Lizzy Updates

Lizzy is a beautiful and sweet (most of the time) 5 year old. We celebrated her birthday with close friends and family. She had a simple, yet fun, birthday party. Her big birthday present was a new bed! She generously suggested to give her crib to her baby brother. Up to now, she was sleeping in her crib with one side removed, like a daybed.

Some cute things she says...

Every time she eats the last bite of food, she says, "I wish I could plant a peanut butter cookie tree. That's all!"

"Mommy, you have been on the phone for years!"

She likes to hug my belly and say, "I love you cute little baby!"

She asks, "How old are you Mommy?" I say, "34." She says, "Wow!," with amazement in her voice.

She actually liked her dance class last week. Normally, she doesn't like it. I thnk she had the most fun ever, because she didn't do anything her teacher told her to do. Instead of sitting on her square after changing her shoes, she galloped across the back of the room. She was very happy. At the end, she said, "I don't want to leave. I had fun today!" I replied, "It's a miracle!"

Mrs. Ames, a 2nd grade teacher at my school, asked Lizzy what we are going to call the baby. Lizzy said, "Robert Marie Baker." That would be one very confused boy!

Yesterday we pulled weeds in the garden. She said, "Sometimes gardening is fun, but not that much." I just told her the real fun comes when we are able to plant, but we have to make the garden healthy first.

Baker #2

Oh my goodness! It has been tooooooo long! Not much has changed, but there has been a bit of change.

We are expecting Baker #2! We found out on President's day that the baby will be a boy. Lizzy went with us to the ultrasound. When she heard, "Looks like a little boy." She replied, "uuuhhh...," said with strong disappointment. She even had me convinced the baby was a girl. The gender took a bit of getting used to, but we are slowly getting accustomed to calling the baby a he, not a she. Now, we are just trying to think of names. Good thing we have until July!

We had to rethink our third room. Previously, it has been the "study," a place for books, videos, art, learning, extra toys, etc... After about a week of hard work and times of being overwhelmed, the room is mostly cleared out and looks like a kids' room. I will save the closet to clean out until Christmas, since it is filled with Christmas stuff. Lizzy loves the new room. I hope the baby doesn't mind her playing in there, but she has been for 5 years now. Pictures will come when I get a dresser, curtains, and bedding. That is mostly all that is missing.

Christmas!

Wow! Christmas with a three-year old is amazing! Lizzy's first Christmas was fun, as was the 2nd and third, but this one was awesome! She was completely thrilled with the idea of Santa. Of course, as her parents, we used the elves watching her a LOT. She is a good girl and definitely deserves to be on the nice list.

Lizzy was adament that she writes a list to Santa. I typed a letter to Santa on my iPod. It wasn't enough. She wrote a list of her own, in her beautiful 3 year old letters and left it out for Santa to find. She made sure to include asking for a candy cane for her babies.

Every present she opened was with a huge smile, a hug, and a "Oh, it's just what I wanted!" She said it very genuinely, too! She is so sweet. She played with polly pockets all day today. She also put together some puzzles and played Hungry, Hungry Hippos and "mUno" with me. (That is Uno, but with a m for some adorable reason.)

Soccer Practice

Thursday was Lizzy's first day of soccer practice! I was a little concerned that she would be the "daisy picker." She was not interested in playing soccer. I thought she would love it, I did. So, I signed her up through the YMCA. We get a free voucher to use toward a class every six months, so we used it for soccer. Every time I tried to pump her up about playing soccer, she said grumpily, "I don't want to play soccer." I tried a new approach. I got her excited to buy "soccer shoes," a.k.a., tennis shoes.

The day finally came to get soccer shoes. She was excited about that! We found cute purple soccer shoes. We went shopping on Labor Day evening. After four stores we went back to the first, only to find they closed early. Lizzy was sad and she cried. :( We went back the next day and got her purple "soccer shoes."

The day of soccer practice finally arrived. She was excited to get to run and be free in the grass. She didn't pick flowers... She danced. She spun and twirled and fell. It was adorable. I guess I have a dancer, not a daisy picker. I don't care. I guess we will enter her in dance, next time.

Then, the soccer balls came out! Lizzy had a blast! She kicked the ball from one white line all the way across the field to the other white line. She was always the last one back, but she had fun! She LOVED putting the ball into the Easter Basket (the soccer goal). All the balls were in the middle of the field. The kids ran to retrieve a soccer ball and kick it into the goal. The coach would always throw it back out and she'd go get another ball. She was always moving. She loved to play in the net (maybe she will be the goalie?).

Now, she loves soccer. She wanted to go to another soccer "game" when we were finished with practice. Going home did not sound fun to her. Maybe she is more like me than I thought!

Swimming

Check my fish out! I am so proud of her!

First Trip to the Dentist!

I have heard stories about children's visits to the dentist and adult's fears of the dentist. I was determined that Lizzy would not fear the dentist. I have been prepping her all week for her trip yesterday. I explained how the "dentist" (why talk about hygenists now, no offense to anyone) will look at her pretty white teeth. How the dentist will clean her teeth and make them even more white. On the way to the dentist office (which she connected that Grandpa has an office, too- a big plus!) I asked, "Lizzy, are you excited?!" Always smiling and encouraging the "correct" response. She was great while we filled out paperwork. Then, as she walked into the little room and she saw everything, she froze. I coaxed her in and Jessica, the hygenist, took over. She was AMAZING!!!!


Lizzy decided Raffie (the giraffe) needed gloves, too, just like Jessica and her. Of course, Raffie needed gloves on all four limbs.


It's time to count Raffie's teeth. Lizzy assists Jessica by handing her the mirror. FYI... Jessica informed us that a giraffe has 86 teeth.


Lizzy waits eagerly, asking, "What's next Mommy? What does she need?" Jessica is "cleaning" Raffie's teeth.


Lizzy begins to ask questions. Lizzy gets gauze to wipe Raffie's mouth.


Wiping of Raffie's mouth.


After all the prep work Jessica put in to showing Lizzy what will be done, it is Lizzy's turn. She lied on my chest the whole time.


"How much did Lizzy actually let Jessica do to her teeth?" you ask. EVERYTHING!!!!!! Counting the teeth (20 btw), using the sharp tool (Jessica showed her what it feels like on her fingernail), cleaning, swishing (don't know that she actually swished, but oh, well). She even let the actual dentist come in and check over her teeth!

I am very pleased. Jessica, at Modern Day Dental in Owasso, was FABULOUS!!!!! I highly recommend any parents trying to make it easier on their children to ask for her and take in a favorite animal. Lizzy happened to get the giraffe on Tuesday, the day before, at the zoo. I don't care if she takes a stuffed animal or even a baby doll around town with us, as long as people understand I've already paid for it. It was just a stroke of luck that we found such a wonderful hygenist and we happened to have Raffie with us. I will always have an animal, now, especially when we go to the pediatrician.