A little perspective!

The other day, Anna asked if she could paint.  She had gotten a few sheets of paper already and now needed her watercolors set up.  She wanted to draw "the world" for her grandma and asked me to draw grass and trees and a pond with lily pads so she could color them in.  So, I drew this:

And Anna painted it.

A little while later, Anna walked in with another piece of paper on which she had drawn a "copy" of what I had done for her.  She had drawn and painted a tree, lots of flowers, grass and a small little cirle of blue above them all.  Here's her work:

"See, Mama, I put the pond in.  It's small because it's more far away from everything."

That amazed me!  I had never taught her about that.  Maybe Grandma did, but I don't think so.  She already has a grasp of perspective in drawing and she's not even five yet!  Way to go, Anna!  :)

Crabby observation!

Heard in the car this evening on our way home from the mall:

Anna:  Mommy, when are we going to go to the Crab?
Me:  The what?
Anna:  The Red Crab!  See?  (points to the window)  That's a crab!
Me:  (following the finger's trajectory to the restaurant sign)  *laughs*  That's a lobster, honey.  That's called Red Lobster!  (Or Captain Fish as Grandpa Boss calls it.)

:)

The GPS Lady

My husband got a new GPS for his Christmas gift this year.  He has been playing with it for the last few days, taking it to work to see if one route is better than others, taking it to practice at church, etc.

On Sunday morning, we were joking around with the GPS "lady" who was trying to tell us the way to get to our church.  The prescribed route was to take the main street, Route 48, to Alex-Bell which is the street on which our church is located.  We, however, take the back roads.  So we were sort of joking each time the GPS recalculated the route.  No matter where we went, the GPS kept trying to get us to go back west to Route 48, which would take us further away from church.

From the back, we finally hear from Anna:  "That lady doesn't know it's Church Day!"

Through a child's eyes...

I was blessed today.  I was given a glimpse of the world through my daughter's eyes and it was a beautiful thing.  Stopped at a light on our way to the mall with my mother, my sister and Anna and Sarah, the adults were talking.  Suddenly, Anna exclaimed, "Mommy, that's like the cross Jesus died on!"

We were all confused for a second and looked around.  Then I saw it -- the tow truck that was making a left turn moved into the intersection so we had a clear view of what she saw.  The back of the truck had a metal appendage (for lack of a better word) that was a "t" shape.  Yes, it looked like a cross.

How cool!  God gave her the insight to see His Love in something as ordinary as a tow truck.  It made me wonder how many other things we miss when we don't view the world with childlike eyes.

Thank you, Anna, for sharing yours with us today!  What a blessing!  :)

The squirrels in Indiana....

We passed by a church's pumpkin sale today and Anna thought it was pretty cool.

Anna:  I want to get my pumpkin from there.
Me:  We're probably going to get one this weekend from the festival we're going to.
Anna:  I want to paint my pumpkin and put it outside on the porch.
Ken:  And hopefully the squirrels won't eat it.  (we have psycho squirrels in our neighborhood that eat EVERYTHING!)
Anna:  I don't want the squirrels to get it.
Ken:  Well, the only place we could put it where the squirrels can't get it is inside the house, but then nobody could see it.
Anna:  Well, I hope the squirrels go to Indiana where it's hot and won't eat my pumpkin.

Us:  *laughing*

That was random, wasn't it?  :)  Why Indiana and why she thinks it's hot there....that's anyone's guess!  LOL

A couple more funny memories to keep!

A couple days ago, Anna got in big trouble for a succession of things.  Poor kid just kept doing things she shouldn't have been doing!  A little later, as we were getting ready to go shopping, I told Anna that I was sorry I got mad at her, but even when I get mad or tease her about stuff, I still love her and wouldn't ever do anything to really hurt her.....I felt it coming as soon as the words left my mouth....

Anna:  Weellllll.....spanking hurts!
Me:  Yeah, I know, but that's not the kind of "hurt" I'm talking about!  Spanking is supposed to hurt a little so you learn a lesson about what not to do!

Ha!  Leave it to kids to keep you humble!  LOL  :)

Sarah:

After the girls have a bath, it's usually a ritual to bring Anna into her bedroom, spread out her bath towel on the rug and the sprinkle "powdoo" on her (corn starch).  Sarah always watches this closely.

Last night, we sprinkled Anna and as she was rubbing it in, Sarah started crying in demand that she be given the bottle of powder.  So, I gave it to her, thinking she'd just stand there and hold it.  Oh no!  My cutie pie smiled at me then proceeded to the now vacated towel, sat herself down with a self-satisfied smile on her face and started to "shake" powder onto herself and rub it in!  So cute!  She's playing "pretend" already!  That's so cool!!  :)

And we're walking!

It has finally happened!  At 11.5 months, Sarah is finally walking!  She doesn't go too far each time, but every day it seems she goes further and further.  Pretty cool, but I fear the day she discovers how much fun it is to run away.  Mommy needs to find Anna's old "leash" soon!  :)

C'est Tout, Say Me....

The other day, on our way to lunch at the new Hibachi grill (excellent place, BTW!), Anna was looking through our local coupon magazine and looking at all the pictures on one of the pages.  She was asking what places they were and I was answering her.

One of the restaurants showing their wares was a local French restaurant called C'est Tout ( pronounced: say-two).  She pointed to their picture and I told her the name of the restaurant.  A few seconds later we hear her ask, "What's 'say three'?"  I looked behind me to see Anna trying to figure it out. 

"Say one, say two, say three!" she said with a smile at me.

So strange what kids will hear and say.  That was pretty funny. :)

Ta-da!

Sept. 4, 2011
While we were on the phone with Ken's parents, Sarah stood up on her own for the first time!  Man, I wish I had had my camera handy!  But I can't live with that thing hanging around my neck.  I have, however, been trying to capture the act on video but it's hard since she only does it sporadically at this point.  It really was cute to see!

We were sitting on the floor downstairs, Sarah sitting in front of me playing with Mr. Potato Head.  I turned to the right for a just a moment to locate a remote and when I turned back, she was in the process of standing.  She stood with her arms raised high, like she was saying, "Ta-da!"  It didn't last long and she plopped back onto her butt.  She's done it only 3 or 4 more times since Sunday night, but it seems to be happening more and more often.  One of these days I'll get a photo or video!  I'm sure!  :)

A tiger's tale

We went to the Cincinnati Zoo today with the girls. When we got to the White Tiger's pen, we had to stop and search. Finally, we found it down in the pit near the wall. Ken held Anna up so she could see it.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "A Zebra Tiger!"

How cute! Well, it IS a white tiger with black stripes! A very imaginative description! I never would have thought about it that way! :)

Uh-oh! Sarah's walking (well, almost)!

Sarah finally did it! She can walk across the room using her little walker toy! Not only that, but I see the nub of another tooth coming in! My little girl is 11 months old and we're starting to make preparations for her 1st birthday! Wow....where does the time go?

I missed my chance!

A few more funny things that Anna says (or has said):

She calls hand sanitizer "hanitizer" -- something I think the majority of kids call it! I've seen more than one mommy post that on Facebook. :) Too bad someone already snatched up that name and created a Hanitizer brand of hand cleanser!

She was asking me to read the "destructions" to our devotional packet the other day.

"Extercize" is something we do to stay healthy! LOL

She comes up with some of the funniest things!

More "Firsts" for Sarah!

It's really amazing how fast things can change. Sarah is nearly 11 months old and suddenly she starts climbing stairs (can't yet get DOWN the stairs except doing "Superman" or rolling to a crashing halt - be still, my rattled heart!!). And today, another first for her: she figured out how to sip through a straw. She gets too much (either that or the pop was just too cold) and a lot dribbles out, but she's smart enough to know how to do it!

Also, some more fun from Anna: someone being "died to death" was her latest funny statement. She is so cute sometimes! Oh what fun we have at dinnertime! :)

A milestone for Sarah!

We went to The Greene for lunch with friends today. Afterward, we took a walk around part of the shopping center. We stopped by a bunch of benches and a fountain so Anna could play and Sarah could crawl around while the adults talked. After a while, I saw Sarah pull herself up to standing by the fountain and then started to inch to the left! She is now "walking" while holding onto things! Yay! :)

Aug. 14, 2011

Wait a minute! :)

Yesterday at dinner Anna thought up a "game" to play with us at the table. She told us that when she said "ICEE" we then should tell her what our favorite flavor is. So, my turn..."ICEE! What's your favorite, Mommy?" Mine is Orange Cream (it's at Target occasionally). Then it's Ken's turn..."ICEE! What's your favorite, Daddy?" Daddy's is Mt. Dew.

So, then I turn the tables on her and say "ICEE! What's your favorite, Anna?"

"LENA!" she shouts happily. (Lena is her good buddy down the street from us with whom Anna LOVES to play)

We laugh. "Lena?!"

She grins sheepishly. "Oops! I said the wrong thing!"

She never did tell us her favorite flavor. I'll have to remember to ask her.

Quick thinking!

The other night I had the rare opportunity to watch a DVD by myself (Daddy had taken the girls "out" to give me some peace!). So, I made a bowl of popcorn and sat down on the recliner to watch "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Part way into the movie, Ken and the girls came back home and Anna came downstairs to watch the movie with me.

For the next half hour, she kept asking "Mommy, where are they going?" and "Mommy, what are they doing?" Having never seen the movie (and I guess too tired to think up a simple answer) I kept telling her, "Anna, I don't know. I've never seen this movie before" until I felt like a broken record.

Finally, she asked one more time. All I got out was an "Anna...." before she quickly scolded, "I'm not talkin' to YOU! I'm talking to the TV! TV, where are they going?"

That was pretty funny! She kept asking the TV questions instead of me for the remainder of the movie! :)

Random thoughts

Anna has a habit of speaking out with random thoughts. Usually they're pretty funny.

A while back, just out of the blue, Anna says to me, "Mommy, I really like snores."

That sort of threw me for a loop. I wasn't sure what she was talking about - maybe Daddy's new C-pac machine for his sleep apnea? I had no idea.

"You really like...snores?" I prompted, hoping she'd give me details.

"Yeah," she said. "I love snores. They taste good."

Ah! Okay, another piece to the puzzle. "Snores" were edible.

"What are 'snores' made of?" I asked, still a little adrift.

"They have marshmallows and chocolate and crackers," she supplied.

"Oh, you mean s'mores!" I said.

"Yeah!" she nodded. "Snores!"

If you've read some of my previous posts, you can probably guess what we call s'mores in our household! :)

Lyrics say what?!

Even adults have trouble figuring out lyrics to songs, with some pretty funny outcomes. It gets even funnier when kids try to figure them out.

The radio or CD player is almost always in use when I'm in the car with Anna and Sarah. It's probably a testament (good or bad, your call) of just how often that is when you find that Anna knows the lyrics to a lot of Top 40 hits on 107.7 FM. One in particular, though, got her attention and she was so excited to share with me!

"Mommy!" she exclaimed. "This song is, is, is....(she stutters when she's excited!)...is from that movie we saw!"

Not getting it -- the song we were listening to was "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga of all people. So, I asked, "What movie, hon?"

"That one we just saw with the green man and the kitty."

Okaaaay....that's Shrek. I'm thinking hard how the two connect but not succeeding. Silly me didn't have to wait long.

"You know! 'My, my, my ogre face, my, my ogre face'....that one!" she supplied happily.

I laughed so hard. When I could make intelligible speech again, I tried to correct her -- that it was really POKER face, not OGRE face, but she was having none of it. She stuck to it that the song was about Shrek's face. So, again...every time this song comes on the radio, I can't help but sing, "Can't read my, can't read my, no you can't read-a my OGRE face!" :)

Kids say (and hear) the darnedest things!

The funny things kids say

I've come to the swift conclusion that there is really no way that I'm going to remember and be able to post the fun things I want to share in any chronological order. It's just not going to happen! I told my husband that I need his help remembering some of the funnier things Anna has said and he gave me a few.

Anna, I suppose, is going to be a very literal person. She takes what's said and finds the most literal translation of it. Most of the time, this leads to some good chuckles.

I think it was two years ago that we were heading to a traditional family gathering, driving up from Ohio into Indiana. As we passed the state line, my husband said over his shoulder, "We are now in Indiana!" And Anna, the literal being that she is, scrunched up her face and said very seriously, "I NOT Indy! I just ANNA!" How cute is that? :)

We're also finding that she has a fairly good vocabulary for a four-year-old, but she still struggles to find the right words every so often. This past Christmas season, Anna received a sponge-sticker angel at her Sunday School. On the way home, she was peeling the stickers off and assembling the angel on a spare piece of paper. Surveying her handiwork, she got my attention and pointed to the wings. "Mommy," she asked, "what are these called...the angel flaps?" I couldn't help laughing (I mean, seriously, how adorable!) but she got a little hurt at my reaction. Ken and I quickly explained that Mommy was laughing at her cuteness, not the question. It was a good question and they were called angel wings. It was interesting to see how, though she didn't know the right word, she knew what wings DID. Many times she asks me what things are called using this descriptive method. But from that day on, I think of angel flaps every time I see a picture of one or we sing a song about angel wings. Precious!

For starters

My mom gives me a lot of good advice about kids and parenting. Most of the time, I take it. She's the mother of six, of which I am the youngest, and has seen and done most everything I come up against in my own parenting experiences. For the longest time, she has been telling me that I need to write down all the funny expressions and "firsts" that come along. It's a great idea, something we can all look back on one day and smile and laugh about. However, I've yet to do it. Not sure why, except just plain laziness. Well.....time to sit down and start, however late out of the starting gate I am!

My oldest daughter Anna is four years old, on the quarterly edge of turning four and three-quarters actually! :) She is a bright and funny little girl and has been since she started to react to the world around her. She is super friendly, doesn't know a stranger (and if she does, they don't stay a stranger for long)!

Sarah, our second daughter, just reached the 10-month milestone of life. While she hasn't had as much time to rack up the funny expressions yet, there have been quite a few things that have struck us funny and are worth remembering.

Anna and Sarah have said and done so many funny things, and I swore that I would remember them or at least my husband or the grandparents would remember them. Maybe that's why I didn't actually follow my mom's advice and write them down. But it's worth a try to remember as much as I (or we) can and get them down on a blog.

The lemon-faces, saying "trick-or-treat" for the first time, the nods for "yes" and the whole body swing for "no way"....these are just a few of the things I hope to put down for posterity. However, Sarah has decided to take only a brief nap this afternoon and I must go and get her up. Thus end my prologue to this blog. I hope you'll check back soon to see my progress.