Singing

Me, holding Chicken and singing:  "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...."
Edee (eating her breakfast):  You a not a baby, mommy, you a ah-most a big girl!"
Me: "Almost?" I turn and resume singing and playing with Chicken.
Edee: "Yop (stop) making dat yound!!"
Me:  "What sound?  Singing?"
Edee: "I don wan you yinging ah day!"
Me (confirming what I heard with Daddy): "Did she just tell me she doesn't want me singing all day?"
Daddy confirms.
Edee runs over to us from the table.
Edee (throwing her arms down by her sides in frustration):  "You 'posed to be a big girl, mommy,  you 'posed to be a big girl!"

I would never have thought that me singing songs like "If You're Happy and You Know It" could be deemed as age inappropriate by my two-year-old.

Wow!

Chicken's word of the week has been, "Wow!".  He discovered it Monday evening while we were gathered together as a family on our deck watching the sunset.  Daddy and I had pointed to the sky with it's mottled cotton-candy and fire orange clouds on the bluest of blue backdrops and had exclaimed, "Wow!".  Chicken immediately followed suit, and it's stuck ever since.  The most commonplace things will warrant a "wow" from him.  I love it; even though we hear it over and over again he says it with all the awe and wonderment the word deserves.  It causes me reflect on what it must be like to see the world and all of it's simple joys through such fresh eyes.  What a sweet little blessing he is.

Yummy

Edee:  "I want yum-ting to eat!"  There are days when I'll hear this dozens of times.  I'm not exaggerating.
Me: "What do you want to eat?"  I had just fed her breakfast, so I know she wasn't really hungry and had a hunch of what the answer might be.
Edee:  "Ummmm....ummm....hmm....." That's a surprise, nine times out of ten the answer has been an immediate 'chocolate chips'.
Me:  "How about some popcorn."  Popcorn has been another recent favorite request.
Edee:  "No, not popcorn!!  Popcorn not yummy in my tummy!"
Me:  "Not 'yummy in your tummy', eh?  What do you want then?"  I'm opening the fridge at this point to see what we have.  It's the end of the month and there's not much remaining inside.
Edee:  "JUICE!!  Juice, juice, JUICE!  Juice is yummy in my tummy, mommy."

Enough said.

Please

Edee: "I want pay-dough!!  I want pay-dough now!"
Me:  "That is not a very polite way to ask to have playdough.  You need to say, 'Excuse me, mommy'..."
Edee: "Coo-sie, Mommy, I want to pay wit my pay-dough now."
Me:  "You need to say please, also."
Edee: "Peeease ah-so."

Lunch

Edee and Chicken are sitting in their booster chair and high chair, eating lunch.  I'm in the kitchen making myself lunch.

Edee (laughing loudly):  "HA HA HA, the pig BURPED at her mommy!!  HA HA HA HA, that funny! The pig, Chicken!"
--Chicken starts laughing along with her--
Me:  "What happened?"
Edee:  "Burped at mommy!"
Me: "Who, Chicken?"
Edee:  "Hah ha, nooo!  The baby pig burped at her mommy.  A big one!  Ha ha ha ha ha!!"

No idea what she's talking about.  Both she and Clayton thought it was hilarious though.  I feel a little left out.

Tick

Me:  "What did you do with Daddy this morning when you were downstairs? Watch a movie?"
Edee:  "Um, no." Muttering some things I didn't understand, then, "Der was a tick."
Me:  "Did you say tick?"
Edee:  "Yeah!"
Me (thinking she has no idea what she's talking about):  "Do you know what a tick is?"
Edee:  "Um......hmmm."  She raised her index finger and started tapping her lips, looking up and around as if she were thinking, hard.  "It....umm.....ummmmm.....a tick......tick a......tick a big MEAN bug!!"
Me:  "It is a very mean bug." I've been super paranoid about ticks lately.  There has been a lot of buzz about them and the nasty diseases they carry this year.  *Shudder*  "You saw one downstairs?  What did it look like"
Edee: "Umm.....it ha big geen (green) eyes," very seriously.  She continued to talk very matter-of-factly, explaining more about this tick and what happened, but I couldn't for the life of me understand anything she was saying other than "den he ti-yit."
Me:  "Daddy killed it?"
Edee:  "Yeah."
Me:  "Oh my."

Turns out nothing of the sort happened today when I asked Daddy about the tick after he woke up from his nap.    We had found a tick two months ago that Daddy killed soon after discovery--maybe she thought since I seemed so alarmed and inquisitive about a tick she pulled that out of her memory to reassure me that the tick was dead?

Diamonds

Edee:  "Mommy, what dat in you ear-wing?"
Me:  "Diamonds" (not really real diamonds, but you know).
Edee:  "Oh." frowning and starting to fake sniffle. " I don have dimons in my ears."  Sniff sniff.

Fail....rhinestones...should've said rhinestones.  Though it will be interesting to see how Daddy reacts when she starts begging for diamond earrings.

Tantrum

I strongly *dislike* tantrums.  It seems the older Edee gets, the more of them she throws.

This morning we went through our more-or-less typical routine.  Chicken got up entirely too early.  Edee soon after.  Breakfast, walk, play downstairs, put Chicken down for his morning nap. I take my shower while he naps and Edee watches an episode of a show on my bed so I know she'll stay put and out of trouble.

Once the episode this morning was over I told her we were all done with shows.  Tantrum.  Full blown crying, throwing herself on the floor.  The whole process woke Chicken up.  As I went to fetch him from the crib, this is what I heard in the background

Edee (crying):  "I wanna moo-wee! Wa wa wa . Moo-wee!  I wanna watch a moo-wee.  Annoder one!  Annoder one! Peeeeeeease.  Just two more minutes....wa wa wa wa ...just two more....two more....just two more MOO-wees Mommy!"
At this point she had come down the hallway to the living room where Chicken and I were.
Edee: "Go back a-weep, Chicken!  Go back a-weep!"
Me:  "Edee, why do you want Chicken to go back to sleep?"
Edee:  "Cause I wan annoder moo-wee!  Go a-weep!"
Me:  "You were the one who woke him up with your crying."
Edee (realization coming over her face, thinking about it):  "Ty it again!  Ty it again, Chicken!"
Me:  "Try what again?"
Edee:  "Ty a go a-weep!!!"
Me:  "Sorry, it's not going to happen."
Edee (throwing herself dramatically into my arms):  "Bwaa wa wa, I am YAD Mommy"
Me: "I'm sad too."
Edee: sniff sniff "Yea! Me too."

Which marked the beginning of the end of the tantrum.  Now she and Chicken have both happily destroyed the living room and are jumping on couch cushions.  And it's only 10:30 am. There's still a lot of day for potential tantrum-throwing left.

Prayer

We try to have family prayer together each morning before Daddy goes to work.  Lately Edee has dreaded it--trying to talk her into sitting quietly for a whole minute or two apparently tops the list of worst ways to  torture a two-year old.

We are always trying out different techniques to get her to listen.  One day we told Edee it was time for prayer while she was playing with her toy giraffes.  Of course she ignored us, so we tried asking the giraffes to sit quietly for a moment.  Amazingly, the giraffes complied.   Daddy asked Edee if she wanted to help say the prayer.

Daddy: ".....Thank you for Edee"
Edee:  "...Dank you for Edee, and.....and.....jaffs (giraffes)....."  A little sly, proud-of-herself grin had crept on her face at this point.   I was peeking.
Daddy:  "Thank you for Chicken."
Edee:  "Dank you for Chicken jaff."
Daddy:  "Thank you for Mommy and Daddy."
Edee:  "Dank you for Mommy and Daddy jaff." The giraffes had stopped sitting quietly at this point and were instead jumping up and down.
Daddy:  "Please bless Daddy at work."
Edee:  "Bess daddy jaff at work."
Daddy:  "And Mommy at home."
Edee: "Mommy jaff with baby jaffes at home."
Daddy: "Help Edee have fun with mommy making a fruit..."
Edee (loudly interrupting): "PIZZA!!!!!"

The giraffes must have felt very blessed that day.  And yes, Edee did have fun making (more like eating all the topping faster than I could put them on) a fruit pizza with me.

Chocolate

Obsessions with chocolate must start at a young age.  The moment those kids taste it, it's all over.   I saw evidence of this, this morning.

Me:  "Are you going to finish your cereal?"
Edee:  "Hmmm.  Chocolate Muffins!!!"
Me:  "Chocolate muffins?  Mmmm, yummy, that sounds good!"
Edee:  "Yeah, yum, Chocolate Muffins."
Me:  "Well, we don't have any of those" (I don't think I've ever made or bought chocolate muffins, not sure where this is coming from).
Edee (calling out): "Chocolate Muffins?!  Chocolate Muffins?!  Where are you?" (little pause) "Awww, Chocolate Muffins aren't here, yet."
Me (wishing summoning chocolatey baked goods was that simple):  "Nope, sorry, no chocolate muffins."
Edee:  "Hmmm.  Chocolate Cereal!!?"
Me:  "We don't have that either."
Edee: "Aww."

She wiggled down from the table, leaving her plain, un-chocolatey cereal to get soggy in the bowl, and started playing with her toy lions almost immediately.  I overheard a little of their conversation as they gathered around a little plastic cup, "drinking" from it.  It went something like this:

Lion 1:  "Mmmm, chocolate milk!"
Lion 2:  "I wove dinking chocolate milk."
Lion 3: "Slurp slurp slup....chocolate milk....yummmm."

About an hour later, when I thought the whole chocolate matter was forgotten, I was asking Eva what she wanted to wear for the day and she replied, "Um, chocolate chips?"

I understand.  When chocolate is on the mind, it's hard to think of anything else.

Weapon

Me: "What do you have there?"

Edee:  "A weapon."

Me:  "A weapon?"

Edee:  "No.  A weapon."

Me:   "You mean a ribbon.  Rib-Bon.  Ribbon."

Edee:  "WEA-BBB-BLUB-BLAB-PLAAA-PPPPPLL- pon."

Me:  "Okay.  Right.  That."

Mercenary

We go to church every Sunday as a family, which is generally something Edee really looks forward to.  Last week while driving there we reminded her that she had to be reverent during sacrament meeting and then she could play with her friends in nursery afterwards.   For some reason she did not want to hear that and started throwing a tantrum (as best as she can being strapped in the carseat), yelling.

Edee:  "I don wanna go to mur-suh-nary!  No mur-suh-nary."

Me, to Daddy: "Did she just say she doesn't want to go to mercenary?"

Daddy: "Yeah."

Me:  "I know that mercenary is a word, but I don't know what it means."

Daddy: "I'm pretty sure it means someone that gets paid to kill people or something."

mer·ce·nar·y

  [mur-suh-ner-ee]  Show IPA adjective,noun, plural mer·ce·nar·ies.

adjective

1.

working or acting merely for money or other reward; venal.

2.

hired to serve in a foreign army, guerrilla organization, etc.

noun

3.

a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army.

4.

any hireling.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mercenary)

Well, I definitely learn something new from my kids every day.

Today when coming home from church Edee threw another tantrum all the sudden, yelling, "I want to do it again!!  I wanna do it again!!"  When I asked her what she wanted to do again she said, "Go to church!!"

She really does love church, nursery is one of the highlights of her week.  It just comes with tantrums for some reason.  

Attack

Heading to the grocery store yesterday, in the car:

Edee: GRRRRRR!
Me:  Are you crying back there?
Edee:  No!! I not crying!
Me:  Okay, are you frustrated?
Edee: Yeah!!
Me:  I'm sorry. Why are you frustrated?
Edee: Cause!  Chicken tacking me!!
Me: Chicken is attacking you??
Edee:  Yeah!!!!  He tacking me!!

I don't know what was going on back there, but Chicken, being strapped into his carseat, has very limited mobility, let alone attacking opportunities.   So begins the sibling accusations about what occurs when mom's back is turned....

Teeth

One morning this week I walked into the kitchen while brushing my teeth.  All the sudden Edee, wearing only her diaper and chowing down on a bowl of cereal, started laughing and said "Ha ha, you buh-shing(brushing) your wewoh (yellow) teef mommy.  Ha ha ha ha, weewoh teeth."

My only defense is that we are still working on colors.

Boo!

Chicken has taken leaps and bounds with his communication in just the past few days.  I love it, it is so precious.  He tries saying Edee's name now.  It started one day while at the park with friends--we were yelling across the playground equipment at his sister and he mimicked us-- his version is "Ah-wah".

 When I give him something tasty to eat he says "Mmmm" with a closed-mouth grin and a little happy bounce.   He's also pointing at things of interest now.  Yesterday he pointed up to the ceiling fan and proclaimed loudly, "RRRRR-ahr!" (the R's trilling) with a huge, proud smile.  Not exactly sure what he was trying to say, but he was so pleased with himself that I couldn't help giving him gigantic hug and kiss and told him how great that was. He might as well had repeated Shakespeare.

This morning I played peek-a-boo with him while changing his diaper--anything to occupy the little wiggly acrobat so I can get the job done.  He watched me with amusement and I saw his lips trying to shape what I'd say. When he was freshly diapered he hopped up, toddled quickly down the hall to Edee's room (we heard her stirring around in there), pushed open the door and said, "Boo!"

Can I please take you to Never-Never Land, little boy?  You are growing up entirely too fast for my liking.

Dora

Edee loves watching shows like Bubble Guppies, Dinosaur Train, and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  They are all pretty cute shows. I don't mind if she watches a few episodes a day, it keeps her out of trouble for at least a little while.  She would watch ALL day if I let her and is constantly begging for a "moo-wee" (movie).

One show I don't love, but that she likes to watch occasionally, is Dora the Explorer.  I can see why kids love it, but my husband and I think it's just plain obnoxious.  Besides the fact that the characters are yelling at your kid from the screen (who talks like that?), if you happen to get a Dora song stuck in your head you better be aware that it will stay there on loop ALL day, for days--possibly weeks.  With an intense urge to burst out and sing it.  Loudly.  Not pleasant for you, not pleasant for those around you.

A Dora song must have been on repeat in Edee's head one day at church, because during the silence of a prayer I heard her little voice belt out "D-D-D-D-Dora!  D-D-D-D-Dora!"  She was sitting with friends down the row, so I sat helplessly, palm-on-face, stifling a giggle.

Last week my husband asked Edee to step off the mat so he could move the stroller.  Edee, as if on cue, started chanting "I'm da map, I'm da map, I'm da map....."(of course with a little skip-dance) while Daddy desperately tried to curtail it by telling her "No. NO, I said 'mat', not 'map'! Mat.  MAT!" As if that did any good.  The damage had already been done.  Dora music is like a bad infection.  Super contagious and hard to shake.

This morning I heard a new one.  "D-D-D-D-Edee! D-D-D-D-Edee!"   Dora obviously must have been on her mind because that's then what she chose to watch during movie time today.  If you must know, it is currently playing in the background as I type this.  Lucky me :)

                                              ....I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map......I'm the map...

No!!

Rough morning at our house so far.  Chicken awoke screaming bloody murder because his leg was stuck in the crib--and I sent Daddy to take care of it.  Edee woke up soon after, and they both decided to fill their diapers around the same time, on Daddy's watch.   I heard the pandemonium all from the comfort of my bed this morning.  Sadly the comfort didn't last long, and when I left it I had to face three crankies.  Oh joy. I got the little ones cereal and sat next to Daddy on the couch.

Daddy:  Edee, stop playing with your food!!!
Edee: NO!!!!!
Chicken (little echo in the back, but with just as much passion):  NAH!

Daddy and I looked at each other, wide-eyed.  Uh oh.....it begins.

Boobs

Edee ( matter-of-factly ):  "Mommy, you have big boobs."

Me:  "Um......"  I am not, let's say, well-endowed in the chest area, so this was the first (and most likely only) time I've been told I have big boobs.  Took me a little off-guard.  How to respond...

Edee: "Daddy has big boobs too!"

Me: ".......Okay ....... hum."  I'm thinking to myself that this is probably also the first and only time in his life that he'll hear he has big boobs.  Still don't have a good response.

Edee: "I have YITTLE boobs Mommy"

Me:  "Yeah...I suppose that's true."

Edee (excited that I'm finally catching on here): "Yeah!  And Chicken and my friends have yittle boobs, too! Yittle boobs!  And Mommy Auto has big boobs, and Daddy Auto has big boobs!!" (the Autos are friends of ours).

Me:  "Is that right?"  I'm grabbing my phone at this point to send a text to the Autos, informing them that I was told that they have big boobs.  Apparently that was a first for them as well.  Go figure!

Morning

Edee loves the movie The Lion King.  A lot.  She has toy lions, tigers, and cheetahs that she has named after all the lions in the movie.  Lately every night at bedtime she'll ask me to tell her a "yi-yon" story about Simba and Nala.  I'm starting to run on empty for ideas about what two lion cubs can do together in the African Savannah since at the end of the day I've usually exhausted my creativity limits.

There is a scene towards the beginning of The Lion King where Mufasa and Sarabi are peacefully sleeping through the early morning hours--until Simba comes barging in, pouncing all over them and demanding that his dad wakes up.  Every morning in our house is JUST like that.  Edee wakes up, we hear her feet pounding on the floor as she runs (always running, I don't think the girl know how to walk) to our room.  Then she proceeds to jump all over me while saying "Mooommmy!  Wake up!  Wake up Mommy!  I want yum-ting to eat.  Open your eyes! Peeeeeeeeeeeeeese.  I want to eaaaat," often in a very whiny, desperate, I'm-starving-and-don't-think-I-can-make-it voice.  She's relentless. This is often combined with her yanking on my arm trying to pull me out of bed and attempting to pry my eyelids open.   What a great way to start the day.

One morning earlier this week as I awoke to my little cub's typical rantings about wanting to eat, I rolled over to ask her what she wanted for breakfast.  She looked at me a little weird for a second, then her hand slowly raised to plug her nose.  "Ew, yucky.  Yum-ting's in my nose,"  she said.  Whenever Edee smells something it's always "Yum-ting's in my nose." (Something's in my nose).  I laughed when I realized it must have been my awesome morning breath.....or should I say lion's breath?

Gesundheit

Chicken, at 10 months, has a mini vocabulary all of his own now.  He says bye-bye, hello ("ey-yo"), dadda, mama, all-done (ah-da!) and more ("mma!").  His first word, however, was not the usual prided "mommy" or "daddy" most parents come to expect.  Instead it was "Ah-choo!"  That's right, the sound of a sneeze.

It was pretty funny to hear.  If someone sneezed we would hear a little baby-voice echo "AAA-chhhh!", even from another room across the house. A real sneeze or a pretend one was sure to get either a chubby-baby belly-laugh or parroted version in response.

Edee figured this out quickly as well.  One day while I was nursing Chicken, Edee sneezed while playing with her toys.  Chicken unlatched, whipped around and started laughing uncontrollably.  Of course Edee thought that was great. When Chicken would turn around to finish his meal, she'd fake an "ah-choo" to get the same reaction.  I think I eventually gave up feeding him because they were both having hysteric giggle fits.

Fast forward to a few weeks later.  I was again nursing Chicken and Edee asked for a drink (it seems like the second I sit down to nurse she all the sudden wants something).  Like I usually do when this happens, I told her to wait until Chicken was finished, then I'd get her whatever she wanted.  Sometimes she would get whiney or throw a little tantrum, but not this time.  It was almost like I watched the light-bulb go off in her head as she started to wind up to whine, stopped, looked at Chicken, walked over bent her face over by his head and said, "Ah-choo."  I knew exactly what she was doing--now Chicken was done eating and she could get what she wanted! "I want my dink, now."

 She still uses this distraction technique whenever I tell her she has to wait for Chicken to finish eating.   Chicken has wised up and doesn't fall for it as often anymore, but every once in a while Edee will get at least a giggle out of him.

Vacuum

Vacuuming the carpets seems to be the most exciting part of the day for us a lot of the time (I sort of feel like a lame mom when I type that).  It's exciting for me because the house feels decently clean, if only for a moment.  I'm not exactly sure what the kids love so much about it, but love it they do.  The moment I pull that sucker out (ha ha...sucker...) , the house fills with thrilled shrieks and the sound of four little happy feet happily thumping about. Chicken likes to chase the vacuum with his cute, choppy waddle-toddle; while Edee darts away in a combination of fright and delight.

Today during the pandemonium she got trapped at the end of the hallway with all the doors surrounding her shut.  As the vacuum and I approached her she yelled out in genuine terror, "NO, NO MOMMY NO!   DON'T VACUUM ME UP!!"  I had to chuckle, but I felt a little unsettled as I thought about it.  The fear she had probably came from me joking with her about the vacuum sucking up her toys if she didn't pick them up off the floor (okay, more like trying to creatively manipulate her into picking up her toys, if we're being honest).  It's pretty amazing what impressions an off-hand comment will make on a little person, because now she thinks the vacuum can suck her up.  I do find humor in it, but it makes me want to be more conscious about what I say.

Especially when later, while playing around quietly with her favorite toy lions,  I heard her saying over and over again: "Oh-lee cap! Oh-lee cap!! (mutter mutter mutter)  Oh-lee cap!"  It took me a few minutes of mulling around in my mind what she was saying to realize that I must say "Holy Crap" a lot more than I thought.  I know it could be worse...but still not exactly proud of that!

Sad Dad

Watching my husband change a messy diaper is quite the spectacle.  You would think that he was prepping for surgery the way he gets ready for it--he appears as if he is bracing himself, gets his sleeves rolled up, and then pulls the neck of his shirt up over his nose.  All while scowling, and sometimes gagging.  It becomes an especially big ordeal when there is a blow-out that he has to take care of.  Orders are barked to me to get more wipes, a plastic bag, or towel, while Edee is alerted to stay where she is and not move.  It's serious business when daddy is dealing with poop.

A couple weeks ago he had come in from trying to fix our broken-down vehicle outside.  Frustration was written all over his face as he pulled out the laptop to try to troubleshoot online.  Edee came up and put a hand on his cheek and said,

"You sad, daddy?"
"Yes Edee, I'm sad."
"Oh, you sad daddy," voice full of empathy,  "Did Chicken poop out?"

Great assumption.  If dad is sad then Chicken must have had a blow out.  We both busted up laughing.

Another one just yesterday as I was changing Chicken's diaper (I've wrote before how she always has something to say while I'm changing him).  This one was brilliant.

"Mommy did Chicken poop out of his diaper?"
"No Edee, he didn't poop out."
"Oh.  Did he poop out of daddy's bum??"

Snort.

My Friend

I love those tender, heart-warming mommy-moments that occur on occasion.  The kind that make all the long nights, tantrums, and frustration worth it.

I had one yesterday as Edee climbed on my lap and wanted me to play "yiy-yons" (lions) with her.  As we started to play she leaned up, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and said "Mommy, you're my fend (friend)."  I kissed her back with a big hug and told her she was my friend too.

I hope that is always so, little monkey.

Diapers

Both my kids are in diapers.  I wish Edee wasn't.

We gave potty training a valiant effort--even reserving our entire Memorial Day weekend for the sole purpose of helping Edee become "a big girl" and use the potty.  Let's just say it was NOT the best experience I've ever had, and unfortunately what little progress we made with her reverted entirely within a few weeks.   So we're not pushing it for now, it's too much stress.  She told us she wants to be a baby and wear diapers, like Chicken, so two in diapers it is.  Oh the adventures.

While Edee is rather cavalier about sitting in her own mess, she feels a need to comment while I'm changing Chicken's diapers. At first it was always the same, "Ew, wewoh (yellow) baby poop, gross!!"  But today I heard a completely new one for the first time.

Edee: "Mommy, what is that??"
Me: "I'm changing Chicken's poopy diaper"
Edee: "Oh, strawberries??  Right?"
Me:  "Um......no, poop." (Strawberries??  And no, we hadn't eaten any recently so there were definitely no strawberries in that diaper).
Edee:  "Oh, poop, right."

Yup.  Just to add, I would have never guessed before becoming a parent how much one can talk about poop.   At first it's a little foreign, then it gets to the point where you think, "why wouldn't we talk about poop?"

Spaghetti

I never used to understand why parents would feed their young kids spaghetti.  On first glance it seems like one of the absolute worst foods you could give to a toddler or baby--long, squishy noodles that are easy to throw (and stick) to everything, covered in a nice stain-friendly red sauce to boot.  The truth is feeding kids is just plain messy no matter what they are eating, but I have still avoided feeding it to my kids.  Plus, my husband is not a spaghetti fan so I haven't bothered.

The other day though I noticed a few pasta boxes that are a couple months past their "best by" dates and decided to use them up (yeah I know, some of you are thinking that's gross--I just say "eh."), and I opted to make spaghetti.

Turns out that both of my kids liked it, which is a rare occasion in our household.   "Not too bad" I thought to myself, "maybe we should have spaghetti more often!"   As they were eating I bustled around the kitchen getting a few things together (husband was working late and I was getting his plate ready for when he got home).  I looked up at one point to see the inevitable--Edee had taken those thin long noodles during the whole three minutes my back was turned and slopped them on the table, herself. and the floor.   And of course Chicken's face, hair, and chest were all super saucy.  Sigh.

Me:  "Edee, what are you doing?  Making a big mess??"
Edee:  "No mommy, I making a yittle (little) big mess!"

Ahh.....yep.  In reality that was a pretty accurate statement.  Her big messes really are BIG messes, and in comparison that really was a little, big mess.  I'd like to know what she considers a big big mess....then again maybe I don't!!

Bedtime

"Edee" is a nickname for my two-year old, by my two-year-old.  Until recently that's how she and her friends would pronounce her name....."Edee", which doesn't really sound much like her actual name, but cute all the same.  "Chicken" is Edee's little 10-month-old brother.  The way she says the word "chicken" and his name sounds exactly the same, so Edee and Chicken it is!

My first post is of the conversation that motivated me to finally start this blog (which I had been mulling about in my mind for over 6 months now).  All parents know the dreaded bedtime is not a favorite of the young ones....and that they will do whatever they can think of to get out of it.  Edee is no exception.

Edee (as she's coming down the hall from her room, supposed to be in bed): "Moooommy, will you play with m--hey! Is that a cookie?"
Me (as i'm stuffing golden Oreos into my mouth, and the couch): "No, go back to bed"
Edee: "What dat in your mouth? A yellow cookie? Let me see."
Me: "Fine, it's a cookie. It's all gone now, go to bed."
Edee: "Ha ha ha, I see it in your teeth."
Me: "Yep, it's bedtime."
Edee: "Moooooooommy, I want to look in your eyes, lay down wit me. I'm scared."
Me: "No you're not Edee, go to bed please."
Edee (with puppy dog eyes, and starting to stroke my arm): "Mooooommmmy, I love your arm, and nose, and your elbow, and your armpit....hey, where'd your armpit go?"

What goes through that girl's little mind.....I just don't know.