We have a visitor

Jaida has a little friend that suddenly showed up about a week ago. We named him Elfie and he is an Elf on the shelf. The first evening Jaida found him spying on her from the shelf in her playroom. The second night he found his way to the Christmas tree, then he was found riding one of santa's reindeer (on our mantle), etc. It is so much fun for her to wake up in the morning and go look for him. She talks to him but never tries to touch him. Can I say that Jaida has never been more well-behaved. :)

Christmas in New York City

We recently returned from a nearly week long trip to the big apple. It was rather exhausting but in a fun sort of way. We saw the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. The kids were all enchanted. Jaida's favorite part was when the Rockettes dressed as reindeer pulled Santa and his sleigh across the stage. Jax enjoyed all of the appearances of Santa Claus. We visited Fao Schwartz where both kids picked out a toy to purchase and Jaida was able to dance on the piano featured in the movie Big. Jaida and I ventured to the American Girl Place where Jaida picked out a new outfit for her Bitty baby. We spent time in Rockefeller Square and watched the brave people try to ice skate. We also braved Times Square at night which was an adventure. Generally, we did A LOT of walking. It was rather difficult as it was very busy and the stroller just got in the way. Poor Jax ended up strapped into his stroller most of the trip but he did enjoy running up and down the ramps in teh hotel lobby a lot. ;) It was a fun trip but we are all really glad to be home and are looking forward to Christmas.

She LOVES Santa Claus

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

There is no greater person on Earth than Santa Claus this year. I definitely think this is the BIG year for Santa with Jaida.

The picture of beauty

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Jaida was a beautiful (non-Disney-fied) princess for Halloween. She had lots of fun at her schools trunk-or-treat event but has no interest in all the candy she collected ... that is what she has her dad and me for though. ;)

Trying to explain the concept of charity to a four year old

This is a subject I have been talking a lot to Jaida about recently. Mostly because she is four and is entering that phase where a lot of little kids sort of live in a self-centered universe. We have always made donations to various charities, etc. We give to the toys for tots campaign during the holidays and stuff like that. Though honestly it really has not made quite the impression on Jaida that I was hoping for. If at all possible I try to avoid having Jaida be involved in monetary contributions to charity mostly because she has very little concept of how much money it takes to buy stuff and secondly she has a hard time wrapping her little mind around the fact that there are kids and adults in the world that do not have as much (food, clothes, love) as her. It is all hard for her to understand.

Our church does a lot of social activism work (for our local area) and the children are pretty involved through the religious education program. Still I feel the need for Jaida to understand just how fortunate she really is and to find a better way to help her understand ways that we can help other people (on a global scale). In my endeavor to achieve both these goals I found this website. You purchase your child an on-line gift card and then they use that gift card to shop on the website to buy things that can help other people. I think it has more overhead charges than I normally like but I think this is a good way to help Jaida understand the global enormity of the problem and how a simple thing can really help.

Parent-Teacher conference

I went to our Fall conference with Jaida's teacher. Of course Jaida received a glowing report in every category. Academically she is doing outstanding. Her teacher could not say enough about what a pleasure it is to teach Jaida and how eager she is to learn/discover new things. She commented on Jaida's amazingly long attention span also. One striking thing her teacher said is that Jaida is by far the most popular kid in her school. This is such an odd thing for me seeing as I spent much of my younger years on the outside looking in (so to speak). Her teacher said it is odd because Jaida is totally not an attention seeker at school yet the kids just flock to her. Joe and I see this in other areas such as at church or in her dance class also. I think part of it is that Jaida is a genuinely nice kid. She is also usually very happy and cheery. She is not the type to be another child's friend one minute and not the next ... she treats everyone equally and with respect. This is something we harp on her constantly about ... well that and treating others as you would like to be treated. I am glad some of what we talk to her about is actually getting through.

For the record

Jaida told me this morning that when she grows up she wants to be an artist that mainly paints, a book writer that draws pictures in books and a dentist (because she has shiny white teeth). I told her that I am sure she can be any one or combination of those that she wants to be if she sets her mind to it. She gave me a big smile in return.

A gruesome scene

Jaida recently received a bunch of books from her Grandma. They are all the Disney stories ... Lion King, Jungle Book, etc. Jaida LOVES these books. We don't own most of the Disney movies so this is really her first introduction to themes such as sibling violence, mother-less youngsters, killing (death she is familiar with but not the actual taking of a life) and a fair amount of violence. We use these books as a jumping off point for many discussions.

Anyhow, Jaida is quite intrigued by the fact that animals eat each other (Lion King?). She had her Lion King figurines as well as some other plastic animals at the table this morning while I was making breakfast. I deliver her food to her and see a grizzly little scene she set up. She had a plastic cow laying on its side and all the other animals were circling it and positioned as if they were eating it. I asked if she remembered that Giraffes are veggie eaters and typically only eat leaves from trees. Jaida's response - "not these Giraffes, they grew up in a way they shouldn't have , like Mowgli, they eat meat". I answered with a shrug and okay. She says "hey mom, look at all the animals they are feasting on beef - hey that rhymes!"

Names

Jaida has several baby dolls that she plays with. All have been named by her with no help of us. Most have had these same names for at least a year if not longer. Her favorite baby doll is the Bitty Baby from American Girl. Bitty is named Sam. At first we thought Sam was maybe short for Samantha since Bitty wears a lot of pink and appears to be a girl. Recently, Jaida informs us that Sam is NOT a girl but instead a boy baby that just likes to wear a lot of pink. Then there is Pix. Pix is a baby doll that has been adopted by Jax. He hauls Pix everywhere. Jaida named Pix though ... Pix is short for Pixie. There is also a big baby doll (generally newborn size doll), named Ping, that has never been in the inner circle of Jaida's doll favorites until lately. This doll is a girl and was recently promoted to the inner circle when Jaida realized some of cousin Mattie's newborn baby clothes fit her. Many outfit changes everyday. Lastly there is this little baby doll that Jaida calls Ching Ching. This doll mostly lives in the car. So, we have Sam, Pix, Ping, and Ching Ching ... quite the motley crew. :)

Goofy Girl

We are having our bathroom remodeled ... aka - gutted. The workmen show up Wednesday a.m. bright and early. Jaida is hanging out downstairs as we get ready to go for the day. She sees a guy walking out the front door with our toilet and says "the toilet has left the building". It was pretty funny. Then she proceeded to say the same thing every single time another bathroom item was hauled out the door. What was once cute became old very quickly.

Photos

Today I made all of the kid's pictures on Flickr available only to people I deem as friends or family. I might make them public again after the mess with Orkut gets straightened out but until then you will need to email me so I can make you friends and family so you can view the photos. I don't mind doing this so just drop me a line. Email is in my profile.

Not your typical kid's music

Not sure if I have ever mentioned the fact that Jaida has musical abilities. This fact surprises me because she came from my womb and I am assuming shares at least a portion of my DNA. I have no musical abilities .... zero, zip, nada, none. Not a single person in my family has the slightest amount of musical abilities. It really is quite pitiful. Jaida however is simply amazing ... not in that young musical prodigy sort of way. She simply can carry a tune when singing, she can point out when others are not carrying a tune, she can listen to a tune and change the lyrics around on the fly all the while staying in tune, she can remember lyrics to fairly complicated songs, etc. She has even learned how to play several little songs on the piano we received from freecycle. Being completely tone deaf and not having a memory for lyrics AT ALL I find this simply stunning. She even sings in the youth choir at our UU church. The music director often compliments Jaida on her ability to stay focused, sing clearly and loudly, good breathing and posture, etc. We often find Jaida singing to the cat, herself or Jax . It makes us happy to see this.

I have not been the best at introducing Jaida to tons of children's music although we always have adult type music playing in the car and often at home also. I was never one to sing to her as a baby ... it just wasn't my thing. Especially since I am tone deaf and cannot remember lyrics to even the most simple diddys. Takes some of the fun out of it. Lately Jaida has been enjoying exploring her collection of children's music on her own ... she definitely has her favorites. The Giddy Up song (not sure of the real name) is one of them.

Jaida absolutely loves two songs that are not typical kids music. First is Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer. She actually knows a fair amount of the words to the song. I have to say it is a little strange to hear a four year old (any four year old) singing it.

Waiting On The World To Change lyrics

Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could

Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change

Now if we had the power
To bring our neighbors home from war
They would have never missed a Christmas
No more ribbons on their door
And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want

That's why we're waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

And we're still waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

The other song she loves and routinely requests that Joe play in his car is Fine Knacks for the Ladies from Sting's Songs from the Labyrinth. I do hope Jaida's love of and interest in music continues to grow along with the rest of her.

No fun at all

The appointment was not a disaster but it was less than ideal. Jaida woke in a dentist angst induced foul mood. She finally snapped out of it in time for her appointment but then chomped down and refused to open her mouth for Dr. Sona. After much pleading and promising on my part it was clear she had dug her heels in and was not planning on cooperating. She finally kind of opened her mouth enough to get the little bite thingy in and then we just sort of held her in place while Dr. Sona worked as quickly as possible. Luckily, no nitrous oxide or novocaine was needed. We got through it, eventually. As her prize for semi-cooperating she chose a Beck doll (Disney Fairie) that sits on the back of her Chipmunk friend, Scamper. It is pretty cute. Not sure why I like the Disney Fairie toys so much considering I am not at all fond of Disney stuff in general. Anyways ... that is how it went.

I might have promised her a car

or maybe it was a pony or a cute little pink pig that can live in our house and drink from a baby bottle ... not sure. I have a feeling I will be buying something big if this all works out though. This is what happens when a parent relies on bribery as a means to get the child to do something they don't really want to do .... but oh well.

Jaida has a dentist appointment tomorrow to finish the work that was not finished the last time. And since the last visit was such a raving success I imagine this one will be loads of fun (hence the bribery). We decided to not do the sedation with versed since it made Jaida twitchy and screechy last time. Even though there is not much to do I imagine the short 20-30 minute dentist visit is going to last a freaking eternity for all of us. Wish us luck .... loads and loads of luck. I think we are going to need it.

First day of Pre-K

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

and no first day jitters at all. Jaida marched right into her classroom and put her backpack and lunch bag away. She looked rather perturbed that Joe and I kept lingering by the door saying "bye baby, have a good day" over and over again. It was definitely harder on us than her.

Why do kids have to grow up SO fast. It seems as if time is flying by. sigh ....

A little whip cream among friends

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Jaida went to her friend Caleb's forth birthday party. There was a whip cream eating contest. The kids were to dip their faces in the pan and eat/smear the whip cream. Jaida and her best friend decided not to waste the whip cream so they just scooped it into their mouths. ;)

PINK!!!!!

Jaida went to her pre-K orientation yesterday. The child is floating on cloud 9. Not only did she get the teacher she was hoping for but three of her classmates from last year are in her class this year. Plus the classroom is painted purple and the only color better than purple is PINK. And her helping hand color is PINK. This means her mailbox is pink, her cubby is pink, and her coat hook is (yes, you guessed it) PINK. Apparently, life gets no better than this. ;)

Summer Days

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

We are starting to slow down on all the summer activities that have been swallowing large chunks of time. Jaida's last group of swim lessons ended on Friday. Her lazy days spent playing with her friend Paige and the older girls and swimming at Nancy's are soon to be replaced by more structured days spent at school, dance class, soccer, and possibly piano lessons. I think we are all looking forward to these things but the transition still seems to be difficult at times. I feel like we are spending a great deal of time getting ready for all of these things only to be left sitting here waiting for them all to start.

We have bought Jaida's backpack and coordinating lunch box for Jaida to use at school. As you can imagine this involved a bit of a struggle between my desire for neutrality and Jaida's desire for PINK. We spent part of this last weekend buying Jaida's new school clothes ... most of which Jaida will not be able to wear for at least a month due to the lingering summer heat. Jaida was fitted for her tap shoes for her dance class. Left to purchase is a new soccer ball since her old one seems to have a hole in it. All of these preparations have left us feeling like things should get started now. However, we still have a bit of a wait. School orientation is tomorrow but the first day is not until Thursday Aug 30. Dance class starts Sept 5th and soccer starts Sept. 10th. It promises to be a busy fall.

Until then Jaida still enjoys her time spent playing while at Nanacy's house. We will likely make a few last trips to the pool before the weather starts cooling, the life guards go back to school and the pools close for the season. We have a few summer sort of activities still planned but generally we are ready for all the things that come along with fall.

The book of Jaida

Jaida's adventures from her time as an embryo through her first birthday are now published in this handy little book.

Uh Oh

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

I think Jaida's reign as queen of the Lamela-Rhea household may be coming to an end. ;)

Bejeweled

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Jaida has pierced ears. She has asked about getting to wear ear rings a couple of times. I never had a problem getting them done as long as she wanted it. Honestly, I didn't think she would be willing to go through with it once I explained someone had to actually put holes in her ear lobes in order to wear real ear rings. Joe on the other hand was not crazy about the idea.

We were in Annapolis this last weekend and decided to run by the mall on our way home. I figured it was as good a time as any to get her ears done. I explained exactly what was going to happen and that it would hurt/sting a little bit (but no worse than the vaccine she got at the doctors office not long ago) but it would be done very quickly. She was wavering ... wanted it done but didn't want it done but then again maybe she did. We went and watched another girl about Jaida's age get hers done. She cried .... loudly. I figured that would end it for Jaida but instead she went up to the girl and asked her if it hurt. The girl said just a little bit. Jaida decided she would go ahead. I honestly could not believe she still wanted it done. She actually climbed up on the chair by herself and looked at me and said "let's just get this over with mama".

I picked her up and had her sit on my lap instead. I could tell Jaida was very nervous as the technician cleaned her ear lobes and put the tiny dots on her ears. Jaida happily picked out the pinkest little studs they had. I suggested the tech get another person so they could do both ears at once ... she thought that was a good idea. About 30 seconds later Jaida had pierced ears. She didn't even cry. I think the sound of the gun popping scared her which distracted her from any pain.

She looks very cute. Let me tell you how proud she is of herself. She shows anyone that even briefly looks in her direction. She was especially happy to show all the big girls at daycare and she just was beaming when they were all making a big fuss over her.

She also bought finger nail polish while at the mall (Ack!). I painted her nails tinkerbell pink when we got home. She is just as girly as can be right now. :)

A very brave girl

I am often surprised at how brave Jaida can be. I suppose this is because she is such a cautious child by nature. Joe and I have always known that Jaida is a child that has to think before leaping. She is not a kid that will just rush out and do something at the spur of the moment. There is always a bit of hanging back and watching and assessing the situation. I would not categorize her as shy at all ... she just needs a bit of time to warm to a new situation. This is not a big shock to us as Joe and I are both similar. We have seen this behavior many times with her.

Most recently though it has been in swimming. We have been going to a local pool several times a week all summer. Also, Jaida gets to swim practically every day while at daycare. It seems for the longest time there has been a stumbling block for Jaida and that was getting her face wet. She didn't like to be splashed in the face and going under the water was simply out of the question. Also, she was a bit nervous to be in the pool at all without her float vest. About three weeks ago we started her in group swim lessons and for some reason she had a really hard time doing any of the things the instructor asked even though she would do all of them for Joe or me. Then Nancy (her daycare instructor) did something that pushed Jaida over the edge and turned her into a total wild woman in the pool. Nancy has a large inflatable slide that she set up at the deep end of her pool. Jaida was scared to death to go down the slide (with floats of course) but Nancy worked with her and got her to slowly start going down the slide. First she held Nancy's hand, then she just bounced off the end of it into the water, etc. Then one day Nancy announced this was the day Jaida was going to go down the slide all by herself. I suppose because she didn't give Jaida the choice of not doing it it made it easier for Jaida. Within a day Jaida was going down the slide headfirst, feet first backwards, forwards , sideways, etc and having a blast.

Since that day everything has changed. Jaida no longer has any fear of going under water. She was bumped up to the next level in swim class because she is doing so great. She now eagerly goes all the way under the water, takes a breath and kicks off from the side of the pool and will swim a short distance to her instructor or us. She jumps off the side of the pool to us. Floats face down and on her back. She is learning to tread water and swim under the water now. She is doing so great. She loves going to swim class and it has the added benefit of wearing her out completely which leads to a very early bedtime. ;)

Difficult Parenting Moment

Maybe I should make this a recurring topic of this blog because there seem to be many more difficult parenting moments now that we have two children that are both big and wise enough to be up to no good - often at the exact same time.

This is one of those times where I have to say I have no idea how a single parent deals with an issue like this seeing as how Joe and I had issues with how to deal with this and there are two of us. Jaida was in a bit of a raucous mood yesterday evening. Not mis-behaving necessarily just on the hairy edge of not behaving all evening. Bath-time came and the kids get in the tub together as is their normal. They have a little foam disc that they were each taking turns holding with their teeth while the other took it away using her/his teeth. Seemed like an innocent enough game at the time. So much so that Joe asked me to go downstairs and get the camera since it was a cute photo op ... and it was until the blood curdling screams were sent forth by Jaxon. I had turned my back for the briefest of seconds to set the camera outside the bathroom door and not sure what Joe was looking at but it definitely was NOT Jaida biting her brother on the finger - HARD.

Jaxon screamed for what seemed like forever. Judging by the volume of his screams I half expected to see his little nub of a finger floating in the bathwater. When we finally came to our senses and realized Jax was screaming and Jaida was trying to melt into the toy net with her hand over her mouth. We figured she must have done something so we asked "what did you do?" - definitely not one of our finer parenting moments. She did not answer so we inspected Jax and found deep teeth marks on his middle finger. No broken skin but it was quite a bite all the same. Jax was still screaming like he had been violated. We get everyone out of the tub and at that very moment Joe and I look at each other and realize we have absolutely no idea how to handle this situation.

I wrap Jax in a towel and take him in the bedroom and leave Joe to deal with Jaida - which he does with a very stern voice I might add. I finally get Jax to stop crying ... he is a sensitive little guy. Now Jaida is in her bedroom bawling at high volume. I meet Joe in the hallway and we switch kids ... I think I heard Joe mumble something about good cop/bad cop as he was heading downstairs to give Jax his nightcap. I talk to Jaida very calmly and get her to finally tell me why she felt the need to bite Jax. First answer "I was hungry" ... Jaida and I both had a little chuckle at that answer. Then she finally admitted she just wanted to know what it felt like. I offered to show her ... but she declined. When she declined we had a long talk about how she knew it would hurt (that is why she declined having me show her) yet she still bit Jax. How it was wrong to do that, blah, blah, blah. When all was said and done she calmed down a bit but still wanted her daddy and was very upset until he came back up to remind her that he always loves her no matter what. She goes through all the rotten things she can think of that might make someone not love her (in her little world these scenarios are pretty limited) and Joe tells her that even when she does X he will still love her no matter what. She drifted peacefully off to sleep.

I think this might have occurred partially because there has been a fair amount of biting going on ... Jax is working on another tooth and gets a bit nippy - only with Joe and I though. This morning both Jax and Jaida woke in a great mood. Jaida was filled with guilt and remorse (apparently) and was VERY affectionate and willing to share with Jax. Jax was his normal happy self and from his actions I would say does not remember the events of last night or at the very least is no longer bothered by them.

The entire event made me realize how hard it is to parent when you have two kids of differing ages and needs. One kid needs to be disciplined for hurting their sibling and the other needs calming because they have been hurt. It is hard to know where to start. We are fortunate that there are two of us and we are equally involved in the parenting of our children so we could divide and conquer. But what if Joe had been on travel? Not sure what I would have done or what order things would have happened in but guaranteed the whole event would have been more difficult to deal with.

Jaida does not heart the dentist!

Jaida had a couple of her teeth repaired last year. She did not have actual cavities but due to all of the antibiotics she was on as a toddler, for her ear infections, the enamel on the two year molars is less than perfect. Apparently, this can happen if a baby/toddler has to take a lot of antibiotics before all their teeth are in. The issues were not from eating sweets, poor dental hygiene or anything like that. Anyhow, we were in "let's watch it" mode with the last of her two year molars to come through. At her yearly exam in June Dr. Sona announced that while the tooth did not have an actual cavity it did have the beginnings of a little carie and the tooth was quite soft. So we should start thinking about fixing it and then sealing the tooth.

Today was the day to get the tooth fixed. Jaida sees a pediatric dentist. It is quite the fun place if one is not getting their teeth reamed out and puttied. They have a very detailed aquatic theme with a HUGE pirate ship play structure in the center of the waiting room. There is a picnic table in the exam area with a thatched umbrella over it for sitting at and coloring. They also have a green parrot named Flossie. Jaida really does like the place. They do sedation dentistry. They use Versed to relax the kids and make them loopy before any work is done. It has the added benefit of causing amnesia so they really don't remember anything that happened. Thank goodness!

No food for Jaida this morning which made her a bit cranky as the girl does love her food. Get to the dentist and they give her grape flavored *happy* juice. Within 5 minutes or so we start seeing the first effects of the meds as Jaida is leaning heavily on me, slurring her speech and is acting a tad bit loopy. However, I could tell almost instantly that it wasn't going to go well. She was loopy but not in that totally relaxed I don't care what happens to me sort of way. In fact that is the way she was last time. This time however, she very much cared about what was going to happen to her and she was feeling obviously loopy and totally out of control. For a type A personality this is not a good combination. We took her to the chair where she was totally freaked by the little nose mask that delivers the nitrous oxide. Then she was freaked by the water squirter, the suctiony thing, air from the fan blowing on her ... you name it and she was freaked out by it. The Novocaine put her over the edge. The screaming began ... I am sure there were a few dozen small kids running for the door when they heard her screeching like someone was torturing her. We had to hold her down to get the work finished up in a jiffy. That was a regular party.

Afterwards we took her to Dunkin Donuts for a very sugary early morning treat just to ensure we have to do this all over again someday. ;) The Versed seemed to kick in full force while we were in the car on the way home (once her body relaxed a bit). She sounded like a little drunk woman. Apparently, her feet are quite cute and funny because she had a good laugh at their expense on the way home ... it was pretty funny. It is quite something to see your child completely stoned. Once home Joe took her to the potty since it had been a while. She tried to dismount once finished and nearly fell on her face. We took that as a pretty clear sign that today needs to be a lounge on the sofa and let your brain rot in front of the TV sort of day. So that is what she is doing today. At least the tooth is fixed. Oh yeah ... she remembers none of what happened at the dentist. We are very happy about that because the whole scene had the makings of a horrible and very traumatic childhood memory. ;)

An illustration

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Look at Jaida's hand and then read last post. ;)

A posse of imaginary friends

We have several recent photos of Jaida and the one common theme in all of them is that she has one hand extended like she is holding a friend's hand. She has an imaginary friend named Paige. Paige is modelled after her in real life friend Paige. The real Paige is at daycare with Jaida and the imaginary one comes home with Jaida from daycare. In many of our recent pictures Jaida is standing with one hand extended that Paige is holding. We include Paige in many of our activities. It is pretty funny when I tell Jaida and Paige to get up to the table for dinner and Jaida very matter of factly informs me that Paige went home over an hour ago.

There is also a Kamen. Kamen is apparently Jaida's way of exploring all the things she is not supposed to do. Kamen rarely shows up in imaginary person form but rather calls Jaida on her toy cell phone. Kamen says the word butt A LOT ... as in calling Jaida a butt, etc. As if Jaida doesn't have enough reason to tattle on Jax constantly she now tattles on Kamen also. Kamen also hits people and Jaida tells me about that also. I usually try to use the Kamen activities as a jumping off point for discussing why Jaida should not do these things.

There is also a Mr. Sparks. There isn't a lot of information available about Mr. Sparks. Although from what I can tell he resides in the playhouse attached to her swingset. Don't worry there is no real Mr. Sparks living out in her playhouse ... trust me - we have checked. :)

Little Crush

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

We spent a long weekend at the beach. More about that in a different post though. While we were there we met up with a friend and her kids. Jaida just has such a little crush on her son. She says he is a wild and crazy boy and apparently she just loves this about him. Anyhow, we went for a stroll along the boardwalk and Jaida was determined she was going to stroll while holding his hand. How insanely CUTE is this picture? There is something about this picture that just screams summer to me.

I just realized we might not think this is SO cute when Jaida is sixteen and doing this same thing while wearing a bikini. Ack!!!!

Do clowns make you feel nervous?

If so you may not want to look at this post. :) Jaida had her big birthday bash on June 23rd. She had a ball. Her favorite friends all showed up and she was just vibrating with happiness the entire day. We had a moon bounce which surprisingly didn't see as much action as the new playset that Joe assembled. We also had Big Red the clown. She came and did a magic show and then did face painting. Even the kid's that were slightly nervous about clowns warmed to her fairly quickly. She was a very low-key sort of clown.

Below are a smattering of the pictures from the fun day:

FOUR

I often wonder where the time goes? It seems that I blink and 6 months have zipped by. I am thinking this is only going to get worse as my kids get older but maybe I am wrong? This picture is the direct result of Jaida being both four years old and completely adorable. Jaida turned a whopping four years old on June 17th. She was so excited about her birthday this year and started marking the days off the calendar back in March. Unfortunately, she had a terrible stomach virus on her actual birthday which meant she spent the day in the bathroom. Fortunately, her birthday party was scheduled for the following week. Jaida did get a brand spanking new Trek mountain bike (16") for her birthday from mom and dad. She had requested a big girl bike that was pink with white tires and had a basket. Let me tell you how hard it is to find a girl's pink bike that does not have Disney princesses all over it. She also received a Hooked on Phonics set to help with reading and the My Pretty Pony castle set-up along with a pony to inhabit the structure. We had cupcakes once the vomiting stopped. :)

Much has happened since my last update. Jaida started in a 5 day a week three year old program last fall. She loved it and absolutely thrived. She only had slight first day jitters but happily marched into her new classroom and found her chair and started her day. She looked a bit nervous when it was time for me to go but did very well and just waved goodbye and let me go. She continued to thrive the rest of the school year. We were constantly given glowing reports of well Jaida was doing (both socially and academically) by her teacher. Jaida really loved going to school every day. Some of the highlights of her school year were her bike-a-thon, bear cave reading adventure, trip to the pumpkin patch, doughnuts with dad, muffins with mom, imaginary field trip to outer space, trips to several local parks, spirit week, and lots of other fun that was had in the classroom. In August she starts the pre-K program for four year olds at the same school. She is very excited to find out who her new teacher will be.

Jaida went trick or treating this last Halloween and she dressed as a beautiful flower. She also did a trunk or treat event at her school and had tons of fun. In October she also played in her third season of peewee soccer. It was amazing to see her out on the field ... she just has so much confidence. She also started her ballet class which she looked forward to every week.

The winter was filled with holiday fun. We didn't get that much snow this last winter but the little we did get Jaida enjoyed playing in. Lucky for her she seems to have inherited her dad's metabolism and is always too warm so she likes winter quite a bit.

The Spring was very busy with get togethers with friends, outings to fun places, playing soccer for the spring season, and getting ready for her first dance recital. She finished school the end of May. Since then she swims pretty much every day at Nancy's house and has become so confident in the water. She seems to enjoy every minute of swimming and is getting a great work-out in the process. We have also been enjoying a local pool quite a bit so far this summer. We go a few times a week and at least one day each weekend. Jaida starts swim lessons at this pool in mid August.

Jaida is the best big sister in the world. I am surprised that there isn't more fighting between her and Jax. They seem to just work things out amongst themselves pretty well. We have learned that Jaida is very much not a morning person and Jax very much is ... for a while this was causing a few issues as Jax practically woke up screaming for yae-da. Now we keep him locked in our master bedroom with us until Jaida has time to wake and get moving on her own without her brother inviting himself into her room to poke her in the eyes until she wakes up and plays with him. Works much better and leads to a much more harmonious morning. :) Jaida just loves Jax so much ... she is constantly kissing on him and hugging him which is saying A LOT since she is not a kissy/huggy sort of person. Jax of course completely adores his sister and Jaida just loves this.

Most of all ... Jaida has just turned into such a lovely little lady. She is just the love of our life.

Fancy Nancy (ahem ... Jaida)

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

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