Not really about dandelions - I just like them. This blog is mostly about my daughter, but more generally, a way to keep family and friends up to date on my life. Visitors are welcome too.
Monday, September 29, 2008
last of summer - ?
Cleaning up some photo files before my computer crashes again. Here are some miscellaneous pictures I've been intending to post.
E sporting her two ponytails:
Granddaughters challenge Grandpa to change a diaper on a doll:
New baby in the family (my cousin's):
E decides she will hold the baby after all, but quickly changes her mind and cries, "Take it off me!"
E is into building block towers now. They're Cinderella castles. She carries her happy meal Oz dolls around in an easter basket and shows them things, asks them to help her build with blocks. She introduces herself to them over and over, as Princess Cinderelly. She likes to welcome them to her home. Today I played Giant Robot and was introduced to everyone, and she taught me how to talk nicely. The deep voice I was affecting was apparently not nice. E also likes to help me cook. Tonight we made mini cheese pizzas but she didn't each much of them. Last night I told her she invented a recipe: she had plain yogurt combined with pureed carrots and dried fruit, added her pieces of hot dog, said it was dee-licious. I turned down her offer to share.
I went to the Obama-Biden rally yesterday and felt excited to be part of something huge. I just wish I had someone with me to enjoy it with. Standing in a line or a crowd for 4 hours can be lonely! But I did get a good close spot.
David got a ride in a museum airplane today (a DC-3 that usually lives in a museum), up to an air show in Virginia and back.
...and don't make a big deal of this to E... but tonight she, on her own initiative, tried garden peas. I could hardly believe it. Remember my post about needing to learn to cook? Well, I'm taking baby steps. Don't laugh, but tonight I made ramen noodles with chicken broth and leftover chicken noodle soup (and threw away the packet of seasoning powder that comes with the noodles) and "poached" two eggs in it. After helping E's plate, I added a can of garden peas for me. Well, E ate hers (with grated cheese on top: "cut it up in the saw-er" she said) and still wanted more so I fished out some noodles and there were a couple of garden peas stuck in there. I expected a protest but got none. She picked one up and ate it. Said "Mmm! Yummy!" Ate the next one. Then when that helping was gone I told her there was only peas and soup left and she said, "I want peas and soup!" Then she asked if Grandpa made these peas, and wanted to call him and tell him she was eating "this kind of green bean". She used to eat peas, probably over a year ago, then she stopped. Maybe she'll never eat them again, who knows, but it gave me hope! David's dad calls them "smart pills" - how they used to try to get the kids to eat them.
This week while I've not been blogging, E got some new toys she LOVES. McDonald's Happy Meals currently come with Wizard of Oz (Eyes) dolls. This was the first one, "baby Tin Man" as she calls him. I'm now Mommy Tin Man, but that doesn't mean I'm the tin man's mommy - E says "You're Mommy Tin Man for Me". We added the scarecrow and a munchkin E insists is Dorothy over the weekend. They all watch tv with her and go on stroller rides.
We also have a wonderful duck family now (thanks, Linda!), consisting of a Mama Duck, three babies, and a Grandma Duck. They rate crib time, like the tin man.
There were videos to go with these, but having trouble getting them uploaded for some reason.
This weekend when I told E that there would be a pool at Victor's birthday party Saturday, and she saw that her bathing suit has a little skirt on it, she said she could be a water fairy princess. Here's a little clip by an inept videographer of the water fairy princess on the slip-and-slide. (I was missing all the good shots all afternoon - on this one the memory card was suddenly full.)
It was a very fun party and Marie followed the K.I.S.S. principle very well I think. There were 4 boys and E as the only girl. Enough adults and a fenced yard, very important. I'll write more about it and share more photos.
Yesterday, Sunday, was a quiet day where we boycotted the 94-degree weather. We only left the house to let the neighbor borrow the lawnmower. E watched "Cinderella" again and we played house, and sleeping, and baby dolls, and I don't remember what all, but it was all very low-key. She took a two hour nap! Oh, and we played Wizard of Eyes a lot. She was Dorothy. I was Mommy Tin Man. She explained things to Mommy Tin Man, like "This is a crib. It's too big for the living room." I think the highlight of her day was eating her "waweepop" (lollipop/sucker) that was in the bag of party favors.
E had a low fever last night and it was the beginning of our weekend, so I let her fall asleep in the living room, after watching Disney's Cinderella movie - first time for both of us. She's wearing her mermaid t-shirt. Before someone taught her the word mermaid (probably at preschool), she called it a fish princess.
Maybe I'll catch up on posting over the weekend or next week. E and I are both not getting enough sleep, and I am struggling with big deadlines at work. She seems to be outgrowing her naps - almost. Yesterday I was sure she would nap at Erma's because she went to bed late and I got her up early, but she didn't. Last night just before 7:00 she had a fit because I wanted her to get a bath (which she sorely needed), then once I got her in the tub she was throwing such a fit trying to get out that I did take her out -- then her screams changed instantly to "No, I don't want to get out! I want a bath!" Luckily I can still physically hold her and pick her up. I decided to "forget" brushing her teeth so I could get her into bed with one less battle scar for both of us.
E got some ballet slippers from her cousin! Oh, very exciting. She wears them all the time, but not outdoors. She says they keep her feet warm and she can dance in them, except not in the car seat.
This picture is from Tuesday night when Victor was over. They were watching "the animal movie" and hiding.
E and I went to Fayetteville to see where her daddy has been working for the last week. She made up for the lousy welcome she gave him by offering a psychic reading on the vibes in the theatre. She said, "Mommy this is a bad place!" Our laughter probably egged her on; she said it more often and in more variations. When we were leaving she pronounced, "Mommy, dis fee-a-ter is a bad pwace. I not going to work here, no."
David points out Pogo and Elvis (out of view) in his past work. She knows about Ebbis. Erma the babysitter plays his music a lot, and there's a monster who dresses like him on one of her favorite videos.
E demonstrates how she can be "flat". She's almost doing the splits.
I had explained to her what a stage was by saying it's where the ballerinas come out and dance, and as we sat in the audience seats for a few minutes she kept asking where the ballerinas were. David said they had the day off.
