A book full of love and sparkles

Bryleigh and I just dropped Hubs off at the airport. He’s heading to a tiny, unpronounceable town in Finland for business, and it’s breaking my heart because he’s going to miss Bryleigh’s first-ever ballet recital on Monday evening. Granted, we’re using the term “ballet” loosely when speaking of a class of 1- to 2-year-olds. In fact, the class is actually called “Creative Movement”, but still… It’s going to be on a stage, and they all have costumes and a routine they’re supposed to follow. I just hate that he’s going to miss it, and so does he. If we’d known about the recital prior to the scheduling of this trip, he’d have arranged to go a week before or a week after if at all possible.

This morning I was feeling guilty that Andrew was going to miss the recital, so Bryleigh and I left early for her ballet class so that I could take her to the book store across the Square and buy her a new book. Yeah, I ended up buying her three new books. I couldn't help myself.

It’s a Firefly Night, written by Dianne Ochiltree and illustrated by Betsy Snyder, is an absolutely gorgeous little book about a father waking up his little girl to go outside and catch fireflies on a warm summer night. Written as a poem and with a full spread of scientific facts about fireflies at the end, the book is filled with breathtaking illustrations and even some counting fun for toddlers. One part that I love about it is that it explains that the fireflies don’t belong to the little girl, and she lets them go before following her daddy back inside. 

On Beyond Zebra by Dr. Seuss was a favourite when I was a little girl. While my parents kept a lot of my old books for when we had kids, I’m sure this one was given away to someone or sold at a yard sale. I seem to remember a page or two was ripped in my dog-eared copy. This little ditty starts out with a little boy proudly writing the alphabet and claiming that he now knows everything there is to know when his older brother or friend corrects him by introducing him to a litany of new interesting symbols and letters used to spell unimaginable Seussian words like Humpf-Humpf-a-Dumpfer, Floob-Boober-Bab-Boober-Bubs and Vrooms.

Plant a Kiss is an inspiring book about sharing love written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (author of another of our favourites—Little Hoot) and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. It tells the tale of Little Miss (which is something we often call Bryleigh), who plants a kiss and patiently waits until it blossoms, at which point, to the dismay of her peers who think it’s far too rare to share, she harvests it and spreads it all over the world until she has none left. However, she then returns to her plant to discover that her one little kiss has bloomed into “endless bliss”. It’s a lovely little book filled with love and sparkles.

By the way, my friend made her decision, and although I don’t think it’s the choice I’d have made, I am 100 percent certain that it’s the right decision for her. I’m proud of her.

Silly Superstar

Sometimes I like to pretend, when I’m in the shower or an empty elevator or alone in my car, that I’ve been asked to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, and I really belt it out. Yes, I know all the lyrics; I learned them as a child and used to even know three verses of the song, though I’ve long since forgotten those. There is something so freeing about singing loudly a song you love and that means so much to so many people.

I’ve been trying to be that way with Bryleigh lately. Absolutely and uncontrollably silly, and unafraid of acting like a fool. I grew up being so shy and so worried all the time about what other people thought, and I hate that about myself. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to imply that my own parents were somehow at fault for this flaw in my personality. I’m not saying that at all. I just think if Bryleigh sees Hubs and me being super-duper silly, then maybe it will make her less self-conscious in the long-run. Besides, we can all use a bit more silliness in our lives!

Bryleigh sits up by herself!

...and I missed it.

Sorry for the hiatus. I have been swamped at work, and my lunch hours are filled with visiting Bryleigh at the daycare and/or running Christmas shopping errands. My evenings are filled with playing with Bryleigh during the short time I have with her, and then cleaning, feeding and putting her to bed, and then wrapping Christmas presents! Christmastime is such a fun time, but so stressful and busy!

So Bryleigh sat up for the first time today, and I missed it because she’s a daycare. Her teacher, Miss I___, sent me a picture of her sitting up all by herself and playing with blocks! I hate that I’m missing her firsts, though. What happens if she takes her first steps or says her first words at daycare? How sad is that?


It got me thinking of Bryleigh’s baby book(s—she has two) and how I need to fill in that special moment. I also need to add the day that she rolled over for the first time (November 14th) and her first belly laugh (October 16th—although I’m pretty sure that one is already there). I need to print the photos of her and put those in, as well. I haven’t been as good about keeping that thing up to date as I’d hoped I would be! I really should carry it in my pump bag so that I can look through it when I’m pumping, as that’s a time when I can guarantee that I’m by myself and have time to do it… I’m going to make that a new year’s resolution!

Speaking of new years, we have no plans. Parenthood kind of put a damper on our New Years Eve celebration this year. We don’t feel as though we could call my parents to babysit since they’ll probably have plans of their own, and we don’t feel comfortable (or rich) enough to hire a babysitter for such a crazy night! So this morning I texted a friend of ours who has a baby just barely older than Bryleigh to see if they want to come over, but I haven’t heard back from her, yet. That’s frustrating. When is it acceptable to text a follow up?