Saturday Snowfall

Snow silently arrived while Maaike napped on Saturday afternoon. When we opened the blinds in her bedroom after she woke up, sheer awe and amazement flashed across her face, and she said, "The Big Snow came!" We had to run downstairs and put her snow suit on right away, and there was no dilly-dallying allowed ... we had to get out and enjoy the white stuff.

I am still in shock at how different our world is seemingly overnight, how quickly seasons change, how quickly time goes by. It's so exciting to see it from Maaike's perspective. She doesn't remember much about last year's snow, so this is like the first time for her. Fresh snow, fresh outlook ...

Reading

Maaike loves reading. From the time she was a small baby, we have read to her before bed time. And for as long as I can remember, we have left books in her bed after we've read them and turned off the light, only to hear her through the monitor reading them back to herself by the light of her "spoka" night light. This week, Maaike has been "pretending" more than ever, especially with her dolls, and I caught her going through our bedtime routine with her baby, which included reading many, many books! I'm so proud.

I also caught a magic moment between father and daughter during their evening reading session ... the look on Maaike's face was so priceless, so interested in the books Daddy was reading. She loves going to the library and getting new ones to read. I thought this latest book was perfect for a photo op, given its title ...

And finally there is a new book in town ... on top of all the books we brought home from the library: the Toys 'R Us Christmas catalogue arrived on our doorstep this week. Yes, it has started already, and she's not even 3 years old. But its a new fave in our household. Maaike will sit for hours flipping the pages, pointing out toys and saying, "Maybe I can have an [insert toy]?" It's a riot and I'm totally enjoying every moment of it. Bring on Christmas!!! :o)

Internal Review

In the last weeks I:

~ went to three Halloween parties for my child (only one of which she agreed to wear a costume to);

~ have been worried I may never be able to explain in toddler terms how important it is to not hold in her poopy;

~ have been CRAZY tired;

~ couldn't quite get warm;

~ have been thinking about going back to work;

~ was envious of people getting new vehicles when my little red "lemon" (???) is once again giving us grief;

~ put my family (read: me!) on a spending moratorium. Where does the $$$ go every month???

~ realized I have two months until my little girl turns 3. THREE! Wow. That seems so old;

~ came to the conclusion that keeping one step ahead of my housework will never happen. I scrubbed this house crazy yesterday and already I see tumbleweeds of fur on the floor;

~ had to scare monsters out of my girl's room for the first time. They were stuck in her blanket so we shook out the blanket and danced the "run away monsters" dance. Fortunately, they listened and promised to never come back;

~ added another exercise day to my workout routine;

~ have, for the most part, kept my paws out of the Halloween candy ... save and except that little bag of Nibs. But I think there were only 10 of those delectable little red bites in there anyway, so that doesn't count ... right???

~ got into a jean skirt I haven't worn in MANY years, and found a pair of jeans at VV which is 2-3 sizes smaller (depending on brand -- why can't they be consistent?) than I was wearing just 6 months ago. Yay, running!

~ realized I've been with Andrew for 7 years already. Time seems to be going as fast as $$$ around here ... ;

~ have enjoyed how much more animated Maaike is becoming, participating in things, pretending, reacting to and acting out her videos, and calling her Momma on things she misses or makes mistakes in. Yes, it's started already;

~ was again reminded that certain people enter and exit your life for good reason, and some you'll miss more than others;

~ have been looking forward to the snow, if only to see the excitement generating from my daughter's eyes. She asks to make a snowman every time she sees a semblance of a flake;

~ haven't been able to find a good final point to this internal review, so am just going to let it be at that ... if only I could do that in all aspects of my life!