And here it is!

My contributor's copy of the anthology arrived in the mail today!

Yes, you too can have a copy of this fine book (or ebook), available directly from Spotlight Publishing as well as from Amazon and Barnes and Noble [UPDATED with the new links].

And now I officially promise I'll never mention this again.

Summer afternoon

Party, Kids, Party!

 

 

 

Sunday was Beatrice and Arthur's big birthday party - and I do mean big! We had 54 adults and 23 kids join us to celebrate Beatrice turning 3 and Arthur turning 1.

The party was loosely themed around the book Go Dog Go and especially the Big Dog Party that ends that book.

 

So that meant bright primary colors, oversized balloons and confetti, race cars, and, of course, party hats.

The invitations were folded paper party hats.

Sadly, Dev, Travis, and I spent hours making some lovely balloon decorations (including nine giant, 36"-diameter balloons) only to have all of them burst from the afternoon heat before the party even started.  It was disappointing to me but of course the kids didn't care.

 One of our giant, doomed balloons

By far the biggest hit was the bouncy castle we rented for the afternoon.

The race track also saw a lot of action, as did the sand box.

 

I don't think a craft table could ever compare with a bouncy castle, but Beatrice and her friends did enjoy decorating their own party hats with stickers, ribbons, and feathers - and a lot of adults enjoyed it, too.

Gillian shows off her hat

 We ordered 25 lbs of chicken and carne asada from our neighborhood Vallarta along with beans, rice, tortillas, salsa, and all the rest. 

 

Not just anyone could pull off the "bottle plus necktie" look

Beatrice's favorite part of the day was the rainbow cakes I made for her and her brother - she declared it "the most beautiful cake."

All the kids got party favor bags with a wooden car or truck, crayons, and candy.

And as we do every year, we took photos in front of age banners - this year, a "3" and a "1" (which unfortunately looked a bit like "31," but oh well).  See B's last year's banner photos here and here.

All in all, it was a fun day - or as Beatrice rather cryptically put it, "A celebration is a joy."

 

Hey ladies!

Birthday Interview

One of the blogs I read introduced me to the idea of doing an annual birthday interview with kids starting at the age of two or three - every year you ask the same questions and keep track of how their answers change.  So without further ado I bring you Beatrice's Third Birthday Interview (and you'll notice she added a question of her own in there, too).

1. S: What is your favorite food?
   B: My grilled cheese sandwich, the falling apart one. [She was in the middle of eating a "falling apart" grilled cheese sandwich while saying this.]
2. S: What is your favorite animal?
   B: Shack.
3. S: What is your favorite movie?
   B: What is your favorite movie?
   S: "Annie Hall." What is your favorite movie?
   B: "Annie Hall," too.
   S: Okay, but what is your other favorite movie?
   B: Charlie Brown.
   S: Which Charlie Brown movie?
   B: You know, the little party one? I really like that party one.
4. B (turning the tables): What is your favorite sand?
   S: Your favorite sand? Well, what is your favorite sand?
   B: The pirate park sand.
5. S: What is your favorite thing about school?
   B: Activities.
6. S:What makes you the happiest?
   B: Milk. [Again, probably influenced by the fact that she was drinking milk at the time.]
7. S: What makes you sad?
   B: If I'm flying a kite but I'm having a hard time. [Something else that had just happened.]
8. S: What makes you scared?
   B: When men trick or treat wearing masks on their face.
9. S: What is one new thing you learned to do this year?
   B: Cheese and ham. [A lot of clarifying ensued before I understood that was a song she'd learned this year, I think? She didn't quite understand the question.]
10. S: What is one new thing you want to learn next year?
    B: I'm going to have a bouncy castle next year.
11. S: What would you like to be when you grow up?
    B: Policeman.
    S: A police officer?
    B: A policeman.
12. S: What is your favorite holiday?
    B: Halloween.
13. S: What is your favorite color?
    B: Red.
14. S: What is your favorite book?
    B: In the Town All Year Round
15. S: Who is your favorite character?
    B: Ted [From Big Dog, Little Dog.]
16. S: What is your favorite thing to do?
    B: Activities. [Again.]
17. S: What do you like learning about?
    B: Leaves.
18. S: What is your favorite place to go?
    B: Target.
19. S: Can you name some of your friends?
    B: Mom. [A sweet answer but I was hoping she would name her actual friends.]
20. S: What is your birthday wish?
    B: That Arthur is happy.

Once it was over it occurred to me I should have asked about her favorite song and favorite toy, but I'll add those next year.

Happy Birthday, Beatrice!

Beatrice is three!

This year's birthday was a little overshadowed by having a dance recital on the same day - plus Beatrice isn't having her birthday party until next Sunday - but we had a nice, low-key day, opening presents and eating cake.

I had the idea to sneak into Beatrice's room in the middle of the night and fill it with balloons so that when she woke up on the morning of her birthday she would have a wonderful surprise.  Somewhat disappointingly, I significantly underestimated how many balloons it takes to fill even a small bedroom - my 24 helium balloons hardly made a dent, but Beatrice was pretty excited and happy just the same.

In some ways this has been a hard year for Beatrice.  Since her last birthday party she has welcomed a new brother, started preschool, become toilet trained, and given up her pacifier (and the last adjustment was by far the hardest).  In the last few weeks Beatrice has been experiencing a lot of anxiety about this new stage of her life - one moment she's insisting "I can't talk, I'm a baby" and demanding to drink out of a bottle and sleep in a crib; the next, she's asserting "I'm a grown up, I drink coffee."  She knows she's growing up and while she's gaining a lot of new adventures, like roller coasters and dance recitals, she's also leaving a lot behind.  Her skills and abilities, too, are stuck somewhere between babyhood and childhood - she may blow me away one minute by her ability to recognize letters and words and then the next minute she's sobbing in frustration because she can't zip up her own jacket.  But more than any particular new skill or experience, the most amazing thing about this past year has been watching her become more and more of her own person, with her own weird ideas and quirks and obsessions and passions and fears.

Beatrice, I’ve always loved you, since you were a little flashing light on a sonogram, but the best part about watching you grow up is discovering how much I like you. Every day you say at least one thing that is outrageously inventive, hysterically funny, surprisingly wise, or genuinely kind. We have a pretty great party planned for next week, but until then, I wanted to say Happy Birthday, Beatrice! You are an awesome person and a real pleasure to know.

How could I forget?

Beatrice's dance photos

Dance Recital

This Saturday Beatrice had her first dance recital!

And it was a long slog to get here.  After weeks of dance classes (where B's teacher told her two- and three-year-old students to "stand up straight and not slouch") and a three-hour-long dress rehearsal on Wednesday afternoon, finally, the recital!  No more waiting for hours for professional dance photos, no more making sure all seven separate parts of Beatrice's costume are clean.

 Waiting for dress rehearsal to begin

But of course, while I was breathing a sigh of relief that dance classes were finally over, Beatrice was busy having the proudest day of her life.

Our tuxedoed MC

She loved every minute of the show.  She watched with rapt attention as all the other classes performed, clapping and shouting "More!" each time the curtain went down.  She was interested in the curtains, the lights, the stage, and the audience.  She ran up to all the older girls and told them things like, "Your costume is so lovely!" or "Your crown [tiara] is very beautiful!" and after each performance shouted to the dancers, "Congratulations! You are a good dancer!"

I don't think I have ever seen Beatrice more proud of herself than when she came running out from backstage shouting, "I did it! I did it! I danced on the stage!"

To Aaron Copeland's "Rodeo"

So is this really the end of dance classes? Well, we're taking the summer off for now and then maybe we'll reconsider in the fall . . .

Curtain call

Some shots of the other classes (yes, Beatrice's class was the 17th of 19 to perform):

 "Broadway Baby"

 Tap dancing to "The Good Ship Lollipop"

 "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - the best costumes

"Singing in the Rain"

Contemporary dancing to "Beat It"