April 15, 2016

Selah June played with Satie and Sebastian all day, and we went to dinner with the Settle gang.  Five Guys was pretty well equipped to handle our collective craziness.  It was noisy.  There were nice and accommodating diners.  And SJ had had a nap.  All of these things combined to form a really enjoyable experience.  After the kids had eaten their fill, Selah June decided she needed to go exploring.  Satie Isabella did great following her around and keeping her out of trouble.

Pretty cute…

April 9, 2016

Selah June is really all about the potty right now.  She knows when she pees and when she poops, and she will walk you to her room to change her diaper.  She also is really all about others going potty too.  She will not stand for anybody to take a potty break without her.  She likes to pull out the toilet paper and unroll it without ceasing until you physically make her stop… which is a challenge while you’re trying to go potty, I might add.  She lets you wipe yourself (thank goodness), but she really wants to be the one to throw the toilet paper in the potty and then “push the button” to make it flush.

You can all say “gross” now.  It’s warranted.

Mom let us borrow one of her baby potties.  SJ enjoys sitting on it (fully clothed and with the seat down).  She also likes to disassemble it.  Mom says that they take it all apart before they can put it all together.  Let’s hope that applies in this scenario as well.

April 8, 2016

Selah June spent the morning at Grammy and Grandpa’s house.  And because she likes nothing more than “outside,” this is where I left them.

April 7, 2016

I brought quizzes home to grade, and of course Selah June wanted to be outside.  So I thought, “what a great idea!  I’ll grade while she runs around in the yard!”  Only that’s not exactly what she had in mind.  She wanted to help.  And by help she really wanted to was them up and use them as toilet paper to wipe her own bottom.

I came home from work on Wednesday to find my family on a walk!  Selah June loves to be outside.  That is nothing new.  But Jeremy has started taking her on walks whenever she (or her mother) is particularly fussy.  Now she wants to go on walks ALL THE TIME!!!   “Wok, wok, wok wok???”

And she doesn’t really want to be in a stroller or be carried or hold your hand.  NO!  She wants to walk a few paces ahead of you with sheer toddler determination.  And she’ll absolutely go and go and go.  Thank goodness that at some point it eventually gets dark.  We’d be Forrest Gumping our way through this crazy life.

April 5, 2016

Selah June went to play with Malachi as is usual for Tuesday’s.  The weather was absolutely beautiful, so Dustin made sure the kiddos played outside.  I received this photo from her showing them hard at work, raking all the leaves in the backyard.  How cute is that?  Almost makes you want to join them, doesn’t it?

I will say that I’ve noticed more and more that she wants to help with processes.  I know all kids go through phases in which they are fascinated by how things work, but she really likes to organize, clean, help, and do things for herself and for others.  I think she got a little bit of the Jessica Jones servant heart in her.  (Somewhere between a tad and a ton)

Unfortunately, right now her helping is centered on assistance with going to the potty.

April 3, 2016

After church we went to Dickie’s to get lunch.  I realized this week that I don’t have many pictures at all with Miss Priss.  So….  While Mom and I were waiting for the men to bring the food, I asked her to take a few pictures with my camera.  Selah June was not so into it, but we did manage to get this one pretty decent one.

She’s had terribly bad allergies over the last week. She wants to be outside all the time, but her nose runs like crazy when she’s out there.  Jeremy’s are acting up as well.  I guess it’s just that time of year.

We moved a table out into the sun, and she sat pretty peacefully on my lap and ate her fill of chicken and green beans.  It’s amazing what moving that child outside will do for her mealtime manners!

April 2, 2016

Today was an AWESOME day.  We didn’t really wake up until 8:00am.  (That wasn’t really awesome for Jeremy.  SJ was up for about 2 hours in the middle of the night.)  Then we leisurely had our morning drinks and read books together.  We took our time getting showers and then headed downtown for Jazz Fest.  Mom and Dad were in the kick-off jazz band of the day at 11:00 with Immersion Christian Jazz Band.  How fun is that?  They had great players from East Brent, Olive, and First, and the crowd loved it.  Ab and the boys showed up, and all the little kids danced to the music and ran around enjoying the weather and the people watching.

Then we headed to the mall for Chocolate Fest.  That’s right!  You heard it!  Two fests in one day!  What kind of craziness is that??  The event was a fundraiser for Gulf Coast Kids’ House.  I pretty much ate my way down the first side of the first aisle.  There were three aisles in all.  It was insane and DELICIOUS!  The sugar high was intense and the crash put us all to sleep for an afternoon nap.  At the mall, SJ just wanted down.  She wanted to run all around and check everything out.  She particularly liked Zales with its maze through all of the jewelry counters.  Grandpa finally stepped in and held her and whispered all about the things to see in order to calm her down enough so that we could keep pace with the line.

Jeremy went out this evening to watch the OU basketball game at New York Nick’s.  It’s the last night that establishment will be open, and Jeremy wanted to spend the game there with friends.  SJ and I took a “splash splash,” had some dinner, did puzzles, went through a whole lot of picture cards, played outside, read books, and had a ba ba.  She gradually slowed down and eased into bedtime.  It was actually a really great experience.  I enjoyed spending several hours with her.  She’s a fun kid, and she can be very chill.  Given that I was out of town last weekend, it’s been several days since I’ve had a relaxed chunk of time to just be with her.  It was really nice.

She’s so funny because she really really likes all things from outside.  We’ve had this fly in our house today, and it’s been driving me nuts.  While we were reading books, the fly landed on her hand.  She thought that was the coolest thing ever.  She started just laying her hand out to the side of her book hoping that the fly would come back and land there again.  Cracked me up.

March 30, 2016

Jeremy brought chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-a home for dinner.  The weather was pretty nice and little Miss Priss wanted to be outside.  It was amazing how much easier it was to eat together without the screaming and gnashing of teeth over her sitting in her chair to eat.  Man!  It was a much needed break from the usual.  And she ate quite a bit!  Of course it was chicken nuggets and waffle fries, but I was not in the mood to fight it.  She parked herself in her little chair and ate her nuggets and fries while watching Sophie run in the yard.

In these particular shots, she was calling out to the puppy to “come here!”

March 26, 2016

I made it home Saturday evening just in time for Easter.  Jeremy suggested that we go to East Brent to hear Mom and Dad’s new pastor.  He is young and has a wife and two boys.  It was really different seeing someone other than Brother Dale in the pulpit.  Selah June wore her little Easter dress that Grammy and Ga-paw bought her.  She looked like a beautiful little watercolor painting.

Of course, Mom and Dad went way above and beyond with the Easter baskets and Easter egg hunt and treats galore for all the little ones.  Ab dressed all her boys (yes, Brock too) in blue and white seersucker, pink shirts, red suspenders, and hats.  They were adorable.  And Satie and Sebastian had bunny masks that they wore pretty much the whole afternoon.  The pictures of all of them standing on the front steps will be a treasure we cherish for decades to come.