Since I'm so behind on everything, let's see if I can hit the high points of the past TWO months since I updated last.

Sam is working!  He is now a property claims adjustor for a major insurance company and is in training.  He likes it.  It's not his dream job, but it's not too far removed from construction, and it's yet another skill to add to his toolbelt. This will be good for a few years until he gets bored with it or can get into his dream job.  He's also learning to read and write Chinese, to go with his verbal fluency.  

I am selling Premier jewelry, and just went to my first regional Rally, and it is very exciting.  I love it, but am struggling to figure out how to manage a small business and manage a small home with small children.  One of the things I enjoy about it most is that I get to accessorize, it has emboldened me to chop my hair off and get a super cute cut (which I had been looking at for a year, literally), and it helps me focus on something outside of my little world.  My friends say I've taken the "Jewelry Lady" thing and run with it, becoming a little fashionista.  I'm glad. I am personally pretty tired of wondering whether I look like I just rolled out of bed.  But now I have discovered the power of bold earrings to make me feel like I can take on the world.  Really. Try it.

I've also got a smart phone.  It's a droid.  It makes me happy.  It also has a Bible app, and since Jan 1 I have been reading the "One Year Bible" plan.  So far I have used it every day (except one, but I caught up the next day, so it's almost the same).  It has helped me.  I think.  I don't know; maybe you should ask Sam if it has helped me.  But it's been almost 3 weeks, so it's close to being a habit.  Besides, it reminds me automatically.

Lizzie is potty training.  Like, we took away her diapers yesterday.  She has done as well as can be expected for a 31-month-old who decided the day before we started that she wanted to wear underwear.  We went that afternoon to Target and got her about 2 dozen pairs of pretty underwear, which she has made some great use of.  She forgets to tell me when she has to go, so I've done a lot of, "Oh! you're peeing!  Let's go!" and picking her up and running to the potty so she can finish on the toilet and still get an m&m.  She did announce that she had to go on the potty before she went #2 (thank the Lord!), and she did it.  I couldn't have been more proud of her. She called my dad ("Papa") to tell him, because she was so proud of herself. 

Lizzie is growing up and being such a wonderful sister.  When she greets anyone, even on the phone--like when she called my dad--she says, "I have a baby sister.  It's Karis."  (Of course, it comes out like "I ha' a bay-ee sissoh.  It's Tay-yiss."  She hugs her and loves her.  She also pushes her and takes her toys away, but there haven't been any major mishaps from her lack of impulse control. Yet.

Lizzie has sweet conversations.  When someone asks her, "how are you?" she answers, "I'm doing fine."  That cracks me up. Every time. 
 Her favorite show is still Wonder Pets, and turtle Tuck is her favorite.  She says so. "Do nyou want to watz my favwit so wiff me?  Do nyou want to watz Wunner Pets?  Tut is my favwit."  She has recently caught on to liking Busytown Mysteries.  She giggles through the whole opening song. 

She has learned that if there are monsters in her room, she can tell them to "Go away, in Desus name."  That is a big deal.  We've been dealing with monsters quite a bit lately, and I'm not sure if it's got to do with shows she's watched, but we have had a few instances when we have had to have some intense prayer when tucking her in, and have seen profound changes in her demeanor afterward.  It actually came to a head more when we had just finished doing a Christmas advent project, The Truth in the Tinsel (highly recommended!), which involved Bible reading, discussion, and of course, a preschoool craft. 
Related to the Christmas project, Lizzie's favorite thing to ask for is, "I want to do a paff" which means, in Lizzie-speak, a craft.  Usually I can get away with letting her go to town with a glue stick and construction paper, but sometimes she requires a little more focused attention or guidance.


Karis is 6-1/2 months old, crawling, pulling up to stand, sitting without assistance, and beginning to cruise.  Seriously, when she wakes up in her bed, she doesn't lie there, she is sitting upright within 2 seconds, and trying to grab the edges to stand.  I am not ready for this.  I have not been ready for this.  But she doesn't have any teeth yet.  And she hates baby food or any kind of puree or mush, while she loves her mum-mums and puffs and anything she can grab hold of, put in her mouth, roll around with her tongue, and swallow.  Like green beans, roasted squash, and my oatmeal.  She's a grabber.  She has pulled more bowls and plates full of food off the table while in our arms than I can count. 

Karis is a funny kid.  She smiles with all her might.  She sounds like a duck when she laughs.  No, seriously.  Not even like a cartoon duck, but a full Mallard honk.  Karis loves to give kisses; big, open-mouth kisses, on the mouth.  It makes her laugh.  She cuddles.  She wants to hold your finger while she falls asleep.  She wakes up at least three times a night, and wants to nurse every 3 hours through the day, like she's a newborn.  I hope it's just a growth spurt, because I can't keep that up.  She is still in love with her pacifier, but has lately been using it as a chew toy more.

And.... Karis just squawked from her bed.  It's time to start the day with the kiddos.  Day 2 of potty training, here we come!

Sorm Fopt

I suppose you'll need a translation?

"S'orm Fopt" is the phonetic spelling of "storm stopped" in Lizzie-speak. We've just had a series of pretty intense thunderstorms blow through in the past few hours. At one point, when the trees were rocking and the dog was pacing, I told Lizzie that we would pray and ask Jesus to keep us safe in the storm. She had just gotten up from a nap and was still in that dazed, just-woke-up state. Her face brightened when I suggested we pray, because she gets "s'ared" when there is "tunner outside".

She likes to pray; she likes the story in her Baby's First Bible about Jesus being in the boat with his friends, and Jesus told the wind to stop blowing and the waves to be still, and Jesus could make the storm stop.

"Desus mate s'orm fop."

So we prayed. And the storm blew by much more quickly than I'd anticipated. Even minutes later on the radar on the weather update, there was a dip where there was less color over our area.

There were further waves of thunderstorm, but when Lizzie got scared as I tucked her into bed (it was quite an extended tucking in process) she asked me several times to pray: "Desus amen."

Because Desus mate s'orm go 'way. Because He likes to prove Himself to the little ones.

Lizzie's exclamations 5-23-11

Today has been a fun one for Lizzie quotes.

I always think to myself that I will write down all the funny and cute and smart things Lizzie says, but usually forget to. I guess Facebook has its place in some way for recording some of these things, but it really doesn't count. Let's face it; once a status update becomes old news of 22 hours ago (or if you're really popular, 3 hours ago), it is never heard from again.

Today Lizzie counted to ten without any coaching or prompting. She was in her high chair, minding her own business while I was getting ready to clean her up from lunch (rather, her pre-nap "I'm hungry" stalling routine cheese sandwich), when she started counting her fingers. "Two, fwee, fwee..." I almost stopped listening because she usually gets stuck at "fwee" like a broken record. But to my great surprise, she kept going. "Fo', fy, siss," I couldn't help it, I interrupted. "Wow, Lizzie! You counted to six!" She grinned up at me, then went back to her fingers. "Se'en," then moved to her other hand to finish, "Eight, nine, ten!"

Ten fingers. So what if she thinks the first seven of them are on her right hand. But at least she has ten in total!

While in the bath tub tonight, Lizzie was splashing up a storm with her toys. Once the waves subsided, her toys were floating in a spiral.

She started to exclaim, "Ring around rosie! Ring around rosie!" (Except she can't say her "R"s yet, so it was more along the lines of "wing wound wosie," which is kind of cuter.)

A few minutes later, she had her drenched washcloth draped over her head, dripping water down her face, thus, "Waning on you!" (Raining on you!)

Yes, "You" equals "me" and "Me" equals "Mommy". 'Cause that's how it makes sense in her head.

Thank you, Daddy

Good morning.

I'm sitting at the kitchen table with Sam's computer, and Lizzie in her high chair, eating "a bowl full of mush."  Recently she boycotted oatmeal, but because of her obsession with Goodnight Moon, oat bran cereal has become "a bowl full of mush" and she is stoked. 

I wrote a pretty good update of life yesterday; if you're interested hop over there.

Really, I wanted to jump on here today and record a sweet moment from last night, before I forgot it.  Since you're here today, I will inflict it upon you.

Lizzie's bedtime routine has become a long and sort of ridiculous process.  The steps are fairly streamlined: bath, the occasional attempt at the potty, diaper, pajamas, reading (sometimes accompanied by a small snack), brushing teeth, singing in the rocking chair, kisses, prayer, and being tucked in just-so with her baby doll and blanket.  Most nights I leave the room with her calmly and happily waving "bye" to me.

Last night, we skipped the bath and went straight to pajamas and reading books.  Lizzie had a stack of--no lie--about 15 books she had collected to be read.  I did my best to hide as many as I could when she wasn't looking, which still left about 10 of her favorites.

(She has given up on her mush, and is currently on the couch, reading "The Little Engine That Could" to the dog, who is also on the couch, even though she technically shouldn't be up there; but everyone is being good, so I will let sleeping dogs lie.  Lizzie is making sure Lady can see the "pishurs" and reading:  "Up! Up! Mountin.  ...  I tan! I tan!  Ah End.")

At any rate, I was settled on the couch with our stack of books, and Lizzie decided she needed more books.  She's faster than I am these days, so off she went to her bookshelf and grabbed 3 Barney books and 2 Karen Katz lift-the-flap books.  Both Sam and I protested and told her "no more books" and of course with it being after 9 PM, Liz fell into a meltdown.  "Barney!  Barney!  Peeeeaase?!"  Tears, collapsing on the floor, mournful arguments, the whole bit. 

We had to make a quick decision:  Should we force her to put the books back, when she's this tired and already mostly too far gone to reason with?  Or should we work out a compromise?  I suggested from my cozy place on the couch that we let her take one Barney book, put the others back, and I put away another handful of books I didn't want to read.  We were down to about 7, plus Barney.

Sam gave her one of the Barney books.  Lizzie's face lit up.  She ran to him, took the book, and then shimmied up to the couch with her Barney book and cup of water.  Then, without any prompting, she looked up at Sam, eyes full of relief and gratitude, and with her sippy straw in her mouth said, "Dint due, Daddy."

We were undone.  We never taught her spontaneous thanks.  We love this sweet little girl.  

I'm linking up with the Home Sanctuary Company Girls this morning.

Lizzieism - Figured it Out!

Lizzie is finally at the age of saying funny and cute things.  And because I am not organized, this is the closest thing I have to recording them.  Facebook is nice for getting immediate feedback on something funny, cute, or frustrating that just happened, and while some marketing company may know everything I've ever said about my child, there's no hope of my ever retrieving something of importance from my status updates.

Yesterday, she learned how to use her step stool.  
She calls it her "stool" except she doesn't say "st" she says "f" and she doesn't say her "l" so it sounds more like "foow".  I purchased this step stool at one of the consignment sales I went to a couple of weeks ago.  It was $3 and it has been one of the fun things in her life lately. 
Well, the joy has been multiplied, because she has learned that the Foow can be used to reach things.  Like light switches.  "On!"  "Off!"  "Fan!"  "On!" "Off!"  "Yay!"
When I applauded her brilliance, "Lizzie, you figured it out!"  Lizzie ran up to me, beaming.  "Tiny!"  Tiny is a Pteranodon on the PBS Kids show Dinosaur Train.  On occasion, the young Pteranodons conquer a challenge and sing a brief song:  "We figured it out, we figured it out!  We worked together and figured it out!" 


Last night we talked about muscles. 

Well, we saw a commercial for some car.  Somewhere in it was the word "muscle." 

Lizzie turned around and exclaimed to me, "Muscle!" (Musso!)  I was surprised that she picked it out.  Then she said, "Sid!"  Of course.  Sid the Science Kid has muscles.  We learned about them yesterday. 

I'm so glad to know that she relates all episodes of learning to an episode of a television show.  I feel like my job as a parent is so well done.