Miss You

I thought to write about this the night it happened, but it was too much.

Last Sunday night we had a Skype call with the angel boy-O. Our girlie had been asking about him throughout that entire day, and several times that weekend, she would pound her chubby hands, fingers splayed, upon his bedroom door while shouting his name. Every time I'd told her that he wasn't in there, three times letting her into his room so she could see he was not there, she would whine in response and hold out her hands, palms up and out, near her shoulder height, asking where is he?

The Skype call was timed 15 minutes before her bedtime routine was to begin, so she was already a bit tired and noodle-like, plus she'd spent most the day fighting an unexpected fever that had hit around noon. When it was time to end the Skype call and get her upstairs and ready for bed, she began to whine some as she was asked to blow kisses and say goodbye to everyone, which included her big brother, his mommie and his step-dad as well. She began to whimper as we encouraged her to tell everyone she loved them, and the angel boy-O expressed his concern as to what was wrong as she whimpered and whined away. I'm not sure if I remember this correctly or not --my memory is clouded by what happened next-- but I tried to explain for him that she's tired and hasn't been feeling well today, and she misses you a lot, and then her pouty bottom lip shot out, and with tears welling in her little eyes, she told him herself with her own tiny voice, simply put:

"Miss you," she said and then she began to cry... as did we all after that moment.

It was a darling and truly heartbreaking all at once. Poor lil' girlie, she adores her big brother so much. And poor boy-O, he adores and misses his baby sissy everyday. That's a good thing, but it hurts as well.

Toddler Property Laws: Our Sweet Potato's New Code of Conduct

1. If I like it, it's mine.

2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.

5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks just like mine, it is mine.

8. If I saw it first, it's mine.

9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.

10. If it's broken, the parts are still mine

This list made me laugh so hard, reading it and hearing my own girlie's teeny voice in my head, "my banana," seeing her act out each of these 'laws' to the letter these days. She's not too fierce yet with the whole 'mine, mine' mentality, but it grows stronger each passing week.

Thank you for this, Leslie! ~you rock~ OXO

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 58

Because in my honey-man's earnest effort to give me the full report on our daughter's first poo-poo in the potty experience (which I'd missed entirely), he was thoughtful enough to note and include such details as the color and texture, only because he KNEW I'd want to know.

And he took pictures! Nooo, not of the doody itself, but of our lil' girlie sitting on the potty seat with a darling wide-eyed, but concentrated look of focus on her face that seems to communicate she knows what she's doing is momentous!

Poo-Poo in the Potty!

Who knew POOP could be soooo exciting!?! Earlier this morning, sitting on a cushy child's potty seat with handles, our lil' baby sweet potato girlie went poo-poo in the BIG toilet for the FIRST TIME EVAH!! And she did it willingly - - she had NEVER before shown interest in using the potty for poopy... Before today, any time we've asked her if she needs to go poopy, wants to go poopy, wants to try to go poopy, or has she gone poopy? - - her reply has ALWAYS been No! But her daddy got her to try... and she did it! She spent 10 minutes, well focused on the task at hand, poopin' like a big girl!

And I was NOT there... And I am soooo JEALOUS that I missed it!

The 1st Pic Was Last Nite n' This is Owen This AM

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Dozing Away in His New 'Bed'

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Flexing Her Lil' Autonomy Muscles

Our lil' sweet potato girlie is really, really, really trying hard to assert herself these days... what's hers, what's not, what she wants, what she doesn't want, etc.

Last night she was having a hard time accepting it was time to eat dinner. She only wanted to be outside, to ride her pony, to go on a wagon ride, to go swimming, to blow bubbles, to get back in her stroller, to change her shirt, to wear socks, to take the socks off, to change her shoes, and to change her shoes again, etc. But eat dinner? Noooooo!

So I someone got her in her highchair despite her wishes, and I quickly offered her some white cheddar puffs to munch while I'd prepare her real dinner, which she later refused, by the way. Her daddy had come home by that point, and he offered her a slice of cheddar cheese to eat as well, which she happily took, waving it around in the air for a little while, threatening off and on to toss it down to the floor. My honey-man told her it was good and yummy cheese and to please eat it. She instead began slapping the cheese on her highchair tray, so, seeing she clearly wasn't interested in the cheese as food, he casually took it from her and gave it a nibble, immediately handing her the bitten slice back, again telling her the cheese is soooo good.

You would have thought he'd, I dunno, done something horribly, horribly wrong, like. She froze, cheese in hand, looking up at him. Her bottom lip shot out, her chin began to tremble and her eyes welled up with big, fat, enormous tears... In an alarmed, yet almost pleaded tone, about to burst into cascading tears, she croaked: "My cheese, mine...." She was just absolutely shocked and mortified that he had taken HER cheese and HE'D EATEN IT!?! I jumped in and told her it's such lovely, yummy, delicious cheese, don't you want to share it with daddy, right? And I asked her if she would please share a nibble of her cheese with mommie too. At first, she clutched her cheese slice to her chest, full on crying now. I told her I was sorry, and her daddy told her he was sorry he hadn't asked her first. After our apologies, she sniffed, smiled and enthusiastically offered me a bite of her slice. I then told her it was okay, she could keep her cheese all to herself, that "it's your cheese, yes," at which point, she full on stopped crying, broke into a smile and tore off a piece, waving it up at me, yelling "Eat, eat! Eat my cheese!", which I couldn't refuse. I leaned toward her and took a little bite with my own mouth and she was utterly delighted, breaking off another piece and another, wanting me to eat it all! And she offered her daddy some as well.

She's way too cute.

Uke!

My fingers are hurtin' from practice! Funny how typing this via Blackberry is bothersome to my tender fingertips, merely helping to hold this thing as I thumb-type!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 57

Because I could dye my hair mustard yellow and he'd still think I'm hot no matter, not that I'm looking to go "French's Classic Mustard" anytime soon or ever. Mustard yellow is the first extreme example to come to my mind in order to make the following point: My honey-man thinks I'm a tasty treat no matter what I do to myself, and although I do believe he's crazy, it's nice to know my honey-man loves me so much, his sense of attractive can contend with any awkward phase I might be going through...

I've been trying to grow my hair out since our sweet potato was born, and it'd reached a terribly awkward phase where there are 3 different layers of 3 different lengths growing and the hair has become long enough that the top layer weights it all down, discouraging any nice waves and all playful flipping action, instead, causing me to resemble a wet dog.

So, of course, I permed my own hair late last Friday night while my honey-man was pulling an all-nighter on a project. I sent him a text 'round 1am: "My new nickname: Curly"

I could look like a poodle and he'd tell me I'm cute --which I don't, I mean, I don't look like a poodle. The perm took very nicely- but he did have to brace himself until the following morning to see what I'd done.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 56

Because I woke this morning not only to the dulcet 'harp chords' of his iPhone's alarm clock, but thereafter, the tones of him playing the game 'blue block' on his iPhone in bed.

This Would Be The MASSIVE Post: PART I of II

Our baby girl is nearly 18 months old. On a daily basis she's doing and saying new things and she's just blowing my mind away with how fun and clever and sooo way CUTE she is. It's unbelievable how quickly she's picking up stuff. Over a month ago, she reached the point where we can ask her to say something and she'll valiantly give it her best effort to repeat the word.


A couple weeks ago, she began saying the following things with perfect clarity:
No way - - this one is absolutely adorable
Nope - - this one is equally absolutely adorable
Night-night - - this one is also equally absolutely adorable
Again please - - " "
Fruit leather - - " "
Well, actually, that last one is not yet spoken with perfect clarity, but I love it whenever she tries.
And what I love most is any and all unsolicited "Thank you Mommie"s - - Yes, this one, most of all, melts my heart to pure, utter gooey, lovey-dovey mush.

Over the summer she discovered Elmo - - Can I say Elmo is like baby crack! She adores Elmo, although she's only ever watched Sesame Street once while we were in Iowa visiting my parents. That and a YouTube video of Elmo singing his ABCs with the ever-so amazing India Arie. Yeah, I've shamelessly whipped that one out on my Blackberry a few times in order to save me from a couple public toddler-meltdowns. Elmo is magic! And the way she --or any toddler-- says his name is just pure cuteness!

My honey-man speaks French most of the time to our lil' chica unless others are around, and sometimes that'll include me, in that he'll speak English to her for my basic understanding as to what's going on. We've learned there are a few things for which she favors the French terms over English, like hat, singing, and whenever she asks to call someone on the phone. There's a lot more she's says in French, and we're certain there's a lot she's trying to say in French, but we haven't figured out all of it. And there's a number of other things she can say in French, but she'll prefer to say them in English. If she's dealing with her father though and I'm not around, she'll use her French. And of course there are still many times she's using certain sounds repeatedly, but neither of us can figure out what she's trying to say, English or French.

She loves it when I sing to her and it could be anything: The Beatles, Laurie Berkner, Bee Gees, Audioslave, anything! PLEASE NOTE: I am not a particularly good singer. At bedtime, there are a few select songs I'll sing to her without the music playing. With her little reading lamp on, we'll first sit and read three to six (or 10) different books, and thereafter, lights out, we'll sit rocking in her glider chair before I set her in her crib for sleepy time. In the dark, as I sing to her, she'll say either 'more' or 'again' a mere second or two before the song ends for me to continue singing. And sometimes when she's had enough, she'll tell me 'Bye' once I'm done with a song, which means she's ready to be laid down to sleep - - Although she now knows how to say Night-night and will say it, she always ends our goodnight hugs and kisses with 'bye', nonetheless. She could be totally drowsy and half asleep, but as I lay her down, she'll enthusiastically pipe up, 'Bye Mommie.'

Speaking of bedtimes... We've successfully pushed our sweet potato's bedtime to 7:30pm! Plus an occasional 8pm bedtime inserted here and there is now do-able without major consequences for everyone. Yes --finally-- getting her to bed later actually results in some time during our weekday mornings to get ready for work without our squealing, squawking, very hungry toddler underfoot as early as 5:30-6am-ish. And weekends now? By Friday night, she's beat after a long, busy week, just slaphappy tired, so she'll wake up Saturday morning around 7:30am, which is bliss for us compared to her 5:30am-6am wake up calls of only a couple months ago. Last weekend, she slept until an unheard of 9am! CORRECTION: Now I don't know how this slipped my mind, but she actually slept in until 10AM! Yup, miraculous!
However, if more than a couple late weeknights happen, we wind up having to wake her in the mornings in order for us to have her ready in time for us to leave for work. And she winds up very overtired; by Friday she'll be a noodle. Although she's general chipper as could be whether she wakes up on her own or not, no matter how cute and perky she is to see me standing above her crib, I don't like waking her. By the end of any weekday for which we've had to wake her in the morning, by dinnertime that day, she has to be in bed by 7pm, no later. She really needs her sleep.

On Saturdays for the last month, we fully expect hour lil' chica's afternoon nap to last for two n' a half hours, minimum, if not three full, long hours. And after a two-week long break from daycare in August, the Saturday afternoon nap has become sacred in our home. Without it, the rest of the weekend can be a bit of a challenge.

She really loves dress up. There's been several times I arrive at her daycare to take her home and although dress up play has ended over an hour ago, all put away, she'll still be wearing the fireman's jacket or the gardening boots. We dug out her Halloween costume from last year - a brightly colored dragon suit and we joked she was Smaug, since her big bro dressed as Frodo. So yeah, we have the dragon costume out and accessible and she loves to wear it, complete with clawed mittens and horned headgear. Although it fits for now, we're certain she'll be out of it before Halloween this year.

The record thus far for the longest amount of time she's kept her piggy-tails intact: 1 hour

She says her brother's name very clearly now, although she'll occasionally get a bit lazy about it and it'll sound more like she's saying 'babe.' So yeah, she'll ask for her brother and point him out in our family photos, shouting his name. And when he's on the phone, she'll call out his name, shortly followed by his step-dad's name - - she loves and adores the boy-O, but she loves his step-dad as well, almost like she's got a crush on him, no joke. Correction: She DOES have a crush on him. Sometimes she truly swoons over him, as if smitten. Well, and to be even more truthful, she just seems to generally like the guys. It's nothing we've either encouraged nor restricted in any way. She just really likes the boys. She'll be a bit shy, outright coy, and then next thing you know, she'll either go ahead and climb up into their lap or she'll ask to be picked up; she butters 'em right up. But women? She honestly doesn't warm to women as quickly as she does the boys. It's just a fact. We had a friend in town this weekend, someone she hasn't seen since she was 4 months old. By mid-evening, she was asking to sit in his lap and lounging on him as if he were her very own chaise.

Okay - I'm not done with this post... To be continued, yes. I've simply got to get myself to bed. I can't keep my eyes open any long due to the muscle relaxer I took two hours ago for my back which has been threatening to act out - - I'd thrown in out nearly a month ago is all, and I can't afford to throw it out again, not anytime soon. G'nighty night for now.

Total Ham: Watch Out!

This past Monday morning, I was a hormonal, totally imbalanced, rollercoastery mess of emotion... and today? I'm just high as a kite happy! Today, I'm totally dripping with sappy hamminess. Sooo, if you're not in a good position to happily handle me and all my bright, glowing sunshine, steer clear...it might be infectious!