Last night before bed, I sat Caroline down on the potty so hopefully she could have one last tee-tee before she went to sleep. I was kneeling down next to her and she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulled me close until our noses were touching and said, “I’m going to tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, beautiful girl named Mama”.
Does it even matter what the rest of the story was? My heart exploded into a millon tiny pieces.
Caroline had dance class yesterday and even though she’s been going to dance since July, I crack up every time she has on her leotard and tights. Her boodelay (thanks for that word, Toni) isn’t any bigger than it was the day she was born. She’s just a long, lean dancing machine, except for her little pot belly which is quickly becoming the last remnant of babyhood.
Mimi and Bops had been out of town all weekend, so they came to watch her dance class. Bops said that he told his secretary he was leaving work early because Caroline had “a little dance thing” and his secretary told him to be sure and take pictures. He had to confess that really he was just going to watch her dance class. The girl has had an entourage since the day she was born.
Caroline was thrilled to see them because after all it had been three whole days. In fact, on Saturday she got into trouble at naptime and she was quick to tell me, “I just want my Mimi and Bops.” They are big on the love at Mimi and Bops’ house, not so much on the discipline. But, hey that’s what grandparents are for and we should all be so lucky to have someone in our lives who thinks we’re adorable no matter what we do.
The thing I enjoy most about watching her dance in class is that she tends to get carried away watching herself in the mirror and quits paying attention to the teacher. She twirls, she grins, and she twists around so that she can admire her backside. She is a complete ham and I have no idea where on earth she gets it.
Caroline’s school has show and tell once a week and we’re supposed to bring something that starts with the letter of the week. Last week was the letter “A”, so I did some serious looking around the house and found an arrowhead. Perfection.
I showed it to Caroline and told her it was a rock that Indians had carved to make an arrow so that they could use it to hunt. She was intrigued and I could see the wheels turning in her mind.
Mimi and Bops showed up a little later to see her and she wanted to show them her precious arrowhead. She launched into a long story about someone named (as near as we can tell) Nibblewise. Apparently this arrowhead belonged to an Indian named Nibblewise and it was very IMPORTANT. He used it to shoot “Hiyotes” (coyotes) and Javelinas. She was very serious about her story and it went on and on and on. At one point I picked up our phone bill to look it over and she said “Mama, you need to put down that paper and listen about Nibblewise”. So I did. And when she finished her tale, she looked us all in the eye and said “Now you need to clap”. We gave her a thunderous round of applause.
The girl has a future in fiction writing. I can’t even do justice to the telling of the legend of Nibblewise. I’m not sure if the class got the same story during show and tell, but if they did, it was a real treat.
About a month ago, I told y’all about how we got rid of Caroline’s pacifiers. You can read the story of her addiction here.
Well, the other day we were out in the backyard and the garbage men drove by. She loves to watch their big truck so I said, “Look Caroline, it’s the garbage men!” and she got so excited and said, “Oh Mama, maybe they’re bringing my pacis back!”
The word of the day is guilt.
Today was Caroline’s first day of school (and also day 5 of my sinus cavity being under siege). This is a new school for her this year, so I was a little anxious as we made our way there this morning. We walked into her new classroom and she immediately ran over to her classmates. I asked her if she was going to give me a hug and she did. I lingered for one more moment just to watch her and she looked back at me and said, “Aren’t you gonna leave?” Oh she put on a brave front, but I bet inside she was crying. Right.
I took my cue and left. I had a million things to do and it’s amazing how efficient one can be when not toting a 3 year old around. I actually ran errands and accomplished something.
When I arrived to pick her up she came running to me with a loud “Mama” and spent the whole ride home talking nonstop about her day. She told me about her new friends and even sang a little song for me that she learned at chapel. I asked her if they sang any other songs at chapel and she told me “Yes, we sang Sweet Caroline”, but I’m highly doubting the credibility of that claim. Methodists usually aren’t known for using Neil Diamond in their worship.
Today was also notable because it was the first truly rainy day we’ve had in about 6 months. It actually felt a little like fall between the rain and the fact that the high was only 83. 83 glorious degrees and I wanted to put on a long sleeve shirt. Oh cooler temperatures, how I love thee.
Anyway, Caroline has been begging for a raincoat, rainboots and an umbrella. I mean to the point of bordering on obsessive. I have been putting her off by telling her we’re in the middle of a drought and honestly, if it’s dry enough that you can’t even run the sprinklers then there is really no need to rush out and buy raingear that she’ll outgrow before we ever see a raindrop. I spent the last 6 months successfully dodging the raincoat bullet with the promise that we’ll buy a raincoat when it rains.
My child has a memory like the proverbial elephant.
We got home from school and she was having a snack. All of a sudden the light came on…”Mama, is it raining outside?” I said, “Yes, it’s raining. Isn’t that great?” and because I am so kid savvy I added “I bet the trees are loving this rain. They’re probably saying MMMM delicioso!” She cut me off mid Dora the Explorer reference to say, “Well, time to go to the store and buy my rainboots!”
Note to self, be careful what you promise.
So off we went to buy the full rainy day ensemble. They had so many cute options, pink cats, butterflies, flowers and princesses. This is what she chose.
Could she Bee any cuter? (I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)
Last night was Caroline’s big debut at Cat and Dave’s wedding. A ham is born. She strolled down that aisle only taking time to turn so that she could make sure everyone was admiring her. I don’t know where that comes from.
The two ringbearers walked straight to their mamas, but oh no not Caroline. She went right up and stood with the bridesmaids until it was time for her to come sit with me. She knew that candy awaited so the minute she sat down a feeding frenzy of marshmallows, lifesaver gummies, and M&M’s began. It was our version of the Holy Trinity for the 25 minutes the service lasted.
Her daddy was performing the ceremony, so all I could think about was how embarrassing it would be if she got too loud and I had to take the walk of shame down the longest center aisle known to man to get us out of there. But our sugar fueled bribe worked perfectly and I got to enjoy the whole service. P. did a great job and I’m not even being biased.
After the ceremony, they took pictures and Caroline announced that she was “a little bit TI-Red” but we headed off to the reception. She thought it was a great party, even though they didn’t have a pinata. It was an outside reception and other than the heat (good gracious, the heat) it was beautiful! There were twinkle lights everywhere and it looked like a fairytale.
We danced for awhile, but inevitably our little flower girl started to wilt. Mimi and Bops tried to get her to come to their house, but at that point she was beyond overtired and overstimulated. So, P. and I brought her home and got her to bed about 11:15 and didn’t hear a peep out of her until 6:15 this morning when she decided she was up for the day. Can you say the law of diminishing returns?
Bops told her at the end of the night what a good job she did and said “I could just eat you up!” and she told him “Bops, you don’t eat kids, just food.” But seriously, isn’t she so sweet that you could sop her up with a biscuit?
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