SUUSI!

I just registered us for this year's SUUSI. Their online system is probably the most user-friendly registration setup I've ever seen. We still have to mail in a big packet of waivers and permissions, but at least we've all made it into the queue for our various trips and workshops.

My father is going again this year. He and I are taking a workshop and a hike together. And bosssio is going as well - yay, we didn't totally scare her off last year! We're going to be suitemates again. I'm crossing my fingers hoping that Dorian (our friend and Alex's ex-nanny) and her mother will decide to go too. I think they'd have a wonderful time, and it would be great to have extra time to hang out with Dorian.

We've got a pretty heavy schedule this year. I hope we don't regret it. I don't see anything that I'd want to cut out, but there's not quite as much relaxation time as we planned for last year.

Yaaaay, SUUSI!

( our schedule, for posterity )

Birthday festivities.

Lo, how my parenting principles have crumbled: for Alex's birthday, we got her a pink molded-plastic dollhouse. (Alex: "it has yellow sides, though.")



In my defense, they make lovely wooden dollhouses with beautiful, realistically detailed wooden furniture for children who are much older than Alex. Wooden dollhouses for rampaging three-year-olds tend to have ugly, blockish furnishings. They are also quite expensive.

Harder to defend, on the crumbling-principles front: I allowed my parents to get Alex a (1) molded-plastic toy (2) based on licensed characters (3) which makes noise. A lot of noise. Loud noise.



I'm still kind of kicking myself about this one, because I didn't realize just how obnoxiously loud it was going to be. But Alex loves the Little Einsteins (*sigh*) SO much. And she's so delighted with the toy that she's slept with all four of the hard little plastic figurines for the last two nights. I suspect she'd take the rocket to bed if we let her, and at 3am we'd hear a burst of classical music and a chipper voice shouting, "Now Rocket is flying fast! Allegro!"

Our other present to her was a four-foot-square play dome tent from Ikea. Which is awesome. She expressed some concerns about wolves being able to get in because the door doesn't close, but otherwise she seems to love it.



This morning we had her party. I feel a little embarrassed about how low-key and simple it was (although perhaps I shouldn't) - we just had four friends come over and play with our toys. There was one game (I put on some bouncy kid music and had them dance, and then freeze when I paused the song), but mostly the kids were playing so happily that there seemed to be no reason to disrupt them with organized activity.

acceberskoorb was kind enough to let us borrow a preschool-sized table and chairs from church. When the kids arrived, I had markers and stickers on the table and let them each decorate a brown paper bag with their name on it, which we later put favors in. I served fruit kebobs, cheese and crackers, and homemade chocolate cupcakes with their choice of four Dr. Seussian shades of frosting. And I got an extremely goofy six-compartment Wheel Of Sprinkles at Safeway, and let each kid choose their own cupcake topping. There was juice for the kids and coffee or lemonade for the parents.







All the kids seemed to have fun, but the whole thing went quickly - we had put "10 to 11:30" on the invitation, and the last kids left at 11:15. I hope that doesn't mean that their parents thought it was a lame party. To me it seemed like just the right thing for three-year-olds, but the main other birthday party we've been to this year was held in a gymnastics facility and involved nonstop movement and excitement as professional kid-frenziers whipped the kids into a frenzy. ...Okay. I'm pretty sure this is just my social anxiety speaking here. That does tend to come out every time we entertain.

The other Major Birthday Event: on the morning of her birthday, Alex put her pacifier in an envelope and mailed it off to the baby elephant at the Maryland Zoo. We had suggested this plan of action about a week before her birthday, and given how attached she's been to sleeping with a pacifier I was amazed at how excited she was to go along with it. She had a little trouble falling asleep the first night, but she hasn't said a single word about missing her pacifier. She thinks the baby elephant probably loves it.