A Tea Party Birthday

A few weeks ago, my little girl turned 5 and although it was a party at our home, it was actually quite nice. She wanted a tea party and so I obliged and transformed our living room into a parlor and we even had a visit from Belle the princess. The girls came dressed in their loveliest frocks and boys in their button downs and khaki's. We served tea, scone, pizzelles, muffins and mini cinnamon buns. It was a crisp October day in New York which luckily gave us the opportunity to spill out into the backyard since we ended up having more people than I expected. Everyone had a great time and my close friends and sisters stayed until pretty late chatting, laughing until the kids were thoroughly exhausted then we cleaned up and everyone left. I was so nervous that we'd have broken tea sets everywhere but the kids were very careful with pouring their tea and drinking from the tea sets, in fact the only thing that was broken was by me. It was a beautiful day for the most part.

Early that morning while I was frosting the cupcakes, Evalie snuck to take her seat at the table and began eating the snacks. It was cute to see her sitting quietly helping herself to a pizzelle I had to take a picture.

First day at Kindergarten

 I have been thinking about this day for a while, probably since the moment I noticed how much Arielle had grown up and how mature she became over the year since her sister was born and she started Montessori school. I was nervous, happy yet anxious and unsure I had chosen the best thing for my sweet girl but as the day approached the excitement built up and alas, Monday morning arrived and we ( me and her daddy) escorted her down to the bus for her first bus ride to school. Although she has been institutionalized ( in the nicest possible way..daycare, Montessori school etc) I have always dropped her off and picked her up ( beside a few time when my mother would get her) so it was a big step for me and for her to be so indepedent. I was sure she would cry because she was still crying at drop offs in May..but we held it together.

She had lots of friends at the bus stop and two of them would be riding the same bus as her everyday so I knew she would not feel alone. Then the bus came and she waved goodbye with a backpack that was almost as big s she is. She found a seat in the front and off she went. 

 We looked at each other and jumped in the car to follow the bus...

we arrived at the school and waited..and waited and waited...I started wondering if we had missed her. But finally her bus arrived at school and she jump off smiling then she saw us and ran to us for a last hug but calmly walked to the front door of the school and went in. We wondered for the next few hours how she was doing, what she was doing and if she made it to class. We the bus arrived at the house, me, her daddy, Aneta her nanny and Evalie were all there waiting to get her and she was very happy to see us. I was relieved and when I asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate, she said she just wanted to go home. I felt good, she did great, we were all proud of her and she missed us. She is excited about school, she likes her teacher, she's  making friends and its been great everyday since.

Gymnastics..

All parents want their kids to be good great at something. We are also guilty of pushing our kids too hard to do things they may not want to. I am having trouble finding the balance between being indifferent about extracurricular activities and being overly controlling. I want my kids to become well adjusted, successful people in life...really..lets face it they aren't going to be cute and cuddly forever..they are actually people.NEWSFLASH! I was raised by pretty very rather strict parents who believed in simple methods for keeping us kids in line and teaching us to do well in school...DO IT or else!
These days, I think that the education has become the status quo, I mean basically if you don't have a Masters or PHD from a good school, your opportunities are severely limited-at least for the kinds of "professions" I believe are worthwhile. There are certainly many in-betweens and there is the chance that one of the kids is a genius right?  but for considering the average child..

So the things the child acquires and experiences outside of school become very important because these are the things that will set them apart from the pack...diversity of language, musical inclination, competitive sports etc..right? Unfortunately, I don't believe in spending money to put the kids into a class just because its fashionable, I'll be the first to tell you that I don't think my child has the poise to be a ballerina so why put her in ballet class..for the outfits? People often ask me if I'd put her into modeling (as if its easy..)..well..wishful thinking, Arielle can't sit still for more than 2 minutes so I know this would not be fun for her...so no I don't think pursuing modeling wold be viable. Anyway, we tried gymnastics this year because after the Olympics and watching the great Gabby Douglas, that was all Arielle wanted to do.

Luckily we were able to get her into a class with her cousins and that was really beneficial to getting her into the program..but now..after months of watching her, I actually think she has great talent for gymnastics but I'm afraid to REALLY push her beyond the weekly class and into a more rigorous regimen. Also, she really only wants to join if her cousins do and I'm not sure they would want to join again. So what do we do? 

4 going on 40!

This is what happens when grandpa sends packages to our house! As I'm told, Arielle's grandpa asked her what she wanted for....hmmm..I don't know just being Arie I guess..and she said she wanted a make-up set. I came home last night and found a box on the doorstep and this is what transpired afterwards...I don't even where makeup and my four year old has a full-on professional set of make-up and brushes...wonder what she'll be like when she is 14! We already have some crying in the morning over what to wear which in my opinion is anything that fits but in her opinion is either a dress that pass her spin test (it must float in the air when she spins...) or leggings with a tanktop..no shorts..not jeans..no blue..no brown! If its this complicate now...

Montessori School

Soon after Evalie was born, my first daughter started arts and crafts camp in the local middle school, it gave me a few moments to myself while the newborn slept but once it ended and Evalie was about a month and a half old, Arielle got bored. She had been going to the same daycare for years ( since she was 10 months old) but I took her out just before her sister was born for the summer. Since I intended to stay home for a few months, I thought I would balance both kids, teaching Arielle while Evalie slept. It proved to be really challenging and a bit frustrating for both of us. I noticed her need for more challenging problems and interaction with kids her age so I looked into the Montessori school by us and got her registered after only one trial day. She joined the spanish alternate language class because it was the only class that had an opening three weeks into the school year. The school also had Mandarin and French alternate languages classes comprised each of kids from 3-5 years of age.

Although I was skeptical about its teaching methodology and not totally convinced by the casual attitude encouraged in the class, I now can tell you that its wonderful and it works. An d so my shy, clingy little girl can now read, spell, write and offers us daily knowledge about things like the water cycle or the skeletal system etc. She asks the most inquisitive questions and make insightful comments on daily occurrences..oh and she speaks some spanish (which could possibly be from Dora..but thats another story!) She made lovely little friends and I think has grown up quite nicely over the last 10 months that I desperately wanted her to stay there for another year...It became a real struggle at home between myself and my husband because his parenting philosophy differs from mine quite a bit so he felt feels she should join in the ranks of the other 1000 kindergartners in our county and get on the yellow bus instead of being driven to school by mommy and walk the cafeteria line with her tray instead os eating my lunchtime creations..idk. 

Anyway, I will miss her school dearly and am trying very hard to remain open minded as the fall approaches and her first day of school as a real students comes. I will cry and I hope I don't chicken out and re-enroll her into the Montessori School but for now we'll miss Mrs. Brown, Ms. Danielle, Mrs. DeJesus, Stella, Mia, and William..Arielle's special friend!.

Backyard Farrming

Against my own will, I am posting this. We have a garden/farm area in our backyard...yay? I guess I secretly like the idea of this garden but am so irked by the obsession that it has become for my husband.  He spends every waking moment worrying about it like its a third child..its the first place he goes after work and every other waking hour any other time he doesn't feel like he should be doing anything in the house. We have always wanted to do projects like this grow stuff with Arielle, I think it was secretly one of the activities we both looked forward to when she was born..a time when she could be proud to tend to/take care of something thats living and growing and be able to see the results over time. So here it is and its actually blooming..

Of course he had to turn it into a real project with two tiers and a sitting bench but it turned out pretty nice. We have undesirable soil so he also bought tons of soil and basically created a raised bed to plant all these vegetables. Arielle picked out all the things she wanted to plant and they basically lined them up and put them in the ground. We have had quite a few rainy weeks so far so I guess that accounts for the growth we've had but I assume when it gets really hot and dry this will require some watering.