Homework monitor

And so it begins: her first homework packet. So excited about the years ahead! #nerdalert

Aroma therapy

Ava: "I love the smell of this place." Spoken like true urban kids. Trying out the new Westlake Park play structure.

Preschool guest

Day off to hang with my favorite girl and her class: read books, oversaw a craft involving ironing crayon shavings between waxed paper, playtime at the park and lunch. 

So cool to see Ava with her kiddie peeps. And one made me a picture! Just like when I was in news: my fan base seems to be girls 5-12 y.o.

Tooth fairy alert

First lost tooth! Already?! It feels like she was born just a minute ago.

Sunny with a chance of frostbite

Post-bike rides, Beacon Hill twilight.

Princess Ava of Camelot

A friend's daughter passed along some outgrown dress up gowns. Let the accessorizing and fashion show begin. It's like Project Runway up in here.

5 years!

Guess who turned 5 today and wore this crown & carried her new unicorn from the moment she woke up until she climbed into bed tonight?

She declared, "I don't like my birthday gifts, I LOVE them!"

Power hitter

T-ball! Ava used her hot pink bat to smack two solid hits, prompting a parent on the opposing team to shout, "Way to go girl power!"

Spring break

Lovely spring break stay-cation day off. Light rail to downtown with grandparents & kids for walking, people watching & lunch, then sous chef for Jason's first chicken fettuccine, which was the bomb. Life is good.

Safety lesson

Ava to my mom on when it's okay to call 911, "If you or Grandpa are lethargic."


Nana, taken aback: "And what if they ask you what that means?"

Ava: "You know: if your eyes won't open and I lift your arm and it just drops. But they're the professionals: they should know that!"

Light rail adventure

Dylan & Ava playing with trains on the light rail train. We had a lovely outing on a cool but sunny day.

We window shopped, people-watched, and I tried to keep a close eye on Dylan, who is so low to the ground and fast, that he can disappear among clothes racks the moment you turn your attention to something else. But I brought some of his little pocket-sized Thomas trains, so those kept him semi-occupied as I tried to speed-peruse the racks. Later, we sat in the sun outside Starbucks at 4th & Pine, people watched in Westlake Park, and ate snacks we'd packed.

As we headed back to the light rail station in the tunnel, the afternoon was marred by discovering we'd been spit on, apparently from an overhead walkway at Westlake station downtown.

Didn't see or feel it, only noticed the goo on me and Dylan as we walked along the platform. Who the
eff spits down into a crowd of people?! "Dirtbags," said a friend on Facebook. True dat.

I was disgusted having to clean it up as best I could with pocket tissues and sanitizer (traveling with kids means being prepared) and rode home seething, knowing I'd have to wash our coats once we arrived.

But I didn't want the kids' day spoiled, so I put on a happy face, which lasted until we arrived back at our car and I went to gas up and discovered gas is now $4.19/gal. At that price, light rail may become more a part of our weekend outings.

Despite all that, it was a lovely day. Dylan conked out a few minutes before we arrived home and I put him in bed to finish his nap and started dinner. Ava buzzed around me as I grated squash and zucchini for turkey meatballs.

"What was your favorite part of today?" I asked.

"This right now," she responded, hugging my leg and stretching up to kiss me. "Just being with you."

*verklempt*

I will try to keep this scene in mind during her next meltdown over something inconsequential.

Skirting the issue

During the summer, I picked up a knitted skirt pattern for Ava while taking a friend visiting from out of town to check out some local yarn stores.

I haven't knitted much since before Ava was born, other than a scarf she asked me to make in her signature pink. It had been so long in fact, that when Jason's Great Aunt told me recently that her favorite, warm, "going to church" scarf was one I knitted for her, I literally had no recollection of doing it. In fact, looking at the well-done cable pattern down the middle, I only vaguely recalled knowing how to knit a cable! But I checked my pattern stash and sure enough, it was there, along with the remaining scrap of yarn that I'd used.

With that kind of lag since I'd picked up needles in earnest, the basic skirt pattern I found last summer seemed simple enough to work on quickly: a few decrease rows after the cast on with two yarns held together, several inches of Stockinette stitch and some easy ribbing.

But with my schedule over the past year, I struggled to find extended amounts of time to spend on it. And when I did, I was often distracted, trying to keep an eye on the kids or grabbing a few moments before nodding off in bed.

Note: while it's possible to knit a simple stitch like this while watching my kids at a mall play area, the activity drew several other staring children who clustered around to watch me work before flitting off to play again and later return to check to my progress.

The lack of unencumbered time though explains why I started, failed and re-knit this skirt twice before getting it right. The first time, I managed to get my cast-on twisted, resulting in a mobius strip-like tube: an unrecoverable knitting error when knitting in the round.

Next, I followed the directions that a lady at a local yarn shop had customized for me and Ava using her exact measurments. We both thought it was knit top down, when actually, it was bottom up and I didn't notice until several inches along. Grrr.

I guess in hindsight I could have finished it either way, but I wasn't sure about the increases/decreases for the ruffled bottom, so I ripped my stitches out AGAIN and started over, after a frustrating night untangling the ripped out lengths of yarn and re-rolling them in to managable balls in the wee hours while everyone slept. Because 11pm to 2am is the only "me" time I'm ever able to carve out this busy holiday season. Okay, any season.

I know, I know: non-knitters may read that and think, "Isn't a hobby or craft supposed to be fun and easy, not frustrating?" Right you are, which only increased my frustration as I thought of all the wasted time. Not to mention that for what the yarns cost, I could have bought Ava a whole outfit plus shoes at my retail favorite Target. But I've learned that skimping on yarn quality is just like skimping on food quality: you may finish what's on your plate (or in your knitting bag), but you will not be satisfied or happy with the end result.

Also, I am persistent (okay, occasionally stubborn) and there was no way I was going to let a prechooler-sized, simple two-yarn skirt get the better of me. Also, this was one of those opportunities to demonstrate committment, patience, and triumph over frustration to the kids, right?

So I knit, unknit, and re-knit again (and again), finally getting this bad boy done in time to go under the tree at Christmas. Granted, I finished the knitted I-cord belt a couple days later, but still, DONE. Take that, skirt of frustration!

Best part? When Ava opened it, she squealed, hugged it to her chest and proclaimed, "This is the best Christmas EVER!"

Oh kid. You have no idea. And while I love me some Target, I can guarantee that no outfit from there is getting that reaction or giving me the same level of satisfaction for providing it for her.

Paging Dr. Jones

4 y.o. Ava to me as I sprinkled a little salt on my dinner: "Not too much: you don't want to get diabetes."

Man of few words

Dylan's two year doctor appointment went well: he's above average for size (88th percentile) but being referred for some speech help to get his word count up.

He's good with "B" and "S" words (Ha!) but isn't stringing enough of them together. Luckily, he's good at pointing and showing what he wants and all his caregivers are good at reading him.

Plus, I'm great at reading people's non-verbal cues, so I can infer more from an eyebrow slant than some people can from an entire conversation. Which means that while I rock at charades, I probably am not helping him stretch verbally, even though we talk and read with him a lot and verbal communication is kind of the lingua franca at our house.

But we'll go get some tips from the speech and language pros so that he can start sparring verbally with his sister, instead of just screeching in frustration or whacking her when she's bugging him.

If he turns out to be a great orator, this will make a funny story some day. Kind of like actor James Earl Jones: he has one of the most recognizable and enthralling voices of a generation but he overcame a severe stutter. Fascinating story.

Food pyramid-ish

Ava helped me make a tasty pumpkin pie last night wIthaca recipe from Grand Central Bakery's recipe book (@grandcentralsea) recipe. It has eggs & dairy: that's breakfast-y, right?

Gee thanks

Ava had a note for me when I arrived to pick her up. Her teacher was kind enough to transcribe.

Ava hits like a girl. A badass girl. In a tutu.

Ava, princess tutu dress and all at her pre-birthday shindig over the weekend, nails one on the new Tee ball set after some coaching from dad. Guffaws at the end are because it was a line drive that almost took a cousin's head off!


Not only can she hit, she throws sizzling fast balls overhand like she spent spring training working out with a major league ball club.

First playdate

We're off to Ava's 1st solo playdate with a school friend. So excited!

Update: They had a bit of a tea party, did some painting, had snack in the sun and lots of playing and sharing. It went well until time to go, when the pouting began. Ava was VERY unhappy to leave, which is an indicator of what a good time they had.

It was lovely for them and for us two moms, who also had a chance to get acquainted. I hope this is a harbinger of good social connections to come for Ava.

Stylish siblings

All dressed up for cousin's baptism.Dylan wasn't having the clip-on tie though: clearly he already has taste.

The mother of invention

One thing I miss about my pre-kids life is sleeping in on the weekend. I'm a night owl, but that used to mean that whatever time I went to bed, I'd wake up 9-10 hours later.

Ava and Dylan usually wake up between 6:45 and 7:15 a.m. and want me to fix them breakfast, if I'm not jetting out to work. So now that means that regardless of what time I went to bed, I wake up when they do. Which can mean rough mornings when I've alternated between my bed and both of theirs all night responding to cries, wet diapers, or bathroom runs.

A few month ago, before Ava could recognize her name, I started leaving a covered bowl of cereal and cup of milk in the fridge with a heart on it and telling Ava to find the heart, to buy myself a little more time in bed. I trust her to pour her own milk and clean up any minor spills.

This morning I added a new twist: a treasure hunt. I hoped that it would eliminate at least one reason for her first foray into our bed in the morning.

Right outside her room, she found the first post-it with her name and an arrow directing her to the next one just down the hall.

The final note was on the fridge itself with a poorly-rendered drawing of a bowl of cereal and cup of milk and a heart. It worked, but it's such a gorgeous day out that I couldn't stay in bed!

I'm trying to get active again, but I have so little time without the kids that it's tough to fit it in and I don't really like or have time to to drive to a gym. So I found a 10 minute workout online that I started doing in the living room.

But J. turned up his nose at it and gave me some sets he uses to train his basketball clients. They got my core working and stretched my legs, then we took breakfast out to the deck where the sun was shining and Mt. Rainier is out.

After a leisurely morning cleaning up, getting everyone dressed and having lunch on the deck, we hit a local park then were off to a birthday party at a local gymnastics academy.

As you can tell by the expressions, they had a blast. Then I got some quiet time after they went to sleep. And I haven't heard a peep from either of them in hours. Loving that gym more and more.

Even without sleeping in, it shaped up to be an awesome, sunny Seattle day.