Dear Lila,
Yesterday, I taught you how to use the toaster oven to make toast and you were so excited about learning this new skill that I said you can make my toast every morning. So this morning, you did just that while I was still in bed. You put a slice of bread in the toaster and when it was done, you put it on a plate, took the cream cheese out of the fridge and used a butter knife to slather cream cheese on the toast. You excitedly came and got me out of bed and I went downstairs to eat the first breakfast you had ever made for me. I took a big bite and, well, almost gagged. You, my little chef-in-training, had put chive and onion cream cheese on a slice of sweet blueberry toast. Gotta say, not my favorite flavor combination but I am proud of you for making me breakfast all on your own. Thank you, sweetie!
Love,
Mom
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Midnight Mess
Dear Lila,
When you become a mom, you imagine the baby snuggles, the trips to the playground, the first days of school. You never imagine that one day, your 6-year-old will pull down her pants, squat over her mattress and poop in her bed in the middle of the night because she was half-asleep and thought she was on the toilet. Oh. My. GOD!
I check on you and your brothers a few times after you all go to bed and I was doing a routine check when I walked into your dark room around 11pm last night. I was expecting you to be passed out and snoring like you usually are but when I walked in yesterday, you were standing on your mattress. You saw me walk in and said, "I have to use the bathroom." Sure, no problem, I turned on the light so you could see your way to the bathroom and walked around to the side of your bed. What I saw first: your naked butt and your pajama bottoms around your ankles. I was confused and was about to ask you why you already took off your pants when you weren't even in the bathroom. Then I saw--and smelled--the sizable pile of poop on your mattress. Oh. My. GOD! It was a decent amount of poop and I yelled at you not to move but of course that made you move and you stepped right into the poop. Oh. My. GOD!
I called out for Daddy to come help, he carried you to the shower and I threw away your sheets and remade your bed with clean linens. I was worried you had a stomach bug but you were fine after your shower (and even started playing happily with your toys before I reminded you that it was the middle of the night and you had school in the morning) and there were no more incidents. Seriously. Motherhood!
Love,
Mom
When you become a mom, you imagine the baby snuggles, the trips to the playground, the first days of school. You never imagine that one day, your 6-year-old will pull down her pants, squat over her mattress and poop in her bed in the middle of the night because she was half-asleep and thought she was on the toilet. Oh. My. GOD!
I check on you and your brothers a few times after you all go to bed and I was doing a routine check when I walked into your dark room around 11pm last night. I was expecting you to be passed out and snoring like you usually are but when I walked in yesterday, you were standing on your mattress. You saw me walk in and said, "I have to use the bathroom." Sure, no problem, I turned on the light so you could see your way to the bathroom and walked around to the side of your bed. What I saw first: your naked butt and your pajama bottoms around your ankles. I was confused and was about to ask you why you already took off your pants when you weren't even in the bathroom. Then I saw--and smelled--the sizable pile of poop on your mattress. Oh. My. GOD! It was a decent amount of poop and I yelled at you not to move but of course that made you move and you stepped right into the poop. Oh. My. GOD!
I called out for Daddy to come help, he carried you to the shower and I threw away your sheets and remade your bed with clean linens. I was worried you had a stomach bug but you were fine after your shower (and even started playing happily with your toys before I reminded you that it was the middle of the night and you had school in the morning) and there were no more incidents. Seriously. Motherhood!
Love,
Mom
Friday, January 25, 2019
Substantial Evidence
Dear Lila,
We had a not-so-typical conversation at breakfast this morning when you asked me out of the blue:
You: How do you pray?
Me: You just talk. It can be out loud or in your head and you say what you want to say to God.
You (hesitantly): Can you say you don't like God?
Me: Yes, but do you have a reason for saying that?
You: You mean I have to substantiate?
Whoa, questions about a greater being AND the use of a four-syllable word I didn't know you knew. That was a lot to take in before I finished my coffee!
Love,
Mom
We had a not-so-typical conversation at breakfast this morning when you asked me out of the blue:
You: How do you pray?
Me: You just talk. It can be out loud or in your head and you say what you want to say to God.
You (hesitantly): Can you say you don't like God?
Me: Yes, but do you have a reason for saying that?
You: You mean I have to substantiate?
Whoa, questions about a greater being AND the use of a four-syllable word I didn't know you knew. That was a lot to take in before I finished my coffee!
Love,
Mom
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
All Finished
Dear Lila,
You had an eye appointment after school today and Daddy had dinner ready when we finally got home, so you weren't able to start your homework until we finished dinner at 6:30pm. You had spelling, math, grammar, science and reading/reflection (whew, a lot) and at 7:30pm, you had finished everything except the reading and reflection. It was late so I told you to skip the reading and reflection for tonight and I would tell your teacher that you couldn't do it since you came home late from the eye appointment. However, you insisted that you had to finish all of your assigned homework tonight and you were so passionate about it that I let you stay up and do it. You were done by 8pm and I was super proud of you for finishing all of your work and powering through when I know you must have been tired. Good job, sweetie!
Love,
Mom
You had an eye appointment after school today and Daddy had dinner ready when we finally got home, so you weren't able to start your homework until we finished dinner at 6:30pm. You had spelling, math, grammar, science and reading/reflection (whew, a lot) and at 7:30pm, you had finished everything except the reading and reflection. It was late so I told you to skip the reading and reflection for tonight and I would tell your teacher that you couldn't do it since you came home late from the eye appointment. However, you insisted that you had to finish all of your assigned homework tonight and you were so passionate about it that I let you stay up and do it. You were done by 8pm and I was super proud of you for finishing all of your work and powering through when I know you must have been tired. Good job, sweetie!
Love,
Mom
Saturday, January 12, 2019
So Studious
Dear Lila,
You woke up with a fever this morning and to try and make you feel better, I said we could do whatever you wanted: read a book together, play a board game, play Barbies. You asked me, "What about my homework?" My super-responsible girl, even with a 101-degree fever!
Love,
Mom
You woke up with a fever this morning and to try and make you feel better, I said we could do whatever you wanted: read a book together, play a board game, play Barbies. You asked me, "What about my homework?" My super-responsible girl, even with a 101-degree fever!
Love,
Mom
Thursday, December 27, 2018
You're Six Years Old!
Dear Lila,
Every year on your birthdays, I mark your and your brothers' heights on this one post in the attic. It's always fun to see how much you each have grown in one year and to compare all of your heights at different ages. When I marked your height today, we could see that you had grown four inches since your last birthday and that you at 6 years old are a smidge taller than GuhGaw was when he was 7! You are probably going to be taller than your big brother in a few years!
Happy 6th birthday, Lilabear! You now need two hands of fingers to show how old you are! This was an eventful year for you: your kindergarten graduation, your first overseas trip, joining the G&T class at a new school. Some parents are nervous about enrolling their kids in the G&T program because the work load is heavier and the pace is accelerated. Even over the summer, your brother didn't have any summer assignments but you had to read the biography of Pablo Picasso and Mary Poppins and complete a report on the latter, which is actually a fifth-grade-level book. Once school began, you already had homework on the first day and you have had quite a bit of homework every night. You have a spelling test every Friday and you don't even get a break on weekends because you have a book report due every Monday. It's a lot for a first grader, especially one like you who is the youngest in the class. But you have impressed me time and time again with your focus and determination. I know you would rather spend your afternoons playing but you are so responsible that you always do all of your homework because you know that is what you are supposed to do. And you don't phone it in, either. If your teacher asks you for "two or three examples" from your reading, you always find three. If the directions say, "Use words, numbers or pictures to explain," you use all three to illustrate the math problem even when I try to save time and tell you to only use one method. You read for more than the requested 20 minutes. You do the optional review sheets. You take pride in doing good work and that attitude will take you so far in life.
I am so proud of how well you are doing in the G&T class. You can handle the work load, you understand the material, you read so beautifully and your handwriting has improved immensely (it is so neat and pretty now, whereas it somewhat resembled a serial killer's at the beginning of the semester). I am also so proud of the person you are. You are so kind, thoughtful and caring. One night, you ran up to DiDi to give him a hug but you were holding a full water bottle so when you threw your arm around DiDi, you whacked him in the face with the water bottle. He started crying and then you started crying. While I was comforting DiDi, I asked you why you were crying and you said it was because you hurt DiDi. It was obviously an accident but his pain was your pain, too, and it was sweet to see how sensitive and empathetic you are.
Now that you are a little older, you have traded in your picture books for, well, more picture books--you love graphic novels, especially the Babysitters Club ones and those by Raina Telgemeier. You also like Disney Channel shows featuring older kids, such as "Bunk'd," but still watch cartoons like Fancy Nancy and Bubble Guppies. You still love princesses and pink and all things sparkly, so it's no surprise that this year, you developed an obsession for two main things:
1) unicorns
2) flippy sequins
You get so excited when you see something with unicorns or something with flippy sequins or *gasp* a unicorn made of flippy sequins (your friend recently gave you a flippy sequin unicorn key chain and your reaction was epic). Your friends (and, well, most little girls all over the world) share your love of unicorns and when we went out for your birthday a couple weeks ago, you all donned unicorn apparel and accessories and chose to paint unicorns at the art studio.
For your actual birthday today, Daddy and I focused on another one of your loves: sugar! We took the subway to Manhattan, where we let you fill up a bag of treats at Dylan's Candy Bar before having lunch and indulging in the famous Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity. Our waiter at Serendipity was great and even asked everyone in the dining room to sing "Happy Birthday" to you when the sundae came out. And you and your brothers guzzled the dessert down to fast, Daddy and I didn't even get any!
After lunch, we went to Grand Central Terminal to check out the holiday train show, so it was a long day but throughout the day, you kept stopping to hug me and say thank you, so I know you were enjoying yourself. I am so happy you had a great birthday. I love you so much, baby girl!
Love,
Mom
Every year on your birthdays, I mark your and your brothers' heights on this one post in the attic. It's always fun to see how much you each have grown in one year and to compare all of your heights at different ages. When I marked your height today, we could see that you had grown four inches since your last birthday and that you at 6 years old are a smidge taller than GuhGaw was when he was 7! You are probably going to be taller than your big brother in a few years!
Happy 6th birthday, Lilabear! You now need two hands of fingers to show how old you are! This was an eventful year for you: your kindergarten graduation, your first overseas trip, joining the G&T class at a new school. Some parents are nervous about enrolling their kids in the G&T program because the work load is heavier and the pace is accelerated. Even over the summer, your brother didn't have any summer assignments but you had to read the biography of Pablo Picasso and Mary Poppins and complete a report on the latter, which is actually a fifth-grade-level book. Once school began, you already had homework on the first day and you have had quite a bit of homework every night. You have a spelling test every Friday and you don't even get a break on weekends because you have a book report due every Monday. It's a lot for a first grader, especially one like you who is the youngest in the class. But you have impressed me time and time again with your focus and determination. I know you would rather spend your afternoons playing but you are so responsible that you always do all of your homework because you know that is what you are supposed to do. And you don't phone it in, either. If your teacher asks you for "two or three examples" from your reading, you always find three. If the directions say, "Use words, numbers or pictures to explain," you use all three to illustrate the math problem even when I try to save time and tell you to only use one method. You read for more than the requested 20 minutes. You do the optional review sheets. You take pride in doing good work and that attitude will take you so far in life.
I am so proud of how well you are doing in the G&T class. You can handle the work load, you understand the material, you read so beautifully and your handwriting has improved immensely (it is so neat and pretty now, whereas it somewhat resembled a serial killer's at the beginning of the semester). I am also so proud of the person you are. You are so kind, thoughtful and caring. One night, you ran up to DiDi to give him a hug but you were holding a full water bottle so when you threw your arm around DiDi, you whacked him in the face with the water bottle. He started crying and then you started crying. While I was comforting DiDi, I asked you why you were crying and you said it was because you hurt DiDi. It was obviously an accident but his pain was your pain, too, and it was sweet to see how sensitive and empathetic you are.
Now that you are a little older, you have traded in your picture books for, well, more picture books--you love graphic novels, especially the Babysitters Club ones and those by Raina Telgemeier. You also like Disney Channel shows featuring older kids, such as "Bunk'd," but still watch cartoons like Fancy Nancy and Bubble Guppies. You still love princesses and pink and all things sparkly, so it's no surprise that this year, you developed an obsession for two main things:
1) unicorns
2) flippy sequins
You get so excited when you see something with unicorns or something with flippy sequins or *gasp* a unicorn made of flippy sequins (your friend recently gave you a flippy sequin unicorn key chain and your reaction was epic). Your friends (and, well, most little girls all over the world) share your love of unicorns and when we went out for your birthday a couple weeks ago, you all donned unicorn apparel and accessories and chose to paint unicorns at the art studio.
For your actual birthday today, Daddy and I focused on another one of your loves: sugar! We took the subway to Manhattan, where we let you fill up a bag of treats at Dylan's Candy Bar before having lunch and indulging in the famous Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity. Our waiter at Serendipity was great and even asked everyone in the dining room to sing "Happy Birthday" to you when the sundae came out. And you and your brothers guzzled the dessert down to fast, Daddy and I didn't even get any!
After lunch, we went to Grand Central Terminal to check out the holiday train show, so it was a long day but throughout the day, you kept stopping to hug me and say thank you, so I know you were enjoying yourself. I am so happy you had a great birthday. I love you so much, baby girl!
Love,
Mom
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Dancing Star
Dear Lila,
You impressed me twice today. First, you totally rocked your school dance performance this morning! You nailed the choreography and looked so energized and exuberant while dancing to "Born This Way." I am constantly amazed by how much your confidence has grown over the years, especially when I look back and remember how afraid you used to be just looking someone in the eyes and speaking to him or her. Even just last year at your kindergarten winter concert, you were so nervous standing on the stage that you kept trying to back up and hide behind the girl standing next to you! But this morning, you were excited to perform in front of an auditorium full of parents and you were so amazing!
Then later in the afternoon when we picked up DiDi from school, you were about to eat the last gingerbread cookie in your snack box. DiDi wanted it, too, though, so you broke it into two pieces. One piece was significantly larger and had an M&M on it while the other piece was smaller and lacked an M&M but you didn't even hesitate before you gave the bigger M&M-adorned piece to your little brother. That made me so proud!
Love,
Mom
You impressed me twice today. First, you totally rocked your school dance performance this morning! You nailed the choreography and looked so energized and exuberant while dancing to "Born This Way." I am constantly amazed by how much your confidence has grown over the years, especially when I look back and remember how afraid you used to be just looking someone in the eyes and speaking to him or her. Even just last year at your kindergarten winter concert, you were so nervous standing on the stage that you kept trying to back up and hide behind the girl standing next to you! But this morning, you were excited to perform in front of an auditorium full of parents and you were so amazing!
Then later in the afternoon when we picked up DiDi from school, you were about to eat the last gingerbread cookie in your snack box. DiDi wanted it, too, though, so you broke it into two pieces. One piece was significantly larger and had an M&M on it while the other piece was smaller and lacked an M&M but you didn't even hesitate before you gave the bigger M&M-adorned piece to your little brother. That made me so proud!
Love,
Mom
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