Happy Halloween!

here are some photos of our fun-filled evening. Skye was SO excited about dressing up and going out to trick-or-treat. it was rather chilly, but we had fun, especially since all the neighbourhood kids came out and we went around the block as a group. it was a great time to see all the neighbours we don't get to see too often. Skye did get scared by some of the older kids' costumes who came trick-or-treating to our house later in the evening, but we were part of the early young crowd.


here is Skye and Claire with their friends Avery and Colette.


here's a shot of the very cute little black cat and a very beautiful princess. i should point out Skye made her own crown!


here we are, ready to go trick-or-treating! and yes, i had to dress up to match my kids!


isn't this the cutest?


some of the neighbourhood gang :)


thawing out inside after the trick-or-treat


and this was from last year's halloween - what a difference a year makes!

Activities on the homefront

whopeee! they've finally started to pave our street! it no longer looks like a disaster zone outside our front door. we're so looking forward to saying goodbye to all the diggers, bobcats and bulldozers and so looking forward to being able to use our driveway and walking on our sidewalks again. perhaps our block will actually be almost back to normal when we hit the street wednesday evening for trick-or-treat.

here are two movies i wanted to share with you. one is of Claire dancing to music - i was able to capture it finally! and the other is of Claire busy in the kitchen and Skye busy with her project.


Dancing to music from slkim on Vimeo.



Rearranging Cutlery from slkim on Vimeo.

Fall days

the temperatures are dropping! and the trees are turning glorious reds, oranges, yellows. if it wasn't for all the construction on our street, we would be seeing lots of beautiful signs of fall around us. it is great to get out though. as long as the sun is shining, it feels wonderful. but i know winter is coming and i'm reminding myself to start thinking about winter gear for the girls. and what about our daily walk to school? not sure...i have considered pulling the girls on a sled, but that's if there's snow on the ground. what about those freezing cold windy days when there's no snow on the ground?

Claire is finding creative ways to communicate to us. for example, i've noticed the last few days that when she's ready to come out of the tub after her bath time, she'll stand up and look at where her towel is hanging, telling me it's time for me to dry her off. it's such fun to be amazed each day by her new progress. at the same time, we're in the stage where there's lots of falls and tumbles. so, lots of tears. also lots of tears over frustrations. i remember this stage with Skye, where they know what they want to do, but can't do it because they can't walk. i'll be glad once Claire walks. i know many parents wish to delay the walking, but frankly, i feel like they are so much happier when they can walk.

here is a recent shot of the two girls.

Pink tutu

so i dug up my old pink tutu that i had worn for "Cinderella" performances during my ballet days and passed it down to Skye. here is a movie of Skye when she first put on the tutu.


Pink Tutu from slkim on Vimeo.

and here is a shot of me wearing the very same tutu at the age of 8, i think.

Unfamiliar territory

yesterday, we entered a new territory with Skye. she had had a playdate at her friend's house and when i went to get her, she looked like she had a great time. but when we got home, she tells me, "my friend said she didn't like me." i tried to get what exactly happened out of her, but of course it's very difficult to interpret a 4 year old's version of events. but what got me was Skye saying, "i was worried about my friend." this is a friend Skye considers one of her closest friends and so it must have affected her enough to mention it to me and to Phil later on in the day.

i talked to her friend's mother today and got the full story. apparently, Skye's friend wanted to move on to another activity while Skye did not. and so her friend said she didn't like Skye, her reaction to Skye's lack of compliance. the girls are fine today and are best friends, but we mothers had to really work hard at resolving this! i realize this is just the beginning. i have years and years ahead of me helping Skye work through issues with peers. and how do you teach a four year old about the give and take of friendship? any ideas anyone? even adults still have to learn that lesson. i did explain to Skye that the next time one of her friends wants her to do something and she's not ready to move on, then instead of just saying no, she should try explaining to her friend that either she's not ready to move on, or she doesn't want to move on because...etc. i'm glad Skye is strong minded enough to not have to do everything her friends want her to do, she has her own ideas in mind, but at the same time, when you play with friends, you can't always just go your own way. then you're not really playing together.

i think this incident was a lesson to both girls, and to both mums! we have lots to learn ahead of us.

A Good Day

today was a delightful day. Phil and i looked at each other and asked, when was the last time we had such a good day? we couldn't remember! isn't that awful? but then, it was so pleasant, it was a gift. Claire took an unbelievable 2 and a half hour nap. Skye played happily. it was raining outside, but we were cozy inside, drinking hot apple cider and doing puzzles, wrestling, making risotto and brownies for dinner and folding the laundry. i know, it sounds really boring, but it was such a calm and relaxing day. i don't know when we'll have such another!

yesterday was U of Wisconsin's Arts Night Out, an annual event at the university. it's an evening when the different departments in the arts at the university open themselves to the student body and to the general public. there are lots of art exhibits, concerts and workshops. most are geared for adults, but there were a couple of events that were family friendly. we ended up at the metal works studio in the art department where people/kids were allowed to carve their own designs onto cuttlefish bones and then students of metal works melted pewter, poured it into the designs and then you ended up with a pendant. Skye and i carved a star onto our cuttlefish bone. it was great fun watching them melt the pewter over a plate of hot coal and then pour it onto our design. then a student filed down our star for us, put a hole in the middle and threaded it onto a ribbon. i'm not sure what Skye thought of the whole event. to Skye, making art is painting, drawing, cutting, pasting. this was completely beyond her ideas. but i think she is fond of the star pendant. she hangs it in a special place. as for me, it was fun to be back in an environment that reminded me so much of my days at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. one of my friends asked me if it was inspiring. i think it made me wistful, more than anything. it made me itch to make stuff, to create. and that requires time. i'm still hoping there will come a day when i can go back to doing the things i love. as for now, i was happy to show Skye a glimpse of that world and perhaps it's been tucked away in her brain to resurface later in her life when she's ready for something like metal works.

Many Firsts

i've been feeling rather scattered lately and haven't had the energy to blog, but hopefully i'm back to being more regular here!

there have been several firsts for us in the past couple of weeks. the happier first is that Claire claps! here is a movie of me trying to capture Claire clapping. do watch to the end because it is quite rewarding.



the next first was Skye's ear infection. she woke us all up in the middle of the night last week complaining her ear was hurting. since we've never dealt with ear infections before, we had no idea what was wrong. plus, Skye didn't have a fever so i didn't think it was an infection. when we got to the doctor's office the next morning, we discover there are ear infections without fevers. i decided to hold off on the antibiotics to see if the ear would take care of itself. i kept a rather disappointed Skye home from school and she had to miss a field trip to an apple orchard. by evening, Skye said her ear wasn't hurting anymore and was in good spirits. i was really thankful the infection cleared up so quickly.

phil and i also got new phones which means the kids can finally play with the phones they've been so eager to play with. but now they've lost interest of course and would rather play with the brand new ones.

Skye continues to love her ballet classes. i asked her if she'd prefer to go to gymnastics class instead of ballet and she says, no, i like ballet. and Claire is doing great in kindermusik. she gets really happy whenever we play the CD from class or i sing the songs to her. she also does this really cute dance whenever she hears music. i'll have to try to capture it, but very difficult to do.

Rain & construction

over the weekend, the construction continued on our street. they tore up part of all the driveways and then filled them with dirt. then it rained all night, so you can imagine what our street looked like this morning. our neighbour's car was stuck in the mud when we got out. our car wheels were spinning too so i ended up parking elsewhere. but it was great fun for the kids. we were out in our rain boots, splashing in the puddles, squishing through the oozing mud.



and here is Claire doing her thing, climbing the stairs. she must do this at least 3 or 4 times a day!