The Resident Toddler

Some recent Parker-isms:

-Loves dinosaurs...says "rawr" with her nose scrunched up and her little white teeth bared. Wiggles her fingers as if they are claws. Simultaneously says, "I di-sore...rawr."

-Loves pirates. Saw an episode of Bubble Guppies about pirates and hasn't stopped talking about it yet. "Geo, Pirate, arrrr!" (Sounds very similar to the dinosaur rawr previously mentioned). Will close one eye (or try), and say "arrrr" out of the corner of her mouth. Pretty hilarious.

-Loves oranges/clementines/juice/etc. A few days ago, I gave her an orange with bkfst, and some juice during the day. Little did I know Mark gave her another 1 1/2 oranges and more juice later on in the day. She should be good on her Vitamin C for awhile...uh hum.

-Loves books. I found her some Dora chapter books recently and she insists on reading all of the stories in them in one sitting, multiple times a day. Although I love that she loves Dora, I'm getting a little tired of saying "vamanos!" and "we did it!" over and over again. Although hearing her talk about how "swiper is a sneaky fox" kind of melts my heart.

-Hates socks. She will rip them off of her little feet and leave them all over the house. Watching her do this is something else too...she pulls and grunts, and wrestles them until she is victorious.

-Hates high chairs. She is sitting in a booster or the bar stools at home, but the tough thing is taking her out to restaurants. She wants to sit in a regular chair, but that means she takes off every 5 seconds and commences running the perimeter of the establishment, laughing her head off the whole way. We went to Olive Garden in Bloomington for Mark's bday on Monday, and she ran from one end of the place to the other. Mark and I were horrified and had visions of her bowling over a wait staff holding one of those gigantic serving trays. Banned for life from the OG, that would have been a travesty!

-She calls cheeseburgers "turkey sandwiches". We drive past the same billboard for McDonalds every day, and she says, "look Mom, turkey sandwich!" It kind of cracks me up. So if she ever tells you she wants a turkey sandwich, what she really means is a hot and juicy cheeseburger!!

-She is still pretty partial to Mom & Dad doing things for her. (Did I tell you about the time she threw up on the Nursery leader after we made her "cry it out"?!? Another story for another day I guess...wink, wink.) Anyway, Maryn and Avery are great helpers but she is a little picky and sometimes rebuffs them. Instead, one day she said "NO! And then very calmly and diplomatically used both of her arms to indicate with a nod of her head "Mommy do it" (pointing at me), and then turning to Mark with her arms, nodding, and saying "Daddy do it". She had us rolling. Although we all know she is the one who rules this roost!! Aye yi yi, we are in for it!!

She's getting so big, so smart, and so articulate. She is such a joy to have in our home.

The Day the Snow Finally Came...

Well it finally came today. We woke to a frosted lawn and snow-drifted roads this morning. It was a welcome sight. Parker didn't even know what it was at first...that's kind of sad don't you think? Anyways, the girls were delighted and so were Mark and I, until we both set out to drive in it.

I made my way to a new playgroup at the Church this morning...went my usual back roads through the country route and about slid off the road a few times. I kept reminding myself that it was just the fact that it my first time out, and that things would be fine...I probably should've turned back then. Ho hum. After playgroup (another post for another day), I had to run to the grocery store cuz Charlie was out of food, and I knew it would be another few days till we'd be making any trips to town. By the time I got done with that, got a quick lunch from the Wendy's drive thru, and got back on the road the snow was really coming down and a LA-HOT was accumulating already. I decided to take the Interstate home to make sure I didn't slide off into some farmer's field. It took me almost an hour to get home!! Boo-hoo and whoa is me! The first snow and I should be all melancholy and sentimental and instead I am cursing the skies above for the tension headache I now have and for the huge timesuck it was to drive today. :-(

Alas all is not lost...Mark came home early due to the College closing down for inclement weather and we were able to watch a new episode of Revenge while Parker finished her nap. Pretty sweet treat for a snowy winter afternoon. And we just got done with our dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup and warm rolls for dinner. Chocolate chip cookies are baking in the oven right now.

Maybe this whole snowed-in winter thing isn't ALL that bad!! ;-) Maybe we'll even get to kick it off with a snow day tomorrow and get a 4 day weekend!!

In the Year 2000...

Knock, knock...
Who's there?
2012.
2012, who?!?
The End.

Anyone else a little baffled about the New Year? It kind of crept up on me to be quite honest with you. I can't say I'm too sad to see 2011 gone, but am I really ready for a New Year? Am I really ready to make all kinds of sincere resolutions to do and be better, making drastic changes and all that uncomfortable stuff? In some ways, yes, kind of, but I think I'm also going to go pretty easy on myself at the same time. 2012 more than anything I think for me is going to be about being gentle with myself, those around me, and just taking things a day at a time for the most part. Too much expectations are never a good thing for me, so it seems. So the solution for my resolutions is to just not think about it. Make sense? Kind of, it'll be a work in progress...

But in the meantime, here's a fun little questionnaire for all to share...please feel free to copy and paste to your own blog or just leave your answers in my comments. Whatever you fancy. No expectations...:)


A bad habit I’m going to break: Where to begin? Biting my nails, emotionally eating, isolating myself, smack-talking people at Church, feeling sorry for myself, ...you get the idea.

A new skill I’d like to learn: Being more social...spontaneous lunches with people I wouldn't normally be friends with, having people over to the house more often, initiating friendships instead of waiting around for people to approach me...and all that jazz.

A person I hope to be more like: Any of my sisters for all types of reasons. I'd like to make exercise a daily priority like Shauna, be more creative and fun with my kids like Melanie (including making hot breakfast 3x a week!!), and more patient and unconditionally loving like Erin.

A good deed I’m going to do: Give things away with no expectation of return.

A place I’d like to visit: Nauvoo, sometime this Spring/Summer/Fall...it must happen THIS year!

A book I’d like to read: Tina Fey's Bossypants...Mark bought it for me and it has been collecting dust, but I really do want to read it!

A new food I’d like to try: Not sure of a food I haven't tried yet, but I would love to go to one of Rick Bayless's restaurants in downtown Chicago at some point.

I’m going to do better at: Making time for myself.