Orders

"Mommy, come sit by me."

I comply because it is Sunday and we aren't doing anything special.

"Daddy, come sit by me too."

He complies for similar reason.

We sit on couch and watch Little Einsteins (again) together.

I get up to go potty (yes I say potty in real life now).

"Mommy, I said SIT DOWN!"

"Mommy needs to go potty."

"No, SIT DOWN. Go potty after movie over."

Oh, yes sir!

Note: I did convince her to let me go potty :)

Just wants to play

Today we were at our local farmer's market and they had all this play stuff set up for kids. MLO just wanted to play around a tree in the dirt and make up her own game. When we tried to get her to move on to something else and she said no, she just wanted to play.

Later she saw someone getting a balloon from a booth, she came up to me and nicely asked if she could have one too. I told her we had to ask the gentleman behind the counter. She then walked up to the counter and said, almost too quiet for anyone to hear, "Can I please have a balloon, please?"

She has started telling me at night when it is time for her to go to bed, or when she is tired.

She watches her show on TV (7 out 10 times it being "The Little Einsteins" on Disney) and then it is my turn.

In all honesty, she does have her days when mommy doesn't get a turn and the only one who matters is her, but they are few and growing further and further apart.

I have been blessed.

My daughter can sing

My mom (who was a professional performer, mainly singer for years) has always told me how great MLO can sing. Of course, I always take it with a little grain of salt as what can you really tell at 2.5 years old.

However grandma took MLO to her friends house (who is a professional opera singer and teaches singing) and she said the same thing. Apparently my daughter has an amazing sense of pitch and rhythm.

I don't know many two year-olds and the apparently the fact that she knows her right from her left is also amazing.

I think she is amazing anyway, but nice to know :)

Opening up

MLO is opening up to people who she is told is a close family friend.

She is still shy (and I appreciate it) around people who aren't introduced as "mommy's friend" but if you say "this is mommy's friend" and then their name, she warms up pretty fast.

Last night grandma took MLO to see a friend (she had a prior commitment) and was surprised at how fast she warmed up.

This is nice as I always felt so bad about how shy she was around friends and that they never got to really play with her.

Best Short Film (in Cannes Film Festival)

Film name: Struck



Director : Taron Lexton
Running Time : 07:00
Year : 2007
Country : U.S.A.
Category : Fiction

On his way to work one day, Joel (Bodhi Elfman) is impaled through the chest by a three-foot arrow. But it doesn't harm him. And it won't come out. So Joel has to learn to deal -- both with his newfound protrusion and his own painful loneliness. He tries to go to work, to date women, but no one seems ready to accept his strange flaw. Little does he know, his life is about to change forever...

When Uncle Comes Over

When MLO's uncle is around she loves telling him every little thing she is doing.

"I am going to go get something, be right back."

"I need to go get a new pull-up" (we have graduated to pull-ups from regular diapers).

"My Thor Kibby is funny"

"Got to give my Thor Kibby a kiss"

"She is laying down" (she being Thor Kibby)

"My shopping cart needs more stuff in it"

"My shopping cart is full, got to empty it"

"I am going to go tell mommy"

"It is my turn to eat my corn"

All the above in a space of about three to four minutes

Keep You Safe

MLO has certain movies she likes, but there are parts which she considers scary.

We have a routine that we snuggle on the couch and I tell her I will keep her safe.

Over the weekend my daughter has started holding my tight and tell me:

"It is okay, I got you."

Then

"I will keep you safe."

She did this while we were out eating dinner in the restaurant. While we were at a friend's house and more.

I love being kept safe by my little girl.

Mother's Day Weekend

Over the weekend MLO and I went up to San Francisco where we meet all the other mother's in my family (my mom, my grandma, all my mom's sisters). We also got to see one of my cousins perform Sandy from Grease in some fun, live & local theatre.

It was a great trip and MLO did fabulously despite all the driving and being in a strange place. We stayed at my Aunt's house in her converted garage (they did a fabulous job with new insulated walls, it doesn't feel like a garage at all).

She warmed up to her extended family very quickly, but especially loved my cousin after watching her sing on stage. It was so great to see MLO enjoy the live theatre so much. So much so that after my cousin would finish a song and everyone was clapping, MLO would yell at the stage cousin's name "sing it again!".

MLO also had a great time playing with my Aunt's two cats - a 10 month old kitten named "Sugar" and a grumpy 6 year old "Oreo".

Overall we all had a great time, however MLO kept mentioning that she wanted to go home. Told me many times she loves her home and misses her daddy.

We arrived back in LA around 10pm Sunday night and MLO had been asleep in the car for two hours. When we pulled into our driveway she started waking up. I said "hi" and she just frowned at me because she was still asleep.

Then I told her, "we're home". She looked up and saw our house and then screamed with her arms in the air "we are home!!!"

Never Be Hungry Again

Last night, on the way home from daycare, MLO and I were listening to our usual Disney CD (I made it, best songs from her favorite movies burned on one CD).

She enjoys the "bad guy" song from Lion King or Scar's song.

Listening to the lyrics he says "Stick with my and you will never go hungry again." I laugh when I hear this because of all the cultural references this has.

For example, Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind saying: "As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!"

Unfortunately my daughter will know Lion King as the first place she heard this. I hope she understands they did it because of these other cultural things and she takes the time to find out about these things.

This will be part of my test I feel on how well I raised her, will she understand these things, I hope so.

2.5 going on 20.5

My 2.5 year-old daughter is my first and I am trying hard to do it all "right". We talk about everything, I try to rarely say just "no" to her, always explaining it so she could understand.

She is now very well mannered, but even more important to me, very confident, she answers questions and really knows what she is saying. You can talk to her like any adult and listen to her views and take them into consideration. She seems to understand when I don't agree as well as sees when I do and use what she has said.

We get our tantrums on rare occasion (mostly when she is also tired or hungry) but it is pretty easy to just tell her she doesn't get what she wants with tears and needs to use her words and she does.

She is also very aware of her environment, telling me things are about to happen before I realize it a lot of time (hears daddy's car pull into driveway and suddenly yell "daddy is here").

There are times she acts so much like an adult it is surprising. She is carrying something to the kitchen and drops a part of it, looks at me and says "I will be right back to pick it up." Continue, put her load down, come and get the dropped piece and then take it with the others.

The "zip"

My daughter asked me over the weekend (when trying to open a bag with a zipper): "Where is the zip?"

Zipper being the noun and zip being the verb, but at her age there isn't a difference yet.

Isn't that strange of a word but it is cute and I love it when she sounds so grown-up but is just a little off.

Classes

I am trying to decide what classes to start MLO in. My choices:

Swimming - she did a few classes, isn't at the level of swimming yet and I want her to be able to. She is a little afraid of the pool and think if I do a very basic mommy and me class she will be able to.

Dancing - as covered before, she loves Dancing with the Stars, she puts on a "pretty" dress and spins around and around. But dancing breaks down further and I don't know for sure which one is age appropriate: Ballet, Pop, Ballroom or something else.

Gymnastics - she is a total monkey and loves to climb and balance on stuff, think she would have a great time.

I can really only afford one (plus I only have time for one) and can't decide which to do...