Transformation

Our house before (well a few years before)...

and after a Memorial Day weekend with great weather.

Mark still has to paint gray on the back and side of the house and I still have to maintain my sanity with extra childcare. I also want to repaint the front door either a red or a deep purple, but I'm not sure I can handle another paint color choice in one weekend. I spent most of this week looking at paint samples for the house. At one point Adde said, "Mommy all done paint color," as if to say can we play now!

Wash

What started out as a car wash...

ended up as an Adde wash. Felt good on a 90 degree day. I think that was the third time that day she got so wet that she had to be naked. Eventually she just wanted daddy to spray the water in her mouth.

Living with a Chatter Box

Here's my attempt at sharing some of the funny things she has said recently...

While driving home from Indiana, she talks almost non-stop the first hour when she sees her daddy again.

Adde: Daddy home! Daddy home! Daddy home! Daddy home!
Mark: Yes honey, daddy is home.
Adde: Daddy home! Daddy home! Daddy home! Daddy home!
Mark: Yes honey, daddy is home.


Later in the car after watching one Elmo movie, I discover that I left the other Elmo in Papa and Mimi's DVD player. We settle for Noodle Bug instead.

Adde: Adde all done Noodle. Watch Elmo.


A few hours into the drive...

Adde: Mahma's house?
Me: No honey, we're not going to Mahma's house now.
Adde: Mimi's house?
Me: No honey, we're not going to Mimi's house either. We're going to Adde's house. It's a long way away. (I guess she had been used to going back and forth between these houses for a week.)
Adde: Adde's house?!?


There is a big package of toilet paper in our foyer. We had just returned from Costco.

Adde: (While running over toward the toilet paper) Mommy's wipes!


The other morning Adde had two blankets in her crib, which she calls "b".

Adde: (While holding one "b" in her arms, points to the other "b") Adde have it. This b. (After holding the second "b" in her arms) Adde two bs.

If I could be like mommy...

 

Fun at Papa and Mimi's

Fun at Papa and Mahma's

4 generations

First Haircut

Notice that teddy is wearing a clip and Adde is combing Teddy's hair. With these distractions, she did pretty well with her first haircut. We didn't get much cut off, but enough so that her bangs were not in her face and the back was evened out. I practiced for a week before the haircut using my fingers, taking her to see daddy get his hair cut, and cutting the grass with scissors. Perhaps overkill, but when you know your child does not like new situations, you try just about everything to make the situation go more smoothly. She announced for about a week afterwards that "Sarah cut hair", which is correct as Sarah was the stylist who cut her hair. I rewarded her with new 33 cent bubbles from the dollar store. Overall, a great new experience for us.

Things I Love - ECFE

One of the great things about living in Minnesota is ECFE. Early Childhood Family Education. It is part of the local school district and offers a variety of classes to pre-school children. Today they had a special vehicle day where lots of community vehicles - police cars, an ambulance, buses, garbage trucks, etc - were in a parking lot for kids to get in and drive. Adde is obsessed with driving right now (always says "Adde drive" when we get home from somewhere) as well as buses and garbage trucks. She alerts me when she sees a bus on the road and watches for the "men" (garbage men) every Friday morning. She seemed to have a great time driving all these vehicles and was even willing to leave each one without crying so someone else could have a turn. That was a great lesson in and of itself.

On the things you'll do...

to keep your child entertained while you prepare dinner. Adde has done this in her class before, and absolutely loved it. However, in class, she doesn't end up naked, nor does she stick her head in the pan of water. She just pours water from cup to cup. But I am not trying to cook dinner during class time. Perhaps this is an event we will do with more parental interaction in the future. But hey, getting a little wet never hurt anyone.

You'll notice in the video that she tries to repeat so many things that I say. Kind of scary...I'm much more conscious about every word that I say.



Disclaimer - we/Lana will paint the cabinet doors sometime soon. It was just too exciting to have them after a year without that I don't want to take them off again to paint them...and I don't have the energy...or the drive...

Bubbles

We are thankful that these things are non-toxic. It is probably not normal for your child to make bubbles while she is talking because she has so much "bubble juice" in her mouth and on her lips. She doesn't really need the wand. She asks to do bubbles all the time, so we do hide them on occasion. But now she can remember, so she asks for them anyhow. I guess I am in for a summer of bubbles.