Dentist joy

We had a shockingly good trip to the dentist's office on Monday.

I had taken Cora back in February, and it went pretty poorly. Cora didn't want to cooperate, so the dentist was just able to look in enough to see she didn't have any cavities. No cleaning.

Thankfully, Cora didn't seem to even remember that experience. I started prepping her for the visit Sunday, and planned our appointments so that she would first watch Stace have his cleaning and exam.

It worked like a charm, even better than I could have hoped. Cora was a delight! She was friendly and eager to have her teeth "tickled" with the cleaning tool. You can see Holly in the corner - she came along to cheer Cora on.

At the end, she said it was fun, and as we left she asked when we could go back again. She didn't like it when we said we go every six months. I hope this attitude continues! Lucky Stace, he will get to go back long before six months - he has to get a filling next week.

Cora loved how clean and shiny her teeth were, and she was concerned at dinner about getting them dirty. At bedtime she liked using her new toothbrush to get them back to shiny clean.

I also had an appointment, to have an old filling replaced, and Violet was content in her carseat during the procedure. Wow, we had two angel girls!

We celebrated with dinner out, and Cora got a bit squirrelly. But when we got home, and a notary came over for us to sign some refinance paperwork, she was back on her best behavior, talking the lady's ear off in a super friendly way. You just never know!

In other Cora news, at three years 7 months, she has begun calling herself "Cora." Daddy and I will miss you, "Tora."

Quick Ventura trip

We were a bit spontaneous Saturday, and woke Cora up early from her nap to head up to Ventura for the afternoon.

Why not, when it's 108? We're having record-setting heat again. (Actually, we've had a beautiful, mild summer, but I always seem to mention it when it's really hot...)

The beach was gorgeous, and a great temperature, not cold like Ventura so often is.

Stace and Cora dug a lake for her boat, and he took a short swim. Cora was scared for his life, wondering if he'd sink and if we'd ever see him again.

Violet loved looking around, and had her first toe-dip into the water. She found it cold. She had better fun with Captain Calamari, one of her favorite toys. She really likes chewing his feet.

When we got back to the car, Cora monkeyed around, doing her funny dance. We call it that, and she does it specifically to make me laugh. She looks a bit like Stevie Wonder, closing her eyes, bobbing her head and moving her fists up and down.

Cutie toes

Our baby girl loves her feet!

I have to pry them out of her hands (and mouth) during diaper changes.

Love this age so much!

And thanks, Partridges, for the clothes, and thanks, Nan, for making the trip to the post office!

We're having what I'd call a normal week around here.

Monday we took off for Ventura with our friends Jaimie and Jen, and their kids. We all have three-year-old girls, and they each have a younger son. It was great to hang out with them, as we don't get to see each other too much these days. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of our fun - hint, hint!

On Tuesday and Thursday, we went to Stroller Strides in the morning, and then Cora went to Terrific Tots. Then it was nap, and then dinner with Daddy - and on Tuesday, ice cream!

On Wednesday, we had storytime with Miss Carol in the morning, with Ave, Johnny and Maya.

It was probably Maya's last storytime, as she, Juliana and Daryl are moving to La Crescenta. It's not super far away, but far enough that our play dates will take a little more effort.

Wednesday night was Skipper Club, and Stace, Violet and I spent the hour at Starbucks, with a mocha and the newspaper. Gotta love that!

Today, Cora decided that she loves her bear, Holly. Genia and family gave Cora this large, soft white bear as a big-sister gift when Violet was born, and it has lived in Cora's room since then. Now, with her new name, Holly is Cora's best friend.

She took Holly to Stroller Strides, and hoped that Holly wasn't too hot in the car while she was at Terrific Tots. When we got back in the car, she said that she is Holly's mummy, and she takes care of her. And Benjamin (Bear) is Holly's daddy. I suggested that she and Benjamin must be married, then, and she thought a minute, and then agreed, with a laugh.

Tonight, when I gave Cora a kiss goodnight, Stace was watching the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The noise was a bit scary sounding, and Cora said that she and Holly were both a bit scared in the night. But, Cora said, she would take care of Holly, and if she wasn't there, God would take care of her.

More birthday fun

On Sunday Cora helped her friend Elyz celebrate her fourth birthday at a local dance studio.
As Cora hasn't taken dance classes, it was a fun chance for her to see a bit of what they are like.



I love the second photo here - look at the joy on these little girls' faces! It was fun to watch them dance around, laughing and screaming, just loving being alive.

It also was interesting to watch Cora's interactions with them. She was one of the younger and smaller girls, yet she is so comfortable taking charge and directing activities. She was grabbing Elyz's hands and making up games for them to play.

The Minnie Mouse lady also did face-painting, or hand-painting, in the case of Cora. Elyz is the girl watching as Cora gets her rainbow. I know Lynnette, Elyz's mom, through MOPS and Pioneer Club, and she's expecting another little girl soon.

Saturday fun

Cora learned about scoring goals in her football training Saturday morning. She scored three, and was quite pleased with herself. She also was happy about her new shin pads and knee highs.

When she and Stace arrived at the park, she said, "I'm a right footballer!"

After soccer, we drove down to Anaheim for a fun afternoon at an amusement park.

No, not that amusement park - we'll let Grandma and Grandpa do most of the Disneyland duty. Rather, we met up with them and Cora's godparents and family to have fun and celebrate Grandma's birthday at Adventure City.

It's a cute old-fashioned amusement park, with rides, a petting zoo and arcade. I imagine it to be the kind of place you'd love to go to in parts of the country that aren't near the major theme parks we have on our doorstep.

John and Linda's younger daughter, Mikayla, was excited to show Cora the rides, and Cora had a lot of fun with her and her older sister, Noelle. Hard to believe these beautiful young ladies were our flower girls seven years ago!

I am amazed at Cora's lack of fear on these rides! She loved the roller coasters and the ride that took you straight up and straight back down again. My stomach was upside down, but Cora took it in stride, laughing the whole time and saying, "That's crazy!"

On the way home, there was a lot of traffic on the 5 (to the surprise of NO ONE) so we stopped for dinner. Nothing like In-N-Out to top off a great family day!

On a side note, we are grateful for all the warm thoughts we've received for Somer. She is doing a bit better, surprisingly, over the past few days.

This special food she is eating seems to be helping a lot. She is eating a can a day, up from the few bites a day she had been eating. That means she is no longer wasting away, and seems to be more energetic and lively. We'll take it!

Our poor Somer

This post comes from a very heavy heart.

Stace and I learned Tuesday that our Somer has cancer in her intestine, and it's spread to nearby areas and her lymph nodes.

This explains her lack of appetite; her weight had dropped another pound, to seven pounds, from her prior vet appointment 12 days earlier.

At the last appointment, we had hoped that her various symptoms were from a urinary tract infection. When we later learned that the culture was negative, Stace and I did fear it was far more serious. Over the weekend her appetite dropped even further, so I moved up her re-check appointment from Wednesday to Monday.

At that appointment, the doctor could now feel the tumor, and Somer stayed overnight for an ultrasound Tuesday morning, which showed the cancer.

The vet suggested, and we agreed, to give Somer a steroid shot that might make her feel a bit better and slow the tumor's growth, to give us a bit more time with her to prepare ourselves and Cora. We also are giving her a "low residue" food that digests easier and produces less waste, to make her more comfortable.

The shot worked, in that Tuesday night I was wakened at midnight by Somer coming into bed with us so I could pet her. She purred.

I realized I haven't heard her purr for weeks, and maybe months, if I think about it hard. And continuing that train of thought, Somer has been much less social for months.

I feel bad that I didn't pick up on that fact earlier. I guess we were busy with the new baby, and figured she was getting older. But she is only 7, and she has always been a very social cat, following us room-to-room to be nearby and talk to us. In particular, she always followed Cora around, and allowed Cora to roughhouse with her. But in recent months, Somer has mainly sat on a kitchen chair, or on the padded toybox.

These photos were taken the past couple of days, while the steroid was working. In the second photo, Cora is "drawing a picture for Somie."
Somer even played with a leaf Thursday morning. But today, Friday, she seems to be slowing down again. I'm dreading taking her in for the final time, and have been pretty much a mess a lot of the week.

We've been telling Cora that Somer is very, very sick, and she can only stroke her very gently. On Thursday, I asked her if she would like to get a new cat "someday," when we didn't have Somer, and she got excited about that idea.
Today, I told her that there is a bad thing in Somer's body, and it hurts. She asked if God could make her better, and I said, "Yes, and she will be better, when she has died. Because then she won't hurt anymore."
Cora brightly said, "But she'll in heaven, and when we go to heaven, we can play with her again!"

From the mouth of babes! I tell you, the tears flowed then, and still do as I write this.

Catching up

We've been without our computer most of the week, thanks to a virus.

These photos are from a week ago, when Ave and Johnny came over for part of the morning. I had some bananas that needed to be baked with, so I found a yummy recipe on allrecipes.com for whole-wheat cranberry chocolate chip cookies to use them in.

I was lucky enough to have three helpers to make them! As they say, many hands make light work. Or, is the phrase, many tiny hands make lots of messes for one pair of hands to clean up?

We're getting back in the swing of things now - MOPS, Pioneer Club and Terrific Tots have all started up again.

Cora is again a Skipper at Pioneer Club. While she had Harvey last year as her special boy/friend, this year Johnny has joined her class. She is very excited about this. (Harvey is in Florida for a few month while his dad works on a movie there.)

In the photo, we caught up with Lucas, Liana and their parents to enjoy our first-Pioneer-Club ice cream.

And, we have a couple of photos from Cora's first day at Terrific Tots. She was so happy to go, and this time seemed like one of the bigger kids.

When she was in the class a few months ago, she was one of the younger ones since many of the kids were already four. Now, all those children have moved onto longer preschool programs.

I helped out at class today, with Auntie Mel staying home with Violet, and it was fun to see Cora interacting with the children and the teachers. She loves Miss Diane and wants to sit next to her at every opportunity.

A couple of Coraisms: Stace was telling Cora that he was going to take her to the Home Depot, where he always gives her a quarter for the candy machine. She told him that she isn't big enough to reach the machine herself, but maybe she'll be able to reach it when she's 15.

And I told Cora I hope she's able to go without nighttime diapers soon. She said, "No! Maybe when I'm 6. Or 7. Or 78... When I'm 78, I'll be as old as you!!!"

Saturday fun

After Cora's football training, we had a birthday party and then a visit from cousin Elizabeth and Jerry - what a great day!

Elizabeth - Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's oldest - and Jerry were married two years ago, and Cora was their (very young) flower girl. Somehow, we haven't seen them since their wedding!

Now, they've graduated from university and Jerry has been accepted into a five-year physiology program at UC Riverside where he'll get his masters and his doctorate.

It's great to know they'll be close for the next five years, and to know that Bill and Patty will have even more reason to come down to SoCal often.

We all spent the afternoon together, enjoying a meal and the pool. Here's to many more such occasions.

And before their visit, I took the girls to a first birthday party for the son of a Stroller Strides friend. It was fun; Cora loved playing with their 9-week-old puppy and Violet was very happy in the walker. It made music when she pushed buttons, and she was entertained by it for a long time. Everyone was very complimentary on her pleasant disposition.

Cora Loves Soccer

Cora had her first football training today!
Or, for my American readers, her first soccer practice.

She is participating in a half-hour class for three- and four-year-olds through a group called Kidz Love Soccer.

Cora was excited about this for the past couple of days. She kept talking about how her trainers/running shoes were to be her football shoes, her soccer shoes, her baseball shoes, her cricket shoes, and her "tennis-ball" shoes. She also wore her "Future England Star" shirt today.

For now, we don't need to get cleats (boots) but she will need shin guards in time for next Saturday morning.

The kids today were taught to only use their feet, and to stop and put their foot on their ball when the whistle was blown. They were adorable, and all went very well. Cora was one of only two girls in the class, which had at least a dozen boys.

At the class's end, the kids all cheered together and slapped hands.


Violet also enjoyed the class. She especially liked the part when Daddy let her lick his sunglasses.

Playing!

Here's Cora, above, and Violet, below, in the pool at about four months old...

Last weekend we had a lot of heat again, so we had some fun swimming in the pool. Cora had a great time, as did Violet. Violet has definitely reached the stage of loving her big sister, and laughing at the funny things she does.
Annoyingly, there was a pair of 6- or 7-year-old girls at the pool who were being rude to Cora, when Cora really wanted to play with them. Cora thought they were playing together when the bigger girls were splashing her. I'm glad she didn't "get" the fact that the bigger girls were being mean, and she didn't hear when they were whispering about the "little kid" in the pool. It made me so sad; I wish girls weren't like that! I definitely remember being the odd one out at times in school and I hate to think of my daughters going through that pain.

On a cheerier note, Cora has been busy playing with her new kitchen! Genia's friend had given her this gorgeous Melissa and Doug wooden kitchen, complete with all the trimmings, and Genia's kids were finished with it. I wish we had a photo of us wheeling it down the sidewalk to our house, in Genia's little red wagon! Classic... Thanks Genia, and thanks Ave, Johnny and Owen, for sharing with us!
The oppressive heat we had even brought out the girlie-girl in Cora! She was excited one day to get out her Ariel dress, heels and wig, and later her pink sparkly tiara. She was too gorgeous for words, and she couldn't stop dancing when I was taking the photo.

Stace created a new game to play with Cora. He made these word cards and hid the objects listed around the yard. Cora had to sound out the words (with help from dad) and then find them, like a treasure hunt. Great idea, Dad!

What else have we been up to? Well, Stace and I celebrated our seventh anniversary earlier this week with a dinner/shopping date. It was great to get away for a few hours; we hit Happy Hour at the Elephant Bar and shared drinks and appetizers, just like when we were newlyweds. Actually, it was better than when we were newlyweds, as we've grown to love each other more and appreciate one another better with each passing year.