Forshadowing The Dramatic Years?

Bean has ALWAYS had a flair for drama.  Her facial expressions can run the gamut between joyful to disgruntled in about 2.4 seconds.

It seems her dramatic nature is slowly becoming more refined. 

The other day, we were in a flurry as we got ready to head out for a last minute dinner.  Bean had gathered her chosen possessions, (in this case, a small bucket of stuffed cats and Pancakes for Breakfast), asked if I would help her carry them, and when I agreed, she placed them in the kitchen for transport. 

About halfway to our destination, Bean piped up from the back,

"Mama?  Where are my kitties?  Where's my pancake book?" 

I peered into the back of the van and realized suddenly that I had left them on the floor of the kitchen.  Forlorn and lonely. 

Or that's what she'd have you believe.  I told her that I forgot to bring them and instantly, her face fell and HUGE tears welled up in her eyes.

You would have thought I told her that the Easter Bunny died or there would never again be another episode of Charlie and Lola. 

"Mama!  Oh MAMA!  But I want them!  I need them!  They MISS ME!" 

And then she shed two giant tears and looked at me like I was a hardened criminal.

"Mama, why did you forget them?!"

Ouch.  The kid is GOOD. 

Then, a few nights later, I tucked her into bed and she suddenly sat up and said, "Mama!  You said you would get my baby, my sweeper (broom), and my cam-ee-are (camera) from the car when Robin got home.  And you DIDN'T! Can you get them?"

I merely asked if it would be better to wait until morning so she could actually play with them.  

She looked directly at me, put her hand over her eyes with her palm up, Scarlet O'Hara style, and said,

"You said you would get them and OH!  I would REALLY like them!  You said you would! And now you won't!"

And then she promptly fell straight back onto her pillow in true dramatic style and let out a few long sniffs for good measure.

I went and got the stuff out of the car.

I'm in so much trouble.

Last Day for Giveaway

By the way, today's the last day to enter my Fruit Roll Ups giveaway.

Ok, people... you all KNOW you want them.  Imagine putting your head on a chewy fruit snack.

(OK, that sounds a bit weird, I admit... but still!)

Comment away!

Baby, C, and Sleep!

What do they all have in common? 

Um, I don't really know.  But I figure I owe an update on them!

Visited the OB yesterday and everything checked out fine!  I had been a tad stressed out because I haven't yet started to feel this little one moving around.  With Bean and C, it was by 15 weeks.  The OB said this could be for a number of reasons, but so long as the heartbeat was strong, baby's fine.  And so it was. 

I'm 17 weeks and a few days or so and I've gained 2 pounds.  If you add on the weight from the cheesecake I ate yesterday, it might be 11.  Heh.

On March 16th, we have a sonogram.  Any bets on the sex of this munchkin?  And no, I'll preempt the probable question, we are not hoping for a boy because we already have two girls.  Girls are great too!  We're hoping for a healthy baby.  Don't even get me started. 

C is doing quite well despite teething in FOUR places, (two have popped through), and has unofficially chunked up to be close to 18 pounds.  Making up for lost time, it seems.

She's related to sleep since she suddenly started actually sleeping.  I think her body is FINALLY satisfied with the amount of foodage she's getting.  Thank goodness.  For several nights, she's crashed and not woken until 10 or 11 hours later.  If I could coordinate my bladder to her waking, it'd be gold.  All the same, I'm so unbelievably happy that she's starting to sleep I could dance a jig.

Ok, I did. 

That shouldn't surprise anyone. 

What's going on with you?

Channeling My Inner Rastafarian

Sometimes, I like to get out and run errands all by myself.  No kids, no Shaun, no one else.  There's something about being able to linger in the housewares aisle in Target or picking my favorite music of the day and blasting it in the car without having to worry about little ears or competing tastes that give me a little sanity, particularly at the end of a loooong day.

The other night, we put C to bed, and I headed out to Wal-Mart and the grocery store to get a few items that we definitely needed before the morning.  On the way, I popped in a Bob Marley CD and cranked the volume.

There's an interesting fact about me and Bob.  I don't know all his lyrics.  I can sing the chorus of almost every song, but the lyrics?  They kinda get lost.  So I resort to this weird little beat boxing, mumbling mess of words.  At top volume.

So, I'm rocking out, (jammin' out?) and pull up at a stop light where I vaguely notice the guy in the car next to me chuckling while looking in my direction.  Not surprising, since I'm singing at the top of my lungs and doing some weird dance/headbanging thing.

I smiled and waved and continued my musical experience.

(I'm kind of hard to embarass).

I get to Wal-Mart and open my door to hop out into the cold and run to the store.

And I'm still singing at top volume.

"Jammin', Jammin', JAMMIN'!  We're JAMMIN' in the NAME OF THE LORD!"

I finish gathering my wallet and step fully out of the car, still singing. 

And at that moment, I noticed that there was a gentleman waiting patiently for me to close my door so he could get into the passenger side of his car. 

And he was laughing at me.  A lot. 

I cut off mid "Jammin'", squeaked a bit, and bolted for the door as fast as my 17 week pregnant self could go. 

I have an embarassment threshold, and I think?  I think it was hurdled over.

(But don't think it'll stop my in-car "Jammin'" sessions.  No way!)

At The Park

I'm feeling kind of glum today.  It wasn't even a full two weeks ago that we had balmy 70 degree weather.  Today?  Today it's snowing/raining with little chance that it will stick.  And it's COLD.

So.  I'm going to vicariously live through pictures of our park day a couple of weeks ago, (before Bean came down with the plague).  Because if I close my eyes and breathe deeply, I can totally smell...

A poopy diaper. 

Ok, really...  the sweet scent of grass growing, the fresh breeze drifting across my face. 

Yum.

OK, spring?  Hurry up.

The day at the park was lovely.   I'm thoroughly excited that Bean is big enough to do most things on her own.

And that's without a ton of fear... though some things were scarier that others

And that C is able to at least stand, which gets her down out of the stroller or my arms and lets her stretch a bit.

C liked that. 

Most of the time.  We had some tears and a bruised lip.

But that was nothing a little love couldn't fix.

We learned that Bean AND C both stick their tongues out when they're concentrating.  Thanks to me, it seems.

 

And then?  When the kids acted up, we sent them to jail.

 

Except, they really seemed to like it.  

 

All in all, a nice way to get a taste of spring.   

 

LiveBlogging 10 Minutes of My Life

Shaun and the girls are on the floor putting together a potato head family.  Rather, Shaun is helping Bean put them together, and gently redirecting C when she gets too close to the "family"

The "Mom" potato falls over and Bean threatens to burst into tears.  We right the falling potato and all is right in the universe.

Then C gets stealthy, goes around Shaun's back and attacks the "Bean" potato.  Under her attack, "Bean-Potato" loses an arm. 

Bean flips out, dives over Shaun and snatches the arm back from a very confused C.

C's confusion turns quickly to rightous indignation and she starts screeching. 

Bean is still distraught over the loss of the arm and is shedding a lone tear.

Shaun notices C's nose is running and asks Bean for some toilet paper to wipe her nose.  (We're out of tissues). 

Bean goes into the bathroom and comes back with half of a roll.  Unraveled.  We now have enough to wipe the noses of a kindergarten class for the entire day. 

Bean commendeers the bathroom, determined to go by herself in order to get a highly coveted jelly bean.  Whenever Shaun would open the door to check on her, she'd screech, "NO!!!  DON'T COME IN HERE!" 

C took the opportunity to destroy the potato family and gnaw on the pieces. 

Chaos erupts and culminates with Bean trying to poke C in the head with a plastic baton.

All in a day's work.

Need A Self-Esteem Boost? Call My Three Year Old

At dinner last night, after I cut away the offending piece of peel on a grape,

"Mommy, you're a GENIUS!"

She's so very easy to impress. Wait until I do something REALLY genius-like.  She won't know what to do with herself.