Fat Belly

A couple of days ago a four-year-old came up to me and said, "Excuse me, why is your tummy SO FAT?" I told him it's because I'm going to have a baby and he went, "WHAT?!" When he asked me how it got in there I told him to go ask his mommy. I love kids.

Silver Falls Weekend

We spent last weekend with my family at Silver Falls. It was too much fun. I didn't want to go home, and neither did Lizzy! She loved staying in the little "house" (cabin) and couldn't get enough of all her aunties.

South Falls

Hiking with Daddy (She was a little out of it.)

Best friends!

Helping Amy pack up the car:

Rainy Day!

The weather has been gorgeous this week, but a couple of weeks ago we had a lot of rain. We decided to take advantage of that and went on a family puddle jumping walk. We got Lizzy all decked out in her rain gear, complete with galoshes, and let her splash away. She was a little uncertain at first, but warmed up to the idea quickly. We all had such a blast.

Because of all the floating wood chips, you can't really tell, but this water was surprisingly deep.

We all ended up soaked. It was so worth it! Best Family Home Evening ever!

All tuckered out after a good play:

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.