For the love of girls!

I don't blog much about Eliza.  She's my steady, lovely girl.  So responsible. Sometimes whiny (everyone needs a vice, right?).  But, overall, just a pleasure.  I am so glad I've got a girl because already we have some similar interests- shopping, So You Think You Can Dance, hair-doing, and nail painting to name a few.  I can count on her to be very responsible around the house and she has warned me at times if Reed is headed for the stairs or some other type of danger.

Today is a big day for her.  She's got TOP's testing for gymnastics.  She chose not to compete this year because she was nervous about it, so today will be the first day she puts on her uniform and shows some of her skills in font of anyone outside of her class.  When we got in the car after class last night, she informed me she had been told to eat a very healthy dinner ("like with tomatoes") and no junk food or sugar. I suggested we make a smoothie, eggs, and oatmeal for breakfast.  She thought that was a great idea.  Then she informed me she had been told to do some stretching before bed and in the morning.  True to her instructions, she diligently stretched for 30 minutes last night.

While I was blending up her smoothie this morning she reminded me not to add any sugar, but "fruit would be okay."  After she ate, she ran downstairs to do some more stretching.

Seriously, is she not just a mature little spirit trapped in a little girls body?   So proud of her.  I hope she is pleased with her performance today.

Who would have thought. . . . .

. . . . .that it was just one year ago today that I gave birth on my bathroom floor???  Not in a million years could you have convinced me that this experience would be part of my life experience.  But, it is.

Thankfully, a year later, Reed seems to be happy and healthy.  We tried really hard to feed him cake tonight, but he just wasn't interested- too tired.  D stuffed the icing into his face and instead of making him interested in the sugar, it made him mad. . . That's what happens when you get a really short nap in the car.  Oh, the joys of being a fourth child who has to be toted around to all the other kids' activities. . . .what a trooper.

As if on cue, today he stood for about 10 seconds unaided, so, I'm thinking that walking will be coming very soon.  In the meantime, he cruises along furniture and walls like a pro and he is fast, FAST on all fours.

Fun facts about this little munchkin:

• He took to his jumper around 3 months old, and hasn't stopped jumping since.  He is known for jumping up and down in people's arms when he's really excited, and I've almost dropped him a time or two.
• I think he willed his teeth to grow so he could eat dinner with us.  He got his first tooth (bottom right) at 6 months and the bottom left one came 2 weeks later.  Since then, he's sprouted 4 on top.
• He is stubborn.  Yesterday in the grocery store he pushed the cart up 2 aisles. I am not kidding.  Every time I tried to lift him up, he started screaming.  Fortunately for him, I wasn't in a hurry (trying to kill 2 hours during one of Davis's classes) so he got to push to his heart's content.  My only job was directing the cart on path when it veered right or left.  We got a lot of funny looks from people who thought it was hilarious to see such a little guy pushing such a big object. His feet and knees were black when we went home.
• He waves 'bye-bye' like a champ when prompted.  He barks/squeels when he sees dogs.
• He loves tub-time.
• He is so friendly.  He frequently reaches out to neighbors and even strangers so they will hold him. This is quite the hit with old ladies in the grocery store (sometimes I'm afraid to give him up if the lady is really frail looking).
• He's starting to imitate sounds like 'mamamamama', 'dadadada' and 'poopoopoo')(this one is a hit with the other kids) 'yi yuh, yi yuh' (Eliza).  I'm not sure if he's attached meanings to these words yet.
• He definitely knows his name and responds with a head turn when you yell out, "Reed!" 
• He loves to throw balls already.  Fetch is a great game for him too.  Who needs a dog, when you've got a 1-year-old?

You say tomato, I say tomato

I got in an argument with Eliza today about the title of her book.  She insisted it was about a 'bal-let' fairy, while I tried to convince her it is pronounced, 'bal-lay.'  I even tried to take her to dictionary.com and show her a pronounciation guide, but she was still not convinced.

What does this say about me?

I have often told friends I feel like I have a choice child who doesn't have a creative bone in his body.  He never had an imaginary friend.  He never even wanted to make toy airplanes fly or matchbox cars drive through the house. He's bright and does great in school.   He also seems to be generally well liked by his peers, and well, I think he's pretty fun too.  BUT-- the kids has NO creativity.

What does it say about the state of my desperation to get this kids away from video games if I took him to the toy store and told him to pick out any legos he wanted, but he couldn't play any Wii until they were built?  He got greedy, but now I am happy because he's been 'forced' to play legos for two days now. . . . .

TMI?

Davis just told me, "My second favorite hobby is going to the bathroom."

"Going to the bathroom is not a hobby."

Davis, "What is a hobby then?"

(in case you wanted to know his first favorite hobby is riding his bike)

Lost, but Found

When I took Roger to the library today he was most excited to ride the elevator.  We returned our books and he beelined to the elevator.  It was open.  He jumped in.  Then the doors closed before I could get in.  I could hear him saying, "Mom, where are you?" as he went downstairs.  Remarkably, he remained calm and I instructed him from the other side of the doors to stay downstairs and wait for me to come down after him. I got on and made my way down.  When the doors opened he had a worried look, but seemed okay.

The incident was quickly forgotten by me as we looked at and read books. But when we were ready to leave he asked, "Can we go on the elevator?"

"Sure," I said.

"Yeah! (pause) Don't lose me, otay?" he says as he is running toward the elevator.