Full of It

I don't know if it was the fact that she had a big brownie for dessert at lunch, that she's finally over her drippy nose and cough, or if it's because it was early dismissal from school due to snow, or because Daddy was her date at Special Persons Lunch, or because she got to wear "blue and gold" clothes instead of her uniform (Catholic Schools Week), or what, but Beatrice was FULL.OF. IT. today! Silly, wild, mischievous, devious, and oh so very happy. She must have said "close your eyes!"  a dozen times today and each time when I opened them she had done something naughty and/or ridiculous. Yet I kept closing them.  :)  And then she gives this devilish laugh.....

Here she is at the end of the day, giving me a "pirate face" with pajama bottoms on top of her head.  She demanded that I get the camera and photograph her.  Of course I obliged:

She started the day with showing me Chocolate Chip (her new favorite friend) with his "super hero cape"  (aka used kleenex with ponytail holder):

She played hard all day:  card games, board games, and of course pretend.  Today, all within the confines of our home, we churned butter, made honey, and hunted bear (aka Sula---all the influence of reading Little House in the Big Woods).  We  had an elaborate Queen's campout complete with packed suitcases, sleeping bags, a spaghetti dinner cooked over campfire, and an enormous tent held down by using "a banger." (I think that's a hammer).  Cousins Molly, Kate, and Sophie joined us too.  (Her pretend friends) Mango and Madonna are back in town, as her parents apparently need to attend a funeral and I agree to watch them.  Almost everything Beatrice owns has at least two purposes, one concrete and one or many imaginative, and she is just devastated when I throw away or recycle something that was ultimately important to her imaginary world, but which I just see as a piece of trash.  Such a sad twist of fate that this creative genius has such a rational, literal mother!

It's hard enough to skate for the first time in 2 decades,

But even more of a challenge to do so while holding a big bulky camera!  But it happened.  We headed to the ice rink today, for the first time in over twenty years for both Anthony and me, and first time ever for Bea.  She  was not enthused when she heard what was on the agenda for the day, but there was no way we were backing out since she's talked about this on and off for over a year.  I wasn't sure any of us would make it on the ice, and even more certain that we wouldn't last more than five minutes, so first I made sure we had good shots to prove we were actually there:

See?  That's me in my $4 rental skates:

Like with most things, Beatrice had to warm up to the idea and do it in her own time.  Anthony and I skated a bit first alone and she stayed on the sidelines with my sister.  With the assistance of a, um, eh, oh let's just call it what it was....a bribe of hot chocolate, we got her out with her own "walker."  She thought she was just like Pepere!

 She was a trooper, and none of us fell, not even once!  Miracles do happen!

What was not photographed was her second outing on the ice, with no walker,  and just holding my hand.  That was an experience I'll never forget.  Complete trust in me.  Because Mama said it would be okay, she risked everything and conquered her fear.  Thank you Beatrice for trusting us.  What a wonderful outing!

Quoteworthy

My four-star rhymer strikes again!  Yesterday morning Bea decided to talk about a "wicked witch."  No idea where she heard about or saw it, but "wicked witch, wicked witch" was sung and talked about repeatedly through breakfast.  Then suddenly it became "wicked witch, wicked  _itch, wicked witch, wicked  _itch" over and over.  Don't know why she was eyeing me at that point.  :)

Then tonight, during dinner I noticed the cracks in the outside kitchen wall and remarked to Anthony how many there were!  He said that this summer he will fill them in, sand, etc. and Beatrice says "No Daddy, it's okay.  We live in a crack house!"  Hopefully she won't repeat that one at school.



Last quote, because it's been going on for weeks and because someday I will forget... Beatrice uses the phrase "even me!" instead of "me too" every time she wants to express that she agrees with something or shares an opinion.  I love going back over this blog and re-reading posts about little things like that which I'd have surely forgotten had they not been documented, so now it's in writing!

Post-nap Saturday afternoon

Look who just woke up?

Beatrice, your cheeks are so rosy and the sun is so beautiful, may I please take a picture?

Could I have just a little smile?  A teeny one?

Almost, one more try!

There it is!  Thank you!

             1/2 hour or so later, little Liberace donned an accessory scarf for practice time:

She has five songs to practice, but I told her she could pick any three:

                     Now that she's in Book 3, most songs have notes played with both hands:

I love the focus in this picture!

Rest, Fluids, and...

try on various head accessories and Mama's reading glasses!  Beatrice visited the doctor and came away with a diagnosis of the flu and a recommendation for some time away from school.  Despite a near constant cough and dripping nose, she is chipper and pleasant as can be.   

I can't even fathom how parents cope with a child who is seriously ill, because it just kills me to have her even this miserable, especially since she doesn't feel bad for herself or complain. Not one bit.

Sweetie girl.

Dance Show Weekend

Beatrice's dance studio put on their winter show "Through the Eyes of a Child" and she was in a skit in which the girls entered in their robes, then walked through an imaginary castle and danced around as princesses in all their glory. Beatrice has been under the weather with a cold on and off for weeks now, and of course last night if flared up so she spent much of last night's stage time coughing, but she was a trooper.  We couldn't take pictures during the performance itself, so these will have to do.  I especially love the ones of her and Sula before the show today.  Apparently my little girl has a pet pony now. And we wonder why our dog is on Xanax.....

Lady in Red

Last night, while drifting off to sleep in our bed...

(Bea gets two "sleepovers" a week with us, which is five fewer than she'd like and one more than I'd like.)  Here's the conversation as she drifted off between the two of us last night, cradled in her Daddy's embrace:

me:  Beatrice, I know you love sleeping with Mama and Daddy, but do you know who loves it even MORE than you?
Bea:  who?
me:  Daddy
Bea:  no, I love it GOODER!
me:  I don't think so, your Daddy just loves our family sleepovers
Bea:  But I love them TWELVE!
Anthony:  I love them A MILLION!
Bea:  I love them THIS WHOLE LIFE!
Daddy:  Wow, Bea, that is a lot.  Good night....
(5 minutes later, as she's breathing deeply and I assume is asleep)
me (whispering): Anthony, how sweet was that?..."I love it 'gooder', 'twelve', and 'this whole life"
Beatrice:  YOU NEED TO BE QUIET, YOU'RE INTERRUPTING ME, YOU GUYS STOP INTERRUPTING AND GO TO SLEEP!!

Wrapping up Vacation

Sometimes I can measure how much I'm enjoying an event or moment by the number of photos I do NOT take, and Christmas 2012 was one example.  There wasn't much documentation of the holiday, either because I was relaxing, too busy, or couldn't make the way to my camera in all the craziness of having, for a few days anyway, ten people in our house! Anthony's sister and family trekked up from Maryland on the 26th and stayed until the 30th.  His folks arrived the 27th and just left today.  It was really great to all be together, a very rare thing indeed.  So,  I didn't photograph Beatrice performing Jingle Bells any of the numerous times on the piano, nor did I photograph her eye infection and drippy nose which has plagued her for days, nor her racing around the house or playing madly with her cousins, or loving up her Lolo and Lola. I also didn't catch the great visit with the Fulco "kids", the symphony or dinner with Quynh, Matt and Lucy snuggling up with Sula, or even of Bea playing with her beloved presents. But here are a few:

 Bea and Sula anxiously await the Brodeur clan for Christmas Eve dinner:

Christmas morning, aka "Carnage."  For memory's sake, Santa brought her a few sticker books, a treasure chest full of fancy dress-up clothes, a flashlight, her own stationery and envelopes, and a bag full of chocolate gold coins, to name some:

Her dress-up clothes have been a hit all week, especially with her and 7-year old cousin Linden:

                         We snapped a Foronda family photo before the Dirksens headed out:

                                       Lolo and Lola with their four grandchildren:

              We had a white Christmas, but just barely, then a "real storm" on 12/30:

                I always had a shovel and rake my size as a kid, and Bea does too.  If only she could learn that the snow goes from the driveway to the grass, not vice versa!

                                                         First snow angel of the season:

                        Bea loves nothing more than to throw herself face down into snow and start eating it:

That's it, and to make up for a lack of photos, here's the first of 2013 before bedtime tonight:

Happy New Year indeed.  Bring on 2013!