SAD

This entry is not directly about the kids ... maybe it is about them in a round-a-bout sort of way such as "I have no patience to deal with them right now" but that is about it.

EVERY.SINGLE.YEAR right about mid-January I start feeling down in the dumps (is that an actual term? it seems odd). I never get what I would think full-on depression is like but I feel blah. It is usually at its worst come mid-February and by the first day of Spring I feel that renewed sense of being and happiness but I seem to have to go though the winter blahs first. I have never been to a doctor about this and have never been officially diagnosed with anything. That is the beauty of the internet I can diagnose myself with Wikipedia or even better yet WebMD without having to go to the doctor and commune with the sick people and possibly catch something worse than my minor case of SAD. I love the internet!

Anyhow, I am thick in the heart of the winter blahs. If I had an un-limited supply of cash I think I would just up and move to someplace warm and sunny for the winter. I do wonder though if I would still have the blahs ... they would probably just be called something else. I am not a big fan of medication (don't have a problem with others using meds - just not for me) but I do wish there was something like Botox for the brain. Something that could make me superficially happy just long enough to get me to Spring.

ho hum ...

School

Jaida will be starting full day kindergarten in the public school system in the Fall. I seriously cannot believe that my baby girl is going off to real school soon. Anyhow, she needs to get her varicella vaccination before she can be registered. I was really hoping she would get the chicken pox (and thereby natural immunity) before she turned five but as it seems no such luck. She is not going to be pleased when she finds out she is getting a shot next Wednesday.

Shhhhh .... please don't tell her until I think of something to bribe her with!

Grandparent's Day

Jaida's preschool has a little Grandparent's Day celebration every year on Valentine's Day. Last year this was an intensely stressful day for me as I just want nothing more than for Jaida to be happy. Jaida was still fairly naive to the fact that every other kid she knew had Grandparent's locally and she didn't. Last year our wonderful friend Alice agreed to be Jaida's Grandfriend and take time off her job to attend the program at Jaida's school. Jaida just beamed with happiness when she saw Miss Alice come through the door of her school. She talked of nothing else for the week that followed.

This year Jaida is a bit more aware of her situation. When she found out Grandparent's Day is coming up soon she very timidly asked me what we are going to do since her Grandparents all live far away. I explained that she was correct that the Grandparent's that would be willing to come to such an event do live far away so they would not be able to come but that we would figure something out. She is worrying over this though and that just about tears my heart out. Surely other kids have Grandparents that live far away but why is it that at this time of year it feels like mine is the only child in this situation? Anyhow, as it stands now it appears that my good friend (and the mom of Jaida's best friend) is going to go with Jaida to her school program. She is not a Grandparent or even a Grandfriend for that matter but she is someone that adores Jaida and I suppose that is all that matters.

Pink Mushroom

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Jaida started ice skating lessons. She really seems to love it and has really (surprisingly ) good balance. At one point all the kids were toppling over and I look out on the ice and there is Jaida standing on the ice watching all the commotion. She catches me watching and gives me two big thumbs up. Right before lessons started Jaida looks out at all the other kids on the ice and tells me "mama, none of the other kids are wearing helmets". I told her that her brain would thank me when/if she fell on the ice and banged her noggin. As she was leaving with her teacher she looks over her shoulder at me and says "mama, you worry too much". I think she would be paralyzed by fear if she knew how much I worry about her on a daily basis. I must hide it well (for the most part).

Taking a little break from all the excitement

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

I think Jaida had a great Christmas. We had a lot of fun on our break and of course she received many nice gifts. Jaida really got into all of our traditions this year. I think for Jaida preparing for Christmas was more fun than the actual day this year. Quite fun!

I am reasonably sure she did not like the present

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

What do you think? ;)

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.