While rocking tonight, “Guess what I did today Mama?!?”

“What Sweetie?”

“I kissed Patrick – Little Patrick.” (big smile)

“What?!?!”

“Yep… Twice.”

Sigh… and so it begins…. at 4.

[Since that day, you have told me many times how you plan to marry Patrick, that you drew a picture of the 2 of you and your “baby girl,” you had a play date at his house that ended with me asking you how it went in front of Patrick and his Mom:
Me: “How’d it go, Maya?”
You: “Terrible. He pushed me and hit me with a stick.”
I look at P’s Mom… she shyly nods: “Yes, it’s true.”
But you recovered… a few days later, your teacher said she saw Patrick standing behind you at storytime playing with your hair. Sigh. One conversation we had in the car went something like.”
You: “I’m going to marry Patrick, Mama.”
Me: “Why are you choosing Patrick to be your husband?”
You: “He thinks I’m pretty.”
Needless to say we had an extensive conversation about setting the bar much higher.]

I love you Baby Girl!!

A woman who works at your school and has gotten to know you through after school time told me today that she talks about you all the time outside of school – she said something like, “She is so very interesting…. she is so very special.” You are. Intriguing. Talented. Empathetic. Smart.

I cannot believe I get to be your Mom.

Here are some of the things you are doing and talking about lately:

* “I don’t be-member.”
* “I don’t know where it went, Mama. It dissed-appeared!”
* “I acc-cil-enty dropped it, Mama – sorry.
* “Can we go to “Welcome to Moe’s!” tonight?”

You are still collecting rocks and leaves for me.. almost every day You are still such an outdoor girl.
You are drawing people – faces and arms and legs… It’s so fun to see you grow.
You can name all of your letters, and count to 30 (although you consistently skip 13 and 15 – you don’t seem to like those numbers.)
You love school – and excitedly tell me about things like today’s report “Mama, I learned something today – the inside of an apple is called flesh!” You love the roles you get to play: “move the arrow,” “clipboard,” “dustbuster” or “calendar.”

Here are some random pictures I haven’t shared with you but wanted to:

Life is so fun with you!!

In a couple weeks, you will be the flower girl for my cousin Jonna’s wedding. She is marrying Rob in NYC the weekend of 10/17. While Oma and Opa were here, Oma and I took you to try on some “Princess Dresses.” The bridal store blew your mind!! There were so many women and little girls all dressed in princess dresses completely surrounded by mirrors. What a trip!!!

Here are some pictures from our adventure:

Nice shoe!!

You certainly ARE a princess!! I couldn’t love you more!

At the end of August, Oma and Opa came to visit. Every morning they took you to YMCA camp, and at 1pm each day they picked you and played until I was done with work. You did a lot of swimming, jungle gyms, A LOT of coloring and puzzles, many stories – new and old. We all wished they wouldn’t go home. Here are some wonderful pictures from the week… Come back again soon, Oma & Opa!! We love you!!

Hey Baby Girl –

I’m trying to play catch-up, so here are some pictures from a pretty random family day.

After church, we all went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Then Madeline joined you and me for “Pinkalicious,” a musical based on the famous book. The actors are professional, off-broadway performers. They are always very good – today was no exception. Before the play started, Madeline re-read the book to you. At intermission, they sold VERY LARGE, VERY PINK cupcakes – neither you nor Madeline could finish yours 🙂 (which was fine with me!)

THEN… we joined up with the guys and headed over to the Strong National Museum of Play – CLEARLY a great time for all!! It was Madeline, Daniel and Daddy Jim’s first time there since the renovation… so none of them had experienced the butterflies before – What a GREAT blessing to have in our town!

We just happened to bump into Marlie and her Mom as they were headed out… just time for one quick ride.

You’re dancing with Daddy Jim… can you tell?

Madeline had hurt her ankle… she’s all better now…

You LOOOVE the time you get to spend with Madeline and Daniel – it never feels like enough!! I agree.

We had dinner with them at Julie’s last night and then jumped in the pool for a quick family swim before their lessons. What a GREAT time!!

…started with you taking us out to the deck… first thing! And a wonderful not-quite-awake-yet snuggle in the cool beautiful sunshine. We told God thanks for all the beautiful things we could see from our second floor deck – the lilacs, the GREEN trees, the sunshine… Good morning God indeed!!

Breakfast was watermelon and blackberries, “Mommi, would you like my last blackberry?” What a great sharer!!

Then you helped me water all of the plants in the kitchen and 3-season room, giggling with delight. We decided this would be your new job. The 2 on the ground that you could reach would be yours to do, the hanging one would be mine.

I ran upstairs to grab shoes, and you came running up saying you had something great to show me. Plants were growing in the planters outside that you and I had planted together. So we watered them too! And then you used your spray bottle to water the grass. (I’m sure the grass that received your precious attention was grateful… not so much the plant whose large leaf you yanked out to show me. sigh. we talked again about how plants need their leaves to make their food – they will be hungry if you keep taking off their food-making machines.)

I had accidentally taken Jaydon’s coloring picture b/c his cubby is next to yours. You told me that it was Jaydon’s, so of course we planned to bring it back. I asked you if you wanted to make a copy of it first for you to color (it was a picture of a princess). “What’s a copy, Mommi?” So I introduced you to this machine and showed you how it worked. YOU WERE AMAZED AND DELIGHTED!!!! Giggling, you said, “This is so much fun!!” We made 8 copies for to give your friends at school.

On the drive to school, you decided to try to count cars you saw – and you really tried. You seem to struggle with the four numbers after 13… You say 13, 17. I say 14. You say 13, 14, 17. I say 15. You say 15, 17. I say 16. You say 16, 18. Hmmm… When we got to school, you bumped into Bonnie and the first thing you said to her was, “There are too many cars to count.” (She was a little lost.)

After saying goodbye in the classroom, you crawl into the corner window of the classroom to wave goodbye. I can hear you yell, “Goodbye Mama! I love you!!!” the whole walk to my car. Then I pull the car up and we blow LOTS OF KISSES to each other!! “Have a wonderful day Baby!!!” “You too Mama!!! I love you!!”

And this morning was typical… It was wonderfully typical!! I am so blessed! (Tears are running down my cheek as I type this.)

I love you Baby!!
*Mommi

You know Daddy Jim is away at a conference in CA – His friend and student, Dave, sent this email and picture:

“Maya, Daddy Jim looks so nice in the bow you picked out for him!”

“He’s so handsome!!” (you say this about Daddy Jim often. I agree.)

You DID choose this “bow” for him (as you call it) completely out of the blue. Daddy Jim feels very loved – he told me so!! Thanks for spreading your joy to so many, Peanut Butter! Now to the many in California who get to hear the story!!

Couldn’t love you more…

Oh – another cute story. Today you said “Mommi – I was just thinking something happy in my head.” “Yes Sweetie? What was it?”
“I saw two people kissing. And two people smiling at each other. They were getting married. It was you.” “Oh yeah?” “Yes, Mommi. You and Daddy Jim.”
🙂

So this is the email that my Dean sent out to everyone yesterday:

Subject line: Good News

The Board of Trustees has just voted this morning on awarding promotion and tenure to MJ Curry and April Luehmann – congratulations! Raffaella

This tenure andpromotion thing is a very big thing where I work – and not so easy to achieve. You are telling people “Mommi got tenure” but you also asked – “Mommi, what IS tenure?” I tried hard, but I don’t think I was successful in helping you understand. The wonderful thing is that you are still very happy for me! Really what that means is that I will be more able to spend time with YOU!!

This is a picture of my science education master’s students and me today at graduation:

So, here is an interesting story – I try hard, as a Mom, not to sweat the small stuff. You want to wear your fancy dress to school? No problem. In the sandbox? Okay. Four days out of five in a week? Sure. I don’t mind you exploring what it means to handle “fragile” things, and if there is an accident, that’s okay too. All that said, here’s the situation.

I bought you a doll from Israel. (I secretly fell in love with this doll). I have decided it will be the focal point for your room, and eventually we will paint your room using the colors of this doll as a guide. I place this sweet doll on the dresser to protect it from all the loving the rest of your toys receive… Hmmm…

True to your 4-year old nature, that which is forbidden becomes MOST attactive. You really want to play with this doll. Sigh. What do I say? You can’t play with the doll I gave you? Silliness. Okay, I sigh. And as soon as you turn your attention, I place it back on the dresser. This goes on for weeks!

Then, the night before last, you asked for it yet again – and you took it to bed with you. Okay – I was tired – whatever.

In the middle of the night, you come to me b/c you had your first accident. Okay, we clean you up, get new jammies, put you back to bed. The next morning when I’m cleaning up your room… you guessed it. You peed RIGHT ON THE DOLL!!! I could not believe it!!! UGH! (Don’t worry, the story turns out just fine.)

When you were with your Daddy today, I gave our little doll a bath – Check it out:

The whole experience made my laugh so hard. All’s well that ends well. 🙂
I love you Peanut Butter. Thank you for the many ways you help me surrender.
You are so very good for me!!