Out of the mouths of babes

I picked Petra up at school the other day, and while there, a boy was laughing at me saying "You have no hair on top!" (no, no I don't). He even wanted to touch my head.

That evening I was relaying the story to Alison, and Petra said "You're my dada! Not the other kids. [squints an eye up] I'm keeping an eye on you!"

Petra found the tag from a recent bra purchase, and made it her "bookmark." She tucked it into the Mickey Mouse thank you card Grandma sent. It has pictures inside the tag, and she opens it up and reads "Boobs, Boobs, Underwear, Underwear..."

And out of the other end- Accidents every night when grandma was visiting last week. But none since she left. Petra "surprises" us by calling us into the bathroom and saying "Look, I went poop in the potty!" We are required to celebrate. And if it means no more diapers, Hurray!

Our viewers go wild!

Some of the feedback we got about Petra's robot costume:

That is too cute!

OMG!!! Soooooo cute!

She brings a smile to the face, that's for sure! I forget where you are
-- is it cold enough that she'll need tights to go trick-or-treating?

Did you make that? OMG so cute! She is such a pretty girl.

OK, that is a GREAT costume! Also, it proves beyond any doubt that robot
costumes aren't only for boys.

That's awesome, and she looks just thrilled about it!

That's a great costume!

That costume is AWESOME. And the girl in it is awfully cute.

That costume is so freakin' adorable!

That is awesome covered with awesome sauce.

That is freaking aDORable.

The boots are killing me! And her sweet smile too.

That is the smiliest robot I've ever seen.

Yes. And everyone knows that once machines have mastered human emotion
the human race is not long for this world.

That is AWESOME! The boots are fabulous!

That is exactly what a Halloween costume should be.

I, Robot

All hallow's eve-ish

Weekend Update

Petra had a busy but fun weekend. Saturday was Family Festival Day at the Getty, and Petra had great fun making a sun print and charming all the volunteers at that table. She also enjoyed a pear pastry, while Mama and Dada had some espresso and tasty coffee cake from the cafe (the coffee cake was still warm...yum!). While waiting for her sun print to dry, she checked out the other activities, and made a couple of postcards and a frame for her print. She had gotten up pretty early that morning (her plaintive cry of "I'm staaaarving!" around 6 am roused Richard), so she started to fade around 11:30 or so. She wasn't interested in doing her "pony dance" to the music, so we knew she was ready to nap and started heading for the tram. She was out before we made it to the freeway.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to a concert at Creative Seeds, where a chamber music group called Tonoi was doing a performance of "Madigan the Pumpkin". Petra enjoyed the music and the story, and thanked the musicians enthusiastically as we left. We had planned to head for home, but saw that the local neighborhood association was having a Halloween carnival that was about to start, so we headed over the that. Petra had lots and lots of fun on the giant inflatable slide; she was a little wobbly climbing up to the top of the slide the first couple of times, but was soon scampering up like a champ. She charmed the teenage volunteers by thanking them and offering them candy from a bag of treats that we were snacking on. Other highlights included a bowling game, and a "fishing" game, where she won a spider ring and a gummy rat, respectively.

We bought a few raffle tickets just to support the neighborhood association, and were pleasantly surprised to have one of our numbers called in the first drawing (good thing too, as we were getting ready to leave). We got to pick a prize from the prize table, and Petra chose a cute pink purse adorned with flowers. As we arrived home, we saw one of the neighbor kids and Petra invited herself over to his house. They played happily for a half hour or so, until it was time to go home so he could have his bath. We thought it would be a good idea for Petra to have a bath as well (twice a week whether she needs it or not!), but she didn't share our opinion. Note to self: put in earplugs before putting Petra in the water.

Sunday was a birthday party for one of the girls from Petra's class. Mama played chauffeur and Dada stayed home to finish up Petra's robot costume for Halloween. The party was great fun (ponies and a pinata! How will we ever keep up!), and we ended up staying longer than we expected. The attendees had lots of fun, and it was fun to meet other parents from school. The robot costume is finished and looks great - Dada did a spectacular job. Petra is excited and keeps asking if it was Halloween yet (and talking about Madigan the pumpkin). Just a few more days!

And then she was Three!

My goodness, she can't be three years old already, can she? Yes, yes she can.

Petra had a big party at home on Saturday (sandwiched between visits to Kaiser Wednesday and Monday, more on that later). She had about a dozen kids at the party (Jessica and Katie and Jenna and Eden and Erik and Landon and Bennett and Andres and Sophie and Jeremy and Julian and Jan and Tamryn) as well as assorted parents, and a couple of grandparents (hers and theirs). Quite a houseful. And mercifully un-themed. Just lots of kids playing and having fun and eating "strawberry heart cake" (Petra's pick), and beating the heck out of a giant Strawberry Shortcake pinata (a gift from Uncle Guillermo at year one, which has been waiting for Petra and gang to grow up big enough to really wail on it with a shovel handle).

It was a very busy Saturday, because her school also managed to schedule "Beautification day," when all the parents are expected to come and help do cleaning/building/painting for the school. Alison and I scrubbed the urine stains off 26 cots, stained (a different kind) wooden blocks, scrubbed bikes and generally had a wet time of it. Petra played with her friends, and left early with the grandparents (lucky they were there! They kept her (and napped) while we finished the party preparations, and brought her home just before friends began to arrive in the afternoon).

There was also a nice party for her at school Monday. She is well loved at school, and has lots of friends. Gold plated or not, she is loving her school and learning a ton (human body parts and the skeleton at the moment).

Now the doctor's visits. Remember the toe? Well, it was healing nicely, with 1/2 the nail grown back, when Petra and I went to the park (she was "sick" so stayed home, and the second Alison was gone, she was well again. I thought we had years before she figured out that trick!), where she played barefoot - up to the point I noticed blood and gore all over her toe! I cleaned and bandaged it (apparently stubbed badly, and tore the nail a bit), and she seemed fine until the evening. Then she was playing in her room when I heard a clang and a scream. She managed to drop a frying pan (toy) on her toe, and it exploded again, instantly soaking her sock in blood, and smearing Alison and I both in it as she struggled against getting bandaged up. Again, she was fine, and off she went to school the next morning, where she did movement class, and started her toe bleeding again. The teachers freaked and had us come pick her up early. Though I was pretty certain what the doctor would say, we felt we better take her in to urgent care. As expected, after a soaking and a cleaning, the doctor said "keep it bandaged. Soak it when you can." One amusing part of the trip- obviously the computer system was reporting her age as two. The nurse and doctor both took a look at that and asked cautiously "how long has she been two?" She is WAY to big to be just a two-year old anymore! Petra's been pretty much fine ever since (she actually insisted we go to Target to shop after the visit).


Today was the usual 3 year check up, and she gets all gold stars. Well, except for the "borderline obesity" warning. That was actually a glitch; when we came in for the toe, they weighed her but didn't measure her, so they had her 2 year-old height with her current weight (which happens to be 37.5 pounds, 38 inches tall). That made for an interesting BMI chart!

Now the fun stuff:

Somewhere, she picked up a southern drawl. All her vowels became vowel-Y-vowel (Hayat for hat, Miyine for mine etc.) Certainly funny to hear, especially since we don't know anyone with that speech mannerism!

When she and I were on a walk on her "sick" day, she said "I love spending the day with you Dada."

I walked into the dining room the other day, and was puzzled- where were all the chairs? She had moved them all into the kitchen to build a doctor's office where she was examining Linny, Tuck and Ming Ming too.

Did we mention that Petra is potty training herself? She decided that she wants to wear big girl underwear, and has pretty much stopped wearing a diaper. A couple of accidents in the first days, but she's pretty much dry now (even slept in underwear last night without mishap).

We've had a great month of arts and crafts at the Santa Monica farmer's market at Virginia park. Petra's made treasure chests and pirate maps, jewelry boxes, pirate hat, etc. It's nice living so close to the People's Republic!

Petra's planning on being a robot for halloween. We've got all the makings of a costume, and Petra even has picked up talking like a robot (how do you type to represent a super cute little girl saying "I-AM-GOING-TO-BE-A-ROBOT" in robot-speak?).

We had another visit to Disneyland to see Minnie. Petra had a great time (more rides this time, including flying in Dumbo with Dada). Minnie was a bit of a disappointment for her though. Last visit, she took Minnie by the hand and went for a walk with her, and had lots of hugs. This time Minnie was goofing off with Goofy (get it?!), and didn't really pay much attention to the kids, who the handlers herded through lines like cows at a slaughterhouse (OK, maybe that's not quite fair). A small stuffed Minnie to take home made up for it though, and her love is unbowed.

Why us?

Dada, why haven't you updated the blog in months?

Because we've been very very busy, sweetie.

Why have you been busy?

Because we've been doing lots of things, like traveling, going to parties, doing arts & crafts, recovering from colds, crushing your toe, and going to your new school

My new school? I love my new school! Are we going to my new school now?

No honey, we're going to your new school tomorrow morning.

Why are we going to my new school tomorrow morning?

Because now we're at home. Hey look, I see your friends outside; do you want to go say hi? Wait, come back here Petra!

----

While the above dialogue is completely made up, it's certainly true that Petra now asking "Why?" endlessly. Sure, we want to encourage a culture of inquiry, sometimes we also just want her to STOP ASKING WHY! "Why do you want me to stop asking why?" would be the response of course.

Loves her tricycle and will get up & ride it from her room to our room first thing in the morning (California baby - already into the car culture). 6 months after getting a tricycle at Xmas, she still didn't seem able to ride it. Then one day she wanted to "ride" to the bakery. With a sigh (expecting to have to push the whole way) I put the trike out for her, and she climbed on - and took off like a shot down the street. I had to run to catch her. apparently she's been practicing at school! Sly trickster!

Did we mention that on the second day of school she was sent home with a notice saying a kid at school had hand, foot & mouth disease? Well, we thought we dodged the bullet but then while on a flight up to the bay area she started crying and holding her tongue whenever she tasted juice or fruit or yogurt. I was able to spot a blister under her tongue, and thought perhaps it was a burn from soup she had at school. She hardly ate a bite all weekend (COMPLETELY out of character for her). We were even considering taking her to the hospital, when on the 3rd day she suddenly started eating again. Turns out, another round of HFM was going around school. Lucky us! On the upside though, it also eliminated the Nuk in a relatively trauma free way. She wouldn't suck one while she had the sores, and never asked for one again afterward. Hooray!

We were in the bay area for Grandma Judy's birthday party. There was a band on a stage, and Petra decided that it was for her. She got on stage with the microphone and sang "Baa baa blacksheep" and "ABCD" until the band played her off. She also did the "Jump" dance and the Macarena (yikes!) with her cousins. She had an incredible pouty lip because she was removed from the stage after the dance.

We've had a couple of trips to the Getty this summer. One family crafts day where she made a crown of leaves with bobbly bugs on it, a picture frame, a postcard, and a butterfly. Another trip was for a kids concert with Elizabeth Mitchell. The music was fun, but Petra had more fun playing with other kids, like the girls on the next blanket who practically adopted her.

Loves her new school - lots of arts & crafts. Came home with a collage with pipe cleaners and googly eyes and told me "It's an insect. It has three body parts - a head, a thorax, and an abdomen." So smart and arty!

Petra's teacher says she is "the welcome wagon," introducing herself to everyone she sees and asking "what's your name?" She learned the names of all the new kids right away and has a good friend who she talks about all the time. She was sad though when some kids "graduated" to a different class in a different part of the facility.

Petra is in the Panda class, and is a "Blue panda." We'll hear her sing the class songs now and then ("If you are a blue panda, blue panda, blue panda; if you are a blue panda, time to go to lunch"). Riding home with Mama, she was singing it for the red pandas, and orange pandas, and blue pandas. But then we realized she was pointing at the banners for the Chabad telethon, which were like iPod ads - red, orange, and blue backgrounds with dancing Hassidim in black and white. Funny girl!

We're still working on potty training. She went most of one day in "big girl panties" without any mishaps (though she asked for a diaper around 4pm, she was getting pretty tired of the effort by that point I guess). Every night she goes before bed, and occasionally wears panties over her diaper (thought sometimes they are worn on the head rather than the bottom).

Sometimes, Petra is just too busy to even take a nap (gasp!). On that rare occasion, she did fairly well, but was obviously tired and fell asleep next to Mama listening to nursery rhymes around 6:30. Not a peep out of her all night, and she woke up at her usual time. Sleepy muffin! We run her ragged.

Petra is definitely a pre-reader. Especially any word with "P for Petra" in it. Her new favorite show is "Word world" and she sometimes follows along with words in her books. We swear there are times when she reads signs, but there is always some doubt because she remembers EVERYTHING, and if we read the sign to her a year ago, she'll remember it.

Over Labor Day weekend, Petra pulled my expensive, delicate, and heavy digital SLR camera off the desk and down onto her toe. Lots of tears, black toe nail. She was walking fine though, so we figured it wasn't broken. Two days later Petra and I were playing catch with a baseball, and it landed, of course, right on that toe. Splat! Blood on ball, blood on sock, crying baby. The good news though is this seems to be exactly what the toe needed to heal, and while the toenail is still black the toe is healthy pink again. I consulted with a pediatrician at work, and she confirmed that if we took her in to the hospital, they probably would have drained it themselves. Hurray, homeopathic medicine! She has worn a sock day and night for two weeks, crying "I might see my owie!" if we try to change it. One day we had to resort to a paper bag over her head to get the sock changed.


I sit by her bed and tell her a story with the lights off at night. I was lounging back on a pile of stuffed animals during the story one evening, and when I sat up to kiss her goodnight, I smacked my nose good on the headboard. Clearly it made an impression, because a week or two later when I dropped her off at school, her teacher said "I heard you hit your nose on her bed."

I don't think that word means what you think it means

Petra "adopted" one of Mama's crochet hooks today, and took it with her in the car to preschool.

She calls it "Hooky."

Preschool, by the way, is going very well now. She LOVES it, and especially all the activities she gets to do (dance, music, art, science etc. etc. etc.).