Big, Big Scary

Peabody has started describing things as "big, big." Big, big bite. Big, big car. Big, big toy. She asks if her food is big, big hot. She's also suddenly "afraid" of things. Some things I think she is legitimately fearful of. Other times I think she's just trying to get a reaction. She will say, "teery 'piduh! Eeeek!" and shudder when she sees a plastic spider. So, it makes sense that when something "scared" her, she told me that it was "big, big teery [scary]." It reminds me of when the Boogie was about this age and everything was "bery, bery."

And would you look at that, according to that post, it's been 3 years of Mary Poppins infatuation around here. When I ask Peabody, "Would you like to watch something?" she looks thoughtful for a moment or two then says, "Ha bite [how about] ... hmmm ... Mamie Poppins." It's not a request. No. It's definitely a statement. One of the girls got the movie soundtrack for their birthday and we have listened to it approximately 4,829 times in the car already.

Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed an increase of use of a certain "potty" word in someone's vocabulary. I remember the Boogie finding the word "poopy" hilarious, but she was almost 3.5, so a bit older. She said it because she thought it was funny. I noticed that Peabody has been adding it to her conversation, like this:
Me: "Peabody, get your lally and put it in your crib."
P: "O wight [all right], Honey," then adding a very quiet "poopy" under her breath.
Eric: "I love you, Phebis!"
P: "I luh you, Daddy." Then whispers, "poopy."
Me: "What would you like to drink? Water, or juice, or milk?"
P: "Me a juice [I want juice]" then under her breath, "poopy."
She'll be talking to her sister, or about anything in general, and she just throws in the "p" word whenever and wherever. Sometimes it strikes her as funny and she'll laugh after she says it, but mostly it's just a word that she adds to a sentence or phrase or name. When the Boogie went through this phase we finally told her that she was only allowed to say it in the bathroom (thanks to a wise suggestion from a friend) which totally worked because then it wasn't any fun anymore. I don't want to discourage Peabody from saying it, though, because I rely on her to tell me when she needs to actually go potty! And -- to be totally honest -- I kinda think it's funny. This is so going to come back and bite me.

She told us yesterday that she wanted to go to "Kaco Bell." "What do you want from Taco Bell?" I asked.
"Ha bite ..." she considered thoughtfully, "bleeto [burrito] aaaaaand deep [dip]." She loves dip. She will eat almost anything if she can dip it into something. But usually she just eats the dip or sauce with her finger, then asks for more. "I like it," she declares, nodding her head.

This morning she and the Boogie were playing Guess Who? The Boogie had to leave the room for a minute and instructed her sister, "No peeking!"
"No pooking!" P shouted back.

A couple of weeks ago I took the girls swimming in a friend's pool. I thought the Boogie would be apprehensive and that Pheeboo would love the water. The Boogie was a little unsure at first. It was the first time she'd been in a pool bigger than a wading one in the backyard. We put an inner tube floaty thingy under her arms and that was it! She was like a fish, kicking herself all over the pool, even the deep end. She loved it. I think we're going to sign her up for swimming lessons this fall.

Peabody, on the other hand, was not so thrilled. We put arm floaties on her and I held her but she didn't like that. There was a little inflated sort of a boat floaty that had a bottom -- she fit perfectly in it and floated around, and we would push her back and forth between us. When we'd ask her what she was doing she would answer, "I 'wimmin'!" even though not even one part of her was in the water. Every now and then I would ask, "Do you want to get out?" and she would say "No," but I'd get her out anyway and hold her for a couple of minutes and then she'd say, "I no like it," so I'd put her back in. After a while someone else held her and then she was okay. Maybe after the Boogie takes swimming lessons I'll take Peabody for a few.

The Boogie has been crying at night again. When I go to her, her eyes are open but glazed over and when I ask her questions she mumbles incoherently. Sometimes she snaps out of it pretty quickly, and other times it takes a little longer. One night I was having some trouble waking her up so I finally put her on the couch and turned on the Olympics. After a minute or two she seemed alert. "Are you all right now?" I asked her. She smiled and nodded. "What was wrong? Why were you crying?" I asked. "When?" she replied, looking puzzled. She really had no idea it happened.

She's been trying to add the word "totally" into her vocabulary. We were looking for something and finally she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I intootally don't know where it is." 

She watched the 1973 movie Charlotte's Web and now I am reading the book to her. I thought it would be over her head but so far it seems to be holding her interest.

We have all of her schoolbooks! School begins in less than two weeks. I can't believe my baby is starting kindergarten already. I can't believe I'm going to attempt to teach her to read. Wait ... must be positive. I am going to teach this girl to read!

 

MIL went on a trip and brought back a toy for Mama Dog. She loves it and carries it around with her, and even sleeps with it. She refuses, however, to fetch it. Booger.

A friend gave me some tomato plants and I grew three whole tomatoes! They were tiny but tasty. I'll try again next year though so far I've killed almost everything I've tried to grow outside, except for some snapdragons which must be pretty hardy.

We have, of course, made several trips to our favorite ice cream place this summer.

 

The other day as I was getting the girls into the car to go shopping, eagle-eyed Boogie said, "Hey, is that a praying mantis on the playhouse?" Sure enough, that's what it was. That same day Eric and his coworkers found three of them at work! Weird.

 

The annual work picnic for Eric's work was last weekend. After what happened last year we made certain to be there plenty early. The Boogie played games and Eric took her on the paddle boats. Both girls jumped in the bouncy house. We ate lunch and had ice cream and called it a day! The only thing we didn't get around to was miniature golf. 

I'd definitely say that this has been a pretty good month, so far!