Meme

I write this post with great sadness in my heart.   My daughter's beloved Meme passed away on May 2nd.  She fought a brave and courageous battle with cancer for an amazing 28 years.    Her Memorial was this last weekend, which touched all our hearts, brought many tears and also some smiles with what a wonderful life she had.  

Meme and the girls,  Summer 2009

My girls lost an amazing Grandmother and I lost the joy of watching this relationship develop. Maddy's eyes would get big and filled with joy when she knew she would get to spend the afternoon with Meme. She treasured her Tea Parties with Meme.

Baby Makena, June 2009

And little Makena knew who Meme was from an early age.   I remember one holiday when Makena was just learning to walk, and made her way to Meme hoping to sit on her lap.   Meme brightened up and smiled big realizing Makena wanted only to be with her.



Our Wedding Day, Hanalei Bay, Kauai in 2003

How much we miss Meme, but how lucky we are to have such wonderful memories of our time with her.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Mary Elizabeth Frye

 

Meme with Baby Madelyn on St. Patricks Day 2008

Expletives by a Four Year Old

Lately Ms. Maddy has had quite the little temper on her.   I know where she gets this fierce little temper from.   I had dreams of raising calm, quiet, well-minded little girls it was only really a dream.   Like the saying goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.   

Madelyn has come up with some pretty interesting "expletives" lately for various reasons angry at her loving Mom and Dad.  I've started keeping track, as most times I'm trying to stifle my laughter.  Being told off by your 4 Year Old, with her angriest words is just funny.    It also usually involves growling, sticking out her tongue, and the best one - crossing her arms and giving me the 'Hmmmpphh' face with big pouty lips. 

Madelyn's repertoire of expletives:
Owie-Head
Ouchie Butt
Poop in your Belly 
PoopyHead
TrickyMomma  - Yes, that is right girl..and don't you forget it!

While I don't condone this behavior, at times I feel I just need to let it go.   Choose your battles, they say.  And honestly if the girl wants to be angry and call me a Owie-Head, so be it.    We are trying to eradicate the phrase 'poopyhead' out of our house.   I swear this is a 4/5 year old thing.   Everything is "poopy".   Maybe I should stick a bar of soap in her mouth, like my mom would threaten. 

Makena is still struggling with words, so for now she screams at ear crushing volumes which definitely gets your attention.    Makena is more of everything Madelyn is.   I like to say that Madelyn is training for Makena.    I have no doubt that Makena's future "expletives" will out do her Big Sister.

Other little gems from Ms. Maddy -
Upon noticing her underwear were a bit wet and asking her about that she said "I think I need a wiping lesson"
Overheard riding in the car, while she is looking at her Bible.  "Makena, be quiet.  I'm reading."   Hmm..really?  I didn't know she could read. 
At quiet time - "Mom, can I have three hours of quiet time?"   Yes, and a lesson on time after you get up.  :)
And most recently overheard  - "What kid? What is it? Need help? I'll help you. I'm a good helper. Mom doesn't know how. "

Three

Makena turned the big Three at the end of May.   It was a bit of a rough month, but we managed to pull off a fabulous Mickey Mouse themed party at the YMCA Adventure Zone.  1 hour of running around madness, followed by pizza and cupcakes.   She loved it.   

 Group pictures with the 2-5 year old set is not an easy task

Cupcakes were part of a friend's fundraiser, which worked out perfectly for this over-scheduled mom.
'Girl with the Cute Cakes' dropped these right off at the door of the Y, saving me even more hassle. Fantastic.

 
Peering over the table with Mickey Mouse Gift Bags and Cupcakes.  Hard to resist not digging right in. 

Watching Makena's cute face light up as the birthday candles were lit and we all started singing.  She loved it.  She got a shy smile and looked all around, as if to say "For ME??"   It made my momma heart burst.   The best part of being a parent is the unexpected moments of pure joy on your child's face.   To put it in perspective, Maddy still does not enjoy having being the center of attention for Birthdays.   So fantastically different to watch Makena bask in the spotlight.

Presents, the best part right? She wasted no time in ripping into these when we got home.  Happy Birthday, Makena.   I have no doubt the year will be filled with much adventure from you.

The Chihuahuas go for a Walk

Mom has taken to calling the kids Chihuahuas, always yipping at her and constantly underfoot.  We went for a walk in a park nearby this morning to give Mom some quiet time.

Makena fell asleep in the car after an afternoon birthday party, clutching her post party happy meal and goodie bag.

Easter

I found a thing on Pinterest recently about dyeing eggs with Kool-Aid.   Seemed easy and fun, so I gave it a try with Maddy.   This is the first time we tried dyeing eggs.   Unfortunately I didn't let my eggs boil for quite long enough, so they didn't really turn out. 


Egg Dyeing

 The Kool-Aid thing worked okay, not great.  The colors were a bit odd.   Maddy loved it and was pleased.  Next year, we'll buy the Paas kit and let the girls go at it.

Kool-Aid Eggs

 
And the Easter Bunny found his way to our house once again.   The baskets were so cute, but Mom forgot to take before pics.  

Easter Baskets

The best Egg Hunt of all was at Meme and Pepe's House.   No crowds, no craziness, just the girls enjoying the day.   

Egg Hunt at Meme and Pepe's

Michael and I brought Easter Brunch up to Meme and Pepe's.   And the best part was the donuts, of course.   Easter Donuts.  I think it should be an annual tradition.

Easter Donuts

Food Therapy

Many of you know, some of you may not. Makena has a pretty significant speech delay. She is almost three years old and has about 30-40 words.  Most of those came only recently after many sessions of speech therapy.   We started speech therapy back in June of 2011 and did not make much progress until recently.  We still have a long way to go for her to catch up to her age level.

Cognitively, she understands everything.  She is smart very stubborn girl, who definitely gets it.   But talking for her is tough.   I'll talk more about her speech delay in the next post.  This post is about food.    One of the things we started a few months back was Food Therapy sessions.  

Makena is what I call an excessively picky kid.  This is not your normal kid pickiness.    When we started she had about 10 foods she would eat.   No meat, no rice, no beans, no cheese, no mixed foods, and on and on and on.  Wouldn't she just outgrow this? Can't we just make her eat? If a kid gets hungry enough, they'll eat.   I've heard all of these statements before and the answer is I cannot force her to eat. Makena will just not eat not matter how long the food is there, or how hungry she is.

There is more at play here than just being picky. And Food therapy is helping us to overcome that.

Dara, our occupational therapist has helped to to open doors for exploring new foods, making food fun, taking away the fear around it, and helping her speech.   Most of all, Makena loves it. She is excited to go each week and has a special connection with her therapist, Dara.   



When we started Makena wouldn't touch a many foods, and most definitely wouldn't have it on her plate.  The changes don't come overnight.  Its hard, slow work with basically playing with your food.  Taking away negative around it and showing her food is fun.  It goes against all basic table manners and is all about getting messy, playing, and having fun.    And after four months of sessions, its working.   We still have a long way to go, but its working.   I can see the change in her that she is now curious and interested about food.  It doesn't mean she'll reach over and just try something new.  But...she is curious, which is the first step. 

 

Bunny Bounce

We went to the Woodland Park Zoo for the annual Bunny Bounce a few weeks ago.  It seemed like it would be fun.  I heard good reports from friends who went in past years.    We got there and I completely under-estimated crowds and chaos.   I really don't know what we were thinking.  

Waiting for the Egg Hunt.  Check out the mass of people in the background,
 just waiting in line for the next Egg Hunt.  Crazy!

I will be honest in that the egg hunt was just lame.    You search for eggs, with nothing in them and then recycle them into boxes as you leave the hunt.   That is it.  That is all.   The girls seemed to like it.  I think we could have had more fun staying home.  

We cut our zoo trip short and headed over to the Locks.  It was a gorgeous day, perfect for checking out the boats and running around the gorgeous gardens at the Locks.    Stopped by Red Mill Burgers across the street for a yummy lunch.

 Lesson Learned.  Skip crazy holiday events at the Zoo.   So not worth it.  What is worth it is a trip to Red Mill Burgers.  I recommend the Verde Chicken Burger.   And if its sunny, a walk through the Locks.

Random Acts of March

Wyatt likes to hang out on the neighbors roof.   My friend Melissa spotted him on the neighbor's roof peaking in the windows.   I know why.  They have a little Jack Russell Terrier, who is no doubt going nuts inside, as my cat peaks in the windows and climbs all around the roof.   I wish I had a picture of that.  I caught him climbing down from the tip top.   Crazy cat.

One morning I came into the kitchen after doing something in another room, to find Makena had helped herself to crackers.   Only she poured out the entire box onto her plate.   Instead of getting mad, I grabbed the camera.   Picture worthy.

We re-discovered Matthews Beach Park on Lake Washington.  Its a bit out of the way, but a great park and fabulous playground on Lake Washington.   

Rare picture of smiling Dad.   Yes he smiles....but hard to capture it on the camera. 

Sister hugs.  I can't get enough of these.   They are loving sisters, but lately the hitting and hair-pulling has stepped it up a notch.   I need more moments like this and less hair-pulling.

Yet another incident when I was out of the room.    Came back to the kitchen to find Makena had gotten into our freezer, and pulled out the mini-ice cream cones from Trader Joes.  It was 10am.   She was caught with two in her hand, at the same time.   Maddy was screaming, "I want one!".   What's a mom to do.  Grab the camera, take pictures, and have a mid-morning ice cream cone snack.  

Park Day

There is nothing like that first few days of sunshine after a long grey wet winter in Seattle.    We headed out to a favorite park a few weeks ago with our friends.    I brought the kids ride-on toys and after gathering our stuff we walked on in.   

Broken Trike.   Hoping Dad or Pepe can fix this mess.

I was holding the tricycle and walking with the kids, when we hit a bump in the sidewalk.   The tricycle front tire flew up and literally flew apart.   Pieces of trike everywhere.  It has pretty dang funny.  One minute we had a trike, the next we just had parts.    Luckily Makena was not on it at the time.    Makena started crying at her broken trike and I could do nothing but laugh.

This particular park is near a lake and has a great play area. We ran into some other friends and as I was chatting away, I looked up to find this. My two-year old climbing up this steep ladder thing which she seems much too small for. What could I do? She can obviously handle it as she made it to the top. So I snapped some pics. Makena is quite the climber and doesn't have a lot of fear.

The three are quite the trio of girls.  Mostly its Molly and Maddy.  But once in awhile they let Makena in on their silliness.  

Classic kid moment. Thowing rocks in the lake.   I bet they could have done it for hours.

New Camera

Just playing with a new camera my hubby got with some Christmas money.  I really need to take a class.  I'm a bit clueless with the new fancier model.   For now, a few cute pics. 

Happy Heart Day

I got crafty this year for Valentines Day.  Maddy and I made homemade dipped Oreos.  
For those who know me, being crafty is not something that comes easily.   But after some googling I found these little morsels which seemed easy.  They were meant to be on stick, aka lollipop style.  But that part didn't work so well.   Forget the stick....pull out cute little bags, add red ribbon and were done!    Maddy added the sprinkles, of course.    Desserts aren't truly done till sprinkles are added, at least according to Maddy.  

Poor Mr. Wyatt had some Valentines decorations.  He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Mmm...Yum!

Can you say too many hearts in one mouthful?

Meme and Cousin Barb stopped by with some Valentines Day treats for the girls.   Both girls were sick and this little surprise was fantastic for all of us.   After a few days at home with the girls, we are all going a bit nuts.   So why not add some candy to the mix?  They loved it and had big smiles to show it.

One with eyes closed and the other looking at the wall.    Such a portrait.

January Random-ness

Catching up on some January stuff.   Random photos.  The blog has felt no love over the past few months.  I am hoping we can change that. 

Its a bit like the closet scene from E.T, only its our mountain of laundry.

Sometimes we have a few laundry issues in this house.   Well, lets be honest.  We could use a laundry intervention.  It gets to epic proportions and we have "folding nights" where laundry is piled all over our family room floor.   I know this sounds crazy.   It is crazy.   We both hate folding laundry.   But the positive side of this?   The girls have the best time playing in it, being covered up by it and the squeals of delight are enough for us to continue this madness.   Sometimes being a bit crazy gets the biggest giggles from your kids.

My hubby is a saint.  He has spent weekend after weekend taking the girls to various outings and giving mom some much needed time away from the gremlins.    Children's Museum, Aquariums, Parks (weather cooperating), you name it...he will take them. Two thumbs up for my fantastic husband who allows mom to find her sanity for a few hours each weekend.
 

  

Monorail Ride

We have a few bird feeders in the yard.   One is a suet feeder, which the birds love.   And the squirrels go crazy over.   They devour a square of it within days.   I have seen all sorts of acrobatics performed in the name of food.  But one day I walked in and saw this.....hanging there, like its no big deal....munching away.     And how can you chase away a squirrel eating some yummy seeds on a snowy day?