On Tuesday as I was walking back from nursery with Nora and chatting with her about her day, Nora told me that Sam said that he’s going to marry her. I thought ‘Awwwww… that is so cute’

Yesterday, as we were getting ready for bed I told Jules about Sam’s plan and Jules told Nora that she is too young to get married, to which Nora argued that she is not. Jules reminded her that she is three years old and that is too young to which Nora disagreed.

He then asked her how old does she need to be able to get married.

SIXTEEN she said… in a ‘duh… everybody knows that’ tone of voice.

I asked her who told her about the legal marriage age… and again with her ‘duh… everybody knows that’ tone of voice she answered ‘nobody’ and proceeded to look at her story book to indicate the matter is now closed!

And that was that.

The conversation we had on our fourth wedding anniversary

On Friday, I received a text from Liz telling me that Nate has chicken pox! I replied saying that Nora just has a bit of spots but maybe they are just spots and carried on the day as normal until about 12 noon when Lina text me to say that she does not think that Maya has chicken pox.

Oh dear. This was after we met up with Mei and her baby brother in the library. So I cancelled her playdate with Maya as a precaution and went off to get calamine lotion.

Come Saturday, the spots on her back was scabby and there were more spots… even under her hair.

So, here I am on Monday trying to find things to entertain her with as she keeps saying that it is ‘soooooooooooo booooooooooooooring’. Her eyes lit up, on Saturday when I said we’ll go to the Chinese shop, only to see the light fade from her face when she reminded me that she can’t go out.

The poor thing. She’s been very good, and trying really hard not to scratch… and she doesn’t… but I know she is so uncomfortable and just want the spots to go away.

Anyway, it has been cold here. I’m not whinging as it is winter. And it snowed today. Again, I’m not whinging as it is winter.

Nora was so excited about the snow but all kids do. I was more worried. We were planning to go to Nate’s house for a playdate and I know that it would be a longer walk in the snow and cold.

She slipped twice and just as she got the hang of walking on a bit of ice, I heard a voice behind me. The woman was mumbling, or having a conversation with her guide dog about going to St Boniface church. We were going up a residential street and I know for a fact that there are no churches up the street and I stopped her and told her so. I told her that if she went back to the main road and turn left, there are two churches down on the main road.

Then I thought, why am I giving a blind woman directions. Nora was getting a bit jumpy about the woman’s guide dog plus she was starting to say she was cold but I can’t just leave a blind woman going the wrong way.

I took her to the first church, which was of course the wrong one as it’s St Nicholas. So, I took her to the second church and was confused about the entrance. But I delivered her to the right place in the end.

That was our good deed for the day.

It it ours as poor Nora was freezing and confused about the whole thing but she was patient as it took quite a while. On the way up hill towards Nate’s place, I explained to her that the woman was blind, which means that she cannot see. She had a dog, which was her guide dog, but helpful as the dog is, it cannot know where the woman wanted to go. So, if we know that a vulnerable person is in trouble, we have to help them.

I think she understood what I was trying to tell her… even in the frozen state she was with the wind and snow blowing into her face and that a half an hour walk (usually without the snow) became an hour.

Poor Nora… in the end she said that she doesn’t like snow. But it didn’t stop her from throwing snow balls at me when we left Nate’s… though she was miserable when we first got there, she was OK again when she warmed up.

No, I’m not fond of snow either. I like being indoors looking out. It is mesmerizing, but it means it is cold out there, and the next day it will be slippery, and then it will turn into slush. Yes, it is only nice when it first settles.

So, I’m not looking forward when we have to go out tomorrow as Nora has ballet and I need to go and do some grocery shopping.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, we got a leaflet through the door about ballet classes. I showed the leaflet to Nora and ever since that day, there’s been a constant request to go to ballet class. I didn’t really do anything about it because I thought that she just likes the idea of wearing a girlie dress and was not sure if she would actually like it.

But a couple of weeks ago, she mentioned it again and I noticed that the class just down the main street does a free trial and I booked her in.

We went today.

And she loved it. The joy on her face when she was ‘dancing’ was enough to convince me to sign her up.

Next week, she has a party to go to but the week after, she will be starting on her class… and then I will be that pushy mom standing outside the door telling her to stand up straight and point her toes!

This evening, before bed time, Jules helped Nora soak the egg and apparently a dinosaur will come out tomorrow.

Nora comes up with fantastic stories sometimes and I should really write them down. Like tonight she was talking about the dinosaur egg hatching and when the dinosaur comes out, it will start growling and look for something to eat. It will eat mama and daddy. Nora will be fine as dinosaurs do not eat children.

I asked her who she would live with after the dinosaur eats mama and daddy… straight away she answered ‘Coco’ her hamster, because don’t eat hamsters either.

She said she will miss her mama and daddy… but hey, I guess life goes on (the last sentence is mine, not hers).

But unfortunately, they escaped. They are apparently very clever at this.

We managed to find Coco and I put him in the ball this morning so Nora could play with him.

But unfortunately, Nora didn’t listen and have not learnt to be gentle and caring. Apparently, after I left for work, she bounced the ball, the lid came off and Coco made a run for it.

Now we have two hamsters running lose in the house.

The problem is we have lots of places for the hamsters to hide… and Jules is really annoyed.

I guess Nora is not ready for a hamster or at least play with it unsupervised. It’s a lesson learnt for both of us.

I’ve been on my feet from the moment I opened my eyes today. Nora requested a ghost cake to bring to pre-school and that’s what I made for her.

I also made her some gingerdead men.

And to finish off… some party bags for her pre-school friends to take home.

I think we did all right for her third birthday. Her big present are the hamster cage and Coco and Blanco… her hamsters. But the cage didn’t arrive complete… and her hamsters escaped… We managed to find Coco but Blanco is still MIA. Still… we didn’t do too badly for her third birthday.

When we wake up tomorrow morning, you will be three. It has been a challenging and amazing three years. It hasn’t been easy but I would not change it for anything in the world.

On Thursday, when I called daddy to find out if he’s picking you up from nursery and he passed the phone to you, I found it amazing that we actually had a proper conversation. I don’t know why I was as we’ve been talking to each other for a while… but I guess I was thinking it was not long ago that you couldn’t string a sentence together, let alone a word!

Each day, you amaze me. There are times I wish I was more diligent at recording all these moments… but I don’t. I’m not worried though… like when I lost my phone and all the photos I took of you… I’m just glad that I have you…

And you just woke up looking for me saying you want me.

Let go to bed.

Mama

I asked her the other day what cake she wants and she said ‘ghost’. I asked her is she sure she doesn’t want a pirate birthday or hello kitty birthday or any other themed. She’s adamant that she wants a ghost party.

So, I’ve been researching ghost cakes and looking for spooky party favours.