Updates about Sylvia – Page 3 – Dotzour Family.com

June 25, 2011June 20, 2011

Soccer!

Andrew and Sylvia are two years apart in age between February and June. And it just so happened, that Monona had a soccer skills class for 3-5 year olds this spring. Then it shockingly aligned so that both kids wanted to participate. Crazy.

Eli and Celia joined us, and we enjoyed five nice evenings (Thursdays in May and early June) watching the kiddos play about.

Eli’s sixth birthday was on a soccer day. Here’s his newly-hatched Sixness:

And there’s CC. Water breaks were a major component of the soccer skills class.

Hi me:)

Soccer buddies

Here are the kids running around on another evening…

It’s chaos out there! Then, I caught Andrew on camera doing cartwheels:)

There aren’t any soccer classes that work with our schedule this summer, and the kids aren’t interested in tennis or t-ball etc. Andrew said he might be interested in karate, so perhaps we’ll add that in at some point. In the meantime, this was a great, low-key initiation to the world of kids sports:)

June 18, 2011June 18, 2011

Three girls a-picinic-ing

Sylvia’s Toddler Time class at Monona Grove Nursery School ended in late April. In order to keep up her socialization and to retain some structure to our week, I invited her friends Celia and Rayna to come play at our house on Tuesdays in May and early June.

The three girls had a topsy-turvy time…sometimes being a complete delight (see pictures below) and sometimes (in Sylvia’s case, many times) experiencing high degrees of angst over the difficulties of three-year-old interactions. I thought of it as having the opportunity to flex that “working-with-other-people” muscle. No matter what, though, Sylva and I always looked forward to the days that our friends would come over to play.

Here’s some photos of our crew of three enjoying each other’s company on a warm May day.

First, picnicking and striking a pose:

I love these three of Rayna.

Here’s some cuties of Miss Celia Carina Jane

And my very own tutu girl.

Three friends.

These pictures here kinda make my chest hurt to look at. Oh those three!

The maple tree out front had just flowered, and I lay on my back looking up through the new green flowers, soaking up spring.

Thanks, Kathy and Jessica, for sharing your amazing girls with me. So glad that Sylvie has them as friends and I have you two as friends!!

June 17, 2011

Paint disaster

How is it that it’s been almost a month since I last posted? My focus turned to other things. I haven’t even written about our trip to visit grandparents in Wichita. Maybe soon…

However, I’ve been jolted out of my non-blogging status by an incident this afternoon. I had some work to do in the basement, so I asked the kids to amuse themselves for a while. “No eating,” I said, remembering the bag-o-marshmallows eating incident from last week. “Or leaving the yard. Or doing things that your conscious tells you are maybe not a good idea.” I asked them to get along and be good because after I was done working I’d be tired and my “bucket” might be a little low.

I didn’t specify that they shouldn’t take out the paints. That’ll be on the list next time.

So after doing some heavy, dirty not-really-fun work in the basement for a half hour, I come upstairs to see this:

And I almost sat down on the floor and wept.

I know why they did it, you see, I’d just rearranged all the art supplies. The painting supplies had been previously stashed in several different places, but now they are all together in organized glory in the old general art supply drawer. There’s paint they’ve never seen before. There’s new fingerpainting paper. There are brushes galore.

I did some heavy breathing. With my eyebrows lifted high, I firmly extolled upon Andrew and Sylvia the importance of getting permission from an adult before initiating a painting project. I questioned the wisdom of dumping out the entire contents of large bottles of paint.

The two of them kept catching each others’ eyes and smiling; then repressing the smile and trying to look apologetic. It wasn’t working. The giggles that wafted from the bathroom as they washed the brushes ticked me off.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of big, messy painting experiences. I just like to do them outdoors.

In this case, there was all sorts of paint tucked into the seams in our hardwood floors. Colorful:) Very hard to remove.

I did consider crying, but it’s really not my style. So although I wasn’t really in the mood, I took out my camera to capture the disaster pre-cleanup. I sent the kids to their rooms for 15 minutes while I did the bulk of the cleanup. There was so much paint on the floor that it seemed that having them wipe it up would have brought things from a localized disaster to a full-room/house paint bomb. Their main consequence is that there’s no painting until July.

Oh those kids, those kids. You should have seen the mischievous twinkle in their eyes. I love them so much, and I’m so proud of them. Being their mom can sometimes lead me to long for Happy Hour.

Fondly,

Althea

May 21, 2011May 16, 2011

Kids, mud, and the Wisconsin River

While we were at Jack’s the kid’s favorite part was hanging out down by the banks of the Wisconsin River. The river is really high and in this segment has gone over its banks a bit, creating a nice shallow area. An area that the kids would come to find was a great swimming/mud hole.

Love these two little nature explorers!

Tiny spring leaves glowing in the light.

As they waded it, I warned them that they’d get their boots full of water if they went out too far. Moments later, their boots filled with water.

Looking across the river.

Andrew took about 50 pictures of Sylvie just standing there. I told him that he really didn’t have to keep pressing the shutter because she wasn’t really changing what she was doing. “I can’t help it!” he said. “She’s just SO CUTE!” I know the feeling, Buddy.

Sylv gets her hands muddy. I encourage her to wipe them off on the grass instead of on me.

The the kids pulled off their waterlogged boots, attempted to roll up their pants, and marched around in the mud.

Back at Jack’s they hosed down their feet in the sauna.

Later in the day, we headed back to the water. This time, Andrew and Sylvie didn’t mess around. They both stripped down and started splashing in the water. I love these three images:)

Running in the water!

Oh be still my heart. My two naked kiddos on the river.

Around this time, Andrew got cold. He rinsed off in the water and put his clothes back on. Sylvie, on the other hand, started going for the full-body mud experience.

This photo below is Terry’s favorite. The look she’s giving me amidst all the mud really is kinda spectacular.

Nothing like mud!

This is one happy, mud-covered girl.

While Sylvie indulged her muddiness, Andrew gathered flowers for me.

Thanks, my boy, for the Mother’s Day bouquet!

May 18, 2011May 16, 2011

Hiking the Ice Age trail

A few weeks ago, Sylvia and I went on a hike in Cross Plains on the Ice Age Trail. For those of you not familiar with the Trail, it’s a still-being-created foot trail in Wisconsin that covers over one thousand miles. It’s one of nine National Scenic Trails and covers some spectacular parts of Wisconsin. The Ice Age Trail Alliance grows and maintains the trail and is a land trust. Gathering Waters Conservancy (my past employer) is an umbrella group for Wisconsin’s land trusts, and on April 30th (while Andrew and Bryan attended a birthday party), Sylvia and I joined a hike and reception on a segment of the trail.

I hadn’t taken Sylv hiking since last fall, and I was so impressed with how strong and robust of a hiker she’s become.

She carried two sticks for most of the hike…banging them into trees and bushes as any good kid should.

During the hike, we stopped occasionally to hear about the conservation efforts.

Hiking along through the early spring woods. Sylv walked about two miles before she lost her steam. I was so proud of her:)

This girl innately understands posing. I set her on this outcropping, and she just looked so cute!

Here’s looking across a bird-filled wetland.

Sylv zips down some switch-backs at the end of the hike.

Checking out the lichen on a rock with a magnifying glass.

Conor, Pam, and Mindy at the delicious reception (catered by Underground Catering). It’s always great to see friends. Thanks, all, for organizing a really fun event!

May 16, 2011May 11, 2011

Post-concert portraits

After Andrew’s music concert, I took some pictures of the kids in the soft evening light with my long lens. I’m filled with love when I look at these sweet faces!

Have I mentioned recently that I’d love to freeze both these little people right where they are?

Brother and sister – good friend!

She cracks me up.

Alivia was in the concert too (it was a first grade/kindergarten concert), so we all walked home together. The kids hid behind this tree. We were completely fooled as to their location.

Here’s a couple sweet images of Alivia. Can’t believe what a grown up girl she’s becoming!

Have fun!

~Althea

May 14, 2011May 11, 2011

Sylvie and Celia

Now that we don’t have Toddler Time on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I thought it would be fun to plan more get-togethers with friends. So on Tuesday mornings for the remainder of the school year, I invited Celia and Rayna over. We’ve done it a couple times, and it’s working so well. Those girls are too cute. They all love dress up, serving food, and playing babies. Ad nauseam. Which is why it’s great when they have each other to play those games with!

Here’s some sweet pictures that Jessica took of Sylvia and Celia on a Monday after tap class. I love it when Jessica takes pictures:) These just melt my heart.

Oh, and then there are these hugging pictures. I think these need to be blown up for a wall somewhere in our home! There’s nothing like a good friend!

May 13, 2011May 11, 2011

Carousel fun

It was a cold and windy day when we met up with Jessica, Celia, and Eli and Seth, Nida, and Nola to hang out at the zoo. Bryan had been planning to kayak that morning, but the white caps on the lake sent him back home, so he joined us too. We all got to see the baby lion cub – Leo Pold. So cute!

While we were riding the carousal, I had fun taking photos of the Klabough, Taapken, and Dotzour kids.

Here’s CC Jane, riding all by herself!

And there’s Jessica with her adorable niece, Nola.

Despite the appearance, Sylvia was actually having a good time.

Here’s Nola’s big sister, Nida. She’s such a sweetheart and will be in Sylvia’s preschool class this fall.

Darling Nida.

Eli John. I miss this kid! With the boys in full-day kindergarten, I don’t see E much. Hopefully that’ll change this summer!

Andrew riding a jaguar.

Here’s Seth (Jessica’s brother) taking pics of Nida.

Here’s me, riding a cassowary, taking a picture of myself (harder to time than one might think!).

There’s Jessica, Nola, and Celia.

Andrew’s looking less than totally enthused.

Buddies hug.

Cute Eli!

Thanks for a fun morning together, guys! Looking forward to seeing you together a lot more as the weather warms and school’s out!

May 12, 2011May 11, 2011

Pinocchio. Puh puh puh

Sylvia’s last day of Toddler Time at Monona Grove Nursery School was a couple weeks ago. The next time she’ll be back in school will be next fall. She’s so excited to think that she’ll be going to school “All by herself. With no Mommy!”

Here are Sylvie and Celia with Patrice, their Thursday Toddler Time teacher on the last day of class. Patrice is awesome. If you have a 0-5 year old in Madison, I highly, highly recommend Monona Grove Nursery School:)

I didn’t bring my camera to to our other class, but Sylvia and I both also really enjoyed Toddler Time with Diana. Next year, dear Linda will be teaching Toddler Time along with Patrice. And Sylvie will be in preschool on Thursday and Friday mornings with Sue and Jodi!

On to other news…about Sylvia and her letters. In general, my girl marches to her own drum. The beating of her drum doesn’t include much about letters, numbers, categorizing things, or puzzles. She loves to be read to, and she loves to read to herself (yay!), yet she is completely oblivious to letters. I’ve been pointing out every “S” for Sylvia that I see for months, and she doesn’t seem to care one bit. “A” – who cares? “O” like a circle…nope.

My sense is that she could learn her letters but that it just isn’t interesting to her. So I spent a few weeks mulling over how to best approach this situation. I’m sure she’ll learn her letters by the time she’s six…there’s nothing critical about early adoption of letter learning. In fact, I’d rather she play and imagine and read herself stories and run through the grass rather than work on letter-learning. Yet, I can’t help but feel like if I find the right things, it might spark her interest and she might take off on a grand exploration of sounds and letters and words. What’s a parent to do?

Along the same lines, I was noting that Sylvie doesn’t have much interest in activities like puzzles. So I don’t tend to do puzzles. But perhaps I should pull them out sometimes just to encourage well-rounded-ness. I think maybe I’ll make a point of doing some block-building and puzzle-doing and see if she sometimes wants to join in.

Back to letters – I thought about following the Montessori methods of making letters out of different textiles – like sandpaper – to help with learning. But I have a sneaking suspicion that those wouldn’t spark her interest either. I started thinking about this LeapFrog toy I’ve seen at friends’ houses that allows kids to spell out words.

And then I had a crisis of conscious.

We don’t do battery-operated toys. I definitely don’t do educational battery operated toys. No talking toys, no singing toys, no lights-flashing/noise-making toys. And somehow I lucked out, and everyone in our gift-giving circle either espouses the same values or is super-respectful of my inclinations. Our non-battery operated toys require imagination and creativity. The child brings their ideas and spirit to the toy to play rather than looking to the toy to entertain them.

However, Mom always said, “Moderation in everything, including moderation.” I was eying this LeapFrog singing, talking toy because I thought it might spark Sylvia’s interest in letters and sounds. And you know what, it’s worked.

Sylvia (and Andrew) loves it. She plays with it all the time (and it only makes me slightly insane). Within a day or two, she could identify several letters. But more than that, she was excited about pointing out those letters.

She likes hearing which letters make which sounds.

Then last weekend, we were at Terry’s and saw his Pinocchio doll. Sylvia said, “Puh, puh, puh, Pinocchio. What letter does puh make?” My jaw dropped. It’s so exciting to see my kids start to engage in the world in new ways. For her to express – out of the blue – that she gets that words are made of sounds and that corresponds to a letter. Be still my heart:)

So thanks, LeapFrog for sparking my daughter’s interest. I’m not a converted batteries-in-toys advocate, but it’s neat to see how the right toy (or in other cases TV show or game) can launch a child in a new direction. Yay Sylvia!

May 11, 2011

Freeze powder

My mom used to say that the baby gift she most wanted to give to new parents is a little vial of “freeze powder.” So at those times when life is so sweet that it almost hurts, you can freeze the passing of time and just keep those little babies their current age for an indefinite period of time. I would have frozen my babes at around 7 or nine months. And I would most definitely freeze them right now.

Spring has finally finally come to Wisconsin. We went from weather in the 50s to weather in the high 80s. The grass is green. Our yard is a carpet of violets. The cherry and magnolia trees are a profusion of pink. The maple trees are transitioning from their sprigs of light green flowers to their tiny, bright green leaves. I pulled our hammock out of storage yesterday and curled up on it in the afternoon with a couple girls…reading stories and swaying in the soft breeze.

So I’d like to freeze May for at least a couple months. More than that, though, I’d like to freeze Andrew and Sylvia right here at 3 and 3/12 years old and at 5 and 10/12 years old. While we certainly have moments of angst, sadness, and hair-rending, in general, these two kids are sweet beyond belief. They’re playing together with energy and delight. I wake up to the sound of their collective giggling. I have to pull Andrew out of Sylvia’s room at night, because he snuck in “just to read her one last book.”

Andrew is so inquisitive and smart. It’s a true delight to explore the world with him. Sylvia is in an emotional place of increased stability and calm. She’s delightful and conversational. I love the way her limbs fold up on my lap. I love the way her breath smells and that when her tears fall think and hot down her cheeks, I can make things better. I love her sense of style, the way she spins and jumps and shrieks with mirth. From this vantage point, I feel grateful for the sometimes-trials of parenting as I feel an inner expansiveness borne through the combustion that can be children.

I’ve assembled a collection of some of my favorite images of the kids below. So many adorable moments in just the last few weeks.

Maybe that’s one of the reasons I like photography so much. Since freeze powder is in short supply, these images we take and share and hold are our best alternative.

Thanks to Jessica for taking these pics of me and Sylv.

I feel so lucky that I can be at home with the kids and spend many sweet hours in their company. Enjoy some little Dotzour silliness.