Aunt Kaitlin came to town at the end of January. We had a wonderful evening visiting. Lea got to play marbles at Grandpa's house with Kaitlin and they had a ball (literally and figuratively, I guess) Then we had a wonderful dinner at Macaroni Grill with Grandpa, Aunt Teresa, Robert, Aunt Bonny, Lalanya and Kaitlin. It was a good time. Lea didn't want to go home!
So it was a peaceful Friday evening, January 25. Grandma was in town and we thought, "What the heck, let's go out to dinner." We'll go to the new place Iron Chef, which is like Benihana and Lea will enjoy the show of cooking and we'll enjoy the food.
Well, we forget how little Lea is. She uses big sentences and really communicates with us, as well as seems to understand when we explain things to her. We forget that she's only two and a half, she is just our little person.
Well, when the chef at Iron Chef began his show and poured oil on the gril and set it on fire she let loose with tears. Happy Half Birthday sweetie, we're going to scare the bejeezus out of you. So we calmed her down. She sat in my lap and ate soup and some veggies. She even smiled at the chef once or twice. Then, suddenly with a wee bit of warning the chef did it again. He set onions on fire to make a little choo-choo stack that steamed. Well no amount of train talk was going to make him a good guy again. Nope, it was over. She hugged me with a pat on the back and tears at the corners of her eyes, voice shaking, trying to be calm and said "I don't want you to be scared either mommy." We moved to a table in front and finished our dinner. Lea got a lot happier, especially since the staff fell in love with her, felt bad and gave her animal crackers and lollypops. So Lea had a $40 plate of animal crackers and we had a great story.
I found the yummy rice recipe so thought I'd share. Now I guess we don't have to go back, tee hee.
So we finally did it. We got Lea her first haircut. It was a bit anti-climactic in that we really just got a trim. In the Before photo above I'm pulling her curls down to show the length. We did not have very much trimmed off at all. Her pretty girl pose to show off her new hair. Then off to play video games!
The place we went was great for kids. She got to sit in a car and watch cartoons. We talked alot about getting our hair cut all weekend and not being afraid. And she wasn't shy until it came right down to getting in the car chair with the strange lady. Then she got a bit shy, but she was great!
This morning's review of the haircutter. "She was BUGGING me." Lea said this morning at breakfast wihout provocation. I then got her to repeat it for the camera. After I looked at the pictures, I can kind of see why. She did have the hair over her face for quite a while.
None of us could say, "Cut the curl." Not even Daddy when it came right down to it. The stylist was in awe over her curls too and couldn't bring herself to suggest cutting the curl in front. Even Daddy from the beginning said things like "I just want it out of her eyes, but NOT the length, don't cut the length"
So our pumpkin only got a trim which will have Grandma & Grandpa breathing a sigh of relief. When I talked to each of them over the weekend I mentioned our plans and got "Are you really going to do it?" comments.
She will still have some hair in her eyes, but not as much because there were some bangs coming in that really got trimmed. And she does love her barrettes.
A quick barrette story... We have a nice little jar of barrettes that Lea loves to open and pick out her barrettes for the day. Well I added two little springy clips to the jar and Lea chose them one morning for Daddy to put in her hair. I asked "Dan, do you know how to use the little clippy thing." He replied "I think I can figure out clips, you just squeeze and..." SPROING out of the bathroom door comes shooting a clippy thing. After we wiped the tears of laughter from our eyes he put barrettes in Lea's hair.
Her hair had gotten a bit crazy. Here is Lea after sliding with some crazy static hair...
The aforementioned slide that produced said static...
So after the haircut we treated ourselves to family time. What a nice evening we had. We went to the indoor playground for a bit until the mall closed and out to dinner. The playground was packed. As Dan said, "Its Sunday, cold outside, what did you expect." Well Lea got pushed over once, but she got right back up. Another mother of a wee tot offered to trip the boy next time so at least there was solidarity! Lea perservered as unofficial king/queen of the bridge ... for about 3 seconds. Then she slid down and tried again.
Crawling with monkeys...
And the morning after the haircut. Big smiles. Showing off her new hair.
So over all a good experience, yes. Until Dan and I really started looking at her hair. Money well spent? Well we had a wonderful day and her first haircut was not traumatic, so sure. Now that the taboo of cutting her hair has been breached we'll try to be more prepared next time to really do some good for her and her hair.
When my mom returned home from her trip to Georgia to see Grampy and Margarete (who seems to be on the mend, she is able to lie down now, after about a month of sleeping in the recliner!)... so when she returned there was a donkey in her back yard. She was thrilled. A couple bought the acre or two behind and next to her trailer, but have no house there for now, just land. And it was the neighbor's father's wish to always have land and a donkey, but never made his dream come true (there are some strange life long dreams in East Texas!) So his wife got him a donkey for Christmas. The donkey shares a little of mom's property because the fence line does not follow the property line.
Mom enjoys watching the donkey and was happy to go out and talk to him while we fed him apples. The donkey is very docile. The neighbors named the donkey Mary (after his mother) and my mom told a story (confirmed by some internet stories) that donkeys have a cross on their back as a symbol of Jesus' ride on palm sunday when he choose a small weak donkey. The donkey was happy to come to the fence when we had apples to feed her, but was a bit camera shy. Mom wanted to know if Lea wanted to call him Eeyore before we knew he was a she donkey. Lea said "No, his name is Donkey." I explained the Lea was becoming more familiar with Shrek's sidekick Donkey thanks to Sherry.
In a bid for the most co-dependent toy (a close second to Michael's gift of the ABC/Hug Me puppy) Sherry got Lea the Nap & Yap Donkey. He talks in his sleep even! A parent's joy. But Lea loves him because she can lay him down under a pillow or blanket and put him to sleep (one of her favorite games - "You lay down" — as long as its not her parents putting her to sleep!) Donkey is pretty funny. He talks a lot about waffles. In general he talks alot.
Besides the excitement of the donkey, we had a nice quiet weekend at Grandma's. Here are some sweet pictures of the fun Lea has when grandma is in charge of "bath" or sink time. Lea turned around and said "I'm just washing the mirror" like it wasn't her that had smeared shaving cream all over it. Like she was doing Grandma a huge favor! But Grandma seems to love it! And a big hug for Grandma. So sweet.
Dun, da, da dun So there it is. The photo is a wee bit funky because it is montaged in photoshop... square room flattened and all, but you can see Dan's fantastic handy work on the shelves and the beautiful color! I love this room. I love giving Lea a bath there now. Its just such a happy room. We were worried the dark color would make it a cave, but the white ceiling really helped.
If I may remind anyone who came to our house early on, this is what it looked like when we bought it... a wee bit 70s eh? We didn't replace the tiny people toilet. It leaked so that got replaced by the time we took ownership of the house, but it completed the vision of yellow stained 70s didn't it.
And this is a reminder of what it looked like for 2 and a half years while we twiddled our thumbs with the nothing but walpaper paste on the walls...
Quite an improvement. Dan worked very hard and it really paid off! Thanks sweetie!
Last week we lost Blueberry The Fish to the great fishy spot in the sky... or well the toilet, whatever. We received Blueberry from Judy for a birthday present for Lea and he'd forged a place in our house and at least Lea & my hearts. We had even gotten Blueberry a Christmas present. An air bubbler that made a dinosaur raise up. Blueberry would spend his day fighting with it so its possible that he had a fishy aneurism due to the stress of an invincible opponent... or Dan didn't let the water sit long enough... the world will never know.
The debate rages in the house whether to get a new aquatic friend. We enjoyed Blueberry, but in truth Dan did all the work so we'll discuss a bit more. Lea asks where Blueberry is or "Where did my fish go?" Answers range (depending on the time of day and humor of the adult) from "Well, he died," or "He went to fishy heaven," to "He's gone, he couldn't make it in our world." Blueberry... you were a fine fish and a good friend, or at least a conversational item at breakfast. Good night Blueberry, wherever you are.
"It's Perfect" is what Lea said when she saw the tricycle Santa had brought. We all got up at 7am with Lea, bleary eyed, but excited to see Lea's first reaction to Santa. She wasn't so much surprised, as I think I've said before, because she had no doubt Santa was brining her a tricycle. But her eyes still lit up with joy and she was on it immediately riding it around the living room. It has a light up bell and she got John Deer pads and helmet from Grandpa to go with it. We left a note to Santa and he wrote back (as well as ate half of Lea's cookie and drank all him milk — 4 days later Lea said happily "Santa ate my cookie." "Yes, sweetie he had a bite and you got to eat the rest.") Lea got lots of little stuff in her stocking. We all got fun stuff. She got a hat so she can be a cowgirl and ride her horse. The best camper set ever. 3 girl campers, a pop up camper, plastic fire, sleeping bags and plastic camp chairs. Its adorable. Lea has named the girls "Lea, Mommy and Grandma" there was no figures left so the toy dog got named "Daddy." At lease everyone was included. Lea talks well on the phone and here is a photo of her talking to Aunt Kaitlin. I think this is such a beautiful photo of Lea for some reason. Just so bright and expressive. Then finally after nap Lea got to go outside and really try out her tricycle. She can push the pedals, but its hard for her to keep them going. She stradles it and walks it along more than she rides it, but she enjoys herself. She'll get stronger and stronger the more she plays.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! Here are the 21 videos from all of Christmas.
"Deerlick beloved we are gathered here today..." Lea's pun during Punderdome game 5-22
"Boat, Boat, Boat!" = Danger when there was water coming into the boat on Beavers Bend Lake in 4-22 with Kim
Puff Puff Piffle make me sniffle — Lea argues that that is the saying, not make me just as small as Sniffles 2017
Osonate [Aw-son-ate] sauce = Arsenic sauce in the Grinch song "You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!" 2016
Germ hole to germ hole = a kiss at church during peace be with you when mommy is sick
anti quote = always comes with finger quotes. I believe she means "And I quote" but she is adamant that it is anti quote. 5-12
Sam Philips Hand = Philips head screwdriver after Dan told Lea it was named for a man named Philips.
Compliment = The word Lea kept using instead of Accusation during our first games of clue. As in "I can't make a compliment until I get to room, right?"
Ark el Harold's Angels Sing and And The Jelly Hosts Proclaim= Hark the Harold Angel's Sing and With Angelic Hosts Proclaim
"Wolf gloves" = Fox Glove flowers. In a story Lea asked what foxgloves look like, so the next morning she wanted to look them up and asked Dan to look up Wolf gloves. It took us a while to figure out what she was talking about. 8/10
"mows my teeth" = what the electric tooth brush does
Seener = Venus I think. As in "I love you to Seener and Mars and back again"
Box of socks = what's inside a wrapped package so Lea doesn't give the gift way.
amn't = "I am not" as in "No, mommy I amn't"
Ep-a-cot = Epcot center. On our Disney trip Lea made this word 3 syllables.
Ray-B-C = CB Radio. There is a picture of the pigeon talking on the CB Radio in a book and Lea can never get the name right. You know talking on the Ray-B-C.
Smash 'em Turvy = Smash 'em up Derby. Smashable Turvey is what Lea thought I said, so now when we play cars we play Smashable Turvy.
skull = pirates. Anything decorated with skulls Lea says are pirates, as in "Your shoes have pirates on them."
licky pills = cough drop/throat lozenge
chicken hairs = tiny hairs on mommy. I remember my grandmother calling the tiny mostly invisible hairs on her face "chicken feathers" so I said that to Lea one day. Now even hair on my legs are "chicken hairs" as in sitting in my lap saying, "Mommy your chicken hairs are POKING me!"
Ouchie Lea! = The natural equivalent to "Ouchie Mama" which I say... me being the mama... so Lea figured out she needed to say "Ouchie Lea" Took me longer to figure out why she said it that way. Makes perfect sense if you're 3.
Be Patient, Be Calm Mommy =Lea's calming influence on mommy. Her cute little voice when I've spilled something all over the kitchen floor.
Cotton Ball = Cannon Ball... that's what Lea called Dan's "diving" in the pool, as in "Do another cotton ball Daddy"
schlopp schlopp = ice cream or treat. It comes from The Dr. Seuss book The Thinks You Can Think. "You can eat schlopp schlopp, you don't have to stop." And there is a picture of two people sitting at a table. Lea said that was Mommy & Daddy, so the next time we went out without Lea I said we were going for Schlopp Schlopp and that she and Grandma could have ice cream which then became schlopp schlopp on its own.
Bergen = "Let's find a Bergen" -This means, let's do the Gem Hunt on Webkins which features an old salty dog. After several days of wondering what she was talking about, we heard the dog say in a drawl, "Let's see what Bargains we can find" and we both had an "ah ha" moment.
"Den DC" = Where Godmother Sherry lives. Lea's shorthand for Washington DC.
"Heavy Strong" = chin ups or pull ups. Lea used to do "heavy strong" on the bars of her crib and now does them on the playground.
"If you say so, I say so"= I will relent to doing what you say or you have relented to what I have insisted on for the past 20 min. Very cute in a staccato voice.
Old McDomino's=McDonalds, as in "I want to eat at Old McDomino's"
"ploblems" = problems as in "Mommy I'm having shoe ploblems"
"oat mill" = windmill @ grandpa's house
"floppy nest" = pack and play bed @ Grandma's
"za-cunni" = zucchini — usually as in "No, no za-cunni"
"why cause" = because
"nap thirty" = response to what time is it after lunch?
"attention horde" = extension cord
"as fast as me can"
amn't I = aren't I. I've listed this before but thought I'd note that she still says it at 8 yrs/third grade old even though she reads at a 6th grade level. I still find it cute.
When my mom returned home from her trip to Georgia to see Grampy and Margarete (who seems to be on the mend, she is able to lie down now, after about a month of sleeping in the recliner!)... so when she returned there was a donkey in her back yard. She was thrilled. A couple bought the acre or two behind and next to her trailer, but have no house there for now, just land. And it was the neighbor's father's wish to always have land and a donkey, but never made his dream come true (there are some strange life long dreams in East Texas!) So his wife got him a donkey for Christmas. The donkey shares a little of mom's property because the fence line does not follow the property line.
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