Six

Bunny is six.

She is growing up so fast. Her days are filled with kindergarten, learning and friends. She runs around the playground pretending she is a dog. She laughs, she plays, she has fun.

At home she draws and plays with her Littlest Pet Shop. She makes up songs and stories. She shares her knowledge with us. She is silly.

She tolerates Lion, "he may be a jerk" but he's her brother. At times when we offer to do something with just her, she asks to include Lion because she loves him.

She is such an amazing girl. Everyday I am so proud to be her mother. And everyday I pray for her family in China, I will never forget them.

Happy Birthday Bunny!

Moving Way Too Fast

June 9, 2011. It was a Thursday. It was kinda cold and yucky like much of our spring has been this year. It was a day like any other day.

Except it wasn't.

Thursday June 9, 2011 was Bunny's last day of Junior Kindergarten.

(Pause for dramatic effect)

I know! Seriously, where has the time gone?

In the fall, Bunny will be attending school ALL DAY.

I can't really wrap my head around it. She is my first, my baby girl. But she's not a baby any more. She is 5. She is a kid. She can ride a bike. She can do the monkey bars (all the way across now).

Junior kindergarten was amazing for her. She gained confidence. She made friends. She learned so much. She became a part of the world outside of this family. She started down the road that will bring her to the adult she was meant to be.

Determined

I love watching my kids as they get older. I am constantly discovering more about their personalities. They are polar opposites. Bunny is calm and cautious. Lion is wild and reckless.


Bunny will study the situation. It is almost as if you can see the wheels turning inside her head. She weighs her options and decides on the best course. Lion pretty much just jumps first and asks questions later. Let's just say that it's a good thing he likes band aids.


Bunny has just blossomed in junior kindergarten. She loves school and being with her friends. We pick her up from school at 11 am and *if* it's nice out we stay and play on the playground. (I say *if* because it feels like it will never be nice again).


On the playground their are three high bars. It is the cool thing to flip yourself up on to the bar and sit on top. In order to do so, you have to reach above your head, pull your legs up and lift your body to a seated position. It's not the easiest thing to do.


Bunny's best friends could do it so she had to. I loved watching her figure out how to do it. She tried and tried. At first she could get one leg up, but not two. Then she got both up but couldn't pull herself up.



She tried for about a week to do it. And when I say tried, I mean she didn't do anything else on the playground. Her persistence paid off and she was finally able to sit atop the bar, like a queen surveying her domain. Every morning before school and after she would climb that bar and sit.


After a few weeks she grew tired of this and decided she wanted to learn the monkey bars. She couldn't quite figure out how to do it. She could hold onto the first bar and hang. She could swing her legs but she couldn't make it to the next bar.


She wanted my help but you really can't teach monkey bars (especially when your feet touch the ground). The one thing I made her do is practice dropping. I knew she needed the comfort of knowing that she could land on her feet if she fell. I would also hold her waist as she went across but she still couldn't do it on her own. But she kept practicing.


Then we took her friend M to the park with us. M is a lot like Lion, daring and fearless. The first thing M did at the park was swing across the monkey bars and back. Bunny just stared. She watched everything M did and then she tried to copy her.



Bunny let go of the bar for the first time and reached for the next one. She didn't make it but she kept doing it over and over again. I watched her from a distance as I pushed Lion on the swings. Bunny was determined. If M could do it, so could she. After all she was older than M. So again and again she tried.


And finally she did it. She made it halfway across the bars on her own. I was so happy for her. I thought I would burst into tears on the spot. My little girl had made up her mind to learn something and she did it.


I have no doubt that she can do anything she sets her determined little mind to.

Five

This post should have been up days ago but I just couldn't find the words. How do you sum up the essence of someone? How do you describe what makes them, them?

Bunny turned five on the 14th. It still shocks me that she is five. I can remember the first time I held her in my arms at nine months. I remember that baby, the first steps, the first words.


Five is no longer a baby or even a little kid. Five is a big kid. Five is a kindergartener. Five can do things all by herself. Five can write. Five can almost read.

Bunny at five is amazing. She is loving and kind. She has patience for her little brother (except when she doesn't). She tries to teach him all that she knows.


Bunny at five is talented. She draws beautiful pictures. She writes and illustrates her own books. She wants to share her talents with her friends and family.


Bunny at five is funny.

Bunny at five is a friend.


Bunny at five is full of hope for the future. She cannot wait to experience all that life has in store for her.

Bunny at five is a blessing that I am so lucky to have in my life.

Bunny is five. Five.

This is What Four Looks Like - The January Edition

January highlights from the Bunny 365 project.

January 2, 2010

January 7, 2010

January 13, 2010

January 21, 2010

January 31, 2010

Its Not Bribery, Its An Allowance

Every morning, its the same thing. All 60 wooden blocks are removed from their case. All the dinosaurs come out of their cave. The horses jump down from horse island. The legos are built into trees, parrots, dogs and whatnot. And it stays that way all day.

At breakfast, lunch, snack time and dinner the dishes are discarded on the table (or floor) as somebunny races back to play.

The ears are shut selectively, listening only when its something she wants to hear.

Its left to Frink and me to pick up the literally pick up the pieces.

Until now. On January 1st we instituted a new system. Bunny was given chores to do each day. She has to put her dishes in the sink. She has to help pick up her toys at the end of the day. And most importantly, she has to LISTEN.

If she does all of those things to our satisfaction, she gets a smiley face sticker on her chart for each chore. She also gets a nickel to put in her dinosaur bank.

Man does she love getting nickels. One night, Frink lost track of time and it was past bedtime. When he told her it was time to go to bed, she said no. At first he thought she was being sassy. Then she said "daddy, we have to pick up my toys so I can get my nickel".

Why didn't I think of this before?

First Days, Celebratory Balloons and Feats of Engineering

Yesterday we all survived Bunny's first day of preschool.

We arrived at school and everyone was excited.



Bunny had her Kai Lan backpack and her trusty triceratops Topsy. Kai Lan would hold all of her treasures and Topsy would keep her safe.

We climbed the stairs.



Found her room.



We braved the chaos and went in. She got an apple with her name that she hung on the bulletin board and a name tag so everyone (who could read) would know who she was. We found her cubby and placed Topsy safely inside. Then she explored the room. At first she seemed a bit tentative but she gained confidence. When she found the playdough, she was all set. She stood side by side with two other kids, who I am sure will become her friends. But for now they were ignoring each other, focusing solely on the playdough.



Frink and I looked at each other and figured this was a good a time as any to make our getaway. We told her we were leaving. We gave her a kiss. She nodded and gave us a dismissal wave as if to to say "go away, I'm busy". So we left.

There was coffee in another room so we could have a chance to meet the other parents. Frink went back to work and I stayed talking with some of the other moms. When I finally felt confident enough to leave, I saw on of her teachers on a bathroom run with another student. I asked her how it was going and found out that Bunny was crying. And then I heard it. A heartbreaking, I want my mommy wail. I was devastated. The teacher looked at me and said "we can handle this". I knew she was right so I left.

Never in the history of time had two hours stretched out so slowly. I went grocery shopping, came home, put all the groceries away and there was still 45 minutes left. So I did what any sane mother would do, I got coffee. And then I did what any neurotic mother would do, I drove to the school and waited outside for the next half an hour.

When it was finally time for pick up, I went inside the school. I stood outside the classroom and heard only singing. No crying. That was good news. When the door opened, I saw Bunny sitting on the floor with her classmates. She looked up at me with a huge smile on her face and I knew everything was going to be alright.

That night, Frink, being the good daddy that he is, brought home a special celebratory desert and a balloon for our big girl. She was thrilled. She loves balloons. And cake. But mostly balloons.



Unfortunately for Bunny, there is another member of our family who also loves balloons. So she spent most of last night and part of this morning screaming "No Tabasco!" "Go away Tabasco!" But of course he got to the balloon and ate some of the ribbon. She was angry. She'd had enough.

So she did what any self respecting preschooler would do, she built a wall to keep him out. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Great Wall of Bunny;



Indeed it is a marvel to behold. Notice that it is guarded by Olive the tiger. The tiger is fierce and will certainly scare the cat away. The wall it high. It is made of bricks and chairs. Surely it will keep the cat out.

Except that it probably won't. But I don't have the heart to tell her.

You Look Like A Big Girl Now

Bunny had her first hair cut today. I had a few issues with her getting it done. It was necessary but I didn't want to do it.

So we started off with her hair looking like this:


Then the haircut started. I was surprised that I didn't start crying. I managed to hold it together and she was such a good sport.



But when it was done, I got a bit misty. She didn't look like a little girl anymore. She looks like a big girl, a girl who was getting ready to go to school with her Kai Lan backpack. (Okay now I'm crying) She looks like an angel:


The women at the salon just loved her. She got a sucker. And she also got, what I consider to be an even bigger treat, a free toe and nail polish:


All in all she thought it was fun. She looked at me, yanked the tootsie pop out of her mouth and said "I have rainbow toes, momma." Yes you do big girl.

D*mn You Darius Rucker

Change is coming to But Why Mommy land. Terrifying, exciting change is coming.

We signed Bunny up for pre-school next fall. She's very excited about the prospect of school (in theory). She is interested in learning. Everyday she asks, "What will I learn in school? Will I learn about giraffes? Will I learn about dinosaurs?"

I am excited for her. It means that she is no longer a little girl, she is growing up. Fast. Pretty soon she won't need me and that is a scary prospect.

We've also begun working on Turtle's adoption again. We put it on hold last fall while we figured some things out. I'm excited about bringing a new baby into the family. Well I'm excited most days. Other days I'm terrified. Things are so perfect right now, our family is in a great groove. If we bring Turtle home, what will happen? Then I start to dwell on all of the bad possibilities, the ones the books warn you about.

I literally have to shake myself to get out of this mindset. I know our family is not complete. It won't be complete until we have Turtle home with us. There is something missing without him(or her).

So my mind has been a little crazy with the possibility of Bunny growing up and not needing me and wondering what will happen when we add to our family. What's next, the unknown, the terrifying and the exciting is all right there under the surface. One moment I'm likely to laugh, the next I'll cry, the next I'll panic.

So with all of this emotion floating around, I found myself in the car with Bunny listening to the radio. I was flipping the stations looking for a good song. I came across the new Darius Rucker song and stopped to listen. I've been a fan since the Hootie days, so I was interested. I didn't expect that tears would start streaming down my face and I would have to pull over to avoid getting into an accident. D*mn you Darius Rucker, how dare you make me cry.

Darius Rucker
 
More CMT Music
 
More CMT Music Videos

This One Is All Glitter Hearts and Balloons

I've been feeling a bit angsty lately if you haven't noticed. But that is not all that is going on in our world. Lots of things have been wonderful so I thought I'd share some with you.

Bunny's new thing is when you say "I don't know" or "Yeah" she gets quite angry. "Don't say that momma. Saying that makes Giganta's book go away and he loves his book. Don't make it go away." Well all righty, she sure told me.

She's also asking a lot of why questions, of course she is, she's 3. We always try and give the right answer. There is no sense in making something up, its better to tell her the truth. I think she appreciates it, even if she doesn't always understand the answer.

But what do you say to this question: "Momma, why are the dinosaurs extinct?"

"Um, well . . . you see know one really knows. There have been lots of theories but none of them have been proven. Maybe when you get bigger you can be a scientist and you can figure out."

"Oh yes, I be dino scientist. I love dinos."

She is also all about the glitter stickers. If she could she would cover every surface in our house with glitter stickers (which may actually be an improvement). Right now there are some on our side table in the living room, on the bathroom walls, on her horses and on every piece of art in the place. The plastic/paper backings are floating all around. The forced air heat keeps blowing them around making it nearly impossible to pick them all up. Of course I keep buying the stickers whenever I see them.

We still have the #3 mylar balloon we bought for her birthday over three weeks ago. I can't belive its lived this long, but it has. The regular balloons were released from captivity to go to live in the stars. Do you know why the stars are so bright? Its because all the balloons live in the stars (ok maybe we don't always tell her the truth but I like this little story).

Three

Wow. Three is huge. You are not a little baby anymore. You are no longer a toddler. You are a little kid.

You are learning new things every day. You can spell (and write) your name. You can count up to 20. You love the letter game and know what letters start a lot of words. You rhyme everything. When I ask what you want to learn in school, your list is so long. You want to know everything, right now. Pretty soon you will be smarter than me.




You love to laugh. You love to make up silly dino games. You make up the most wonderful stories. You love to sing and dance. Right now your favorite songs are the Bushel and a Peck song and You Are My Sunshine. But I've also caught you singing along to the Beatles and that makes me happy.

You are growing up. You are now tall enough to ride the dino ride at the fair all by yourself. But I love that you still want your mommy around. Your beloved dinos have fallen out of favor lately, replaced by horses and puffy glitter stickers. Crayons have been replaced by markers as the preferred method of artistic expression.

Today you are three, my dear Bunny. You fill our lives with such joy and love it is hard to believe what our world was like without you in it. I wish that your days are filled with laughter, sunshine, love, silly dino games, glitter stickers and whatever your heart desires.

But today my thoughts also go to a family half a world away. Even though I don't know you, I want you to know that the little girl you brought into this world, who has entered our family and our hearts, is happy and healthy. Thank you. I will never let her forget you.

Growing Pains

My baby, ok my little girl, wants to grow up so badly. She wants to be a big girl. And not just in the give me your credit card and your keys kind of way.

No Bunny has much more specific goals in mind. She wants to go on the inflatable dinosaur slide at the State Fair. Some days its all she talks about.

You see when we went to the fair, a month ago (hello elephant-like memory) she saw this huge inflatable slide with a T-Rex on the outside. Like any other dinosaur obsessed child this was nirvana, the holy grail of rides.

But she was too small to go on the ride. She did not meet the You Must Be This Tall requirements. She was "too little" so she had to settle for the carousel. Well Bunny decided, right then and there, that she needed to get "big" and get big fast so another opportunity to ride the dino slide would not be lost.

We told her that if she eats her food (and vegetables) and drinks all of her milk she will get bigger. So she eats (most of the time) and drinks like she is supposed to.

While eating she will put down her fork and say "I'm getting bigger." Yes, sweetie you are. "I'm big now." Oh yes, you are so big. "I wanna go on the dino ride." Next time we're at the fair, honey.

Then she'll finish off with this grand pronouncement, "I'm jumbo."

The Great Big Girl Bed Experiment

On Sunday after a few days of build up, we took the front rail off of Bunny's crib and turned it into a toddler bed.

She was over the moon. She kept getting in and out of the bed with a huge smile on her face.

I was not as excited. You see, her crib was like a toddler cage. Even if she did not want to be in it, she did not climb out of it. Well she did once but she fell and never did it again. I could put her down for a nap or to bed at night and there she would stay. She might scream bloody murder but I knew she was safely contained.

So right after we put her down on Sunday night, she climbed right out of bed and headed for the door. The door was closed so she doesn't have to deal with meowing (and sometimes peeing) cats jumping in and out of her bed like mommy does. So she grabbed the door handle and tried with all of her might to open the door. She was unsuccessful, for now. But she is just like a Velociraptor and will figure that out in a few days.

So I went in, put her back in bed and read her another book. And you know what? She stayed in bed playing, eventually falling asleep. She stayed there until morning. Halleluja!

Yesterday at naptime we were not so lucky. She didn't try to escape but she brought the entire contents of her bookcase into her bed. And then proceeded to cry that there was not enough room, the books weren't staying where she wanted, the stuffed animals were not cooperating with the books. You name it, she cried about it. Total drama. Just when I thought she had fallen asleep, I hear a knock at the door "Momma, I pooped."

Great. Naptime officially over with no actual napping.

No nap led to a sleepy toddler nodding off in her dinner. She fell asleep at 7 and stayed asleep (and in her bed) until she called for me at 7 am. Again another great sign.

Now we just need to work on naptime. She needs it and so do I.