Monday, May 24, 2010

Weekend recap

Elle had a blast playing with Olivia and was graced by unlimited refills at the tea party.

Thankfully it was imaginary tea, because Elle's unabashed posing for the camera meant her cup was not optimally positioned beneath Olivia's pot. Which is good because my hardwoods can only endure so much toddler love. Between the mega-Tesla magnetic pull that floor has on any sticky, slimy, or vibrantly staining substance and the recent discovery of a protruding nail on the bottom of one of my high heels, I'm starting to consider resurfacing the entire downstairs in astroturf. Or Brawny paper towels. Moral of the story? I need new shoes.



We also made a brief appearance at the pool, dodging torrential rainstorms interspersed with deceptively promising bouts of sunshine.

Elle had an opportunity to model her swimsuit, and scored off the charts in the categories of paleness, age-appropriate thigh rolls, and fashionable protrusion of swim diaper from the confines of one's suit. Extra points for uncanny ability to disrobe Mommy Janet-Jackson-style repeatedly during the short aqua adventure.

We did some housework.

Which, of course, meant that I cleaned up E's mess while she maintained a death grip on the broom/dustpan and sang at the top of her lungs the "Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Clean Up" song while perched on the couch. Apparently she has a very loose understanding of the word "everybody".

We tried (and failed) to get some video of E doing the adorable and supersmart things she does all the time until we try obtaining any sort of physical documentation. Typically she ends up with the camera and I'm lucky if I can find it at the end of the interaction.

Finally we continued our constant public service of ensuring that all household baby dolls have their diapers changed on a q30second schedule. An exorbitant amount of wipes, cream, and fanfare are inevitably involved.


Monday, May 17, 2010

Elle-isms

Over the last couple of weeks Elle has started talking in full sentences which has completley revolutionized her ability to communicate with us (for better or worse!). She is absolutely hilarious and we just roll in the floor laughing at some of the things she says. It also makes me realize how often I must say certain things that I hear her repeating-- e.g. "Here you go, Mama" when handing me something, and "Holy Cow!" when she sees her plate at Cici's Pizza or Moe's. I am completely amazed that she understands so much. I've said a thousand times I need to start writing down things she says, so here is a sampling of Elle-isms that I've recorded over the past 24 hours:

Baby lay down I need to change diaper (followed by forceful laying of baby down on changing mat)

Mommy strap da baby in (after I buckle her seatbelt thingy in the wagon, with baby sitting across in the other seat)

Sit up Baby! (when the above activity fails to hold Baby in an upright position)

Mama show Nanny da button (when Nanny gets to the page with light-up fireflies in the Bug Book)

Look baby, airplane! (Like her mother, E narrates life... most recently preceded by the statement "Look, Mama/Daddy/Sandy/Kelly/Baby, or my personal favorite, Look elephant, Peee-nuts!"

Medicine make Elle all better (this one brought tears to my eyes... after being such a trooper taking nasty medicine... such a trusting little one)

Baby chicken egg (no idea where this came from. I assume someone somewhere taught her that baby chickens come from eggs... that or this was a completely serendipitious combination of words)

Look Mama, no battery! (After looking at the bottom of many animated toys and me telling her that was "the battery", She picked up a simple plastic car and showed me the bottom. No battery! Seriously, Elle? Pretty clever.

And my favorite perfectly Elle comment: We were driving around downtown Gboro looking for Mellow Mushroom and E kept saying Pizza, Pizza!... Jay told her we'd be there in FIVE minutes, and to be patient, he'd tell her when it had been a minute. Well we got distracted looking at street numbers and we hear her pipe up from the backseat, "Daddy, been a minute!" Love. Love. Love this little smarty pants :-)

Sunday, May 9, 2010



Of all the years I've wondered what would make the perfect Mother's Day gift...


If only I'd known...

How any gift or card...

Could so pale in comparison...

To the flinging of these sweet toddler arms around my neck.

My, how the bearing of offspring changes everything. Happy Mother's Day!