Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Selah June said so many funny things today.  I have to write some of them down before I forget them.

When we were in the bathroom upstairs and I was trying to convince her to get in the bathtub, she started pointing to the toilet and saying “You go potty, Momma.  Go potty.”  I said “I don’t have to go potty, baby,” and she said “Do it. Go pee pee, Momma.”  I don’t think I’ve ever been ordered to tinkle with such conviction and determination!

Then Daddy asked Selah June if she wanted to go see Christmas outside our house.  Then he took her across the yard to the neighbor’s house.  They just put up their outdoor Christmas lights. He came inside saying that she had taken Minnie Mouse with her and had to show Minnie all the lights and tell her about Jesus and Santa Claus. She wanted me to put on my shoes so that she could take me out there.  She showed me the way, stomping through the yard in the dark with her Minnie.  I thought she would stop at the property line, but toddlers apparently don’t respect territorial boundaries.  She had to show Minnie directly each strand of lights, each tier on the Christmas tree, the blue lights, and the white lights.  “See Christmas!!  I’m so excited!!”

We’re going to have to talk to the neighbors because this has all the makings of a nightly excursion into their yard to inspect their lights with interest and wonder.

Later she partied like a rockstar to Bubble Guppies (“Puppies”) while wearing a pair of random sunglasses.  She’s so familiar with these episodes now that she sings all the songs and copies the dance moves of the characters.  She’s infatuated with the baby episode where Molly gets a new baby sister – Mia.

Friday, November 25, 2016

This photo is how I choose to remember this uear’s trip to Bellingrath Gardens. It was a rare moment of beauty and wonder that I’ll cherish forever. All the other moments were a bit crazy, and I’m okay letting those go.

Grammy got SJ a wagon in which to ride, but she soon wanted to push the wagon (without my help).  That slowed everybody down to a virtual standstill. So incredibly difficult…

When we came to a row of gingerbread men, I thought she would like to get up close to see it.  And I was right.  She loved it.

This was a bad idea…

She wouldn’t leave the gingerbread men.  She wouldn’t come towards the pathway. She just trotted off deeper and deeper into the scene.  And the very next scene was a train, but it was roped off.  She didn’t like being told that she couldn’t touch it.  In fact, through the tears, she managed to toss her blue blanket under the rope thinking that someone would have to go get it.  (She terrifies me with her scheming.  She’s barely 2.)

Grandpa was able to hold her for a spectacular view of the lake with the choo choo train.

It was not the most relaxing stroll through the gardens that I’ve ever had, but I’m glad we took her at this age.  She calls Christmas lights “Christmas.”  If you ask her if she wants to go see “Christmas,” she understands you to be asking whether or not she wants to go on an adventure to see Christmas lights.  When she sees Christmas lights, she claps and says “I so excited!!”

After we left the gardens we stopped for some dinner at Five Guys in Spanish Fort.  She didn’t really eat her hot dog, but she did stay in her seat – a small miracle in my book.

She was so tired by the time we got home.  It wasn’t much effort to put her to bed.  Thank you, Daddy, for making the annual trip to see Christmas lights a priority.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Selah June had a great morning watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade on tv, helping Mommy and Daddy make turkey, pie, and cookies, and running around the house like a crazy person.  The best line of the entire day happened in the morning while we were at home.  Jeremy was holding SJ in his lap, and he asked me to check on the pumpkin cream pie in the oven.  I’ve never baked a cream pie, and I rarely bake pies anymore because it’s kind of his thing.  He makes a pumpkin pie every year for Thanksgiving.  So I asked what exactly I should be seeing when I checked on the pie to make sure that it was fully done.  We went back and forth a couple of times, and then Selah June just looked me dead in the eyes and said with all the little confidence, sarcasm, and instructiveness she could muster, “It’s a pie.”  (Dummy)

Jeremy laughed out loud, and it because the Thanksgiving story for 2016.

At Mom’s house, I tried to get a few shots of the kiddos before everything got too crazy.  Here are two of the best ones.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything good of the boys, and I really didn’t get a good picture of me and her (though I wore a coordinating outfit just in case).  She is really really stubborn when it comes to “saying cheese” for the camera.  She knows exactly what people want her to do, and it’s the one thing she will absolutely not do for anybody these days.

So I tried to think of ways to capture both of these sweetie pies given SJ moratorium on smiling for the camera.

Mom tried to get some good pictures of the kids before we all dug in.  This one is awesome.  Look at Sebastian Jones.

There were SO MANY foods for Thanksgiving dinner that Selah June loves.  I loaded up her plate, but the couple of foods she had to have were the peas and mashed potatoes.  For whatever reason, she was so tired by the time we started eating.  All she wanted was to be down from the table and whining her way to a nap. She ended up going down in the middle of the meal and not waking up again for nearly 4 hours.  I guess she wasn’t kidding.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Wednesday was a really hard day because I had lots to do and Jeremy needed to make a few appearances.  It was a real juggling act to be here and there and everywhere, to preserve naptime, and to make progress towards marking off my to do list.

I wrote with Sara and then stayed home in the late morning instead of going to the office, and Selah June made sure I didn’t get very much done. She found this hat and decided she needed to wear it to keep her hair out of her face.  I wanted to take a picture of her wearing it, but the only way I could get her to look at the camera was if she was looking at herself on my phone.  So I tried to capture her interest by making silly faces.  She responded as a daughter of mine would by being silly too.

And then there was her big m&m cookie from Publix.  I told her I NEEDED that cookie. She wasn’t about to share.

This is about the best picture I got of her in that little hat.  I love the ringlets.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Tuesday was day 2 with no St. Luke’s and an invalid.  While I trudged off to work, Miss Prussia went to play at Satie and Sebastian’a house.  She was soooooo excited to play with them after a week of quarantine from the sickness.

She apparently discovered a cowboy hat she really really liked.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Home from another conference just in time for round 3 of the daycare puke fest.  Selah June felt horrible last night and really struggled to settle into sleep.  We thought she was just fussy because she’s cutting molars, but then she woke up in the middle of the night with a coughing fit that ended in vomit. Jeremy stripped the bed and let her sleep with him.

Unfortunately for everybody, Satie was also up in the middle of the night puking.  We had to spread the love to Grammy and Grandpa’s house (again) because we’re so stretched to our max.  Jeremy’s still not walking or driving.

Selah June played and played and played at Grammy’s house, resisting a nap as long as she could.  Finally, they both laid down, but she was soon coughing and puking again. Poor Grammy.

Meanwhile, Jeremy was asked for a tv interview and radio interview because of his role as a Florida elector. When your invalid husband has to Uber home from the radio station, you know there just aren’t enough hands to go around.

In this picture, SJ is patiently building a tower with magnetic blocks.  She wanted each side to be the “right” color.  Mom said she capped it off with two leaning pieces on top that were perfectly perched against each other.  That’s my little architect/engineer!

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Selah June is still super stuffy, so we mostly just spent the day lounging around and napping.  We did make one trip to the grocery store.  Selah June was super talkative. She yelled “hi!” to everybody, told them to”have a good day!” She was very clear to the lady at the cookie counter.  She wanted a chocolate cookie (chocolate chip) and said both please and thank you.  The cashier gave her a balloon, and Mommy bought her some chips for being such a good girl.

We then went to Sonic for good drinks.  Daddy got a cheeseburger and tator tots.  After we left, SJ said “I need tots!”  Then “I need Diet Coke!”  After Daddy gave her a cooled off tot, she said “hey!  I have a question.”  And then, “hey! I have a problem.” “I have a question for Daddy.”  We have no idea what she needed, but it was pretty funny.  That combined with her recently acquired habit of saying “no thanks!” Is cracking us up.  Must be something she picked up from family during her adventures this last week.

I keep trying to catch her singing Zaccheaus was a wee little man…” but she always knows I’m videoing and becomes a frog in a box.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

i came home from New Orleans yesterday afternoon to find little monkey sleeping at Grammy’s house during the Florida game.  When she woke up, she was all stuffy. Jeremy thinks she’s cutting her molars, but I think she might have a little cold.  Who knows….

She was super excited to see me and gave me a big hug and let me kiss and kiss her all over her face.  We snuggled most of the night.  I’m really enjoying the little changing tide in our dynamic right now.  I don’t know what changed, but she is more into being with me and communicating love right now than she has been previously.  Two is challenging, but there are certain upsides to the two-way communication.

Apparently she started growling like a lion a lot while I was away.  So we growled at each other really loud and pretended to be scared by each other.

Here she is on the way home from Grammy’s house.  We found three stickers from Target in the car, and she decided to put all of them on her nose.  “Elmo nose.”

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Selah June woke up wanting to color I. Her Grammy coloring book and to put stickers all over everything.  She also wanted to go explore the garden to see if peppers were ready to be picked.  I really like that we have some hearty pepper plants that produce the occasional pepper for use in the kitchen.

I wasnplaying peekaboo with her through the leaves.

Even though I asked her not to pick the baby peppers because they needed to grow big on the plant before we picked them to eat, she picked them anyway.  Her solution was just to pick them and stick them right in her mouth to show me that she could eat them right now.

See?

After her nap, we put on some warm clothes to go play on the front porch. She wanted to wear her “A, B, C shirt” and she had to have “hat on!”

She is too cute.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Selah June and I escaped from the house to go across the street to Target.  We needed some basic supplies, and we needed some fresh air.  While we were putzing around, we ran smack dab into Grandpa and Grammy.  They had come over to Target to pick up their drugs.

Grammy and SJ needed to look at the clothes! so Grandpa went to wait on drugs while we did a little girl shopping.

She spotted Paw Patrol from a mile away.  Luckily this little doozy was on sale.

Meanwhile, when Mommy was busy picking up something boring, Grammy helped SJ pick out a Paw Patrol coloring book and some crayons.

And then we ended up looking at baby boots.  Her style of shopping is to just take every option presented and throw it in the basket.  That’s my girl!!  We eventually settled on the pink ones.  I have no idea how we managed to get the other ones back on the shelf.

She wanted to go right home and get into her new colors and coloring book… with her boots on…. and put all the stickers on her shirt.

I realized while we were out just how puny I really felt.  It was good to be back home and in my jammies. This whole weekend of federal holiday and stomach bug has opened my eyes to how rarely we just are at home doing nothing.  I honestly think I haven’t just sat on my butt and done nothing in over 10 years. It’s really awesome!  And there’s good stuff that happens to your family dynamic when you just settle into being together and resting.

Selah June really started wanting to snuggle with me.  That’s been very much a Daddy thing for quite some time.  I have known that they go through phases, but it hasn’t made it any easier.  Now that he’s unable to really get around or walk with her, she’s started relying on me a lot more.  I think it’s affected her an it.  So when I’ve rubbed her feet of run my fingers through her hair as of late, she’s said sweet little words like, “I love you so much…”[MAKE MY HEART MELT INTO A PUDDLE]