Just keeps getting better

Miss A is fast becoming my shadow. And I'm not gonna lie. It's very validating because who wouldn't want some eager little person following them around getting excited about every little thing they do like their number one fan and president of their fanclub?

The other day I had stripped the master bed down and was trying to get all of the bedding back on. Miss A was right at my heels and/or on the bed itself through the whole process. It, of course, took probably 10 minutes longer than it probably could have but I love that she insists upon just being with me the way she does. She wants to see everything and she wants to be there and she wants to learn and "help" in the small ways she can manage. For as much as she can be a little bit of a challenge because she is constantly so underfoot, I do love this time with her especially because I know there will come a day when she will no longer think I'm "cool" enough for her and will choose instead to be hanging out with her best girl and *gulp* boy friends.

Anyway, in the midst of the bed making, she flopped down on her tummy, looked very seriously through this empty paper towel roll she had claimed earlier as her own (for a pretend microphone) and she declared, "MAMA. I'm looking for PIRATES." I was lucky enough to have my phone close by and I snapped a picture...

I believe this might be one of my favorite of surely many more that I will remember of her in all of her toddler times.

This morning when I was up with her, we were doing our usual of getting ready for preschool. We must have both been thinking the same thing because she looked at me and said, "Mama, I don't want to go to school today. No school, Mama. No monkey bars!" I had no issue with indulging her very affirmative directive and we celebrated with a little bit of a dance off to some old school music videos courtesy of Comcast-on-demand. In the midst of the legendary "Right Stuff" by NKOTB she looked at me and said, "Shake your pits, Mama! SHAKE YOUR PITS!!" and kept right on dancing in a way that, I'm assuming (?) was proper pit shaking. I couldn't figure out how to "shake my pits" and she had a serious issue with this and attempted to teach me but quickly got annoyed at my inability to learn proper form and technique and just kind of rolled her eyes at the "mom" way I was dancing instead and I had to laugh quietly to myself. 

I really never thought having a kid would be this fun. I have always had a natural love for kids but I never believed that having one of my own would be so wonderful. Having a kid is AWESOME. Take it from me - the person who swore up and down that I could never be a mom and would never be a mom. 

Get the power

This morning when I was getting Miss A ready to head off to preschool for their first weekly "water day," and right in the middle of us actually being to the point of leaving the house on time she stopped everything. Why? Well, she had to put a fork in her underarm...

And then she wouldn't let me do anything unless I did the same thing. Her reason? "You will get the power."

*raises eyebrow*

...

...

Hmmmm...

...

Yeah. I don't get it either.

Like daughter, like mother

It's not an option for me to NOT do anything without Miss A anymore. For the record: accessorizing with winter scarves was ALL her idea. I am obviously thrilled to have her dictate such a fashion risk for me to try as well...

A fourth just for us

I might be a bit of a party pooper but I opted out of trying to watch the fireworks this evening. *shrug* Miss A went down for bed long before they would have started and for as much as she might have liked seeing them? She's plumb tuckered out from our this week's "family day" events that occurred earlier.  Today, ladies and gentlemen, was Miss A's first experience at a real swimming pool. (I make this distinction of calling it real because we have a $15 plastic Wal-mart one that was also call a pool but that honestly hardly is at all.)

One of the funniest things of the day is that we have been talking up this trip for days in advance and today it occurred to us that Miss A might not know what "the pool" actually was. Well, not wanting to undermine her, we asked her, "Miss A, do you know what the pool is?" Her answer, "No." Yet that didn't change the fact that she still wanted to go. D even tried to play a guessing game with her where he explained what it was and she just plain didn't get it. Go figure! Three year olds... what do they know anyway.

So when we finally did get to the pool (quite a drive for us since our preferred pool is not a public one and is sort of for a very private community that which we happen to belong), Miss A was completely beside herself with excitement. It all was so wonderful! And at the same time it didn't make sense at all. What was with all of this water? How was it blue? Is it like a giant bathtub of some sort? Why were there so many other people there if it was a bathtub? Whatever. Are we going on? Really? GOOD. Because I WANT TO GO INTO THE GIANT BATHTUB THING. (This is all the conversation I imagine she was having with herself.)

We got in almost immediately and Miss A was a little skittish about it. She wanted us right by her because she couldn't quite get the hang of the swimmer-tube tank top thing we insisted she wear. (She wore it before when we went to the beach over a month ago but she never really swam in it.) D tried to get her to put her face in the water and blow bubbles and she wasn't keen to the idea though she did try to be adventurous.

Her idea of adventurous? Uhmmm... trying to lap up the pool water with her tongue!!! SO GROSS!!!! And we kept reminding her to PLEASE STOP. No, really... PLEASE CLOSE YOUR MOUTH and STOP.

But why should she listen to us - her loving and wise parents who know nothing about public swimming pool water because it is perfectly suitable. I mean, isn't this wear they get that saying about "tall glass of water"? No? Obviously she didn't get the memo about that one that goes, "Don't drink the water!"

Eventually she was able to figure out how to balance herself in the swimmer-tube and she started trying to kick her legs to swim like everyone around her was doing.

After a while she took a break from the big pool and we went to the wading pool that was a little smaller with a big mushroom looking fountain thing in the middle and though she was enthralled with it...

... she wasn't going near it and just admired it from afar. *shrug* I don't really blame her. Against all common belief, the baby/wading pool was FREEZING compared to the big pool. We suspect it was because of the mushroom fountain (you will see what it looks like in the background in later pictures) but we don't know. Anyway, we alternated our time between the big pool and walking in circles around the mushroom fountain pool until it was time to get a snack/late lunch. Earlier in the day Miss A and I made "hotdoggies"/pigs-in-a-blanket together to bring along and then we also had lots of fresh fruit and veggies, chips, and gatorade. Miss A insisted that she really wasn't hungry and wanted to swim ASAP (so she left on her swimmer-tube tank) but she was double-fisting those hotdoggies AND ate a whole plate full of chips despite the fact that they were "spicy" (read: Kettle-cooked Memphis BBQ style).

And because D and I are such "cool" parents, we didn't make her wait no stinking 30 or even 15 or even FIVE minutes because she "had just eaten" to get back in the pool. Whatev. We were back in the pool as fast as we could walk safely (because that's what you do at the pool, remember? I mean, we aren't such negligent parents that we were all egging her on to run as fast as she could to belly flop back into the shallow end. Come on now!)

Miss A's second go-round in the pool was an amazing success. She was so comfortable at that point that she was pretty much dog paddling and navigating it on her own. She kept fussing at me, "No, Mama! You stay over there! DON'T TOUCH ME. No, MAMA!" OkOK!!! The child seriously swam the ENTIRE length of the pool by herself at least twice up and back and all while slowing down to say to people, "Hi! My name is Miss A! What's your name?"

Oh, yeah. In case you were wondering? I definitely was the "weird Asian lady that wore the straw hat THE WHOLE TIME" at the pool. *whatev* I don't care. There are worse things I could be. And Miss A's not embarrassed by me yet though I know that time will come. At least I'm not wearing my Yoko Ono sunglasses in any of the pictures! But that doesn't mean I didn't bring them along and didn't wear them because OH YES(!) I DID in fact wear them. *fist pump*

Check it out... the weird mushroom fountain thing in the background in the weirdly cold baby pool...

One of the best moments of the day by far, though, was at the very end when Miss A was so dead tired and unwilling to argue when we told her it was time to go home. D went to the locker rooms to change and (unbeknownst to us) take a shower and it just seemed to take him FOR-EV-ER. Well? Miss A took it in stride and did not pitch a fit at all. But what DID she do? Well, she laid herself out on one of the excess chairs by the entrance where we were standing and covered herself with her "cuddly" to block out the annoying sun. She was tired but wasn't sleeping. Rather, she was just kind of annoyed by the wait and dealing with it quietly...

 All kidding aside, we all had such a great day today that I really don't feel like we missed out on anything even though we didn't make watching fireworks any kind of priority. Celebrating the day in the way of having the freedom and blessing to be able to just be together and do stuff like this that is total and pure fun was way better than anything else. Hope your independence day was full of things that you alone thought were awesome and wonderful - whether it included the fireworks or not.

A bedtime story

The title of this posting might lead you to believe that I'm about to launch into a lovely flowery tale of make-believe and whimsy. I hate to disappoint but it's not happening. Rather, I thought you might enjoy hearing a little about the bedtime that happened earlier with Miss A.

Because we're all officially on summer vacation time, our schedule is... well.... null and void? We (kind of) have no schedule. *shrug* It happens. This isn't to say we aren't doing much. As I've already stated too many times to count, we are doing plenty! And on top of that, we are constantly leaving the door wide open for whatever else we might want to do that tickles our fancies. 

Today after Miss A's violin lesson it took us for-ev-er to get home! We did get a lot accomplished though. Still? Her nap time is usually about 1-ish in the afternoon and we didn't get home and settled until after 3:30. I guess we could have held Miss A off for her nap? But we knew she would be probably more grumpy than necessary so we urged her to rest herself a little bit. She played quietly in her room on her bed and eventually fell asleep and didn't wake up until probably 6-ish. Hmmmm... not good? *shrug* Yeah. Especially considering the fact that her regular bedtime is about 8:30-9-ish at the latest. Eh. Whatev.

D had a meeting tonight and so it was just me and Miss A passing the time for the most part. We played with her little people set and I made her dinner to eat while she caught up on some On-demand episodes of Caillou. By the time all was said and done it was 10pm - WHOA! I gave her the appropriate warnings for bedtime and she expressed resistance but then she looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said, "Can I sleep in your bed, Mama?"

*shakes head*

I can't say no to something like that. This is partly because, well, who couldn't say no to something like THAT, and also, I remember being little like her and loving the rare occasions when I got to do things like fall asleep in my parents' big bed and burrowing my face in their pillows. It was always a very comforting and reassuring experience for me when I was little and I have always suspected it's like this for most all little kids. And for this reason? She's never banned from such an opportunity. Her night terrors in the past months have always been best managed by letting her crawl into the big bed and she always falls immediately back to asleep. As far as I'm concerned? It's a small thing to have to carry her back to her own room in the middle of the night. The hours that I might lose are nothing compared to what are now her most formative years.

So, to make a long story even longer, I agreed that she could at least fall asleep in our big bed. And here is a transcription of the experience...

[We are finally in our pajamas and crawling into bed]
Me: Now, Miss A. We are going to say our prayers and then go to sleep! We are going to lay our heads down and close our eyes and go to sleep, OK?
Miss A: Can I have my bear?
Me: *sigh* Your blue bear? Yes. Do you want your bunny too?
Miss A: No. Just my bear please.
Me: OK. You stay here. I will get it.
[I leave and locate the bear and notice that D has come home. Miss A hears this fact and all bets are off again.]
Miss A: I need to come say good-night to Papa! I need to give him hugs and loves!
[Miss A gets out of bed and runs to find him. The usual exchange of good-night and "I love you" ensues. D reminds Miss A that it is late and she needs to go back to bed. Miss A scurries back off to bed.]
Miss A: I'm sleeping in Mama's bed, Papa! I'm sleeping in Mama's room!
D: Good-night, Miss A!
[I return to bed and give Miss A her bear.]
Me: Now. Miss A. Remember? We are going to sleep! We are going to put our heads down on the pillow and close our eyes and not talk. We are going to be calm and quiet. We are going to go to sleep.
Miss A: OK, Mama.
[We say prayers together. The lights are turned off. Miss A sits up. D comes in, crawls into bed and almost immediately falls asleep.]
Miss A: Papa is here, Mama.
Me: I know. Go to sleep. Put your head down. Quiet your voice. It's time to go to sleep.
Miss A: It's nigh-night time.
Me: Yes. Good night. Remember - if you don't go to sleep you will have to go back to your room, OK? Do you understand?
Miss A: Yes, Mama. I understand.
[Miss A lays down and I close my eyes. All of a sudden I feel her right in my face. She is blinking her eyes on my face and rubbing her nose on me.]
Me: Miss A, it's time to sleep now.
Miss A: Mama. I need butterfly kisses. Can I do noses?
Me: OK.
[We do noses. We do butterfly kisses. It is quiet again.]
Miss A: Mama. Papa is moving around. Papa? Will you please stop moving around?
Me: Papa can move around. He is just getting comfortable. It's OK.
[It's quiet again. There is a noise of some sort outside. Maybe a bug fluttering at the window.]
Miss A: Mama! What was that noise? Did you hear that noise?
Me: It was nothing. Go to sleep. If you don't quiet down you will have to go to your bed. Do you want to go to your bed?
Miss A: No, Mama.
Me: OK. Good night.
[It's quiet again. The dog is out for the count but he rolls over and makes a loud groan as he is wont to do.]
Miss A: Don't worry, Mama! That's just the dog. Don't worry, Mama.
Me: I know. Miss A, shhhhh...
[It's quiet again. Miss A is laying still. All of a sudden she pops her head up.]
Miss A: Mama? can I go in my bed now?

Like I said. I could lose hours of sleep! And it will always be worth it to me to be able to do this for her. ALWAYS.