Jul 9, 2016 | Sesame, Uncategorized |
July has become the month Sesame decided to start acting like a toddler. In the grand scheme of toddlerhood she’s still pretty mellow but she’s always been very compliant so any veering off that path is noticeable.
Within the last 48 hours she’s cried for the following reasons:
+ She wanted to sit on the potty but for whatever reason she couldn’t.
+ She had to sit on the potty when she didn’t want to.
+ She had to get off the potty before her show on the ipad was done.
(A lot of our tears are related to potty training at the moment. Pray for us.)
+ I didn’t let her watch shows during breakfast, after breakfast, during lunch and all afternoon.
+ She found a tutu dress at the store that she wanted but we didn’t get because it was too small. She was HEART BROKEN. You would have thought someone stole her Mr. Lion. She clutched the dress to her chest while crying, “Tutu skirt! I want to take it home, Mama! I WANT DA TUTU SKIRT!” throughout our entire visit. We were a joy for the other shoppers to be around.
Have I mentioned we’re potty training? She’s gone a few times when I put her on the regular toilet so I thought she might be ready for the next step. We bought a little Minnie Mouse potty. We got a pack of Minnie Mouse underwear. We have a bag of chocolate chips to give as a reward. We’ve had zero success. I’ve started eating the chocolate chips every time we have an unsuccessful potty trip or I have to clean up a mess.
She’s been very fussy so I had Christopher talk to her about it. “You can’t always get what you want in life. Mama is very kind to you so you need to be thankful for what she does, even if you don’t get something you want. I know it’s sad, but you can’t get all upset when something doesn’t go your way. Ok?” She responded with, “Pepperoni, cheese and pasta.” Good talk, Annabelle, good talk. Glad it really got through.
We went to her first swimming lesson on Wednesday. She did so well. Of the five kids in the class she was one of only two who didn’t scream the entire time. I was so proud. Then we went to Children’s Place and had the tutu dress incident so my pride was knocked down a notch.
She LOVES the playground. We go at least four times a week. The days she loves best are when we bring a picnic lunch. So far we’ve been able to leave the playground without tears but usually I have some sort of bribe to avoid a meltdown. There is no shame in my game. (I have NO doubt we’ll have the Playground Meltdown of 2016 any day now.)
One of her favorite conversations is asking if we’re a cow, a pool, a cup of milk or whatever she can think of. She especially loves to ask if we’re a dog. She was so tickled when I showed her the dog filter on snapchat.
“Mama! I want somesing.”
“What do you want?”
“Somesing.”
“Something like what?”
“Yep.”
“Tell me what it is that you want and I’ll get it.”
“I want somesign.”
Repeat 12 times a day.
Good thing she’s cute. Today she grabbed my face and said, “You so boo-iful.”
May 25, 2016 | Sesame, Uncategorized |
Heard from the backseat
“You want to borrow my fingers, Mom?”
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| Best friends with Mr. Lion since 2014. |
AB: “I wanna see picture of me and Jesus.”
Me: “I don’t have a picture of you and Jesus.”
AB: ”I wanna to see picture of Jesus on phone!”
Me: “But I don’t have any pictures of Jesus on my phone. I’ve never taken a picture of him.”
AB: “I wanna see me and Jesus!”
Me: “I don’t—“
AB: “I WANNA SEE PICTURE OF JESUS!”
Sorry, girlfriend. If I could google a picture of you and Jesus I would. If you and Jesus ever are visibly in the same room together I’ll take a million pictures.
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| It’s a real shame she doesn’t have any bath toys. |
“Happy cat! Happy mouse! Cat eat da mouse. Happy cat!!”
Before bedtime prayers
Me: “Think about all the nice things you have, like your bed and your toys, and thank God for them.”
AB: “Dear Yord. Thank you for da door.”
Me: “Do you love Baby Ivy?”
AB: “I love fried rice.”
“I holdin baby I-bee (Ivy).”
This is said when she’s holding anything that can be wrapped in a blanket. Her sippy cup, pretend egg, monkey and rabbit from Easter have all been Baby Ibee at one point or another. She’s in for a real treat when she meets Ivy and discovers she’s not a plastic turtle that plays music.
AB: “It taste yike butterscotch!”
Me: “What does?”
AB: “Da bubbles! They so yummy! You want some?”
Apr 4, 2016 | Sesame, Uncategorized |
I’m coming to you live from Party Recovery City, USA.
As happens every single time I host a party, I plan for weeks to avoid any stress but I still end up running around like a crazy chicken the 24 hours leading up to the event. It’s an art I’ve perfected over the years.
We talked about it being a Pooh Bear party for weeks but I got a little worried it wasn’t Pooh enough. Christopher saved the day by ordering Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet stuffed animals and telling Sesame that some of Pooh’s friends wanted to come to the party too. She was so excited we could have canceled the party. All she needed were the stuffed animals and balloons to make her day.
Don’t let the sunshine and open window fool you. It was a brisk 22*. It should never be below 50* in April. It just isn’t right.
I insisted we needed signs for all the food. The vegetable platter was from Rabbit’s garden, the pink lemonade was Piglet’s punch and the calzones were Kanga’s pouch.
A sweet moment with Grampy before her friends arrived. She was somewhat of a party pooper. She cried and fussed for the first 45 minutes. She sat on her rocking horse in the corner and watched all her friends play. She came alive once I got her food. Like mother, like daughter.
She was 10000x more enthusiastic about her cake this year than she was last year. Last year just looking at it made her cry. This year she stuck her finger right in.
Her favorite gifts were a tutu dress and tea set. Personally I’m excited about the tea set because she accidentally broke half of my tiny cappuccino set while having a tea party.
Now the party’s over and all that’s left are a pile of deflating balloons and 1/3 of a birthday cake. I hate wasting food so I guess it’s responsible to have a slice as an evening snack. I’ll (re)start my diet next week.
Mar 29, 2016 | Sesame, Uncategorized |
At 1:40 this afternoon this little puzzle maker turned two.
She’s about 25lbs and getting taller by the day. She just started wearing mostly 18 or 18-24 month clothes. Most of her 12-18 pants still fit around the waist but are too short so they’ll be making an appearance as capris in the summer. Her hair has grown in beyond belief. When she turned one she barely had any hair to speak of and now I can put in a ponytail.
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| March 2015 |
She loves baths and swimming, music, reading, watching her shows (Frozen, Winnie the Pooh and Minnie are still favorites), eating, playing outside and the playground. She goes to story time and music class. She gets excited about going to church to ”listen to the music about Jesus.” She likes hats, shoes and jewelry.
She talks and sings all day long. A few weeks ago someone told me she’ll “really be talking” by the summer. She’s really been talking in full sentences for months already.
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| August 2015 |
She does not enjoy most green vegetables but she loves eating frozen peas. She’s usually fine when I leave her in the nursery but she almost always has a meltdown if I’m in a different part of the house than her. Heaven forbid I leave the house completely. Most of the time she’s obedient and well behaved but she’s just started to get a little more difficult. Obviously that’s when she takes after her father. When she’s being an angel she’s all me.
What’s your favorite color?
All the best.
What’s your favorite animal?
Bunny rabbit. When I was story time I was a bunny rabbit.
What’s your favorite movie?
Frozen! I wanna snack.
What does Daddy do for work?
Daddy goes to gym. Daddy go to Wahmart.
What does Mommy do for work?
What do you work, Mommy?
Who is your best friend?
Rachel and Layla and Mr. Lion. I want some something to eat. I’m going to marry Prince George.
Happy birthday, Belle Belle. You’re my favorite baby.
Mar 17, 2016 | Sesame, Uncategorized |
Mar 9, 2016 | Sesame, Uncategorized, What's going on |
I am in deep, deep, deep, deep mourning. Downton Abbey is over. My life is not worth living anymore. I have nothing to look forward to during the long winter nights. I’ve been with Downton Abbey longer than I’ve been married and it’s rude of them to decide our relationship isn’t worth continuing.
I ran two laps around the track today. Clearly the finale of Downton Abbey is messing with my head. The farthest I’ve run in the last six months is from the front door to the car when it’s raining. Just for perspective, two laps didn’t mean I ran half a mile. It takes 11 laps to make a mile on that track. I’m patting myself on the back for running 2/11 of a mile without dying.
Annabelle’s birthday is this month. I feel like she was born last week but at the same time like she’s been here for five years. I designed her party invitations and uploaded them to the Kinko’s website to be printed. They asked if I wanted them printed on paper approved by the Forest Stewardship Council. The only stewardship I’m interested in is trying not to spend all the party money on decorations. Annabelle talks about it almost every day. “I have a Pooh Bear party! My fwends come to my party. And Rachel come. And Amos come. It be so fun!” I wanted to be ahead of the game and bought fabric to make her party outfit when we still lived in Tennessee. We moved seven months ago and the fabric is still sitting on the shelf and I’ve made absolutely no progress on it. She still fits into the onesie from her first birthday party so at this rate we’ll be recycling that outfit.
Speaking of being fully prepared for things, here’s AB’s birthday gift in all it’s glory:
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Look at all those baskets and general junk we haven’t touched since we moved.
Correction. We have touched them, but just enough to move them from one side of the garage to another. |
Isn’t it beautiful? All I have to do is remove it from the garage where it’s sat since January, wash it down, sand it, decide on a color scheme, paint it, seal it, and make a curtain. All before the end of the month. No time crunch at all.
Look who discovered bubbles! Best day ever!
They bring her as much joy as eating the frog facecloth brought her last March.
