Pump it Up!

Anyone take her toddler to the park and stand behind her while she's in the swing and imagine hours passing while she pushes? (Raises hand. Me, me!)

BigM looooves to swing. Loves it. Could completely forgo the slide or the wide open space to run or the climbing wall. Yes, she'd trade it all for swinging. Her love affair began when she was a teeny bitty baby, when Pop put the Little Tykes swing on the Old Oak tree in front of his house. I am confident that some of her favorite memories of her Pop will be swinging in their front yard. Anytime we visit the in-laws, no matter what time it is or if it is even light outside, the first thing out of her mouth when we pull in the driveway: "Is Pop dere? Tan he sweeng me?"

One of the biggest selling points of our new house is the park across the street (not the walk-in shower or the granite countertops or the massive front porch, although those things are an awesome bonus.) We hit the park at least once a day. This morning, BigM popped herself up in the swing- a first! and started pumping her legs. She was swinging all by herself!

It was so cute to watch- and I am so excited for her because she was so excited. Although I'm a little concerned that the muscle tone in my arms is going to suffer a little bit since I won't be pushing her anymore.

But I'm sure I'll be pushing LM soon, she likes to swing just as much as her older sister. Wonder who I need to talk to about getting her a bucket swing at the park...

Swimming

I took the girls swimming yesterday. It was entirely uneventful and I didn't take any pictures, but we had fun and it was LM's first time in the pool, so I wanted to blog about it. (If the previous counts as blogging about it, then I did it.)

Three's Company

BigM turned 3 last Friday. We began the celebration with a party at her school on Thursday. She cried like a baby when I got there and said she didn't want to eat the super awesome beautiful Ice Cream Cone cupcakes I slaved over for hours for her little three year old friends. Someday she will appreciate them, maybe. (Maybe when she is making cupcakes for her own mouse's bday party? That's when I tend to appreciate my mom the most.) She bawled and said she wanted to go home. (I told her, It's your party and you can cry if you want to. Anyone surprised?)

On her actual birthday, we went to our old house to get a load of junk (I mean, stuff to crowd my basement) so she got to see Sassy and get a new sticker book. We came home and went to Chick-fil-a (her choice, and no, she did not get a #4) for dinner. Playing on the playground trumped an Ice Dream cone, but a random lady in the kids area gave her a dollar just because she is so cute. (Yes, she is so cute.) For a second I thought she was passing out candy and I almost yelled out, "Stranger Danger!" Luckily I held my tongue and I profited a little for it.

Fast forward to yesterday, her actual birthday party. At her request, we had a ballerina party. For the last nine months, I have been listening to the description of her party- "I'm doing to hab a pee-ada [pinata, for those who don't speak BigM] and iss goin to be siwver wif a widdle bit of bwue and orange on it, shaped wike a square. And I want to hab my party at Lolli and Pop's house."

Ten days before the party, she tells me in the car she wants to have a ballerina party. (Good thing I was a slacker and hadn't mailed out the invites yet.) And that greatly limited our guest list, since our only friends here are boys. She still doesn't understand why they wouldn't want to come to a ballerina party but hey, it made it easy on me to have a family only party.

The highlight of the afternoon was not the elaborately decorated table set for tea, or the fabulous home made flower birthday cake (which actually did not taste very fabulous, but it did look good...) no, the afternoon could not get better after BigM donned not one, but at least three of her brand new dress up outfits, complete with lace up shoes, tiara, feathered purse, 6 bracelets, a headband and puffy arm thingies- did I forget to mention the fairy wings?

Imagine that (if your brain doesn't already hurt) swaying in time to her brand new karyoke wiperphone [microphone, what would you do without the english subtitles?] singing "Twinkle Twinkle Widdle Tar" while the wiperphone blared a snippet from "Bippity Boppity Boo." Absolutely priceless. (Laura, I promise I will post pics if I can figure out how to do it. If ever there was a time, this is it.)

Am I allowed to be torn? Part of me is so proud of her growing up into such a precious little girl (ok, big girl...) and the other part can't believe she's so big. A little over three years ago, I distinctly remember being pregnant with her and thinking, "I cannot believe after dental school is over, we will leave with a three year old." I feel like that was yesterday and forever ago all at the same time. I get so tickled for her when she accomplishes new feats, like today, when she said, "Mama, is not 'Mo-ma Share, is it? It goes, do your share, right?'" and then she sang the Clean up Song with the right words (repeatedly.) Yet, those childish interpretations are what make the days of poopy diapers and endless whining worth it.

Although, I had to smile confidently that she's not growing up too fast when she sang "John Brown's baby had a [pause: muscial "dah-dah"] punishment." No amount of correction could convince her that poor baby has a cold. Upon his chest.

Whew, I can hang on to that one for a few more months.

Penny for your Thoughts?

Why is it, at "Donald's," I can order off the dollar menu and get a McDouble (2 all beef patties, ONE piece of cheese), a small fry and a small coke for exactly $3.00?

I can get a Double Cheeseburger value meal which adds one piece of cheese to the McDouble and bumps up to a medium fries and medium coke...

for $2.99

Heart to Heart

Tonight when BigM was getting ready for bed, she was climbing up on her stool to brush her teeth and she said, "Mama, you make my heart feel good."

My kids are awesome. Just awesome.

Music and Lyrics

According to BigM:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:
"Tweenkuwl tweenkuwl widdle tar,
how I wonder whachew are.
Abababa world so high,
Wike a di-mend in da sky,
tweenkuwl tweenkuwl widdle tar,
how I wonder whachew are."

Old MacDonald:
"Owd Micdonawld hadda farm
E-I-Yo-Yo-Yo."

The Zebra Song:
"You take a bite
and I'wl take a bite
and we'll take a bite toogedur.
You take a bite
and I'wl take a bite
and toogedur we'll eat wunch.
Eat wunch eat wunch eat wunch."
(I have no idea why she thinks that is called The Zebra Song. Absolutely no idea.)

The Clean-up Song:
"Cween up, cween up,
ebrybody [pause] where,
Cween up cween up,
ebrybody moe-ma share."
(WHAT?)

One Fish, Two Fish, Dead Fish, Blue Fish

Big M will be three years old in exactly one week! We haven't decided what to get her for her birthday (I have a couple of ideas, but they all cost money.) Last year, we got her a fish tank for her room. And not one of those little round open-top bowls, a real giant tank. I believe aquarium is the proper term. Fifty gallons, to be exact. I'm not sure if DM or BigM likes it better, I'd be willing to be the farm on DM, though.

We have quite a few fish in our giant fish tank, and the majority of them are named Dorothy. (For those of you who do have kids, you don't need to know that Elmo's pet fish is named Dorothy. And if you don't have kids I guess I am really flattered that you are reading this blog since it's basically about kids, specifically mine.)

We had the fish for a few weeks (two really little angel fish that grew into really big angel fish, a gaggle of these teeny electric blue and red fish, a smattering of some gray and black catfish-looking guys who hang on the bottom and another catfish who started at 3 inches and is now about 8 inches long- named Gilbert) when DM was gazing at them lovingly with BigM and he said something like, "BigM, the fish are really pretty. I like them a lot. Which one is your favorite?"

She paused and thought for a minute before she replied, "My toys and my shoes." I have to agree with her, in a fishtank full of fish, I like my shoes best, too.

DM and I have an understanding, that all things fish are his responsibility. We just moved the tank here last weekend and I can handle the basics: turn the light on and off and feed them some (not too much!) every few days. I was definitely not prepared for what I found last night when I went to cut off the light.

The angel fish run the playground and they usually race to the top as soon as they see someone stand in front of the tank. I saw the black and white one, but the goldish one was no where to be found. Further investigation led me to the corner of the tank... and there he was, upside-down kind of smushed behind a rock. Then I noticed the food I had dumped in there (not too much!) was kind of sitting there on the top of the water, not whirling around and falling to the bottom like it normally does. And the room was surprisingly quiet. The filter (or maybe it's the pump?) wasn't running and Lord have mercy, I let the fish die.

You can better believe I wasn't about to reach in there, net or not, and pick up a dead fish. But when I got DM on the phone, he had other ideas. (His exact response, "Oh no. What did you do with him?" Me: "I just left him there, I'm not about to pick up..." "GET HIM OUT, GET HIM OUT!") So I put on my big girl panties and tried to flush him, but he was too big and he just sat there letting the water run over him. Right now, he's in the trashcan, buried underneath some other trash. (And no, I didn't take the bag out to the bin last night, I was already in my pajamas.) I got instructions on how to get the pump running again and so far, we've no more casualties in the fish tank.

Every time BigM goes near it, I try and direct her to something else. I'm not ready to explain why her fish has gone missing and DM will be headed to the fish store this weekend for a new Dorothy #7 (yes, we shop for our aquarium at a store dedicated entirely to fish and their needs) , an exact copy of the old one. But if she does notice, I'm definitely telling her that fish is on vacation until we can replace him.

Pretty Woman

This is so not my story and this converstation did not occur between DM and me. I promise. But it is too funny.

"you're not as ugly as your mom."
"so i'm ugly??"
"no, i just said you're not as ugly as your mom."
"so my mom's ugly?"
"no, she's just uglier than you are."
".....thanks....?"

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

So, I have to give my friend Lindsay a big prize for being the inspiration behind this idea. Yesterday, we were hanging at the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt (the one where BigM started picking up eggs as soon as we arrived on the premises, until we caught her. Awesome.) So anyway, Lindsay and I were discussing the vast amounts of Easter candy we already possessed and she told me about the (somewhat strange) practice our other neighbor uses at Halloween- the "Halloween Fairy" will come to your house and trade you all your candy for a toy (aka the parents don't allow sugar to pass through the poor child's lips.)

That got me thinking- while I don't like the mice to eat a ton of candy (BigM anyway, what would LM do with a piece of candy?) I do think it's fun to indulge at special times, like holidays or the rare times when we actually have a check to deposit at the bank. Yesterday, we told BigM that the Easter Bunny was coming to our house, but she had to leave him some of her candy or she wouldn't get a prize in her Easter Basket this morning. We had a big time sorting the candy into two buckets- one for BigM to keep and one to trade.

I gently reminded her that the Easter Bunny prefers chocolate and he actually doesn't like Peeps at all.

You want fries with that?

As told to me by DM:

BigM and I were at the gas station and she asked me if I had any money. I told her I thought I might have some, and she replied, "Okay, wet's go to Chick-fi-way and I wan a number four."

Gone Fishin'

Note to self:

It is not a good idea to visit the Aquarium during Spring Break.

A Tisket, A Tasket

BigM gave up naps at 18 months. (Feel sorry for me? You should.) However, for the longest time I have sent her to her room for Quiet Time, which is from 12:30 - 3ish. Every 4 months, she will actually fall asleep. And lately, she's been into this hiding business. This particular afternoon, I found BigM napping on her bed. Not in her bed, on her bed. See?


She emptied out the laundry basket. By herself. And somehow decided this was a good place for a nap. (Please excuse the quality of the picture, I took it with my cell phone. And I know Laura will be so excited that I actually put a picture on the blog!)

Potty Talk

BigM peed in the potty. Twice.