Little things to Celebrate

So many little things that can be forgotten so quickly, but they make me happy! SO they should be celebrated and remembered.

Today, My Little G, (almost 4!) tasted a orange mango smoothie and like it!! Up until now, applesauce, and a mild strawberry yogurt have been the only fruit flavors she enjoyed in anything, candy included. Every small victory in taste tolerance is a joy to me, hoping it will soon expand to allow summer fruits like watermelon!!

I've cut back in work for the summer and it has done some good things for G! She no longer wakes with a start and hops up almost in a panic to come find me. I hear her stirring and stretching and often she will settle down for just a few more minutes or more to doze. To me this speaks of security and makes this momma happy.

Her vocabulary, understanding, and ability to express herself keeps expanding daily. This can create quite the interesting (and sometimes embarrassing) situations! From declaring loudly that "that lady has a mustache!" (she didn't see it as a bad thing, just interesting, since she had just learned the word) but nonetheless, not a nice thing for the poor lady.
Or, asking loudly in church, "is that man Jesus?!!" or the same question about the man with lots of tattoos behind us in line at the local McDonalds. Thankfully he found it amusing.
Speaking of expressing herself better, the other day I asked her to do something she did NOT want to do. When I asked her again she went but said, "Mommy, this makes me very angry!"
Yeah, we've got work to do, but she continues to improve...

She has started to entertain herself much better than she used to! I am trying to get some work time in at home since I am cutting back my hours at work and she is doing sooo much better than she used to!

Funny Girl

Well, this past week, My DD who will be 4 in Aug asked about a pic where my friend is preg. She wondered where her daughter is (not born yet) I told her babies grow in their mommy's bellies. She was amazed. The only thing she knows about people being inside a belly is the story of Jonah and the whale! She asked in amazement if my friend swallowed her little girl!!! So we talked a bit more that babies grow when they are just tiny inside till they are big enough then they can come out and we can hold them! She has a huge imagination and can't wait to go see her friend. I'm a bit scared what she will say to her. I know she wants to get a good look at this amazing child who came from her mommies belly!! After we talked a bit, she informed me that she was in my belly too! I reminded her she was born in Russia and I came to get her when she was just little. Well, then she thought maybe she could crawl in my belly now. But after inspecting my mouth she decided her head was too big to get in there. lol

Her first prayer

Today at lunch, I told her to pray all by herself. I didn't really think she would, as I had asked before. But today, she squeezed her eyes shut tight (something else she rarely does) and said, "Dear God, thank you keeping us safe. mumble, mumble, mumble, Thank you loving us, mumble, mumble, mumble, Jesus name, Amen."
I was very impressed! and no, I don't model mumbling in prayers! I think she was trying to fill the space till she thought of something else to say. So proud of my little 'honey bunch pumpkin' as she likes to say.

Church Bullitan

It's my turn to do the church bulletin board. I asked my pastors wife if I should go with a trendy theme, like "Keep Calm and Trust the Lord" or do something about orphans that I'm passionate about. She said go with passion. I am going with PASSION. Here it is. Do you see your child?

A Blog of Moments I've loved in the last few weeks

We love the spring evenings and our favorite thing right now is to ride bike after
after it gets dark, while mommy sits in the yard and watches.

playing at a park we discovered tonight. She suddenly stops
and stares at this building close by. She looks shocked
and says mommy! That's Russia!!
There's babies in there!!
She insisted she wants to look inside.
I agree it looks like a Russian building.
I wonder what else she remembers from her babyhood. 

A Wistful Moment

She loved the day having her little friend over! They are very close, like sisters.

She loves being wrapped tightly and watching me cook.

Antics with her friend

Yup, my child is one of THOSE CHILDREN who do this

OK, I think we may have an animal lover here!
This was her doing, no one prompted her to
first, let all the chickens out, then catch one and hold it,
then go in the chicken house with her little friend
and procede to throw eggs,  and finally,
catch another chicken and hold it under
the outdoor spigot! Disclaimer- this did not
happen at my house! :)

Her 'long' hair. :)

all dressed up for church in the dress from Aunt Ginny

newest and coolest toy

yum! another reason we love the weather!

This is a BIG deal! She is deathly scared of the loud noise
a sweeper makes, so this is BIG

Loving the new weighted lap blanket

We have a train track within site of our house, that we enjoy watching and hearing
This is not taken from our house, we dont live THAT close, thankfully!

One year ago in April at the park, and this year in April
I don't know what it is about the tongue and taking pics?!
Picture on the left was taken by Nicola Herring Photography
pic on right was just a cell phone shot when we realized it was
exactly a year later!

Fun Times

So, we got a book called. "Lets Talk about being angry:
Now my child is laying in bed trying to go to sleep for a nap and I hear her in there saying,
"I need to calm down. I'm trying to make myself calm down."

A few days ago while giving her a bath, I told her to "lay down, I want to wash your hair out"
She started wailing loudly! "no, Mommy!! I want my hair IN!!"

She can tend to be overly concerned about things that shouldn't be her worry. She saw I was barefoot at the desk and said. "mommy! You need to put slippers on! your feet are gonna get cold!"
and then, later in the day as we were driving to church, "Mommy, did you remember to put shoes on? Mommy, are you barefoot?"
Well, the good side of it is, that hopefully she will tell me if I'm ever missing an important piece of clothing!

Today we went to her very first birthday party other than her own. So many fun and cute things she got to do. It was a cupcake decorating party and she loved the sprinkles and the mini M&M's to put on them. Actually I think she loved every part of it.

 They even got to mix the coloring into
the icing! The big yellow shirt was in hopes of
keeping the food coloring off her dress. 

She chose a cupcake with black icing to eat!!! no idea why!!
She thought her mustache was pretty funny!

She loves painting, so this was great fun!

I about fell over when she went over to the chalkboard all by herself
and drew a picture of 'mommy'!! This is the first time I
saw a real picture from her!!! And she did sooo good for a
first try at a person!! I could almost cry, I'm so amazed! And with no
coaching, she was all by herself over there!! Can you tell I'm a bit overwhelmed? :)

On the way home, we stopped at MCDonalds, they have
and indoor playground. This is her first time using a blow dryer!
She saw another little girl using it when we were washing our hands.
She is usually terrified of the noise these things make.
The only thing I could figure out is
that the wax build up in her ears kept it from sounding so loud.
Thats not a joke BTW. Her hearing comes and goes and I find
myself hollering to get her attention and hoping people don't think
I"m a horrible mom. :(

All the little girls got to take home a beautiful Hyacinth! She was so proud!

My Sweet Little Bundle of Contridictions

I had a BAD sinus headache this evening and she caught me pressing my temples and sinus points to try and relieve the pressure. I had taken meds but was waiting for it to kick in. She said, 'mommy, are you sick? does it hurt? then immediately said, 'I will fix you!" My sweet little girl scurried around finding things to put on my 'cheekies' :) to make it feel better. A can of pickles from the pantry to be held against and make it nice and cool. then a little container with her bands in was gently smoothed on followed by, 'you just wait mommy, I make you feel all better! I get you some water to put on your cheekies, make nice and cool!" She hurries in the bathroom and I hear her stool being pulled to the sink. She runs cold water on her hands and brings it over to put on my face. Of course I encouraged her by sighing and saying how good each thing feels. So she kept on in a very concerned manner. Telling me to stay quiet and take a little nap. Next came a fingernail brush that she used on my face and hair, followed by combs with as much water on as they could hold, to make my face and hair wet. before I knew it, the meds kicked in and I could honestly say I felt better. She was so proud of herself! told me how big she was and how strong! She has this thing she does to make me aware of how big she really is, she starts at her ankles and rubs up her legs and belly and with a swoop up past her face till her hands are stretched high, showing me she is very very big now!
Then I had to make her feel better as she was suddenly struck with the same malady I had.

Why is she a contradiction?
Only a few minutes before we were doing 'time in' for pulling the cats tail till it screamed. I was in the bathroom but heard it on the steps and hollered at her to stop. I heard her giggle and run downstairs so I knew she heard me.
And earlier in the day she purposely got the cat food bag downstairs and dumped it everywhere! Then also emptied the cat dish everywhere too. When she was done she came up and informed me she made a mess. a big mess with the cat food. She wasn't exaggerating!

Her favorite words right now are 'pooch smooch' from a riddle in a Clifford book. What do you call a dog kiss?

Her favorite story is still 'Jonah and the whale'
I tell this story far to often for my liking.

Her little friend had an earache today and when I told her, she was very concerned that there were lots of lady bugs in her friends ears!

She noticed silo's for the first time the other day as we were driving on a back road. She asked if they were water towers. We have a BIG water tower near where we live, so she knows what that is. I explained what the silos were for and she was fascinated and pointed to all the silos we could see as we drove along. We have A LOT of silos in our area!!!! It does help that there are no crops in the field and it's open flat land so you can see far.

How many times a day can you say 'use nice words' before you are nagging your child????
She got in the rut of yelling at the cat. I don't know when she heard this kind of talk to the cat unless it is how I talk to the cat when she gets up on the table. :(
She is also in the rut of whenever I tell her to do something she comes back with the word you pinned on the front of it. I don't think she understood when she started it that it is not nice and very disrespectful to talk like that, but she does now! (she has the tone of voice down pat too!!! )
Me: G, sit down in the cart.
G: YOU sit down in the cart, Mommy!!
When we are at home, I can handle it a lot better, but in public I cringe. I know I shouldn't worry about the people around me and what they think, but I'm imagining they all look at me with eyes of horror thinking I have a horrible child that is out of control.

Then its time to go to bed and I sing to her, 'The Lord bless you and keep you, The Lord make his face shine upon you, and give you peace, and give you peace and give you peace forever. My sweet, sweet little girl tries to sing it back to me and sings, The Lord bless you Mommy.
And I am blessed. Blessed to have the little bundle of sweetness and naughtiness as my daughter!