November 8, 2009

Tonight before Eliana went to bed I spoke with her teacher from the co-op class.  When we got off the phone, Eliana looked at me and started to ask about Aunt Wendy, since she could hear a voice on the phone.  She assumed that it was Wendy.  I told her that it was actually Mrs. Carey.  I watched as she did a mental shifting of gears, and then she grinned.  She said, and she drew the words out slowly,"songs...friends...Mrs. Carey...Michael James..."  She paused in between each of these things, and then finally said,"That's it!"

It was so precious.

Do you know what this is?

While you think about it for a minute, let me tell you this...Eliana came over to me after she and Christian had been sharing a sweet moment.  The first thing she said was,"I ate it all up!"  I said okay and smiled at her.

The next time I walked by the table I saw the above picture.  That is her version of eating a Peanut M&M "all up"! 

November 4, 2009

Tonight I was lying down with Eliana (on my bed, she was in hers) and she wanted me to sing Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Again, and again, and again.

Well, after singing the song about seventeen times, I remember singing the first verse once more, and then I thought I sang the next verse, but suddenly I heard her saying,"Mary lamb...again!"  So, apparently I was singing in my head and not in real life.  Then, and I clearly remember this, I sang the first verse as it should be sung and went on to sing,"So his brothers crossed him out, crossed him out, crossed him out..." and as I finished that refrain I could hear her saying,"No!  I don't like that song!"  And I knew that I was singing the wrong words, and I didn't know what I meant by them.  I think I was so tired that I somehow mixed up the story of Joseph and his brothers (when they threw him in the well and then sold him to traders headed to Egypt; Christian was reading about this just before I put Eliana to bed) with the part of the song where the teacher turns out the lamb. 

Talk about a weird experience.  They say that being tired is worse than being drunk as far as your faculties go...after tonight I totally believe it.

November 4, 2009

Two from Eliana this morning...

I was getting her dressed in order to take Christian to school and I said,"Let me see your toes," so I could get her socks on.  She stuck her feet straight out and said exuberantly,"Abso-wutely!"

Just now I found two very small spheres, they kind of look like BBs, in her hands (one in each).  They looked like something I had seen in the sink the other day, which I foolishly thought was toothpaste stuck in the drain thingy.  I said to Michaela,"What are these?"  She said,"Those pellets from the back yard."  (They were there when we moved here...we're not too sure what they are.)  She continued,"When you washed her hands the other day they probably went in the sink."  Ah, so she too had noticed that blue in the sink.  I said,"Well, how did she get them out of the sink?!"  Michaela looked at me with her eyebrows raised as high as they could go and said,"I don't know!  Christian probably did it." 

Christian was at school and could not defend himself.

I figured I would never know the real story, so I just threw the things away and took Eliana to the sink to wash her hands.  I asked her where she got the pellets.  She shrugged and said,"I uh know (her version of I don't know)...the sink?"  Then I said,"How did you get them out of there?"  She shrugged again and told me,"Prolly Christian did it."  Those ears are sharp, aren't they?

November 1, 2009

Today, as I do most days, I stuck the kids in the car and drove around in order to get Eliana to sleep.  Yes, there it is, for all the world to see (although I think three people read the quote section on this blog, so...for all of three people to see), I drive my daughter around to get her to sleep.  Some people might think that it is a last resort, but the truth is that it worked so well for our first child that I thought I would stick with this method.

Right.

Anyway, the point is that the two big kids were being noisy, which makes for a great sleep-inducing environment anytime, much less while in a car, and Eliana looked more like she was headed out to a dance party than off to dreamland, so I decided that in order to punish all of them I would run by Kohl's to see if they had a waffle iron I've been stalking there for three weeks.  (That in and of itself is a story for another post another time.)

We got to Kohl's and Christian hollered,"I thought we were getting Eliana to sleep!"  I told him that that was my original plan but they were being loud and Eliana wasn't sleeping so I wanted to check on something in the store quickly.  I thought maybe the extra few minutes would make the difference for Eliana and she would then be tired enough to konk out on the way home.

As we were getting ready to get out of the car, Michaela said to me emphatically,"This wasn't a good decision!"  I looked at her, thinking to myself she was being awfully smart-mouthed.  I thought she was referring to the whole getting-Eliana-to-sleep situation.  I turned and looked at her and said,"Michaela, that was not appropriate to say to me."  She was leaning forward onto the front seat and she looked at me with genuinely sweet eyes.  She said softly,"It was appropriate."  Then she glanced down at her feet.

I'm laughing so hard as I type this.

I had forgotten her shoes.  Which were actually my shoes.  And it's not like she slipped on a pair of my flip-flops, which in a pinch she can wear.  No, she had on these...

Although they looked great with her ensemble, they really would have made it difficult to get in and out of Kohl's very quickly.  Even if I had them on.

She had come to the car laughing hysterically at herself, and when she got in and showed me what she had on I let it go, because what were we going to do?  Drive around the neighborhood.  Then I promptly forgot what she was wearing on her feet.

That'll show me to change my plans.

By the way, I ended up calling Kohl's while in the car, and they still didn't have the waffle iron that I have been trying to get for weeks.  What is up with that?!

And Eliana did fall asleep on the way home and slept for 2 1/2 hours once we got in the house. 

Also, I have typed a "y" instead of a "u" almost every time I wanted to type a "u" tonight.  Why is that?  I've written things like:  hilarioys (several times), and hoyse.  It's been a consistent quirk.  I hope it goes away soon.  I also wrote above,"I promptly forgot what she was wearing on my feet."  That's about how much sense I'm making these days!  For the three of you reading this...have a great week!

November 1, 2009

We were having a conversation about spending time visiting different places; one place we mentioned was my parents' house.  Often when we go visit them we stay in a time-share place.  If all five of us go to see them, we are a large addition to their home!  Michaela asked if we would ever go there for Christmas again and I said I didn't know.  We are a lot of people to fit into a small house.  Then Christian chimed in,"Poor Grandma."  I said,"Why?"  He said,"Because she lives in a cottage."

I have to confess, it made me laugh.

Grandma, even though your house is small...your love is large!  And we know that's what is most important.  So no matter where we end up spending time with you and Grandpa, we're happy because you are there!

October 31, 2009

Eliana loves to color, and today she had sprawled out on the floor while I finished some costume details; she had a piece of posterboard and some markers.

After a little while she brought over her masterpiece and showed it to me.  She said something along the lines of "Look what I did!"  She stood there a minute and I, of course, told her I really liked it and that she had done a good job.  She didn't move, and I looked at her and smiled, and then she said,"Take picture o' dat!"

Do you think I take too many pictures of this girl?

She also told me where she was going to be for the photo shoot.  What a mess.

October 30, 2009

I was over at the church today and we stopped by to visit someone in her office.  One of her coworkers came over in order to ask her a quick question. 

Her question was,"Does the communications office have a phone number?"

I thought that was pretty darn funny.

October 27, 2009

We have a rule that no shoes are worn in the house.  Actually, this is my rule, and I make everyone follow it.  Sometimes, I have to admit, it's annoying, like when I get in the car and realize I left something inside and in order to get it I would have to take off my shoes.  (A normal person would, of course, just run in and get whatever they needed, without bothering about the shoes.  I am not a normal person, however.)  My sneakers aren't a big deal; I can just slip them off and then back on.  But my boots are more of a pain...they take a little longer and when I'm already running late, well...you know.

So, we were in the car and I realized I had left my phone inside.  I was debating with myself whether or not to go and get it.  I had my boots on.  I sighed and said something like,"My phone is inside, but it takes a hundred years to put my boots on..."

Michaela said from the back seat,"You've put them on 100 times and you haven't even lived 40 years."

I suppose I was being a bit dramatic.

October 27, 2009

While Christian and Eliana were eating breakfast Mike gave Christian some words of encouragement before he left for the office.  He asked him to be helpful and cooperate while getting ready for school.  He told him to be happy.

Eliana sang from her seat,"I'm happy Daddy!"

October 27, 2009

J.R., this is for you...

"What if when we burped it came out gibberish?!"

-Michaela

(and you can only imagine how the conversation went after that...you've never heard so many made up burps in your life.  But it might have been one of the funnest times we had together in the car.)

October 26, 2009

Just overheard...

"Luck is true, but it's not real.  I don't know what that means, but whatever..."

-Michaela

(the kids are painting)

Christian:  This is an oviraptor.

Michaela:  I would have said it was a Tyrannasaurus...

Christian:  Look.  It has a crest.  Does a Tyrannasaurus have a crest?  I don't think so.

October 24, 2009

I was standing in between the girls in the kitchen today, Michaela on my left, Eliana on my right standing in a little chair.  Michaela moved from my side and went over to the kitchen door and as she passed behind she said,"Don't step left."  I imagined she was talking to Eliana, because if Eliana were to step left she would fall off the chair.  I thought it was sweet.

I turned to throw something away behind me, and Michaela said,"I said,'Don't step left!'"  I said,"Oh.  I thought you were talking to Eliana."  Michaela began sweeping up something that she had spilled (hence the,"Don't step left.").  She said,"She doesn't even know what left is," in the dryest, are-you-really-saying-that voice. 

Of course she doesn't...she is two.  And I am a thirty-five year old doofus.

October 22, 2009

Christian picked up a small flyer from our porch and read it:

"Best Firewood in Texas"

"Mom!  It's the best firewood in Texas!!"

He was so excited.  I said,"Mmmhmm."

He then said,"Maybe we can get some of it?"

If it's written then it must be true...

October 18-19, 2009

Quotes from the road:

Christian:  Are we still in Dallas?

Me:  No. 

Christian:  Are we in Houston? 

Me:  No.  (It had been about forty minutes, maybe.)

Christian:  Where are we?

Me:  Ennis.

Christian:  Venice?

Me:  No, Ennis.

Christian:  Venice?  Did you say Venice?

Me:  No, ENNIS.

Christian:  Dennis?

Me:  No. ENNIS!

Mike:  Dennis without the D.

Christian:  Annis?

Mike and Myself:  ENNIS! 

We finally passed a sign that he could read.

Christian:  Ah!  Ennis!

(In his defense, he was in the back of the van...)

Driving into downtown Houston as the sun was setting Michaela said,"I'm so glad we came!  We don't get sunsets like this in Dallas!"  She went on to say,"You know, with all the pink and purple..."

On the way home Christian asked if we were in Ennis (yes, Ennis, again!).  I said no.  He said,"Are we out of Ennis?"  I took this to mean had we driven through it and were now on the other side of it.  I said,"No."  He looked at me as though he were not to be taken for a fool and replied,"Well, if we're not in Ennis, then we're out of it." 

Well, you got me there.  Why do they ask me questions if they already know the answer?