Arwen's Weblog

Yesterday she dug for worms in The Pit in our backyard. She designated their family roles based on size. Holding earthworms in her palm she pointed, "This is the mama, and this is the baby."

In our brotherless hour today we had a date at Starbucks. Arwen got the vanilla milk and little vanilla scone. She also picked up a chocolate milk for Seth. (I hadn't even thought to take him anything! Trying to be frugal.) So she nibbled her scone and drank her vanilla milk and said in her 4 year old accent, "Did you take a bite of that and then drink your coffee? It's really good together." My scone was maple; I took a bite and drank my coffee. I agreed. It's very good together.

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At Starbucks this morning before going to the free movie, Arwen said, "This place smells like sugar."

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Yesterday I rolled Arwen's window down so she could say goodbye to a little friend, and her purple balloon got sucked out the window! If you've ever witnessed this, it is a true heartbreak for a child. Their tears are genuine.

Trying to put a good spin on her tragedy I said, "But he's free now! He got his freedom!"

I expected more tears, but she said, "You mean she."

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She climbed into bed with us this morning, as she does every morning, and we oohed and aahed about her being 4! But she says, "But I'm not big." I know what she means. She's been babied. She is the baby, and she still looks like a baby. Her face is still round; her hands are still dimpled. Arwen is a peanut. All the strangers at Trader Joe's seem surprised when she tells them she's turning 4, not 3.

Highlights: chocolate muffins, a tea party board game and cheeseburgers with her family. The big party with all her little girlfriends is still 10 days away.

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Arwen and I were kickin' back on the couch - all the delicious fruit from the farmer's market settling in our bellies. She said, "Mama, you sooo brave."

Mom - "Really? How am I brave?"

Arwen - "You feed us."

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Every Saturday is pancake day. For a few hours after breakfast, when I kiss Arwen's round, little cheek, her mouth smells of syrup :)

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I'm not sure what's happened to our faerie princess. She still binges on affection, but it's harder to coax out of her. It's now harder to distract her from her temper or general grouchiness.

Making up songs is my best diversion, especially for her "nappy pappy". The songs usually involve her being in my belly at one time. That gets her attention, 'cause isn't that a strange concept to a child? I used to be where? I used to be so tiny you couldn't see me?

Her 1/2 point (at 2 1/2) has also seen her get a lot louder. We love hearing her say her new words and watch her understand abstract ideas and express them the way babies do. Today walking across the Trader Joe's parking lot with all 3 of them, I reminded them to look for cars. "Stay alert," I said. Halfway across, Arwen saw a car, plenty of yards away that it didn't matter, backing out of its parking spot. She yells about as loud as she possibly can, "Alert! Alert! Car. Alert!" So she's not the faerie princess we thought she was, but I'm happier to see her genius. And they are geniuses at this age. They're learning far more and faster than I possibly could at 31.

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Arwen can tickle herself :)

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Picking Brad up from the train station 2 days ago, Arwen pipes up from the back of the van, "Dad?"

"Yes."

" 'Member cah wash?" A week earlier we'd gotten the van washed, which is like being at the carnival for a toddler, well, for Mama too.

"Yes, I remember." Daddy answered.

"Dat fun!"

She immediately picked up on how much we loved this conversation. I believe it's the first one she has started herself. Just out of her own thoughts, decided to contribute to the daily art of conversing. So she has repeated it a few times, always in the van going to or from the Bart station. Only her last sentence has been shortened to just "Fun!"

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Well, she's finally taking to the kiddie pool. The secret is setting it up early enough in the day, right in the sunshine, so that it warms up by the afternoon. It's good because she loves being outside, but she would get soooo hot because she wasn't staying wet like the others. As all of mine leave babyhood, they really take to getting splashed. She still knows when to get out of the way though when Savannah and Seth are splashing like mad, just not big enough yet to keep up.

Posted by Georgia at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)