It's Always Time For That!

A little while ago the Boogie and I were sitting on the couch. "Listen," I told her, "it's almost ten o'clock. You know what that means? It means it's time ... for you ... to go ..."
" ... to Target!" she finished for me.

Now that is a girl after my own heart.

Encroaching Toys

The toys that I banished from the living room are slowly creeping back in -- a basket of play food here, a puzzle in a box there. That's how they do it, you see. They sneak in when you aren't looking and the next thing you know your living room is full of toys again!

Every morning for the last several days I've discovered Curious George in a curious location, like underneath a dining room chair or lying next to the front door. Normally he lives on the Boogie's bed and she takes little to no interest in him. Yesterday she told me that he had to go to the hospital and she coaxed me back to her room to see this:

I'm sure if she could have figured out a way to do it, she would have bandaged up his leg.

The Boogie is completely back to normal. She is her cheerful chatty self again and her appetite has returned full-force. My Man and I have stayed well, praise the Lord, though we're still being careful to wash and sanitize our hands on a regular basis!

I'm so happy that tomorrow is Saturday. I have a plan to be able to stay in bed as long as possible -- tonight I will put a box of cereal and a clean cup next to my bed. When the Boogie wakes up in the morning I'll give her some dry cereal to munch on and turn on PBS in our room to keep her entertained. That way I won't even have to get out of bed! What a great plan.

Last week My Man and the Boogie went bowling with some folks from church. Apparently the Boogie and HE were kept entertained for a long time by this machine.



I love her laugh! It cracks me up every time I watch it.

Extended Holiday Weekend

The Boogie woke up at 5:00 a.m. yesterday and threw up in her bed and all over herself. As I stripped her down in order to put her in the tub, she informed me that she "spitted." She then continued to "spit" for most of the morning and early afternoon. By evening the episodes were few and far between and she was able to keep liquid down. This morning she was lethargic and wanted only to lay down, going between her "gig girl bed", the couch, and my bed. Soon, however, she was feeling more herself and has been pretty cheerful for most of the day, managing to eat some crackers and drink some juice. She threw up a couple of times but nothing like yesterday so I'm hoping by tomorrow she'll be over it. I was supposed to work this afternoon -- praise the Lord for coworkers who willingly cover for me. Tomorrow My Man has arranged to go in and get off early so he can be home with her while I work.

Thankfully the weather has been a little warmer so we've been able to keep windows cracked open to air things out, and thankfully My Man and I are not feeling yucky! We're praying to avoid the bug completely ...

Wide Awake

I am not one bit sleepy. That's probably partially due to the nice long nap I took this afternoon. We all napped, in fact. It was lovely. I think my biggest mistake was the cup of coffee I took to church. It wasn't very much coffee but instead of drinking it all at once I sipped on it throughout the evening and didn't finish it until we were on our way home. So now I'm wide awake.

Yesterday after work My Man and the Boogie picked me up and we went to Ikea. It's so fun to go there. For only the $4.00 toll to get over the bridge and the cost of a few fifty-cent hot dogs, you can have a very entertaining afternoon. Not only do we like to walk around and get ideas for home decorations/improvements, we LOVE to people-watch. Yesterday was a banner people-watching day. My favorite was the girl in the sparkly red wig.

We can never go to Ikea without buying something. I love these dishwashing brushes so we always pick up a couple when we go.

You can't beat $0.99. We usually let the Boogie pick out something small and inexpensive -- this time it was a stuffed snake. We also got her this.

She loves these things and plays with them wherever she finds them: doctors' offices, the nursery, the library. She was very excited when we put it together. "Is dat mine?" she asked over and over. She didn't know what it was called. "Is dat my stuff?" This afternoon she asked me again, "Is dat my stuff?" When I assured it that it still was she ran over to her daddy and hugged him. "T'ank you, Daddy! T'ank you for my stuff!"

The other day we were making faces at each other, one of her favorite games to play. She frowned and said, "Dis my rangin face." (With a hard "g" like "hanging.")
"Your what?" I asked her, puzzled.
"My rangin face!" She repeated, scowling more ferociously. It took me a little while but I finally figured out that she meant her angry face.

Last week I realized that she is old enough to be able to play some games. We didn't have any that were age-appropriate but I heard that Target had Memory and Candyland on sale, so I picked those up along with Jenga the other day. Memory is a big hit with the Boogie. She likes to play with the cards on her own and find matches. When we play the actual game with her we pull out about 8 or 10 matches and use those. She doesn't really remember where the cards are but she has fun flipping them over. Last night we played Candyland which she really enjoyed ... until she got a card with a character on it. She didn't like that at all and after it happened a few more times she didn't want to play anymore. I think she was scared of them. Then My Man and I played a few games of Jenga which also frightened her because it was so noisy when the blocks fell over. What can I say? My kid is a wimp.

When we got home from church tonight she immediately dumped out all the Jenga blocks on the couch. Then when we weren't looking she found the spray bottle of water that I use for her hair (my fault, I left it out AND forgot to lock the nozzle) and proceeded to soak the blocks, the couch, and her shirt. Then she immediately showed me what she had done, all proud of herself. I think it was revenge on the blocks for being scarily noisy.

We got the original animated "101 Dalmations" from the library and she's been watching it a lot this past week. She loves the Pongo character and found a small stuffed Dalmation dog in with her toys, so of course she calls it Pongo. She also found a tiny brown and white dog which she named Brown Pongo. She told me the other day that Pongo went for a walk "in the pahk."
"Oh, Pongo went to the park?" I said.
"No," she corrected me, "he went to the pahk."
Nice. My 2-year-old speaks with a British accent.

Baby Sister has really popped out this month. She is very wiggly especially right after I have some coffee and also when I lay down. I can feel elbows and knees now. Last night I'm pretty sure she had the hiccups! I am feeling really well which  I'm so so thankful for. I know as I head into the third trimester I will be increasingly more uncomfortable but for now things are great.

I found this shirt on clearance at Target for $3.74! I love Target.

A Toddler's Perspective

This morning the Boogie and I picked up hoagies and went to have lunch with My Man. On our way there we played a version of her favorite game: "Where's _________?"

"Where's Daddy?" I asked.
"He's at work," she replied.
"Well, what's he doing at work?"
"He's shopping!"
"He's shopping? What is he shopping for?"
"Money."

Well, sort of!

4.5 Day Weekend

The doctor is away for a seminar so I get today and Monday off (I am always off on Thursday.) I am working for a few hours tomorrow morning but that's all until Tuesday! Today we are going to take lunch to My Man and run some errands.

Yesterday I transferred the Boogie's clothes from her old dresser which is huge and ugly to a different one that we are borrowing from 52. I wasn't sure if everything would fit in the "new" dresser; then I figured, if it doesn't all fit, she has too many clothes! But it fit and since this dresser is tall rather than low and wide there is now more wall-space in her room and it looks much nicer.

The Boogie has a tiny tea set that my BFF sent her for her birthday (I think) and we played tea party yesterday for a long time. She had so much fun that I think I want to find a slightly larger set that we can really use. When I was a little girl I spent a lot of time with my Mamaw (my mom's mom) who had a set of tea dishes from when she was a little girl, and we often had tea parties together. It is one of my favorite memories from growing up.

It got above forty degrees yesterday as well so we bundled up and went for a walk. It was still plenty chilly but the sun was shining and it was so nice to get out for some fresh air. It's supposed to be in the upper-forties today so we'll probably go again!

Well, I must say adieu. I have dishes to wash; beds to make; people to dress; a bathroom to clean; floors to sweep and vacuum; a grocery list to make; a face to put on; hair to fix; shopping to do. Happy Friday to you!

Another Monday

~ It is 17 degrees outside. The high today is supposed to be 31. I'm so thankful for a working furnace.
~ There is a battery dying in a smoke or carbon monoxide detector in the empty apartment next to us. It has been beeping once every thirty seconds or so for the past two days. Why do those things always happen on the weekend? I left a message with apartment management so hopefully maintenance comes today to take care of it.
~ Last night in the car the Boogie proclaimed, "Ladies an' gennamin! Boys an' gills! Heeeeeeeeere's Daddy!"
~ I am almost 25 weeks pregnant. How has the time passed so quickly? The baby is very wiggly and I love every kick and thump ... so far. 
~ There is half and half in my refrigerator so I just brewed some coffee for myself. There is nothing I like better in coffee than some sugar and half and half. It makes me a happy person.
~ I have a very long list of things I need to accomplish this morning before leaving for work, yet here I sit blogging.
~ All the Boogie ever wants for breakfast is cereal. This morning she said she was hungry and I told her, "I'm going to make you waffles and sausage! Doesn't that sound yummy?" "No, thank you," she replied politely, "I like ce'al."

~ After much input I have decided that these are indeed pajamas. Thank you for helping me clear up this great dilemma.

~ I hope you have a happy and profitable Monday!

C-c-c-c-c-COLD!

Global warming. Yup. It's happening, people. (See me rolling my eyes?)

It is so cold and dry here. I'm so ready for winter to be over. Is it spring yet? I need birds chirping and a balmy breeze to air out this apartment. I need daffodils and little green buds on the trees. I need them.

Maybe this will help ...

... hmm, nope. Not doing the trick.

This afternoon we dashed through 25 degree air to the car and drove to Borders in great anticipation of steaming hot Seattle's Best mochas. Can you imagine our grave disappointment to learn that the espresso machine wasn't working? It was very sad, I tell you. Very very sad. We contemplated loading up again and driving to Target for Starbucks, but opted for brewed coffee instead while browsing books, dvds, and 50%-off calendars. The coffee was too strong which made it taste bitter. More disappointment. We should have gone to Starbucks. We did have a nice time, though, and I picked up a Curious George calendar -- someday I would love to decorate the walls of a play area with the pictures from it. How cute would that be?! Knowing me, though, I will tuck the calendar away somewhere and promptly forget all about it.

Speaking of coffee, this morning My Man brewed a pot of it. The Boogie asked if she could have some and I told her she could. Her daddy fixed her a cup of milk with a splash of flavored creamer and a couple of spoonfuls of coffee and she loved it! She is our daughter, all right.

Here she is all ready for bed tonight in her monkey jammies she got from Mom3 and Pop3! Aren't they cute? They are so soft, too. I love toddlers in footy jammies.

Are These Pajamas?

I can't figure them out. They are made out of a sort of velour-type fabric with tiny flowers all over. The style does not seem pajama-y to me, except for the button closures, but the print certainly does.

What do you think?

And while you are looking at pictures of the Boogie, check out how long her hair is when I straighten it.

Of course if I was taking her picture she had to pose for me. I'm not sure what this is -- something to do with football, perhaps?

She looks sweet and adorable but if the truth be told she woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning. I think her crabbiness had something to do with the fact that she refused to eat her dinner so went to bed without any. After breakfast her attitude improved. Well, breakfast and "White Christmas" since that has been her movie of choice the last couple of days. She thinks it's called "Merry Christmas" and surprisingly will watch most of it. If the Christmas tree is still up (and it is) Christmas movies aren't off limits yet. "White Christmas" is a welcome change to the Charlie Brown marathon we were having.

The other day after we did laundry at 52, FIL helped carry everything out to my car and then buckled the Boogie into her seat. As he went back inside she said, "He's cute. Pop pop's cute. And nice. And Mom mom's nice cooking."

Yesterday she patted me on the head and told me I was girly. Or maybe it was curly. Either way I'm sure it was intended as a compliment from her 2.5 year old mouth.

She stills sings as much as ever. Sometimes when she finishes a song she will applaud herself and say, "Thank you, thank you. No, thank you." She's been singing the "Huki Lau Hula" song a lot lately. I have a video of her singing it with her Lela when my parents were here. She wants to watch it over and over and over, and sings along with with it. She sings "huki loud" and that "we throw our necks out into the sea."

Her improved vocabulary makes me sad at times. Broccoli is no longer "blocky". Backyardigans is pronounced correctly instead of being "bad agains." The round-headed kid isn't Charlie Brownie anymore. However, penguins are still "quengins," washcloths are "quafclofs," and fingernails are "fingertales" so that comforts me a little bit.

A New Month, A New Year, A New Decade

Welcome, 2010. What will you hold for us, I wonder? Lord willing there will be a precious addition to our family this spring. We'd love to make a trip to Washington to see my family. We plan on wearing out that zoo pass my parents gave us for Christmas! Who knows what else might happen? We have a wonderful God Who could surprise us at any moment with the plans He has for us.

We rang in the new year with our good friend Reenie. She just lives in Philly but because of all of our differing work schedules we don't get to see her nearly as much as we'd like. She came over for our church service Thursday night. Afterward we headed to 52 for some food and fellowship (there was also a Christian film which we did not stay for since the Boogie needed to go to bed.) Reenie stayed the night and on New Year's Day she went home and we drove to Delaware to visit with FIL's parents. All of My Man's family was there too and we had fun exchanging gifts and eating lasagna.

This past week I rearranged the Boogie's room and did a toy purge. Some were packed away for the baby and some will be returned to the LCs. I managed to fit all the toys into the Boogie's room so the living room doesn't look like a playroom anymore! Eventually I'd like to get some kind of storage system in the living room so that some toys can stay out there. Today I'll pack up the Christmas decorations. I love Christmas time and I love having a tree, but I think I'm ready to have things back to normal.