Alia & Amelie's room re-do...

I'm finally finishing this old blog!  I found this in the draft section of my home screen unfinished!

What's new in the Lalvani household? Well, let me tell you....construction!!!!!

That's right, readers, Andrea has taken on a new project...doors, floors, stucco, beams, paint. For those readers of mine that have been with me since my early blog, you'll know I'm no stranger to big home improvements. I love them. I am good at project management. I love love love renovation.

Last year at this time? It was the Laguna apartment, which I just realized I forgot to blog about. Project details to follow. In 2007 it was our home addition with pool, spa, and landscape. And before that in 2005, it was my whole house flip of my Florida house. As I sit here writing, I realize that I may have an unrecognized passion or talent, depending on how you feel about the outcome.

Here's the room before....you remember....

...and yes, back then, there were two cribs, side by side 
with a circle rug and a Ligne Roset futon for Mommy 

...and here are the two sets of french doors to the
 balcony, the changing table, and the rocker.

So the scope of this project? I said before, it's exterior doors leading to the girls' balcony which are so rotted that they leaked enough water to destroy the floors. And while we're at it, how about new floors?  And painting. Can lights. Base boards.

Before: This is as I was clearing the room. For awhile, I loved the painted
white wood floors. But over time the two sets of french doors began
 to leak and the floors by the window buckled.

If you look closely at the first photo, you'll also see an error in function. While everyone loves LOVES french doors, what happens if they are placed too closely to one another? What happens when you try to open both sets at once to get that breezy airy feeling that people love about french doors? They bang together. In this case, we could only open one door at a time, and when we did we'd literally have to move furniture around to open it full as the balcony is only maybe 4 feet deep. So rather than going with the same time of doors, I decided it was worth the extra work to eliminate the center support column, hang a header beam, and go with a single 10 foot slider unit where the opening is in the center and the side panels are stationary.

And here's the after....

Now the doors open in the center. Airflow is much better

Also notice the wall color changed too. The bright citrus green that I absolutely loved looked terrible with the new Mikado  porcelain floor...the dark color of the floor was way too much contrast with the bright green.

And where two cribs used to be, there's now a new bunk bed. Initially the downstairs contained the kitchen, but since Amelie was ready for a big girl bed and also because the room isn't huge, I realized I could just put another mattress inside the bottom.

For whatever reason, when I merged two of my photo libraries, many of my blog photos disappeared, so the above mentioned image can't be found.

Quote of the day from Alia, age 5

Alia: Mommy, what's the very worst thing that can happen to you in life?
Me: Well, I suppose being really sick....so sick that I couldn't take care of you.
Alia: Well, I think it would be catching on fire.
Me: Well, yes....I, ummm, think....you....ummmm, may be right....

Preschool Yoga at Montessori

So today was the end-of-the-year final yoga class at Montessori, and Alia's teacher allowed parents to come observe. Let me tell you....I'm not sure if you have almost 5 minutes to watch this video, but if you do, it's quite impressive.

Alia started doing yoga when she was 3, when Mrs. Newquist joined Montessori of Laguna Beach. Since then, I've been so impressed with Alia's progress. Watching this final class today was truly impressive...the teacher didn't say one word throughout the "show". The children, most of them 4 years old, followed (without prompting) a pretty complex set of movements followed by a short meditation.

Alia Flips! Well, kind of.....

Amelie: T-ball and Mani-Pedis

A few weeks ago, Ajay took Alia to T-ball solo because sometimes when Amelie goes, it becomes a competition for Daddy's attention.

She even dresses the part! And this girl works it....

So in response to Alia's need for some of Ajay's undivided attention, Amelie and I headed off to get our nails done. And yes, I'm straight out of the pool here so please excuse my appearance!

And can I just say that Amelie was a dream. Little toes and little fingers were painted and she was so patient. She waited and waited and waited for everything to dry and in the end....

...there were some pretty cute little fingers and toes!

Tempranillo

Ajay's working 24 hours today. 

I took the girls to the hospital to see him for dinner.

On the way home, I told the girls I'd like to stop at the wine store for a bottle of Tempranillo. I asked both girls if they could say Tempranillo. They both said it in unison. 

Amelie asked, "what's Temranillo?" and I replied, "it's Mommy's favorite wine at the moment". Amelie responded, "why do you like it so much?" and Alia chimed in with, "Amelie. It's simple. You like bears. I like frogs. Mommy likes Tempranillo."

School Photos Spring 2013 by Gillian Crane

So although there's really no explanation needed, I'll make a couple of comments. Yes, I hot-rolled Alia's hair the morning of school photos, and yes, they are ironed and pressed and preened and shiny only because we were early to school and the photographer snapped the photos immediately on arrival, before paint, dirt, paste, water, mud or any other school-related stuff could end up on those clean little people!

Amelie, age  3 1/2

Alia, age 4 3/4 

And yes, at this age, those fractions matter. A lot.

T-Ball!

As our season draws to a close, I realize I haven't blogged a single time about the Auction.com Animals...Alia's first T-ball team here in Laguna Beach.

Well, the season began with Alia's little team of 9 or 10 boys and 2 girls. Turns out? The two girls on the team are very strong competitive players! In fact, when the big brother of a player accused him of playing like a girl, he quickly replied that Alia and Ella are strong players, so he'd take that as a compliment. Yes,  a 5-year-old boy came up with that one on the fly!

Among the highlights of the season thus far would have to be the time a ball was hit between first and second base resulted with a massive pile up. Every player on the field dove onto the ball. Including the runner between first and second. Talk about "you just can't make this stuff up". And who came up with the ball? Alia, of course. She's quite the little fielder!

When I ask Alia what part she likes best, throwing or catching, running or hitting, she replies with throwing, hitting and running. Catching is still a little scary. But this girl loves running the bases. She loves making contact with the ball. Oh, and applause. She loves applause.

I think this is worth reading....

Decluttering — Don't Let Fear Hold You Back

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Tis the season...

So a few weeks ago, Ajay mentioned in passing that I am an idealist. I like things done the right way. I like the job done right. And sometimes the amount of effort I go through to accomplish my vision of a project, event, what have you, is astronomically higher than what it could be if I were more well adjusted and able to be okay with "OK".  But that spells slacker to you and me.

Today for example. I have one tree outside that I decorate each year. It has a dozen or so ornaments suited for outdoors, as well as  lights...simple white lights. Oh, and a beautiful gorgeous BIG brass Om symbol I got in Little India a fews years back, just to keep it real in my little haven.

So although the holidays got too busy and I never finished this post, here's a run down of how things went trying to hang a few for-the-love-of-baby-Jesus Christmas lights.

• got new lights bc one strand didn't work
• bought 2 instead of 1 just to be sure
• these have a hint of lavender instead of gold
• the front tree was already decorated with 2 strands of goldish lights
• The inside and most prominant tree was in need of one last strand.
• 4PM: realize lights don't match
• 4:01: decide we could make a stripe effect with gold/lavendar/gold lights on the indoor tree since outdoor tree is done.
• 4:45: have pulled all original lights off. Re-position new lights on tree every-other strand in order to get the "I meant to do this"effect. But I didn't mean to do it. And the tree screamed that.
• 5:00 Girls say I'm hungry. Lights everywhere. Some have stopped working. Amelie steps on one bulb shattering it
• 5:01:Make dinner...I have no plan...how about scrambleed eggs! With cheese! That's fun! Right?
• 5:15: Re-light in door tree with all lavendarish lights after pulling them violently from the outside tree.
• 5:20: Ajay walks in and says, hey! the tree looks nice.

Good he didn't notice the smoke coming from my ears....that would have been showing idealistic expectations!

Two little contractors

Amelie is 3.25

Amelie, sweet Amelie. All she wants is to be friends, make other people happy and included, and to be able to do whatever her sister does.

That's why at 3.25 years old, Amelie is taking evening Spanish lessons, swim lessons, and gymnastics in addition to 5 mornings a week at Montessori. She just wouldn't take no for an answer!

So, as I said, Amelie attends Montessori five mornings a week. She goes from 8:30 to noon, then returns home with me for lunch and a nap, which, I might add, is my favorite part of the day. I've taken to lying on the floor next to her toddler bed and listening as she fades off to sleep. This habit began when I noticed that the girls weren't napping at all during nap time, but instead playing and sometimes fighting the entire time. I put myself in the middle of their floor in hopes of being "A Cooler" and instead it became as much of an enjoyable part of my day as anything!

Amelie is extremely social. She is articulate beyond her 3 years. She loves being the baby of our family, but do NOT call her a baby. She's big. She will tell anyone who listens that she's big, she doesn't need any help on the potty, and never goes pee pee or poo poo in her pants. So there's that. Oh, and let's not forget her favorite pastime....drawing smiley faces!

In January, Amelie moved from the little bitty kids class to the pre-primary class at Montessori. She is currently the youngest student in her class, but she was ready for the change. Now she is exposed to so many new things in her short days there...yoga, music class, painting as much as she likes, art class, Spanish, tumbling...you get the idea. She's exhausted by the time noon rolls around!

Amelie is the definition of kind, gentle, and compassionate. She is empathetic beyond her years. I sometimes call her Little Maya (after her wonderfully social grandmother) because I notice a lot of times, the task at hand isn't the important thing to her, it's the connection with others during the task that she thrives on. Sure she could pay more attention in her gymnastics class, but then she'd miss out on making friends with each and every person in the room...including the teachers who are in love with her. Sure, she could probably swim as well as Alia, but she'd prefer to discuss things with her teachers. That said, that reminds me of something very different in Amelie versus Alia. She cannot be forced to do anything she doesn't want to do. Potty training, swimming, you name it. Anything that is challenging in the least bit, she will conquer on her own terms. You might as well save yourself the effort because when she's ready, she'll do it.

Amelie is growing up so fast. Although she's the youngest member of our family, it's amazing just how fast the first three years have gone. Watching her develop into a kind, thoughtful and hilarious little human being has been a real privilege.

Alia at 4.5

So what's our favorite four-and-a-half year old like these days?

Well, she goes to Montessori 5 days a week and has convinced me to let her stay until 3:00 with her little buddies three days a week. This means on those days she skips her nap in favor of playing with her pals at school. On Monday evenings we've started taking Spanish class at the community center. She is a confident, very outspoken student willing to participate at all times...even when it's some one else's turn.

Tuesday Alia comes home from Montessori for lunch and a nap, and then we go to swim lessons. She swims the entire distance of the pool on her own and now is learning to backstroke. While swim lessons were slow to take off for her, just as I was about to throw in the towel (lessons aren't cheap, and to be honest, the complaining was driving me nuts!) Alia began loving it. And her coach, Kyle.

Thursday is Alia's other short day at school, again so she can take a nap before going on to her gymnastics class. Alia is thriving in gymnastics. She is so excited to learn all the neat things her little body can do. She's obsessed with cartwheels, and to be honest, she's really improving. Now if we could just get those little legs to straighten out we'd be there. But for now, the mechanics of the cartwheel are definitely improving. And dive rolls. And straddle rolls. And the trampoline. And the beam. This girl loves gymnastics.

Alia is learning to read and write. Her letters have evolved into uniform size. Gone are the serial-killer big and small letters mixed together with half of them backwards and looping down the right side of the paper. She loves to sound out words and write down the sounds she hears. She keeps her Hello Kitty notebook handy and loves to sit at her little table and practice. She is also becoming a good little colorer. When she focuses, she can stay in the lines.

Alia is also a happy little singer. She loves music class at school and keeps a decent tune! She is also learning the words to songs by listening. I'm shocked sometimes when a song comes on in the car and she sings along with every word correct.

Alia enjoys being the teachers' right hand girl at school. She still struggles socially in that she'd rather be with the adults than kids, and when she does play with kids her age, it's likely she will boss everyone around until they don't want to play anymore. But even that is improving. She has real friends now and plays well when it suits her. However, Alia is still our strong willed child and can make whatever she chooses a miserable experience.

Take this morning for example. From the get go, she was a miserable little grump. No, I wanted this kind of jelly on my toast, no, I didn't want raspberries, I wanted blueberries. I have, indeed, created a monster with over-attending to her every whim in her earlier years. Now it's my job to reel it back in and re-direct her brightness and energy and enthusiasm to good versus evil. Because when she's having a particularly evil day, it's enough to drive me insane. Not only can she be an entitlement minded little prima donna, but she can be downright mean to her sister. She's bright enough to lure her in, and then rejects her, or changes the rules, or does something that absolutely devastates Amelie. Nothing breaks my heart faster than seeing these two little girls I love more than life itself sad or hurt. And Alia hurts Amelie's feelings a lot. It's as if Alia holds Amelie responsible for her existence and all Amelie wants is to be loved by her sister, her hero, her idol.

But hey, no one said this would be easy. There is so much good and promise in Alia. Her smile lights up the room. Her self-confidence is lovely. Now if we could just manage to get a little bit of self-control and self-awareness into the mix we'd be on our way. And in the meantime, I'm doing my best to enjoy the good, push through the not so good, and give her as much love as she needs.

Amelie and Daddy play Olivia