Dear Millie

Dear Millie,

You just turned 4 years old.  I have not blogged much recently because you have kept us quite busy.  It has been quite a challenge for all of us.  You have heard "No," quite often and exasperated sighs and occasionally louder moments of frustration.  Three was a tough year.  But, I am starting to see the light in the distance... the warm glow of reason and cooperation returning to your brain.

I thought this might be a good time to let you know that although it has been challenging, we have had some really truly wonderful moments that I wanted to share with you.

Tidbits I:


I LOVE the fact that you giggled out loud in your sleep the night after your 3rd birthday party. You loved the Great Zucchini. 

This year at your 4th birthday gymnastics party, you let them lift you 20 feet into the air on spotting ropes.  You are soo brave!!

You are an outgoing little firecracker who is kind to the quiet kids: At the playground the other day Milie was playing with daddy but there were no other kids. Eventually another daddy arrived with his 3 year old daughter and Millie, who had never met this girl before, ran up to her with arms wide open, yelling, "Hoo-wayyy! My fwiend is heah!!" Although she was ready to tackle this stranger with a hug, the little girl was not sure. "Don't worry," said Millie, "It's just me- Millie. I'll give you a minute."

You love sitting and looking through books for 20-30 minutes at a time... then will hop up and run and dance around like a wild child.

I love that you cheer for the other kids in gymnastics class louder than their own parents.

I love that you laugh easily and love to make others laugh.

If you want to get us to laugh you'll get a ribbon and wrap it around your forehead and sing the theme to Rambo (Dad taught you that).


You dubbed your grandparents "Grandma-Honey" and "Grandpa-Honey" because they always are calling each other Honey.

I'm amazed by how you memorized entire magazines and books word for word.

At 3 years old you were amazingly creative and you will create entire fantasy worlds and give everyone you encounter a role: "Step-muddah? Where are you? It's me Cinda-wella"

I love that you appreciate the great outdoors. You have walked outside and said, with a big sigh and with arms wide open, "What a wonderful refweshing day!"

We love that you love your babysister so much that kissing her is like eating a potato chip for you- you can't have just one. You kiss her head, her cheeks, her toes, her elbow-- anything you can get to before she starts fussing for some personal space. If she's fussy, you try to get her to laugh or frantically try to find a toy for her.

You have so much energy that you RUN every where you're going-- even if it's 10 feet. Sometimes if there's a long way to get there, you'll take it just so you can run farther.

Happy or sad- you live passionately.  It is my goal to encourage your joie de vivre without smothering your passion.
 
Dear Millie, thanks again for choosing our family and sharing your joy and passion with us.
 
We love you.
 

Laugh Factory

Millie has so many funny quotes these days I can't write them down fast enough.  Here is just a sample of magical thoughts and fun with words.

Most recently we've been playing music with Pandora. You can build a great station by putting in your favorite artists.  She often asks who's singing and her response just demonstrates what a magical world she lives in.

For example:
Answer:  Kenny Loggins.  Millie: Wow a log is singing that song?
Answer: Jewel.                 Millie:  Wow, a jewel is singing that song?
Answer: The Beatles         Millie: Wow, a group of insects sings that song?


Daddy:  Millie, sometimes things change based on different circumstances.
Millie:  Really?  Why would circus dances change it?  I can do all kinds of circus dances.  See!


Millie: Diego hidded the treasure.
Daddy:  Hid. Diego hid the treasure.
Millie: Yes. Diego hid the treasure. He is very good at hidding.

The Great Debater

Millie has a lot to say... all the time.

Funny enough, I remember when she was an infant, I actually considered getting her hearing checked because so many babies her age were babbling and cooing all the time but she wasn't.  She was happy. She grinned and lit up if you talked to her but no response.

I had a friend who said, "Don't worry. Be grateful. When she starts, you probably won't ever have quiet again."  She was right.  Millie keeps a running commentary going constantly.

Millie:  Good morning Joy! I missed you so much! I love you so much! Did you have nice dreams Pocahontas yelled happily as she wan down the hall (yes she narrates her narration).

Yesterday I tried to get her to walk quietly past the babie's room while the baby napped.  On and on she kept talking.  "Shhhhh!" I kept saying, "The baby is sleeping."  On and on she went, "That's wight. We should be vewy quiet. Joy is sleeping. When will she wake up? I want huh to play wif me. When is she going to wake up..."

Finally,

Mommy:  Millie.  Can you stop talking for just one minute please.
Millie:  No.  God wants to hear what I have to say.

Well how do your respond to that?  We're not particularly religious and Millie has been to church maybe 3 times so I don't know where she came up with such an idea.  But at the time, I thought it was such a deep thought that I couldn't argue with that.  Later, I thought I could have told her that sometimes you need to be quiet to hear what God wants to say to you... but I didn't think of that then. She sure keeps me on my toes.

Lessons from Elmo

Millie doesn't watch Sesame Street.  She gets bored with it after 15 minutes.  Yesterday, however, we went to a Sesame Street Live show and she LOVED it. The songs, the lights, the talking vegetables.  She laughed and clapped. At bedtime she said, "Mommy! Did you see the talking cheese!" and laughed again until she ran out of breath.  Here I thought that most of these things were targeted to older kids who could remember it. I only bought the tickets because someone else was going with their 3 year old.   Somehow I had bought into the notion that unless the child will remember the event as an adult it isn't worth doing. My earliest memory is at age 4.  Millie is 3 1/2 years old.  The truth is actually that many of these things are most enjoyed by the 3-7 year olds.

We had a child entertainer come to her 3 year old birthday party.  When I booked him, he asked how old the kids would be.  I said, three years old.  He said, "Good.  By  6 years old they're already too sophisticated for my kind of goofy humor."  It was low tech, very silly and he had them in hysterics for 45 minutes straight. Every single kid.

I thought we were bringing Millie to the show to learn about healthy habits in a fun way.  I guess I also learned a lesson too-- Don't wait.  Go have fun with your kids today.  They'll love it now while they are young enough to dance and jump around with giant puppets.  You will have a blast too and maybe, just maybe, you'll both be left with a lifelong wonderful memory.  You never know.

Sound advice

On the way to school, Millie and her dad were listening to Raffi singing This Little Light of Mine I'm gonna let it shine.
Millie: He needs to turn da lights off!

Daddy: Why?

Milli: Because he'll run out of badderies!

Evolution of a Joke

When Millie was just beginning to talk more, somewhere between 18months and 2 years, her father would joke around with her and say, in his best Darth Vader impersonation voice, "Luke, I am your father." She would repeat it over and over because it always got a laugh. It seems like it's been over a year though since the joke was in circulation. Last week at the dinner table though it resurfaced with a Millie twist:

Daddy (in Darth Vader voice): Luke, I am your father.
Millie (in baby Vader voice): I want some milk... I am your daug-tuh.

Introducing Joy

So two weeks ago we welcomed our second precious little girl into the world: Joy. Millie is in love. I had been a little worried because Millie is an energetic little one and she consumes 350% of the attention and energies of both her mommy and daddy. We were worried about how she would adjust to sharing her spotlight. So far so good though. Truly it was love at first sight.

We had our daughter 8:20pm via c-section. This was the first night ever that Millie had been away from both parents. Both grandmothers were with her at our home. The next morning I was still feeling pretty rough around all the edges but the medical team advised that I get up and into a chair. We decided that we would have Millie visit for one hour that afternoon. The nurse technician asked me, "How old is your daughter?" "Three," I answered. She said, "OK, we need to make sure you don't have too many visible tubes hanging off of you." She put the chair in the corner of the room and the IV pole behind the chair. She got permission to remove the foley catheter. I took a fresh dose of pain medicine and after half an hour of getting presentable, I finally landed in the chair and waited for Millie and the grandparents to arrive. We were advised that the baby should be in the bassinet and not in mommy’s arms so as not to provoke immediate jealousy.

Millie entered the room and came right over to me, “Hi Mommy! Hi Baby Sister!” she said to my tummy as she had been doing for the last several months. “Hey Baby Sister,” she said, ready to launch into her conversation. I interrupted- “Millie. Baby sister is not in mommy’s tummy anymore. She’s out now. She’s over there,” I said, pointing to the plastic hospital bassinet on the other side of the room. Millie sloooowly turned to see where I was pointing- then froze. Then her eyes got huge and then in a reverent, awestruck shuddering, voice she whispered “Ohh- ohhhh-ohhh!” while skipping, hopping and dancing with excitement. She put her hands on her cheeks. Her body couldn’t contain the excitement. Finally, she ran over to the bassinet and climbed on the couch next to it. She stood on the couch peering over into the bassinet and said, “Ohhhh! I love huh (her)! She’s so cute! I’m going to sing her a song…” Then Millie serenaded little Joy with Rockabye baby. Then she said, “I want to sing her another song.” She then sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

It’s been a love story ever since. Granted—it’s only been two weeks but so far so good. Every morning, Millie whispers to Joy, “I love you baby sister,” and tries to hug her. She says, “I love her little toes. I love her little eyes. I love her little cheeks.”

Two nights ago she came over to smother her with kisses and hugs and out of the blue she whispered to Joy, “I’ll always be by your side.” Neither her father nor I know where she picked up that phrase—it’s not anything we’ve ever said to her and it’s not in any songs we play. As far as we can tell, Millie, on her own, was just moved to say it. I pray that it’s true- that the two sisters will always be loving and there for each other. All I know is that, so far, Millie as a big sister is more breathtaking than ever.