Joyeux NOEL

okay, so you know more than I do.....

Mama: " ah, Noel, I like this drawing, what is it?"

Noel : " people on the pogo sticks."

Mama : "people on the what?"

Noel: "Pogo sticks!"

Mama: "?????"

Thankfully, uncle Jason was visiting over the weekend and he came to the rescue....

Uncle Jason : "yeah, pogo sticks, look just like that!"

Mama was still going ??????

Okay, never for a moment, being a foreigner in the US and English as my second language have me doubt my ability to teach Noel.    I still am very confident that I am trying my best to offer Noel the best of both cultures.  But moment like this..... well, it's okay, so I never play with a ..huh, pogo stick.....

I did it!

Look how proud Noel is !

Her love for Thomas the tank engine remains and I was able to find this 35 pieces puzzle for her to play with.  See where the stars and the lights of engines are -They grow in the dark, how fancy is this!

With a little help, Noel finishes her Thomas puzzle, how fun!

friendships

Noel's mom has always been very cautious about friendships.  Officially stepping into "middle age" (my gosh! I don't want to...)  I cannot claim to be a pro in friendships, but truly, after a decade of living outside of my own county, being thousands of miles away from family; FRIENDS, are the ones helping me through difficult times, as well as sharing the most joyous moments!

A soul mate who has been in my life for over 20 years, or, a mom from Austria whom I have never met, but from the bottom of my heart, I know there is a mysterious connection between us.  A mom who knows and shares my fear of peanut allergy , or, a wonderful friendship flourish thanks to our daughters..... many many more (only wish you guys have blogs for me to show off!)

But nothing, nothing amazes me seeing a friendship developed between my daughter and her first friend - Sato.

The first month when we moved into our new casa , we met a lovely family taking a walk in the neighborhood.  Among them, a sweet, beautiful girl around Noel's age caught my eyes.  Sato's parents and I politely greeted each other and agreed to plan some play dates.  Well, kids got sick, kids got cranky, then the deep winter hit..... our "play dates" remain as phone conversations between two mothers. 

In the meantime, Noel has met other kids, but she has never shown any interests in them other than saying hi and bye.  Well, she is not ready for friends yet - I said.

Until Sato's mom and I finally got the two girls together.  A 15 minutes play date turned into an hour and half.  A friendship, truly, an innocent and lovely friendship, develops between these two young souls......

my best friend

A cutest, the most lovely friendship flourish in between these two young ladies......we will introduce Noel's first friend soon!

the big red.....

CLIFFORD - the dog!

Clifford visited our small town, how lucky we are! 

Noel : "Mama I want to go take a picture with Clifford!"

The line is long, but the little girl is determined.  Here we go again, this big, red dog reminds me of this story and yeah, this one too !  Noel always does this -we waited through the lines and when it came to her turn, she freaked out.

"I want to say hi, I want to give Clifford a hug!!!!"

Okay, let's wait.....

Well, so it's proven, Clifford is MUCH MORE attractive to Noel than Santa!

I am amazed, how Noel is turning into a very social little girl.  I  thought keeping her at home would make  her shy; but again, many home school kids actually develop better social skills than kids in schools - well, that is another story all together.

Anyway, she keeps on telling everyone about Clifford, she shows off the photo to every babysitter that comes in the door, very cute. 

Noel, you are growing  up way to fast!

born with it

Noel looks so much like a big girl lately, she is also showing a lot of her unique personality.  Notice what she has in her hand?  Yeah, a drawing board.  She loves drawing on them more than anything else, very often, you see her in the house like this for a long time!

As an artist myself, I understand the passion for making art, but seeing it in a 2 1/2 year old just does not make much sense; I can only say she was born with it...

Last night Noel was put in "time-out" again.  Not for misbehaving, but for something, even until this very moment, I still do not know whether or not I should have done that.  I guess motherhood really is a learning experience.

She was again, "zone out" in her drawing.  But it was past mid-night and we really needed  to get ready for bed.  I went into the room first, finished brushing my teeth and called out : "Noel, come brush teeth!"  Seconds passed, no Noel.  I called out again....no Noel.  She is usually very good at answering me.  The third time, she came in, looking EXTREMELY frustrated and said : "...but I am drawing...." 

As much as the artist side of me was overjoyed, at that time, I needed to put on the mommy hat.  "No, Noel, when I call you to come, you answer immediately."

She burst out crying.

She was put in time out.

And here I am, confused.

cookie time!

I got home last night and Noel's drawing pad was on the kitchen counter AGAIN!  Well, that is good.   I know Jenni (well, if you have been reading the blogs, you know it's our dear babysitter AGAIN.)  left it there every time Noel makes a good drawing.  This way, little girl does not erase it and mama gets to see it in person.  How thoughtful!

Okay, this is the drawing of Noel and Jenni making cookies together.

Yeah, at least few times a month, when I get home, the house is permeated with the aroma of freshly baked cookies.  Jenni and Noel make the best cookies!  I was amazed at the details of this drawing - the cookies on the cookie sheet, the small dots by the cookies are chocolate chips that Noel gets to enjoy before the cookies are ready.  Noel even tells you that she is standing on the little stool so she can reach the kitchen counter; and Jenni has the long legs.... (yeah, I bet she will never draw that about her mama!)

One thing I still could not figure out - why is Noel's hair stands up like that???

conversation over dinner

Mama was reading a magazine, an article about the upcoming mother's day....

Mama : "Hey Noel, you know, mother's day is coming....."

Noel with a full mouth of mac& cheese, gave me a look of "what in the world does that mean?"

A few seconds later, the voice came : "hmmm, how about Noel's day?  Is Noel's day coming too?"

let's "play" math

"mama, go back to the kitchen..."

As I was downloading this photo, I realize this might not be the "appropriate" picture for what I am about to say in this post....hmmm, but I just love this goofy look of Noel, and I love the fact our babysitter Jenni captures precious moments of the little girl when mommy is not home.  Here, I was told Noel had her lunch right there by the kitchen counter, before Jenni could put together a sandwich, Noel ate the whole thing!

Anyway, Noel seems to be a "over-night" type of child.  Every development happens over night, that includes her "terrible two"  - overnight, she turned into a little devil; and thankfully, just like that, after 4 months of nightmare, she turned back into the sweetest girl -overnight!

We went through a lot of not-so-successful potty training, I finally decided to give up, she would be ready when she is, I was tired of getting so frustrated... looked at the bright side, she cannot possibility wear diapers until college, one day, she will be trained.

And just like that, I was prepared to buy more diapers, and overnight, she trains herself!

Of course we still use pull ups at night, but she seems to be getting better with this potty training business each day.  One funny thing though, whenever she needs to make a poo poo, that moment I set her on the potty chair, she wants me to "stay away"  -"go back to the kitchen, mama"  this is what she tells me, every single time....

As I step outside the bathroom, I try to listen to her, she talks to herself : "Hi, I am Noel....(then her voice drops so low I can no longer hear her.)"

Really, every moment is precious, as I was saying my prayer tonight, it occurred to me that as much as I want to do a good job preparing my art show, I want to get it done soon, and spend some quality time with my daughter, and do what a  2 year-old loves to do - just PLAY!