"Mommy, I'm a Mess"

Lily and I had quite an evening in the kitchen tonight. We made a beef stew and cornbread for supper, and then we decided to bake a cake. (Okay, so it was from a box. We still baked it though....) After the cake came out of the over and cooled, we proceeded to frost it. After a base layer of white icing, Lily told me she wanted me to make a purple smiley face on the cake. We got out the food coloring and had a little lesson in colors. ("Mommy, I want purple." "We only have red, yellow, blue, and green. How do we make purple?" Etc....) After achieving purple frosting and making a satisfactory smiley face, we abandoned our post in the kitchen. About half an hour later, as I was giving Lauren a bottle, Lily calls out, "Mommy, I made a mess." Given that that's not a particularly unfamiliar phrase around our house, I didn't immediately spring into action. "What happened Lily?" I asked. The reply, "Mommy, I AM a mess!" came with a greater sense of urgency. "LOOK!" When I looked her direction, she was holding up her hands, which were a pine-tree shade of green. "Mommy, I just wanted to mix the colors," she said when she saw the particularly panicked look on my face.

Despite the excitement, everything turned out okay. No clothes were ruined, and the hands came clean after a super-long bath. Lily didn't get into too much trouble, but she knew she should have, especially since Mommy had explicitly told her not to touch the colors. This is one of those events that I wish I had pictures to share, but I didn't want to reinforce bad behavior by urging the little one to smile for the camera....

The Little Valentine Writer

It's a little bragging today.... Over the past couple of days, Lily wrote all of the Valentine cards for her classmates. She insisted on doing all of the cards herself, and she wouldn't let me do anything beyond tell her how to spell the names of her friends. While I was initially impressed that she wrote all of the cards herself, I was even more impressed when she came home from school with a stack of Valentine cards from her classmates -- cards all written and signed by Mommies (or Daddies). I'm proud of my little writer....

Lily Goes to the Dentist

Today was Lily's first visit to the dentist. I hate going to the dentist, so I wasn't too eager to take Lily (and I wasn't quite sure that I should be the parent to take her either for fear that my negativity would rub off on her). Anyway, I am pleased to report that Lily was a wonderful patient and checked out with no cavities! She had a lot of fun riding the "rocket chair" up to the bright light and playing with Mr. Thirsty (the little vacuum thing that sucks the spit out of your mouth). She let them count, clean, and floss her teeth before the dentist came in for the check-up. She didn't fight, squirm, squeal, kick, or anything like that; she was the perfect little patient. I'm just pleased that the whole thing seemed to be such a positive experience for her.

Mommy, How Do We Spell "Knees"?

Lily has been interested in spelling lately. (She's so interested in spelling that she's forfeited her bath toys the last two nights and opted to play "How do you spell ....?" instead.) She's had basic phonics mastered for quite some time, and she's recently moved on to spelling. When she asks how to spell a word, I generally sound the word out for her, letter by letter, and help her out how to spell it. That strategy generally works well, but not always.... By now she understands that U is Q's best friend and that there are some words that have a silent letter, usually an E at the end. However, she managed to pick a few of the words Mommy had been dreading tonight: "eyes," "knees," and "light." While I can explain a lot of the idiosyncrasies of the English language, how does one explain the silent K or the -GHT combination to a 3-year-old?

The Tall and the Short of It....

Lauren had a doctor's appointment last Friday. It was her 2 month appointment, and she checked out just fine. She clocked in at 11 lbs, 4 oz, which put her in the 60th percentile for weight, and at 24 1/4 inches, which put her in the 90th percentile for length/height.

Lily, measuring in at just under 37 inches, has never been anywhere near the 90th percentile for height; if I remember correctly, she's always been at the bottom of the chart for height. She's the shortest one in her class (by a couple of inches, I think), which also makes her the shortest kiddo in the whole school. I found out today that the preschool teacher had to bring in an extra step-stool just for Lily so she could reach the light switch in the bathroom. At this point, I'm just hoping that she doesn't get dwarfed by her sister too quickly....

Have You Seen Max??

Our second kitty, Max, is a bit of a pain. He's actually pretty sweet, but he's hyperactive and generally a little bit nuts. Jimmy thinks he acts more like a dog than a cat, and I'm inclined to agree; he carries Lily's stuffies all over the house, drinks out of the toilets, and terrorizes our other cat. Lily now calls him "that darn cat" (thanks, in part to both my mom and Miss Patti) and will also tell you that "Max is a pain." The second day after we got Max, Lily started sleeping with her door 'locked' (pulled shut all the way so the door knob latches) so that Max couldn't get in her room at night. She also can frequently be heard yelling "No Max!", and she's even learned how to operate the squirt bottle when needed. However, despite all the frustration that Max is, Lily still tells me, "I love my Maxie!"

And the picture.... I 'lost' Max the other day; see where I found him!

Mediocre Family Picture

Not the greatest picture in the world, but I think it's the first family picture we have now that there are four of us.... One was jet-lagged, one was about to start screaming, one was so excited to have Daddy back home, and I don't have an excuse. Anyway, it's us!!

Daddy at the Post Office

Closure isn't officially the end for Marienthal post office, but ... | The Hutchinson News:

Off to School

Lily started school today. She's in a 3-year-old preschool program, and she really seemed to enjoy her first day. She's been very excited about going to school, and she was a very happy and very excited little girl this morning. When we got to school she was a little scared, but she was a big girl and made it through the day with no tears. (And, just to let you know, Mommy made it through the day with no tears too.) When Lily returned from school, she was glad to fill me in with the details of the day....

These Boots Were Made for Walkin'

(Alternate blog title: "Who has big boots?")

Anyway, Lily decided to try on Daddy's boots today, and I had to snap a picture. Isn't this cute!!

"I Love Her Tiny Hands!"

Lily's been a wonderful big sister. She loves "our baby" and is very proud to tell everyone that she's the big sister. She's fascinated with how tiny Lauren and she often grabs her little fingers and exclaims, "I love her tiny hands!" Lily knows that her job is to listen for baby and tell Mommy when she hears baby crying. She's a good helper, and she loves her little sister.

The Moon

Lily's been fascinated with the moon and the things of the sky for quite some time now. She talks a lot about the shape of the moon, and sometimes she talks about going to the moon. Last night as we were driving home, Lily told me of her plans for visiting the moon. She explained, "I'm going to put on my butterfly wings and fly to the moon and bring the moon back and put it on the kitchen table for Mama." While there are clearly some problems with her 3-year-old logic, isn't this sweet!!

My Beautiful Girls

Vaccines

Like a good mommy, I've made sure my little ones have had the recommended immunizations so as to protect them from disease. Like a good mommy, my mommy made sure I had the recommended immunizations so as to protect me from disease.... Therefore, I was a bit taken aback when the hospital gave me the results from some of my blood tests: they found that I was rubella non-immune and pertussis non-immune. So, despite being vaccinated according to the CDC guidelines when I was a child, I have apparently been at risk for German Measles and whooping cough for who knows how long now. They gave me new MMR and DTP vaccines, but that doesn't do much for restoring confidence in the system....

Going Home

It's time to go home!! After 2 days in the hospital, I'm glad to be headed home. Lily has had a blast staying with Grammy and Grammy S. over the past few days and visiting Mommy in the hospital, but I think even she is ready to go home as well. While I generally don't let people take pictures of me in the hospital, I think I'm glad I made an exception this time....