Penmanship

Hi Sidra,

I didn't know when I got up this morning that I could comment on your penmanship. I didn't know you could do much writing other than a circle. You must be getting some practice at school. And obviously you are getting better with your fine motor skills.

This morning I was writing a list and you wanted to take part. I decided to give you a chance to do your own writing instead of trying to share my list with you. Actually I got the idea for this activity by reading with you from your magazine "Highlights." There is a story about a girl who writes to a relative and it's mostly scribbles and loops although she tries to make an 'M ' because her name begins with M. So I wondered if you would be able to do that. I thought I might give you some help by providing a trace of the letter. By George, you did it on the first try and did well with several more attempts. I was "blown away" to quote your uncle Ben. You can see your first three 'Ss" here. You did about 10 for me altogether.

I also wanted to thank you for dancing with me. It was a couple weeks ago and we were listening to the modern version of Oh Hannuka by Aaron Baron Cohen. I really like the song and you were a great dance partner. We did a little mini hora together. It was cool for me because I've always been a pretty self conscious dancer. You had no preconceptions of what good dancing was so you were just happy to have a partner. Your mom probably would have joined us but was busy in the kitchen. I just wanted to write about it so I would remember to talk with you about it when you're older.
The song plays on the video here.

Love, Aba

Channuka 5770 (2009)

hi sidra,

we are in the middle of channuka 5770 and I wanted to share some things with you about it.
Mostly about your great ability to receive gifts. It is really easy to get gifts and you are developing quite the appetite for it. I hope that you will mature into a good gift giver as well.

The video doesn't have a very good picture quality but you will see yourself opening a gift that is not a toy and quickly tossing it aside. I guess that's not uncommon for a kid your age. On the other hand, you did do something pretty cool with a gift you got from tante Debbie. It was a book. Even in the frenzy of gift opening, you paused to hop on the couch and quickly look through it. Your mother and I were both pretty surprised and pleased by that. A fun detail about the book is that the main character is named Cary, just like me. Although she is a girl.

You've also been receiving a really cool magazine. It's called National Geographic for Kids. You are seen reading it while sitting on the toilet in one of the pictures here. It has some pretty cool stuff in it and you surprised us the other night by recalling something that was in it. Jeopardy was on TV and one of the contestants answered 'Botswana.' You repeated it and said it was in your magazine. Then you picked up the magazine and showed us the reference. Neither of us remembered that part of the magazine although we'd both read it to you.

In the video I took the liberty of dubbing in one of my favorite rock 'n' roll guitar solos over what your guitar was playing. I preferred the Golden Earring riff to Britney Spears. If you listened carefully you can still be heard saying "Look at me, Jen" and "It's like a real guitar!"

Happy Channuka,

Love, Aba.

Shabodja

Hi Sidra,

I wanted you to know about Shabodja. Actually, you already know about her but may need to be reminded later in your life who she was. She's one of your dolls and I am only guessing at this phonetic spelling of her name because you named her and I don't think you can spell yet. If I asked you now to spell it I don't think you could do it. I think you know how to spell your name but not this one.
The name is part of her mystery. We have no idea how you came up with this name. As far as we know it isn't a name of someone you've met or a fictional character that you know. Maybe later when you can articulate your thoughts a little better you will be able to remember how you decided on this name.
You have done a lot of things with Shabodja. You like to take her with you and have her watch you do things. This picture was taken as a recreation of something you did the other night. You were getting ready for bed and Shabodja was going to join you. But you had also been looking at an evil (my editorial opinion) book called 'Bridesmaid's Diary.' It is about a young girl and her older sister who is getting married and the younger sister is asked to be a bridesmaid. Anyway it's a pop up book (indoctrinating the pre school girls that one of their aspirations should be matrimony) and has some other removable parts. One of them was the pendant that Shabodja has in her hand in the photo. It represents the necklace that was given to the younger sister by the older sister in the story. For some reason you thought Shabodja should have it.
I just wanted you to know that you have a pretty creative mind sometimes and we have a tough time figuring out the influences.
Love,
aba

Best and Worst

Hi Sidra,

There are many reasons why I love you but I just wanted to tell you about couple things that really made me glad I was your dad. And one that will not be such a fond memory.

A couple of days ago I was making beds upstairs and your mom suggested to you that you could go upstairs and 'help' me. Quotations are there because help from a not yet three year old is elusive at best. So you did well when I asked you to bring me things from the laundry basket into the bedroom. Later, when I was trying to flap the top sheet so it would fall straight on the bed you decided it would be fun to climb on the bed and get under the flapping sheet. Which made it impossible to get the sheet on straight. I asked you to get out of the way but you were having too good a time to come out from under there. So, I chose to leave the room and go work on your bed instead. You wanted to participate in that event, too. But you weren't really a distraction there and I got that job done. I then tried again to finish our bed but you had the same idea of fun under the sheet. I thought of some way that I could continue with my chores and not waste any more time waiting for you to let me finish the bed, so I left the room again. I was in my room a few minutes later and you came in and said "I'm sorry."
That made a big impression on me for a couple of reasons. First, it showed that you were empathetic to others needs or interests. I loved that. Second, it showed you understood unspoken messages. That was really cool!
On the other hand, you are sleeping off an unpleasant meltdown from earlier in the afternoon. We were out in the neighborhood as it is an unseasonably nice day. I was carrying your sister in the 'baby bjorn.' You were riding your bike. You wanted to go down to where we've picked blackberries before. I warned you that it was a long way and that there wasn't going to be any edible berries there now like there were in the summer. After we turned around to come home you wanted me to carry the bike home while you walked. Nothing doing, I said. We'd had discussions about this in the summer and I always said if you ride your bike somewhere, you had to ride it home, too. Anyway, we disagreed but you walked away from your bike leaving me to carry it home and your sister, too. I held your hand and you wailed all the way home. I guess part of it is that you need to realize that you're becoming a big girl and may need to forgo some 'mommying' or 'daddying' and stand on your own two feet at times.

So that I don't finish on a negative note here's something else you did that 'blew me away' to use your uncle Ben's phrase. We had the TV on and were watching womens figure skating. We were urging you to watch how good the skaters were. You said 'when I'm her age I want to do that.' I liked that on two fronts. One that you were inspired to try to do these amazing things on skates and secondly that you were able to articulate your wish.

Love, aba

Sisterhood

Hi Sidra,

Your little sister is home now. You met her yesterday. I took you to the hospital with me when I went to bring Shira and your mom home. You ran over to see her as soon as you saw us coming and sort of ignored your mom, who you hadn't seen in a few days. You've been doing pretty good for the day that you've been an official big sister. You are like Curious George, always willing to help out even if you aren't asked and sometimes get a little too exuberant.

If you do the things that you have talked about doing in the future Shira will be very lucky to have you as her big sister. You've said that you will hold her hand, help change her diaper, share your toys, give her a binky when she needs it, hold her and some other things. Some of the things you want to do for her are a ways down the road but that's okay. As long as you keep your word. I was just interupted in writing this because I was helping you get the binky for Shira. You were pretty good in being gentle with her.

You also are developing into a relentless child consumer. There was a Toy's R US insert in the Sunday paper, I think. Anyway, you got a hold of it and began checking out the toys, followed obsessing about a Barbie veterinarian kit. It would help you sort of reenact an event that occurs in a Curious George story. You believe that you can get it for one of the upcoming holidays but don't seem willing to wait. It's quite amazing the story you can tell about what you can do with these toys.

I'm sure there will be more soon.

Love, aba

You're a Big Sister.

Hi Sidra,

you became a big sister today as your little sister Shira was born. You didn't get to see her yet, except in pictures and videos I brought home. You spent the day with Nancypants and your cousin Rachel and aunt Deb Cohen. When I finally got home you were in pretty good spirits and well fed. We sat down and watched a video of your mom nursing baby Shira and she told you she missed you and that you should get to bed early so you could get up to go to school tomorrow.
The hospital won't allow you to come to visit your mom and sister because of precautions related to the swine flu. You are asleep now, but we expect that you will be up and come into bed with me sometime during the night. We know that in your drowsiness you will ask for your mommy and she won't be there. That's why I came home to spend the night with you instead of Tante Debbie. So that one of your parents will be here.
I was pleased with your interest in the pictures of your mom and sister. I think you have some big adjustments ahead but you are going to be a good sister and I'm already proud of you because of it. Of course, when the family is all home things may be different than I expect.

Love,
aba

Happy Halloween

Hi Sidra,

You got a little more serious about Halloween this year. You had a cool ladybug costume that your mom bought you and you anticipated the event for quite a while. In fact, you had a streak of several days in a row where you asked me if I would dress up like a cheerleader to go trick or treat with you. That was because I had played the part of a cheerleader in my schools annual lip synching contest. I had to tell you several times that I couldn't because I had to return the costume. I suggested that I could probably dress as a rock star with some of the things I had left from the year before. So then your question became 'will you be a star?' It's hard to turn that request down so that's what you see in the pictures. We're even getting the thumbs up from uncle Aaron.
You've been challenging us lately by being pretty stubborn. You don't really want to comply with our requests so you sort of act like you aren't hearing us or even say outright that you don't want to do something. We are working letting you know what our limits are. One clever way you have learned to negotiate is with the phrase, 'but not right now.' Unfortunately for you sometimes we have to counter that with a 'yes, right now.'
I am interested to know what I'm going to write about you in the next post because your little sister is going to be born tomorrow and your life will change a lot. We believe you will be a good big sister eventually, but are expecting some rough spots for you in the coming weeks. I hope it's not too rough. I expect you and I are going to spend a lot of time together in the near future because neither one of us will be able to feed your sister for a while, only your mom will be able to and you and I are going to need to give your mom and your sister some space to do that.

more soon,

love, aba

The Pumpkin Patch

Hi Sidra,

You had a couple of big events this weekend. We went to the pumpkin patch in nearby Boring to get a couple of pumpkins and have some fun. Besides picking out some pumpkins, you played in the 'corn box' which is like a sandbox but filled with corn kernels and has bones hidden in the corn. You also rode the small carousel, went through the small but uncovered maze, and the 'tunnel maze.' I went with you in the tunnel maze and we took our flashlights as we knew about this from our visit last year. Mom couldn't come along in her very pregnant condition. We decided that after going to the enchanted forest a couple of months ago when we felt pretty claustriphobic in one dark passage. So you and I went in alone and that's how we got the picture of you holding your flashlight inside the maze. I know it doesn't look the same in a flash picture, but we were really pretty deep in the maze when I took the picture. Last year we would have been stuck in the maze without the help of two nice girls using a cell phone for light. Maybe next year we won't cheat and take our flashlights.
Another thing you did was take a pony ride. This pony was quite a bit shorter than Becky's tall horse and you weren't the least bit afraid of riding it. In the picture you can see the big field full of pumpkins behind you.
Then we finally went out in the patch and picked a couple of pumpkins. I picked a great big one, you got a tiny one and mom got a medium sized one. You even had your own wheelbarrow to bring your pumpkin in to the scales to be weighed. Not only that, but you gave the woman your dollar for your pumpkin yourself. It might have been your first transaction.

The weekend before that was pretty rough at our house. You and your mother were both pretty sick and we also lost a member of the family. Our dog Jessie is no longer with us. He had been very sick, too. We didn't know how sick until he was unable to get up on his own and the veternarian told us what he'd found. He was especially good (patient) with you and his absence has left an empty space in our lives. We've tried to explain his story to you, but we don't think you understand it yet.

The other thing you did this weekend was attend a birthday party for a friend from school. It was actually the school director's daughter who turned 3. You got to pull on the Pinata, go on a hike, and be entertained by a clown. The clown even painted your face. You got lots of treats and small toys, too. You had a good time and had lots of candy. It gave us some ideas about what we might do for your birthday party.

Love, Aba

Off to School

Hi Sidra,

You had your first days of preschool this past week. The first day was a little emotional for your mom. You seem to love it and that doesn't surprise me because you're naturally pretty curious and enjoy being part of a group. Your mom took pictures of you in front of your cubby and the first day you stood in front of your name, but the name that showed was the same as your brother.


You are not yet a full member of the potty trained crowd although you are making pretty good progress. We've had trouble getting you to tell us when you need to go. I guess what happened at school is a good thing. You apparently needed to go and began taking your clothes off in the classroom! I guess we should be happy that you are now giving some signal that it's time for you to go and we just need to work on the signal.

Today you got to dance with Smoky Bear. We went to the Festival of the Forest at a nearby park. There were some fun things there for kids to learn about the forest. You got to go inside a large blow up fish and hear a story about the life cycle of salmon and do some water color imprints of leaves. There was also a band playing and you got to shake it up a little with Smoky Bear.

Yesterday you and I took one more trip to the outdoor pool at the sports club. The water on the slides was not turned on but other kids were going down and you went a couple of times, too. But the amazing thing was how much better you swam. You were totally comfortable in floating face down in the water and were getting the hang of stroking with your arms. So, I could give you a little push and you could make it from about 15 feet out all the way to the stairs where you could stand up. You are still limited to how far you can make it one breath, though. That's ok, I was really impressed at how well you did in spite of not having practiced in a while. Besides, probably the best part was when you paused a couple times to say 'I love you.'

until next time,
Love, aba

The End of Summer

Hi Sidra,

Well you and i have had a terrific summer. I want to thank you for that. We will have other summers, of course, but it will be hard to beat the experiences we had this year. It's been a gas showing you new stuff and watching you change by the day. Our nearly nightly bike rides are going to be missed.

You know in the last post I said that you and your mom charmed the ship's captain into letting you take the wheel of the ship. In that case your mom definitely helped you out. However, even that afternoon as we meandered through Saturday Market I watched with interest how people are charmed by you. I've seen it in many different situations. I raise the issue because I hope that it is a quality that you use for good and not selfishly. I can see that you will be able to steer people into doing things that you want them to do. I just hope that you will use that power judiciously and not manipulate others too much. I guess it will be up to us as parents to help you use your influence in the right way.

Another feeling that I have as the summer comes to a close is that it is all passing by so quickly. Right now I feel like I'm at the controls of the Millennium Falcon as it pauses slightly before hitting lightspeed and making everything a blur. When I return to school this week all our time together will be compressed and we won't have much time to savor anything until next summer. I will have some time off when your new sister arrives but then of course it will be different.

I thought I would share with you some of the expressions you are using now as your language skill improves constantly. You used to say 'hold you' all the time and now you are saying 'can you hold me?' instead. You are also saying 'what should we do?' quite frequently now. Another favorite is 'will you play a game with me?' and your favorite game is The Ladybug Game. When you are hungry you say 'I want something' and we're supposed to know that it means you want something to eat. But you have also learned to say nicely 'please may I have __' although you use it sporadically. 'What did you do?' is another frequent question.

The two pictures here are you in the bumper boats at the Enchanted Forest and you being pushed on the swing by Cooper.

I notice that I've been posting like crazy this month compared to any other time. I hope it won't be another month before I make another post. You are starting your pre school in a about a week and I will surely want to report on that.

Love, Aba

Captain Sidra

Hi Sidra,

Summer is winding down but we have saved the best for last. We've had some pretty cool experiences just in the last few days. Two days ago we visited my grown up daughter Becky and her family in Bend. She has a school like the one you are going to attend soon and a HORSE! So, you got to sit on the horse and 'ride' for a few seconds. You also got to jump on a big trampoline and generally hang out with Cooper and Ivan who are actually my grandchildren.

Yesterday we took you and your friend Logan to the Enchanted Forest which is a theme based amusement park. You looked in the rabbit hole, but couldn't go all the way through it(neither could I, but Logan did) , slid down the witches mouth and the old woman who lived in a shoe, rode the train, ferris wheel, bumper boats, and frog hopper.

Today was the fifth anniversary for your mom and me. We went on a lunch cruise on the Willamette river in Portland. It was pretty fun, you had terrific time. You got to steer the boat! A big cruise ship with 250 people on board. We went up to the bridge near the end of the cruise and you and your mom turned on the charm and pretty soon you were in the captain's chair.





Oh, you also became 2 and 2/3 years of age today, so we talked about that. I'll post my thoughts about the ending of summer tomorrow or the next day.

Love,
Aba

OUCH

Hi Sidra,

You had a little tumble yesterday. It had to happen sooner or later but here's how it went down. You and I were on our bikes and your mom was walking with Jesse, our dog. We were going up and down driveways in the cul-de-sac one block down from our house. Your mom actually left the house a little behind us and was looking for us. She wanted to walk further down the street but we wanted to show her what we'd been doing. You were wanting to show off for her, I think. So, you went a little faster than you had been and your front wheel got wobbly and out of control and you went over the top of the handlebars and did a bit of a face plant.

As you can see in the pictures you have a fat lip. You bled a little and were pretty shook up but recovered after eating some pudding and a popsicle. I wasn't too worried about your teeth after seeing you bite on the popsicle.

I guess you're not too scared to get back on your bike because we went for another ride this morning and you seemed fine with it. You did begin by repeating several times your mother's words 'no more hills.' I said you could go back on the hills when you felt ready.

Love,
aba.

On Stage

Hi Sidra,

it's been a month since we did the open mic night with your mom. We had a another one last night and we did the same thing, helping your mom set things up and then you were first to perform, and then you and I went for pizza while the others were performing.

But this time we decided to bring the camera and record your performance. You hogged the mic for about 7 minutes but I trimmed it down to about a minute to post here. You are quite the ham.

Also, this week we took you to Oaks Amusement Park. You enjoyed that quite a bit. You asked immediately to go back. You were clearly exhausted, as your mother and I were too, but as we were leaving you wanted to go back for more. We promised another visit on another day. You liked the slide the most, I suppose, because we went back to repeat that several times. You also rode the Ferris wheel, the kiddie cars and planes, the tugboat, the miniature train, the balloons, and the carousel.

And, we are still in the early stages of the big girl bed, so there's another episode of that to report. We started trying to get you to bed/sleep at about 9:30 last night. Your mom read you some books, then I laid in bed with you and read my book for a while. During that reading, you were supposed to lay still and try to sleep. You were grabbing my pages, poking me in the eye, and generally flopping around. I said you had to stop or I was leaving and closing the door. You persisted so I had to follow through. You were upset, we compromised on a half closed door. Your mom went and laid down with you for a while. She finally came out and we began watching our 'adult' movie, behind our closed door. You soon appeared peeking around the door as you cracked it open. Instead of finding mom there the first thing you see is mean old dad, and I said
'Sidra, you have to go back to your room.' You tried once more a couple minutes later and then apparently gave up and went to bed. We checked on you about 20 minutes later and you were asleep.

Love, Aba

The Big Girl Bed

Hi Sidra,

We have moved you to the big girl bed. We have been thinking about it for a while and thought you were ready but were waiting until after our guests had been here. That was about the fact that we wanted to have two beds in the guest room. Now we've moved the beds around so you have the twin bed in your room and the crib went to the guest room.

Anyway, as I write this you are completing your second night in the big girl bed. It must be working well because you've done two nights in a row spending the whole night in your bed. Well, yesterday you didn't stay in your bed until you got up because your mom needed to go get you and bring you into bed with her about 7 in the morning. See, when you were sleeping in your crib, every night you would wake up and call for us to come get you. We've wondered if in the big girl bed you would just get up and come in to our room. But, so far you haven't.

We've also worried that you won't stay in bed when it's time to go to bed. The first night was a challenge but you did pretty good and last night you were really tired because you didn't nap yesterday.

You have been pretty excited about the whole thing. Yesterday you were actually playing some pretend games with the bed. We are also trying to get you on schedule for getting up in time for pre school soon. So,
because of that, I need to finish this and wake you up.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 4

Hi Sidra,

Well, today was the last full day that the Brookline girls will be here. We took them to some of our favorite spots again. The weather finally got a little better and there would be nice views up on Mt. Hood, so we went to Timberline Lodge to get a close look at that mountain and a long look at some others.

In one picture if you look really carefully over Grace's left shoulder you will see Mt. Jefferson. There was a little haze in the air so you have to work hard to make it out. In the other mountain picture you'll see Mt. Hood, the highest peak in Oregon. Mt. Jefferson is the second highest peak in the state. We were at a vantage point just a shade over 6000 feet above sea level. I told the girls that they were higher than any point in their home state. Nearly 3000 feet higher, it turns out.

Inside the Lodge at Timberline we ran across the mascot of the place, Bruno. He's a big St. Bernard that hangs out there. You all enjoyed showing him some love.

On the way home from the mountain we stopped at a local attraction that we like. It is the miniature train right here in Sandy. You've enjoyed this little activity a couple of times and we thought our visitors would too. They did and for the first time you rode with someone other than me on the train. Your cousin Rachel helped you ride.

When we got home the sun fooled us into thinking that it might be a good time to swim in the backyard pool. It wasn't very warm, though, and the water was really cold. You finally were able to stand in the pool for a whole minute and your cousins did last a little longer, but not much.

It's going to be a sad departure in the morning. We've all had a good time with our visitors here this week and all wish it could last longer. This week will make us want to make the trip east for a visit next summer.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 3

Hi Sidra,

We had a another big day with your eastern cousins. They spent the night in a tent at cousin Rachel's house. That was big for them. It was kids only in the tent, and adults only in the house. It may have been a cool night but everyone survived, even the dog Buddy who kept watch over the girls in the tent.

We then went east over the mountains to find sunnier skies and warmer water. We treated the Thompson girls to a visit to the hot springs swimming pool at Kahneetah. You've been to Kahneetha several times and almost always have had a good time. The water is a balmy 90+ and there is a slide that is the right size for you. Being Saturday it was a little crowded but that didn't dampen the girl power.

You did some good starfish floats, Mia went down the biggest slide, and Grace did some really good floats and strokes. On the trip over you watched Finding Nemo to get in the mood for swimming.

It turned out to be a good day to make that trip because the weather was cool and gray here but sunny and warm over there.




Our visitors are here for one more full day so we are going to do our best to show them more of a good time.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 2

Hi Sidra,

We had another great day with the girls from Brookline. First we went to the Japanese Gardens. Your mom had gotten passes for us from our local library. She is pretty good with that sort of thing, seeking out good things for you to do and then finding out the way to make it happen. Actually, your cousin Mia apparently requested the visit to this place and your mom pursued it.

It's not the most kid friendly place and there's really no action stuff there, but you girls still had a good time. We got a little treasure map that showed interesting things to look for and hunting them kept our interest up. It was cool because the map was a little vague and that made it more of an adventure when we solved the mystery. At least it did for me because I had the map but when I found something on it I would show you girls what it was and how it related to the map. We also got a couple of nice photos of you in some scenic spots. In one, the four of you are standing with a downtown Portland vista behind you. In another you are standing in front of the Pagoda Latern, according to the treasure map.

After we'd been at the gardens awhile we were all hungry and we left to find something to eat. That brought us to NW 23rd avenue in Portland and gave your mom a chance to show her cousin Dina some trendy shops. We ate at Noah's Bagels and then went back up the hill to the zoo.

We enjoyed showing the brookline girls around the zoo. We saw the mountain goats, bears, bobcat, eagles, turtles, beaver, lizards, petted some sheep in the petting zoo, polar bears, and then came to the Lorikeet landing. We got three cups of juice for the lorikeets and went in their cage. Grace got a bird to land on her wrist first, but she flinched and it flew right back to the tree. The competition for feeding the birds was tough because there were many others that wanted to do what we were doing and the birds were being fed seeds by the zoo keepers. But, we were patient and you and I got a bird to come to my hand and stay for a couple of minutes. It was long enough for your mom to get the camera out and take several pictures.

You did a great job keeping up and not complaining too much. You were pretty beat by the time we finished at the zoo and conked out probably before we left the parking lot.

Well, the girls are here for a few more days, so there's more to come.

Love, aba

Girl Power

Hi Sidra,

Here I am, outnumbered 5 to 1 by girls, 6 to 1 if you include the new baby to come. But you are enjoying the company of your cousins from Brookline. Mia, Grace and their mother Dina are here for the week. Today we went to a children's museum in Salem. We had planned to take our guests hiking on Mt. Hood but the weather was not good for that.

You had a great time playing at the museum, going down the slide, making bubbles, looking at magnets, playing in the blacklight rooms, dressing up, playing market, and also riding the carousel.

Tonight when we got home you were showing off with your bike, in just your underwear.

Last night you were pretty wired after having the visitors here for the first day and had trouble getting to sleep. You and I were kicked out of mom's bed and had to sleep in the other room. You asked me to sing songs to help you go to sleep and then asked me to stop after singing about 3 songs.

We have more fun stuff planned while your cousins are here, tomorrow we will visit the Japanese gardens and probably the zoo. There is a plan for all you girls to sleep in a tent at Uncle Aaron's house in a couple days, but we'll see how that turns out.

More soon,
Love, aba

Beating the Heat

Hi Sidra,

We've had some really hot weather lately. You've been spending a lot of time in the water. You have been going to swimming lessons in the mornings, and hanging out in our backyard pool a lot of the remainder of the day. One evening, we were even out in the pool until about 11 pm. I think that was the night that I had to umpire some softball games. You have learned to greet me when I am returning from such a job in a way that every umpire would love to be greeted. You say, 'Hi dad, did you do some good umping?' I always respond in the affirmative, regardless of what I heard during the games.

As has been the pattern for most of the last year, it is hard to write about your accomplishments because you invariably top them soon after they are documented. But a couple of days ago I suggested that while in the pool you jump over me without your 'noodle' for floatation. Once you tried you then kept doing it repeatedly. In the video, we are trying to embellish that skill by asking you to kick and extend your arms. You are doing very well with it.

The singing part was your own idea. Once your mom got out the camera to get some swimming footage, you broke out in your favorite song. In fact, it wasn't easy to convince you to sing something else. I don't know how A, B, C became your favorite, but you sing it a lot. We did manage to get Bingo in there, too.

Your progress in the potty department has been a little more frustrating. It seems to me that you have the skills necessary for it, but we haven't given you the right incentive. But the trying has given you the circumstance to say one of the cute things that you say. When you need to put your underwear on I put them on the floor in front of you while you are sitting. You say, 'can you say the words?' Which means you want me to say, 'this foot goes in this hole and this foot goes in this hole and the tag goes in back.'

There are also pictures here from a recent trip we took to Bonneville Dam. One shows you watching a wild steelhead passing the viewing window in the fish ladder. In the other one you are tossing fish food to the trout in the trout pond.




Love,
aba

A night on the town

Hi Sidra,
I just wanted to write you thanks for our night out on the town tonight. It wasn't really formal but you were a pretty good date. We helped your mom set up for an event in the park, and then walked over to get a couple of slices of pizza a few blocks away.

Before we left your mom you began the evening by being the first performer in your mom's event, an open mike night. You sang the a, b, c song and 'twinkle, twinkle, little star.' You also told the small audience your name and age when prompted. This didn't surprise me until I heard the 4 year old and 6 year old that followed you. Neither of them could finish the a, b, c song accurately. Anyway, you wowed the crowd with your presence, enhanced by the killer red dress. It should be noted that you didn't wear the shoes in the picture out. They are 'dress up' shoes that are still a few sizes too big.

You were really good at the pizza stand, too. You were happy with cheese pizza, didn't complain about my clothes, climbed into the high chair on your own and were convinced that water in a paper cup was better than the water we brought in your water bottle. You did lose a couple of points though, by asking me to stop singing along to the classic rock songs they had playing on the radio.

When we got home you topped it off by inviting me to go on a bike ride with you. You know that's always a hit with me. You impressed some of the neighbors as you tooled along in your red dress.

It was a really nice evening. It almost made me forget about this morning's manipulations. You and your mom were in a power struggle about eating enough breakfast before you both went off to music class. After two trips to time out and being told you'd be left behind you finally polished off the meager morsels you'd been asked to eat. THEN, you wanted to finish with 'yay, Sidra.' Nothing doing. I'm still not convinced we won that episode.

I forgot to include some statistics in an earlier post. At age 2½, you were 35 3/4 inches tall, weighed 30 pounds, and had head circumference of 50.5cm. The height and weight were a little under the median for your age but you seem to have a big head. For now we are chalking that up to a larger than normal brain.

I'm loving being able to spend a lot of time with you this summer.

Love, aba

Competition

hi Sidra,

Two days ago you entered your first competition and everyone learned a little something about how things may go for you in future competitions. We learned some things about you and about ourselves.
The event was the 'bike derby' for kids that is part of the local Mountain Festival. Your mom was once the director of this event and was assisting the current director. You competed in the 3 and under age group and you raced about 30 meters. You may have had the best coaching available, since your mom and I know a little bit about the event and began telling you about it 2-3 days ahead of time. You were also the only one in your heat on a 'runner' bike. The others were all on three wheelers. Anyway, you won the event and had a big smile afterward. I had a really strong reaction to seeing you win, I guess pride is the best description of what I was feeling.

Your mom and I were laughing at each other afterward at our competitiveness and how we reacted to what happened. As I said before, you won your heat and we had discussed wondering how you would have done against the winner of the other heat. I didn't see that heat because I was chasing you down since you continued around the track after your race. We had noticed in the 'warm ups' that there was another kid with a runner bike that looked pretty capable on it. Your mom and I joked with each other that you're only 2½ and we're thinking like 'on to the regionals!'

At that point I thought that your mom and I pretty close in our level of 'little league parent' syndrome. That was before I saw and heard the video she took of the race. I will let the readers and viewers decide who is the greater fanatic. The video is presented twice, once with a music soundtrack and once with naked audio.

I have to say that my thoughts as a watched you get ready for the race with the other kids I was reminded of a passage in Bill Strickland's book 'Ten Points.' He describes a situation that you and I may be destined to recreate in a few years. He and his daughter were at the start of a charity bike ride. They were going to ride with him on a regular bike and his daughter on a 'trail a bike' behind him. His daughter had looked over the other participants and said 'Dad, we can beat these guys.' He cringed, of course, knowing that confidence in competition is both good and best kept to oneself. I can see that same scene playing out in our future.

Another thought that struck me in the aftermath is that I know we will continue to give you chances to compete and I hope that you enjoy that. I hope that whatever stress you feel to succeed comes from within and not from pressure exerted by others. Just know that we will do whatever we can to help you reach your goals and will be your biggest cheerleaders.

The captions to the pictures: 1) Lounging with uncle Ben, 2) Ribbons from the bike derby, 3) a little mini train ride we went on right here in Sandy with cousin Rachel.

Enjoy the video,
love, Aba