Participation rate increased

Today we had another hard time getting to dance.  She refused to get into her leotard again and no-way those ballet slippers were ever going to get on her feet.  Well, she was wearing her favorite silver sparkled polka dot leggings with a shirt on.  So, she was somewhat flexible.

So, I sat right down in front of the mirrors.  I stayed there with her on my lap, because there was no way on earth she was going to dance. " I SAID NO!"   Look at that little girl gliding across the floor.  That is usually Addison everyday.  No lie.  So it surprised me that she was being a little stinker!

The teacher came over and talked to her about her giraffe shirt and pants which she proudly showed off.  And then I had her tell the teacher about going on a rollercoaster.  Soon she warmed up to the teacher and walked across the room to grab her attention again and this time said "I wanna Dance."  She then walked over to the circle where the girls were getting ready to warm up.  She did a smashing job.

Who's gonna be a dancer?  I am I am!!  And no, this had absolutely nothing about getting a spanking.  That threat didn't work.  Glad we didn't have to follow through that one. *sigh*



Epic Fail of my life thusfar

Today was supposed to be the best day of my life.  The one I had dreamed of for since I found out I was going to give birth to a little girl. 

THE FIRST DAY OF DANCE LESSONS! (Cue Oprah Winfrey yelling it out!)

She has dancing in her blood.  Running through her veins.  She dances in her sleep.  In the tub, in the kitchen.  Wasn't she going to love it?  We went and picked out the leotard and tights.  But the time came to get dressed and she would have nothing to do with it.   So I went to the next best thing. Her ballerina inspired swimsuit. Surely she loves that and would wear it.  Um, no.  She wanted nothing to do with dance. 

I got her to at least carry her swimsuit and slippers to the class but she would not go into the studio.  She sat in the entry/waiting area on a bench meant for me.  I took her into the class.  I sat down and started doing the streches with her and the other little girls her age.  All of her neighborhood friends were there.  Here I was, huge and doing little girl stretches- with Addison on my lap, biting her nails.

For 40 minutes I tried to get her to participate.  Fifteen minutes early, and then 30 minutes of the actual class time.  Surely I was annoying the teacher, so I left.  Defeated.  Crushed.  Not the best day of my life like I always imagined.  Rather, one of Jason telling her that she would go to that class next week or he would spank her.  Really?  Has it come to that?  Threatening our child to love to do something. 

I really had zero coaching in the taking of this picture.  This is EXACTLY what she looked like when I tried to get her out the door.   You can see that she is trying so hard not to get that sassy smirk that she gets when she's being sassy.

Next week, Addison... next week.  Think about that.



The reason she looks like her mother is colorblind and, well... just blind

Me: "Addison, whattcha doin?"
Addison: "I pudding my cose out to wear dem."

As she fans to flatten out her dresses and shirts and matching the pants to go with them.

Thus ending my say on what goes on her body.  Ever.  Three months ago.

Nonconformist

This little princess of mine is in love with Spiderman.  Not the cartoon-- oh, no.  She loves Toby Maguire in the live action movie. She loves the Green Goblin.  She loves Mary Jane.  She sometimes acts out scenes from the movie.  If you ask her what she wants to be for Halloween she will reply "Spiderman".  Not Spidergirl, no no... SpiderMAN.

I found these cute jammies at Target today.  She hasn't liked wearing costumes the last couple years, so I figured that she could just wear these jammies around and be good.  We might have to find a mask and see if she will wear it to go along with these jammies. 

Rest be assured though, she does have princess undies on.  We can't go completely rouge.

Lesson of the day

Lately Addison has been sitting at the piano plinking away at the keys. Today she thought she would teach the Princesses a thing or two.  Please don't look too carefully at the dust,  It's protecting my piano!

In this one she goes on to tell "Cindewella, you sing wike diss."  Last night she was singing Sing Sweet Nightingale over and over and over.  And OVER. Which would have been fine... but it was in  Stepsister style.

My "I-wan-be 4" 3 year old

My big girl turned 3 this last month.  She is a sassy little thing!  My mother in law once told me that she is going to give me a run for my money.  Luckily for me, I told her, sassy is my native language!

 Her only request was to have cupcakes with star sprinkles on it. Done.

 One thing we had to get was a car.  There is one at every house here but ours. She would see the little kids down the street she would cry and point and want to go play over there.  Luckily if you watch closely enough, someone will sell one online but you have to get it thatsecond or it's gone.  She loves it.

We also got a Motorized Barbie Jeep for $10 online.  It needed a new battery, but even for that it was totally worth it.  Brendan LOVES it!  She'll stick to the Flintstone style for a while. 

Maybe when she is actually Four she will like it more.

I knew this day would come

Well, she did it. Addison chopped off a huge chunk of her hair.  Luckily the front was up in a pony tail so she didn't cut bangs.  She cut the left side above her ear and part of that pony tail.  Brendan had left a pair of scissors on the coffee table- which is a totally normal thing- but today Addison tested the power of the blades.  The weird thing is that she cut it, then we went upstairs to change her diaper.  Yes, she is STILL in diapers.  More on that in a minute.  But while we went up the stairs and into her room, it looked like she found a lock of hair and handed it to me "Here go, Mom". 

Last night I went to my friends because she wanted to put a few highlights in front by my face for Spring and while I was there she thinned out my hair.  I remember going into Addison's room after because of course she was still up screaming and I startled her with the foils in my head.  (Deb sent me home to rinse myself.  That's the price for getting free highlights.  It's a great deal!!)  So, in my mind I was thinking that maybe she hadn't brushed out all of the thinned hair, when I went in last night some fell out and Addison had found a lock of it.  It could have happened.

But then she ran her hand through her hair again and MORE came out! I said "Addy, did you cut your hair?" "Yes I did." She stated proudly. So I put down the lock of hair, ran over to her looked at the sight, not really being able to tell where she had cut and saw the blunt cut off of her pony tail. But there had to have been more. That was way to much hair to just be off the end of her pony tail. Then I saw it. The side butch cut.  Not scalped, but a helluva lot shorter than the rest.  I gasped. I ran to my phone and called Deb. Luckily she was in between clients and so I ran over. She is a life saver! She layered her hair, which I had been wanting to do for some time. It makes the curls pop even more. You're not going to be able to notice it too much, but we'll see. 

Deb put in the cutest braid in her bangs and she wore it proudly for the rest of the day. Telling everyone she cut her hair. Which is a big deal because she was terrified of getting her hair cut. The first time she did she screamed the whole time. This time she started screaming, but when Deb started cutting she stopped. She was more interested in watching what was going on in the mirror. Even talking to Deb while she was getting it done. Deb was laying down the law of who cuts hair and who shouldn't. I loved it! I'm really going to need to learn how to do these cute hairdo's for girls.  Deb has four girls and they are always so cute!  She did remind me that she's had eight years of practice. 

Oh yes, she DOES have her hand on her hip.  And yes, Brendan taped his love letter on my mirror where I'm reminded every day of his undying devotion.  I love my kids!



Restraining order under concideration

Well, I fully planned on going to bed an hour ago until Addison decided to wake up and throw a fit. For. An. Hour!!!  I don't know what her deal is lately.  She isn't sleeping well, and when she does it's only for a few hours at a time. 

We lost her binkey a month ago and it wasn't easy at first, but she has adapted.  In fact, she found a back up binkey a while after and I told a little white lie to her "Oh, that is baby Keaton's binkey." (Kelly's baby)  That seemed to satisfy her.  Last weekend she found her actual binkey under her crib while playing hide and seek with Brendan and a baby sitter.  I told her that, that too, was baby Keaton's.  She looked at me and said "No mom, Keatons binkey blue!"  I have to hand it to her- she is completely right.  So, I just hurried it aside and nothing was mentioned of it again.

Then, on top of that she gets a mild cold.  Stuffy head syndrome and no one will sell cold medicine to anyone under 4.  Well, that's a lie.  Sell, yes- recommend, no. Is it bad when she requests more of the medicine because it tastes so good?  Yeah, I get the mother of the year award for giving her banned cold medicine.  But, it worked and she is still alive.

We usually have left Addison in her crib to cry it out and eventually she will go to sleep after crying and screaming "MOM!" for a few hours.  So tonight I finally put her back in her bed screaming and went to lay down when I hear her right outside my door.  She scared the crap out of me because she is still in a crib and has never tried to get out.  So I put her back in and told her to show me how she got out.  She pulled a MacGyver out of her crib!  Up and over and landed on her feet...  and then quickly landed on her face.  I tried so hard not to laugh.   I am now online looking for a toddler bed with restraints.  Let me know if you know of any. Thanks!

My little BFF

Tonight, as I ran a quick arrand before dinner, Addison came up to Jason and asked "Where Mommy go?"  He replied "She left for a minute, but she'll be back."

"Oh no! Mommy my best friend!" she exclaimed.

Tried as he might, Jason was not able to sway her through the night.

Jas: "Addy, is Daddy your best friend?"
A: "No, Mommy my best friend."

He might be a little jealous. 

I say of course she's my best friend!  She is affixed to me 24/7 like velcro.  Mommy, mere. (come here) Mom MERE! I show you!  Plus, I did carry her for 9 months and give birth to her.  That gives me automatic dibbs on Best Friendship Status.

Finishing off her food

I made steak for dinner tonight.  A rarity, I assure you.  Addison eats plays with her food with some of that winding up in her mouth.  And she is always eating something!  I finally had to put a child knob lock on the pantry door because it was becoming her personal snack bar.  I'd literally find wrappers, sticky gummy fruit snacks, chewed up granola and slobber all over the house without me knowing about it.  At least now I know about it before it is going to happen.  This girl does not know how to eat without it getting all over the place. She drools like crazy, uses her hands instead of utensils and often dips her food in her drink, providing it isn't one that only comes with a little straw.  Not only food, but if she is wearing a fancy necklace or sees something on the counter that looks like it would be fun to dip into the drink- then by golly, that's where it will go.

I am not afraid of her starving to death. She lit-rilly has something in her mouth at all times. So tonight after leaving her to finish her dinner in her seat belted booster I come back and all of her steak is gone. Now, I didn't give her that much because I figured she really wouldn't eat it. She also had eaten all of her carrots.  Aside from the finger painting milk all over the counter, I say she did pretty good.  And then I found it....

The steak and carrots hidden in the milk.  Don't other kids feed the dog?  I'm sure Bentley was just waiting for her to drop him a bite!!!  What a stinker!  After I find this I ask go ask her if she ate all her meat. "No, I put in milk!  See?" As she climbs up to show me as if so proud she was cleaver enough to hide it there.  Back to sippy cups for you little missy!

Modeling the German dress

Remember the Christmas gift Grandma Nigbur gave me a few years ago? Well, I finally let Addison wear it and took her to take her pictures in it. 

This one is my favorite and the one I made copies for everyone. 

 She loved to dance and twirl everywhere we went!

Potty traning!

 It's always better with an Ipad to play with.

Crazy haired lady

This morning after getting half-dressed and obviously before hair and makeup.

Me: Addy, what are you doing?
Addy:  Mom!  WEE! (code for look at this awesome slide I found!)
Me: Addy, that's for cars, not girls.
Addy: Mom! WEE!
Me: Okay, let me get my camera.
Addy: Okay. Camra.

It was like... being at the zoo!

We packed the harness for this trip! Addison headed to the zoo for her first time. Brendan couldn't wait to show Addy around his favorite stomping ground. And since he had just been there for his class trip he knew just what he wanted to show her. And boy, did she love it! The squeals of delight from this girl were exactly the reason you go to the zoo. She couldn't get enough of the monkeys! Ooh- and the elephant! Ooh- and the giraffe! Mom, Mom, Mom!! Tigers! We even went on the carousel and the train ride.

Can't you just see the excitement radiating from her very being?  Oh, that's called editing, but that is exactly what she looked like at every exhibit.  Finger pointed and all.  Mom! See! Mom!!!

 Every zoo needs some kind of water feature!  Especially when it's 90* out.

Did you know that there are nine species of giraffe?  Our zoo has two. Now you have just learned your new fact for the day.  You're welcome.

 'I don't care that this is not my family, and that the boy is picking his nose... I want to sit.right.here."

 I reluctantly got her to sit on a giraffe.  Can you tell which kind it is??

 This is what you get when you combine a love for ice cream and saying "cheese" at the same time.

 Don't mind if I do join this drum circle.  I have no idea why they had a little band at the zoo, but it was fun!

 This year the zoo had a Jurassic theme.  Life like dinosaurs everywhere throughout.  This one was for photo ops, but mostly for little boys climbing on it. 

 Here we are on the choo choo.  She was literally screaming that out with wild abandon during the whole ride.  What a fun trip this was.  You forget why you go to the zoo when you think it's boring and stupid.  And then you see these smiles and hear the wonder in their voices as they discover animals they have never seen other than in cartoons.  And then you go- Oh yeah- that was totally worth it.

Miss USA

And her talent is singing while playing the maracas in her Ariel high heels.

Finishing the nugget before we see the chickens.

That would just be plain rude.  Maybe this one was an uncle they lost a month ago.
 Either way,  I love this face!

Taking The Queen to the farm

I thought I would advance Addison to Her Royal Highness The Queen rather than fiddle with the whole Princess bit.  I mean, you must acknowledge her presence at all times, look her directly in the eyes while speaking to her, or while being spoken to, and she certainly demands attention 110% of the time.

She is certainly a cute little Queen too.  So it's hard to look at her cute, smirking face and be mad.

While Brendan was at school, Jason thought it would be a good idea to get out of the house and go to the old farm.  I thought that sounded good.  Addison has been talking so much lately and is saying about 100 different words and is learning all of the animal sounds.  Plus, it would keep her busy for an hour.  I was game!

She loved every second of it!

There was a girl who owned this pregnant-with-triplets goat.  Addison saying hello.  She isn't afraid of touching anything!  Also- anyone wanting a baby goat- check the online ads.  She sells them.  I thought about getting one to keep the grass mowed in the back.  Then Jason reminded me that we don't have any grass. RIGHT.  That's why I keep getting dirt tracks all over the wood floor!

 This was a funny "Coat" which is how she says Goat.

 They have this super old farm house that I wanted to take her picture in front of.  She was NOT happy about that.  I love this pouty face.  It cracks me up that she puts her hands in front of her eyes.  She just wants to get back to seeing the animals.

 So in order to get any relatively smiley pictures, I thought I would jump in and

 give her a posing pep-talk.

 I really do love this Queen!

 I don't know what it is about geese that kids find attractive to start chasing them down the road.  I have a picture of Brendan doing the exact same thing.  

 Then, holding Daddy's hand, they went to see the ducks and geese in the pond.

Using her resources

I finally put felt pads on the bottom of the legs because she pushes this stool (and other stools) across the wood floor. But hey- there was GUM up there!  I am going to start a series of pictures of her carrying her stools around.  The trick will be to get the camera out fast enough. The only thing out of this girls reach is that dang lime green balloon!

Another blowout game

Today as I was driving Brendan home from I reminded him that he had a ball game. Machine Pitch today. Then it came- the coolest confident statement ever said by my son.

"Do we play the Giants again?"

"Yes, we do." I said.

"They have NO IDEA how awesome we are at machine pitch!"

I guess the 14-4 score said that statement as well.  Well said, son.  Well said.

He is becoming a really great little ball player.  And he LOVES it.  That's all I cared about.  I wanted him to love it.  This slide was for me and my camera.  They were no where close to getting the ball to the catcher.  It was an awesome slide though.  Someone brought the black under eye makeup for all the boys today.  You know they all thought they were so cool!  And they WERE!

Then there is the other side of the game.  The game that I get to play with Addison.  A game called "Addy- come here!   No, no!  Addison come back, please."  Then sometimes I just let it go.  I call her Helen Keller.  She's always begging for food from someone.  Doesn't really matter who.  In fact she went over to an older man who was holding popcorn.  Her favorite.  I had to corral her back over to the bench but then found another unsuspecting person who just might share....  "I'll share that with you." She says without words.

 And then for a moment we had a melt down because cousin Alyssa got to play with Grandma's phone and it wasn't her turn yet.  These two girls are so sweet until they get together.  Then it's a turf war of epic proportions.  Whether the turf be their house or Grandma's lap.  It doesn't matter.  I'm hoping they grow out of this stage. ASAP!