Dear Lila,
One of the best things about your summer camp in Long Island was that it kept you busy. And I mean seriously busy. A 7-hour camp day could include music, tennis, instructional swim, free swim, computers AND arts & crafts. You got to experience so much and you really enjoyed it, but it was a lot to pack into one day. Daddy and I visited you on the camp's visiting day and we got tired just walking from activity to activity with you!
So I understood why you were so worn out this morning that you couldn't even get yourself out of bed. Today was actually supposed to be your last day at camp but you said you were so tired--and you looked so tired--so I let you stay home and you were more than happy to do so. You start dance camp next week but that will be an easy breezy 4-hour day (which includes lunch time), so I think that will be more your pace!
Love,
Mom
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Friday, July 28, 2017
Best Big Sis
Dear Lila,
Whenever I ask you what you want to play, you almost always reply, "Family!" You love to pretend that you're a mom and that I'm your baby (and my baby name is always "JoJo," like your friend Ellie's baby sister). If your brothers are playing with us, GuhGaw is the dad and DiDi is your son (you usually name him "Max"). When I am busy doing housework, I often hear you and DiDi playing family on your own and you guys are so adorable! You push a bunch of toys--like the dollhouse, car slide and baby piano--into a corner to build the walls of your house and sit inside your house and imagine that you're eating lunch or getting a checkup from the doctor. You speak very sweetly to DiDi and are such a good pretend mom to him.
And you continue to be such a good real big sis to him. At dinner tonight, DiDi lost his balance on a chair (he refuses to sit in his high chair now and insists on sitting on a regular chair like the rest of us) and hit his head on the floor. He is okay but it was a pretty scary fall and he cried very hard. A few seconds after he started crying, you also started wailing and I thought you had suddenly bit your tongue while eating. I hugged you and DiDi at the same time and asked you what happened, if you were hurt. Between sobs, you managed to say, "I'm so scared for DiDi!" You were so worried about your baby brother, which was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. I'm so proud of you for being such a loving big sister!
Love,
Mom
Whenever I ask you what you want to play, you almost always reply, "Family!" You love to pretend that you're a mom and that I'm your baby (and my baby name is always "JoJo," like your friend Ellie's baby sister). If your brothers are playing with us, GuhGaw is the dad and DiDi is your son (you usually name him "Max"). When I am busy doing housework, I often hear you and DiDi playing family on your own and you guys are so adorable! You push a bunch of toys--like the dollhouse, car slide and baby piano--into a corner to build the walls of your house and sit inside your house and imagine that you're eating lunch or getting a checkup from the doctor. You speak very sweetly to DiDi and are such a good pretend mom to him.
And you continue to be such a good real big sis to him. At dinner tonight, DiDi lost his balance on a chair (he refuses to sit in his high chair now and insists on sitting on a regular chair like the rest of us) and hit his head on the floor. He is okay but it was a pretty scary fall and he cried very hard. A few seconds after he started crying, you also started wailing and I thought you had suddenly bit your tongue while eating. I hugged you and DiDi at the same time and asked you what happened, if you were hurt. Between sobs, you managed to say, "I'm so scared for DiDi!" You were so worried about your baby brother, which was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. I'm so proud of you for being such a loving big sister!
Love,
Mom
Friday, July 7, 2017
The Best Baby
Dear Lila,
I love how much you love DiDi. You are so sweet toward him and it's so clear how much you care about him. You told me today, "Thank you for having the best baby." :-)
Love,
Mom
I love how much you love DiDi. You are so sweet toward him and it's so clear how much you care about him. You told me today, "Thank you for having the best baby." :-)
Love,
Mom
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Summer Camp
Dear Lila,
You had your very first day of summer camp today! And to be honest, I was much more nervous than you were. GuhGaw has been to summer camp before but he went to the neighborhood one down the street from our house. He was only a 10-minute walk away and at a camp on a relatively small facility (one room, one playground area, one swimming pool). This year, Daddy and I decided to send you and him to a much bigger camp (30 acres complete with three swimming pools, five baseball fields, a sand volleyball court, a rock climbing wall and so much more) that is a 45-drive away in Long Island. I was nervous about you two being at a camp with hundreds of kids, about you riding a bus to camp and about you being so physically far away from me. But the camp sounds amazing (daily activities include martial arts, yoga, dance, basketball, science, drama and games, plus special events like magic shows, pony rides and field trips) and parents who have sent their kids there highly recommend it, so we are giving it a try this summer--and so far, so good!
You loved your first day! The camp bus picked you and GuhGaw up in front of our house at 8:30 this morning and when it dropped you off at 5pm, you guys were flushed, sweaty and beaming! You immediately began telling me about everything you did at camp and I have never heard you talk so excitedly or so much about anything! I listened to you for awhile and when I said I had to go upstairs for a minute, you said, "Wait, Mama! Can I tell you one more thing? No, wait, can I tell you two more things first?" At bedtime, you were still talking about camp and when I interrupted you, you said, almost sternly, "Mama, let me talk first."
I think it's safe to say that you're excited to go back tomorrow!
Love,
Mom
P.S. By the way, there were tears after you got on the bus this morning. Not from you, but from DiDi and me! I am not used to you being away for such a big chunk of the day and I missed you after you left. DiDi did, too, and burst into tears after your bus drove away and we went back inside the house. When we saw the bus pull up to our house in the afternoon, we both jumped up excitedly like dogs greeting their owners when they come home, haha!
You had your very first day of summer camp today! And to be honest, I was much more nervous than you were. GuhGaw has been to summer camp before but he went to the neighborhood one down the street from our house. He was only a 10-minute walk away and at a camp on a relatively small facility (one room, one playground area, one swimming pool). This year, Daddy and I decided to send you and him to a much bigger camp (30 acres complete with three swimming pools, five baseball fields, a sand volleyball court, a rock climbing wall and so much more) that is a 45-drive away in Long Island. I was nervous about you two being at a camp with hundreds of kids, about you riding a bus to camp and about you being so physically far away from me. But the camp sounds amazing (daily activities include martial arts, yoga, dance, basketball, science, drama and games, plus special events like magic shows, pony rides and field trips) and parents who have sent their kids there highly recommend it, so we are giving it a try this summer--and so far, so good!
You loved your first day! The camp bus picked you and GuhGaw up in front of our house at 8:30 this morning and when it dropped you off at 5pm, you guys were flushed, sweaty and beaming! You immediately began telling me about everything you did at camp and I have never heard you talk so excitedly or so much about anything! I listened to you for awhile and when I said I had to go upstairs for a minute, you said, "Wait, Mama! Can I tell you one more thing? No, wait, can I tell you two more things first?" At bedtime, you were still talking about camp and when I interrupted you, you said, almost sternly, "Mama, let me talk first."
I think it's safe to say that you're excited to go back tomorrow!
Love,
Mom
P.S. By the way, there were tears after you got on the bus this morning. Not from you, but from DiDi and me! I am not used to you being away for such a big chunk of the day and I missed you after you left. DiDi did, too, and burst into tears after your bus drove away and we went back inside the house. When we saw the bus pull up to our house in the afternoon, we both jumped up excitedly like dogs greeting their owners when they come home, haha!
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Caribbean Getaway
Dear Lila,
We just returned from a week in St. Thomas and I am happy to report that there were no traumatic injuries, falls or face plants while we were there. However, we can't seem to avoid emergency rooms during our vacations--we had to take you to one when you came down with pinkeye several days into the trip. Luckily, it wasn't severe and you were still able to play in the pool--which you and your brothers did for hours every day!
When I go on vacation, I usually try to explore the city as much as I can and only go back to the hotel to sleep. This time, it was a complete departure from that because we only left the hotel two times in the seven days that we were there! (And one of those times was to take you to the doctor.) There was actually little reason to leave the hotel property:
-There was a private beach where we could borrow equipment to go kayaking, sailing and scuba diving.
-When we were at the hotel pool, servers periodically walked around and passed out free cookies, popsicles, fruit kebabs, cocktail samples (adults only!) and iced hand towels to cool us off.
-Next to the pool were corn hole game sets and a giant Connect 4 game board.
-We had access to an air-conditioned lounge where they served free breakfast, lunch and dinner.
-The lounge also featured unlimited bottled water, an all-day open bar, a cookie jar that was always filled with the BEST chocolate chip cookies and a nightly dessert buffet complete with cakes, brownies and chocolate fondue.
-And as if that weren't enough, the lounge had a kids' play area filled with toys, wagons and books in different languages. (The down side: I think that's where you caught pinkeye.)
Our suite was also really spacious (there was even one room with our own treadmill!) and had two large balconies that looked out into the Caribbean Sea, so yeah, staying at the hotel all day was not a huge sacrifice :-P Our daily schedule was: breakfast, beach, lunch, pool, more pool, showers, dinner, walk around hotel, hit the dessert buffet, pass out in bed! Several times, one or all three of you didn't eat dinner because you fell asleep right after your shower. On the first night, we managed to get everyone showered, dressed and to the restaurant but GuhGaw zonked out at the table before the waitress even brought us the bread!
We did tear ourselves away from the hotel one day to take a ferry and visit St. John, a neighboring island. And I'm glad we did because one of the beaches we went to there, Trunk Bay, was one of the most gorgeous beaches I've ever been to. The sand was soft and powdery and the water was clear and a shimmery shade of blue.
Another cool part of our trip was when we were at the hotel and some fishermen brought their fresh catches up to the beach:
The joke is that it's never really a "vacation" with kids but this one managed to be fun and relaxing. Our week in St. Thomas flew by!
Love,
Mom
We just returned from a week in St. Thomas and I am happy to report that there were no traumatic injuries, falls or face plants while we were there. However, we can't seem to avoid emergency rooms during our vacations--we had to take you to one when you came down with pinkeye several days into the trip. Luckily, it wasn't severe and you were still able to play in the pool--which you and your brothers did for hours every day!
When I go on vacation, I usually try to explore the city as much as I can and only go back to the hotel to sleep. This time, it was a complete departure from that because we only left the hotel two times in the seven days that we were there! (And one of those times was to take you to the doctor.) There was actually little reason to leave the hotel property:
-There was a private beach where we could borrow equipment to go kayaking, sailing and scuba diving.
-When we were at the hotel pool, servers periodically walked around and passed out free cookies, popsicles, fruit kebabs, cocktail samples (adults only!) and iced hand towels to cool us off.
-Next to the pool were corn hole game sets and a giant Connect 4 game board.
-We had access to an air-conditioned lounge where they served free breakfast, lunch and dinner.
-The lounge also featured unlimited bottled water, an all-day open bar, a cookie jar that was always filled with the BEST chocolate chip cookies and a nightly dessert buffet complete with cakes, brownies and chocolate fondue.
-And as if that weren't enough, the lounge had a kids' play area filled with toys, wagons and books in different languages. (The down side: I think that's where you caught pinkeye.)
Our suite was also really spacious (there was even one room with our own treadmill!) and had two large balconies that looked out into the Caribbean Sea, so yeah, staying at the hotel all day was not a huge sacrifice :-P Our daily schedule was: breakfast, beach, lunch, pool, more pool, showers, dinner, walk around hotel, hit the dessert buffet, pass out in bed! Several times, one or all three of you didn't eat dinner because you fell asleep right after your shower. On the first night, we managed to get everyone showered, dressed and to the restaurant but GuhGaw zonked out at the table before the waitress even brought us the bread!
We did tear ourselves away from the hotel one day to take a ferry and visit St. John, a neighboring island. And I'm glad we did because one of the beaches we went to there, Trunk Bay, was one of the most gorgeous beaches I've ever been to. The sand was soft and powdery and the water was clear and a shimmery shade of blue.
Another cool part of our trip was when we were at the hotel and some fishermen brought their fresh catches up to the beach:
The joke is that it's never really a "vacation" with kids but this one managed to be fun and relaxing. Our week in St. Thomas flew by!
Love,
Mom
Monday, June 19, 2017
Pre-K Grad
Dear Lila,
You graduated from pre-k today! You learned so much this year, from how to write your name and how to count to 100 to where polar bears live and which planets are in the solar system. You also became more confident and are a little more comfortable speaking up and participating in class. Your teachers only ever had positive things to say about you and said you were a joy to teach. You made several good friends this year, too, and always came out of school at the end of the day with a big smile on your face!
Daddy and I are proud of you!
Love,
Mom
You graduated from pre-k today! You learned so much this year, from how to write your name and how to count to 100 to where polar bears live and which planets are in the solar system. You also became more confident and are a little more comfortable speaking up and participating in class. Your teachers only ever had positive things to say about you and said you were a joy to teach. You made several good friends this year, too, and always came out of school at the end of the day with a big smile on your face!
Daddy and I are proud of you!
Love,
Mom
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Future Husband
Dear Lila,
You told me today that you and a boy in your class, Harrison, have decided that you are going to get married when you are grown-ups. He seems like a nice boy and he actually has the same last name as you, so that's convenient! :-)
Love,
Mom
You told me today that you and a boy in your class, Harrison, have decided that you are going to get married when you are grown-ups. He seems like a nice boy and he actually has the same last name as you, so that's convenient! :-)
Love,
Mom
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