Before I Forget

I am not a good mother when it comes to filling out the Baby Book -- for either child. Whenever something cute or important happens, I find myself thinking I should dig through Mimi's closet to record it in her cute pink polka-dotted book, but that takes waaaay too much effort. Thank goodness for her sake I am an annoying blogger. So there are a few things I will record here before I forget about them tomorrow:

MimiShe has just turned into a little girl, and albeit a little dramatic it's still so fun. I let her choose between two outfits now when we are getting dressed in the morning. Honestly, she doesn't care what I put on her, but I want her to start voicing her opinions about her style. So I usually let her choose between a dress and a shirt and pants . . . and guess what she chooses. The dress. Always the dress. So I have decided to make more play dresses for her, and I came up with the cute little number she is wearing here. I think it will be a great dress for the fall by itself; for the winter with leggings, cardigan, and Uggs; and for next year as a shirt with skinny jeans and ballet flats. Versatility needs to be taught at a young age to keep her frugal. BUT as girly as she may be now, she REFUSES to wear a bow for longer than 5 seconds. Sadness. And she kinda has a mullet. I know, I know . . . it's time for a trim, but it curls at the ends, so I can't bring myself to it yet. I found some fun headbands for her and try ponytails and dogears, but she won't have it. So fuzzy blonde hair in her eyes, it is.

She loves to talk about Disney Princesses. My sister visited last week and bought Snow White ("No White") for Mimi and she is obsessed. During her prayers one night, she thanked God for "No White, Gopey (Dopey), and bubbles (I think Dopey and bubbles are somewhere in the movie). She loves her Sleeping Beauty (Seeping Booty, he he) wand and her new Tinkerbell Barbie. Okay, so you Disney dorks know Tinkerbell isn't in the line-up, but Mimi doesn't care. Tink is very princess-like to her. She has fun princess pajamas (jommers, as we like to say), and she loves her Princess coloring pages she received for her birthday. So I guess when she is being really, really good in Target one day (or when she's being really bad and needs some bribing) we will be in the market for Seeping Booty.

Some fun with the English language:

Delicious = Dewicious. She said this at Starbucks when a group of hungover twenty-somethings were talking about their delicious martinis from some bar I'll probably never go to.

Yes= YESH!!! and this is always said with much enthusiasm such as,

"Mimi, would you like to eat chocolate ice cream?"

"YESH!! I lub choc-oh-wit i cweam!!"

The Puppy Movie = 101 Dalmations

Woody-Buzz = Toy Story

Sometimes when I ask her a question she likes to answer with "Um, well, actually . . ." such as when I asked her what she was doing with her crayons in her room this morning, and she answered, "Um . . . well . . . actually . . . I draw a picture on da wall!" Thank you, Magic Eraser.

When she wants to persuade me to do something, she tells me "I got idea."

"Hey Mommy, I got idea . . . push Mimi strowwer and go get CUHCAKE!!" Of course cupcakes, I mean cuhcakes, are always a great idea.

When she hears a car horn outside (which is quite often on our busy corner) = "Oh no, Mommy! Whassat? A CWASH?? Wha' happened?"

She likes to put "All" in front of lots of phrases. If she trips then she will "all fall down" . . . I guess like "Ring Around the Rosies." If she sees a stain on her dress, she says she's "all dirty" or "all wet." Also, a few days ago I heard her call a waterfall a "waterfall-down." It all goes back to "Ring Around the Rosies."

Shoes and socks = "shoes and shocks." I think it's fun that the s's sound like sh. And sometimes her f's sound like p's like when she wants to eat some "pood."

When she wants Clint's attention she will sometimes say, "Daddy, Ohhh Daaa-dy!"

She sings everything. I have confessed recently that we are watching waaay too much TV, but she honestly is learning from some of these shows. If anything, she is building her memorization skills. For example, we rarely watch Mickey Mouse, but she was singing "Micka Mouse, CWUBHOUSE! M-O-U-S-E!" to Clint a few nights ago. Also, I noticed a new Yo Gabba Gabba was on a few days ago, and she was singing along with the songs. Okay, so maybe all the tunes are the same and they repeat the same phrases over and over, but whatever. I'm just happy girlfriend loves to sing.

She also likes to sing "Winna da Pooh," "Maaaaa-ry had a witta wamb," and some made up songs, which are fun. One of her faves is "Mommy and Daddy, Mimi and Mack!" She also hums a little tune while she plays with her Little People that goes like this, "A dum, a dum, a dum dum dum."

Speaking of Little People, Mimi has really started "pretending" with them lately. A few days ago we built a tent out of the dining table (covered it in a quilt), and I had to knock to be let in. Once I got in the tent, we played with her Little People house and practiced adult-like conversations such as, "Hi, my name Mimi. Like to come in and play and poo poo on the potty? You get nima nims if poo poo potty."

One of her new favorite phrases, "I don like it." Ugh. This is usually said when I try to put a bow in her hair or put meat on her plate. This is always followed with throwing whatever it is that she doesn't like. I recently decided to join a MOPS group (thanks for the suggestion, Lindley) near my house, and as soon as we entered the church she looked around and said, "I don like it!" But then she saw a wild group of kiddos running around with bells and other noisy contraptions and she indeed learned to like it (she had no other choice -- I desperately needed to be with other adults!).

She fights a nap and bedtime, but goes to sleep instantly when I put her down. We read a book that she recommends -- some of her favorites are the Dinosaur book, the Mommy book, the Daddy book, Brown Bear, and Jack . . . and I know you have no idea what those are. Then we say our prayers, and this is one of the sweetest yet funniest times of the day. A few nights ago she thanked God for a big shark and then made a shark mouth with her hands.

Today we marched around the den in a parade. Everytime I walked away to fold laundry or check on Mack, she grabbed my finger, handed me a musical instrument, and said, "Mommy, wanna march in the 'rade?"

We also learned how to play hide and seek today. I think she saw the pigs on Olivia playing because she was standing in the middle of the den with her hands over her eyebrows counting to 5 then saying, "Ready or not, here I come!" She wasn't very good at hiding and couldn't figure out why she was supposed to cover her eyes because having her hands over her eyes was, "Too dark. I don like it."

Mack

Mack's normal routine: sleep, eat, sleep, eat some more, poop, then look to either the right or left for a little while . . . and then start all over. Occassionally he'll hang out in his swing, look at the mobile in his pack 'n play, or lie on his playmat. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I can't imagine how cool it is to take in this world after being confined to my belly for 9 months.

He tries so hard to focus on everything in front of him, and I can tell that he knows Clint's, and Mimi's, and my voices because he will stop fussing if he hears one of us.

Mack is so noisy. Anyone who has tried to have a phone conversation with me recently has gotten an earful of grunts -- I think he's part piggy. He grunts when he's hungry, tired, happy, or mad, and even in his sleep. He wakes us up several times at night grunting, and when I check on him he's sound asleep.

One thing I've learned about little boys is that they do indeed stink. Several people told me this, and I now believe them. It's a musky boyish smell, and we can't go too long without a bath like we could with Mimi.

And he's so, so sweet. I love how tiny he is and how soft his skin is. And I hate that this stage won't last much longer . . . for either of them. Mack won't be so fascinated by the pack 'n play mobile and Mimi will figure out how to cover her eyes when counting for hide 'n seek. So I don't want to forget.