Packing up.

Claire has been helping me pack by decorating the inside of the boxes.

She wants to pack her stuff in this one. I'm sure she'll be playing in this same box on the other end of the move.

It wasn't that long ago.

'"Mom, do you remember a long time ago Milena's room used to be Dad's office?"

At the Park

In light of having only 18 more days left of living in Maine, I've been trying to take pictures of regular, day-to-day events. I've been bringing my camera along for things I usually wouldn't bother to take pictures of, like picking up Claire from school and stopping at the playground for a few minutes. After all, this is what I'm going to remember when I think about Claire's first year at school.

Jump!

On our way home from school Claire tries to jump up to reach the leaves.

Comparing Photos at One Month

I really liked the side by side Claire/Milena pictures at five days old, so here are two more. Both were taken right around one month old and right after a bath. First Claire, then Milena, if it wasn't obvious.

Also, Monnie sent some super cute leg warmers for Milena (as well as a box of goodies from her ArtFire store. Thanks Monnie!). Claire found them and figured they'd be perfect on her arms, especially when she's dressed up as 'Gymnastics Girl'. Turns out she can jump quite a bit higher with leg warmers on her arms. Who knew?

Growing

So Milena is putting on some weight and being much more alert lately. I was even able to get a real smile out of her today (the first I've seen), not a half asleep reflex smile. She likes to make noises, she likes to lay around naked, and she likes to sleep. Who doesn't, right?

Tonight I was on my own with Claire and Milena. Its not the first time, but it is rare enough that it deserves mention. Mike has been able to be home a ton, especially during higher stress times (such as Getting Claire Ready For School Time and Bed Time), and it has been awesome to be able to divide the responsibilities. Still, tonight was great just the girls. We had some popcorn and watched Wall-E, during which Claire very sucessfully held Milena for quite a while. It doesn't always go so well. Usually Milena starts squawking and Claire insists "I don't mind! Really, I don't!" She is very sweet about it.

Claire is in bed now, and Milena and I are soon to follow. I'm hoping for a repeat tomorrow night.

Kite Flying and Baby Pictures

We have been having the most unbelievable weather, so we've been spending a good amount of time outside. Earlier this week we went to the Bug Light to fly a kite. We weren't exactly in the same league as the others with our $4.99 hardware store kite, but we didn't let it stop us. Claire loved it. Milena slept.

She sleeps a lot. But when she's awake she's pretty good natured, and she looks like this:

Or if Claire is around, she looks more like this:

5 Years Between

Here is Claire at 5 days old...

And Milena yesterday, at 5 days old...

Definitely some resemblances going on there.

Lots of Love.

Little Collections

I spent a few hours this week cleaning out and re-arranging Claire's room. I took a lot of stuff out, and moving around the furniture always gives a room a fresh feel. I also found piles of treasure. Piles might be the wrong word, I found all kinds of small treasures carefully packed away in small pouches, containers, bags and boxes. Somehow Claire knew exactly what was where. I don't know where half of this stuff came from, but its obviously important to an almost five year old.

Sometimes the little things make all the difference.

Claire is sick with some kind of stomach bug, and like other times when she's been sick, I'm so thankful to have a washer and dryer in the basement. And I'm glad I didn't throw away all of the old sheets and towels last time I organized the closet.

Claire is a really sweet sick person, as far as moods go. She'll quietly go through a list of questions about her symptoms as she is falling asleep, and then assures me that "Its not your fault I'm sick, Mom. I just got some bad germs." She almost always appears more calm than I feel inside, which is comforting to me, though I know it should be the other way around. She has always been a very healthy kid, so even at four years old, I'm just not used to her being sick. So I do what I can, which doesn't feel like much. A back rub, a song, a cool pillow and some clean-up is just about all that is required. But she appreciates it. As she snuggles down under the covers, she'll reach a warm hand up to rub my cheek and say "Thanks Mom", and I feel like I should call my mom and thank her for doing the same for me. But I'm guessing she would appreciate it more if I called at a time other than 12:30am.

Claire on the phone.

What? Thats okay. Where were you? You couldn't make it to the phone in time?

Do you want to hear a song? We're going to make it to the church on time... (repeat and repeat and repeat) Isn't that a great song? Its about someone getting to the church in time. No dilly-dallying!

That means waste time.

WHAT! You have a groundhog? Whats a groundhog?

Is it a pretend groundhog or an alive groundhog? MOM! Maddie has an alive groundhog!

How did you get it?...Mom! Someone bought an alive groundhog and gave it to Maddie!

Oh. Actually Mom, its just a pretend groundhog.

I have a purple mermaid crown. It has jewels on it and its not alive. I can bring it to your house to show you, if you want.

When does the Flyman show start. Oh. 4:00.

Okay. Well, goodbye, I'm hanging up now.

Is it time to leave yet?

Claire has been waiting for this day all summer. The First Day of School. Finally its here! She had her backpack packed and clothes laid out last night. This morning she got up, dressed herself and was waiting by the door at 6:30am. We don't leave the house until 8:15, and that hour and 45 minutes was probably the longest she can remember. And then, (finally!) we arrived at school and I stop her on the way in to take a picture. Annoying, I know, but I'm suppose to take a first day of school picture. And here it is. The official first day of the second year of preschool picture.

She's Four

Claire turned four yesterday, and since we had her party last week, the birthday itself was pretty quiet. We had a french toast breakfast with a few presents. In the afternoon we went to a wedding, where the following took place after the bride said, "Let's just be nice. I won't get you if you don't get me, alright?". Right.










It was a beautiful wedding, to say the least.











But anyway, I've sat down with Claire a few other times and asked her some questions. I don't know how enjoyable it is for anyone else, but I like to go back an see what she's said at different ages. And so, here are the questions and answers from a Four Old Claire.

What is your favorite color? Purple
Favorite book? The Missing Piece
Favorite animal? Dog
Favorite thing to wear? My green dress and pink skirt. Its the best dress in the world.
Favorite food? Spaghetti with sauce
Favorite breakfast? French toast with syrup
fruit pear
Favorite thing to drink? Chocolate milk
Favorite game? Balloon Lagoon
Favorite thing in your room? The big pictures mom put on my walls
Favorite thing to do at school? Art projects
Favorite art project? Painting
Favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Favorite sport? Dribble Mania (soccer)
Favorite thing to do? Watch daddy play basketball at the basketball gym and also my favorite thing to do is when daddy helps me climb at the climbing gym, and I climb really really high.
Favorite place to go? Children's Museum
Favorite thing at the Children's Museum? The huge fire truck. I like to ring the bell.
Favorite movie? The one where Dora and Boots go to the Lost City
Favorite TV show? When the Packers are on.
Who do you like to win? The green Bay Packers and Brett Favre. He's my favorite Packer. He's number four. Just like I'm four now.

To be fair, I'm not sure she'd choose the Packers as her favorite TV show at another time. We just finished watching them win, so its pretty fresh. It was a special treat to watch them. I wasn't able to get the games last year, but somehow today, after spending a lot of time adjusting the antennas, I got it. Hopefully it lasts the season. One thing I noticed today, as I cheered by myself, is that I've never lived in a place where there wasn't at least one other person cheering within earshot. More than once I expected to hear a cheer or some kind of frustrated or disappointed groan from a neighbor. But in the end, it was only me.

The Golden Key...and More

by: Claire Halberg, who has been talking since she woke up this morning.

A long long time a go, a big blowing storm blew the Golden Key all the way to the Golden Hotel. And a big basket caught it. And then the key and basket blew into the Golden Hotel, and sailed into 1-1-10. Thats the door that we were in. All the owners said "Where is the Golden Key?" They lost it in the Golden Hotel. And then an owner with yellow shoes came to get the key from room 1110. Do you know who it was? It was Claire. I'm the owner of this key. Its for the Golden Hotel. Not the Red Hotel. Not the Blue Hotel. Not the Green Hotel. Not the Yellow Hotel and not the Gray Hotel. Only the Golden Hotel. The owner has all different kinds of keys. They keep all the keys that they have found. And the Golden Key is special because it opens any door in the whole Golden Hotel...

So then I make sure I have room in my suitcase for the Golden Key. I'm taking a vacation to Milwaukee to see all different kinds of things. I'm coming back in eight days. I'm going on a blue plane, and you are going on a red plane. I tied a rope to your plane so you can follow my direction. Everyone has to buckle their seat belts. I have a special button that buckles our seat belts. Now our belts are buckled, and every one else is buckled too. Now we are there! Now we are ready for the bus. We have to go on one plane and two buses to get to Milwaukee, and now we are going on the bus. Its tricky, so follow my bus. Its going to go East, West, and then North. Here. I'm going to show you a map. It shows everywhere we will go, and a big line for the bus. The big brown dot is the bus station. The blue dot is Milwaukee. We have to go through the big dark cave. But there is a big short cut. We'll take the big short cut...

Now we are on the black dot. Thats the subway train. The subway train will take us to the big Children's Museum that has the Big Mouth. Do you know what that is? I'll tell you. The Betty Brinn Children's Museum! It has a Big Mouth!











It has drums and a big TV you can watch different things on. And a big sand table. Oh boy! I'm hungry! We did lots of things at this children's museum, and now its lunch time. Lets go to Subway! I get a sandwich with olives and lettuce and tomato sauce and cheese and tomatoes. And juice. You get a salad with tomato sauce mixed in. And lettuce and cheese and some olives and some strawberries mixed in. You can have some water. There you go, there is your salad. Wait!! First you have to pay for it.....

Happy Summer!

Yesterday Claire got a "Happy Summer" package in the mail from Jim and Monnie (and Howie!). It had a bunch of great summer things inside like wind-up water toys, those sponge capsules you put in water and they pop open and turn into something (in this case, bugs), gel pens, a Push Pop and bubbles, which was the big hit. I've already re-filled the container twice, and I'm sure thats just the beginning. She loves it. Thanks Jim and Monnie!

New Denim

Last week was finally the tipping point. I knew I needed new jeans, but I was unwilling to spend the time shopping for some. But like anything else, you eventually get to a certain point where you can't put it off any longer. And that point happened to come on a day that I had to take Claire with me. So I left with a strategy: look at my current favorite two pair of jeans, and then go looking for the same name brand. I knew I wouldn't be able to find the same style, but I figured the chances would be good that there would be at least something I liked from that brand. But, I was wrong. I finally had some success at Macy's, but finding something I liked was much more difficult than I thought it would be, and it didn't have anything to do with Claire coming along. She actually went from store to store very willingly, and even had some very genuine sounding compliments like "Mom! You look fantastic in those jeans!" or "Oh, I like those ones, they are real long!" and even "Try sitting down on the floor, Mom. Like we are playing a game." Pretty helpful, really.

The problem was, at least at the stores I was in, there isn't anything I like or would actually wear. I found two choices: Mom Jeans in the Women's Section or Glittery Ripped and Rhinestone Studded Jeans in the Juniors. There have got to be more options between the high waisted pants that go up to my ribcage and low rise jeans that are so low, you can't sit down in them. Something between relaxed fit and painted-on. Maybe I'm just overly picky, because I don't want to spend too much money on a pair of jeans either. Obviously I'm shopping in the wrong places. But mostly, I'm surprised there isn't more between the two extremes. I did find two great pairs, but it took a lot of work to just find the correct style, much less size and fit. In the end, I think the solution is that I need to look in different stores more often so I'm not going to too many stores in one day, and getting nothing but frustrated. And, from now on, Claire comes, Mike stays home. She is a much better shopper than he is.

I don't have a picture of the jeans, but I do have one of Claire planting some pansies we bought at the Portland Farmer's Market.

Pep Talk

As I was tucking Claire back in bed after a bathroom break late last night, she said, "Mom, you are the best mom in the whole world."

Somehow, she knows when I need a little lift.

Getting Nowhere.

Claire and I were in the waiting room of a doctor's office, and Claire was reading a book she brought along when another little girl came and stood next to her. I nudged Claire, reminding her to say hello.

Claire: Hi.
Girl: Hi.
Claire: My name is Claire.
Girl: My name is ... (I couldn't understand her when she said her name)
Claire: I'm reading a Dora book.
Girl: Thats not your book.
Claire: Um, I'm just reading my Dora book. (goes back to reading)
Girl: You can't keep that book, its not your book.
Claire: It says 'This book belongs to C-L-A-I-R-E, Claire'.
Girl: Thats not your book.
Claire: Um, my mom's first name is Sheila. My dad's first name is Michael. My first name is Claire and 'This book belongs to Claire'. See that line? My name is on the line. I'm just going to read this Dora book now, okay?
Girl: No, you can't keep that book.
Claire: Um, actually this is my book.
Girl: Thats not your book.
Claire: Actually, that is incorrect.

At this point the nurse calls our name, and the girl goes a little crazy about Claire taking the book with her. Claire, on the other hand, hardly even remembers it happened. I thought it was great, and tried not to laugh out loud. I kind of wish it would have gone on a little longer.

And if you couldn't tell from the conversation above, lately she has been throwing 'actually' and 'correct' and 'incorrect' into conversations, and thats pretty entertaining, too.

A Story

Niagara Falls-But Nobody Slipped Down It.
By: Claire Halberg

Once up on a time, there was a Niagara Falls. And he wondered “Hey I want to see some food around here” So he kept on swishing, and he found something. It was the same thing that animals eat. Seashore food, that’s what he found to eat. And he saw someone eating their lunch. It was Puppet. He was eating something really healthy for him. He was eating it on the floor. And then he started to see something swishing. “That must be a waterfall,” he said. And he thought and thought, and Puppet was right, it was Niagara Falls! And then Puppet wanted to be in the story too, and I said “Sure puppet.” And he counted “One two three for five six”, and then he counted in Spanish “Uno dos tres cuatro cinco seis siete ocho nueve diez.” And then, he found some food that nobody was eating. So he started to eat. It was a snack. It was all colors of apples. “I want to eat some apples,” he said to his mother. “You are eating some apples already” his mother said. “But they are too squishy” puppet said. But then he changed his mind and they were nice and crunchy. And then it started to get windy, and the wind blew Puppet’s voice away, so he started to run run run quick, before he got too close to the waterfall. And then he caught his voice in his mouth. And then he heard something, “whoo whoo whoo” It was whoo whoo whoo-ing. It was an owl! And she was whoo-ing. She was trying to find her mommy, that’s why she was whoo-ing. And she said, “Oh, I’ll never find my mommy again”. And then someone came up to the owl. It was the biggest rock ever. And it was carrying something. Know what it was carrying? It was carrying a boat! And the boat said “Boomp boomp” And then crash! boom! crash! boom! something crashed into the boat. It was some water! There was big waves! And there was just something floating back and forth, nice and smooth. Know what it was? It was another boat! And it had owl’s mommy on it. And the rock put the two boats down into the water so they can splash all day and swim. And the boats stopped, and they wondered, “Hey, I have a good idea! Lets find another boat! It can be the Daddy Boat!” And they found TWO more boats. The red boat was the daddy boat and the colorful boat was the mommy boat. And something started to push the boats. It was a big huge waterfall, and they just looked at it. And then they knew it was okay. The end.