Our Girls

Pat (our beloved daycare provider) uses the term "Holy cow!" a bunch in her everyday conversations with the kids. Here is our child's interpretation of that phrase: Pat: Holy cow it is snowing out side! Our child: That's funny! Holy PIG Pat!

Last night our 2 year old was invited to a party. She had been looking forward to it all week and had talked about it non-stop the day she was supposed to actually go. Mommy kept telling her when it is dark outside then you get to go. About an hour before sunset, she spiked a 103 degree fever. She didn't feel good at all. However, she STILL wanted to go to the party. (Can you blame her?) So we told her the party was canceled but she was going to have a party here at our house. It took lots of convincing that Mommy and Daddy were going to be as much fun as her friends, but I think we finally won her over on the idea. She asked to get out party plates and napkins (luckily I had those on hand), she wanted spaghetti for supper, and ice cream for dessert. Then she wanted to watch movies. What a great party! About half way through dinner she asked why we were having a party. I told her it was just party time. She then announced it was BT's birthday. He wanted cookies for dessert inst...

Mommy went in for her ultrasound a few days ago and the doctor told her and daddy that they were going to have another baby GIRL! Mommy is still feeling great (but she's wondering how long this can last). And the baby, as far as the doctors could tell, is healthy. Which is what mommy and daddy were hoping for:)

Daddy came home from work the other day after our baby and Mommy had been home alone all day playing. He found his princess wearing a tutu, Elmo underwear (no pants or shorts), green swim shoes, and her favorite Donald Duck t-shirt. Oh yeah, and sun glasses too...just in case it got too bright in the house. She had dressed herself and wanted to take a walk around the block:) The walk did happen...but only after she agreed to put on some pants under her tutu. Daddy is so strict on some rules!

At the first house, Donald Duck didn't really know what to make of the whole "trick-or-treating" business. The Duck was a little cautious, a little hesitant. However, it helped that the first house we went to was our next door neighbor who said: "You can't take only one piece of candy, you're our favorite in the neighborhood!" And then our neighbor proceeded to shovel candy into Donald Duck's pumpkin. The Duck may have been hesitant, but she's not slow. At the next house it was a cheery trick or treat and a hoisting of her pumpkin toward the candy bowl. Between houses we were treated to choruses of an impromptu musical composition: Donald Duck, Don-ald Duck, Donaldduck. It's true, our Girl was dressed as Donald Duck and making up songs whose only lyrics were the words Donald and Duck. It's fair to say that she hit her Halloween stride. As we visited house after house, the "Trick or treat" became unprompted and eventually she add...

This video says it all...

Last night I was taking Our Girl up to bed when she had this to say: "Daddy, BT is lost. He's in the house somewhere, but I just don't know where he is." I then proceeded to bound up the steps and turn on all the lights in the house. This incident was only slightly less creepy than when Our Girl was in the tub and said, "I can hear BT coming up the stairs." BT freaks me out.

That's right! Our Girl is going to be a big sister. Mommy's due date is March 18th. We have scheduled a c-section for that morning. All is well with Mommy and the new baby. Our Girl does not know of the development yet (it's too far in advance)...but Mommy and Daddy can't wait to tell her the news.

Friday: Picture it, Rock Bridge State Park. Mommy, Daddy and Our Girl walk the trail toward the Devil's Icebox (that's the name of a cave by the way). On a wooden railing next to the trail they spy the following: A white, fuzzy caterpillar. Our Girl stops and gently touches the caterpillar and says the following with a fully straight face: "Mommy, look it's so wonderful." A few seconds later she says "It's GORGEOUS!" Now, having seen this caterpillar with my own eyes I could have used several adjectives to describe it. Personally, I would have stopped with white and fuzzy. But at any rate I would never have reached for "gorgeous" to describe a many-legged, black-mouthed insect. Clearly my Girl and I do not share the same view point with respect to bugs. SATURDAY: Our Girl made several mentions of B.T. You may ask what BT is. We would like to know too. BT is apparently a figment of our girl's imagination. Let me tell you what we know abo...

Our girl's aunt and uncle went out for a night on the town. This lead to that rare and momentous occasion: cousins sleep-over! That's right, two two-year-olds, one precocious six-year-old, a frog, two babies and a bear ALL nestled snug in their sleeping bags for a long autumn's nap. Everyone went to sleep, everyone was happy and ultimately the world may never be the same again.

If it's October, it's Pumpkin Fest. Our Girl, Grammy, Gramps, Mommy, Daddy and about 40,000 of their closest friends descended upon Hartsburg for the rite of fall. Our Girl was practically perfect and hit all of the Pumpkin fest traditions. There was the obligatory picture in the pumpkin patch with steroidally large gourds. There was the eating of the Pork Kabob. She took a nose-first dive into pumpkin parfait. She dominated Hartsburg. Above is a picture of Our Girl in the pumpkin patch - this is the first time in her life that she has actually smiled for the Pumpkin Patch Picture. It's a Pumpkin Festivus Miracle! Things always tend to get a bit out of hand in Hartsburg. This year was no exception. Our Girl got a new blue bracelet, which excited her to no end. Why you ask? Because it's blue. Anything blue will do. As she says: blue is my favorite! Hard to argue. But the bracelet was not nearly enough. She also got (as a gift from her Grammy - to Mommy's delight and...

Here is our girl with her cousin. She LOVES to swing.

Our baby has been talking about stoplights recently. She knows what all the colors mean:) and is always willing to help us drive... Baby: Mommy, light is green. Green means go. GO! Mommy: I can't go quite yet, there is a car in front of me. If I go I will bump into him. Baby: That's ok. Green means GO! GO! (getting more and more impatient) Mommy: Just wait a moment. Baby: It's not yellow. Yellow means slow. It is green. Tell that car IT'S GREEN! And then we went. And she was happy. Sometimes I wonder why we teach her these things:)

Here is our girl enjoying a little gymnastics:) She jumps in the ball pit over and over again. At one station she has to stomp on the "stomper" to make the frog jump. And here she is jumping on the trampoline. At Tumble Bee's she has to do rings, bars, and beam too. Each 30 minute lesson is a new something:)

Mommy: (driving home from child care real slow because she saw the deer ahead) Hey babe! Look at that deer crossing the road! Our girl: It's not a deer mommy. No, probably not. It's a kangaroo. (And that would make sense to her. Of course. Everyone knows there are tons of wild kangaroo's in Missouri:) On her behalf, it did sort of hop across the street. And just so everyone knows, I replied:) Mommy: No, I don't think so. I am pretty sure that was a deer. Our girl: I don't think so either. It's a kangaroo. Let's look for more!

Today... Mommy: Hey, look up in the sky (the moon was really large and bright) Our girl: Mommy, It's a meatball! Yesterday... Our girl: Look up Mommy! Mommy: Oh my! (seeing a clouded sky with the sun shining through) Our girl: Yeah, someone turned on all the lights up there.

Mommy: I have that silly Elmo song stuck in my head and it won't come out! Our girl: Your head hurt? Let me kiss it. All better? Mommy: Sure:)

Our girl recently attended her second-cousin Tara's wedding. She was completely taken with Tara in her big white poofy dress. "Mommy, is she a real princess?" To which I responded, "of course!". She partied until ten that night...much later than she normally stays up:) What a fun night!

Car rides will never be the same with Andrew and I. We ALWAYS listen to her music...and lately we have been listening to her sing her music. And she sings entire songs! I know that she doesn't get every word correct, but Mommy still thinks it's pretty good for a just-turned-2-year-old.

Our girl is nothing if not precise. Aunt Mary gave Our Girl some Sesame Street stickers (say that five times fast) after we'd gotten home from our trip to Chicago. If she loves anything as much as the Wiggles (or the Li'l People or the Veggie Tales) it is Sesame Street. When I went to get her out of the car after our trip she was narrating everything on the sticker sheet. Quoth the Precious Girl: "And that's Elmo...And that, and that, and that's Ernie Daddy!" Quoth the Daddy: "Uh-Huh." PG: And there's Grover Daddy! D: O-kay And then after some consideration this- PG: Actually .... that's Cookie Monster. Yah, actually that's Cookie Monster. And this makes perfect sense because that blue monster actually had exploded cookie all over him, but more to the point who other than Our Girl cares enough to make the correction. Actually...

This is a video of Our Girl getting ready to Wiggle. On Tuesday night we traveled to St. Louis to watch the Wiggles perform live:) Our girl was so excited that she couldn't even nap on the way over. She slept a total of 30 minutes and then woke saying "Are the Wiggles ready?" For the first 15 minutes of the show she didn't move. She sat. She watched. She didn't dance, clap, or sing. She was just in awe. Then all of the sudden it hit her that she was REALLY watching the REAL Wiggles. She started waving with both hands saying "HI WIGGLES!" "I SEE THE BLUE WIGGLE, I SEE WAGS"...etc. And from then on we couldn't contain her. She danced, clapped and sang right along with the Wiggles. It was well worth the trip to the Lou. After the show we met up with Uncle Nate and Chaela and they took us to Old Spegettii Factory. Dinner was delicious. And to top it off, they had a guy making balloon animals. Our girl had never seen such a sight:) Our baby want...

Ever mix corn starch and water???? If you have never tried it, you need to go to your kitchen right now and experiment with "Goop!". Our baby and her father had a blast digging their hands into the mixture. Mommy managed to stay quite clean (until on the way to the bath). I brought the red tray out for them to dump some of it onto...Our baby had other ideas of what the tray was good for:)

Our baby went to her first party all by herself last week. It was an overnight sleepover at her babysitters house (our baby just went during the evening part of the party- no sleepovers yet). The party was cowboy themed and she LOVED it. She learned cowboy songs, ate out of a tin plate (beans and hot-dogs) and rode on "ponies" (see picture below).

Sometimes our baby gets in a funny mood and shortens her words so that they don't make sense. She thinks it's HILARIOUS! I think she's kinda weird sometimes...must be the Andrew part in her coming out:) Today she said: Mommy, I want more MMMMMMM. Me: You want what??? Baby: MMMMMM in the CUUUUUUUU Me: I don't understand you. What do you want? Baby: (Laughing so hard she doubles over) I want MMMMMM in the CUUUUUUU I went to tickle her and then we went on playing little people for about 10 minutes. Then she says "Where's my milk in the cup?" I told her that she never asked for milk in the cup. So Silly!

Conversation with my baby today: Calm Mother: You are kinda grouchy today...what's wrong? Yelling Baby: I OSCAR THE GROUCH!!!!!!!!!! (and then she ran away) I guess some days are just like that.

Go TIGERS! She's in the BIG RED CAR:) (Wiggles anyone???) Enjoying her snack. Telling mommy a story.

It is no secret that our Girl loves to sing. She sings in the car, in her bed, to her babies - in the grocery store. I get some weird looks from other shoppers when Our Girl breaks into a chorus of "Elmo's Song" (This is the song la la la la/Elmo's song). Tonight we were eating supper when one of her Little People Cds was playing. Down by the Station came on. Naturally she began singing: Down by the station early in the morning see the little pufferbellies (it is achingly cute the way she says pufferbellies) all in a row. Then she says (skipping a few lines in the song to what is I guess the "good part") PUFF PUFF TOOT TOOT OFF we GOOOOOO. She turns to me beaming- keep in mind her face is full of peach juice - and says, " Daddy that's my FAVORITE SONG." I didn't realize she had a favorite. To me they were pretty much all mildly to severely annoying. But THAT is her Favorite Song. She cracks me up.

We finish supper. A treat was promised if Our Girl ate all the veggies on her plate. She came through and so the treat was some of Andrew's leftover birthday pie. She loved it. She smeared chocolate cream all over her cheeks. She squealed in delight. It was almost too much for her. Then after the pie was all said and done, she turns slyly and says "Now... I want some cake!" I mean this Pie thing was all well and good, but seriously Mom and Dad I know you're holding out on me - and I demand to see the chocolate cake. These are my demands. Unfortunately for Our Girl, we do not negotiate with Dessert Terrorists. There were some tense negotiations and then the pie-faced giver of ultimatums was hauled off into the tub. Alls well that ends well.

Every morning I do our baby's hair while she brushes her teeth. I tell her what color hair bow to find and she picks it out of the drawer. It is a routine that really works for us:) One day, I was fooling around and made her hair stand straight up. I told her to look in the mirror and she busted out laughing. I have never seen her laugh as hard as she did for this silly trick. I left the bathroom to go get the camera and when I came back she asked (her favorite question lately) "How'd you do that?" I told her I just put water on it and it spiked up. It apparently wasn't as funny when I told her how easy it was to do. She said "oh". And that was it. She went from a 10 on a laughter scale down to a 0 in just 30 seconds. Obviously I missed taking the pictures of the hilariously laughing baby and got the serious baby instead. Oh well.

Our baby made quite a splash at her cousin Steven's High School Graduation party! Aunt Nancy was walking her around in the backyard when our baby decided it was a good idea to throw her toy frog into the pond. Aunt Nancy laughed, got the frog out, and let her do it again and again. Then all of the sudden, our baby went head first diving into the pond. Aunt Nancy claims she "saved her life" by pulling her out...way to go Aunt Nancy:) Our baby was soaked from head to toe and was the topic of discussion for the rest of the evening. Needless to say, Aunt Nancy was not put in charge of watching our baby near the pond again.

So our baby is officially a toddler. She turned 2 last weekend and we celebrated in "ducky" style. Along with some of her best friends and cousins, she played "Pin the Beak on the Duck", "Throw the Duck Into the Pond" (a wet sponge made a mark on the blue pond), and we went on a duck egg hunt. We ate ducky cake and ducky ice-cream. When everyone sang Happy Birthday she clapped! And then said "AGAIN!". So of course, everyone sang again:) She also got some great gifts! We have been playing with them all week! Thanks everybody!

Our baby is learning to use the big girl potty. It is very exciting news here around our house. I had 2 weeks off and decided it was time. She continually told me (back when she wore diapers) "Mommy, I'm going to poop on the stairs" or "Mommy, I'm going to poop on the couch", meaning she was going in her diaper on the stairs or on the couch. I figured if she could tell me before she was going, I was going to pick the location of her poop:) And so potty training began...and is almost complete. We still have about one accident a day. But for the most part, she tells me ahead of time and we try to make it to the potty. She is also waking up dry at night and after naps. VERY EXCITING! Yesterday when she woke up and went to the bathroom, she did her normal clapping and yelling "Yeah!". Andrew did his clapping and yelling too (like she instructs us to do). Then she turned to Andrew and said "Daddy, say I'm so proud of you!". Andrew and I f...

Our big girl: Our baby went to her first day of daycare (she calls it school) today. We had been to visit several times before so she was familiar with the kids and Miss Pat. Jessica held it together during the drop off period, but then cried in the car talking to Andrew about how "she just went right in and didn't even care that I left!". She had a WONDERFUL day. In answer to my question: What did you do today? She replied: Slide! Swing! Rock the babies! Brush my teeth! Play with Riley and Payton! Go night-night with Frog. Eat broccoli and turkey and cheese. I know that all she said was true because Miss Pat sent home an album of pictures of her first day starting with breakfast, brushing teeth, eating broccoli for lunch, etc. Again, I cried while looking through it. I just love that Miss Pat right now:) She made my baby have a wonderful first day in a daycare setting. It means the world to me to know that she is well taken care of and that she is having fun while I...

Our baby woke this morning with 101 fever. We gave her some Motrin and she was ready to roll (for a couple of hours), but then the fever came back. It shot up to 104 and was only reduced by both Tylenol and Motrin along with a cold bath. She kept asking for "more hot water please!". I felt so bad...but it had to be done. She followed her afternoon bath with a 4 1/2 hour long nap. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Ok, so we have been busy lately...but there really is no excuse this time for the lack of posting. So here I go. Hopefully I'll get you all caught up in the next week or so:) We went over to our friends home tonight and had a blast. Our baby enjoyed the dog "Lady". It wore her out playing with him. She also played in the pool with Jonah. It was tons of fun:) Best buds! Thanks Tracy for the cool pics:)

Today was a beautiful sunny day, so we spent most of it outside. Andrew and I were anxious to try out the new sprinkler to see if she liked it or not. It was such a huge success that we filled the pool too and let her splash some more. She should sleep well tonight:)