Still a baby...

I think that many times I forget that this little girl that I have such adult conversations with is not really a "little girl" yet; she's still such a baby at times. I have to be really careful that my expectations of her are not too high. She understands things quickly, but emotionally, she's still just a peanut.





I think the thing that got me thinking that today is that she was laying on her back, looking at her toes. As always, picking out the goobers. She said her fancy socks left too much "goo" in there. But she just looked so...tiny, I guess. And it was such a baby thing to do. And once in a while, I catch a view of her profile, and it reminds me how little she is. I mean, she still weighs less than 30 lbs - probably about 25, if we want to get picky about it. It's hard to remember that when I'm having a conversation with her about what the Milky Way is, or how many times in a month the earth rotates. These are not normal 2 year old conversations. Or the way she puts on chapstick like a pro, and wants her nails polished all the time. Anyway...I just need to remind myself that she's still a baby in so many ways.

She has the build to be doing gymnastics or ballet; we might need to look into that for the fall.

Tomorrow our day will include baking oatmeal cookies. She saw it on some tv show today, and asked me what they taste like - and wanted to know if we could make some. So, I'll try to get some pictures and stories of that - I'm sure it will be worthy.

Lotsinjury

Tonight's prayer:

Dear Jesus, I not thank you for the food cause we're not eating. Please give mommy and daddy lotsinjury. Please give me lotsinjury. Help me obey. Help my heart love Jesus. Help me sleep good. Amen!"

errr...'lotsinjury' means Lots of Energy. It took me till the end of the prayer to translate that myself.

We had pasta tonight, and I made her eat a bunch of it, telling her that it would give her lots of energy when she went outside to play with Daddy. It was a battle of blood, sweat, and tears for some reason. She did not want to cooperate with anything that I said. She literally picked fights tonight, and I'm unsure of the reasoning behind that. Makes me scared of the things to come!

Today she and Brian were trying to learn how to blow bubbles with each other and their bubble gum. It was a sight to see, that's for sure! He had bubble gum everywhere, and she was laughing so hard she could barely say words anymore! It was a cute photo op, if nothing else.

She was cranky today - no nap. She kept asking me if I was "fusterated" with her, and I kept telling her I was not. One time today, she just announced to me that she was going to whine. I was so shocked I had no comment.

You know when they know they're whining, you have issues!

Scrumptious

The word of the day. Tasha, from the Backyardigans, says it, but we haven't watched the Backyardigans in several days. She did say something about wanting some scrumptious chocolate milk, because that was the best drink for people who had rescue work to do (which is what Tasha and Uniqua carry around in their packs on the "Snow Fort" episode.) But that word has carried on.

Today at lunch, I was informed that the salsa smelled "scrumptious," but that it sure didn't taste good, because it has "pomatoes" (otherwise known as tomatoes) in it. She doesn't like the way that it squishes around in her mouth. She did eat almost half a pint of sour cream with her quesadilla though. She has a dairy thing, which I think lends itself to the poop thing. We're trying to eat more vegetables. I told her last night that she needed to eat vegetable icecream, and she said, NO WAY!. I reminded her that she was eating green icecream already, so what was the big deal? She said it was different, because it was Monster Ice Cream, and you don't eat monster ice cream every day.

She did sit and spin for about 45 minutes this morning; after a short break in the middle there to put her shoes on to see if that would make her go faster (?!), she promptly got up and walked right into the wall. I think she sat and span a little too long.

She also played "house" for a while today, which is her rendition of her daily life. She had a snack (pretend), had water (also pretend), and took a nap (definetely pretend!). She did give hugs and kisses each time though. We then had a photo shoot with Melanie and mommy; she wanted to do about three times as many as the pictures we took, but I have my limits on seeing myself on film.

For some reason, she was really spread out today with her toys. She did clean everything up before lunch though, and did not throw a fit! "I'm being good mommy. Even though I'm sad, I am not throwing a fit! I bet that Jesus is pretty happy right now!" I encouraged her that indeed he was, because she was obeying right away. "That's bery tricky, mommy. Obeying right away should be just for grownups."

Even we grownups don't get it too well, though. Talk about convicting!

I had to do some prep work for a conference I have coming up, and she was sitting on my lap telling me just how "beautiful" everything was. She actually told me that the color of green I was using was "delightful" (another thank you from Tasha...she's pretty prissy!), and that she really liked it.

This kids' vocabulary is going to outgrow mine very soon!

She has finally learned how to eat an orange. For the last several weeks, she ate the peel too, and spit it out after she got all the juice off of it. She is a big sticky mess, and it is a sight to see, but she is leaving the peel. "Leaving the peel is very important, Mommy. Because the peel tasts really yucky in your mouth, and an orange is yummy stuff without the peel!"

Today, lots of things are important:

Shoes are important
Something is important (she said just in case she's forgetting something, because something can be anything!)
Polly Pockets are NOT important (this one surprised me...we do an aweful lot with Polly and her friends)
Turning off the light is important
Daddy is important
Jesus is important
Kisses are important
Telling the truth is important
Oranges are important
Eating vegetables so your poop doesn't hurt is important. (This one was said ON the toilet, red face and all...she's seriously rethinking the entire stand on vegetables.)
Taking pictures is important (she says today, because she was in the mood for it. Tomorrow may be a completely different story).
Books are important
School work is important
Buying her a pencil sharpener is important
Wiping after going peepee is important (this is after a little "decussion" that we had after we did NOT wipe)

She told me that after she gets up from her nap, she'll let me know some other things that are important, and I can write them down on a list for her. Good to know I'm the household scribe!

Yesterday we got a new Pezz dispenser; it's Jasmine, from Aladin. She calls her Jazz Man. I can't get her to say it like the flower; it sounds more like a big trumpet player dude. Brian cracks up laughing everytime she says she has Jazz Man in her pocket. It is pretty funny!

Tomorrow Melanie has a play date with Meredith. She is very excited; she asked me today if she could borrow my suitcase to take "all her toys" with her to share with her "bess friend". I told her that she wasn't going to be there that long, and that she could take a few things. She told me that they would play "bery fast!" so that they could use all the toys if I let her take the suitcase.

Some days it's really hard to come up with an argument!!

Monster Ice Cream

Here is Yucky Melanie rescuing her good friend, Elmo. It's a good thing when a monster has a friend.










Tonight at bedtime, Melanie wanted to say prayers. Here's as close as I can get to quoting:

"Dear Jesus, please help us do lots of coloring. Especially with blue, green....(Mommy, I can't member the other colors...) oh yeah - red, and yellow, and on lots of different of my new sheets. Thank you for my stickers. Help mommy and daddy obey Jesus. Help my heart love Jesus and mommy and daddy. Help me sleep good. Amen."

I had to bite my hand to not laugh. She is really into this coloring thing these days. I think if I would let her, she would color for hours at a time. She threw a fit this evening when we told her she had to put things away to go upstairs for a bath and bedtime. After getting into a bit of trouble for that, she and I had a "decussion" upstairs about how sometimes it is "bery tricky" to obey when she doesn't get her way with the coloring, and how Jesus is our helper, and can help her to obey even when she doesn't want to. It was funny, but touching, too.

This child has a very strange fetish with...well,...poopoo. She gets so excited to "make poopoos" as she says. And it is almost always in a very weird order. When she has to go number 2, she says, "I will make poopoos, then tootoos, then peepees." And it normally goes in that order, too. I think that is slightly unnatural, but who am I to question these private things? Seems strange to me. She also asked me the other day if she could pick some up to "see the other side." Her rational on this was that she had never seen the other side of the poopoo, and she wanted to know what it looked like. I tried explaining to her that it looked the same, but she said "How do you know if you don't pick it up?"

Good point. I guess I have no clue what the other side of the poop looks like either!

We had icecream at Friendly's tonight. Melanie had a Monster Sunday. Green (mint chocolate chip) icecream, with Reece's cup ears, reece's peanut butter eyes/nose, and a cherry mouth, and whipped cream hair. It was cute :) She said she liked being the boss over the monster, and I liked that she found out again that a monster was just pretend. It worked for both of us!

We also went to the craft store tonight to pick up a punch I need for Saturday. She asked me the name of the checkout lady - it was Pat. So, she said, "Hi Pat!" Pat said hello to her, and asked her her name. She told it - the entire thing! Then she said, "My birthday is in July and I'm going to go to the dentist. He has to check my teeth and I get bubble gum floride. I have to practice how to spit until then, because he makes you spit in a little sink beside the big chair."

Pat just looked at me. And I nodded. "Yup. She said what you think she said."

I was a little embarassed, I have to admit. I mean, spit doesn't seem like the kind of conversation you have with the check out lady at ACMoore. But alas - Melanie does not know that.

She did nap today; so hopefully we're getting caught up on sleep, and out of the crank mode.

I don't like pickle seeds!

I tell ya what, there is never a dull moment with this girl. She says some things that just shock me speechless at times!

I went away this weekend for a training event, and it was really my first time away from her. It was aweful leaving her; tears on both our parts. I expected the homecoming to be sweet - ya know, we missed each other so much, etc.

Not so much.

We're back on even keel now, but man...we've had a rough couple of days!

Today she informed me while eating her lunch that she doesn't like pickles anymore, because they have seeds. I tried to tell her that all vegetables have seeds, and her comment was:

"What?! Pickles are vegetables!? Gross!"

How do you argue with that?

Today, we saw a Backyardigans episode that we had not seen before. It is called "Race to the Tower of Power," and they pretend to be villians and super heros. Melanie asked me to take her to the super hero store, so that she could get a mask, a cape and some super powers.

I told her I didn't know how to get there. (I mean, who does? I'd love some bottled good attitude and maybe some super cleaning powers...but alas...Google Maps doesn't give good directions to the Super Power Store.)

So, we ended up making a mask and a cape, and she decided that she was going to be "Yucky Melanie." I tried to offer other suggestions instead of Yucky Melanie, but she would have none of that. Tyrone was Yucky Man on the episode, and as she says, "he's my favrite" (pronounced just like that). Plus, she wanted to make things yucky, since "all she does is clean up".

I think that was a little jab, don't you?

Daddy tried the mask on at one point, but she politely told him (with very good manners), "Daddy, you need your own mask. You can be Stinky Daddy, and we can work together."

I howled with laughter on that one!! It's very appropriate!

Tonight when we were rocking before bed, she had a lot to talk about. There are three particular topics that we covered:

#1. The reason that she didn't nap today or yesterday (!), is that "things were just weird", and tomorrow, she would be "reglar" again. She also told me it was kinda crazy how she just couldn't relax and fall asleep. I was trying so hard to keep a straight face during this conversation - but this is only the tip of the iceburg!

#2. Dora the Explorer and Caillou (and his mother) are coming over to our house tomorrow afternoon to play in the sandbox. I need to clean the house up a little bit, because Caillou's mom always goes with him when he plays, so she will probably want to sit and talk to me for a while. Boots the Monkey may come with Dora too, and play in the sandbox, but she is "making the rule" that he has to take his red boots off before he gets in, because she doesn't let people wear their boots in the sandbox. He can borrow a pair of pink socks if his feet get cold.

There is just no good comment for that one.

#3. The "I Know a Chicken" song from Laurie Berkner should be on every day, because shaking that egg with the kids is "bery good sessersize" for little kids, and she wants to grow up big and strong. So, could I please call the tv people and get them to play the egg song more often so that she can be strong?

Thankfully, she went to bed then, because my stomach hurt from the lack of release of laughter! The things she comes up with!

Laurie Berkner is definetely a favorite artist of ours. She has songs on Nick, Jr. and Noggin every day - and Melanie drops everything to come and dance with her. Her favorite is definetely the new egg song. I think we may get the DVD for her for her birthday. She would love that, and it would give me a break from Cinderella and the Backyardigans once in a while! :)

On a side note, we are loving the DVR. We can record shows, watch them when we want, and either save them or delete them when we're finished watching. I LOVE that! So we have the Backyardigan's episodes that we don't have the DVD for, and we have some Blue's Clues, some Dora, some Jack's Big Music Show (with Laurie Berkner, of course), and tonight, I'm taping American Idol for Brian, as he is out running errands for me, the jewel!!

Melanie has her fingers and toes painted pink sparkly. It's pretty girly overall. She has a slight obsession with between her toes though. I need to get a good picture of that, because it's amusing to watch. She was dressed in her Yucky Melanie costume today, with her toes about 2 inches from her nose, looking at the "goobers" between her toes.

I guess that doesn't speak too highly of my bathing patterns with my daughter. In my defense, she did play outside today, in the sandbox. And I did bathe her before she went to bed.

Now off to a nice peaceful evening. More pictures tomorrow.

It's bery tricky!

That seemed to be the phrase of the day today. "Mommy, this pony is being bery tricky." "Mommy, this sandbox is bery tricky." "Mommy, daddy can be bery tricky."

I wonder if she understands that the v and the b are different sounds? Or if they all sound alike to her?

We went to bible study this morning; when Melanie goes, she gets to play in the basement with the other kids. Ellie was there, and "baby Abby" was there, but Meredith was not. She was pretty sad about that; didn't want to stay down with the kids, she wanted to come up with the mommies. She did great once I left, but it's good to be missed. She looked pretty darn cute in her little yellow tennis skirt kind of thing, and a little printed tshirt. Complete with yellow scruncci in her hair. She said several times today, "Oh, I am just so cute!" I'm not sure how to tell her about a prideful spirit, when I say the same darn thing to her about a million times a day. That's one to ponder.









We went to WalMart this afternoon for groceries. Unbelievably, the child asked for candy. I mean come on! She has more candy in this house than the Easter Bunny himself! I gently tried to answer her each time she asked about it, and I think I accomplished it pretty well. She tried the pouty face once though, and even Daddy stepped in. You know it was pretty pathetic if that happened. Here are she and Daddy at the checkout line, where she was asking for everything in eyesight. Those marketing people are no dummies: they know who is stuck in that line at that level. I could shoot them all!

We came home to a beautiful afternoon, and took advantage of playing outside in our new "park". Her newest thing is running from the slide, to the swing, back and forth, back and forth. Shouting, "Wait for me! Wait for me!" - as if I'm going to rock into the next county or something on the swing without her.

She has this floppy frizzbee that she got in her Easter bag from Grammy and Poppy. For some reason, she calls it a flag. I have no clue where she got that, but she wanted us to throw her flag with her a lot this evening too. Her way of throwing it makes it go places that we never know where it's going to land. It just kinda dissapears...and it turns up a while later while she hunts for it as her "treasure". It's entertaining, at least.

We ate dinner outside tonight as well. It was so lovely out. The downside: Mommy made the meat too spicey. She downed the greenbeans though. And decided that we should have a picnic every night.

Bathtime was extra fun, because she got to use her new "pinks". They are these Avon kids bath thingies that Aunt Normie got for her for Easter in her basket. She used them as "oderants". When I asked her why she was putting it on her pitties, she said, "Well, this are specialdy for kids, mommy. To help their pitties smell muuuuch better!"

I guess that solves that problem!




A fun day :) Tomorrow...children are coming here to play - and Melanie is very excited about having a park in her backyard to share with her friends!

Too long since last post...

I'm sitting here eating lunch with Melanie, who is quoting Cinderella lyrics as she hears it on the cd player, and I'm telling myself "you've got to blog or journal more often!" I know I'm going to forget some things that have happened, and I hate that. Every day she changes a little bit more, and I feel like I'm missing moments. That stinks.


Right now we're eating something for lunch. I can't remember what it's called. It's leftovers from last night. Not stromboli - but something that begins with a C. Melanie asked me what it was - I had to tell her, I have no clue. She says, "Well, Mommy, this is sauce. And this is Sausage. And I can't member what this is". Me either. Hopefully daddy will call so I can ask him what we're eating for lunch.

Mommy brain stinks.

We just finished a visit with Grammy and Poppy. Talk about a gas. Here they are playing "Ring Around the Rosie" - this is before our backyard was transformed...

Poppy had to have a translater most of the time. We told him that he didn't speak "Melaniese" very well. I need to write down some of the words that she says and make a page on it. It was pretty funny.

We now have a swingset. A sandbox. A covered glider swing for children. A purple lawn chair. 7 new pairs of shoes (yes, 7 - all for the 2 year old). And an entire new wardrobe. And I'm not kidding about the entire part. An Easter bag full of new goodies. I still need to find homes for most of this stuff. Daddie's job today, if he should choose to accept it, is to get another rod for her closet - because we now have too many clothes to fit in there. It's this in between weather that's killing us - still cool enough some times for long sleeve clothes, and hot enough sometimes for shorts.

Here are some shots of the new goodies...

The clothes...oh, the clothes!! Shoes. Hats. Dresses. Shirts & shorts. Some really fun stuff. She stood with her hands on her hips today on the way to nap and said, "I am gonna look soooo cute in all these new things!"

Isn't that the truth?!




George the purple turtle sandbox. Notice the sand AROUND George too. We have some issues dumping the buckets back in there.








And the swingset. Or, as Melanie calls it, her park. "I want to go play in my park." The slide is definetely her favorite. Kollin and Kenzie had a great time on it too. We're gonna be the happenin place here.





Overall, a great visit. Did some cool scrapbooking pages of the kids, too, and got some stuff together for Grammy.

A fun weekend.

Now to get the house back together!

CALZONE!! That's what we ate for lunch! sheesh...