Watch Out World

It was this girl's first day of school today. To say she was excited would be an understatement. I think we've been counting down this day since the start of school last year. Only then it seemed so far away that my little blond-haired girl would actually be going. I don't know how that passed so quickly. We were counting by events (Halloween, Christmas, birthdays, Easter, summer, then school), then it came down to months, then weeks, then we made a daily chain to count down the final 9 days (only because she officially started school 9 days after her sisters). 

And today she's gone.

I'll admit, I was a bit teary...but I always am sending off a kid for the first time. 

As excited as she was she was also nervous. She was nervous about not knowing what her teacher is saying, not knowing when it is time to eat or play, of making a mistake and getting in trouble, about being sent to the principal's office (thank-you older sisters), of not having anyone to play with. How can a four-year-old have so many concerns? The last couple of days she's been asking me how nervous I am. 

I overheard this conversation between her and Evelyn this morning as they were getting ready:

Audrée: "What if everyone laughs at me?"

Evelyn: "Are you kidding? You are beautiful. All the boys in your class are going to want to marry you."

Audrée: "But what if I do something then everyone laughs?"

Evelyn: "Don't worry. You tell them I'm your older sister and then find me and I'll make sure they stop."

What a blessing it is to have older sisters! Older sisters who were just as excited as she was that she finally was coming to school with them. As the bus pulled away from the house I saw them all squeezed into one seat with Audree tucked in the middle. They were struggling to find a place to put all their bags. 

The house was eerily quiet as Lucienne and I came back in (although she rectified that soon enough). I don't even want to think about the day I'll be walking into the house all alone. Until then, Lulu and I will hold down the fort until their return at 3:30. This should be interesting...

A Whole Lot of Hair

First day of school tomorrow for Audrée...very exciting!!! I thought we'd start off on the right foot and send her in clean. As she was finishing up her bath she said, "Mom, I want my hair to be beautiful tomorrow, can you put it in buns so it's very curly?"

I think she may end up with a complex about those golden locks of hers, but only time will tell. I've already caught her asking a family friend if he thought her hair was beautiful. As a father of three boys and a one year old girl (who is working on growing a beautiful mane) he dutifully nodded. She then proceeded to demonstrate how she brushes it to keep it shiny and smooth.

Of course, if Audrée has buns, then her protegé must have them too. Luci was surprisingly still as I put them in and didn't complain about it hurting. Audrée tells me that it hurts but is worth it. Lucienne loves having her hair done and will often ask for a ponytail.

And Evelyn followed suit. With her we tried an experimental cornrow attempt.

I wondered how long Lucienne would keep them in but as of bedtime they were still there. However, she's a hair twirler, especially to soothe herself to sleep, so as I nursed her she had no idea what to do with her hands and fingers. They were all over the place looking for something to twirl or fiddle. I have a feeling those buns aren't all going to be there in the morning!

A friend posted on Facebook, "I don't know how you do it with 4 girls...I have a hard enough time with just doing Kenzie's hair!" To which I responded, "This happens once every 4-5 months. I'm lucky if a brush runs through everyone's hair on a normal day". Erica seconded that.


Postscript: Audree woke me up at 2 in the morning to let me know she had taken out her buns so that her hair wouldn't be too poufy in the morning. And since she was already there...she snuggled in for the rest of the night. When Lucienne crawled in around 4 hers were still holding on. She'd pulled them a bit but at least the bottom half of her hair should be curly.

Audree is 4!!

As we continue with our birthday marathon....Audree is 4!!! I think this has been the most highly anticipated birthday of the group. We started counting down last summer and the excitement was almost unbearable every morning for the past ten days when we were able to finally count on fingers. When she came down this morning and saw all the balloons and streamers and the Happy Birthday banner pinned up she exclaimed, "Oh, I forgot it was my birthday today!"

So, my top four favourite things about Audree (some might be technically more than one but how can I really limit myself to four without combining?):

1. When they say girls are made from "sugar and spice and everything nice" they are talking about Audree. She has such a sweet and gentle disposition. Her smile travels to her eyes and she just oozes sugar. (I just read last year's list and I wrote the same thing...she REALLY is!)

2. I love that she is soooo helpful. I know this might be a stage (I'm hoping not!) but if I need help with something like dishes or cleaning or laundry she is right there. She loves to have jobs that only she can do like wash the tuperware or fold diaper wipes or arrange the dolls and pillows on a bed. When she feels like she's the only one who can do the job right she glows with pride.

3. She is a great dancer. And not just the normal twirls and dips. She listens to the words of the music and acts them out as she's dancing - very expressive  Now that we have a huge 50" screen tv in the livingroom she loves watching herself dance in it and can get quite self-absorbed (not in a bad way...just that I can watch her for awhile before she realizes I'm there and gets all bashful). One of her favourite games is for me to mimic her moves. I don't watch myself for this one. She doesn't mind sharing the dance floor with her sisters and will try to incorporate them into her dance, especially Lucienne who is turning into her little shadow. She also often acts while talking. Today she asked her friend Benjamin to look for a tiny lost crown and when she asked him to search the house she bent slightly at the waist with her hand shading her eyes. Must be the french in her.

4. She has the cutest adult-like manerisms. Rolling her eyes at something or someone being silly, hand on her hip and a shake of her head.

5. She loves to try to speak French, and her sisters love teaching her. The first time she realized the word croissant was actually french and she knew it she was beaming. Thanks to Dora, Spanish is often confused as French or often she'll just speak nonsense and call it french...sounds the same to me!

6. I love her imagination. She can play for hours with little figurines or just stuff. The other day I caught her playing with the juice jug, a telephone and a plastic lizard. She sat there for 20 minutes playing our some sort of scenario from her mind.

7. She loves carrying around novels and pretending to read them. In her church bag there is usually 10 novels. No picture books or colouring activities, just novels. She'll sit and flip through the pages one by one, not saying a word (maybe she really is reading!)

8. She loves being outside and would often rather walk or ride her bike than take the car (which in a few weeks won't be an option, we'll officially be car-less when Rene's carpooling buddy retires). And her bike, she has no fear. I'm even wondering if we'll be able to take training wheels off this summer.

9. I love that she loves sleeping in our bed. I love that we can provide such a safe, warm, comfortable feeling for her. I know these days won't last forever so I'll soak them up while I can. I'm sure nights will come when I'll wish she was in our bed as I wait for her to home in the wee hours of the morning.

10. I love when she plays her masterpiece on the piano - three high notes, three low notes, and repeat. If  you didn't hear the song and saw her face after you'd think she'd just pulled off Mozart.

Okay, that was more than four. And I could probably keep going but dinner needs to be made, Lucienne is running around naked and Audree is fast asleep on the couch (and needs to be woken up so she'll go to sleep tonight).

We sure do love our Audree. And she loves to hear how much we love her.

I almost forgot. I love Audree snuggles. And Audree tickles. And Audree giggles.

Now I really need to go.

Christmas Will be Cancelled Until Further Notice

Today was yet another one of those days that I feel I played interference between the toddler and her climbing/getting into things and the dog with her chewing. I seriously think they have figured out some way to communicate with each other. While I get something out of the dogs mouth, Lucienne is climbing up onto the table and dumping out the contents of my wallet. I turn to get her down and put everything back and the dog is getting into something else. As I pry it out of her mouth, Luci has found a stool at the sink (placed by Audree) and is playing with the water. I turn it off and dry her off only to find the dog has returned from the toyroom with yet another Pet Shop half destroyed. While I pick up all the pieces, Luci is climbing up the stairs to find what Audree is up to. And so it goes, and goes, and goes.

On another note, in the middle of this constant stream of destruction, I had a not-so-steller mother moment with Audree. I hate when that voice in my head is saying that I need to stop talking yet my mouth just keeps going. It all really starts with my wallet. Audree saw Lucienne getting into it and really wanted to join in the fun. I think, what's the harm in letting her play store with my cards so I let her have my wallet warning her that I expect everything back in it when she's done (mistake #1). Audree happily plays her game while I run back and forth between the dog, not watching exactly what she's doing with it (mistake #2). Later in the day as I'm picking up around the livingroom and diningroom I find my empty wallet...and nothing else. No cards (I never have any money in it so that's not really a concern). When I ask Audree where everything is she gives me that really cute, innocent, doe-eyed look that she has down to a tee and says, "I don't know".

I'd kind of had it with Luci and the dog and unfortunately Audree suffered the consequence of my frustration. I told her that without the contents of my wallet I would no longer be able to buy anything or to drive anywhere. Christmas would have no presents, birthdays would be non-existant, we were never going to go anywhere, ever again. No vacations, no playdates. She is of course in tears but I just keep going (in my defense, I wasn't yelling, just bringing down her world in a calm, orderly manner). The sad part was that I didn't really have any important cards in my wallet to begin with. My credit cards and license were safely attached to my key chain. Health cards and temple recommend in my purse. It was just full of the "point" cards from various stores and other things I haven't used for months, even years.

We looked for the cards all day. We cleaned the toyroom and her bedroom. We took apart the couch and moved all the furniture. It was as if she ate them, although more likely that the dog had eaten them. They were all gone. Just disappeared in thin air. It was actually kind of weird because she had no recollection of what she did with them and we couldn't find them anywhere.

I finally just gave up. I knew they weren't that important and I'd already cancelled Christmas so there wasn't too much to be done. Plus I'd burned off some steam with all the cleaning so I was feeling a bit better.

Within ten minutes of the girls being home from school Evelyn comes up to me with Audree's big book of Dora stories and asks why all my cards are in the pages. Then it all comes back to Audree who says, "I remember now, I put them in my Dora book." 

Mystery solved. Christmas and birthdays are free to go ahead. We'll leave the house. And I score a point in the mother-of-year competition I'm surely in the running for.

Audree's Musings

After coming home from a play date Audree announces that she's like to live there now.
Me: But who will be my Audree?
Audree: Evelyn can be me.
Me: then who will be my Evelyn?
Audree: Amelia.
Me: and who will be my Amelia?
Audree: Lucienne.
Me: so who will be my Lucienne?
Audree: You can get another dog.

Audree's Musings

Audree: how old is Lucienne?
Me: She'll be one soon.
Audree: no, how old is she?
Me: her birthday is in a couple of weeks and she'll be one year old.
Audree: no, how OLD is Lucienne?
Me: 11 months.
Audree: wow, that's tall.

Afraid of Clouds

Turns out Audree is now afraid of clouds...that may lead to rain...that may have thunder and lightning. I hope this is a short-lived fear.

We were walking home today and she was in a mood to begin with. Didn't want to walk, didn't want to hold hands, until finally she did the I'm-not-going-to-move-and-you-can't-make-me thing that kids love to do. If I walked away, she screamed, alerting the entire neighbourhood to my parenting techniques (or lack thereof!). Until finally (and this was before I realized her fear) to try to get her moving I looked at the few clouds in the sky and said "I sure hope it doesn't rain on us" thinking that she wouldn't want to get wet.

Well, she starts a screaming, mad dash home. Unfortunately I had Lucienne in the stroller and two other kids walking so catching her was not a real option. My girls have always been fantastic about stopping when the sidewalk ends and waiting for me to catch up to cross together. Turns out when she's in a panic run she doesn't think about this. Luckily, one of my neighbours was out and caught her as she went to run across the street. Again, feeling like a stellar mother I caught up and we crossed together only to have her run like mad home (luckily no more street crossings needed). When I caught up again I found her crying and banging on the door with both fists screaming "let me in, let me in, let me in...". I got everyone in and she's standing in the middle of the livingroom still bawling and shaking saying she's cold and needs a blanket (this is in 30 degree weather).

She had a panic attack. It was so sad.

I know it's from a fantastically loud storm we had a few weeks back. We were just getting out of the car when thunder literally shook the ground. It must have been right over top of us. It startled me but completely scared her. When I told Rene this story he said he had tried to console her by saying that as long as she was in the house she didn't need to be scared of the storm.

Her fear of ladybugs only lasted a few months so I hope this one peters out too.

Audree's Terrifying Trip

Audree has graduated to a two wheeler bike with training wheels this year. She loves riding a big girl bike along with her sisters. I love that she wants to! But after today I'm not sure if/when she'll get on it again!!

I let her ride up and down the sidewalk past two of our neighbour's houses. It's far enough that she can get a bit of a ride before having to turn around but close enough that she can still hear me. I was pulling out dandelions in our yard so not really paying attention. I hear this blood curdling scream and look up expecting to see a bloody  mess on the sidewalk only to see her across the street in another's neighbour's driveway. Apparently she somehow turned her bike beside a driveway and the momentum was enough to get her across the street. I said a quick prayer of thanks as I ran to her that no cars had come.

She was terrified. I don't think I've ever felt her little heart beating so fast. She didn't want anything to do with that bike again so I'm really hoping that in the next couple of days she'll get back on. We'll be doing some practising of braking and I'll have to not be multi-tasking when she's riding.

It made me re-remember how quickly things can change. In a blink of an eye.

Another birthday down, one more to go!

Audree turned three today.

When I asked her what she wanted for dinner she didn't even have to think about it...cake. I told her that is great for dessert, how about dinner? This time she gave it a little more thought then said, "cake". I have no doubt she fully understood the question, who wouldn't want cake for dinner and dessert??!! With a little bit of help from her sisters pizza was declared to be the birthday dinner of choice. I seriously considered serving the cake first but just couldn't bring myself to do it. How would I ever get them back to the table? That would have only worked if we had cake late afternoon but as it was I wasn't ready and everybody wasn't here anyway. One of these days I'll be one of those spontaneous Moms who does crazy things like serve dessert first and create special memories kids write books about...until then, I'm shoving as much healthy food in them first before filling them up with sugar. You only need to meet Evelyn to know why.

The Birthday girl actually ended up sleeping most of the afternoon, finally waking up in time for the celebratory dinner. In a way that was a good thing. Lately she's been falling asleep at dinner so at least she had the stamina to party late.

So, my 10 favourite things about our Audree (in random order):

1. She loves being a big sister. No jealously, just love. I catch her breastfeeding her dolls (which is the cutest thing ever) although it took her a little while to distinguish belly button from nipple!! She loves hearing how much Lucienne loves her and will make sure there are plenty of toys for the baby to play with. Lets hope this lasts!!

2. Everything about her is sweet. I don't even know how to describe it...but she really is made with sugar and spice and everything nice.

3. She loves to twirl and will demonstrate it to everyone, everywhere. Strangers at the grocery store have seen her best twirly dresses at work.

4. She's such a great helper. She wants to vacuum, dust, do dishes, sweep, laundry, make beds...everything. She's surprisingly capable at these tasks too.

5. She has a great imagination. I love watching her create scenarios with her toys.

6. She calls me Mommy Bummy and thinks it's the funniest thing ever. She loves laughing at her sisters' jokes, even if she doesn't really know what they're about.

7. She loves her Dad and will randomly stop what she's doing and say, "Where's Daddy? I miss him so, so much." Usually with a little pout and big blinking doe eyes.

8. She's the first of the girls that will "read" a book with her own words. I love listening to her renditions of books we've read.

9. She loves talking about how big she is, usually by putting her hand on her head and saying, "I'm this big."

10. She never wants to be left behind. She'd rather go out with someone than stay home, doesn't matter where we're going or who's going. She's so easy to take out too, doesn't run off and loves helping pick things out.

That's our Audree...can't wait to see how she grows as a three-year-old!