dragon shield

One day about two months ago Ada started complaining that the dragons were going to eat her when we left her in her room after tucking her in at night. No explaining or pleading or reasoning was changing her mind - she was just flat out scared of the dragons. We managed to soothe her to sleep the first night this popped up, but I knew we were going to have to come up with something much more sturdy if we ever wanted Ada to put herself to sleep again.

We didn't want to squelch her imagination so we eliminated any solution that proved to her that dragons did not exist pretty early on. So, since we were stuck dealing with the dragons I came up with a few ideas and one GEM. Among the ideas were magic spells, and special routines she could follow - but not wanting to get her attached to some sort of OCD type behavior that would haunt her well into her teen years we finally landed on the GEM - the dragon shield!! It is nothing more than an extra bed sheet draped down from the top bunk of her bed. I have some how convinced her that this sheet is like a rubber shield that blocks all dragons. So even if the dragon manages to get in the house and past the strong fight that mommy and daddy are sure to put up - the dragon shield will bounce those suckers right out of her room.

Now if only we could create a cranky pants, random tantrum, and 'I'M HUNGRY' shields we would have absolute peace in our house.

reading

Ada has always loved books. We have read books at night on and off since she could hold her head up and feign interest in what we were reading. Recently however she has started to insist on 'reading' certain pages in each book. She doesn't actually know how to read - after all she still thinks Spiderman begins with an 'A' (all cool words start with A). But she comes extremely close - and I'm talking only off by an article here or there - to reciting a fair number of pages of each book from memory. The number of words and the quickness of her memorization - I'll say it - you can paint me proud.

It may seem odd but in a week where bright lights were few and far between - Ada learning and then reciting her favorite pages from 'A Porcupine named Fluffy' was like finding an extra present under the Christmas tree (one with a big pink and purple bow).

holiday concert

Last night was Ada's annual holiday concert put on by her day care. Last year they had all of the classes together in one night and there was madness, absolute madness when they finally released the parents into the auditorium. Put it this way - you would have thought the Beatles were on stage the way some parents were acting.

This year they separated the program into two nights and let the parents take their seats after dropping off their kids in the lobby.

Ada's Little Monkey class was the first class to go and they dutifully sang the Snowy Pokey (think Hokey Pokey) and the 12 Days of Christmas. This is a class of 3 year olds - so we got the standard girl twirling around on stage not singing at all, the rambunctious boy hogging the mic and singing really loud, the gaggle of playful girls sharing the other mic...and then engaging in a playful shoving match over said mic, and then there was Ada and a few of her other friends dutifully singing the songs, doing the hand motions, and only getting slightly distracted by the madness around them. Ada was pretty funny to watch.. she sang most of the songs, and she got most of the hand motions, but the one thing she did better than ALL of her class... was blowing kissing and waving energetically to the crowd.

I see a future of parade routes and beauty pageants ahead of us.. Lord help me now..

our little Jersey girl

Ever since Ada started talking she has been throwing some pretty crazy things our way. The latest is an accent, and not just any accent, and no, not a Canadian accent. Nope, she has a JERSEY accent. It isn't on everything she says, but it is definitely there on some of her most favorite catchy phrases, my personal favorite is "What you talkin' about goiys?"

I guess Jersey isn't that crazy considering most of Elliot's family has deep roots there. However, we rarely see that side of the family and really, I can't say that anyone in his family actually has an accent. So it makes me think there is some other source of influence.

I guess it might be time to start limiting the amount of mafia crime drama we let her watch.

pucker up

Ada has become VERY good at saying good-bye when we drop her off at school, saying good-night when we tuck her in, and basically really embracing her affectionate side.

The process goes like this... When I drop her off I say can I have a hug goodbye? Ada stops what she is doing and gives me a nice hug and then turns and puckers up and plants a kiss right there on my lips. Same sort of thing at night.

We find this cute and really we were just encouraging the hugs - the kisses she picked up from watching Elliot and I when we say goodbye to each other. In fact in the morning she will often DEMAND a kiss from Elliot after he bestows a quick peck on me.

For the most part this affection has been limited to our family and a few close friends. Until yesterday that is... When I picked her up from school, and finally convinced her to put her books away so we could leave, she ran over to her buddy Reese and said, "Reese I'm leaving, bye!" (this was new development #1) Reese responded with "Can I have a hug?" (new development #2) Ada obliged and I thought to myself, Ahhh how cute. But that is when new development #3 happened. After the cute classmate hug, Ada pulled back and puckered up and planted one right on Reese's lips.

Then Ada walked away and coughed. I think I now know how that day care crud is getting passed along.

well hello Dolly we are back..

After loads of self dumped guilt and a little hint and pull here and there from others I've finally decided to climb back on the horse. The reason for the absence of posts has nothing to do with a lack of Ada stories, in fact, if anything there have been way to many to accurately capture. So rather than try to go back and tell you how awesome Ada has been since I last posted.. I'm just going to jump back in with both feet. Pretend that little gap never happened...

We recently took a trip to Seattle for Thanksgiving. This was the first trip for our family in a few months (school tends to have that effect) and Ada was VERY excited to ride on the plane (or sleep on the plane) and excited to see Auntie Katie, Thea Dog, Tia Jackie, and Special Friend Tony. She knows they live in Seattle and tells us that often. What she didn't know is that 'big Grandma' (my Grandma) also lives near Seattle and we were going to get to see her as well.

I could go on and on about the trip and how fabulous it was, but I'm going to narrow it down to my top 8 moments from the trip.

**I was going to keep this to 5 items but as I started writing I kept thinking of other totally awesome things that happened**

(in no particular order)

1. Tony letting Ada take over his remote control Bart Simpson toy on Thanksgiving Day. This in itself was a grand gesture, but add the fact that Tony is a little protective of his new floors and freshly painted walls and Ada is a kamikaze remote control driver and this became a true expression of love. Or an unabashed attempt at sucking up. Either way it makes the top 5.

2. Ada finally getting over her shyness at my Grandma's house while she was in the midst of giving out kisses and hugs to everyone. Up to this point she has stolen a few glances of Grandma but wouldn't get close to her. However, during an impromptu round of hugs and kisses (directly planted on the lips), Ada (with a little suggestion from Elliot) headed over and bestowed hugs and kisses on Grandma. My heart melted a little bit at that point.

3. Ada walking down the sidewalk outside of Auntie Katie's apartment building with her fancy pink coat on, her new (hand knit) purple scarf wrapped around her neck, her pink Hello Kitty rain boots on, and pulling her Hello Kitty overnight bag as she made her way to Tony's car. Ada has been moving into fully Kid mode for awhile now but that night she looked so sophisticated and fancy. And she knew it.

4. Playing with Grandma. After breaking through her shyness layer Ada fully took over Grandma's house. She built a house (NOT a fort) with couch pillows and an afghan. She made Grandma play dolls with her - trading her ballerina barbie and Homer Simpson toys back and forth. Ada showed no hesitation in her ability to boss Grandma around. A true sign that Grandma was finally in Ada's inner circle. And the best part - Grandma played right along like she was a fellow 3 year old diva.

5. Ada's morning conversations with Auntie Katie. We woke up every morning to hear a little bit of Ada informing Katie about what was going to happen that day, or what she had dreamed, or what Thea Dog was doing RIGHT THEN. Ada loves conversation and story telling and these early morning bits were wonderful little nuggets.

6. Ada visiting Santa at Nordstroms. This was a spontaneous visit that took over 2 hours in line and lasted maybe 3 minutes. Ada was great. She sat on Santa's lap, gave him a cookie (her doing), and even talked to the big guy. We are officially in full Christmas mode in our house.

7. Ada (and Spiderman) leading Auntie Katie on a nice 1 mile sprint down to the marathon expo (and of course the 1 mile up hill sprint on the way back). Ada enhanced this experience by shouting 'AHHHHHH' at the top of her lungs THE WHOLE WAY - about 10 city blocks through downtown Seattle.

8. Arriving at Tony's house after Ada's overnight and seeing that Ada felt as comfortable there as she does at our house. She had a blast playing with her new toys and with Tia Jackie and SPF Tony, but she also moved about the house with an ease that showed she had experienced nothing but love and attention while she was away from Mommy and Daddy. Truly the greatest gift an auntie or SPF can grant to a parent.

Thanks to everyone who made our little adventure up North absolutely amazing.

big girl privileges

We have had quite a busy month (sorry for the lapse in posting), we had Ada's birthday, our wedding anniversary, and a visit out to see Eric (HI Eric). I had intended to post a great story with pictures about Ada's birthday but never really got around to downloading the pictures. Needless to say she had a great birthday with a party down at the beach with all of her favorite adult friends because that is how Ada rolls. As requested she got a purple bike, and a purple helmet, and purple gloves. She also got something we like to call 'Big Girl Privileges'.

Now that Ada is three we've decided that it is time to start teaching her that each action has a outcome and these outcomes can be good (Yay we like these actions) or bad (Boo we don't like these actions). To put it in Ada terms she can't scream and kick and throw a fit when she doesn't get her own way without some sort of punishment. What are these privileges you might be asking? Well given that Ada is truly our daughter there are things she likes a certain way: lights on and door open when she goes to bed, watching movies on mommy and daddy's bed, swinging on the swings after a long run, and basically anything that I see that she wants while she is misbehaving. And we aren't tyrants about taking away these privileges, she gets multiple warnings and explanations of what actions will result in losing her privileges, but in the end, if she purposely misbehaves, there are now officially consequences in our house.

We are only a few days into this experiment but so far it is going pretty well. She has pushed her limits a few times, as all three year olds should do, but she has also felt the harsh blow of consequences and learned her lesson. Of course as this is Ada and she is one smart little cookie I'm sure she will find a way to work the system in a few weeks to get around those pesky privileges. Until then I'm declaring victory.