(mini) ollie

 with cameo by Fitz.

skills honed in a pandemic

Not that there was any doubt, but Mo can officially do better hair than me.

yeh, a pine tree is strange mascot, but we'll take it in a heartbeat

So last night at 5th grade promotion, the principal read each student's statement as they crossed the stage.  Some quoted the likes of Shakespeare, Einstein, even Dr. Seuss.  Others kids thanked their teachers or mom and dad.

Here's KT's statement.

People now assume either her dad or I went to Stanford.  Nope.

Love that she has her sights set high.  I would gladly take on that massive tuition bill.

Later in the car on the way to dinner Katie said, "Mom, I'm wearing a dress, my soul is slowly dying."

That should have been her statement when she crossed the stage.

mo rides

We've been trying to convince Mo to take off her training wheels for awhile now.  Her balance on the razor scooter has been good for some time, so we thought she could do it.

Last week she did it!

Love the outfit she pulled together for the momentous occasion.

Oh, the days of this.

And, a little video from the second day when she really got the hang of it.

mo the minnow

Mo is starting to swim like a big girl!

I hope your weekend goes swimmingly!

what's the fair market price for teeth these days?

Katie has been hemming and hawing over whether to leave her tooth for the tooth fairy, or to keep it.

Last night she put her tooth in her tooth pillow along with a note.

"I wowa (would) like 3 dollars please."

Because apparently, the tooth fairy is open to negotiation.

Before bed she announced to us, "Okay, everyone line up to see my tooth one more time."

We each diligently fell into line, oohed and awed and said our appropriate farewells to the tiny tooth.

Oh, that girl...

first tooth

seriously?

Something like childbirth, I had forgotten how painstakingly time consuming potty training was.

Here is a guide to my potty training day in a nutshell:

Green = underwear changes

Blue = failed potty attempts

Red = successful potty visits

Note 1: All potty attempts were prompted by Mo, not me.

Note 2: I've added uber cute pictures of the girl to keep a smile on my face.

9:30 a.m. Convince Mo to put 1st pair of underwear on; sits on home toilet to no avail

9:45 a.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail

10:00 a.m. Leave house

10:07 a.m. Enter Big 5

10:09 a.m. Mo sits on Big 5 toilet to no avail

10:15 a.m. Arrive in Target parking lot

10:17 a.m. Mo sits on car toilet in Target parking lot to no avail

10:20 a.m. Enter Target

10:25 a.m. Mo sits on Target toilet to no avail

10:40 a.m. Arrive at Japanese market

10:45 a.m. Mo sits on Japanese market toilet and pees!

11:05 a.m. Arrive at school to drop Katie off; Mo sits on car toilet in school parking lot to no avail.

11:10 a.m. Mo sits on school toilet to no avail.

11:25 a.m. Arrive at home, Mo sits on home toilet and pees!

12:30 p.m. Mo wakes from short nap during my run, sits on home toilet and pees!

1:00 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

1:15 p.m. I get out of shower, ask Mo if she needs to go, she says "no" I walk out of the room, she screams, "I'm peeing!!!" First accident of the day.

1:20 p.m. Put 2nd pair of underwear on Mo.

1:45 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

2:00 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

2:15 p.m. Mo sits on car toilet in school parking lot to no avail.

2:35 p.m. Arrive at home, Mo has small accident in underwear, sits on toilet and finishes peeing.

2:40 p.m. Put on 3rd pair of underwear.

3:10 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

3:25 p.m. Arrive at gymnastics; walk 3 feet into the door and Mo pees in the hallway.

3:30 p.m. Put on 4th pair of underwear.

3:35 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail.

3:40 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail.

3:50 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail.

4:00 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail.

4:15 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet and pees!

4:30 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail; leave gymnastics

4:45 p.m. Arrive at home; Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

5:15 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

5:30 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

5:45 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

5:50 p.m. Papa arrives at home -- I immediately transfer potty training duties to him and stop keeping track of details. I believe he has two more successful pees in between a number of tries.

Note 3: I'm going to go ahead and categorize this post under "achievements."

first week of kindergarten: check

Katie on her first day of Kindergarten this week.

Being pregnant was difficult. Labor was tough. Mastitis sucked. Potty training an only slightly bumpy road.

But getting my 5-year old to school at 7:55 a.m on Friday -- for me, this was a near impossible feat. Now, before you respond similar to how many of us west coasters did in response to the "big" east coast earthquake -- "wah" -- understand I am not a morning person.

"Mama, your eyes are red," Katie told me this morning when she hopped over to me.

"Yes, well Mama's eyes don't' like being open this early."

Some (like my husband) might call it lazy, but I don't think the act of wanting to sleep in a little should be so villainized. I mean, it's my little pocket of "me" time before the day becomes, well, less about me. I mean if Jack Johnson preaches to "wake up slow," how bad can it be?

Oh yes, and Katie has been doing great at school. Where has the time gone, etc., etc. No seriously, I am sad -- my babygirl goes to real school now.

Also, I am glad no one was hurt in the earthquake... just like poking a little fun.

biker chicks

Big things happening over here in Little Wickie land.

We took Katie's training wheels off about a month ago and she's zipping around (frighteningly fast).

Mo has her "own big bike," as she sings repeatedly when she rides it.

open waters

Katie refuses to swim more than 3 feet in her swim class. Any further and she insists her teacher keep her hand under her stomach (so she knows she's there).

I recorded this little video this week...

Apparently, if she's close enough to the edge she feels "safe."

Man that girl can be such a head case (I mean that in the nicest, most loving way possible of course).

On the other end of the fear/no fear spectrum there is my two-year old. She is now actually swimming about 5-6 feet by herself.

Bring on summer!

i'm probably jinxing her as i type

but I'm so happy for her. Last night Katie wore underwear to bed and woke up dry.

What I love the most is how elated she was.

My little big girl.

swim forrest, swim!

I know a lot of kids Katie's age can swim now -- and, I mean really swim. But, there is just something about watching your own kid swim.

It just makes me beam thinking about it.

Katie almost making it the width of the pool by herself.

nothing is sacred

Guess who can get up on the couch by herself now...

first day of school

sniff sniff

maddie walking: the footage

good thing Miyo has a camera that works....

newsflash: maddie walks!

I had a dream last night that Maddie was walking.

Just now, Maddie took her first steps.

Of course - my camera is shot (see post below), so I couldn't record any of those moments which was a bummer.

It was so cute, Katie was cheering her on, Go, Diego, Go! was playing in the background...

Boy those Little Wickies grow up fast.

Maddie's Got Muscles

I walk into Maddie's room today to find this...

She'd been pulling herself up on low things, e.g., our fireplace, the bouncy seat, etc. none of which are more than 3 inches high.

Apparently, she can do more now.

Dismounting from these things is still proving to be a challenge for her. She's taken a couple of headers.

And, yes I pulled the play table out of the closet so she wouldn't crack herself in the head on the closet door frame.

The Real Deal

No more worm-break-dancing, seal-out-of-water moves.

Maddie's crawling for real now!

First Bath

I was really tired on Friday and both girls needed to get clean, so throwing them in the tub together seemed like a good idea.

I'm pretty sure I never put Katie in the big tub when she was this young.

It's funny how you forget things so fast. I can't remember when I first put Katie in the big girl tub. I had to go back and look to see when she first started crawling. I have no idea how many ounces of milk she drank when she was 6 months old. And, how many times a day did I fed her solid foods at this age?