back at me.  They say if you blink you miss it so I think blogging is my attempt to not blink. Huh, all of a sudden children growing into adults seems eerily similar to stone angels on the attack. ;)

2)  If you are a soon to be or someday parent this is one of those things that nobody tells you about.  I'm not exaggerating when I say they all of a sudden seem to wake up knowing how to do things that seem leaps and bounds ahead of what they were doing the day before.  It's part of the adventure of parenting and it's fracking amazing to watch.  Yeaaa, I fracked atcha, sorry but it needed the emphasis that frack provided (Now I've said it three times over, obnoxious right?).  Even if it doesn't sound amazing now, when it's your own kid doing it, you too just may want to miss sleep in order to write about it to strangers on the internet.  It's a big deal.

*So to you, who kindly read though a proud mom documenting a not so momentousness milestone, I'm super appreciative of you, really really.

Strawberry Shortcake Party - Details in a Nutshell

Once again most of Scarlet's birthday was a big paper craft project for me.  

Here's what's pictured below:  

Hand stitched birthday crown
Strawberry inspired outfit from Gymboree
Vintage Strawberry Shortcake doll (her big bday gift, found on Ebay)

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Coloring books from the dollar store, Strawberry crayon rolls (from paperfromheaven) and pencil favors

Hand drawn welcome poster

Inside of crayon rolls

Strawberry Balloons

Wooden strawberry beads made into jewelry for a party activity

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Table setting with handmade hats (I made a how-to video here)

Shortcake kabobs

Strawberry muddy buddies (I didn't love these, but the kids and my husband did!)

Lemon and strawberry layer cake

Love Potion Punch

Cheese with red and green  tooth pic flags

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Long shot of the dining set

Strawberry milk served in mason jars, topped with cupcake liners and paper straws

Strawberry banner made from dotted red paper and ribbon

Scarlet had a 'berry' wonderful birthday!

Happy Scarlet Day!

I'm frantically finishing crafts for Scarlet's second birthday party (bday today, family party tonight, toddler party tomorrow) so dear bloggitty, there is no time for you!  Scoot aside kid!  

P.S.  Between the way this doodle turned out on her poster board and the way the crown turned out - I say screw "measure twice cut once"  winging it with no plan and sharpies in hand is the way to go! 

 I thought I'd end up with something that resembled Strawberry Shortcake's less attractive sister,

 but look - that's totally her!  :)

(Weekend Extra)

Exactly two weeks before she was two years old, my picklebean sprouted two piggies.  

Petticoat Power! - *Day 3*

Scarlet is a splash in the mud, get back up if you fall down, trucks are cool kinda chick.  She's has yet to swoon over sparkles, bobbles or books like Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious.  She's never cared what I dress her in, so we haven't really dabbled in the dress-up stuff I've collected for her.  Yesterday I pulled out the stash of tutus that I purchased when I was still pregnant and boy oh boy -  Scarlet was in awe.  Not only did she immediately start asking to "put on! put on!" but once it was on, the "pwintheth" skirt wasn't coming off again.  It went on over her outfit and then again over her pjs at bed time.  Like any obsession, things escalated from there.  It started with her going to each door and telling all occupants of the house "Eyen a pwintheth!" while doing an o-so-dainty (read awkward and nobby) tippy toe princess dance.  By bed time she had two tutus and a tea party goin' on.  I attempted to take them off before I put her in her crib and was met with a Beeble banshee screech that is apparently some sort of parent diverting super power gained whilst wearing the tutu.  I laid my darling, angel-face (newly diva-esque) girl down and let her sleep with the frills. Picked my battle there and that sound wasn't worth the fight, or the heart ache for her.
This is the beginning, of what I'm not sure.  But it's up to Scarlet to use her
 petticoat power for good or evil.

PS - How is it that ALL little spunky girls like to pair their tutus with golashes?  Scarlet insisted on trying on her rain boots with every tutu enhanced outfit.

The Daily Bean - *Day 1*

Happy New Year!  

As promised, I'm here to

blog, vlog or post a captioned picture

every weekday in 2013. 

 Anyone else jumping on this bandwagon?  

Most posts will be short and sweet, as is this one.  Aaaand to add to the sweetness of this new beginning, let's have a little group flashback to Beeble's sweet beginning.  

Here's the little beaut, 2 weeks old.  Her little head nearly healed at this point due to those super human newborn healing powers.  <3

A new piece of me

It's easy to relate to those less than perfect moments that make up this entire world, especially in parenting.  I know I didn't expect to float around in white linens with my plump, pink, cooing baby like Johnson & Johnson commercials portray.  I expected weird smells, weird sounds and weird things coming out of every open end of that bundle of delight.  I expected stuggle, sacrifice and a whole lot of "learning opportunities" for me and my daughter.

But to my delight, there are soooo many picture perfect-how-could-this-exist-in-real-life-moments in parenthood!  Ya never hear about those.  I was completely taken aback at how often and how many, fairytale moments I get to experience as a new momma. 
They're actual, literal precious moments.  Get away from the visual of pastel, porcelain dolls with those weird tear drop eyes if you can - and think of that actual phrase: precious moment.  

It's a blip in time that, as soon as it begins, strikes you with a heartache knowing that it has to end.  It sweeps your breath away and you drink in as much of it as possible, welling over with incomprehension of how to handle This. Much. Love.  You can't cope, tears flow and the moment gets closer to it's close.  It's overwhelmingly wonderful and heart breaking all at once.

I had one of those tonight.  I can't just let these moments slip away. So here I am, documenting in an attempt to reclaim it away from time distancing me from this feeling.

Tonight around 9pm I asked Scarlet if she was ready for bed.  She darted toward her room, cheerfully saying "Ni-nigh, yet's go!" I followed her in, closed the door, dimmed the lights and scooped her up. Scarlet snuggled into my neck and in the tiniest most precious voice I've ever heard her use, she started to repeat:  "I yuv you" over and over again. That voice, I can't even describe it.  So tiny and sweet.  It struck me fast and silent tears rolled down my cheeks. I rocked her slowly, holding tight.  My tiny baby that is growing out of my arms so quickly.  How is this my life?  How did I get this?  Surreal.  I rocked and listened to that little voice "I yuuuv youuuu. I yuuuuv youuuu." 

 Then we sat in her glider.  "Book?" she asked.  We read Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom and she spelled portions of her name each time she saw a letter "elle, ee, tee!" We sang Skiddamarink-a-Dink-a-Dink, doing the hand motions together and then I sang the lullaby that I made up for her when she was new. I stood back up, hugged her tight, took a deep breath and laid her down in her crib. "Ni-night love" I said. She stared up at me, blinked and said "thank you mama". 

Completely perfect.  Now a memory, and new piece of me.  I don't think there is anything more incredible than these gifts.

And then my heart grew three sizes...

Nearly two months ago we went to a wedding (video here). Scarlet had to sit still for quite a while waiting for the wedding party to start making their way down the aisle.  That's a lot to ask of a 18 month old but for the most part, she did pretty good. Right before the processional began she started to squirm a bit so mommy magic powers kicked in and I started improvising ways to keep her captivated.  Everyone rose and the bride stood at the back of the aisle. A hush fell over the crowd.  Scarlet arched her back in my arms and geared up for a big whine fest.  I squeezed her tight, pointed at the bride whispered in her ear "Oh my gosh Scarlet, look it's a princess!  See?  Waaaahh-ooooow, what a beautiful princess."  Scarlet had never heard the word princess until this point and I figured it was a long shot but it worked.  She picked up on the "in-awe" tone I was using and her eyes fixed on the bride.  I kept the "wow" talk up, whispering details about how beautiful the princess was over and over.  Scarlet stared wide eyed and hushed.  Every now and again she'd whisper "Pwinshess!"  I was tickled at myself for thinking on my feet and even more tickled at how sucked into it S truly was.

It was a very sweet moment with my little girl.  I told Ryan about it later and then tucked it away in my memory banks. We don't have any princess things at home and haven't seen any other brides so we haven't talked about it since the wedding.  Now, many moons have passed with nary a 'pwinshess' to be seen.
Weeeelll, yesterday we went to visit Ryan's mom.  Right before we left Scarlet was looking at framed pictures of the family and pointing out the faces she recognized.  "Baby! Auntie, Daddy!"  she'd squeal.  Then she saw a picture of me on my wedding day.  I pointed at my face and asked "Who's that?"  like I always do.  She just stared without answering.  So I tapped the picture again and repeated the question.  It took her a few moments of thoughtful inflection before she burst "Pwinshess!"  I was floored!  Not only had I nearly forgot about that moment months ago but I was stunned that Scarlet associated the two and remembered the word!  The other bride wore a tea length, strapless ball gown, I wore a mermaid form fitting dress with lace cap sleeves.  She had a traditional veil cascading behind her, I had a little touch of bird cage netting. I know all brides can look alike but when you don't fully understand the concept of what a bride is, I thought that connection was flappin' amazing!    There's nothing like watching that little brain work.  She surprises me all the dig dang time.  Clever little bean.