Maeve and Lilly

Faithful followers with recall Lilly’s growing interest in track  and her fascination with the Olympics. We signed her up for the YMCA track program this spring and today was her first meet. Although she likes the field event OK, she often tells us “All I want to do is run.” She signed up for the 50-, 100-, and 200-meter races. It was a cold and windy day with the temperature hovering in the mid-40s. The wind was cutting and the last thing we wanted to be doing was sitting around on the grass waiting for her events. She came in fourth in her 50- and 100-meter heats, but was so happy to just be taking part and doing it. Her pace may not be the quickest, but her form is excellent and she appears to move almost effortlessly. With some more personal coaching attention, she could probably do quite well. We were all so chilled (the vile concession stand coffee did nothing to warm us) that when Lilly announced she wanted to bail on the 200-meter we offered no argument and headed home.

Maeve headed off to school with a box of cupcakes under her arm. She had opened a pile of presents before breakfast and was buzzing about all the clothes from Nanny and the new desk for her room. After work we went out to a birthday dinner at a restaurant of her choice. (Any guesses? Culvers. Surprise!)

Friday night, I put together Maeve’s new desk. At some point, I had to flip the leg assembly over and, with a sickening thud, connected with Maeve’s mouth as she bent forward putting her head in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time. The super-wiggly front tooth as knocked out and the blood gushed. Needless to say, I felt terrible. After we got her settled in bed with tissues and the boo-boo bunny, Maeve immediately directed me to get back to work on the desk. She recovered quickly and even began to wonder whether the Tooth Fairy might leave her more money since it was so painful. (She did.)

Saturday we had a birthday party for all her little friends (Riley, Morgan, Carolyn, Geri, Nora). It was a low-key affair with cake, ice cream, presents, and barely controlled chaos in the bouncy house in the back yard. After the dust settled, Maeve spent several hours registering her new Webkinz on-line.

Whoa. I am now the father of a nine-year-old. Lilly had four of her friends (Lexi, Jackie, Savannah, and Sonja) over for a sleep-over Friday night. We removed Maeve from the occasion by allowing to go on a sleep-over to her friend (and Sonja’s sister) Nora’s house. I had expected noise and chaos (especially screaming an giggling) but I hadn’t realized the amount of running and jumping. We retreated to our room and let the girls run amok downstairs. They finally hit the sack  around 11pm.

They were up by 5:45am. After muffins for breakfast we headed to Boulders Climbing Gym. Sonja had done quite a bit of climbing and Lilly had done it twice, but the other girls (including Maeve, once again part of the group) hadn’t. All of them quickly gained confidence and skill and the hour flew by. Lilly was determined to master a difficult overhang and after 5 or 6 attempts actually did reach the top just as time was up.

After dropping the guests off, we tried unsuccessfully to find Lilly a new bike for less than $300.  We were hampered a bit by Lilly’s color requirement (blue) as well and finally had to scrub the mission. The next day we did find a suitable ride for her and as she told Nanny on the phone: “it’s blue and it’s FAST.”