The Princess Diaries: Just life, lol

Must have been a busy summer seeing I’ve hardly done any blog entries! Caesar hasn’t had a great summer, though he is doing much better now. He had some seizure activity and then some major heart problems, but is now acting like himself. It was a rough few weeks there. We had to go see a specialist for him (read $$$), who put him on some new meds and took him off some old ones. It’s amazing what medicine can do. Unfortunately, the vet did tell us that with a heart Caesar’s size (the size of a cocker spaniel’s and Caesar’s a 9 lb Chihuahua), that he probably won’t last a year, but you know what- he has had a great life and he is not giving up, let me tell you. Every freaking time we think this doggie is a goner, he comes back with a vengeance! Lol. He might be 11 years old, but considering all these problems started when he was 5, he lasted 6 years longer than I thought he would! He is one tough puppy.

So since this is still the Ashlan Show (lol)… we were trying to get Ashlan into dance or gymnastics or something and for dance, you had to be three. Considering she was a few months shy, no one would let her do that until she turned three! So, I contacted the gymnastics place. We started in the parent/tot class but that only lasted one time and now she is in the 3 year old class. She loves loves loves it! She was so unhappy to leave the gym after the first class that she threw a fit! The only way we got her to calm down is to say we’re coming back, lol. She did really well her first class in the 3 year olds though. And no fit this time, probably because I had told her we’ll come back again, haha. She is with one other girl, who is 3 ½, and is obviously much better than Ashlan because she’s been doing it since she’s been three. However, Ashlan didn’t do so bad next to her! It is obvious she needs to work on perfecting things, but she is grasping how to do all the moves. She also listened very well to the teacher. Not that I was too surprised, because she listens pretty well to me at home, but I was mostly worried about that! Of course, she was still a toddler, and there were a few times that she didn’t, but all in all, I’m very pleased with how she behaved and how well she did. She is definitely so happy to be there and that’s all she talks about now. We’ll see how this class goes and if she’s really adamant about it, maybe we’ll do it two times a week. We may do dance once she turns three, but she loves this so much, might as well just go twice.

Today we happened to be watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. In this episode, there were two of the chipmunks. (A little background: Way back in February or March when we went to Animal Kingdom, we happened to see two of the chipmunks in costume, waiting around to take pictures with people. They were with Donald Duck, and although we wanted to take a picture mainly with Donald, we took one with the chipmunks as well. Fast forward to today…) I mentioned to Ashlan, “We saw those chipmunks in person”. I was just thinking she’d say “yeah” and that’s it, but instead she said, “Yes, at Animal Kingdom.” I couldn’t believe she remembered where we saw them so I just was a little shocked and mumbled an “Uh huh”, and then she says, “It was by the Simba show”. OMG, she also remembered we saw the chipmunks just outside of The Lion King show, which was absolutely correct. How many 2 year olds know direction? We hadn’t even gone to The Lion King show at that point (saw it in maybe April or May) so she put two and two together that the place where the show is, is next to where we saw the chipmunks- during two different periods of time. I swear… her memory is awesome. I hope she never loses it because I was not blessed with a memory like that, especially at her age! Another story about her memory: We have the book Madeline. I’ve only read it to her a handful of times. Yesterday evening, I told her she had to read me a story. I just wanted to see what she came up with considering all the pages have pictures on them. She could tell me almost word for word the first 8-10 pages of the book. Now, I only read it to her about 3-4 times, so hardly enough for her to memorize. She wanted me to read the rest after that, but I am still so impressed with what she did remember.

I have started to give her some chores around the house and she is doing great with those. My favorite is that she sorts all the silverware (minus knives) when we empty the dishwasher and unloads and stacks all the Tupperware and puts them on the counter for me. I have to put it away, obviously, and all the breakable items and some other items, but you know what, that’s awesome to me. She gets stickers or a few morsels of milk chocolate and we’re both happy with that. A win-win, lol! She also helps me with laundry. I will pour detergent into the washer and she’ll put the clothes in there, and I’ll take clothes out of the washer and put them on the door of the dryer and she’ll push them in there. She’s been doing that for as long as I can remember though, but still does it now. She is also very good about cleaning up her toys. Thanks to her slightly OCD mom, they all go in a certain place (well, sort of, lol), and she has taken after me in that every toy has a special place to go. She also helps me bake. I will measure out all the ingredients and she will pour them into the bowl. She loves to help me bake, and eat what we made, lol. She has always been a big helper. Hope that doesn’t change!

So, even though Ashlan will be 3.75 next September (September 1 is the cut off for preschool), we have decided to put her in a pre-prekindergarten, lol. I am currently “researching” schools in the area and seeing what would best fit her. I think we have decided that once she hits preschool (4 years old), that she will be at the Catholic school closest to us, to the church we belong to as well. But they do not have the option of a 3 year old program and she’ll be ready then. She is ready now, lol. I just want something two or three days a week, only a half day. It’s already going to be an adjustment (for me!) because I will miss her so much but she is so independent and I know she’ll thrive. I just wish it wasn’t so dang expensive! I know it will be worth it though. I went to Catholic schools almost my whole life and can’t imagine it any other way for her.

Enough blabbing, onto the pics!

She wanted me to take a picture of her.