Happy Father’s Day!

Fi made a card for John. Actually, I drew some pictures and Fi did the coloring.

I think she is getting pretty good at staying in the lines. She is also enjoying practicing holding her markers properly, the way John and I hold them. She does this on her own, without prompting, leading me to believe that we really cannot force her to do anything and she will do everything she is supposed to when she is ready.

Here is the inside of the card. I colored in the letters, Fi colored the little circles.

 

Here is her gift to John from school:

Some recent artwork:

We went on a hike last week. It was very short but very pleasant. I am really enjoying exploring our county with Fi.

 

How Fi ended the hike:

Fi likes to organize and group things:

Helping John make eggs for breakfast:

 

Nothing much exciting is happening here right now. My last day of work was Friday, but I missed graduation and I’m very sad about that. I have to go in tomorrow to interview someone for a spot in my department, but after that, I am free for a long time. Tomorrow is also Fiona’s Three Year Well Baby Visit, where she will be weighed and measured. I think she will get a shot or two, but other than that, I am not sure if there is any sort of developmental evaluation or anything. I am always nervous before these visits because I worry about her size. I worry that she will have slipped off her curve. All her clothes seem to be sized for her age (she wears 2T and 3T clothes), I know she is developmentally on track because they told us so at her NICU follow up (and said she was even doing well for a four year old) but for some reason, I still get anxious. Based on things my mother says, I am beginning to believe that I will never not be a little worried about my child, even when she is an adult.

In the meantime, we are enjoying Fi. She makes up songs and stories, is very observant, remembers all sorts of things that happened a long time ago, and continues to grow and learn and be more and more lovable each day. Even the days when she is auditioning for Temper Tantrum Thrower of the Year Award. She even tells me stories about how some little girl (or even Panda) throws temper tantrums and has to go to her bed for cool down. That girl! I love her soooooooooooooo much!

Three Today

How did we go from this:

To this:

To this:

 

To this:

 

Yes, my little baby is three today. I can’t believe it, plus I feel like we have been celebrating her birthday for a week. It started with a party on Saturday. Sixteen kids, about twenty five adults, two hours, lots of good food, and fun and games. Fi’s favorite part was “eating cupcakes, blueberries, and tomatoes.” At least she still likes fruit, but now she is into the cupcakes as well, as opposed to the first year, when we gave her a muffin, the second year, when she picked at the frosting and then pushed it away, and now, when she asked for seconds and thirds.

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a long long time. I’ve been incredibly busy. Even now, I should really be asleep. I just made scones for Fi’s class tomorrow and was finishing up some work. Here is a quick recap.

In the last two months:

We went to the zoo for Members’ Night on John’s birthday and saw baby giraffes and Fi got all sorts of cool animal toys.

We went to the Strawberry Festival with my cousins David, Lindsey, and Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn and I both got henna tattoos. Hers said “Love” and mine said “Fiona” and was on my upper arm. It didn’t last more than a few days, but I am not disappointed.

We took the front railing off Fi’s crib because

Fi is singing A LOT!

We are completely redoing our front yard, we now have a wall and will soon plant more vegetables in the front yard. The backyard has new grass and some other things changed a little, as well as the red brick goes all the way to the fence now. Fi loves the wall and walks on it every day.

  

Fi drew a turtle.

We went to Canada for three days. We stayed at a B&B in our own little cottage with a gargoyle.

 

 

Fiona folds and puts away all her own laundry, and picks out her own clothes and dresses herself. She got an electric toothbrush for her birthday from a friend of mine and likes to brush her teeth even more now.

Fi makes up stories, tells jokes, sings songs, you name it. She takes very good care of all her little “babies” and even whispers to us to be quiet when they are “napping” on the couch. Sometimes she feeds them and carries them in her “Ergo”.

She is really enjoying playing with her playdough again and also painting her nails and John’s nails with the Dot Paint.

That’s all I have time for now. I am sure there is a lot I have forgotten to mention, but it will have to wait. I have two more weeks of work, one more week of class at UCSB, and then I get a summer vacation. I finished the data collection phase of my independent research project so I will probably spend a good part of my summer analyzing data and writing. To date, I have taken over 2500 pictures since Fi was born, not including those on my phone or with my DSLR (that I never get to use anymore).

I will leave off with Fi’s school photo from April, right before I cut her hair.