this happened on the bus

Mr. Steve says in a hushed voice: "I need to talk to you."
My eyes get bigger and I lean into the bus stairwell: "Okay?"
Mr. Steve: "Lola and her boyfriend cannot sit together anymore [my stomach knots at this description of her friend Tucker, but i know its a convenience term], I've been told by other kids on the bus that they both had their pants down and were showing off their behinds at each other."
Me: [completely mortified that she might really have done this and that he is telling me about it] "Oh wonderful, another talk we need to have!" I really didn't know what to say, but felt I had to say something.

So the bus motors off, Lola and I start walking and I asker her about it: "So Lola, did you really pull your pants down in the bus?"
Lola: [not looking at me] "No."
Me: I repeat what Mr. Steve said. "So what happened?"
She then proceeded to mutter something about Tucker and Shayla, so I stopped her and asked again. She denied it.

In better news, she also got a 71 on her math test. She has a spelling test to prepare for on Friday, and now, an apology note to write to Mr. Steve.

Blankets

The typical weekend morning for Lola, wearing a new Hello Kitty robe our neighbor Robin gave her. Under her "comfort" with her well worn blanket and the chosen doll of the day at her side. She has a serious love affair going with her blankets; they are still often stuffed in her mouth with her chewing away on them. We have accepted the inevitable orthodontic intervention coming down the pike, but we aren't replacing the increasingly tattered remnants. So, due to sheer disintegration, she'll be forced to stop chewing them in another 10 years or so.

Recently we were on a trip to Petco and Lola asked me what her blankets say when she's away all day at school. I told her they say "Where is our big girl? We really miss her!"  Lola looked down at the blanket in her arms and said, "I love you blanket." and gave it a kiss.

New carriage

Christmas 2016 brought Lola a new, more maneuverable baby carriage and we took a walk around the block to break in the new wheels with Paddington under a comfy-cozy "comfort" (blanket).
My favorite part was conversing with Lola during the trip. We covered a bunch of important topics, for example, when Lola is a mommy she is going to have two children, a boy named Strawberry and a girl named Sally. We are always vigilant in watching out for oncoming traffic so I asked her what kind of car she wants when she grows up. Without hesitation she said a purple truck with white flames that we would all take turns driving around.  Here is a bit of video from the start of our walk.

Happy 7th big girl. First day of first grade AND a birthday. I hope she is having a good day there and look forward to meeting her bus and our little celebration here. 

It was pretty cool to see Mr. Steve at the wheel of the big bus again and she is now able to sit toward the back with the other "big kids". New monster themed backpack and lunchpack, new skills learned over the summer. 

Six

She is six!
Today, just us. A visit to TRU and an ice cream cake before bed. The party comes later this month.

Another summer winding down, another birthday coming!

6! We are going to host a party for friends at Benner's Farm in East Setauket... Still pricey, but at least outdoors!

To catch up on events of late - after the passing of the greatest dog EVER, Sunny Bun; then her daughter, Willow; then the wee one, Clementine - we are with two rescues: Indiana Bones, a feisty elder Boston Terrier and Cadbury, the big, young, goofball Chocolate Lab. Papi has come to terms with the newest family members and all is very very well.

Loli has spent most of her summer at day camp - Camp Harbor located at the Harbor Country Day School. Talk about a lovely place of learning. If money were no object we would send her here for sure - such nuturing and community. She has thoroughly enjoyed every day there.

I'll b e back in a few weeks to review the birthday bash - with pictures!

Over a year!?!

SCANDALOUS!!

it's May 24, 2014 and Miss Lola is now 4 years, 8 months old. she's still a tiny little thing, but has not recognized that as any kind of impediment and is as rough and tumble as any of the other bigger [but mostly, younger] kids in her preschool.

we [Scott and I] did, however, make the decision to have Lola undergo some testing to determine whether or not she was making all of the proper amounts of grow juice - for her. the tests were not pleasant and mostly scary, and, in the end, we learned that she is healthy, but not making nearly enough growth hormone on her own. 

it boiled down to making the choice of either committing to a lengthy program of nightly synthetic hormone injections to make up the deficit. or not.

we chose:

armed with her beloved blanket, a variety of band aids, and after much delay [blame the weak parents here] we took the plunge together. 

time will tell how effective the program will be - in the meantime, she is sleeping more soundly and eating [and pooping] more than ever.  

Where does the time go?

Always fun with Jack & Mindy! Burke Family Reunion: York, Maine

3rd Birthday: Trenton, Maine

Lights out! Hurricane Sandy, 10/2012

Giordano's Christmas 2012

Memory making with the Blossoms: San Francisco, CA, February 2013

Big Snow! - The Blizzard of 2/10/13!

Christmas Angel MMXII

Carrying on a tradition that we started when Lola was born, here's this years version of our Christmas angel.  Feel free to print it out and make it your tree topper too!

She will not let us do this when she's 15 so we need to take advantage now

pffffbbbt!!

Lola is three years old this Christmas. She's very full of herself  and wants to do everything on her own. Lately, as she is still potty training, she's been wearing Dora the Explorer big girl underwear over her pull-ups, jumping everywhere, talking up a storm, and she no longer wants things, she neeeeeds them.  Her latest favorite thing is punctuating her sentences with loud pfffbbbts and having dueling pfffbbts matches with her daddy. Here she is in action, on our trip home with the Christmas tree.

Class picture

It's very nice to have a class picture day where everyone gets dressed up and someone besides us is taking a picture of Lola with a real camera, not their phone!

Lola at 2 1/2 years old

First time using the potty

Lately, many of the toddlers at daycare are getting potty trained and all the kids are given an opportunity to sit and give it a try around changing time.  So we decided to put her potty in her bedroom and offer her a chance to sit when we change her diaper, emulating the  daycare center. She'd occasionally sit on it fully clothed, or more often, sit one of her dolls on it to give it a try. 

Yesterday, without any prompting, Lola asked if she could sit on the potty. We took off pants and diaper and she sat down and just smiled at me as we passed the time.  I asked her if she was pooping and made the intense face she gets while pooping, she emulated me, grunted a bit and we were both surprised to hear the sound of pee hitting the bowl!  Afterwards we both took a good look at her handiwork and had a congratulatory ice pop to celebrate.  Yay for milestones!!!

Stickers!

Lola has a new found love of stickers, at this point she likes to peel them off and stick them one on top of another.  After putting a bunch on a sheet of paper she discovered that stickers do in fact stick to skin...

That "new" carseat smell

It seems so long ago when we first brought Lola home in our Graco carseat; she was so small she looked lost amid the belts and buckles.

Now she is a towering 31 inches tall and has been sorely lacking for legroom. Thankfully, my brother and sister-in-law gave us their two, long retired, Britax carseats from when their daughter, Alissa was younger. So today, at just about two and a half, Lola got to stretch her legs again and enjoy her first ride facing forward!

first class - more legroom!

Mary and Lola

Recently, Lola finished up almost a year of physical therapy here at home. Our wonderful physical therapist, Mary, specializes in helping infants and toddlers overcome problems in their physical development. In our case Lola has a condition called hypotonia, which means low muscle tone, and because of that, she experienced delayed gross motor skills, including rolling over, sitting up, and walking.

Lola, Mary, and Maggie sharing cake after Mary's last visit.

Physical therapy helped Lola understand how to approach standing, walking, and balancing and gave us the tools to practice with her during the week between sessions. We still don't know the underlying cause of Lola's hypotonia but with lots of work she is now running around, climbing stairs, and, instead of sitting on the sidelines in day care, she's able to keep up with the crowd at playtime.

We are so very thankful to Mary for all of her help and Lola still asks about her. We hope she'll visit with us again sometime soon.

God rest Ye Merry Fanta...

Fanta in full vigor

The last of the "Original Three", Fanta the feral kitty, shed his 9th mortal coil during the over night of December 23rd.  He was a big, robust ginger tom who I'd grown especially fond of because of his last member status.  Like his wild mates before him, he was a regular visitor and sometimes resident of our deck over the past three years. He, like his buddies, didn't hold a grudge after being trapped and neutered and still came back for the chow and sunny napping spots. I greatly enjoyed his company in the early mornings whilst sipping my morning joe and taking in the wildlife sightings of the backyard.

I don't know for certain how his demise came about, but he had been injured in some sort of fight last month and never seemed to completely bounce back from it. I am glad I was able to locate his last hiding spot in order to finally give him a few pats and a good burial after he passed.

Not the last, but certainly one of the more loved.

Hubert in a favorite spot

Flash in the same planter

Christmas Angel

Every year we create a home made Christmas Angel to top our tree. It's become a fun holiday tradition that we hope our model will tolerate as long as possible [til at least her 30s]. It's also interesting for us to see all of the changes that have come about year to year.

HoHo hack, cough, wheeze, ugh...

First cold of the season being battled and it ain't been pretty for some of us...

Lola 1                          Cold 0
Lola's parents -2         Cold 2

New table and chairs

Lola sitting in her new chair

Wetting her whistle with a friend

We found a nice solid wood table and chair set on Etsy for Lola. She needs someplace to draw, have snacks, and of course host tea parties with her favorite stuffed friends.

Here she is, playing with her new acquisition:

Face painting

Lola's daycare is great about incorporating lots of art projects into the kids' daily activities; and on this particular day, when I came to pick her up I found that she was the canvas!