August 4, 2011
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Drive by post … outside our routine (my morning jogs, Calie’s dance lesson, both kids’ swim lessons), last weekend we went to Folsom Lake for a potluck picnic/barbecue and jetskiing.
After playing in the sun most of the day, we went to Mikuni’s for dinner, where Calie spun the birthday wheel for free mochi ice cream! Her big present this year was a dollhouse – it’s so big she can’t even reach the top floor yet. James and I bought it by pooling together our Kudos (gift cards from work.)
Sunday, we went to the State Fair, where the kids got 2 free rides each for reading books (well, Calie just had to verbally summarize 2 books we’ve read to her.) We hit all the major attractions, including a bug exhibit, livestock arena, midway, and an Australia tent with albino wallaby, kangaroo, hedgehog, emu, parrots, and porcupine.
After we got home from the State Fair, Calie said she felt sick. She skipped dinner, and went to bed with a 101 fever. The next day, James took her to the doctors, where she was diagnosed with strep throat! So for her birthday, she got amoxicillan.
Fortunately, the antibiotics did the trick, and she recovered quickly (yes, we will be continuing the medication for the full 10 days.) It was definitely a good call to celebrate her birthday early!So there we have it. I now I have a 3-year-old! Often times I hear people say “It goes by so fast” or “Where has the time gone?” … but I feel like she was 2-years-old for years. Maybe it’s because my kids are spaced so far apart that I’m parenting a little more slowly. I’m usually not torn between both kids wanting my attention at the same time. Or maybe it’s because we’re slacker parents who don’t sign our kids up for many activities … our weekends might seem busy, but there’s a lot of downtime on weekdays. I think the biggest reason though is major milestones. When every week is similar to the previous, it all blurs into one for me. Within the last year, I’ve gone through a re-org at work, traveled to Guadalahara for business, celebrated my friend Karen’s 40th and my sister’s 30th in Vegas, released a major project, spent an extended weekend in Tahoe with friends, and went on 2 very successful family vacations …a week in Anaheim and a 7-day Alaskan cruise. So yes. My recommendation for slowing time down and enjoying this fleeting time as the parent of a small child … do less and take more vacations.
I certainly plan to continue taking my own advice!
HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY CALISTA! I’ll end this post with some Calie milestones. She is now tracing her name (I had no idea, but I saw it on the bulletin board at preschool dated 7/22), but not 100% with all her letters and sounds. She can recognize numbers and count to 10 very consistently, but will still make some mistakes between 10 and 20. She is definitely more assertive than her brother, and the two of them bicker all. the. time. She is less mischievous, but more manipulative. When I ignore her unreasonable demands, she will say,”Look, I’m crying. So sad!” While much more clear than her brother at the same age, she still has some mispronunciations: “Yay-gurt” (yogurt), “hippo-thomas” (hippopotamus), and my favorite “Holla-doctor” (helicopter).
