Bo Bear Refurbished ...

... and then unrefurbished. Bo Bear was my childhood bear. At the risk of embarrassing myself, I will admit that I slept with Bo Bear until a very unusually advanced age (he may or may not have gone to the hospital with me for Kendall's extraction). He's been through a lot in his 30 something lifespan. And it shows. He goes everywhere with Kendall and this terrifies me. He is completely and totally irreplaceable. So Nana had a brilliant idea to refurbish him. He's almost completely threadbare, so nothing can be sewn onto him, but I was ok with the idea of Nana making him a new head and body, into which his old bear body could be stuffed. Kendall decided today that she would be ok with this. She watched the placement of the final stitches. She was excited about his new bow tie. And when he was finished, she hugged him and carried him around for less than a minute before the screaming started: "TAKE HIM OOOUUUUUUTTTT!!!!'' We attempted to reason with her, but once she had thrown herself on the kitchen floor, kicked the bear across the room and commenced to screaming, kicking, and flailing, I figured she would be pretty unresponsive to reason. So the awesome bear cover, lovingly made by Nana, was removed. My hope is that we can try again ... but if not, my next hope is that when Bo Bear disintegrates (hopefully later rather than sooner), she will eventually be happy with what was oh-so-briefly his shell!

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER AFTER.

Kid still uncrated ...

... and she's doing great! No more roll-outs since the first night. I have now moved the rail to the other side so she's facing the same direction she's used to facing and it's also easier to see her on the monitor this way. When she woke up both mornings and from all three naptimes, she played with her "friends" for a bit in her bed and then dutifully called "Ohhhh, Mommmmyyyy?" As hard headed as the kid can be, it never occurred to me that she would so easily obey this very easily disobeyable rule! (I should knock on wood now)

Another funny thing that she's started doing now that she can get in and out "by self" is she regularly wants to take "juuuust a little rest" throughout the day. She must've taken 20 of them this morning. During these little rests, she must be covered up, but no binky is allowed (I don't dare get my hopes up for this to be a positive sign), lights must be on, white noise machine must be off, and no music can be played. The rests last a few seconds before she pops up and loudly announces, "OK! Let's get this party started!" ... like she is 100% refreshed by the 3 second rest. Wish that kind of rest worked for me!

This is what her bed looks like now, obviously without her in it and during a rare moment when her "friends" (who now have a specific order in which they need to be placed "by self" on the back of her bed) were all in their correct placements.

Kid. Uncrated.

Well, Kendall has finally decided that she's not "still a baby" ... at least with respect to her bed. I had sworn I was keeping her in her "kid-crate" as long as humanly possible. A lot of her friends had started trying to escape their cribs but Kendall never did. But a couple of days ago she started asking me to "break her crib" so that she can get in and out "by self like a big girl." On Sunday night, after a rather ill conceived bargain we made in the car that went a bit like this:

Me: "Kendall, will you stop screaming about not getting to sleep over at Nana's house if we break your crib tonight?"

Kendall (immediately and tearfully): "Yes!" And the child forgets nothing.

It was then 9:00 before we got everything settled and she finally went to bed that night, but it's done. And I didn't cry until she sat up and said "My a BIG GIRL now!" (see 1st picture). Glad I didn't know the night before that I was putting my baby in her crib for the very last time or there would have been major tears then! She stayed put the entire night, aside from the time I went in at midnight and found her 1/2 asleep on the pillow on the floor next to her bed. I, however, am exhausted from going in to check on her every couple of hours. When she woke up, she did exactly what she was told to do and sat up and called for me. Not that she could go anywhere since she's shut in her room with a child proof doorknob, but she could destroy her room pretty quickly. I'm now hoping that this little venture out of babyhood and into childhood might encourage the potty training venture ... but thus far she continues to ask for her "Minnie tee-tees" (not sure why she calls her panties tee-tees) so she can pee-pee in them." Um, no.

"A girl and her kid"

For the life of me I can't fathom why I ever worried about Ginger possibly harming Kendall. The dog loves my kid as much as I do. And she takes a lot of abuse. She's not typically the dog who gets to wear tiaras and feather boas ... for some reason Kendall thinks Ralphie was born to cross dress. And Rehn is the dog who is always blamed for noxious odors that may or may not have originated in someone else's diaper. But Ginger gets blamed for a lot of stuff she just didn't do ... like knocking things over when she's clear across the room and sleeping. Or spilling stuff when the empty cup is still in the "culprit's" little hand. Or getting her blanket "all droopy" (aka wrinkled) when she's not even on the same floor of the house. Ginger is yelled at frequently for doing absolutely nothing. But Ginger clearly loves this child like she's her own. I have no idea how many times over the dog has been a mama, but it's definitely part of her personality. I also have no doubt that she wonders on a daily basis "why the hell is this fur-less puppy still here and fortheloveofgod shouldn't we have found a home for her yet??!"

Last zoo trip for a while

We took a spontaneous trip to the zoo this morning .... and it was HOT!!! Not as hot as it has been here because of a major rain we had last night, but hot nonetheless. Parts of the zoo were actually pretty nice, either b/c of misters or shade and a breeze, but I believe I won't be returning until this fall. We had a nice time, though, and the boy lions (apparently they are brothers) were particularly friendly this visit!

And of course the visit had to end with a trip to the children's zoo area so Kendall could cool off in the water. Yes, she's naked and in a swim diaper in public. Her days of socially acceptable public nakedness are numbered so I figure she should take advantage of it while she can!

Here are some more cool lion pics!

Father's Day 2011

Father's Day started the night before Father's Day this year with a fun cookout/pool party at the home of some friends (Kendall's boyfriend, Sean, to be exact). Kendall got in some good "Daddy time" in the pool and then the daddies lounged in the pool, demanding to be served beer in a timely manner, while the mommies were in the kitchen feeding and chasing children. Good times. :)

The next day, Chris alternatively played with Kendall and napped in the playloft, on the couch, and in bed all morning. After naptime, however, he got to slave over some hot coals and make burgers, hot dogs and sausages for our Father's Day cookout here with Pops, Grandmother and Nana. Kendall dressed for the occasion.

And did a little fishin' with Pops while waiting for her hot dog (of which she ate not a bite).

And then after supper, she performed a "Big Big Show" outside. Naked. Then she dressed herself even more formally for dessert (which she did eat and was allowed to do so only because it was a special occasion) - cupcakes from Society Bakery and a cherry pie from Grandmother.

Here is her royal highness and her two faithful subjects.
And here she is with her most loyal subject!




It's tough to be a princess some days. Right Daddy?

Little Things I Want to Remember - 5

1. Pronunciations:

Chocolate = "Chocowee"

Sunscreen = "Sunscream"

TV - "TB"

Strawberries and Blueberries - "Stwaburs and Booz"

It's a Beautiful Day - "It's BOOFUL Day!"

Arboretum - "Ahdubwedum"

Attic - "Ackit"

Meeting - "Meetum"

McDonalds - "McDonald Ducks" or "Old McDonald Ducks Has a Farm"

Baseball - "Daddy Ball"

Not - "Ott" (as in "OTT yours Mommy, MINE!")

Belly button - "Ding Dong" (this was particularly amusing when I pulled her pants up over her belly button and she spun in circles, looking down, asking "Where's my ding dong?")

2. Recent Conversation:

Me: Kendall who are you calling on your Minnie phone?

Kendall: I not on Minnie phone (clearly she is)

Me: What are you playing with then?

Kendall: My Minnie Blackberry! (she is her father's daughter)