Baylorisms – Part 4

Nishan – The Phonenician Resort where Aunt Ali works and where we sneak into the playground. Ssshhh….

Q-she Grge – Curious George

Q-she Grge. Good Monkey. Always very q-she – Curious George was a good little monkey and always very curious

Barilla – Gorilla

How your baby going? – What she asks Ali while she pats Ali’s belly. We think a combination of how are you doing and what’s going on.

What ARF you do in? – Not sure why she says arf, but it makes me laugh every time

Miska! Mooseka! Mickey Mouse! – the magic words for Mickey Mouse Club House

What his mommy’s name? – In Bay’s world, there is a mommy, a daddy and a kiddo – in reality it’s a husband, wife and sometimes a kiddo. So when she asks what someone’s mommy or daddy’s name is, she really means spouse. And trying to explain boyfriend and girlfriend is just a lost cause.

Twilight

The other night while driving home from swim lessons, I noticed that the sky was particularly beautiful. There was a dusting of clouds that glowed with the soft warm colors of the setting sun. It was spectacular.

I pointed out the clouds to B and we sat silently admiring the beautiful site. A few seconds later, we had this conversation:

“I think that’s where Heaven is.”

“I think you’re right kiddo.”

“I think that’s where mine Mamie lives. Waaay up there. I wish she would come back and live in her house so I could go and play.”

Trying not to cry: “I wish she would too.”

In true toddler form with no hint of sadness, but rather hopefulness she said:   “I hope she has someone to play leggos with. Maybe great grandma. Or Jesus.”

I hate that she has had to learn about death and loss and heaven at such a young age. I hate that heaven has to be a part of our daily conversations. But I don’t want her to fear death or heaven, I want it to be an open, easy and welcome conversation for her. I want her to remember Mame and to know that it’s ok to miss her and that we can talk about her and remember all the good times and good things about her. I just have to learn to do it without having to choke back tears each time.

Happy Second Birthday Cousin Zoe!

Saturday morning after Pancake Breakfast at school, we mosseyed north to McDonald’s Ranch to celebrate Zoe’s second birthday. We talked up the fact that there would be tons of animals to pet and horses to ride – B could hardly contain her excitment and took off running at the first suggestion of walking to the petting zoo.

The weather was perfect – close to 80 and sunny. Christiane packed a deliciously huge lunch for all the guests and we washed it down with some awesome birthday cake!

Baylor, the birthday girl Zoe and her cousin Simano

Not at all concerned that the goat is waaaay to close…

The birthday girl

“HI GUYS!!!”

Ready to ride

This was no pony. And yet being sooo high up was a blast to Ms.B. She waved to everyone like a beauty queen

Pop!

Noni!

Naunny Animals

This is my conversation with Ms.B this afternoon. It started when I had to go into her room for the fourth time to tell her to GO TO SLEEP:

“Bay-lor. It is TIME TO SLEEP.”

“Ok mommy. I just tucking my nanimals (animals) in.”

“Ok well let’s finish up and I’ll tuck you in and then you have to get some sleep. Why are Minnie and Daisy on the floor?”

“I throw Daisy Duck and Minnie out mine crib because they being naunny (naughty).”

“Oh so it’s their fault you’re still awake?”

“Yes mommy. But now I have Big Num Nums (her big pink rabbit) so I go to sleep.”

Citrus Season

When we did our landscaping, we picked out two orange trees for our front yard. It took almost two seasons for them to really start producing fruit, but now that they are rolling, we’ve got oranges a pleanty! Arizona Sweet Navel and Valencia – I fertilize both within an inch of their lives so that there is lots of large, sweet fruit. This year I had my helper who picked up the oranges as I dropped them out of the tree.

 

 

 

Sadly, I didn’t get a shot of her putting the oranges into her shopping cart to wheel them inside..

 

And if you thought my helper was cute, you should see what Kristin is doing over at One Pretty Place. It’s ridiculous how creative she is!!

 

 

Pinterest in Action

I found these lovely little appetizers on Pinterest and made them last weekend for a dinner party. The picture doesn’t show the final product, which was drizzled in olive oil and balsamic reduction, but it does the little beauties justice. In addition to adorable, they are delicious! Little basil leaves wrapped around mozzarella balls and grape tomatoes…bite sized caprese salad!

Oh, and I made the cake plate – more on that in a later post 😉

 

Modern Marvels

One of my mom’s favorite childhood stories about my sister Ali is when she came home asking my mom for a recipe for ice. Ali had been in the nurse’s office that day at school and the nurse had pulled out ice cube trays and popped out a few for a scrapped knee. Ali was in awe – we had an ice maker so she had never seen a tray of ice before and was totally enamored.

My step sister told me recently that her daughter asked to listen to the radio – when she put on XM radio, Madi said “no mom, like the real radio. Can we listen to the real radio sometime?”.

This past weekend it was my turn. At a friend’s house for a party, Bay and I went to the bathroom to wash hands. While in there she stared at the shower curtain. She gently pulled it back and said “Oh neat! The bath tub!”. I didn’t get it at first, but I guess she’s never really seen a bathtub with a curtain pulled across it. Oh how fascinating the world is when you’re two.

It Pays to Pay Attention

Ugh. Bay’s crud has finally attacked my immune system and won. I used to put up a fierce fight when I would feel the first signs of illness coming on – lots of rest, running it out, extreme mental denial of any illness, etc. However, because my two year old now hangs out with other two year olds at preschool a few half days a week, she comes home with every illness imaginable. Because despite her classroom being very clean and constant hand washing throughout her day, preschool = cesspool. Therefore I no longer fight it. At the first sign of a tickle in my throat, I down my usual cocktail of vitamin C, Mucinex D, Zyrtec and sometimes and Advil for good measure.

After a rough night’s sleep due to a scratch throat and PW’s scratchy throat and Baylor’s scratchy throat, I was a little more sleep deprived than usual. I realized my normal morning routine was a little scattered and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what came next on the priority list. Despite my general fuzziness, we made it out the door on time.

I dropped B off and stood for a few minutes watching her interact with her buddies – they were all hanging on the playground fence laughing and waving at a car parked with two dogs inside. It always cracks me up to see what she’s doing when she doesn’t know I’m looking.

I walked to the car making mental notes to remember to bring money at pick up for the pancake breakfast, to make a note about what I had signed up to bring for the Valentine’s party and which errand I needed to get done first. I pushed the button on my keys, heard the tell tale “beep beep” of an unlocked car, opened the door and started to swing into my seat when I realized something was weird…why are my seats tan and not gray? At that point a voice from the back door said “good morning”. I looked back to see a mom pulling her kiddo out of his car seat on the passenger side. It was then I realized I had just attempted to get into someone else’s car.

Thank God the mom clearly had a sense of humor and or empathy that she didn’t scream but rather just laughed and said “same car??”. And thank goodness I had at least attempted to get into a car that was exactly like my own (there are 4 white SUVs of the same make and model at B’s school – I counted) and not one that was completely different. I proceeded to get into the correct car and drive straight to Starbucks for an extra shot of caffeine to hopefully wake myself up a little.

While retelling the story to my friend and neighbor, a mom of three, she informed me that she too had done the same thing a few years ago. So at least I’m not alone in my airheadedness. Which means I’ll have friends when PW finally checks me into the funny farm.

Busy Busy

Phew. It was one of those busy weekends that leave you in need of another weekend. Sadly, it’s going to be an equally busy busy week followed by another busy busy and super fun weekend! Here’s what we did:

Swim partner, Ryder’s 3rd birthday

Dinner with the Phi’s – my ribs still hurt from laughing

Dinner with our preschool friends – picture 4 towheads wearing every stinking piece of dress up clothes and accessories we have and parading through the house. It was fantastic.

Baby shower / house warming party for work friends.

Oh, and Bay has a touch of a cold which is making sleeping difficult…for everyone. But she’s in good spirits when awake and I’ve got my famous Bobbi Brown concealer to cover the oh-so-scary dark circles under my eyes so we’re in good shape.  And judging by the length of that last sentence, we do have coffee.

And in true I’m-having-way-to-much-fun-to-remember-to-take-a-pic form, I have no photo evidence of our super fun weekend. Boo.

But this week will prove to be equally busy with lots of water company work (so very close to completing our rate case – wahoo!), invoicing for the water co (always fun to create and then stuff 90 invoices into envelopes. Don’t worry, I reward myself with wine), Scottsdale Mom Blogs post (hello Valentine’s dinner in recipes),play dates, school and swim  –  and we wrap up the week with the George Straight concert and super bowl party. Phew. Glad we all napped yesterday.

Amen, Sister

One of my best friends Chrissy sent me an article yesterday – really she tagged me on facebook with the caption “Carry on Warrior” Wisch Wand, you’re going to love this”. And in true friend-who-knows-you-all-to-well form, I did.

The article is pretty much the premise of The Goon Room: sometimes being a parent is just downright gross. And annoying. And exhausting. And not fun. It talks about those annoying people who stop you in the grocery store and tell you to be sure to cherish every moment – and they are usually telling you this on a day when you’ve not had a shower, slept a collective 3 hours, your baby is screaming while simultaneously spitting up on you…again.

The tag line of the article is “Carpe Diem!!!” – or seize the day to you and me. The article is hilarious, truthful and sweet – I love how this momma is able to laugh at the gross stuff, shrug off “failures” and focus on the small wins. This is the kind of mom I strive to be.

I’m also going to start yelling “CARPE DIEM!!” instead of “WHY IS NO ONE LISTENING TO ME???”. Mostly because I think thinking about how I want to remember every moment of Baylor being a child – even the annoying ones – will make me chuckle.

Here’s the article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html