Bath Time Shenanigans

The goggles and floaties getup in the bath is completely her own doing....

Big Girl!

Awww... Brushing her teeth all by her little self. Of course, Mommie still gets to "take a turn" when she's done!
And not such a big girl to let that paci out of her death grip. "Bah" is still very much a part of her sleep cycle. We never could figure out the name "Bah" aside from the rationale that her bottles were BahBahs, so the pacis were an abbreviated Bah. The dependency will be gone by her third birthday, or by the time she first goes to the dentist, whichever comes first. Oh yes, it will. It's funny because we always have the talks about how she's not a baby anymore and that we should box all the Bahs up and send them to babies who need them. In Africa. Don't know why I chose Africa, but now every time she hears something about Africa in conversation or on the news she says "Africa is where the babies are...the babies who need the bahs..." She certainly gets the concept that she's not a baby, and that bahs are for babies, and that Mommie and Daddy are willing to get her a special big girl gift if she gives them up, but they've been such a comfort to her since day one (literally, before we left the hospital) that I hate to yank them before she's ready. I'm a pushover, yes!

Next challenge... toilet training! I'll be the one on the beach next week reading the toilet training survival guide. If I finish the current novel I'm engrossed in...

Kids TV can be curious...

So I find myself watching "Wonder Pets" with the girl on Nick Jr. this morning while C & C Music Factory's "Things that make you go hmmmm..." streams through the soundtrack in my head.


Her Fussiness this morning wailed "turn that news show OFF" at me (that news show being the Today Show, which can hardly be called news when I hear Meredith Viera say "but first, the nasty custody battle between Britney & K. Fed...") so I flipped to Curious George and I got "NO, I don't want JORGE!" so I flipped to Higglytown Heroes and got "no HEEEEGGLYTOWN!!!!" so I finally landed on the aforementioned Wonder Pets.


This is a new one to me. The wonder pets are apparently a classroom hamster, duckling and turtle who learn in every segment that they can help another animal in need by teamwork!! There's an original feel good concept for you. And they sing their way through their adventures. It's really quite compelling. The segment I caught this morning involved helping a puppy who had to go pee but couldn't get outside because he was alone in the house. After several rounds of "pee pee, tinkle, wee wee...everyone has to go sometime..." the wonder pets discover that the puppy has a doggy door and he just doesn't know how to use it yet. By the time they get puppy's confidence up and teach him how to use the door, our three heroes have decided that all this pee pee talk has made them have to pee as well so the four squat happily in different parts of the yard. Once they've taken care to wash their hands and expressed their relief, Hamster whatshisname says "this calls for celery" and whips a stalk out to share with his friends and Ming Ming the duckling accepts her share and says "mmmmm....celewee's great after a nice pee pee." And it's at this point that I scratch my head and go huh?? Anyway...the girl was mesmerized enough to allow me to get her dressed and ready for school, so it served its purpose I guess!

Trying to tell us something...

So between her friend Henry welcoming a baby sister this weekend (congrats Em & Matt!) and her teacher Miss Tahina about to go on maternity leave with her first child due August 4, Leila has become a bit fixated on women having babies in their tummies and has been announcing regularly that "I'm going to have a baby brother next year" (she decided upon the gender on her own!) And here she is as we got ready for school last Friday putting one of her babies in her tummy. I did not stage these shots in the least, they were all her doing.

And that baby would be called "Cat in the Hat Name." It's beyond me too! One recent day she started calling one baby by the name Abbie and one by the name Zoe. I asked her what this third baby was named and she looked around her room while she said "ummmm.." then focused on a Cat in the Hat stuffed animal and said "that baby is Cat in the Hat Name." And she continues to call the three by "Abbie, Zoe and Cat in the Hat Name."

The Girl

My daughter consumed an entire fillet of Mahi-Mahi last night. She's 27 months old. I'm quite sure that at just over 2 years old, if I was consuming any fish whatsoever it was of the breaded stick variety. Not that there's anything wrong with fish sticks - I often sneak them in and when she asks if she's eating chicken I just smile and nod. It is sooooo...nice to have her eat what we eat most nights though and to not have to be a short-order chef.

Leila's Weekend Cnt'd

As evidenced below, the swim class pics taken through glass without a flash are a blurry mess, so here's one of the child demonstrating her technique (or just modeling!) atop her toy chest.
Is Cesar expecting our second child? My cooking does not get credit for that (though the TJ's rack of lamb, soy ginger carrots and couscous did turn out delectable last night), and the man generally eschews beer, so we'll just say the water encouraged some muscle relaxation ; )
We're looking very serious about our aquatic studies here!
This is the closest we got to any fireworks Saturday night and I, for one, am in favor of her cautiousness.

Ahhh...that independent toddler streak

So during the week, Leila and I really don't have too many World War Wardrobe conflicts because, lucky for me, the child wears a uniform. Our choices are limited to red or blue, shorts or dress, pink crocs or red crocs (and yes, the pink crocs are more often than not selected to go with the red uniforms.) With those limited options in place, her choice of personal expression is now manifesting itself in the form of hair style/accessories. I think I may have to go to remedial hair school, or steal some dolls to practice on while she sleeps, since my own personal grooming ritual is wash, condition, and scrunch a bit of matte product into my hair so it dries au natural into something sometimes resembling waves. Anyway...to date, I've gotten away with slapping a color-coordinated plastic barrette onto each side of Leila's head to keep her hair off her face. Every day this week though, she's come home with a cuter and cuter 'do by Miss Sara - in our brutally humid days this week, the kiddos have had less outdoors and more multi-room time, so the girls have all been going her lap to get their hair done. She even had two french braids down the side one day and looked like an absolute doll. I tried to take a little more effort this morning and got her hair into pigtails with carefully selected red bows only to have those bows ripped out in a fit of toddler rage to be replaced with the elastics she'd selected that matched neither each other, nor her red uniform. Oh well. If this is our biggest conflict of the day I guess we're doing OK.

Funny (odd?) Child

No need to continue supporting the "Kindie-Rock" industry in our household. After Leila's bath last night, she was wailing away for me to "put the Rolling Stones on Mommie!!!" I could barely get her arms through her PJ top before she threw an all out fit for the 40 Licks disc that I need to return to Floyd one of these days. Funny thing is, by the time she's of an appropriate age to go to a concert, we can probably make her first show a Stones concert. Ancient as they are, the show I saw nearly 10 years ago probably ranks in the top 5 shows I've seen in my lifetime (if I only count the 4 Dylan shows I've seen once!)


And to top that off...Once I got her in her crib, after my finest singing along to "Beast of Burden" between Richard Scarey stories, she bounced up and down on her mattress shaking her upper body from side to side and said "I want to do Shakira Shakira." One chorus of "Hips don't Lie" knocked her out for the evening.

I think this is the picture for the father's day card. I'd forgotten how fun it was to clomp around in daddy's or mommie's shoes...Whilst shoving gummy candy into our mouth of course.





Or we could go with this one, but the dad's surfer girl tee is somewhat obstructed by our handle bars.

And just for good measure, let's demonstrate how good we're becoming at imaginative play. I love that each member of the potato family - mommie (the bunny - she brings her to me and says "here's you mommie"), daddy and Leila - gets their own serving of craisins.

Happy belated birthday to Leila. Yes, it is stunning, but she is two! years! old! As of yesterday. And she gives us daily previews as to what life will be like with her as a teenager. But she is a genius and an angel and we do love her so. I still question my mothering abilities daily. I can't even manage to get a splinter out of her hand currently. And yet. I was frosting cupcakes for day care at 11:00 Monday (after missing most of 24 to bake them.) That has to count for something right??