Thursday, November 25, 2010

Look At My Sweet Buddy

Lately I have been saying the funniest (and sometimes sweetest) things. Mom has tried to write down her favorites so she can remember them forever. Several times Mom has checked on me playing with Moxie. I always smile and say "Look at my sweet Buddy, Mom". He is the most patient friend, letting me climb on him or poke his eyes or cover him up to play hide and seek.Dad's favorite quote happened one morning when I crawled into bed with them to cuddle. I sat straight up and said "I'm gonna clock out". He is always ready for a laugh when he picks me up from school and talks to me in the car. I'm very familiar with his line of questioning by now (he always asks if I had fun at school and who I played with). Now I just cut him off mid-question and say "Yeah. Sophia and Reed."My car confessions after school are good, too. Recently I told Dad "I went to Time Out today. Because I tried to kick Jake." When Dad asked "Is Jake your friend?", I flatly replied: "No, he's bad". It's tough for Dad to keep a straight face during these serious conversations.Precocious is a good word to describe my current phase. One day Mom and I walked in the house after a trip to the grocery store, and saw that Maggie had shredded a paper bag in the middle of the living room. I walked in, put both hands on my hips, and said "Are you kidding me?!". It's also adorable when I spontaneously break into one of the Disney Princess songs (Snow White's "Whistle While You Work" is a favorite). Emotionally volatile would be another good description of this phase... but we are trying to stay focused on the positive. Mom and Dad developed a "tag out" system for sharing the work load over the Thanksgiving holiday. It's not as easy as one might think to entertain a busy toddler-who-refuses-to-nap for 5 days without a break or distraction. Trips to the beach, museum, every playground in a 5 mile radius, and multiple replays of Kung Fu Panda helped. I operated in cycles, driving them to the brink of insanity, then surprising them by saying "I have to tell you a secret", and whispering "I love you" into one ear... Followed by "I have to tell you a secret in the other ear".

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you and your family had a great Turkey Day! Ours was the best, complete with Mom's turkey and Dad's 6th annual apple pie. We spent lots of time outside, remembering that the fall and winter months are the best reasons to live here. I showed Mom and Dad that I am officially fearless on the playground. I climb all the way up the ring ladder by myself, then at the top I do a little dance, singing "I did it! I did it!".The best part is that at the top I can get on The Big Kid Slide that goes super fast! We were happy to take a day to relax after a very busy month. We are giving our back yard a makeover... which means several weeks of big messes in the front and back. We've been spending most of our free time scrubbing cement dust off the patio furniture and windows while Dad stains the new deck. I love it because Mom makes me a big bucket of bubbles so that I can "help".We still have to paint (I don't think Mom will let me help with that), then we are going to post some pictures of my new favorite play area!