Happy Birthday to My Little Fi!

Today is Fi’s 4th birthday. It’s hard to believe. We made banana mini-muffins for her class and took some goodie bags with a few items like a small playdough crayons. Fi was very helpful with the muffins. She helped put the ingredients in the bowls, mixed, put the muffin liners in the muffin tins, and even spooned the batter into the cups. Apparently they were a big hit because we took over 20 to the class and they were all gone when I picked Fi up after school.

Fi was very excited about her birthday and has been talking about it for weeks now. Here she is opening some of her gifts, at different times of day:

At Fi’s request, we had take-out sushi for dinner followed by cupcakes with a candle and opening the last presents (no photos of most of them).

Please excuse me in the background. I am exhausted. Fi has been waking up one to two times per night, every night for weeks (again!). She goes right back to sleep, but I do not. I know that people with newborns have it much worse, but when you are used to getting at least eight hours a night uninterrupted, it’s not easy to deal with. It’s also the end of the school year, a very stressful time. I just need a vacation already. Currently, it is 9:23pm, Fi is still making noise, and I have to bake 3-4 dozen cookies for awards night tomorrow. I’m taking a shortcut and using frozen cookie dough I bought at a fundraiser. Ha! Tomorrow is not going to be fun.

On the Fi development front, she sounds like an older kid now, not a toddler. Her sentences are a lot more sophisticated and she always comes up with interesting things to say. She’s been having some behavior issues, but they seem to be getting somewhat under control and John and I are beginning to think a lot is being caused by developmental milestones of some sort. Also, she now has friends in class that she plays with and misses when they are not there (and also gets in trouble with). She calls them her best friends. And she goes and gets the paper in the morning by herself. And she can see herself in the mirror in her bathroom. She’s growing and learning so many new things lately, it makes my head spin. She’s even trying her hand at making up jokes (that are sometimes funny, sometimes not).

Our squash and zucchini plants are already producing and we ate the first zucchini yesterday. The yellow squash is a little woody, even when small, so we will probably give those away.

Here is my sweet Farmer Fi:

Here’s to many more! I love you baby!

May

So far.

Last weekend was John’s birthday. It began very pleasantly on Friday night with a trip to Members’ Night at the Santa Barbara Zoo, where we saw the lions, ate a very nice dinner, took a train ride, and watched a dinosaur show. SB Zoo has really great, very realistic dinosaur costumes. The show usually emphasizes things like cleaning up after your pets and pet care in general (but with dinosaurs instead of dogs), but for Members’ Night, they just brought out all the dinos and let the kids play with them. A new one, Lily, “sneezed” (sprayed water) all over everyone and it was really funny. We’ve been playing “Dinosaur Show” at home ever since.

 

On Saturday, we had a leisurely morning, then went berry picking. We picked 2 1/2 pounds of blueberries and 2 1/2 pounds of strawberries, and of course at some fraction of that before even making it to the check out. In our defense, we had to eat some of the strawberries because we couldn’t close the container otherwise. The evidence was all over Fi’s face when we left. Fi had fun feeding the goats and we ran into two different families that knew Fi from when she used to go to MyGym. We ate take-out Chinese food for dinner and then John and I went to a play at my school. I gave John new weekend shoes for his birthday.

 

On Sunday, Mother’s Day, we were supposed to go out for brunch with my parents, but Fi was having a bad day so we stayed home. I made a big dinner that night, including beurre blanc sauce, that tasted great on the dinner, but I decided I’m not a big fan of. Fi made a heart for me and a card at school. She was very excited to open it for me on Mother’s Day.

The week was pretty easy other than the record-breaking high temperatures, and today we went to the Strawberry Festival. We went early, so it wasn’t horrendously crowded or hot. I love living in a place with lots of agriculture and fresh fruits and vegetables. Fi was excited because we take a shuttle that is really a school bus. We sang “The Wheels on the Bus” on the way to the festival. Fi had a good time on the rides. John was too big and had to exit and wait with me. We ran into one of Fi’s classmates on the way out of the festival, so that was a nice treat. On the way back, the bus had seat belts. Of course Fi insisted on wearing hers.

 

We had a great time. May is more than half over, and that means Fi’s birthday will be here soon. I can’t believe she is almost four years old.

Enjoy spring!

Change of Plans

We didn’t do the March for Babies. I will be mailing money and a quilt square to them. I even had t-shirts made for us, but we will have to wear them another time, maybe next year. Fi had a 102 degree fever Friday for most of the afternoon. She slept horribly Thursday night (up every hour) and did not go to school Friday because of a low fever (100.something). Even though she said she was fine on Saturday, we stayed home to let her recuperate. Sunday, we went sailing on my cousin David’s new boat. It’s really nice and very comfortable. The plan was to leave a car at one harbor, meet at the harbor where the boat is docked, and sail to the other harbor for ice cream. John, Fi, and I would disembark at the harbor with our car, pick up the second car and go home in time for Fi’s nap. But, like our other plans this weekend, things didn’t really work out. The ocean was much roll-ier than expected and David needs to put a certain number of hours on the engine in order to break it in, so we could not just use the sails and wind, and we didn’t have all day because of Fi’s nap time, so we did not get to the harbor with the ice cream. Also, John was getting quite sea sick and Fi, who at first was having a blast, starting whining for some reason. So we returned to the dock, ate our lunches aboard the boat, then went home. It was still a very pleasant day, at least for me, and I can’t wait to go again.

The quilt square:

 

The black outline is of her feet right now. The small purple interior blobs are her feet taken just after birth (or a few days old, not really sure).

We got a new rug for our patio:

On the boat before leaving the harbor, and at lunch:

 

 

 

 

Fi had a cavity filled today. Everyone was very impressed with her. She didn’t cry at all, not even during the shots, followed directions really well, and didn’t make any sort of a fuss. We have a plan for caring for her teeth because she gets plaque build up very quickly, despite diligent brushing several times per day. After, she got a sticker and some toys from the dentist and came home. She painted in the back yard and sat on the wall eating tangerines with her Grandpa, just like the good old days:

Some of those handprints are mine. It was really pleasant to sit there and have Fi paint my hand for me.

Fi’s sticker that was on her shirt after the dentist:

It really reminded me of the leaf sign they put on the door to my hospital room after Fi was born, to warn people I was a falling hazard.

Last, here is the funny vertical bird’s nest that is in our grapefruit tree. We still don’t know the name of the cute, chubby little bird that lives there.