Slave for Fashion....and Frozen

Okay, I will admit that I am “girly.” But I like to think of myself as easy-going and not high maintenance (others may disagree…they are wrong). ;) However, my daughter is one little diva. (You may say this is my fault….again…you would be wrong) ;)

She recently caught a nasty stomach bug that turned my usually happy and silly girl into a pathetic little mess. She laid quietly on the couch (which she NEVER does), she said she wasn’t hungry (again, never happened in her life) and she asked if she could take a nap (never happened before and we are guessing will never happen again).  

But, that bug didn’t steal all her personality, although she was sick, she remained true to the 2 Fs that she lives by – Fashion and Frozen.

After throwing up, I went to her room to get her a new shirt and grabbed an old Texans shirt from last year. I brought it out and she immediately freaked out because it is (1) a shirt and not a dress and (2) blue instead of pink/purple. After some convincing, we got the shirt on her and got her cleaned up. She went back to lay down and Matt and I put the dirty laundry to wash and did a quick Lysol of the house. When I went back to sit next to her, she couldn’t take it anymore. She looked at me and said “Mommy, I don’t like this shirt. Okay? I get a new one. Okay?” So, we went and got her a pink shirt and she was happy.

A few hours later, we were sitting down watching Frozen when I hear “Oh mommy. I got to throw up.” She runs to the bathroom, I follow her and help her. When she’s done, she looks up at me with tears streaming out of her eyes, throw-up on her mouth, and her hair all messy and says “I missed when she took her hair down!! Mommy!! Rewind it!!!” Ridiculous.

And finally, on Monday morning, I innocently suggested that she could just stay in PJs all day since she was sick and staying home from school. She looked at me as if I was an idiot and clearly said “No mommy! I need to wear a pretty dress.” So we picked out a pretty dress, put it on her, and she spent the rest of the day like this.

Luckily it was a quick bug and she was back on her feet in 48 hours!  

Pop Culture

We have had  a few pop culture references with Olivia recently that have been pretty funny.

First is Frozen.  Clearly we have been in our baby bubble because I only recently realized the phenomenon that is Frozen.  I've mentioned before that Olivia has 2 good girlfriends in her class -- Cate & Emma.  As a result, I've become pretty good friends with their moms too.  (such a nice perk, huh?!)  A few weeks ago, Cate's mom texted us and said there is a "Frozen Dance Camp" this summer and she had already signed Cate up for it.  She also told the director to hold spots for Olivia and Emma and ordered the 3 of them matching tutus.  I agreed to sign Olivia up, but reluctantly admitted that Olivia did not know what Frozen was.  Figuring I didn't want her to be shamed at the camp, I asked Olivia if she knew what Frozen was.  She responded "That's what KK (Cate) likes."  So I pulled up the YouTube video of "Let It Go."  My jewelry-loving, dress-wearing, nail polish obsessed daughter sat in silence for 3 minutes and watched the entire video.  She commented that Elsa was so pretty and immediately declared that her favorite part was when Elsa takes her hair down and then proceeded to watch the video 45256 more times!  Within in a few weeks, she now knows almost every word and begs to watch the video.  Aunt Naz loaned up the actual DVD but Olivia has no interest in any part except "Let It Go."  Here's a small video of her singing and dancing.

The second reference is to Spiderman. Olivia's school is having a Super Hero Day and was selling capes for all the kids to wear.  To advertise them, they hung some capes on a life-size Spiderman cutout at the front of the school.  All the kids went NUTS for it and were constantly crowding around Spidey each morning and drop-off & pick-up.  One day at dinner, I asked Olivia if she knew who Spiderman was.  She responded "Yes he's Batman."  I said who's Batman?  She responded "Sebastian!"  Sebastian is a little boy in her class who is like the sweetest, most mild-mannered 2 year old you ever met.  He is fairly new to the school and spent the first 2 weeks crying.  We all felt so bad for him.  But one day he realized it wasn't that bad and then became the biggest cheerleader for the school.  He now greets all the kids and teacher when they come into the room and he stole Olivia's heart long ago when she declared him to be her favorite boy in the class!  And, Sebastian does have an affinity for Batman shirts, so I guess its only fitting that Olivia figured out his secret!

Toddler 2

Olivia moved up to the next class at her school -- Toddler 2. This was a great transition for her -- no tears at all! She has a good group of girl friends in this class that have all moved up over the past few months, so I think that made the move a little easier.

This is Cate, Olivia's best friend.  I cannot handle the cuteness of this picture and hope that these girls are friends forever! 

Apparently this class really marks a transition from "baby" to "big girl" so we had our first parent-teacher conference at the end of the week. It was so great! We loved hearing about all the things Olivia will learn in this class and it definitely confirmed to us that this school was the right choice for us. It was also fun to hear stories about Olivia's first few weeks in this class. She is obviously pretty comfortable because the stories we heard were "classic Olivia." The teacher relayed to us that Olivia is curious and eager to learn. She's doing very well on math and letters. They are going to work on handwriting in this class and science. They said she is a good friend to everyone and, much to my delight, does not just run around with the girls. Apparently she will jump and play with the boys at recess too!

In this class, all the kids have "jobs" every week. The kids get to pick what job they want. This week Olivia was the line leader. (One constant joke at the Mehta house is about how I used to love to be the line-leader at school and was caught leading the line by my parents one day when they happened to be at my elementary school. The fact that my daughter picked line leader as her first job gave my own mother a great deal of joy/embarrassment!)

We have also noticed that in this class Olivia seems to have perked up to the fact that there are a few older boys in the class that she apparently likes.  On the second day in this class, Matt picked up Olivia and as they were driving home she asked him if he knew "Wyann".  He asked "Brian?"  No.  "Ryan?"  No.  He spent the entire way home guessing what name she was trying to say.  He finally guessed Wyatt and she said yes.  But neither of us had ever heard of a little boy named Wyatt so we assumed we were wrong.  Until the next morning.  I took her to school and when we got there I saw a little boy named Luke who has been in her class since she was a baby but who she has no interest in.  But, since it was her first week in the class I figured she would want a familiar face.  She said no and pointed to a table with another little boy who I did not recognize.  She went and sat down with him and I asked who that was.  She answered "Wyann."  WYATT?!!  I quickly asked her teacher about him and apparently Wyatt is about 8 months older than her and, according to her teacher, the "most popular boy" in her class.  I was sort of impressed that she so quickly found the most popular boy.  Matt was not.  ;)

The next week I was taking her home and she asked me if I knew Blake.  Again, another little boy I had never heard of.  I said no and asked who he was.  She answered: "He's a boy.  He lives with us in Toddler 2.  Mommy, can you ask his mommy if Blake is potty trained?"  Olivia often asks these days who is and is not potty trained.  I guess that is the newest thing in Toddler 2?

On a personal note, I was so proud of my girl and the ease with which she transitioned. She typically has had a hard time with transitions and I can understand the feeling! I know she was excited to move up to see her friends, but I also know that change is hard and that she was very comfortable in her old class. Also they usually transition kids in pairs (or more) so that they go to the new class with a friend. But, Olivia made this transition alone. I could tell she was nervous at the beginning of the week when I dropped her off, but she was very brave and poised. She was able to verbalize that she was worried and we talked about it. She is getting so big and we couldn't be more excited to see how much she grows in this class!

Dancing Queen

Olivia had her first ballet recital on May 17. There was no routine or anything -- rather the kids just demonstrated what they do in class. It was a chaotic, unscripted, mess of cuteness that had me beaming from ear to ear. Of course the whole family came out to see her and she couldn't have been happier!

Miss McKayla -- Olivia's sweet teacher

Coloring while waiting for the show to start

Olivia & Paloma practicing their jumping while screaming "we look the same!  we look the same!" at the top of their lungs!

And then it was showtime!

 

She was the first one out...she surveyed the crowd a bit and then got a huge smile on her face and started dancing

Sashays are better when your mouth is open

Coming out after the dance to take a bow

Being greeted by her adoring fans

   

Beach Weekend

Olivia's latest "Oh, I have an idea" was:  "Oh daddy, I have an idea. We haven't been to the beach in a while. Maybe you could take me this weekend?"

We laughed and said maybe. But, as I got into work that day and checked weather for that weekend, I realized it was going to be a gorgeous weekend. Matt and I decided we would just drive to Galveston for the day on Saturday. As I was talking to some of our friends who have a beach house in Galveston about the best places to go, they suddenly offered that they were not going to be using their house that weekend so we were welcome to it. We gladly took them up of their generous offer and treated ourselves to a fun, much-needed relaxing weekend in Galveston!

Olivia made herself right at home and it took her about 1 second to completely relax and she spent the entire weekend in the best mood. She loved exploring the house, borrowing the toys, eating outside, going to the beach, and sitting by the pool. And, as much as Matt and I loved seeing her so happy, I've got to admit that the best part for us was that she slept till EIGHT O'CLOCK on Sunday morning. I don't know whether it was the sun, the salty sea air, or a fluke, but Matt and I are now in the market for a beach house ;)