Santa list

Little Cran has "officially" started writing her Christmas list. It is only "official" since it is on paper. But, the girl has been making a mental note now for the past month or so of hundreds of things she would love for Christmas. 

She absolutely loves writing her letters, and knows every single one of them. She comes up with the funniest new words everyday that she wants to learn to write. Yesterday she asked me how you write the word 'scrapbook' and the day before that she wanted to know how to write 'Holiday princess.' She's been working on her numbers now and writing them (which she actually has more trouble with ironically) and after we work on them, she tells me she wants to write more words. So, I figured today we would start writing a list to Santa and everyday we would add to it. She thought this was the best idea ever. Since it takes her a good while to write, I figured we could make it a project for the next few days. I told her tomorrow we could start with #1 and #2 on her list.

This was what she wrote today. I told her to think about what she would want to write to Santa, and she told me she wanted to write "Maddie's List. Dear Santa, I was a good girl." There were about 3 other paragraphs of stuff that she wanted to write as she went off on a tangent about everything she wanted to tell Santa, but it would most likely entail 3 pieces of construction paper to fit it all and it would take her probably until Christmas itself to finish writing!

Halloween came early

Crannie just loves her dance class. She looks forward to every single Saturday! And, she had been looking forward to today this entire week. 

Miss Dawn had told the class last week that they could come dressed in their Halloween costumes today. Maddie was beside herself with excitement, and was so very much looking forward to this morning when she finally got to wear all of her cat accessories that she loves. Not only that, they had been sent home  two weeks ago to decorate their brown paper bags that would hold their Halloween treats. She loved decorating her bag with stickers, and wrote 'Maddie' on it and her favorite letter which is 'I.' They've been doing a little Halloween song and a dance with the bag, and Maddie remembers all of the lyrics. She is the only one who sings the song, and sings it loudly at that.

She thought it was great seeing all of the little girls in their costumes today. Almost all of them were one Disney princess or another, and Maddie was so sad when she saw the one little girl dressed as Aurora. She so desperately wanted to be Aurora, and wants a Disney princess costume. I figured we would get her one for Christmas instead of spending on it for just one night of Trick-or-Treating. But, she was extremely proud of her kitty costume and especially her tail and ears. Faith donned the ears when Maddie started her class!

She is so incredibly excited for Trick-or-Treat this year, and I hope that this year makes up for the botched attempt last year. She has NOT forgotten the fact that nobody gave her candy last year, and tells me all the time "Momma, I didn't want the dollar from that lady." Haha. She only got $1 last year. Miss Dawn had told them she was going to give them a treat for their bag today, and she let them pick out one piece of candy. Maddie sat there after everybody had run out of the room, and I could tell she was thinking she was going to get more candy. She told Miss Dawn "thank you" and then came out to me and quietly said, "Momma, am I going to only get one piece of candy like last time?" Hahaha. Poor Cran! I assured her that on Trick-or-Treat night that she and her Beebster will fill their pumpkins with treats. 

She is excited!

Baggy Pants McGee

A best friend is a sister

It is a special day for Maddie when she meets a new friend.

And, today was one of those days.

We went to the playground this afternoon after Faith's nap, and Maddie met a little 4-year old girl named Nancy Rose. She was just as outgoing and talkative as Maddie, and just as sweet. They became ever-so-close after Nancy pointed her dad out to us, and told us "this is my Prince." That bonded them for the hour or so that they played together at the park. Dan and I laughed so hard when we looked at Maddie's face after this announcement by her friend. She seemed in awe that another little girl described her daddy the way that Maddie describes Dan. Maddie goes, "Oh my. My daddy is the prince of my dreams too. Look, this is my dad. He is my prince!" 

They played so well together, and ran up and down the steps a million times. They ran from Beebster 'the Monster' and swung on the swings like Peter Pan. We found out that the little girl takes dance classes at Maddie's dance studio too, but on Monday nights. Maddie thought this was a great coincidence, and is now anticipating seeing her new friend at their dance recital in May. She cracked us up because she didn't quite understand the name 'Nancy Rose' at first, and kept calling her 'Fancy Nancy.' Hahaha. She talked about her new friend the entire drive home. Our Crannie loves meeting new friends.

*****

Cran was in heaven playing with her little friend at the park. And yet, it was so funny because she kept a watchful eye over her Beebster the entire time and would keep coming back to Faith to check in with her and see how she was doing. She kept saying to the little girl, "this is my little sister. Her name is Beebster." When we had to leave the park to get back home for dinner, Maddie and Nancy gave each other a big hug. Then Cran noticed that Faith was off and running ahead of her towards the car, and Maddie goes "oh boy, I gotta go get my Beebster! BEEEEEEBSTER!! Wait for me!" She was giggling the whole way, and Faith saw her coming after her and started giggling hysterically and sprinting. They give each other hugs now all the time without any prompting, and they gave each other a huge hug when Maddie caught up with her Beebster.

After we read them their stories tonight, they sat in bed together during their 5-minute time of 'lights on' time and read to each other. Maddie was reading Faith "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and Faith was reading Maddie a Christmas book. They're hilarious. I couldn't have ever dreamt for them to be closer. Maddie was funny because she notices things that I notice too, and on the drive home from the playground she was telling us how much she enjoys meeting new friends. Then I was telling her that someday Faith will also get the chance to meet new friends too. She thought about that, and says very matter-of-factly, "yes, Momma. We like friends. But, Beebster will always be my best friend."

The very best friend is definitely a sister. 

Knock-knock jokes

Cran learned a knock-knock joke in her dance class this past Saturday, and is now on a knock-knock joke kick.

Today was Dan's first day of 3rd shift (plain lovely..), and so I took the little women to play at the McDonald's jungle treehouse in the morning before lunch. While putting on her sneakers to get ready to leave this morning, Maddie approached me and asked me if she could bring her "trusty harmonica" with her for the drive. Needless to say, Faith followed suit with a xylophone. I told her she could bring her trusty harmonica.

On the car ride over to McDonald's, Maddie was on fire with her knock-knock jokes. 

"Knock, knock. 

(Momma, say "who's there?") Who's there?

Olive.

Olive who?

Olive my jokes are funny."

And, then she would BURST out in her fake laugh and blow a little tune on her harmonica (I was telling Dan, it was like she was doing the drum sound after somebody thinks they tell a funny joke!) Faith would also burst out laughing, even though the child had no clue what she was laughing about. 

******

Nene got Cran a new dress-up dress on Saturday, and some Aurora shoes. Technically, the shoes were meant for Beebster. Maddie saw them though and goes "hmmm.. these look too big for Beebster. I think I'll make them mine then." Although she was right that they were way too big for Faith, it was quite sneaky on her part. Haha.

Naps are reserved for holidays

Cran informed me today at 2pm that she will take a nap for Christmas. Then she went on to tell me, "don't worry Momma, I'll probably take a nap for Halloween, Beebster's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, Easter, and the 4th of July. You know, all the holidays" (and in that order too since she's been asking me which holidays are coming up next and wants to know the order). I told her "thank you, Cran" and then started laughing. I am looking forward to the 7 special occasions within the 2008-2009 year where Cran will be napping. 

She is so funny with the things that she does and says. I was sitting with Faith after she woke up from a short nap (no blankie to sniff as the culprit) since short naps = the need to sit and actually wake up fully before engaging in normal activities otherwise said-child will be unusually grouchy. Anyway, while I was sitting with the little Beebster, I see Maddie out of the corner of my eye with her finger in the goldfish bowl that sits on the dining room table. She was saying "oh, hi there my water baby. You're so cute. What a good water baby." She was pretending to be Gepetto from Pinocchio and it was the cutest thing ever. Wouldn't you know the darn goldfish would go up to Maddie's finger and suction it, and Maddie would giggle. Slightly gross, but true (and I had her thoroughly wash her hands afterwards). 

Maddie and Faith are on an "Alice in Wonderland" kick. This has led Maddie to be obsessed with the fact that it is her "un-birthday" every single day of the year, except for January 11th when it is her actual birthday. She thinks this is great. She went around to each of us this morning wishing us a very merry un-birthday. She is intent on making a cake with her Guy and Ella and her Beebster since she thinks it's wonderful that they all share an un-birthday. Haha.

We spent a lot of today outside since it was beautiful. She and Faith played with their chalks forever, and actually made quite the drawings on our steps. Without me even prompting her, Maddie drew an 'I,' a 'B,' and an 'E' and told me to look. She was so proud! Then during our afternoon walk, the little women ran into a nice woman that we had never seen before. The woman commented that she loved Maddie's shoes (Maddie had chosen her outfit for the afternoon-- her princess shirt, purple shorts, a bracelet, headband, and green and blue sandal shoes that have a sort of heel that did not match whatsoever) and asked if Maddie could run OK in them- which was my mindset as well since I was concerned the entire length of our walk that she would fall flat as a pancake while sprinting with those darn shoes on, but thankfully did not. Then the woman was saying that she loved Maddie's reddish hair and freckles, and Maddie goes "yes, I do have reddish hair. And, it's also blondish, just like Aurora." 

My little princess loving, holiday napping, goldfish touching Cran!

Little student

My little Cran is one smart cookie, there's no mistaking it.

Children always amaze me at how perceptive they are at an incredibly young age, and Maddie and Faith are no different. Maddie has proven since a very young age to have one amazing photographic memory and a knack for details. She is a perfectionist who is usually hesitant to even start a project or learn anything, unless she seems to know she'll do well at it and not fail. I swear that was how she all of a sudden completely did the whole toilet thing in a matter of a week. She may have been 2 years and 8 months old, but she knew she would figure it out at that age and do it 'right' according to her, so she waited and sure enough was in underwear at night by the end of that week. It has always been the same with Cran about almost every other aspect of learning too.

For the past month or so, she and I have had "school" while Beebster naps. Cran of course has her downtime for an hour, but by 2pm if she hasn't fallen asleep, she is extremely excited to start her new 'letter of the day.' She just finished 'Y' and 'Z' yesterday, and is now one proud little student girl who points out all her letters in everyday life. We went to Toys R Us this morning, and she told us all the letters on the sign (except for 'Y' which she didn't recognize since it looked different than how she had learned it). On our walk this afternoon, she would stop at all of the signs pointing to the different names for the apartment buildings and show me the letters. It's great.

We intermixed the numbers with the letters, so she's got a lot of her number recognition down pat too. And, today I asked her what she wanted to do and she told me she wanted to learn to write. So, now I figure we'll spend a part of every day practicing writing a few letters each day. Not to mention that after our "school," she always tells me that she needs her "science lesson" which is a few segments that she gets to choose from either "Blue Planet" or "Planet Earth." She's MY girl in that aspect, totally mine! She laughs hysterically when the ducks fall out of the tree in the 'seasonal forests' portion of Planet Earth, she tells the killer whales that they are disgusting when they eat baby sea lions that are just learning to swim in Blue Planet, and she knows that a male elephant seal has a huge nose compared to a female elephant seal who is "cute" according to Cran. It's the coolest thing in the world to see Maddie always so proud of herself with everything that she learns. And, I feel that it's so incredibly rewarding to know that I can teach her everything that she knows without going to preschool, etc.

She has really done so well. A part of me always feels guilty that I don't get as much quality one-on-one time anymore with Cran as I used to. Our time together as the three girls of the family is always priceless, and yet the time that I get with them by themselves is so precious that I always think, relax and have fun. Don't become overly obsessed with the whole 'what should my toddler be doing by so and so an age.' Same goes for Beebster, and in her case I often feel even more pangs of guilt. Poor Faith has never had me completely and utterly to herself (or Dan for that matter) the way Maddie did for all of those 22 months before her little sis was born. I suppose that is just inevitable, those pangs of guilt. And, I'm sure they are only compounded with each child thereafter.

But, I remind myself that Cran is one HAPPY little girl. I have really never met a happier 3-year old. Clearly, I am doing something right. The mother guilt constantly hangs over my head, as it does I'm sure with every single mother out there-- by night's end, 'did I give 100% to Cran? Did I give 100% to Beebster? Did I give 110% to both of them?' The questions that I am sure linger on every mother's mind at night's end. And, I can always confidently say that I tried and almost always that yes, I did succeed.

Our princess Cran

It is inevitable that we will have to buy this poor girl some real Disney Princess dresses at some point in the very near future. Probably Christmas and birthday gifts.

Maddie LOVES dressing up like a princess. If the dresses weren't so darn expensive, I am sure she would have every single Disney princess character that is on the market, and in every color and style available to the known world. She's funny though and makes do with what she has. Usually her "rest time" is when she asks to dress up in a certain dress from her closet. Today she told me she wanted her "wedding dress." I had no idea what she was talking about until she pointed to a cream colored dress that she hasn't worn in a long time. I heard her talking in her room a little bit later, and went to stand by her door to watch her (those can be the funniest times to watch her and Faith.. the times when they don't know anyone is watching). She was pretending to be Cinderella with some purple dress up shoes on her feet, and a bracelet and headband for her accessories. I kept hearing her say "Oh, sorry Prince. I don't really know you and I can't tell you my name. Oh gracious, it's midnight. I have to go!" She is too funny.

*******

Yesterday she missed her first dance class since she started a month ago. She has a cold, and we don't want anyone to catch it so thought it'd be best to wait until next week to go again. The owner of the dance studio told me that she can go in to a make-up class this week, so we might do that. We also got information for her big dance recital at the end of the dance year. They'll already be fitting them for their costumes in early November. I was beside myself with excitement. It brings me back to all the years that Lis, Steph, and I were at good ol' Carol's Academy dancing and performing in our shows. I have a feeling Maddie will be a riot, and everytime I tell her that Daddy, Beebster, and I will be watching her and waving to her from the audience she gets so excited! We used to always go to Denny's after our shows for breakfast as a late night "treat" (the shows used to end WAY past our bedtime when we were little, about 10:30pm or so) and loved that as our tradition. Dan thought that was a cool idea, and we're looking forward to doing something along those lines with Cran.

Anyway, we went to Weaver's for their Saturday Fall Fest since Maddie couldn't go to her dance class. Of course Maddie and Faith just love this place. They each picked out their pumpkins-- Maddie's is a medium sized one since she's the big sister, and Faith's is a little smaller since she's the little sister, haha-- and they used glitter paint today to decorate them. Poor Maddie though was having a blast in the straw jump, and had waited her turn FOREVER (literally forever since she's the type of kid that will stand there and watch if there's other kids doing the same thing since she thinks it's not polite to just go, and therefore will keep waiting and waiting even though it would have been her turns years ago) to go down the straw slide. She finally went down, and thought it was the coolest thing. She posed for a picture and did a typical Maddie pose, and seconds later was nailed in the head by some boy with huge boots who flailed himself down the slide without waiting for Maddie to get up from the bottom. She sat there dazed for a little bit. It's no wonder she is constantly telling me of only a handful of boys that she likes, hahaha. But, other than that, she and Beebster had a great time! Now she's looking forward to everything else pumpkin and fall related before Halloween, and then figuring out a costume for her first trick-or-treat with a walking Beebster!