Zoë

Young Love Zoë Style

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

There is never a dull moment with a child like Zoë.  She had me laughing so hard in the car today.  She has something and was talking about why it was special.

“My boyfriend gave it to me.”  says my adorable 4-YEAR-OLD

“Your who?”

“My boyfriend.”

“Who is your boyfriend?”

“Lucian” and the smile on her face when she said it was ridiculous. 

“Is he in your camp?”

“No my school. He is going to be in Kindergarten.”

“Do you LOVE him.” I teased her.

“Yes.”

“Does he love you?”

“Not so much.  But I love him.”

So it starts.  Look out world.  Look out Dad.

The Joker (Even On Accident)

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Zoë is the life of the party.  She is an tornado of pure joy and energy.  She talks non-stop at about a mile a minute making it hard to understand even the words she can say clearly.  She is at the stage where she knows what she wants to say–it just doesn’t always come out right–Hokapontas for example as opposed to Pocahontas.

Today we got on the highway after leaving camp and Zoë asked if we were close to the pool.

“No, we are on a different high way.”

“Oh cuz I just saw a caprisun and thought we were by the pool.”

“You saw a caprisun?”  I giggled–meanwhile Noah is laughing hysterically.

“Yeah a caprisun–where the police are.”

“You mean a police station.”  I said trying not to laugh–but seriously??? Too cute.

“Okay fine a police station.”

How did I ever get so lucky to have this amazingly beautiful, funny and joyous be mine?  Oh wait…it isn’t all bunnies and rainbows.  I did come home one day to find her painted on her arms and hands with fingernail polish and was greeted with a tear filled “I DIDN’T KNOW” when I questioned whether she should have done that.

Joys of parenting the spirited.

Beware of the Goose

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

There is something amazing about the age 4.  The things that come out of their mouths is often priceless and sadly, I have been so busy with work and the kids, I haven’t had the chance to document many of them.

We were driving home on Sunday from my dad’s house and Zoë says so innocently:

“I know what a haunted house is?”

“Really?” I ask–she currently has always known everything.

“Yep.”

“Well, what is a haunted house?”

“A house no one lives in and we have one by our house.”

“We do?”  I ask knowing full well what house she is talking about.  We have a vacant house on our little block–while they get it ready to sell.

“The one by Madeline and Nora’s.”

“Zoë, a haunted house is not an empty house.  A haunted house is a house where ghosts live.”

“Oh.  I think that one is a haunted.”

“Really, why?”

“I think I saw a goose in there…or maybe a duck.”

So, beware of the goose’s ghost 🙂

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Last night we were driving home for a long night of activities for Noah and Zoë provided more entertainment.

“Mom, remember at Christmas eve when we were driving home and we were looking in the sky for Rudo.”

“Rudo?”

“The reindeer with the red nose.”

Noah started laughing and I tried not to–because she is 4 and only his close friends get to call him Rudo.

“That is Rudolf honey.”

“Oh.”

Then she started to sing–after Noah and I argued for 3 minutes on the correct pronunciation of “rudolf”

I say Rudolf and Noah said Rudoff.

 

Hindsight

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

I am so wishing that I had thought to get my phone ready for a picture yesterday.

Noah had baseball practice last night and I haven’t really been able to go–I’m either out of town or at gymnastics with Zoë.  But gymnastics are done until next week and she’ll be going on Mondays.  So, as part of my lifestyle overhaul–clean eating, no soda, limited caffeine, limited dairy–I have committed to fitting exercise in and I want to fit it in with my family or as a normal part of my day.  I am away from my kids enough when I am at work, I don’t want to take away time I could spend with them to exercise.  I just can’t do it.  So, it’s been hard. When there are limited hours in the day, it is hard to find time.  I have tried getting up in the morning early–that doesn’t work.  I have tried after the kids  go to bed–that doesn’t work as I just want to relax.  So, I am trying to weave it into my regular days.  I will do a yoga class at lunch time and then just eat lunch at my desk (which I usually do anyway).  So, I’m trying–but I will admit only halfheartedly.

I asked my health coach to hold me accountable for exercising–I didn’t do everything I wanted to this two week period–but I did something and that is great.  I committed to doing the C25K program and hadn’t done any yet–so last night I went to Noah’s baseball practice with Zoë and her bike because there is a bike/running trail near his practice.  Zoë would rid her bike while I did the C25k program (walking for 1.5min and running for 1 min–alternating for 20 min).

It was going well–as well as it could since Zoë just got over her fear of riding her big girl bike.  She was in front of me and it was during one of the walking segments.  I was reminding her to stay to the right and so she started steering to the right, but turned her head to the left to watch some older girls do batting practice.  Before I knew it, I was sprinting (as fast as an out of shape, overweight 40-year-old can–seriously, I am sure it looked nothing like sprinting), as Zoë veered off the trail and into an huge overgrowth of bushes.  By the time her bike stopped falling she was completely engulfed in foliage.  She was crying–she was way more scared than she was hurt.  Not even a noticeable scratch of any significance.

After I pulled her out and got her back on her back, all I thought was “I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture.”  I know it wouldn’t have been a stellar parenting moment to take her photo before I hoisted her out of the imprisonment in the bush, but I so wish I would have.

She recovered and was able to finish riding her nearly 2 miles.  I’m sure I am more sore today than she is, considering I exercised more yesterday than I have in a while.

Today I felt the soreness and muscle fatigue on my bike ride to work.  Yep, I rode to work.  I didn’t realize how many bike commuters there are and I almost forgot how many up and downs there are in St. Louis.  This part of the Midwest certainly isn’t flat.

The Earth Flower: A Story

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

The following story was created by 3 4-year olds.  At my children’s school, the early  childhood curriculum/theme is dictated by the children and their interests.  Zoë’s class was fascinated with natural materials–sticks, leaves, stones, and making books.  So, natural materials, the natural world and books became the year’s focus and all areas of the curriculum were taught through the exploration of the natural world.  It’s great because the culminating project in their classes are never the exact same.

The final project in Zoë’s class was a collection of stories written by the students.  Below you will read the story written by Zoë and two of her classmates.

This is the Earth Flower.  It’s a flower that everybody lives in.  There’s an earth inside of the flower.  Bees come to take the earth out because there’s pollen inside this flower.  The bees actually come and take all the earth’s pollen, but when it’s nighttime, the earth takes all the pollen back.  

The bees live in the earth, and they make honey for the earth.  The bees give it to the earth, and then the earth gives it back.  Then somebody takes the Earth Flower and makes it into more flowers. 

The Earth Flowers die at some point.  They turn littler and littler until they die, except for the big one.  It stays alive.  People live in the Earth Flower; they just walk around and they have houses.  The bees are nice and they don’t sting anyone at all.  Because the Earth Flower somehow died, it doesn’t stay how it looks forever.  It changes.  the stem somehow pops off, and it turns into the regular earth.  The people didn’t know what to do, but they had an idea. They put some tape in a big line and what they did was they turned it back into the Earth Flower. 

I read this story and I see so many of the things that Zoë (and her classmates) learned at school.  They spend one to two mornings a weeks in the greenhouse or on and “adventure” with the sustainability teacher.  This story showcases the emerging understanding of pollination and it is beautiful.

It is moments like these that remind me of what our children are capable of doing and understanding. If only we stopped seeing their limitations and only saw their potential–what a beautiful world we would live in.