Category: Tabitha

Tabby had a college-style weekend. The partying started on Thursday (her actual b’day) and didn’t stop until late on Saturday. By Sunday she was wrecked. Hopefully today will go OK. On “the day” we took her and her entourage (Matt’s brother, my family and her best buddy) to Casa Bonita. It is, according to the linked survival guide, “Like Disney and Tijuana had sex and left the ugly little bastard in a random strip mall on Colfax to fend for itself.” The food is bad. There’s skee-ball and the prizes are cheap and tacky. Basically, it’s every kid’s fantasy. She had a great time and even ate her chicken fingers (quite possibly the best thing on the menu) and some sopapillas. The mariachis sang her Happy Birthday and she got to stomp spiders for tickets. Joy!

Friday we had a lunch date with Grammy. We went once again to Lil Monkey Bizness and then to Red Robin (her choice) before she had to go home for her nap and Grammy and I took a cranky Ben to Costco. That evening we made cupcakes that she got to decorate. More=Better seems to be her cupcake decorating philosophy.

Saturday the SPOILING continued with a mani-pedi session at Lollilocks. Pink on the toes, yellow on the fingernails. Stars in the eyes. She loved it. After lunch at home, she went down for her nap and fell asleep so late we wondered if she’d wake up in time for her party (you do not want to wake this kid up!). She did, but just barely. She had a fab time running around with her friends and showing people her “new playroom.” Cupcakes and singing were grand. She finally got overwhelmed when there was a bit too much help opening her presents. I talked her into opening one more present from a party guest and then she and the friends trooped down to the playroom for some boisterous fun.

She got to have a sleepover with her best buddy (don’t even ask me how late they were up) and minus a nap on Sunday spent most of the day playing with her new toys. I think it was a pink-letter weekend. Continue reading “Party Like You’re 3”

So remember the time when I screwed up Tabby’s preschool registration and she landed on two waiting lists instead of in preschool? Whoops. Bad mommy.

Well hopefully I’ve redeemed myself. Our “backup” preschool was registering last week and so we called to see if we could at least reserve a spot for Tabby for fall. Not only did the have a spot for Tabby for fall, but since she is potty trained and very nearly 3, she could start … well, Monday (TODAY).

Of course we found out about this last week, and so we had a little time to prepare. Tabby was (and still is) hugely excited. The school is an excellent one (with accolades from practically everyone I know) and was only our back-up for $$ reasons – it is just 2.5 hours 2 days a week and does not replace our sitter … just adds to our monthly out-go. But it is a lovely program. They have a barn with many animals that the kids can go visit and it is a lovely homey setup with math and play and art stations and circle time and snack.

Tabby has a class of about 18 kids (mostly girls!!) and two teachers who are very nice and patient ladies. She wasn’t a bit shy, just commented that she couldn’t decide what to play with first and immediately asked to go potty (yay!). She listened to a story about Kangaroos and made Mexican Pinch Pots and apparently knows how to recognize her name (when did that happen??).

It was a momentous day in our little girl’s life and I was so proud watching her out in the big world. She met it head on with style. It is so amazing to see her make this transition. I cannot believe we’re here already.

Tabby had another big-girl milestone this past week … her first dentist appointment. I opted for a pediatric dentist since I had a bad first experience as a kid. Tabby has my overactive imagination and she’s had enough experience with doctors that she pretty much hates them and flips out when she even scents a doctor might be about. It really went pretty well and she professed to liking the dentist as we were leaving. We’ll be back in 6 months for another look-see.

Matt arrived home from his business trip late Friday morning and we spent the rest of Friday and quite a bit on Saturday working around the house. We moved Matt into his office and reorganized other parts of the house (I have an office again!). Saturday night, my parents hosted the kids and Matt worked in his shop, wiring lights, and I hosted game night, which was a ton of fun. We had a great group of girls and even played a few games.

It was a good weekend. Hope yours was likewise.

PS – Photos of the basement are coming, swear. I just want to get a few more things handled so it’s FINISHED.

PPS – Tabby picked out her hat to wear with that outfit. It was SOOO cute.

• Open Sudoku for Android is awesome … just sayin.
• Made cabbage rolls for dinner last night … they turned out pretty well.
• Finished Love is a Mix Tape this morning. It was a very good read, if pretty sad at times. I am starting Benjamin Franklin: An American Life next, mostly because I think I should … I really want to start Finger Lickin’ Fifteen or The Sunday Philosophy Club.
• Tabby’s chief imaginary friend, Sheena, lives on. Recently, when asked where they met, Tabby promptly responded, “Costco.” Also, she has a tattoo of a ladybug.
• Finally had what I would consider to be a “good run” this morning, the kind where I was pleasantly surprised at how long/far I could go instead of embarrassed. That distance, incidentally, is about 1/5 of that I’ll theoretically be doing on April 24th.
• It appears Ben’s main interest in crawling is to get himself somewhere that he can pull up to standing. I’m thrilled … I cannot wait for him to walk.
• Have a ton of links to share, but the thought overwhelms me at the moment. Maybe tomorrow.
• I have been getting annoying spam comments (not too many, but enough) that are beating my CAPTCHA … grrr …
• Carpet is being installed this very minute!!

Over the past 8 weeks, Tabby took both gymnastics and dance from our local recreation district. I’m a huge fan of their classes because they’re very affordable and they’re realistic about what a 2.75 year old can do and how long they can do it for (classes are 45 minutes). They also have classes that I can take her to (evenings and weekends!). Wunderbar.

We quickly dubbed Tabby’s classes Cat Herding class. Truly, they were my bi-weekly dose of humor. Inevitably at some point each class, one of the kids would take off. Tabby was a frequent offender, particularly in dance where she wasn’t as interested. She likes gymnastics much better, particularly her teacher, Miss Katie.

As a culmination to the 8 weeks of fun, they do a “recital” (Cat Herding: The Musical!) and a “meet” (Cat Herding: The Olympic Event). Friday night was the recital and Tabby’s group (all three of them) got up on stage and did their thing to “Colors Make Me Happy” (it’s from Barney, feel glad if you can’t place it). They accomplish their routine by following their instructor who’s on the floor facing them. At one point they had to do a twirl. Tabby twirled and twirled and twirled and then teetered and almost took out another kid. It was awesome.

The meet was at the ungodly hour of 8 AM on a Saturday. They rotated between the four events: skinned the cat on bars, running jump off the spring board on vault, silly walk + somersaults on floor and beam walking sideways and forward on beam. Tabby made it through the whole thing and did everything as expected with a little help. Afterward she told me she only wants to do gymnastics next time.

I am this close to having a 3 year old on my hands!! Yikes! I have no idea how long it’s been since I last did one of these little updates on Miss Tabby, but I know that even in the past month, we’ve seen some remarkable changes in her.

The closer she inches towards THREE (3!!) the more she seems to leave babyhood behind and become a little girl. It is awesome and a bit bittersweet to behold. Recently, we’ve really noticed her attention span increasing. She can suddenly sit down and do a 30 piece puzzle start to finish. She will paint seemingly forever if we let her. She seems to listen and mind and follow through so much more easily and consistently. It is very cool!

We’ve also noticed some big leaps in her cognitive and verbal skills. She is suddenly picking up and parroting everything we say. She’s done this before, but it is on a new level and with more understanding (if that makes sense). She also concocts elaborate pretend scenarios with her “fwends.” There are lots of friends from reality and a cast of rotating pretend characters as well. She plays games with them and goes to “York” (New York, we think). Her most favorite imaginary friend is called Sheena. Sheena, I am told, is a “big girl. She is potty-trained (more on that subject LATER).” While she makes up stories with/about her imaginary friends, they do not seem to actually EXIST to her … they do not eat or have a favorite spot on the couch or anything. It is quite amusing in any case.

She has also (about 10 years early, I think) discovered a love for the telephone. She loves to take calls or preempt our calls to talk to her many loyal subjects. And the conversations have gotten down right… coherent. Back and forth, give and take. It is highly amusing and very fun. I especially like this for her out of town family and for Matt when he must be away.

I must also relate how amazing she is with Ben. She is proud to tell any and all that, “He’s my little brudder.” She is more than willing to help me with feeding him, changing him and decoding his wants/needs (these, I notice, usually correspond to her current want/need). She loves to entertain him and is our designated “pusher” when our decrepit swing (now on its 4th kid) gives out. More than anything though, she is very kind and loving toward him and it’s very nice to see them together. I have high hopes for them being good friends and playmates.

Our big hurdle right now (that I’m currently pretending does not exist) is potty training. Preschool, which seemed so far away when we toured it early this year, is looming large (registration in about a month). And this is still an issue. She has no interest in the potty and vehemently refuses to even try. We’ve been reading potty books (she loves these, and requests them at bedtime) and talking about it occasionally as the topic arises, but the concrete action is very much a problem. My hope is that if we lay off, the problem will resolve itself in time. When she’s ready. Right??? Either that or I’ll just stop buying diapers and she’ll have to figure it out. That’s the ticket.

All in all, she is an absolute joy and I am happy every day when I get to pick her up from the sitter and even happier when I get to spend the day with her. She is funny and sunny and a darling girl.

Favorite foods: pickles, meatballs, anything sweet, ketchup
Favorite shows: Dora, Diego, Little Einsteins, Nemo
Favorite toys: art supplies, puzzles, blocks/legos, Playmobil
Favorite books: “liiiibary books”, Sam’s Cookie
Clothes: size 2T-3T, size 4 diapers (L in cloth)
Favorite recent moment:
Me: “Tabby, are you singing ‘Put a Ring on It?'”
Tabby: “No, mommy, I singing ‘Single Ladies!'”