Your Bugs

Kiva was here today, and confided that there is someone she likes. I am sworn to secrecy and we went through an interrogation that went like this
Don't tell my Dad
I won't
Don't tell my Mom
I won't
Don't tell Grandpa
I won't
Don't even tell your bugs
My bugs?
You know, the bacteria that live inside you
Ok, I won't

A Really Smart Store

We went to Arden Fair Mall today and rode the carousel. We also walked around the mall and then Kiva needed to use the bathroom. We went into Nordstrom's and after we used their lovely bathrooms, Kiva was musing out loud.
"Grammie, I think this is a really smart store"
me "why to you say that?"
Kiva "because they have bathrooms"
me "I guess that is smart"
Kiva "yes, because otherwise we would just pee pee in our panties and it would get all over the floor and make a big mess"
[Joan]

My Jewels

Friday I told Kiva we needed to have a quiet time in the afternoon, so we lay down on my bed with her head snuggled into my shoulder. In about two minutes she asked "can I look at your jewelry grammie?", so I got the box down for her. Re-snuggled and she was absolutely quiet for half an hour as she rummaged, arranged, rearranged, and admired my "jewels". She found two bracelets that she thought were "too small for you grammie", and I agreed. What fun to play with our little princess. Ken bought me an amazing amount of jewelry while we were in Santa Fe, and of course decided he had to get something for his darling Kiva as well. [Joan]

I've Got a Chocolate Bunny, La La La

Kiva was our darling again yesterday. I had Weavers group here at my house in the morning, and they all think she is a true angel. She was very quiet while we had the meeting, playing in her "house", sitting in my lap, looking at the weaving samples being passed around. Then Ken and I took her with us to the Nugget market in Roseville; we wanted to try their organic beef. Kiva held my hand all through the store, and Ken bought her a dark chocolate rabbit covered with gold foil and with a fancy ribbon. It was soooo entertaining to see her unabashed and triumphant glee at her score. She held it in the store and the clerk gave her a little bag, which she thanked her for most prettily. Then all the way home she was making up impromptu songs about her bunny "I've got a chocolate bunny, la la la, Grampa bought me a fancy bunny, tra la la, I love my chocolate bunny." It was hilarious, and this was all before she was allowed to actually eat any of it. I had her put it in her bag for home and she ate a good dinner just before Dad picked her up. When Dad got here, he was talking to Ken and Kiva was asking if she could eat her bunny. I told her "not yet", and she said politely "My Dad is here and he is the boss". Of course she was absolutely right, and so we waited and she asked Dad if she could eat her bunny and was allowed to eat the ears. Ok, I know this is all trivial, but I find it so entertaining. Kiva is a little love and we enjoy her visits tremendously. [Joan]

Perfect Storm

Lordy what a day! In the morning my orthopedist put me in a frankenstein boot and crutches (a month!) for the tendonitis. Vanessa has been winding up a huge project she has been working on...lots of stress and lucky her it coincided with Jim's trip to London. Last week their sitter, Traci, had mysterious physical symptoms so bad she was taken to the hospital, then transferred to Stanford for further diagnosis. So...Jim comes back from London sick as a dog, Jack has pinkeye so he can't go to any daycare at all today and he is home with sick Dad while Kiva is over a friends house for the day. Vanessa was up most of the night last night working on her project, and will be again tonight. I'm home sulking with my crutches this afternoon when Jim called; he was so sick he was headed for the emergency room. So I picked up Kiva, met Jim at the hospital and received Jack, hobbled home where Ken fed us all and the kids (bless their little hearts) were sweet and entertaining, til Vanessa picked them up. Naturally, Vanessa's final presentation of her project is tomorrow! Jim is now home, he has the flu, badly. Fortunately care has been arranged for the kids tomorrow, and the pressure will be off Vanessa after her presentation (well mostly). Hopefully Jim will not have a protracted bout with the flu but we shall see. [Joan]

Wool on Her Arms

Funny Kiva....She told granpa and me that she had "wool" on her arms just like sheep. She then pointed to the microscopic golden hairs on her arms and legs. Too funny. [Joan]

One Now and One After Lunch

Kiva was a little darling (as usual) yesterday. We had a good day in our three way mutual admiration society. Kiva went with me to my physical therapy appt, and was so well behaved! She read her books while I was being hooked up to the electrical devices, then laid with me on the table to read books while the treatment was underway. We are still working in our workbooks in the morning and she did a dot to dot puzzle by herself...it went up to number 14. We also went shopping since Kiva said the special thing she wanted after the Dr was candy. She seemed to already know the way to the See's candy store in Sunrise Mall :-) and was very good about "one now and another one after lunch". When we were walking through Penny's Kiva was admiring the dresses, and would always say "that one would look beautiful on my mommy".....at least until she saw a really sparkly prom dress, then it was "that one would look good on me". We got a new bathing suit for her, since the 2 year old size one she has been wearing is finally getting too small. We got a very pink, very sparkly one with a short skirt that she was just thrilled with and we tried it out in the hot tub. I had to get a size 5, so as you can imagine she has plenty of room to grow in it. We worked in the garden and Grandpa dug up a very large fat worm for Kiva at her request, which she took care of and played with until we went inside, then she set it free in the lettuce patch. Kiva was really enjoying playing with the toy tools too yesterday. She was wearing the little tool belt and had her screwdriver, hammer and pliers all ready to take care of anything that needs fixing. She looked adorable of course. [Joan]

Playing Band

Kiva being our angel as usual. she is very sparkly and upbeat. Singing around the house :-) We have been playing "band" with my rhythm sticks, recorders and psaltry....she (and we) are much entertained. [Joan]

Angel

Her little angel self as usual. we went to the mall with Ken to get a bathrobe and after he put Kiva in the car he turned to me and said "she is such a sweet girl". too true. Kiva and I cooked breakfast for the three of us (and her big bunny), scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, mango juice, and she ate heartily. Then playtime, trip to the mall and back for more playtime (we stopped at the mall toy store...what can I say, we have NO will power and she is so adorable). I made her lunch of steak, potatoes, cooked kale and broccoli. She took a few bites and then just ignored it while I was reading to her. I asked her if she wasn't hungry and very tactfully she replied "this isn't really my favorite, Grammie". So I asked her what she did like and amazingly it was more scrambled eggs and toast. So two more eggs went down the hatch. Then nap, ice cream, working in the woodshop with Granpa, working in the garden with me (we put out wool for the squirrels and birds to make nests from, she has some for your place too) and then watching her absolutely favorite movie...Planet Earth. I watch them with her so I can make sure any scary bits are skipped over, although she keeps telling me "I like the scary parts" I tell her that "I don't like them they are too scary for me" and she accepts that. [Joan]

A Grand Old Time

All is going well, Kiva napping. She was quite intimidated by all the ladies, so I wound up carrying her on my hip like when she was a baby to keep her close. When Chris arrived they disappeared with the dogs upstairs and then outside. What a sweetie that guy is, he and Kiva had a grand old time with all my buttons, rubber stamps, toys etc. [Joan]

Where did this tomato come from?

Scene: Kiva and I having dinner, she is fully enjoying her chicken as she is asking me lots of questions:

Kiva: Where did this tomato come from?

Mom: A farmer grew it and delivered it to the store, I picked it up from store.

Kiva: How about this mushroom?

Mom: Same as tomato.

Kiva: Where did the chicken come from?

Mom: Well….some people eat animals…interruption from Kiva..

Kiva: WHO EATS ANIMALS????

Mom: Sigh…well our family eats chicken and chicken’s an animal

Some families eat animals, some families choose not to eat animals and that is fine too.

Kiva: Well I LIKE animals, they taste GREAT!! [Vanessa]

Oh, I Love Tofu

We went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch. I put some of the tofu from the miso soup on Kiva's plate and she said "oh, I love tofu" and ate it right up, using her chopsticks! The waiter had rubber banded them together at one end for her. She wouldn't try the miso soup until I told her it tasted like tofu, then she drank the whole bowl. She was a little sweetie again yesterday, and the grumpy grampa was heard to say last night after she left that she was an "enchanting" child. Kiva ate well, slept well, and we had a long laughing soak in the hot tub in the rain. She has learned many of her letters and I told her that when she knows them all we will do something special, maybe a train ride. Also, I have some lovely Madame Alexander dolls, the characters from Little Women, and I told her when she can read the book the dolls are hers to take home. Kiva really is a very very intelligent little girl even if I am a biased grammie. When we read stories, she will stop me at any word she doesn't know and wait for a definition.
Hope Jack is feeling better and I get to see him today. I really noticed how much he pays attention to his big sister last Wednesday. He is learning a lot by watching and trying to do everything she does. His language is really moving along. When he was finished with his snack on the way home I heard a loud "all gone" from the back seat. [Joan]

The Bad Lotion

Your girl tooooooo funny this afternoon after nap. Kiva played out in the yard while I weeded, Ken worked on his wood stuff, Chris working on his art, dogs romping around. Kiva making the rounds of all of us, visiting, chatting, helping, then moving on.
Later when it was getting late, we were playing on my bed with a bunch of stuffed animals, when she said "I'm going to put some bad lotion on". I was mystified, and said, "I don't think the lotion is bad honey, it looks ok". Kiva answered, "no grammie, it's the kind of lotion that when I put it on I'm bad". So she proceeded to put some lotion on, jump up on the bed and growl, pinch and bite all her animals. Absolutely hilarious. Then she looked at me and said, "I'll put some good lotion on later grammie, then I'll be Kiva again". And later she put some more lotion on and was the good girl again. Where do these little growing brains think of this stuff? When we left the weavers meeting this morning, she said "I didn't know people had white hair grammie, it is very beautiful".[Joan]

Noodle Soup with Mice

Kiva REALLY enjoyed the home made treats (pumpkin delight and chocolate chip cookies) at the meeting, sat quietly with me for about 15 minutes, then colored, then watched her strawberry shortcake dvd. It took her a while to get brave enough to look and move around, but she was just fine. When we went to the bath room, she whispered to me "this is such a nice house grammie". It's a typical 60ish years old widow's house. Lot's of pretty things, flowers, birdhouses, absolutely nothing out of place (not like here) etc. After a while she sat on the bed (right off the living room) and watched her video and played with the dog. Came home, ate our lunch out in the yard, into the hot tub and now she is sleeping.
They are so surprising; Kiva and I were playing with her stuffed toys this morning. She has some stuffed birds and said they were sick. I asked her what I could do for them and she said...make them some soup. I asked her what kind and she said chicken, then no wait grammie, make noodle soup and boil some mice in it for one of them, and boil pine cones for the other one. Hilarious. [Joan]

Silly Goose

what a character Kiva is! silly goose indeed :-) how she makes us laugh! also how she makes us get all teary eyes with love and appreciation. Kiva did a lot more independent play today, our girl is growing up. She painted deep in solitary thought for a while, and spent quite a bit of time playing her "kitchen' with her dollies and pretend food. Such a treat to listen to her sing or talk to her toys. We are so lucky to have been able to appreciate so many of her baby/toddler days. [Joan]

Email from Kiva

kiva wants to add a note

irfn r f v v v v b hbghbhghhhhfffffffffffffffffffffffffffc bbbbhhhvbvb nvb bv bnvb vb bnvb vbvvffvgifvf i `iiiiiiiiiv`````iiiiiiiiii``````c``````````````fffffffffffffffffffffffrwzw vx vvuyc cftrs

dear mom: I love you momma. We are playing with my jewelry box. And we play with mom's jewelry box. I had a second breakfast. That’s all
Kiva

All legs

Ken and I took Kiva and Jack to the park from about 1100 til 1PM. They had a great time and came home filthy so into the tub. Ken had lunch ready when they got out, and by 2pm they were both asleep. Jack very very attached to Ken. Jack will still not eat well for me although he loves me to cuddle him while he drinks his bottle. But Ken fed him his lunch and Jack ate eagerly for him...spaghetti...oh well, that's why we have two parents or grandparents so we can each take a shot at it. Jack all over the sandbox and play area today, visiting, playing with other kids. All the other kids very tolerant, let him grab their toys and then later gently took them back. Two little ones very patiently played ball with him, gently rolling a ball to him. Very sweet. Kiva doing huge leaps in the sand, she is all legs sometimes and boy can she leap a long way. Jack's wedding outfit about 75% done and looks adorable on him. [Joan]

Actually, you are nice

Kiva exploring other boundaries too. She is pushing a little harder with her will, and today when I wouldn't let her have a second cookie she told me "you are not very nice grammie". I told her I was sorry, I was trying to be nice, and she looked at me for a minute and then said, "well, actually, you are nice" Very funny to see her testing and exploring. She is also exploring her freedom with her body. At nap time she said she was too hot and could she take her dress off? I said yes, and she said "of course I won't take off my panties". I said, well either way is ok, since it's just you and grammie, so she stripped everything off and snoozed under the sheet in the buff. Later she wanted to pee pee outside in the grass, which I again said was ok. We had a discussion about animals peeing and pooping outside, and agreed that for people pooping outside was not ok, and most of the time peeing inside was best. These conversations just tickle me so, and I laugh again when I remember them later.

Kiva helped me bake cookies today for my guild board meeting, she is so proud of helping out. [Joan]

Growing Up

Today for the first time Kiva played in the children's pool at the gym by herself....meaning I wasn't at her elbow in the pool, I was in a chair about 3 feet away. She is getting so grown up I can't believe it. Kiva was playing with another littler girl who had her mother with her. I saw the mother asking Kiva about her shiner, I'm sure the mother was wondering....
Kiva also played in the yard with Dancer by herself (Kiva's idea) for about 15 minutes this morning. I had the windows open from the kitchen so I could see and hear her, but she didn't call me until she felt like they needed some food. [Joan]

But, Grandpa...

Ken said he was going to take a shower, and Kiva immediately jumped up and said “I’ll take a shower with you grandpa”. Grandpa said “no that’s ok, not this time” in a flustered way. Kiva then looked at him with those liquid blue pool eyes and said “but Grandpa, I want to see what you look like in the shower”. Grandpa utterly nonplussed and sputtering...uh uh uh uh. I told Kiva that “grandpa likes his privacy when he takes a shower”, and she was immediately ok with that. The look on Ken’s face was utterly priceless though, sort of like a completely panicked landed fish gasping for air. That girl is such a treat, and has an innocence that just squeezes my heart (and grandpa’s). I can't wait for Jack to start speaking up, I know he has a LOT to say as soon as he get the mechanics down. He "talks to me" all the time anyway, I'm just not as good in his language as I want yet. [Joan]