Saturday, July 29, 2017

Between a trip to D.C. and house guests, the time has really gotten away from me. Mom and Dad moved over to Aaron and Jessica’s house this afternoon, so we had the house back to ourselves this evening.

Selah June talked her daddy into filling her plastic pool up, and the whole time he worked on it she stood in the doorway telling him he was doing “awesome!” And “great!” I asked Aaron if his kids said the same thing at that age, and he just laughed and shook his head. Definitely a byproduct of having a perfectionist teacher who molds through encouragement for a mom…

She wanted to go on a walk before dinner, and so we set off down the road. She wanted to ride her scooter, but it was really hard for her to push up the hill. We talked her into leaving it at the house for safe keeping.

She had socks on both hands – she calls them “frog hands.” And she thoroughly enjoyed being the leader to a game of red light, green light. Then we had to run with her – with “serious” faces, which look a whole lot like mad faces. After a while, she pooped out and got each of us to carry her on our shoulders for the final stretch.

July 11-12, 2017

It’s the dead heat of summer, and we are filling our afternoons with trips to Target and activities that involve water. Selah June loves to go “shopping.” There’s always something to be found at Target, and they give you free popcorn for good behavior. How can you beat that?

1. We let her pick out several packs of hair bands because we go through them by the handfuls. She wanted the sparkly multicolored ones. I’m sure they’ll be gone by the end of the week.

I took this picture in the late afternoon, and it reminds me so much of the Olan Mills portraits in front of fake backdrops. Must have just been the lighting.

It’s kind of tricky taking pictures of naked babies frolicking in a green plastic pool. Too cute to not take pictures and too naked to take anything but headshots.

July 10, 2017

Selah June loves to explore the garden at school…particularly when Mommy is ready to go home after a long day at work. She loves to hop from stone paver to stone paver. We look at all of the flowers, and she often picks them to give to me. And we like to search through the glass gravel at the entrance of the garden for the perfect pieces to take with us. (Shhhh!!!! Don’t tell Miss Annie!)

Sheila was picking up Catherine at the same time I was there to pick up SJ. Catherine also took a side trip to the garden. Though Catherine is a bit old than Selah June, she was a preemie. Right now they are really about the same size, interested in the same things, using the same expressions, and stretching their mommas’ patience in many of the same ways.

Catherine also picked the last remaining yellow flower bud off the bush and brought it over to me. “I picked this for my mommy. Will she be so happy?” It’s crazy how similar they are right now.

Monday, July 17, 2017

I’m going to have to go in and backfill with all the pictures and funny stories of last week, but it’s far easier to actually write extended thoughts on my computer — not on the phone where my pictures live.

Selah June has turned this corner over the last few days where she’s really experiencing jokes, finding humor in jokes on tv and in movies and trying her hand at telling jokes right along with the bigger kids. I didn’t expect her to think of her own jokes at this age. And they don’t make much sense… but she’s clearly putting the pieces together that you ask something inane and then provide an unexpected answer. I’ve gotta start teaching her knock knock jokes.

And then just the other night she was playing games on Grammy’s phone, and Grammy chose a spelling game. Nobody knows how exactly she knew how to spell “red” or “dog,” but we watched her drag and drop the letters into their appropriate spaces under the picture of the thing. It’s crazy!

And just yesterday I was doing my hair and I heard her singling “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.” First, she’s never sung that song all the way through. Secondly, I didn’t initiate it. And third, there was a completely different cartoon going on with it’s own music. She was lost in her thoughts and had a song on her brain.

At another time, we were just laying around in the bed upstairs and talking about how much she needed a bath. And so we were talking about when that was going to happen, and she started sticking her feet in my face for kisses. And I said “Awwww…. those feet are sooooo stanky!” She looked at me with the most serious face and said, “That was so mean.” The emotional rollercoaster just gets more and more complex and nuanced. 🙂

Daddy told her yesterday that she needed to go upstairs and get her underwear and shorts on so that we could go to the store, and she said “seriously?” with as much smarty pants as she could muster. We both died laughing (on the inside, of course).

Chris and Carrie were visiting this weekend, and the guys played a couple of songs through Alexa that they knew the kids would like. Carrigan started dancing, and then Selah June was on it! She was shaking her booty and having a great little time. It really struck me how much changes between 2 and toddlers just being adorable and 8 and young girls being unknowingly promiscuous. How does that happen? Every day I think about what she sees and hears in her little world. What are the teachers at school (20-year-olds who are getting married and shopping at Claire’s) saying to her? What is coming into her view through the television and the radio? What’s perfectly fine and fun, and what’s damaging and dangerous. I see the extent to which I worry over the technology in our home, and then I see the extent to which technology has taken over the world, and I just don’t know what will happen and what to do about it. Is she going to feel like she’s unimportant to us because she doesn’t have our attention? Are we going to fight to get her attention? Is she going to feel alone in the world because she knows how to carry on conversation and yearns for it but can’t find anyone else interested in (or capable of) the same thing?

I’m exhausted. I hope she doesn’t feel like I am too tired for her. I hope she doesn’t feel like she wasn’t the most important thing to me in the whole world. Coming from a family with a stay-at-home mom, I didn’t spend so much time doing stuff without my family. We weren’t all exhausted physically and emotionally by the time we actually could see each other. I worry that I’m not doing enough to carve out special days or activities to do together.

I guess mostly I just worry.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

This little girl loves her some chips!

1. Daddy bought her a large box of snack size packs of Pringles. She is definitely a fan. What more can you possibly need with a drink, some chips, and a bag of all your stuff?

Saturday, July 8, 2017

We had a great Saturday with this little monkey. After the mattress was delivered for the spare bedroom, we went on an adventure. Of course it involved Sonic, and then we went to Michael’s to look for a wreath, and then to Target. Little Miss found a clearances out pinwheel, which we fondly refer to as our Ferris wheel, and I found some cheap cheap markers.

It took her about an hour to settle in for her nap. That gave me good time to ride my bike, but poor Daddy…

We we’re so happy about America Day that we had to wear our America Day dress to school on Wednesday too.

And you’ll see that we were also very excited about the leftover Polish sausage. “Hot dogs,” ranch, Ketchup, and oatmeal – that’s my girl!!

Saturday, July 9, 2017

i have to admit that tonight I don’t feel at all like blogging. I’m honestly really tired. You’d think that a holiday week would provide lots of rest and relaxation, but it seemed to have sucked it right out of me.

There are so many things I want to remember about this time in Selah June’s life. She talks incessantly. And everything she says (that isn’t absolute whining) is pretty darn funny.

This week we said the following in no particular order:

“I can learn…at school and at home.”

“The sun burned my booty up.”

“I’m cockatoo. You’re pikachu.”

“I need a Diet Coke. I’m a lady.”

“Does Satie have a Miss Rachel? Does Abigail have a Miss Rachel?”

“I need my Ferris wheel (meaning her pinwheel).”

“Oh my goodness!!!! (GASP) Look at all the flags!!!!!”

The bunny says “look at her butt.” (laugh) “not booty.”

When asked if she wanted to go to the park, she said, “I want to go on an adventure. I want to go to Target.”

We’ve also been singing “Johnny Johnny.” And she will do the whole bit with me. If other people are listening, then she does it in a baby voice and you can’t understand her. But she can do it with me being Papa, and she can do it in reverse. She can be Papa.

Johnny Johnny

Yes, Papa?

Eating sugar?

No, Papa.

Telling lies?

No, Papa.

Open your mouth…

Ha Ha Ha

This typically will entertain her through rough spots during the day when she’s not in the mood to deal with 2 year old life.

And then we made up a song this week.

Cockatoo, pikachu, who are you?

And there’s our song for rainy days.

“We’re not gonna get wet cause we got out (pause) umbrella!”

She’s not really eating a whole lot more than chicken nuggets, French fries, tator tots, granola bars, oatmeal, bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and chips. She does like chocolate for treats (as well as doughnut holes and cookies).

And she loves to run.

Now if I can just catch up…

Monday, July 3, 2017

Abigail had a July 4th concert over in Seaside as a precursor to the same concert in Pensacola actually on July 4. She asked if I wanted to go with her, and I asked if SJ could come along. I knew it would be challenging, but I really didn’t want to leave her with someone else on a day when the university was closed and both of us were on our own.

She did great on the way over and immediately wanted to hit the beach. Keep in mind it was about 12:45 when we made it out to the shoreline. Ab was tied up from 1-4 with rehearsal, and I knew she wanted to spend some time in between her rehearsal and concert at the beach herself.

I thought I had planned well by choosing to wear my yoga-banded linen pants and a long sleeved knit shirt. I knew that I would be able to monitor her sun exposure and keep up with the sunscreen needs, but I was also quite sure that I wouldn’t be able to do the same for myself.

What I didn’t process was the extent to which the heavy water would pull on my pants and create huge problems while trying to keep her from going under.

She ran back and forth between the shore and me – several yards into the shallow water. Back and forth, back and forth… The people at the water’s edge with their beach chairs and drinks all just laughed at her and remarked that we were having a calisthenics class!

After I convinced her to take a rest and get a drink of water and a snack, she found a lovely spot on her tummy right at the edge. The waves wooshed her to and fro, and she used a shell someone gave her (because she’s that stinkin’ cute) to dig in the sand.

Once Ab got done with rehearsal, she met us and watched Selah June so that I could change clothes and find some shade. This was just a cool view.

While she was way too tired to behave inside the shops, she did find some entertainment along the way.

Ab had to get to the concert venue to warm up and tune about an hour prior to the concert. By then, the outdoor seating area was already pretty full. And of course everyone had brought lawn chairs….except for me. I didn’t even have a dry towel to sit on.

For a while, SJ had fun running around with all the children, but she eventually hit a wall.

She was so tired by the time the concert started that she couldn’t stand being there. She just rolled around in my lap and asked to go home. We left after the second piece of music and sat in Ab’s car with the air conditioning watching Curious George. It made an immediate difference. I think she was overstimulated and dehydrated.

And once Ab was back in the car, she was a goner…

Sunday, July 2, 2017

We wore our “America dress” for patriotic day at church. Selah Junebug knows her way around her church! Once she clear the parking lot, she tears around the corner on a mission.

And she’s a favorite in children’s church. They always remark on her crazy hair, her goofiness, and her striking intelligence.

After her nap, we went to Target and Daddy found a dry erase activity book. We had to bust it out before we did anything else once we got home. She immediately wanted to color in all the dots on the letters meant for tracing. I think the dots were supposed to provide a connect-the-dot guide to follow, but they just turned each letter into a coloring book object. It’s so funny how little ones process new things.