Tiny dancer

Sofia is a mover and a shaker, and there is nothing more fun than watching her shake her little groove thing!

Home remedies by Alex

This past week I was sick with a pretty bad chest cold and terrible headaches.  Alex was doing what he could to help me feel better and gave me the following advice:

Alex: Mommy, do you feel sick?
Me: Yes, I don't feel very good.
Alex: Then maybe you should go sleep with your dad or your mom. That will make you feel better!
Me: Does that make you feel better when you feel sick?
Alex: Yes, every time. You should go sleep with Voovoo.

Then the following day, Alex also told me "Mommy, you need to drink lots of water to get the yucky out".

Wise kid!! :)

Mealtime funnies

When we finally sit down to eat, there always seems to be some humor that comes out. The kids all sitting around the table can't help but try to make each other laugh and me too!

Sofia decided to put on Alex's hat - but sideways. She looked like a little gangster ;)

Alex stuck a piece of cheese stick to his forehead, then said "Mommy, look! I'm Jasmine" (alluding to the princess from the movie Aladdin).

And of course the fruit too big for your mouth funny!

Breakfast with Santa

As is our annual tradition, we went to have breakfast with Santa at our neighborhood clubhouse this morning. First Santa came around the neighborhood riding on the firetruck, then we went to take pictures with him, have breakfast with the neighborhood families, enjoy some arts and crafts time, and even get to sit in the firetruck!!  Alex LOVED it all, but this year Sofia was not to keen on Santa. So much fun!

 

Ava loses her first tooth!

A couple weeks ago I noticed Ava had a little bump on her gum above her top front tooth. I immediately thought "oh great, another tooth abscess! I hope we don't have to do a root canal on her again!".

So I called her dentist, got her scheduled and learned that she did in fact have an infection and the options were either extraction or root canal and crown.  The dentist recommended extraction as the more guaranteed way to resolve the infection, as looking at the x-ray it appeared she had a hairline crack in the root that was likely due to an old injury from when she was about 1 or 2.  It totally made sense, since Bo laid her out flat on the pavement soon after we had moved into our house when she was about 18 months old.  She basically bit the ground and cracked the bottom of her top teeth when she fell on her face.  Now 3 years later she had somehow bumped it and shifted that crack that irritated the root.

So extraction was the option we chose. Ava was pretty excited about it, as she couldn't wait to lose her first tooth.  The prospect of the tooth fairy coming to visit her was so exciting!  So today we went to the dentist, she got a little sedation, relaxed for about an hour and then within a 5 minute visit from the dentist her tooth was out.  She got a little treasure box to hold her tooth to wait for the tooth fairy and couldn't wait to surprise people with the little window in her mouth...though this window is likely to remain for probably about a year!!  Of course, this is no different than her madrinha who also lost her two top teeth early thanks to a bullfighting game gone wrong where I was the matador and Christina was the bull who headbutted the dresser right behind me and took out her two front teeth.

Ava before:

Ava after:

Ava was so excited to wake up and find that the tooth fairy left her an envelope with a note congratulating her on losing her first tooth with 4 quarters inside.  She was so surprised that the first thing she told me was in a whisper "mommy, the tooth fairy knows my name!"

bedtime stories

While putting Ava to bed tonight it was giggles, talking about her day at school, and more giggles, followed by a trip to the bathroom, more talking, and my urging her to go to sleep as it's getting late.
Finally, it was lights out, music on, and her rainbow nightlight on.

Ava: Mommy, I'm scared.
Me: Ah, Ava, nao. You have been fine all night, now all of a sudden you are scared? What are you scared of?
Ava: I'm scared of witches.
Me: Ava, witches are not real. Besides you have plenty of people to protect you and keep you safe. It's late and time to get some rest. Why don't you think of something fun to dream about? Why don't you dream about becoming an illustrator and Sofia can be the author, just like the sisters that came to present at your school today?
Ava: (giggles) yes, but I'm not going to be an illustrator, I'm going to be a doctor.
Me: You are? Well you can be both if you want to.
Ava: No, I can't. Besides I would want to be a firefighter and a doctor.
Me: Well Christina was an ambulance person and she is a doctor.
Ava: Really?
Me: Yes, and a teacher and a businessperson.
Ava: How does she do it all?
Me: I don't know, magic!
Ava: What does Marthi do?
Me: She helps people who cannot study the things they want in their countries to go somewhere where they can (a little difficult to describe!)
Ava: What does Bobby do?
Me: He works with computers.
Ava: No, he doesn't!
Me: Yes, he does.
Ava: Well, maybe, but he is a cleaner too! (I guess watching Bobby cleaning up his house over the weekend really stuck with her!)

I wouldn't trade these little talks for anything!

A few of our favorite things

It's that time of year again where all you hear on the news, in magazines, and from Oprah, all their favorite things as ideas for Christmas, but whose to say we can't do our favorite things?

At lunch today we were talking about some of our favorite things.  However, ours was not limited to consumerism, ours was much more valuable - it was about all things in life!

Question: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Ava: I want to be an author and an illustrator, because I am really good at stories and drawing. I already wrote my first book!
Alex: I want to be a fireman, and a teacher, and a cowboy, and Santa

Question: What are your favorite colors?
Ava: Pink, white, and blue
Alex: Red and blue

Question: What are your favorite foods?
Ava: Chocolate and ice cream
Alex: Pasta and bananas

Question: If you can go anywhere, where would you want to go?
Ava: I want to go to other countries, because I like going to new places
Alex: I want to go to Grammy's house
(Sofia) - both Ava and Alex agreed that Sofia would like to go to Vovo's house

Question: What's your favorite season?
Ava: Mine is winter, because I want to ice skate in Antarctica.
Alex: Mine is winter and summer

Question: What is your favorite month?
Ava: Mine is December, because of Christmas.
Alex: Mine is April, because that's when my birthday and your birthday is Mommy!

The kids absolutely loved this game of sharing all their favorite things.  I just can't wait for Sofia to start chiming in!  And it is true, Ava has already written and illustrated her first book - just see below!

 The End!!


But of course there was one little mess up that was not included in the final version.  It was the mirror image writing that occurs when Ava forgets to write left to right.  If she accidentally starts writing right to left, her letters all flip backwards too. I am fascinated by this!

Halloween!

The kids once again had a great Halloween!  We started with a party at our neighborhood clubhouse with friends, then went trick-or-treating with a huge group (including a hayride pulled by Roman), and ended up with trick-or-treating at a few more houses closer to our house.

Ava loved being surrounded by all the bigger, older kids (as usual); Alex enjoyed just being in the moment, riding in the wagon with Sofia, and going door to door to get even more candy!  Sofia totally got into the spirit of it all and couldn't wait to walk up to more doors to get more candy.  She would get back to the wagon, dump out her basket to make even more room.

Ava was Tinkerbell, Alex was a dinosaur lizard (according to him), and Sofia was a fairy like Ava. We had so much fun and ate WAY too much candy!  Sofia cannot see a bag of Skittles or M&Ms now without hyperventilating wanting to have some.

Now, getting a good picture of all three with a natural smile has proven to be quite the impossible feat!

Mommy said smile, not make an awkward face! ;)

Pumpkin patch time!!!

I love the family traditions - and the pumpkin patch has become one of my favorites.  The kids were really looking forward to it - especially Alex who wanted to ride the train and have a "red ice drink like last time" (I couldn't believe he remembered that!!!!!).

Today was a gorgeous October day, sunny skies, warm, and just perfect.  We called Vovo and Voovoo to join us and off we went.  The kids loved it, loved the train ride (we were first this year!), loved the hayride, the icees, bounce house/slide, and climbing on all the pumpkins.

So much fun - even if getting pictures of all the smiles is just about the most challenging thing to do!

Our train ride - Alex and Sofia couldn't wait!

 

A 3-year old's pure joy!

 Such turkeys!

 Alex and Fia loved seeing the pig!

My strongest little pumpkin!

  

...the pumpkin patch is at the Christmas tree farm :)

 

 A "Charlie Brown" kind of Christmas tree

 Off on the hayride with our icees!

 My pumpkins!

 Sofia may not say much quite yet at 17 months old, but she can easily express herself!

My little pumpkin!