SLIDER

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

(61 Months) - 5;1




5 YEARS, 1 MONTH

Overall, March was a tough month at the Closeman Residence, encompassing both her 5;0 and 5;1 months of life - on the heels of being sick for weeks, we contracted yet another illness, this time of the GI variety. Spring Break was more like Spring (Mama Has A) Break(down). Our Bean was first, thanks to preschoolers and their poor hand hygiene. The Friday after her birthday/before Spring Break I received that dreaded call from daycare - "Francie is sick. She's okay right now, but she just threw up." Turns out, she barfed all over the table and carpeted floor in front of everyone, which didn't seem to bother her much. She recovered quickly, but then Alex came down with a sudden-onset of The Noro, and I, in turn, came down with a sudden-onset Meltdown of Epic Proportions - one that included a two-night hotel stay, many tears, and gratitude to the inventor of Ativan. And in true Francie fashion, she had a blast on our "trip" to the hotel, where she indulged in buffet b-fasts, swam multiple times per day, got to go in a hot tub (because she's not an infant or elderly, "like Beebee"), and watch hours of the Disney channel while eating goldfish crackers in a king-sized bed.

Francie also got in her first bit of "trouble" with us, when she and neighbor-friend, Mara, were playing at Mara's house. Turns out they totally disobeyed Mara's dad, Matt, and took off from the end of the street for our house, and lied to Alex about having permission to be there. Our first foray into - "we don't know what the fuck we're doing for discipline."

She wrapped up both her gymnastics class at Garden Home Rec Center and her woodworking class with Beebee at Multnomah Arts Center.

"Mama can I get an iPad when I'm a young adult?"

One evening, when Alex was gone at a work meeting, she randomly asked me some kind of really wise "would you rather" question. I don't remember the details, but it was something to the effect of: "Mama, would you rather have magic powers to clean so you could have more time to play, or would you rather always have love to give?"

Laying in bed one night, looking at her clock:
F: "Why does that long hand go so fast?"
Me: "That's the second hand."
F: "Where's the first hand?"

Watching Stella and Sam:
“Stella is always playful and has a big imagination, I have a big imagination too.”


On a walk on a sunny Spring day in Gabriel Park:
"The flowers always listen to me because I'm the princess of spring."

Sadly, “I don't feel five. I feel like a person.”

After getting her height measured, despondent:
“I'm never gonna be any bigger. I want to be tall. Like AJ. Not short like you.”

"Like, Uncle B is really talented at cooking … I like his food."

Really into noticing and commenting on patterns:
"Look it's a pattern” (re photos on the wall) “boy girl boy girl boy. It would be another pattern if boy boy girl girl boy boy girl girl. That's math!”

Writing with her finger on the fog/rain on the car window:
"Guess this letter. A line down, a line diagonally, a line across.”

Talking about staying up late, napping hard, taking a bath …
"Speaking of construction, we saw a construction truck at school today.”

“If I go around the world, I'm gonna stop in Canada for like 18 days, then to China for 2 more days, then back to Oregon.”

In an email exchange between myself and the director of her daycare/preschool about May/June schedule, and pulling Francie for summer, Adina said:
"We will miss her quite a bit around her as well, she’s such a bright, conscientious and positive little person."

Photos from this month ...


5 yo well-child checkup: weight = 36 lbs, height = almost 3'6"

Hearing and vision screen for KINDERGARTEN THIS FALL!

Belated birthday Mama Date to Pip's Donuts for a free dozen

Finished her woodworking class at Multnomah Arts Center, where Beebee took her on Tuesdays, and she made this chalkboard, using woodworking tools and all.

We found ourselves neglecting brushing her hair too often, so naturally, made a chart for it.

When you're sent home from school for barfing all over the classroom, but your mom has a a phobia of puke.

Norovirus QT - books on CD

She keeps writing things to us addressed as "Alex and Mama," like he's her step-dad or something.

Superheroes and magnet tiles

DIY stamp-making

And because what 5 year-old isn't obsessed with their initials?

Despite illness, Alex still managed to make/finish this wooden dollhouse for Francie (and her superheroes, because they don't need stairs)

Spring Break Hotel Staycation - more fun in photos than it felt in person




The 'stache


"Daddy, you know what you should do with your mustache? You have to twist it more riiiiight here."

A portrait of Laura

"Mama, I made a picture of you. This is what your look like in my heart."

The Stache and Little Miss Sunshine

This sweatshirt, a relic of the late 1980s, has shoulder pads. She chose the pearls herself.

BFF playdate with Mila

These girls change clothes more in one afternoon than I do in the course of a year

Adam visits from Chicago!

Pretending to be Mama: glasses, slippers, and doing chores. I can't decide if I'm flattered or offended that my life can be distilled so easily and in such terms.


Maui and Moana on the open seas

Mama's 35th Birthday dinner out

Napoleon Dynamite anyone? How is it she turned from Little Miss Sunshine into Debbie from Preston, Idaho?

Francie's veggie garden

Birdwatching with Beebee

Binoculars are fun

Maplewood re-opens its back room!

Obsessed with "playing with my fancy shoes." "What shoes would look the best with this dress? Pretend I'm going to a wedding. No, to dinner after I work." "But Mama, why don't you ever wear high heels?"


And videos, too! ...

"I'm a little teapot"


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