Awesome big sister

Ask my daughter if I can leave the baby (nine months now) playing in her room while I get dressed.

Daughter: "Of course"
Me: "You are an awesome big sister"
Daughter: "Why do you keep saying that?"
Me: "What, that you are an awesome big sister?"
Daughter: "Yes, I already know that"
Me: "So, don't tell you that anymore?"
Daughter: "Right"

She is an awesome big sister BTW.

New addition

Well we now have little boy in the family.

MLO loves her little brother to death and is constantly giving him hugs and kisses.

So that is my excuse for neglect of this blog - again :(

Houses falling over

My daughter (MLO) is four years old now and she is just putting things together in amazing ways:

We were having guests over for a dinner, I told my husband: "I straightened up the house today".

MLO: "Why? Did it fall over?"

I couldn't even answer because I was laughing so hard.

Morning

This morning MLO woke up early, earlier than I wanted to wake up.

She came into the room and tried to get me to wake up, I refused telling her I was waiting for the clock to turn a certain time.

She laid down with me and wiggled around, trying to get me to open my eyes.

Didn't work.

So, she climbed out of bed and went over to daddy's side.

She woke him up, by telling him she loved him "this" much (opened her arms all the way). He smiled and gave her a big hug back. She then gave him a hug and said she loved him SOOOO much.

After a kiss, she pauses.

"Can you wake up now daddy".

She is using the system.

Been so bad, good mom, bad blogger

I have had a rough few months, my father is pretty ill and we are dealing with the bouncing between hospital and home and his desire not to die in the hospital.

So, all my personal blogging time got taken up in that and I haven't been here.

MLO continues to be amazing and funny. Few things:

1) She shot up over an inch in one month (I measured her at 3 1/2 and checked it one month later after an instance from her grandmother that she grew a lot).

2) She loves babies, she has a special connection with one of my friends little ones, whenever they see each other they break into huge grins.

3) In her bath tonight she said she was pretending to wash another baby she knows hair.

4) She loves calendars and we set up one just for her so she can mark the days and see when she has things (especially parties) coming up.

5) She is in a weekly gymnastics class and wants to go all the time (but we have it on the calendar so she can see what day it will be on).

6) We took her ice skating after watching the world championships on TV. She had a great time and wants to go again. We took my sister as when she was young she wanted to be an ice skater but she grew too tall (she is now 5'11" and that just doesn't work in ice skating).

I am sure there is more and I will try to come back and include, for my own later memories more than anything else.

Fire warning

MLO has never particularly liked spicy food.

It has become an easy way to warn her that she might not like food.

We went to a party and they had some fire pits in their backyard as well as a fire in their fireplace.

We were telling her it was hot and she shouldn't touch it and she immediately said, "oh, the fire is spicy!"

Yes, exactly.

Thanksgiving 2008

It all went very well, we love our house and I am happy to have everyone over. It has some great entertainment features which make it a good choice (and therefore has been the choice) for our family parties.

Last year I cheated on the Turkey and got it pre-cooked so I just had to warm it up.

This year we had a little tighter budget, so I got to do all the hard work. Well sort of, I got to call my mother-in-law and have her come help me so it wasn't too hard. We cooked for 8 people so did a 16 pound bird, which turned out to be just perfect (we were expecting more left-overs).

We got compliments on it being the best Turkey ever, so we must have done ok.

MLO loved sitting at the table and having dinner with all her favorite people in the world. Her favorite was the corn my mother made for a side (I made people bring food so I didn't have to do everything), she had about three helpings of it.

Through-out dinner she kept pointing at people and saying how happy she was they were there. After that she just kept naming who was sitting next to who, over and over again.

In between dinner and dessert she went outside with my brother and they played "soccer" for a little bit. It was hilarious to watch because my brother was tired and very full so he ran sort of funny.

We were all up late talking and MLO didn't want to go to bed, even after everyone was gone she wanted to keep getting and giving hugs.

Daddy

Daddy has been working long hours, late at night (and then sleeping in). He is a computer network consultant and he has to work a lot when no one else is at work.

This morning he was on the couch when we came out of her room. When she saw him she yelled "daddy" and ran to sit by him on the couch.

I then couldn't get her to leave him to get ready for daycare or anything.

Hopefully this reminds him that he needs to manage his schedule better so he can be "daddy" more often.

He is a he and She is a she

MLO is enjoying saying who is a she and who is he. It is pretty funny but it is VERY funny when she gets it wrong and insists that she is right.

So far we know:
I am a she
Daddy is a he
MLO is a she
Aunt is a she
Uncle is a he
Grandma is a she
Sevta is a she

However grandpa is sometimes a she and sometimes a he. She can't seem to decide which one he is. He loves it and thinks it is really funny and Grandpa takes it all in good stride.

See MLO can't do anything wrong in grandma's eyes it goes very well. Plus she always gets a laugh which she loves to create.

My Sister's Birthday

We went to see my sister for her birthday, MLO came along and the whole drive down to see her she couldn't stop talking about seeing her Aunt.

We took her on a dinner cruise and MLO sang her happy birthday several times . Then another several times again and a few several times more until everyone else on the cruise was laughing and shaking their heads.

I got a tour of her campus (she is in college)

We slept on one of her room-mates beds in her little apartment (the room-mate was spending the weekend with her boyfriend). MLO loved her apartment and kept running around it (though it is pretty small).

Even more fortunate is that her apartment was across from a park with huge playground visible from the entrance to her apartment. So, while everyone got to sleep in on Sunday, MLO and I woke up bright and early and played on the playground for hours and hours.

The whole time we were driving home MLO kept saying over and over she want to go back to her Aunt's house. They have always been close and I am so happy that even when MLO goes month's without seeing her she loves her to pieces.

Showers and Boy Parts

MLO has decided she wants to take showers with someone in the morning.

Usually we would get up, I would set her up with some breakfast and then run to the shower. Now, she asks to come along and stands in the corner farthest from the water. She likes to stick individual body parts under the water.

This has made her addversion to baths a little less painful as then she just takes a shower with me in the morning.

One morning she wanted to go with daddy. We thought about it and let her go.

Afterward I asked him how it went and he laughed and said it really well, after the initial question of what was "that". To which he just told her that was what boys had (she has been having fun pointing out who is a girl and who is a boy for a few weeks).

Now I almost told him to wear a swimsuit while in the shower with her, but decided against it. I grew up with everything being very comfortably open and I think this made me very easy to talk about sexual stuff with my parents. I was very open and honest with them about everything.

She hasn't brought it up again and continues to take showers with me in the morning (daddy isn't always taking a shower at that time). She hasn't said anything about it or asked any questions.

Yet I have a little bit of a concern that I should have been more careful.

Oh well, hopefully I haven't scared her for life :)

Disneyland

For my daughter's third birthday and combination potty training success we went to Disneyland.

I haven't been to Disneyland in over fifteen years and let me tell you it is very different when you are a mom with a three-year-old.

Seeing "the castle" that you see in all the movies was originally the big thing for her and she wanted to go in it more than you really can. She loved the Snow White wishing well and sang along with the music.

We did spend most of our time at just a few rides that MLO wanted to go on, over again and again.

Her favorites were the Merry-Go-Round, the Dumbo ride and the Nemo Submarine.

When we were first getting on the Nemo Submarine she kept telling me she didn't want to. She then told me she had told me she didn't want to, over and over. I answered that we would do it quick for me and then we would leave, to which she unhappily agreed.

The beginning of the trip doesn't really have any Nemo stuff in it.

However as soon as we heard Nemo's Dad's voice (to a three-year-old he doesn't get his own name) and then we saw Nemo she screamed enthusiastically at the top of her lungs "NEMO".

Yeah, then it was almost impossible to get her off and she wanted to wait in the 45 min+ line to do it again.

We somehow convinced her otherwise but my goodness.

We also got to have the real and in person Snow White tell us a story.

We of course ended the day with the fabulous fireworks show. This last 4th of July we didn't make it out to see fireworks, so this is really the first time she has truly seen them.

The whole time she was wide-eyed and uhing and ohing. Of course then Tinker Bell flies around the castle and she nearly tried to fly up to meet her.

What you talking about

MLO has gotten very curious about what other people are talking about.

Whenever daddy and I are talking she will suddenly interrupt to ask us what we are talking about. A little annoying sometimes, but for the most part cute and we always answer.

However sometimes she gets tongue tied and this is what is even funnier. Now picture a little three-year-old girl voice trying to ask what we are talking about but can't seem to get it out. It comes out more like:

"What did you just tell dad told, talking daddy told... what just told daddy..." and then laughter because she knows it isn't quite right.

Birthdays

Quick note (OMG, so busy): MLO loves birthdays, really, anyone's birthday.

She has been telling me over and over all week that it was my birthday (my birthday was on the 13th and I turned 30).

She loves to sing happy birthday to me, over and over again.

It is really sweet, of course, she is very excited about the fact that it will be her birthday soon too.

Baby

MLO's baby doll has become a permanent attachment for her.

MLO loves to repeat everything I have said about her to the baby. I have heard the baby doll be told:

"You are getting so heavy"

"You are a little monkey"

"Want to go on my shoulders"

The cutest however was when I heard MLO singing the lullaby I usually sing to her for her to go to sleep, to her baby doll.

MLO (and I am sure most three-year-old girls) has the cutest singing voice, and she has a natural ability to sing with the correct pitch and everything.

MLO is also preparing for her little sister as she has told me many times that I am pregnant (I am not yet) and she wants a baby around.

MLO was sad yesterday

Daddy had to go out to a clients which is over 2 hour drive away so he was gone all day.

MLO kept telling me over and over how sad she was because she missed daddy.

I called him on the phone and she got to talk to him (she took my cell phone and talked for a good chunk of time while I was driving).

She was happy to talk to him, but about half an hour later she missed him again.

All day she kept telling me over how she missed her daddy.

He got home after we went to bed so this morning when he walked out of the bedroom she squealed and ran to him. She gave him several big hugs and insisted on having him play all sorts of games with him.

Getting Agreement

My philosophy has always been to make sure MLO understands what is happening and I have her agreement. I have had people comment and ask me why I spend so much time on this and don't just tell her that it is the way it goes sometimes.

My little girl may be just about three years old, but she is a whole person in her own right. She has feeling, views and deserves to have these recognized. Sure it takes me longer to get something done sometimes, but that is part of what I feel comes with the job.

The thing is, it always happens how it needs to happen, she never totally stops or changes the outcome, she always understands, eventually.

I feel that this method has resulted in one of the calmest and easy to talk to three-year-olds I have ever known.

Just had to throw that up here in response to those people who frown at me when I do this or even saying something.

Chutes & Ladders

MLO got introduced to Chutes & Ladders while we were in Tahoe. One of my aunts decide she would have fun with it and went out and bought the board game so they could play (game is for 3+ and she will be 3 the end of September).

They played it one of the times I needed to do some work and needed someone to distract her. So I didn't get to watch her first time, but everyone says she had a great time.

To get her not to try and play with the wheel after it was spun, my sister came up with the idea of everyone throwing their hands up in the air while it is spinning.

She loves slides in real life so having her characters go down the slide makes her giggle, so apparently the entire game was spent laughing.

The best part of it all was MLO actually won (and they weren't letting her).

I know she had a great time, because the board game came home with us and she has made me play it with her several times. We don't get to the end of the game, because it is much funner with more than two players, but she laughs the whole time.

Tubbing in Tahoe

We just got back from almost a full week in Tahoe with my extended family (my grandma, her four daughters, including my mom, and all their spouses and kids).

It was great timing for me, I needed some time away to enjoy myself and really get back up to battery.

We did a lot of activities, including river rafting, jet skiing (my favorite), tubbing/water skiing. We were going to go parasailing too, but the wind kicked up too much so that got cancelled.

MLO LOVED going out on the boat. All my cousins went out and we went tubbing and water skiing (I had never done either before and it was great fun).

MLO sat in the boat with different people holding her secure (depending on who was out) and enjoyed yelling over the edge of the boat "you ok" every time someone wiped out.

The whole time I was out she was yelling to me good job, go mommy, with lots of clapping and cheering. Watching her enjoy watching me was as fun as actually doing the activity.

Daddy saves the day (or night)

Twice now MLO has woken up around 4am and refused to go back to sleep.

Both times daddy has come to my rescue and either played with her, put on a movie so she would fall asleep on the couch or just been the daddy and insisted she is okay sleeping alone in her room (to her) and gotten her back to sleep.

Daddy is my hero!!