Random updates

Since I was having so much fun reminiscing about Sweetie as a toddler I neglected our current happenings. Here's an update:

Cutie Pie is finally sitting! I know it's odd to be excited about an 11 month old who can sit but she was a little behind in this area. I've never seen a baby who likes being on her tummy so much. From day 1 she has preferred sleeping on her tummy. When she first rolled over she rolled from back to tummy. Instead of giving her 'tummy time' I gave her 'back time'. When I would sit her on the floor she would lean forward, support herself with her arms, and then she would crawl away. Cutie Pie still isn't a big fan of sitting in the shopping cart but she's getting better.

She is also starting to 'talk' more. She can say: hi, yes, dad, mom (or sounds that resemble these words).

Popcorn is her usual silly self. The other day at pre-school her note said that she was trying to (and I quote) 'put an I in team'. I'm still not entirely sure what that meant but on the same day she also left the classroom without permission. She wanted to go to the bathroom with 2 other kids so she went along with them. When another girl went out into the hallway and told her to come back Popcorn said 'no' and kept going. With her it's a battle of wills. Some days I'm not so sure I'm up to the challenge. Although she's also very sweet and will tell me she loves me and give me a big hug.

Sweetie has turned into our little reader. She loves the Junie B. Jones books and frequently brings them home from the school library. The past couple days she's been so engrossed in a book she wouldn't come to dinner until she finished reading. She also gave a talk on Sunday in Primary and she read it all herself. She spoke clearly and loud enough. I was very impressed.

That's about all the excitement we've had around here.

We have joined the craze....

the Webkinz craze that is.

Ever since Sweetie brought home her class pet Speckles they have been wanting their own Webkinz pets. At the school carnival in March someone was selling them so I grabbed a couple and saved them for birthdays. It is very convenient at times such as these to have their birthdays so close together.


Popcorn got the spotted frog (replacement Speckles) and Sweetie got the pink and white cat. She's wanted a cat for as long as I can remember and I told her more than once that was a very slim possibility due to my allergies and L's general dislike for felines. So what a perfect way to get their very own pets!

I must admit I also have enjoyed playing games and earning kinzcash. My favorite game is Cash Cow 2 (for those of you familiar with the games). I buy them food and make sure they're all tucked into bed. I love cyberpets!

Sweetie stories IV

Here's one more story from the chronicles of Sweetie. I know I said I was done but this story came to mind and it's too funny not to share. Please enjoy this classic Sweetie tale...

Sweetie (left) with her partner in crime, H.

The Fountain Episode

We moved from Seattle to Phoenix in January. It was quite the shock going from cold, damp and gray to warm, dry and sunny. There were several days where it was 80 degrees in the winter. Needless to say when the summer rolled around we were dying. The summer we lived there was the hottest summer ever recorded. There was a week where it was 115 everyday. I told L he had to be pretty desperate to get a job that would keep us in Phoenix. Anyway, Sweetie was also pretty hot and she spent much of the time wearing just her diaper.

There was a movie night at the school one hot summer evening (this was when the overnight lows were in the 80’s). I took Sweetie and we met our friends (my friend J and Sweetie’s best bud H) while L studied. We watched a movie outside on the lawn. It was nice to get out even though Sweetie was restless. She did her usual running around but managed to stay pretty close by.

After the movie we were all pretty hot, the breeze felt like a blow dryer. Sweetie’s cheeks were bright pink and we were standing next to a big fountain on the campus. I don’t remember who got in first but one of the kids was wading in the water and soon the others followed suit. Wading led to splashing which led to Sweetie’s outfit getting all wet. Then all of a sudden she was completely soaked, at which point I found her sitting in the fountain. The diaper she was wearing ballooned to 10 times its regular size and started coming apart, as diapers do when they get waterlogged.

Of course I didn’t bring a change of clothes for Sweetie (movie on the lawn doesn’t seem worthy of packing a lot of extra stuff) and somehow I didn’t even have a diaper. I had no choice but to strip her naked and run to the car. This was another one of those mortifying mommy moments that happened to me with Sweetie while we were in Phoenix. Funny, I don’t remember anything quite as bad with Popcorn. We made our escape and got home without further incident.

Fast forward to the next day as school; L was eating lunch with some fellow students and one of them asks: ‘Did any of you hear about what happened at the movie last night? Someone’s little girl was playing in the fountain and stripped completely naked!’ L smiles and says: ‘That was actually my daughter.’ Silence overcomes the group, then laughter. Yes, we became famous over Sweetie’s antics.

Sweetie turns 7!

Sweetie's 7th birthday was today! She had a good day at school and at dance. We had a little party for her after dinner. I can hardly believe she's 7 already! I look at Cutie Pie and wonder how it all went so fast.

Here she is all ready to party:
Sweetie really is a very sweet girl. Both her school teacher and dance instructor tell me how sweet and helpful she is. She's such a great big sister and we're so blessed to have her as part of our family!

Here's a picture of the 'butterfly' cake I made. It's supposed to have blue wings. I made a pink version for Popcorn's birthday. It's very easy so I'm glad they like it!

Sweetie stories III

In the third and final instalment of my series on Sweetie please enjoy a story about my first plane ride alone...

When Sweetie was a little over 2 years old I flew from Phoenix to Seattle, my first trip alone traveling with Sweetie. She’s always been tall for her age and being tall usually leads people to assume she’s older than she really is and thus expect better behavior from her. I was nervous to say the least due to Sweetie’s utter disregard for safety and staying with me. She was a runner, in that she liked to run away. Come to think if it she still loves to run but now she at least has a purpose!

Anyway, L took us to Sky Harbor airport and walked us inside to check our bags. I had a carry on (backpack), an umbrella stroller and Sweetie’s car seat. I decided (rather foolishly) to take her car seat onto the plane. I read something saying that even when you gate check a car seat it gets thrown around as much as being in a car crash and you’d have to buy a new one anyway. So I’m weighed down with my stuff and we proceed to security.

There wasn’t much of a line so we killed some time in the gift shop and then say goodbye to L. I folded up the stroller in preparation for putting it through the scanner. Sweetie started to get antsy and so I pulled out the kid leash/harness thing I bought in anticipation of the trip. I’m not a huge fan of child leashes but I am a big fan of keeping my kid with me so I thought I’d at least give it a try. Big mistake. Sweetie put it on okay but once she realized what it is she threw a HUGE fit. She fell to the ground kicking and screaming and pulling away from me. We caused a bit of a scene.

I was just getting to the start of the security maze and I was trying to navigate my way through the line pushing the folded up stroller with the backpack on, carrying the car seat and pulling Sweetie along as she flails around. I made it through security and then got Sweetie into the stroller, balancing the car seat on top. All the while people were just sitting there, watching me and getting a little entertainment out of the whole ordeal (I actually saw some guy laugh). I’m sure they were making bets to see if I could actually pull it off.

We made our way to the gate and upon arriving discovered that we had been delayed an hour. I had to kill 2 hours sitting there (or more accurately chasing Sweetie around). And chase I did. We had to run off several times and I almost got in trouble for leaving my stuff but I think they knew better than to mess with me when they saw how frazzled I was and that I was running after a kid.

After all this drama we finally boarded the plane and I hoped for a smooth trip. We got all situated and we take off. Once Sweetie got in the car seat I realized that all it really did was put her high enough to reach the seat in front of her with her feet. She of course began to kick the seat. I told her no over and over again, I held her feet, etc. But by then I was already close to my breaking point so I tried to keep my cool.

After a few minutes an older lady sitting directly in front of us turned around, looked directly at Sweetie, and said: “I’ve heard your mom ask you several times and now I’m telling you to stop kicking my seat.’ Sweetie just kind of looked at her. I didn’t even know what to say.

The rest of the flight was okay, nothing too memorable. We arrived safe and mostly sound; I was very relieved to be off the plane. I will say I learned my lesson and never put the harness/leash on Sweetie again.

Sweetie stories II

Here's a picture of Sweetie reading to her dolls... (story is below).

The Krispy Kreme Episode

While we were in Phoenix (and L was in grad school) we were part of the Thunderkids club. It was basically a play group. We managed to arrange a tour of the local Krispy Kreme store where we got to see how the donuts were made. It was really cool because this particular store made all the varieties on site. I was newly pregnant with Popcorn and feeling sick, the sweet sugary smell was hard to take. Sweetie was about 2 ½ (this is important later on).

We took the tour and the kids all got to dip a donut in chocolate and then got to eat it along with a glass of milk. The combination of sugar, friends and excitement worked their magic to produce some crazy toddlers. The kids finished eating and began to play. Sweetie and her friend H were running around being crazy (something they did well together). Then a series of unrelated things led to disaster. 1) Both Sweetie and H were wearing dresses. 2) Several crazy kids means more mayhem than just one crazy kid. 3) Letting a bunch of ‘MBA widows’ get together leads to distracted moms trying to socialize.

Both H and Sweetie had grabbed balloons from the display (the teenaged employees didn’t seem to care) and while they were running around with their balloons I was thinking to myself: ‘I should probably leave before Sweetie gets out of control and throws a fit or something.’ I should really learn to listen to myself but of course I did not and here comes the disaster…

Next thing I notice both Sweetie and H were running around holding their diapers! The dresses meant they had easy access to remove said item. I was completely mortified! Both J and I dragged the children outside and had a little chat about not removing our underwear in public. We then made our way to our scalding hot cars and headed home, thus ending our fun outing.

Before I had to leave in shame I bought some donuts (L’s request) and later that night I noticed the box was open. Lo and behold there was a bite out of each and every donut. Sweetie admitted to tasting each one to see which her favorite was. To this day whenever I see a Krispy Kreme I think of the diaper episode at the donut store!

Sweetie stories I

Awhile ago I mentioned that I was going to post about Sweetie because I found a picture of her. Well, I got busy and distracted, etc. and so in honor of her birthday (next week!) I'm going to post about her.

A little background (since most of you didn't know us when Sweetie was 2-3 yrs old). Sweetie was a very busy, active toddler. I thought all kids were like her until we moved to Phoenix and I was around lots of other young moms with toddlers. They would ask me how I kept up with her and comment on how much energy she had. This was when I realized that Sweetie was more active than most.

She would run away from me at the mall, in parking lots, stores, the airport, etc. She was unconcerned and unafraid. I can honestly say that traveling alone with her was more stressful than traveling alone with all 3 of my kids now. (Maybe I'll post the story about one particular flight later).

Here's the picture that I found (and love) of Sweetie when she was almost 3. This was taken in March of 2004 right before Popcorn was born. She drew all over herself with blue chalk.


The Sprinkler Episode:

It was a lovely spring morning in Phoenix, it was still cool in the morning and so I left our sliding glass door open a couple inches to let in some fresh air while I still could. We lived in a two story town home style apartment and all our patios faced a huge grass courtyard. Our sliding door was hard to open and the screen was locked so I headed upstairs to take a quick shower.

After my shower I was getting dressed and I heard a squeal of delight and laughing from outside. It sounded close and I thought it was a little early for kids to be out playing but I didn’t think much of it. I heard more squealing and it sounded like Sweetie but I knew she was safely inside playing.

Upon arriving downstairs I didn’t see Sweetie but the sliding door was open and she was outside (in her pajamas) playing in the sprinklers! She had managed to pry open the heavy sliding glass door, unlock the screen and then push down the baby gate on the patio to get onto the lawn where the sprinklers were spraying water. It was pretty funny after the panic subsided. She was one crazy toddler!

Popcorn turns 4!

Popcorn's 4th Birthday was yesterday! We had a fun day together watching Conference and celebrating. We had a big breakfast (our favorite tradition of last year when church was at 1pm) and Popcorn got her fill of her 2 favorite foods: strawberries and sausage. We had personal pizzas for dinner so everyone got to have what they like. Popcorn can be a very picky eater so I really tried hard to come up with food she would actually eat. We ended the day with cake and presents and a little playing with the toys. I think a good time was had by all.

I LOVE the age of 4 so I'm looking forward to a good year. At the end of the day Popcorn gave me a hug and said it was the best birthday ever! It was so sweet. Here's some of my favorite pictures of her (I got a little carried away- sorry, but please enjoy)!

Week in review

Here's some pictures from our week with family in town. We had lots of fun on Easter. We also went to Austin and saw the Capitol building as well as the LBJ library and museum.