Category Archives: Primrose

Birthdays / Motherhood / Primrose / Toddler

Motherhood Update: Prim at 4 years

May 23, 2019

I don’t know that anyone has ever enjoyed a birthday quite as much as Primrose. This girl lives for a celebration.

Saying: Prim is still chatty as ever and cracks us up with her dry wit and inadvertent imitations of us. Recently Larky was whining about something and Prim looked at me, rolled her eyes, sighed and said “Llama drama” (a phrase KC and I like to use to describe the high emotional atmosphere of our house).

There was also a morning recently where I wasn’t springing out of bed when Prim came upstairs to tell us the “green light’s on” and KC was jokingly giving me a hard time about it (growing a human is exhausting, leave me alone). KC turned to Prim and asked, “What are we gonna do with Mama?” and without missing a beat she responded, “Throw her in the trash!”

Eating: Prim is still proving herself to be a picky peanut, though our approach to mealtime hasn’t changed. She regularly forgoes dinner, taking a few bites and declaring that she’s “done,” only to (of course) ask for a treat later. We don’t have treats every night (not by a longshot), but on the occasions when we do have them, Prim is required to eat more than just a few bites of dinner in order to have one (and trust me, it’s TORTURE for all of us). She does still surprise us with the things she will try (and inevitably she generally ends up loving whatever it is that we’ve cooked). Her current favorite thing, aside from pizza and spaghetti and meatballs, is “casserole” made from spaghetti squash. Go figure.

Prim’s Favorite Things: Prim is very active and loves going to the park, riding her bike, and sailing around the house on her scooter. She also loves to sing (loudly) in the car and negotiate everything (cough, I can’t imagine where she got either of those traits from).

Reading: Prim received a few new books for her birthday and is currently obsessed with The Circus Ship. She also loves Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse, All the World and Make Way for Ducklings.

Latest trick: We got Prim a “bike with pedals and a kickstand” for her birthday, just like she had been requesting for months. She’s a pro on her balance bike, so we figured now was a good time for a bigger frame. We had her try a few different bikes at a local shop before her birthday, but found that the pedal brakes were proving to be really difficult for her. After some research, I found this bike that’s specifically designed for kids who are used to a balance bike. Because it has hand brakes instead of pedal brakes, it’s apparently easier for them to master. Even though Prim has been sailing around our cul-de-sac on her balance bike for months now, I was shocked when four days after her birthday she hopped on the new bike and took off on two wheels like a pro.

Favorite toys: Prim received a Woody doll from our beloved nanny for her birthday, and it’s currently her most prized possession. She carries him in the car, on errands, and he’s generally not far from whatever she’s doing at home. She loves showing people her “cowboy doll” and demonstrating how you can pull the string to make him talk. She even secretly wrote her name underneath his boot during rest time one day, which might just be the cutest little sneak ever.

Sweetest things: Prim and Lark are still the sweetest little friends. They still share a room and know that they need to wait for their “green light” to go on in the morning before getting up. They often wake before the light, but spend the first part of the morning together playing, often with Prim climbing into Lark’s crib. Watching them in the monitor as they giggle and chat and seeing their sweet relationship is maybe the best thing about being a parent, period.

Favorite thing about this age: While there’s challenges with every age (hellooo asserted independence!) four is proving to be such a fun, sweet age. Prim is really feeling being four (the confidence!) and the complex conversations we’re having these days are so fun. I love hearing about her day at school (usually the biggest piece of intel I get is about what was for snack) and hearing the funny little anecdotes she holds onto for when KC gets home from work. Prim is outgoing, determined, and just the most inclusive, interested little person. She’s such a joy to be around and the best big sister I could ever ask for, for Larky and Baby #3.

Birthdays / Life Abroad / Primrose

Prim’s Birthday Party / A Farewell BBQ

May 23, 2018

We had a little party the Saturday after Prim’s birthday — half to celebrate Prim and half to say goodbye to our friends here in Amsterdam. Our move date is fast-approaching, so it was nice to take some time to hang out with the friends we’ve made during our two years in the city.

We got really lucky with the weather, as it was warm and sunny. The weather here in spring and summer is about as unpredictable as it gets. This week it’s vacillating between sunny 80 degree days and gray, rainy ones — literally changing between the two over the span of just a few hours.Prim was quite excited to be the guest of honor at her birthday party. Prim is incredibly extroverted, so being the center of attention for the day is pretty much an ideal scenario for her. And a day where you get cake, presents, and people singing to you? I mean, forget it. Nothing compares. Prim had trouble nailing down exactly what kind of cake she wanted. She initially wanted a “brown cake,” then a “black cake,” and finally a “yellow cake.” I decided to incorporate all the colors and made her a rainbow confetti cake (or as it’s known in its box form — funfetti). I doubled this recipe to make a two-tier cake, which turned out to be quite delicious (and I don’t even like cake). If I ever make it again, I think I will make a three-tier cake, as the layers aren’t particularly tall, and dang if we didn’t go through almost the entire cake at the party. But I only have one cake pan here in Amsterdam, so I was already making and baking this in two shifts, so two tiers was what I managed during my afternoon baking frenzy. I did manage to incorporate Prim’s wishes for a black or brown cake by making black and brown cookies — these chocolate peanut butter stuffed ones. Like all combinations of chocolate and peanut butter, they were delicious. I mean, Deb would never steer us wrong, would she?I spent about three hours cooking and baking the day before the party, prepping the food. I made both tiers of the cake, a double-batch of frosting, cookies, a batch of homemade salsa (the jarred stuff here is about as bad as the local Mexican cuisine), green goddess dip, a whole mess of grilled peppers and onions (for the sausages we would be barbecuing on the day-of) and two pizzas for dinner that night.This meant that the day of the party all I had to do was assemble the food and put it on the table. I put together a big cheese and meat board, a bunch of veggies for a crudite platter, and frosted and decorated the cake. Word to the wise on this one — frost your cake the day you make the frosting. I made the frosting the day before and stored it in the fridge overnight, not realizing that it would harden (hello, Chelsea, buttercream..? Come on.) I had to do some last-minute damage control to get it to a spreadable state again, but it all worked out fine in the end.I’m so glad that girl had such a good time at her party. We had the best time celebrating her, and I can’t wait to see what year four is going to bring.

Birthdays / Primrose / Toddler

Motherhood Update: Prim at 3 years

May 9, 2018

This sweet and goofy love turns 3 today and I can hardly believe it. She is silly, sweet, and ohhh so chatty. Here’s what life with Prim is like right now:

Saying: Prim is the chattiest child I have ever met. As soon as she wakes up in the morning she starts talking and she literally does not stop until she falls asleep. Some funny conversations we’ve had recently:

Me: “Prim, what’s your favorite animal?”
Prim: “Zebra.”
Me: “What’s your favorite color?”
Prim: “I like yellow.”
Me: “What’s your favorite food?”
Prim: “Breakfast.”

In Bordeaux, there was a small light-up rabbit in one of the kids rooms that Prim took a liking to. Before going to bed I usually tell her a short story about a subject of her choosing, and on this specific night she wanted a story about a bunny:

Me: “Once upon a time there was a little bunny named… What was the bunny’s name?”
Prim: “Um… Meatball.” Prim’s Favorite Things: Prim is obsessed with cooking and received this cookbook for her birthday from her Auntie Alexis. The recipes are simple and perfect for preschool-aged kids (or a little younger, in Prim’s case) and we have had so much fun cooking together and making recipes from Prim’s “recipe book,” as she calls it. We have also had a spell of warm days here in Amsterdam, prompting us to break out our “kiddie pool” (which is really the world’s smallest sandbox, apparently, but whatever. Also, I have no clue why that thing is so expensive on US Amazon. I bought it for 5 euro here our first summer.) Prim is in love with the water and will stay in that thing all afternoon, literally until her lips are blue and her teeth are chattering. Clearly we’re going to have to get this girl into some swim lessons in California.

Reading: everything! Prim is on a big reading kick these days, so we’re regularly burning through 20+ books a day. The current favorites are: Mouse Soup, I’ll Love You Forever, Corduroy, A Pocket for Corduroy, and (as mentioned above) Pretend Soup.

Latest trick: Prim is becoming more emotionally savvy and has started asking KC and I “Are you happy?” when we’re clearly annoyed or upset about something. I think she’s trying to figure out feelings in general and so wants to know how we’re feeling and why, but in the moment it sometimes can come across as emotional terrorism when you’re fed up with something and this little voice is asking you, “You happy, Mama?” (Kids, man.)

Favorite toys: Prim is very into her “loopfiets” (balance bike, in English) which was her present from Santa this past Christmas. She’s gotten quite good at riding it around and will regularly take it on short errands and trips to our local ice cream shop.

Sweetest things: Prim is seriously the best big sister. She and Lark of course have their moments (the grabbing toys right now — oof.) but overall these two are the best of friends and just make my heart melt with how sweet they are together. Lark has started assisted walking and Prim is often right beside her, walking with her baby carriage and cheering Larky along. Prim will also read to Lark while they are in their room together before going to sleep and when they wake up in the morning. Hearing her recite Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? entirely from memory is especially impressive (and oh so sweet, as it’s Larky’s favorite book right now).

Favorite thing about this age: Prim is seems like such a kid now and it’s so fun having conversations with her. Hearing the things her little brain picks up on is fascinating and such an interesting glimpse into the toddler world. I recently started asking her what she wanted for her birthday, and these were some of her responses:

“A black cake.”
“A brown cake.”
“A yellow cake.”
“TWO cakes.”
“We can have a party and I can sing Happy Birthday.”
“Blue and yellow tulips.”

Motherhood / Primrose / Toddler

Motherhood Update: Prim at 2.75 years

February 13, 2018

Saying: Prim’s chatters all. day. long. She is constantly asking questions and shouting out commands (we’re feeling very three these days). She is fascinated by counting and colors, and has recently discovered that asking “why” can lead to an endless conversation (funnnn). She is picking up more and more Dutch words from her weekly dance class, which is taught entirely in Dutch. (Her first Dutch word was “née,” which means “no.” So… not surprising.) It has been funny to hear what she has picked up there, as we have now reached the stage where she is learning Dutch words I don’t know and will regularly ask me, “You know how to do the [Dutch dance word]?” and then will whip out some new dance move.

Prim’s Favorite Things: We have Spotify Premium (because we listen to music all day everyday over here) and I recently discovered that there are a number of kid’s audio books available on the service. We listen to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh numerous times a day, followed by Stories for Children read by Danny Kaye (something from my childhood!)

Reading: Frog and Toad and Room on the Broom.

Latest trick: Prim picks up songs so quickly now. I recently started singing “Do-Re-Mi” to her (because she has this shirt) and I swear she had the whole thing down after I had only sung it to her a couple times. She is also coming home with new dance moves every week, courtesy of her Dutch dance class, and it’s so sweet to see her wiggling and shimmying around, doing “pirouettes” and “hoofd, shouders, knie en teen.” (Prim has been attending this dance class since right after she turned two, and it was the biggest mystery to us for the longest time because parents don’t watch the classes here. All the 2 – 4 year olds go into the room and they shut the door until the end of class — it’s so Dutch! Every week we would ask Prim what she learned in class, but she’s only started telling us and showing us specific moves in the last couple of months.)

Favorite toys: Prim is still obsessed with cooking in her kitchen, and will regularly sidle up to us and ask, “What should I make for ya?” (Despite our requests, the menu at Cafe Prim seems to be limited to coffee, pancakes, and salmon with lentils.)

Sweetest things: Prim is still the sweetest big sister. She works to include Lark in almost everything she does and has started reassuring her when she gets upset. Lark is going through the separation anxiety phase and will regularly lose it if I so much as leave the room. This is not my favorite phase by far, but it’s very sweet to hear Prim telling her “It’s ok sweetheart! Mama be right back, it’s just me down here.” (PS: I don’t call anyone sweetheart, so I actually don’t know where she picked this up. So funny and sweet.)

Favorite thing about this age: Between cutting 4 new teeth and suffering from the stomach flu, Lark has been struggling at night lately and waking up in the early morning. Prim wakes up when Lark is upset and will hop out of bed to turn on their nightlight, then sit in bed and “read Lark a story” to help calm her down (we keep books next to Prim’s bed so she can read if she wakes up or has trouble winding down). I often come into their room to nurse Lark after one of these episodes and Prim will tell me, “Larky’s upset. I talk to her and read her a story.” which is my cue to text KC all the heartbreak and pregnancy emojis.

Primrose / Toddler

Conversations With a 2.5 Year Old

January 29, 2018

KC: “Prim, what do nutcrackers eat?”
Prim: “CHIPS!”
KC: “Not nuts?”
Prim: “No. Chips. Not nuts.”

Prim’s 3yo cousin (running across the room): “I’m a lion!”
Prim (starts running): “I’m a lion too!”
Cousin (stops running, stands face-to-face with Prim): “No, you’re a rabbit.”
Prim: “Oh. What’s a rabbit?”
Cousin: “Y’know… (long pause, thinking. mimes rabbit ears over Prim’s head) It’s white?”
Prim: “Oh yeah. DISGUSTING.”

Prim: “Oh no! There’s a dragon under the table!”
Me: “Oh no!”
Prim: “Have to get him out!”
Me: “We have to get him out? What are we going to do?”
Prim: “Have to put your hands on his buns and push. All of us!”

Prim: “This pasta is de-lekker*, Mama!”
Me: “Thanks P!”
Prim (finishes pasta, hands me her bowl): “More garlic.”
*lekker means tasty in Dutch

Prim: “What’s chocolate?”
Me: “I don’t know, what is it?”
Prim: “My favorite food.”