Another great stage

A few weeks back, she picked up her harmonica and started working it like a miniature Dylan. Okay, we exaggerate, but she brought some musicality to it, and started singing after she'd get out some notes, or enjoy a slide. She's started making up her own songs, like the one inspired by her bumping her head on the bike rack outside of Trader Joe's. "When you're two and a half, you bump your head on that thing outside of Taydah Joes." Already hooked by the story of Cinderella, after a visit from godmother Amy, where she sang along to Amy's Disney anthology, she started trying out various protagonist anthems, [arial] "bet they don't wepwimand their daughters, bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to stand." Or, "mom, you sing the Anastasia part and I'll do Cinderella" -- where mom sings "Sweet Nightingale" ugly and off pitch, and Ainsley comes in as Cinderella, breathless. Truly, Cinderella is the only Disney movie she has viewed, but she's obsessed with the plot line, wrestling with the motivations of the characters and loving to re-enact the dress ripping scene with mom and dad. In undergrad, I vowed to keep my child from Disney, and look at me. But there is some value in it, and she loves it...so we strive for balance and hope that she gets more of the character development, fantasy and female empowerment stuff than the back-stabbing girl-against-girl stuff.

Visiting great grandma last week, she was ecstatic: the center of 30+ seniors' attention, talking and waving to everyone and wanting to help them with their walkers. Great grandma Elva always has wonderful toys to play with and ends the visit with an ice cream sundae. Ainsley was particularly impressed that a painting from a few weeks back was showcased prominently on Great grandma's door. Visiting the retirement home is right up there with going to museums or having playdates with special friends. It really is awesome to see seniors and toddlers interact.

She loves reading, loves visiting the library, and has enjoyed story time at the small branch near us and with her music class pals. She's always filled in phrases in books, but now she's memorized books, so that's fun to hear. She is also becoming more discriminating, overall, in terms of clothing, food, and book preferences. "How about we return this book to the library, because I don't think I like it." She's become more cuddly with both parents. She asks to cuddle and wants to hear aural stories about when she was a baby and wants to re-enact scenes from videos of her as a baby. Often when cuddling in bed at night, she'll ask: "Do you want to close your eyes and watch a movie with me. Do you see it?" Then she'll describe what she's seeing in her imagination. Just precious.

We saw nana and papa this month, and Ainsley was excited to be with them. Unfortunately, they were in for the funeral of a dear family friend, and Ainsley also became ill with a nasty respiratory virus. Although it was a sad time, it was good to be with family and close friends. After being at the viewing and funeral, Ainsley asked some questions about her friend Camryn's papa, where God was, and where heaven was. Obviously this will be an ongoing conversation that makes parents pause.

Our friend Rob was in town and we were able to see him and his wonderful parents (good friends from Rockford and also from Augie) and Ainsley was thrilled to hang out with them. Ainsley had met Mike and Lynne a couple of times, but at this age, she was drawn like a magnet to nurturing and vivacious Lynne. They played like old buddies and Ainsley asked her during the evening, "Are you a babysitter?" wondering if she could hang out with her another time.

Today was a big day for Ainsley (and momma). She had her first visit to the dentist. And she was a pro. She barely lets us get in her mouth, and when she does she proclaims, "Look, momma, dadda, I'm not crying tonight. You can brush my teeth." And then we're supposed to be super grateful. With our dentist, she was an angel. They engaged in small talk and she asked where his girlfriend went at one point (the hygienist, who is not his girlfriend). She not only allowed him to count her teeth (she has all her 20 baby teeth in), but allowed the polish and the suction. She even let him brush some vitamin wash over her teeth, and she was cool. On the way out, she said she felt a little icky and was gagging a bit, but she held strong and told mom, "I think noodles and TV will make me feel better." We indulged her, and she was back to herself within no time.

We then went to our first preschool "interview" today. She was off the charts excited about visiting the preschool and remembered its smell from the last time we were there dropping off an application, "momma, it still smells like lemon." A teacher took her up to a classroom while we waited. She exhibited no separation anxiety and asked the teacher if she could play some more. At the end of the interview when she was returned to us and we were debriefing, she asked if she could go back to the classroom. We told her that when she was 3 she could come every day, to which she replied, "but when I'm 2 and a half, I want to look around and play now."

This whole preschool search is a bit of a trip. The good news is that Oak Park has lots of amazing choices. The not so good news is that it can be pretty intense with getting applications in and getting on waiting lists in the winter and then not hear until late spring...so far we haven't had any terribly negative experiences, but it is a little nuts to jump through these hoops. As was no surprise, the feedback we've received thus far is that Ainsley is curious, takes direction well, and seems very comfortable with other children. One teacher joked, "I don't know, she just doesn't seem that interested. She's such a wall flower." We'll see what happens. We've got applications in at 3 places, and we're working on being attentive to our guts and keeping up with our daily prayer. It really does seem to be helping us in lots of decision-making.

Work wise, the Avers' are doing well. My business has more than doubled in less than a year and a half. Scott is making great progress with his military account. And we truly pinch ourselves daily that we're both able to work from home and have so much time with Ainsley. This is the life. We continually remind ourselves to embrace it and not get busied or worried by the small stuff. Things definitely get hectic, and while having mom and dad both at home is great, there is often reasonable tension over work space, personal time, etc. Tonight, Ainsley says, "Momma, I like you best. Dadda, I like you best. And can I have a baby someday? I want a baby. Can I have a brother?" It seemed she wanted to work both of us to get to whether she was going to have a playmate. Although the idea of a second is amazing, we are in such a good place now and it took so much time and medical intervention to get us to Ainsley, and I have my business...we just don't have enough in the pro column to move forward. Maybe in the future, I can convince Scott to consider foster parenting.

We've joined a church, United Lutheran, and it's just wonderful. We feel like we've committed our time and spirits to a great faith community, and Ainsley is enjoying time in the nursery and learning various rituals and prayers. Our parents raised us in the Lutheran church, and while we appreciated it, it's amazing to see how it did form us and how we are now sharing this tradition with our daughter.