She is kind of weird because she refuses to imagine things or tell stories. Just today she was pretend cooking dessert for James and I but refused to suggest things that might be on the menu. We went back and forth, R: "What do you want?" M or J: "What do you have?", R: "Well, what do you want, here's a menu," M: "We can't read it its in Chinese," R: "Of course you can you're a grownup." (And on for five minutes at least) After all that, we asked for giraffe pie and she told us, no, she had sticky rice. Anyway, same thing a little later, R: "When I'm grown up I'll have a husband and Louis will have a wife." M: "Will you have kids?" R: "Yes" M: "How many?" R: "How ever many come out" M: "How many do you want to have" R: "The same amount as are born," M:" How many do you think would be FUN to have" R: "About the number that come out of my tummy." WHEW
So much has been going on in the last 2 weeks its hard to know where to start. But let's start at the Halloween fall dance recital. Rosemary, you may note, is in a princess (though it looks more like a bridal gown) costume. At first she was going to be something cool, instead of a princess (like literally every other girl in her class with about 2 exceptions), but she caved to peer pressure. She was going to be a tree, and, she declared, she wanted to be a beetle. But then we went together to Goodwill to look for dress up clothes, on a bit of a whim, and we saw this lovely bridesmaid dress in great condition with white tulle and, she pretty much screamed, "I WANT TO BE A PRINCESS." So that was that, no turning back after trying to convince her for many days. But I was proud of our great Goodwill find and, I have to say, I probably would want to wear that dress if I could get away with it.
The recital this year was adorable because Rosemary's close friends Stella and Flora were in it for the first time. Rosemary seemed a bit more nonchalant than last year (when she screamed in delight when Stella came to watch) but she was really happy that daddy moved his class to 2:00 (she kept track of the schedule and informed me) and Aunt Mo and Louis came to watch her dance. Don't think dancing will be her big passion in life, but she is still having fun. Its kind of sad to see that she's a little more jaded about it than last year, when she was still a baby (see blog Halloween 2010 pictures), but hey, part of her growth was due to things like these ballet recitals. I was still amazed by the fact that EVERY girl was willing to get up in front of the audience and do a "solo" with no tears. Below are Stella and Rosemary doing their arabesques.
Isn't Stella adorable? She's about a year younger than most of her classmates, but watching her transform in the past year has been just incredible! She and Rosemary are temperamentally suited and have been best of buds this year.
The next day, was the St. Marks Halloween Party. I didn't attend, because Louis was feeling sick so I stayed home with him and James took Rosemary. She and Stella and Flora just played on the playground in their princess outfits the whole time.
The day before Halloween I had the great idea to take Rosemary and her friends to see "Peter and the Wolf." I had taken Rosemary to the Nutcracker last Christmas and she loved it. We all went out for crepes at their teacher's brother's French restaurant, and then onto the ballet. I got a "Peter and the Wolf" book from the library and read the kids the story during lunch. I heard Rosemary telling her friends several times that the wolf was just pretend, and they didn't need to worry about it. Clearly she was feeling anxious herself. And, of course, as soon as we got into the theater, she screams, "GET ME OUT OF HERE, I WANT TO WATCH THIS ON TV!!!" Apparently, an in-person show was too scary. I tried to push, reason, cover her eyes, but she was having none of it -- we left after five minutes of the performance (across the stage in front of the audience with Rosemary screaming). Her friend Stella had to leave a few minutes later, but her mom Liz was not so lucky -- when Stella was ready to leave the wolf had just come out, so Stella refused to cross the stage. Instead they had to crouch in the corner for 20 minutes, with Liz covering Stella's eyes.
Halloween day parade at school...
Trick or treating Halloween night with Aunt Mo, Alicia & Aaron, Miles & Esme. It was a little sad, Rosemary was not at all scared, just excited about being with Esme and candy. Louis wanted to eat every piece of candy he got immediately. Check out my first homemade Halloween costume, the beetle (thanks to Aunt Summer and Aunt Katy for their ideas!)
A few recital videos. Honestly the funniest part of the whole recital to me was Louis's reaction -- I only got a little bit on video but he was practically dancing in his chair the whole time. Note the hate and jacket, both of which he wore on the way to school and refused to take off the entire day.
The day after Halloween and before Rosemary's big birthday party (the next post), Rosemary's Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dan came to visit, and they were brave enough to come along for a Happy Hikers adventure at Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve. I had assured them that all our hikes were very simple, less than a mile, and we stopped to snack a lot, but it turns out this hike was pretty steep and rocky (and it was a cold and windy day) and we got a little lost so went over 2 miles. They survived, though, and did the whole thing with grace and good cheer! The kids had a lot of fun as usual -- we had a few new 2 year olds along who seemed to enjoy the company of the older girls, and all the kids got together at the end for a rousing game of ring-around-the-rosie.
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