Dear Clare,

You are now Four Years Old!  Happy Birthday my sweet darling.  Once again you eagerly anticipated your birthday, but for the first time this year you understood the concept of days, weeks and months so you were counting down until the big day.  You started the day by running into the bathroom and shouting “Mom!  I am four years old today!”  Then you found your dad and told him “watch me!  I run faster now that I’m four.”  A few weeks ago you told me that once you’re four then you will know everything.  That’s pretty high expectations for a birthday, but you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it.

You’ve spent the last year learning more about the world and especially developing new social relationships.  Your best friend is still your lifelong BFF G, but you’ve met several new friends at school.  When I ask you about your days at school you always say that your favorite part was playing with your friends.  Your silly and joyous nature attracts friends and you are very caring and concerned about their feelings. 

You and Sammy have a very sweet relationship.  He continues to adore you and you are very kind and considerate with him.  You torment each other, but you laugh and play more than you argue.  He thinks you are the funniest person he’s ever seen and you will do anything to make him laugh. 

Besides playing with your friends and your brother, your favorite activities are arts and crafts, music and books.  You learned about artists at school and came home talking about Vincent Van Gogh and describing the painting Starry Night.  You told me “I love to paint and I am an artist.”  You have some favorite songs that you hear on the radio and can identify several musicians and sing along to their songs.  You have a great ear and I think we’ll start you on some kind of music lessons soon. 

You are the light in our hearts and the song in our house, my dear one, and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings for you.

All my love,
Heather

Adam shared a bunch of pictures from the last several months of nannyshare adventures.  Since Clare isn’t at nannyshare anymore they’re all of Sammy and his girlfriends – A and “May-may”.  What I love about the pictures is how much they capture Sam’s little relaxed/happy/busy personality. 

Sam’s little friend is A, who lives across the street from us.  She’s a very sweet little girl who attends nannyshare two days a week.  She’s a few months older than Sam and the two of them are good friends.  They’re more inclined to play independently than Clare and G were, but they are still very attached to each other in their own way. 

Every day Adam sends us an email giving a mid-day update to the day.  Every email gives a rundown of what the kids did and ate that day and every day Adam writes “Sam ate well.”

Sam adores G’s little sister M, who he calls May-May.  He’s very tender and gentle with her and he shares books and toys with her.   Adam and I joke that they have a little baby romance and will someday get married.

Happy Father’s Day Jeremy!  The kids think that you are the funniest, funnest, silliest person on earth.  I think that you are an amazing partner and co-parent.  Nobody cooks better food, reads better bedtime stories, tells better jokes, and gives better hugs.  He’s our everything and we love him very much.

 Truly one of the most rewarding things of this parenting gig is watching the loving relationship between my kids.  Sure there is plenty of toy-grabbing, hair-pulling, shoving, tattling, and good old fashioned sibling rivalry for our parents’ attention but more often then not there is giggling, hugs and lots of love.  They are each other’s favorite playmates and allies already and it warms my heart to no end.  I know that sibling relationships are complicated and their relationship will get more complicated as they get older.  I hope that they will always come back to being allies when they need each other. 

 Sammy imitates Clare’s every move.  If she waves her arms over her head, Sammy waves his arms.  If she sings a silly song, he’s right there trying to make up a harmony.  If she reaches down to adjust her sock, Sammy’s bending over tugging at his sock.  Sammy usually plays in the same room as Clare, even if they aren’t playing together he stays close by her.  Yesterday she ran through the house swishing her new skirt and singing “la la la” so Sammy ran along behind, attempting to swish his t-shirt and singing “ah ah ah.”

 Of course they annoy each other also.  Last week Clare came running into the kitchen in her underwear crying “Sam stole my clothes!  Sammy took my clothes before I could get them on!  Sam hid my clothes and I don’t know where they are!”  It took Clare and I ten minutes of searching the house to find her clothes (hidden in a bin inside her closet – he had opened the closet door, pulled the bin out, pushed it back, and closed the door again, which was pretty diabolical for a 19-month-old).  Sammy just watched us with an amused little smile on his face.  Clare rewarded him with a scornful “that’s not funny Sam!  I don’t like you very much right now.” 

A few minutes later Clare was dressed and wrestling with Sam in the living room.  All was forgiven between sibs.



 
Through Grandma T we’ve amassed quite a library of Alaska-related kids books, done a few moose crafts, sang songs about moose, and Clare even has an Alaska collage in her room.  We were well prepped with all things Alaska-related, especially the animals.  Clare’s goal on our trip was to see a moose.  Yes, visiting with Grandma and Grandpa would be nice but she really, really, really wanted to see a moose.

So a few weeks ago we packed the suitcases, checked the car seats, and packed the snack cups for our trip.  Clare made sure that her beloved Bear stayed safe during take-off and landing.  As usual, the kids did really well on the flights.  Thanks guys!

On Day #1 in Alaska we went to the Zoo.  It’s not the most amazing zoo but it’s a good place to see all of Alaska’s different animals up close.  I knew it would be the place that we would definitely see a moose, bear, wolves, and other Northern animals.  The kids had fun and we all got to run around a little bit.  However the next day the animal ante was upped when J, Grandma T, Grandpa Dan, Clare and Sam all went to an animal sanctuary and saw musk ox, bears, and moose up very close in their natural environments.  I stayed home sick, but I’m told that the animal sanctuary was a highlight of the trip.

However, that morning before the trip to the sanctuary, perhaps the most exciting moment of the visit came when J discovered a real live wild moose resting in the back yard.  Seriously, the kids couldn’t believe it.  For the entire rest of the visit Sammy kept going to the back window and asking “Moushe?” in his most hopeful voice. 

OK, enough about the moose.  We also had great visits with Grandpa Dan and Grandma T.  We met their kitties (and tried not to traumatize them), we sang songs, we read books, we visited some playgrounds, and we giggled a lot. 

 On Mother’s Day we visited the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which was beautiful.  There was a native dance performance, an art show, and authentic native dwellings.  The best part was the dog sled ride that we took from an actual Iditarod sled team.  Grandpa Dan pushed us into it but we all enjoyed it.  In fact, Teresa, Clare and I rode it twice. 

We had so much fun on our first Alaska family adventure.  The first of many more to come…  Thank you Grandma T and Grandpa Dan for hosting us and letting us take over your house.  We had a wonderful time.  A few days after we got home Clare asked “Can we go back to Alaska tomorrow?” and Sammy kept going to our back door and asking “Moushe?”  I’m pretty sure this is their way of asking the same thing.

Excuse me Little Boy, have you seen my baby?  I swear he was right here a minute ago.

Yep, he’s all of the sassy, sweet and active that every little 1.5 year old should be.  When I look at him one way he’s a busy little boy and then I’ll look at him another and he’s still a chubby cheeked baby.  He’ll run up to me, wrap his arms around my knees and ask “Up please?”  I’ll scoop him up, nuzzle his precious little neck and he sighs against my shoulder like he’s always done. 

Clare has never been quiet about her opinions.  She’s never really been quiet period – she’s an outspoken sort.  Now that she’s getting more articulate we’re hearing more about her opinions.  Mostly we try to laugh… mostly.  Here’s a selection of quotes describing life with Clare lately.

“Mom!  Can I help you put laundry away?!  Oh boy!  I’ll put the underwear in the drawer!” 

I accidentally pulled Clare’s hair to hard when I was putting it into a pony tail and she started to cry.  Then I mentioned that she needed a hair cut.  She replied in her angriest, most obstinate tone “No I do not!  I’ve had TO MANY hair cuts and I do NOT need another one!” 

Clare was sitting in the kitchen nursing a bumped elbow and still sniffling a little bit from her injury.  Sammy came up and started babbling at her, also holding his elbow.  Clare started crying again and wailed “Sammy is saying bad words to me!” 

I walked into Clare’s room on Monday during nap time and did my usual “Clare, it’s rest time so you need to stay in bed, relax and look at books quietly.  It’s time to rest and relax.”  She looked up at me and, without missing a beat, said “Mom, can I get some new boots?” 

We’re trying to teach her about words associated with time, both past and future.  She gets confused by this a lot and anything in the past is “last year” or “when I was a baby.”  This can be “Last year when I went to G’s house…” and she went to G’s house yesterday or “when I was a baby I drank from a bottle.”  Anything in the future is related to her birthday – as in, “will we go to Alaska before or after my birthday?” and “I will go back to school on my birthday.” 

Speaking of school, she continues to ADORE school.  She’s made several little friends, including her “bestest friend in the whole world forever” whose name also starts with C.  The Montessori philosophy encourages a lot of independent “work” but the girls have figured out that they can “clean the classroom” together so I think they do lots of cleaning and polishing “work” – with lots of talking and giggling I imagine.