Growing up milestone: lost tooth!

This winter has been neverending. It's so depressing, you guys. We had 50 days in a row of subzero temperatures. 50! We finally broke that streak with a few warmish days last week - all the snow melted off our roof, we managed to excavate our sidewalk and driveway (which were under several inches of compacted snow and ice), and I even got out on my bike once or twice. I thought winter was over, but nooooooooo... last night it started snowing again.

Seriously, it feels like the dawn of a new ice age. I know that all this means, really, is that spring will be about two days long and we'll head straight into summer. We'll go from 30s to 70s within a week. But right now, it's hard to see. It doesn't help that our house has been hit by a nasty cold that's making the rounds... I was sick for almost three weeks. I'm finally, finally over it, and then Ella woke up with a fever and a cough this morning. Poor kiddo!

But regardless of the endless winter, life continues and the girls continue to grow. Here's the latest evidence:

Maisie finally lost her first tooth!

It took long enough - she's almost seven and a half! Maisie's best friend, Ophelia, is two weeks younger and has already lost seven teeth. But Maisie's teeth were late to come in (she had just one tooth on her first birthday), so it makes some sense to me that they'd be hanging around a little longer, too.

It first started wiggling about a week ago, and she finally pulled it out last night. She was pretty excited about the whole thing. "I can't BELIEVE I lost my tooth!!" The tooth fairy brought her $5 in Sacajawea coins, which she was also pretty excited about.

The tooth fairy is now pondering just what to do with that tiny baby tooth, and its sisters that are surely soon to follow. As some friends said on Facebook, one baby tooth is sweet. But a whole jar or box of them? Pretty creepy. Who knows... maybe someone could use them in an art project, or something? Or maybe they'll just end up in the compost bin.

What feels really big and important to me about the lost tooth is that it does really show just how quickly Maisie's growing up. She got kissed by a boy last week (she said, "I just strode away!"), and then this week, a lost tooth. It feels like teenage Maisie is just around the corner. And while I can't wait to see who teenage Maisie turns out to be - I bet she'll be amazing! - it also makes me appreciate those moments where she's still my little girl who just wants to snuggle with her mama.

Pierced ears

Yesterday was Maisie's birthday - she's now seven years old! I'll have a recap up of our Sunday celebration soon, but I wanted to post about the OTHER big thing she did this weekend: she got her ears pierced!

Maisie's been sort of interested in having pierced ears for a while now, but always backed down when we'd remind her how the process happens. She has some anxiety in general, so it isn't surprising to me that the thought of someone poking a needle through your earlobes would make her say "maybe when I'm older." :) But with turning seven, I thought she might be ready.

Saturday morning we had Suomi-Koulu, and afterwards Aaron was taking Ella to a birthday party. Maisie and I were talking about what we were going to do, and I suggested heading to the mall to get her ears pierced. Surprisingly, she was all for it! So off to the Mall of America we went.

When we got there, though, there were second thoughts. We talked about it and Maisie said, "Maybe when I'm nine." I said okay, they're your ears so it's your choice, and we went off to try lunch. Maisie suggested sushi (I know, what?), so we went to Masu Sushi where she scarfed down a bunch of edamame, four pieces of a teriyaki chicken roll, three pieces of an avocado roll, and three pieces of California roll. Holy cow! That girl's a sushi-eating machine. She does not care for wasabi or pickled ginger (too spicy!), but otherwise, she's willing to try just about any rolls. It was a fun, fun lunch.

We were walking out of the mall when we passed by a Claire's. I said "you know, they pierce ears here, this is where we could get it done." (I know, I KNOW! I have had enough piercings myself that I'm familiar with all of the gun vs. needle arguments. Suffice it to say, this was easy and fast and made Maisie super comfortable in a way that a piercing/tattoo shop wouldn't. Don't worry, we won't do any cartilage piercings at the mall.)

To my surprise Maisie said, "Okay, I'll do it" and walked right in. Holy cow! The nice young woman working helped Maisie pick out the earrings (topaz, her birthstone) and gave her a teddy bear to hold while she marked the placement.

Maisie looks a little nervous... maybe she was starting to rethink her decision? But before she knew it... it was over and her ears were pierced!

The person who did it actually had a coworker come help, so they did both ears at once. Super fast! Maisie was really relieved and happy and proud of herself when it was over.

And now she has pierced ears!

She has to wear these for six weeks, and clean them and twirl them two or three times a day. She's really good about not touching or playing with them, and so far they're healing beautifully... not a bit of redness or overly tender.

Maisie's so proud of herself, and keeps saying "I can't believe I got my ears pierced!" Aaron and I are so proud of her too, for moving past the fear that it'd hurt (it did, but just a little, and not for long) and doing it anyway. :)

4!

Just 4 short years ago today, Maisie looked like this...


Look how far we've come!



At 4, Maisie is a smart, funny, confident, loving girl. She loves dancing and singing, drawing, coloring, and painting. She has a silly sense of humor and loves to tell jokes. She has an active, curious mind and is always asking questions. She is sweet and affectionate, and always gives hugs and kisses to her friends and family. She loves school, and is learning to read and write. We can't wait to see what the future holds for her!

Happy birthday Maisie!

Writing!

Maisie's Montessori school teaches writing before reading, which I never understood before yesterday, when Maisie said she wanted to write the word "hungry" in magnets on our refrigerator.

We sounded out the word - "hungry starts with 'huh.' What letter says 'huh'? Right, H says 'huh'!" We went through each sound in the word, though I had to help her with the vowels...

And at the end, here's what we got:

HUNGRY!

Maisie wrote that. I couldn't be more proud.

Maisie's birthday party

On Saturday, 10/31, we celebrated Maisie's 3rd birthday with our friends and family!

We held the party at the Minnesota Children's Museum. It was a wonderful Where the Wild Things Are themed party.

First they read the story, then they did a craft activity.

Here's Maisie (a witch) and Dylan (a vampire bat) decorating Wild Thing vests and terrible eyes. Scary!!

After the craft activity, we had a wild rumpus!!

You can see the Narcum family really got into the wild rumpus, which really comes as no surprise to those of us who know them!

After the rumpus and a hide-and-seek game, it was time for cake.

Maisie blew out all the candles!

We really had a great time. It was so fun to celebrate Maisie's birthday with our family and friends!

First day of school

Last Tuesday was not only my birthday, it was Maisie's first day of preschool.

She looks a little apprehensive, but she did great. She really loves her teachers and her classmates, and has a lot of fun at school. She went right down the hall without looking back, and certainly with no tears.

I mean, at least no tears on her part... I was another story!

Conversations with Maisie

Maisie's language skills are exploding, and every day she surprises us with new words in new combinations. Today, for instance, we were at my mom's house. We asked Maisie if she wanted to go home to play with our kitties (my mom's cats aren't too playful). She replied, "Go home play my kitty!" Okay! She's only recently begun stringing together five-word sentences so this was great!

She still comes out with some stumpers, though. Yesterday Aaron and I were in the living room, and Maisie was playing in her room. We heard some somewhat alarming thumpy noises. So like the lazy parents we are, instead of getting up to see what was going on, Aaron said "Maisie? What are you doing?" She said, "Door!" He said, "I need you to tell me what you're doing in a sentence." She replied, "Nine ten sandwich."

Uh, okay. (It turns out she was pulling books off her bookshelf...)

Unrelated cute pic of Maisie curling up to read one of those books. Because that story was too funny not to share, and every post needs a pic.

And, what's better on a snowy January day than curling up with a good book?

Birthday party!

It's about a week late, but here's the recap of Maisie's 2nd birthday party! Photos are courtesy of our friend Patrick, who is Trixie's daddy and a great photographer. Thanks Patrick!

Everyone had a blast! (I'm pretty sure, anyway!) I know Maisie did, and I did too.

We had the party at the Children's Museum. It was pretty small - just immediate family plus a few friends with similarly-aged kids.

We all had cake and ice cream. The kiddos had juice, and most of the grownups went to the coffee shop conveniently located in the gift shop of the museum. That's some good planning, there!

After cake and ice cream, and running around with the other kids, Maisie opened her presents (with some help from me and Dylan).

Maisie got a lot of great presents from our generous friends and family! She really loves them all, especially her toys that she can "cook" with, her Mr. Potato Head (with friends), and her new "wodot" (robot). You all are so thoughtful! We could tell a lot of thought went into choosing her gifts.

After opening presents, we went upstairs and played in the museum. They have a great new exhibit all about balls! There's a special area for littler kids where they can explore how different size balls bounce on different surfaces. It's kind of crazy, but they had a blast.

This picture really only hints at the lunacy of that room.

Afterwards, everyone went home and had naps. At least, that's what we did, and I can only assume others did the same!

Thanks for helping us celebrate Maisie's birthday!

Haircut

Hey, sorry again for the delay between posts! I do try to keep the blog updated twice weekly but last week was crazy at work... I'll try to keep up this week!

Maisie's hair has been getting out of control. We've been trying to keep up with her bangs, but have been doing only a fair to middling job of it. Plus, the rest of her hair was just crazy. So yesterday, she had her first Real Salon Haircut! I was going to take pictures, but the process kind of freaked her out so she sat in my lap for the cut. But, here are some pictures of the end result.

Our stylist, Brianna (I took Maisie to the same person I see), really cleaned up Maisie's bangs. They're a lot more even now, a little higher above her eyebrows, and go a little further past her eyes than I had been cutting them. I was concerned about giving her Jim Carrey-Dumb and Dumber hair! But as you can see, Brianna really avoided that.

She kept the length on Maisie's hair, but gave it some more layers so the ends curl up more than they had been

Brianna also gave Maisie her first sucker. It was butterscotch, and Maisie really enjoyed it.

Big picture of the final result. Aaron doesn't love the bangs, but at this point her hair is still so baby-fine that it doesn't really have a part. Brianna thinks her hair will start to develop a more adult texture in the next 6-12 months, and then we'll be able to lose the bangs and find the part. But until then, Maisie will be rocking the bangs.

By the way, it took a while to get such good pictures of her hair! Here's a sample of the outtakes of our session, just so you know what I was up against, trying to document this first haircut for posterity.

Maisie's first concert

Today was the Target Children's Book Festival! The lineup featured the voices of the Wonder Pets, Lisa Loeb, and best of all, They Might Be Giants! We were so excited.

Unfortunately, it rained all day long, and TMBG had to cancel - apparently rain + electric guitars/instruments = no outdoor concert. It was a real bummer for me.

Maisie and Dylan, however, still had a reasonably good time. We did get to see the people who voice the Wonder Pets perform, which was pretty neat. (It's three middle-school aged girls! Who knew??) Lisa Loeb was signing autographs when we got there; I didn't have anything for her to sign, but it was still cool to see her. And of course, as with any good Minnesota festival, there was kettle corn.

Maisie really enjoyed her first kettle corn, as you can probably tell!

After the Wonder Pets, we went and played on this ginormous play structure until it got too rainy out. Maisie and I got a lot of compliments on her shirt! Here's a closer look:

Pretty cute, eh?

Avoiding the RNC

So the Republicans are in town this week. We're doing our best to stay out of their way, and this weekend was so far, so good!

Yesterday my mom and I took Maisie to a nearby park. There was supposed to be a big festival there, but we couldn't find it... bummer! We did find some fun things to play on, though. so it all worked out in the end.

The big news for us was that this weekend, Maisie moved from her crib into a Big Girl Bed!

Yay big girl beds! It feels like a big change, but she seems ready. She slept in the big bed while we were in California, and did really well, so we made the change.

She really likes it, and wouldn't you? Doesn't it look like fun? I certainly think so, and am now considering getting a fun tent like that for our bed too. She's fallen out a few times, but it seems like that's par for the course, and overall she's doing really well with the change.

Last pic is Maisie modeling a hat I made this weekend for my mom:


Of course I made her a hat too, but she couldn't be less interested in it - she only wants to wear the hat I made for Gramma. Oh well!

Finally, this post comes with lots of get-well-soon wishes for Grandma Jo. Feel better soon! We love you!!

Cook!

Maisie is getting really good at imaginative play these days. She drives her little matchbox cars all around, changes her doll's diaper, and puts Elmo on the potty. But her favorite imaginative play has got to be cooking.

This girl loves to cook! Which makes sense, because she also loves to eat. I think her love of cooking started over 4th of July weekend, when we stayed at our friends' cabin and she and Sophia played cooking, but it's really taken off since then. Now it's pretty much her favorite thing to do.

We have started to get Maisie her own cookware, because she was taking all the measuring cups and steamer baskets and various other things out of the kitchen to play with, and it started to get annoying. Where did I put the potato masher? Oh yeah, it's in the toybox.

We got her some wooden utensils at IKEA, some toy metal cookware at Target, and our friends Jen and Jo got her a wooden stovetop at a thrift store. She loves to cook "eggies" and "noodles," and pretend to feed them to us and to her dolls. I can't wait until she's old enough to really help us in the kitchen - I hope she is still interested!

As promised...

a full Maisie update to start your week off right!

On Saturday, we went to the Uptown Art Fair. Maisie wasn't really interested in the art, but she is interested in getting on the other side of the camera. So here is her first picture, a portrait of her daddy (with stroller).
While we're talking about Aaron, for those who don't know, this is his last week at his current job! Yes, he's finally leaving the ticket office after six and a half years. He'll be taking a few weeks off (yay!) and then going back to school at the end of the month! We're all very happy.

After the Uptown Art Fair, we went home and strollered up to the Powderhorn Park art fair where we met Dylan and Gramma. We saw some art, played with puppets (Open Eye Figure Theater had a booth), and perhaps most exciting for Maisie, had some roasted corn on the cob.

Maisie really loves corn on the cob, much more so than almost any other food. She wasn't at all interested in my delicious fried rice or spring roll. Well, maybe that's because we let her have all those mini donuts earlier. Anyway! She ate almost the entire cob by herself! Although she is getting pretty good about sharing.

It's cute - she will hold it up to you and say "Bite?" Then once you have a bite she says "My turn!" and takes it right back. She's sharing... but not much. Which, for an almost-two-year-old, I think is pretty good.

Maisie is 21 months old today! She really is looking grown up, isn't she? She's a good sleeper and eater, and is social and funny and smart. She has a lot of words, and is even putting together three- and four-word phrases! She says "hi" and "bye" to everything - when we leave in the morning, it's "bye bye kitties, bye bye house," and she says "Hi!" to pedestrians as we're driving. Her favorite toys are her crayons, her blocks, and her cars, and she also really enjoys pretending to cook. If you ask her what she's making, she will always say "eggies!" She pretends to feed the eggs to her Elmo, and to me and Aaron. It's ridiculously cute.

It's hard to remember what our life was like before she came around. I'm pretty sure we got more sleep. But I'm equally sure that we laugh more now, and that our lives have a lot more love in them.

The joy of parks

The weather was (mostly) beautiful this weekend, so we spent a lot of time outside.

(there was a freak hailstorm on Saturday, but it missed us entirely.)

Saturday afternoon, we went to the city park a few blocks south of our house. As you can see, Maisie really enjoyed the swings! This was the first time she actually enjoyed swings - in the past, they've been a little scary to her.

She also had a lot of fun on the slide!

She went down the slides over and over - she loved both the regular and the curly slides.

It was near 80, so we had to stop by Dairy Queen on the way back. Maisie and I shared an ice cream cone.

Or, rather, she allowed me a few bites of her ice cream cone. It was not her first ice cream, but it was her first cone, and she really enjoyed it. Living four blocks from a dairy queen has its advantages!

Then, today, we had a new first: Maisie's first street fair and parade. Maisie, my mom, her friend Gayle, and I went to Grand Old Day today! We watched the parade and ate some mini donuts.

Maisie also suffered her first skinned knees this weekend, but she took them like a champ, with minimal tears. All in all, it was a beautiful weekend.

18 months

Can you believe Maisie is 18 months old already? Our baby isn't a baby any longer! She can kick a ball, talk in three-word phrases, dress and undress herself... and even walk in her mommy's shoes.

The milestones are passing so quickly now! She is becoming a sweet, affectionate kid, although a very strong-willed one. She won't hesitate to let you know if she's unhappy!

This weekend we did lots of fun things, aside from walking around in my shoes and chasing the cat around.

Maisie discovered that she can actually see through one of the hats that Grandma Jo made her, and hijinks ensued. She pulled it down over her face and ran around, chasing me and Aaron and the cats and laughing like a loon. It was so funny!

On Sunday, we went to check out the May Day celebration at Powderhorn Park. Maisie napped right through the parade, but we took a look at the floats parked in the park.

Her favorite was the Hare Krishna float, because of the balloons. But right as I was going to take her picture, she got distracted by the butterfly person walking by in the background.

Today was also my and Aaron's 8-year date-a-versary. Or, as Aaron said, it's our eight-a-versary! We hired a babysitter and went out to dinner. It was a lovely evening.

So, I'll leave you with a good picture of Maisie, since the above are all somewhat covered up of her! This is Maisie reading one of her favorite books, "Brown Bear Brown Bear," to Spiderman. This was on Saturday, shortly after the chasing-in-hat incident.

Maybe she was trying to make it up to him.

Spring has faked us out.

Well, a week ago it was 70 degrees out, and we were wearing sunscreen and playing at the Falls. Monday was similarly lovely, and Maisie got to play outside after work.

She investigated our gardening materials, including taking a soil sample - that is, she ate some dirt. Reason Number One why we don't use chemical weedkiller or fertilizer in our yard!

However, the weather quickly changed, and a cold front came through - we even had snow on the ground! It was a big change from last weekend. By today, the high was back into the mid-forties and the sun was out. It was a relatively lovely day, so we decided to go check out the Minnesota Zoo.

The zoo was a good choice: it wasn't too crowded, as it was kind of cool out, but we dressed appropriately and were very comfortable walking around. Here, Maisie and Aaron are checking out the prairie dog exhibit. There was a woman in a group right behind us who was complaining loudly about how awful prairie dogs are: "You take your horse out into the pasture, and then he steps into a prairie dog hole and breaks his leg! They're terrible!" That's as may be, crazy lady, but they're still pretty cute.

Tonight Maisie entertained herself by creating a fort under the dining room table.

She had a grand old time under there. She'd roll her toy car over to Aaron, who'd roll it back. When we'd try to get her out, she'd move the chairs to block us, and laugh and laugh. It was really cute. Note the strap on the chair closest to the camera: that's Maisie's booster seat, because (as I think I mentioned before) she is a big girl who no longer tolerates high chairs. 'Cause those are for babies, you know.

Thanks for your patience, readers! I'll try to be more diligent about posting this week. I know everyone likes to get their Maisie updates in a timely fashion!

Goodbye high chair!

It's funny that I got those two recent videos when I did, because this past week, Maisie said ENOUGH! to the high chair. We'd try to put her in it, but she wasn't having it - she'd kick and scream and basically let us know, in no uncertain terms, that she was not one little bit interested in taking her meals in the high chair.

So this weekend, we got her a booster, with which she is very pleased. She can now sit at the table like the big girl that she is. She was so happy, she even shared her dinner with me.

She loves to feed us little bites of whatever she's eating. It looks like she's saying "Open wide!" It's very cute.

We had lots of fun this weekend, but unfortunately didn't bring the camera! We visited Dylan and Auntie Laura, we visited Brian and his puppies and got to meet Maddy & Ronica (so cute!!), we went to IKEA, and we had brunch at Gramma J's. It was a very busy weekend. Very fun... but very busy too. Maisie hit the hay really early tonight, and I think Aaron and I are going to do the same!

Happy March!

Rabbit, rabbit!

Believe it or not, we did not go to the children's museum today!! (we went yesterday.) Instead, we spent the day in a variety of midwestern almost-spring activities.

This morning, we sat around in our jammies and read books on the couch. As you can see, those of us who are teething wear bibs with our jammies, though we do not wear them to bed.

Speaking of teething - I discovered today that Maisie has her first molar, in the back on the lower right! I guess that explains the copious drool and the fussy nights. I am surprised, though - she still only has two teeth in front on the bottom. You'd think she'd get eyeteeth before molars.

Anyway...

Then we got dressed and went to the Mall of America, where we played with the Duplos at Legoland, watched the rides at the Nickelodeon Universe f/k/a The Park At MOA f/k/a Camp Snoopy, and ran up and down the aisles at DSW where Aaron bought new shoes.

That was exhausting, so when we got home, Maisie took a good long nap.

When she woke up, it was relatively nice out (above freezing! spring is on the way!) so we bundled up and went for a walk.

It didn't end up being a very long walk thanks to some freezing rain that started to fall shortly after we set out. But we felt good about actually getting outside today for more than walking to or from the car!

Curly locks

Sometimes people ask me if I think Maisie is going to have curly hair. I'm like, what do you mean, "going to"?

It's not always the easiest to tell from the front, but as you can see here, she definitely has inherited my and Aaron's curls!

This weekend Maisie said her first non-mama, dada, baba words: kitty, meow, and yogurt. I guess you can tell what is important and interesting to her!

Car seat

For Maisie's birthday, we got her a new Big Girl carseat!

She'd been really hating the car for a while. Every time we put her in her rear-facing car seat, she'd scream and fight it. I hadn't been planning on turning her car seat around right at one year, but I thought it had to be better than constant crying every time we got into the car. And as you can see, she really likes her new forward-facing carseat!

It's made car trips much more pleasant for everyone.