Good morning

The first thing I heard this morning was "Mommy... you make my heart happy."  I don't know where A got this expression from, but I like it!  I'll take that over "good morning" any day. 

Just stay there and tell me I look beautiful

Ask and you shall receive.

Just a couple months ago, my daughter fell in love with dress-up. But with an older brother, her princess fantasies could not be realized with only batman, pirate, spiderman, fireman and superman costumes in the dress-up box.

Who knew a plethora of princess paraphernelia was on the way. Through a combination of garage sales, hand-me-downs from friends and merely one weak moment in the Target toy aisle, my daughter now owns 8 fancy princess dresses and three pink sparkly tutus. She is in heaven. The expression on her face after the dress is pulled down over her head is priceless every time. The dress transforms her. And in her toddler mind, she truly is a princess.

A garage sale also scored us a Barbie vanity table and bench with a light-up mirror for only $5 bucks! (I get a strange high at the thought of things being re-usable rather than landing in the landfill.) She has discovered that she can sit in front of the mirror and play out pretend stories (outloud - they are hilarious) for hours (well, actually like 30 minutes, but for uninterrupted toddler play that lets mommy get some work done, it feels like hours).

So here we are now with all these very frilly, very lacey, very poofy dresses and really no where to put them. Hung up, they take up half her closet and she can't reach them. In a box, they look careless and wrinkled. Alas, the closet-extender rods were found. I placed this gadget in her closet so the dress-up dresses could hang on a low rod that she could reach.

Being the organized girly-girl she is, A was very excited by the prospect of her most precious items being within reach. She helped pick up hangers for them and put them on the rod. Then stood back, looked at the dresses, tilted her head to the side and said "Hmmmm..." It was time to decide which one to wear to the ball.

She then launched into a pretending episode in which she was the mommy and I was the daughter. "Now, you put the dresses here. And you CAN'T wear those shoes outside, ok??" she demanded of me, echoing the jist of words I said earlier in the day as she wanted to wear her fancy pink polk-dotted patenleather shoes from grandma to play at the babysitter's this morning.

Still deciding which one to try on first, this very nearly 3-year-old walked into the closet and closed herself in to be alone with the dresses. I should note, it is not a walk-in closet. Maybe this is the way to choose an outfit; just pick one in the dark.

I was in the midst of cleaning the rest of her room and organizing the toys as she did this.
"A, don't lock yourself in the closet, honey, just bring the dress out here and I'll help you get it on," I say.

Still in her mommy-dictator-mode, A responded with "now you just stay there and tell me I look bootiful."

Those are some instructions I can live with.

In that simple, silly phrase, I see the basic core of what a daughter needs from her mom: to stick close-by (if not in sight) and provide unconditional support and love. Even when she just wants to sit by herself in the closet.

In my office

A and I hit the big community garage sale today. A bonanza of other people's trash gaining new life as treasures. Clothes piled two feet deep on tables and toys mounted on bleachers like a Little Tykes explosion. A very busy place with shoppers of all demographics sorting through to find the right size.

I grabbed shirts for Z, and scooped up 3T dresses for the winter and scored big on a new pink snow suit for A. She was patient in the stroller, actually singing "if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!" The other shoppers smiled. But she got restless in the toy area. "I want that!"

"What is 'that'?" I asked. "You've got to tell me the color or something, so I can find it."

"THAT!!" the still-two-year-old screams.

"Which one?" the frustrated mommy says as this ping-pong conversation goes on seven more times.

I finally figure out she means the very large pink plastic Barbie vanity table and bench at the end of the other aisle. "Huh," I say and we make our way over to it. "A, this is so big, how will I get it out of here and where would we even put this?" I ask.

"In my office!" she exclaims, and the moms nearby chuckle.

I consider it. My girly-girl would truly love pretending in front of this adorable pint-size piece of furniture. A hunk of plastic, I could consider this recycling too. The tag on it says $30, but this is "Bag Day" of the sale, which means whatever you can fit into a bag goes out the door for $5. It's too big for a bag, but they lowered the price to $5. Hmmm... sold! "In her office" it will go.





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Red Peppers

There are only 3 vegetables Z will eat. Red peppers happens to be one of them. (broccoli and carrots are the other two and these are sincerely the only healthy things this child will eat! But the food battles are for another post)

I had chopped up red pepper on the cutting board exposing the seedy inside. Z zipped past the counter and stopped mid-stride once he saw the pepper. "Look at all those seeds!" he screamed. "Mom you should plant those! We'd be the red pepper store then and sell them! We'd sell them for a million dollars each and be rich!"
Love his enthusiasm!

Z has been in to selling lately as his school fundraiser has come around. And very into learning what everything costs and how much he can afford with his occasional earned $1.00. He is even volunteering to vacuum the house every week so he can earn a dollar. He blows it on a dollar store type toy every time. We're working on the concept of saving so you can get something better.

And I will have to explain that red peppers do not cost a million dollars.

I can see for miles

This morning, Z woke me up by cuddling up next to me and asking "remember the big buildings around the place where I got the big bat?" The day before, we went to Taste of Cleveland, a downtown festival where a former client of mine, who runs the event, treated Z to any prize he wanted. It turned out to be a blow-up bat as tall as daddy. Hmmm.

I said "yeah, you mean all the buildings downtown?" "Yes," he said. "If we climbed all the way to the top of them, could we see grandma and papa's house?" so cute. They live in Cincinnati. "No, sweetie, they're too far away." "What if we climbed up the Eiffel Tower?" "Still don't think so," I said. "What about the tallest building in the whole world, one that goes all the way up to the moon?" "I don't think there is a building that tall, buddy. You could see their house if you were in a plane, maybe."

Love these observations as Z tries to understand distance and spatial differences.

Every Little Girl's Discovery

My 2.75 year old daughter took my hand and said "I have to show you something!"

I had just gotten back from a job interview for a position I absolutely did not want. It was far away, way beneath my skill level and in an old, cluttered, tiny office. What was worse, it was a difficult interview. The kind where they put you in an uncomfortable spot just because they can. And all the while I'm thinking... did you even look at my resume? I am beyond qualified for this. But I digress! I was in a bit of a mood and didn't really want to play around, but this was obviously important to little A, so I let her lead me in my suit to a corner of the dining room.

She stopped, looked and me and pointed to a large glass frame. With wide eyes, she said "Mommy, your dress!" There was her mommy in a real princess dress. It was the most amazing thing to her. I smiled, "Oh, yes, honey that was mommy and daddy's wedding day. You get to wear a very special dress when you get married." "When you get married?" she asked. "Will I get to wear one?" "Of course," I said. she couldn't contain her excitement. And thus the seed of every little girls dreams of weddings and beautiful white dresses was planted.

I got to tell her that I was saving my wedding dress for her and someday she could try it on. As these words were leaving my lips it actually occurred to me that - I am in fact saving my dress for her. I'd never really thought about it before. I have a daughter now who might actually want to wear it. That is about as cool as getting to pick out the dress for the first time. Granted, styles will change and more than likely she will want her own, but nonetheless. It felt like one of those incredible mother-daughter moments.

"Can I try it on now?" she asked. "No, honey, it's too big for you now." The dress has been in it's preservation box for 11 years. (Despite a tornado throwing it from my bedroom into the backyard - the box and dress stayed intact! But that's another story.) I look forward to a day when we will break it out of its preservation status and let it surround a real person again. For now, we'll enjoy looking at the pictures.

Night Walks

Z turns the sweet on when he's alone with you. The loud, boisterous, attention-seeking jabs subside and he becomes contemplative, charming and curious. When he asks for alone time with me, I try to make it happen so I can see this side of him. He wanted to take a walk just with me after dinner even though the sun was only an inch from being down. I told him I had to give A a bath and put her to bed first. And he waited patiently all the while.

We walked around the long J that our street makes, taking note of the sound of crickets and katydids that we didn't hear the last time we took a night walk to look for lightening bugs. We decided the lightening bugs had gone hibernating and the crickets took their place. I love the sound of August. We caught sight of the first star in the sky and made a wish. It didn't take long for Z to share it, even though he worried a little it might not come true. He can't keep any secrets. (I can't ever tell him what's inside the presents I buy for his friends.) He's already planning his Christmas and birthday gift list and he wished for a trampoline. A couple days ago, he decided he wanted the small circular trampoline you can fit in the basement. Today, that has graduated to a giant trampoline that would go in the back yard. I'm not sure how generous Santa will be able to be this year though.

Further along on the walk he asked "will I still live with you when I'm 21?" I said "yes, you'll be in college and will come home during the summer and for Christmas break." He said "how old are you?" I said 36. "And you'll stay 36 when I'm in college?" he asked. Ha, ha, I only wish that was how it worked. He said "Oh, that's right, you're getting older too, but not growing any bigger, right?" He has always had trouble with the concept that adults have birthdays and get older, but don't grow taller every year like kids do. He doesn't understand how Papa can be older than Daddy when Daddy is taller than Papa. Or how he is bigger than Owen but Owen is older. We have this discussion a lot. I love the mysterious ways a child's mind unravels concepts like this. How they get stuck on learning some basic ideas, and fly through an understanding of many more complex issues. And I especially like the concept of me staying 36 until he goes off to college. :o)

Sorry with the toes

Z is spending two whole weeks away seeing all the grandparents and cousins. It's been a lot more quiet around here and A misses her brother. But it's nice to just spend time with her and let her have the whole spotlight. Lord knows, Z doesn't let her have much of it most of the time. At age 2, she tends to say funnier things, so her comments fill most of these posts so far.

She wants to be a big girl now. Wants to do what she sees grown ups do. So she wanted to push me in the porch swing instead of the other way around. I was afraid it would knock her over completely. But I let her slowly push and watched her read the speed of the swing and figure out the distance she needed to stand away from it as it swung back at her. It bumped her plenty of times, but she was ready for it and loved being the big girl in charge of the swing. "Hold on tight!" she said, as I always say to her on the swing. It kind of made me wonder if she knows why I say that to her. You can't really fall out of a porch swing the way you can topple easily out of a pliant, rubber, swingset seat. My mommy fear sets in, can she feel how she needs to hold on when she's in that seat? We've just started swinging really high these days. Silly thoughts, of course she can.

She kept pushing the porch swing higher and higher and my toes bumped into side. She took it as her fault and wanted to be polite. She said "Sorry with the toes, mommy!" so precious.

Morning Cuteness

This morning A woke up and I could hear her chatting away to herself in her crib. She called to get out. I walked into her still dark room (the dark blue drapes are a great thing in the summer to keep the sun from waking her up!) The first thing she said to me as I reached down to pick her up was "I only have one mommy." Awwww! That's right, baby, you do.

Yesterday, her first words to me were "Why are your eyes open?" Which is funny, because many times she wakes up way too early, or just haven't gotten enough sleep that night. And I walk into her room still groggy and eyes half open. I pick her up and we go snuggle back in my big bed for a few minutes until I can fully wake up. Or until she starts whining for TV or breakfast. Which is usually 30 seconds after I close my eyes again.

barefoot

A's shoe slipped half off and she gave a little 2-year-old trying to be 13-year-old sigh in irritation as she struggled to get it back on. Then she realized something and kicked it off completel. "I don't need shoes!" she giggled. An hour later she's on the old deck boards and Daddy's big rule is no barefeet on the deck. Seeing her shuffle around the boards and foreshadowing an evening of wrestling a splinter out of a tiny foot he said "A, this is why you need to have shoes on." She confidently replied "I just have my FEET ON, daddy, ok?!"

The Princess has Arrived

Having had a boy first, I was really surprised by how early the feminine traits emerged in my daughter. I kind of figured all kids behaved in more or less the same way as infants and toddlers. They can hardly speak, how do they know if they're a boy or a girl? Wouldn't it take a while for them to understand gender differences and show certain preferences? Apparantly not!

My daughter loved to be held. She spent much of her first year as an accessory to my left hip. I have the unbalanced back pain on my left side to prove it. She would ride there and observe the world as though on a chariot. I'm not a big jewelry person, or at least not since having kids. But I do always have earrings in. Ash would stare at my earrings in amazement. She couldn't take her eyes off the occasional necklace. You might say babies just like shiny things, but her interest in the feminine jewelry and in watching me do my makeup struck me, because my son never showed any interest in either of those things at that tiny age.

At about age 2, Ash declared all must be pink. I'm not the kind of mom who dresses her in only pink, so I don't know where this came from. I actually prefer her in dark blue to match her eyes. But for quite a spell, she would not wear it if it wasn't pink. Then came the dress fetish. We're still in that today. I used to save dresses for special occasions, maybe events where there wouldn't be a need to run outside with exposed legs or things to climb and show off the diaper - events which are few when you're 2. But Oh no. We must wear a dress EVERY day now. Half way through the day, she often finds it's time for an outfit change just so she can twirl around in a different dress. I personally NEVER wear dresses. I think Ash may have seen me in one twice in her life. Again, I am struck by how this baby is emerging into such a feminine being.

But I truly knew I was living with a girly girl when she pronounced herself a princess. We were talking about how her brother Z is a boy and she is a girl. And she said "No, Mommy, I'm a princess!" And so she is.

In the past couple months, she has learned the names of many of the famous Disney princesses as she studies the faces on her PJs. She hasn't mastered the word "white" however and calls Snow White - Snow Wipe! Her favorite is Sleeping Beauty, or as she calls her - Beauty Sleeping. I bought her a wind up toy that displays the princesses dancing around to Nutcracker music. Just a silly thing from a garage sale. But oh my goodness. She shooed everyone away, took that toy in another room and sat down and watched in wide-eyed wonder, then began dancing around herself.

Between the jewelry, dresses and dancing, she'll be ready for the ball in no time.

Friend

My 2 1/2 year old melted my heart the other day. Her big brother was at camp. Just she and I in the kitchen after lunch. I was at the sink washing dishes. It was completely quiet. (Again, her brother wasn't there!) Out of no where she turned around in her chair, paused to look at me and said "you're my friend." It was so sincere and innocently pronounced. Like she had just been thinking about what a friend was and who her friends were. I'm so honored that she feels that way about her mommy. I gave her a giant hug and told her she's my friend too. She then told Cheeto that he was her friend too. Cheeto is our cat. I'm still holding on to our precious moment anyway!

Plumb the car

"I'm going to go plumb your car then!"

Z screamed this out in some random attempt to fix the car ... which isn't broken in any way incidentally. I had told him that today a friend's grandma would pick him up from camp. This was somehow unacceptable to him, and begged me to pick him up instead. I think he understood it that our car was broken and needed to be fixed.

Guess What the Kids Said Today

I have started this blog to remember the silly, smart, hilarious, charming and genuine things our kids say. Years from now, I know it will be nearly impossible to remember how adorable they put words together when they were so little and just learning about the world. I've made it a blog to share with family, friends, etc., and to keep a place for them to visit when they're older to have a glimpse of themselves at a young, precious, innocent age.

My son Z is 6 years old and has a very big, outgoing personality. He tells it like it is, and unfortunately, has not yet learned how to censor himself. In a crowd, he is a sarcastic, cartoon clown in search of an audience. One on one, a sweet, inquisitive little boy offering a unique understanding and perspective. I will try to feature both sides here!

A, my 2.5 year old daughter, is just beginning to declare her independence in a strong way. While still a sweet baby girl with many needs one minute, she will be determined and self-sufficient the next. Her vocabulary increases daily and the way she puts words together to express herself is innocently endearing.