the lucy project—3 years old

what can i say about three-year-old lucy? in a word, lucy is spunky. there is so much spunk, so much independence, so much sass that it oozes out when i give her a squeeze. hello kitty bows and sparkly shoes one day, demands to be batman (and NOT batgirl or batwoman) the next, she keeps life interesting and hones my diplomatic skills constantly. she will determinedly take a stand that is completely wrong and will defend it to the death, with no other evidence than "it is how i say it is!" but then there are times when she knows a losing battle, and will give in with a dramatic, "alriiiiiight..." you never know what you're going to get. never.

lucy can turn on her sweetness, particularly when dealing with her "babies", but she can also turn it off just as easily. she loves all her animals and dolls and takes care of them with lots of love and hugs (when she's not throwing them in the air or slamming them into the ground).
she loves to sing and dance and will make up songs and dance around in the most charming way. her version of "let it go" always makes me smile.
lucy's favorite foods are: pizza (with pepperoni), noodles that she can dip in sauce, cheesy tacos, carrots, and fruit. though, if you try to predict what she will or won't eat on any day, you will surely fail. when her plate is completely emptied without a battle, i feel as though i ought to buy a lottery ticket.
we are still trying to convince her to use the potty without success. i feel like she will do it in her own time, but in the meantime i am anxious to have it happen. it's the kind of thing that i think can only be successful if she's really on board, and lucy is rarely on board for the long haul, even when m&ms are involved.
no matter what she throws my way, i'm always glad we've got a lucy. she is a treasure.

the stats:

height - 37 inches (50th percentile)

weight - 27.19 lbs (15th percentile)

my little hero—or how sam saved a damsel in distress

shortly after mike picked the kiddos up from the sitter's yesterday, he messaged me to let me know that sam's good friend tabitha (whom he has been spending his mondays and wednesdays with over the summer) was in the hospital. apparently tabitha had swallowed some small, round magnets that were part of a toy (sam said they looked like gobstoppers). sam, after seeing her swallow one in his presence, immediately went and informed tabitha's mom about what she had done. 
it turns out that tabitha had swallowed a total of 13 magnets over the last few days and without sam's report, no one would have known. we were relieved to hear that she is in good spirits today and that it appears that no permanent damage was done (and i guess those magnets have the potential to do some serious damage). they had to go in with a scope, but it appears that they were able to remove them all, and she is now in recovery.
besides being thankful that tabitha will be fine, i was so glad that sam a) didn't get talked into trying to "taste" any magnets himself, and b) that he knew enough to go and tell an adult what had happened. appropriately, the boy who plays "knights and princess-knights" was able to help rescue his princess-knight friend. my hero!

in other sam news, we had our registration appointment this morning. sam is now an official shaker heights preschool student! we also received his session assignment (he'll be in the afternoon class), and found out his teacher will be mrs. k. there are two pre-preschool events at the end of august, and he will officially start on tuesday, september 3rd!

winter—we are so over it

sam and i have been looking for spring with mixed success. have have seen the crocuses coming up (and a few other green friends), but for the most part, it's been downright frigid.

last week we sucked it up long enough to make a quick trip to the playground. the sun was shining brightly, but we had a hard time being convinced that it was gorgeous play weather while there was still snow on the ground. the trip did not last long and culminated in a tearful sam finally calling it quits and admitting that it was just too cold for this kind of outing.

we're awfully glad for our nice, warm house and are remembering to say a little prayer for those who aren't so lucky.

this message brought to you by elmo

sometimes we watch sid the science kid, or curious george, but elmo is clearly our favorite. thanks to elmo (and his sesame street friends, and elmo dvds from the library) we can have clean dishes, clean and ironed and folded clothes, freelance work done, posts on the blog, dinner made, a showered mom, AND best of all, a happy boy. we. love. elmo.