Somebody asked me recently what it means to have a "broken heart and a contrite spirit." I didn't have a great answer. I sort of get it, but not really.
I've been really grumpy recently, feeling impatient and snappish. I was especially grumpy this morning, because I had put off doing the dishes for awhile, and had managed to accumulate a huge mess in the kitchen. Lizzy had not slept as long as I thought she needed to, and was consequently a little whiny. I was starting to find her irritating. As I was trying to sort things out in the kitchen she pushed a chair up behind me, climbed up onto it, and reached for a pair of scissors that were on the counter. Annoyed as much as I was concerned, I snatched them from her, and in the process I managed to smack her in the head with my elbow. She rubbed her now sore eye and clung to me and said in a small voice, "I help Mommy." My heart broke, and I realized I had not even been trying to be kind to my little girl. All she wanted was to spend time with me and help me, and I was acting like she was in my way. So we pulled her chair up to the sink and I gave her a sponge. She had a great time helping me wash dishes, and I did not mind how much water she splashed on the floor (it needed mopped anyway). I realized that it's actually not hard to be kind to someone you love so much if you remember to do it. My mood also improved a ton, and now I would say I'm having a great day. Lizzy is such a fun person and taking the time to listen and pay attention to her brings me a lot of happiness. She constantly makes me laugh. I'm grateful for life lessons taught by a 20-month-old.

Angry

I am more than a little annoyed. We just got a notice that they are raising our rent. Again. They raised it last year, and this year it's going up another 6.5%. As the cost of living here begins to creep toward other, much nicer apartments in town, I begin to wonder why we're living here. We're close to campus, sure, but I think I might trade that in for square footage, a dishwasher, and counter space. Isaac could handle a longer bike ride. And anyway, where is the extra money going? I doubt I'll see any real improvements. I want to file a complaint.

Sign of the Times?

Tuesday night the weather was fabulous, so I was making dinner with the kitchen window open. As I chopped my vegetables, I could hear the kids outside playing. One exuberant eight-year-old boy said to his friends, "Let's pretend we're homeless people!" They then decided to have a mountain lion cooking contest. I love living in student housing.

Kids are Funny

A three year old recited this nursery rhyme to me the other day:
"Little Miss Muppet sat on her muffin, eating her curry away. Along came a spider and took off his diaper and scared Miss Muppet away." After I laughed, she refused to repeat it.


Lizzy's best friend is named Daddy. Usually she wakes up in the morning crying, "Daddy! I want Daddy!" More than once when I have gone to get her, she has sent me back to bed. A tantrum at six o'clock in the morning because she'd rather have Daddy? Fine with me. I'm going back to bed.


She's also gotten very independent. She wants to put on and take off her clothes all by herself, buckle herself into her chair, and brush her own hair. When she got the sniffles, I caught her doing this:

Today we were reading a story with Lizzy and on one page she suddenly leaned in and gave the picture a series of kisses. Thinking she was giving the fish a kiss (she loves animals), we asked, "What are you kissing, Lizzy?" "Boys!" she immediately responded. We'll have to keep our eyes on this one.

Guess What

This is me:

This is my belly:

This is what's inside my belly:

It's a boy. You can tell he's going to be a tough guy, right? But friendly, too! He's already waving hello!

We are all very excited. :)

Little friends

Nothing makes Lizzy happier than spending time with her friends. Most mornings she wakes up asking for them. We are lucky enough to have them over regularly, since I do a little baby-sitting. Besides that, there are several kids near her age where we live, so we have play groups, and she finds friends on the playground daily. I hope she's as good with her little brother/sister as she is with her pals.

I left the kitchen for a moment, and when I came back this is what I found.

Lizzy feeding Gabe:

And Gabe feeding Lizzy:

These two kids were born about three weeks apart and are so cute together. We think they have a real solid future together. ;)

Newer Pictures

She loves books, but it's really all about the pictures right now.



Being cute:

She really cracks me up a lot. Last night, Isaac and I were sitting on the couch and she kept crawling back and forth between us, meowing. Once or twice she got to Isaac and he didn't pay attention to her right away, so she said, "Hello! Hello!" until he petted her head. Then she would crawl away again and say, "Nice kitty." Like most kids, she loves to dance. We were walking through the mall, and she ran into a store, because she liked the music they were playing. She stood just inside the entrance, getting her groove on. Life is good.