Zoë

Spirit

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

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I sit in the car and watch her on the playground. She stands up and all of a sudden I see a 16-year-old teen standing on the stage performing. So full of confidence and fearlessness.

There is something inherently “old” about her red and white stripped t-shirt.

If only time could stop.

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She is a force to be reckoned with and as much as we but heads–we laugh together.

Her laugh is striking.

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I look at her and wonder what role I have played. I wonder what fights lie ahead of us. Was I ever that confident?
Was I ever that fearless?

 

The Ultimate Oven

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Zoë has been talking for months about getting the Easy Bake ULTIMATE oven. When that “parents nightmare” aka the Toys R Us catalog came, she showed me the ULTIMATE OVEN (as Zoë says–she can’t be bothered to say Easy Bake)!! Five thousands times a day.  And I heard daily this refrain, “If I don’t get one for my birthday can I buy it with my own money?”  The Easy Bake ULTIMATE oven was the only thing she really asked for CONSTANTLY.

So, since my children aren’t at all spoiled, Zoë of course got the ULTIMATE oven from her Grandma and Grandpa.  She was super excited and of course wanted to make dessert in it last night for her family birthday dinner.   Well that wasn’t going to happen, I spent money on amazing, gourmet cupcakes.

So this morning for an appetizer before breakfast, we made pink sugar cookies with lemon icing.  I couldn’t bring myself to read the ingredients on the box (and they print them so small, so you can’t read them). So, imagine my surprise when I opened up the box and pour out the mixes–a bright pink and a neon yellow that do not occur in nature.

Each package gets mixed with either a teaspoon or a 1/2 teaspoon of water and mix.  Mix is used loosely here, considering how little there is to actually mix and the color just gets brighter as you “mix” it with the water.

After you “mix” the dough you have to roll it into little balls–the package makes 12 cookies.  Just as you might guess they are tiny, tiny, tiny cookies–smaller than a quarter it turns out.



The kids were super excited as we prepared to put the cookies in the oven.  I was still scared by their bright pink color–but a little artificial flavoring and coloring won’t kill the kids.  At least not today.

They watched the timer count down from 9:00 to zero in eager anticipation of the 12 bite-sized delights.  They agreed that they could each have 6 cookies each.  When the timer sounded, they squealed (as though they have never had cookies before).

Noah was lucky to have the job of taking the cookies out of the oven (which “it isn’t like a real oven mom–it doesn’t open).

We decided to put the weird yellowish lemon icing between 2 cookies to make little sandwiches. That was a big hit.

The kids consumed all of the cookies in a matter of seconds. Both kids quickly determining that they would need to also eat eggs for breakfast.

I have a feeling we’ll be doing a lot more baking in the Ultimate Oven. (Thanks Grandma Lori and Grandpa Mike).

60-Months-Old

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Today Zoë turned 5.  FIVE.  I just can’t wrap my brain around the fact that my little baby girl isn’t so little anymore.  This week, which started with her losing her first 2 teeth, ends with her turning 5.  Five.  Maybe if I keep saying FIVE it won’t seem like such a big deal.  Five.  Five.  FIVE.

No, still seems like a big deal and makes me feel really old.  Okay, so I am old, but it’s still such an important milestone.  She woke up this morning with a huge smile on her face and it’s been plastered there pretty much all day.

I can hardly believe that this little girl is ours and I am so blessed and lucky to get to be her mom.  She never ceases to amaze me and her spirit is so powerful and sweet.  She loves fiercely and completely.  She is destined to break hearts and to have her broken, but she has a confidence that is already developing that will take her through those difficult times.

She is really starting to blossom and she is a born drama queen–in all senses of the word.  She is prone to eye rolling, head shaking, door slamming episodes because her hair isn’t right or she can’t find the right clothes.

Everything is “so special,” so please set your DVR for a special episode of hoarders in 20 years featuring Zoë.

She is growing so fast and approaches so much in life with an excitement that I have never seen before and I know that this zeal and zest for life and adventure will take her very far in life.

Her sense of humor is fabulous and it is clear that being a bit of a joker is a big part of her personality and not just at home but also at school and with her friends.

I was a parent ambassador at the kids school today and was talking with one of Zoë’s teachers and she told me a story about something Zoë did and said in class that really captures her.  The kids were all supposed to so doing something and Zoë was sitting off to the side doing something else.  One of her teachers approached her and asked her what she was supposed to be doing and if she was doing it.

Zoë said: “I know what I am supposed to be doing, but I want to be doing this.”

I laughed because that captures her independent spirit that I hope she never loses.

Happy Birthday Zoë–keep shining, keep smiling, keep laughing, and keep enjoying life.

Love you sweetie–I am so happy to be your mom.

The Lost Tooth

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

So, Zoë lost her first tooth yesterday–during her last week of being 4.  While her older brother, who is 6 1/2,  waits patiently (okay-so not really all that patiently) to lose his first tooth.  When I picked the kids up from school, Zoë  had a huge smile and was holding the coveted tooth treasure chest.  My heart sunk.  Not only did my not quite 5-year-old baby lose her first tooth, but I immediately felt the heartache of my going on 7 son’s despair that he still had not lost his first tooth.  A tooth that has been looser longer than that of the not quite 5-year-old.

I tried to play this moment down, which I know isn’t fair to Zoë, but I just couldn’t bear to “rub it in” for Noah that he still has all of his baby teeth.  UGH!

I waited until Zoë was done w/gymnastics to talk to her about it–as Noah still had an hour of class left.  She was so excited.  Turns out she pulled the tooth out herself during nap time.  Holy Crap…Seriously?  I know this should surprise me as this is the kid who gets shots at the Dr. and doesn’t flinch.  At. All.  She is daring and fearless.  I am certain that when I pick her up today her second tooth will also be secured safely in a another tooth treasure chest.  Serving a double dose of despair to her brother as he has to endure the lost teeth and her birthday this weekend.  Sucks to be Noah this week.

We talked about her friends and how everyone was excited that Zoë lost a tooth–except for her “boyfriend.”  She told him and he said “That’s not very impressive.”  It should be noted that the boyfriend is a year older and hasn’t lost any teeth yet either.  Then the dreaded topic: The Tooth Fairy.

Clearly, the Tooth Fairy needed to pay a visit.  I will admit I was wholly unprepared for this.  I was certain I had at least 2 more weeks before I had to really consider this.  I started trying to figure out what the Tooth Fairy should leave at our house.  Considering that the first visit sets up all future visits.  I was warned by many a parent to be careful where I set that bar as they lose teeth for a long time.

So, of course I took to Facebook to see what the going rate is among my friends.  I know that at Noah’s school there is quite a bit of Tooth Fairy inflation ($10 for a first tooth).  So, I needed to hear from a wider base.

And it turns out a dollar is pretty standard.  But I didn’t want to just leave a dollar bill–as that really doesn’t seem all that special.  My brother suggested $2 bills–that would have been great if I was thinking ahead.  But I wasn’t.  I am not a planner in that sense and I certainly wish that I was.  So, I settled on gold $1 coins.  I wanted to leave 2 since this is the first tooth.  So I had to dig through lots and lots of change (an by lots I mean about 30 pounds worth) to find gold $1 coins.

Zoë woke up this morning–hopeful that the tooth fairy left her the tooth (sorry to disappoint–but that isn’t how it works kiddo)–but happy to find to gold coins under her pillow.  She showed her brother and he said “She left you chocolate coins?”  He was clearly not impressed with the tooth fairy.

“No these are gold DOLLAR coins.”

“Can I have one?”  He quickly asked suddenly much more excited that it was real money.

So, while I like the idea of $2 bills–we might be sticking with the gold $1 coins. Although Noah informed me this morning that it was acceptable that Zoë  lost a tooth before he did, since he “gets to do everything else first.  I get to go camping at school first.  I get to be in 3rd grade and be a buddy first. I got to play on the blacktop first.  I get to drive first.”  I am certain Noah is going to spend the next few weeks doing nothing but wiggling his two loose teeth.

 

 

In Which Her Dad’s Head Explodes

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Zoë has boyfriends.  Yes that is boyfriend with an “s”.  As in more than one boyfriend.  We hear her on the phone pretend talking to them:

“Hello boyfriend.” in a sing-songy voice.

Every time she does that, I can feel Bill’s head begin to swell.  He isn’t prepared for it to start this early (or at all–let’s be honest, what father is ever ready for his little girl to like a boy?).  She is only 4.

The other night at dinner she was talking about her boyfriend and talking about how she was playing with him at recess.

“Playing with him or following him around?” I asked.  Because I know how girls operate and I know Zoë and how she operates.  I also know that we are totally in for trouble as she gets older.

“Playing I think.  We chased Eva.”

“Sounds fun.”

“I asked Finnegan (a different boy than she calls “boyfriend”) to marry me.”

At this point, I thought Bill was going to just pass out.  He surmises that he has the ability to handle 8 years of this boy stuff with his little princess.  And at this rate, he’ll be completely unable to cope by the time she is 12.  Poor guy. He has no idea what he is in for.  Well, maybe he does have some idea and that is why he is beginning to freak out a little.

“Zoë, you don’t ask the boy–you wait for him to ask you.”  Bill explained, clearly uncomfortable with the way this conversation was going.  I am pretty sure that he would have rather been talking about ANYTHING but this.

“Well, that’s dumb.  But he said no.” she said while giggling (she is channeling some serious pre-teen/teen girlie traits).

Just hearing her pretending to talk to her boyfriend on the phone and her ability to mimic what she surely will sound like as a teenager is amazing to me–she doesn’t have older siblings to have learned this from–she doesn’t watch “regular” tv, so that isn’t informing her pretend choices–she is simply expressing herself and it scares the shit out of me.  I can’t even fathom what the next decade (and beyond) is going to hold.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the universe is going to pay me back in spades for what I did as a teenage girl and I am not looking forward to that.  I don’t know if Bill can survive it.  Zoë might simply be locked in her room until she is 30.