Mi Abuelo

My dad decided long before I was ever expecting a child that he wanted to be called Grand-dude. After convincing him that said grandchild would probably call him "Doo-doo," he compromised (when I was pregnant with BigM) for G-Pops.

While we were at the beach in May, LM suddenly started calling him "Be-bops," which quite honestly is pretty cute. (But she also called flip-flops "be-bops," despite the fact that she could correctly distinguish between the two when pointing.)

This morning, LM absolutely broke my heart when she looked at the fruit bowl and said, "I have banana?" Up until this point, a banana was called a "me-nah" and I would have happily let her call it that until she left for college.

While we were driving home from the park tonight, she started repeating over and over and over and over and over and over, "Not Be-bops, G-pops. Not Be-bops, G-pops. Not Be-bops, G-Pops."

Bet that breaks your heart a little too, Be-bops, I mean, G-pops. Who told her she could grow up?

I'm Gonna be a Supermodel

LM had her 2 year old check up yesterday. She's completely normal and to our pediatrician's delight, she is finally caught up on alll of her vaccine. (We delay vaxes. I'm a hippy like that.)

We took Junior along for the ride and he's also completely normal, thank goodness. (Junior is the stuffed gorilla you saw in her bed.)

So here's the stats. She's 35" tall (77th%) and she weighs 23.6 lbs (15th%.)

In other news, our old town now has a Hobby Lobby, so we did some light shopping after her appointment.

The Second and Third of July

What a weekend! In true fashion, we celebrated this holiday for three full days. Our little town is pretty fantastic, and for the past, like, 829 years there has been a community gathering on the front lawn of the Cultural Center. People set up tables and everyone brings a pot-luck style dish and there is a patriotic band and and and... it's just super fun. There are kids running around everywhere and the local politicians are out soliciting votes. It just doesn't get more small town than this. (LM hanging in DM's grandfather's Model A. We traveled in this car for three days straight. The kids think it's ours to keep forever.) BigM wanted to ride with her BFF (LE) to the picnic so her older brother hitched a ride with us. (Everyone, LM included, thinks this is BigM- but it's definitely LE.)
(This, of course, is BigM.)

After the picnic, the girls and I crammed in the rumble seat and DM and T rode in the front. We headed to the Elementary School parking lot for the city fireworks display- the girls loved watching the fireworks and BigM timidly (wisely?) shied away from the sparklers LE and T's mom brought, but our little daredevil wanted to hold one and she is now sporting a pretty big burn on her hand. She has been showing off her battle wound for days now, thrusting her hand in people's faces saying, "Farkleler hur me, see? Farkeler hur me." That kid knows how to milk an injury, but then again it's a pretty bad burn. (Don't worry, Be-bops, she's healing quite nicely. Her daddy is a doctor.)

Bright and early Saturday morning (literally, I was at Wal-mart at 6:15am) we got bikes and strollers decorated for the first annual VF Independence Bike Parade. Our neighborhood knows how to do it up right. Kiddos, parents and grandparents decorated their various modes of transportation- (BigM's and LE's bikes)

(BigM and LE on said bikes)

with DM leading the parage in the Model A and the kids and walkers trailing behind. Lucky LM got to ride.

(The parade was scheduled to loop the neighborhood twice, but when I say trailing behind, I truly mean that BigM made a valiant effort peddling that lil trike around, but by the time I had pushed the trike and the stroller up the hill simultaneously, I personally declared the parade over, which actually worked out well because the others had already been around three times.)

We ended up at the Farmhouse for neighborhood lunch and swimming. We didn't do much else but eat and swim.

I finally took LM home for a much needed nap, and DM stayed at the pool with BigM. We kept it low-key for the rest of the afternoon and evening because we were gearing up for the Super-Awesome-Fourth-of-July-slash-Aunt-Train's-Fantastic-Birthday-slash-Going-Away-Bash. And a party like that deserves its' own post. So stay tuned.

Roomies

It's offical. The mice are sharing a room. I've known this day* was coming for a long time, but I didn't think it would be this soon. For the past three weeks she's been crawling into the extra twin bed in BigM's room and saying, "Goway, Daddy, goway, Mama, tun ow light."
We told her after her birthday, she could move into her new room. I had planned on waiting until we needed the crib for Bebe #3 (we're not currently expecting #3, so don't get all excited). So Sunday we made the big switch, and needless to say, it hasn't gone well.

At 11pm on the first night, I was still in their room- and we were *all* whining and crying. I found them more than once playing dress-up and reading in the closet.

The following night didn't prove much better, but I left them in seperate beds, giggling and talking to each other, which I want them to do. To an extent. It got pretty quiet after about 10 minutes, so I tip-toed up to check on them. Two empty beds. Guess who was playing dress-up in the closet? We repeated this scenario a few times before BigM finally fell asleep. I left LM crying in her bed, but she used to do that in her crib for about 30 seconds before she settled down. I stood at the top of the stairs where I could see her, but she couldn't see me... and she stood up, jumped on her bed for a minute then sat back down, threw her arms over the rail and excitedly said, "BiiiigMooooouse... wanna go cwoset?" Her request was met with a loud snore, so she tried again. "BIIIIGMMMMOOOOUSE... wann go cwoset?" Nothing. After a third request, she finally decided to lie down and go to sleep.

I'd love to be able to report that things have gone more smoothly since then, but I'd be lying. We're all getting a lot less sleep around here, but the novelty has to wear off at some point. I hope.

*This "day" was actually June 29th, but I've been so tired it's taken me almost a week to get this post written, edited and pictured... so while the date may be correct, it actually finally posted on July 3rd.

Mother Nose Best

My mom is super awesome at teaching my kids new things.

Like this:

Thanks a million, Sassy.

Little Drummer Girls

BigM has been playing the drums all over the house today, which consists of her stacking various containers from our playroom upside down and randomly beating on them with two unsharpened pencils. She has been yelling, "A-one, a-two, a-one-two-three," all. day. long. [Bambambangbambangbambambam...] Thanks, Fresh Beat Band.

LM, of course, has been imitating her sister with her own set of pencils but she prefaces her performances with, "One, two, five."

Dancin in the Street

When your child is four, and in a dance recital, you do a whole lot of sitting watching other people's kids dance. And then, there is the two and 1/2 minutes where your child dances, which obviously is the most awesome two and 1/2 minutes of the entire production. And then you sit and watch a other people's kids dance for at least another few hours.

What makes it a lot more fun is having an almost two year old sitting in your lap. Did I mention said dance recital just happened to start at 7:00pm, which most definitely is bedtime at our house? Just thought you should know.

LM enjoyed the first five dances, and as I whispered in her ear a few times, "Do you like it?" she would turn around and shout back at me, "I WIKE IT! MAMA, I WIKE IT!" over and over and over and over. Until about 1/8 into the first act when she suddenly turned around and shouted, "Aw done seats. Go car. Go home." So that was fun, trying to keep her entertained and quiet for the next two hours.

But then there was this.And this.

Which made every.single.second of waiting and watching the other dances worth it. (I bet you disagree, G-Pops.)

And this face, can you even stand it? Talk about adorable.

I did, however, solidify my decision that unless BigM declares her life's ambition to be a street walker, I'm going to have a hard time letting her take a Hip Hop class. I'm just saying... I was a little embarassed watching. (Although it was much more tasteful than the Christmas Hip Hop dances. What is it about putting a little girl in a Santa outfit that makes them choreograph pole dancing?)

And I made a big Mommy-faux-pas by not getting BigM flowers- I had every intention of doing so, but worked literally up until it was time to get dressed, so we ran out of time. I'd like to thank Addison's parents for *not* being slackers, meaning we made a trip to Wal-Mart after the recital to pick up some pink Gerber daisies because, "I want flowers like Addison's, with plastic around them." Gotcha.

All in all, it was loads of fun (the part where BigM danced, anyway) and I can't wait to sign her up for ballet in the fall. And someday, that will be MY child up there that the other parents have to- ahem, get to, watch over and over because they are waiting for their daughter's two and 1/2 minutes of fame.

Okay, twist my arm. Here's one more picture. This is at the after party, recreating one of the dance moves. I couldn't make that up if I tried.