Friday, December 2, 2016

It was a bit cold today, so Selah June had to wear legitimate winter clothes.  She’s been enjoying wearing hoodies, so I thought we’d try a hat.  She loved it!!  It stayed on through her whole day at school, apparently stayed on during nap, and only came off at the end of the day for bath time.

It was so cute that I wanted to take her picture. But she’s got me figured out.  She knows that all I want is one good picture.  I beg and plead, “say cheese!  Please?? Just for one picture?”  Nope.  Nothing.  But this morning I asked if she could get puppy to say cheese for the camera.  This is the silliness that resulted.

It was a really crazy day full of lots of stress. My book deadline was 12/1, but I didn’t get it sent in until 12/2.  Oh well….They’ll have to just get over it.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Today was book deadline day, but it didn’t happen.  What did happen was Dan’s book debut and signing.  We contributed to his kickstarter and got 5 books for posterity. I got a dark chocolate mint smoothie, and Selah June and Daddy shared some chicken and fries.  She ate like a champ and then was really good about saying hi to Dan and then leaving to go home.  I was impressed. We didn’t see Mom and Dad or Aaron, Jessica, and the kids, but it was a nice little family adventure for the evening.  We took the long way home to look for more “Christmas.”  One of the best light displays I’ve seen is on the main drag in our neighborhood.  We have to slow down when we drive by after dark so that Selah Junie can get a good long look.  “I happy!”  “I so excited!” “It’s Christmas!” Selah

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

She hates it when I try to take her picture. This morning she said, “No cheese!!”

When we got to school, she started saying “There’s an emergenseat!!!” She called for “Rider! Chase! Marshall!” It took me a second to realize what she was talking about.  You could faintly hear an ambulance in the background.  SHE NOTICES EVERYTHING!!!! It’s really pretty scary.

She found these yesterday and was fascinated by them all day today.  I showed Jay Clune because they say UWF Graduate School on the side of them.  He thought it was great.

Jeremy was slated to pick her up from school, but the weather turned really nasty right at the time he was going to get her.  He decided to wait out the rain at Sonic with a sleepy little Selah June and some tater tots. Then I met them at Target to get Selah Junie her very own Christmas tree.  She was “so excited” she could hardly stand it.  We stopped at each bin to ask her whether she needed a penguin ornament or a fox, an owl or a lion.  She needed “all of em.” She ended up bagging a tree just her size, a pink sparkly star for a tree topper, small brightly colored (and some sparkly) ball ornaments, a lion, a penguin, and a fish.  We were super lucky to get out of there with any money left at all.

She came home and immediately set up her tree.  “Christmas!!!!  Like Satie!!” You’ll notice she needed to put all the red balls together and all the blue balls together.  And they all had to be on the same branch.  A little bit of an organization freak…. ❤️

The other new thing is that she has discovered that she can use all of the plastic rings used to connect baby toys to mobiles and car seats make for perfect baby bangles.  She calls them her “tangles.” When she’s loaded her arm up with about 12 of them, she looks like some kind of National Geographic tribal warrior.

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.