Her Preference

So the 2-year-old definitely has a preference for me to do things like get her ready for bed, read to her, carry her, put her coat on, give her baths, cook her meals to order, brush her hair 100 strokes each night, massage her aching feet, feed her bob-bons... but I digress (and embellish). Geof takes the lead a lot on getting her ready, and she often protests, mostly, I think, as a stalling tactic or just to be persnickety. Or just to be 2. Tonight he was fixing to get her ready for bed, and she was giving some push back about him changing her. She wanted me. Here's their conversation.

Geof: "Can I get you dressed?"
Rella: "No. Take my clothes off, put my jammies on, bush my teeth, read my story, put me to bed. All those things to do . . . FOR SHEEEEEE!"

Dreaming of Warmer Days . . .

Brrrr - the kids were all home today, underfoot and looking for things to do. Eventually, we decided they should bundle up and play outside. 2 of the 3 lasted for a while out there, but doses of warm blueberry tea were in order after play time was over. Tonight I was dreaming of warmer days, so I worked on a few pages from our day at Sea World last month. We had such a nice day there - no crowds, perfect temperatures, and sparkling faces. Our passes are good for another 20 months, so I'm thinking another trip is in order.

Santa's Middle Helper

There's a reason why you should always have a camera handy when you have little kids in the house. Kind of like those indispensible bouncy seats that I had in every room when they were infants. I just never knew when I was going to need one. This morning the girls were dressed in their Christmas dresses and we actually had about 15 minutes to spare before heading off to church. And they just happened to be playing in a bright sunny spot in the house, and I just happened to have my camera loaded and ready on the dining room table. 5 quick minutes of shooting, and another item checked off my list - Christmas pictures of Fancy!

Santa's Helper

Success! I can check off 1/3 of one item on my Christmas End-of-Year To Do List. Rella had her first preschool Christmas program this morning. The instructions from school were to wear Christmas colors, and even though I offered her two lovely red Christmas dresses to choose from, she insisted on wearing her sparkly pink Santa dress. There was no talking her into red, and it just really wasn't worth the battle. But it made her easy to spot on a stage full of red and green preschoolers! After school she was in a good mood and was willing to let me take a few pictures, so I've got 1/3 of my kids' Christmas pictures accomplished! Sigh. I could just eat her up.

To-Do-List

My Christmas End of the Year To Do List

How is is that this month is just flying by? And how is it that the same thing happens every year, and yet every year it surprises me (and seemingly everyone else in suburbia, as that seems to be all the small talk we suburban moms waiting around at ballet/basketball/music lessons talk about)? So with a rapidly moving month comes a to do list a mile long. I'm not calling it a Christmas list, because the things on this list have nothing to do with Christmas. I'm pretty sure Jesus is not interested in all my stressful running about in preparation for His miraculous birthday. I'm pretty sure He'd be happier for me to sit on my list and focus on His glory, grace and purpose for my life. Pretty sure about that. But, here's my list, so I can refer back to it and maybe, just maybe cross something off. Or maybe I can just sit on it.

1. Take dog to the vet (just to be sure that all the plastic, crayon wax and plush stuffing that he's consumed while in our impeccible care this fall have caused no lasting harm. I mean, we do the same for our kids, after all!)

2. Get my hair cut (I mean, I do the same for my kids, after all!).

3. Take holiday pictures of my kids (I mean, I do the same thing for YOUR kids, after all!)

4. Make a gigantic treasure map and think of clever clues.

6. Clean my closet (while shopping last night I found a really cute shirt on sale. Then I realized I HAVE that shirt, I wore it once, and I have no idea where it is. SAD.).

7. Make more Christmas cookies. Because we ate all 5 dozen or so of the ones I made last week. oops.

8. Potty train the little one (HA! like that's going to happen before the end of the year, but if anyone asks, it's on my list).

9. Find a small guitar.

10. Find something to do with all of my kids' Halloween candy and find a home for the blinding orange jack-o-lantern pails that is somewhere other than the top of the fridge. Every kid likes Halloween candy in their stocking, right?

11. Find last year's Christmas card address list so I can mail the rest of my Christmas cards.

12. Do a big cook and fill the freezer with meals. Maybe Fancy can help me with that. She did learn to make toast this weekend.

13. Get back to scrapbooking my 2009 Disney pictures. AND, get to scrapping my 2008 Disney pictures. AND look at my Chicago pictures. Forget it. That's just too overwhelming.

14. Repair my Snuggie (and add that item to the list of things the vet needs to check for as causing no adverse effects when consumed in small quanties by said naughty dog).

15. Have my piccolo repaired.

Yep - I think I'm going to sit on this list.

Random #2

Last night I went into Hi-Hat's room, where he was reading by the dim light of the hall light. I believe our conversation went just like this:

concerned parent: "Hi-Hat, don't you need a lamp to read? How can you see the words on the page?"
unconcerned child: "I don't want to have the lights too bright to disturb Alex (said naughty dog) while he's resting (curled up on a pillow in the floor)."
concerned parent: "you are going to strain your eyes reading with no light."
unconcerned child: "what does strain mean?"
concerned parent: "[insert dull definition of strain here]"
unconcerned child: "why would looking at tiny words on a page with no light make my eyes work hard?"
concerned parent: "It just will. That's what my mom said and that's what I'm telling you." Concerned parent clicks on lamp and leaves the room. Said naughty dog seems oblivious.

AWOL

I haven't posted in FOREVER! Must remedy that right now. Hold your hats, folks, this one just so interesting. Here goes:

Why is it that whenever my kids need a bandaid I can only find plain, flesh-tone ones? And why is it that whenever I need a bandaid I can only find Curious George or Barbie ones?

That's it. Thanks for visiting. :)