3 Goods Reads

Good Night Moon... it's a Grace favorite as I am sure it is for so many other kiddos out there. This is one of those books that Grace can practically read to herself. She LOVES the part that talks about the "quiet old lady who was whispering hush". We always get really quiet and say "hush" together as soft as possible. Then we laugh because Grace thinks it is so fun. The other day Grace was pointing to all the things she saw in the picture when *gasp* she thought she saw a lady bug. Lord help us... here in Georgia there are plenty of lady bugs and I have made the mistake of pointing them out to her whenever I see one. Now every little bug she sees or every little red dot is a lady bug. And let me tell you that seeing a lady bug is cause for BIG excitement in Grace's world. So you can imagine how exciting it was for Grace to think she spotted a lady bug in one of her favorite books! Do you see the little houses that the cow is jumping over in the above picture? She pointed to the one in the bottom right hand corner and stated "Ladybug!" But here is the really funny part... after looking for a minute she said "No, house, I think. Little house." How in the world did she know that? I guess she sees better than I do! Funny girl : )

Sometimes Grace and I will go book hunting in the little antique stores downtown. A few months ago we found Sammy The Seal. This week she has become obsessed with it. It is not a board book and it has bout 60 pages, but she will sit through this story time after time after time with no hesitation. I can't really put my finger on exactly what it is about this story that captivates her, but she really gets into it. In the story Sammy the seal leaves the zoo for the day to see what is outside. He looks around the city and goes to school and then goes back to the zoo at the end of the day. Last night Grace was literally in tears when we got to the page where Sammy leaves the zoo. She would NOT let me turn the page to see what happened next. She just did NOT want Sammy to say bye to all those other animals at the zoo. She kept on trying to pick Sammy up off the page and out of the picture. I had to reassure her over and over that he would come back and that we got to go with him on his adventure. We made a game of finding Sammy's picture on each page of the book. "See, he is right there." I had to reassure her over and over and over on each page. Finally, on the next to last page Sammy rides back to the zoo in a taxi. This really got her attention and got her mind off poor Sammy. Grace immediately noticed that Sammy rides in the back of the car just like she does. She kept on talking about this, and just loved the fact that he was not in the front seat. I think it's funny how something as simple as reading a book can teach you so much about your child's emotions and what sets them off and what they find important in life.

The other book that Grace has recently come to enjoy a lot is Harry the Dirty Dog. She calls it "Harry Dirty Doggy". She loves loves loves to read about the dog and his adventures. I think it is probably the pictures that she actually likes so much. A lot of times I will flip through a book and just ask her what she sees on each page. She always has a lot to say about the pictures in this book. I hardly have to prompt her at all. I also think it's funny that while I know she can't put the whole story together in her head yet she really does think about what she is seeing and hearing in the story in her own way. For instance, there is a page at the end of Harry The Dirty Dog where Harry comes home and his family is looking at him from the door stoop. However, they don't know it's him because he is so dirty. In the picture, next to the stoop, there is a tricycle and a wagon and some toys. Grace is always disturbed by this picture because the little boy in the picture is not riding the tricycle. She totally forgets about Harry and the story and totally zooms in on the fact that that little boy has a tricycle that is just sitting there not being ridden. After making me flip back to that page several times Grace thought a minute and stated "That little boy ride tricycle later. Little boy has tricycle right there. He go outside to ride it later. Later. Yep, later." I guess this was her solution to the problem of the lonely tricycle. All she knew was that if Grace had a tricycle Grace would forget all about that dog and ride her tricycle as long as her mommy would let her. I think we might know what to get her for her 2nd birthday. She is a little obsessed with trikes and bikes since she had a brief encounter at the Elston's house over Christmas : )

Summer Sandals

It's time to start pulling out summer clothes! Yea!!! I like summer clothes so much more than winter clothes. There are so many more options for girls. We can do dresses, skirts, shorts, capri pants.... and all in fun bright summer colors, too! I am always a little sad when it is time to switch out our summer clothes with the winter ones. It was especially sad when I knew Grace wouldn't ever be able to fit into the little dresses and bubbles she wore last summer when she turned 1. But hooray for putting away the well worn 18 months pants and long sleeves and leggings, and hooray pulling out new fun size 2T outfits!

I thought I would share some fun news of a good sandal sale going on. At www.meandmyfeet.com you can use the code SPRING at checkout and receive 20% off on your Saltwater Sandal order. The sale ends the 29th, so you will have to act quickly! Unless you can find these shoes at a local store I think this will be about the best you can do online price wise... believe me, I have looked for a better deal : )

Last year Grace had a white pair of the Sea Wees (the fist picture), and they still look brand new after having worn them all summer. Once your kiddo reaches size 5 there are a lot more options including these fishermen sandals that I think would just be too precious for little boys.

They are a little expensive (around $30) but all you really need for a little girl is one white pair. They can be worn with play clothes and Sunday clothes. Also, if they all hold up as well as our last pair I am convinced they will last for multiple kiddos. And a sandal like this will never go out of style... I am pretty sure kids were wearing these things when we were kids. Oh, and did I mention they are water sandals too? They are completely water proof... hence the name "Saltwater Sandals". Your kid can wear them to the beach or just to the backyard sprinkler!

Grace will wear the "Surfer" sandal (above) this summer. It is so nice to have two real buckles to be able to adjust, so you know your kids foot is fitting in the shoe the way you want. Since Graces feet are so narrow this is super helpful for us. And you can just adjust the buckle as your little ones foot grows over the summer : )

Just thought I would pass on my good shoe find... especially since so many of you helped me out when I was trying to buy kids shoes for the firs time.

A Little More Funny Talk

So tonight at dinner (my dad made crawfish etoufee... mmmmm) Paw Paw asked from the kitchen if anyone wanted seconds. Grace yelled back unprompted "No thank you, please!" Not two seconds later she smiled a sneaky grin and giggled while she said "Gracie poooooted!" Ahhh... the good and bad manners of a 21 month old.

Funny Talk

So now that Grace talks non stop I thought I should start to write down some of the funny things she comes up with. It is amazing how fast her speech is developing, and I know I will forget these things if I don't write them down. I tried to think back over the past couple of days for things that stood out. Oh, and I can't get any pictures to load, so words only it is....

Phone conversation:
Grace looks at he phone... "It's ringin'. Just a second".... puts phone up to her ear.... "Ok....Hey Nana! How doinday? Doin' well!?" ....Long pause.... "OK, ByeBye!"
She then repeats this same conversation (with minor variations) about 15 times.


We have been having a lot of conversations about how food is the only thing allowed to be bitten. Here is what Grace is saying right now as I type:
Bite phone?....Bite mama?.....Bite daddy?.....Bite computa?.....Bite frigerator?.....Bite juice?! Bite on it orange juice? Bite on cran-juice?...Yep.
disclaimer: She has never bitten another person...yet...just her own hand. I don't know what the obsession with this concept is.


While eating her bagel with creme cheese this morning:
"Bagel soooo good. (next, in a sing-song voice) So good! So good! So good! Mmmm.... I LOVE bagel." ....thinks a minute.... "Give it a hug?"


Grace's first joke:
"Lettuce eyes!"
She made this up all by herself. I have no idea what she was thinking, but she thinks it is absolutely the funniest thing a person could ever say. She says it and then proceeds to almost die of laughter. She has now expanded the joke to include "Lettuce mouth, lettuce nose and lettuce ears".


When answering a question:
Grace has recently added the phrase "I think" to the end of her sentences. I think it is very endearing.

examples:
me: Grace where is your baby?
G: In my room, I think.

me: Grace who is in that picture?
G: Umm... Gracie, I think. No.... Susie, I think. Yeah, Susie.... Baby Susie.

me: Grace, what would you like for breakfast?
G: Banana, I think.


Yesterday in the car she was looking out the window while it was raining and she had the hiccups:
"It's rainin' on it! It's ra-hiccup-inin'! Uh-oh! Gracie bur-hiccup-ped again! Gracie bur-hiccup-ed again! Oh, goodness!"


When she breaks a potato chip:
"Crunch it up! Crunch it up!

When she tries to put the chip back together:
"Back on? Back On?"


Grace the songwriter:
Grace thinks it's funny to say "Daddy" instead of the correct word in a song.
Example:
me: I've been workin' on the
G: DADDY! (right rhythm, right note, wrong word every time)
me: All the live-long
G: DADDY!
it continues like this to the end of the song... you get the picture.

Can't get it quite right:
Lately Grace has been saying a word that sounds like "underoo". I repeat back to her every possible word that I can think she might be saying to try and figure it out. She of course thinks this is absolutely hilarious... especially since most of my words sound something like "underwear". Finally I got it. The actual word: Sunday School. She has made much progress in saying her S sound since. She just needed a little practice.


Commenting on the dust behind the TV:
"Fuzz. Lot a fuzz back there."


The "S" word:
I was doing her hair the other day and the rubber band broke and popped on my finger. I said "Oh, Shoot!" Now every time Grace sees a rubber band she says "Shoot! Shoot!" Uuuggghhh!!!! Makes me glad that's about the worst word we say at our house : )


Every Morning while waiting for me to come get her out of her crib she screams (in a sweet way, of course):
"Mommy, come in! Come in, Mommy! Come iiiiinnnnn!"

Looking at my face:
This morning she was looking really closely at my face. She then pointed to the chicken pox scar I have right in the middle of my forehead and said "Belly button?" Then she put her finger on one eyebrow and said "BIG eyebrow"...touched the other and said "Nother Big eyebrow!" Then she touched my nose and said "BIG BIG nose!" and finished off the facial exam by the exclamation of "BIG Mouth, Mommy! Mommy has BIG mouth!" Thank's Grace, for always speaking the truth. I guess I may need to do a little cosmetic work today! HA!

Do You Bring Your Lunch?

I just saw this really interesting blog and thought I would share....

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com

I think the most amazing thing to me is all the pre-packaged food. Where are the hospital green and pink and brown compartmentalized trays? And the food isn't served with an ice cream scoop? I think the portions look a bit smaller too.

What do you remember about school lunches? My earliest cafeteria memory is walking into the cafeteria at Hillcrest Elementary in Ruston, Louisiana when I was in kindergarten and eating corn. I don't remember anything else I ate but the corn. Funny huh? I remember washing my hands at the huge half-circle hand washing fountain and having to reach to get my hands wet.

I don't really remember any more school lunches until the third grade when we moved to Houston and I knew that I was NOT going to eat the food in the cafeteria. I overheard parents talking about how it was made off site and then delivered to the schools. Then I was somehow convinced that my school got all the leftovers that the other schools didn't use the day before. I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich fruit and chips/pretzels every day for three years. I don't ever remember wanting anything else. I do remember having an "Annie" the musical lunchbox and thermos. I am pretty sure my mom still has it somewhere in the kitchen cabinets.

When we moved to Haynesville it seemed like all the kids ate in the cafeteria, so I did too. I always really liked the food. The rolls were absolutely amazing. It didn't matter if it was a dinner roll or cinnamon roll or cornbread. The bread was usually my favorite part. I also really liked the mashed potatoes and usually any other vegetable we had. But I am not picky about vegetables. I don't think I ever actually ate fruit at school. But then again, I am really picky about fruit. I have never ever liked any kind of fruit that was not fresh except for canned pineapple. I don't mind that so much. Anyway, I was only occasionally full after a school lunch, but I usually ate most of what was on my plate. This could just be due to the huge Milford portion sizes that I ate at home. The only meals I really didn't like at Haynesville were the "Mexican" ones that involved ground beef (Yikes!) and pizza (I have never in all my life eaten a frozen pizza around the Milford dinner table). I think frozen pizza is an acquired taste because now I can stomach it easier... I don't like it, but I can eat it. I do remember the jr. high cafeteria food being a lot better than the high school for some reason. I don't know why.

I don't really remember too much about Magnolia High's cafeteria. All I do know for sure is that my class was the first class to have to stay "on campus" for lunch. I do remember liking the food better before the new cafeteria was built. For some reason I remember getting salads and stuffed baked potatoes. This just seems like such a weird thing for a school to offer every day. Is this right? Was there the option of sweet tea? Cause for some reason this is coming back to me too. Anyway, after we moved to the new cafeteria I so remember that it was usually only Kayla and me in the food line for the actual daily meal and not the pizza sticks/hamburger/fries line that was waaaay more popular. Not that we never visited that line, just that we went back and forth. I also remember that the toilets in the new bathroom were "water savers" and they never flushed all the way. You have no idea how many times I have thought about that when we were working on public LEED projects at work. I am a hard sell on new unproven technologies... cause nobody wants to be the Guinea pig that finds out the hard way that the local high school toilets never flush all the way. You would always rather just use more water. But I will save my "this LEED stuff is a huge scam" soapbox for a later date.

When I worked in Alexandria I would drive home make a sandwich and watch part of the Cosby show and then go back to work. On Wednesdays our office ate together. I loved Wednesdays. The best days were when we went to The Cottage. Mmmmm shrimp soup and cornbread, spinach salad, chicken and cottage potatoes. Talk about needing an afternoon nap.

In Louisville the staff was not quite as keen on eating together. When I was pregnant with Grace I would walk down one block and get a chicken salad sandwich on rye with lettuce and tomato and a cup of soup from The Main Eatery almost every day. Before I got pregnant I brought leftovers a lot of the time. But for some reason I only wanted that cold sandwich when I was pregnant. I actually had a massive craving for it two days ago. It has subsided a bit... along with the subtle desires for a Jimmy Johns Beach Club and anything from Qdoba with queso on it that I know I will not be able to fulfill here in M'ville : )

Now Grace and I eat most every meal at home. Most of the time it is just the two of us. We are fruit loving people. I think 75% of what Grace consumes is fruit. I know this is probably not healthy, but I just can't get her to eat much else unless it's macaroni and cheese or just plain cheese. Lately it has looked like spring outside, but it has still been too cold to really play. This sounds kinda funny, but lately I will pull up all the blinds and turn on all the lights and pretend that it's summer (or at least spring) outside. We have been eating chicken salad or peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, chips and a big glass of cold milk for lunch just like every summer lunch I ate at home as a kid. I think that any time I eat cold orange slices I am brought back to childhood. It has been really nice.

I have no idea why I decided to blog about this tonight. I really have no idea why I wrote so much. Guess I just felt like reminiscing. It really is amazing to think about just how many lunches I have eaten over my lifespan. Maybe my kids will get a kick out of reading this 20 years from now. I may have to ask my parents what they ate for lunch as kids. Hope you have a nice little trip down memory lane too :)

Happy 21st, Grace!

Grace, I can not believe that you are a whole 21 months old! So many things have happened in the past couple of months. Here are some things I want to remember about you...


You still love to sing! Some of your favorite songs right now are I've been Workin' on the Railroad (thanks to Aunt MA), Ring Around the Rosie, This Is My Father's World, Jesus Loves Me, Open Shut Them, Sunny Days, Silent Night Holy Night, ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, and of course Jingle Bells. I think it's great that you still love to sing Christmas songs even though it's now March. You really like to sing at the dinner table when we are almost done eating. Tonight we sang This Is My Father's World at least 10 times. Your favorite verses are "In the rustling grass I hear him pass. He speaks to me everywhere" and "And may I not forget that God is king let the heavens sing! He reigns let the earth be glad!". When we finish singing you say "Gin! Gin!".


You LOVE Aunt Mary Allison! You can also say her full name now! She stayed with us for three weeks and lets just say you got a little attached. You always ask about her and make sure to say "MA be right back!" when we talk about her.


You love to try on clothes. You try and put everything over your head, even Baby's clothes! You say "Ova tha head!". Most of the time you get stuck in the clothes and then say "Where's Grace!" if you can get it off easily or "Help! Help!" if you get stuck. In the above picture you chose your own outfit for the first time!


Your favorite article of clothing is probably the shoe. You do come by this honest, though. If there is a shoe lying around you are going to try and put it on. This does not work out so well when it's Baby's shoe you are trying to fit on your foot. You can pull on your rain boots all by yourself, but you can't get them off without a little help. And walking in Mommy and Daddy's shoes is sometimes a little hazardous.


You have a truly sweet disposition. Every day after you wake up from your afternoon nap you cuddle with me on the couch for about 30 minutes. You love to give kisses to my belly and then hug me. In the mornings you and Daddy and I usually lay in the bed and watch Mickey Mouse Club House together. Then you always watch Shaun the Sheep with Daddy and drink a glass of milk while I get a shower. It is such a sweet time. You hold and comfort your baby dolls. You also like for me to rock and sing to the babies with you. The other day after your nap you were laying next to me in the bed. You rolled over and put your arm over me and said in the softest, sweetest voice "I love you, mommy." I must have gotten misty eyed because then you said "Mommy OK. Mommy OoooK." and then you were on to talking about my knuckles.


You are going to be a sister! You have no idea what this means, but you really like to talk about it. You look for my "Baby belly button" and kiss it and then fall onto my chest and I say "Oh, Grace, you are such a sweet girl! Thank you!" Then you say "Sweet girl. Awww." I think you are going to love this new baby for real. You will only say that you are going to have a sister. When we ask you what you want to name the baby you usually say one of three things... "Daddy" (the default answer you give to any question that you don't really listen to), "Green" (the default answer you give when you think I am asking you what color something is or when you don't really listen to the question), or "Anna Leese" (we think we will name the baby Anna Louise if it is a girl).


In 2010 you have been sick. You have never really been sick before. The day we moved to Georgia you had a really bad stuffy nose. I think it was from all the dust from packing. That was it prior to 2010. Now you have had a runny nose for a week, a stomach virus for a week and a really bad cough and cold for a week. My goodness! You do have very good manners for a 21 month old. You say "Bless you, Gracie!" every time you sneeze or cough! So funny! I don't think I taught you to say this. I think we just said it so much you started to. You also bless Mommy and Daddy when we need it... and we have needed it cause we have been sick too!


You are so good at playing now! You love to have tea parties. You even wash and put away the dishes at the end of a party! You love to cut and cook your pretend wooden Velcro food. You also love to play "farms" and "bus" with your Little People toys. Aunt MA named all of your little people while she was here, so now when you play it goes something like this... "Sally, Molly, Curtis, It's time to get on the bus! Let's go! Line up! Single file! OK! Beep beep beep (this is the wheelchair lift noise) Going to school! Have a good day! See ya later! Night night pig! Go to sleep pig! Go to sleep goat! Go in Horse! Lay down! See ya in the mornin'!" When you get to this point you usually want to have me play "farms" with you. You really liked MA cause she would always say yes when you asked! And did you notice that all of your sentences ended in exclamation marks? That is because you have one volume and one expression when you pretend. Loud and Excited. It is a lot of fun to play with you now.


You still like to eat. You are not very picky, but you do like a variety. You eat fruit like it will not exist tomorrow. You recently discovered that you can eat grapes now. You much prefer the purple ones over the green ones. You also recently decided that a creme cheese bagel is a very wonderful thing. When we go out to eat you either think you are going to get a "Dia" (quesadilla) or "mac n cheese". You are usually right because we usually only go to Pig In a Pit or get Mexican. These are probably two of your favorite things to eat.


You can get into a LOT more than you used to. The other morning I was getting breakfast on the table and you were ready to eat apparently, so you grabbed a strawberry off your plate! You can figure out how to get to anything you want.


You love to play with other kids. You are so interested in them! When I say that we are going to church the first thing you say is "Barrett! MaryBeth!" (Mary Elizabeth). We had Samuel over the other day for the first time and you just kept on talking and talking about him when he left. Of course you love Benny and Bethany and your cousins. Although you do get their names confused all the time. I know you will love having a playmate in a few more months!


You are definitely ready for spring. Every time I say something about going outside you say "Cooold?! Daaaark?!" We took you outside for about 2 1/2 hours on Saturday morning when it was so beautiful. You ran and ran and ran and pushed Baby in her stroller.


I could go on for hours and hours, but I think this is enough for tonight.

I LOVE YOU, GRACE NIDA!!!!

Going to Church

What is it about kids playing in closets? I know MA and I used to play in closets all the time when we were kids. Grace is no exception to the rule. She LOVES to go in her closet and close the doors and play and open the doors and close them and so on. A few weeks ago she started calling going in her closet "going to church"! This is something along the lines of what she will say (actually it is something more like a scream) when she plays in her closet... "Going to church!" "Have a good day!" "See you later!" "Bye Bye!" "Mommy be riiiiiight back!" Then I will say... "Have fun at church. Sing your songs. I'll be riiiiight back to get you!" Then Grace will close the closet doors and start singing Jesus Loves Me at the top of her lungs. Sometimes we get the whole song sometimes we just get various parts sung over and over, but either way I think it is just about one of the funniest things she does. Then she will say something like... "Where's Gracie?" and open the doors really fast and we scream together "There she is!!!!" I have no idea why she started calling going in her closet going to church, but it is one of our favorite games now. Who would have ever guessed the little girl who screamed bloody murder in the nursery for the first 12 months of her life would now be playing church in her room by her own devices. I think I will count this as an answered prayer : )

And she has only pinched her fingers once.... that was all it took to learn that lesson.

Bathtime Buddies