Smooky!!

Picture it - Olympia, 1999. I'd just recently moved to Seattle and made a daytrip to visit family. I think that Cassidy was about 4 years old. Most people who remember her as a little one remember that she came up with some really cute words and pronunciations. She is the reason that we have Momo and Tree Tree (Kristi), and for quite some time she called herself "Duckie" (but if you called her Duckie she'd say, "No - it's DUCKIE", so I'm certain that she thought she was saying Cassidy). Anyway, it was nearly Halloween and she was at the kitchen table coloring and I asked her what she was drawing. Her response was, "I'm drawing Smooky things, Kim." I have called anything "spooky" smooky ever since.

Fast forward to today - Bailey's Halloween costume arrived. Yes, I realize it's still August, but I LOVED it and didn't want to miss out on this costume. As soon as it arrived she had to put it on - she calls it her "scary" - I say it's "Smooky". Want to see what she's gonna be for Halloween? Well, here it is - but don't get too smooked!!

Tiny Dancer - Part Deux

"I'm a beautiful Tinkerbell, Mama" is what Bailey has been exclaiming every time that she walks by a window or a mirror. Bailey and I went to pick up her dance "duds" today. She tried on ballet slippers and tap shoes, and then it was time for us to pick out her leotard. The only "rule" is that it has to be pink. So we looked through the leos and she found the one that she wanted. I felt like we should try it on first so we hit the dressing room and as soon as she saw it on she took a deep breath, spread out her hands in an "oh wow" expression and declared, "it's beautiful". And, she has been wearing it since. I hope we'll be able to get her out of it for her bath. I just don't think that it will dry before bedtime!

Tiny Dancer

As is well known, I grew up a gymnast. By the time I was in 7th grade I ate, slept, and breathed gymnastics. While I loved what I was doing, there is a part of me that, every once in a while, wishes that I'd tried other sports.

True story - during high school assemblies they often have "class competitions". In these competitions they would choose one person from each class to go to the main gym floor, in front of EVERYONE, and perform some "wacky" competition. At one of the assemblies my senior year, they had a "sport competition" where they chose one person from each winter sport. That person had to cartwheel out to a mat (gymnastics), jump rope a certain number of times (wrestling?!?!), ride a little square scooter thing on their stomach to a line (swimming?!?!) and then shoot a free throw (basketball). Well, the cartwheel gave me a huge lead which no one made up - until the free throw. I kid you not, I stood with that damn ball trying to make a free throw at least 3 minutes past the last person. Someone yelled, "aim for the backboard!" They could have said it in Amharek - it wouldn't have made a difference - I had no idea what they were talking about!

Of course, I don't share that story to indicate that I have always wanted to play basketball. At 5 ' 4 1/2" I don't think that I'd be of much use, and the game really never interested me. I simply note that I was a clod in any sport other than gymnastics.

Well - I've certainly strayed from the path on this post. The whole point is that Bailey has really enjoyed a number of sports (at her advanced age of 2 3/4). She had a blast in gymnastics. Totally loves soccer. Thinks that puddle jumping is the best of all (I include it as I think it should be named an Olympic sport). Enjoys swimming (when it doesn't hurt her ears). And is going to try dance this fall. It's a mixed ballet and tap class - I'm hiding the tap shoes when we're at home!! Can't wait to see my "tiny dancer" in the studio!! Of course, I'll have video to share when she begins - keep your eyes peeled for a full report on September 6th!

Oh, and did I ever make the free throw. Finally, after they had cleared all of the equipment used in the competition, I "sunk" one - while I didn't have much "skill" in other sports, my persistence never wavered!

Playgroup Fun in the Sun

We hosted playgroup this week on a beautiful day and decided to set up the bounce house and the pools and let the kids have at it. They had a BALL! Bailey was quite fearless, and got to spend a little more time with Kiki. What you can't hear in the video below is Kiki laughing her head off every time that Bailey jumped. I turned down the sound because you can also hear the conversations that we moms were having - y'all don't need to hear us comment on cute baby bumps and hair styles!

Kiki....Where are you?!?!

Bailey had a great day yesterday - her best buddy, Makenzie (Kiki) is up in Seattle for the week and we went to the zoo with her. I woke Bailey yesterday telling her that we were going to go see Kiki - her reply was, "I like Kiki, Mom". Me, too. When we got to the zoo we waited for a few minutes for Kiki. When they saw each other they went running to meet - I thought they were going to knock each other down. Then they went running off together. Not long into the visit they were holding hands and giggling - TOO CUTE!! They are also now having conversations where they ask questions and answer APPROPRIATELY - it's so fun to watch. I have to pull the video and pictures off of the camera - I'll post them as soon as I get a chance.

It was great to see both Lindsay and Makenzie. Lindsay is 19 weeks pregnant and just found out that it's a girl - if this one has anywhere near the personality that Makenzie does, they are in for a fun trip!! We'll see them again for playgroup on Thursday - can't wait!!

Here are a couple of teasers - I still have to edit some others and to edit the video!

A Million Gnats!!

Many of you know that I'm now training for a marathon. On January 11th I'll run the DisneyWorld Marathon. Adam will run the Half Marathon the day before, and Bailey will run the kids 100 meter dash on Friday the 9th. Yesterday was an 80 minute run - I went just over 7 miles which feels like a good pace for me at this time. I'm figuring that I'll average about 10min. 30sec. per mile. I typically breathe through my mouth while I'm running which means (ugh) that I eat about 1 gnat per mile (can I say, UGH). I'm trying to avoid disgust and just view this as additional protein during my training - it's the only way that I can manage.

One down...now it's two

Ah, somewhat cryptic title, right? Well - we took Bailey in for an ear recheck and now it's not one ear infection of the "swimmer's ear" variety. It's a double ear infection of the ear drum variety!! This poor girl. We're on heavy duty antibiotics to knock it out and will see if it goes away in 10 days. If not, we'll be at Children's Hospital to assess next steps - feel better little one!!

Bailey Sings the Blues

It has been an exciting week in the Dare household. I've decided that growth is a combination of "2 steps forward and 1 step back" and then "stand still, oh wait, run forward". This week is a 2 steps running forward week. The most exciting news is that Bailey has begun toilet training herself. Without getting too much into the "gory" details, she has been in underwear all week during the day and has been "listening to her body" (as Elmo instructs in one of "our" favorite videos - Elmo's Potty Time). He tells us that when our body tells us that we need to go to the toilet that we should listen to it. Of course, accidents happen (as Grover and Elmo sing) but you just move on from them. It's been exciting to see her do this on her own and the amount of pride that she's taken in it. Truth was, I was beginning to think that I'd have to wait until she graduated from high school before this process began, so I'm very excited. I'm sure that it could still take some time to "perfect" the process, but we're well on our way now and feeling very happy!

She's also been singing songs for us lately. The video in this post has a number of her favorites - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, Veggie Tales, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Pattycake. If she had her way, these would be the songs on her iPod. When you listen, note how she gets "stuck" on the first two lines of the Veggie Tales song - I apologize for the laugh that I let out!! I should note that there's a lot of "chatter" between she and I that I didn't edit - my editing software was "acting up" so I just threw all caution to the wind and uploaded all of it. Also - when you see her reach over the camera when I start singing, that's her putting her hand over my mouth to tell me to shut up! Such a bossy girl already.

Another Ear Infection

Well, swim lessons have led to swimmer's ear - an ear infection in the outer ear and (apparently) even more painful than one involving the ear drum. Bailey was sort of crabby yesterday. And then, during her bath, she lost it (right after Adam rinsed her hair). And grabbed her ear crying, "it hurts me, it hurts me." Further inquiry brought out that her ear hurts. So - we had the doctor come out and sure enough - ear infection. So, we'll be missing a few days of swim lessons (she was really having fun with it, too) and we'll lay a little low for the day. I am thankful that she's only had 3 ear infections since her tubes were put in last year. However, I thought that she'd have no ear infections with the tubes so I'm having to adjust my expectations for ear tubes. Feel better quick Bailey!!

Water Baby!!

We've been going to our swimming pool with great frequency since Bailey's first summer in 2006. Most of the time we hang out at the baby pool, but Bailey occasionally ventures to the big pool which makes us a little nervous. She's getting better at asking before she struts over there, but sometimes the impulse is too great and the resolve too weak and she suddenly bolts for the big pool with no regard for safety (which, for a 2 year old, is the MO). Today we started our journey toward water safety - Bailey had her first day of swimming lessons. It was only 1/2 hour, but it POOPED HER OUT!! By the end she was exhausted and actually let me carry her home while she rested her head on my shoulder and relaxed. I was a little concerned with whether she was ready or not - she doesn't follow instructions anywhere else and seems to plunge into life with utter reckless abandon and anarchy - I was pretty sure that she'd do the same here. I'm pleased to report that she actually did what the instructors asked her to do and she stayed seated on the steps when she was supposed to. And - she only tried to run to the baby pool once. I call this success!! She will be in lessons for the next two weeks. I'm certainly not expecting her to be able to swim by then, but "baby steps" will get her there eventually. Congrats on your first day of swimming lessons Bailey - momma's proud!!

5K Day

So - Adam and I ran our Foot Zone 5k today. It's the same race that we made our "first 5k ever" last year. This year we both saw great improvement. Adam ran it in 22:32 (last year he ran it in approximately 24 minutes). My time last year was 36:20 which is a pace of 11:45 per mile. And - I'd finished 463rd. This year I finished in 30:04 with a pace of 9:42 per mile and was 269th out of over 500 runners. Having had my foot surgery only 3 months ago I wasn't sure how it would go, but I feel really good about it. I was also quite determined this year. I've been telling Adam that I wanted to finish at around 30 minutes. Then, around mile 2, I checked my watch and had sort of resigned myself to finishing within 31 minutes. As I neared the finish line I could see the timer and realized that I could actually finish around 30 minutes so I pushed myself - hard. And, I saw the timer just change to 30 minutes right before my finish. And - I almost barfed when I stopped - I had to work really hard to "hold it in", so to speak. I don't have any lofty ambitions to improve my time in the future - I'm really quite happy with this. We have two more 5ks this year and the the Marathon/half marathon/100 meter dash in January - it's hard to believe that we are a running family - that's something that I never figured I'd say.

Can it really be time?

We just received word today that Bailey will be enrolled in school next year. It seems crazy that the little girl who lived in my body for 9 months, not too long ago, is now ready to start preschool!!

She will be attending the Bellevue Country Day School on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My sister, Kristi, thinks it sounds like a finishing school. I think it sounds like fun. She doesn't start for another month - but September seems to be sneaking up on us fairly quickly!